"I'm going to sail again." Fang Yan looked at the telegram of the Navy Headquarters in his hand and muttered to himself. He understood the deep significance of the Spanish Civil War for Germany: it would not only prevent Italy from being co-opted by France and Britain, but also further expose the contradictions between him and them due to differences in institutional and inherent interests, and at the same time provide an ideal training ground and opportunity for the German army. With Hitler's public tearing up of the Treaty of Versailles in the spring of 1935 and rearmament, Germany had added too many new men and equipment, and the exact amount of combat effectiveness they possessed had to be tested by a training ground that was completely indistinguishable from actual combat.

According to the order of Admiral Forster, the commander-in-chief of the fleet, all ships with ocean-going capabilities were to take turns to carry out combat missions in the waters near Spain, and Fang Yan was one of the first to go on the expedition. Considering that there was nothing that he needed to practice in person in a short period of time, Fang Yan gladly accepted the mission and was ready to start another ocean training. Faintly, Fang Yan still had some inexplicable expectations in his heart, and he longed from the bottom of his heart that this battle cruise with real guns and ammunition could sharpen his command quality enough.

On 25 July, Task Force 27, led by the USS Hipper, pulled anchor and set sail from Wilhelmshaven. In addition to this light carrier, the fleet also had 1 pocket cruiser, 2 heavy cruisers (at this time the Königsberg class had been reclassified as a heavy cruiser), 4 destroyers, and 1 supply ship. Six newly commissioned VII medium submarines were also dispatched to the North Atlantic theater that they would be fully involved in a few years.

Although naval warships could not go ashore and could not participate directly in the fight against the Spanish Republican Army like the "Condor Legion" sent by the German Army, their tasks and the role they could play were irreplaceable. Fang Yan, who was the staff officer of the fleet, received an order to block the coastline controlled by the Republican Army and prevent any Republican transport ships from leaving or arriving at their harbors. As for the ships of the National Army communicating with the outside world, the fleet should protect them from attacks by the Republican Army, and in particular ensure the safety of the munitions ships. This is completely a blatant posture of pulling the shelf. Besides. Fang Yan also received many training tasks in his hands, including ship attacks, air-submarine coordination, air defense and anti-submarine, etc., and he hardly had a day to spare.

Since these actions were originally what Fang Yan was eager to achieve, he should have devoted himself to the work of planning and guaranteeing them in the middle with great enthusiasm. After a short period of discomfort and rustiness, Fang Yan gradually mastered the essentials. And become comfortable in full practice. Before he knew it, he had forgotten his family background, his political ambitions, and even the delicate and feminine Sylvia, whose life was more efficient and fulfilling than when he first joined the Navy. The commander of the task force, Rear Admiral Bomay, watched the rapid growth of this young deputy with amazement, and while he was shocked, he couldn't help but feel more and more admiration in his heart.

On the way to the North Atlantic with the ship, Berlin also made a perfect endorsement for the image of the new Germany and Hitler with an unprecedentedly successful Olympic Games. There has never been such a good organization in any sports meeting before, nor has there been such a cost-effective hospitality. Especially on the opening day on August 1. The boiling atmosphere of 100,000 people in the main stadium made all the foreigners present feel the shock from the soul. The moment the figure of the Führer appeared in the main stand, the people at the scene suddenly erupted in earth-shattering cheers: countless right arms raised the sky obliquely like arrows, and the thunderous shout of "Long live" was deafening!

The fanaticism of the German masses was clearly not due to the fact that, as in the case of the Soviet Union, they were subjected to the ******** of life and death established by the secret police. Four years ago, as many as 6 million people, and tens of millions of dependents attached to them, lived a desperate life of hunger and poverty. Even buying milk for the child. It has become a luxury that is simply unimaginable. Today, almost all of them have jobs again. And the average monthly income is close to the 100 mark mark; Even the lowest-paid wage earners were able to take advantage of the success of the Socialist Party's reforms in agriculture to provide enough for themselves and their families. Feeling this fantastic change of disparity between heaven and earth, every German who experienced the painful torture of the four-year Great Depression is grateful to see Hitler as the supreme god who saved them from the abyss of hell!

Even after many years, those who witnessed it can still see the light and shadow recorded on color film in those years. I vividly recall this spectacular and boiling scene that seems to be like a myth. Foreign leaders and journalists were deeply moved: Hitler's image of peace and bravery was firmly embedded in their hearts until the moment when the dream was shattered when the war broke out a few years later. However, at this time, except for Fang Yan, who was already far away in the vast ocean, even Hess, who had followed Hitler for 15 years, could not understand the full thoughts and astonishing ambitions of this Führer, who stood in front of the main podium and was cheered by the crowd. When the enthusiasm for peaceful competition on the Olympic field is still unleashing. His plans for the bloody war have turned a new page.

