As a veteran British active duty army general, Wavell was well aware. Once the war broke out, it was connected to the Japanese-occupied areas of Chinese mainland, and the overall defense was far less solid than Singapore, which the British had painstakingly operated for many years. Even the island cannot even meet its own needs with fresh water, and it is simply impossible to hold Hong Kong, which is under the direct guns of the Japanese Navy's fleet stationed in China.

In his opinion, it was in vain to mobilize as many troops as many troops as they could there. He insisted that not only could he not continue to increase the number of troops stationed in Hong Kong, but even the poor British troops in Hong Kong now wanted to be transferred. Hong Kong, a port with no hope of defense, was declared an undefended city.

For him, he believed that the most important thing for the British Empire to do in the East was to concentrate its limited forces, especially the white army, which he considered to be extremely valuable in all its military training, to defend Singapore and India, the two fundamental places of the British Empire in Asia.

Of course, if the relationship with the Chongqing government is only superficial, and in fact it is not under the jurisdiction of the Chongqing government, and the Anti-Japanese Federation, which maintains a de facto independent state, agrees to send troops, then it is naturally the best. In the eyes of the British, this is not only a strategic benefit, but also a lot of other benefits.

Let the Chinese stop the Japanese offensive for them in the Malayan Peninsula and Burma. The British army can shrink the limited elite forces in Southeast Asia and the South Asian subcontinent and concentrate on defending Singapore and India, which is naturally a good luck. In this way, the British army's forces in the Malay Peninsula can be saved, even for the most critical points.

After inspecting the real combat effectiveness of the Anti-Japanese Alliance, Admiral Wavell believed that the combat effectiveness of this Anti-United Nations was so strong, if it was combined with the tanks provided by the British army, as well as air and sea support, it might not be able to truly hold the Malay Peninsula. After all, it was widely used by the Japanese Navy as a landing base, but the terrain was narrow and full of impassable tropical rainforests, which was also good for defense.

The Admiralty has decided to mobilize two of Britain's newest and most powerful battleships, HMS Prince of Wales and HMS Counter-Attack, and HMS Invincible, to reinforce Southeast Asia. These powerful new warships were not able to operate along the coast of China, which had become an inland sea of the Japanese Navy. But it can play a huge role in the future defense of the Malay Peninsula and the defense of Singapore.

Faced with the threat of these most powerful warships of the British Navy, the Japanese Navy was bound to hesitate again and again even if it wanted to carry out a landing operation, and it was not impossible for the Japanese Navy to completely abandon its attempt to land on the Malay Peninsula. With the support of a strong navy and the combat effectiveness of the Anti-Japanese Alliance, it is not necessarily impossible to hold the Malay Peninsula.

In fact, although he has been promoting the abandonment of the Malay Peninsula on the lips, in his heart, Admiral Wavell does not want to really give up the Malay Peninsula. After all, as an island, Singapore has no strategic depth. If he can defend the Malay Peninsula, it will naturally be the first choice for him. It's just that this premise is that the Anti-Japanese Federation agrees to send troops to Southeast Asia.

Therefore, for Admiral Wavell, who does not have many elite forces in his hands, it is still very hopeful that the confrontation alliance will agree to this British request. But after Moscow received a reply from Pearson that the League could not send troops to Southeast Asia as they requested, Admiral Wavell considered the follow-up action that Britain should do.

He had already consulted with the Prime Minister and the Foreign Minister in Moscow at the time. Admiral Wavell still hoped to be able to resist only symbolically in Hong Kong and the Malayan Peninsula, and delay in Malaya, concentrating on a limited force to defend Singapore and India.

It's just that for this advice of his, the prime minister insists on his own point of view. The stubborn prime minister, insisting that the northern Chinese, who were more lacking in modern equipment than their poorly equipped government forces, could not resist the temptation of the British Empire to provide them with the modern equipment they craved.

If the British Empire could provide a batch of tanks and planes as bait, these poor Chinese, who could not even match their rifles, would definitely act according to the will of the British Empire. As long as the Anti-Union agreed to the British conditions, it was not impossible to hold the Malay Peninsula without a significant increase in reinforcements.

Of course, this prime minister, who once had a serious disagreement with Admiral Wavell on the North African battlefield because of the strategic issue of the Mediterranean theater. He didn't say it too much, but still gave Admiral Wavell a buffer. After all, he also has to give others a bottom line for negotiation.

As for the bottom line, if the Chinese in the north insist on refusing to send troops to Southeast Asia to assist the British in the war. But if they wanted to get equipment from the British Empire, they would have to launch a corresponding offensive in northern China if the Japanese army launched an offensive in Southeast Asia. to alleviate the enormous pressure that the British army could be under on the battlefield in Southeast Asia.

However, although there is a certain buffer room, the prime minister's attitude is still clearly expressed that he hopes that Admiral Wavell will achieve the first goal as much as possible during this trip. The second is to put forward the first purpose when it is really impossible to achieve it.

After learning about the composition of the US delegation, Prime Minister Jian asked the Americans to negotiate with them and bring the Americans together as much as possible to exert pressure on the United States. After all, the aid to the United Nations is still dominated by the Americans. As long as the Americans exert some more pressure, there may not be any hope of success in this matter.

