Voroshilov's southward movement moved the hands of the world war forward one notch. At the same time, the war in Southeast Asia remains fierce. Siam and Indonesia defected to Japan, allowing Britain to hear the end of the Asian colonial era. To save face, Downing Street and Whitehall began conscripting troops from places like India, Canada and Australia to Burma and Bangladesh in an attempt to drag the Japanese into the quagmire of the rainforest. At the same time, the British House of Commons also passed an emergency military expenditure of up to 1.5 billion pounds (about 7.1 billion US dollars), which also means that Britain has become the sixth country to officially enter the preparation for war after Germany, Italy, the Soviet Union, Japan and China.

Upon learning of London's decision, France also quickly passed a military budget of 30 billion francs (about $6 billion). At the same time that Europa's two old empires sounded the clarion call for war, the Chinese government, which officially exceeded the 400 billion yuan (about 200 billion U.S. dollars) mark in 1938, quickly passed a single special military budget of 43 billion min. On the day of its passage by the National Assembly, Yang Qiu, president and commander-in-chief of the national armed forces, also signed the top-secret "General Military Production Plan" with Senate Speaker Chen Guofu, House Speaker Hu Weide, Premier Wang Zhengting, and Independent Official Huang Yuansheng in the Presidential Palace. According to the plan, the army, navy and air force of the Republic of China will issue 300,000 aircraft of various types, 12 aircraft carriers, 4 heavy cruisers, 22 light cruisers, 220 destroyers/frigates, 160 submarines, 10 million tons of other ships, 35,000 tanks of various types, 350,000 armored vehicles, 25 million guns of various types, 200,000 artillery pieces of various types, 8 million tons of ammunition of various types, 350,000 radio stations, 2 million trucks, 550,000 jeeps, 650,000 motorcycles, and a large amount of morphine, tobacco, grain, canned food, cotton yarn and medicines, etc.

According to the plan, from the effective date, all domestic enterprises will officially enter the system of combat-ready economy according to the list set out in this agreement, and any factory will be shut down/sabotaged without reason until the required number is not reached and the state does not require a suspension. Both the military have the right to take over the continuation of production until the end of the war or the completion of the list.

Similarly, the news of the great preparations for war in Europe and Asia has also made the United States, which is outside the Eurasian continent, uneasy, and quietly increased its military spending from $1.2 billion last year to $3.5 billion.

When the curtain began on the world's military preparations, Japan, which was narrow in its own territory and lacked resources, lacked its economy and manufacturing capacity, was even more anxious. Although the plan to expand westward was not approved, it made the Japanese top brass aware of the crisis of insufficient shipping, and even made them worry about the speed of the return of Southeast Asian booty. Especially after learning that Britain would sell and lease a full 2 million tons of ships to Beijing, it was even more furious. However, due to its own shipbuilding capacity, it is only 600,000 tons per year. In addition, most of the shipbuilding tonnage was squeezed by the navy, and only 1.3 million tons were seized by the south, so the Japanese top brass realized that reducing shipping distances was the only effective and quick solution to the lack of capacity.

Japan's top brass began to gradually turn their attention to Guam, the Philippines, and Taiwan, hoping to completely take over Southeast Asia as soon as possible and prepare for a bigger and more brutal war in the future. The Battle of Singapore officially began.

After Yamashita swept the Malay Peninsula, he said that he would attack Siam and Burma, but after forcing Siam to surrender with a false shot, he led the 5th Division, 18th Division, and Guards Division to quickly turn south and attack the Singapore fortress, which had become an isolated island. Since the Singapore fort was strong and almost impenetrable on the front, the Japanese placed their main point of attack in the Straits of Johor.

After receiving Yang Qiu's reminder and Chinese tanks and heavy artillery, Pasiwal blew up the more than 1,000-meter-long strait embankment connecting Johor Bahru to Singapore on April 21, and simultaneously deployed three 210-mm heavy artillery batteries and a large number of Chinese-supplied 105-mm howitzers along the Singapore side of the strait in the direction of Pulau Ubin and Ngacheng. Dozens of Makqin heavy machine guns were also deployed in areas where Japan could land.

In the early morning of April 22, the Japanese launched a general attack, with the 3rd and 18th Wing of Field Heavy Artillery, the 2nd Independent Heavy Artillery Group, and the 18th Division as the main force, and cooperated with bombers from Palembang to launch a fierce attack. Heavy artillery fire caused the Anglo-Dutch forces to collapse for a time. However, just as the Japanese tried to swim across the strait, the artillery urgently drawn from the harbor fortress used the 210-mm long-range heavy artillery provided by China to fiercely return fire, and the British air force also routed the Japanese air force again, and launched a counter-bombing campaign against the Japanese command Shigulai in the afternoon.

