Volume 5 The Rise of the Machine Chapter 308 Verbal War
Volume 5: Opportunity to Rise, Chapter 308: War of Confrontation
According to the agreement reached at the preparatory meeting, China and Japan first conducted political and military group negotiations. Chen Jitang naturally entered the Sino-Japanese political negotiation team and served as a general negotiating member. From the arrangement of Chen Jitang, it can be seen that Chiang Kai-shek may not be as broad-minded.
It's as broad as you can imagine.
However, Wu Aihua is not worried about this. No matter what the outcome of the political negotiations is, in Wu Aihua's view, it can only solve the hot spots and difficulties in the current Sino-Japanese political relations. To achieve fundamental normalization of Sino-Japanese relations, they must
A thorough reckoning with Japan’s policy of aggression against China since 1894 and its consequences.
Obviously, now is not the time for a complete liquidation. From the standpoint of the National Defense Force, Wu Aihua does not want to carry out liquidation at the moment; from the standpoint of Chairman Chiang Kai-shek of the National Government, the Chiang Group currently does not have the ability to liquidate. If Japan abandons the policy of annexing China, the Chiang Group
Its position in China also depends on Japan's support; from Japan's standpoint, Japan is definitely not willing to give up its vested interests. If Japan wants to return to the boundary of interests before 1894, Japan will definitely fight against China!
It is okay to go all out, but not now. China and Japan going all out will only benefit the great powers. Regarding this, a consensus has been reached within the National Defense Forces.
Military negotiation team. The Chinese representatives are Wu Aihua, Zhang Xueliang, and Fu Lin, the Japanese representatives are Ishihara Kanji, Yamashita Tofumi, and Yoshimura Masamitsu, the attaché of the Japanese Embassy in China. In addition, both sides have sent 2 staff members each.
, the two Chinese staff are Gu Zhenglun and Wang Ying, and the two Japanese staff are ordinary staff of the embassy.
Judging from the level and status of the personnel on both sides, the Chinese side attaches great importance to the negotiations and the standards are quite high.
Because Wu Aihua's status in the military is only "second-level general", he did not ask Japan to send equivalent representatives and staff.
According to the principle of "first easy before difficult, first urgent before slow" determined by the preparatory meeting, the first issue negotiated by the military negotiation team was the treatment of Japanese prisoners of war. Because among the prisoners of war, about 300,000 Japanese soldiers were captured by the Chinese army, while the Chinese side
About 100,000 soldiers were captured by the Japanese army (there were only a few hundred soldiers in the National Defense Forces, mainly prisoners of the National Army in Shandong and Xuzhou battlefields). Therefore, it was up to China to put forward preliminary opinions on the treatment of the prisoners.
China’s opinions are: first, both sides should repatriate prisoners equally, that is, one Japanese colonel should correspond to one Chinese colonel, and one Japanese soldier should correspond to one Chinese soldier; second, the remaining Japanese prisoners in the hands of the Chinese army should be redeemed by the Japanese army, that is,
A certain ransom will be given. Third, the repatriated prisoners of both sides are not allowed to enter the other side's territory again to conduct combat operations, otherwise, they will be killed unconditionally!
The ransom standard is 100 Chinese yuan for each soldier, 200 Chinese yuan for the sergeant, 400 Chinese yuan for the second lieutenant, 800 Chinese yuan for the lieutenant, 1,600 Chinese yuan for the captain, 3,200 Chinese yuan for the major, 6,400 Chinese yuan for the lieutenant, 12,800 Chinese yuan for the colonel, and 50,000 Chinese yuan for the major general.
Yuan, Lieutenant General 100,000 Chinese Yuan.
It should be said that this price has been greatly reduced compared with the price quoted by the Independent Column to the National Army prisoners in the early years.
Naturally, the Japanese side would not take it easy, and they began to argue point by point.
Lieutenant General Masamitsu Yoshimura, the Japanese military attache in China, raised objections. When the two countries are at war, regardless of victory or defeat, the prisoners are treated as a whole and cannot be discussed in terms of numbers. This has no precedent in history and is also disrespectful to the belligerent countries.
Lieutenant General Yamashita Tomofumi also said that pricing prisoners is an inhumane practice and Japan is completely opposed to it.
The deputy representative of China, Zhang Xueliang, knew in advance the opinions put forward by the National Defense Forces on the disposal of prisoners. However, he himself did not agree with it as a habit. The reasons for his disapproval were exactly the same as those of Yamashita Fengfumi. In addition, Zhang Xueliang also felt that even if these prisoners could be sold,
The money cannot be sold for much, and it is not conducive to fundamentally resolving Sino-Japanese relations.
Therefore, after Zhang Xueliang saw the objections raised by Japan, he kept silent.
"Nah, you're not here to occupy a position, right?" Fu Lin was deeply influenced by Wu Aihua and the National Defense Forces, and had no good impression of Zhang Xueliang, a general who did not resist. After slandering him in his heart, he had to stand up and refute them one by one.
road:
"I don't agree with Japan's opinion. Let's first talk about whether there are precedents in history. The so-called precedents are all set by people. For example, the Japanese army has never invaded China on such a large scale in history. This is what you Japanese
The precedent created; let’s talk about the precedent of ransoming prisoners, I think the Japanese representative is not familiar with history. Exchange prisoners of war and give a certain ransom. European countries have already had examples of this, China also has examples of this, and you Japan
, there are also examples in this regard, how can we say that there is no precedent? Let’s talk about the issue of humaneness. Putting a price on prisoners of war seems to be disrespectful of the prisoner’s personality, but in fact it is a real emphasis on the prisoner’s personality.
