@@@@@@@

Knowing that the two agreements were signed, Yang Qiu had no intention of continuing the inspection, so he returned to Beijing overnight with Song Ziqing and others to discuss countermeasures. After learning that he had returned early, Xu Gesen, who had not been able to catch up, also rushed to the presidential palace immediately. The dignified British Empire ambassador to China was now red-eyed, ragged, and visibly overworked. Crises in the South Sea, the Persian Gulf and Europe at the same time have made the rotten ship of the sun never set more and more unsupportable.

Fortunately, Yang Qiu's mentality has changed, and the emergence of the Japan-German-Soviet contract means that the world situation in the short term has been fixed, and he no longer needs to consider the timing of his move, so he has changed his avoidance of vague excuses. He promised that if the British government could persuade the Soviet troops to withdraw from Afghanistan and permanently recognize the "Shanghai Communiqué," and at the same time withdraw 200 kilometers of troops from the northwest, it would be willing to temporarily suspend commercial investment in Iran until the international situation stabilized before making a decision, and also sent Gu Weijun, who was visiting the Persian Gulf and Turkey, to visit Europe to continue follow-up discussions.

Immediately afterwards, he met with the visiting Hopkins, conveyed to Roosevelt the idea that he had no intention of intervening in the European conflict, but only wanted to contain and resolve the crisis in the northwest, and promised that he would not actively violate the "Qingdao Treaty" and would not seek Indian interests. Of course, it also hinted that Britain would use its naval power to protect the oil lanes if it was unable to secure the Persian Gulf and Indian Ocean oil lanes.

The rumors from the United States made Britain very dissatisfied, what does it mean that Britain is unable to protect the oil channel? If you hadn't caused trouble in Iran, wouldn't the British Empire be angry on three sides? However, at this time, Chamberlain was really powerless, so he immediately sent a special envoy to the Soviet Union, hoping to solve the Sino-Soviet problem first. But Stalin, who had just reached an agreement with Japan and Germany, did not have any worries about these harsh preconditions for negotiations, and instead continued to increase troops to the east during the arrival of the British envoy. Moscow's toughness made the situation in the northwest more tense, and in order to prevent the Soviet attack, Yue Peng, the chief of the General Staff of the Wehrmacht, immediately responded. Fifteen additional infantry divisions were sent to Xinjiang, Beihai and Almaty, and by early June, a total of 96 divisions had been deployed on the long line from Krasnoyarsk to Afghanistan, including 45 divisions of the Chinese National Defense Forces and 51 divisions of the Soviet Red Army. It also has a huge military force, including more than 5,000 aircraft of various types, 23,000 tanks and armored vehicles, 120,000 artillery pieces of various types, 400,000 trucks and 1.4 million pack horses.

At the same time, after using the explosive power of air transport to catch the Soviet army off guard, the Wehrmacht took advantage of the winter and spring to continuously send 110,000 truckloads of supplies to the local area through the Afghan Resource Highway. It has not only effectively alleviated the problem of food shortages among Afghan nationals caused by the war, but also sent large quantities of weapons, ammunition and supplies. After months of stockpiling, on May 21, 1938, when news of Stalin's refusal came, the Chinese Volunteers in Afghanistan and the Afghan Army joined hands to launch an offensive against the Soviet forces entrenched in Herat and other places.

After the panic at the beginning of the war last year, it was already supported by 13 divisions from Moscow. With a total strength of 16 divisions and more than 1,000 tanks and armored vehicles, Zhukov used the mountainous terrain to try to keep the strategic town of Herat and prevent China from connecting Iran. Despite strong support from the Air Force, the Afghan coalition has not been able to move well in the face of the difficult terrain and vast mountainous terrain.

By the 27th, the command of the Sino-Arab coalition established in Kabul again ordered the air force. Large-scale bombardment of important Soviet towns such as Termez and Herat. During the bombing, which lasted for half a month, the Chinese Air Force flew a total of 1,656 sorties and dropped 2,055 tons of bombs at the cost of losing 17 aircraft. Shot down 73 Soviet warplanes.

