The patrol battalion's imposition of military control over the Central and Western Districts of the Public Concession quickly escalated.
In particular, Xu Rui ordered that the embassy personnel of Western countries stationed in the Shanghai Public Settlement should be treated equally. This move immediately caused an uproar in the entire diplomatic field.
At noon that day, the ministers stationed in Shanghai from Germany, the United States, the Soviet Union, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Belgium, Italy, Sweden and other Western countries rushed to the office building of the Concession Industry Bureau and protested to Jonathan, the general director of the Public Concession Industry Bureau, against his behavior.
A barbaric act that blatantly flouts international conventions.
A dozen ministers stationed in Shanghai swarmed into Jonathan's office.
Jonathan stood up quickly, but before he could voice his defense, a dozen envoys stationed in Shanghai launched a barrage of attacks against him.
"I am deeply shocked that the Concession Industry and Industry Bureau announced the imposition of military control on the central and western areas of the public settlement! I am surprised and disappointed that the British government failed to prevent the Concession Industry and Industry Bureau from implementing this decision. This is inconsistent with the British government's previous negotiations to form a public settlement.
The guarantees given at the time were inconsistent.”
"This is the saddest day in the history of diplomacy, because the Shanghai Public Settlement Bureau of Industry and Commerce has blatantly trampled on international law and blatantly violated the diplomatic immunity of envoys stationed abroad. The Board of Directors of the Shanghai Public Settlement Bureau of Industry and Commerce has actually separated staff from Western embassies in Shanghai and Chinese refugees.
To compare it to that is simply a humiliation.”
"The board of directors of the Concession Industry Bureau must take responsibility for his wrong behavior."
"I will truthfully report this atrocity committed by the Ministry of Industry and Commerce in the Concession to Her Majesty the Queen."
"I will truthfully report the diplomatic incident that happened in Shanghai to the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. The Concession Industry Bureau and the British government behind the Concession Industry Bureau must be held responsible for this!"
Because the incident happened so suddenly, and the telephone exchange was out of order, the embassies of Western countries in Shanghai were unable to seek confirmation over the phone, so they had to go to the door collectively to ask for explanations. Moreover, before coming to ask for explanations,
Several ministers had already spread the news, and now almost everyone knew about it.
Facing the angry envoys from various countries, Jonathan was so anxious that his face turned pale.
"Oh no, no no, no no no no." Jonathan waved his hands repeatedly. However, his voice was quickly drowned by the voices of more than a dozen ministers. Jonathan tried several times but failed miserably, so he could only shut up obediently.
He opened his mouth and let a dozen envoys surround him to vent, spraying saliva on his face.
In the end, it was not until Steve, the British Minister in China, arrived that Jonathan was finally rescued.
After seeing Steve, a dozen ministers immediately changed their targets and surrounded Steve again.
However, Steve was not as good-tempered as Jonathan. He was so upset by more than a dozen ministers that he even pulled out a Browning pistol and shot it at the ceiling.
With the sound of a gunshot, the dozen envoys finally calmed down.
Only then did Steve coaxingly say: "I will review it for the last time. The order to impose military control on the central and western areas of the concession was not issued by the board of directors of the Public Concession Industry Bureau, and it has nothing to do with the British government. Therefore, you are asking Jonathan to argue with you.
, you are looking for the wrong person when you come to me to argue."
After a pause, Steve added: "You should go to the patrol camp to discuss it!"
"Patrol camp?" Several foreign ministers still didn't believe it, "How dare the patrol camp do this?"
"Of course I dare!" Steve said coldly, "The patrol battalion dares to go to war with the British Empire. Is there anything else in this world that they dare not do?"
The dozen or so ministers present were just waking up from a dream. Thinking carefully, the patrol camp seemed to really dare to do this.
Steve put away his gun and continued: "I am going to go to the patrol camp station to negotiate with their commander immediately. Their barbaric behavior not only seriously violated the rights and interests of the public concession, but also seriously trampled on international law. The British
The empire must not sit idly by and ignore it. If anyone is interested, you can come with me."
"Let's go together. The patrol camp must give us an explanation."
"Of course we go together, this is a serious international incident."
"The patrol battalion must pay the price."
More than a dozen ministers stationed in Shanghai were filled with outrage.
(Dividing line)
At the same time, the first plenary meeting of the Songhu Military Division has concluded successfully.
As Xu Rui walked out, he said to Wang Husheng: "Old Wang, after the implementation of military control in the central and western areas of the concession, the envoys from Western countries stationed in Shanghai will definitely protest in groups, so I'm afraid I have to go to the patrol camp to take charge. The Broadway Building is here.
I can only ask you to be in charge. If anything happens, you can ask the veteran to notify me."
Wang Husheng nodded and asked puzzledly: "Old Xu, I really don't understand why you are doing this? Seeing that the battle to defend Shanghai is about to begin, why should you offend Western countries at this time?"
