At this time, in Shanghai Broadway Building.
General Wang Husheng put an envelope of telegrams on Xu Rui's desk and said: "This is an urgent telegram from Chongqing in the name of the National Army Headquarters. This is from Chairman Chiang in the name of the Supreme Leader. Urgent telegram, this is an urgent telegram from the military headquarters, and this one is an urgent telegram from Yan'an forwarded by the military headquarters, both asking us to release him immediately."
Xu Rui's expression was still cold. He had always had this expression since he came back from Dameishan.
Wang Husheng put down all the telegrams and persuaded again: "Old Xu, just listen to my advice and release all these hostages. Let's not talk about the consequences of this move. I know your original intention. It was to save people, to save more than three million people in Shanghai, but... "
After taking a breath, Wang Husheng added, "But your approach may not be effective."
Xu Rui still didn't say anything, just looked at the night outside the window without saying a word.
Wang Husheng added: "Old Xu, you kidnapped foreigners as hostages in order to prevent the Japanese from attacking more than three million people in Shanghai during the evacuation process. But if this is the case, why bother to evacuate Shanghai? Let's try another way. Wouldn’t it be enough to block all exports and ports to prevent foreigners from leaving Shanghai?”
After a pause, Wang Husheng said: "In this way, we can actually use these foreigners as hostages, but at the same time save face for Western countries on the surface, so that they will not trigger an international incident. Is this okay?"
"This won't work." Xu Rui said coldly, "The little devils will take the risk and launch germ warfare directly. By then, not only the more than three million compatriots in Shanghai will not survive, but also the more than 10,000 foreigners trapped by us in Shanghai. We won’t survive, Lao Wang, these foreign hostages can’t guarantee our safety at all.”
"That's right." Wang Husheng said, "Since foreign hostages cannot guarantee our safety, then why do you take the risk of offending the entire West and take more than 10,000 foreigners as hostages? Is this necessary?"
"It is necessary." Xu Rui said coldly, "These more than 10,000 foreigners cannot guarantee our safety, but they can guarantee the safety of more than three million ordinary people!"
"Huh?" Wang Husheng was stunned when he heard this and asked, "Old Xu, what do you mean by this?"
Then, Wang Husheng reacted quickly and said: "Old Xu, you mean that our Songhu Independent Regiment will not evacuate Shanghai, but will only evacuate the more than three million people stranded in Shanghai?"
Xu Rui said coldly: "If the Japanese give in comprehensively and agree to our evacuation, that would be good. If the Japanese insist and refuse to let us go, then we will stay and let the three million people in Shanghai go first. These three Most of the millions of people are women and children. A nation must retain women and children in order to be able to recover quickly after the war!"
Wang Husheng immediately fell silent after hearing this. If the Songhu Independent Group did not leave, especially if Lao Xu did not leave, then the possibility of compromise by the Japs was still very high. In any case, the one the Japanese hated and feared the most was the Songhu Independent Group. Especially Lao Xu, and for those more than three million people, the Japanese should be indifferent.
…
The next day, as the special envoy to deal with the Shanghai hostage incident, Stilwell flew directly from Washington, DC, to Hawaii, and then from Hawaii to Tokyo. After arriving in Tokyo, without even having time to rest for a while, Stilwell took his accompanying team, Go to the War Ministry to meet with the Deputy Minister of War, Hideki Tojo.
Stilwell looked very tired after flying more than 10,000 kilometers.
However, Stilwell's thoughts and words were not affected at all, and he said to Hideki Tojo in a tough tone: "Mr. Deputy Minister, no matter what, the safety of the more than 3,000 American expatriates living in Shanghai must be guaranteed. This is a matter of principle. , there is no room for bargaining, I hope you can understand this."
Tojo Hideki was also very tough: "Mr. Special Envoy, I also ask you to understand one thing. It was not the Imperial Japanese Army that kidnapped the citizens of your country, but the Chinese, the Chinese, the Chinese!" He emphasized three times. After reading it, he added, "So, you'd better go talk to the Chinese people about what you just said, and you can't talk to our imperial army!"
Stilwell's brows immediately tightened. Before coming to Tokyo, he had foreseen that the negotiations on this trip would definitely not be easy. However, he did not expect that as soon as the two parties met, the negotiations immediately fell into a deadlock. Since If we can't even agree on a principled position, there is no need to continue talking.
Fortunately, this is only the first meeting, it is a trial, and it will be okay even if the negotiation fails.
At that moment, Stilwell stood up and said: "If Mr. Undersecretary has this attitude, there is no need to continue talking."
As a result, Tojo Hideki behaved even more decisively than Stilwell. He immediately stood up and said, "Come on, let's see you off!"
Stilwell and his party left the War Department at that time, but Hideki Tojo still sent someone to entertain Stilwell and his party. In any case, the relationship between Japan and the United States is pretty good now. If Japan wants to win the Far East Battle and China The war with Japan had to rely on the strong support of the United States, especially American steel, crude oil, etc.
