Chapter Seventy-Seven

Regarding Hopkins's blackmailing comments, Yang Zhen, who has always been vigorous and resolute, explained this time that he was unhurried and unhurried, and it was detailed and even a little verbose and scary. Talking about the East and the West, quoting scriptures, and even dragging out whether the Philippines can hold it.

His attitude was not only dissatisfied with Hopkins in person. Even the old handsome man next to him who knew something about his character and Pearson next to Hopkins looked at him with some surprise. This style is very different from the previous style of cutting through the mess quickly, and there are some chattering guys, wondering which one this guy is singing?

As for Li Yanping, who knows him very well, he understands that he must be playing some trick on the old man in front of him. If it weren't for Yang Zhen's usual habit, he would never say something clearly in one sentence, and he would never say it a second time. Where else would there be such a tirade as today?

Yang Zhen's words are obviously fishing here. The words in front of him were paving the way and preparing to catch big fish with heavy bait. As for the reason, needless to say, Li Yanping was already on Hopkins' somewhat dissatisfied face, but he saw the deep interest in his eyes.

Yang Zhen's explanation, Hopkins listened patiently. But for his unhurried attitude, he was a little impatient: "General Yang, I hope you can say the point." Instead of rambling here, not saying everything at once. We Americans do not have as many fancy intestines as you Chinese, and we are used to having something to say, and we bring it up directly. ”

Regarding Hopkins's attitude, Yang Zhen smiled and said: "So if the United States decides to carry out strategic bombing of the Japanese mainland after the outbreak of the US-Japan war, we are the only area that can provide an effective base and the closest to the Japanese mainland to achieve the maximum bombing efficiency." Flying from us, your strategic bombers can use their maximum bomb load to bomb Japan. ”

"In this way, a problem arises. The bombing of the Japanese mainland required a large amount of fuel, bombs, and aircraft parts. The problem of oil is not yet fully solved and borne by us. Similarly, we cannot afford the large number of aerial bombs needed for the bombing of Japan at present. ”

"I can tell you, Mr. Hopkins, for sure, that the reason why we ordered so much oil production equipment from you last year and bought an oil smelter. It's because we found an oil field in the northeast. But mining will not take place until the middle of next year at the earliest, and the amount of reserves is not yet known. ”

"It's not as good as the Balaton Lake oil field in Hungary, or the measmerable production of Germany's small oil field in Austria. After all, China is an oil-poor country, and you American experts have identified it. At the same time, due to the size of our refinery, it is difficult for us to fully meet our own needs. ”

"This creates a stern problem, with a large number of bombers taking off from us to bomb the Japanese mainland. Then we simply cannot meet the bombs and fuel needed at the moment. And if it is shipped from the mainland of the United States, it will not only go around half the world, but it will even be quite unsafe. And once any accident is encountered during transportation, I am afraid that all actions can only be terminated. ”

"Consider, Mr. Hopkins, if we were to dispatch only two hundred B-17 bombers a day, each carrying one and a half tons of bombs, then we would need three hundred tons of bombs a day. However, such an air raid may be only a drop in the bucket for the huge target group on the Japanese mainland. ”

"If we want to speed up the course of the war, reduce the bloodshed of American youth, and completely destroy the war potential of the Japanese homeland. Then the group of bombers we dispatched will be at least doubled. And at least every day, this number must be dispatched to achieve effective damage. ”

"All the fuel and bombs you need need to come from the U.S. mainland. So how many ships do you need to meet the requirements? How much pressure will this put on industrial production in the United States? At the very least, how many more freighters do you have to build to meet the demand? ”

"I only mean that, that you provide equipment to increase the production of our steel and special military steel. And at least quadruple our petroleum refining capacity. After our production capacity reaches a certain standard, all the bombs and fuel for bombing Japan will be solved by ourselves. ”

"In this way, it will not only reduce the pressure on your American side on transportation. It can also free up more military production capacity to meet the needs of other areas. For example, in the production of tanks and artillery. As well as the torpedoes that you need most in the fight against the Japanese Navy. ”

"And the air defense capability of the Japanese army is not given in vain, their air defense fighters and local anti-aircraft artillery groups are still quite powerful. Under the resistance of the Japanese native air defense forces, it was not a bomber that could not fly back at all. The rest of the war-wounded bomber bomber fleet should always need to be repaired, and if we have some parts and even the production capacity of the whole aircraft, it will also greatly reduce the pressure on the American side. ”

"The attrition of a war is astronomical. At present, the intensity of the British bombing of Germany is not very strong, and the battle losses of the bombing of Germany have remained high. What exactly is the air defense capability of the Japanese mainland, we still do not know. What should we do if the war damage is too great and the situation of the war requires us to persevere? Especially since you also have to juggle the European theater. ”

"Mr. Hopkins, don't tell me that once you Americans are really involved in the war, the whole strategy will be Asian. Since the end of the war in Western Europe, after the British were at a disadvantage on the battlefield, how many strategic materials did they take from you? The British were the first beneficiaries of your Lend-Lease Act. ”

