The "ransom for freedom" in Hawaii soon reached Washington's ears, and everyone in the Chiefs of Staff was hesitant and hesitant, and most of them objected to it: it would dampen morale and seriously reduce Hawaii's defense level and capability.

But Dulles apparently didn't see it that way, and by the time he learned the whole thing, he was putting the finishing touches on negotiations with Russia. In the previous rounds of communication, the United States and the East Russia side initially reached an agreement that the Red Army would send 600 officers with actual combat experience to the United States Army to carry out "labor exports", but there was one point that the Russian side bit very hard, it was necessary to send political commissars, and it was necessary to carry out Bolshevik Party activities within the delegation, of course, Father Stalin was not interested in exporting ideology to the American people now, and these political commissars promised not to contact the American grassroots officers and soldiers, and the party's activities were only arranged on holidays and carried out internally. Not opening up to Americans is more based on management and coordination needs. Prevent these party members from losing their conviction and being beaten by the sugar-coated shells of the bourgeoisie.

Other treatment and living conditions are all easy to say, as long as the US side pays the salary according to the same military rank, and then gives the Russian side an additional consulting fee for technology or part of the shortage of physical transactions.

In order to show that Comrade Stalin attaches great importance to the friendly relations between the two countries, the "American Labor Corps" dispatched this time is very weighty: the head of the regiment is General Chernyakhovsky, who personally commanded the counterattack in the Caucasus and defeated the Turkish army, the deputy commander is General Chuikov, who served as the commander of the army group and fought in the Battle of Stalingrad and the Central Asian Basin and has shown tenacity, the director of the Political Department (mainly responsible for ideological work) is Brezhnev (with the rank of major general), who participated in many battles, and the rest of the generals who participated in the defense of Moscow. There are generals who participated in the Leningrad Campaign, generals who fought in the Great Battle of the Southern Front, and all of them are middle-aged and young generals who have performed well, have a strong work style, and are loyal to the party; there are a total of 17 generals and above, and more than 190 people have the rank of major and above, and the lieutenants are basically outstanding officers who have graduated from the Frunze Military Academy and performed well on the battlefield.

From a structural point of view, about one-third of the officers are familiar with armored warfare, about one-half are familiar with traditional infantry tactics, and the rest are mostly artillery officers. Of course, there are also officers from the Ministry of Internal Affairs involved, but except for the regiment commander, the deputy regiment commander and the director of the political department, the rest of them are not clear.

Both MacArthur and Clark admired and liked this list and their subsequent resumes very much, especially when Zhukov and Vasilevsky could not be moved lightly, and General Chernyakhovsky, who commanded the last counterattack in Central Asia and the Caucasus, had a lot of weight as the third general of the Red Army in the minds of the Americans.

In fact, when determining the list of personnel, there was also controversy within the Red Army and the Russian Communist Party, some people said that it was enough to perfunctory the Americans, and there was no need to be very serious, and proposed to send Konev or Bagramyan to lead the team (these two men were criticized for their defeat in the battle, and it was all up to Zhukov and Vasilevsky to mediate), Stalin made a different decision after careful consideration, believing that the "United States" is very important at this stage, and at the moment when the two countries are facing a crisis of national and national survival, the ideological conflict will weaken, and cooperation against the enemy will rise, We persist in selecting and dispatching "elite soldiers and strong generals" in the hope that they will use US resources and equipment to test new tactics and improve the concept of building a new army.

Comrade Stalin spoke,

The selection style will change immediately, and those who can be selected are basically those who will be promoted in the future: Chernyakhovsky is Zhukov's successor in Stalin's mind; Chuikov, who has a tenacious style, can serve as the commander of the front army in the future; Comrade Brezhnev, who has a firm stand, a strong work style, and actual combat experience, can serve as the political commissar of the front army or an important local party post in the future

Since the Russian side was indeed sincere, the number of political commissars was small (1 for every 25 people), and the fact that it would not promote the Bolshevik idea to the outside world, the Joint Chiefs of Staff finally accepted the list, hoping to gradually admit the Russian delegation to the secret station from February.

This negotiation succeeded in establishing the prestige of Dulles and also laid the conditions for a second fire.

