Starting at 4 a.m. the next day, the various troops of the People's Army set off from the Shanghai New District, entered their respective positions, and completed a complete blockade of the Shanghai Concession Area. However, the Shanghai Concession was obviously prepared and established positions to guard the margins of the Concession, but the positions were very simple, and it was not difficult for the People's Army to break through the positions.

Luo Yue did not order an attack. After consultation, he still hoped to force the Shanghai Concession to surrender by demonstrating the strong strength of the People's Army, and achieve the goal of defeating the enemy without fighting. After all, this caused the least damage to the Shanghai Concession, so it is better to use the tactic of encirclement but not fighting, and wait for the concession to send people out to negotiate the surrender with the People's Army.

Luo Yue had no objection to this, but said that he could only wait for one day. By 5 pm, if no one was sent in the concession to negotiate surrender with the People's Army, he would launch an attack. Although it was approaching dusk at that time, it did not affect the People's Army's battle. Moreover, starting a war at this time would have a more powerful role.

However, Li Songchen proposed that if no one in the concession came out within a day, he could go to the concession to persuade the surrender himself. However, this suggestion was rejected by Luo Yue because Luo Yue believed that if the concession was willing to surrender, he would not wait for the People's Army to send people in to persuade the surrender. At least he should send someone to negotiate. Even if it was to find a secret, the strength of both sides was there. As long as someone with a clear mind, he would know that the concession could not resist the attack of the People's Army. However, if he was not clear and still had a lucky mentality, he would never surrender voluntarily. It would be useless to persuade the surrender at this time. Only by first hitting the other party's resistance first and letting the other party know that it was painful, then persuading surrender was effective. After Li Songchen considered it, he thought that Luo Yue's consideration was more reasonable, so he no longer insisted and agreed with Luo Yue's opinion.

But the fact is that Li Songchen was more optimistic than Luo Yue and Li Songchen. At noon, the concession sent a garment group composed of five people to negotiate with the People's Army.

In fact, yesterday the People's Army Navy wiped out the British and French fleets and captured the Shanghai port, which alarmed the concession. Moreover, the People's Army landed on the Shanghai New District Wharf, which aroused the vigilance of the concession. Although we knew that Britain and France had declared war on the East China government, the concession never thought that the East China government would attack the concession, because the Shanghai Concession had been established for more than 60 years, and experienced the wars of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom and the two large-scale incidents of the Boxer Rebellion. Although the Shanghai Concession caused some panic, it was still safe and sound. Therefore, the concession also developed a lazy idea, believing that no matter how the situation changes, the concession will not be in trouble.

But the reality is cruel. The East China government obviously does not agree that the concession can be outside the war. Seeing the army approaching, the administrative agencies of the two concessions, the Public Concession Work Department Bureau and the French Concession Work Bureau also hurriedly negotiated and decided to implement martial law in the concession, mobilized the army to deploy defenses in the concession overnight, and appointed French officer Colonel Frank as the commander of the concession defense. In addition, they also generated electricity to the domestic country, so that the domestic country could find ways to rescue the concession.

However, there are not many troops in the concession, with only one battalion in each of the two concessions. In addition, there is an additional Marine Corps in the public concession, with a total of only about 1,500 people. So the two concessions organized police officers, which was considered to be 2,500 people, and it was enough to form a regiment. However, the weapons were mainly rifles, with only 5 Maxim machine guns and 4 53 mm caliber artillery. Such military forces were obviously impossible to compete with the People's Army. Therefore, Colonel Frank also told the Public Concession Work Department and the French Concession Working Directorate that it is impossible to resist the attack of the People's Army by relying solely on the military forces of the concession.

At this time, news of the People's Army landing also spread in the concession. People in the two concessions were panicking and many people packed and cleaned up overnight to prepare to escape the concession. But early the next morning, the People's Army with guns and ammunition appeared in the south, west and north of the concession, and the People's Army ships also appeared in the Huangpu River. The two concessions were surrounded by the People's Army.

So the managers of the two concessions negotiated again and finally decided to send a delegation to negotiate with the People's Army. The ideal result was of course to persuade the People's Army to stop the attack. However, even the managers of the two concessions believed that this would appear. Therefore, the delegation's mission was two: one was to delay time and leave time for the concessions to deal with and rescue; the other was to surrender to the People's Army, the independence and autonomy of the concessions should be maintained as much as possible.

The two concessions are residents' autonomy. The Public Concession Bureau consists of a general director and nine directors. The French Concession Bureau consists of a general director and seven directors. The directors are elected by taxpayers in the concession. The general directors are elected by directors. However, the candidates and electors are limited to foreigners living in the concession. The Chinese are neither qualified to vote nor qualified to participate in the election. Of course, the quota of directors of the Public Concession Bureau is distributed according to nationality, generally consisting of British people, with 5-6 people, 1-2 people in the United States, 1 in Germany, and 1-2 people in the remaining countries; while the French Concession Bureau are all French. The current general director of the Public Concession Bureau is the British Hollidar, and the French Concession Bureau is the British.