"I need to make Germany self-sufficient in all basic raw materials and industrial goods." Just two days after the closing ceremony of the Olympic Games, Hitler expressed to his henchmen that this desire was completely motivated by war. Due to Germany's inherent disadvantage in geographical location, it was very easy to be blocked by the big naval countries represented by Britain after the outbreak of war; In order not to repeat the mistakes of the collapse of Germany during the last World War, Hitler was determined to let Germany solve the shortage of raw materials first. Today, the German chemical industry, led by Farben, has developed an effective strategy for industrializing synthetic rubber, gasoline and jet fuel; Germany can meet its self-sufficiency needs for these basic raw materials by building a large number of chemical plants.

The generals, with all their eyes on the field of war, gave full support to Hitler's proposal; The Nationalists were very few highly educated, knew little about economics, and only intuitively agreed with the Führer's proposals. But the finance minister, Shacht, felt that something was wrong. If the German economy were to embark on a violent path of no restraint and acting arbitrarily on its own volition, it would inevitably arouse serious doubts about Germany's credibility. At that time, Germany will not only suffer a heavy blow in the field of international trade, but the domestic economic revival will also be in danger of collapse due to the turmoil of the mark. At that time, Germany will only be able to fill this huge vacancy created by the false fire and the violent replenishment by plundering the wealth of other countries abroad!

Schacht, well aware of the drawbacks, immediately dissuaded Hitler, outlining in detail the serious consequences of doing so in the economic, foreign-exchange, and productive spheres. However, Hitler, who was determined to fight, could not wait for Schacht to continue to use his civilized way of abiding by the rules of the game to gradually win the opponent's chips in the game; What he wants is to pull out the dagger and rob the entire casino vault! Since Schacht was adamantly opposed, Hitler had no choice but to appoint someone else to coordinate this vital matter.

This revolution in the economic structure was undoubtedly a crucial step for the future wars that Germany and Hitler were about to wag. If there were an intolerable lapse in the supply of basic raw materials, the German war machine would automatically cease to function, as it had done in 1918, because of energy depletion, without the intervention of hostile foreign powers. This means that the person leading the construction must have excellent coordination and professional ability to complete this matter in many fields in an orderly manner. However, when Hitler tried to find out about the Socialist Party and his entrepreneurial veterans, he could not find the ideal candidate for the job.

Although Hess was the deputy leader of the party, his mediocre and docile nature made him unable to take on this responsibility; Goebbels will only control public opinion and propaganda, create a movement, but will not carry out efficient economic construction. Frick is a typical bureaucrat, and it is difficult to effectively control this kind of work that requires a lot of energy to do practical things; Franck is just a lawyer, and putting him in charge of this will only make a mess of everything!

Speaking of which, in the early years, although the National Socialist Party recruited a large number of uneducated and unskilled people in order to expand its power, it still had a few clever and intelligent henchmen who could be relied on by Hitler. Strassel, Röhm, and Goering, all three were reliable assistants to Hitler in the early campaign. However, as the situation changed, Strasser and Röhm had to be brutally purged by the latter because of their inflated ambitions to subvert Hitler; Goering also committed suicide early for unknown reasons, leaving a large gap in business. If Hitler had been surrounded by henchmen who could be of great use, then the cake of the emerging air forces would not have been divided between the traditional army and navy at all!

"Is it only possible to use Ley?" Hitler, sitting at his desk, whispered in his heart. The obese doctor of pharmacy was at the head of the Labour Front, a workers' group established by the National Socialist Party after the dissolution of the trade unions in mid-1933. Although the latter nominally played the same role as the trade unions of yesteryear, it was a vast pyramid with distinct hierarchies under the direct control of the National Socialist Party, in which the ordinary workers at the lowest level lost any right to freedom and had to work as serfs. It currently has as many as 25 million members, and it seems to be functioning normally!

While he was thinking about it, there was a sudden knock on the six-meter-high dark brown door, and Hitler, who had gathered his mind, followed the prestige and saw an SS second lieutenant belonging to his guard battalion standing in front of the door that had been pushed open a little bit. The second lieutenant saluted Hitler, who was sitting behind his desk, and then reported in a loud voice: "My Führer, General Guderian you want to see has arrived. (To be continued.) )