Li Tie's occupation of Vietnam finally changed the general trend of the world, and in September of the 40th year, the Japanese government finally decided to join the German and Italian Axis powers after many days of discussion.

The first thing Japan did when it joined the Axis was to propose to Germany to occupy French Indochina, which later became Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia.

Japan's request made Hitler very difficult, because Vietnam had already let Li Tie buy it. Today, there are only two regions left in Indochina: Laos and Cambodia.

However, Vietnam's geographical location is too important, it is in front of Laos and Cambodia, if Japan wants to get Laos and Cambodia, it must first occupy Vietnam, and if it wants to occupy Vietnam first, it must first occupy Hainan Island, and it must first settle Hong Kong.

These three important areas, three points in a line, firmly defended China's last coastline, and also prevented the strategic layout of the Japanese army from advancing westward into Southeast Asia. More importantly, if one day, the Chinese National Army starts a counteroffensive, the Hainan Guards in these three areas are the best positions to attack the Japanese army from behind.

Therefore, the existence of these three places is really like a throat for the Japanese, and the Japanese government has reached a consensus in private, and Li Tie's Hainan Escort Army will sooner or later become a big problem for Japan, so it can be eliminated as soon as possible, and it must be eliminated as soon as possible.

However, the strength of the Hainan Escort Army has long been recognized by the Japanese high-level, and now through the Hainan Third Army, Li Tie's territory is larger and his strength is stronger. It is not easy to eliminate Li Tie's Hainan Guards in a short period of time.

In desperation, Japan and Germany secretly signed a memorandum of understanding, that is, the French puppet government came forward to send Laos and Cambodia to Japan.

As for how the Japanese received, how they occupied, how they ran their business, it had nothing to do with France. In other words, Germany and France are likely to be at odds with each other in a direct conflict with Li Tie.

The two of them have their own abilities, and whoever can occupy the three regions of French Indochina, Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia is considered to be whose territory.

Therefore, unlike the previous life, Japan had just joined the Axis powers, and did not occupy French Indochina without firing a single shot, as in the previous life, and as a result, China's most important land access to the outside world was blocked.

Now it is different, although Japan has the tacit approval of Germany and France, but if he wants to really get these three places, he must fight with Li Tie again.

In order to avoid attacking French Indochina and being copied by Li Tie's Hainan Guards, Japan had already decided to take Hainan Island first.

However, Japan was afraid that when attacking Li Tie, the British Royal Navy, which was close at hand, would find trouble for itself, after all, Japan had already joined the Axis alliance between Germany and Italy, and now its allies had declared war with Britain, and now they were attacking Britain in large numbers.

Perhaps the British did not like themselves, and when they attacked Hainan, the British Royal Navy stationed in Hong Kong would have a great time if they had a guy behind their backs.

Therefore, in order to avoid the threat of the British Royal Navy in Hong Kong, the Japanese military decided to take advantage of the fact that Britain and Germany were in the midst of a fierce war, and Britain would definitely have no time to look eastward, and first solve the threat of the Royal Navy.

If the British reacted violently, they would take the opportunity to declare war on the British, and there would be a reasonable reason to occupy Hong Kong.

And this was also done in order to show goodwill to the German allies who were at war with the British, so a conspiracy against the British navy slowly took shape.

At the end of September 1940, when more than a dozen ships of the British Royal Navy stationed in Hong Kong were conducting sea training off the coast of Hong Kong, they encountered the same number of ships of the Japanese Fifth Fleet in the open sea.

Originally, according to international naval practice, the two fleets at this time should line up in a line and pass by the other fleet, and at the same time, out of courtesy, the sailors of the two fleets should stand on the side of the ship and salute each other to express their friendly intentions.

However, the British Navy seemed to have come specifically to find the ballast, and when some Japanese Navy sailors stood on the side of the ship and saluted the British sailors, the British sailors not only did not return the salute, but insulted and ridiculed the Japanese warships.

The Japanese reaction was also extremely strong, and they immediately turned their guns and began to attack the British navy, while the British navy, which had been beaten, returned fire and fled towards the Hong Kong naval base, while the Japanese pursued the British navy and fought fiercely.

As a result, the two sides engaged in a scuffle, with the British Navy sinking five ships and nine wounded. The Japanese only wounded six warships, and none sank.

When the naval battle off Hong Kong was announced, the whole world was amazed again, and the Japanese were so bold that the war with China had not yet ended, and they began to provoke the British again.

And the reason for the battle between the two sides is also very funny, it is because of the spontaneous attack of the Japanese sailors because of the impoliteness of the British sailors.

It turned out that on the second day of the battle between the two sides, more than a dozen Japanese sailors saluted the British sailors, and the photos of the British sailors arrogantly insulting and teasing the Japanese sailors were published.

Looking at such a clear close-up, it would be foolish to say that the Japanese had no premeditated plan in advance, so the British Foreign Office strongly demanded that Japan give a reasonable explanation.

And the Japanese government's explanation is also very strange, the world knows that the Japanese pay the most attention to etiquette, in their Japan, there are often duels because of the other party's impoliteness, this time the two navies conflict is because of the misunderstanding caused by the difference in culture between the two sides.

