825 I am the second secret meeting of the king's death

The delegation of the Far Eastern Republic stayed at the East Asia Hotel in Shanghai for the past two days. This hotel can only be regarded as second-rate in Shanghai at the moment, compared to the International Hotel, which was completed in 1934, and the Chinachem Hotel, which opened in 1928, and of course, the price is also much cheaper. However, it is located in the prosperous area of Shanghai, which is the center of the British Concession in the past, and there are many entertainment items for eating, drinking, prostituting and gambling in the hotel, and it is a place for the people of the rivers and lakes on the beach to gather and have fun, but the leading figures on the white road rarely come. Like this time, it is still an unprecedented honor to receive the "King of a Country".

And the reason why Zhang Guotao and others stayed in this hotel is said to be because there is no money! Well, in the end, it is a GCD person, and the dignified "king of a country" will not have the money to live in a better hotel! In contrast, those leading figures of the Kuomintang all have garden houses in this oriental magic capital, and they are indeed judged.

In the past few days, the Shanghai Conference has been held behind closed doors, but the representatives of China, Germany, and Japan have engaged in secret diplomacy in the French club, and even the Empress of Russia and the Count of Ziano of Italy have not participated, let alone Zhang Guotao, the president of the Far Eastern Republic.

Early this morning, Liu Sqi, who is also the chairman of the China Federation of Trade Unions (red), was invited by the comrades of the Shanghai Federation of Trade Unions (red) to make a report. And Chairman Zhang Guotao and Chairman Zhang Da were also bored, half leaning on their bed, and closed their eyes helplessly. Originally, I wanted to take advantage of this trip to Shanghai to have a relationship with the leading figures of the Nationalist Government. He felt that he was different from those comrades in China, that he was already the leader of a foreign country, and that it was impossible for him to participate in the general elections and political disputes at home. It is no longer time to interfere in China's internal affairs, but to lead the Far Eastern Republic to establish good-neighborly and friendly bilateral relations with China. However, there seem to be many obstacles to this achievement, especially in the case of contacts with the top levels of the National Government.

At this time, there was a soft knock on the door, "Chairman Zhang, it's me." This is the voice of Zhang Guotao's secretary Huang Chao.

Zhang Guotao greeted weakly: "What's the matter?" Come on in! ”

There was a soft knock on the door, and a young man in a tweed tunic walked in, then closed the door and whispered, "Chairman, a man claiming to be your cousin asks to see you." As he spoke, he offered a beautifully crafted prayer note in both hands.

"Cousin?" Zhang Guotao opened his eyes, took the post from the other party's hand and looked at it, the name on it was Zhang Yunong, and he had never heard of it. However, Zhang Guotao's family is a big landlord in Pingxiang, Jiangxi, and there are many relatives in the family...... He rolled over and sat up from the bed: "Xiao Huang, what does it look like to come here?" ”

"It's a man of about forty years old, dignified, dressed very magnificently, and with a few subordinates, in a BMW-1937! Zhang Guotao also has a (state-owned) car, this car consumes a lot of fuel, and now this kind of wartime is not just anyone can sit on it, and there are ten high-level figures in the national government who use pseudonyms to meet with themselves.

"Chairman Zhang," Secretary Huang Chao saw that Zhang Guotao's expression was a little strange, so he said, "Do you think this person is pretending?" I just let the guards blow them away. ”

"Oh! Zhang Yunong, uh, there is such a person, I remember, it is my cousin, who is a big dealer. Zhang Guotao stood up suddenly, straightened his tunic suit, and said with a smile: "You go and call me a table and a banquet, I want a seat, I haven't seen this cousin for many years!" It's a good get-together. ”

"Okay, I'll arrange it." Huang Chao received the task and quietly retreated. Looking at the secretary's back, Zhang Guotao's eyebrows gradually twisted, this meeting was suspected of violating discipline, although it was to better preserve the party's strength, but ......

……

At this time, thousands of miles away in Angra de Marsísmo on the island of Terceira, it was darkest before dawn, but the officer's room of the American heavy cruiser Augusta was still brightly lit. Cups of coffee were brought in by the White House service staff. In the conference room, Cuban cigars were also lit one after another, and there was a cloud of smoke. Everyone's faces were flushed and they were arguing loudly about something. Roosevelt sat in his place, whispering to Chamberlain and Daladier in a quick and hurried manner, each with a grim expression.

The "Atlantic Meeting" at this time and space was not as easy as it was in history, at least President Roosevelt's heart was full of anxiety. He has made principled concessions on the issue of the Atlantic Charter, no longer mentioning national liberation, but instead safeguarding the sovereignty and territorial integrity of all countries. This is really a bolt from the blue sky for the colonial people who are counting on Roosevelt and the United States to administer justice!

