Shadow Spy

Chapter 239 The outbreak of the Soviet-Finnish War

The merger of the Shanghai and Shanghai concessions was a very unexpected news for everyone. Even Li Junhao did not expect it, let alone others.But when things started, he became the person in charge who needed to direct on the front line, which made him both nervous and excited.

He doesn't know if this has changed the history of the world, let alone whether it is good or bad, but he will do his best to push everything for the better!As for what the result will be, he doesn't know and can't predict it!
Okay, now that the fun has started, let’s play to the end!
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This time the reception involved all aspects. The French obviously wanted to go home in a hurry. Finance, administration, municipal administration, public utilities, police, etc. were all handed over happily, as if they were selling off at a loss. It took five days to complete the handover of the French Concession in Nuovo University!
On Thursday, November 11, the consuls general of the United Kingdom, France, and the United States held a press conference to announce the formal merger of the two concessions, and the name will still be "Shanghai Public Concession"; at the same time, because currently in Europe, Britain and France have In a state of war with Germany, in order not to affect the concession, Britain and France withdrew from the management of the public concession, and the new Ministry of Industry Bureau was reorganized with two neutral countries, the United States and Switzerland, and Chinese directors...

Subsequently, the new Board of Directors of the Ministry of Industry and Commerce was unveiled. The general director is served by U.S. Consul General Nelson Ayers, and the deputy general director is served by Political Counselor Justin Sheehan. The directors include one Swiss, six Americans, and four Chinese people, together form a 13-member board of directors.

Among them, the Swiss director is F. Greco, president of the Shanghai Branch of UBS;

The American directors are Attaché Kelton of the U.S. Consulate General, Deputy Attaché Panson, Commercial Counselor Thain, Cultural Counselor Barrett, Citibank Shanghai Branch Fudges, and California Bank Willis;

The Chinese directors are Zheng Yue of Fudan University, He Fengmin of the Textile Association, Si Wenhua of the Shipping Association, and Liu Haifeng of the Banking Association.

Because of the previous changes in the concession, especially the French move that apparently meant to abandon the concession, people from all walks of life in Shanghai had actually speculated that the French Concession would be merged into the public concession, and this press conference made the dust settle; but it surprised people What's surprising is that Britain actually handed over management rights!

Everyone can see that this time the United States really has complete control over the concession. Among the 13 people, there are five officials from the U.S. Consulate General and two American businessmen, which is seven votes, as well as the decision-making and veto power of the general director and deputy general director. Quan, the other directors are just foils.

The most eye-catching person on the board of directors is naturally Deputy Attaché Pan Sen. This is not only because of his youth, but also because he is the first commander of the US military stationed in Shanghai and the chief of the police. If nothing else, the former French Concession Police Department He will soon be integrated into the police station. It is not wrong to say that he is now the most powerful person in the concession.

After the press conference, the new board of directors of the Ministry of Industry and Commerce held its first meeting and decided that after the formal merger of the two concessions, all rules and regulations of the original public concession will be followed.In this process, of course, the United States took the lead, and the other directors just raised their hands and agreed, but it finally made everyone look good.

After the meeting, Willis was very excited. He did not expect that he would be able to become a director after the concession was merged. All of this must be due to Mr. Panson, so he immediately went forward to "visit" him.

Citibank's Meinert Fudges was a director for the first time. After meeting with officials from the Consulate General, he also came to Pan Sen's side and expressed his respect respectfully. Judging from his attitude, he obviously knew something. What.

Professor Zheng Yue didn't expect that he would also become a director. Seeing Pan Sen surrounded by people, he just nodded from afar and left first - some things don't need to be said, everyone just knows it.He Fengmin is an old friend. When he came to meet with Li Junhao, he introduced Si Wenhua, the president of the Shipping Association, and Liu Haifeng, the president of the Banking Association. The latter two had met at a cocktail party before, but had not spoken to each other before. We really got to know each other and just chatted casually.

Li Junhao is a busy man now. After briefly getting to know the new directors, he said hello to Ayres and left the Consulate General.
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In the evening of that day, the latest news from Europe reached Shanghai, and the Soviet-Finnish War broke out.

After analyzing the current situation in Europe, diplomats from various countries believed that the Soviet Union would easily win this war and occupy all of Finland.

However, in this way, Germany, which has always been close to Finland, is embarrassed: if it intervenes, it will face the Soviet Union; if it does not intervene, it will lose a potential ally and chill other Nordic countries.

Therefore, many diplomats from the United Kingdom and France feel that the management of the concession should not be handed over to the United States so quickly. It can be stabilized.

However, the consuls general of the two countries knew that regardless of whether Germany intervened in the Soviet-Finnish War, it would not confront the Soviet Union in the short term. Its key targets were still France and Britain to achieve its goal of dominating Europe.

The country has actually reported the tension between the Soviet Union and Finland before, and a war is inevitable, it's just a matter of time.Moreover, Britain and France had the same view. The huge Soviet Union would easily win against Finland and it would not take too long. There was no point in delaying. The most important thing was to hand over the control of the concession to the United States as soon as possible so that its troops could be transferred back to the country.
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Everyone in the U.S. Consulate General and the officers of the three regiments also believe that the Soviet-Finnish War will end soon, maybe even faster than the German-Polish War, because a big country with more than 2 million square kilometers and a population of nearly 33.8 million cannot fight against a For a small country with an area of ​​400 square kilometers and a population of [-] million, quick victory and great victory should be inevitable.

Only Li Junhao knew how badly the Soviet Union fought in this battle. After three and a half months, the Soviet Union increased its troops twice, with 120 million troops against Finland's 20 troops. In the end, it was a tragic victory. The official statement admitted by itself was , the casualty ratio of both armies exceeded 3:1 (15.89 vs. 4.88). If Finland had not been unable to supply more troops, the outcome would have been unpredictable.

Although Finland had to cede and lease some territory in the end to end the war, the Finnish army's combat effectiveness and fighting spirit were unanimously praised, and it retained its sovereignty and won international reputation.

On the contrary, the Soviet Union failed to achieve its goal of conquering all of Finland, and the country's reputation was also greatly damaged. It was expelled from the League of Nations for provoking a war of aggression!

More importantly, the Soviet army's poor performance in this battle made Hitler more confident in invading the Soviet Union, and he began to contact Finland to join his plan, which eventually triggered the "continuation war" at the end of June 1941, and Finland sent troops together with Germany. , regaining the lands lost in the Winter War.

(End of this chapter)