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Chapter 1690 is tense

On 9 October, An Yi's plan to accompany Chiang Kai-shek to visit the Kulen Industrial Zone was not realized, because on 7 October the famous "Asama Maru" incident broke out between Japan and Britain. Pen ~ fun ~ pavilion www.biquge.info

When the European war broke out in early September, the German merchant fleet was suddenly attacked by the German army, as well as the German merchant fleet sailing around the world. In order to escape being captured by the British and French navies, which completely dominated the sea, these merchant ships hurriedly hid in the ports of various neutral countries, because the war had not yet burned out of the European continent, so most of these so-called "neutral countries" were ports in North and South America and Asia.

However, for these German merchant ships and their crews, the Motherland was at war, the Motherland needed them, they needed their ships, and they should return home to fight in the war, which was an unshirkable obligation as Germans. The German High Command also summoned these merchant ships and crews to return home through their embassies, and Britain and France were doing everything they could to prevent these merchant ships and crews from returning home.

In addition to these active merchant ships and crews, after the defeat in the last European war, due to the restrictions of the Versailles Treaty, Germany could not study and develop the military industry, and a large number of military and military industrial talents flowed to all countries in the world, most of which were in North and South America.

Among them, the largest number of German naval talents were accepted in the maritime industry, and the Standard Oil Company alone employed more than 1,000 Germans, among whom it was not uncommon to see people who could operate submarines. After the outbreak of the war in Europe, the vast majority of these people spontaneously wanted to return home to fight, and the Hitler government also issued official orders to the embassies and consulates in various places to receive these people back to China. The eyes of the British were also closely watching these highly skilled and experienced veterans, determined to stop them from returning at all costs.

At first, there were several German ships that broke through the British and French *** and returned to Germany, but as the British and French navies further stepped up, the hope of returning home gradually became slim. At the end of last month, the passenger liner Columbus sank off the coast of Virginia on the east coast of the United States, and it could not invest in the country, nor could it be invested in the enemy, and this was the choice of the Germans, which was not the same as Zhang Xueliang's kind of fortune boy who gave all his family wealth to the Japanese.

Germans on the American continent were concentrated in the United States and wanted to leave for their home country from there. It was almost impossible to return home directly from the east coast, and the Atlantic Ocean became an inland lake for the British navy, and they inspected all passenger and merchant ships ship by ship, and arrested German sailors as soon as they found them, so the Germans set their sights on the Pacific Ocean.

The United States and China on both sides of the Pacific Ocean can be regarded as neutral countries, and although Japan has an alliance treaty with Germany, it has not yet entered the war at this time, and it can be regarded as a neutral country. Therefore, the Germans took a transoceanic passenger ship from San Francisco on the west coast to Japan, and then arrived in Shanghai by ship, where they took a ship to Syria in southern Sichuan, and returned to China by Berlin-Syria route.

The British, noticing this passage and, quickly through diplomatic channels, appealed to Japan, but Japan ignored it.

The morning before yesterday, the Royal Navy cruiser "Liverpool" intercepted the "Asama Maru" passenger ship owned by the Nippon Yusen Shipping Co., Ltd. on the Boso Peninsula in Chiba Prefecture off the coast of Japan.

The Japanese Government immediately lodged a serious protest with the British Government, saying that this was an act of piracy that disregarded Japan's sovereignty and seriously infringed upon Japan's interests. When the news came, the Japanese people felt insulted by their feelings, and more than 200,000 protests and demonstrations were held in the city of Tokyo, and various groups went to the Imperial Palace, the Prime Minister's Office, and the Ministry of War in an endless stream to petition, strongly demanding that the government find this place, and the call for a declaration of war on Britain in Japan was very loud.

As relations between Japan and Britain suddenly became tense, Britain inevitably had to find a helper to suppress Japan's arrogance and ambitions, and in the early hours of last night, the British and French ambassadors to China went to the rest house to ask for a meeting with Soong Meiling, asking to see Chiang Kai-shek himself as soon as possible, and to start negotiations on forming an alliance to jointly resist German, Italian, and Japanese expansion.

