Respectfully

The sixth year of the Republic of China, the beginning of December 1914 in the Gregorian calendar

The strike movement in Shanghai was further expanded. In addition to Jardine, Taikoo and other shipping companies, workers in spinning mills, sawing mud, water wood and other industries also participated in the strike one after another.

Sailors and workers organized parades and gathered in front of concessions and factories, shouting slogans.

The Chinese sailors who have been on the ship all year round are doing the heaviest and most tiring work on the ship. They have exercised their strong tendons and tanned their skin.

After the start of the European War, they traveled back and forth between China and Europe, transporting goods and important supplies to Great Britain and France one after another. In the waters where German submarines were infested, many sailors were buried in the sea with the ships. For their deaths However, these shipping companies turned a blind eye and deliberately concealed other Chinese seafarers, and even withheld the death pensions of these seafarers.

Take the least amount of money and do the heaviest work, even your life cannot be guaranteed, and you have to be concealed and deceived!

The Chinese sailors are angry, they are simple and honest, but they are not stupid!Why did these British suddenly increase the number of Chinese sailors on board and replace a large number of domestic sailors?They are exchanging the lives of Chinese people for the lives of their own people!

The vast sea is not land, and German submarine observers will not see the nationality of the sailors on the merchant ship, they only recognize the national flag on the ship!If the flag of a neutral country is hung, the safety of merchant ships cannot be guaranteed.Sometimes they are attacked by warships of the Allied Powers!

If you are lucky, the sailors on the ship can still save their lives, but all the goods on the ship will be confiscated. As for the compensation given to them, it is not even a fraction of the goods.

The Germans sank merchant ships, and the British robbed merchant ships. They were all in the same way, and no one was more honest than the other.

When the Chinese sailors knew about these things that happened in the Atlantic Ocean, many of them refused to go to sea again. They ran the ship to provide their families with food and clothing. Once they unfortunately died in the sea, the family's livelihood would be ruined.

However, instead of accepting their reasons, these British shipping companies withheld their previous salaries, claiming that if they refused to go to sea, not only would they not be able to get the new water they had before, but they would also have to compensate the shipping companies, which is stipulated in the contract. Terms.

For any seafarer, the compensation is astronomical.It's impossible for them to get it out, even if they get it out, the whole family will starve to death in a blink of an eye.

After Song Wu learned about this incident, he realized that this was an excellent opportunity, and immediately dispatched intelligence personnel to contact these sailors in disguise. Without much guidance, the general strike of the Sailors' Union began vigorously.

The seamen's strike and parade gradually spread to more industries, and finally caused this general strike that almost covered all industries in Shanghai.

On December 12, French Minister Kant and Japanese Minister Hiki Masaki appeared together at the residence of British Minister Zhu Erdian in Dongjiaomin Lane, Beijing.

After the butler delivered three cups of hot tea, Kant couldn't wait to say: "Sir, didn't the Chinese government promise to find a solution?"

Zhu Erdian didn't speak, but the Japanese Minister Hikiichi spoke first: "Your Excellency, the Chinese people are all cunning and insidious, you can't believe it!"

On the surface, Hikimashi appeared here to seek a way out for the Japanese cotton mills that suffered heavy losses in the strike, but in fact, he hoped to find out the attitudes of Britain, France and other countries towards China on this matter.If it is possible to use this as a provocation to cause conflicts between Britain, France and other countries and China, or even a complete confrontation, it will be very much in the interests of the Japanese Empire, and perhaps they can take the opportunity to occupy Dalian again. Qingdao, which was handed over to China by the Germans, has long been coveted by the Japanese. Three feet.As for those Japanese factories that suffered losses in the strike, their sacrifice was worth it for the benefit of the Great Japanese Empire.

The Japanese completely overestimated themselves, thinking that the previous navy's awe and the No.19 Division in North Korea would be enough to stabilize the situation in North Korea, and they would have spare power to deal with China.It's a pity that soon they will know how stupid and naive they are.

