Under the bright sunshine at noon, on the broad platform in front of the forage field by the creek, British diplomats such as Gardegan gathered with the British prisoners of war, chatting enthusiastically, and laughing happily from time to time.
The long temporary wooden table was covered with various kinds of bread, bacon, ham and fresh vegetables, as well as Munich beer produced by the Germans who set up factories in Syria, champagne produced by the Russians who settled in southern Sichuan and local beer produced by Syria.
High-quality Wuliangye liquor is available, and the unique large-scale outdoor picnic is held happily among the picturesque mountains and rivers.
These food and drinks were brought back by Xu Boqian, director of the Liaison Office, and the five Western restaurants in the city made positive contributions to this. Xu Boqian, who has outstanding communication skills and smooth methods, understood An Yi's meaning well: the arrival of the British envoy, the prisoners of war
They are about to be released, so it’s okay to have a big meal as a farewell party. Even if it costs a little more, it will be more helpful for the next negotiation.
The British were very satisfied with An Yi's arrangement. The two-and-a-half-hour gathering at noon gave all the British present an extremely unforgettable time. The prisoners of war gathered happily with officials from the motherland in the forage field built by themselves.
, I felt very proud and contented, but the prisoners of war missed their hometown and their relatives even more intensely.
When leaving, General Gilbert asked Jiadegan in a low voice: When can the prisoners of war go back? Although Jiadegan was full of confidence in this trip to the Syrian government, he did not know for a while when An Yi would release them. After all, the negotiations had not yet begun.
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Looking at Gilbert's worried eyes full of disappointment, and then looking at the hundreds of prisoners of war who were still laughing and laughing just now, but now enduring pain and politely sending them off, Jiadegan finally gritted his teeth and made a gesture that a senior diplomat should not have.
In a reckless move, he strode off the platform and came to An Yi, who was chatting easily with Jiang Yunshan, Yang Bin and other military and political officials. He paused for a while and asked in a low voice:
"General, although it is very presumptuous and out of order, I still sincerely hope to get a generous reply from the general, and I hope to know when my compatriots will be released. They... they are very, very sad and very helpless...
…”
An Yi, Jiang Yunshan and others looked at each other and smiled, turned to Jiadegan, and said kindly: "We can all understand the mood of Mr. Ambassador. If you have no objection, you can send someone to the prison office tomorrow morning to handle the relevant handover procedures and sign it.
After the words are written, all the prisoners of war can leave, and their families, relatives and friends living in Xufu City can also come, and we can notify the family members of each prisoner of war through the church."
Jiadegan was very excited, nodded gratefully, turned around immediately without saying a word, returned to the platform, hugged Brigadier General Gilbert vigorously, and announced loudly to the prisoners:
"Children, the respected General An just told me that you can leave here tomorrow morning. I'm sorry, my children..."
Cheers, howls, and applause rang out loudly. The excited British guys hugged and yelled loudly, and many people shed tears of excitement. It has been nearly a year since they were captured, and more than 300 people died day and night.
The mental torture is finally over, why don't they get excited?
The military police guarding them were very nervous. At the captain's signal, they quietly stood around the prisoners of war, keeping a watchful eye from a distance.
After being excited, Brigadier General Gilbert saw all this sensitively, shook his head and loudly issued the assembly command. After being surprised, more than 500 prisoners of war quickly lined up, their chests heaved and breathed quickly, but they stood there neatly with their heads raised, waiting.
The commander issued the order.
Gilbert walked towards Jiadegan and others, shaking hands one by one and thanking them. Jiadegan and others looked at the prisoners of war with mixed emotions and raised their hands to say goodbye.
Before a group of diplomats stepped off the platform, Gilbert's stern command came from behind: "Salute——"
Jiadegan and others stopped and turned around, bowing slightly in return to the neatly saluted prisoners of war. They all sighed and walked towards An Yi. They expressed their gratitude to An Yi and expressed their gratitude to An Jiajun for the kind treatment and kindness given to the British prisoners of war.