Chiang Kai-shek had long been eager to board the big ships of Britain and France, and now that he had the opportunity, he naturally would not let it go easily, so he hurriedly bid farewell to An Yi.

......

At three o'clock in the afternoon, Kulen, the war room of the Northern Military District of the Anjia Army.

"According to the latest information, so far, the Japanese army has assembled five corps in the Lanyin Islands, four of which are deployed to Sumatra, ready to cross the Strait of Malacca and land on the Malay Peninsula at any time. On 18 July, the Japanese Navy's Combined Fleet departed from the port of Nagasaki and was last spotted in the ocean east of Taiwan, where its whereabouts are currently unknown. Intelligence agencies speculate that the fleet is very likely to move south from the waters west of Guam, to the Maluku Islands, and through the Java Sea into the Indian Ocean, waiting for an opportunity to find the main force of the British fleet for a decisive battle.

"On the British side, early last month, Vice Admiral Phillips, the British under-chief of naval operations, was promoted to the rank of admiral, and Chamberlain appointed him commander of the British Eastern Fleet, leading the battleships 'Prince of Wales' and 'Counterattack', as well as the aircraft carrier 'Invincible', loaded with forty old biplane fighters, to strengthen the defense of the Far East. However, before the 'Invincible' reached Ceylon (present-day Sri Lanka), it ran into a reef on the way, and had to return home for urgent repairs, and the remaining two battleships arrived in Singapore with Phillips on the 22nd of last month.

"Both Japan and Britain are making targeted moves. On all fronts, the clouds of war have begun to loom over the Malay Peninsula. ”

Liu Qing's briefing made the faces of the generals attending the meeting uncertain.

Japan and Britain are facing each other, and the troops deployed in East Siberia and Northeast China, North China, and Shandong will inevitably be transferred south in a steady stream, and this will undoubtedly be a great benefit to the Anjia Army and the overall situation of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression. However, the strategic center of gravity of the British was in Europe, and their fleets were mainly deployed in the Atlantic and Mediterranean for Germany's foreign trade, and the Z fleet deployed in Asia was not very strong. Once Japan successfully disposed of the British fleet, the export trade of South China would be dealt a fatal blow, and there would be a series of economic problems.

Judging from the current situation, it is not clear what kind of substantive impact the Japanese army's actions will have on South China, so all the generals, including General Yang Jie, deputy chief of the general staff, who is known for his boldness and outspokenness, did not dare to speak lightly, and the conference room fell silent.

Seeing that the atmosphere was a little serious, An Yi bowed his head and flipped through a thick set of detailed information about the Japan-Britain conflict and the reactions of other countries sent by a special plane sent by Lieutenant General Du Yi, Minister of State Security, and had a general judgment of the situation in his heart.

His eyes swept over the faces of the generals under his command, An Yi waved his hand, called the staff officers standing aside, and asked them to hang a large world map on the map shelf on the side, stood up and paced back and forth for a while, and finally stood in front of the map, picked up the baton, and said loudly:

"The change in the situation is a bit unexpected, but don't worry too much, in fact, in my opinion, Japan's choice to do something to Britain now, although it has a certain impact on us, but the impact will not be large, and the overall situation, for us, is not necessarily a rare opportunity.

"The current world pattern, since the end of the last European war and the formation of the Versailles system, has existed for too long, and it needs some opportunity to change! I don't know if you have noticed it, I don't know when, bullying the soft and fearing evil has become the instinctive reaction of Britain, France, the United States and other countries. Look at how many sanctions have been imposed over the years by Japan's repeated aggression against our country, Italy's annexation of Ethiopia and Albania, Germany's annexation of Austria and the Czech Republic, and Britain, France, and the United States, the three most powerful countries in the world?

"Is there one? Not at all! Nothing! In the face of a powerful enemy, Britain, France, the United States and other countries have again and again chosen to compromise and make concessions...... As the three dominant powers in the world, what are they afraid of? Afraid of upsetting the order of the world dominated by them! For fear of disturbing the leadership of a weak country that they have so hard won! Therefore, in the face of repeated acts of aggression, they would rather sacrifice the interests of weak and small countries than desperately maintain the so-called world peace.

