cicada

Chapter 1114 Mountain City and Port City

Eight o'clock in the morning the next day.

The peace talks preparatory staff who had not yet calmed down from their excitement walked out of the dormitory. After breakfast, they came to the office in groups. These people were all business experts in their respective agencies and immediately started working consciously.

There is a saying that a snake cannot survive without a head. After a brief exchange and discussion, everyone first selected the person in charge of the group. The judging criteria were also very simple, nothing more than seniority and official position.

After all, it is not easy to be the person in charge. He has to deal with military commanders and coordinate the daily work of the group. He must have certain work experience, otherwise it is easy to mess up the job.

Afterwards, the groups discussed for a while and compiled a large list of information, including recent Japanese newspapers, announcements and other public information, as a basis for formulating a peace treaty.

Gu Qi and Song Minghao received the list and contacted the archives office at the bureau's headquarters. It took less than two hours for these items to be delivered to the preparatory members of the peace talks.

Zuo Zhong watched this indifferently and did not get too involved. Although he did not want to admit it, these people were really capable and did not need him to command them at all.

You are such a beautiful woman, how can you be a thief?

Sighing secretly, he walked around each office with his hands behind his back, checking his presence so that no one would forget who was in charge of the overall work.

When he reached the international law group, Zuo Zhong was just about to push the door open when he heard someone talking in low voices inside. He stopped and listened silently.

“On January 21, the [-]st year of the Republic of China, I said that the government would try its best to be patient and make concessions to the extent possible, saying that it had no intention of provoking.

It should be noted that for decades, our country's military economy has been materially backward. It goes without saying that even organizationally it is immature and incomplete. How can we defeat the Japanese? "

After one person finished speaking, someone quickly echoed: "Yes, you can't beat him."

The words of these two people seemed like a switch, and the others opened their chat boxes one after another, expressing their opinions on the situation between China and Japan. Without exception, they were all extremely pessimistic and full of surrender arguments.

"Ji Xian and Ji Ni also said that the word "sacrifice" is harsh. We must sacrifice ourselves, and our compatriots across the country must sacrifice together, because the Republic of China is a weak country and we are the people of a weak country.

The so-called resistance has no other content than sacrifice. We must turn every person and every piece of land into ashes and prevent the enemy from taking advantage of it. How can the people deserve it? "

"Yes, I think the people of our country are stupid and deceitful at the bottom. Neither the people nor the central government have the will to resist this war. The result will be failure. Surrender is the best policy."

"Well, in this way, we can preserve the foundation of our nation and develop it carefully. It may be able to gradually recover in the future, and at least we can survive in peace. This is a good strategy."

The team members spoke one by one. The head of the international law team, a section chief of the Legislative Yuan who had studied in Japan, did not speak. He waved his hand to stop the discussion among his temporary subordinates.

Is he opposed to taking a curveball to save the country? No, of course he agrees with it. However, as a peace talk preparer on the national government side, especially the person in charge of the team, there are some things that are inconvenient to say.

Zuo Zhong, who was outside the door, felt a little sad. Which one of these people had not read poetry and books, and which one was not well versed in Chinese and Western knowledge? Why did they have a soft head.

Don't they know that the pain after peace is even worse than during war?

The Japanese are not fools. No matter how nice the words are, the purpose of the peace talks is to turn the government into a puppet, covertly occupy the Republic of China, and make the people of the Republic of China unknowingly become slaves to the subjugation of the country.

As a government employee, the other party not only had no idea how to deal with the Japanese, but was obsessed with making excuses for surrender. He had spent so many years reading in vain, and what he did was disgusting.

The next second, Zuo Chong opened the door with a smile and walked into the house as everyone stood up to say hello. After looking around, he asked everyone present if they had any difficulties in work and life. His attitude was very kind.

The members of the international law team were very moved. As expected, you can't always believe what you say. People said that Deputy Director Zuo of the Military Command was cruel and ruthless, and would take people's lives at every turn. Now it seems that it is completely a rumor. The other party is really a good person.

"Thank you, Mr. Zuo, for your concern. I am very satisfied with the position and there are no difficulties."

The leader of the group replied respectfully, and then reported on the progress of the work. International law is very important in negotiations between countries. A single word difference can cause the country to suffer huge losses, so there is no need to rush.

They need to wait for the opinions of other groups to be released before they can draft targeted legal documents. At present, they can only search and familiarize themselves with relevant international legal provisions, which can be regarded as cutting wood without missing a beat.

Zuo Zhong highly praised this serious and responsible work attitude. He said on the spot that he would record it on the record and would ask for credit from everyone afterwards. The room immediately became excited.

"Deputy Director Zuo is young and promising, and his future is bound to be immeasurable."

"Of course."

"In my opinion, it won't be long before we call Deputy Director Zuo the Director."

In the midst of laughter and laughter, everyone almost praised Zuo Zhong to the sky. He was worthy of being an elite of the party and state who was full of knowledge. His good words were better than those of the military commander Gou's special agent.After chatting for a while, Zuo Zhong walked out of the office surrounded by people. He suppressed his smile and was about to go look elsewhere. Suddenly, he heard someone whispering curses next to him.

