Chapter 149 The Moon of Yesteryear
Previously, the snow was light and would stop falling in less than half an hour, but these past few days the snow has been heavy and it's been too cold, so Xie Ning has been staying indoors and not going out, and he hasn't even been going to the hospital much.
She even learned to perform acupuncture on herself. She didn't know how to do anything too complicated, but fortunately, Zhao Le had left her some simple acupuncture techniques.
Erniu brought over today's newspaper, while Xiaoyang brought over Xie Ning's medicine, which was dark and had a strange smell. Erniu sniffed and suddenly realized that having too sensitive a nose wasn't a good thing.
Xie Ning finished the drink in one gulp without expression, her mouth full of bitterness. She couldn't eat anything else to mask the taste, fearing it would neutralize the effects of the medicine, so she could only drink warm water.
The large headline in the newspaper startled Xie Ning, causing her to cough violently. Erniu was also startled and quickly climbed onto the kang (a heated brick bed) to help Xie Ning catch her breath. "Sister Changning, drink your medicine slowly, don't hurt yourself."
It's definitely going to be bitter. Sigh, wouldn't it be better to drink it slowly?
Xie Ning: It's even more uncomfortable to drink slowly, but it wasn't because of the cough, but because of the newspaper.
Erniu followed Xie Ning's gaze and was immediately stunned. It read that the authorities had declared war on Japan: "We hereby formally declare war on Japan and announce to the world that all treaties, agreements, and contracts involving relations between China and Japan are hereby abolished. This is hereby proclaimed."
"Sister Changning, what does this mean?"
"It's exactly what you mean. It wasn't until 1941 that the authorities officially declared war on Japan." If she hadn't seen the newspaper, she would have forgotten about this.
Erniu exclaimed in disbelief, "How many years have we been at war? This... this is only the beginning of the declaration of war!?"
Xie Ning nodded affirmatively.
Why?
"If war is declared, not only will our nationals in Japan not be protected, but international public opinion will also be constrained, and international aid will be affected. After all, the difference in strength between the two sides is too great. We do not have the ability to evacuate our nationals, nor do we have the ability to maintain the security of the sea, land and air."
If we don't declare war, other countries can intervene to mediate and then, under legitimate pretexts, export war supplies to us to support our resistance against Japan. Otherwise, Japan will intercept them.
Of course, even without declaring war, they would still use various means to intercept and impose embargoes, though not as openly and recklessly.
International aid was also one of the reasons why the Zhang family was able to supply the Labour Party with materials and equipment.
Erniu was puzzled but greatly shocked: "Did the Japanese declare war?"
Xie Ning shook his head. Japan had never publicly declared war from beginning to end, which was one of their unreasonable excuses for not admitting that they were the aggressors.
"How shameless!" Erniu slammed her fist on the table in anger, startling Xiao Yang, who quickly checked if the table was cracked. After all, Erniu was quite strong and had won against many young men in wrestling matches.
"Then why declare war now?" Xiao Yang quietly put the medicine bowl away; the smell was really strong, and he was feeling dizzy from the intoxication.
Xie Ning opened the newspaper from the day before yesterday, pointed to an article, and said, "The Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, hoping to strike the US fleet in the Pacific and become the maritime hegemon of the Pacific. Of course, it also had the implication of forcing the US to change its trade embargo policy against Japan."
"Have those Japanese devils gone mad?" Erniu hadn't read that issue of the newspaper, but now she picked it up and examined it closely.
Xiao Yang gasped in shock. He knew the Japanese had attacked Pearl Harbor, but he didn't know it was the United States. "They've really gone mad. The United States' strength is far beyond what Japan can match..."
Isn't that right?
The authorities' formal declaration of war is primarily driven by considerations of the United States, aiming to maintain aligned interests and secure aid.
Shuanzi poked his head in, calling for a meeting. Xie Ning rubbed her arms, resignedly put on another layer of clothing, and went out. She always felt like she was either in a meeting or on her way to one.
On the way, Xie Ning saw many people standing in front of the bulletin board looking at the notice. He glanced at it and saw that it was the "Declaration for the Pacific War" issued on the same day.
A young man wearing glasses stood at the front and read aloud, "...The Eighth Route Army and the New Fourth Army continued to endure hardships and difficulties, persisted in the anti-Japanese war behind enemy lines in North and Central China, crushed the enemy's 'mopping-up' operations, and tied down a large number of enemy forces..."
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