"Sir, did I hear me right? Sell battleships? The grass deer was shocked, "This is absolutely unacceptable......

"Ozawa-kun, tell me why selling warships is a good way?"

"First of all, Ise and Hyuga are outdated, and the actual combat value is not great, and the Harbour Administration Headquarters had the desire to change it into an aviation battleship, but it is not cost-effective, Germany lacks warships, and is currently searching everywhere, it is simply to the point of starvation, and the construction is even more slow and urgent, so Germany will have demand; Secondly, we have captured so many transports and many more to be shipped back home - who will drive them? If the battleship is sold, a few thousand people can be freed up to operate the transport ship, and the manpower problem will be solved at once; In the end, we were all happy to be able to sell the battleship for what we desperately needed. Ozawa explained, "I was hoping to sell the battleship in exchange for the soon-to-be-completed aircraft carrier Aquila, but the Germans explicitly refused, and they only agreed to replace it with carrier-based aircraft, communications equipment, or other army equipment. ”

Hori Yiji nodded, he was the president of an aircraft manufacturing company, and the technical data and drawings of the three types of aircraft have been sent to the country one after another, but it is impossible for the country to thoroughly understand the drawings, master the production essentials, produce relevant molds and obtain qualified products for more than 6 months, and what should I do if there is aircraft loss in fleet operations during this period? After the new aircraft is used to it, it is impossible to go back to the old aircraft, so the number of 600 new carrier-based aircraft is not too much, but too little.

Hearing Ozawa actually say such a reasonable thing, Caolu was dumbfounded, and after thinking about it carefully, he felt that it had a deep meaning, especially the section on the lack of sailors for the transport ship, which directly hit the death hole of the combined fleet.

"Send a report to the country, just say that we are considering selling the two ships and exchanging them for other urgently needed materials, if the army has special requirements, they can also be included, and the settlement of expenses between the army and the navy will be coordinated by Yamamoto-kun."

After reading the telegram sent by Hori Tsukiyoshi, Yamamoto 56 thought it was very reasonable, and proposed to convene a coordination meeting of the army and navy overnight, and now the four giants of the army and navy in the base camp have openly "unanimous in the whole country", and major strategic decisions can be passed as long as the army and navy reach an agreement, directly squeezing Prime Minister Ugaki out to be only responsible for pure internal affairs, and even the foreign minister and the Tibetan minister have to obey the arrangements of the base camp. He is still happy with this position.

After the Combined Fleet won successive battles in the Indian Ocean and cooperated with the German-Italian strategic offensive in North Africa and the Middle East, Horiyoshi's opinion became particularly important, and after the "Statement of the Commander of the Combined Fleet on the Blockade of the North Indian Ocean" was published on the front page of the Asahi Shimbun, the whole country rejoiced, and even Emperor Hirohito commented that "the prestige of the empire has been greatly increased", and he was already considering waiting for the fleet to return to China to confer the rank of marshal on him (marshal is an honorary rank in Japan).

"Ishihara-kun, the Combined Fleet is going to return late."

"How late?"

"A month and a half." Originally, the navy set a return time of 20 January, a total of 35 days, which was based on the failure of the German-Italian Middle East strategy and the limit value of the combined fleet to return on its own by relying on surplus supplies and fuel, but when the army was informed, it was said that it would be 1 February, and now it will be postponed by 45 days, and it will go directly to mid-March.

Ishihara Wan'er frowned: "It's not okay to come back late, the situation in the South Seas is dangerous, and the Indian offensive will also have to be postponed." ”

"There is a reason to return late." Yamamoto Fifty-six sighed and pushed the copy of Horikichi's telegram stating his reasons to the other party.

At the beginning, after Tsukahara reported that Zuizuru was injured, the Tokyo base camp was also worried, and later understood that only a lift in the tail was damaged, and the recovery and take-off could barely be carried out, but the speed and efficiency were greatly reduced.

"Still selling warships?"

"Crazy ......"

This was the first feeling that came to everyone's hearts, but after reading a few of Ozawa's explanations, it felt very normal, and Yamamoto Isoroku pondered for a moment and said, "I think it's acceptable, and it will be a good business." ”

After reading the list of weapons sent over, Tada Jun breathed a sigh of relief and quipped: "It seems that in the future, the commander of the combined fleet will be selected with a business background." ”

"Not counting what Germany promised us, their seizure alone is worth 1 billion yen?" The head of the Military Command Department, King Hiroko Fushimi Miya, gasped and showed an expression of disbelief, "The total annual budget of the Navy in Showa 17 (1942) is only this number. ”

"The real value is much more than that." Navy Vice Chief Inoue Narumi explained, "For example, the official cost of a liberty ship in the United States is 2 million US dollars, or 5 million yen at the exchange rate, but the problem is that it is difficult to build a 10,000-ton transport ship for 5 million yen now -- more than 80 transport ships have been captured alone, and there are two 25,000-ton fast oil tankers, which are worth 500 million yen; for example, they have captured two divisions of equipment, one is an American armored division and the other is a British infantry division, how much is this worth?" Added up to certainly more than the equipment budget of 10 army divisions...... In addition, because of the excellent performance, the German head of state also sent 200 additional planes, and we calculated it at 250,000 yen each, which is 50 million, and ......"

