The British minister, Lampson, held his large pipe with his surname in his mouth, and listened to Chiang Kai-shek's eloquent narration on the other side, but his heart kept thinking about his task. Three urgent telegrams were sent in a day, asking me to meet the leader of the so-called half of China, who had received too much support from the Kingdom of Britain.

"Mr. Lampson, what we saw together just now is one of the most elite divisions under my command, and with the help of your country, I still have nine such elite army divisions. A full ten elite army divisions will have the most powerful guarantee for any commitment I make. "Chiang Kai-shek had just accompanied Lampson to watch a small military meeting.

Before Lampson came to his door, he urged Gu Weijun to go to the legation every day to see Lampson, in order to maximize the interests of the Nanjing regime in this conflict between the southwest and the British. It's a pity that this cunning Englishman always says that he can't see it, "If your country can provide strong support, my army is guaranteed to be able to contain at least half of the main force in the southwest." ”

Rampson put down his pipe noncommittally, looked at Chiang Kai-shek fixedly, and seemed to ask, "How many British Army divisions can one division of your army deal with?" ”

Chiang Kai-shek felt a little confused about the British minister's question, and did not understand why he suddenly asked this question, whether he wanted to compare the gap between the two armies. For the British, there is always an unknown fear in his heart, because he does not understand, so he is afraid. Seeing that Rampusheng asked a little strangely, he hesitated a little and said, "Two divisions should be comparable to one division of your army." ”

Rampson immediately shook his head, waved his hand at him, stretched out two fingers, and said in a very regretful tone, "Mr. Jiang, the Far East unit of the British Army once learned a lesson in the Sino-Burmese War, two divisions of troops were defeated by one division of the Southwest Army, and four divisions of troops were defeated by Zhang Shusheng's two main divisions. According to this calculation, in addition to the two main divisions and one garrison division that have been transferred to the Sino-Burmese border, there are still eight main divisions and more than a dozen garrison divisions left in the southwest. ”

Chiang Kai-shek was slightly stunned, and couldn't help but be annoyed in his heart, he was circled by the British, suffered a small loss, and couldn't help but smile, "Mr. Lampson, sometimes, a simple number comparison has no practical meaning. The Chinese pay attention to the right time and place in war, and my troops are fighting on defense on their own territory, which is stronger than your country's Far East Burmese Army in this respect. ”

"Hmm." Rampson was noncommittal, and was about to continue to ask something, when he saw a Chiang Kai-shek's attendant officer walk in and whisper something beside him.

Chiang Kai-shek's eyes first flashed a trace of imperceptible consternation, then a hint of hidden joy, and then his expression changed again, but he looked extremely melancholy, "Mr. Minister, I regret to inform you of a very bad news, my intelligence department has just received the news that Zhang Shusheng in the southwest has transferred two additional main divisions to the Longling and Yongde lines on the Chinese side of the Sino-Burmese border overnight, in addition, the intelligence officers also reported that a large number of artillery and ironclad vehicles accompanied them, and even the airports around Kunming are extremely busy, Intelligence officers on the outskirts were able to see planes flying south non-stop all day. ”

"Smack!" At first glance, when he heard this information that was definitely bad news, his first instinct was suspicion, and then he had to accept the reality, he was a minister, and Chiang Kai-shek would not lie to himself, was really afraid of something?

As a Chinese minister, he knew very well that Chiang Kai-shek could not launch an attack on the southwest at this time, first of all, with the combat strength of the Kuomintang troops, they were barely able to protect themselves, but the offensive was far from enough, not to mention that the war of resistance in the north was in full swing, just as the southwest did not attack the Kuomintang, it was impossible for this shrewd Eastern statesman to fight a controversial war that would not see victory.

He may just want to 'reward' the empire by holding back a part of the southwestern army.

If it weren't for the information that had just been delivered, perhaps he would have laughed at this Chairman Chiang, and then told him of the Empire's decision, and reluctantly agreed to increase support for him.

However, now, he could only hurriedly throw out his hole cards, "Chairman Jiang, as a China expert, I have repeatedly recommended you to China, and only then did I have the three-country joint support plan. Since there is a danger of war on the Burmese border, you should also immediately mobilize your troops, at least do what you say, and hold back a part of the southwestern army. ”

"Does Mr. Minister mean that war will be inevitable?" Chiang Kai-shek said with a smile, he had never felt so cool, and even forgot the great unhappiness brought to him by Zhang Shusheng and the Southwest Group before, and he was really excited to see the British deflated.

"No, no, no, Mr. Chiang, you should understand that my mission, as a minister of a country, should be to settle disputes, not to facilitate war. I'm sorry, but the embassy still has some things to deal with, and I will compile a detailed report and submit it to China on the issue of increasing support for your political axe. ”

Rampuson got up and hurried away, and the first thing he did when he returned to the legation was to send the information he had heard from Chiang Kai-shek to the Far East Army Command in Burma and the British Foreign Office.

