On August 15, 1944, the Cairo Conference of the Axis powers was officially convened under the auspices of Germany and Italy. Pen "Fun" Pavilion www.biquge.info

German heads of state, Italy's new Prime Minister Ziano, France's supreme head of state Petain, Romanian Antoniscu, Hungarian regent Hortie, Bulgarian Tsar Boris III, Spanish head of state Franco, Russian (Western Russian) head of state Vlasov and other heavyweights were all present.

After the Italian leader fell ill due to "illness", Hoffmann and a group of European heads of state and foreign ministers also went to Rome to visit him, Mussolini can now only lie in bed, not only can not move, speak, even have to be fed by nurses, his eyes are dull, it is no different from the "living dead" - other functions in medicine are quite normal.

He didn't know that he was plotted by his son-in-law, he only thought that he was too careless that day, and watched Hoffman and others come to visit him, and he was grateful and regretful - they were about to win, why couldn't they enjoy it?

Hoffman touched the hand of this fascist senior, sighed silently, and comforted: "Leader, don't worry, the illness will slowly get better, Count Ziano inherited your career, and will further carry forward this historical responsibility......"

Then Ida spoke on behalf of her father, expressing her gratitude to the Führer for his visit, and that she would further adhere to and carry forward the German-Italian axis coordination mechanism and make unremitting efforts for the final victory—these words could not be uttered by Mussolini, all of which Ida was talking nonsense next to her, but a bunch of people nodded their heads in a matter-of-fact manner.

In order to secure his position, Ziano not only hugged Germany's thigh tightly, but also said a lot of things that were inconvenient for Germany to say according to the hints of Ribbentrop and Hoffmann, so that the German side had a good impression of him, and Hoffman could not help but pull out a dime a dime for Count Ziano's "sensibility", not only promised to give Italy a batch of military supplies, but also agreed to transfer Me-262, advanced engines represented by DB-603 and other technologies to Italy, and also expressed the hope that Italy would participate in the production plan of wolf infantry fighting vehicles.

Germany actually engaged in the design of infantry fighting vehicles on the basis of 38T, codenamed Rhinoceros, which is an emergency product, although it is still so-so, but it is still a little hot to rise to the unified standard of the axis, based on the performance and upgradeability of the No. 3 tank, and Italy has been able to produce No. 3 completely, which is naturally not a problem for the lower level of technology - this is equivalent to Germany diverting the order of the wolf to Italy.

Although Italy's goods are not the best, they are cheaper than those from Germany, and Italy is more scarce than Germany in terms of all kinds of materials, and Japan's agricultural and sideline products can be exchanged in large quantities in Italy, so the trade between the two sides is also continuing to expand. This is tantamount to snatching food from the German bowl, and since Germany says that it does not care, Italy cannot be uninterested, and all trade is calculated in Deutsche Mark prices, and Japan has also recognized this system.

Japan also buys products from France, for example, French artillery is more famous, not worse than Skoda and Krupp, and some products are even more than German products, even Germany itself has an attitude of recognition of this. Germany's refusal to interfere with the trade between Japan and France has greatly relieved the French side, believing that Germany is sincere in running the EU, so whether it is Petain, Darlan, or the industrial giants in France, they all sincerely sing the praises of the European Coordination Mechanism.

Especially after Britain bought Pakistan from Japan, France also wanted to buy the Indochina Peninsula, a colony that France had previously lost to Japan, but France did not have much appetite and only wanted the southern part of Indochina. Germany promised to help in this matter on the condition that Cam Ranh Bay be used as an anchorage for the combined European fleet in the future, and Petain's government naturally agreed.

Japan is noncommittal about this, because the Indochina Peninsula is an important part of the absolute defense circle and the core barrier of India. However, Horiyoshi did not categorically refuse this, but expressed an ambiguous attitude, telling the French that they could negotiate, and the key was that France should be able to afford the price, and the details could be discussed in detail in Cairo.

The long-range passenger plane carried by the Japanese delegation was modified from the Ju-290 fuselage provided by Germany, and Japan introduced more than 10 of these aircraft, three of which were converted into high-level passenger planes.

Several important ministers, including Minoru Higashikunomiya, Horiyoshi, Tada, and Masayuki Tani, were on one plane, and other key attachés, including the German envoy Kohl, were on the other plane. The Japanese side dispatched a large number of air defense fighters to cover it, starting from the mainland, to Taiwan, Nanyang, Indochina and other places at least 100 Fw-190 or Hurricane to provide escort, after a short stop in Da Nang, the next day flew directly to Delhi.

As soon as they entered the Indian Ocean, the army and navy fighters immediately put up the whole process of protection, and the navy's Do-412, Bf-319 and other aircraft also appeared, and during the flight, everyone also saw the 3 air combat take-off fighters near the Andaman Islands to welcome them.

