Gu Weijun has long decided that he wants to eat the bowl of diplomacy in his life, but he served as the acting foreign minister of Beiyang more than ten years ago, and now he is finally about to become the acting foreign minister of New China, and seeing that he will officially become the foreign minister in a year and a half, he can't help but sigh when chatting with his old father-in-law and his wife.

His wife Tang Baoyue was not too surprised, as one of the backbone civil servants of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, it was strange that Gu Weijun could not be the Minister of Foreign Affairs. Gu Weijun's old father-in-law, Tang Shaoyi, had retired from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs at this time, and he was more concerned about what the People's Party thought of the British. Tang Shaoyi said: "Whether there is British support behind the Netherlands has to be considered. ”

Tang Shaoyi replied: "The central government has issued an order to deploy troops on the Sino-British border, and once the British take any armed action, we will immediately send troops. ”

"......" Tang Shaoyi was stunned, and after a while he replied in surprise, "Won't you investigate?" ”

Gu Weijun explained to his old father-in-law: "The central government means that since Britain is an enemy sooner or later, it will be fought sooner or later, and even if Britain is defeated by mistake, it is not a big deal." ”

Tang Shaoyi listened to this unreasonable attitude, the expression on his face was mixed, and in the end, he couldn't help but burst into tears.

Tang Baoyue didn't expect her father to cry, but she was startled, she quickly took out a handkerchief and handed it to her father, and asked in surprise: "Dad, what's wrong with you?" ”

Tang Shaoyi wiped his tears with a handkerchief, he asked his daughter to sit down, and said in a slightly choked voice: "I didn't expect to be able to see such a China in my lifetime. ”

Gu Weijun can understand Tang Shaoyi's excitement, he has been determined to serve the motherland since he was a child because he saw China being bullied by foreign countries. At the beginning of the People's Party's revolution, which coincided with the Russo-Japanese War, the Manchus "remained neutral" in the war that broke out in China, and now that Russia has spit out the territories it had seized from China, Japan has been violently beaten several times. What China lost in the First Sino-Japanese War has been recaptured. Japan does not dare to use any threat of force against China at all.

Even in the face of the world hegemon Britain, China now has an attitude that as long as it fights, it will definitely win, so there is no need to consider whether the British are wronged. Even if he saw it with his own eyes and experienced it himself, Gu Weijun felt that he was dreaming. However, this is not a dream after all, the total size of China's army, navy, and air force has expanded to 5 million, and the total number of engineers and railway troops has also reached 5 million.

What if the British fought back? Britain does not fight back, and China will fight Indochina and Burma at most. If Britain strikes back, China will march into India. On the vast land, China is not afraid of any enemy at all.

Tang Shaoyi also has the same understanding, in addition to the strong military strength of the People's Party, the leader Chen Ke is like a stone, and there must be no wavering or fear. After sighing for a while, Tang Shaoyi asked, "What are you going to do with the Netherlands?" ”

"What about the Netherlands?" Tang Shaoyi asked.

"As far as I know, I'm afraid that war will soon be declared. It's just that it takes some time to prepare for the war. Gu Weijun replied.

Tang Shaoyi listened to her son-in-law's words and sighed: "Is the People's Party ready to expand its territory?" ”

In fact, the People's Party has already expanded its territory, and Vietnam Province and Lao Province are all territories that China has not formally incorporated into its territory for hundreds of years. In the industrial age, mountains, deserts, and tropical rainforests could not stop the footsteps of industrial countries, and after several railways were built, these wild lands in the south became an inseparable part of China. Tang Shaoyi has been engaged in diplomacy for so many years, so he naturally knows the traditional relationship between Southeast Asia and China, and if a war between China and Britain really breaks out, China will only re-rule the "old land" of Southeast Asia.

"I didn't say this, take it one step at a time. Weak countries have no diplomacy. Gu Weijun replied. It is one of the world orders that a weak country has no diplomacy, and when China is a weak country, it naturally does not have China's diplomacy. When Britain and the Netherlands became weak countries, naturally there was no diplomacy of their own. If it cannot be defeated on the battlefield, it is naturally impossible to negotiate it at the negotiating table. It's the same for everyone.

