After the embassy in the United States reported the incident to Nanjing. The Central Executive Committee convened a meeting for a special discussion.

At the beginning of the meeting, Huang Ke joked: "I think everyone already knows." Roosevelt signed the Lend-Lease Act. Thanks to the efforts of our foreign affairs and propaganda departments, the U.S. government agreed to give China hundreds of millions of dollars in weapons and equipment loans, and this loan assistance is a relief for us. ”

After hearing Huang Ke say this, everyone in the conference room smiled. But the next words made everyone not interested.

Huang Ke continued: "But after hearing the complete news, I was both happy and worried. Naturally, such a huge weapons loan can help us solve a lot of problems, a lot of troop equipment can keep up, and a lot of production lines can continue to be restored. We are confident that we can continue to fight the next battle. ”

"But the worry is that the Americans have put forward a condition that in order to transport these weapons and strategic equipment from the United States, each country receiving aid needs to send its own cargo ships to transport them."

After Huang Ke finished speaking, the people in the conference room began to talk in private. Jiang Zhongzheng shook his head and said: "The Americans want us to contain the Japanese, but they don't want to offend the Japanese, but if they don't ship the goods, we will inevitably have a lot of trouble." ”

Song Ziwen also said: "At present, our transportation capacity is limited, and if we rely solely on ourselves to complete the material transportation, it will inevitably be difficult." Can the diplomatic service communicate a little more? ”

"The diplomatic department has tried its best to communicate, but the majority in the United States advocates non-intervention in the war. On the one hand, they made such a regulation mainly to aid Europe, and on the other hand, as Mr. Chiang said, they also wanted to avoid provoking Japan. Foreign Minister Gu Weijun couldn't help but sigh when he said this. The diplomacy of weak countries is to ask for help, and their work can be said to be very difficult.

Everyone chattered and discussed for a while, and when it came to the back, they talked about the question of whether Nanjing would stick to it or not. Some people even proposed to abandon Nanjing and move the capital to Chongqing, and then use US aid to resume production and make plans again.

However, as soon as this suggestion was spoken, Huang Ke scolded him back.

Everyone stopped discussing, so Huang Ke asked Zhang Yujia of the shipping department of the Ministry of Communications to talk about the current situation in the shipping department.

Zhang Yujia said with great difficulty, "Not to mention that there are no civilian freighters now, even if there are civilian freighters, it is difficult to transport materials over, because the Japanese have occupied most of the outlets to the sea." ”

"There are only a few ports of entry to the sea that are still semi-closed, not only unable to dock large cruise ships, but even ......"

Huang Ke knocked on the table: "Don't tell me about difficulties. I'm asking you to talk about the solution. So, you estimate, with the current transportation capacity, without taking into account the Americans, how many things can we transport from there every month? ”

Zhang Yujia thought for a while and said, "50 to 80 tons!" ”

"So little?"

"That's right, with such a little transportation capacity, I'm afraid it's not a drop in the bucket."

Everyone couldn't help but talk again, and Zhang Yujia smiled bitterly: "Ladies and gentlemen, Minister Chen of the Navy knows that our civilian cargo ships were bombed by Japanese warships a lot soon after the war. I said that the monthly transportation volume of 50 to 80 tons is also a relatively optimistic estimate, and these also take into account the situation that the Japanese do not blockade. At present, the Japanese intend to march on the front line of Guangdong, so it is not safe to go to Guangdong, so they can only go to Myanmar for transshipment. ”

Huang Ke nodded: "I support going to Myanmar for transshipment." Now Vietnam is the hinterland of the Japanese, and it is not safe to ship to Guangdong. In the current situation of shipping, can transport ships be requisitioned from the private sector? ”

Zhang Yujia thought about it and shook his head: "It's the same problem as state-owned transportation." China's private shipping has just started in recent years, and the only ones are still concentrated in Shanghai and Mawei. At present, these ports are occupied by the Japanese, and the ships are naturally no longer available. ”

Huang Ke couldn't help frowning, and he said to everyone: "That's it, let's go back and think of a way to solve the transportation problem first." I would like to make a request here, starting with me, that every one of you should find a way to rent a ship for transportation, and of course, small sampans do not count. Let's discuss the matter of going to the United States to negotiate the signing of the Lend-Lease Act. ”

After saying his request, Huang Ke did not leave the other Standing Committee members a chance to refute at all, and directly threw out the next topic.

After all, the President of the United States has signed the Lend-Lease Act, and the amount of loan assistance for China has already been given.

Jiang Zhongzheng suggested: "I think this matter will be handled by Ziwen and Wei Jun." The two of them are more familiar with the Western system, and they are naturally good at negotiation. ”

Since Wang Jingwei's defection, the administrative department has been headed by Sun Ke and Song Ziwen. Song Ziwen is the vice president of the Executive Yuan, and he also holds the position of the State Administration of Taxation, plus he knows more about the West and is familiar with the Americans, so they have no opinion.

