In October, the Shanghai Concession was relatively calm, but on the European side, Germany had a new ally, Romania.

During World War I, Romania was part of the Entente, but after the war there was no victory at all; Moreover, the rise of Soviet Russia after World War I and the expansion of its influence in Eastern Europe have left Romanians living in fear.

At the end of May this year, while Germany was busy passing through Western Europe, the Soviet Union annexed the three Baltic states - Lithuania, Estonia, and Latvia;

At the end of June, the Soviet Union sent another 630,000 troops to occupy the Romanian region of Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina. Romania lost 15% of its territory and about 4 million people in less than a week.

The ambitions of the Soviet Union terrified the Romanians, and the partitioned Poland was a lesson from the past, while the British and French could not count on it at this time, and the Romanians felt that they were in danger of losing their country.

Under these circumstances, the young Zhuang faction in the Romanian army staged a coup d'état, and the officer Antonescu seized power and established a dictatorship, which immediately joined the Axis bloc and became the "4th Axis".

This was a big surprise for Germany, because Romania is the only oil-producing country in Europe outside the Soviet Union, producing 5 million tons of high-quality oil per year, which is one-third of Germany's annual demand. The accession of Romania greatly improved the lack of fuel in Germany.

——

When he saw the intelligence, Li Junhao couldn't help but shake his head - oil, this is Germany's biggest shortcoming, and it is also one of the important reasons for its later failure!

The importance of oil is undeniable for countries entering high-speed industrialization, and in this respect, it is not for nothing that the European powers have declined since World War II; For modern mechanized troops, fuel is a source of power that cannot be separated for a moment.

The United States has an innate advantage in this regard, it has enough oil production in its own territory, and it is still constantly seizing and controlling oil producing areas such as the Middle East and North Africa, laying the foundation for its rise that began in the middle and late stages of World War II.

At present, China is generally regarded as an oil-poor country by all countries in the world, in fact, it is still relatively advantageous, at least, Japan firmly believes that it cannot get oil resources in China, so it has to march south!

Not long ago, after learning that the Japanese army had entered and occupied French Indochina, Ayres once again asked Li Junhao to write an analysis report to demonstrate whether Japan's future strategic direction was "northward" or "southward", which was certainly not a problem for him! It took only two days to complete the report, which was the result of his deliberate delay so as not to be too alarming.

But these several times in a row made him feel that he had become an expert in military intelligence analysis? Is this old man Ayres trying to put himself in the position of military adviser to the White House?

Although he thought he was competent enough, at least in this day and age of the world, there could be no one more suitable for the position of military adviser, but he didn't want to do it—it was so boring to accompany a group of old men to talk on paper every day! ——

Li Junhao didn't know at this time that in the White House in Washington, because of the operation of Ayers and others, his name had already been included in the staff list of Roosevelt's campaign office, and the position was "Assistant for Far Eastern Affairs of the National Security Adviser"! Several of the reports he wrote were the result of his work and were well received.

If he had known about it, he would have screamed - what about my double salary?

At this time in the United States, the situation of the presidential election is still uncertain, and Roosevelt's approval rating is slightly ahead, but the Republican candidate Wendell Wilkie's approval rating is not far behind, and the final result is still unknown.

——

During this period, Li Junhao's key task was to examine and approve the "Draft Defense Plan for the Concession," which was led by Chief of Staff Yang Shixiong and jointly developed by the General Staff Office, the Police Department, the Detachment Fleet, the People's Livelihood Committee, and other departments.

The draft plan is very detailed, and is divided into seven parts, including defense facilities, troop allocation, regional air defense, use of detachments, logistics and supply, wartime public security, and people's livelihood and settlement.

Because there is too much content, Li Junhao takes a lot of time to review, and many places need to be carefully thought about before they can be understood. Generally speaking, the draft plan is already in place, and although it is a little cumbersome, considering that the proportion of military and civilian education in this era is relatively low, it is the most correct way to set out the plan in detail and have a special person responsible for its implementation.

The most satisfying thing about this plan is that in the various response plans, the linkage of various departments has been designed, which is a very advanced idea! He believes that once implemented, it will have a multiplier effect with half the effort.

Of course, no matter how good the plan is, it also needs to be executed effectively; Moreover, because of the terrain constraints of the concession, there should be an upper limit to the intensity of the attack, and if the Japanese army's force investment exceeds this limit, it will still not be able to hold it......

Thinking of this, he began to hesitate, should he add the "poison pill plan" to the plan?

At the last moment, the implementation of the poison pill plan will certainly make the Japanese army not cheap in the end, but it will also ruin the prosperity of Huhai, the largest city in the Far East! Moreover, will the Japanese army, which was embarrassed and angry afterwards, take brutal revenge on the residents of the concession because of this? Well, that's a probability.

However, if it is not implemented, after the Japanese army occupies the concession, it will gain a large amount of industrial and commercial wealth, which will enhance its war strength.

After thinking about it for a long time, there was no result, but he decided that the poison pill plan still had to be formulated, and as for whether it was implemented in the end, let's talk about it then! So, he found Yang Shixiong, the chief of staff, and told him about it.

When Yang Shixiong heard this, he nodded with a somewhat serious expression, saying that he would personally formulate this final plan, but hoped that it would never be implemented.

After sending off the chief of staff, Li Junhao leaned back in his chair, lit a cigarette, and thought in the curling light smoke: In a little more than half a year, Germany will launch an attack on the Soviet Union, and World War II will enter a new stage; And by this time next year, the Japanese Navy should already be implementing the plan to "climb new peaks", triggering a Pacific War, and the concession will usher in a point of survival.

In the original history, Japan did not take too violent measures and occupied the concession relatively peacefully, but now it probably won't!

(End of chapter)