There have always been two voices within the US government regarding China affairs.
One voice, led by US Ambassador to China Johnson, believes that the Kuomintang is the only ruling party in China, so the US government should cooperate with the Kuomintang. However, another voice, represented by Colonel Stilwell, believes that the US government should be more open , a more tolerant mentality to contact and even accept the Chinese Communist Party.
However, Stilwell's status obviously cannot be compared with Johnson.
Even though Stilwell had been promoted to Army Brigadier General not long ago, there was still a huge gap in status between Stilwell and Johnson.
Therefore, Roosevelt would not consider Stilwell's opinion at all, but would trust Johnson's judgment more. In fact, the U.S. government did not consider Stilwell's opinion until Stilwell became the Chief of General Staff of the China Theater and had sufficient say. Finally there was a willingness to contact the Communist Party, which prompted the Dixie Mission's trip to Yan'an.
However, now, Roosevelt will not consider having any contact with the Kuomintang at all. Firstly, the Kuomintang's political incompetence has not been fully demonstrated. Secondly, the strength of the Kuomintang is still very weak, at least on the surface it is far inferior to the Kuomintang. Therefore, Roosevelt would never risk offending the Kuomintang by contacting the Chinese Communist Party.
At that moment, Roosevelt shook his head and said: "Forget it about contacting the Communist Party. However, since the National Government cannot influence Xu Rui's Songhu Independent Regiment, then as Colonel Wilson said, hurry up and urgently rescue the more than 3,000 American expatriates living in Shanghai." To evacuate, remember to communicate with the Japanese government to avoid misunderstandings."
"Okay." Hel nodded and turned around.
…
Meanwhile, in Shanghai.
Xu Rui walked into the regiment headquarters in a hurry and asked Yang Rui: "How bad is the situation?"
"The situation is simply terrible!" Yang Rui said gloomily, "Since early this morning, typhoid fever cases have appeared one after another in Yangshupu, Hongkou, Zhabei, Concession Central District, Concession West District, Longhua, and even Pudong, especially in Zhabei. The largest number of people, as of now, the number of sick people has exceeded 2,000!"
"Two thousand people?" Xu Rui's heart suddenly sank when he heard this.
He originally thought that the number of cases on the first day would exceed 1,000, but now it seems that his estimate was too conservative. Today, the number of typhoid fever cases in Shanghai may exceed 10,000!
Yang Rui continued: "The only good thing is that the troops have not been affected, and there have been no outbreaks in the surrounding counties of Jiading, Qingpu and Songjiang."
"We must not take it lightly." Xu Rui said in a deep voice, "We must continue to strengthen martial law and strictly prevent the flow of people!"
Yang Rui nodded heavily and said, "Don't worry, captain, I have mobilized all the militia teams, set up checkpoints at various intersections, and dispatched more than a thousand patrol teams to patrol the area 24 hours a day." Street patrol, no one is allowed to go on the streets without a pass issued by the regiment!"
While talking, Di Gua led the director of Zhongshan Hospital in.
Xu Rui quickly stood up and stepped forward to salute the old dean.
"Mr. Wu!" After saluting, Xu Rui asked in a deep voice, "The isolation has been completed. We have established more than a dozen isolation areas in various neighborhoods. Once a suspected patient is found, he will immediately be forced to enter the isolation area. Recently, During this period, everyone is prohibited from going out on the streets to prevent the continued spread of pathogens."
The old dean sighed and said: "It is a little late to impose martial law at this time, but it is better than doing nothing."
Xu Rui then asked: "Mr. Wu, you are an expert in this area, what should we do next?"
"The next step is to treat the sick people with all our strength. Typhoid fever comes quickly, but also goes away quickly. As long as it lasts for half a month, everything will be basically fine." The old dean sighed again and said sadly, "But the old man is here. To put it bluntly, judging from the current situation, the typhoid fever bacteria has spread on a large scale, and the number of people infected will most likely exceed one million in the end, and the current reserves of medicines may not be enough."
Yang Rui and others next to him shuddered after hearing this, a million people? How much medicine do you need
Xu Rui said: "Mr. Wu, don't worry, we will transport the medicinal materials through various channels."
"That's useless. Faced with such a huge number of patients, transporting medicinal materials from various places can only be a drop in the bucket." The old dean shook his head and sighed, "Now, we can only do our best to accept fate."
Shi Changqing, the first battalion commander who had just sent away the old director of Zhongshan Hospital, came to the regiment headquarters in a hurry.
"Captain, commander!" Shi Changqing started yelling as soon as he entered the regiment headquarters, "Where is the regiment leader? Where are the others, the regiment leader?"
Xu Rui came out of the bathroom with a dark face and said angrily: "What's the matter? Even taking a shit doesn't make people feel at ease."
Shi Changqing quickly stood up to attention, saluted Xu Rui first, and then said: "Captain, there are many foreigners who want to escape."
