-- Berlin press conference venue

Recently, all the newspapers in Europe have been swept up by Germany and Czechoslovakia, and now the German government must respond to this matter.

A tall, lanky man, dressed in a yellow suit, walked up to the podium, but it was none other than Joseph Goebbels, the propaganda minister who was fiercely loyal to Hitler, Goebbels cleared his throat and raised his hand in a Nazi salute to the reporters below.

Suddenly, the people below were divided into two groups, one with a frenzied look in their eyes in response to the Nazi salute, and the other part looked at the Germans around them with a little helplessness, disdain, and a hint of envy.

"Minister Goebbels, I wonder what the purpose of this press conference is? Is it to explain the recent rumors of your country's intention to annex Czechoslovakia? A reporter asked first.

Goebbels shook his head and said, "The theme of our press conference this time is not this, but since you asked, I will say a few words, we in Germany only hope that the German nation can live in peace and freedom, and the anti-people atrocities and historical origins of the Sudetenland have determined that we in Germany should support the people there to get the freedom they deserve, as for other regions, we in Germany are not interested, not now, and will not have in the future." We in Germany are still very weak, and what we want more now is to ensure our own survival. ”

At that moment, a female reporter stood up and said, "Hello, I am a reporter from The Times, and you said that Germany is still very weak, but as far as I know, your country now has more than a million regular troops, and such troops are counted in the whole world. ”

Goebbels smiled slightly, beckoned, and several soldiers handed them out with a bunch of small notebooks.

Goebbels said: "This is the subject of our press conference -- the White Paper on the Military Power of the Soviet Union. ”

One stone stirs up a thousand waves, the Soviet Union. The country behind the Iron Curtain, the mysterious red country, the shadow over the whole of Europe, and now Germany is going to publish a white paper on their military power, and this news is enough to make their pages go viral for days.

Goebbels continued: "On the basis of the testimonies of those who fled from the Soviet Union, the data published by the Soviet Union itself, the industrial output of the Soviet Union in recent years, and some of our secret intelligence sources, we have the details of the military strength of the Soviet Union today, and you can open it and look at it, and what we know for sure is that the Soviet Union at this time had 400,000 navy, 500,000 air force, 3 million army, and 4 million reserves. It has more than 10,000 tanks, more than 10,000 aircraft, and 30,000 cannons. ”

"Wow" everyone screamed in horror, and even a few people's pens fell to the ground, although they expected that the military strength of the Soviet Union must not be weak, but they never expected that it would be so strong.

Ignoring the reaction, Goebbels continued: "Our purpose in issuing this white paper is simple: we hope that the Soviet Union will stop the expansion of its military power and ease the tension with the surrounding countries. Stop unhealthy military competition. ”

Now where does anyone care what Goebbels is talking about, those reporters who look through the white paper find that there are not only the figures just mentioned, but also a large amount of military intelligence, such as the performance and weakness of some Soviet military equipment. Believing that what Goebbels said must be true, they hurriedly ran out to send a telegram to their newspaper, and the whole of Europe suddenly changed from the German threat theory to the Soviet threat theory.

"I didn't expect the Soviets to have so many troops, don't they have to do anything else?" Inside a café. An English gentleman said as he touched his beard and looked at the newspaper.

"It is said that Stalin had a machine that could produce an army, and who knows what cruel experiments those red demons have done." Another gentleman laughed.

"The threat of the Soviet Union is much greater than that of Germany, and I think it would be better if Germany is stronger. In this way, the Soviet Union can be contained, and if you look at the white paper released by Germany this time, you can see that the Soviet Union and Germany are simply incompatible. The first gentleman thought for a moment and said, "Jem, aren't you a councilor?" I think we should make a voice out that the Soviet Union is the biggest threat to us in Europe. ”

Another gentleman nodded approvingly and said, "What you say is very reasonable, I see, as long as the Soviet Union and Germany are hostile, there will be no problem, and this is also the continental equilibrium that we have always demanded." ”

A café

Benes was wearing a black coat, and walked in with some nervousness, it was still a hot September day, seeing Benes sweating profusely in the heat, Jiang Cheng couldn't help but smile and said, "Mr. Benes, take off your clothes, it's all our own people here, are you afraid of assassination or what?" ”

Benes threw his clothes away with a blue face and said, "You know what? I have already escaped three assassinations, and Hitler is crazy, and he thinks that in this way I will give in. ”

Jiang Cheng took out a cigarette and threw it to Benes and said, "How is it?" Do you have an idea for what I said now? You should feel it, since Hitler released the White Paper on Soviet Military Power, Britain and France have had the idea of strengthening Germany in order to contain the Soviet Union, and the tragedy of Czechoslovakia has become a foregone conclusion.