In the face of the almost inexplicable large-scale bombing, Stalin was furious and ordered the development of a number of new aircraft, antiaircraft guns, tanks, and other equipment, including the IL2, MiG-2, and T34 tanks, as soon as possible, and at the same time terminated British mediation. Pravda followed suit. For the first time, the all-out war rhetoric was issued, calling on the whole Soviet to act. Defend the security of the national territory. At the same time, Germany, in order to free up its hands against Britain and France, also began to accelerate the delivery of ordered weapons and equipment to the Soviet army. By mid-June, 76 BF109 fighters and 55 HE111 bombers had been secretly delivered. Since the Soviet army had never flown such a good fighter, and the German armament had always been known for being sophisticated but difficult to operate, Stalin immediately ordered the plane to be transported to Chelyabinsk, and also mobilized the best pilots in the army to be trained by German instructors to learn to operate and fly the new aircraft.

Just when the spring and summer offensives in Afghanistan were in full swing, and Stalin gritted his teeth and gathered strength, on July 19, the Soviet-German crisis escalated violently. Although Britain and France tried their best to prevent and even threaten war, compared with the parallel world, the Soviet Union's flickering rhetoric made Hitler more and more rampant, not only issuing an ultimatum to the Czech Republic, demanding the immediate release of all political prisoners and ceding the Sudetenland to Germany, but also for the first time responding to the clamor for armed intervention of Britain and France with a tough speech that "war is inevitable".

The July crisis alarmed Britain and France, and Chamberlain even woke up first thing every day to ask the clerk if there had been a war. In the face of the British and French governments, the Benes government of the Czech Republic openly stated that it would not compromise and would not cede the Sudetenland to Germany. Seeing that the German-Czech war was about to break out, the two countries sent additional envoys to Moscow and Beijing, and Chamberlain did not even have time to pay attention to Afghanistan and Iran.

Seeing through the weakness of Britain and France, Hitler had no fear, and the former French vice chancellor suddenly changed his tune in the face of the visit, saying that he was no longer interested in the autonomy of the Sudetenland and wanted to conquer the Czech Republic by force. At the same time, German troops were again massing towards the Czech border.

In the face of the sudden tension in the Northwest Crisis and the Sudetenland, Yang Qiu, who was in Beijing, also threw off his ideological baggage, convened a meeting of cabinet ministers to unify the thinking of the government and the military, and published a signed article in the Central Daily for the first time, urging the whole country to clearly understand the harsh external environment and prepare for war. The article caused an uproar in the Republic of China and the Far East, and even the New York Times used headlines like "He has issued a warning."

The day after the speech, Song Ziqing and Yue Peng convened a meeting of officers at the division and brigade levels to make arrangements for military preparations, and at the same time formally submitted the "1938 National Defense Expansion Act," which became famous to the Presidential Office and the National Assembly. According to the draft, the Defence Force will cease the retirement of veterans within three years with immediate effect and will be massively expanded by 35 divisions. According to this draft, by the end of 1939, the total strength of the Republic of China alone must be guaranteed at 2.2 million. The Navy will increase the current total number of ships by 20 percent to 420,000, and the Air Force will also increase the number of flying wings by 36 with a total strength of 320,000, plus the National Guard by 300,000, bringing the total strength of the armed forces to more than 3 million.

"Nagata-kun, you're finally back!"

In the military port of Yokosuka, Nagata Tetsuyama, who stayed in Berlin and reached a preliminary alliance agreement with Germany, just got off the ship, he was slapped on the shoulder by Yamamoto Isoroku: "You are a hero of the Great Japanese Empire. I'm so proud of you! ”

Nagata Tetsuyama is indeed worthy of the title of imperial pride, you must know that he not only brought back 200 million rubles and millions of tons of scarce raw materials for Japan, won over Germany, Italy and the Soviet Union, and finally obtained a large number of samples of German technical equipment, including aluminum alloy formulas. In the words of Okamura Ninji, as long as there is enough time to imitate it slowly. Japan will be able to gradually narrow the technological gap with the Air Force. But he himself is very modest, in the Afghan hot war, the powerful air force and armored forces used for the first time across the sea made Japan dare not have the slightest fatigue, it can be said that in addition to the traditional navy, the gap between China and Japan has been very obvious.

