Cook shouted in front of the lone camp for a long time, until his throat was smoking, but no one paid any attention to him. In the end, Cook could only return to the British position in despair and report to Ferguson.
Ferguson was furious, but there was nothing he could do.
At this time, Jonathan, the general director of the Concession Industry Bureau, and Johnson, the police chief, also rushed over. Jonathan even went to the front of the position in person and asked to negotiate with Xie Yuan, the commander of the Lone Army Battalion.
Jonathan met Xie Yuan twice, one of which was at Xinzhuqiao to persuade Xie Yuan to lead his troops to withdraw into the concession, and the other time was to coordinate Xie Yuan's ideas when disarming the lone army camp, although the two meetings were not very good.
Happy, but Jonathan is still confident to persuade Xie Yuan and induce the lonely army camp to release the hostages.
However, what surprised Jonathan was that Xie Yuan did not show up at all this time.
Even though Jonathan shouted in front of the formation until his throat was dry, Xie Yuandu never showed up.
In the end, Jonathan had no choice but to return to the British position in despair.
Jonathan said to Ferguson: "Your Excellency, Brigadier General, it seems that the Lone Army Battalion is determined not to release the hostages."
Johnson said with a grimace: "What do these Chinese guys want? They have taken so many hostages, so they should have demands, right? Either in order to get a ransom, or in exchange for a way out, they should have demands, but we
I went to negotiate, but they ignored me, what kind of trouble is this?"
"Otherwise, let's attack directly." Ferguson said solemnly, "The dignity of the British Empire cannot be desecrated!"
"No!" Jonathan flatly refused, "You must know that it was not just Baron Steve and more than thirty citizens of our British Empire who were kidnapped by the Lone Army Camp, but also citizens of France, Belgium, Luxembourg and Italy, especially the Lone Army Camp.
We also captured more than a hundred Italian soldiers. If these casualties are caused by our military operations, it will trigger an international incident. After all, the relationship between the empire and Italy is already very delicate."
Ferguson immediately fell silent. As a brigadier general, he still knew some of the current international trends.
Since Mussolini came to power, Italy has begun to seek dominance in North Africa, especially Egypt, which controls the Suez Canal. It is a piece of fat that Mussolini could only dream of. If we talk about Shanghai, because of the British army's
The action resulted in a large number of casualties among the Italians. Mussolini might take advantage of the situation and directly send troops to Egypt!
But this is something that the UK does not want to see anyway, because the UK is trying every means to draw the attention of Germany, Italy and Japan, the axis alliance that is about to take shape, to the Soviet Union. The UK hopes to lure the Soviet Union through appropriate concessions of interests.
Let the German-Italian-Japanese Axis Alliance work together to attack the Soviet Union, so that Britain can fish in troubled waters.
What Britain is willing to concede to Germany and Italy are the interests of Western and Eastern Europe, but Egypt, which controls the Suez Canal, is absolutely not willing to concede.
Therefore, this must be done with caution.
After a long while, Ferguson said in a low voice: "Then what do you think we should do?"
After pondering for a while, Jonathan said: "It seems that the only way to put pressure on the National Government is through diplomatic channels, and let the National Government directly give orders to the Lone Army Battalion, ordering them to surrender their weapons!"
After a slight pause, Jonathan continued: "However, if only the Ministry of Industry and Commerce Bureau of the Concession comes forward, I am worried that it will not be enough, so we have to urgently contact the country, and at the same time call the American, French and Italian embassies in Shanghai, and work with them to inform the people.
Government pressure."
(Dividing line)
Since receiving the news, Chairman Chiang has been in a state of high tension.
Why is Chairman Chiang nervous? Of course he is nervous about the reaction of the West, especially Britain! For Chairman Chiang, domestic affairs in China are nothing. Even if Wang Jingwei, the patriarch of the party and state, rebels against the party and the country and surrenders to the enemy, Chairman Chiang can still calm down.
The flowers blooming and falling in front of the court, but only Western matters, Chairman Chiang would never dare to take it lightly.
So early in the morning, Chairman Chiang summoned several staff and Foreign Minister Wang Chonghui to his official residence to urgently discuss countermeasures. However, after many discussions, no one could come up with a good charter. In the end, diplomacy
Minister Wang Chonghui said, should we wait for the British government to protest?
So the matter was put aside for the time being, and everyone began to wait anxiously for the news.
By noon, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs finally received protests from Western countries as promised.
However, the lineup of protesting countries is quite large. In addition to the expected UK, there are also the United States, France, Italy, Luxembourg, Belgium, the Czech Republic, Hungary and other countries. Foreign Minister Wang Chonghui roughly counted the diplomatic festivals signed on the official letter.
There were actually thirteen envoys, and there were six diplomatic envoys who came personally.
Among them, the Italian Minister in Chongqing, Klinde, had the toughest words.
