Chapter 841 Chapter 840 [US Aid Faction]

In the blink of an eye, it has entered 1938.

At the beginning of the year, Japanese planes bombed Guangzhou for more than 10 days, killing more than 7,000 people.

Zhou Hexuan ordered workers to speed up the construction of air-raid shelters in Chongqing. The government did not call for it at this time, so Zhou Hexuan had no choice but to do it himself.

In fact, since July last year, Zhou Hexuan has paid for the construction of a large air defense tunnel. It is planned to start from Chaotianmen, pass through Linjiangmen and Tongyuanmen to Nanjimen, and run through the four directions of the main city of Chongqing, with an estimated length of more than 3,700 meters.

Now half a year has passed, and more than 1,200 meters of the air-raid shelter built under the leadership of Zhou Hexuan have been dug. He also built an air-raid basement in his home, where his family and servants could hide at any time whenever Japanese planes attacked.

On January 5, Einstein, Romain Rolland, Russell, Dewey and other great scholars launched an international aid movement to China and called for donations for China's war of resistance. In June of this year, Einstein and Roosevelt's eldest son will jointly establish a committee to assist China and carry out donation activities in 2,000 cities and towns in the United States.

On January 8, Bethune led the Canadian and American medical teams to China to support the Chinese people in the war of resistance.

At the same time, private aid activities to China of varying scales also appeared in various European countries. I don’t know what Hitler was thinking. Germany had obviously formed an alliance with Japan, but after the fall of Nanjing, it secretly supported China with a batch of weapons, including Type I tanks and heavy artillery.

In the early days of the Sino-Japanese War, Germany sent military advisers to China and never withdrew. It was not until a full year after the outbreak of the all-out Anti-Japanese War that Germany withdrew a large number of advisers who were aiding China under Japanese diplomatic pressure. But some still stayed and even became active military officers in China. For example, Captain Frank Hobrich, who participated in commanding the Battle of Changde, advanced and retreated with the Chinese defenders. He died heroically in November 1943 and was posthumously awarded the rank of Army Major General by the Nationalist Government.

Hitler mentioned in his autobiography that when he was in poverty, he received selfless help from a Chinese family. The Chinese surname was Cheung. The transliteration may be Zhang or Cheng. As a result, Hitler had a very good impression of China, and there were even rumors that he wanted to share the world with China.

Of course, these rumors are very unreliable, and I don’t know where they come from. But it is true that Hitler was very ambiguous about China. When a full-scale war broke out between China and Japan, Germany was the most active among European and American countries to mediate. It mediated three times. Unfortunately, the content of the mediation was too harsh.

Compared with Germany, the Soviet Union provided the greatest support to China in the early days of the War of Resistance.

The Soviet Union sent an air force to Nanjing Airport in the form of volunteers at the end of 1937. These Soviet aircraft, painted with Chinese military emblems, fought fiercely with the Japanese Air Force in Nanjing for several days. On January 5, they came to Wuhan to participate in the war, flying to Wuhu and shooting down six Japanese aircraft.

The reason why the Soviet Union helped China was because Britain, France and the United States encouraged Germany to attack the Soviet Union. Although Germany is unwilling to confront the Soviet Union for the time being, it is instigating Japan to attack the Far East of the Soviet Union so that the Soviet Union will not be able to take care of itself and facilitate Germany's expansion in Europe.

The enemy of my enemy is a friend, so the Soviet Union and China are friends.

January 10th.

Chang Kaishen and Bai Chongxi traveled from Wuchang to Kaifeng. The purpose of this trip was to punish Han Fuju. Han was close to death. This man deserved his death. He almost became a traitor in the early days of the War of Resistance. He promised Shandong to remain neutral. When Chiang Kai-shek learned of this news, he quickly appeased him and became the deputy commander of the fifth theater.

During the war, Han Fuju refused to execute the central government's orders several times in order to preserve his strength. In addition, Han Fuju got involved with Liu Xiang again, and Chiang Kai-shek couldn't bear it anymore, so he had to kill the chicken to scare the monkey.