"Yamamoto-kun, I've been at sea for too long, any news?" Upon arrival at the guest house. Nagata Tetsuyama began to inquire about the recent situation.

Since there were no outsiders, Yamamoto didn't want to hide his worries, and gave a general introduction to the "1938 National Defense Expansion Act" of the Republic of China, which had been in a uproar in the past few days, and when he heard that this time he would increase the number of divisions by 35 in one go. After a total of 7 army queens, the only remaining excitement in Nagata's heart due to the huge harvest from the visit was completely wiped out.

The gap between manpower, resources, food and industrial scale is really getting bigger and bigger!

Yamamoto Isoroku was also worried. Put the ten fingers of his hands together on his knees, and look solemn: "Nagata-kun." Tsuchihara-kun has been determined. This year, China's steel output will exceed 34 million tons, the total tonnage of shipbuilding in half a year has exceeded 2 million tons, a large number of machine tools and trucks have been manufactured, and the second phase of grain import agreements have been reached with the United States. According to the analysis of the Tibetan Minister, the total industrial scale of China this year will be close to that of the United States before the economic crisis in 1929! He also heard that in addition to the four battleships equipped with 16-inch guns, China also began to build four aircraft carriers, six heavy cruisers, four light cruisers, and at least 60 lightning (destroyer) ships more than two years ago, and they also began to build several special support warships, and even the renovation of the four Beijing-class battleships will be completed early next year. ”

The numbers in Yamamoto's fifty-six mouths exploded like thunder next to Nagata Tieshan's ears, and he couldn't help but gasp. An annual output of 34 million tons of steel? That's more than Germany and the Soviet Union combined, right? Three years ago, it was only 27 million tons! According to this calculation, it will exceed the 40 million mark by the end of next year!

Nagata Tetsuyama looked at Yamamoto Fifty-six with a gloomy face, and suddenly understood what he meant. Japan could no longer wait, and in any case, it must immediately go south to seize resources, otherwise this battle would be lost without fighting, so it asked: "Yamamoto-kun, does the military department know about these things?" "They? Hum! Yamamoto Fifty-six snorted coldly, except for Nagata, who had always been above the top, he didn't look at the "horse manure" of the military department with his eyes, and said: "I already know, but Prime Minister Konoe and Tojo have been so frightened by the expansion plan of Shina that they pee their pants and ask to increase the number of Korean garrisons first." These dull idiots, adding North Korea will only make China more uneasy. ”

Nagata Tetsuyama understood that the reason why Yamamoto said this to himself just now must be because the expansion of the Republic of China caused chaos in the Japanese military headquarters again, so after thinking about it carefully, he said: "Yamamoto-kun, I don't want to meddle in this matter. ”

"What!" Seeing that the best time to go south has come, at this time he actually retreated, no wonder Yamamoto Isoroku picked up the cup and wanted to smash it on Nagata's face. His appearance made Nagata Tieshan stunned for a moment, and then he realized that his words were wrong, and he hurriedly waved his hand: "Yamamoto-kun, you misunderstood, I mean, if we pass the review of the military department again, then it will be too late." ”

"What do you mean?"

Nagata Tetsuyama narrowed his eyes, and the gaze behind the lenses became as sharp as a blade: "Yamamoto-kun, we don't have time to talk to those bastards in Tojo, so I suggest, let's do it ourselves!" I can contact Seishiro Ita and Ninji Okamura, you will be in charge of the navy, and it won't take long to set off from East Timor to Batavia. ”

"But will this lead to a full-scale war between the Empire and Great Britain?"

"There will erupt, but not immediately." After Nagata Tetsuyama leaned forward and whispered his plan in his heart, Yamamoto Fifty-six's eyes lit up