"Survival or death is a question; Hamlet's lonely palace is pondering against the night sky.

In the eyes of the Chinese, this seems not to be a problem. Two thousand years ago, Confucius, the creator of Chinese Confucian culture, pointed out the answer to the Chinese.

Standing in front of the magnificent Confucius Temple Hall, I was extremely shocked. The sound of cannons in the distance came faintly, but it was still as quiet as this place, with lingering cigarettes spreading in the hall. Thousands of people inside and outside Qufu, inside and outside the "holy city", came to this Chinese temple and silently praying to their saints.

I have long been very proud of the long tradition of the British Empire, but standing in front of these two thousand civilizations, I have to admit that the British Empire may be powerful, but the Chinese culture is more profound. The inheritance of the two thousand civilizations has been deeply rooted in the thoughts of people on this land, whether they are literate or illiterate, whether they know where Britain is and where the United States is.

The war gradually approached this holy city. Many Chinese cities from Shandong to Huainan have become military fortresses, except for Qufu, which has no fortifications. It is obvious that the Chinese do not want their holy city to be harmed.

It seems that the Japanese can easily enter this city, but it is difficult for the Japanese to get out of this city.

From the Lugou Bridge Incident to today, the Japanese discovered that although they were still moving forward, their pace became more and more difficult. During the Lugou Bridge Incident, there were only more than 100,000 Japanese troops in North China, but they were able to march straight into the south, conquering Shijiazhuang, and Zhangjiakou and Taiyuan in the west. In the subsequent Battle of Shanghai, 300,000 Japanese troops fought hard for three months before breaking through the defense line of the Zhong** team, but suffered the first real failure under the city of Nanjing. The Battle of Jinpu Road started in June last year, for 400,000 days

The army was advancing north and south, and the Japanese seemed to think it would be another pleasant advance, but they soon discovered that China's road had become bumpy, with traps and gunshots of resisters everywhere. The Chinese team gave them a heavy blow in Linyi and Jining. More than 100,000 troops were annihilated and two lieutenant generals were shot dead. Four months later, the Japanese concentrated 600,000 troops to attack Xuzhou again. Nearly a month passed, and despite the heavy casualties, they had not yet seen the city walls of Xuzhou.

Just a year ago, Chinese General Zhuang Jihua announced his abandonment of Nanjing. He sent a slogan outside the Nanjing City Command: "The Japanese enter Nanjing like a mouse enters the bellows, and it is not right to move forward or retreat." Now it seems that this is correct.

Every time the Japanese attacked, they had to concentrate more troops, and every step forward had to pay a greater price. In this battle of Xuzhou, the Japanese army concentrated 600,000 troops. What about the next battle in Wuhan? How many troops did the Japanese concentrate? How many troops would Japan still have?

The wind blows quietly, but with a hint of heat in the cold, the severe winter is about to pass, and spring is coming.

….”

The article by Times reporter Charles did not make Chiang Kai-shek feel much more relaxed. The battle in Xuzhou became bigger and bigger, expanding from one war zone to two war zones. The troops participating in the war increased from 600,000 to 900,000, and one million, almost wrapped up all the essence of the ** team. The battle situation improved for a while, but there was no fundamental chance of victory.

Zhuang Jihua was transferred to two divisions. Xu Zuyi threw the two divisions into the wings of Juancheng. Zhong Bin commanded the internal team of the city to launch a counterattack. The Japanese army was once severely damaged, and the Japanese army that invaded Juancheng was driven out of Juancheng, and the entire city was completely in the hands of our army.

After all, Masaharu Honma was a star of famous Japanese generals. He immediately made a decision and ordered the Juancheng defenders to defend the enemy. On the other hand, he quickly quickly contracted the troops on the east and west sides of Juancheng, shortened the entire defense line, and formed a circular area with Dongkou as the core. Xu Zuyi's plan to divide Honma completely failed.

After more than half a month of offensive and defensive battles, I suffered heavy losses. Two and a half divisions lost nearly 70,000 people, and nearly half of their troops. On the way to retreat in a hurry, all the heavy weapons of the 24th Division were destroyed, and all the 105th-level artillery of the 27th Division were abandoned. I could only rely on the tenacity of the soldiers and struggled to persevere on the banks of the Yellow River.

North of the Yellow River, after the 21st Army occupied Puyang, the four divisions that went south were all trapped in the encirclement of the Chinese team, but this encirclement was not reliable. The Japanese reinforcements of the 41st Division, the 37th Division, the 35th Division, and the 101th Division were attacking the 22nd Army, which was defending the periphery with all its might. The 23rd Army commanded by Pan Wenhua could no longer support the attacks of the two Japanese divisions and frequently asked Li Zongren to intimidate. The 21st Army in Puyang was entangled by the 35th Division and the 101th Division, and was unable to take care of themselves.