French Minister Kant sneered at Ri Zhiyi's words.

He hates the Japanese more than the Chinese.These yellow-skinned monkeys shouting all day to leave Asia and enter Europe, have they forgotten what they did in the Shanghai International Settlement?Perhaps more Japanese should be hanged, so that they will know how to correct their attitude.

Zhu Erdian still didn't speak, he was startled, startled by his previous premonition experience.

There is always a solution to a simple strike. In European countries, especially France, strikes are commonplace.If the strike is promoted by the Huaxia government, things will be very difficult.

What is the ultimate goal of the Huaxia government is what Zhu Erdian wants to know most.

The current Chinese coalition government is different from the Qing government he has dealt with for decades, and it is completely different from the Chinese government during the North-South confrontation period. Zhu Erdian increasingly feels that dealing with this government is very difficult.

Tough, smooth, and cunning, people can't grasp any handles.

The rumor that Japanese Minister Enjiro Yamaza was annoyed by the Chinese Foreign Minister is by no means groundless.

One must be careful when dealing with such a government.

China as a whole is still weak, but its bones have become tough. Once the bones harden, it will become extremely difficult to protect Britain's interests in China.In addition, Great Britain has been involved in the quagmire of the European War. The first batch of expeditionary forces suffered heavy casualties in the European battlefield.

China has fought against Japan and Russia several times before, which has proved that China is not afraid of fighting against each other at all. Many soldiers are even looking forward to going to the battlefield. How similar this is to the British soldiers before the European War!

Could it be that someone in the Huaxia government saw this clearly and deliberately provoked trouble and allowed the situation to develop?

Zhu Erdian's expression became more and more serious, and it was the first time in more than 20 years that he felt so startled.

Is this Eastern lion, this country and nation with a long history finally opening its eyes?But why is it at this time, when the British Empire is firmly bound by the European War, when it is at a loss...

"Your Mightiness?"

Seeing that Zhu Erdian's face became increasingly ugly, Kant frowned, "Sir, have you thought of anything?"

"En." Zhu Erdian nodded, "I'm afraid the situation in Shanghai is beyond our control. My only worry is conflict with the Huaxia people. We must restrain these merchants and soldiers in the concession. Unless it is a last resort, we must not fight with the Huaxia people who are on strike." People clash!"

Kant looked at Zhu Erdian in surprise. Could this be showing weakness to Huaxia?

"It's not showing weakness, it's a temporary compromise." Zhu Erdian shook his head, "The current situation requires us to temporarily compromise."

Zhu Erdian has been in China for decades, and he is well versed in the ways of the Chinese people. Before Lou Xiao's military style, he almost forgot the political skills of the Chinese people.

When Zhu Erdian talked to Kant, Hiki Masaki remained silent, and the two did not pay much attention to him. In their eyes, Japan today is nothing but a dog wagging its tail.

But soon, Zhu Erdian and Kant will regret that they did not give these smart Japanese a stick in advance.

At the same time when Hiji Yi visited Zhu Erdian, a large number of ronin and armed expatriates gathered in a Japanese yarn factory in Shanghai, as well as some traitors who had defected to the Japanese. He was still carrying a Japanese sword, and the leaders of the few still held pistols in their hands.

"Thank you very much Imai-kun for your great help!" A bearded Japanese ronin with a pistol and a Japanese sword bowed to another man in a western suit, "Hinata-kun, please convey my thanks on your behalf!"

"No need." The man called Hinata said with a sincere expression, "For the great Japanese Empire, Imai-kun and I are willing to give everything!"

"Hyuga-kun!" The Japanese ronin bowed to Hyuga again, "Once the plan is successful, both Imai-kun and you will be rewarded by the Ministry of War!"

Hinata immediately showed an excited expression, no one would have thought that he was doing everything possible to push these Japanese, and even Japan, to a dead end.

Outside the Shanghai International Settlement, a dark-skinned sailor was waving his arms and talking loudly. A group of heavily armed Japanese wanderers and expatriates suddenly rushed out from the intersection and the alley beside the street, brandishing sticks and Japanese knives, Rush towards the assembled strike crowd.