Hearing the words that a weak country has no diplomacy, Tang Shaoyi couldn't help but burst into tears. It took him a while to collect tears, "Now I think about all the things in the Manchu Qing Dynasty and even Beiyang, it's really painful." Obviously, China can be so powerful, but it is bullied by foreigners to such a degree. Before, I still couldn't see through the situation and had to play for them. Ay! ”

Tang Baoyue didn't quite understand these things, she couldn't help but want to laugh and ease the atmosphere, "How did I hear that there are rumors outside that Chairman Chen is actually a descendant of the Aixin Jueluo family." ”

"It's impossible." Tang Shaoyi immediately interrupted her daughter's words, "Since Chairman Chen said that he is Han, then he must be Han." Where are the Manchurians worthy of having a relationship with us Han people? ”

was scolded by her father like this, Tang Baoyue also knew that she had said the wrong thing, so she stopped answering and just sat quietly with her.

Tang Shaoyi didn't care about his daughter, he turned to his son-in-law and said, "Since the central government believes that you will be able to win, Shaochuan will do your job well." That's a big deal! ”

China was ready for war, but the Dutch found no sign of this. Of course, this is because the Netherlands does not do a good job in intelligence work in China, and the Netherlands also has its own "bitterness".

As a colonist, his job is to oppress the people of the colony. The old colonizers of the Netherlands are different from the neo-colonialists of the United States, who do not jump directly to the forefront, but act as the behind-the-scenes bosses of the colonial "pig farms" in the background. The colony is the "hunting ground" of the Netherlands, and the Dutch have the power to kill and seize in the colony.

Originally, the Chinese were fat sheep in the Dutch East Indies, but after the revival of China, the Chinese had the backing behind them, not only did the business get bigger and bigger, but also dared to use legal weapons to protect their interests in the Dutch East Indies with the support of Chinese enterprises. In the past, Chinese did not pay attention to the law, so they could pinch it casually. Wang Qinian's "hard bones" after his arrest set an example for overseas Chinese in the Dutch East Indies, and the Chinese Grand Fleet went on a "tour" to the Dutch East Indies, which greatly shocked the local Dutch rulers. The Dutch side felt great pressure, so it had to take action to combat the "arrogance" of the Chinese.

China has mobilized a large number of troops to the Sino-British border, not only on the Burmese border, but also from north to south, in the former Russian Kazakh and now China's Western Regions Province, in the area bordering India with Afghanistan, in Tibet, and in Burma.

The British are not stupid, this posture has ulterior motives at a glance, China and Britain are far from the point of fighting each other, so there is only one purpose left, that is, to coerce Britain not to move. Obviously, China is going to do something to the Netherlands.

After the British minister tried every possible way to see Chen Ke but was delayed by the acting foreign minister Gu Weijun, Chen Ke finally met with the British minister on August 4, 1935. The British side knew that Chen Ke was actually very straightforward, and he didn't even greet him, so he came up and asked: "May I ask if the Chinese side wants to declare war on the Netherlands?" ”

"Yes." Chen Ke also replied frankly.

The British minister said loudly: "We in Britain oppose China's approach!" ”

Chen Ke looked the British minister up and down, and replied in a very friendly and regretful tone: "Don't you think you English, as the descendants of opium dealers, should be embarrassed to say this?" ”

Of course, the British minister did not feel that there was anything to be embarrassed about, and it was an honor for Britain to win China in the Opium War. After listening to Chen Ke's words, the British minister immediately understood China's attitude. He replied solemnly: "We in Britain are resolutely opposed to China's practice of intensifying contradictions. ”

Chen Ke said with a smile: "You don't have to object to our approach, when you came here, our National People's Congress had already passed the decision to declare war on the Netherlands, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs had officially submitted a declaration of war to the Netherlands. ”

The British were surprised by the swiftness of China's approach to the war, and they thought that it was still possible for China to adopt diplomatic means to resolve the recent conflict by demonstrating pressure to exert pressure, but they did not expect that China's approach was even more ruthless than the British originally thought, and they mobilized troops not to exert pressure, but to really prepare for war. Now it was clear that if Britain fought with the Dutch, the Chinese army would rush across the Sino-British border and enter the British colonies.

The envoy to China is a smart man, and he did not speak harshly. It should be because of his position that it cannot determine Britain's strategy toward China. In particular, it is not a question of strategy that determines whether Britain will go to war against China. There is no point in speaking out at this point. The British minister glared at Chen Ke hatefully, got up and took his leave.

At this time, the Chinese contingent had reached a distance of 300 kilometers from the destination Dutch East Indies city of Balikpapan.

Balikpapan is an important oil-producing region, and Southeast Asian oil is mainly light oil, although it is not as good as the high-quality light oil that can be directly poured into the diesel engine in Libya in later generations, the overall quality is still much higher than that of China's local oil. China's first target was Borneo, the land of the former Republic of Lanfang, so it was necessary to seize Balikpapan.

