July 25, 1937. Washington, USA.

In the White House conference room, Roosevelt said solemnly to the cabinet members present: "The situation in China is not optimistic now. At least the area where Nanjing belongs is under serious threat. What I want to know is whether Japan will invade

Our interests in China?!”

Roosevelt was only talking about Nanjing. As for the three northeastern provinces, he was not worried at all. As early as July 12, the National Defense Forces announced the losses of Japanese troops in North Korea.

According to a notice from the National Defense Forces, the Japanese army lost more than 4,000 infantry troops, 50 tanks and more than 1,000 fighter jets near the 38th Parallel in North Korea.

Of course, Japan does not admit this. They only admit that they lost about 2,000 troops, 20 tanks and 300 fighter jets.

But based on the observations of Patton and Eisenhower, the statistics of the Wehrmacht should not be far from the truth. There were fifty Japanese tank wreckage brought back, and it is estimated that more than 800 aircraft were shot down.

This directly frightened the Japanese, but the National Defense Force tentatively attacked the Japanese positions and found that they were all connected fortifications using a large number of reinforced concrete structures.

It was extremely difficult to attack, so it fell silent after the first wave of probing attacks. On the Korean battlefield, the two sides are now in a stalemate. Shanhaiguan has a regiment of the National Defense Forces and hundreds of fighter jets stationed there.

We are not worried about American enterprises and cooperation in the three northeastern provinces at all. We are mainly worried about their interests in Tianjin, Shanghai and other areas under the jurisdiction of the Nanjing government.

"According to the news coming back, at least Japan's actions in Tianjin have temporarily stopped." Finance Minister Morgan Jr. whispered to Roosevelt: "It should be that they were frightened by the performance of the National Defense Forces in North Korea, but the National Defense Forces stationed a large number of troops in Shanhaiguan.

Army. If a war breaks out, the Japanese army of less than 30,000 may not be able to support it..."

Everyone nodded, they must have been frightened! Hundreds of thousands of Japanese troops had nothing to do with the North Korean National Defense Forces. Since Tianjin is so close to Shanhaiguan, the Japanese troops must not dare to act at will.

"Shanghai is facing many crises. According to our news, Japan seems to have stopped its upcoming attack in order to achieve absolute victory. It has instead entered the preparation stage, but in our opinion, war is definitely inevitable..."

After saying that, little Morgan paused and smiled at Roosevelt and others: "Fortunately, most of our interests in China are in the three northeastern provinces. So we don't have to worry too much. Moreover, the three northeastern provinces themselves have access to the sea.

Most of the companies and enterprises have moved there. The impact will not be too big..."

Little Morgan paused and continued: "But the problem we are facing now is, how should we respond to Japan?! Also, what should be our attitude towards the three northeastern provinces?! These issues are relatively speaking, the most important.

Urgent..."

After the three northeastern provinces declared war on Japan, everyone originally thought that Japan would become angry and declare war on the three northeastern provinces. Unfortunately, Japan did not do so. Japan did not even make any response to this. It just started the war blindly.

!

Although they lost the Korean War, they still occupied most of Guangdong! This greatly threatened British interests in Hong Kong, so the British also sent several confidential messages hoping that the United States would have a clear attitude.

The quarrels in the parliament about this matter have been going on for more than a day or two. Those who are pro-China are the spokespersons of most enterprises. In fact, Roosevelt himself is also pro-China. He has a deep friendship with Situ Meitang and Tu Qianjun himself.

"It seems that some of the things we originally opposed turned out to be good~" Roosevelt suddenly smiled humorously at everyone, and everyone was stunned at first! Then they also laughed!

They knew what Roosevelt was referring to. In fact, Roosevelt should be referring to the Neutrality Acts (neutralityacts) that he had opposed in early May of this year but had to sign due to strong demands from Congress.

The U.S. Neutrality Acts is the general name for a series of bills passed by the U.S. government in the 1930s. In the early days, the United States' active participation in the First World War resulted in heavy losses. Moreover, most of the loans could not be recovered. This made many

People are extremely angry!

After these things were promoted, they were considered to be one of the culprits of the economic crisis. At least that was how it was viewed at the time. This indirectly led to the rise of isolationism in the United States. It was hoped that the United States would not be involved in international struggles, thus promoting the neutrality law.

Formulate.

The 1935 amendment to the Neutrality Act prohibited U.S. citizens from selling arms to belligerents in international wars. This indirectly led to Italy's invasion of Ethiopia. However, the act did not prohibit the trade of raw materials (such as steel and oil).

The 1936 Neutrality Law, passed again in February 1936, plugged the loopholes in the 1935 Neutrality Law and banned war raw materials and the granting of loans and accounting to belligerent countries.