Shi Changqing's First Battalion was responsible for the round-the-clock martial law in the entire public concession, so the first battalion officers and soldiers discovered that the foreigners had fled. Since the foreigners did not have special passes issued by the regiment headquarters, the officers and soldiers of the First Battalion naturally refused to let them go. But the problem was, when the time came Later, more and more foreigners wanted to flee, and the situation was about to get out of control.
After Shi Changqing heard the news, he hurried to the regiment headquarters in person to report to Xu Rui.
"Foreigners are fleeing?" Xu Rui frowned, "What countries are they from?"
"Basically everything is available." Shi Changqing replied, "British, American, French, Italian, Belgian, and other countries that I can't name, but the most common ones are British and American. With the whole family in tow, that battle was really scary, and I’m worried that something big will happen. Why don’t you, captain, come over and take a look in person?”
Xu Rui did not dare to neglect, and immediately led the guards straight to the public concession.
As soon as he entered the public concession, Xu Rui immediately felt the tense atmosphere. He saw that the streets and alleys were full of foreigners bringing up their families and supporting the elderly and the young. Most of these foreigners looked panicked. Apparently, they had already A large-scale outbreak of typhoid fever put them under great pressure, so they wanted to escape the fallen city.
In fact, it is not just Americans who want to escape Shanghai, but also almost all foreigners.
Facing so many foreigners, the officers and soldiers of the first battalion in charge of martial law were also very nervous. After all, since the first Opium War, foreigners have been domineering in Shanghai for nearly a hundred years. Such a long period of time is enough to put foreigners on top. The impression is engraved in the bones of several generations of Chinese people.
Although Xu Rui brought national self-esteem and self-confidence back to them, eradicating this bad influence will not happen overnight. In fact, even in the 21st century, after the overall rise of China, , there are still many Chinese people who habitually kneel down and lick the West.
Xu Rui came at the right time.
Because of his excitement, a British expatriate pulled out a revolver with his backhand and tried to threaten the officers and soldiers of a battalion under martial law. Seeing this, the other expatriates from various countries followed suit and all took out their own sidearms. The officers and soldiers under martial law immediately became nervous. , one after another pulled the bolt, loaded the bullet, and pointed the black muzzle at the foreigner holding the gun.
At this time, Xu Rui was inevitably a little nervous. He was not afraid of shooting a bunch of foreigners, because he could find any excuse to smooth things over. Western governments would definitely not go to war with China for the sake of a few lives. But if one guy kills hundreds or even thousands of foreigners, the consequences will be very serious.
Such a serious bloody conflict can change the international situation.
Fortunately, at this time, the British Minister in Shanghai, Baron Stephen, arrived with Jonathan, the general director of the Concession Industry Bureau.
Along with Stephen and Jonathan, there were Brigadier General Ferguson and hundreds of British troops. Brigadier General Ferguson and hundreds of British troops were originally here to maintain order among the expatriates. Upon seeing this, they quickly controlled the scene and put their emotions under control. Expatriates from Western countries were separated from the officers and soldiers of the independent regiment.
The expatriates did not know how powerful the officers and soldiers of the Independent Regiment were, but Ferguson and the British officers and soldiers knew it. They knew that the officers and soldiers of the Independent Regiment on the opposite side were completely different from other Chinese troops. They really did not take Westerners seriously. If the expatriates from various countries make too much noise, these guys really dare to shoot.
After the situation was under control, Stephen immediately found Xu Rui.
Stephen came to Xu Ruixing to question him. After attending the press conference in the morning, as soon as he returned to the embassy, he began to arrange for the evacuation of British expatriates. A large-scale outbreak of typhoid fever was inevitable because all medicines were controlled. , medical resources were forcibly requisitioned by the Songhu Independence Regiment, and more than 10,000 British people living in Shanghai were left without protection.
At this time, for the safety of British expatriates, evacuating Shanghai became the only option.
However, because Wusongkou was blocked by the shipwreck blockade, ships from outside could not come in, and ships inside could not get out. Therefore, we could only take the land route to Jinshan Guard first, and then board the ship from there. However, Jinshan Guard is now a Japanese army territory, so in addition to contacting the Songhu Independent Group, we also had to contact the Japanese.
As a result, before the contact with the Japanese came to fruition, something happened here.
Stephen immediately came to Xu Ruixing to question him. According to his logic, it’s just that you Chinese have robbed us British expatriates of medical resources. We adults have a lot, so we don’t care about you. But now that we British expatriates want to evacuate Shanghai, you What's the point of not letting him go
You Chinese really want to poop and pee on us British heads
At that moment, Stephen said in a stiff tone: "Captain Xu, I would like to ask you, what is the purpose of your Songhu Independence Group to stop the expatriates from Western countries living in Shanghai and insist on refusing to let them go?"
Xu Rui said calmly: "Mr. Minister, I am also responsible for the safety of the residents around Shanghai, and even more responsible for the safety of citizens from Western countries. Shanghai is now an epidemic area. Everyone, including you and me, They are suspected carriers of typhoid fever. In this case, do you think we should leave? If the typhoid fever virus is brought to other cities and causes large-scale outbreaks of typhoid fever in other cities, who will bear the responsibility?"