"China pig, go to hell!"

The Japanese brandished sticks and cursed.

After the initial confusion, the sailors began to fight the little Orientals with their bare hands, knocking them down with one punch, grabbing their sticks and going back to help the others.

Running the boat all the year round has not only cultivated the strong physique of these sailors, but also the reef-like fortitude!

There were only a dozen sailors, but they stubbornly blocked the Japanese who were several times their size. Seeing that the sailors gradually gained the upper hand, the scattered workers also gathered again, relying on the advantage of numbers, to surround the Japanese.

boom!

With a gunshot, a sailor looked down at his chest, blood was gushing from the wound, staining a large area of ​​his clothes red.His eyes widened, his teeth clenched, and he took one step, another step, towards the Japanese who fired.

boom!

There was another gunshot, and the man fell like a mountain.

The crowd was silent for two seconds, and then someone shouted: "The Japanese killed people!"

These Japanese discovered that the shooting not only failed to scare off these Chinese people, but instead made these Chinese people rush towards them like crazy.

The gunfire kept ringing, but the angry crowd didn't care at all!Their only thought at the moment is to tear up all these Japanese!

There was the sound of orderly footsteps in the concession. Before a group of Japanese garrison armed with live ammunition appeared in the chaotic crowd, the leader, Major Komatsu, frowned and raised his hand to signal the troops to stop.

"Master Komatsu, why didn't you kill them according to the plan?!"

"Bastard! Didn't you see those reporters?!"

The chaos that occurred outside the concession was quickly spread, and many reporters rushed to the scene, which did not match the Japanese plan.They deliberately provoked them in order to introduce or even force the Chinese people into the concession, so that the Chinese people would conflict with the garrisons in the British and French concessions, and then Japan would come forward. After all, the number of Japanese expatriates and the number of garrisons are the largest in the public concessions. Can suppress the Chinese people.Things started off smoothly, but the Chinese people's reaction caught the Japanese by surprise.

They are not afraid of sticks, katana swords, or even pistols!

The death of their companions almost made them lose their minds, but they did not rush into the concession as expected. The British and French soldiers in the concession just watched nervously, without any intention of shooting.

"These ronin are too unreliable, they are a bunch of trash!"

They held weapons in their hands, but they were surrounded and beaten by unarmed Huaxia people!

After the appearance of the Japanese Concession Army, the reporters' hearts were suddenly moved. Many people realized what happened. The police and the troops from the six southern provinces that appeared later made these reporters even more certain of their guesses.

This is a conspiracy. As for who is the leader of the conspiracy, I'm afraid it's really hard to say.

The Huaxia police blew their whistles and continued to disperse the crowd from the outside. The soldiers from the six northern provinces confronted the troops in the concession with guns. Not only the Japanese troops, but also the British and French troops from the beginning of the "surrounding" to the present .

The officer leading the team was Sun Qingquan. He had already received Song Zhou's order before he came, so don't be afraid of a conflict. If a foreigner shoots, just shoot back!

Before dozens of Japanese were killed, the police finally controlled the situation. The strikers calmed down. Looking at the blackened blood on the ground and the corpses of their former colleagues, there were sad expressions on their faces. Rubbing his face, he picked up the body of the dead crew member with red eyes, and looked at the Japanese lying on the ground moaning like a dead dog, his eyes full of killing intent.

A policeman walked up to the crew and motioned for them to hand over their sticks.

"Hurry up, hurry up."

The crew gritted their teeth, bitterly thinking that the police and the army came here to arrest them. They didn't want the police to take away the sticks in their hands, so they turned around and walked to a Japanese lying on the ground without asking any more questions. Step up and put the stick into his hand, "Injure someone with a weapon, intentionally kill someone, disturb the law and order, arrest him!"

Seeing this scene, the strikers, the Japanese lying on the ground, as well as the troops from various countries in the concession and the onlookers were all a little dumbfounded.

