After Lin Wei and Dai Li walked out of the president's office, Chairman Jiang turned to look at Song Ziwen and said:

"Ziwen, the international situation is changing now. Soon the United States and our China will form military allies, and large-scale military aid from the Americans will follow.

Therefore, diplomatic relations with the United States will naturally become the most important task in the future. You have a good relationship with the United States. I want you to be the Minister of Foreign Affairs.

Then go on a mission to the United States as soon as possible to sign a Sino-US military alliance agreement with it, and then stay in New York to better seek support from major European and American countries!

I wonder, what do you think?"

Since the day the Japanese devils launched a large-scale invasion of China, Chairman Chiang has been looking forward to the intervention and mediation and military aid of European and American powers such as Britain and the United States.

Now that this day is coming, Chairman Jiang is naturally excited and attaches great importance to it. Not only does he declare high-profile war on Germany, Italy and Japan at the first time, but he also has to send elite soldiers to the site to keep an eye on the site!

Song Ziwen did not hesitate at all, and immediately nodded and said, "I will definitely live up to my mission!"

Song Ziwen graduated from St. John's University in Shanghai in his early years, and later went to Harvard University in the United States to study economics, obtained a master's degree, and then entered Columbia University with a doctorate degree.

Just in the first half of this year, Song Ziwen also sent a mission to the United States to obtain $25 million in leased materials, so now the Foreign Minister has sent another mission to the United States to sign a treaty. Those who seek help are definitely familiar with it.

"Okay! Very good!"

Chairman Jiang nodded with great joy, then smiled and said, "Ziwen, there is another tricky thing, and you need your best help!"

When Song Ziwen saw Chairman Jiang's polite appearance, he couldn't help but tremble all over: "Can't you borrow money again?"

Chairman Jiang did not admit it or deny it, and sighed with a sad face, "Alas, since Japan has occupied all coastal port cities and the prosperous Jiangsu and Zhejiang areas, the national fiscal revenue has dropped sharply, and it has long been ineffective.

Now that the military expenditure is getting bigger and bigger, the front-line troops can't even pay the military pay!..."

"But, I don't have any spare money now! Don't you know my little family background?"

Before Chairman Jiang finished speaking, Song Ziwen frowned and said, "Military expenses are related to the future of the War of Resistance, but now the military expenses in various places are obviously overspending, which is very abnormal.

I have reported to you before that in addition to the amount of war expenses listed in the budget and approved, the Ministry of Military Affairs and various provinces often ask for money on the grounds of temporary expenditures. In fact, most of this money is fed to the private pockets, and the phenomenon of empty wages in the army is already common.

If you just blindly satisfy and indulge these corrupt officials, it will not only breed more serious corruption, but also reduce the combat effectiveness of the troops, but also cause the people to live in poverty!

If you want to get rid of the current dilemma and reduce the financial burden, you must make up your mind to thoroughly investigate the vacancy and punish corruption. You must never continue to tolerate and support traitors like this!”

"Okay, OK, what's the use of saying this now? Do you think I don't want to?"

Chairman Jiang waved his hand, how could he not know about the increasing corruption? It was just that the roots were rotten and could not be cured unless they were dug and scraped.

However, the Japanese have now captured nearly half of the territory, and China is full of pessimism and tendency to surrender. If we take drastic measures to punish corrupt officials at this time, we may encounter a catastrophic mutiny.

After a pause, Chairman Jiang said helplessly: "Since this is the case, then we know that the central bank will print more legal currency to solve the urgent problem!"

“…”

Song Ziwen rolled her eyes speechlessly. This was simply drinking poison to quench her thirst!

After the Battle of Wuhan, the Anti-Japanese War entered a stalemate stage, and the Japanese army stopped a large-scale frontal attack, but the military expenditure in various war zones increased.

Prices began to soar in the rear of the War of Resistance Against Japan, which had seriously affected people's livelihood. This was all caused by the uncontrollable and indiscriminate issuance of fiat currency by the central bank.

Before the July 7 Incident, the total amount of fiat currency issuance in June 1937 was 1.4 billion yuan, and it doubled in April 1939 to 2.8 billion yuan.

It increased to 15.1 billion yuan at the end of 1941, 189.4 billion yuan at the end of 1944, and 556.9 billion yuan in August 1945.

In eight years, the number of fiat currency increased by 400 times.

Under this circumstance, the price level in the rear continues to rise.

If the price index in the rear of the first half of 1937 was set at 100, it was 213 in 1939, 1294 in 1941, and 184455 in 1945.

This means that prices in the rear have increased by more than 1,800 times in eight years.

If we do not try to reverse this situation, at most three to five years, the Kuomintang-controlled areas will have severe inflation and the economic order will completely collapse.

If the Japanese don’t need to fight, the National Government will collapse on its own!

"Okay, needless to say, there is only this solution at the moment!"

Seeing Song Ziwen's desire to speak but stop, Chairman Jiang waved his hand, and he also knew that it was powerful.

In fact, as early as 1939, Kong Xiangxi mentioned to Chairman Chiang that strict military expenditures should be carried out, and pointed out that austerity in military expenditure will not only not weaken the national army, but will instead curb corruption in the military, improve combat effectiveness, and reduce fiscal deficits and fiat currency issuance. It can be said that it will kill two birds with one stone.

However, due to the excessive resistance, Chiang Kai-shek was unable to implement the above suggestions. The consequence was that inflation became increasingly intense during the War of Resistance Against Japan and was eventually out of control.

...

At 4:15 am on December 27, 1941, five large Japanese transport ships were mooring in the moonlight, and the 18th Division of the 25th Army led by Major General Tuome was preparing to land.

At 4:30 a.m., the second and second fleets began bombarding from afar on the sea and land. Two hours later, the Japanese vanguard landed.

The British army defending the shore responded fiercely, and the shells and guns landed like raindrops. The Japanese army had to bury their heads and shoulders in the sand and crawl forward.

The British army was equipped with mines and barbed wire in front of the formation, and stone bunkers were arranged behind them, and the battle was very fierce.

Finally, the Japanese army successfully landed on the detour, with 120 casualties and more than 80 people sneaked into the dense forest and waiting for an opportunity to pounce on the airport.

At the same time, the troops affiliated to the 23rd Japanese Army stationed on the Shenzhen line and close to Hong Kong also received an emergency telegram from the base camp about "flowers blooming" and "flowers blooming".

This is a code word to inform the Japanese army that they had landed on the Malay Peninsula. After receiving the telegram, the commander of the 23rd Army, Lt. Sakai Takashi, issued an order to attack at 5 a.m. that day.

The artillery violently bombarded the British frontier positions. As soon as the sky was dawn, the plane bombed Kai Tak Airport in Kowloon and annihilated the British aviation forces.

The second Chinese fleet rushed to the sea to block the Hong Kong area. Then the ground troops launched an attack, breaking through the defense of Shenzhen without fierce resistance and attacking the "drunk" defense line on the Kowloon Peninsula.

Two hours later, the Japanese Fifth Division landed on the Malay Peninsula and had repelled Kota Balu's defenders to control the first beachhead of Japan's new empire in Southeast Asia.
Chapter completed!