The lawn is neatly manicured, and although the hillside in front of the lawn is still a little bleak, there is already a little green on the branches.

The smell of early spring fills the air, making it refreshing, and you can't hear the noise in the city.

Suddenly, a gunshot broke the silence, and with that gunshot, a black frisbee that flew up from the lawn was shattered by a shotgun and turned into a black mist in the air.

"Good marksmanship!"

Someone shouted hello, Zhao Bei turned his head to look, the person who applauded was none other than Gu Weijun, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, at this moment, he had just walked to the shooting range, followed by a secretary, who was carrying a black briefcase in his hand.

"They're here so soon?"

Zhao Bei threw the shotgun to Qin Sihu, who was standing beside him, took the hot towel that one of the guards had brought over, and wiped his hands.

"Yes, it's already at the mansion." Gu Weijun nodded.

Zhao Bei didn't ask much, and motioned to Gu Weijun to lead the way and rush to the living room of the mansion to meet guests.

There were six guests, either American or Australian.

In fact, there is only one Australian guest, and it is still Zhao Bei's old acquaintance, and this old acquaintance is Morrisun, who had settled in China for a long time.

Morrison came from Japan, and with him came from Japan several American politicians, one of whom was also an old acquaintance of Zhao Bei, Stad, who was once China's ambassador to China, and who is now a senior foreign affairs adviser to the US government and a presidential think tank, specializing in China and the Far East.

Morrison went to Japan on the orders of the Australian government to Tokyo to meet with the Japanese prime minister, and he went to Japan as an Australian diplomatic envoy to bridge the "differences" between Australia and Japan, and this "difference" was precisely about the Republic of Papua.

Just the day before yesterday, the Imperial Japanese Garrison Command in New Guinea issued a proclamation accusing Australian military personnel stationed in Papua of being "disrespectful" to the shrines set up by the Japanese military near the border line, and using this as an excuse to announce military exercises. to stop this "imminent" war between Japan and Australia in the eyes of the Australian Prime Minister.

However, Morrison basically gained nothing in Tokyo, Japan, and the Japanese side offered too high, not only demanding the occupation of all the territory of the Republic of Papua and its affiliated islands, but also demanding that the Australian government apologize for the "disrespectful" behavior of the Australian military in the Japanese shrines in New Guinea, and promised that similar incidents would not occur in the future.

In the eyes of the Australian government, the Japanese government was "crazy to the extreme," so the Australian prime minister immediately ordered Morrison to leave Japan and fly to Beijing to meet with Chinese President Zhao Bei.

Upon learning of his old friend's visit to China, Zhao Bei immediately agreed to meet him, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs made arrangements, so now, Morrison is sitting in the living room of Zhao Bei's Xishan mansion, while US President Stead, a think tank, is sitting next to him.

"If Japan attacks Australia, the Australian government will definitely not surrender, and we will resist to the end."

Morrison first introduced the current situation in Papua, and then changed his words, showing the Australian government's determination to resist the war, which is also to make clear its position to the Chinese government, hoping that the Chinese government can intervene to dissuade the Japanese government.

However, Zhao Bei has no intention of mediating the war between Japan and Australia at all, as long as the United States does not immediately attack Japan, China can now sit on the mountain and watch the tiger fight, and more importantly, he is now very clear that the Japanese government is determined to attack Australia this time, because Japan's strategy is to march southward, and in this situation, China cannot persuade Japan, and in the face of national strategy, allies and quasi-allies are unreliable, and China's victory in the war against Britain has also directly stimulated the nerves of the Japanese.

Although the strategy is to see death or not to save it, this interview still has to be said beautifully.

"I deeply regret the dispute between Japan and Australia, and hope that the two governments will strengthen communication and not resolve differences through war, as the current war between China and Britain has proven that any armed conflict brings disaster, the people suffer, and only a handful of colonialists and chauvinists benefit. I know that the Australian government has shown great restraint in this Sino-British war and has not followed in the footsteps of the British chauvinists to declare war on China, which I remember in my heart, as well as the Chinese people, so I am very sympathetic to Australia's current predicament.

But on the other hand, I also see that the Australian government is still implementing the 'White Australia Policy' and discriminating against people of color, so I also very much agree with the proposal of the Japanese government to remove discrimination against people of color in the conditions of the negotiations made by the Japanese government to the Australian government, and I insist that if the Australian government insists on going its own way, then if a war breaks out between Japan and Australia, the Australian government will be very isolated in Asia, especially in East Asia and Southeast Asia. ”

Seeing that Zhao Bei brought the topic to the Australian government's racial discrimination policy, Morrison was indeed a little speechless, in this regard, the Japanese government's strategy was very clever, which suddenly made the Australian government appear passive, considering that the local aborigines of Papua are also colored people, and the actions of the Japanese military department were even advocated by Japanese newspapers as "a small liberation cause in Asia", although in fact, Papua is still arranged in Oceania in terms of international geographical division.

"Mr. President, I beg your pardon. On the issue of racial discrimination, historical reasons must be taken into account, even in the United States, racial discrimination is ubiquitous, and these policies of the Australian government are obviously the result of the influence of voter sentiment, after all, Australia is a democratic country, politicians need to curry favor with voters, if voters feel the need to continue to implement racial discrimination policies, the Australian government is helpless. ”

Perhaps seeing that Morrison was a little unable to answer, Si Dade, a senior foreign affairs adviser to the US government sitting on the side, explained a few words for the Australian government.

