Ask for tickets at the end of the month!

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Such an impudent request naturally made the South African government very angry.

But South Africa was in a difficult situation, they simply simply did not have the ability to go to war with Japan alone. Its Foreign Minister, Paul, proposed not to directly reject Japan's demands, and at the same time expressed his willingness to reach a mutually acceptable agreement with Japan. To put it bluntly, this is drag. Wait for change!

At the same time, South African Prime Minister Barry Herzog also informed the US Government of Japan's request through South African Ambassador to the United States Konstantin and requested the US Government's support. Subsequently, the U.S. government gave a clear reply that it could not provide any military assistance for the time being.

Of course, the Yankees don't have the surname Lei, so why should they give you South Africa to take sides? They still wish that South Africa and Japan would pinch each other, and according to the wishful thinking of the United States, it would be better for South Africa to be beaten up by Japan first, and only when the two sides have consumed more or less will the United States go over and pick up the bargain. You know, Japan is not the only one that has ideas about South Africa, and the United States also has a strong interest in South Africa.

South Africa is the fertile land with the most gold, platinum and diamonds on the planet, and who can bear it? At that time, the opium cattle did not hesitate to wage several wars in order to be governed. The Yankees are not exempt from vulgarity, but the situation in the United States and Japan is not the same, their territory is vast enough, with a land area of 16.79 million square kilometers (including Greenland), so they are far less hungry for land itself than Japan, they only want those mines.

If the mentality is different, the action will be different, so the United States mainly focuses on economic penetration and control of South Africa, rather than annexing it entirely, as Japan did. However, the fact that they are not prepared to annex South Africa does not mean that they will be able to tolerate the annexation of South Africa by Japan.

As a result, although the United States refuses to directly intervene in the conflict between Japan and South Africa, and does not want South Africa to kidnap itself, its support for South Africa is also very strong. A large amount of American-style equipment, as well as supplies and equipment such as automobiles and merchant ships, were openly supplied, allowing the South African army to rapidly modernize its equipment. And the price is to give the shares of those mines to the United States.

On the other hand, the United States has also put pressure on Japan, and the President of Ghana has also explicitly instructed the US Ambassador to Japan, Grew, to tell Japan that the US Government is very disturbed by Japan's demands and is seriously concerned about the security of South Africa. At the same time, a large number of U.S. troops were deployed to the U.S.-Japan border, and the Atlantic Fleet went south to support South Africa.

In the face of pressure from the United States, Japan also feels the pressure.

The United States is more powerful than it was in the original plane, and now owns 16.79 million square kilometers (including Greenland, which joined the United States in June 1938 in a referendum and became the 57th state of the United States. With a population of 130 million, it is the world's second largest industrial power after China, and its industrial and economic strength exceeds that of the two major powers, the Soviet Union and Germany, as well as the allies and the Third International combined. It's so bullish that I don't have any friends...... Oh, except for China, that's a BUG, it doesn't count!

Although Japan on the original plane is also stronger than the same period in the original plane, it has only narrowed the gap between the two sides, and has not achieved a reversal. To put it more concretely, the United States in the original time and space had at least 20 times the national strength of Japan! That is a desperate statistic, you must know that in World War II in the original time and space, the United States only fought Japan with its left hand, and it was easy to beat Japan to its knees.

The gap between the national strength of the two countries has narrowed dramatically to about five times, and although it is still overwhelming, there is still the strength to fight. Moreover, Japan is not a country that is fighting, and there are backers behind it.

But Japan is now grabbing territory, not being beaten itself, so it is certainly not easy for China to say anything at the beginning, and there will be no substantive action. After all, the alliance of the People's Revolutionary League is defensive in nature, and even China ran to draw Australia, New Zealand and Malaysia without beckoning the younger brothers to do it, and Japan is naturally even more impossible. Of course, if Japan really can't stand it, China will certainly not sit idly by.

Therefore, Japan was very resolute in its instigation, and Foreign Minister Yoyo Matsuoka told the United States that Japan's request was only in the nature of a diplomatic memorandum and could not be regarded as an ultimatum. This means that Japan agrees to continue negotiations, and if it sees that Japan is cowardly, the United States will forget it.

The diplomatic negotiations between Japan and South Africa have covered a wide range of issues. Foreign Minister Paul believes that South Africa still has to make some concessions to Japan. Because in his opinion, South Africa itself did not have the strength to resist the Japanese attack, after all, the support of the United States was still limited. Still, he did not intend to accept the demands that Japan insisted.

There are those who are in favor of everything and there are those who are against. Foreign Minister Paul advocated concessions to Japan, but this was opposed by the army and interior officials, including the Chief of the General Staff, Lieutenant General Viller, and the Minister of Finance, as well as Prime Minister Herzog. But it is self-evident that South Africa is powerless to resist Japan.