He had a hunch that this time, regardless of whether a larger land war broke out, he would once again be a member of the British negotiating team, because he really did not like the British army in Burma. At this time, if the navy makes any more aggressive moves, then Myanmar and India will suffer the wrath of nearly 6 divisions of Chinese troops. Six divisions of more than 100,000 southwestern soldiers, do they really want to set foot on the soil of Burma to deal with those emperors who can only bully the colonial thugs?

He knew very well that as during the Sino-Burmese War of that year, although the British garrison in Burma once reached the level of super-colonial configuration of five divisions, as conflicts broke out more and more intensively in the colonies, the troops were transferred away one after another, and they returned to the regular combat readiness level of the previous two divisions.

Burma is too far away for strategic value to be realized only when it may be lost, so, as in the last war, the empire is unprepared. Because, no one knows, when the Chinese will fight, and the empire cannot always have a huge number of troops there.

As for the southwest, he had already sent Counselor Ying Gelan to Kunming, but unfortunately, the result was that Zhang Shusheng was unwell and asked the counselor to wait for some time. When Rampson got this result, he couldn't help but be speechless, because it was exactly the same reason for his previous refusal to meet Chiang Kai-shek's diplomat, Gu Weijun.

China-Myanmar border, Ruili area.

Ding Llun is a villager from Lashio, a small place on the border with Myanmar, who often brings mountain goods or stones from the jungles of Myanmar to China. For them, all they need to cross the border is a certificate issued by a Chinese border guard.

As a Burmese who relies on the mountains to eat the goods and the mountains to eat the stones, the trade route from Lashio in Myanmar to Ruili is his lifeline.

Burmese people only have a name but no surname, from a child, when others still called him 'Maung Ding Lun', he came to China with those uncles and uncles to do business, but at that time, the villages and towns on this side of China were no different from Myanmar, except for more people, they were all wooden houses, dilapidated and old.

However, over the years, he has witnessed the rapid rise of the Chinese border city of Ruili, and by this time, he was already known as 'Guo Dinglun'. has changed from the child 'Maung Ding Lun' to Guo Dinglun in the mouth of his peers, and he is an adult. From the time when you could only use a small basket to carry two stones, to today you can pick a large basket of mountain goods, or a large basket of jade wool.

The Chinese first proposed the concept of the border, and then the army post appeared here, and the Chinese did not arbitrarily change their trade habits, but let them go to the border post to get a temporary pass, this document is valid only twice, valid on the same day, although a little troublesome, but the person who holds such a certificate will not be subjected to any trouble by those who seem to be extremely powerful.

Then, he found that the Chinese village began to build schools, and the little children who used to run around the village gradually disappeared, and they all ran to the classroom to sit, it is said that they went to school to study, and heard that every lunch they had was free, which made Ding Lun envious.

Looking back at the youngest son who followed behind him, he was ** years old, and he had already put on a small basket on his back, loading mountain goods and running with himself.

Later, the Chinese villages and towns began to prosper, and there were more things to build houses, and some people even began to build roads. I heard that the Chinese on the other side can grow a magical rice in every household, but even if the Burmese steal a handful from the rice field and keep it for the next year, it is useless, because the next year, most of these seeds are barnyard seeds.

He had even been to Ruili once, where there were already four or five stories high, which made her feel like she was in a dream.

As southwest China became wealthier, border trade became more and more developed. Industrious Burmese people from the Burmese side continue to send local products, wood, jade wool, and even furs, precious stones, etc., to China.

In China, they can even buy matches, nails, children's favorite balloons, soap, and even pork candy on the border farms. The border villages and towns on the Myanmar side have nothing, and even the goods in the small grocery stores are all bought from China.

This time he brought some fine jade wool and prepared to exchange for a sum of money, and with the capital and the money to buy goods, he could open a grocery store in his hometown of Lashio. He wanted to be like the traders on the other side who had dealt with him, from running errands to sitting in shops.

When he came to China's border checkpoint, Ding Lun stood in the first position again, and took his youngest son to line up before dawn early. At seven o'clock in the morning, the soldiers at the border guard post raised a Chinese national flag and military flag on time, and then several border guards with guns lined up to stand guard at the gate of the checkpoint.

Why didn't you open the checkpoint today?

Ding Lun was a little puzzled, at this time before, the checkpoint should have been opened, and the Chinese border guards would also begin to issue customs clearance certificates.

"Hello, honorable sir, what time is the checkpoint open today?" Ding Lon had always been almost a servant of caution with these mighty soldiers, but he had a good impression of them, they never took anything from the Burmese, let alone scolded themselves as 'foreigners', as long as they didn't break their rules or trespass, they would even help you pull a back basket when you passed through the checkpoint.

"Hello! I have just received an order from my superiors that the Lashio port to China will be closed immediately, and all idle people will not be allowed to enter the customs. The soldier snapped upright, held the gun in his left hand, slapped the gun with his right hand, and said solemnly a reason for not switching it that disappointed Ding Lun.