The strategy formulated by Chen Ke is very simple, to feed the war with war. After seizing Balikpapan, China will be able to use the local oil wells on site. The Chinese have long designed and produced several field refineries, and even if the refineries do not produce much, it is much more convenient than transporting oil across the South China Sea.

With the military might of the Dutch, it was impossible to sabotage these refineries. Of course, if Britain decided to go to war with China for the Dutch East Indies, then China would not mind a land war with the British in Burma and Indochina. Looking at the war purely by the odds of victory, there is no doubt that a land victory with the British is more likely to be a land victory. If the war did come to this point, China would have crossed the Strait of Malacca directly from Singapore, and the Dutch East Indies would have ended sooner.

As for the retaliation of the British, Chinese submarines and torpedo attack aircraft taking off from the roadbed have repeatedly verified that it is possible to annihilate large formations of battleships at sea up to 200 km. The battleship formations of the British's World War level came to kill and retaliate, that is, they just sold a cute one and died.

As for the economic problems, the Great Depression has developed to the present, except for Germany and the United States "temporarily out" of the Great Depression, other countries can only be described as "used to". China's economy, which was boosted by the liberation of the Dutch East Indies, was far greater than that pip trade. China does not live by exploiting its colonies, but by developing its productive forces and increasing its national strength through labor. If calculated purely by cost, the vast Dutch East Indies are the vast "means of production", once this war is won, such huge means of production will be incorporated into China's production system, and the war dividends will be enough to stimulate China's economic construction for ten years.

Within the BJP, the only question about the war is whether it can be won, and no one has jumped out against it. And the banks, the Ministry of Commerce, were staunch supporters of the war.

Before the war, China had already informed the USSR of China's decision. Chen Ke unequivocally told Uncle Tie that China did not want to drag the Soviet Union into the water, but hoped that the Soviet Union would abide by the contents of the "Sino-Soviet Friendship Treaty" and not provide any channel to possible anti-China countries.

Seeing that China really had no intention of pulling the Soviet Union into the water, Uncle Tie immediately replied, "The Sino-Soviet Friendship Treaty brooks no desecration. ”

As for the casus belli, there is little justification for declaring war these days. It was easy for China to find examples of bullying, and after enumerating the crimes of the Dutch, China officially declared war on the Netherlands.

The Dutch clearly did not expect China to decide the war so neatly, and there was no sign of a Dutch fleet build-up in the sea near Balikpapan.

The task force is a two-carrier, two-battleship layout, and underwater, a powerful strike force of 32 submarines. At a distance of less than 150 kilometers from Balikpapan, reconnaissance planes, destroyers acting as avant-garde surface battle groups, and underwater submarines all spotted the Dutch warship.

Unlike the last big parade, the commander of the Chinese fleet, Zhu Yao, gave the order, "Start attacking!" ”

The commanders and fighters on the aircraft carrier, who had long been on standby, immediately took action, and after adjusting the direction, the command tower of the warship raised the flag of take-off. Wearing a conspicuous bright yellow vest and wearing a helmet, the ground commander squatted neatly, he bent his leg sideways, placed his left hand on his left leg, stretched out his right arm, pointed his index and middle fingers in the direction of the plane's take-off, and made a fist with the remaining fingers of his right hand, facing the side of his face in the direction of take-off.

Then the first plane began to slide on the deck, and the plane slid faster and faster, and as the fuselage crossed the edge of the take-off deck, the plane sank downwards as if it were falling. All the staff on deck, even though they had seen this happen many times, couldn't help but sink their hearts like airplanes. After a few moments, I saw that the plane was slowly climbing upwards from a farther place, and the plane did not fall, but continued to fly.

The pilot of the first flight was necessarily the pilot of the highest level, because there was no catapult, the take-off distance of the first flight was the shortest, and the loss rate of the first flight of the Workers' and Peasants' Revolutionary Army was the highest. Seeing the success of the first flight, a loud cheer broke out on the entire warship!

It was much easier for the pilots in the back to take off, flying out with four or five planes in a row, and some of the pilots in the back were able to get the planes into the air before they even reached the end of the glide deck. Each aircraft smoothly retracted its landing gear and joined the formation of the aircraft in front of it flying around the aircraft carrier. The fleet in the sky grew larger and larger, and finally the large fleet of more than 50 planes headed towards Balikpapan.

Watching the group disappear from sight, on the battleship as the flagship, Commander Zhu Yao couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief.