Of course, it was impossible for the Colonial Secretary to give them equal status to the British Empire. At most, it would be good to give them the status of a second-class power.

"Stanley, don't have unrealistic ideas. Don't forget that the brightest jewel in the crown of the Queen of the British Empire is still under the threat of the Japanese!"

Seemingly seeing what Stanley was thinking, Churchill sneered and said: "If Japan loses on the battlefield in China, then they may not shift their strategic focus to Southeast Asia. The empire's expansion in Asia will be the first to bear the brunt.

Benefit!"

"No! How dare these bastards..." Before Stanley could speak, Leo Amory, the Minister of India and Burma present, suddenly stood up and roared, India is too important to Britain. If India makes a mistake, then

He, the Minister of India and Burma, will bear the brunt of the criticism.

But he stopped talking in the middle of his roar. The current situation in Britain is that it is difficult to protect itself, let alone India, which is thousands of miles away. In addition, the overall defeat of British troops in Southeast Asia has already illustrated some problems.

If the Japanese attack India, can the British defenders in India be able to hold it?! Everyone has the answer in their mind. Stanley's face became very ugly, and when he thought about it carefully, the situation was indeed like this.

Britain has basically lost its control over Asia. It would be better if the Japanese don't fight over. If they fight over, there will really be no other result except that those territories will be taken away by the Japanese.

No one had any hope for the local defenders.

"We need to make some concessions, at least to make the Tiger willing to send troops to hold back the Japanese." Churchill had obviously been thinking about this matter for a long time.

"India is lost. I believe this is not good news for the National Defense Forces. The Japanese have obtained more resources and have the ability to continue the war." After a pause, Churchill said: "So. In this regard, we

We can still cooperate with them..."

Of course, bloodletting is definitely unnecessary. Churchill added this to himself. Although he had never dealt with the tiger butcher, Churchill had read a lot of information.

Since the Battle of Tianjin, the National Defense Forces had won successive victories, which attracted Churchill's attention very early. He then asked intelligence personnel to collect and organize information on this tiger.

After reading it, even though Churchill was strong-willed, he couldn't help but sigh that this tiger was too crazy. Many of his actions seemed like gambling, but he was able to make the right bet every time and win the final victory.

If it's just once or twice, then you can regard it as luck. But if it happens every time, it's not a matter of luck. This shows that this tiger has a very high strategic vision and decisive execution ability.

For example, on September 18th, even Zhang Xueliang, the leader of the three eastern provinces, did not dare to confront the Japanese. But Tu Menghu, who was isolated in Outer Mongolia, chose to go to war directly.

Going forward, the Battle of Jinan, the Battle of the Middle East Road, etc. Each time was a big military and political adventure. Once he failed, it would not only be ruined, but also likely to be beyond redemption. But every time, he

Everyone can win.

It is undoubtedly extremely difficult to take advantage of such a person. For such a tiger, Churchill felt that the best way was to cooperate with the opponent rather than fight against him.

Especially when the colonies of the British Empire were within the area that the other party could control but the British Empire was beyond its reach, Churchill needed to have a good relationship with the Wehrmacht.

"So, what's your opinion, Prime Minister?!" Leo Amory, the Minister of India and Burma, choked for a long time before he said urgently to Churchill: "You know, the British Empire must not be lost.

Indian! Absolutely not!!”

No wonder Amory was so excited. If it weren't for the fact that he was the Minister of India and Burma, he wouldn't want to say anything at all. It's not fun for various factions in the cabinet to get involved.

It's a pity that this matter involves me. How can we not say anything?!

"Yes, Prime Minister. India is something our British Empire must not lose." Colonial Secretary Stanley finally understood the seriousness of the matter.

If the Japanese lose on the Chinese battlefield, there is no doubt that they will shift their strategic focus to Southeast Asia.

After all, the British troops there are like clay. Rather than being beaten to a pulp in China, it would be better to send troops to Southeast Asia to occupy more resource areas.

Unless the Japanese were blind, they would definitely be able to see India's vast resources. The British army was beyond their reach. And the local troops...

"So our next step is to send people to Washington to coordinate with the United States. Once India loses, Japan is likely to threaten the European battlefield." Compared with these cabinet ministers, Churchill saw further.

Perhaps it can be said that the current members of the British cabinet still set their sights on their own British Isles. This is actually understandable, after all, the British Isles are the foundation of the United Kingdom.

