"That's a good question, sir. It's impossible for the Japanese navy to travel long distances to attack the Soviet navy's military ports in Europe. Then the problem becomes clear. The only targets they can fight are the British and American navies." Lu Ming boldly speculated.
Mr. Frank once made a statement on this point of view to the US government, but the Hoover think tank at the time did not agree with it. As the situation developed, facts proved that Mr. Frank's prediction was accurate.
"As you said, Japan has such great ambitions. They have even made military preparations to challenge Europe and the United States. We should uphold the idea of peace and protecting the country." An official next to Mr. Wang continued Lu Ming's words.
said.
"This gentleman's idea is too naive. To talk about peace with the Japanese is to seek the skin of a tiger. However, they currently do not have enough economic strength to support their ambitions. I estimate that it will take at least ten years before Japan's economy can support them in a war.
Total war. That’s when China and Japan will go to war." Lu Ming felt that his explanation had basically come to an end.
"Ten years is too urgent."
"That's right, it would be nice if there was twenty years of peace."
"The Japanese won't give us that long."
"Yes, this time they are provoking trouble in Shanghai, it is a kind of test."
After Lu Ming finished speaking, he paused, and the people below began to talk about it.
Suddenly someone asked again: "Comrade Lu, I heard that you are not only a special correspondent of the Washington Post stationed in Shanghai, but also have direct contact with the US government. Is that true?"
Lu Ming didn't know the person who asked the question, but when he saw the smile on Deng Wenyi's face, he knew in his heart that this must be someone he asked to do it.
Obviously, Deng Wenyi hoped that he would push the Blue Clothes Club to the forefront at the appropriate time.
"That's not entirely true. I have no direct contact with the current U.S. government. I only have contact with Mr. Roosevelt, the governor of New York State, because my university teacher is Mr. Roosevelt's personal Asia policy advisor." Lu Ming replied.
He knew that in front of these people, he could not be humble blindly. When it was time to grow his prestige, he must not destroy his ambition.
"I heard that Mr. Roosevelt is very likely to win the White House next year. Is that true?" the person continued to ask.
Others did not blame this person for suddenly deviating from the topic of the question. On the contrary, the choice of the next US president is closely related to the US policy towards China, so everyone was naturally very interested.
"According to the current polls in the United States, it is almost a foregone conclusion that Mr. Roosevelt will win the White House next year." Lu Ming said coolly.
"Do you think Roosevelt will change the U.S. policy toward China and Japan after becoming president of the United States?" asked another older civilian official.
"Not only will it happen, but it will be a considerable change. As we all know, the United States' current foreign policy towards us cannot be said to be very friendly. It is generally biased toward Japan. However, after Roosevelt became the president of the United States, his policy towards Asia was to support China and suppress China.
Japan, this is a good development opportunity for us.”
"What's the basis for your saying that?" Chen Lilao couldn't help but ask.
"Li Lao, I have enough basis for saying this, because my teacher is responsible for the formulation of Mr. Roosevelt's Asia policy." Lu Ming said proudly.
Except for some big bosses and dignitaries who were still deep in thought, most people were convinced.
Lu Ming is not a simple guy. He has too many international connections and is very tough. He has friends in Japan who can get Japan's battle plans, and there is also a teacher in the United States who helps Roosevelt formulate policies towards Asia.
Lu Ming understood immediately that Mr. Jiang must have instructed this person to ask the question.
The first is to determine whether he really has strong connections in the United States, and the second is to give others a hint that the Republic of China government will receive support from the United States in the future and should not be afraid of the Japanese.
Mrs. Chiang had expressed similar views on different occasions. Of course, she was not as explicit as Lu Ming, but military and political officials still had doubts.
Today, Lu Ming broke it apart, crushed it into pieces, and explained it thoroughly from the inside out. This was more effective than Mr. Jiang jumping on the stage to explain it in person.
Sure enough, Lu Ming's answer won Mr. Jiang's favor, and his face, which had been wrinkled like a bitter gourd, relaxed.
At this time, Chen Mingshu said with a smile: "Little guy, let's get back to business and talk about how the situation in Shanghai will develop this time."