It was the heavy losses on both sides caused by the uncalmness of some Japanese sailors, and the Japanese Government deeply expressed its regret and will strictly punish the sailors who caused trouble.

And then, and then there was no follow-up. The Japanese achieved their goal of inflicting heavy damage on the Royal Navy in Hong Kong, while the British troops stationed in Hong Kong were in turmoil.

Japan's undeclared war cast a shadow over the joint resistance of Britain and France, and they were really afraid that the Japanese would send troops to Europe. The British people, who were already in a remote corner, immediately became depressed when they learned that the Japanese had opened fire on the British navy.

Even many parliamentarians in Britain talked about the theory of surrender, believing that the union of Germany, Italy, and Japan was unstoppable, and that Britain should abandon the principle of fighting Germany for the European countries in the name of self-protection, so as to sign a non-aggression pact with Germany.

Fortunately, Prime Minister Churchill was superior in political wisdom, and he passed a resolution to start an all-out war with Germany against public opinion, because he believed that the real purpose of the Germans was to dominate the world, and they would not let Britain alone. At the same time, he also vigorously reminded the Chinese people that Japan in the East is also a careerist, and the people of the world should beware of them.

Of course, there are also many British people who think that the Japanese in Asia are not worried at all, they just want to encroach on the interests of the British Empire in Asia, and it is impossible for them to send troops to Europe to help the Germans make wedding dresses.

As for these yellow-skinned dwarfs of Japan, the British Empire has never taken them seriously, and with 10,000 British troops stationed in Hong Kong, it will not be a problem to defend Hong Kong for three months.

I have to say that the British at this time were still full of arrogance, they didn't know that their military strength was no longer the top in the world at this time, and they still thought that the East was still a backward and wild land.

Fortunately, Prime Minister Churchill, who is at the helm of the British government, still has a certain understanding of the current world, and as early as 37 years when the Japanese army invaded China, Churchill actually listed the Japanese as the No. 2 enemy. As for enemy number one, it goes without saying that it must be the Germans.

And the next actions of the Japanese speak for themselves. When the Japanese navy not only inflicted heavy damage on the British Royal Navy stationed in Hong Kong, but also blocked all the outlets to the sea in Hong Kong, the British were really anxious.

You must know that at this time, Hong Kong was not ideologically prepared for a full-scale war with Japan, so the defense of the entire Hong Kong was not perfect, and the British navy in Hong Kong only had a dozen planes, which was not enough to stuff the teeth of the Japanese air force.

However, now Britain was defending the Germans with all their might, and they really could not spare troops to go to Hong Kong, so the British government immediately promised the Chinese government through diplomacy that it would give the Nationalist government a large amount of military supplies to help the Chinese defeat the Japanese.

At the same time, the British king personally sent a secret letter to Li Tie, hoping that Li Tie would mobilize the Hainan Guard Army to protect all the colonies of the British Empire in Asia.

The Japanese deliberately created friction with Britain in order to give him a reason to attack Britain's colonies in Asia.

Now that the British army in Hong Kong had been severely damaged, the British did not even let out a fart, so the Japanese army, who thought that the time had come to seize Hong Kong, immediately began preparations to attack Hong Kong.

The route of the offensive was exactly the same as in the previous life, first the air force bombed the British naval bases and military bases, and then the 38th Division of the 23rd Army set out from Shenzhen and attacked the Hong Kong New Territories area bordering Shenzhen, and then occupied the Kowloon area, and finally occupied the island of Hong Kong.

The Japanese army's idea is very good, if there is no Huaxing Company in this life, if there is no Li Tie, maybe they can still complete the miracle of the war in the previous life to occupy the entire Hong Kong in only 18 days, but this life is different.

When the troops of the Japanese 38th Division had just assembled in Shenzhen, the whole of Hong Kong did not give up resistance because of the cowardice of the British army.

I saw that in the whole of Hong Kong, hundreds of large factories and dozens of gang organizations immediately formed armed teams under the leadership of Hong Kong Hongmen and Hong Kong Huaxing Industrial Park.

These teams are based on Hong Kong Huaxing, the 10,000-strong Huaxing Escort Team as the main force, with Hongmen gang members as the backbone, and Huaxing Company employees as the source of soldiers.

In just three days, a resistance force of 100,000 people was assembled in Hong Kong's New Territories, and nearly 300,000 Hong Kong militiamen with simple training were assembled on Hong Kong Island.

When the news was announced that hundreds of thousands of troops in Hong Kong had been assembled in many places, the officers and men of the 38th Division of the Japanese 23rd Army, which had just finished assembling in Shenzhen, immediately stopped their advance, and they received an order from the commander-in-chief of the 23rd Army to put them on standby.

At the same time, an emergency meeting was held at the base camp of the Japanese army to discuss whether to continue the military operation of attacking Hong Kong.

On the same day, Li Tie of Hainan Island arrived in Hong Kong, after a long absence, on a special plane on the Huaxing, under the protection of 10 fighter planes.