Iron Cross

The temperature on July 1st exceeded 30 degrees, and the humidity was sultry, making it almost breathless.

"Niang Xipi, Niang Xipi..." bursts of curses came from Chairman Zeng Jiayan's residence, making everyone who heard it shudder.

Each of the guards felt as if they were facing a formidable enemy. They were obviously dizzy from the heat, but they didn't even dare to take a breath and stood erect. Zhang Qun, director of the Chengdu office and chairman of the SC provincial government, who hurriedly came to see him, also heard the scolding in the living room. He put down his bowl of tea, couldn't help but frown, and patted the armrest of his seat thoughtfully.

Shao Qing, Soong Meiling came down the stairs. He quickly stood up and greeted: "Hello, madam!"

"Mr. Yue Jun is here, please sit down, please!" Song Meiling's face seemed calm, but the worry in her brows could not be dismissed no matter what.

"Madam, what happened? Why is the Chairman so angry?"

"What else can happen to make Americans angry?"

Zhang Qun knew a lot of things at this level. He thought that ordinary Americans would not be able to make the Chairman of the Generalissimo angry, and his background should be quite big, so he guessed uncertainly: "Is it Stilwell? Isn't he in India now?"

"I flew back in a hurry yesterday and said I had an urgent military interview, but after just a few words, the two of them started to quarrel, and Stilwell dropped the conversation and left..."

Before he finished speaking, there was a "clang" sound from upstairs, which was obviously the sound of a vase being smashed. Zhang Qun's brows jumped. It seemed that he had come at the wrong time. Just when he was about to ask in detail, the servants lured Chen Brai out again. Come in.

Song Meiling immediately said: "I'm afraid the chairman will summon you soon. I would like to ask the two gentlemen to express their opinions on political matters. You can give him some advice and let him calm down and get rid of his anger. I will go to rest first and won't accompany you." You guys.”

"Yes!" The two watched Song Meiling leave together. They know very well that this is of course a cover-up. The First Lady’s deep involvement in politics is known to her close associates. There must be other reasons for avoiding her.

However, the two of them had no time to express their feelings and immediately met to discuss what exactly Stilwell said.

"I don't know, I just received a notice..." Chen Brai was obviously confused.

"Do you know why you summoned me?"

"I know a little bit..." Chen Brai pondered for a moment and was about to say it. Suddenly, he saw Wang Shijie, director of the Military Counselor's Office and recently in charge of diplomatic affairs with the United Kingdom and the United States, walking down the stairs. The two of them hurriedly stepped forward to greet them and asked: "What happened just now?" What's going on?"

"I accompanied Stilwell to meet with the Chairman. Today he came in a hurry, but his attitude was even worse than before. He talked a lot, and every sentence sounded harsh." Wang Shijie said with a bitter smile, "He only said a few words. People started to quarrel, and although my wife and I tried our best to mediate in the middle, we couldn't reach an agreement at all..."

The two of them gathered around Wang Shijie to ask questions, and finally made it clear the four meanings of Stilwell's arrival today:

First, Roosevelt originally wanted to send Vice President Wallace to visit China, but because the route was currently blocked and unsafe, Stilwell and the ambassador to China took over the preliminary communication, and Wallace planned to set off in the fall;

Second, the United States proposed to contact the Communist Party and set up an observation group in Yan'an to arrange observers and military liaison officers;

Third, the Americans have a very tough tone and require the chairman of the Generalissimo to send 300,000 troops to India to participate in the war. The time limit is three months, and the faster the better. At the same time, they must launch a comprehensive counterattack against the Japanese army on the domestic battlefield;

Fourth and most importantly, if it fails to do this, the United States may consider stopping aid to China due to the blockade of India's passage...

The two of them gasped. None of the four items could be accepted by the chairman. No wonder he was so angry.

The three of them were about to sit down and have a good talk, but suddenly Lin Wei, the director of the first section of the Chairman's Auxiliary Room, came down again and respectfully invited Zhang Qun and Chen Brai to come upstairs. The conversation between the three of them started before they even started. It was over in a hurry.

"Mr. Yue Jun, Mr. Bray, you are here just in time, sit down, sit down..." Although Chiang Kai-shek was still angry, he still managed to squeeze out a smile when facing the two of them. Zhang Qun sat down calmly, seemingly inadvertently scanning the pile of broken porcelain pieces on the ground with the corner of his eye, showing a thoughtful expression.

Chiang Kai-shek noticed Zhang Qun's strange behavior and said with self-mockery: "I don't have enough concentration, I don't have enough concentration, I really can't hold it back, I made you two laugh."

"Don't dare, don't dare..."

"Mr. Snow Boat told you about Stilwell's purpose, right?"

The two nodded together, and then they suddenly realized why Wang Shijie was so loose-spoken today. It turned out that he was ordered to report the situation to them.

"That's good. Let's discuss it together later."

Zhang Qun had been holding back a lot of things to ask, but now that the situation was unclear, he could not speak directly to avoid violating taboos; Chen Buley was obviously scrupulous and did not say more; Chiang Kai-shek was still angry and needed to be quiet. Only when he was calm could he continue to speak. There was silence for a while, and the atmosphere of the meeting suddenly became silent.

Not long after, Jiang himself took the lead in breaking the silence: "Let's put the Stilwell matter aside for now. There is another confidential matter that needs to be discussed with the two of us, so I specially summoned Mr. Yue Jun from Chengdu to discuss it with other people. I'm not worried."

