Episode 105 A Choice That Must Be Made

Facing the map, the chief representative of the Ming side, Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs He Weibang, used a pencil to draw the important places of the Ming Dynasty:

"Ladies and gentlemen, the western boundary is the Ussuri River, which is now the border between your two countries; The eastern boundary is the Sea of Japan; The northern boundary is the lower reaches of the Heilongjiang River in your country, which is what your country calls the 'Amur River', and the southern boundary is also the Sea of Japan. See, it's a narrow strip of land along the Sea of Japan. What is the area...... It is about the same as northern Xinjiang, more than 100,000 square kilometers. ”

Several Soviet delegates stuck their heads on the map and stared at a place as large as a pencil drawing, dumbfounded. To put it simply, it is the Ussuri River, the east side of the Amur River, until the sea, all of which belong to the Ming Dynasty. From a visual point of view, the area is indeed about the same as that of northern Xinjiang. What's more, this place is coastal. The coastline is particularly long, accounting for half of the length of the western coast of the Sea of Japan.

Several Soviets looked at each other. They were all mentally prepared that the Ming side would definitely offer some land compensation, and when they were in Moscow, Stalin also revealed his meaning: the Ming State might ask for some land in the east as compensation. If we can withdraw from the war in Central Asia as soon as possible, then it is not impossible to give some appropriately. Stalin had planned to use a little land in East Siberia to send the Ming Kingdom away. However, he would never have thought that Ming Guo's appetite was so big. The size of the area and the location are unimaginable.

Seeing the appearance of the Soviet representatives, Xiang Xiaoqiang knew that it was time for him to speak. He laughed:

"I know what you're trying to say. The lion is open-mouthed, blackmailing, and insincere, isn't it? I'll tell you, it's not. We mean it. We also took advantage of this opportunity for Mr. Stalin to take the initiative to see if the two sides could get what they needed at the negotiating table. Now Mr. Stalin wants another member state in Central Asia: Southern Xinjiang and a satellite state: Northern Xinjiang. And we want an outlet to the sea in the Sea of Japan, a base from which it is convenient to contain Japan from the north.

"Central Asia is far from us, and near you. And the Far East is far from you, and near us. The former is difficult for us to control, and the latter is difficult for you to control, so why don't we take what we need? Wouldn't it be nice to change it! Ha ha! …… Talk to your comrade Stalin and see if he wants to talk about it. If you're willing to talk, we'll sit down and talk. There is nothing in the world that cannot be sat down and discussed. It's better than fighting a war and dying like this! ”

Several Soviet representatives exchanged glances, and they all roughly understood the central meaning of Xiang Xiaoqiang's words - to be able to talk.

This means nothing more than this: we are just making an offer, waiting for you to make a counteroffer. If you slap the table and leave, then it is really insincere.

Several Soviets looked at this legendary Xiang Xiaoqiang, and saw that he was dressed in a military uniform, and he was so young, looking like a young man with ambition and no city, in this old politician in a straight suit in the living room, it seemed to be a flute boy. …… Yes, this kind of explicit words, that is, this kind of young people are appropriate.

They exchanged words and discussed a few words, and finally the chief representative nodded and spoke. Then the translator said:

"In that case, please allow the meeting to be adjourned for the time being, and let us ask the domestic leaders for instructions."

He Weibang smiled and nodded:

"Everybody, light."

……

The meeting was adjourned at noon, and the secret Soviet mission returned to the small building where it lived and sent a secret telegram to Moscow. They need to go back and forth, Stalin has to weigh up, and it takes time. Therefore, the time for the next negotiation has not yet been determined. During this period, Xiang Xiaoqiang also returned to the headquarters.

At about five o'clock in the afternoon of the same day, when the day was approaching evening, Xiuxiu ran over from the navy to report: The Tianshu detachment had sent an order for instructions.

Xiang Xiaoqiang suddenly remembered at this time that he still had an aircraft carrier detachment roaming the Pacific Ocean.

In order to avoid the search of the Japanese fleet and Japanese shore-based aircraft, the Tianshu detachment has been circling in the western Pacific for the past few days. By this evening, they finally felt that the time was ripe, and they were ready to use tonight to move closer to the northwest island of Honshu, and then bomb Tokyo at dawn tomorrow. Now they are located about 450 nautical miles from Tokyo. These include an 11-hour fleet voyage of about 200 nautical miles; Add in the flight range of more than an hour, about 150 nautical miles, or 12 hours later, the fleet will be able to reach the skies over Tokyo.

At present, the position of the aircraft carrier group is still in the "desolate zone" of the western Pacific, and it can still send a telegram for an hour. Even if the approximate location is detected by the Japanese, they can take advantage of the darkness that will quickly fall to hide their whereabouts and change their location. In other words, if it is decided to bomb Tokyo tomorrow, then the order must be issued within the next hour.

The generals on the navy side were very excited, especially the staff officers of the "Aircraft Carrier Staff", and they were all uncontrollable excited. Imagine that tomorrow at dawn, the Navy's bombs will fall on the enemy's capital, and the Navy will do more than sink the Hiei......

