The Japanese Embassy in the United States, Yoyo Matsuoka, reported to Kikujiro Ishii on his recent work.

"I've personally met with most Republican senators, and they all said they would block the passage of the loan bill in the U.S. Congress." Matsuoka said.

"Excellent! It is hoped that the obstruction of these senators will greatly slow down the passage of the loan bill. It's best to delay it for a year and a half, maybe by then the empire will have fully occupied China! Even if the $25 million loan proposal passes, it will be useless. Kikujiro Ishii said.

"It's just that when I went to visit Arthur Vandenberg, he didn't see me." Matsuoka continued.

"Didn't see you? Why? Didn't you make an appointment in advance? Kikujiro Ishii asked.

"I made an appointment in advance, but Arthur Vandenberg's secretary told me that he was busy with other matters recently and didn't have time to see me." Matsuoka replied.

Kikujiro Ishii suddenly frowned, Arthur Vandenberg is the leader of the Republican Party and has an extremely heavy voice in the Republican Party, and Arthur Vandenberg is still a die-hard opponent of Roosevelt, as long as it is Roosevelt's proposal, Arthur Vandenberg will oppose it. This time, Japan wanted to block the passage of the loan proposal, but did not catch the Arthur-Vandenberg line, which is not good news.

"There won't be any variables!" Kikujiro Ishii spoke.

"Rest assured, although I haven't met Arthur Vandenberg, I have already spoken to other Republican lawmakers, and they will persuade Arthur Vandenberg to block the passage of the loan proposal as much as possible!" Matsuoka said.

……

There were more than two dozen people seated in the conference room, who were Republican senators and their aides, and the first person was Arthur Vandenberg, the leader of the Republican Party.

At this time, the 75th U.S. Congress was in office, and among the 96 members of the Senate, 74 were Democrats, 18 were Republicans, and 4 were other parties and independent candidates. In the House of Representatives, 325 are Democrats, 87 are Republicans, and the rest are other parties and independent candidates.

That is to say, whether it is the Senate or the House of Representatives, the number of Democrats exceeds 70%, and in this case, any proposal of Roosevelt will definitely pass from Congress, even if the Republicans oppose it, but because the number is too small, it will not play a decisive role. So for the president's proposal, the Republican Party is at most to block it, the only difference is how much time it can block.

Now Arthur Vandenberg has brought Republican senators together, apparently to discuss the $25 million loan proposal.

"Sir, at tomorrow's senate meeting, we will, as always, do our best to obstruct the passage of the loan proposal." A Republican senator spoke.

Arthur Vandenberg, however, asked; "Why should we obstruct?"

"This is Roosevelt's proposal, and of course we can't let it pass so smoothly." The senator spoke.

"What's in it for us to thwart this proposal?" Arthur Vandenberg asked again.

"This ......," the senator was speechless.

Arthur Vandenberg continued: "Not long ago there was a book published by a Chinese athlete that chronicled the inhumane massacres of the Japanese army in China, and recently at the Washington Convention Center there was a photo exhibition of the same massacre of civilians in China by the Japanese. There are a lot of media reports on this photo exhibition, and there are many people who have also gone to see the photo exhibition. I don't know if you've seen it, but I did. It's really impressive! ”

"Because of that book and that photo exhibition, the people are sympathetic to China, and public opinion is also biased towards China. The Democrats will say that we are a cruel, cold-blooded, unsympathetic bunch, and the public will have a bad impression of us, which will lose a lot of voters. ”

"Don't forget, next year we will face several important elections, such as the election of the New York City Council, the election of the mayor of Chicago, the election of the mayor of Philadelphia, the election of the governor of Mississippi, this series of elections, our Republican Party is already at a disadvantage, if we lose more voters, the consequences will be unimaginable!"

"Gentlemen, I know that the Japanese have approached you in the hope that you will block the passage of this proposal. Actually, the Japanese approached me, but I deliberately did not meet them, because I was afraid that I would not be able to withstand the conditions offered by the Japanese and would block the loan proposal. I don't know what the Japanese told you, but I would like to warn you that blocking this loan proposal will do far more harm than good to us Republicans! ”

Arthur Vandenberg has made a statement, which is tantamount to setting the tone of the Republican Party. In the next Senate session, they will not oppose Roosevelt's borrowing proposal.