Klinde strongly warned the National Government and ordered the National Government to immediately order the Lone Army Battalion to release all Italian prisoners of war and sentence all the more than 400 officers and soldiers of the Lone Army Battalion who participated in the atrocities to death. Otherwise, Italy would urgently mobilize troops from the country.
Italy might even declare war directly on China! In addition, the British Minister in Chongqing was also very angry and said that he would urgently mobilize troops from Hong Kong to Shanghai to suppress the solitary army camp with arms.
Foreign Minister Wang Chonghui persuaded the nine indignant foreign envoys to go to a side hall to rest.
As soon as the nine foreign envoys left, Bai Chongxi, the deputy chief of staff, said with great disdain: "It's a bluff. These ghosts think they can scare us with a few harsh words, but they are too naive."
Chen Cheng glanced at Chairman Chiang first, and then retorted: "It may not be a bluff."
"Why is this not a bluff?" Bai Chongxi said suddenly, "They also mobilized troops from Hong Kong. As far as I know, the British garrison in Hong Kong only has a total of 10,000 troops. With such a small force, the 21st Army, which is on guard against the Japanese, is full.
If we don't arrest them, how can we have extra troops to move to Shanghai? As for Italy, that's even more nonsense."
Chen Cheng said: "What is nonsense? I must remind you, never underestimate the determination of the Italians."
"Underestimating the determination of the Italians?" Bai Chongxi asked, "It's not that I underestimate their determination. In fact, I never underestimate anyone's determination, let alone the determination of a government? But determination is only once
But the reality is another time. If the Italians are determined, can they translate it into transport capacity to transport troops from Europe to the Chinese battlefield?"
"Does Italy have a navy?" Chen Cheng disagreed, "Why can't it transport troops from Europe?"
Bai Chongxi frowned and said: "Ci Xiu, logically speaking, you should know better than me. Military has always been just a continuation of politics. Italy has no core interests in Shanghai at all. Do you really think that the Italian government will do this for
With the lives of just over a hundred soldiers running thousands of miles away to start a war with China?"
"You are just taking a chance." Chen Cheng said, "What if Italy really decides to go to war? For Italy, dispatching a fleet of tens of thousands of troops to Asia is just a piece of cake, but for us China
For me, this is an unbearable burden. My Vice President Bai, please think about it carefully."
Seeing that Bai Chongxi was still going to say something, Chen Cheng immediately rushed to say: "Besides, have you thought about the international impact? The Gujun camp causing trouble in the concession was originally our fault, and Italy is not a concern, but if all the Western countries unite to fight against
What should we do if China puts pressure on us? Can we resist it?"
Chief Chen, who was making an impassioned speech at this moment, chose to forget that the Lone Army Battalion was the real victim!
He Yingqin also went on to say: "Even if we can withstand the pressure from the West, there is no need to think about Western assistance. Now is the critical juncture of the Anti-Japanese War, and it is the time when strong support from Western countries is urgently needed. At this time
At this time, we must not isolate ourselves from the West!"
Seeing that He Yingqin also said the same thing, Bai Chongxi immediately shut up. Anyway, he had already said everything that needed to be said. Even if the National Government finally made a decision that was not conducive to Gujun Camp, he would still have a clear conscience. If he seriously discussed it, Gujun Camp would
The military camp is part of the Eighty-eighth Division, which can be said to be directly affiliated with the Central Army. Chairman Chiang Kai-shek's own father doesn't feel sorry for him, so why is he anxious?
At this time, Foreign Minister Wang Chonghui came back from the side hall and asked urgently: "Commissioner, have you decided? The envoys over there can hardly be comforted."
Bai Chongxi and Chen Cheng all looked at Chairman Chiang.
Chairman Jiang turned his attention to Dai Li, who had been silent, and asked: "Yunong, has the liaison team sent by the Shanghai District of the Military Command sent any faction to the Gujun Camp?"
Dai Li said: "I'll call you and ask."
Chairman Chiang said: "Just come to my study and fight."
"Yes." Dai Li agreed and entered Chairman Chiang's study.
After a while, Dai Li came out again and said respectfully: "Commissioner, we have been contacted."
"Just contact us." Chairman Jiang let out a long sigh of relief and said, "Immediately send a telegram to Wang Tianmu and ask Wang Tianmu to convey the order of the headquarters: Order, the 1st Battalion of the 524th Regiment of the 88th Division immediately
Release all Western hostages in custody, immediately disarm, and surrender to the British forces on the opposite side."
Wang Chonghui said in a low voice: "Commissioner, do you want to make conditions to the Western envoys to ensure the safety of the more than 400 soldiers in the Gujun Camp? In any case, these more than 400 soldiers are all meritorious officials, and we must not just watch.
If they are harmed, at least their basic life safety must be guaranteed."
Chen Cheng frowned and said, "At this time, the main thing is to calm down the situation as soon as possible, so why don't we create unnecessary complications?"
Chairman Chiang was obviously hesitant about this. After pondering for a moment, he still said: "According to Ci Xiu's intention, there is no need to create any more complications at this time."