.
First of all, we must treat the captives as people with independent personality. They enjoy the right to freedom. However, they were kidnapped by the government and entered the battlefield. They made huge sacrifices and were defeated. The government that launched the war should pay a certain cost.
Redeem them to give them their freedom. At the same time, it also makes the countries and governments that provoked the war understand that war does not only have benefits, but also requires paying a price. I think this is the true meaning of personality and humanity! Respect
People, respect their personality and human rights, and don’t launch aggressive wars easily!”
"I object!" Masamitsu Yoshimura jumped up immediately, "The opinions of the Chinese representative may lead the negotiations astray, because we have not yet reached a conclusion on the nature of the war at this time!"
"Although the nature of this war has not yet been discussed, it is not open to public opinion. Can Japan unilaterally describe it as a just war?" Fu Lin also immediately retorted.
"If the Japanese government is unwilling to pay the ransom, China proposes a compromise plan, that is, Japanese prisoners of war will perform labor in China, and they will pay the ransom through their own labor! After all, these soldiers and officers have also committed crimes against the Chinese people
!" Wu Aihua said calmly.
However, Wu Aihua's calm words were like a thunder that woke up the Japanese representative! If the ransom is not paid, the person is in the hands of others, how can he snatch it by force? Therefore, the focus of the discussion is not whether to pay, but how much to pay.
Question: The Japanese representative wants to come without paying a penny, how is this possible?
"General Wu, it is not impossible to pay the ransom. It will also help China and Japan review the war situation. However, is this number too high?" Ishihara Wanji knew that if he, the "right representative", did not appear, the negotiations might reach a deadlock.
.
"Ishihara-kun, you mean they are not worth that much money?" Wu Aihua retorted.
"General Wu misunderstood, I mean...well, this issue will be handled according to the opinions of the Chinese representatives for the time being." Ishihara Wanji suddenly discovered that the 300,000 Japanese prisoners, excluding the 100,000 Chinese prisoners, the total number is only 200,000
, 100 Chinese yuan per person is only 20 million Chinese yuan. If the dispute continues on this issue, it may be difficult for China to make concessions when China proposes war compensation.
Therefore, Ishihara Kanji had an idea and decided to sell China a favor, and then Japan would strive to obtain concessions from China later. If China understands the truth, it will definitely give in.
"Haha, China is very pleased with Mr. Ishihara's attitude!" Wu Aihua said with a smile.
This is a courtesy to Ishihara Kanji, and it also means that Wu Aihua understands what Ishihara Kanji means. In fact, in this negotiation, Wu Aihua is planning to let Ishihara Kanji establish some "merits" to strengthen his position in the Japanese base camp.
"position".
But this kind of thing should not be done too openly, otherwise it will arouse others' wariness. Ishihara Wanji agreed with China's opinions on the handling of prisoners, which made China owe Japan a favor and made subsequent negotiations biased in favor of Japan.
Basically, in other words, China will not be too careful in future negotiations.
As the "official representative" of the military negotiation team, Ishihara Wanji has expressed his position, and Yamashita Tomofumi and Yoshimura Masamitsu naturally have nothing to say. The important thing is that Wu Aihua's "compromise plan" is too terrible! If the Japanese side cannot do it within three months
In order to transport these 300,000 well-trained officers and soldiers back to the country, the cabinet, the Ministry of War, and the Ministry of the Navy would not be able to do anything in front of the Japanese people.
As for the third point of China's opinion, Japan has not raised any objections. The so-called not entering the other side's territory to fight is just a moral condition.
The Japanese representative absolutely did not realize that Wu Aihua's condition seems useless now, but if the Japanese forget this one day, they will most likely suffer a big loss.
Zhang Xueliang was originally not optimistic about the negotiation conditions proposed by the National Defense Forces. In his view, the issue of prisoners was the smallest issue in the war between the two countries, not even a problem. However, when the National Defense Forces brought it up for discussion, the more than 20 million Chinese yuan
Just got it. Although the money is only equivalent to more than 2 million US dollars, it can fully arm 10 German weapon masters.
Zhang Xueliang sighed, no wonder the economic construction in Fujian and Guangdong was so good. It turned out that Wu Aihua was not only good at fighting, but also good at doing business. Of course, Zhang Xueliang knew that in China, only Wu Aihua and his National Defense Force had the ability to win from the Japanese.
The power of ransom is coming upon you.
During the September 18th Incident, Zhang Xueliang ordered no resistance. Although Chiang Kai-shek's intention was involved, Zhang Xueliang himself was not confident enough. He knew that his Northeastern Army was pretty good at maintaining law and order or fighting civil war.
But to confront the Japanese army, the difference is not even the slightest.
The issue about prisoners was resolved, but the second content brought China and Japan into a deadlock. Because the second content was the issue of Japanese troops withdrawing from China. Because of Zhang Xueliang’s strong request, among the conditions proposed by China, the Japanese army had to
Return from the Northeast to North Korea, or at least to the position before the September 18th Incident.
Wu Aihua originally advocated leaving this issue for final discussion. According to the principle of easier things first, harder things later, it was the best time to discuss war compensation at this time, but Zhang Xueliang also insisted and came to gnaw on this hard nut in advance.
If you want to talk, let's talk. Because of this, regarding the negotiations on the withdrawal of Japanese troops from China, Zhang Xueliang will be the main representative of China.