In order to ensure the safety of the fleet, the Chinese side sent two aircraft carriers, the Ningyuan and the Jingyuan, to form a powerful battle group to provide maritime escort for the entire fleet.

It is impossible for such a fleet to be dispatched, and it is impossible to keep it secret, and besides, the Chinese side has no intention of hiding it, and it is completely generous to send things out, and no fleet in the waters of the South China Sea dares to challenge China's authority.

"President, Japanese Prime Minister Hideki Tojo has sent a handwritten letter!"

Qiao Yu knows very well that the little Japan around him is not a peaceful country, Germany has swept Europe, and they will definitely not be able to help but want to act, but how Japan plans to start, China is not clear. Tojo sent a handwritten letter at this time, and Qiao Yu couldn't help but pay attention to it.

Tojo's tone in the letter was very polite, but the content was not very polite, and the core meaning of Tojo was one, demanding that China stop military trade with Britain and abandon the Lend-Lease Act.

He cited a series of reasons, such as that Britain was a colonial empire that had committed unpardonable sins against the people of Asia, including the Chinese, and that they still occupied Asian land and plundered the wealth of Asia, which should not be supported.

The second point is that both Germany and Japan are willing to respect China's interests and will never let China suffer losses, as long as China can maintain a neutral attitude in the next war, China will be able to get everything it wants, and it will not have to be with Western nations!

Qiao Yu was completely scornful of Japan's self-righteousness, and how could China's policy be influenced by Japan, Qiao Yu immediately asked the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to issue a statement warning Japan not to be in the same boat as Germany. And don't try to upset the peace of Asia. Otherwise, China will impose comprehensive sanctions. Completely cut off trade between China and Japan!

Although Japan has developed the South China Sea for many years, it has already achieved results, and it is basically self-sufficient in oil, grain, and other materials. Rubber can still be exported, but Japan still has a serious shortage of non-ferrous metal mines, and without these important materials, Japan cannot produce high-performance materials.

Initially, Japan was able to import some of it from China. In addition, the United States will also export a lot of precious materials to Japan in the name of selling scrap steel, but with the ravages of Germany, both China and the United States regard fascist forces as the biggest threat, and Japan, which is allied with Germany, has become a bane in the Asia-Pacific region, and China and the United States have tightened the scale of sanctions.

In particular, after Japan's espionage operation in the Philippines was exposed, trade between the United States and Japan has actually come to a standstill, and now China is also going to cut off Sino-Japanese trade, which can be said to have a fatal impact on Japan.

Hideki Tojo also did not expect such a violent reaction from China, and he summoned all the cabinet members. Discussions took place overnight, and the razor Hideki Tojo brandished a Chinese statement. Roaring loudly: "Gentlemen, China has betrayed Asia and has completely become a lackey of the United States and Britain, not only does it not understand the good words and persuasions of the empire, but also threatens the empire, which the imperial government absolutely cannot bear. It can also be seen from this that the heavy task of liberating Asia can only be undertaken by the tenacious Empire of Japan, which together with its German allies will shape a new world order, establish a Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere, and bring happiness and tranquility to the people of Asia. ”

Tojo's speech won the support of most of the cabinet members, who in fact had no other choice, since Japan was defeated at the hands of China, the United Fleet elite was completely lost, and to restore a strong fleet again, it would take countless investments, building warships, training personnel, and so on.

In addition, Japan also realized that their army and air force were seriously underequipped, so they needed to develop new equipment, tanks needed to be larger, their defense capabilities were stronger, and their planes had to change from the era of biplanes to monoplanes, and everything required a staggering amount of money.

While Japan has worked hard to exploit the South Seas, it has also intensified its efforts to deprive the Japanese people, and more than 30 armed uprisings have occurred in Japan in the past 10 years.

The Yamato nation is a nation with such endurance, they all had to choose an armed uprising, which shows the ruthlessness and cruelty of Japan's deprivation, the top level of the Japanese government, including Emperor Hirohito, everyone knows that the people's patience is limited, if it is pressed like this, without external force, a large-scale uprising will break out in Japan, and by that time, it will be too late.

Since ancient times, the best way to divert contradictions has been to wage wars with foreign countries, waging wars of aggression, plundering huge amounts of wealth, and diverting the attention of the people, and Tojo has already determined this strategy before he came to power.

After gaining the support of all parties, Tojo immediately sent two aircraft carriers, the Soryu and the Flying Dragon, to quickly go north to intercept the Chinese fleet before it entered the Strait of Malacca and block the trade between China and Britain.

Japan's move is not crazy, and this kind of action is tantamount to challenging the two great powers of China and Britain at once, and the slightest carelessness will cause a major war. However, Japan also has its own calculations, they believe that Germany is now gaining momentum, and they are helping Germany by taking the lead in intercepting Sino-British trade.