The reason for such a major concession is naturally that the war situation in the Pacific theater is critical, and the United States urgently needs Britain and France to provide aircraft carriers to maintain the war situation. The consequences of the loss of Hawaii are now being felt, and the entire west coast of the Americas, from Alaska to Cape Horn, is under the wing of the Japanese Combined Fleet! Especially after these damned Japanese received assistance from China and Germany.

But Roosevelt's biggest concern now was the safety of the West Coast of the United States. The Japanese Combined Fleet was based at Pearl Harbor, and from there it was only 2,000 nautical miles away from the west coast of the United States! In other words, if the Japanese Combined Fleet is at a speed of 20 knots, it will only take 100 hours to reach the US mainland! Although the generals of the U.S. Navy and Army believed that a Japanese attack on the West Coast of the United States was unlikely, the American people living on the West Coast did not think so. San Francisco, Seattle, Los Angeles and other big cities on the West Coast of the United States have been in a state of turmoil these days. And trains from there to the middle of the United States are hard to come by...... For Roosevelt, who was determined to seek a third term, it was time for him to demonstrate to the American people his determination to preserve national security and protect them from the ravages of their enemies.

Even if the possibility of a Japanese invasion of the West Coast of the United States was extremely low, he could not afford to take it lightly in order to curry favor with the electorate!

So, despite the advice of his Navy and Army generals, Roosevelt proposed at today's meeting that at least three of the six British and French aircraft carriers be deployed in San Diego, the new home of the US Pacific Fleet. In addition, three U.S. aircraft carriers, including the USS Enterprise, USS Yorktown, and USS Bumblebee, will also be deployed in San Diego to fully defend the US West Coast from enemy ravages.

The British, however, were dismissive of this. The British side believes that the focus of the next stage of Japanese aggression will definitely be Australia! Because there is something that the Japanese crave the most - living space! Moreover, the Japanese will certainly fear that the Chinese will get ahead there. As for the mainland of the United States, the Japanese carried out at most a reckless suicide attack! To be strategic, that's simply not realistic. After all, the U.S. Army now has hundreds of thousands of men, and by the first quarter of 1939, at least a million young Americans will be armed and receive some degree of military training. If the Japanese want to defeat them, they will have to throw in at least an army of hundreds of thousands of people! And to transport so many troops to the United States, at least two million tons of transport capacity are needed...... That's more than 50 percent of Japan's shipping capacity.

Unless this group of short Orientals is completely insane, regardless of their own economy, and has no intention of expanding southward, and is bent on seeking the United States to their end, an attack of this magnitude is absolutely impossible.

"But our intelligence agents report that the Japanese are stockpiling supplies in Hawaii! On December 7 and 8, three transport ships full of North Korean laborers arrived. In addition, the Chinese are transporting several hundred No. 2 tanks to North Korea, and trains filled with German planes are now running on Russian railway lines. It was Admiral Raisi, the chief of naval operations of the United States, who did not believe that Japan would attack the West Coast on a large scale, but he had to be consistent with the president. So the admiral pointed to the location of the west coast on the map on the table and said loudly: "All indications show that the target of the Japanese attack is the west coast!" Otherwise, the Chinese and Germans would not have given them so many things for no reason. ”

"It was a harassing attack at best." French Army General Gammelin, who was sitting next to him, shook his head and explained in elegant French: "The purpose of Germany and China is to make Japan attract the attention of the United States in order to reduce American aid to Europe!" They would attack France at the same time as Japan attacked, and if France fell, China and Germany would control almost all of Eurasia! Italy and Spain would then join the German side, and the whole of Africa and the Middle East would fall rapidly...... The whole world is about to fall into disaster! ”

"So, aiding France to secure the theater in Western Europe is the key to winning this war. The only way to defeat the Sino-German alliance was to attack Germany from France, and as long as Germany was defeated, China and Japan would not be able to last long. If we focus on the Pacific theater, we will have to defeat the powerful navies of China and Japan, and then land on Japanese and Chinese mainland to fight against almost 700 million people! They can mobilize tens of millions of troops, and there is absolutely no way we will cross the Pacific to support the operation of more than 10 million troops. Therefore, attacking from this direction will not win the war. ”

"But we must defend the West Coast, no matter what!" Roosevelt sighed, "What would happen to the American people if the Japanese went wild there and then fled by boat?" They will demand that the government put every soldier on the West Coast until the Hawaiian Islands are recovered! And they won't allow a single bullet to be sent to Europe until then. ”

"Your Excellency, Australia is the most dangerous place, you know." Chamberlain took a deep breath, "If we take a total of 10 aircraft carriers apart and use them, the result will inevitably be broken by the Japanese individually." We should concentrate all the aircraft carriers in the South Pacific, as long as the aircraft carriers of the Japanese Combined Fleet are annihilated, not only the crisis on the west coast of the United States can be resolved, but even the Hawaiian Islands can be quickly recaptured. ”