Wang Husheng's idea is that at this time, more trouble is worse than less trouble. If it hadn't happened today, once the Japanese army spread the war to the central or western areas of the concession, Western governments might have intervened. But now, with such a commotion, But Western governments can no longer help them.
Xu Rui smiled and said: "What, you still expect foreigners to help us?"
Wang Husheng said angrily: "Of course I am not so naive as to think that foreigners will help us, but at least foreigners will not help the Japanese to fight us. However, if you make such a fuss today, maybe Western countries will secretly allow the Japanese to do things easily."
, this is not a good thing for our Songhu Military Division."
"Old Wang, you are overthinking." Xu Rui waved his hand and said calmly, "Never have any illusions about foreigners."
Chairman Chiang has always been full of illusions about the West, but in the end he was disappointed again and again.
Wang Husheng shook his head and said: "I said, I have never had any illusions about foreigners, but we cannot cause such an international incident at this time."
Xu Rui chuckled and said, "How can we attract the attention of Western countries if we don't cause an international incident?"
"Arouse the attention of Western countries?" Wang Husheng said in surprise, "Old Xu, it turns out you did it on purpose!"
"Of course it was intentional!" Xu Rui said cheerfully, "How can we decide such a big thing by just scratching our heads?"
Wang Husheng nodded and asked: "Then tell me, what is the real purpose of causing such an international incident? Don't tell me that it is just to attract the attention of Western countries and to become famous."
"Isn't it good to be famous?" Xu Rui said with a smile, "Being a celebrity is said to be very beautiful."
"Can you please stop joking?" Wang Husheng said with a dark face, "Tell me the truth quickly, or I will worry about you."
"Okay, I'm not joking." Xu Rui said with a straight face, "The reason why I want to implement military control in the public concession is to make up for the shortage of military supplies, because after the full implementation of military control, the last batch of 500,000 yuan from the Sino-Italian Shipping Company
Most of the stone rice can't be reached ashore, so we can only replenish it from grain stores in the public concession. This is one of the reasons."
Wang Husheng nodded subconsciously when he heard this. He had already guessed the reason just now.
Xu Rui continued: "On the other hand, it is to create an international hot event, attract the attention of the world, and make the next battle to defend Shanghai become the focus of the world!"
"Making the defense of Shanghai the focus of world attention?" Wang Husheng asked with a frown, "What are the benefits?"
"There are so many benefits!" Xu Rui said, "Old Wang, after the Sino-Japanese war broke out, almost the entire Western world chose to sit on the sidelines, either with regret or surprise. At most, they just gave little Japan a few words of indifference.
Despite verbal condemnation, only the Soviet Union is willing to provide assistance to China. Do you know why?"
Wang Husheng said: "Because they don't dare to offend little Japan?"
"This is a joke. Let's not talk about France and the United States. Britain is the world's hegemon. Would he be afraid of Japan?" Xu Rui shook his head and said, "The reason why the British are unwilling to help China is of course because the British strategic focus is on
Europe, but the more important reason is that the British government believes that China is not worthy of help."
"Is China not worthy of help?" Wang Husheng frowned and asked, "What do you mean?"
Xu Rui said: "Because the British government believes that the Nationalist Government is just mud and cannot be put on the wall. No matter how much resources the British government invests, it will never be able to win the Sino-Japanese War! And the U.S. government also thinks the same way. The so-called glory
Isolation is bullshit and is just a shield. If the U.S. government believed that the Nationalist Government was worthy of help, the U.S. Congress would have passed a special bill to provide China with massive military assistance."
What Xu Rui said is true. Historically, the U.S. government only started aiding China after the Pacific War. Before the Pacific War, no matter how much Soong Ziwen or even Madam Chiang tried to lobby, the Americans always turned a deaf ear, but when the Pacific War broke out
After that, aid from the U.S. government continued to come in.
To put it bluntly, after the outbreak of the Pacific War, Americans did not change their views on the National Government, but they just felt that providing ten cents of aid to the National Government would be able to take some of the pressure off the Japanese Army, and one less person in the US military would die.
, this is also a good deal for the US government.
After listening to Xu Rui's words, Wang Husheng suddenly said: "Old Xu, I understand, do you want to make the Western world see clearly through this Shanghai defense battle that we Chinese can also fight tough battles, so that
Western powers such as the United States, Britain, and France have full confidence in China, and then they use weapons to assist China?"
Xu Rui nodded and said: "To be more precise, it is to make the Western powers have full confidence in our Chinese Communist Party, thereby inducing the Western powers, especially the United States, to abandon the Kuomintang and instead aid our Communist Party!" After a pause, Xu Rui said again, "
Even if we cannot do this, we must at least ensure that we get a share of the U.S. aid!”
