Ouyang Yun was furious, but Wavell and Craley were filled with grief and anger. After they reported the new progress of the talks to London, they did not receive praise from Churchill, but were reprimanded. Politicians and soldiers looked at the problem in a different way. The perspective is different. In the view of Wavell and Craley, for the pride of the British Empire, even if the more than 30,000 captured British soldiers in Singapore died, they were sacrificed for the empire, which is the normal destination of soldiers; but in Churchill's view , if the government really does nothing even though it can do something, then the blow to the morale of the people will be more than worth the loss.
"It's just four old 'Minister of the Navy V-class' warships. Besides, the Malacca Strait is already controlled by the Japanese army. With the Z fleet not fully organized, why can't we abandon it and just use the method proposed by the Thai Prime Minister, leasing it? In this way, the face of the empire can be preserved." Churchill waved his cigar in his right hand and said loudly to Eden,
Eden once served as Secretary of State for War. He understood the feelings of Wavell and Craley quite well. In his opinion, they were not wrong, and the more than 30,000 captured officers and soldiers should be rescued. His perspective on this matter was different. It is different from Churchill: "The Chinese even want our 'old V-class'. Do they really want to fight the Japanese in the Indian Ocean? The Royal Navy currently does not have the ability to maintain two battlefields at the same time. In this case, We might as well feed the Chinese a little fat to strengthen their courage in a naval war with Japan. Anyway, we are temporarily unable to regain control of the Strait of Malacca."
"This is a good idea. If the Chinese really have the courage to go to war with the Japanese Navy in the Indian Ocean, then we would not mind establishing a further alliance with them. There is currently a severe shortage of medicines in the country, but the pharmaceutical industry of the Xuebing Army is on par with the United States. We You can ask them to use medicines to offset the rent."
"Wavell has reported that the small arms system of the Cadet Army is quite good. Your Excellency, the empire is currently unable to support the Indian colonial army from the mainland. You see."
…
In the past, the arrogant British would never pay such high attention to the Xuebing Army. Even China did not pay attention to it. How could they spend energy to understand a warlord regime in this country? However, as the war in the Far East becomes more intense, , as the cadet army emerged in the revenge operation of attacking Thailand, and as the opportunity of the Bangkok talks emerged, the British war cabinet headed by Churchill had to turn its attention to the distant Far East. As a result, the intelligence about the cadet army was snowflakes. The same thing filled their horizons. After the surprise, they finally became pragmatic.
Finally, in the telegram sent to Wavell, Churchill first scolded Wavell in the name of the cabinet, and then gave the bottom line of the negotiation: as long as the Xuebing Army can really rescue the British soldiers captured in the First World War in Singapore, then anything will be done. It's easy to talk about. At the end of the telegram, he focused more on the Vengeance-class fleet aircraft carrier being built in Karachi, allowing it to be used as a final weapon.
Two days later, under the mediation of Thai Prime Minister Shinawatra, the Bangkok talks resumed.
After being scolded by Churchill, Wavell restrained himself a lot, but also showed a lack of interest. The conditions offered by the cabinet to the Chinese were so generous that Wavell even felt suspected of flattery, which the old British man could not accept. I felt a little frustrated, so I pushed my deputy Clary to the front desk.
The so-called mediation was actually Shinawatra's request to bring the Xue Bing Army back to the negotiating table at the request of the British. Therefore, the Xue Bing Army's arrogance became even more arrogant.
After a brief interlude, we quickly got to the point. The British side pushed Craley to the front desk, and Chu Tiange took the initiative to take the initiative. Chu Tiange asked, given that the talks in the past few days were all due to differences between the two sides on a certain item. It was too big and caused the whole meeting to come to an end. This time it must be discussed separately. Then he raised the insistence of Xuebingjun: apology and compensation related to the Singapore incident are the cornerstone of the negotiation and must be resolved first. Only after the minutes are signed can we continue to talk about the rescue. The matter of Singapore prisoners of war will be followed by other cooperation matters.
The Red Fox Team and the Tianwei Team led the "Lanluga Prisoner of War Death Squadron" in the past few days to stimulate the excitement outside the British residence. Just as Ouyang Yun said, Wavell and Craley almost drooled when they saw it in their eyes. ,
Different from Churchill's instructions, Wavell and Craley made a private agreement that they were determined to win the "Suicide Squad" and believed that the value of these more than 3,000 British soldiers was much higher than that of the more than 30,000 Singaporean prisoners of war. This was their determination. the British bottom line,
Chu Tiange didn't even mention it. As soon as he finished speaking, Clary stood up and pointed it out.
Chu Tiange replied, "The situation of the death squads is quite special and is not included in the talks." Clary suddenly became anxious and asked with red eyes: "Why are the death squads so special? Aren't they soldiers of our British Empire?"
After Chu Tiange sought Ouyang Yun's opinion, he took out the "Volunteer to Join the Student Army to Resist the Japanese Invasion" which Charlie signed and fingerprinted and handed it over.
The "Volunteer Letter" was made in quadruplicate. The military officials and individuals each kept one copy in Chinese and English. Clary read it through and was dumbfounded.
Wavell took it and looked at it, then slapped the table and shouted "Desert". The old British man had originally planned not to speak during the meeting today, but now he forgot in excitement: "If this is really Captain Charlie's signature, Then he is a deserter, Commander-in-Chief Ouyang Yun, your army will probably not stop us from catching the deserters from our unit."
The old British man reacted quickly enough and immediately thought of a legitimate reason to recall the "Suicide Squad".
Ouyang Yun smiled: "Of course, but I declare that I, the student general, will not be responsible for the negative consequences caused by this."
Upon hearing this, Wavell's momentum immediately deflated like a deflated rubber ball.
Clary sensed that something was wrong and said anxiously: "Commander-in-Chief Ouyang, is there no room for remedy?"
"this,."
Clary was about to cry: "Commander-in-Chief, we can talk about anything."
Chu Tiange smiled: "Okay, how sincere are you?"
Clary looked at Wavell. Wavell was no different from a defeated rooster at this time. He waved his hand dejectedly. Clary took out a document from his backpack, handed it to Chu Tiange solemnly and said: "' The death squads must return to our military structure, and everything else can be discussed. This is, this is our sincerity."
Chu Tiange took it and looked at it, then handed it to Ouyang Yun.
Ouyang Yun looked at it, picked up his pen, and added "and one Enemy-class fleet aircraft carrier" after the clause "The Royal Navy will provide four 'Minister of the Navy V-class' destroyers to the Cadet Army on a lease basis." , then threw it back to Clary and said: "If you are really sincere, then sign it."
Clary glanced at it, his heart was shaken, and he pushed the document in front of Wavell.
Wavell glanced at it, and his eyes suddenly focused on the words "and one enemy-class fleet aircraft carrier". After a while, he raised his head and glared at Ouyang Yun, and said: "Okay, I can sign."
Ouyang Yun and Chu Tiange looked at each other, their eyes full of smiles. He stood up and looked at Wavell and said: "Commander Wavell, let them discuss other matters. Let's go. I'll invite you." You have a drink."
Wavell said with a straight face: "Sorry, I don't have time."
Ouyang Yun laughed: "You don't want to meet those young men from the 'Death Squad'. They seem to be reluctant to leave Bangkok."
Wavell's expression changed, then he squeezed out a smile, stood up and said, "In that case, let's go have a drink."