On the sixth day after He Yingqin dealt with the issue of young men, Zhou Hexuan received an urgent summons from Chiang Kai-shek.
Chang Kaishen looked very anxious. He squeezed out a smile and said, "Mingcheng, sit down quickly! The government has properly dealt with the issue of young men that you have raised. I believe that similar incidents will not happen again in the future."
"I hope so." Zhou Hexuan responded casually.
Chang Kaishen said a few more nonsense, and suddenly said: "Mingcheng is willing to go to Britain as an envoy?"
Zhou Hexuan asked: "What's wrong?"
Chang Kaishen smiled bitterly and said: "Britain compromised with Japan and wanted to close the Burma Highway."
"What do the Americans say?" Zhou Hexuan asked.
Chang Kaishen said: "The United States has an ambiguous attitude."
Zhou Hexuan sighed and said: "Then I will try it, but I'm afraid it won't have any effect."
Chang Kaishen said: "Try your best, I believe in Mingcheng's ability."
The international situation in 1940 changed too fast. In March, Chiang Kai-shek couldn't hold on anymore and sent three people to Hong Kong to secretly negotiate peace with Japan. No one knew the specific details, but it was obvious that the two sides had not reached an agreement. Chiang Kai-shek
We can only bite the bullet and continue to fight to the end.
Some time ago, the British and French allied forces were defeated, and China immediately became a popular target. Britain and the United States were afraid of the Japanese army going south, and hoped to win over China to join the anti-fascist camp. Germany and Italy were also wooing China, hoping to promote Sino-Japanese peace talks and form a Sino-Japanese
The fascist alliance with Germany and Italy at its core.
Chang Kaishen was very interested in joining the fascist alliance, but Japan was very aggressive and wanted to turn China into a vassal state, so it was completely impossible to continue the discussion.
But the international situation is obviously favorable to China. Britain, the United States, the Soviet Union, Germany, and Italy are actually extending olive branches to China. Therefore, Chiang Kai-shek was very happy some time ago. He can definitely take advantage of this situation.
Everything was broken by the surrender of France. Japan forced the French puppet government to close the Yunnan-Vietnam Highway, leaving China with only the Yunnan-Burma Highway and the Sino-Soviet Highway. Immediately afterwards, Japan put pressure on the British government, threatening that if the British
If the government does not close the Burma Road, the Japanese army will move south to attack the British colonies.
At this time, the United Kingdom regarded the United States as its father and quickly asked about its father's attitude. After China learned of the inside story, it immediately asked Hu Shi to build momentum for the United Kingdom in the United States, hoping to create public opinion that the United States would support the United Kingdom. It would be best if the United Kingdom and the United States could fight Japan.
stand up.
Roosevelt was more inclined to join the war, but was coerced by domestic isolationism and could only choose to remain neutral. Therefore, in response to the British provocation, the U.S. Foreign Ministry replied: "We hope that the United Kingdom will not completely compromise with Japan, but it will not be angered either."
Japan caused the war."
The British government instantly understood what the United States meant, which was that Dad did not want to help for the time being. In addition, the Japanese troops stationed near Hong Kong were ready to move, and the British were frightened and immediately retreated. British bureaucrats began to discuss how to sell China.
Ambassador to the UK Guo Taiqi was not idle either. He and Hu Shi acted at the same time, one in the UK and the other in the United States, and they continued to carry out diplomatic lobbying.
The diplomatic efforts of Guo Taiqi and Hu Shi paid off. On July 1, the British Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs replied to Guo Taiqi: "The United Kingdom will not cut off the communication lines of free countries (China) because of a third party."
That night, Britain officially rejected Japan's unreasonable threat to close the Burma Highway, but the British cabinet was very noisy about it. Churchill was also inclined to betray China. He believed that it was stupid to go to war with Japan now. Britain could not withstand Germany and Japan.
The United States should be responsible for this pincer attack.
However, Britain still rejected Japan. Japan was extremely angry about this. The Ministry of War clamored to "immediately go to war with Britain." The Ministry of Foreign Affairs immediately issued an ultimatum to Britain: "The British government must solve this problem within a week or 10 days."
Britain finally compromised and agreed to sell China, but it has not yet officially responded to Japan, and Guo Taiqi is still making its final diplomatic efforts.
Chang Kaishen said: "It is a foregone conclusion that Britain will close the Burma Road. It is estimated that when Mingcheng arrives in London, the United Kingdom has already made a diplomatic reply. You have a heavy responsibility and must persuade the United Kingdom to reopen the Burma Road."
"I understand." Zhou Hexuan said.
"Alas," Chang Kaishen sighed, "the country is in dire straits, so I'll leave everything to you."
Zhou Hexuan said: "Actually, the key to convincing Britain lies in the United States. As long as the United States comes forward, Britain's attitude towards Japan will immediately become tougher."
Chang Kaishen shook his head and said: "It's useless. According to Hu Shi's report, although American public opinion sympathizes with China and Britain and also calls for diplomatic and economic sanctions against Japan and Germany, the American people are afraid of war and isolationism is prevalent. In the short term, the United States
It is impossible to clearly lean towards any one party.”
The United States is not only not leaning towards any party. Historically, after the British closed the Burma Road, the United States took the initiative to become friendly with Japan. It simply wanted to sell China to dispel Japan's "Southward Policy" and hoped that China's interests could fill Japan's pockets.
It would be better if the appetite can induce Japan to fight against the Soviet Union.
Roosevelt had already written the script. As a result, Japan and the Soviet Union signed a neutrality treaty, which shattered the United States' calculations.
Zhou Hexuan said: "President Chiang, persuading Britain to reopen the Burma Road is equivalent to convincing Britain to go to war with Japan in the Far East. If you want to achieve your goal, you must give Britain a reason to choose to go to war."
"The reason for choosing to start a war?" Chang Kaishen didn't understand.
Zhou Hexuan nodded and said: "Yes, forcing the British government to make a choice between going to war with Japan or accepting a worse fact."
Chang Kaishen asked: "What is the worse fact than going to war?"
Zhou Hexuan said: "China became a vassal state of Japan, joined the fascist forces, and attacked the British Far East colonies together!"
"Absolutely impossible!" Chang Kaishen was furious.
Zhou Hexuan smiled and said: "Of course this is fake."
"Fake ones won't do either." Chang Kaishen didn't want to bear the reputation of being a traitor.
Zhou Hexuan said: "Pick a scapegoat and ask him to quietly negotiate with Japan, agree to all Japan's rude demands, and sign a draft contract in his own name. Then he will quietly leak the contents of the contract to the British, and even if it is exposed by the media, he will follow
President, you have nothing to do with it. You just deny it and let the scapegoat take the blame. The British government will definitely be confused."
Chang Kaishen said speechlessly: "This is a bad idea."
Zhou Hexuan said: "This is the only way I can think of."
"I'll think about it again." Chang Kaishen still couldn't make up his mind.
Zhou Hexuan stood up and said: "I'll go back and prepare first. I'll leave for the UK in two days. President, if you make a positive decision, send an A to the embassy in the UK. If you don't agree with the plan, send a B to the embassy in the UK.
.”
"Okay." Chang Kaishen had a headache.
Zhou Hexuan is indifferent to this. Anyway, the Burma Highway has only been closed for three months in history. Of course, if it can be reopened one month in advance, it will also be very important to China, because it can bring in a lot of supplies, and even certain