Captain Xie stood up and walked to the window, pointed to the other side and said, “Look across, the people are looking at us.”

“Their enthusiasm for resisting Japan is growing stronger and stronger!”

The special commissioner lit a cigarette, took a puff, walked to the window, looked at the other side and said, “It will soon subside!”

“The enthusiasm of these people cannot change the situation of the war.”

Captain Xie shouted unwillingly: “I don’t believe it!”

“History will remember this place and these people.”

“As long as we persist in the war, we will surely win.”

The special envoy took a puff of his cigarette and said indifferently, “Let future generations judge for that!”

“I’ll be honest with you. The reason why the chairman let you hold on until now was to put on a show for the Western countries.”

“And now the performance is over. If you continue to hold on, you will no longer be a warrior.”

“Did you see the actors on the stage on the other side?”

“Don’t let this feat become a bigger laughing stock. Zhongmin!”

Hearing this, Captain Xie couldn’t help but feel a chill in his heart.

Captain Xie asked angrily, “Is this how you define this battle?”

The special commissioner said: “Don’t be so naive, Zhongmin.”

“War, is there politics behind it?”

“The concession has agreed to your withdrawal. Retreat now!”

“It would be meaningless if this battle continued any further.”

“The little hope you bring will eventually turn into greater despair.”

“If you go out, you will lose your honor. But at least you can let these people survive.”

“They are all flesh and blood, with parents and relatives.”

Captain Xie said indignantly: “The Chinese people only want to serve their country as soldiers at a time when the country is broken and the family is shattered.”

“Three hundred thousand brothers have fallen outside. Now you tell me they have flesh and blood, parents and brothers?”

The special commissioner said helplessly: “The G government originally thought that if they could resist the invasion of the Japanese, there would be room for negotiation.”

“But the fact is that our strength is too far apart. If the war continues and spreads across the country, the people will suffer in the end.”

“They will endure endless wars, their families will be torn apart, they will flee everywhere, and countless people will be killed.”

“This country has been through so much.”

“Whether we win or lose, I just hope that this battle can end soon, so that this country can suffer less, and this nation can suffer less.”

“Compared with the people of the world, one person’s honor is not worth mentioning at all.”

“End it soon?”

Captain Xie sneered and asked, “How does it end? Do we have any choice now?”

“None of us wants to fight this war. The Japanese are going too far. They want to destroy our nation and our race!”

“If we don’t resist, will everyone just stretch their necks out for them to kill?”

The special commissioner quickly said, “I didn’t mean that.”

Captain Xie said, “What do you mean? We have been fighting the war all this time, isn’t it just to resist the invasion of the little devils and prevent people from suffering?”

“The facts have proven that no matter how much we give in, the Japanese will not be satisfied, and they will not stop.”

“Only by resisting to the end can we have a chance of survival.”

The special commissioner waved his hand and said, “Let’s not talk about this anymore. Just say now, you must retreat.”

“The war has to go on. Our elite troops have been used up. Let’s save some for our ace troops!”

“Zhongmin, don’t start a new battle before retreating. When you retreat, let those miscellaneous troops be responsible for covering your retreat!”

“It’s settled. This is an order and you must obey it.”

“Although I have lost confidence in the current situation, I know you are right.”

“I don’t know how history will write about us. But I believe that our descendants will remember this place, and our country will remember everything you have done.”

“You are the real Chinese.”

“But now, you have to focus on the overall situation.”

“Do we have to force the Japs to use heavy artillery?”

“You can see the gas tank outside. It contains more than 500,000 cubic meters of gas. Once it explodes, the entire concession will turn into a sea of ​​fire, and two million Chinese people will be buried with you.”

“You should be able to tell which is more important.”

Captain Xie said helplessly: “Okay, I agree to retreat.”

“But I want to ask, what happens after we withdraw into the concession?”

The special commissioner said: “They have promised to send them to the west of Shanghai, where you can meet up with the main force.”

