Shadow Spy

Chapter 345 Things always happen

On December 12, after making arrangements for the Far East team, Li Junhao returned to Shanghai.

He was quite satisfied with this trip to Manila. He kicked MacArthur back to the country and allowed Wainwright to take over the position of commander-in-chief of the US military forces in the Far East two years early. Coupled with his current status as acting chief of staff, if he and Wainwright If they cooperate, they will have two years to prepare, which can strengthen the Philippine defense level so that the Japanese army cannot easily defeat them.

The situation in Shanghai is basically the same as when he left. The only difference is that it is now entering the New Year's atmosphere before New Year's Day!Under the current governance of the Ministry of Industry and Commerce, no businessman dares to step out and cause trouble at this time.

The capabilities and methods of the Market Management Office have been greatly strengthened, and now the market in the concession is very tightly controlled. During this period, several merchants tried to stir up trouble, but they were blocked and hit as soon as they started!

Afterwards, it was found out that most of the cases were done by the Japanese, but there were also a few cases that were done by other forces, but none of them were solved. After the investigation department took action, none of the troublemakers ran away, and some new labor force was added!
At present, the construction team organized by the Municipal Affairs Bureau under the Ministry of Industry and Commerce is still busy. Various dilapidated and even abandoned areas in the concession are being renovated, reconstructed and newly built one by one, so that the poor original residents only need to pay a very low cost. You can live in a renovated or rebuilt house at a reasonable price or even in installments.

In addition, newly built houses in abandoned areas will be allocated to low-income families in the name of extremely low-rent public rental housing in accordance with the latest policies formulated by the Municipal Administration and Housing Management Office. Nearly [-] households have been resettled so far.

This initiative has been warmly welcomed by the poor people in the concession, and many people have actively asked to join in and cooperate with the initiatives of the Ministry of Industry and Commerce Bureau.

This incident was widely reported by various newspapers and even spread throughout the world. It was praised by countless people, who all praised that this is what a qualified government should do.

After Li Junhao came back, he also participated in the board meeting to review the report on the progress of the project. He expressed satisfaction with it, praised the Municipal Affairs Office and the Housing Management Office without hesitation, and proposed and approved a salary increase for their staff.

Afterwards, he checked the situation of various units and police stations and confirmed that the situation was normal. After order was established, it would not be difficult to solve other matters.
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During the following New Year's Day, Li Junhao lived a simple and lively life, and had a good New Year. However, he did not attend the New Year's reception of the Ministry of Industry and Commerce Bureau this time.With his current status, such an appearance is no longer necessary. If he has this time, he might as well drink tea and read a book at home and enjoy the rare quiet time at the moment.

As 1941 approaches, the clouds of war are getting bigger and bigger, and will soon cover the Pacific Ocean.
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New Year's Day in 1942 passed, but a shocking incident broke out on Chinese soil, which shocked the country and abroad as soon as it was reported.

On January 1, Li Junhao, who was working at the Joint Command, received the latest intelligence summary. What he had been most worried about had happened - the Jiangnan Incident broke out!
The Kuomintang army launched a surprise attack on the New Fourth Army in Jiangnan, using [-] soldiers against [-] soldiers. After seven days and nights of fierce fighting, in addition to more than [-] people of the surrounded New Fourth Army, more than [-] people of the New Fourth Army broke through, thousands died, and the rest were captured. A senior general died.

Looking at this information, Li Junhao felt powerless. Everything he had done before seemed to be useless, but things still happened - is the trajectory of history so difficult to change?

Things have happened, what else can he do now?No, we can’t just let it go!He gritted his teeth secretly.
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Also on this day, in the United States, President Roosevelt asked Congress to "authorize and appropriate sufficient funds for the manufacture of additional munitions and various military supplies for transfer to countries currently engaged in actual combat with aggressor countries." This was One was preliminarily approved, which is good news for the anti-fascist front.

For Li Junhao, the immediate good news is that all the heavy equipment requirements he reported before have been approved, including the US military in the Shanghai Concession and the Far East troops will benefit from it.

The three main regiments in the concession will all be organized into heavy armored regiments. The Philippine Division, the main force of the Far East Force, will be upgraded to an armored division. The original tank regiments will be strengthened. The original independent infantry regiments and independent cavalry regiments will be upgraded to light armored regiments. …

Another good news is that MacArthur's corruption in the Philippines was discovered and he has been dismissed from the military and kicked out of the army!It is said that if Secretary of War Stimson had not interceded for him, he should have been court-martialed.
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On January 1, newspapers and radio stations at home and abroad reported on the "Southern Anhui Incident" and strongly criticized the Kuomintang government's shameless behavior. For a time, public opinion surged and the response was violent.But in Li Junhao's view, these are already hindsight, and he decided to take a more practical approach.

Early that morning, Li Junhao ordered the Monetary Authority to seal down the Silian General Office in the concession, freeze all accounts of the Nationalist Government in the concession bank, and request the Anti-Smuggling Department of the Police Station to seize cargo ships and goods from Chongqing at various docks...

In addition, he sent the Investigation Department to arrest the special correspondents and left-behind personnel of the Kuomintang Party Headquarters and the Ministry of Finance in the concession. They were all put on a passenger ship to Hong Kong and deported!
This series of measures dealt a huge blow to the Nationalist Government. After a hurried meeting with Ambassador Johnson, the reply he received was: Since the Nationalist Government has the right to arrange its own military operations, the Ministry of Industry and Industry Bureau also has the right to handle concession affairs in accordance with its own regulations.

However, Ambassador Jensen immediately contacted Li Junhao and asked how he wanted to resolve the matter. Li Junhao made three requests to be conveyed to the National Government:

[-]. The National Government publicly apologizes;

[-]. Immediately release all New Fourth Army officers and soldiers below Commander Ye Ting;

32. Hand over Gu Zhutong, the commander of the Third War Zone, Shangguan Yunxiang, the commander of the [-]nd Army, and their seven division commanders, and put them on a public trial with full punishment!
Ambassador Johnson was speechless after hearing what he said. Of these three requests, the first two are easy to say, but how is the third one possible? The National Government cannot agree to it!
Of course, Li Junhao knew about this. He just wanted to make Lao Jiang feel uncomfortable and let him know the consequences of not obeying the rules!

Ambassador Johnson couldn't resist him, so he could only convey these demands to the National Government and let them have a headache!

Chairman Chiang was furious, but the only way was to rely on his wife to contact friends in Washington, but no one gave them an answer to this matter.

(End of this chapter)