Therefore, the negotiations between Japan and South Africa are not determined by South Africa, but by the attitude of other countries, especially the United States.

But since the Soviet Union entered the war, the attitude of the United States has changed dramatically. Because they were fighting with the Soviet Union and Germany, and they had to provide weapons, tanks, planes, and ammunition for their younger brother and the British and other Allied countries, not only did they explicitly refuse military support, but even the weapons sold to South Africa were greatly reduced. Secretary of State Hull vehemently opposed the granting of Japanese privileges in South Africa. However, he has been reluctant to take further action other than protests and some financial retaliation.

Britain, the former suzerain, is even more preoccupied with itself, and is in a bitter struggle with Germany, and it can't control much. France has just played "glorious isolation", and it will not care. The Soviet Union and Germany stood by and did not intend to take any concrete action. As for China, it would be nice not to help Japan directly.

In the end, Foreign Minister Paul persuaded Prime Minister Herzog and the South African cabinet to make some concessions to Japan.

At the beginning of September last year, Paul and Matsuoka exchanged notes with the two foreign ministers in Xijing. The Treaty of Xijing was signed, which stipulated that

The two sides reached an understanding that South Africa recognized Japan's economic and political position in southern Africa, agreed to grant Japan economic privileges over other countries in South Africa, to revoke discriminatory laws against Japanese people, and to treat Japanese people as "honorary whites" on the same basis as Chinese, who could enjoy exactly the same rights as white people. However, Japan does not have any military privileges that it wants. In turn, Japan will respect South Africa's rights and interests, especially its sovereignty and territorial integrity.

After the two sides signed this agreement, many people in South Africa breathed a sigh of relief and thought that it was the best way to solve the problem. But they soon discovered that the Japanese did not take the agreement seriously, and that it was merely a delaying ploy to appease the United States.

At the beginning of this year, when it saw that the United States was so mired in mud that it was no longer able to scruple about it, Japan resolutely repented, and before the ink on the treaty had dried up, Japan once again put forward even more demanding demands.

There are a total of 21 articles in these articles, except for one clause on the pacification of the Bushmen, which seems to be somewhat warm, and the other clauses are all in the hegemonic style of Chiguoguo, which is called the "21 Articles of the Dead Country" by the South African authorities. Naturally, this kind of humiliating and insulting (in the eyes of white people) could not be recognized, and even Foreign Minister Paul, who advocated concessions to Japan, strongly opposed it.

However, South Africa did not expect that Japan would create an excuse and really do it when the two sides were still arguing.

In fact, until a month ago, Japan's policy was also a bit chaotic. Whether to continue diplomatic coercion in order to seek control of South Africa, or to directly attack South Africa by force. Japan couldn't make up its mind for a while. If South Africa does not attack, it will rely on the United States and rely on threats and inducements, and most likely it will not achieve practical results, and Japan's intentions will be exposed.

In the end, after seeing the Soviet Union launch a counterattack and drive the Yankees back to Central Africa, Japan decided to use force directly under Ishihara's strong advocacy. Because if you don't do it, or if you move too slowly, you will have a lot of dreams at night, what if the United States relaxes its breath?

As a result, South Africa is tragic, this is the fate of "children holding gold", their belongings are too coveted, and their own strength is insufficient, and there is no way to be remembered by their neighbors.

As the saying goes, with a sharp weapon, the murderous heart rises. Japan on this plane is already more powerful, and when they see a group of cattles in South Africa next door, none of which can fight, and they themselves are so capable of fighting, they naturally have thoughts in their hearts.

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Hankyung, presidential palace.

"Mr. President, we hope that China will stand up for international justice and stop Japan's aggression against South Africa!" US Secretary of State Hull said sternly.

As soon as Japan declared war, two army groups, which had been prepared long ago, rushed into South Africa, and at the same time, the air force made a big move to bomb those targets that had been selected long ago.

Although South Africa has long been vigilant, their numbers are too small after all, even if they have carried out a large increase in troops this year, before the start of the war, there were only 20 divisions and 9 brigades, about 380,000 people, most of whom were new recruits. You must know that the total population of South Africa is only a little over 4 million, and after removing the unbearable Bushmen and blacks, there are only 3.7 million whites left, which is already the largest number of such mobilizations without breaking the muscles and bones.

However, Japan is a large country with a population of 76 million, and this time, in order to clean up South Africa as soon as possible, Japan dispatched 49 divisions and nearly 800,000 people at once, and Japan not only has a large number of people, but also has much more advanced weapons than South Africa. In the face of the Japanese army, which had absolute superiority, South Africa was stunned.

Now that it has only been three days since the start of the war, Japan's western cluster has soared 500 miles, eating half of Botswana, and the eastern cluster has also advanced more than 200 kilometers, and the South African front-line troops are in a panic everywhere.

So the Yankees couldn't sit still, and Secretary of State Hull hurriedly flew to China to prepare to mediate.