After settling Stilwell and his party, Tojo Hideki and Kanin Gong Zaihito came to the Imperial Palace to meet with Hirohito.
Hirohito met the two of them in the imperial study and said: "Uncle Emperor, and Tojo-kun, I thought about it all night last night. At the moment, the Kwantung Army and the Soviet Army are fighting fiercely on the battlefield in the Far East. At least in a short period of time, the Battle of the Far East will happen." There are no signs of ending yet, and it is not appropriate to over-stimulate Western countries, especially the United States, at this time."
To be honest, the situation of the Japanese at this time is actually not much better.
Although Britain and France were fettered by Germany and Italy and had no time to pay attention to the Far East battlefield, the Japan-Soviet War involved too many troops and strategic resources of the Japanese government. At this time, if they turned against the U.S. government and caused the U.S. to interrupt trade with Japan, then The Japanese government would be in trouble immediately.
"Hai!" Hearing Hirohito say this, Kanin Miya Zaihito and Tojo Hideki breathed a sigh of relief at the same time.
To be honest, they are really worried that Hirohito will go his own way and carry out bacterial warfare against cholera and plague in Shanghai at all costs. If this is the case, conflicts with Western countries will be inevitable, and the US's material embargo against Japan will also be a high probability event. , or even directly lead to war between Japan and the United States, is not impossible.
After a pause, Hirohito continued: "So, we can make appropriate concessions to the United States. The more than three million Chinese people trapped in Shanghai can be allowed to leave. Even the bacterial warfare against cholera and plague can be temporarily suspended. However, the Songhu Independence Regiment The more than 10,000 soldiers, especially Xu Rui and his Langya Brigade, must stay in Shanghai!"
"Hai!" Tojo Hideki said after a moment, "I understand."
…
In Shanghai, Broadway Building.
U.S. Ambassador to China Jensen began the second round of emergency consultations with the Songhu Independence Group.
After the kidnapping occurred yesterday, Johnson took a transport plane directly from Chongqing to Hongqiao Airport. Since the U.S. Ambassador to China and his entourage were on the plane, the air force of the Japanese Condemnation Army in Central China did not intercept him, but only sent two nine-gun aircraft. Type-6 carrier-based fighter jets accompanied the aircraft until the transport plane landed at Shanghai's Hongqiao Airport.
To be honest, Jensen does not have much prejudice against the Communist Party, especially the Communist Party. The reason why he spared no effort to speak for the National Government is entirely because he has accepted the benefits of the National Government and is short-tempered and short-tempered. He was soft-handed. After receiving such great benefits from the National Government, he naturally wanted to speak for the National Government.
In short, Johnson has no prejudice against the Chinese Communist Party, let alone the anti-Japanese armed forces led by the Communist Party of China.
Therefore, in the first round of negotiations that ended in the morning, the two parties had a fairly pleasant discussion. Although nothing was agreed upon in the end, at least the atmosphere was good. This was in sharp contrast to Stilwell's negotiations with the Japanese government in Tokyo. It’s just that for many things, it doesn’t mean that if the atmosphere is good, it will definitely be successful, but if the atmosphere is not good, it will definitely not be successful.
In fact, on the contrary, although the atmosphere in Tokyo was tense, the results were produced first.
After receiving the information fed back by Stilwell from Tokyo, Jensen also asked to see Xu Rui again, and then began the second round of emergency negotiations.
Jason said: "Mr. Xu, first of all, we have good news to inform you. After the efforts of our mission sent by the US government to Tokyo, the Japanese government has made great concessions. They promised that they can pass through Jiaxing in Shanghai." , Hangzhou and then to Shaoxing, leaving a five-kilometer-wide passage to allow most people stranded in Shanghai to evacuate, including expatriates from Western countries stranded in Shanghai, including more than three million Chinese refugees."
This is indeed the condition set by the Japanese. Although Hirohito agreed to release more than three million refugees in Shanghai, he did not fully agree to the conditions set by Xu Rui. What Xu Rui wanted was the passage from Shanghai to Damei Mountain. But Hirohito was only willing to give up the passage from Shanghai to Shaoxing via Hangzhou.
In a word, I just don’t want Xu Rui to be happy.
Wang Husheng became anxious immediately after hearing this, frowned and said, "Didn't I agree to give way to the Damei Mountain passage?"
Before this, Wang Husheng tried his best to dissuade Xu Rui from kidnapping foreigners because he was worried that the Japanese government would not care about these foreign hostages and would continue to carry out bacterial attacks on Shanghai. But now, after discovering that this trick really works, Wang Husheng He quickly got into character and started bargaining with Jason.
Jason shrugged and said helplessly: "Mr. Wang, this is the best result we can get for you. If you insist on asking to give way to the Dameishan Passage, then I can only regret to inform you that this time I’m afraid the consultations won’t yield any results, but we don’t have much time left.”
This, Jason is just talking nonsense.