Kukochi returned to Guangde Airport safely on the plane with two rows of bullet holes on the fuselage and wing. After jumping out of the plane, he shouted at the wingman pilot Wu Hanchen. △The young pilot only cared about chasing the Japanese plane himself, but forgot his main responsibilities, which caused the chief aircraft to be surrounded by three Japanese planes. Fortunately, Kukochi was lucky. After shooting down an enemy plane, he relied on his maneuver to get rid of the Japanese plane's attack.

Like China, Japan Airlines started around 1913. Although Japan's aviation industry was more developed than China, they did not introduce much advanced technology. The British were also afraid of Japan's ambitions and refused to sell the most advanced fighter jets to them. The Americans' combat aircraft performance at this time was one level worse than that of Europe.

However, China has obtained the most advanced combat aircraft from Germany and Austria, and its performance is naturally superior to Japan. However, China's advantage cannot last for a long time, and the war will eventually fall into the mutual consumption of industrial capabilities.

The battlefield in Songhu fell silent instead.

The Japanese army is re-deploying troops, while China is also re-adjusting its troops deployment.

What made Xu Shuzheng a headache was the Soviet attack, which put China in a dilemma of fighting on both sides.

After the outbreak of the war in Shanghai, in order to ensure their interests in China, Germany, Austria, Britain, France, Italy and other countries jointly proposed to China and Japan to define Shanghai as a non-war zone. Both the Chinese and Japanese teams were withdrawn from Shanghai. The defense of Shanghai was maintained by the Shanghai police and the troops sent by various countries. No troops from China and Japan were allowed to enter within 20 kilometers around Shanghai.

Germany, Austria and Italy jointly put pressure on Japan to withdraw troops from Shanghai, but after the announcement of the three countries was sent to Japan, it did not receive a definite reply from the Japanese government.

It is obvious that Japan has no plans to completely invade China. They may have reached some kind of secret agreement with the Soviet Union. Dividing the "Manchukuo" and Mongolia in northern China, Japan claimed that this region belongs to the territory of the "Manchukuo". However, Japan asked China to cede the entire Northeast and Hulunbuir, recognize the "independent status" of Manchukuo, and eliminate the domestic anti-Japanese movement.

This is obviously something that Beijing cannot accept at all.

By August 23, the Japanese government rejected the "peace proposal" proposed by the five European countries and announced that it would give up the policy of not expanding the war. It formed the so-called "East China Expeditionary Force" with the intention of forcing China to surrender.

After losing three warships, the Japanese Navy withdrew from the estuary of the Yangtze River, and Shanghai temporarily returned to peace.

In Shanghai, China currently has only the 4th Army Division, the 10th Division and the 2nd Zhejiang Division, which is in a confrontation with the Japanese army of a division and more than 8,000 Japanese Marines. It forms a clear contrast with the battlefield filled with smoke from Zhabei, Hongkou to Wusong. It is only separated by an iron bridge and is still peaceful and has almost not been affected by the war.

Lieutenant General Chenglius Ringer did not expect that foreign passenger ships could enter and exit the warlike Shanghai freely. He thought that he would have to go through some twists and turns to enter here, but he did not expect it would be so smooth.

Colonel Hans Schroman, the military officer of the Embassy in China, welcomed the arrival of their group on the dock. The group got into the car and drove to the Austro-Hungarian Consulate in Shanghai. Except for the mess on the streets and some young people who were raising funds from pedestrians, there was no sign of much war atmosphere here.

The car drove into the Austro-Hungarian Consulate on Sima Road, which is not far from the Bund. Standing upstairs of the consulate, you can see the riverside.

"Has the Empire decided to intervene in this Far East war?" Colonel Hans Schromann was still a little surprised by Ringer's arrival. He was the head of the Far East Department of the Imperial Information Bureau and naturally had to stay in a place where there was something wrong, but General Ringer was the commander of the Imperial Royal Third Army. The Empire had never sent active senior commanders to China.

Moreover, the emperor has always been on a pro-China standpoint.

"No. I can only help them train and form a new army, and General Lemayer will help them reorganize the General Staff." Linger said, "His Majesty the Emperor believes that our mediation will not play a role, and the war in the Far East will expand. The Japanese aim is to gain a foothold in the mainland. They chose Manchuria and Mongolia, but the Chinese side will definitely not give up there. How is the situation of the Chinese army?"

"There are some equipment and training that are OK. But their well-equipped troops are all restrained in the north, and the equipment and training of the troops in the south are much worse." Schroman said. "Beijing has been trying to weaken the troops in the south, and now they have tasted the consequences they have planted."

“Where is the Far Eastern Republic?”

"According to my analysis, the Far Eastern Republic will no longer exist. After the Japanese began to launch an attack, the Yenisei River defense line that they had been defending was also broken. Now their government has retreated to Suiyuan. The two railway lines from China to the Far East are filled with fleeing people. It is a disaster!" Schroman said, "Beijing insists on letting the army protect the expatriates from the Far East to withdraw their homeland. They have more than 5 million people there, and most of the Russians in the Far East have also begun to flee. They are afraid of their propaganda about Sudan, fearing that the Red Army will confiscate their property after the arrival of the Red Army, and also fearing that they will be shot and exiled."

"Beijing is ready to give up the Far East?"

"There is no way. They need to shrink their defense line, and they may even lose Mongolia. Beijing is ready to make every effort to solve the Japanese threat to East China and South China first. But it seems too late."

"Are the Japanese ready?"

"Yes, they had already started landing in Jiangsu yesterday. I judged that the Japanese might not be prepared to attack Shanghai. Once they built an airport north of the Yangtze River and had air superiority, they were preparing to land in Luodian or at Kingsoft Wei, threatening the flanks of Chinese troops, so that the Chinese would have to retreat from Shanghai. But the Germans had caused them enough trouble."

Schromann refers to the fact that after the outbreak of the Sino-Japanese War, Germany declared the Jiaodong Peninsula as a demilitarized zone, prohibiting China and Japan from fighting in this area, and dispatched an additional 9,000-man marines to Qingdao, and at the same time announced the dispatch of the third battle fleet to the Far East to strengthen the strength of the Far East Fleet.

Although this move has damaged China's sovereignty, it is obviously favoring China. It seems that the Germans have not forgotten the hatred of the Japanese occupying Qingdao during the European War and are taking the opportunity to retaliate.

"How many troops did the Japanese concentrate in East China?"

"It should be around 350,000. They lacked enough troops and could only operate along the Yangtze River. But I analyzed that they are likely to attack Nanjing. The Chinese are not strong enough in this area and have poor equipment. General Wu from Wuhan has about 9 divisions of troops, and the total strength of the local troops in this area is about 450,000."

"Is it possible that they will withstand the Japanese attack?"

"It's difficult, but Beijing is mobilizing troops to reinforce. The 200,000 people mobilized from Guangxi, Sichuan and Yunnan are on the way. But I analyzed that they may not be able to arrive in Nanjing before the Japanese army broke through. China's elite army is not very poor, and it is basically trained by us and the German military advisory group. If we face Japan alone, except for the navy, they are not worse than the Japanese. But now the Russians have restrained their main forces, and perhaps they have the energy to launch a counterattack after the north has stabilized."
Chapter completed!