Faced with such a situation, Li Zongren had to transfer the Eighth Army, who had been transferred to the front line of Nakadao, to support the 23rd Army, and strictly ordered Xue Yue not to be afraid of sacrifice, strengthen the attack, and be sure to defeat the 36th Division and the 17th Division north of the Yellow River.

The battle situation became increasingly fierce, and danger and victory were intertwined. Chiang Kai-shek convened Chiang Baili, Chen Cheng and Lin Wei several times and Cui Kefu, an adviser to the Soviet Military Advisory Group, to discuss, but no one could come up with a strategy to make the battle situation clear as soon as possible.

But at this moment, Jiangsu Provincial Chairman Han Deqin reported that the New Fourth Army attacked Suzhong, and the Sixth Brigade of Jiangsu Security was defeated and lost 800 people. This report made Chiang Kai-shek both upset and shocked.

After the War of Resistance began, the main force of ** fought bloody battles on the front battlefield, attracting most of the main Japanese forces. The enemy behind the North China region was empty. All of these empty places were occupied by the Eighth Route Army. Now there are GCDs in Shandong. There are information that the main 5th Division of the Eighth Route Army, which stayed in southern Hebei, had an attempt to advance eastward. If the GCD was allowed to gain a foothold in Jiangsu and connect with the GCD in Shandong, there would be endless troubles. In order to eliminate this trouble, Chiang Kai-shek secretly ordered Han Deqian to draw troops from the front to eliminate the GCD guerrillas entering Jiangsu. Even if they could not be eliminated, they would drive them out of Jiangsu. It is necessary not to let them gain a foothold in Jiangsu. In addition, Chen Cheng and Zhonghan protested.

But Chiang Kai-shek has no energy to fully consider how to deal with the Communist Party of China. The first issue now is the war around Xuzhou. As long as you win this war, you can take a breath, and the Communist Party of China is not a problem.

Chiang Kai-shek rubbed his temples and relaxed his thoughts, but when he put down his hand and picked up another document, he couldn't help feeling upset again. The report was from Chongqing. It had been a few days since Chiang Kai-shek never thought clearly about what to do.

After Jiang Jingguo went to Chongqing to serve as the deputy captain of the Southwest Development Team (after Zhuang Jihua went on the expedition, the captain was taken over by Li Zhilong) and the secretary-general of the Chongqing Sanqingtuan League Branch, he joined forces with Li Zhilong to fight for the black market smuggling. Shanghai Qixing Company bought a large number of drugs, especially penicillin, from Southwest Pharmaceutical, and then took them to the black market for sale. Then he was investigated and punished by the anti-smuggling team. All the materials were confiscated, which made the hornet's nest.

In addition to Qixing Company, the officials of the government who moved to Chongqing began to show discomfort with the water and soil of Chongqing after a brief surprise.

One of the symptoms of discomfort is cumbersome rules and regulations. Chongqing has many rules and regulations, from hygiene to travel and accommodation, no matter where you go, you must apply for a certificate and prove your identity;

The second symptoms of discomfort are strict management. A dignified member of the National Government, a street office director can come to his house to talk about it, which makes them feel that authority has been seriously offended.

The third symptom of discomfort is the strict rationing system. Chongqing is completely different from other places. Shortly after the War of Resistance Against Japan, the Chongqing Political Conference passed the wartime rationing system, which strictly stipulates how much rice, salt, meat and cloth for each person every month, invoices for everything, and how much does each ticket be purchased.

The fourth symptoms of discomfort are strict news management. If they want to publish articles or publish newspapers and publications, they will never be approved. Even if they are approved, they will not be able to raise high threshold fees.

All these celebrities and officials of the State Government were very angry, believing that this was **, it was suppression, and it violated the three righteousnesses of the Prime Minister. The biggest crime was the name of the false three righteousnesses and the reality of GCism. So they joined forces to propose to Chiang Kai-shek to abolish the Southwest Development Team, improve politics, abolish laws and regulations that suppress the people, and improve people's livelihood.

Chiang Kai-shek has received several copies of this kind of protest letter. The first few were proposed by individuals. This one has the largest scale and the largest range of personnel, and there are all within and outside the party. What Chiang Kai-shek couldn't see clearly was whether Wang Jingwei had intervened in it.

"It's really difficult." Chiang Kai-shek sighed in his heart. He knew very well that Chongqing's rules and regulations had been implemented for a long time. No one complained before, but now it has become an anti-people's livelihood, just like an anti-national, and become an opposition to the Three Rights. But Chiang Kai-shek had to pay attention to the political forces represented by these people. Among them were reorganized factions, former third party members, veterans of the Xishan Conference, celebrities, and professors who moved south. This is a force that he cannot ignore.