Since the Indian Ocean was attacked by Spruance, the Tokyo base camp is deeply ashamed, and now it is operated like an iron barrel, a large number of Atlantic inspections, colorful clouds are flying all over the sky, and the three-air war is simply stationed in the Indian Ocean, Horiyoshi believes that this is not enough insurance, and at least half of the more than 60 VII and XIV-class submarines newly acquired by Japan are deployed in the Indian Ocean, and there is no combat mission, which is to maintain monitoring and prevent the Americans from making trouble again. Especially last time, there was a way to send the main fleet to encircle and suppress, and this time the main fleet went to carry out the Midway raiders, and if there was a fork, there was no place to cry.

After arriving safely in Delhi, Yamashita Fengfumi specially organized a huge "Indian special performance" in order to shoot the sycophants of the imperial prime minister from the army, and showed the blitzkrieg tactics learned from the German army to the prime minister and various high-ranking officials. After the parade, Yamashita also presented gold, a local product of India. Everyone laughed unceremoniously.

Prime Minister Bose of the Indian National Government also attended the military parade, and he and the leaders of the Nanking, Siam, Burma, and Vietnamese governments were waiting in Delhi a few days in advance, and then prepared to go to Cairo together for a long time to see - the most they could do was wave their flags and shout, clap their hands, and take a group photo.

King Minoru Higashikunomiya was satisfied with the respect of the dignitaries of various countries and the service of Yamashita Fumi, and his entourage was also very happy, except for Horikichi who kept frowning and seemed to be preoccupied.

This attitude puzzled King Minoru Higashikunomiya, who thought that the army was having trouble with the navy again, so he went to inquire in person in the evening, but Horikiyoshi's concern did not come from within, but was troubled by the upcoming Cairo conference, he explained: "In the event of peace between Germany and the United States, we will be directly under full pressure from the United States, and the support of European countries is crucial to the protracted war of the empire, so it is not appropriate to make enemies with the major powers, and even naked relations must be maintained." ”

Western Russia and Eastern Russia are relatively difficult to say to Japan, and Japan still uses white dew and red dew to refer to Western Russia and Eastern Russia.

"Red dew?" The Minister of War, Tada, was taken aback, he knew that the Kwantung Army still had an offensive plan, and even copied one to himself, Ishihara thought it was inappropriate, but Tada felt prepared.

"Of course." Horiyoshi nodded, "Chilu has a lot of mineral resources, and there are good mecha manufacturing powers, aren't you bothering about the engine of the T-34 tank?" Why can't you buy it from Chilu? Grain could not be sold in Europe, and selling it to Chilu Stalin must have been welcomed with both hands. ”

"yes." Tada Jun figured it out as soon as he slapped his head, the T-34 is relatively easy to imitate, but the B2 engine is not easy to produce, and now Japan can only buy original Russian goods or German-made parts from Europe, and the performance of the domestic engine is very unsatisfactory. In addition to the 200,000 tons of grain delivered by the last "lease" of Beihua Taidao, the two sides have reached a trading agreement on 2 million tons of crude oil in the past few months and have paid one after another. It would also be a good deal to get enough B2 engines from Stalin.

As a matter of fact, Japan wants to buy products and technology from Britain, because Britain's technological level is second in Europe, but the two sides have not reached an agreement because there is still the Pakistan issue in between.

According to his judgment, an armistice between Europe and the United States is imminent, and at that time, the armaments of all European countries can be directly opened to Japan, and fighters, tanks, and Axis-class aircraft carriers can all be bought. Japan certainly can't come up with so much hard currency, and it can't buy it with debt, but Japan has one thing in its hands that Europeans envy - colonies! Under the pretext of buying back, part of the colonies could be transferred to Britain and France in exchange for the most urgently needed strategic materials.

"So what will be left of the empire in the future?" King Minoru Higashikunomiya complained, "We have spent a lot of money on the South Seas, and we have suffered countless casualties, not to finally return all the colonies to Europe. ”

"We have taken India, do you plan to take all the more than 10 million territories?" Horikichi was surprised, "This is impossible, we can't hold it, and Germany won't allow us to take so much territory!" ”

Tada complained: "In the final analysis, we are just a knife that Germany uses to deal with the United States and bleed the Americans." ”

"That's right, because the brainless Americans are unwilling to make peace with us, they can only continue to follow Germany and take this knife with peace of mind." Horikichi had a bitter smile on his face, "Just because this knife is still a little sharp and can kill people, Germany is polite to us, if it doesn't work, do you think the prime minister will be treated as a major leader when he attends the meeting?" ”