After hesitating for a moment, Admiral Wavell picked up his wine glass and gently touched the glass with Yang Zhen and said, "Yang, although I hate drinking and rarely drink, your words obviously moved me. I don't think we should toast to these two things alone, we should add a victory that we all look forward to, that we can defeat our enemies together. As a soldier, Admiral Wavell, who obviously did not have a fancy, like Hopkins, accepted the words that soldiers have always said with simple habits, and took the lead in drinking the wine in the glass. Seeing that Yang Zhen drank the wine in the cup without the slightest hesitation, Admiral Wavell could only stubbornly drain the wine in the glass in one gulp.

However, this Admiral Wavell may be accustomed to fruit wines made from grapes such as brandy, or low-alcohol wines such as beer, and is obviously not suitable for this strong Chinese liquor in the glass. Although it was only half a cup, this half cup also made him feel very uncomfortable.

Seeing that Admiral Wavell was a little sad, Yang Zhen smiled and hurriedly filled him a bowl of fish soup, letting him suppress the wine in his heart before saying, "Admiral Wavell, how does this wine feel?" This liquor in our Northeast China is not inferior to Russian vodka, right? ”

For Yang Zhen's knowingly questioned, he barely suppressed the wine after drinking a few sips of fish soup and did not rise on the spot, and Admiral Wavell, who was embarrassed, smiled bitterly: "Your Chinese wine is simply too spicy." Much spicier than our British Scotch whisky. It's not wine, it's alcohol. I'm sorry, but I haven't drunk a spirit like this in many years. ”

Looking at Admiral Wavell with a wry smile on his face, Yang Zhen smiled and said, "Admiral Wavell, this glass of wine is the wine that our Northeast people drink every day. As the saying goes, wine is like character. The liquor is strong, which means that our character is as strong as this liquor, and it is better to bend than bend. The habit of the Chinese is that no one can force us to do what we can't do. ”

After that, Yang Zhen poured another half glass of wine for Admiral Wavell and said: "Admiral Wavell, the strategic cooperation between our two armies is like drinking at the wine table, and we have to respect each other to be happy, right?" If each other is playing tricks, forcing the other party who doesn't have so much alcohol to drink hard. ”

"Then we can only make ourselves unhappy with this meal. We're drinking to have fun, not to knock each other down or drink too much. If we deviate from this theme, then I don't think there is any need to continue drinking our wine, do we? Although we Chinese like to share fine wine with others, we can also drink it ourselves when necessary. ”

Yang Zhen raised his glass and said, "Admiral Wavell, I hope we can be friends sincerely, instead of sitting here with the purpose of using each other." If you consider us a sincere friend, I want you to drink it. If you don't want to drink anymore, I won't force it. ”

"One of the great virtues of my person is that I never force others. Especially at the wine table, I never force people to drink. Again, I don't want our celebration to be very unpleasant. I forgot to say that I only drank with a friend or brother who I could safely drink on the battlefield, and give my back to his friends or brothers. ”

"Today, when we are about to face a common enemy, Admiral Wavell, can we safely hand over our backs to you in battle? Instead of just wanting to use each other? I think we are now comrades in the trenches and should trust each other. ”

"Admiral Wavell, we Chinese can make spirits that are not inferior to vodka, which shows that our Chinese are no different from the Soviets. The weakness of more than a hundred years is due to the internal disunity of the Chinese. Once the Chinese are truly united, the fighting power that breaks out will not be lost to any nation. ”

"I have always firmly believed that once we Chinese wake up, the blood in their bones will not be less than anyone else. Didn't your giant Napoleon of the West once evaluate that the Chinese are a sleeping lion that will make the whole world tremble once it wakes up. ”

"And now this national crisis has ignited the spirit of defense that our ancestors have handed down but we thought we had lost. Admiral Wavell, I look forward to being friends with you. But that doesn't mean we have to do it for you, something we simply can't do. ”

"What we should do is to join hands and defeat our common enemy together, and we should take a long-term view. Admiral Wavell, your old-timers in the military. I believe that you are the kind of person who has a long-term strategic vision, rather than a person who does not care about the gains and losses of one city and one place. As a leader of the army, we should not chase the small profits in front of us, but should pay more attention to long-term investment. ”

After saying this, Yang Zhen raised his wine glass and looked at Admiral Wavell in front of him. And when his words fell, everyone at this table also focused their eyes on Wavell. Hopkins, in particular, is also looking at Yang Zhen and Wavell at the same time with a meaningful eye.

Hopkins was very clear about the true intention of Admiral Wavell, the commander-in-chief of the British army in India, to come to the Northeast at this time. Moreover, under the coordination of Harriman, who had just been transferred to the post of ambassador to the Soviet Union, the US Military Observer Mission to the Anti-Japanese Union also tried to stand up for the British, trying to persecute or make demands. It is hoped that the Anti-Japanese Union will follow the ideas of the British and cooperate with the actions of the British side in Southeast Asia.