Captain Xie then asked, “We demand to enter the concession fully armed, and we will not accept their surrender, let alone their arrangements. We will go directly through the concession and rush to the west of Shanghai.”

“I believe they don’t want us to stay in the concession for too long. It will be better for both sides if we just leave.”

“This is our final request and our bottom line. Please ask the special envoy to negotiate with the concession authorities immediately. They must agree to our request, otherwise we will never withdraw.”

The special envoy couldn’t help but be stunned for a moment. He really didn’t expect that Captain Xie would suddenly make such a request.

In fact, Li Guotao had already informed him of all this in advance and reminded him again and again.

What I said before, insisting on not retreating, was just a prelude to making this request.

Thanks to Li Guotao’s reminder, Captain Xie was actually prepared in his heart, but he still held on to a glimmer of hope. He would rather Li Guotao’s guesses were wrong.

But the facts proved Li Guotao’s guess, which made Captain Xie even more curious about Li Guotao.

But now is not the time to explore why Li Guotao knew all this. The most important thing is to protect the lives of his brothers. They must not leave their fate entirely to those unreliable foreigners.

Therefore, Captain Xie could only stick to this last bottom line. He also understood that this matter might not be easy.

Sure enough, the special envoy was just slightly stunned, and then flatly refused: “No, the concession will never agree to this.”

“Allowing you to withdraw to the concession is already their biggest concession.”

Captain Xie said: “That’s why I asked you to negotiate. If they don’t agree, you should find a way to make them agree.”

“I believe that as long as you insist on this, they will definitely agree.”

The special commissioner continued, “That’s unlikely. When we talked to you before, they specifically told you to surrender your weapons immediately after entering the concession.”

“First, they don’t allow any foreign troops to enter the concession. If you surrender your weapons, you will no longer be considered an organized force.”

“On the other hand, if you are allowed to enter the concession, it will give the Japanese an excuse, and then they may also ask to enter the concession. The concession is most worried about the Japanese entering the concession, so they will never take this risk.”

Captain Xie said seriously, “They dare not let us continue fighting.” “Can’t you be a little tougher when dealing with those foreigners?”

The special commissioner said helplessly: “Don’t be naive, Zhongmin.”

“Do you understand that a weak country has no diplomacy?”

Captain Xie said righteously, “I only know that if you give in, they will become more aggressive.”

The special commissioner waved his hand and said, “This matter is not negotiable.”

“You must surrender your weapons and enter the concession.”

Captain Xie said angrily: “You haven’t even negotiated with the foreigners, but you are so sure that they won’t agree.”

The special commissioner said angrily: “Of course I am sure that I have discussed this matter with them at the beginning, and they flatly refused.”

Captain Xie sneered and said, “That’s also caused by your incompetence.”

“Zhongmin!”

Head Xie raised his hand to interrupt the special commissioner and said, “Stop talking. This is our bottom line.”

“Didn’t you just say that? I am responsible for the safety of these hundreds of brothers.”

The special commissioner said: “We just want you to surrender your weapons and retreat into the concession. When you leave, we will naturally hand over your equipment to you.”

Captain Xie sneered and asked, “I would like to ask the special envoy, when can we leave the concession?”

The special commissioner said: “They promised to do it as soon as possible.”

Captain Xie said: “If I’m not mistaken, the Japanese are also continuing to put pressure on the concessions, right?”

“If the Japanese don’t let the concession release us, do you think the concession will listen to you or the Japanese?”

“You don’t even have the courage to negotiate with foreigners. How can you guarantee our safety?”

“If the Japanese insist that the foreigners hand us over, don’t you think those foreigners will hand us over in order to save themselves?”

“By then, can you? Or the G government? Can you guarantee our safety? Can you change the foreigners’ decision?”

“Instead of negotiating with the foreigners at that time, it is better to be tough with them now. While they are eager to send us away, they may agree to our request. If they really surrender, we will not have any qualifications to negotiate, and we will be at their mercy.”

“My hundreds of brothers would rather sacrifice their lives for our country on the battlefield than die in such a despicable transaction.”