Sincere thanks for the care.
An Yi waved his hand and said humbly that it was nothing. This was based on a humanitarian stance and China's millennium tradition. It would not embarrass any opponent who lays down his arms.
They exchanged pleasantries with each other and walked towards the motorcade that had stopped outside the prison gate. After taking a few steps, General Gilbert's voice suddenly came from behind: "General An Yi——"
An Yi stopped in surprise and turned around slowly. Gilbert on the platform stopped talking, but took a step forward and solemnly saluted a military salute. More than 500 prisoners of war behind him also raised their hands in salute.
, looking at An Yi in the distance with a complicated expression.
An Yi stood up straight, adjusted his military cap, formally returned a military salute to Gilbert and his more than 500 subordinates, put down his hands, smiled and turned to leave.
Jiadegan and others were extremely emotional. They knew that the salute given by Gilbert and the British officers and soldiers was not only a formal thank you, but also contained respect and admiration for their opponents, and even a hint of gratitude.
Because this young Chinese general has done really well. Not only does he have a superb military genius, he is also reasonable and impeccable in his conduct.
At nine o'clock in the morning the next day, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Nanjing Government suddenly held a press conference to solemnly announce the release of all British prisoners of war by the Chinese government and army.
This major news immediately flew through the radio waves to countries all over the world, and immediately triggered a huge response. Countries in Europe and the United States commented on this major news with a positive attitude, praised the wise and generous decision of the Chinese government, and expressed their appreciation for the rapid improvement and improvement of Sino-British relations.
Development is optimistic.
The Soviet Russian government did not comment on this, and the Japanese government and the army simply did not even mention it. All newspapers, magazines, and news broadcasts in Japan and under the control of the Kwantung Army stationed in Manchukuo were strictly prohibited from broadcasting this incident.
As soon as the news came out, it seemed that nothing had happened. However, the Japanese cabinet and the army immediately held an emergency meeting to reassess Sino-British relations and urgently discuss countermeasures.
On March 7, the Sino-British special team concluded three days of negotiations. Jiadegan and his party did not make any remarks to the Chinese and foreign journalists gathered in the Syrian government, and quietly flew back to Nanjing on An Jiajun's transport plane. As for An Yi, only the Syrian government
Yang Bin, chief of staff of Xingying, Xingying
Secretary-General Jiang Yunshan held a brief press briefing, explaining to reporters the date on which all British prisoners of war would leave Syria, announcing that this important issue between China and Britain had been successfully resolved. For other matters, reporters were asked to report to the Nanjing Central Government Diplomacy
Ministry asked.
As a result, the outside world has given rise to a lot of suspicion, and generally has doubts about the Sino-British conflicts other than the prisoner of war issue. It is believed that the sensitive and acute Sino-Myanmar border dispute is still the biggest unresolved problem at present, and it is believed that Sino-British relations will be slightly better than before.
, but it should not return to pre-war levels in the short term.
However, what happened next was very subtle and thought-provoking. What the whole world saw was that the British government issued an announcement on March 10, strongly condemning the unilateral military actions of the Japanese army in North China, which had seriously threatened peace and security.
It has damaged British interests in China. In order to protect the lives and property of its own nationals and to maintain the authority and independence of the League of Nations, the British government will mobilize a battalion of troops from Hong Kong to the Tianjin Concession within a week to strengthen its control of British nationals.
and the protection of British interests.
On March 11, the U.S. government announced that according to the agreement reached by China and the United States in the second half of last year, the United States would loan $50 million to the Chinese government for China's economic recovery plan, infrastructure construction plan, and cultural development plan.