None of them could deny that those weapons were indeed brought by the Japanese, but...

The police didn't care what these orientals and westerners thought. Ever since they read about the six northern provinces in the newspapers and heard about the prestige of the Guanbei police against foreigners, they had long wanted to do this for a while.

Speaking of men from the six northern provinces, we are not far behind in the six southern provinces!

So, under the watchful eyes of everyone, the Japanese who had previously clashed with the Chinese were arrested. Everyone had a murder weapon in their hands, and those who couldn't hold it were tied up with cloth strips. The police said while tying them up: "Fierce, really fierce! You even tied a knife to your hand with a strip of cloth! It's crazy, you should be arrested!"

Strike crowd: "..."

Expatriate in the Concession: "..."

Concession soldier: "..."

Half-dead Japanese: "..."

In this way, under the escort of the soldiers from the six southern provinces, the police quickly arrested dozens of Japanese, but they were short of manpower, so they simply tied them up like rice dumplings and took them away.

The British and French soldiers watched a big show for free. The Japanese soldiers wanted to step forward to stop them, but they were stopped by Major Komatsu. There were at least a thousand Chinese troops outside the concession, and they were armed with machine guns. die!

Komatsu didn't think that Chinese soldiers dared not shoot at them. Compared with other Japanese soldiers, Komatsu Juichiro, who had a background in studying in the UK, could see the situation in front of him more clearly.

He thought that the plan was unlikely to succeed, but he was willing to give it a try for the sake of the Japanese Empire. Now that the plan has completely failed, Komatsu believes that the most important thing at the moment is not to immediately rescue those ronin who have failed to succeed, but to think Ways to deal with the next method of the Huaxia people!

Judging from the previous actions of the Huaxia people, it is obvious that they will not let it go.Moreover, from the development of the situation, Komatsu also smelled something different. Those sailors were too brave and calm. They seemed to know that they would be attacked from the very beginning...

The Chinese government's actions began before Hikiyi received the telegram from the Japanese consul in Shanghai.

Various domestic newspapers reported the conflict outside the Shanghai International Settlement at length, and without exception, they condemned the Japanese population who attacked the strikers with weapons.Even if there was a voice speaking for Japan with a straight face, it was quickly overwhelmed by the tide of anger.

Wu Song acted quickly, and obtained a large number of confessions on the third day after the Japanese were arrested in the police station. The confessions confirmed that these Japanese were bribed by businessmen on the surface, but in fact they were instigated by the Japanese government and intelligence agencies. The participants were clearly listed, and even a few Japanese confirmed that their actions were approved by the British.

These confessions were not all made public, but sent to the capital in the form of secret documents. After receiving the documents, Zhan Changqing scanned them, and the smile on his face never disappeared, and he sent a note to British Minister Zhu Erdian on the same day.

After talking with Zhan Changqing, Zhu Erdian became furious and told the housekeeper that the Japanese envoy was not allowed to step into his mansion again!

The butler, who was dressed in a black suit and had his hair and beard carefully groomed, said in the most standard manner, "I obey."

Zhu Erdian glanced at his calm face, nodded, turned and went up to the second floor.The impact of this incident is far more than that, he must call the white hall as soon as possible to deal with it.If China does not want to completely fall to Germany because of this, Great Britain may have to pay a certain price.

Even if this incident was planned by the Huaxia people, even if he knew that those confessions were fabricated, Zhu Erdian must swallow this bitter fruit.

The conflict outside the Shanghai Concession attracted the attention of the whole of China. No one noticed that an undercurrent was silently surging in the southwest of China.

Yunnan, connected to Burma, Vietnam and other French colonies, has been regarded as the sphere of influence of France after the Sino-French War.

The French opened factories, mines, businesses, railways, and schools in Yunnan. A large number of French people poured into Yunnan, as if they regarded it as another "colony" of France.But it's just "considered".

Yunnan has always been the Yunnan of China. The French want to swallow their stomachs in one bite, but they also have to weigh whether they have such a good appetite.

