As an overseas Chinese leader who cherishes his homeland. Tan Kah Kee originally decided to return to China for a visit in the near future to learn more about the situation of the Anti-Japanese War in China. However, when the Japanese army suddenly attacked Southeast Asia and arrived in Singapore in less than a month, he was worried about the safety of his family, and it happened that the Governor of the Straits Settlements, Toms, wanted to use his influence to organize the Singapore-Malaysian Chinese to cooperate with the colonial army to resist the Japanese army, so he had to stay and become the spiritual leader of the Singapore-Malaysian Chinese to resist the Japanese invasion.

In Tan Kah Kee's return visit schedule, which did not make the trip, the student army ranked first. One is a well-known overseas Chinese leader in Southeast Asia, who has made great contributions to supporting the motherland to resist the Japanese invasion; One is a unique leader of the anti-Japanese armed forces in China, and although the two have never met, they have been known for a long time. In reality, I missed a chance to meet, but now I have passed on books and exchanged ideas and discussed countermeasures, but I have established another kind of close contact. In just two days, there have been more than ten rounds of radio waves between Phnom Penh and Singapore, and two people who have never met before actually have a tacit understanding and begin to work together.

The two of them agreed on the direction of the war between Singapore and Malaysia, both believed that the British coalition army would be defeated, and both knew that the Japanese army would definitely not let go of the overseas Chinese after occupying Singapore and Malaysia. There are currently nearly 200,000 Chinese in Singapore and Malaysia, and it is unrealistic to evacuate all of them, so we can only withdraw as many people as possible who have made more appearances and left a deeper impression on the Japanese. Chen Jiageng organized a hasty calculation of the number of people, and the number of people who should be evacuated and who can be notified in a short period of time is as high as 60,000. At the end of the telegram, he said with a wry smile: "When I raised funds for the anti-Japanese resistance in China, I always felt that there were too few compatriots in Southeast Asia and not many people could contribute, but now I have to sigh too much. ”

Ouyang Yun called back to comfort him: 60,000 people seems like a lot, but if it is a 10,000-ton merchant ship, ten ships will solve the problem. I'm trying to figure out a way, please get the people together first, and I'll definitely pick you up. He also said: You have stood up and contributed money and efforts in the most difficult time for the country, and now is the time for the country to help you.

Ouyang Yun's words have weight.

At the same time, the merchant ships belonging to the Gu consortium of the Xuebing Army received an urgent telegram from the chairman Gu Lianyun, and were required to immediately and unconditionally concentrate the ships in Southeast Asia on Palawan Island, and the losses caused by this will be borne by the group; At the same time, the coastal wharves within the jurisdiction of the Cadet Army, such as Dongshan, Haikou, and the Pearl River Estuary...... The common private ships that could go to the sea were also gathered and marched towards Manila under the command of a captain named Zhang Liangfeng appointed by Chen Ce.

The next day, Li Qingquan, a well-known overseas Chinese leader in the Philippines, and Zhuang Xiyan, a well-known overseas Chinese leader in Indonesia, contacted the Chinese shipping companies they were familiar with in Luzon and Hong Kong, asking them to immediately concentrate their ships in Southeast Asia on Palawan Island, and let them contact the shipping representatives of the Gu consortium who were there, and prepare to participate in a rescue operation related to the welfare of the Chinese in Singapore and Malaysia.

Another day, Gu Lianyun went to the White House to meet with US President Roosevelt, and after an hour and a half, he obtained a power of attorney.

The cadet army must evacuate overseas Chinese, and the Americans must also evacuate overseas Chinese. The Americans have a big face and a hard fist, and what they say is particularly weighty, and the Japanese are not ready for war with the United States at present, so if the United States wants to evacuate overseas Chinese, no matter what Yamamoto Isoroku thinks in his heart, he will definitely not dare to obstruct it on the surface. Of course, just like that, Ouyang Yun is not fully sure that he can rescue the Singaporean and Malaysian Chinese by pulling the Stars and Stripes. In order to be foolproof, and to do his best, he will send two Song-class submarines to the Gulf of Thailand.

On 8 December, as the Japanese landed another division of marines from the port of Malacca in Miraka, and as the aviation units of the British Indian colonial army were badly damaged in the battle, the air in Singapore began to smell of gunpowder, and the US government finally began the evacuation operation after sending more than a dozen notes to the Japanese government with heavy thunder and rain.

There are more than 2,000 American expatriates in Singapore, and at least half of them still have dual British and American citizenship. Roosevelt really wanted to help the cadet army this time, and the U.S. government sent a lot of notes, but none of them mentioned the number of expatriates. As a result, when more than 30 merchant ships and cruise ships of all sizes organized by the Xuebing Army and the Chinese in Southeast Asia joined the American fleet for the evacuation of overseas Chinese, a light cruiser of the Japanese supervising the evacuation of overseas Chinese from the United States was surprised, but did not think much about it.

The U.S. government's evacuation fleet consists of six ships. A 10,000-ton cruise ship, two 3,000-ton merchant ships, two frigates and a heavy cruiser. The commander of the U.S. evacuation fleet was none other than the captain of the heavy cruiser, Colonel Grant. Grant was the only member of the Chinese fleet who knew that the Chinese government wanted to take advantage of the evacuation of overseas Chinese from Singapore and Malaysia. However, when as many as 30 ships joined the fleet led by him, he was still surprised and sighed: The Chinese are so united! It's a big battle.

Ouyang Yun and Tan Kah Kee operated secretly, trying to take advantage of the Americans' evacuation of overseas Chinese to evacuate as many overseas Chinese as possible from Singapore and Malaysia. They thought that this matter was done secretly, and they went directly to Roosevelt's path, and as long as they were properly prepared, there should be no big mess. However, when the "American evacuation fleet" was about to arrive in Singapore, an accident occurred.

As mentioned earlier, after Wavell took over as commander-in-chief of the British forces in India, he has been planning another Dunkirk retreat. Like Ouyang Yun, he also hit the Americans with his idea. Originally, he also wanted to organize his own commercial fleet or simply lease American ships to accomplish this feat. However, after learning what the Chinese were secretly planning, the British old man had bad water in his stomach.

The old British man couldn't bear it, and it wasn't until he learned the exact date of the evacuation operation that he informed Bai Sihua that he asked him to withdraw all the British troops on the front line and replace them with the Indian army, the Australian army, and the Dutch army (after Indonesia was occupied by the Japanese army, the Dutch East India colonial army withdrew to Singapore), and told him that he must be optimistic about the Xinghua Volunteer Army, and send heavy troops to protect the Americans in Singapore.

Bai Sihua resolutely carried out this order, and on the day of the American evacuation, as many as six divisions of British troops stayed in the city of Singapore, and one of them specially surrounded the training camp of the Xinghua Volunteers.