As soon as Chamberlain's words fell, President Roosevelt shook his head and said, "I'm sorry, Mr. Prime Minister, but now we must prioritize the security of the West Coast. If Britain and France refuse to use aircraft carriers for the defense of the West Coast of the United States, the United States will have to use the military supplies originally planned for the European theater to use at home. ”

Seeing Roosevelt's killer move, French Prime Minister Daladier immediately said: "The three aircraft carriers of our French Navy, including the Béarne, the Chauffeur, and the Companion, will be under the command of the US Pacific Fleet." ”

Roosevelt nodded with satisfaction and smiled at Daladier: "I am very grateful to France for helping the American people at this critical moment. The United States will provide an additional 500 Grants on top of the original one. Lee tanks and 300 P-37 fighters to France. As he spoke, he turned to Chamberlain and said, "Now Britain can use three aircraft carriers for the defense of Australia." As long as you can hold out in the South Pacific until October 1939, we will have enough land forces to defend the West Coast, and all aircraft carriers will be sent to the South Pacific. ”

The "betrayal" of France and the stubbornness of the United States put Britain in a huge predicament at once. Although they have 10 aircraft carriers, there are not many large aircraft carriers that really work. Moreover, the battlefield to be defended is too vast, the North Sea side has to look at Germany, the South Pacific has to defend against Japan, Italy in the Mediterranean Sea has to watch out, and Singapore also needs aircraft carriers to provide support......

Just as Chamberlain and Churchill were trying to convince Roosevelt in one last resort, Roosevelt's aide-de-camp, Colonel Caton, suddenly appeared in the conference room. He held the telegram he had just received in his hand, his breathing was slightly short, and he said nervously: "Mr. President, I just received a telegram that the Chinese plane is attacking Singapore!" In addition, they launched an attack on Borneo and Burma at the same time! ”

……

In the living room of the French Club in Shanghai, several people were drinking afternoon tea at this time. They were Marshal Luo Yaoguo of China, Marshal Goering of Germany, Empress Anastasia of Russia, and Count Ziano of Italy, but the Japanese general Nagata Tetsuyama was not among them. It turned out that the Japanese Minister of War had hastily boarded the plane back to Japan at noon this day, having negotiated with China and Germany the amount of aid and the obligation that Japan would fulfill to that end (to launch an attack on the continental United States or the Panama Canal by the end of March 1939).

What was discussed at today's afternoon tea had nothing to do with Japan, but mainly about the position of the two European powers, the Russian Empire and the Kingdom of Italy, in this world war.

Although the Russian Empire had just emerged from a near-cataclysmic war, with almost all of its heavy industry destroyed and agricultural production falling by almost 60 percent, it was only through food aid (borrowing) from Germany and China that a great famine was averted. However, the strong and capable national character of the Russian nation, the population base of 1230 million, and the vast territory of tens of millions of square kilometers have determined that the country is still a world power, and her attitude is also very important in this world war.

In addition, Italy is also a "first-class power" in the current world, although Luo Yaoguo knows the details of this country very well, but others dare not underestimate this paper tiger.

So far, these two powers have only been neutral, and although their attitude towards China and Germany is very obvious, they have not broken with Britain and the United States. In this regard, the Russian Empress Anastasia explained that Russia needed to heal the wounds of the war and rebuild the country's economy, and she had promised the people in the anti-Soviet war that the Russian Empire would not participate in any war unless she was invaded by the enemy!

However, both Luo Yaoguo and Goering knew that there was another reason for the empress's reluctance to enter the war, and that the Russian nation's greed for territory determined that the attitude of most Russians towards China and Germany must have been hostile. If they are forced to participate in the war on the side of China and Germany, the throne of Empress Anastasia will probably be unstable!

And this woman is now torn between China and Germany, whether it is Hitler or Luo Yaoguo, they hope that her rule can be stable, so that the rear of China and Germany can remain peaceful, and can also get from Russia the strategic resources necessary to maintain the war, such as oil, iron ore, bauxite, non-ferrous metals.

In addition, these two fascists have their own little abacus...... Although the Russian Empire has been weakened, her roots have been preserved, and it will be a great power in the near future! Not letting her participate in this "winning" world war is actually a restriction on the Russian Empire, and no one wants to see Russia expand its territory again through war, right? In particular, it seems that her current expansion direction is only in the Middle East! Luo Yaoguo has long been fighting the idea of that fat territory, how can Russia be allowed to get involved? Therefore, Luo Yaoguo and Goering quickly expressed their understanding of the empress's pacifist position.

However, they showed great dissatisfaction with Italy's refusal to join the war so far. And Luo Yaoguo was even more surprised that Hitler failed to convince Mussolini, what was this ambitious and talented leader worried about? Thinking of this, Luo Yaoguo put down the coffee cup in his hand, looked at the Italian count opposite, and asked in a deep voice: "Mr. Count, what is Italy waiting for?" Now is the perfect time for Italy to seize domination of the Mediterranean, so why hasn't your navy done it yet? ”