Roosevelt opposed this law on the grounds that it punished victims of aggression (such as Ethiopia) and limited his power as president to assist friendly countries. However, due to overwhelming public support, he had to sign the bill. In 1937, the U.S. Congress

A more stringent bill was passed.

Two neutrality bills were passed in January and May of 1937 respectively in response to the Spanish Civil War, which was not covered by the neutrality law. The neutrality law originally only targeted wars between countries, not within countries. In Republican Senator Vandenberg's

With support, the bill tightened the assistance of U.S. companies and individuals to the belligerent countries. It even prohibited American citizens from traveling abroad on ships of the belligerent nations.

What Roosevelt was talking about was actually this bill that he originally opposed but now thinks is pretty good. At least this way the United States has reason to refuse to sell steel, oil and other materials to Japan.

In comparison, the United States has greater interests in the three northeastern provinces. If the three northeastern provinces fall, this will not be a good thing for the United States. This may mean that its steel, oil, and most of its enterprises will fall to Japan.

Let them be slaughtered in human hands.

It is okay to give Japan a certain amount of intimidation and tell them not to harm the interests of the United States at will. Of course, the United States cannot control it when it is resold privately through a third country.

There are always loopholes in the bill. Just go to Mexico or Brazil to register a company and then resell it. There are always workarounds in business. If you can't do these things, you can just die.

Roosevelt and the members of his cabinet discussed the corresponding strategies in detail for a while, and then sent a secret telegram of the conclusion to the United Kingdom and France. As for Congress, it would naturally be up to Morgan Jr. and others to persuade them.

Who is the biggest in Congress?! Naturally, it is Morgan Jr. and the corporate interests they represent. As long as they agree, most of the issues will be solved.

An hour later, No. 10 Downing Street, London, England.

Chamberlain rubbed his forehead and said to everyone: "This is the American attitude. What do you all think we should do?! Follow them and stand on the side of the Japanese?! Or the side of the tiger?!"

When he said this, Chamberlain simply kicked Chiang's Nanjing government into the corner without even mentioning it. He fought the most intense air battle and defeated the Japanese troops.

The other one has lost a lot of territory in just two weeks, and a fool can use his toes to figure out who to choose.

"Your Majesty Prime Minister, the most important thing is the empire's interests in Hong Kong. This is extremely important. Now Hong Kong is directly under the threat of the Japanese..." The Speaker of the Privy Council and the leader of the House of Lords, the Earl of Halifax, stood up.

Get up and say to Chamberlain.

"Our interests in the Far East are undoubtedly focused on the three eastern provinces. But Shanghai, Tianjin, Hong Kong... and other areas cannot be given up..."

Chamberlain rolled his eyes, how could I not know this?! But the current situation is that the tiger has declared war! The Japanese did not accept the move. Fortunately, the United States has the Neutrality Act as a shield. But we always have to take a stand.

Right?!

"We can morally condemn Japan and express the hope that Japan can sit down and negotiate to give up its attempt to invade." Foreign Secretary Anthony Eden stood up and said to Chamberlain.

"Although we do not have a Neutrality Act, we can still use the name of the League of Nations to condemn this kind of war. As for the rest... I think we should just take a look..."

This is also a very helpless thing. In fact, the United Kingdom cannot interfere too much in the Far East. The United Kingdom is no longer the British Empire that the sun never sets in the past. The severe decline in national power has forced them to reduce the scope of their control.

The increasingly chaotic situation in Europe has made the British prepare for it. Germany's growing strength has made the British feel like playing with fire. Although they feel it is dangerous, they still feel they should keep playing.

The reason why they feel this way is because the British know that the economic trauma caused to various countries by World War I has not yet healed. The advent of the economic crisis has plunged the whole world into winter again.

Secondly, the British have always believed that France was too repressive against Germany in the Treaty of Versailles, so they believed that Germany was just trying to get back the benefits it deserved.

In fact, Germany may have thought so at the beginning. But as it grew stronger and stronger, and all its requirements were met, the expansion of ambition was inevitable...

Perhaps, what the Germans themselves said later: "We are all crazy!" is the best portrayal.

"Aiden, write a declaration and publish it to the outside world! We have many interests in the three northeastern provinces, so we should take care of their emotions. Just declare that we will no longer trade with Japan, and make our attitude clear!"

Chamberlain thought for a while, and there was not much trade between Britain and Japan anyway, just a little bit.

"As you wish, my Prime Minister!" Foreign Secretary Anthony Eden nodded to Chamberlain and said solemnly... (To be continued...)
Chapter completed!