Inoue Narumi has been dealing with the budget for a long time, and her arithmetic level is extraordinary, and her calculations are quite organized, which makes everyone dumbfounded.

"So that's enough to buy 9 Yamato? I remember that Yamato was only 104 million yen a piece that year? Koga Fengichi, the deputy head of the Military Command Department, interjected.

"Prices have risen, count 7, now it will be 140 million."

"Yo Xi ......" Everyone was overjoyed, the battle of the Combined Fleet was too cost-effective: so far not a single ship has been sunk, only Ruihe has been injured and dozens of planes have been lost. If we include the materials and equipment promised by Germany before the war, the naval military expenditure invested in recent years is equivalent to a full return.

"It's to pick someone who knows how to do business: fighting Britain and the United States is to make a fortune, only the Chinese battlefield is still a bottomless pit, and you have been losing money, so you have to withdraw quickly." King Fushimi Miyahiro said to Ishihara Waner unhappily, "The army has been talking about withdrawing troops, and I don't think there has been much action so far. ”

"The action is not small, 2 divisions have been drawn from North China, 2 divisions have been drawn from South China, and more than 30 have been sent out in the county." Ishihara sighed helplessly, "Hey, the following batch of red deer is brainless, tired of me and Tada-kun." ”

"It's so difficult for the Army, why don't you let the Navy do it?" Yamamoto Fifty-six smiled and excited, "Hori Yoshikun is going to form a brigade of marines to cooperate with the fleet's operations, if the army really can't spare manpower, simply expand the Marine Corps to two divisions - anyway, the equipment is ready-made, and it does not account for the army's quota." ”

Tada Jun immediately jumped up: "Don't even think about it, do you want us to help the navy defend those islands in the South Sea?" ”

"Can the Army accept the late return of the Combined Fleet?"

"What if you don't accept it?" Ishihara rolled his eyes, "If you look at the equipment, you won't have to worry about the fleet, you can only be considered unlucky for the army!" But if Rabaul loses it, don't blame the Army for being irresponsible - the blame must be on the Combined Fleet. ”

Rabaul's position was not trivial, and the giants discussed it for a long time before they made up their minds - to hold out until the return of the Combined Fleet anyway.

"How do I reply to the sale of battleships?"

Yamamoto has already agreed, and Inoue Narumi also agrees, he believes that Ise and Hyuga had originally planned to change to aviation battleships, and now that the Shinano has resumed battleship construction, there is no shortage of battleships, and resources can be concentrated on the construction of Yunlong-class follow-up ships; Moreover, it is true that the Combined Fleet said that there is a shortage of transports and sailors, and in addition, Japan is also in dire need of aircraft, especially high-performance aircraft.

King Fushimi Miyahiro Gong was a little hesitant at first, but for the sake of Horiyoshi earning 7 Yamato for the navy, this request should still be agreed, and now it is just a sale, even if the two old ships are sunk in this operation, he can't find fault with the combined fleet.

Tada Jun spread his hands: "Whether to sell warships or not is a matter for the navy, and the army will not interfere, but after capturing so much army equipment, the navy only needs one brigade, and the rest will be given to the army." ”

"Of course you can, but the Navy also has conditions."

"Please." Tada Jun thought to himself: It's good to be willing to mention conditions.

"First, no workers in the navy's manufacturing plants will be conscripted, and those who have been conscripted will be discharged immediately to ensure production; Second, the production of army mecha has been completely stopped, and special steel has been saved to meet the needs of the navy. ”

Tada Jun frowned and said, "There is no problem with the first one, I can agree to it now; The second one is difficult for the strong, what will happen if you don't build it now? There is one less tank for the aid of the tank. ”

"Ask Germany! Ask Germany to buy! Except for a small number of tanks that came this time, they are all stronger than domestically made tanks, and the troops have used new tanks, who is willing to use backward goods? Besides, it just stopped production, not that it stopped R&D. The army can first develop and catch up with the world level before mass production. Besides, the army now produces more than 1,000 tanks a year, which is not comparable to the number of Germany in half a month, and the navy will help you to ship it back after a few trips. ”

Several high-level army officials looked at each other, but they didn't expect Yamamoto Isoroku to say this kind of truth, but after thinking about it, they felt that it made quite sense -- it was better to ask Germany to buy tanks than to ask Germany to buy them, the price was not expensive, and the performance was good.

Ishihara's eyes rolled: "Tada-kun, I think I can agree to the Navy's request, but we need an additional 12 Tiger Models - we have to pay for the Navy's help." ”

Tada Jun was stunned for a moment, then reacted, and asked repeatedly: "How about it, 12 Tiger cars will be sold." ”

"Alright, deal."

Deputy Army Commander Shimomura Ding, who didn't say a word, smiled bitterly with a wry smile on his face: In the past, the army and navy would fight as soon as they met, scolding each other's red deer, but now it is even more desperate, the fight is not noisy, and they have begun to bargain with each other to do business. (To be continued.) )