At this time, one of the parliamentarians spoke: "As far as I know, China's current situation is not a second, half of their territory has been occupied by the Japanese, including the most important and elite cities, if this trend continues, it may not be too long, the whole of China will be occupied by Japan, at that time, if the Japanese do not recognize our $25 million loan, then this money will not be wasted?" This is a huge economic loss for us in the United States! That's why I'm against this borrowing proposal. ”

Arthur Vandenberg smiled slightly, and he said: "If everything you said comes true, China is eventually occupied by Japan, and the Japanese do not recognize this debt, and the United States loses 25 million US dollars as a result, then who is responsible?" Was it we who didn't stop the motion from passing, or was it Roosevelt and his Democrats who came up with it? ”

Without waiting for an answer, Arthur Vandenberg continued: "Of course, the responsibility is Roosevelt's!" When the time comes, we can put all the blame on Roosevelt and the Democratic Party, saying that his decision-making mistakes caused the United States to lose $25 million, and let him bear the blame. Roosevelt was the soul of the Democratic Party, and if there was a stain on his body, the entire Democratic Party would suffer, and then we might have a chance to regain the majority of seats in Congress, and even have a chance to return to the White House in the next presidential election! $25 million is a huge amount, but if that $25 million can bring down Roosevelt, it's really worth it! ”

……

The atmosphere in the Japanese embassy was particularly depressing.

He never expected that just after a morning's work, Roosevelt's loan proposal was passed in the Senate of the US Congress, and those Republican senators did not deliberately obstruct the motion, but only symbolically asked a few relevant questions and let the bill pass.

After getting the news, Matsuoka Yoyo was stunned, which was completely different from what he expected.

Matsuoka originally thought that those Republican senators would try all kinds of ways and reasons to desperately prevent the passage of the motion, and several congressmen whom Matsuoka visited had indeed promised Matsuoka that they would obstruct the passage of the motion.

But the truth is not like this at all, and the Republican Senators who have promised Matsuoka Yoyo are all cowardly.

"Damn, these Americans don't talk about credit, they promised me that they would block the passage of the loan proposal!" Matsuoka Yoyo said a little angrily.

Kikujiro Ishii also looked a little dazed, and he said to himself: "Why are the Americans on China's side, can't they see that China is about to perish?" By that time, wouldn't the 25 million loan be wasted! ”

At this time, the invading Japanese army had just won the Battle of Wuhan and was preparing to attack Changsha, and from a strategic point of view, it was in an offensive situation, so Japan was still very optimistic about the war. Although the Japanese army did not achieve the "destruction of China in three months" as stated at the beginning, with the capture of the three towns of Wuhan, many people in Japan believed that as long as they pushed all the way west along the Yangtze River and took Sichuan, they would naturally achieve the final victory.

The same is true of Kikujiro Ishii and Yoyoyo Matsuoka, who were Japanese ambassadors to China, who believed that victory for the Japanese army was in sight and were very optimistic about the current situation. Therefore, they think that it should not be difficult for the Senate to block the borrowing proposal, after all, people like to be on the side of the winner.

However, Kikujiro Ishii and Yoyo Matsuoka both ignore human nature!

The massacres and atrocities of the invading Japanese army did not make the Chinese surrender or break the will of the Chinese, but aroused the determination of the Chinese to resist and made the Chinese more tenacious. Perhaps Roosevelt really saw this resolute resistance of the Chinese, and finally decided to give China this loan.

In any case, the $25 million loan has been approved, and there is no turning back, and this money will soon be turned into a variety of urgently needed materials to be shipped to China to support the anti-Japanese battlefield!

……

Unlike the Japanese Embassy, the Chinese Embassy has a joyful atmosphere.

Nowadays, the domestic war situation is very unfavorable for China, and with the fall of a large amount of the country, various resources have become scarce. This $25 million was really a life-sustaining elixir for China at that time.

As the ambassador to the United States, Hu Shi did not expect that the Senate of the US Congress would pass this proposal in such a short period of time.