Most of the Chinese people would have taken care of Germany's attitude and would not dare to really fight Japan, so Japan's two aircraft carriers dared to go north.

The Japanese have never thought that since China dares to sell arms to Britain, it proves that China does not take Germany seriously, let alone Japan, and such a crazy move now will only provoke a greater backlash from China.

The Chinese fleet is not very fast because of the large number of transport ships, and it is still nearly a hundred nautical miles away from Singapore, and the British have already transferred the main fleet back to Europe, and the largest warship in Singapore is a heavy cruiser, and when it was learned that the Chinese fleet was about to arrive, the British sent their own warships to meet it.

Soon the fleets of both sides were about to converge, and by this time the Chinese reconnaissance planes had spotted the Japanese aircraft carrier heading north.

China's own maritime territory is extremely vast, and China's main combat areas are in the Pacific region, China needs to expand the range of carrier-based aircraft as much as possible, the original range of China's Phoenix carrier-based aircraft is less than 1,000 kilometers, this distance can already meet the needs of the near sea, but if you want to go to the ocean is not possible, China has successively launched several improved models, of which the latest type has increased the range to 1,500 kilometers, after adding auxiliary fuel tanks, the range can exceed 2,000 kilometers.

This is already very prominent in the early days of World War II carrier-based aircraft, the Phoenix carrier-based aircraft took the lead in discovering the Japanese aircraft carrier, China and Japan had a tacit understanding in the past, Japanese aircraft carriers are not allowed to enter the South China Sea, and now the huge Japanese fleet appeared near the South China Sea without any notice, which can be regarded as an act of war.

Shen Honglie, who was on the Ningyuan, got a report from a reconnaissance plane that the Japanese aircraft carrier appeared near Malacca, which was definitely a provocation to China, and in the face of this kind of behavior, China absolutely could not retreat, and Shen Honglie immediately ordered all the carrier-based planes to take off and enter a state of war.

In addition, he also sent a report to China, asking for domestic authorization to attack Japanese aircraft carriers at any time.

At this time, Hideki Tojo sent a diplomatic note to the Chinese government through the Japanese ambassador to China, hoping that China would stop selling weapons to Britain and accept Japan's friendly advice not to get involved in a war in Europe.

Japan's audacity to use aircraft carriers to threaten China is something that is unacceptable to China, and Qiao Yu immediately authorized Foreign Minister Gu Weijun to issue the most stern warning to Japan.

Gu Weijun faced the stern announcement of reporters from various countries that China's provision of weapons to Britain to defend the country through the Lend-Lease Act against Britain was entirely a matter for China and Britain, and Japan had no right to interfere. Now that Japan has reneged on its previous agreement and is approaching the Strait of Malacca with warships, it is a serious threat to international shipping routes, and China will absolutely not accept Japan's blackmail by force.

Finally, Gu Weijun pointed out that Japan and Germany have signed a military alliance agreement, which is an out-and-out alliance agreement of aggression, and China seriously opposes it, and it is best for Japan to abandon the alliance with Germany and not try to satisfy its greed by relying on a war of aggression, which is a road of no return!

At the same time as the Chinese Foreign Ministry issued a statement, China's carrier-based aircraft were ready for battle and could launch a strike on Japan at any time, and Shen Honglie and all the naval soldiers were ready for battle, and it was the consistent proposition of the Chinese military to completely destroy Japan's war capability.

China's carrier-based aircraft have already flown towards the Japanese aircraft carrier, putting on a posture of starting a war at any time, but the Japanese side is not ready for war, they just want to test it, they did not expect China to react so quickly, if the two sides go to war, this is not playing with fire and self-immolation.

The Japanese aircraft carrier did not take-for-tat measures, but sent a clear code telegram, saying that it was a misunderstanding and hoped that the Chinese side would not miscalculate, and then the Japanese aircraft carrier began to retreat, and the confrontation for several hours disappeared, and calm was restored on the sea again.

However, everyone knows that this is just the beginning, Japan already wants to use force, and war is definitely not too far away.

Qiao Yu immediately issued an order to expand the army, increasing the total number of Chinese land forces to 3 million, and stepping up the construction of naval bases on the Ryukyu Islands and the South China Sea and other islands to build a solid maritime defense line.

In addition, the most important thing is to strengthen the forces of the Korean side and the Far East, which is the land border between China and Japan, and it is also the most important springboard for Japan to attack the Asian continent.

The theater has four armored divisions, two motorized infantry divisions, and 18 infantry divisions, with a total number of more than 1,000 tanks and more than 800 combat aircraft. (To be continued.) )