"The beliefs of us Chinese are fundamentally different from those of you Westerners."
"You Westerners believe in fate, God, and God, but we Chinese do not believe in fate, let alone God. Instead, we firmly believe that our own hands can change our destiny."
“So when there’s a big flood, we don’t build a Noah’s Ark and drift with the tide to escape. Instead, we elect a leader with extraordinary ability to lead everyone to control the flood. So when a big mountain blocks our way, our first priority is The response is definitely not to move and thrive in another place, but to try to move the mountains that are blocking the way.”
"There are also Nuwa filling the sky, Jingwei filling the sea, Houyi shooting the sun... there are many, many more examples like this."
"In short, when we encounter difficulties, we will never avoid it, let alone give in, because the spirit of struggle has been deeply engraved in the genes of every Chinese. Miss Sophia, do you understand now?"
Sophia frowned and asked: "So you don't hesitate to destroy both the jade and the stone, the concession, and Shanghai, right?"
"No, Miss Sophia, you are wrong. It was the Ministry of Industry and Industry of the Concession that destroyed the concession. It was the Japanese who destroyed Shanghai. We Chinese are just willing to die together."
"Both are destroyed in the end, is there any difference?"
"Are you talking humanly? A robber ran into my house and robbed me. We fought to the end even if we destroyed the treasures in our house. But in the end, we became the perpetrators who destroyed our homes and families?"
"Mr. Yan, don't get excited. I have no intention of arguing with you." Sophia said sincerely, "I just, I just hope you can stay calm and don't be impulsive."
"I'm very calm, and I won't be impulsive." Yan Yan stared into Sophia's eyes and said word by word, "As long as the Concession Industry Bureau doesn't go too far, there will be no problem, but if the Concession Industry Bureau insists on going its own way, the state will If we ignore military dignity and insist on challenging the bottom line of the Chinese people, then I can’t guarantee what will happen.”
…
Sophia still had good professional ethics. After finishing the interview with Yan Yan, she immediately returned to the concession and came to the Chinachem Hotel as soon as possible.
It was just after midnight at this time, and the nightlife on the bustling Shanghai Beach had just begun.
England's Consul General in Shanghai and General Manager of the Public Settlement, Bao Dezhen, was waltzing in the ballroom on the third floor of the Chinachem Hotel with his arms around his mistress.
Seeing Sophia, Bao Dai really had a headache.
"God, you're not going to borrow money from me again, are you? You just borrowed two thousand pounds half a month ago, and you haven't paid back the five thousand pounds you borrowed in two months. I'm not a bank here."
"Uncle, I'm not here to borrow money from you this time." Sophia blinked her big innocent eyes, and then said, "I was entrusted by the national army at Sihang Warehouse to send you a message."
"The national army asked you to deliver a message? Why do you get involved with those lowly and ignorant yellow-skinned monkeys?"
"Did they entrust you to ask for forgiveness from the Concession Industry Bureau? Oh, of course, that's the case. There is nothing much to say about the fact that they fired at the south bank of the Suzhou River and injured the patrolman, because this is the concession workers' The general director has no power to change the outcome of a collective decision made by all directors of the department."
"Uncle, I'm very sorry, things are not what you thought."
"The National Army at Sihang Warehouse did not ask for forgiveness from the Ministry of Industry and Commerce Bureau. Instead, they made stern representations, demanding that the Ministry of Industry and Commerce Bureau in the Concession immediately release the 1st Battalion of the 524th Regiment of the National Army who was detained in Binhe Building, return all the weapons and equipment seized, and also provide Apologize on the front pages of major newspapers in the concession, oh, and also compensate.”
"What?" Bao Daizhen suspected that he had auditory hallucinations.
The small national army unit at Sihang Warehouse actually asked them to release people?
And ask them to publish an apology in the newspaper and compensate them?
Is this small national army unit crazy? Dare you ask for such a condition?
But after Sophia came over and whispered, Bao Daizhen's expression immediately changed.
"Are you telling the truth? They really placed the flat-fire cannon on the second floor of the east building of Sihang Warehouse, and also pointed the muzzle at the gas storage tank of the firework factory on the other side of the river?"
"Yes, I saw this with my own eyes." Sophia said solemnly.
