Half of the sun's fat face had sunk into the sea level, and a FI-382 Black Hawk helicopter landed on the rear deck of the heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen.

Vice Admiral Hans von Hersmann, commander of the German Navy's second aircraft carrier group, jumped out of the plane, strode along the deck to the middle of the battleship, and found Chen Dao in the conference room.

After the military salute, the two took their seats.

Lieutenant General Hersman took a file bag from the adjutant and placed it in front of Chen Dao.

The file bag contained a report on the battle loss ratio of the naval battle, and Chen Dao looked at the document and nodded repeatedly.

"Sunk one of the Kongo-class battleships, severely damaged two aircraft carriers, Akagi and Kaga, and inflicted minor damage on two other battleships and one aircraft carrier.

Our aircraft carrier Frederick the Great was wounded and tilted, the battlecruiser Scharnhorst was seriously injured and stalled, and the battleships Hindenburg and Gneisenau were slightly damaged.

For both of us, I think it's a mediocre record, it's not what we should be at the level we should be, it's not what the Japanese should be, what do you think? ”

Vice Admiral Hersman nodded and said: "Our record is indeed not ideal, we underestimate the combat strength and experience of the Japanese naval aviation, especially the combat effectiveness of their fighter units. However, after this actual combat test, we have also gained a lot. First, our air forces have been tested in real combat, and most of them are participating in actual combat for the first time.

In addition, the results of the construction of our fleet's anti-aircraft fire network have also been tested, and this actual combat has proved that the echelon anti-aircraft fire composed of 20-mm Gatling anti-aircraft guns, twin-mounted 40-mm Bofors anti-aircraft guns, and 128-mm heavy anti-aircraft guns, and the anti-aircraft fire network composed of escort fighters can effectively protect the safety of the fleet, as evidenced by the fact that not a single of our capital ships has been sunk.

After this battle, we have a preliminary understanding of the strength of the Japanese naval aviation, and the next time we meet them, we will be able to leave at least half of their warships. ”

Chen Dao nodded: "Okay, after all, most of the pilots are novices, and it is already good to be able to achieve such a record." The Japanese were lucky enough to engage you when your fleet was not well formed, allowing them to escape. ”

In order to deter the island of Madagascar and control the course around the island, Vice Admiral Hersman left a squadron of fighters, two squadrons of dive bombers and a squadron of torpedo attack aircraft at the airfield on the island, and the aircraft carrier group did not participate in the battle at full strength.

It was only when the domestic aircraft transferred all the way from Europe that the planes of the four squadrons were able to return to the fleet.

Lieutenant General Hersman said: "It will take four days for domestic planes to be able to transfer to Madagascar, after all, it is too far from China to the southeast corner of Africa."

Now that it was getting dark, my plan was to use the darkness to repair the wounded battleship, and then wait for dawn to have a decisive battle with the Japanese. ”

Chen Dao said: "I have already thought about it, I will lead the battleship force in pursuit, and you will lead the aircraft carrier to protect the wounded Scharnhorst to follow behind." ”

"You want to have a battleship duel with them, but there's no point. We just have to wait until dawn to be able to destroy them with aviation. Lieutenant General Hersman hurriedly dissuaded Chen Dao.

"I don't think the Japanese are too far away from us, and if we pursue them at full speed, we should be able to catch up with them, and before their ships are fully regained their combat effectiveness, maybe my Prinz Eugen will sink an aircraft carrier. Don't worry, I won't run out of the combat radius of carrier-based aircraft. ”

Chen Dao said and waved his hand, interrupting Lieutenant General Hersman's next speech, turning his head to the little adjutant Sharon who was standing on the side and saying, "Go, tell the communication room, send a telegram in clear code, and send it ten times in a row." The content is, Nagumo Tadaichi, you stop for me, I want to run after the submarine sneak attack? If it's a man, use a battleship to duel, and I promise not to kill you. ”

Hearing Chen Dao's words, the junior adjutant, Lieutenant Sharon, quickly took notes, and then ran out of the conference room.

Lieutenant General Hersman's facial muscles twitched repeatedly, and the strange style of His Excellency Brother-in-law reappeared on the battlefield, which was really elusive, should I persuade him to stop this reckless behavior?