"Well, let's get down to business, Japan's move against Britain has the following advantages for us. First, it will completely overturn the basis of British rule in colonies such as Malaya and Burma. This point is very important, whether it is indigenous or Chinese, many people still have illusions about the British, trying to gradually obtain the improvement of political and economic rights and interests through the benevolence of the British, although these colonies have been sacked by Indian rebels, but the British are orthodox consciousness, deep-rooted. As soon as the Japanese come, they will definitely form a colonial government belonging to the Japanese, and the inherent interest stratum and the new interest stratum will inevitably collide violently and form a huge chaos, which will help us to extend our tentacles into these colonies and slowly obtain benefits;

Second, the Japanese expelled the British, and from now on, these colonies became Japanese territory. Although we now maintain a delicate balance of power with Japan and have not broken our faces in Southeast Asia, as long as the time is ripe, we can wave our troops to replace Japan in Malaya, Burma, and other places occupied by the Japanese army. We have acquired land from Japan, and even if the British make a comeback, we will have good reasons to turn it away. Moreover, after the war with Japan and Germany, Britain will surely collapse, and it will not necessarily acquiesce in our domination of the above regions, just as France acquiesced in our domination of Annam;

"Third, Britain and the United States are one, and in no more than two years at the latest, the United States will be rapidly strengthened by the outbreak of war in Europe! Now that the Japanese army is in action, they can muddy the water even more, and it may not be that in the future, we still hope to extend our tentacles to the British in Australia, New Zealand, and even Hawaii in the United States......"

Seeing that Yang Jie shook his head a little disapprehantly, An Yi smiled and asked, "Geng Guang, do you have any different opinions?" ”

Yang Jie stood up: "According to my observations over the past year, Ishihara Waner is a very sober person who knows where the limits of using soldiers are. Among the senior Japanese naval generals, Isoroku Yamamoto had been stationed in the United States for a long time, and he had a full understanding of the national power of the United States, and Japan was unlikely to provoke the United States, so we had little hope of getting involved in Australia, New Zealand, and Hawaii. ”

"Haha, it's a Japanese tradition to go down to the top, Geng Geng, don't forget what Ishihara came to power on. Once the Japanese go crazy, it will far exceed your imagination! And—"

An Yi motioned for Yang Jie to sit down, and deliberately raised his tone: "Americans are not as peace-loving as most people think, this country composed of immigrants has never been willing to be lonely, but affected by the economic crisis, now the people can't even eat, most Americans are concerned about the economic recovery at home, isolationism is extremely prevalent, I guess even President Roosevelt can't go against the tide at this time, if he announces today that he wants to bring the United States into the war, he will wait to step down tomorrow......"

Speaking of this, An Yi changed his words: "However, the good wish for peace is short-lived, and after two years, as the production lines of all factories are in full swing, Americans' pockets will quickly bulge, and those wealthy capitalists will inevitably begin to fantasize about directly participating in the war, and obtaining huge war dividends like the last European war. The United States will continue to challenge the psychological bottom line of the Japanese, such as interrupting trade, detaining merchant ships, and shipping routes, etc., to force them to go crazy and take the initiative to launch a counterattack against the United States, so that the United States can naturally join the war. ”

There was silence in the conference room, and everyone was digesting An Yi's speech.

An Yi knows very well in his heart that if history does not change, everything he said will become reality, after the United States entered the war, all allies became the objects of its "Lend-Lease Act" applicators, and the United States became the creditor of all European countries such as Britain, France, and Germany, with the beginning and end of the Cold War, the United States will become the world's largest hegemon, almost synonymous with power politics, and whoever does not like it will take a small brother to kill it, from North Korea, Vietnam, Iraq, Yugoslavia to Afghanistan, Later, armed intervention in China's South China Sea, all the bad things were done, and everything was *** because World War II almost didn't pay too much to get huge war dividends.

What difference would have been made now that Japan had taken the initiative to launch the Pacific War without relieving itself from the economic crisis in the United States, and had tried its best to capture the British colonies and strengthen its own national strength without provoking the Americans? In this regard, An Yi is also full of curiosity.

