Due to the success of the three carrier-based aircraft in Germany, several major German aircraft manufacturers are full of interest in cooperating with Japan in the development of follow-up models, and in this context, the trio in Germany reported that the past 16 tests of high-speed ship reconnaissance (Caiyun), 16 tests of carrier-based attack aircraft (Meteor), 17 tests of carrier-based fighters (Gale), and a type of local fighter (purple electricity) and other semi-finished design ideas have attracted great attention, and the aviation headquarters of the Ministry of the Navy is also suffering from being unable to overcome the technical bottlenecks in development. Hit it off and were willing to develop together.

In order to strengthen its technical strength, Germany also designated and asked the technical backbones related to the above-mentioned projects, including Jiro Horikoshi, the designer of the Zero War, to work in Germany.

"Why did you name this person as the head of the regiment?"

"Because he has worked in Germany, he has a certain network and can communicate effectively with the German side. At the same time, the German side also expressed its willingness to send experts in teleprosers and combat vehicle technology to Japan to help us improve the relevant level. ”

As soon as several bigwigs of the army and navy met, they felt that this was all a good thing, and they hurriedly agreed, especially the army, which was bent on raising the power of the mecha. But Inoue Narumi poured cold water on them mercilessly: "Ozawa said, according to the German introduction and his judgment, we have too big a gap in the field of mecha, not to mention the Tiger type, even the technology of No. 4 is difficult for us to master in the short term, and the Germans think that the most suitable way for us is to imitate the T-34." ”

"The army needs to refuel, the telegram also said that the German army has captured millions of army equipment in Western Europe and Russia, ranging from rifles, machine guns, artillery, tanks, armored vehicles, etc., only a small part has been used, and most of the rest are piled up in warehouses, which can be disposed of cheaply to us if needed."

In the past, such a face-hurting thing must be fought, but now the atmosphere of the army and navy bosses is good, and it is nothing to joke occasionally, Ishihara said with a hippie smile: "I know, I know, the navy technology is strong, Germany wants to slap you, the army technology is not good, only we have the share of Germany." But in the future, India will be attacked and robbed of gold, and the navy will not be divided? ”

Koga Fengichi also had a rare sense of humor: "The army has the final say whether to divide the gold or not, but the navy has the final say on whether to transport materials or not......"

Everyone laughed.

"Now that the route is open, and there are ships, it seems that normal trade can also be carried out, and it is not good to sit and eat empty, this time we sent hundreds of tons of metal over, and the German side is very satisfied, and next time we can continue to toss minerals, rubber, and agricultural products, and arrange something for the prime minister, so as not to make him bored." Inoue Narumi teased Prime Minister Ugaki, and everyone laughed again.

"However, in order to strengthen anti-submarine warfare, in the past two months or so, more than 10 merchant ships have been sunk by US submarines in the South Sea alone, and the Indian Ocean route is so long, there are more dangerous areas." Koga said with a frown.

Tada Jun was also taken aback: "The navy has also sunk so much? I thought we sank 20 boats......"

Yamamoto Fifty-six and Ishihara looked at each other and shook their heads together: "This will not work, we must strengthen measures, otherwise we will not be able to build enough for the Americans to bomb." ”

After saying these two sentences, the admirals were collectively silent again; they had commanded the troops for many years and had a deep understanding of the Navy's faults -- the Combined Fleet has always been prepared for a decisive battle of the fleet, and has never disdained to do such "dirty and tiring work" as escort convoys; of course, objectively they cannot spare troops to escort the convoys, and the Navy's own submarines are also serving the decisive battles of the fleet, and they have never thought of breaking diplomatic relations in the past, and this is completely different from Germany's thinking. The South Sea transport can still be held up, but the Indian Ocean transport will be a big problem - what if you sink a freighter full of tanks and planes? The Marukyu plan to arrange for the construction of escort destroyers was already an unprecedented move.

"Perhaps, according to the method suggested by Ozawa, the escort system should be introduced, and the escort aircraft carrier should also be prepared, and there are still a few small air carriers."

"We'll have to build some more escort destroyers."

"Ask a few more German submarine instructors for support, and ask them how they broke the relationship."

"We're also going to send submarines to bomb American merchant ships, and the Yankees are more dependent on supplies than we do."

"Horikichi sent me a personal telegram." Seeing that the main topic was almost discussed, Yamamoto Fifty-six said slowly, "He said that if we can grit our teeth and hold on to Nanyang, he would very much like to bring the Germans together to fight the East Coast, of course, it is only his immature idea at present, and he has not communicated with the German side." ”

"The East Coast of the United States?" King Fushimi Miyahiro Gong, who prides himself on "having calm in every big event", finally couldn't hold back this time, and stood up "Huo", "He's crazy?" ……”

"Great idea! Good idea! Ishihara clapped his hands and applauded, "Since the visit of the black ship of the United States, no Japanese warship has gone to the United States to show off its might, and the army is willing to bow to the wind, and bow to the wind." ”

Inoue Narumi glared at Ishihara in annoyance, lest the matter be big enough, and said worriedly: "The strength of the Atlantic Fleet is indeed not strong now, but what can you do if you fight?" I can't land, and I have to come back in the end. Tossing back and forth like this, not to mention March, June don't want to come back, Nanyang may be able to withstand it, India's strategy will be too late, now Britain has suffered defeats in the Middle East and North Africa, Indians are unstable, and they are afraid of changes after a long time. ”

"This is the East Coast...... It's not Pearl Harbor, and that's why someone as bold as Chief Horiyoshi dares to think about it. Koga Mine showed a look of infinite yearning, "The thought that those 460 guns in Musashi can have the opportunity to fire at New York or Boston makes it feel worthwhile in this life." ”

"Forget it, use my personal name to reply to him: prepare a plan, act according to the opportunity, and don't consider it for the time being."

