For U.S. Consul General in Singapore, Francois Mitterrand, today's encounter is legendary. When he received a telegram personally signed by President Roosevelt asking him to help the Singaporean Chinese evacuate Singapore, he felt that the evacuation would not be smooth sailing. Mitterrand's worries came from the Japanese. He was worried that if the Japanese saw through the Chinese's attempt to take military action, what would they do? Will they risk their lives to continue to defend the Chinese, or will they simply protect the interests of their own diaspora?

The expected obstruction from the Japanese had not yet appeared, but the British intervened sideways, and actually stabbed against the Singaporean, Malaysian, Chinese, which made him unexpected, and he even couldn't decide which side to stand on. The British and Singaporean and Malaysian Chinese helped him make his choice – and the battle soon extended to the American consulate. The fierce fighting outside the U.S. Consulate lasted for half an hour, and although both sides were restrained, it was inevitable that the American expatriates in the consulate were accidentally injured. What makes people sigh is that all of the injured people are dual British and American nationals. Unprovoked became the center of the battle, and Mitterrand was at first bewildered, and then he understood the reason for the matter with a slight movement of his mind. After figuring out the truth of the matter, the Americans were angry - the British were too despicable, and if they couldn't win the Japanese on the frontal battlefield, how could they compete with the unarmed civilians for the right to flee the war zone? And the most odious thing is that they were not even greeted beforehand - this is the horse that an ally should be? As a politician, Mitterrand looked at the problem more profoundly than that of a soldier. He then thought about what would happen if the Japanese became aware of this and mistakenly thought that the Americans were evacuating the Chinese to help the British retreat. The safety of the more than 2,000 American expatriates and the evacuation fleet is still secondary, and if it is not done well, the United States will be drawn into this war! Earlier, he just thought that the British were too despicable, and after thinking about this, he added another evaluation: The British are too bad!

Compared with the despicable and bad British, the Singaporean and Malaysian Chinese are much kinder and more friendly. The Xinghua Volunteers drove away the British on the front foot, and Tan Kah Kee, the overseas Chinese leader on the back foot, found Mitterrand, patted his chest and assured him: In order to thank the US government for its kindness, no matter what happens next, the safety of the American expatriates will be guaranteed; If you have to sacrifice, don't worry, we Chinese will stand in front of you.

The road knows the horsepower, and the truth is seen in danger. Mitterrand was moved, and shook Chen Jiageng's hand again and again: "Sir, please rest assured, we Americans are not British, and we will not abandon our friends when they are in danger." In an old saying of your country, let us be in this together! ”

Grant was the head of the "evacuation fleet", and Mitterrand was the organizer of the "American expatriates", and they both sided with the Chinese in Singapore and Malaysia, so the British had lost the opportunity to play the emotional card.

After meeting Grant at the docks, he felt that he could gain the sympathy of the Americans with his deep alliances, and behaved in an extraordinarily gentlemanly and low-key manner. He repeatedly apologized to Grant, explaining that they had no choice but to do this, begging Grant and Mitterrand for forgiveness, and finally making a request that they should be helped to withdraw a little men no matter what, and that a 10,000-ton cruise ship or merchant ship should be vacated for them no matter how bad it was. "We will not occupy the space of your country's expatriates, but with so many ships, there is no problem for the Chinese to squeeze it, right?" Finally, he said.

Grant speaks very little and behaves more politely. After all, the other party is a general, after all, Britain and the United States are allies, after all, this evacuation operation still needs the support of the British side. However, this does not mean that he will be absolutely obedient to Bai Sihua like his subordinates do to his superiors. Otherwise, he would not have supported Zhang Liangfeng in expelling the British army to occupy the docks. With the unpleasant encounter before, and now I understand, the reason why there is a battle in the city is actually because the British feel that this is an excellent opportunity to retreat, and want to deprive the Chinese of the chance to survive - deep down, he has seen the British through the flattening. I really want to say in my heart: Sir, your army has the courage to brave the world's condemnation and grab the opportunity to escape with the Chinese, why can't they fight to the death with the Japanese and defeat them? After thinking about it for a while, he still said wrongly: "General, there is one thing I must explain to you, we only have six ships here, and three of them are used to transport expatriates. If you want to take this opportunity to leave Singapore, you should ask the Chinese, they have enough boats. By the way, if you need it, I can introduce you to Mr. Zhang Liangfeng, the head of the China side. ”

Bai Sihua was stunned for a moment, thought for a while, and said, "Colonel, what do you mean?" Aren't the ships of the Chinese under your command? We only agreed to the evacuation of overseas Chinese by your government, and in this case, then the Chinese have illegally entered our territorial waters. ”

Bai Sihua was only halfway through his words when Grant understood what he meant. After listening to him, he couldn't help but be anxious, and said: "Of course, the Chinese's ships are also under my command, but I have no power to distribute them. General, I have to explain to you one more thing, the reason why we agreed to the Chinese to rescue the Chinese in Singapore and Malaysia in our name is because our government agreed to the request of the Chinese side. General, as far as I know, you have just signed a military cooperation pact with China and France, and as an ally, I think you can discuss anything! ”

"You want me to talk to the Chinese?" Bai Sihua's eyes widened and he looked at Grant, and his unhappiness was overflowing. He came to see Grant in a low-key manner, and apologized as soon as he opened his mouth, already feeling that he had given enough face to the Americans, and thought that as allies, the Americans should also stop reciprocating in moderation, and stood on their side very decisively. Grant said such things, which was far from what he expected.

Bai Sihua's attitude suddenly became stiff, faintly revealing hostility, and Grant became more and more unhappy in his heart, so he simply stopped talking. It happened that the expatriate team had already appeared in the field of vision, and he didn't want to continue to waste time here, so he saluted Bai Sihua and said, "General, our expatriates have already come, so I won't accompany you!" Then he beckoned, returned to the docks with a group of men, and met Mitterrand and them.

As soon as Grant led the people away, about a platoon of Jewish soldiers stepped forward with guns and blocked in front of Bai Sihua and his men. The cadets didn't have a good impression of the British, and because their identity as a U.S. Marine Corps soldier was fake, they behaved exceptionally well. They stared at Bai Sihua and the others with fierce eyes, and the guns in their hands were pointed at their feet, making Bai Sihua angry.

Nearly three hours after the "evacuation fleet" docked at the Sin Chew wharf, Grant and Mitterrand, the two persons in charge of the US evacuation operation, finally met. When Grant saw the wounded among the expatriate, he inquired that they had been wounded by the British (which was not a slander, after all, the fighting was provoked by the British), and his impression of the British was even worse. After listening to him talk about the "expropriation order", Mitterrand was quite disgusted by the domineering of the British, and when he learned that Grant had just rejected Blashua's unreasonable request, he clapped his hands and said: "You are right, you should deal with these British who bully the weak and fear the hard and have no morals." ”