Benes gritted his teeth tightly, and the nails of his hands even pinched out the blood, of course Benes knew the change in the rumors, Britain and France had even sent a note, hoping that they would carefully consider the Sudetenland, and they were insinuating that the threat of the Soviet Union and Germany only needed the Sudetenland.

Nothing more? The Sudetenland is the land of my Czechoslovakia, cede the Sudetenland today, and who knows if I will be in Prague tomorrow?

Benes slowly let go and said, "I'll sign a contract with your group, what do you need?" I could have written it, but don't forget my request. ”

Jiang Cheng smiled and said, "I only need people and machinery, all the weapons and money I can leave to you personally, we have a saying in China, called pulling up the recruitment flag, have their own food people, once Germany annexes Czechoslovakia, the second European war is just around the corner, Hitler's ambitions are not small Czechoslovakia can be filled, and the Soviet Union and the United States are two big countries watching the play on the side, when you just pull up the banner of restoring Czechoslovakia, plus your connections and weapons, the matter of recovering the country, Yi also." ”

Benes nodded firmly and said, "Then don't waste time, let's get started." ”

Jiang Cheng beckoned, and Chen Nan took out a large box of documents. One by one, Benes took out his pen and began to sign his name.

-- Yichang

The anti-Japanese war is a protracted war, and this viewpoint has gradually been recognized by the people, and there are three most important things in a protracted war -- food, weapons, and soldiers.

China is not short of people, and China, which still holds the two lakes and Sichuan, is not short of food, and what China lacks most is weapons. And the output here can't even support the original Sichuan army, not to mention the total number of more than 3 million national troops in the country at this time.

Wuhan as a concentration of materials at this time, how to transfer these vital materials to the rear has become a big problem, Wuhan and Chongqing Sichuan rivers are connected, by shipping, a round trip takes a week, but the time for the national army is running out.

Chen Cheng, as one of the most trusted people in Jiang's intermediary, was ordered at this time. held the important position of commander-in-chief of the retreat, and the person standing beside him at this time was a businessman - Lu Zuofu

Lu Zuofu, a native of Chongqing, founded Minsheng Company, one of the largest and most influential private enterprise groups in modern China. In 1935, there were 42 steamers with a tonnage of 16,884 tons and an output of 7.3 million yuan, operating 61% of the shipping business on the Sichuan River.

Lu Zuofu's success is for a reason, he started from scratch. But he is good at uniting the people around him, and his company's dividends are not based on position like other companies, but are classified as fifth according to performance. The most basic clerks, sailors and general managers perform equally and receive equal dividends. Lu Zuofu was rated as a first-class person, and he received 49 yuan like a first-class tea room. Zhang Qun, a native of Sichuan, a white party boss, said that he was: a scholar without formal education, a modern entrepreneur without personal enjoyment, and a tycoon without money.

Due to the needs of the war, most of the ships in the hands of the Nationalist Government were supporting the front-line operations, and a large number of ships sank to block the enemy, and Lu Zuofu also had a large number of ships that were pulled to Tianjia Town to sink themselves, at this time he only had less than 30 ships, but it also became the most important shipping force.

As the commander-in-chief of the retreat, Chen Cheng actually had two choices, one was to incorporate all the ships on the Yangtze River for military management, which was also the most common method, and then unify the command. The advantage of this method is that it is possible to master a large number of ships, and the disadvantages are extremely obvious. After all, Chen Cheng and other soldiers are not as proficient in transportation work as shipping companies. It is easy to have a situation where the so-called layman leads the insider, resulting in the fact that even if there is a ship, it cannot be used.

The second is to abandon the unified military management, and let a few civilian companies take charge of it, and the military will give control and guidance to the work, because they know the Yangtze River shipping best, and they are the real experts on the front line.

After thinking about it, Chen Cheng decided to take the risk of taking the second road, which was also a lesson that Nanjing taught him back then, and the shipping thing still had to be done by experts. Chen Cheng invited Lu Zuofu to be the leader of this retreat, and even asked Jiang for him the position of deputy minister of transportation for him to command.

