Stephen said with a dark face: "Captain Xu, I promise you in the name of God that we will definitely do a good job in maintaining order among the expatriates from Western countries. Even if there are suspected carriers of typhoid fever, they will never be infected along the way.
Residents of your country, please be assured of this..."
Now Stephen just wants to escape Shanghai, this plague place, as soon as possible.
"Sorry." Xu Rui interrupted coldly, "I don't believe in God."
Stephen said in a deep voice: "So you are determined not to let me go?"
"Yes, it is absolutely impossible to release them." Xu Rui nodded and continued, "Mr. Minister, I would like to advise you that half a month is not long. As long as half a month later, we will wait for the arrival in Shanghai.
Now that the typhoid epidemic is under control, if you expatriates from Western countries want to leave again, the Songhu Independence Group will ensure that you will not make it difficult."
Stephen said angrily: "But what if the epidemic cannot be controlled in the end?"
It's impossible for Stephen not to be angry. Even if the epidemic is under control, is it still necessary to leave at that time?
I am afraid that the epidemic cannot be controlled and it will eventually spread completely and affect the Western expatriates living in Shanghai.
Xu Rui smiled and said: "Mr. Minister, I also assure you in the name of God that our Songhu Independent Group will definitely be able to control the epidemic. Please believe in us."
Stephen said angrily: "Don't you believe in God?"
Xu Rui said coldly: "Mr. Minister, I have already said that if your nationals insist on leaving the country, our Songhu Independence Group will not be responsible for the consequences or even bloody conflicts.
And we will also tell the world through the radio. I believe that every reasonable person will understand and support us."
After saying that, Xu Rui turned his eyes to the surrounding battalion of officers and soldiers and shouted: "Everyone, fix your bayonets!"
The officers and soldiers of the first battalion who were on guard with guns immediately pulled out their shining bayonets and inserted them into the rifle slots.
Looking at the rows of bright bayonets, the expatriates from the Western countries who were originally agitated finally became afraid. From a visual perspective alone, the black muzzles of the guns were indeed not as powerful as the bright bayonets. Facing the muzzles, these foreigners were still afraid.
They were not very afraid, but when faced with the sharp bayonets, they immediately became timid.
Ferguson walked up to Stephen and whispered: "Your Excellency, Baron, this Xu Rui is a madman, and the Songhu Independent Group under him is a group of madmen. If they are pushed hard, they can do anything! For the Great Yin Empire
For the safety of more than 10,000 overseas Chinese, we should just tolerate it for the time being."
Although Stephen was reluctant to swallow this breath, he did not have the courage to completely break up with Xu Rui. If his insistence really led to bloody conflicts and even led to the death of a large number of British expatriates here, the British government might not be able to do anything.
Although Xu Rui is defeated, it is absolutely impossible to let him off easily.
After all, the situation in Europe was already very tense at this time. Britain and France were already too busy dealing with Germany's aggression and had no time to worry about the Far East battlefield.
Now Stephen could only return to his legation with resentment.
After a while, expatriates from Western countries, under the persuasion of the British, American, Italian and other troops stationed in Shanghai, returned to their respective residential areas in panic and began to wait in fear for the epidemic to pass.
…
Let’s talk about Xu Rui and the others later.
Shi Changqing said bitterly: "These foreign devils bully the weak and fear the strong. This is obviously germ warfare launched by the little devils. The little devils are the initiators of the disaster. They don't go to the little devils, but instead come to trouble us. Damn it!"
Dan, if you ask me, I should have ordered shooting just now to kill these damn foreign devils."
Xu Rui waved his hand and said, "There's no need to get angry with these foreign devils."
Shi Changqing paused and then asked: "Commander, why don't you let these foreign devils leave? I have seen enough of these foreign devils sitting on top of us Chinese people.
Now that the foreigners have left, Shanghai will be quiet, so what’s wrong with that?”
Xu Rui sighed softly and said, "We really can't let them leave now."
"Why is this?" Shi Changqing asked blankly, "Why can't you let them go?"
Xu Rui sighed again and said: "Keeping these more than 10,000 foreigners will give us an extra talisman when we evacuate Shanghai, otherwise we will not be able to evacuate at all."
When Shi Changqing heard this, his expression suddenly changed: "Evacuate Shanghai? Captain?!"
You can imagine Shi Changqing's surprise. Didn't he say that he would stick to Shanghai for five to eight years until the victory of the Anti-Japanese War? Why did he suddenly have to evacuate Shanghai? There was really no mental preparation for this!
Xu Rui nodded solemnly and sighed: "The situation has changed, Shanghai must give up."
Shanghai really had to give up. From the beginning, Xu Rui underestimated how crazy the little devil was.
Xu Rui originally thought that there were public concessions and French concessions in Shanghai, so the Japs would have scruples anyway, and the possibility of launching germ warfare was very small. However, the cruel facts told Xu Rui that he was wrong, and the Japs eventually went on a rampage.
launched brutal germ warfare against Shanghai.
