strictlysupreme Chapter 953 Wish
Chapter 953 Wish
After seeing off Abe Mitsuhiro, Chen Yang closed the office door and picked up the top-secret file to start reading it.
January 26, 1942 was the 55th day that the Japanese invaders implemented their southward advance policy.
Lieutenant General Percival Percival, the supreme commander of the British colony in Singapore, signed the surrender document with General Yamashita at the Ford Motor Factory in Bukit Timah, and announced the disarmament of Singapore's armed forces and unconditional surrender to Japan.
After the fall of Singapore, the Japanese captured a total of 130,000 British troops and local Singaporean prisoners.
Most of them were transported to Thailand to build the Death Railway.
Some officials or important figures will be deported to the Jinguashi prisoner-of-war camp on Ruifang Street, Keelung County, Fusama, to mine.
Some extremely important prisoners of war were transported to the group tribe in Shenyang in the eastern part of China.
This document stated that sixteen people needed to be transported to Shenyang.
Among them were Lieutenant General Percival, the British Supreme Commander in Singapore, Colonel Phillips of the sunken Prince of Wales, and Colonel Aaron of the Indomitable which ran aground before leaving the port.
After turning to the last few pages of the document, Chen Yang was stunned when he saw the signature at the end of the document.
The document was signed by the Chief of Staff, Suzuki Sosuke, and the reporter column was written as the staff officer, Sugita Sawaharu.
Why do these two names sound so familiar? Chen Yang suddenly remembered that these two were the Chief of Staff of the 4th Division, Major General Suzuki, and the Staff Officer, Colonel Sugita.
The 4th Division's logistics chief, Okubo Rikio, brought the two of them to Yuelongsha.
By the way, the one who attacked Singapore was General Yamashita, known as the Tiger of Malaya.
I was just worried that I didn't have many familiar faces in the Southern Army, but now I see that there are really familiar faces everywhere.
It was much easier with an acquaintance. Chen Yang immediately drafted a telegram and asked He Yuehua to send it to the logistics department of the 4th Division stationed in Singapore.
Ask Okubo Rikio to help bring the few Dutch people that William wanted from Indonesia to Singapore, and escort them to Shanghai.
He Yuehua took the telegram to the secret telegram department of Mei's agency to send it, but as soon as she left, another person came.
"Minister Chen, long time no see." The man was well-mannered and elegant in appearance. He wore a pair of gold-rimmed glasses on his nose and his brown Zhongshan suit was ironed very neatly.
"Secretary Sun, how come you have time to come to Shanghai?" Chen Yang couldn't help but feel a little surprised when he saw who it was.
The visitor was Sun Shaoqian, President Chen’s personal secretary.
"Minister Chen, you must be joking. Without Dean Chen's order, there is no way I would come to Shanghai privately."
Sun Shaoqian said respectfully: "I came here this time on the instructions of the dean, about the same thing as last time."
Chen Yang frowned slightly and said, "Are you saying that the Jinling government plans to take back the concession?"
Sun Shaoqian opened his briefcase, took out two checks from it and placed them in front of Chen Yang.
Chen Yang picked up the check and took a look. The number was not much, but not small either.
One check was for $100,000 and the other for $400,000.
"Secretary Sun, what does this mean?"
Sun Shaoqian replied: "Minister Chen, the call for donations from the six provinces of Zhejiang, Jiangsu, Fujian, Jiangxi, Hunan and Guangdong last year ended last month."
"The total amount of donations received by the Nanjing government is 340 million French francs."
"You are an economics expert, so you should be aware that the price of fiat currency is falling."
"At the beginning of this year, a small yellow croaker cost 7,000 French francs, and that was after we laundered the money through the bank."
"Of course, money is part of it. Commissioner Ding is still working on raising military funds in Zhejiang and Jiangsu provinces."
"We should have good news by early March."
Chen Yang tapped the table lightly. The news of the collapse of the fiat currency was no longer a secret.
Strictly speaking, the current legal tender still has a certain value. It was not until 1945 that it became as worthless as a blank sheet of paper.
There was a movie in later generations that tells the story of Mr. John, who saved hundreds of thousands of people in Nanjing and became poor and destitute in Germany in his later years.
After receiving the news, citizens in Jinling donated money enthusiastically, totaling 200 million French francs, which was only a mere 2,000 US dollars.
Due to inflation and the proliferation of counterfeit currency, the price of exchanging legal tender for U.S. dollars on the black market has once reached six hundred or even eight hundred to one U.S. dollar.
The money taken out by the Jinling government was obviously transferred through the bank.
Otherwise, more than 300 million in donations could only be exchanged for 600,000 or 700,000 US dollars on the black market.
This money is nothing to Chen Yang, but the Japanese are still very interested in it.
After all, most of their current military expenditures are spent on the Southern Army and Navy, and the supply of materials for the Chinese Expeditionary Force is almost entirely supplied by the Manchurian Railway.
Chen Yang put the two checks into the drawer and said, "I've received the money. Regarding the issue of canceling the concession, I think I still need to communicate with the top leaders of the empire."
Sun Shaoqian suddenly said, "Minister Chen, the dean asked me to come here because he hopes Minister Chen can make this happen as soon as possible."
"To be honest, I came with Minister Chu from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs."
Chen Yang was surprised: "Minister Chu is here, it seems that something happened in Jinling?"
Sun Shaoqian looked around and nodded, "Yes, Mr. Wang had severe back pain the day before yesterday and was admitted to Jinling Military Hospital."
"Colonel Yokota examined Mr. and the situation is not optimistic."
"Colonel Yokota's suggestion was to have Mr. go to Japan for surgery."
"But the gentleman was very stubborn and he insisted on conservative treatment."
"Mrs. Chen and the dean and others persuaded him for a long time before he agreed to go to Japan for surgery."
"A few days ago, Mr. Chen summoned President Chen and specifically explained the matter of reclaiming the concession."
"What he meant was that he hoped to see the concession returned to the hands of the Nanjing government before he left."
Chen Yang nodded. No wonder Sun Shaoqian came to Shanghai. It turned out that he really had an important mission.
However, what he said about seeing the concession return to the hands of the Nanjing government was just wishful thinking.
The Nanjing government was almost entirely controlled by the Japanese. Even if the concessions were really taken back, the Japanese were still operating behind the scenes. In the final analysis, it was nothing more than an attempt to cover up one's own mistakes.
"Secretary Sun, I'm afraid this matter is not as easy as we thought."
"It is not up to us to decide on the recovery of the International Settlement."
Sun Shaoqian said: "Minister Chu is already negotiating with the British and American envoys."
"Now we hope that Minister Chen can convince the senior officers of the dispatched troops to support our actions."
Chen Yang thought for a while and said, "Reply to Dean Chen and let Minister Chu negotiate with the other party on the issue of reclaiming the concession. If the issue of military support is involved later, the dispatched army will provide assistance."
Sun Shaoqian was overjoyed when he heard this: "Minister Chen's words are enough. I will go back in the afternoon. When the time comes, Minister Chu will ask Minister Chen for more assistance."