But Hopkins personally, he didn't really approve of the British's approach. He didn't think that at this time, the Anti-Japanese Federation had the strength to send troops to Southeast Asia and travel thousands of miles to reinforce the British. Compared to the fact that they do not have so many troops at the moment, and they have to bear the responsibility of facing the most powerful strategic group of the Japanese army alone, their current limited strength cannot make their arms stretch too long.

However, Hopkins was also well aware of the British insistence on not cooperating with Chongqing, rather than asking this army, which was thousands of kilometers away from Southeast Asia, to send troops to Southeast Asia. Hopkins personally disagrees with the narrow-mindedness and selfishness of the British.

For the Anti-Alliance, which is not strong at the moment, the first thing is to enhance its strength as much as possible in a short period of time. In order to ensure that once the Japanese invaded Southeast Asia, they could attract more elite divisions of the Japanese army in the north and could not go south. Hopkins knew very well what would happen if the Kwantung Army, the largest and best-equipped strategic group of the Japanese army, was thrown into the Pacific theater by the Japanese army in the near future.

During the negotiation, Yang Zhen's words did play a considerable role. But for Hopkins, what really made him decide to change the White House's mind was the responsibility that the Anti-Japanese Alliance, which was a fairly important part of the overall war against Japan, needed to bear.

However, considering the current strategic alliance between the United States and Britain, Hopkins did not raise too strong opposition to this matter. After all, compared with the Anti-Japanese Alliance, the British have a more important position in the strategic pattern of the United States. In the end, after careful weighing, Hopkins's inner balance was still tilted in favor of the British.

It's just that Hopkins is at least superficially neutral about this somewhat dirty idea of the British. He did not object, and of course he did not approve of it. In fact, he didn't know that his non-statement was already the biggest statement. As the person in charge of the Lend-Lease Act in the United States, his failure to express his position also exerted a certain pressure on the hearts of the British.

For the British, who are also currently fighting for American supplies, their prime minister has a very close personal relationship with the owner of the White House. But for Hopkins personally, they still value it very much. At least in this matter, they don't want to be too stiff with Hopkins.

However, after the first conversation with Yang Zhen, Hopkins, who admired Yang Zhen, a young Chinese, was very appreciative in his heart. On the contrary, it was hoped that this young man would be able to persuade the British to abandon his unrealistic ideas. If this young man can do this, it will make Hopkins feel that he can avoid falling into a dilemma.

In Pearson's previous report in Moscow, he was already well aware of the reply of the leaders of the Anti-Japanese League to the British. And through Guò's understanding over the past few days, he knew that the young commander in front of him was a fierce horse that could not be tamed at all. If he insists on not sending troops to Southeast Asia, it will be difficult for others to convince him.

Compared with Hopkins, looking at the wine glass raised by Yang Zhen in front of him, Admiral Wavell, who understood the meaning of Yang Zhen's words, knew that it was difficult for him to persuade him to send troops to Southeast Asia to assist in defense. After hesitating for a long time, he now clearly knew that the biggest task assigned by the prime minister before his trip could no longer be completed, and he could only retreat to the next best.

The two men lightly touched the glass, but this time it was Admiral Wavell who drained the wine in the glass first. It's just that this glass of wine, in the mouth of Admiral Wavell, is extremely bitter and spicy. The Prime Minister's intention could not be realized, which meant that the British army in Southeast Asia could only face the pressure of the Japanese on its own.

The British, who were fighting on both sides, knew very well that the Anti-Japanese Union refused to send troops to Southeast Asia. Then the British side, with insufficient troops, could only focus its defense on Singapore and India. And if they want to defend India, the British can only ask for help from Chongqing. This allowed the British, in some respects, to give up only part of their coveted interests.

This made it difficult for General Waver, who had just taken over as commander-in-chief of the British forces in India, to accept it from the heart. But as a British Army general who came up step by step from a military family, he also knows it very well in his heart. If the Japanese threw their hundreds of thousands of well-equipped troops in the Kwantung Army into the Southeast Asian theater, it would be a catastrophic consequence for the British army, which was fighting on both sides.

Not to mention the hundreds of thousands of troops of the Kwantung Army thrown into Southeast Asia, even the units of the Japanese Southern Army that are now in Thailand and Vietnam are already difficult for the British army in Southeast Asia to resist. As for the real combat effectiveness of the British colonial army in Southeast Asia, Admiral Wavell was still very clear in his heart. It is already very powerful to be able to rely on strong fortifications to hold Singapore.

As for the Malayan Peninsula, which is connected to Thailand and has narrow terrain on both sides of the sea, the British can only resist it in a restrained way. This is because the Japanese have a powerful naval fleet in East Asia, which is the third largest in the world. Landing anywhere on the Malayan Peninsula would pose a deadly threat to the defenders of Malaya.

It was for this reason that Admiral Wavell insisted on the transfer of a Canadian brigade originally to Hong Kong to Singapore in order to strengthen the defense of the eastern Gibraltar. Instead of agreeing to the commander-in-chief of the British forces in Southeast Asia, who was about to be transferred, the Canadian brigade was transferred to Hong Kong at the request of the Prime Minister.