"Chief Chen, the only way is to transport the materials in sections, and it is impossible to directly transport the materials to Chongqing at once." Lu Zuofu said with bloodshot red eyes.

"Oh? What do you want to do about the sectional transportation law? Chen Cheng immediately asked.

"Divided into three sections, you also know, the draft of our Yangtze River is not the same, the most fatal is the Three Gorges, which year does not swallow the lives of hundreds of people, and many ships can not cross the Three Gorges at all, I think so, we first use the river and land, transport all the personnel and materials to Yichang, Yichang is only 500 kilometers away from Wuhan waterway, and this section of the waterway is easier to walk, and there is Yueyang to respond, safety is also guaranteed, even if Wuhan is lost, I think it will take a while to reach Yichang, and we will transfer to Sichuan at that time There is also time. Then take the Three Gorges as the point and then as a section, and finally go to the hinterland of Sichuan. Lu Zuofu pointed to the map and said.

Chen Cheng thought about it for a moment and said, "We have 500,000 people in Wuhan, all of whom will be transferred, and there are still a large number of materials, which I estimate will cost two or three million tons, are you sure?" ”

Lu Zuofu shook his head and said, "Don't dare to say it, do your best, we have now collected more than nine hundred large wooden boats and two thousand small wooden boats, I have a few proposals, I hope that Chief Chen will support it." ”

Chen Cheng immediately said, "Of course I support it, you just say it." ”

Lu Zuofu thought for a while and said, "First, in order to increase our transportation capacity, whether rich or poor, all of them are seat tickets, and the cancellation of sleepers is actually a ticket. At most, we will take out a few ships to transport the elites of society. ”

Chen Cheng nodded and said, "Okay, if anyone has an opinion, just ask him to come to me." ”

Lu Zuofu continued: "Second, there must be an order in transportation, in terms of personnel, children and children first, social elites second, women again, civilians again, and soldiers last. In terms of materials, important production materials, scientific research equipment and cultural relics are the first, military equipment is the second, other heavy industrial equipment is the third, light industry is again, and other materials are last. ”

Chen Cheng couldn't help frowning when he heard this, but looking at Lu Zuofu with a firm face, he nodded and said, "Okay, listen to you." ”

Lu Zuofu wrenched his fingers and said, "Third, our army has no air superiority, the Japanese army will definitely block it with air strikes, and I need air cover or a large number of anti-aircraft guns." The most time-consuming part of transportation is unloading, and I need at least 5,000 laborers to do this work, preferably experienced. ”

Chen Cheng replied: "The commission has already said that all air defense forces are mainly transported, except for the basic forces supporting the front line, they cannot be moved, and now even the anti-aircraft guns next to the office building of the commission are unloaded for you to use." ”

Only then did Lu Zuofu clench his fists and say, "I, Lu Zuofu, will definitely complete the task and not let the hope of our nation be ruined." ”

-- Wuhan Wharf

The first boat set off, and it was full of children, these were children from orphanages and various schools, just seeing them shaking their thin hands, Lu Zuofu's heart calmed down.

It will work, it will definitely work, and it will definitely be able to transport these materials to the rear safely!! Lu Zuofu kept cheering himself up.

The big transportation began, all the laborers called the number to carry the materials on the ship, and the materials were marked with various steps to determine the order, and the personnel bought tickets one by one to get on the ship, but the price was only a symbolic little bit, if it was a child who simply got on the ship for free, Lu Zuofu was busy on the dock wearing the same clothes as the employees.

"Auntie, you can't bring these, if you bring these tables and chairs, you will bring one less person."

"Sir, keep these books at home, you can take away a child with these boxes of books."

"Don't mess up, don't mess up, come in order, the devil is still far away from us, don't worry."

"Don't get on it again, be careful that the boat capsizes, don't be greedy, go, go immediately, it's only right to come back quickly."

The real difficulty on the dock is communication, even at this time, there are countless people who can't wait to carry the house on their backs and take it away, seeing that some people even carry vases on their bodies, Lu Zuofu can't help but smile bitterly, he can only persuade, and finally simply order everyone to only bring things with a limited weight, and throw them directly into the water if they are more, for a while, there was a burst of crying, but there were a lot more people on the boat.

The withdrawal is continuing. )