An Yi's baton pointed to the United States on the map:

"The United States will be Japan's worst enemy, now and in the future. Now let's look at the military power of the United States...... Immediately after Japan announced the abrogation of the Washington Treaty five years ago, the United States began the first Karl Treaty. The implementation of the Vincennes Act, whose full name is the Act on the Construction of Naval Vessels to the Treaties of Washington and London, was enacted by Rep. Carl Brown. Vinson and Senator Parker. Trammell jointly proposed. The content of the bill is a plan to build a major naval expansion plan for the aircraft carrier USS Wasp, one heavy cruiser, five light cruisers, 64 destroyers, and 26 submarines, totaling 97 ships and 210,000 tons.

Two years later, in 1936, the second Vincennes Act was passed, the content of which was a shipbuilding program with three South Dakota-class battleships and two Essex-class aircraft carriers as the main body, and 46 warships were built in batches over four years, totaling 260,000 tons, at a cost of one billion dollars. However, up to now, one-third of the warships provided for in the two bills have not been completed.

At the end of last year, Ishihara, chief of staff of the Japanese army, together with Shuseki Nagano, chief of naval command, and General Yamamoto Go, commander of the Combined Fleet, revised, Japan's shipbuilding plan, abandoning the plan of building three giant battleships, including the Yamato, Musashi, and Shinano, and replacing them with the plan of building 12 aircraft carriers and 1,200 combat fighters. In addition, a large number of cruisers, destroyers and submarines are also included in the new round of shipbuilding plans. Up to now, the four medium-sized aircraft carriers that Japan has renovated with the merchant ships of Britain, the United States, and other countries have been launched in May and are expected to be officially put into use by the end of the year.

"At present, the United States, including its Atlantic Fleet, has a total of 312 warships with a total tonnage of 1.13 million tons, while Japan has a total of 267 warships of various types with a total tonnage of 980,000 tons, and Japan's proportion of warships against the United States is close to 87 percent, which is a rather dangerous figure. Of course, by waiting for the lower part of the warships on the American slipway to enter service, the gap can be widened to less than 80 percent, but for the United States, which needs to use its warships in the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans respectively, such a ratio is not safe.

"Since Japan is fully aware of the role of aviation in the contest with our army, it has been developing its aviation forces almost with all its might in the past year, and it is said that a new naval fighter will be put into service in January next year. Since next year will be the 2,600th anniversary of the Japanese era, this aircraft has been named the 'Zero' fighter by the Japanese Navy. The comparison of Japanese and US fighter planes is as follows: Of the 4,800 Japanese military planes, more than 2,600 are so-called 'deployment forces' that can be used in operations against the United States, while the United States has 5,500 planes, of which 2,200 are so-called 'frontal planes against Japan' that can be used against Japan.

"The Japanese are well aware that Japan's production capacity is far behind that of the United States, and that the current ratio of warships so close can only be regarded as a flash in the pan, and that once the United States adopts a new naval shipbuilding program, Japan's advantage over the United States will be quickly lost. The result predicted by the Military Affairs Bureau of the Japanese Navy Ministry is that in two years' time, the combat strength of the Japanese Navy will be only 70 percent of that of the United States, and in three years it will be only 60 percent or even half of it. If we use these two years to take control of Malaya, Burma, India, and Australia in one fell swoop, then the gap between the United States and Japan will quickly narrow, and if Germany succeeds in Europe, Japan's dream of becoming a superpower across the Pacific and Indian Oceans may not be unrealizable. ”

An Yi's words sparked a heated discussion in the conference room, if this war dragged the United States in again, it would be a world war in the real sense. How Nanhua can get the most out of this worldwide war is indeed a matter worthy of serious consideration, but this has little to do with the military generals present, after all, it has always been An Yi who is in control of the overall situation, and everyone is more accustomed to obedience.

An Yi threw down his baton, returned to his seat, and took a sip of tea.

Such a major matter cannot be judged for a while, and it needs to be comprehensively supported by intelligence from all aspects and measured in an all-round way, so An Yi took the initiative to bring the topic to the troop organization of the Northern Military Region and the Central Asian Theater, as well as the ongoing war in Afghanistan.

......

Afghanistan, Wheat City, 35 km southwest of Kabul.