Long Yiting, the governor of Yunnan, is not a kind person, and his methods are ruthless and decisive, and he will never be inferior to Song Zhou and his son.

Due to the strong strength of France and the United Kingdom before, he still had some scruples in his actions. Now Europe is in a mess, many French troops have been transferred back to China, and the anti-colonial forces in Myanmar and Vietnam are beginning to move around. With what Shuai Liu Fuxian discussed, Long Yiting planned to attack the French.

The railway built by the French was his first target!

Liu Fuxian from Sichuan was also looking at the map and thinking about how to start, and finally set his sights on the border between Sichuan and Tibet.He had already received news that a British man named McMahon had signed the "Simla Treaty" with the Dalai Lama in Tibet and made a McMahon line. This was done behind the back of the coalition government. The British didn't say anything.If it weren't for the commander of the Sichuan Army stationed east of Gongbu Jiangda who sensed that the situation was wrong and secretly inquired about the news, I am afraid that India would take the place and Huaxia would still be kept in the dark.

Sichuan has no other concessions other than the Japanese Concession. The Japanese have been taken over, but the British have been making troubles in Tibet and have been eyeing Sichuan.

Liu Fuxian had carefully calculated that once Long Yiting made a move, he would definitely go towards the French, so he should have fun with the British.

When Yunnan and Sichuan were about to attack, Xue Dingzhou, the commander-in-chief of Guangdong, was not idle. Every day he read the newspaper reports about the six northern provinces, especially the Guanbei City Industrial Zone, and Xue Dushuai felt uncomfortable.

Anyway, Guangzhou is also the place where the Thirteen Banks were born. Although it is now in decline, the lean camels are bigger than horses. Looking at the six northern provinces as if it was raining money, Xue Dingzhou looked at the British Concession and the The French Concession was not so pleasing to the eye.What would Guangzhou be like today without these foreigners making trouble?

There are not a few people who have the same idea as Xue Dingzhou, including Hubei, an important industrial city, Guangxi, which has high mountains and dangerous waters, Guizhou, which is also envious of factories in the six northern provinces, and Shanxi and Hebei in the north. The entire process from "being poor and white" to "getting rid of poverty and becoming rich and well-off" is definitely more impacted than those governors in the south!

Seeing that other provinces are rich and living a better life, these superintendents have different ideas in their hearts.

People live in this world, what they fight for is one breath!Are they not as good as the Lou family, or the three bearded horses? !

How did the six northern provinces develop into what they are today? After thinking about it, it seems that it was because of a war with the Russians?Immediately afterwards, they fought with the Japanese until they drove both the Russians and the Japanese out of the territory, and it seemed that they became richer and richer.

After all, it is to support one's own people!

Zhu Erdian's worries finally became a reality. These local emperors entrenched in the various provinces of China all planned to attack those "non-my races" on the territory...

When this undercurrent converges into a torrent and gushes out, the whole world will be shocked!

Guanbei City

Li Jinyan ran all the way up to the second floor from the living room, stood in front of the study door, took a deep breath, and raised his hand to knock on the door.

"Come in."

Young Marshal Lou's voice came from the study, Li Sanshao pushed open the door, the smile on his face couldn't be controlled, "Young Marshal, Mr. Zou's research has succeeded!"

Lou Xiao looked up from the file, "A radio transmitter?"

"Correct!"

"Can it be carried alone?"

"Hey, this one doesn't work, but there is no need for a carriage anymore, two people are absolutely fine!"

"Oh."

Young Marshal Lou lowered his head and continued to read the documents.

Li Jinyan: "..."

Isn't Young Master Lou excited by such good news?

Marshal Lou motioned for Li Jinyan to close the door, then handed him the document in his hand, Li Jinyan took it in doubt, turned two pages, his eyes widened suddenly.

Yunnan, Sichuan, Hubei, Shanxi, Guangdong and Guangxi...

Who will tell him that this is really not a group of overlord butterflies flapping their wings?