On March 13, the German government announced that it would increase economic and trade cooperation and cultural exchanges with the Chinese government; the German Federation of Industry and Commerce then announced that based on the Chinese government’s success in expelling many industrial and commercial provinces and cities occupied by the Japanese army, Germany
Major industrial enterprises, commercial and financial investment institutions in China will, on the basis of ensuring safety, cooperate with
Major Chinese companies have launched all-round investment and production cooperation. On March 14, France's Renault announced that it had successfully signed a cooperation agreement with China's Luzhou Heavy Machinery Factory, through technology transfer, complete sets of equipment and trade of major product parts.
, jointly produce various models of tractors, engineering load-carrying vehicles and mining engineering equipment.
The reaction of the Chinese government was quite strange. After the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced that it disapproved of European and American countries providing loans to China, Wang Jingwei made a public statement denying that China had requested loans from Britain and the United States, but expressed disapproval of the Japanese government's announcement.
"If China is willing to coexist and prosper with Japan,
The government will provide all possible financial and economic assistance", which immediately aroused domestic opposition and anger; Finance Minister Kong Xiangxi made a public speech the next day, stating that the Ministry of Finance would fully assist the Shanghai financial community to tide over the crisis.
Difficulties, but denied that China is about to implement currency reform.
The day after Kong Xiangxi’s speech, Zhou Chongan, the economic helmsman of Anyi Group, held a press conference in Shanghai and solemnly announced the agreements reached between Jiangnan Group and Sichuan South Industrial and Commercial Group with the United States, Britain, France, Italy, Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands and other countries.
With more than 30 import and export trade agreements, as well as railway bridge bidding and construction, industrial enterprise cooperation and other plans, the entire southwest China will welcome investors from all over the world with a more open attitude.
The world's major media suddenly became agitated, the situation in China became increasingly confusing and confusing, and the game of interests between the great powers in China gradually reached a climax.
On both sides of the China-Myanmar border, a series of important actions are quietly taking place: On March 15, the British government confirmed in writing that it would resolve the border conflict between southern Yunnan and Myanmar in accordance with the boundary line last surveyed by the Qing government, and reopen border trade in western Yunnan.
, the final border line between the two countries was left to be jointly surveyed by the Chinese and British governments to formally form a negotiating team.
Gradually resolved, the sincerity shown by the British was recognized by An Yi, and the 26th Army of the Anjia Army, which soon obtained all the Panlao territory and the Lufang Silver Mine Area, withdrew from the area on the east bank of the Gunong River that had been occupied for nearly a year and returned to
Stationed on the north side of the traditional boundary line, only one guard regiment was left in the Lufang silver mining area to assist the local people in expanding mining.
On March 16, Wanding, an important customs clearance port in western Yunnan, was lifted and full customs clearance was resumed. The road from Bhamo to Nankan was reopened to traffic. Wanding and Ruili Customs, which are affiliated to the Yunnan Provincial Government, resumed customs clearance operations; on March 18,
All Burmese prisoners of war were repatriated to Burma via Wanding; on March 19, the American Christian Yunnan Foundation
On the same day, Mr. Ou Yaoting, a patriotic wealthy businessman with dual nationality of the United Kingdom and the United States who has been heavily involved in Myanmar's rubber industry and processing industry, made a one-time donation to Yunnan Province.
The government allocated US$3 million for road construction in Yunnan Province and agricultural development plans in western Yunnan.
At this point, the efforts to peacefully resolve the border crisis between China and Britain were successfully achieved, trade and personnel exchanges were resumed on the China-Myanmar border again, the Yunnan Army and the Yunnan Provincial Government received the hoped-for war compensation, and the British government saved face and received the expected "
A huge diplomatic victory.”
An Yi obtained the silver mines in the entire Banglao area, and reached an agreement with the British colonial government in Myanmar to jointly expand the border commercial road from Lashio to Gengma in southern Yunnan via Gunong, and establish the border customs port "Nanting Pass". Yunnan
The disputed areas around Mengla and Tsoggang occupied by the Southern Security Forces will be resolved when the governments of both sides jointly send professionals to demarcate the boundaries.