The "ransom for freedom" in Hawaii quickly fell into Washington's ears. Everyone in the Association was frowning and hesitant, but most people opposed doing this: this would dampen morale and seriously reduce Hawaii's defense level and ability.

But Dulles obviously didn't think so. When he learned the whole story, he was completing the final work of the negotiations with Russia. In the previous rounds of communication, the United States and Eastern Russia reached a preliminary agreement that the Red Army would send 600 officers with practical experience to the US Army to the United States for "labor export". However, there was one thing that Russia bit the matter very much and had to send political commissars and carry out Bolshevik Party activities within the delegation. Of course, Dad Stalin is not interested in exporting ideology to the American people now. These political commissars promise not to contact grassroots American officers and soldiers. The party's activities were only arranged on holidays and were not open to Americans. More based on management and coordination needs. These party members were prevented from losing their firm beliefs and being knocked down by the bourgeois sugar-coated shells.

All other treatments and living conditions are easy to say. As long as the US pays the salary according to the same military rank, it will be given an additional consultant fee to deal with technical or partially shortage physical goods.

In order to show Comrade Stalin's importance to the friendly relations between the two countries, the "American Labor Group" sent this time was very important: the regiment commander was General Chernyakov who personally directed the Caucasus counterattack and defeated the Turkish army. The deputy regiment commander was General Cuikov, who served as the commander of the group army, fought the Battle of Stalingrad and the Central Asian Basin, and performed tenaciously. The director of the Political Department (mainly responsible for ideological work) was Brezhnev (rank of major general) who participated in many battles. The rest were generals who participated in the Battle of Moscow, generals who participated in the Battle of Leningrad, and generals who fought the Battle of the Southern Front. All of them performed well, had strong style, and were loyal to the party. There were 17 generals with major generals or above, and more than 190 lieutenants. The lieutenants were basically excellent officers who graduated from the Military Academy of Fulongzhi and performed well on the battlefield.

From the structure, about one-third of the officers familiar with armored warfare account for about one-third, and about one-half officers familiar with traditional infantry tactics, and most of the rest are artillery officers. As for the representatives of baggage soldiers, cavalry, art soldiers, etc., no one was sent. Of course, there were also officers from the Ministry of Internal Affairs involved, but except for the regiment commander, deputy regiment commander and director of the political department, the rest were not clear.

Both MacArthur and Clark appreciated and liked this list and their subsequent resumes very much, especially when Zhukov, Huasilevsky and others could not move lightly. General Chernyakhovsky, who commanded the last Central Asia counterattack with the Caucasus, was very important as the third Red Army general in the minds of the Americans.

In fact, when determining the list of personnel, there was also controversy within the Red Army and the Russian Communist Party. Some people said that it was enough to just treat the Americans perfunctorily. There was no need to be serious. They proposed to send Konev or Bagramyan to lead the team (the two of them were criticized for losing the battle, which was entirely due to Zhukov and Huasilevsky's mediation). Stalin made different decisions after careful thinking, believing that "unity between the United States" is crucial at this stage. When the two countries face the crisis of national survival and national survival, ideological conflicts will weaken, cooperation will rise against the enemy. They insist on selecting "elite soldiers and strong generals" and hope that they will use the resources of the United States and the equipment of the United States to test new tactics and improve the new military construction concept.

Comrade Stalin spoke,

The selection style changes immediately. The basics that can be selected are those who must be promoted in the future: Chernyakov is the successor of Zhukov in Stalin's mind. Cuikov, who has a tenacious style, can serve as the commander of the front army in the future. Comrade Brezhnev, who has a firm position, strong style and practical experience, can serve as the political commissar of the front army or an important local party position in the future.

Since the Russian side is indeed sincere and the number of political commissars is not large (every 25 people are paired with one person), and at the same time, it is said that it will never publicize the Bolshevik concept to the outside world. Finally, the Joint Conference accepted the list, hoping to gradually accept the Russian delegation to enter secretly from February.

The negotiations successfully established Dulles' prestige and laid the conditions for a second fire.

