After the death of General Zhang Zizhong, Liu Jian dispatched the 200,000 troops under his command in Jinan and began to counterattack. The two sides fought fiercely on the front line of Zibo and Weifang.

After this battle, Okamura Ninji did not have the ability to continue the offensive, and the territory occupied by this counteroffensive in North China was also lost soon after, and the Chinese army in North China needed to be repaired at this time, so the large-scale fighting on the front line in North China was reduced a lot, and the two sides entered a stage of stalemate in North China.

Compared with the fighting momentum of frequent counteroffensives in the Chinese battlefield, the British and American forces in Southeast Asia are obviously much inferior.

Shortly after the New Year, the Japanese occupied Manila in the Philippines, Malaysia, and Dutch Indonesia, and the arrogant MacArthur had no choice but to abandon his tens of thousands of American troops and flee by boat to Darwin, Australia.

Compared to MacArthur, the British General Hutton was no better, and after the Japanese invaded Burma along the Thai route, the British army under his command was defeated one after another, and basically did not win a single battle. Now that the Japanese army is attacking Rangoon, and seeing that Rangoon and the whole of Burma are about to fall into the hands of the enemy, Hutun urgently appeals to the authorities in London for help.

At this time, the British, who had always been suspicious, made a request to China for Chinese troops to enter Burma through Dennis, the British military attache in China, and the diplomatic department.

When this request arrived at Huang Ke's desk, Huang Ke flipped through it casually and snapped it shut.

He stood up and walked to the window, and said angrily: "At this time, I remembered to ask for help, after the three countries agreed, I asked to send troops to Burma, at that time, our army did not need to bring anything, and when we arrived in Burma, we could be armed with aid equipment." I was suspicious all day long, and now the best time to fight has been missed, Rangoon is surrounded by Japanese devils, and the equipment of several divisions has been thrown to the Japanese, but they are asking for help at this time! ”

Secretary Chen Liewen stood aside and did not dare to speak, he knew that Huang Ke was very angry because of the affairs in Myanmar. Indeed, after the establishment of the Chinese theater of operations, the United States suggested that China send troops to Burma, and Huang Ke decided to send troops to Burma immediately. At that time, there was still a large amount of American-style equipment in Yangon, and after the formation of the expeditionary force, it could be armed on the spot immediately when it went abroad.

But the British have always been suspicious and do not let China send troops too soon. Now that the 55th and 33rd Divisions of the Japanese Army have surrounded important towns such as Yangon in Burma, the British who knew that a catastrophe was imminent hurriedly requested the expeditionary force to enter Burma to fight, and it is no wonder that Huang Ke was so angry.

"Chief, now the British military attache Dennis and Prime Minister Churchill's personal representative, Weiat, are waiting outside, do you want to tell them to let them go back first?" Chen Liewen asked tentatively, he knew that Huang Ke was angry at this time, so it was not easy to say it and let him go to see these people.

Huang Ke was silent for a few seconds, then said coldly: "Let them wait for a while, and let them wait for me in the conference room in ten minutes." ”

"Yes!" After speaking, Chen Liewen turned around and walked out.

About ten minutes later, Huang Ke changed into his uniform and walked out, and when he walked to the conference room, Dennis and Weiatt both stood up.

Dennis stood up and saluted, Huang Ke is now the commander of the Chinese theater, so he naturally wants to salute. Huang Ke's hand lightly touched the eyebrows, which was a return gift.

However, Wei Yat didn't make any move, just politely greeted Huang Ke. After all, they are the personal representatives of the prime minister, and the military salute is also somewhat inappropriate.

Huang Ke sat down on the chair opposite them, and at this time, the translator and others walked in to do it, Chen Liewen served tea, and then closed the door of the conference room as he left.

After Weiat and Dennis glanced at each other, Dennis leaned forward and said, "Mr. Chairman, you must have understood the war situation in Burma now, and we ask the Chinese government to send troops to maintain the Yunnan-Burma Highway." ”

Dennis's final focus was on the Burma Highway, apparently reminding Huang Ke that the Burma army was sent to maintain the normal operation of the Burma Highway.

Huang Ke looked cold when he heard this, and he said lightly: "The Japanese don't block the Yunnan-Burma Highway, don't you also block it for three months?" ”

Weiat and Dennis looked at each other, they knew that what Huang Ke was talking about was not long ago, when Japan and Britain had not yet started a war, Britain blocked the Yunnan-Burma Highway to aid China for three months according to Japan's wishes, and Britain did not do this very authentically.

Weiatt thought for a moment and said, "Mr. Chairman, I think we should let the unpleasantness that happened before this pass us. After all, we are now allies, and as allies, China has an obligation to provide support for the theaters under its jurisdiction. Of course, we also sincerely ask for the Chinese troops to enter Myanmar. ”

Huang Ke was silent for a moment after hearing this, he knew that there would be no practical benefit in a battle of words for a while. On the contrary, it will bring more distrust to China and the UK.

"Now that you've made your request, we're going to honor our obligations as allies. In the near future, the expeditionary force will organize troops to fight in Burma. The specific operational arrangements and the details of the arrival in Burma still need to be discussed by the two sides. Okay, it's not too early, I won't leave the two of you, you can go back and report as soon as possible. After speaking, Huang Ke got up, shook hands with Weiat and Dennis, and walked out the door.

……

The expeditionary force was about to start, and at this time, Sun Licai learned that after entering Burma, the so-called promised American-style equipment had come to naught, and now they could only rely on their own equipment to fight in Burma.

