The Shanghai Concession has a long history, since the Manchu Qing Dynasty foreign powers obtained the concession, with the decline of the Manchu Qing Dynasty, the wharf is moored with warships of various countries.

After the First Sino-Japanese War, China's navy declined, China no longer had the title of a maritime power, the great powers despised China, and the warships anchored in China were all backward warships eliminated by the arms race before the world war.

After China defeated Japan, the number of warships in China was sharply reduced, and even the British warships stopped in Shanghai were only a few. What led to this huge change was not only the defeat of the Chinese Navy by the Chinese Navy, but also the two fortresses that Li Bufan had built at the beginning, the 16-inch fortress cannon was absolutely formidable, and the Chinese side easily destroyed the Japanese warships stationed in the vicinity of the Shanghai dock with the fortress cannon during the Sino-Japanese War. The kind of days of surviving under the mouth of a giant cannon, the navy of any country will be frightened, that feeling is like an ordinary person, but there is a tiger staring and drooling on the side, not to mention how frightened it is.

"Hit imperialism."

"Long live China!"

"Foreign devils get out of China!"

Waves of slogans filled the entire pier like a tidal wave. At a glance, the outside of the dock was densely packed with Chinese holding signs in protest, and such a big movement made it natural for China's police and garrison forces in Shanghai to be dispatched. However, the Chinese police were not allowed to carry firearms, and only used shields and batons to maintain law and order, so they set up a cordon. The Chinese garrison in Shanghai was even more deadly, and the guns were not aimed at the people who were marching and protesting, but at the garrisons of Britain, France, and other countries at the concession wharf, which were nervous within the cordon.

Colonel Lehman, commander of the British detachment stationed in Shanghai, and the officers and men of the navy of various countries were very nervous, and the weather in March was still very cold, but many people were so nervous that they were sweating.

"Damn, the guns of the Chinese garrison are aimed at us, we are going to protest!"

"Protest? It's not a day or two like this, isn't there less of a protest? You look at the Chinese fortresses, and the 16-inch cannons are aimed at us. ”

"Oh God, I'm going to get out of this damn place"

Lehman was also very anxious, could he not be afraid of being targeted by a giant cannon? He had been suffering from insomnia for several days on end. In the event of a conflict or war, the Chinese side has the ability to destroy them at the first opportunity, and he even knows that the officers and men on the ship have prepared the white flag, and as long as there is a conflict or war, they will surrender as soon as possible to avoid being killed. Lehman pretended not to know, but his heart was full of humiliation, and he said loudly: "Everyone, be quiet! None of the guns are allowed to be loaded, and if you don't want to die, do as I say. I'm going to negotiate with Li Hu, the commander of the Shanghai garrison in China, right now. ”

"Colonel, it's all up to you."

Lehman said irritably, "Don't be impulsive, I'll do my best." "Walking towards the officers and soldiers of the Chinese garrison, I really didn't feel good in my heart. Once upon a time, the officers and soldiers of the Western powers were unscrupulous on Chinese territory, but now they were so frightened that he was so ashamed that he wanted to burrow into the cracks in the ground. Of course, he also understood that they all witnessed the Chinese use of the fortress cannon in Shanghai to bombard the Japanese warships anchored in Shanghai during the Sino-Japanese War at that time.

He quickly approached the officers and men of the Chinese garrison and asked to see Li Hu, commander of the Shanghai garrison.

After a quarter of an hour, I saw a major walking with a major general in his thirties. The major general is Li Hu, Li Bufan's close confidant, and his side is Li Quan, the police chief of Shanghai.

Li Hu glanced at Lehman and said, "You are the one who wants to see me?" ”

Lehman looked at Li Hu's military rank, saluted, and said, "Yes, general." Do you think that something like this has happened and that I shouldn't have to deal with you? ”

Li Hu said lightly: "My accusation is just to maintain law and order in Shanghai, I think you have found the wrong person." ”

Lehman was anxious and exclaimed, "But your soldiers' guns are aimed at us, but we are the victims." ”

Li Quan said with a businesslike face: "Please remember that this is Chinese territory, and no one asks you to stay here." ”

"You" Lehman almost vomited blood, did he want to stay in this very, extremely dangerous place? But as a soldier, military orders are like mountains. He felt that he hated these middle- and high-level officers in China very much, and it seemed that each of them had such a dead face, and he was serious in his work, and it should be said that he was rigid to the extreme. He knew that he couldn't go crazy, so he gritted his teeth and said, "Your Excellency, General, Bureau, if you don't control the situation, once a conflict is triggered, the consequences will be very serious. ”

Li Hu said: "China is a democratic society, and the people have the right to assemble freely. They are not breaking the law, and we have no power to stop them from acting as citizens. ”

Lehman said urgently: "But if this continues, it is likely to lead to bloodshed and casualties." Li Hu said: "If they break the law, the police department will naturally arrest them; If our citizens are attacked by soldiers of another country and are killed or injured, we will fight back in accordance with the security regulations. We may not have time to save their lives, but I promise to avenge them. ”

Lehman opened his mouth and looked at Li Hu and Li Quan with a grim face, but the faces of the two dead people didn't seem to change at all, as if saying this was like eating and drinking. Lehman was so angry that he was dying, what is this? What does it mean to "promise to avenge them"? Isn't that threatening them? He threatened that if the garrison from the Western Concession dared to shoot, he would be killed.