"For now, you have provided the new tanks that the British have used on the battlefields of North Africa. The Soviets were in a bad situation, and you sent Harriman to visit the Soviet Union as soon as possible. The Japanese war against China lasted for four years, and the Nationalist Government asked you for help countless times, but what did you do? ”

"And at present, neither we nor Chongqing have received a single tank from you. Especially in the next step, we are about to face the battle in the plains, and we urgently need a large number of tanks and tactical support aircraft. What we need now is not just supplies, but also heavy equipment. ”

"Of course, Mr. Hopkins, I'm not accusing you. After all, you America is a highly developed capitalist society, and the British had a certain amount of money before they could buy it in cash before the Lend-Lease Act was implemented. China is a poor country, and it does not have so much cash to buy your strategic materials and weapons and equipment, except as a handful of cards. ”

"I'm just saying this qiē, which just shows that your overall strategy is to Europe first and then Asia. Of course, this has a lot to do with the considerable gap between the industries and national strength of Germany and Japan. To put it bluntly, you look down on the Japanese from the bottom of your bones. But Mr. Hopkins, what I want to tell you today is that you will pay a great price for this contempt on the battlefield. ”

"We Chinese have been fighting with the Japanese for four years. And we have been dealing with the Japanese for three years. It can be said that what we have withstood is the era when the entire Japanese national strength is the strongest and the Japanese army is at its peak. What kind of army is the Japanese army, it can be said that we Chinese have the most right to speak. ”

"Greed, ferocity, cruelty, cunning, the worst of all human beings and an army, can be manifested in them. A Nanjing massacre, under the international gaze, slaughtered 300,000 Chinese. What kind of modern army can do such a brutal thing? ”

"Since they stepped into Chinese mainland, they have burned and looted all the way, and many innocent Chinese have died tragically under their butcher's knives. They attacked and plundered the land of China, leaving behind ghost towns and piles of white bones. Even your American gunboats, they are not the same bombing? You think there's something else they can't do. ”

"Mr. Hopkins, you could call us greedy. However, your strategic priorities, or national policies, determine that your priorities cannot be placed in Asia or on the battlefields of war against Japan. Supplies and equipment cannot be focused on us. If we can't build our own manufacturing capabilities, we can only reach out to you. ”

"Then Mr. Hopkins, if you don't have your own corresponding military manufacturing capabilities, once our troops run out of food on the battlefield, you can't let us fight with the Japanese army for bayonets. That's to be compensated for with the lives and blood of countless of our fighters. The Japanese army is not tofu scum, and we are not supermen who cannot be killed. ”

"Even if our steel mill can produce the corresponding steel output according to the design capacity next year. But if you've been the U.S. Secretary of Commerce, you should know that steel for guns is a special alloy steel, which is different from ordinary steel. There are not enough raw materials and production capacity for the military industry, and what will happen to our side in the event of certain problems on the American side? Hungry inside the guns, going to fight the Japanese army? ”

"And what does an annual output of 500,000 tons mean for the huge consumption of a war? To put it mildly, if these 500,000 tons of steel are thrown into this huge whirlpool, I am afraid that they will not even be able to fight a single water. If we undertake all the bombs needed for the bombing of Japan, the 500,000 tons of steel may not even be able to meet this demand. ”

"You know, we are facing one of the most powerful and well-equipped heavy groups in the Japanese army. The number of his field divisions was even greater than the number of divisions and regiments transferred by the Japanese army to Southeast Asia. At the same time, they could also receive support from Chinese mainland and the Japanese army in Korea. ”

"The number of artillery in one combat division of the Kwantung Army is one-third, or even half, more than that of the Japanese divisions and regiments integrated into the Southern Army. And these artillery pieces are all the latest artillery of the Japanese army. Judging by our current intelligence, the Japanese army is dismantling the fortress guns in Tokyo Bay and transferring them to the Kwantung Army. Their tank forces are also constantly being strengthened. ”

"And our artillery, at least 50 percent of it needs to be eliminated at the moment. A considerable part of second-hand, even third-hand artillery, is extremely old, and the rifling has been smoothed. And there are only suppressed artillery, and there is an extreme lack of long-range direct-aim guns and anti-tank guns. ”

"The quality of Soviet-made light tanks was unsatisfactory, and their survivability was very poor on the battlefield because of their weak armor, and the losses were quite huge in the face of various anti-tank means of the Japanese army. Even the wear and tear of parts is quite enormous. If you are not careful, a marching route is full of lying tanks. ”

"We lack a sufficient number of tactical bombers and can only use fighter jets in large numbers for ground attack missions. There is a lack of advanced medium tanks, a lack of large-caliber artillery. Even artillery tractors are quite scarce. Many large-caliber artillery pieces can only be pulled by backward horses. ”