Lu Ming looked at General Chen gratefully. He felt that he had indeed gone a bit far and deviated from the topic, but without the above discussion, he could not draw a correct conclusion.
"Okay, let me go back to the current situation in Shanghai. I have only one point of view, that is, the intelligence disclosed by the Japanese is true. They just want to create a short and quick conflict in Shanghai, which can also be called a low-intensity conflict.
local war.
They created this conflict to achieve three goals.
First, because the Japanese Kwantung Army launched a sneak attack and seized the Northeast, their next plan was to establish a puppet regime in Manchukuo.
Just like what they did in Inner Mongolia and the Soviet Union in Outer Mongolia. But now Britain, the United States, France, Italy and the League of Nations are also paying attention to China's Northeastern issue, putting a lot of pressure on Japan.
The first purpose of the Japanese in creating this conflict was to divert the attention of the world powers and the League of Nations to Shanghai and relieve their pressure on the Northeast issue.
Because Shanghai is not only China's economic center, but also the focus of the great powers' economic interests in China. The Japanese's conflict in Shanghai directly affects the nerves of the great powers. This is also a deal with the great powers.
To put it bluntly, what Japan wants to express is that I have the ability to capture Shanghai, but considering the interests of the great powers in China, I will not capture Shanghai and it will not affect you.
But don't meddle in my actions in the Northeast. I'm busy establishing the puppet regime of Manchukuo. Everyone, please give in.
Second, the anti-Japanese upsurge rising across the country has caused Japan to lose the market for their industrial products in China. You must know that Japan's current export market in Europe and the United States has shrunk to a very pitiful level. If they lose the Chinese market again, Japan's
Industrial production has collapsed, so Japan wants to stir up trouble in Shanghai, blackmail us, and blackmail us into opening the market to Japan."
Third, they wanted to use this to suppress the anti-Japanese sentiment of the Chinese people, which was also a psychological pavement for Japan to invade China in the future.
If we accept Japan's blackmail this time and take it upon ourselves to suppress people's anti-Japanese sentiment, we will fall into their trap.
When Japan actually launches a war of aggression against China in the future, the degree of anti-Japanese sentiment among the Chinese people will be greatly reduced, because the Chinese people have lost confidence in the government.
If we see clearly the entire psychology of the Japanese and all their purposes, we will know what to do.
That is to fight to the end, not to give in an inch of ground, to rather die than to surrender, and never to accept any humiliating conditions proposed by the Japanese."
At the end of the sentence, Lu Ming clenched his fists and waved them in the air several times.
"Okay, that's great!" Chen Mingshu took the lead in applauding.
"You're right. If you don't give in an inch of ground, you would rather die than surrender." This was Mayor Wu's cry.
About half of the people below applauded, while the other half watched indifferently.
Lu Ming bowed to the audience again and walked down.
"Well done, young man, I won't call you little guy anymore." Chen Mingshu gave Lu Ming a thumbs up.
Lu Ming returned to his seat in the back row and found that his back was soaked.
"Well done, brother." Deng Wenyi said excitedly.
"You... are awesome." Kang Ze gave a thumbs up, that was all he could say.
At this time, it was already 5:30 in the afternoon, and the meeting lasted for three and a half hours.
Mr. Jiang looked at his watch, went up to the stage and said: "Everyone just heard the current situation analysis report made by Comrade Lu. I don't need to comment on how well he said it. I think everyone knows it. We will rest now, at 7 p.m.
At thirty o’clock, all members of the Military Commission are invited to attend a closed-door meeting in the conference room.”
Although Lu Ming was sitting in the last row, he could not leave first. He had to wait until everyone in front of him walked out before leaving at the end.
"Brother, I originally asked you to come on stage and speak a few words, but you ended up talking non-stop for several hours. Fortunately, it happened to be dinner time." Deng Wenyi said half-jokingly.
Lu Ming looked at his watch and was shocked. It was already half past five. It was less than two o'clock when he came on stage.
"No one will scold me, right?" Lu Ming said with a bitter smile.
"There must be people who scold you, but no matter what, you are famous now." Deng Wenyi said with a smile.
As soon as he walked out of the small auditorium, he saw someone waving to him at the bottom of the steps.