"And they also said that if the Concession Industry Bureau does not agree to their demands, they will not hesitate to destroy the Concession and even the whole of Shanghai, and both will be destroyed."
"God!" Bao Daizhen exclaimed.
While quickly making a cross on his chest.
…
"Lao Yan, are you serious about what you said to the foreign reporter?" Wu Jie asked in a low voice.
"Which sentence are you asking about?" Yan Yan said, "I just said too much to Sophia."
"That saying, both jade and stone will perish." Wu Jie stared into his stern eyes and asked, "If the Concession Industry Bureau did not agree to your conditions, would you really order the bombardment of the tap fire factory?"
Yan Yan stared into Wu Jie's eyes and asked, "If I give the order, will you dare to pull the trigger?"
"I dare!" Zhu Shengzhong's voice came from behind the two of them. Looking back, it was Zhu Shengzhong who walked in proudly with a group of infantry and cavalry, and said, "We have already lost Northeast China and North China, and Shanghai is about to be lost too." , are we going to throw away Nanjing and the whole of China? I would rather die than be a slave to the subjugation of the country!"
"Old Zhu is right." Wu Jie rarely disagreed with Zhu Shengzhong this time, "We have lost too much and have nothing left to lose. If the concession and Shanghai are destroyed, just destroy them!"
"Wu Xiucai, are you telling the truth?" Zhu Shengzhong was stunned, "You used to say that foreigners are fine, but now you actually support shelling gas tanks to destroy the entire concession?"
Wu Jie said solemnly: "If China dies, what will the concessions and Shanghai be left with?"
"Wu Wenwen, you finally figured it out." Yan Yan patted Wu Jie on the shoulder and said, "Foreigners have not been civilized and do not understand etiquette and shame. They believe in considering issues from a position of strength, so you should reason with them or beg them. Sympathy is a waste of time. In the end, we are the only ones who suffer. To deal with them, we can only use fists. You can only win respect by showing your fangs."
"But now we are at war with the Japanese army. Is it really okay to be at odds with the concession at this time?"
"I can't say it's completely okay, but at least it's not as bad as you think. We have concerns, and so do the foreigners. They are not happy to see Japan annexing China, so as long as we don't touch the bottom line of the concession, the foreigners are not They will be serious and may even make appropriate concessions to us, giving us more strength to consume the Japanese in the long term."
After a pause, he continued: "There is a saying that makes sense. If you seek peace through struggle, you will survive peacefully. If you seek peace through compromise, you will perish peacefully. The reason why the country has fallen to this point is not because the country is weak, nor because the national army cannot fight. , but because the high-level officials of the national government have repeatedly compromised and made concessions. If the national government had been tough from the beginning and Xiaobaga had immediately given the toughest counterattack if he had exceeded the rules, how could he have fallen to this?"
Wu Jie finally showed a thoughtful look on his face.
However, he still said: "Let's wait and see the reaction of the concession first."
"What's the reaction of the concession?" Yan Jun said, "Wu Wen, don't worry, the concession will definitely give in this time, because we are barefoot and have nothing to lose, while the foreigners in the concession have accumulated a lot of money. Dui, there are also a large group of warblers and swallows at home, it is absolutely impossible for them to have the courage to die together."
…
After confirming that Sophia was not joking, Bao Daizhen immediately convened a meeting with the directors of the Ministry of Industry and Commerce Bureau.
"This is the situation." After briefly introducing the situation, Bao Daizhen added, "It is not difficult to deal with this small army of the national army. We don't even need the Royal Fusiliers of England. The merchant group of all nations can destroy them. It's troublesome. It’s the flat-firing artillery pieces they captured from the Japanese army.”
"According to my sources, they've really set their sights on the fireworks."
"If we resort to force, will they really go out of their way to fire on the ignition plant?"
Hearing this, the dozen or so directors present at the meeting, including five Directors Hua, all shivered with excitement.
There are 500,000 cubic meters of gas stored in the two gas storage tanks of the boiler plant. Once detonated, all buildings within a radius of ten kilometers will be razed to the ground, and all living things within a radius of 20 kilometers will be shaken. Death by smashing your internal organs, no matter you are a foreigner or a Chinese, the result is the same, you all have to die!
The consequences of this are really too serious.
The entire conference room suddenly fell into dead silence.