And Xiuxiu looked at Xiang Xiaoqiang and looked forward to it very much. She was waiting for Xiaoqiang to nod her head and order. After all, this aircraft carrier formation is now under the direct command of Xiaoqiang. However, many generals of the General Staff of the Sea, regardless of whether they belong to Xiang Xiaoqiang's direct command or not, are looking at Xiang Xiaoqiang expectantly, waiting for him to give an order.

At this moment, Xiang Xiaoqiang's face was also a little red with excitement, and his chest was short of breath. He wanted to give an order, but he always felt that something was not right. Xiang Xiaoqiang touched his head, slowly sat on the chair, and picked up the teacup.

"Your Excellency!" Xiuxiu looked at him eagerly, and just said softly, "My lord......"

The officers around them also looked at them. They didn't know what kind of demon Xiang Xiaoqiang was in, and they all pinned their hopes on Her Royal Highness the princess, Mrs. Shang.

Xiuxiu looked at Xiang Xiaoqiang and guessed what he was thinking at the moment. After guessing for a while, I couldn't guess, so I had to lower my voice and say softly:

"Your Excellency...... What are you thinking? Can you tell the concubine? …… It's still an hour before it gets dark, and we're running out of time. Gotta hurry up and give the order. ”

waved his hand to Xiaoqiang, shook his head and said:

"No hurry...... Anyway, we send it out, and the Tianshu will receive it passively, and it will not reveal its location...... Even if it's early tomorrow morning, they will have time to receive it when they enter the position......"

Xiuxiu raised her head and looked at several naval officers. That being said, who can guarantee that as long as one more telegram is sent from Nanjing, it will be done? Wouldn't there be any more requests from the Tianshu detachment? …… In short, everyone felt that the order should be sent out quickly.

Xiang Xiaoqiang suddenly raised his head and said to Xiuxiu:

"Come here, I'll tell you."

Xiuxiu immediately sat on the chair next to Xiang Xiaoqiang and leaned over to listen.

Xiang Xiaoqiang frowned, and muttered in a low voice:

"You say...... What are we talking to the Soviet lion now? ”

Xiuxiu was stunned, frowned, thought for a moment, and said softly:

"What we rely on is that the Soviet Union is eager to get out of the quagmire of the war in Central Asia as soon as possible."

Xiang Xiaoqiang shook his head and said:

"It's only half said, and the more important half is: In the competition between Ming, Suzhou, and Japan, now our Ming Dynasty is a 'weight'. The current initiators of the war are the Soviet Union and Japan, and our Ming Dynasty is passively responding to the war. And both the USSR and Japan now have a certain sense of regret about the war. If there is an opportunity for them to withdraw from the war with dignity and keep their vested interests, none of them will refuse. And for their own interests, they betrayed each other without even blinking an eyelid. And our Daming has the opportunity to profit in it.

"What we rely on is the choice we have. We can choose to fight with the Soviet Union and Japan at the same time, or we can choose to pull one and fight the other. Then who to pull and who to fight, we care, the USSR and Japan can be said to be more concerned. At present, we are fighting more vigorously with Japan in the Far East, and the Soviet Union may feel that its opportunity has come, and we may be willing to pull it to fight Japan, so it has offered to cease war with us, so that we can concentrate on fighting Japan, and it can also swallow its vested interests by the way.

"That's why we have the confidence to put forward higher conditions with the Soviet Union. Because we have the choice. Because the Soviet Union knew that if it did not pull out a dime at the negotiating table, it would really push us into a hurry, and it was entirely possible for us to seek an armistice with Japan and concentrate our forces on fighting the Soviet Union. Then Stalin's idea of withdrawing from the quagmire of Central Asia as soon as possible really became a dream.

"And we have another option. We are now fighting Japan relatively smoothly in Mukden, and according to the current situation, it is still more realistic to beat the Japanese army out of the whole of Manchuria as soon as possible. Then the Soviet Union will be worried that after we recover Mukden and Jilin, will we further move south and march into Korea? Or will it wave its division to the east and attack the Soviet Union? It is entirely possible that we will not attack North Korea first, but the Far East of the Soviet Union, south of Lake Khingkai, and Vladivostok. Where we don't come at the negotiating table, we may fight on the battlefield. And the USSR was going to fight us at the easternmost point of Eurasia, judging by the length of the logistical lines of both sides, that ...... But it's not a quagmire problem. ”

As soon as the words came out, Xiuxiu's eyes flashed, and she nodded thoughtfully, thinking. After a while, she muttered:

"That'...... What do you mean by ......? ”

Xiang Xiaoqiang says:

"If we want to maintain our advantage at the negotiating table with the Soviet Union, we have to make sure that we 'have a choice'. It is necessary to ensure that there is always the possibility of a negotiated armistice between us and Japan. We burned the Japanese on the battlefield and sank Japanese battleships at sea...... All of this will only frustrate Japan. The harder we fight, the more likely it is that Japan will negotiate with us. …… And if we bomb Tokyo, then ......"

Xiuxiu immediately whispered:

That will arouse the hatred of the whole country in Japan, make the whole country of Japan more bitter and hateful, and greatly blow the main peace faction in the Japanese army, and greatly encourage the main war faction. Then the possibility of an armistice with Japan will be minimized. And the Soviet side will soon harden up. Because we have no choice. ”

Xiang Xiaoqiang nodded:

"Yes. At all times, make sure you have a choice. Otherwise, you can only be kneaded by others, and you have no way at all. ”