Huang Ke said: "I agree with Zhongzheng's suggestion, Ziwen, what is your opinion?" ”

Song Ziwen stroked his glasses and said, "Okay, then I'll go with Wei Jun." ”

"Okay, that's it." After Huang Ke finished speaking, a dull sound came, and the lights in the conference room below flashed. Needless to say, the Japanese must have started bombing again.

"Without further ado, then you can get ready. There are still air raids outside. Fourteen, go and ask when the air raids of the air defense sector will be lifted? After the dismissal, I will send you back to the dignitaries. After Huang Ke finished speaking, he didn't wait for the end of the air raid, so he grabbed his military hat and walked out.

Fourteen Tsai told him that General Zhang Xueliang was now waiting for him in the meeting room of the Ministry of National Defense.

General Zhang Xueliang has been in Nanjing for more than two years. Before the Battle of Jinzhou, Huang Ke asked him to lead his troops to the Mongolian steppe for rest, and sent his fierce general Lin Zuoda to lead his troops to Jinzhou to clean up the mess.

General Lin lived up to expectations and stabilized the situation in the northeast. Not only did they hold Jinzhou and Pingjin, but they also continued to advance northward, and there was a great tendency to regain the lost territory.

Just when everyone thought that the central government was going to deprive Zhang Xueliang of his military power and let him die in Nanjing, Huang Ke found Zhang Xueliang again, and he told Zhang Xueliang that the Ministry of National Defense had decided to let him go out of the mountains and take the lead in the Northeast Army to carry out a counteroffensive across the country.

In fact, Huang Ke knew in his heart that Zhang Xueliang was not a handsome talent, but in the hearts of the hundreds of thousands of Northeast Army in Mongolia, he was an indispensable spiritual existence. On the day of the counteroffensive, Zhang Xueliang took them back to the northeast, which undoubtedly stimulated their inner desire to fight to the greatest extent.

Now that the original Northeast Army has almost cultivated in Mongolia, it's time to pull it out.

Once the Kwantung Army in the northeast is counterattacked by the Chinese army, then the pressure on Nanjing will be reduced a lot.

Huang Ke knew that Nanjing would not be able to hold on to the next battle just by relying on the current troops. The Japanese army was strong and strong, hundreds of thousands of troops besieged Nanjing, and Nanjing itself was in no danger to defend, and it was a matter of time before the city was broken.

But Huang Ke was unwilling and did not allow the destruction of Nanjing City to happen. He knows the tragedy in history, and if Nanjing is breached, who can guarantee that the tragedy will not happen?

China in the 20th century has experienced too much tragedy, and the souls of countless Chinese are difficult to comfort, and if he cannot hold Nanjing and avoid tragedy, he will always be tormented in his heart.

But how can the siege of Nanjing be broken?

Huang Ke is not a person of military scheming, except for the trick of encircling Wei to save Zhao, he can't think of any good plan for himself.

Of course, in wars all over the past, in addition to the victor's grasp of the people's hearts, excellent weaponry is an indispensable condition.

For a long time, weapon-only theory has been judged as a wrong idea, but Huang Ke believes that this does not mean that weapons and equipment cannot play a decisive role in war, on the contrary, advanced weapons and equipment are the basis for an army's victory.

At the beginning of the Battle of Nanjing, Huang Ke, who was well versed in this, thought that there must be a brave and good fighting force as a reserve force to defeat the Japanese army by surprise at a critical time in order to win the war.

Therefore, when the war was in full swing, he transferred Xue Boling's First Group Army Group to the Northeast Battlefield for training, and now that a large number of Zhang Xueliang's troops went to the Northeast to organize a counteroffensive, the First Group Army could be transferred to Yunnan to rest and recuperate, and when US aid arrived a month later, they could be fully equipped and sail to Nanjing to attack the Japanese troops besieging Nanjing.

This is also why Huang Ke wants Cui Wu to insist on at least a month and a half. Only by holding on to this time can he move freely and be sure to win this battle.

Of course, he can't tell the whole story now, after all, the situation on the battlefield is changing rapidly, and no one will know what will happen next? What's more, the fewer people who know about this strategic secret, the better it will be for implementation.

One can imagine what kind of reaction the fully mechanized First Army will have to the Japanese army in the future when it appears around Nanjing.

Thinking of this, Huang Ke walked upstairs amid the roar of the air raid.

Seeing Huang Ke coming, in the living room, Zhang Xueliang, who was thinking, immediately stood upright.

He put the military hat on his head in a proper manner, snapped a salute, and shouted loudly like a guard: "Hello minister! ”

Huang Ke smiled slightly, it seemed that his goal had been achieved.