Episode 168 Concession

With the Ming Dynasty, the United States, and Siam not recognizing the Soviet Union, but recognizing the Free Russian government as the legitimate government of Russia.

The next thing to solve is how to legally bring a large amount of supplies from the United States ashore. This is because the United States "Neutrality Act" stipulates that weapons and war materiel shall not be transported into the ports of any belligerent country. Now the Russian Federation, although not a "belligerent", but only an "internal warn", but the Ming is a belligerent - a belligerent with Japan. Then, according to the restrictions of the U.S. neutrality law, it is definitely not possible to directly transport the goods into the port of Daming. And it is also unrealistic to ship directly into the ports of "Free Russia", such as Korsakov on Sakhalin.

First of all, the area south of the Khingan Mountains in the Far East, including Sakhalin Island, was not intended to be counted as Russian territory in the future, but intended to be directly recovered and become Chinese territory. Now the Free Russian government is here, it is only a transitional stage, and next year the front will expand to the west, and the Ming Dynasty is ready to move the Free Russian government to "Novosibirsk" in Central Asia. Founded in 1893, Novosibirsk is the largest city in Siberia and the third largest city in Russia after Moscow and St. Petersburg. The use of this as the seat of the government of Free Russia did not disgrace the new government in any way. And it is further west, so that Free Russia can move westward in the future.

Another more practical reason is that Sakhalin and Vladivostok are now in the Sea of Japan and the Sea of Okhotsk. This sea area is controlled by Japan, and it cannot be transported into it at all. Therefore, Ming, the United States, and Russia can only come up with a workaround.

On March 1, 1938, the Ming government and the government of the Russian Federation signed a Lend-Lease treaty. The Ming Empire leased the port of Guangzhou to the Russian Federation for a period of five years. However, it is limited to the port area of Guangzhou, excluding Guangzhou. During these five years, the Republic of the Russian Federation exercised full sovereignty over the port of Guangzhou, which is legally defined as the territory of the Republic of the Russian Federation. At the same time, the Ming Empire also leased the entire railway from the port of Guangzhou to Khabarovsk to the Russian Federation for a period of five years. Within these five years, the entire railway and the land within five meters on both sides of it are legally defined as the territory of the Russian Federation.

The treaty was called the Ming-Russia Lend-Lease Treaty for the Port of Guangzhou and the Railway. The Ming nominally charged 1,000,000 Ming Yang per year for Free Russia as rent. That is to say, after the signing of this treaty, within five years, in addition to the port of Guangzhou, the Russian Federation also has a "narrow territory" in the territory of Daming that is several thousand kilometers long but only a few meters wide. In this way, from the time the goods were sent from the United States, to the landing in Guangzhou, to the transportation through the entire East Asian continent to Khabarovsk, they never set foot on the territory of the Ming Dynasty, and they were always within the territory of the Russian Federation.

On March 2, the government of the Russian Federation signed another treaty with the government of the Ming Empire, granting the Ming the right to use the Russian lease. That is to say, during the lease period, Daming can continue to use the port of Guangzhou, and the railway from the port of Guangzhou to Khabarovsk. Legally speaking, the above concessions only have the "right to use", but the "sovereignty" is still free of Russia.

Everyone can see that in these so-called "concessions", Free Russia is just a name, at most a Russian flag. And the actual control and use rights are still completely in the hands of Daming. Daming did this just to take advantage of loopholes and bypass the US "Neutrality Act". This kind of scoundrel practice can be described as unprecedented and unprecedented. Not only the Soviet Union, but many people, including opponents of the United States, felt that their IQ was insulted. But there is no way, I can't find fault in the slightest in the law. Whether it's the laws of the United States, the laws of the Ming Dynasty, or international conventions.

After the signing of the treaty, a solemn "handover ceremony" was held in Guangzhou's port area and at all railway stations along the railway. In the generous and pathetic music of "Mountains and Rivers of the Old Country", the Ming national flag was slowly lowered, respectfully folded, and sealed. Next, to the solemn and melodious music of "God Bless Russia" (rewritten from "God Bless the Tsar"), the flag of Free Russia was slowly raised.

Now that all preparations have been made, we are waiting for the first batch of American supplies to enter Guangzhou.

In order to completely avoid the attack of the Japanese navy, the route from the United States to Daming was mainly the Atlantic and Indian Ocean routes. After the cargo ship came out of the Strait of Malacca, it directly entered the South China Sea and headed north to the port of Guangzhou. The entire South China Sea route from the Strait of Malacca to Guangzhou was within the scope of the Ming military's maritime power. A small number of ships departed from the West Coast of the United States, so they had to take the risk of taking the Pacific route. However, in order to avoid the Japanese navy as much as possible, the merchant ships traveled as far south as possible, entering the South Sea from the Coral Sea, that is, between Australia and Papua New Guinea, and then passing through the East Indies and into the South China Sea.

The Atlantic-Indian Ocean route is more than 21,000 kilometers long, and the Pacific route is also more than 18,000 kilometers, and it takes more than a month for cargo ships to drive slowly. The first American freighters departed at the end of February and arrived in Guangzhou at least in early April. You can't be idle during this period, and you must make good use of your time. Throughout the first half of March, there were frequent telegraph exchanges between the Ming Dynasty and the United States, and large orders were finalized.

Ye Ziyu and Bai Xiaoman's marriage was also finalized quickly. The marriage has now become a hot news in the media of both countries. Ye Ziyu's own status is not high, he is just a military cadet, but as the commander of the People's Guard of the Ming Empire, the brother-in-law of the Marquis Xiang Xiaoqiang, and the younger brother of the Ryukyu princess, he is naturally very eye-catching at this juncture. And Bai Xiaoman, as one of the major shareholders of the Ford Motor Company in the United States and the only daughter of Deli Bai, the president of Daming Ford Company, attracted no less attention than Ye Ziyu. The marriage between the two is considered to be very symbolic, almost symbolizing the "marriage" of the two countries in the economic sphere.

Everyone expected that the largest order in Daming's procurement of the United States must be automobiles. Ford's leading position in the U.S. auto industry and its incomparable production capacity have undoubtedly become the largest supplier of military vehicles for the Ming Army.

With the free entry of a large number of military vehicles into the Ming Dynasty and the Ming army, it is no longer a dream for the Ming Dynasty to recover the north and south of Xinjiang within two years. Central Asia is different from Northeast Asia, although Northeast Asia is very close to the political and economic center of the Ming Dynasty, and the supply line is not long, but what is lacking is the terrain. It is mainly a forest and snow field and swampland, and there is a lack of roads for the rapid advancement of large-scale mechanized corps and motorized corps.

But Central Asia is different. Although Central Asia is far away from the center of the Ming Dynasty, the supply line is very long, but the terrain is flat, the climate is dry, either the prairie or the Gobi, there are roads everywhere, you can drive everywhere, and it is most suitable for large-scale mechanized corps to advance. In Central Asia, what is lacking is not roads, but means of transport. Longer supply lines require more transportation. If the Ming army's vehicles can be doubled, then the stalemate in the Central Asian theater can be quickly broken.