On the morning of 19 November, Li Junhao went to the US War Department in the Eastern District of Washington, this time not to make a formal report, but to the War Department's Overseas Support Command to unofficially report on the situation of the 15th Infantry Regiment currently stationed in the Huhai Concession.

The War Department, which should be properly named the War Department, was founded in 1789 as the third Cabinet Department in U.S. history (after the State Department and the Treasury Department), and its initial responsibility was to oversee federal Army and Navy affairs. In 1798, when the Navy was transferred to the newly established Admiralty, the War Department was changed to be in charge of the Army, so it was later commonly referred to as the War Department.

The current Secretary of the Army is Henry Lewis Stimson, who took office only on July 10 of this year, and is a Republican specially appointed by Roosevelt in order to gain wider support.

Stimson had a rich experience, serving as Secretary of War to President William Howard Taft from 1911 to 1913; He served as Governor General of the Philippines from 1928 to 1929 and Secretary of State to President Herbert Clark Hoover during the Great Depression from 1929 to 1933.

After Roosevelt entered the White House in 1933, because of his brotherly friendship with Cordell Hull, he served as a special adviser to the new Secretary of State Hull, guiding him to familiarize him with foreign affairs.

After Japan and Germany became the source of war in Asia and Europe, he called on the United States to abandon isolationism; After the outbreak of World War II, he actively advocated interventionism and advocated support for anti-fascist countries.

It was because of Stimson's attitude toward the war that Roosevelt appointed him as the new Secretary of War to preside over the expansion of armaments.

Li Junhao thought that his position was not up to the eyes of the Minister of the Army, but after handing over a written report and a brief report of the 15th Infantry Regiment to Major General Endrie McCollin of the Overseas Support Command, he wanted to leave, but he did not expect that the other party said that the minister wanted to see him.

Stimson, a medium-sized, thin, brown-haired, bearded man with a thick beard on his upper lip, was looking at a document in reading glasses as he was ushered into his office.

After Li Junhao sat down on the opposite side of the desk, Stimson said, "Colonel Panson, I heard that you have a great opinion of Lieutenant General MacArthur and think that he is incompetent, can you explain the reason?" ”

Well? Is it so straightforward? Li Junhao was stunned for a moment, then organized the language, and repeated what he had said to Ayres in detail before, and this time added a lot of information and evidence that he secretly asked people to collect......

After listening to his narration, Stimson frowned slightly, noncommittal, and just said, "Thank you, Colonel Panson, the situation you said is very important, and I will arrange for verification...... However, I hope you don't talk about it to anyone else in the future, okay? ”

Hearing this, Li Junhao was a little unhappy, why did he want to gag himself? So he said coldly: "I'm sorry, Mr. Minister, I think I have the right to express my views under the Constitution!" ”

Stimson looked at him for a moment before he said, "Mr. Panson, I just hope you don't talk about this matter on an inappropriate occasion......

"Inappropriate occasion?" "Does that include Mr. Roosevelt's office?" ”

——

At two o'clock in the afternoon, Li Junhao arrived at the White House two hours early, and after a series of inspections and certifications, it took him half an hour before he entered the official residence of the highest authority in the United States.

At this time, Ayres had not officially come here to take office, but he already had a separate room to work, and his work was very busy, and after hurriedly arranging Li Junhao to wait in his room, he hurriedly went out to a meeting, and did not even prepare a glass of water for him.

Well, Li Junhao has room to carry around, took out tea to drink, and casually found a book on American Geography Research from the bookshelf next to him and read it, but he learned a lot of new knowledge.

At four o'clock, a young lady knocked on the door and said, "Hello, Mr. Panson, come with me!" ”

"Oh, okay." Hearing this, Li Junhao stood up, put down the book, straightened his naval uniform, and followed the lady out of the door.

Moments later, he was ushered to an office in the west wing on the first floor.

The office is divided into two rooms, the outer room has a female secretary in her thirties sitting behind a desk answering the phone, and a major officer in a navy uniform sits in a straight posture on a chair next to the door of the inner room.

Seeing them come in, the female secretary didn't put down the phone, nodded her head to say hello, and then pointed inward with her right hand holding a pen, and the naval major stood up and saluted him, and then opened the door behind him sideways, and Li Junhao returned the salute and walked forward.

The able lady who led him walked in first and said, "Sir, Mr. Panson is here." ”

After Li Junhao entered the door, he saw three people in the room, one was Ayers, who was familiar to him, sitting on the sofa next to him and beckoning to him.

On the couch opposite Ayers sat an old man in his 70s in a blue suit, who had seen his photograph in the press several times, and was none other than Cordell Hull, the two-term secretary of state.

Behind the wide writing desk facing the door sat an old man with blond hair, a square face, and about sixty years old, who was looking at Li Junhao who had just walked in with sharp eyes.

Li Junhao did not avoid the other party's gaze, took two steps forward, stood two meters in front of the desk and saluted, and said: "Your Excellency, President Naval Intelligence Agency Far East Intelligence Officer Ognyan · Lee Panson, on orders. ”

Roosevelt had a smile on his face, his eyes softened, and he smiled, "Hello, Ogy, sit down!" ”

"Yes, sir." Li Junhao agreed, muttering in his heart: Why does he call himself a nickname?

Although he agreed to sit down, he saluted Hull and Ayers before sitting down on a couch at the bottom of the side.

The conversation that followed was a bit lackluster, Roosevelt didn't talk much, basically Hull was asking about his work in Huhai, but this time he didn't hand in the report again, because he was not qualified to report directly to the president, and it was already very unusual for the president to be able to meet him in person.

Forty minutes later, after he had finished expounding his opinion on the Far Eastern forces, Ayres signaled that he could finish, and Li Junhao hurriedly stood up and saluted and took his leave.

As he was about to leave the door, Roosevelt suddenly said, "Og, do a good job, I'll wait to see you next time." ”

"Yes, sir, I will." Li Junhao agreed, saluted and left, feeling dazed.

Until he left the White House, Li Junhao didn't figure it out, what is the significance of this meeting? Could it be that the president and the secretary of state want to meet him?

(End of chapter)