White House, Washington, USA.

It's seven o'clock in the morning Nanjing time, which is almost six o'clock in the evening Washington time.

U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt had just finished dinner when a female secretary pushed him in a wheelchair and escorted him to a small conference room to discuss a new scrap deal with the Japanese government.

The United States has been exporting scrap steel to Japan, especially in recent years, Japan's demand for scrap steel has become more and more large, so it secretly bought several congressmen and proposed to reconsider the scrap steel agreement with the Japanese government, to put it bluntly, it is to relax the limit on the amount of scrap steel exported to Japan.

Roosevelt knew that the steel tycoon Carnegie was behind the proposal.

Because of the involvement of the steel tycoon Carnegie, Roosevelt did not dare to slack off, and decided to hold a staff meeting overnight.

However, as soon as Roosevelt's wheelchair walked outside the door of the Oval Office, a young clerk walked up to Roosevelt with a folder and said, "Your Excellency, Your Excellency, U.S. Minister to China Jensen and Colonel Stilwell, the U.S. Military Attache in China, have just sent a joint urgent telegram to your attention. ”

"Really?" Roosevelt waved his hand and said, "What did they say?" ”

"It's not a big deal." The young clerk said, "I just talked about a small battle of the Sino-Japanese War, as if the Chinese army annihilated 20,000 Japanese troops in Nanjing, which is not a big deal, but Mr. Johnson and Colonel Stilwell said it as if it were a big deal." ”

When Roosevelt heard this, his eyes were surprised.

After a moment, Roosevelt said, "This is no small matter, young man. ”

When the female secretary was about to continue to push Roosevelt to the small conference room, Roosevelt suddenly waved his hand and said: "Missy, don't go to the small conference room, and then tell the secretariat that the meeting at six o'clock tonight has been canceled, and as for the scrap steel trade with Japan, the original agreement will still be used." ”

……

It's seven o'clock in the morning Nanjing time, almost twelve o'clock in the evening Berlin time.

Although it was late at night, the Führer was still reviewing the documents.

The military campaign against Hungary and Czechoslovakia was about to start in full swing, and as the head of the Third Reich, he was naturally a lot of things.

After finally reviewing the mountain of documents on the desk, the Führer was just about to get up to make a cup of coffee when the secretary walked in with a folder and said: "Your Excellency, Great Führer, this is a report from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on the Japanese Army University's invitation to the cadets of the Berlin Military Academy to Tokyo for observation and exchange. ”

"An invitation from the Eastern allies?" The Führer said, "Take it and I'll take a look." ”

When the secretary heard this, he opened the folder and handed over a piece of paper inside.

The Führer quickly finished reading the document and was about to sign it, when another secretary came in and whispered: "Your Excellency, the Japanese army has just suffered a great defeat on the battlefield in China!" ”

"Oh, really?" The Führer said, "What's going on?" ”

Later, the secretary told what he heard on the radio.

When the Führer heard this, he immediately put down his pen and said to the previous secretary: "The plan for the cadets of the Berlin Military Academy to go to the Army University in Tokyo for observation and exchange has been shelved. ”

……

Tokyo, Imperial Palace.

It's more than seven o'clock in the morning Nanjing time, which is almost eight o'clock in the morning Tokyo time.

At this time, it had been more than half an hour since the end of the Imperial Council, and most of the military and political officials such as Konoe Fumiro had already left, and only Tada Jun, the deputy chief of staff of the base camp, was left in the imperial palace by Hirohito.

At this time, Hirohito was listening to the radio with Tada.

It was the Nanjing Voice of the China Central News Agency.

Neither of them understands Japanese, so there is a dedicated Chinese translator next to them.

The Chinese interpreter listened to the radio and translated into Japanese: "13 infantry guns of Type 92 70mm caliber were captured. ”

"24 Meiji 38 75mm caliber field howitzers were captured."

"11 Meiji 38-style 105mm caliber field howitzers were captured."

"34 Meiji 38 150mm caliber field howitzers were captured."

"Enough, stop translating!" Hearing this, Hirohito really couldn't listen to it, because listening to these numbers one by one, it was like stabbing a knife in his heart again and again, and each time it was deeper and deeper!

"Hello!" The Chinese translator shook Hirohito's head and bent down to exit the imperial study.

Hirohito breathed a sigh of relief, turned his gaze to Tada Jun, and said faintly: "Tada-kun, I finally made up my mind to let NHK radio station continue to broadcast the battle of Nanjing, but as a result, the imperial army immediately suffered such a big defeat in Nanjing, now I really don't know, the previous decision was right or wrong?"

Tada Jun hurriedly said: "Your Majesty, this is all to blame on the minister, if it weren't for the minister's confusion and proposal to do a live broadcast, now Your Majesty wouldn't have to make trouble for it at all, so it's all the minister's fault." ”

Hirohito waved his hand and said, "Tada-kun, that's not what I meant. ”

After a pause, Hirohito said: "Live broadcast is actually a very good idea, because facts have proven that this move can not only greatly unite the military spirit of the front-line soldiers, but also unite the will of the people of the whole country!" It makes the entire Japanese Empire, from the imperial family to every family, united and even more indestructible! ”

"Hello!" Tada Jun paused, and said, "The minister understands, he should broadcast live selectively, and only broadcast the battles that will definitely be won in the future, and try to avoid those battles whose outcome is unpredictable." ”

"Soga." Hirohito bowed his head lightly and said, "But the battle to capture Nanjing can't be avoided!" Because this war has attracted widespread international attention, the President of the United States and the head of Germany already know about it! The United States even canceled scrap negotiations with the Reich because of the war, and Germany canceled the military exchanges that had been scheduled. ”

"Yaga!" Tada Jun gritted his teeth and said, "This time the empire is really humiliating and humiliating!" ”

Waving his hand, Hirohito continued: "Therefore, no matter whether the battle of Nanjing is won or lost, no matter how much the Imperial Japanese Army pays, NHK radio must broadcast the whole battle live!" ”

In a word, Hirohito is now with Zhong Yi and the 367 Regiment!

He doesn't believe it, he can't destroy a 367 regiment with the strength of the whole country?

Tada Jun said awe-inspiringly: "What does Your Majesty mean is to broadcast the results to the whole country truthfully?" ”

"Broadcast the results truthfully, broadcast as much as you have lost, and don't hide it at all!" Hirohito nodded heavily, and said, "The empire has been accumulating strength for nearly a hundred years, and I don't believe that if you lose a local war, you can lose the fortunes of the country?" Can the empire's thriving rise be stopped? ”

(End of chapter)