A flash of inspiration flashed in Lehman's mind, and suddenly a cold sweat broke out, and he said tremblingly: "Are you deliberately trying to provoke a war?" There are warships and officers and soldiers from many countries. ”

Li Hu said: "That's not something I should think about. As a soldier, whenever and wherever you see our citizens being attacked, you must stand up. This is the duty of a military man. But the more he said this, the more Lehman felt that Li Hu was most likely a representative of the hawks of the Chinese Young Zhuang faction, and that he was preparing to provoke a war at all.

How many troops do the Chinese have? More than five million. What kind of concept is that, Lehman can't imagine. What do the Chinese want to do with such a large army? If you think about it on your knees, there is only one reason, and that is to prepare for war.

Raising an army is very expensive.

Lehman was well aware that now Britain did not want to go to war, and he did not want to go to war. However, China is frantically expanding its military readiness, and in the past two months, he has seen several new ships in service with the Chinese Navy every month. In the face of this situation, if war really breaks out, no one will be able to save them at all. I gritted my teeth in my heart: I endure

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In an apartment in the Shanghai Concession, a group of people sat with solemn faces.

It was Sun Wen, Jiang Weiren, and other Kuomintang cadres, and after Li Bufan swept through the south, they were forced to evacuate the mainland to avoid trouble, but they did not expect that in this short period of more than two years, under the leadership of Li Bufan, China completed reunification, and even defeated Japan, and the entire situation in the Far East underwent earth-shaking changes.

For many of them, the upheaval in China has had an incomparably huge impact on their hearts, and they can clearly feel that the international status of the Chinese is rising dramatically when they are overseas. Especially in Nanyang, because Li Bufan stationed 500,000 troops in Yunnan, the foreigners were simply rumored and frightened, and no one dared to provoke the Chinese. More importantly, as a result of such changes, the sense of belonging of overseas Chinese in Nanyang to the Nanjing government increased rapidly, and many Nanyang tycoons returned to China to invest, and their support for the revolution fell off a cliff.

"If we continue like this, we will even have problems with our lives." Liao Zhongkai said bitterly, "This month, we only raised 200,000 oceans, and several of them have made it clear that this is the last money." ”

Wang Jingwei said angrily: "These rat-eyed things. Beiyang is an old warlord, and with them in power, sooner or later the whole country will be brought into the abyss. Democracy is the way out for China, and only the Three People's Principles can save China. ”

Liao Zhongkai glanced at Sun Wen, who was expressionless, and said, "But the situation is stronger than people." After Li Bufan defeated Japan, China has become the largest power in Asia, and at present, Li Bufan has made frequent moves, gathered in the southwest, and constantly negotiated with the foreign powers diplomatically, demanding the abolition of unequal treaties, the development of industry and commerce in the country is changing with each passing day, people's living standards are rapidly improving, and the whole country has undergone earth-shaking changes. ”

Sun Wen said in a deep voice: "It is undeniable that Li Bufan has indeed done a good job. The purpose of our revolution is to save China, and Li Bufan has studied abroad for a long time, has a broad field of vision, and has achieved remarkable results in rectifying the country. However, such a great achievement is still being stolen from power by the rotten old Beiyang, such a national situation, does Brother Zhong Kai think that it should not be changed? ”

Jiang Weiren said with a straight face: "What the prime minister said is good. Li Bufan is tough on the outside, but he is too weak on the issue of those old Beiyang antiques inside. We cannot allow the conspiracy of Duan Qirui's generation to succeed, he will only grovel to the British and French powers. The country has finally got to where it is today, and it cannot be defeated in the hands of Duan Qirui and his ilk. We should mobilize public opinion and get Duan Qirui to step down. ”

Liao Zhongkai said with some hesitation: "But it's not good at this time, right?" Our doing so is likely to lead to a joint war between the great powers against our country, and under Li Bufan's rectification, although our national strength has increased several times, it does not have the profound heritage of Britain and France and other powers. ”

Sun Wen said solemnly: "At present, our country has several million troops, and it is difficult for the great powers to win in ocean-going operations. We need a big war to prove that Duan Qirui's coming to power was a mistake, and to guide the military and the people to recognize the political philosophy of our Kuomintang. ”

Liao Zhongkai said with a wry smile: "Prime Minister, I think we should send someone to contact Li Bufan, after all, the army is in his hands, and with his support, it is entirely possible for our Kuomintang to achieve a peaceful coup d'état and overthrow Duan Qirui." ”

Sun Wen showed hesitation, should he order the action to provoke a war or win over Li Bufan? One thought, that may cause a mountain of corpses and a sea of blood, ps: Please recommend.

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