"Honorable sir, it's not easy for you to see that the child is running business with him at such a young age, so I take the liberty to ask again, when will it be switched on again?" The people behind Ding Lun also heard the conversation between him and the Chinese [***] people, these Burmese people on the Sino-Burmese border, all of whom can speak Chinese, and even use the southwestern renminbi. Hearing the closure of the gate, everyone frowned, but they didn't dare to make a noise.

"Sorry, military secrets, no comment." The soldier replied solemnly, then turned around and stood still, ignoring the Burmese border people.

The same thing happened at various border ports on the China-Myanmar border.

The British began to get unfavorable information from all sides, for example, Chinese fighters were massively gathering at Ruili Airport, and the main forces of two divisions were marching to the Sino-Burmese border overnight, forming horns with Ruili's two divisions, ready to launch a full-scale attack on Burma at any time.

The 'detailed information' sent back by Chiang Kai-shek's intelligence officers was also used as a key reference information for the British side.

In the accounts of the Kuomintang spies, they saw groups of trucks transporting war supplies on the highway from Kunming to Ruili.

Further information is that the veterans in the entire territory of Yunnan have received a notice that they are ready to be demobilized at any time, and this is not a small number, and the result of years of professional army building has made those veterans always think about returning to the army, and as long as this conscription and expansion order is finally issued, there will be at least two more divisions of older veteran troops in the southwest.

Then, before the Kuomintang troops had time to carry out the order of the Nanking political axe to 'delay a considerable number of southwestern troops', they discovered all sorts of anomalies.

First, planes from the southwest began to patrol over the defense belts of the two armies without stopping, and then, in Fujian, Hubei, and Shaanxi, it was discovered that the southwest army was conducting live-fire exercises, and the huge explosions produced by the other side's test firing of heavy artillery could be heard several miles away.

Faced with unfavorable intelligence from all directions, the British Far East Command in Burma was also in a state of panic.

When the British finally sent a reconnaissance plane for aerial reconnaissance, the pilot was so frightened that he almost drove the plane into a ravine. Here's how he reported to Lashio airport, "Report, I...... I...... Underneath our plane, it was found, and a continuous artillery group was found. Again, it's a continuous artillery group. Thick barrel, I'm sure it's a heavy gun over 120mm...... God, what did I see, dozens of tanks, Chinese actually concentrated dozens of tanks...... God, I can guarantee that they will be used to break through the border defenses...... Oh no, God, the Chinese anti-aircraft guns have spotted me and are firing at me, ......"

The report ended at this point, the reconnaissance plane was shot down. The remaining three reconnaissance planes that were sent later sent back the same result, but unfortunately, the next three planes were even more unlucky, and were directly smashed into pieces by the Chinese fighters stationed at Ruili Airport.

Three days later, London, England.

"Prime Minister, that's the way it is now. The Chinese concentrated about six divisions and hoarded heavy troops on the Chinese side of the Sino-Burmese border. They did not launch an active attack, but intelligence from all sides showed that their determination to fight was unusually strong. The War Department has urgently ordered the Indian Command to mobilize two divisions of troops to support the Far East Command in Burma. "A military adviser to the Prime Minister's Office is reporting to MacDonald.

MacDonald frowned, turned his head and asked a civilian official next to him, but it was his diplomatic assistant, "How did Ying Gelan talk to Zhang Shusheng after he saw him?" ”

The diplomatic assistant hesitated slightly, but still handed the report in his hand to the prime minister, "I'm sorry, Your Excellency Prime Minister, I think you should probably keep a calmer mind before reading this report, because ...... The demands of the Chinese are simply ridiculous. ”

MacDonald took the report suspiciously, and looked at it seriously, he knew that when the southwestern warlord mobilized six divisions to accumulate troops on the Sino-Burmese border, there was no need for this Sino-British war to continue, the empire would never fight a war with the Chinese in Burma or even India, and the aircraft carriers supporting the Far East had just set sail yesterday, and it was too troublesome to overhaul them, because they had never made a long voyage thousands of miles away.

However, as soon as he opened the report, MacDonald's heart was tight, for him, who was accustomed to seeing wind and waves, what he saw from the report at this moment still made him uncontrollable angry!

"Bang!"

MacDonald slammed his slap on the desk, the gentleman prime minister hadn't been so furious for a long time, and scared the two advisers and assistants beside him.

After a long time, he closed his eyes and said, "Tell Lampson to promise the Chinese peace talks in Guangdong." ”

It wasn't until the two assistants left that he opened his eyes, and the eyes that should have been angry and unsettled, but at the moment they seemed so indifferent, "A leader with a tough style, an economy that has just entered the world's top seven, and an army with a tenacious style that is not afraid of death." China's rise is already unstoppable, so let's create more stumbling blocks and thorns for him. ”

Looking around the prime minister's office, he wondered if he would be able to sit in the office, a symbol of the prime minister's rights, when the negotiations began, or were over.

"Perhaps, retirement is also a good choice." ――

(To be continued)