Sheng Shicai commanded the army and finally rushed to the city of Maidan.

When the troops were camped, Sheng Shicai took a few guards to a high post, and calmly observed the defense of Maidan City through binoculars, his face was as cold as ice.

On the way to the city of Maidan, because the Afghan government army sent elite troops, together with the local tribal forces, constantly blocked and harassed, the Sheng Shicai troops paid a heavy price on the way to Kabul, and at the same time, the speed of the march naturally slowed down.

Now, the cavalry, which was the vanguard of the whole army, was under the city of Maidan, but the infantry and artillery were still advancing slowly on the mountain road of Jalaiz, and as it was now, it would be nice for the follow-up troops to arrive before sunset tomorrow night.

In the telescope, the Afghan government army is adjusting the deployment of troops and rushing to repair fortifications. In order to enhance the city's defense capability, the Afghan army dug the trench in the west of the city wide and deep, seeing so many people busy in the tunnel, Sheng Shicai's heart was extremely anxious, looking at this posture, the other party clearly laid mines or traps at the bottom of the trench, and he took the cavalry over, facing the trench about ten meters wide, and the machine gun fire arranged by the other party behind the trench or on the city wall will bring disaster to himself.

The Afghan army is not weak, as a nomadic people, it is common to conquer cities, the Afghans in the seventeenth century mastered muskets, until the end of the seventies of the last century, the second war of resistance against Britain failed to sign the "Gandamak Treaty" under the guns of the British, and became a semi-colony of the British, but before that, the British lost at least forty or fifty thousand troops, and the cost of war was as high as 200 million pounds.

Only 40 years later, in the Third War of Resistance Against the British, Afghanistan defeated more than 300,000 British troops and achieved national and national independence.

Now the Afghan army is determined to hold on, and the other side also has the help of the new artillery provided by the British, relying only on cavalry, and does not want to take the city of Maidan in one go.

Sheng Shicai brought two cavalry divisions, almost half of which were his first-class military descendants, and the other half concentrated the excellent cavalry of the Central Asian Military Region of the Soviet Army, he carefully observed the surrounding environment, and found that the other party did not take advantage of his unstable foothold to launch an attack, and immediately sent two regiments to seize the high ground on the left and right, and then built a position on the front with two regiments, and the rest of the troops dispersed to find out the villages and towns around the city of Maidan, like other places, by looting the wealth of the rich and tribal leaders, to enrich military funding, and at the same time buy the hearts and minds of the people.

Even in the 21 st century, Afghanistan is also an agricultural and animal husbandry country, with more than 80 percent of the country's labor force engaged in agricultural and animal husbandry production, and the output value of agriculture and animal husbandry accounts for more than 70 percent of the total output value of the national economy.

In the past, sheep were purchased from all over the country according to actual demand and flocked into the capital, but now the roads to the north, west and south have been cut off, and can only be supplied from the east, but the transportation and production capacity of the east are limited, and the troops generally do not have much food in stock.

Due to the urgency of the war, most of the troops who reinforced the city of Maidan this time did not even bring dry rations and rushed to pull, only to find that there was no surplus food to provide here when they arrived in the city of Maidan, so the officers in charge of procurement had to take banknotes everywhere to buy supplies.

After Sheng Shicai received the report from the troops, he immediately cleared the wilderness, and the grain, cattle and sheep, iron tools, goods, and even horse fodder were collected by the cavalry, and together with the peasants and herdsmen, they were taken to Behesud, Barikaude, and other areas where a relatively consolidated base had been established, while those who were unwilling to obey the order were all arrested on the charge of "financing the enemies of the people", and their houses, large piles of hay, and supplies that could not be taken away were all set on fire and burned.

Not only that, in order to prevent the other side from taking local materials and building fortifications, Sheng Shicai also ordered the troops to set fire to some woods and pastures far away from their positions.

The entire capital region of Afghanistan is shrouded in the panic deliberately created by Sheng Shicai.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

: Well, that's basically the case this month, ask for tomorrow's ***!

Tomorrow is the first day of December, and the Son of Heaven is working hard for the double watch, begging the brothers to leave the guarantee *** to "Iron Bone"! Please!