But Chiang Kai-shek could not just give in. Zhuang Jihua had reminded him before that these rules and regulations are important strategies to ensure the implementation of development policies in Chongqing and to ensure that the hearts of the people are constrained. They must not be abolished. In order to prevent them from being easily abolished, Zhuang Jihua also designed an insurance policy, namely the Chongqing Political Participation Association. All systems are promulgated in the name of the Chongqing Political Participation Association. If they want to be abolished, they must be approved. Without the approval of the Political Participation Association, even Chiang Kai-shek's orders cannot be implemented.

"What's wrong? Is that uncomfortable?" Soong Mei-ling came in with a glass of boiling water. Seeing Chiang Kai-shek's appearance, she thought he was unwell.

"Oh, nothing." Chiang Kai-shek handed the folder to Soong Mei-ling. Soong Mei-ling took it and frowned, but soon she had an idea: "I can ask my elder sister for the matter of Seven Stars and let her go. I think I should not move the rest for the time being. If these people are not in charge, they don't know that the food, rice, oil and salt are expensive, so don't worry about them."

"I don't want to care either." Chiang Kai-shek smiled bitterly. Soong Mei-ling's words were not in charge of the family and did not know that the cost of food, rice, oil and salt was the point. After a year and a half of war, the importance of the southwest has undoubtedly become prominent. These literati and poets only know that their inconveniences are all caused by these inconveniences.

"Is there anyone else to force the palace?" Soong Mei-ling was talking for Zhuang Jihua in her words. During the Xi'an Incident, she owed Zhuang Jihua too much favor, and she kept remembering this love. She knew that the situation was very strong this time, and Chiang Kai-shek might not be able to withstand it, so she wanted to help.

"Isn't this the case?" Chiang Kai-shek pointed to the documents in her hand. There were so many people who signed the autographs, and they were in a rushing momentum, and they would not give up until they achieved their goals.

"What does Jingguo say?" Soong Mei-ling asked from a different perspective, and she was determined to help Zhuang Jihua.

"He said it very interesting in the letter," Chiang Kai-shek smiled. This was the first time Soong Mei-ling took the initiative to ask Chiang Ching-kuo. After Chiang Ching-kuo returned to China, Soong Mei-ling received her due to her identity, but there was still a gap between them due to the question of Chiang Ching-kuo's biological mother. After Chiang Ching-kuo left, Soong Mei-ling never took the initiative to ask about Chiang Ching-kuo's situation or what he said. Today's words made Chiang Kai-shek feel a little relieved, which shows that Soong Mei-ling still cared about him.

"Jingguo said this was a brine platter, with public opinion controls similar to Soviet Russia, economic development similar to the United States, and social management like Germany; overall, it is socialism, but it is actually capitalism, which contains a shell of the three meanings."

Soong Mei-ling couldn't help but be happy when she heard this. Although Chiang Ching-kuo's example was not very appropriate, it was very explaining. Soong Mei-ling said while laughing: "The Cultural Revolution went around the country, except for the Soviet Union and Russia, the United States and Germany knew very well. This is easy to say, but I really don't know how he understood the Soviet Union. I'm afraid he learned it from Germany."

"Maybe." Chiang Kai-shek did not go into the Soviet Union. Zhuang Jihua had never been to the Soviet Union and could not understand the Soviet Union. It should be correct to say that controlling public opinion is learned from Germany. As for the Soviet Union he mentioned before, it was probably to cover up the news. The Blue-clothed Society at that time was a serious matter and he did not want to have a dispute with them.

"I'm better off being stricter. I used to be too loose," Soong Mei-ling's slender fingers knocked on the document: "Isn't it the result of being stricter in Chongqing's construction? Over the years, I have tolerated this and that, but in the end they did not play against us in the same stage drama? It's better to be stricter."

Soong Mei-ling's words made Chiang Kai-shek feel enlightened. Yes, over the years, he tolerated the reorganization faction, tolerated the Guangxi clan, tolerated Feng Yuxiang, tolerated Zhang Xueliang, tolerated the conscience of the elders, tolerated their **, but what did he get in the end? He got nothing.

"You are right..." Before Chiang Kai-shek finished speaking, Lin Wei hurried in. When he saw Soong Mei-ling stopping again and standing by the door, Chiang Kai-shek stopped the topic and asked, "Wu Wen, is there anything urgent?"

"Yes, Chairman," Lin Wei replied: "Commander Li Delin of the First World War Zone reported that the Japanese troops crossing the Yellow River suddenly appeared in Sui County, and Shangqiu may fall."

Chiang Kai-shek's face suddenly turned white, and he murmured for a long time: How did he run to Sui County, and why did he report it now?"
Chapter completed!