The second fire is about "redemption" of Hawaii civilians. He is very determined: the wounded should be rescued, and civilians should be rescued. This is something that can be done but cannot be said. At the meeting, he told Hoover murderously: "This is a compromise and concession to the Japanese army to save people's lives. It is an act of taking the minority of the two evils. It is not worth imitating, and it is not worthy of fanfare. Therefore, FBI must strictly follow the requirements of the Confidentiality Law and the News Control Law. Any news media that dares to step beyond the line will be closed; reporters and editors who dare to ignore the ban will be arrested first and then tried, expelled from the press, and those who fail to change their teachings will be secretly monitored, house arrest or even arrested. What is the responsibility that the government will bear in the future! At this critical moment, the thoughts of the people of the United States must not be confused, and the command system of the army must not be disturbed! I can't control the Voice of Europe, and can't even control the domestic media?"

This tough attitude was even shocked by Dewey, but since Dulles said he was willing to take responsibility in the future, even if he agreed to the meeting, Hoover immediately agreed to implement it.

Dulles put forward some opinions to rescue Hawaii civilians:

First, a submarine transported a batch of US dollar cash to Hawaii to save the economic and living order that was on the verge of collapse. It said carefully that "you need old money, don't have new money" to avoid arousing suspicion from the Japanese side;

Second, the Ministry of Finance will provide emergency blood transfusions to the Hawaiian banking industry to prevent local runs;

Third, since the Japanese army agreed to exchange civilian supplies for civilian freedom, we will collect a batch of supplies on the West Coast, and the Red Cross and other volunteer groups will come forward to replace people (not in their official capacity). These supplies are mainly to purchase oversupply and unsold products, such as outdated shirts, jackets, leather shoes, bedding, or products with high added value but will not enhance Japan's military strength, such as watches, radios, phonographs, mid-to-high-end cars, etc., or luxury goods, such as stockings, perfumes, high-end cosmetics, silk underwear, etc., and the government will promote domestic demand;

Fourth, the transaction time should be extended as much as possible, first the injured and sick, then the women and children, and then the elderly, try to get time to postpone the Japanese offensive, and gain time for the improvement of the situation on other battlefields and peace talks with Germany.

$4,000 was not a decimal at that time. The price of 1 ounce of gold was about 40 (1 ounce of gold was originally only 35 dollars, but the price rose due to US inflation). The standard determined by Japan was 100 ounces of gold per person.

There are more than 100,000 civilians in Hawaii. At this price, at least $400 million is actually far more than the material, because Japan has low prices for ordinary civilian materials, but Dulles believes it is completely worth it. He even said: "Gentlemen, if the Japanese are willing to collect 1 billion, 2 billion or even 5 billion now and give up the occupation of Hawaii, I would rather pay this money and make up for it if I lose it. If the island is lost and my life is gone, how can I make up for it in the future?"

If Hori Teiki heard these words, he would be very happy to shake hands with Dulles, and then leave with a ransom of $100.20 billion. Unfortunately, this deal is destined to be impossible and both sides oppose this proposal.

In the end, the Joint Conference only passed the first four items, and believed that the ransom exchange for Japanese withdrawal was "the time was not ripe, so I would postpone the consideration."

Although it is a temporary suspension of consideration, the military generally has a good impression of Dulles. Some people even privately believe that they come from a political family, have good government resources, are familiar with the situation in Germany, and have tough style. Dulles, who is more suitable to be president than Dewey, regardless of age or skill!

On January 23, after the deployment of relevant work, Dulles set off to prepare to fly to Portugal: According to the agreement between the United States and Germany, Dulles' aircraft went to the European continent alone, entered the 800-kilometer air defense circle of Azores and sent a contact signal. Germany would send several fighter jets to escort the entire journey until the aircraft landed safely in Lisbon.

The situation before going to Lisbon was very serious: after American Samoa, the Japanese army captured Vanua and Fiji on the periphery of Australia and New Zealand. At the same time, they easily took the Tonga Islands without bloodshed, and the troops pointed directly at the front line of New Caledonia; the Australian and New Zealand and the Solomon Islands were directly exposed to the Japanese threat; the German army occupied British Guiana intact, and at the same time found that the German main fleet began to rush towards the Caribbean Sea.

Whether the German army would occupy Trinidad and Tobago, whether the Atlantic Fleet would send troops to fight, the Joint Conference caused another stir, but Dulles couldn't take any time this time discussion, so he had to talk to Ribbintrov first and hear what Germany meant
Chapter completed!