Driving to the train station, Chang Kaishen and Bai Chongxi got on the special train.

A few minutes later, Chang Kaishen looked outside and said in surprise: "When was the Yangtze River Bridge opened?"

The adjutant replied: "The bridge builders worked overtime to meet the construction deadline. It was officially completed at four o'clock in the morning, and a train was put into trial operation at midnight."

"This bridge was repaired in time!" Chang Kaishen said with emotion.

The Ping-Han Line connects to the north, and the Guangdong-Han Line connects to the south, but they are interrupted in front of the natural barrier of the Yangtze River. In the past, when trains crossed the river, they needed to be transferred by large barges, which would take at least an hour and a half. If the transportation task is heavy, delays of half a day to a day are common, and it is possible to wait in line for the train to board the ship for two days.

Now that the Wuhan Yangtze River Bridge is open, transportation efficiency will immediately double, greatly alleviating wartime transportation difficulties.

The adjutant smiled and said: "I heard that Mr. Zhou specially invested an additional 1 million yuan in order to keep up with the progress of the bridge repair."

Chang Kaishen nodded and said: "Zhou Mingcheng still made contributions to the country."

After Chang Kaishen finished speaking, he started reading newspapers and magazines. Although he was extremely busy every day, he still kept reading newspapers. After reading the newspaper for a while, Chang Kaishen opened the "Fei Gong" magazine again. The important contents had been marked by the secretary, so he could just open it.

The number one article in this issue of "Fei Gong" is exactly the content of Zhou Hexuan's lecture at the university half a month ago.

Chang Kaishen nodded repeatedly as he read it. It wasn't until he saw Zhou Hexuan talking about U.S. diplomatic strategy that he suddenly frowned and then breathed a sigh of relief. He was a little angry that the United States supported Japan, but he was also looking forward to the United States' future participation in the war. After reading it, he said: "Show it to Jian Sheng (Bai Chongxi)."

Bai Chongxi was in the next car, and the adjutant quickly took the magazine over.

After Bai Chongxi finished reading the article, he ran to Chang Kaishen's carriage and said: "Although it is a scholar's opinion, it is somewhat reasonable. At least it can strengthen the confidence of the Chinese people in the war of resistance."

"Yes, what we lack most now is confidence." Chang Kaishen sighed.

Although after the Battle of Songhu, there were many fewer "peace advocates" in the country, but there were only a few who were truly confident.

For example, Kuomintang veteran Zhang Qun advised Chang Kaishen in this way. The general content is as follows: German mediation cannot be accepted because the conditions are too harsh. Once accepted, the central government's prestige will be lost. China should fight the war first, and then negotiate for peace after defeat. No matter how the peace is negotiated, the people will understand it and will not be too hostile to the central government.

Well, Zhang Qun is also the main fighting faction. It's a pity that he, the main militant faction, is rushing to negotiate peace after defeat... he is still better than Wang Zhaoming.

Inevitably, Zhou Hexuan's article immediately aroused widespread discussion from all walks of life in China after it was published in "Fei Gong" magazine. Some people say that he is too arbitrary, some say that he should not think so dirty of the United States, and some treat the article as an academic issue. But many people firmly believe that the United States will definitely participate in the war. As long as China can persist in resisting, it will definitely be able to rely on the United States to win.

As a result, in addition to the peace faction and the war faction, the "US aid faction" appeared in China. This faction advocates persisting in resistance and delaying the time as much as possible. Victory will be delayed until the United States joins the war.

After the special train arrived in Kaifeng, Chang Kaishen suddenly said to his adjutant: "Send a telegram to Chairman Lin and ask him to appoint Zhou Mingcheng as the special envoy to visit Britain. He has a good relationship with King George VI, so he must get more assistance no matter what. .”

When a war breaks out, money is spent like water.

The international loans Kong Xiangxi obtained last year have been exhausted, and Chiang Kai-shek is trying every means to get money.