The prime minister still believed that bringing this army to Southeast Asia would be much more beneficial to the overall strategy and defense of the British Empire in Southeast Asia than Chongqing, which itself had a huge influence in Southeast Asia. At the very least, this army, which is far away from the area under its own control and has a very rigid relationship with the Chongqing side, will not be able to get supplies from the Chongqing side. In this way, once this army reached Southeast Asia, it would be firmly in the hands of the British.

In fact, the pot-bellied prime minister is not below the Japanese in guarding against Chinese interference in Southeast Asia. Southeast Asia is full of Chinese diaspora, some of whom have settled here for hundreds of years. Moreover, because of the industrious nature of the nation, the Chinese and overseas Chinese in Southeast Asia are generally quite wealthy.

He believed that once the Chinese took the opportunity to intervene and the economic resources in the hands of the overseas Chinese in Southeast Asia, the British Southeast Asian colonies would fall into chaos. This is why, in the face of insufficient troops, London turned a blind eye to Chongqing's frequently shaking olive branch. Instead, he asked the Anti-Japanese Alliance, which is located in the northernmost part of China, to send troops to help defend Southeast Asia.

In fact, Admiral Wavell also wanted to fulfill the Prime Minister's request. After visiting it in the past few days, although I have only seen the table of the Anti-Japanese Federation on the exercise ground. But as a veteran, Admiral Wavell can still accurately judge the true combat effectiveness of this army.

The veterans who came down from the battlefield in this army, the murderous aura revealed in their eyes, even the British army on the battlefield in North Africa was far inferior. As for those Anglo-Burmese troops and British Southeast Asian armies, they are far inferior to them. At the same time, their training standards are much stronger than those of the most elite British troops.

The real combat effectiveness of the units to which it belonged, as well as the command ability of the junior officers, were at least no worse than those of the British. In the coordination of infantry and tanks, aviation and ground armor, as well as the use of tank units. Although it is still a little immature, it has already begun to take shape. The most important thing is that he sees a spirit in this army. A spirit of perseverance and bloody battle with the enemy.

In Admiral Wavell's view, the Anti-Union Department was not only well-trained, but also combat-ready, with the addition of some equipment provided by the British Empire. If the Anti-Japanese Union sends a few divisions to fight in Southeast Asia, then the British army will have much more room to use its forces in Southeast Asia. At least there is no need to draw troops from the battlefields of North Africa to strengthen the defenses of Southeast Asia.

It's just that Yang Zhen's attitude today has clearly shown that the Anti-Japanese Federation will never send troops to Southeast Asia when its own troops are insufficient and the threat to them from the Japanese army has not been completely resolved. And it was clearly stated in the conversation that they had no room for negotiation in this matter.

Although he may not be as thorough as Hopkins about Yang Zhen's character. But as a soldier, General Wavell, who also served as the supreme commander of the theater of operations. From the perspective of a soldier, he clearly knows that for a person like Yang Zhen, once he makes up his mind, he will not change easily.

This is because as such an army, the supreme military commander who came out under such difficult circumstances would not have been able to get to where he is today if he had not been extremely strong-willed. Without this determination, they would have been able to continue fighting rather than surrender in a situation where there was almost no possibility of a turnaround.

It was not until this inspection that the vast majority of the officers in the US and British delegations learned about the origin and development of this army. Admiral Wavell once asked himself that if the British army had been replaced in the situation they had encountered, I am afraid that even the most elite troops would have collapsed long ago, let alone come to this day step by step.

It was with this realization that Admiral Wavell had now completely given up the idea of fighting. Because he knew very well that such an exchange would have been possible in the original place. But now the Americans have decided to provide assistance to the confrontation coalition. The signing of this agreement also means that it is actually impossible for the British side to win over the United States side and use this kind of means to pressure the Anti-Japanese Union to agree to the British side's demands.

Moreover, at the Moscow Conference, the Americans promised to reconcile the relationship between the British and the Anti-Japanese Union. However, Hopkins, who is in charge of the strategic materials needed by the United States in the world, is obviously not enthusiastic about this matter. The enthusiasm of his expression is far lower than that of the original Mr. Harriman.

At the same time, in terms of strategic interests, the Americans will not push the young commander in front of them too much. Compared to the Americans, who have only one colony in the Far East, the Philippines. They paid more attention to whether the millions of Japanese troops in China could be contained in Chinese mainland when necessary, rather than just the strength of the divisions of the Southern Army.

The Americans, who had only one colony in the Far East, the Philippines, knew very well that their battle with the Japanese was more on the ocean than in the rainforests of Southeast Asia. They agreed to come forward only to maintain their current strategic alliance with the British. They will intervene, but they will not force the Union too much to act in the interests of Britain.

It was in a short period of time, with so many thoughts turning through his mind, that Admiral Wavell finally decided to drink the wine in his glass. Although it was impossible to persuade the Anti-Japanese Union to send troops to assist in the defense of British Southeast Asia. But for Admiral Wavell, he could not help but work for the second goal.

In the case of a large number of Japanese troops in Manchuria, General Wavell, who continued to persuade Yang Zhen to agree to the British demands, had been completely lost. The hope of retreating has been turned to the demand that these Chinese, who have rejected the demands of the British Empire, can contain the most elite divisions of the Japanese army here, and cannot move south to increase troops in the Southeast Asian theater.