"Bah, a bunch of sluts! Traitors! Lackeys!"

Xu Enzeng stood in the corner, his eyes full of disdain, and he spat on the ground. People who didn't know the details of this guy would definitely think that Xu Enzeng was some kind of loyal minister who cared about the country and the people.

But Zuo Zhong knew that the other party was just jealous. If Xu Enzeng was really so courageous, why didn't he purge the wavering elements in the Central Unification? That would not cause many senior spies to surrender.

Some people are so used to acting that they forget what they are.

Zuo Zhong glanced at Xu Enzeng and waved to the guard next to him: "Recording the time, Xu Enzeng, deputy director of the Central Bureau of Statistics, made an unreasonable proposal for peace talks, saying that this was the work of traitors and lackeys."

"Yes!"

The guard saluted, took out a pen and paper and started recording.

Xu Enzeng was shocked. Who advocated the peace talks? It was the Chairman. When the little Wang Ba Dan said this, he was not scolding the other party, but the Chairman.

In desperation, he ran up to the guard, grabbed the book, tore one page into pieces, threw it into his mouth and chewed it, as if he was eating delicacies from the mountains and seas.

"Watch your mouth, be careful of trouble coming from your mouth."

Watching the other party swallow the pulp with his own eyes, Zuo Zhong dropped a word and left quickly. This painless method could not kill Xu Enzeng. If he was going to come, a big one would come and knock Xu Enzeng down in one go. Give it a chance to turn over.

The military commanders and central commanders in the courtyard looked up at the sky, pretending not to see the confrontation between the two officers, but everyone knew clearly that Deputy Director Xu lost again this time.

As Xu Enzeng's second general, Meng Ting and Mark were even more helpless. The deputy director knew he couldn't defeat Zuo Zhong, so why did he speak up.

After this incident, the Central Unification Party became much more honest and concentrated on keeping secrets. There was a lot of silence in the Bai Mansion, and all work began to proceed in an orderly manner.

At the same time, in a hotel in Kowloon Peninsula, Hong Kong City.

Minister Song of the National Government in disguise met with the Japanese negotiators. Compared with Minister Song and his entourage, who were only accompanied by a few people, the Japanese side had a much larger force. There were more than ten people sitting on the representative table alone.

These people come from all aspects, such as the Manchurian Railway, the Japanese Army General Staff Headquarters, the Shanghai Branch of the Japanese Allied News Agency, the Japanese Consul General in Hong Kong City, the Japanese China Expeditionary Force Headquarters, and even civilians who funded the Fruit Party in the early years.

This confirms one thing from the side: the Japanese can no longer hold on, the puppet government's performance is unsatisfactory, and Tokyo is indeed eager to end the war.

But Minister Song was not too happy. So many representatives also revealed that the factional struggle among the Japanese was becoming increasingly fierce. The Japanese military and government, the radicals and the moderates were not convinced by each other, and each had their own little calculations. .

Under this premise, any "peace talks" between China and Japan actually lack guarantees. The contract is in danger of being unilaterally torn up by Japan at any time, and the situation is not optimistic.

Minister Song, who felt uncertain, exchanged terms for the peace talks with the Japanese representatives. The Japanese were still obsessed with the Pseudo-Japanese War, North China, and the occupied lands, and wanted to delay or even use covert methods to obtain de facto ownership of the occupied areas.

Minister Song definitely could not agree to this. After some hesitation, he said that these issues could be put aside for the time being and could be resolved through negotiation after China and Japan restored peace.

The most important thing at the moment is the ceasefire. At that time, Yamashiro will issue an anti-Red statement, so as to give everyone a sufficient reason for peace talks and prevent someone from becoming someone in the second quarter.

In a word, as long as both sides stop fighting and make peace, everything can be discussed.

Faced with the government's empty-handed behavior, Japanese negotiators held different opinions, some were in favor of it, and some were against it, and the discussion was full of tension.

In the end, the Japanese side reached an agreement with difficulty, stating that the armistice required the approval of the cabinet and even the Locusts. They had no right to make a decision. The matter could be discussed at the second meeting in Haojiang.

After negotiating for most of the day, there was no progress. Minister Song had no choice but to smile and nodded, and then chatted with acquaintances among the representatives.

But he didn't know that a camera was looking through the keyhole and captured all the scenes of him talking with the Japanese. The so-called secret negotiations became a joke.

Having learned the lesson of Yan Baichuan, the national government asked the Japanese side not to record or take photos of the negotiation process. The Japanese agreed readily, but now it seems that the other side does not intend to abide by its promise.

The clueless Minister Song finished reminiscing with his "old friends", put on his hat and lowered his head, walked out of the hotel, and boarded a car that had been prepared. After getting in the car, he gave orders to his entourage with a tired look on his face.

"I have compiled the contents of the negotiations into a document, sent a special envoy back to the mountain city by plane, and asked the left deputy director of the military command to send someone to the port city. I always feel a little uneasy."

(End of this chapter)