Although only typhoid bacteria were invested this time, the harm was relatively small.
However, this is only the first attack. If the typhoid virus attack is unsuccessful and fails to significantly weaken or even eliminate the Songhu Independent Regiment, who can guarantee that the little devils will not launch a second or third wave of bacteria?
War? This time the little devils only used typhoid bacteria. Next time they will use cholera or even plague bacteria.
Typhoid fever can also be controlled by creating quarantine zones. If there is a large-scale outbreak of cholera and plague, quarantine will be a wishful thinking. By then, all four million refugees in Shanghai will not be spared! At that time, the Japanese government will certainly be concerned about this matter
It’s notorious, but it’s the people of Shanghai who really suffer!
Although Xu Rui said that he would not hesitate to die with the Japanese, but if he really wanted to watch the four million refugees who fled into Shanghai die in front of him, he would never be so cruel! Therefore, giving up Shanghai has become inevitable.
He must not place the lives and deaths of four million lives on the Japanese's mercy.
Therefore, Xu Rui must now start leaving a way out in advance!
And these more than 10,000 foreigners are the talisman Xu Rui is looking for!
…
Xu Rui's worries are by no means unnecessary. If nothing else, at least Hirohito really has the idea of using germ warfare to completely destroy Shanghai. Of course, what he really wants to destroy is not Shanghai, but Xu Rui, the mortal enemy of the empire.
, and the Songhu Independent Regiment led by Xu Rui, these two are the real targets that Hirohito wants to destroy.
The next day, Hirohito ordered his attendants to deliver several of the largest newspapers and periodicals in the West to his palace.
Of course, it is impossible for real newspapers and periodicals to be sent to Tokyo across the ocean so quickly. What comes is just the abbreviated text version sent back by Japan's ministers to Western countries through radio waves. In fact, this is a briefing, and it is also the report of each country.
As a usual practice, we will make briefing summaries of some major current publications.
To Hirohito's surprise, the person who delivered the briefing today was actually Kanin Miya Zaihito.
Seeing that it was Hanin Gong Zaihi who walked in, with an obvious smile on his old face, Hirohito's heart immediately fell back to his stomach. Frankly speaking, the Japanese army launched germ warfare in Shanghai, Hirohito
I am still a little worried, worried that international public opinion will seize on this matter and make a big fuss about it, putting pressure on the Japanese government.
After all, Shanghai is the largest international metropolis in the Far East, with concessions from Western countries.
If Western countries gather together to condemn the incident after hearing the news, the Japanese government will still be unable to bear it.
However, now it seems that the situation that Hirohito was worried about has not occurred.
Sure enough, Kanin Gong Zaijin walked in, put a large pile of briefing notes on Hirohito's desk, and said with a smile: "Your Majesty, these are the briefing notes from several major Western publications last night and this morning."
Hirohito pushed his hands and said with a smile: "I won't read it. Uncle Emperor, please tell me."
"Hai." Xianyuan Gong Zairen paused slightly and said, "Actually, there is no substantial content. It is just to tell the public about the large-scale outbreak of typhoid fever in Shanghai, and then take the opportunity to make some comments, including
The Soviet Union's TASS and Red Flag newspapers were the most abhorrent, naming names and saying that this was germ warfare launched by the empire against Shanghai."
Hirohito waved his hand and said: "We can ignore the attitude of the Soviets."
Han Yuan Gong Zai Ren added: "The attitudes of other countries are relatively conservative. Whether it is the United Kingdom, the United States or France, they all believe that the reason why a large-scale typhoid fever broke out in Shanghai was because of the hot weather and frequent wars, and the Chinese and Japanese troops died in battle.
It was caused by the inability to dispose of the soldiers' bodies in time, and several newspapers and periodicals heavily criticized the Songhu Independence Regiment's arrogant blockade of Shanghai and preventing expatriates from Western countries living in Shanghai from leaving the country."
"Yoshi." Hirohito nodded happily, "In this case, I will feel relieved."
Xianyuan Gong Zairen said: "Actually, this is also a tacit thing. Today they do not accuse the empire of germ warfare, so that when they launch germ warfare in the future, the empire can be lenient to them. In this world,
There is no such thing as love without a reason, but there is also no hatred without a reason.”
Hirohito hummed slightly and then said: "Uncle Emperor, how effective is this germ warfare?"
Xianyuan Gong Zairen said: "Judging from the information currently obtained by the Special High School, the effect should be good."
Upon hearing this, Hirohito became interested immediately and asked: "Uncle Emperor, can you tell me what method is effective?"
Xianyuan Gong Zairen replied: "Yesterday alone, at least tens of thousands of people showed symptoms of typhoid fever, and the incubation period of typhoid fever is generally three to seven days, so it can be predicted that in the next five days, the epidemic will
There has been a sharp increase. Even though the Songhu Independent Group imposed round-the-clock martial law on Shanghai, it may be too late."