Fortunately, Huang Ke personally approved a batch of domestically produced equipment to be installed in the expeditionary force, which basically formed the soldiers and combat effectiveness of the expeditionary force. The domestic war against Japan is now basically in a stage of relative confrontation, which made Huang Ke decide to allocate the corresponding equipment to the expeditionary force.

After the equipment arrived, the expeditionary force began to prepare to fight in Burma.

Just before entering Burma, the British sent a telegram to Sun Liren, saying,

……

The chief of staff of the Chinese theater sent by the United States will also arrive in Nanjing in the near future. Song Ziwen reported the matter to Huang Ke and said, "The United States originally planned to send Lieutenant General Duan Lan to serve as chief of staff of the Chinese theater. Lieutenant General Duan Lan proposed to increase China's military assistance, arm 20 divisions of troops, launch a counteroffensive against the Japanese army from Burma, and take Burma, Thailand and other places. ”

But Marshall, chief of staff of the U.S. military, opposed this plan, he felt that it was not appropriate to provide large-scale assistance to China at this time, and similarly, the idea of Europe first and then Asia has always been very marketable among U.S. generals, so the proposal did not pass. The U.S. side sent General Stilwell to China. ”

Song Ziwen added: "Of course, this kind of thinking of putting Europe first and then Asia has also made the US military suffer. After the Philippines and other places were occupied by the Japanese army, the United States also criticized this idea, believing that it was 'Europe first and then Asia' that led to the shortage of British and American troops stationed in Southeast Asia, which led to the occupation by the Japanese army so quickly. ”

After hearing this, Huang Ke said: "It's nonsense. Yamashita Fengwen captured tens of thousands of rifles, hundreds of artillery pieces, and more than 10,000 vehicles of the British and American troops in Southeast Asia and Burma, and these equipment were more than the military reserves of our East China Theater, but they could not even defeat the 20,000 people of Yamashita Fengfumi. If you give us this equipment, let's see if our troops can regain lost territory? ”

Song Ziwen nodded: "Britain and the United States do have no intention of fighting in Southeast Asia, and the morale of officers and soldiers is low, so the combat effectiveness is naturally reduced." ”

After a period of grumbling, Song Ziwen was ready to report to Huang Ke about Stilwell's resume.

Huang Ke naturally knew about this person, he waved his hand and said: "I know this person, he has been a staff officer since he graduated from the military academy, and he has never led troops to fight. It must be explained to the American and British sides that Stilwell cannot command our expeditionary force, and neither can the British. When our army entered Burma, it was necessary to defend Mandela, the stronghold of the Yunnan-Burma Highway, as the top priority, and other requests should be carried out. ”

"This ......" Song Ziwen is a little difficult to do, because Huang Ke's request is estimated that neither the British nor the United States will agree.

"If you don't agree, you have to agree, our soldiers are there to defend the Yunnan-Burma Highway, not to fight for the British and Yankees." Huang Ke said angrily.

Song Ziwen nodded: "I will pass on the meaning to the American side." ”

After saying this, Song Ziwen wanted to say something, but he found that Huang Ke's temper has been getting worse and worse recently, and if he continues like this, he will have a stalemate with Britain and the United States.

……

There is a reason why Huang Ke is annoyed these days. In addition to the perfidy of Britain, the United States, and the Soviet Union, the more important reason is that the "918" project, in which he invested a lot of money and energy, has recently been delayed due to a shortage of funds.

The attitude of Britain, the United States and the Soviet Union towards China made Huang Ke more urgent to need the 918 Project to obtain the country's military recognition and independence, so Huang Ke became more and more concerned about this matter.

He was annoyed when he heard that the cost of carrying out the 918 project had been cut off for some time. No one reported this matter to him, and the Ministry of Finance actually cut off the funds for the 918 project without permission, which is really misleading the country and the people.

However, it was not too late to know, Huang Ke personally approved a fund of 5 million yuan for the 918 project, in addition, Zhu Jiaren, an engineer of Jiangnan Heavy Industry Group, also approached the Ministry of National Defense, and he proposed to develop a helicopter, hoping that the Ministry of Defense could allocate the corresponding funds.

Huang Ke also waved a pen and allocated 1 million yuan to Jiangnan Heavy Industry for the research and development of helicopters.

A few days later, Finance Minister Kong Xiangxi came to Nanjing from Wuhan for the first time, saying that he wanted to report the financial situation to Huang Ke personally.

Kong and Huang have always been at odds, and the two have had a lot of conflicts because of the children at home before, and there is no harmony in politics. However, I have to admit that Kong does have a few brushes in finance, and the currency reform he carried out before, as well as various financial co-ordination later, sometimes it is really not possible without him, a big housekeeper.

However, Kong's family relied on his position to make a lot of personal gains, and the Yangzi company still bought glass stockings, high-end cigarettes, and all kinds of high-end consumer goods from the military line in the department stores in Nanjing, Wuhan, and Chongqing.

Of course, Huang Ke also turned a blind eye to this. After all, the relationship can't be too stiff, otherwise there will really be no way to get things done.

This time Kong Xiangxi came, Huang Ke felt that it must be related to a grant a few days ago.

A few days ago, Huang Ke signed a financial allocation for the "918" program, which will allocate 5 million yuan for continuing research, but the Ministry of Finance rejected this grant application a few days ago.

Come to think of it, Kong Xiangxi should have come for this matter this time.

He listened to Kong Xiangxi's report in his office. Kong Xiangxi took off the little top hat on his head, touched his neat hair, and nodded slightly at Huang Ke, which was regarded as a hello.

Huang Ke walked over and said with a smile: "Yongzhi, what is the matter with coming from afar?" Come on, come on, sit. ”

Kong Xiangxi sighed and said, "Chairman of the Committee, this time I came to report on the last time about a six-million appropriation. ”