Zhang Qun and Chen Brai immediately stood up in flattery: "The Chairman's words are serious,"

"Sit down, sit down, don't be restrained." Chiang Kai-shek turned around and told Lin Wei, "Bring Director Dai's secret message to you two."

After reading the telegram, both of them looked gloomy and thoughtful.

"The telegram was brought by Dai Li yesterday morning. The channel is absolutely reliable, but the person contacting us has changed. It turns out that the person in charge of Tong's work is Itagaki Seishiro. He has been hiding behind the scenes in the early days, and the one at the front desk is Imai Takeo..."

The so-called Tung Work was a political inducement to surrender against the ZQ government after the Japanese mainland offensive temporarily came to an end in 1939. ZQ sent Zeng Zhengzhong, an agent of the Hong Kong Station of the Military Command, pretending to be Song Ziliang, to participate in the Tong Work, pretending to start peace talks with the Japanese representative Takeo Imai, but in fact it was Trying to figure out RB's strategic trump card. The talks lasted on and off for three years. Instead of producing any direct results, the military commanders found out a lot of details. Later, the work was stopped by Hideki Tojo, but after Kanji Ishihara came to power, the host was replaced by Doi. Not only has Hara Kenji's work been resumed, but his weight has obviously increased and his voice has become louder.

The telegram was not the result of the latest negotiation between the two parties, but a situation report sent by Madoka Doi on behalf of the Japanese base camp:

First, the Japanese army is about to launch an offensive in India and has already occupied the island of Ceylon;

Second, the Japanese army will gradually transfer troops from mainland China to RB. It is hoped that the ZQ authorities will not interfere, let alone try to send troops into India;

Third, if the ZQ authorities agree to Japan’s conditions, Japan will withdraw its attack on Changsha and hand over 10-20 county towns free of charge. When the war in India comes to an end, it will peacefully hand over the two big cities of Yichang and Nanchang and return them to Changsha. You can donate part of the arms;

Fourth, if the ZQ authorities do not agree to the above conditions and insist on sending troops to Burma or India, the Japanese side will not only severely attack the Chinese Expeditionary Force, but will also hand over an equal number of county towns to the Yan'an authorities to speed up the bordering of areas controlled by the Kuomintang and the Communist Party, and at the same time sell a large amount of arms to Yan'an...

The two of them watched for a long time, and combined with Stilwell's situation just now, they had a rough idea - there must be a big problem in the direction of India.

"The 10-20 seats were added by Dai Li's men themselves. The Japanese side started talking about 10 seats. He thought it was safe to talk about 20 seats."

Zhang Qun nodded, roughly understanding why he was summoned. As a typical representative of the "Japanese Knowledge Faction", he was on the front line of Sino-Japanese diplomacy and had rich experience. More importantly, Zhang Qun is from the Sun-knowing sect, not the Sun-loving sect or the Sun-subduing sect. This is the reason why he can be reused.

He asked: "What happened to India?"

"The Japanese army attacked Ceylon with the cooperation of the German army and occupied the entire island in three days. Tens of thousands of British troops surrendered. Now there is a turmoil in the direction of India. The British may not be able to protect India..."

"German troops?" Zhang Qun's eyes widened, "Why are the Germans here too?"

"Although the British were vague, the military commander still got some information: Japan sent its navy to the Atlantic Ocean a few months ago to help the Germans beat up the Americans. Germany probably reciprocated by sending its army to help Japan attack India. The specific number of troops is unknown. , but the staff estimated that 2-3 divisions would be fine." Chiang Kai-shek sighed, "The Americans were worried that the British army would not be able to defend India, so they specially asked us to help. Originally, everyone could sit down and discuss it, but Stilwell. His tone after arriving was unkind, as if he was giving an ultimatum, which is really unreasonable!”

"300,000 troops? Humph!" Chen Brei said angrily, "Americans really dare to speak. Why don't they send 300,000 troops to India? Do they know how we will get there? And limit it to 3 months? I really don't know."

"The commissioner doesn't want to send troops?" Zhang Qun did not express his position directly, but asked cautiously, "The troops can be mobilized, right?"

"I definitely don't want to take chestnuts out of the fire for the British, but the attitude of the Americans must also be weighed. After the British lost the Middle East, the navy suffered consecutive defeats. The Americans were obviously forced to panic. It's not that they didn't want to defend India, but they couldn't. That's why they found us. There is no doubt that India is important to us, but the Japanese threat cannot be ignored. Now that the Communist Party has become a prairie fire in North China, they have not attacked the Japanese army but turned around. Specializing in seizing friendly territory, Yan Baichuan lamented to me that SX has been completely surrounded by the Communist Party..."

With these few words, Zhang Qun basically understood his train of thought:

First, he firmly opposed contact between the United States and Yan'an, and did not agree to allow US aid supplies to be sent to Yan'an;

Second, I am worried about the current rapid development of the Communist Party. Now everyone is doing business with the Japanese army, and they know each other well. It is also business, and the Communist Party has obviously benefited more and bigger from it - the situation in North China is clear evidence;

Third, the virtue of the British has been clearly seen through the First Expeditionary Force - it is completely hopeless. This time Stilwell not only asked for so many troops but also asked for command authority. In his opinion, it was simply It’s a dream;

Fourth, American aid and the Hump Route must still be maintained. They are indispensable for both the protracted war of resistance and the future political situation.