Although its scale is still not as good as the Japanese First Fleet based on Wusong Military Port, its flagship Savannah is a Brooklyn-class light cruiser with a full load displacement of 12,400 tons, and it is a cutting-edge warship that was launched in 1938, which is much more advanced than the Japanese flagship, the old "Izumo" cruiser!

Moreover, there are 8 Clemson-class destroyers and 7 submarines in this detachment, although they do not seem to be new ships, they are still much more advanced than the Japanese ships, which means that although the number is smaller, they are not afraid of the Japanese First Fleet in China at all! This situation is very unpleasant for the Japanese.

In addition, it turns out that the US military has a small Yangtze River fleet in China, although they are all old river gunboats with a displacement of 300 to 1,000 tons, but there are also seven of them...... Oh, there is another one originally stationed in Wusongkou, that is, eight, all of them are counted, and the strength has surpassed the first fleet of the Japanese army sent to China! ——

The Japanese army began to worry about the military strength of the US army in the concession, but Li Junhao was a lot more relieved, and then added the air defense force of the concession, and most of the things were successful!

The joint command is now running very smoothly, and the logistics department has completely assumed the responsibility for the resettlement of the newly arrived Shanghai Strait Detachment, and has taken the initiative to coordinate well with the fleet without the commander and chief of staff having to worry about it, to the great satisfaction of the officers and men of the fleet.

In this regard, Major General Galli felt very good, and his relationship with Li Junhao quickly became close, and he came to the headquarters from time to time as a guest.

To Li Junhao's surprise, this admiral who graduated from the Naval Academy was very interested in the tactics of the army, and almost every time he came to discuss the current situation in the European battlefield with him, he attached great importance to the current blitzkrieg of the German army, and even explained the reason for its tactics of concentrating on the use of tanks and other armored forces, which was really interesting.

However, there are still differences in the judgment of the two on the trend of the war.

On 9 April, Germany declared war on Norway and Denmark and launched the Norwegian Campaign, in which Denmark surrendered in less than 24 hours, while Norway declared war on Germany on the same day, and its king Haakon VII led the army and the people to resolutely resist. The Anglo-French coalition navy, land and air force came out to rescue Norway, and the two sides were in full swing on Norwegian territory......

In this case, although Gary admired the German tactics, he did not think that the Germans would be able to repeat the quick victory against Poland in the Battle of Norway, because he felt that the participation of the Anglo-French army would change the situation on the battlefield.

In this regard, Li Junhao insisted that the participation of the British and French forces in the war was useful, but it was not of great use, and it would be difficult for Norway to hold out for more than a month, and then the British and French forces would only have to escape, and even soon lose the whole of Western Europe and France!

His views may be too advanced, and the vast majority of people in this era are still superstitious that Britain has the first navy and France has the first army, and will never fail so easily, so this debate has no result for the time being.

——

On Monday, April 15, at the board meeting of the Ministry of Industry Bureau, in response to the directors' worries that the war situation in Europe would affect the Shanghai Concession, Li Junhao, as the deputy general director, was very sure to reassure everyone that at least within a year and a half, there will be no war between the United States and Germany, so there will be nothing wrong with the concession.

Because of his reputation all along, everyone still believed in his judgment, and the directors led by the chief Dong Xien felt a lot more relieved, so they discussed the affairs of the concession.

When the board of directors spread the topic of the safety of the concession, diplomats and expatriates from Britain, France, Germany and other countries were lamenting that thanks to the fact that the concession is now in the hands of the Americans, people from other countries can now get a relatively safe living environment!

At this time, the news came from the British and French consulates general that the merger of the two concessions and the withdrawal of the British and French management were the first proposals put forward by Mr. Pan Sen......

At this moment, Li Junhao, who has many titles such as Deputy General Director Pan Sen, Commander Pan Sen, and Director Pan Sen, has once again skyrocketed his prestige in the concession.

Taking advantage of this opportunity, Li Junhao came forward to organize a meeting of representatives of overseas Chinese in the concession area, gathered together the leaders of overseas Chinese from Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Denmark, Norway, and other countries, held a "sincere" forum, and put forward the statement that "Europe is Europe, and the concession is the concession," and called on the overseas Chinese of all countries to coexist peacefully in this Far Eastern metropolis and cherish the most rare peaceful environment in the world at present......

Therefore, he strictly forbade the expatriates of various countries to be hostile to each other, or even to fight, in the situation of the war in Europe! It is clearly stipulated that if there is another serious murder like the one in the nine, he will order the police and the army to crack down on the people who caused the fighting, and don't blame him for not teaching him!

The results of the symposium were excellent, and the hostility between the diaspora groups in various countries quickly eased, partly because most of the diaspora still wanted a peaceful living environment, and partly because they were afraid of being attacked by the concession authorities and losing their living space in the concession.

In any case, a few days after the start of the war in Europe, the law and order situation in the Huhai Concession quickly calmed down, and there were no ethnic clashes that many had anticipated.

This change has touched the largest number of Chinese residents, who a few days ago would look at each other angrily when they saw many foreigners, as if they were going to fight at any moment, and soon this situation disappeared!

In the Western restaurant in the Shanghai Concession, the French and the Germans can still sit at the adjacent table and drink coffee without disturbing each other, while the women on both sides can even talk about clothes, jewelry and so on, which looks very harmonious.

Because the law and order situation quickly calmed down, the law and order level in the concession was lowered from level 3 (alert) to level 2 (strict) after a few days, and after two days, it was reduced back to level 1 (ordinary).

——

The Japanese also saw the situation in the concession, and after several discussions with various organizations, they reached a consensus, that is, the current concession is stable, industry and commerce are prosperous, and although it is not friendly to the Japanese side, the bulk commodities produced in the concession can effectively make up for the shortcomings of the Japanese theater; And because of the existence of the concession, imported materials from the Americas and Europe can also be smoothly imported into China......

Generally speaking, the advantages of retaining the existence of the concession outweigh the disadvantages for Japan!

(End of chapter)