"These Yugoslavs are really interesting."

After reading this telegram, Eder was somewhat satisfied with the attitude of these Yugoslavs.

Actually, this is nothing, it is that the Yugoslav government is sending a telegram allowing Romania to recruit volunteers in Yugoslavia to join the army. Although it was not explicitly written, the Yugoslav side gave enough hints.

True, after Germany's diplomacy hit a wall, Yugoslavia actively made overtures to Romania and Italy. Not only did it quickly sign a treaty of friendship with Italy and Romania, but it also frequently sent high-ranking officials to visit the two countries. Prime Minister Svetkov alone visited Romania three times in just a few months. It's just that except for the first time, he didn't get the opportunity to meet Eder at any other time.

Of course, it cannot be said that the visit to Yugoslavia was ineffective, and the continued visit has changed the attitude towards Yugoslavia in Romania considerably. At least there has been some change in the attitude of the Bulgarian community, although it is still obsessed with Macedonia, but it is not constantly clamoring for the use of force to take it, and it can be said that the results of the visit to Yugoslavia are still remarkable.

It's just that when it comes to another territorial issue, Yugoslavia is much more stubborn. Yugoslavia, both in discussions with Italy and in negotiations with Romania, refused to discuss territorial issues. Even willing to compensate financially, not willing to talk about it.

This made Eder a little uncomfortable, but although it was uncomfortable, it was not enough for Romania to decide to start a war against Yugoslavia.

Although Yugoslavia seems to be somewhat stubborn at the moment, Romania and Italy are too busy at the moment to be in any excesses against them.

And this also puzzled Eder as to what Yugoslavia would have been attacked by Germany in history. Looking at the performance of the Yugoslav government, there is no appearance of filial piety between Britain and France.

In fact, there is nothing to doubt about this, because in Yugoslavia, Britain and France had more influence, especially Peter II, the king of Yugoslavia who was not yet an adult, and he was the number one British fan.

After Germany defeated France, the European continent fell to the Axis in the tide of the Peter II staged a coup d'état, annulled the Yugoslav agreement that had just been signed for two days, and dared to slap Hitler in the face when he was in the middle of the day.

It's just that because Eder doesn't remember anything about it, it's too long ago to be the focus.

However, although Eder does not remember this, it does not affect his good mood, because it allows Romania to expand its influence in Yugoslavia in a blatant manner.

Since Yugoslavia was so knowledgeable, how could Eder not agree, and naturally gladly allowed it. And the good news was not limited to this, and two days later a telegram from Finland appeared before his eyes.

In fact, this is just a telegram that the Finnish government intends to purchase Romanian ordnance, and the Finnish government wants to purchase a batch of artillery, guns and ammunition and other weapons from Romania, but the most important of them is that Finland wants to purchase 120 R20 fighters, and this military purchase amount reaches 60 million US dollars.

Now Finland is procuring weapons all over the world to counter the threat from the Soviet Union. True, the Soviet-Finnish war, which had been fought for a long time in history, has not yet begun, and the main reason for this is the influence from Romania.

Among them, Romania intervened, which slowed down the pace of industrialization in the Soviet Union, which was about 10% lower than the overall scale of history.

Therefore, the current size of the Soviet army is larger than in history, but its equipment is still less than in history, after all, the equipment is insufficient and manpower to make up for it.

In addition, although Romania has acquiesced to the German-Soviet terms, its military strength on the border is still at a record high. At present, Romania has deployed 34 divisions on the Suro border, with a total strength of 830,000 troops.

In the face of Romanian pressure, the Soviet Union also deployed 1 million troops in the Kiev Military District. Excluding the troops on the border in the Far East, plus the garrison of the newly occupied eastern Polish territory, the Soviet Union naturally gathered troops much slower.

Therefore, after the rebellion in eastern Poland was cleared, the Soviet Union was ready to talk to the Finnish brothers. The Soviet Union had long been concerned about Finland's proximity to Leningrad on the Karelian Isthmus, and the Soviet government had always believed that Finland's territory could be used by third countries as a springboard for an attack on the Soviet Union.