Everyone nodded: Yamamoto Fifty-six's answer can be attacked, retreated, and defended, which can be called a drop of water, worthy of an old classmate, and the pulse is very accurate.

"Not thinking about it yet?" Horikichi received a reply, sighed, and silently put the telegram away, the good news was that the request to sell Ise and Hyuga was approved, and the total price of the domestic hope was not less than 60 million yen.

The original cost of the two Ise-class battleships was a total of 80 million yen, and then they were successively refitted, and the total cost had already exceeded 100 million, but after all, it was an old ship of nearly 30 years, and the relationship with Germany was also very important, and the Ise also had a turret that was broken, and the Japanese Navy finally did not open its mouth, but only gave a conscience price, ready to package and sell it for 60 million - this cost is now very reluctant.

Horikichi offered the German side 70 million Reichsmarks (in fact, the Reichsmarks were slightly more valuable than the yen, but for the sake of calculation, the exchange rate was basically 1:1), and the Germans symbolically cut 3 million, and finally sold for 67 million Reichsmarks. This figure was transmitted back to Tokyo, which provoked everyone in the base camp to tell jokes again: the commander of the Combined Fleet really wanted to pick someone who could do business, and the money for the 12 Tigers was squeezed out at once.

Raeder was very satisfied with the addition of 2 battleships out of thin air, but Speer was a little unacceptable: "Führer, although 67 million is not enough for us to build half of the Scharnhorst (140 million German marks), but after all, it is 2 old ships, and they are outdated battleships, is it really useful to buy them?" ”

"It's useful, and besides, the Japanese don't take the money and leave, they still have to buy arms -- which means that we only spend less than half of the money, so why not?" Hoffman smiled, "You can't simply look at the price, the planes and tanks they bought can cause more damage to the Americans than these 2 battleships, as long as this is satisfied, it is enough, otherwise why would I send 200 planes to the United Fleet?" If Churchill can have the record of a combined fleet in these two months, let alone 200 planes, Roosevelt will not frown if he sends 20,000 planes. ”

Speer suddenly realized.

Speaking of which, Japan and Germany have different affordability for arms prices. In Japan's annual budget, the price of a Zero War is about 220,000 yen, and this time Germany priced the Bf-219 at 250,000 Reichsmarks, and the base camp thought it was cheap -- considering the advantages of the Bf-219 over the Zero War, the extra 30,000 yen was completely worth the price, and the Japanese side believed that Germany was giving the cost price.

In fact, Germany's industry is far more developed than Japan's, and the output is larger, and some of the technical data is basically produced by Japan, and Germany's early research investment is very small, and the cost of the new Bf-219 is less than 140,000 Reichsmarks, and Speer estimates that it can be further compressed to less than 120,000 with the increase in production -- the price of Bf-109 in the same period is less than 90,000 Reichsmarks.

The same is true for Japan's price judgment of the Tiger, the production cost of the Tiger Germany itself is about 250,000 Reichsmarks (historically 300,000, the price of this book has dropped to 250,000 due to the increase in production of the Tiger and the reduction of weight and components), while the price of the Type 97 tank made by Japan with only 15 tons is nearly 180,000 yen, and the price of the Tiger is 600,000 Reichsmarks.

But in terms of building ships, the costs of both sides were reversed, and the German cost was about twice that of Japan, and the price of a single Scharnhorst caught up with the price of Yamato. Japan and Germany did not know each other about these insiders, but only Hoffman knew it clearly, and it did not matter if the army and air force doubled their equipment and reported it to Japan, but it was a pity that the Japanese warship production was not good, otherwise it would be a good way to directly purchase them from Japan.

"And what I bought back now is a battleship, and it will not be used as a battleship in the future, so let's wait for the naval armament reorganization case to see the specific plan, and the storage will surprise you."

The Combined Fleet finally agreed to help attack Kenya in exchange for 100 carrier-based aircraft, and then 7.2 million out of the 67 million sold battleships to purchase 12 Tigers, and the rest of the money was used for the purchase of aviation armaments by Hori Yoriki - at an average price of 60,000 marks, Hori Yoshiki swept 1,000 engines of various types, mainly the DB601E series, the BMW 703 series (the German improved version of the Rong 21 engine) and the BMW 801 series, The engine backlog of Mercedes-Benz some time ago was swept away all at once. (To be continued.) )