At the end of September, Ayers formally wrote a report on the proposal for war claims against Japan and handed it to Roosevelt, who later signed Panson as the first idea.

Roosevelt was also very surprised when he first saw this suggestion, but then he began to think about it seriously!

In the period that followed, Roosevelt and Ayres discussed this matter many times, and also communicated with Li Junhao twice, which can be regarded as confirming his own ideas......

——

In October, the most important thing Li Junhao did was to entangle with Congress!

Because of the end of the war, it was the consensus of all walks of life that the US military, which had expanded to more than 12 million during the war, should be reduced, but the Joint Defense Committees of the two houses of Congress demanded that the army be reduced by 10 million by the end of 1948 in order to save military spending, which was unacceptable to the US military!

As the No. 1 five-star general in the U.S. military, Li Junhao naturally has to shoulder the responsibility of speaking for the army, and this is not even about his identity as a commander of the Navy and Land - at this time, it is his natural responsibility to fight in the ring with Congress, the first person in the military!

On October 10, when Li Junhao attended the hearing of the Joint Defense Committee of the National Assembly for the first time on behalf of the military, he directly stated: The previous goal of disarming 10 million people set by the committee was completely nonsense! Not to mention that it is impossible to accomplish this goal by the end of next year, even if it is really accomplished, the remaining 2 million troops will not be enough to ensure the needs of the navy alone.

Some parliamentarians pointed out that the current size of the navy has reached 3 million, the navy and land have reached 1 million, the air force has exceeded 2 million, and the army has exceeded 6 million, not counting as many as 5 million civilian and auxiliary personnel......

Li Junhao said: With the end of World War II, it is necessary to reduce the number of people, but it must be planned and step-by-step, and it must not be carried out simply and rudely, because in that case, it will seriously endanger national security......

After several days of debate, the Congress finally agreed that the Joint Chiefs of Staff should come up with a reasonable disarmament plan by the end of this year, and that at least half of the disarmament should be disarmed next year.

Although it is impossible to say who will win or lose in this matter, Li Junhao was able to change the decision of the Joint Defense Committee and talk about the number of disarmed people from 10 million to 6 million, which is already an excellent achievement for the military, and no one can do it if they are replaced by other generals.

Therefore, for Li Junhao, this is just a normal job, but for other military high-level officials, it is a manifestation of ability, which directly makes his prestige in the army rise a lot again.

Next, he broke down the goal of disarmament to each branch of the armed forces, and let them also make their own plans, which will be discussed and decided at the Joint Chiefs of Staff next month.

As for Hailu, he doesn't want to cut it for the time being. The forces of the sea and land in the Far East are mainly divided into two major parts: one part is occupied by Japan, which of course cannot be withdrawn; The other part was to guard those areas that had been recovered from the Japanese army ahead of schedule, and they had to wait to be returned to New China, and they could not be withdrawn for more than a year.

Although this part of the country can be cut first, it must not be rushed, and we must not let ourselves have no mobile forces in our hands, and if there is an emergency somewhere, the president wants to use troops, and it is not possible to send them himself.

As a matter of fact, the commanders of the four major branches of the military now know in their hearts that on land and sea, the task of stationing troops abroad is very heavy, and they still have to leave behind the mobile troops needed by the president, and they cannot be cut for the time being.

The current size of the navy is too large, and it should be reduced by half, and a large number of old warships will be eliminated, and this work will be done in a year.

The Air Force has just become independent, and it is still in the combing period, considering the future war situation, air supremacy is too important, and it will not be cut too much, and it is estimated that the scale of about 1.5 million will be maintained.

The only thing left to focus on is the Army! Now the size of the army is 6 million, and in order to complete half of the tasks of the president army, it has to reduce the number of troops by 4 million, and this is the most difficult part.

Speaking of which, compared with the navy and the air force, the two technical branches of the army, the army should be able to expand and downsize, but in fact there are many problems, and the key is that there are too many people; if all 4 million people are laid off and put back into society at once, then the employment pressure will be too great, and if one is not handled well, it will cause turmoil, which is something that all sides do not want to see.

Bradley, the chief of staff of the Army who just returned from Europe, has a big head, and he can't help but complain very much about his predecessor Marshall, who "escaped" - your old man threw his hand off to become the secretary of state, and handed over the big stall of the army to me, I haven't figured out anything, that is, I am in charge of major disarmament, what a fool!

The new Chief of Naval Operations Ernest faced a similar situation, but there was an advantage that the Navy's ships and personnel had a tradition of changing ships and personnel on time, old ships had to be retired, too old officers and men had to be retired, and ordinary sailors recruited in the war who had no special expertise or potential for improvement had to be retired...... In such a situation, it is perfectly possible to cut half in a year. Of course, if there are more cuts, the Navy will not do it!

——

On November 3, at the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Bradley's disarmament plan was completely unpassable - only guaranteed to cut 2 million within a year, which of course will not work!

He himself has no choice, there are many factions in the army, and all aspects must be taken care of, and the commanders of all parts are protecting the calves, and they all want to keep more of their troops, even if these 2 million are forced by the army staff.

Seeing Bradley's eyes asking for help, Li Junhao decided to help him, and said, "Omar, let me make a few suggestions, you can think about it:

"First, it has been more than two years since the end of World War II, and the conscripts who have been added to the war in various units should have their service periods full, except for professional talents, let them all be retired!

"Second, the previous large establishment of those group armies and armies should be abolished! This would make it possible to eliminate a significant number of civilian and support staff;

"Third, those troops stationed in Europe and Japan can be temporarily retained and some personnel replaced, and the government of the occupied areas will bear the military expenses and expenses...... Thus, on the books, these troops may not be counted in the total number of troops......"

Hearing his three suggestions, especially the last one, the eyes of several people present lit up, this is a good way! To maintain the local security situation in the overseas garrison, the military expenses must of course be borne by the local people! In this way, there is no need to pay for it at home, and the Congress will no longer be able to talk crookedly!

"Alright, alright, I'll go back and revise the plan." Bradley was pleased, and felt that Panson was a friend enough!

(End of chapter)