The second fire is about "ransom" Hawaiian civilians, and his attitude is very resolute: the wounded must be saved, and civilians must also be saved, which can be done but cannot be said, and he said to Hoover at the meeting: "This is a compromise and concession to the Japanese army in order to save people's lives, and it is the lesser of two evils, and it is not worth emulating and not worth fanfare, so the FBI must strictly abide by the requirements of the Secrecy Law and the News Control Law, and any news media that dare to go beyond the thunder pool will be closed; Journalists and editors who dare to ignore the ban will be held accountable for their arrest and then trial, expulsion from the press, and secret surveillance, house arrest, and even arrest of those who refuse to change their ways. At such a critical moment, the thinking of the people of the United States must not be chaotic, and the command system of the armed forces must not be disturbed! I can't control the 'Voice of Europe', and I can't even control the domestic media? ”

Even Dewey was shocked by this intransigence, but since Dulles said he was willing to take responsibility in the future, he acquiesced at the meeting, and Hoover immediately agreed to carry it out.

In order to rescue Hawaiian civilians, Dulles made several suggestions:

First, a submarine transported a batch of US dollar cash to Hawaii to save the economic order and life order on the verge of collapse, and deliberately and carefully mentioned that "old banknotes are wanted, not new ones" so as not to arouse suspicion on the Japanese side.

Second, the Treasury Department will provide emergency assistance to Hawaii's banking industry to prevent a partial run;

Third, since the Japanese army agreed to exchange civilian goods for civilian freedom, it would collect a batch of materials on the West Coast, and the Red Cross and other volunteer groups would come forward to replace them (not in an official capacity), these materials were mainly to purchase surplus and unsalable products, such as outdated shirts, coats, leather shoes, bedding, or products with high added value but would not enhance Japan's military strength, such as watches, radios, gramophones, mid-to-high-end cars, etc., or luxury goods, such as stockings, perfumes, high-end cosmetics, silk underwear, etc., The government will come forward to stimulate domestic demand;

Fourth, the trading time should be extended as much as possible, first the wounded and sick, then women and children, and then the elderly, so as to gain as much time as possible to delay the Japanese offensive and gain time for the improvement of the situation on other battlefields and for peace talks with Germany.

$4,000 was not a decimal at the time, and the price of 1 ounce of gold was about $40 (1 gram of gold per ounce was originally only $35, but the price rose due to inflation in the United States), and the standard set by Japan was 100 ounces of gold per person.

There are more than 100,000 civilians in Hawaii, and at least $400 million in supplies is actually far more than that, because Japan has kept the price of ordinary civilian goods very low, but Dulles thinks it is completely worth it, and he even said: "Gentlemen, if the Japanese are willing to collect $1 billion, $2 billion, or even $5 billion and give up the occupation of Hawaii, I would rather pay this money and make it again if the money is gone, the island is lost, and the life is gone, how can I make up for it in the future?" ”

If Horikichi heard this, he would have happily shook hands with Dulles and walked away with a ransom of $10,020 billion, but unfortunately the deal was destined to not work out, and both sides opposed such an offer.

In the end, the Joint Chiefs of Staff only passed the first four articles, and held that the ransom in exchange for Japan's withdrawal was "not ripe for consideration."

Although it is a postponement of consideration, the military generally has a favorable impression of Dulles, and some people even privately believe that Dulles, who comes from a political family, has good government resources, is familiar with the situation in Germany, and has a tough style, is more suitable than Dewey to be president, regardless of age or skill!

On January 23, after the deployment of relevant work, Dulles set off for Portugal: according to the agreement between the United States and Germany, Dulles's plane went to the European continent alone, and after entering the 800-kilometer air defense circle of the Azores, it sent a contact signal, and Germany would send a number of fighter planes to escort the whole flight until the plane landed safely in Lisbon.

The situation before going to Lisbon was very grim: after the Japanese army went to American Samoa, it attacked the island of Vanua, which is on the periphery of Australia and New Zealand, and at the same time, it took the Tonga Islands without blood, and the front line of the army was directed at New Caledonia; Australia, New Zealand and the Solomon Islands were directly exposed to the threat of the Japanese army; The Germans completely occupied LinkedIn Guiana, and at the same time found that the main German fleet began to pounce in the direction of the Caribbean Sea.

Whether the Germans would occupy Trinidad and Tobago and whether the Atlantic Fleet should send troops to engage it, the Joint Staff Committee made waves again, but Dulles couldn't take care of the discussion this time, he had to talk to Ribbentrop first to hear what Germany meant