After consultation between the two sides, it was finally decided that the delegation was led by the deputy director of the Public Concession Industry Department, the British De Gray (h.de.gray), the members were American Grisson (n.j.gresson), and German Haif (f.c.heffer). This was because the East China government and Germany had a good relationship, so the Germans and Americans were sent out, which was also conducive to negotiations and negotiations; while the French Concession Industry Bureau sent two directors, Patire (c.paturel) and Qi Qi (e.chisi).

When the delegation arrived at Shanghai New District, it was 1 o'clock in the afternoon, but Luo Yue and Li Songchen still received the delegation at the command center.

Among the people participating in the reception, there were Li Songchen and the five members of the concession delegation were relieved, because they knew Li Songchen. Although they were just ordinary friends, they were familiar with each other after all. These five members have lived in China for quite some time. They all know that it is easy for acquaintances to do things in this place in China.

After the two sides introduced each other, DeGrey first spoke: "General Luo, District Mayor Li, I think there was any misunderstanding between our concession and the East China government that led the East China government to launch a war against the concession. Therefore, we hope to communicate, eliminate the misunderstandings, and stop the war."

Luo Yue shook his head and said, "I don't think there is any misunderstanding. Britain and France have declared war on our East China government. This is the reason why we launched this war."

De Gray smiled and said, "This is the biggest misunderstanding. The concession is to implement autonomy. All directors and general directors are elected by taxpayers in the concession and are only responsible to the concession. It has nothing to do with Britain and France. District Mayor Li should be very clear about this."

Li Songchen said: "Of course I know, but Mr. Degray, I want to ask you, and everyone, the concession was originally a territory of the Qing Dynasty, but it was rented out by the Qing Dynasty. I don't think everyone will deny this."

DeGrey was stunned for a moment, but nodded. Although the concession was known as the country, the sovereignty of land in legal terms does belong to the Qing court, and it is just a land leased by various countries from the Qing court. This is something that DeGrey and others cannot deny.

Li Songchen said: "So is the British, French government, or the Concession Bureau of the Works Department or the Works Directors Bureau of the Works Department of the Qing Dynasty?"

De Grey was stunned for a moment and did not answer. It was not that he could not answer, but that he knew that this answer was not good for him, because it was indeed the British and French governments who signed the land concession treaty. Although the concession was self-governing, in terms of law, the legal user of the land in the concession is the British and French governments. To a certain extent, the autonomy of the concession was granted by the British and French governments. Therefore, it makes sense for the People's Army to attack the concession to legally.

Grisen smiled bitterly and said, "District Mayor Li, we are friends too. Is there no room for recovery?"

Li Songchen said: "I'm sorry, we are indeed friends, but now it is a national affairs and cannot be discussed in terms of personal friendship. However, as friends, I can suggest to you to give up resistance and surrender to us. We can ensure your personal safety and property. Once a war breaks out, the consequences will be unpredictable."

DeGrey was silent for a while before saying, "General Luo, District Mayor Li, please allow us to negotiate."

Luo Yue nodded and said, "At that time, I hope you can get a negotiation result within 30 minutes."

DeGrey said: "Yes."

So Luo Yue ordered people to take the concession representatives to a room next door and let them negotiate privately. After about 30 minutes, DeGrey and others returned to the negotiation room. DeGrey said: "General Luo, District Mayor Li, we can surrender, but we need to maintain the status quo of the concession. Your army cannot enter the concession. You can send a representative or form a working group to enter the concession and supervise the affairs of the concession. However, the Concession Bureau of the Work Department and the Working Directorate Bureau still retain and exercise their powers. You must not interfere with the administrative power of the Working Directorate Bureau and the Working Directorate Bureau."

Luo Yue and Li Songchen looked at each other, and both showed a fool's gaze. Li Songchen smiled and said, "Mr. Degray, do you think such conditions can be considered surrender? If we accept such conditions, then what's the point of launching this war?"

Haifei coughed dryly and said, "District Mayor Li, this is our condition. If you have any conditions, you can propose them and we can negotiate."

Luo Yue sneered and said, "Our condition is that people must surrender unconditionally, and there is no room for negotiation. If you agree, you will surrender immediately. Our army can enter the concession by singing songs. If you don't agree, you will prepare for war and we will enter the concession."

Li Songchen nodded and said, "Yes, this is our condition."

Pattire suddenly stood up and shouted, "You can't do this."

Li Songchen smiled faintly and said, "Why can't we? Can Patilai give me a reason?"

Pattire was still going to speak, but was stopped by DeGrey, then turned to Luo Yue, Li Songchen said: "Okay, we have all understood the conditions of the East China government, and I hope we can give us time to negotiate."

Luo Yue said: "Yes, I'll give you 1 day."

DeGrey frowned and said, "It's too short for only one day, it takes us 3 days."

Luo Yue shook his head and said, "3 days are too long, so you can only give you 2 days at most. This is our last bottom line, and we can't have more."
Chapter completed!