Now that the proposal was adopted in only one morning, without any delay, this is obviously great news. The sooner the loan proposal is passed, the sooner China will be able to get these supplies, and the sooner these materials will be delivered to China, thousands of soldiers and civilians may be spared deaths and injuries.

Historically, this proposal has indeed been delayed for a while in the US Congress. But in this time and space, due to the appearance of Chen Qiang and the photo exhibition, the Republican Senate did not dare to obstruct it, so the loan proposal was passed earlier.

Next, the staff of the Chinese embassy will use the $25 million loan to purchase various urgently needed supplies in China and then ship them to China.

25 million can buy a lot of things, so the Chinese embassy also has something to do.

Chen Qiang received an invitation letter from the Boston Exhibition Center, hoping that Chen Qiang could hold a photo exhibition in Boston, and was willing to give Chen Qiang a large amount of exhibition fees.

Of course, Chen Qiang will not refuse this kind of thing, and he can expand his influence and let more Americans know about the atrocities of the Japanese army invading China, even if he does not collect money, Chen Qiang is willing.

After the Boston photo exhibition, Chen Qiang went directly to New York, because a very well-known tennis club in New York invited Chen Qiang to join.

The United States sports industry is extremely developed, and tennis clubs are everywhere, such as the United States Tennis Association, which was originally operated in the form of a club, and athletes join the tennis association and pay an annual membership fee to participate in the competitions organized by the United States Tennis Association.

The membership fee paid by the members is also the main source of income for the tennis club, but those well-known tennis players will obviously not be charged for joining, on the contrary, the club will give some additional subsidies to well-known tennis players who join the club. Of course, after the athletes receive money, they also have to participate in some activities of the club and help others work.

This is a bit like the gym of later generations, some gyms will specialize in raising several professional fitness players, their daily training in the gym must be free, and the gym will also be responsible for the cost of the players' usual nutritional products, the purpose is to let them support the gym façade. If a fitness contestant wins a fitness competition, the gym will also have a lot of face. As for ordinary members, not to mention the normal payment, the coach will also fool members to sign up for various courses.

The reason why this tennis club in New York invited Chen Qiang was also to take a fancy to Chen Qiang's identity as a US Open champion, and they wanted Chen Qiang to support the façade. Chen Qiang didn't have anything else to do, so he agreed to the invitation of the tennis club, why not take the money if you have it!

This tennis club is worthy of being the top tennis club in New York, with many well-known figures in the political and business circles as members, and Chen Qiang has also found a new job in the tennis club, which is to play tennis with rich people.

Tennis was originally an aristocratic sport, especially before the Open era, and the people who played tennis could not be said to be all rich, but the family conditions were also good.

Playing tennis with rich people has also become an important source of income for many tennis players.

In fact, playing tennis with rich people is not only a sparring partner, but also a tennis personal coach. Rich people are not stupid, they can't afford to spend money to find a master to abuse themselves, they look for sparring partners, in addition to wanting to play happily, they also hope that their level can be improved.

Even in later generations, there were many tennis players who survived by sparring. This is especially true of golf, where many first-class golf courses have professional players stationed on the field, who support their families by playing golf with local tycoons.

At the same time, Chen Qiang also received his first $500 manuscript fee.

Although Chen Qiang did not intend to make money when he published "Rabe's Diary", and the price of the book was very low, due to the hype before and after, the book sold very well.

The so-called small profits but quick turnover, even if it is a needle and a thread, the amount sold is enough, and it can also accumulate a lot.

Chen Qiang got a manuscript fee of 500 US dollars from the publishing house, and this is not the final number, and as he buys more and more "Rabe's Diary" in the future, the manuscript fee will increase.

Now, the money in Chen Qiang's hands is still enough, after all, before the US Open, Chen Qiang earned a bonus of 2,000 US dollars, which is enough for Chen Qiang to spend a while. Therefore, Chen Qiang plans to donate all the $500 manuscript fee to China, and it is best to buy some materials that are in short supply in China and ship them back, which can be regarded as a support for the cause of the war effort.

So Chen Qiang found an opportunity to return to Washington by train, and he wanted to hand over the $500 to Hu Shih, the ambassador to the United States.

It's the end of the month, ask for a guaranteed monthly pass!