On Saturday, November 4, the U.S. Consulate General in Shanghai received domestic news that the day before, Congress formally passed an amended neutrality bill that would repeal the arms embargo and allow belligerents to buy arms in the United States in cash, but to transport them themselves. President Roosevelt immediately signed it and promulgated it into force.

Because the sea power and maritime capacity of Britain and France far exceeded that of Germany at that time, they were actually allowed to sell weapons and materials to Britain and France to support Britain and France in their fight against Germany.

Li Junhao, who learned the news, knew that in this case, China's navy was basically finished, and its shipping capacity was far inferior to Japan's, and China's ports were basically occupied by the Japanese army, and it was impossible to go to the United States to transport back the purchased military supplies; In this way, the amended U.S. Neutrality Act is actually beneficial to Japan. This means that China's war of resistance will be even more difficult.

However, for the current Shanghai Concession, it is good news, and the diplomats of various countries led by Britain and France have a more friendly attitude towards the United States; The Japanese side also quickly showed goodwill to the concessions, and the Japanese-occupied areas outside the concessions relaxed restrictions on the entry and exit of grain and materials, thus increasing the degree of commercial activity within the concessions.

Li Junhao also felt it personally, and he felt that the sense of being watched had disappeared after Akagi was killed, and it was thought that the Japanese side had given up this kind of behavior, and it should be unwilling to destroy the current relations with the United States. In this regard, he felt a little pity, he was still thinking of finding a chance to fight back, but now he has no goal.

——

On Sunday afternoon, the U.S. Consulate General held a large-scale reception at the International Hotel to welcome the Far East Situation Observation Group from the mainland. The reason for the delay was a few days was decided after consultation with the Mission, so that it could rest for a while after more than 20 days of sailing.

The United States' diplomatic trends have been closely watched by various countries, but this time, with the amendment of its domestic neutrality bill, the enthusiasm of various countries has become even higher, and the number of politicians and businessmen from various countries who have taken the initiative to attend the reception has been much higher than before.

As the real power figure in the public concession, Li Junhao certainly cannot be absent, and he is now the chief figure of the US military in Shanghai, and his substantive status has surpassed that of Lieutenant Colonel Kelleton, the military attache of the Consulate General.

In this case, he was supposed to be the No. 1 military officer attending the reception, but what he didn't expect was that Colonel Bao Ruide, the military attache of the embassy who was supposed to be waiting for the observation team in Chongqing, actually appeared again!

Li Junhao himself didn't care about Bao Ruide's move, but Consul General Ayers was very unhappy, thinking that his approach was a bit noisy, and he didn't give him a good face in the whole process!

When Richard appeared at the reception accompanied by Lieutenant Colonel Klerton, Lieutenant Colonel Cole, the commander of the 4th Marine and Army Regiment, who had been following Li Junhao, ran to his side again, but the commander of the 15th Infantry Regiment, Rupu, who was supposed to go over, did not go over, and still stood by Li Junhao's side with Xie Jinyuan, the deputy commander of the 327th Regiment.

Rupu's performance made Li Junhao look a little different, especially since he had lost a lot of weight in the past few days, which made him guess the mentality of the regiment commander - this is to rise up!

As for attending the reception with Xie Jinyuan, who has a special status, Li Junhao has a purpose, that is, to announce to all walks of life in Shanghai that the former commander of the "Eight Hundred Heroes" is now his person, and whoever has any ideas will hold it back for me!

His goal was achieved, and the Japanese diplomats who attended the reception with Japanese Consul General Yoshiaki Miura and Deputy Consul General Eiichi Kishii all widened their eyes when they saw Xie Jinyuan's appearance, but no one dared to come over and talk about it!

Xie Jinyuan was a little excited, not because he could participate in the most high-end cocktail party in Shanghai, but after more than two years, he could stand in front of the world as a soldier again!

Although he and his subordinates are now under the command of the American army, from the recent point of view, Chief Pan Sen is a staunch anti-Japanese element, and all the current layout is aimed at confronting the Japanese head-on in the near future, which is extremely important to him! As for whether there will be criticism, he doesn't care at all, anti-Japanese resistance comes first; Moreover, his current situation is also agreed by the Kuomintang government.

Among the guests who participated in the reception, most of them didn't know Xie Jinyuan, but after inquiring, they knew that he was the leader of the eight hundred heroes of the Four Elements Warehouse Defense Battle, and they immediately flocked here, especially those ladies and ladies, who don't love heroes! However, this time it made Xie Jinyuan, who was just 34 years old this year, shy-the women are too enthusiastic!

Of course, there are also a lot of people who come to Li Junhao, definitely more than Consul General Ayers and Colonel Bao Ruide, who came from afar to "steal the limelight"!

After the cocktail party began, Li Junhao was still the same style as before, go to eat first, the most important thing is to fill his stomach, someone came to talk to him, yes, eat together.

It was only at this time that Lieutenant Colonel Rupu, who was trying to lose weight, "reluctantly" went to Bao Ruide's side with a glass of red wine, so as not to be tempted.

In the middle of the reception, Peter Luce, a handsome blond man dressed in a cool, slim-fitting military uniform, walked over, followed by a tall and thin soldier in a traditional blue military uniform who looked very retro.

Unlike others, Li Junhao sat at the long dining table in a big way, drinking beer while feasting on steaks, seafood, etc. in front of him, and felt that two more people were coming, and when he looked up, the two soldiers in different military uniforms should be military attachés of other countries - since he became an assistant military attache to a later deputy military attaché, he has been busy and has not attended any social activities at all, so he does not know the two.

"Hi, Lieutenant Colonel Panson, I'm Peter Luce, the German military attaché." Peter Luce, who came over with a glass of red wine, said in fluent English, "This is Colonel Sack Netto, the Italian military attaché. ”

"Hello two colonels!" Li Junhao politely got up and saluted, "Please take a seat, the steak is good this time." As he spoke, he gestured.

Luce and Netto looked at the young lieutenant colonel in front of them and laughed, the two of them were 36 years old and the other was 38 years old, and now they were worried about their fate in Shanghai every day, how could they be as free and easy as each other! However, the two of them did not refuse, and both pulled up chairs and sat down, and took a steak and tasted it.

Seeing that Li Junhao finished eating a steak and picked up the beer, Luce put down the knife and fork in his hand, also picked up the red wine, and said, "Lieutenant Colonel Pan Sen, although I would like to communicate with you, Colonel Neto has an important matter that I would like to ask for your opinion, can I talk about it?" ”

(End of chapter)