In addition, the Leningrad region was too important for the USSR, and its enterprises were of unparalleled importance to the USSR.

It's just that the outcome of the conversation was very unsatisfactory to Comrade Steel, because Finland rejected the friendly demands of the Soviet Union. This time, the Soviet Union came with great goodwill, that is, it proposed that Finland move the Russian-Finnish border on the Karelian Isthmus 40 kilometers north, in addition to the several islands in the Gulf of Finland and the Finnish territory on the Rybache Peninsula to the Soviet Union, and the Hanko Peninsula was leased to the Soviet Union for a period of 30 years, totaling about 2,000 square kilometers, at a cost of 8 million Finnish marks per year.

In order to compensate Finland for the loss of territory, the Soviet Union expressed its willingness to hand over to Finland (4,000 square kilometers) twice the area northwest of Lake Onega, which was twice the area ceded by Finland.

It's just that the goodwill of the great Soviets was betrayed by the remnants of the White Bandit Army in Finland, and they did not hesitate to reject the goodwill of the Soviets.

It's just that in Finland's view, the Soviet Union's demands were extremely vicious, and they just asked Finland for the most dangerous Mannerheim Line. This was equivalent to the lifting of the barrier of Finland's defense against the USSR, which was not to put Finland under the threat of the USSR, so it was naturally rejected.

In the face of Finland's refusal, the Soviet Union naturally did not intend to leave it alone, the Soviet Union unabashedly assembled troops, and in addition constantly provoked friction between the two countries.

Faced with this situation, the Finnish government naturally knew that this could not be done well, and on the one hand, they sought diplomatic help. Although people around the world sympathized with Finland in the face of the Soviet Union's oppression of Finland, not many countries supported Finland at the national level.

Although Britain and France promised to send 100,000 troops to reinforce Finland, all indications showed that the 100,000 troops of Britain and France were more to occupy the iron ore mines in northern Sweden and Norway and cut off the iron ore supply to Germany from the two countries. So Hitler openly stated that if the two countries allowed British and French troops to enter the country, then Germany would declare war on Sweden and Norway. So in order to avoid falling into war themselves, the two countries did not dare to let the British and French troops enter.

In addition, Finland's mutual aid alliance with Norway and Sweden has also been rejected by the two countries for various reasons. Although the two countries do not plan to send reinforcements at the national level, they still privately organize volunteers and give some weapons to help Finland.

As for why Finland came to Romania, that's another question. Earlier, Romania and Finland did not have any crosspaths, and the distance between the two countries was too far for a friendly relationship at all.

In the twenties and thirties, after Romania became stronger, the relations between Finland and the Soviet Union warmed up, and at that time, in order to avoid irritating the Soviet Union, the relationship between Finland and Romania, the enemy of the Soviets, did not develop much.

So when Finland asked for help all over the world to no avail, Romania said that it could help him, and the mood of this small Nordic country can be imagined.

Of course, there is no such thing as a free lunch, and Finns know it well. It's just that when it's so critical, even the Finns plan to swallow it first.

That's why Finland will come up with such a large amount of money this time to buy Romanian materials (only 30 million in cash, 15 million in exchange for raw materials, and 15 million in Romania's loans).

As for why other countries are so lukewarm about aiding Finland, the reason is simple: the gap between the two countries is too great. Many believed that Finland would automatically surrender as soon as the Soviet troops marched in. Because the gap between the two countries is too great, the gap in their national strength should be calculated by more than 50 times.

To take the simplest example, Finland has a population of only 2 million, and the Soviet Union has an army of more than 3 million alone.

In addition, the Soviet Union's military industry was unusually developed, while Finland basically relied on external purchases. Except for per capita, Finland is simply nothing good.

Including the Romanian military, which was most familiar with the Soviet Union, thought so. Drawing on the experience of the first two encounters with the Soviet Union, they believed that Finland would surrender a month after the Soviet attack because the Finnish army had already been exhausted. Therefore, this aid to Finland can be described as Eder's insistence.

When Eder signed the terms of the arms sale, arms sales to Finland on behalf of Romania began. I hope that the performance of the Finnish army this time is worthy of Eder's strong support this time.