The Anglo-Dutch army, which had no way to retreat, was demoralized at the beginning. However, after several successive defeats of Japanese attacks, morale gradually recovered. The Japanese army was stunned by the sudden appearance of a large number of artillery and machine guns, but they did not expect that the British army, which had become a lost dog, still had so many long-range artillery. Caught off guard, thousands of people were lost in the first two days of the offensive alone.

On the 24th, the Japanese changed the tactics of concentrated attack and tried to land separately, but were again attacked by heavy British artillery fire as they crossed the strait. The 18th Division, which was responsible for attacking the 255 heights on the east side of the Tima side, was attacked by dozens of heavy machine guns and more than 30 artillery pieces. The landing force of the 18th Division, which lacked anti-tank weapons and was not prepared in the slightest, suffered a massacre, and after the war, more than 800 Japanese infantry were killed and more than 1,000 wounded.

Due to the lack of heavy weapons of the Japanese army, most of them were equipped with 75mm field guns, and the tanks could not directly cross the strait, so the battle was stalemate from the 24th to the beginning of May. This made the Japanese army, which had swept through Malaya and barely met resistance, nervous. In particular, the appearance of the Type 26 tank made Japan nervous. You must know that the British army did not have a tank in Southeast Asia before, because the British believed that tanks could not be used in the rainforest, so Mamoru Morishima immediately asked Beijing and received the answer that "the neutrality position will not be changed, and the tanks were sold to Britain before Japan declared war".

This reply made the Japanese military top brass furious, but there was nothing to be done. Yamashita Fengwen was even more angry and ordered to continue the attack.

Under his orders, the Japanese bombers and fighters that took off from Palembang put the main target of attack on the water source in the south of the island, and in order to take Singapore as soon as possible, the Japanese army even dropped a large number of poison gas bombs and bacteriological bombs on the water source. By May 7, under the onslaught of the Japanese army, Percival and more than 70,000 allied troops gradually became tired, and a large number of Indian soldiers deserted and the water source was polluted, which caused the British army and the city of Singapore to fall into panic

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Changi Airport is littered with craters left by bombs. On the runway, five KC5 airliners with a striking red cross painted on their fuselage are undergoing take-off checks. The cabin was crowded with Chinese waiting to leave, and many of them were still complaining about why they had not taken off for a long time, but more eyes were on the pilots who were inspecting, hoping to immediately catch them back and drive them on the plane to leave.

With the start of the Battle of Singapore, the Nanyang evacuation operation had to come to an end, and after consultation with the Japanese government, the Japanese army promised to prohibit the attack this morning and let the last group of planes pick up and leave. Despite their best efforts, a total of more than 600 ships of various types and more than 200 aircraft participated in the evacuation. It also caused the situation that shipping in the south of Shanghai was almost interrupted. However, in the face of millions of compatriots in Malaya, Siam, and Singapore, more than one million Chinese had to be evacuated from major Chinese-funded institutions, banks, important enterprises, Chinese businessmen, students, women and children, and many more Chinese had to stay there to face the war.

"Why haven't you taken off yet?"

"yes, hurry up and fly. It was too late, and the Japanese shells were coming again. ”

"Wait. There are still people who have not arrived. ”

"Who? When has this been, and is still composing! ”

As anxious passengers rushed to take off, three belated black sedans pulled up next to the plane. When the passengers saw the people walking down clearly, they shouted: "Look, it's Mr. Tan Kah Kee." ”

"Yes, it turned out to be Boss Chen, it's time to wait."

"Why didn't he go? Didn't someone say that their whole family went to Beijing? ”

Head to ear. Tan Kah Kee, who is well-known in Singapore and the Chinese community in Malaya, and Lim Mou Sheng, a 30-year-old who wears glasses, walked to the plane together. Since the two of them were very famous in the local Chinese circle and were local Chinese leaders, the naval major in charge of the evacuation liaison immediately greeted them: "Mr. Chen, please board the plane as soon as possible." "Okay." After Tan Kah Kee thanked him. Looking back at the surrounding scene, he pulled Lin Mousheng up and said with a wry smile: "I don't know when I will be able to come back." After several generations of hard work, I am really a little reluctant. ”

Lin Mousheng smiled: "Mr. Jiageng, don't worry. Maybe I'll be back in a year or two. ”

"Hehe, you can see it. Not to mention a year or two, even if we can come back in five years, we don't have to worry so much. Let's go first, I'll take another look. Chen Kah Kee Lala Lin Mousheng asked him to board the plane first, and when he was about to take another look at Singapore, the latter suddenly took a few steps back, pushed his glasses with his hand, and smiled: "Mr. Kah Kee, let's go." ”

"Mou Sheng, you are." Chen Jiageng was stunned.