"Mr. Stade, this reason for your racial discrimination is not valid. The biggest difference between a modern country and an ancient country is to educate the people, voters think that racial discrimination is good, the government should change this wrong idea, and can gradually reverse the trend of social thought through newspapers and public opinion, but we have not seen the Australian government do this, if there is no effort, how can it be said that the responsibility lies with the people? ”

Zhao Bei didn't want to talk more on the issue of racial discrimination, in fact, he himself had a little bit of racist thoughts, so he changed his words and got back to business.

"I know why Mr. Morrison came here, you want to ask me to come forward and persuade the Japanese government to calm down. But I can only tell you with regret now that I cannot calm down the Japanese government, which is actually dominated by the military department, and unless the Australian government can make fundamental concessions on the Papua issue, otherwise, judging from the fanaticism of the Japanese military department, a war between Japan and Australia is inevitable. Of course, I can assure the Australian government here that as long as the Australian government guarantees that China's interests are not harmed, then during the war, China will continue to maintain a neutral position, and Australia can continue to buy goods and supplies from China. ”

Seeing that Zhao Bei had no idea of interfering in the dispute between Japan and Australia, Morrison and Stade were very disappointed, but they also knew very well that as long as they did not give China enough benefits, China would of course stand by and watch, but the problem now is that both the Australian government and the US government are very resolute and unwilling to make any concessions.

"Mr. President, I must remind you that before I left Manila, the President of the United States, Mr. Roosevelt, sent me a telegram in which he told me that the current international situation is very dangerous, that the liberal system is seriously threatened, and that if the situation deteriorates further, the United States Government may have to change its current position of 'non-intervention' and give strong material and economic support to the countries of the free system, and this policy may be implemented immediately in the event of a Japanese attack on Papua or Australia."

Stade hesitated for a moment, and decided to relay Roosevelt's original words to Zhao Bei.

Zhao Bei nodded, he couldn't see any expression on his face, of course he knew what President Roosevelt's words meant, this is the "historical" "Lend-Lease Act", the United States wants to assist the weaker side in the war with strong economic strength and material base, in order to balance the international balance of power and lay a good foundation for the United States to enter the war, in "history" China has also received assistance from the United States, but now, history has changed, China no longer needs this kind of assistance, on the contrary, Instead, China could take a similar stance to the U.S. government's, that is, balance the international balance of power through economic and material aid, and tilt that balance of power in China's favor.

"Thank you for the reminder, I will carefully study these statements of the President of the United States. However, I also think that it is necessary for me to remind the US government that there is no progress in the Washington peace talks between China and the United Kingdom, and in this case, I do not think that the Chinese government should be concerned about the crisis in Papua, and if the British government still adheres to the colonial policy and chauvinism, then I will have to regret to announce that the Chinese negotiating envoy has suspended the talks, and the Asian countries will resume the war with the British. The U.S. government continues to maintain its current position of neutrality in the war for the liberation of the colonized peoples of Asia, and I do not want to see any official U.S. aid enter the U.K. until Britain makes a gesture of peace. ”

Zhao Bei's words are also a bit threatening, and he also fully believes that the US government does not dare to ignore his threats, and although China's economic aggregate is not as large as that of the United States, China's war potential and economic potential are absolutely not something that any national government can despise, and I believe that the US government will definitely take a cautious stance on the issue of the Sino-British war, and more importantly, through the good performance of the British war, the Chinese armed forces have become a decisive force in the international balance of power. As far as the current military strength of the United States, especially its army strength, is concerned, the US Government does not dare to directly confront it at this time.

……

On March 5, 1939, the Japanese garrison in New Guinea asked to enter the territory of the Republic of Papua to search under the pretext that a Japanese soldier had "disappeared" in a military exercise, and after the government of the Republic of Papua refused, the Japanese army launched an attack and had a fierce exchange of fire with the Australian army assisting in the defense, and the next day, the Japanese Navy Combined Fleet under the command of Japanese Admiral Shigetaro Shigetaro attacked the east coast of Australia. The Japanese fleet, which included six aircraft carriers, spotted the main fleet of the Australian and British navies in the northern waters of the Coral Sea, and immediately launched a surprise attack, and the Japanese naval air force inflicted heavy damage on the British and Australian navies, and at the same time, another Japanese fleet carried out an amphibious landing in Port Moresby, the capital of the Republic of Papua.

On March 7, Britain, Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa simultaneously declared war on Japan, and on the same day, the Japanese government declared war on these countries, and the war between Japan and Australia officially broke out.

On 9 March, Sydney, Canberra, and other cities on Australia's east coast were attacked by Japanese naval air forces, causing heavy losses; on the same day, the US Congress passed a resolution approving the "Lend-Lease Act" drafted by President Roosevelt, and the United States began to provide assistance to Australia.

On the same day, the Chinese government announced that China would remain neutral during the Japan-Australia War, and at the same time, the "Asian Liberation Front" issued a proclamation announcing the suspension of the Washington peace talks, and Asian countries and Britain once again entered a state of war.