“This is a shame for us, and even more so for this country and nation.”

The special commissioner said quickly: “I can assure you that they will never hand you over to the Japs.”

Captain Xie asked back: “What can you promise me?”

“Can you be the master of foreigners? Or will foreigners care about your opinion?”

“Weak countries have no diplomacy, that’s what you said!”

“If we don’t negotiate while we still have bargaining chips, when will we wait?”

“Have you not seen clearly the faces of those foreigners?”

The special envoy was speechless and said, “What if the foreigners insist on not agreeing?”

Captain Xie said seriously: “Then tell them that if they don’t agree, we will never retreat.”

“I’m sure they will agree.”

The special commissioner reminded him sternly: “You are disobeying orders.”

Captain Xie said: “If I can still return alive, I will accept military punishment.”

“Zhongmin! You are making a fuss.”

“I promised my brothers that since I brought them to the Sihang Warehouse, we should leave together, and we should leave with honor, instead of going to die in a cowardly way.”

“Special Commissioner, time is running out. Instead of arguing with me here, you’d better go negotiate with the foreigners as soon as possible.”

“Our conditions here are simple, so we won’t let the special envoy eat here.”

The special commissioner finally warned: “Zhongmin, you will be held responsible for everything you did today.”

Captain Xie said: “Even if the special commissioner wants to shoot me, he has to wait until the brothers arrive and are safe. Now I advise you not to have such an idea.”

“Okay~!”

The special commissioner said angrily: “You will regret it.”

After saying that, he turned around and left angrily.

Captain Xie looked at the special commissioner’s departing back and shouted, “I will regret it if you surrender.”

“We will evacuate into the concession in two groups. After the first group successfully crosses the concession, the second group will evacuate.”

“If we enter the concession and the foreigners use tricks to forcibly disarm us, then the second group will swear to defend the warehouse to the death.”

The special commissioner who had just walked to the door could not help but stop again after hearing this. He sighed helplessly and said, “I know.”

After saying that, he left without looking back.

After the special envoy left, Li Guotao, Battalion Commander Yang and others all came to the command center.

Captain Yang said, “I saw the special commissioner leave angrily without saying a word. What happened?”

Captain Xie looked back at Li Guotao and said, “You guessed it right.”

“The superiors ordered us to retreat. The foreigners agreed to let us withdraw into the concession, but they required us to surrender our weapons.”

“I’m curious, how did you guess that?”

Li Guotao did not answer. He found a chair and sat down, then took out a cigarette and lit it.

When Captain Yang heard this, he became anxious and quickly asked Captain Xie, “Commander, do you agree?”

Li Guotao smiled and said, “Why are you in such a hurry? If the head of the regiment agreed, would the special commissioner be so angry?”

Captain Xie said: “I told him that we can retreat as ordered, but we will never surrender our weapons. We will retreat into the concession in two batches. Unless the first batch of people leave the concession safely, we will retreat in the second batch.”

“Otherwise, we would rather die than retreat.”

“Guo Tao, you haven’t answered my question yet?”

Li Guotao sighed and said, “This is all just my speculation. I didn’t expect things to develop to this point.”

“I have long seen through the faces of those high-ranking officials in Jinling, as well as the faces of the foreigners.”

“Why do you think I left the army and chose to go home and herd cattle?”

“If it weren’t for the national crisis, the Battle of Shanghai gave me a glimmer of hope, and I wouldn’t have gone to the battlefield again.”

“It’s a pity that some people are just like dogs that can’t change their bad habits.”

“But I also figured it out. This country is sick. Every Chinese person must find a way to save the country. Although the power of one person is limited, only when everyone works in this direction can we succeed.”

“If everyone gives up, then there will be no hope.”

“We are all weak. Even if we are just fireflies, we must work hard to illuminate this country. We have 400 million compatriots. As long as we unite, the light of 400 million fireflies can turn into a rising sun. The rising sun will illuminate the whole country and even the whole world.” (End of this chapter)