The major, who knew the inside story, saw that the two of them were grinding and chirping, and he was unwilling to delay any longer and interjected: "Mr. Chen, don't worry, Colonel Lin is a member of the Military Intelligence Bureau, and he still has a mission." ”

"Colonel? MIA! Mou Sheng, when did you put on your military uniform? No wonder Tan Kah Kee was taken aback. Although he knew that Lim Mok Seng returned to China to study at the age of eighteen and did not return to Malaya until he was twenty-four, he always thought that he was just returning to China to study at university. I didn't expect that this young man, who has become famous in recent years, not only does business, but also is known for treating his compatriots well and helping others, and has become a Nanyang Chinese leader on a par with himself, Zhuang Meisheng, Du Yuesheng and others in just a few years, is actually a colonel of the Military Intelligence Bureau.

"Although Mr. Jiageng can rest assured, it will be one year soon, two years at the slow, and Mou Sheng Dingdang will still welcome you back at this airport."

Chen Jiageng was a shrewd businessman, and his eyes lit up after hearing this, and the melancholy and reluctance to leave were suddenly swept away: "Needless to say, although Chen is a businessman, he also knows the truth that when you beat someone, you must take back your fist first." The president is worthy of good intentions, he wants to seek peace for the future of Chinese people such as us! Well, great! Isn't it just a little blood, so I'll just stay. ”

"No, no, sir must go, the president is waiting for you in Shanghai, and there are important matters to discuss with you." Seeing that Chen Jiageng actually wanted to stay, Lin Mousheng hurriedly pushed him up the gangway, and the naval lieutenant was also anxious to stop him: "Mr. Chen, don't worry, there are Colonel Lin here in Malaya and Singapore." ”

Chen Jiageng was dragged so much that he couldn't leave, so he had to nod: "Okay." Mou Sheng earnestly remembered that not seeking to kill the enemy and make meritorious contributions, but seeking to save the lives of his compatriots on this side is the greatest victory. ”

"I'll remember, sir, don't worry." Lin Mousheng nodded emphatically.

As the naval major who contacted the evacuation closed the hatch, after the five KC5 passenger planes took off, the six naval Forceful fighters that had been cruising nearby quickly threw away the auxiliary fuel tanks and followed up to protect them. When the plane gradually disappeared into the sky, Lin Mousheng got into the car: "Go to Bukit Zhima Mountain." Twenty minutes later, when he arrived at Bukit Timah Hill, there was another rumbling explosion in the direction of the Straits of Johor.

"General, this Chinese colonel said he wanted to see you."

In the Singapore Fort Commander deep in Bukit Timah Mountain, Lim met Percival, who had led the LinkedIn Army to resist for almost half a month. The tall, thin lieutenant general looked very tired and his eyes were bloodshot. looked at Lin Mousheng, who suddenly arrived, and was a little surprised: "Are you a ** official?" ”

"Yes." Lin Mousheng took out his ID and swept his eyes around a few times. Almost every officer and soldier had a nervous and uneasy look on their faces, and it was clear that they had no heart to continue fighting after the air force had been consumed and the water source had been bombed. So after he took back the documents, he immediately said without a moment's delay: "General, I'll make a long story short." I was ordered to pick you up. I know it's hard to accept, but you should know the current situation better than I do. ”

"Leave? How to get there, by plane? "Parcival didn't want to leave the soldiers, not to mention that even if he wanted to leave, the current Singapore was surrounded on all sides, and there were Japanese planes circling in the sky, so there was no chance at all. As for the evacuation of overseas Chinese ships and planes, it is even more impossible, because Japan has sent special diplomats to supervise the evacuation, so even if he wants to hide in it, China will not cause the evacuation to fail for him.

Percival didn't want to go, but many of the officers pricked up their ears, especially those whose families were there. This kind of gaze is exactly what Lin Mousheng wanted to see, and he raised his head slightly: "General, I do have a way to send you and everyone away, but before leaving, your army must hold out until tomorrow night, and please be ready to blow up the fortress and all weapons and equipment immediately." ”