If something goes wrong here, they won't even have a nest. And Germany is now eyeing the other side of the English Channel and may launch a forceful attack at any time.

Under such circumstances, it is normal for everyone's attention to be drawn to the British Isles.

Unfortunately, what they didn't know was that Germany had already formed a formation of its aircraft carriers. There were even several battleships in that formation, secretly heading towards the English Channel.

"Necessary status and necessary concessions are still needed." Churchill sighed helplessly. He thought that only a hundred years ago, Britain could still use warships and guns to knock on China's door and plunder without restraint.

.

Even fifty years ago, China was nothing more than an inferior giant with clay feet at the mercy of the empire on which the sun never sets. Even ten years ago, the Chinese government would tremble at the words of the British.

But now, it is Britain's turn to try every means to contact China and hope that they will protect British interests. Isn't this an extreme irony?!

Churchill never thought that the Tiger Commander-in-Chief would forget the harm that Britain had caused to China. This could be seen from the Commander-in-Chief's constant attempts to get back the plundered treasures from Britain.

Thinking of this, Churchill felt very painful. If he hoped that the Tiger Commander-in-Chief would help, then the British Empire would definitely shed a lot of blood.

However, as long as the British Empire in India can be preserved at a temporary cost, there is nothing that can be done... Churchill could only say this to himself.

"The South China Military Region has reached the Dongyang area. The Japanese army is relying on its own fortifications and aviation fleet to resist..." In the conference room of the National Defense Forces Headquarters in the Imperial Capital of China, Su Zongzhe was holding an envelope of battle reports to everyone present.

Everyone makes a report.

"...The East China Military Region has been repaired, and our coalition government officials have stationed in Shanghai and begun comprehensive recovery..." Su Zongzhe read the battle report and smiled.

The National Defense Force has now gained a comprehensive advantage, and his son Su Haoxuan has received special attention due to his military exploits. I believe that with a few more battles, Su Haoxuan will be able to step into the ranks of military commanders.

The troops were singing triumphantly and their son was promising. The Chief of General Staff of the National Defense Forces was naturally smiling happily.

"This is the situation now when we are fighting the Japanese army." Su Zongzhe paused, put down the folder, picked up another document, opened it and read: "Two aircraft carriers and four battleships sank in Shanghai Port.

Salvage has begun..."

"Jiangnan Shipyard, Jiangnan Manufacturing Plant... and other companies have begun a comprehensive inventory and recruitment of manpower. The United States has agreed to send personnel to China to guide us in repairing warships..."

The one who was most happy to hear these news was Navy Marshal Sa Zhenbing. There were only two things this old navy wanted most in his life: to see the rise of the navy and to defeat Japan and avenge its humiliation.

Now that both things were about to come true in one breath, the old man couldn't help but be extremely excited. If Tu Mengben hadn't been concerned about his health and dissuaded him, the old marshal might have gone to Shanghai to watch the salvage in person.

After the Navy Commander-in-Chief Shen Honglie learned that two aircraft carriers and four battleships had been sunk, he forced the Air Force Commander Chen Haihua to arrange a direct flight to Shanghai for him that night.

Two aircraft carriers! Four battleships! Shen Honglie was so excited that he almost had a heart attack, but at least the old guy held on. He rushed towards Shanghai with a group of his subordinates.

The ship ready for salvage had already been prepared in Qingdao. After receiving the news, they rushed to Shanghai with all their strength in order to salvage the ship and repair it as soon as possible.

"Hahaha... Okay! Okay!! This old man like me can't think of it! In my lifetime, I can still see our aircraft carrier and see us defeat the Japanese navy! Okay! Okay!!"

Navy Marshal Sa Zhenbing, who came specially to attend the meeting, burst into tears. He thought of his comrades who died in Dadonggou.

"Old Marshal, please take good care of yourself. Believe me, you will see more miracles!" Tu Mengben saw the old man trembling with excitement, tears streaming down his face, and he couldn't help but feel sore in his heart.

"Please take good care of yourself. When we conquer Japan in the future, I will drink in Tokyo Bay with you!!" Seeing the old man being so excited, Tu Menghu couldn't calm down for a long time.

"Hahaha... Okay! With these words from the Commander-in-Chief, I am satisfied as an old man!" Sa Zhenbing was already old after all, and he became very tired under the excitement.

