"Understood. I will definitely cut off the supply lines to Shanghai Station, preventing them from recovering their strength, and seize the opportunity to eliminate Shanghai Station!" Luo Xingchao nodded in acceptance.
As the timeline slowly unfolds, three months have passed since the Shanghai financial bloodbath. In mid-July, several Japanese scholars sit in an elegant room at the Mulan Academy, chatting and discussing their experiences.
The painter Hiroki Ito said to Ning Zhiheng with some concern, "Fujiwara-kun, recently many immigrants have come to Shanghai from China. They say that the situation in China is becoming increasingly difficult. Many factories have closed down, the number of unemployed is increasing, the market is very sluggish, and even the people's food supply cannot be guaranteed. The future looks bleak!"
“Yes! I also received letters from home saying that unrest has occurred in some places and many people died during the suppression. Fujiwara-kun, do you have any more definite news from your side?” The calligrapher Terauchi Hiko also asked.
As we entered the latter half of 1941, Japan was experiencing severe hardship and increasing poverty due to the Japanese government's reckless militarism.
As early as the second half of last year, Japan's invasion of Vietnam, defeat of the French garrison, and occupation of Vietnam completely exposed its southward expansion plan and its attempt to seize Southeast Asia and the Pacific.
This move by the Japanese greatly shocked the US government, making the US truly feel a direct threat. As a result, the US foreign policy underwent a major change, abandoning its neutral stance towards Japan.
As a result, the United States immediately announced in October of last year that it would begin to stop selling strategic materials to Japan. At the same time, the U.S. Treasury Secretary and Army Secretary advised the government to try to persuade it to impose a comprehensive oil embargo on Japan.
As Japan's largest trading partner, the United States has consistently provided Japan with financial support in various aspects, which is why Japan, an island nation with scarce resources, was able to launch a full-scale invasion of China.
The sudden change in the United States' attitude immediately caused Japan to suffer. Raw materials became scarce, resources were depleted, economic strength declined rapidly, and national power also declined rapidly. A large number of Japanese companies and factories went bankrupt, which strengthened the Japanese government's determination to break the deadlock and try to find a way out.
By early June of this year, the international situation had undergone another major change, and the already turbulent war in Europe was thrown into further turmoil.
Germany unilaterally broke the peace agreement, secretly mobilized troops, and launched a surprise attack on the Soviet army. Because of this surprise, Germany achieved a great victory in the early stages of the war and gained a significant initiative. The Soviet-German War broke out in full force, and this important event completely affected the world war landscape.
The Japanese military, which had already deployed a large number of troops on the western front to guard against the Soviet Union, was relieved to see the Soviet Union and Germany go to war. The Soviet Union was too busy to deal with Japan, so Japan, which was originally short of military strength, suddenly had a large number of fresh troops available. The plan to advance into Southeast Asia, which had been prepared for a long time, was quickly put on the agenda.
In early July, at an Imperial Conference of the Japanese Cabinet, various factions discussed and finalized the "Outline of Imperial National Policy to Adapt to Changing Circumstances," preparing to immediately implement the "Southern Expansion" plan, even at the cost of going to war with Britain and the United States.
Of course, this intelligence could not escape Ning Zhiheng's notice. As the head of the largest intelligence network in China, he controlled most of the resources in the entire Chinese intelligence market. It can be said that no one in China was more aware of the changes in the international and domestic situation than him.
Of course, this intelligence was also promptly reported to the Chongqing Military Intelligence Bureau headquarters and the underground party organization in Shanghai, providing the Kuomintang and the Red Party with sufficient intelligence support. This played a significant role in helping them cope with the current situation and formulate policies and measures, and now all parties are increasingly relying on its intelligence resources.
In just two months, the Shanghai underground party organization received several highly valuable, top-secret intelligence reports from the farmer through Shadow. As a result, the outstanding performance of Shanghai's intelligence work attracted the attention of headquarters, which issued an order to raise the level of secrecy of Shadow's intelligence channels to the highest internal level.
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