After Tu Mengben gave a few more instructions, he left the conference room with the support of his secretary.

After seeing the old man off, he left the conference room. When Tu Mengben came back, he found that all the veterans in his conference room seemed to have eaten gunpowder. It seemed that De Xing wanted to capture two Japanese and eat them alive.

.

"Commander, hurry up and overthrow these little Japan!" Deng Yinfan, deputy chief of general staff of the National Defense Forces, said through gritted teeth: "I, an old guy, still look forward to following the commander to drink in Tokyo Bay before I retire!!"

"Hahaha...Okay! Let's work together to give little Japan a good look!" Tu Mengben was also very happy, although he knew rationally that it would not be an easy task to fulfill this wish.

The Japanese army suffered a heavy loss in Shanghai because of their carelessness. This kind of gain can only be obtained once. The Japanese army will never make such a mistake again, and it will be difficult to achieve such a result next time.

To cross the strait and directly attack the Japanese mainland, a powerful navy is indispensable. Even if the National Defense Forces try their best, it will still take time to compete with the Japanese navy.

And now it seems that Britain is in a very bad situation. Tu Mengben can't see clearly the direction of World War II due to his own intervention. Germany is obviously much stronger than it was in history. And the news from the German royal family about the German aircraft carrier

Already on active duty.

You know, in history, Germany's aircraft carriers were dragged to death for a long time. There was no actual combat at all. But now Germany actually has an aircraft carrier, and even the second one has been 85% launched.

In this way, no one dares to say whether the UK on the opposite side can keep the British Isles like it did in history. And now the Soviet Union is determined to watch the excitement. Instead of provoking Germany, it will sell them a large amount of resources in exchange for its own.

industrialization.

At least for now, Tu Mengben could not see that Germany had any desire to launch a war against the Soviet Union. It seemed that the entire attraction of Germany was placed on Britain, and Mustache seemed to be irritated by the British and was trying every means to win over Britain.

"Let's carry out the next step of the plan." After a burst of excitement, Tu Mengben began to give instructions on the next step of the strategic plan. Seeing that the commander-in-chief had become serious, everyone did not dare to neglect. They all took out paper and pen to prepare notes.

"The mission of the South China Military Region remains unchanged. The main task is to occupy Zhejiang and expel the Japanese troops. The North China and East China Military Regions will assist." After a pause, Tu Mengben said: "I will give them two months to completely clear out the Japanese troops from Zhejiang.

!”

"The Southwest Military Region told them to strengthen surveillance in Burma, Thailand and other directions. At the same time, reconnaissance aircraft are fully deployed and are ready to directly launch war against the Japanese troops in Burma and other places."

Since the Japanese army swallowed Southeast Asia, their troops in Thailand have also been launched. The British troops in Myanmar are now suffering terribly under the Japanese army's strong attack. It will not be long before the place there will also fall into the hands of the Japanese.

"The Nanyang Military Division asked them to be quiet and keep their actions to a minimum so as not to attract the attention of the Japanese." Tu Mengben took a deep breath. Unexpectedly! Two aircraft carriers and four battleships were actually attacked in the battle of Shanghai.

In this way, there is no need for the soldiers of the Nanyang Military Division to take risks. As long as they salvage and repair these warships, they can form combat effectiveness and provide some support to the Nanyang Military Division.

Based on the Japanese warships, after mastering the technology, we started to try to make our own warships. In fact, many people don't know that Jiangnan Shipyard was once extremely glorious.

During the most glorious period of Jiangnan Shipyard from 1918 to 1921, they built four transport ships with a displacement of 10,000 tons for the United States. From 1918 to 1919, Nan Shipyard accepted orders from the United States and built four 10,000-ton ships of the same type.

ton freighter.

At that time, the United States requested a steam engine-type cargo ship with a fully covered deck. After completion, the four cargo ships were named "Mandarin", "Celestial", "Oriental", and "Chendan".

(cathey).

These ships are 135 meters long, 16.7 meters wide, 11.6 meters deep, and have a displacement of 14,750 tons. The first of them, the "Guanfu", was launched on June 3, 1920. After the four ships were accepted by the U.S. Department of Transportation, they were said to be "sturdy construction and well-equipped."

, the U.S. government is very satisfied with its construction quality.

This incident was rated by the media at the time as "opening a new era in China's industrial history."
To be continued...