Chen Daomu sent the junior adjutant Sharon away, turned to Vice Admiral Hersman and said: "Prinz Eugen, Hindenburg and Gneisenau are the main forces of the fleet, you give me two more light cruisers and six destroyers, and I will command them to chase the Japanese fleet." That's it, you go back and issue orders. By the way, I almost forgot, congratulations on your promotion to lieutenant general. ”

Seeing that Chen Dao issued an order to expel the guests, Lieutenant General Hersman had no choice but to get up and leave.

When Vice Admiral Hersmann's helicopter flew towards the USS Seckert, radio waves flew out of the heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen without interruption and flew to all corners of the world.

In the northern part of the Indian Ocean, in Berlin, the capital of Germany, in the conference room of the Supreme High Command, Hitler sat in the middle, looked at the participants sitting on both sides, and said with a smile: "I have good news to tell you, thanks to the unremitting efforts of the diplomatic department, we have made a breakthrough, that is, the Turks will take our side."

You can think about it, if the Turks join us, our troops can directly enter the Middle East through Turkey, enter the Caucasus mountains of Russia, and occupy the Baku oil fields of the Russians.

Our fleet will also be free to travel between the Black Sea and the Mediterranean, and the Turks will also provide us with at least a million troops. ”

Hitler said as he spread his hands out to the crowd, his fists clenched as if he were holding the whole world.

This was indeed great news, and Marshal Keitel, Marshal Reichenau, and Admiral Zeitzler were overjoyed, but Goering kept a straight face.

Goering asked: "It is good news that the Turks are able to join us, but I remember that they seem to have made some unreasonable demands. ”

"Yes, but it's all reasonable." Hitler said.

"The Turks want us to give them some arms and industrial assistance, of course, we won't let them ask for a price, we will control it within a reasonable range."

Goering nodded and said, "This request is acceptable, but what does this have to do with this military meeting?" ”

"Another demand of the Turks has a great deal to do with this military conference," Hitler said, "and the Turks made it clear that if our army could go south to the Turkish-Russian border, that is, in the mountains of the Caucasus, they would declare war on Russia."

I am convening this meeting to let you know that we are revising our plan for this year's summer operations. We're not going to Moscow anymore, we're going to go south, to the Caucasus Mountains, to the Baku oil fields, to Stalingrad, to draw Turkey into our camp. ”

"I support the Führer's decision, we need the Turks." The Chief of the General Staff of the Supreme Command, Marshal Keitel, said in a loud voice.

Goering, Field Marshal Reichenau, Commander-in-Chief of the Army Chief, and General Zeitzler, Chief of the Army General Staff, six grim eyes fell on Marshal Keitel's face.

Marshal Keitel, perceiving the unkind gaze of the three, closed his mouth in a daze, rolled his eyes, and waited for the three to speak.

Field Marshal Reichenau, Commander-in-Chief of the Army, withdrew his gaze and cursed Marshal Keitel in his heart.

This echo worm has no military ethics at all.

In a blink of an eye, Marshal Reichenau's attention shifted to a certain brother-in-law.

I think that at the beginning, Marshal Reichenau had just arrived at the Army Headquarters to take up the post of commander-in-chief of the army, and with the mentality that a soldier should also have a little political literacy, and at the same time, he also had the mentality that he should know how to be grateful, and personally visited his famous brother-in-law.

After the meeting, Marshal Reichenau first euphemistically expressed his gratitude to Chen Dao for recommending him as commander-in-chief of the army.

After a few small talks, Marshal Reichenau took the initiative to ask what he should pay attention to when dealing with the Führer as commander-in-chief of the army.

The answer given by Chen Dao is that the Führer is an artist, and his thinking is very jumpy, and he can quickly jump from one point to another, but our army is limited by time and space, and its actions often cannot keep up with the speed of the Führer's thinking jump.

Therefore, when the Führer's thinking is too jumpy and beyond our ability to act, we must put ourselves in the shoes of the soldiers on the front line, have a little military ethics, and resolutely put a stop to this unprofessional behavior of the Führer.

Towards the end of the conversation, Chen Dao said a proverb with a very oriental flavor that Marshal Reichenau remembered vividly.

"Alas······ The sky is not afraid, the earth is not afraid, and the Führer is afraid of changing his plan. ”

When General Rosen said this, the long sigh, the distressed expression, and the palpitating gaze must have suffered from the Führer's leapfrog thinking.

Now that General Rosen is far away in the Indian Ocean, it is his turn to face the terrifying situation of "being afraid that the Führer will change his plan" and show his military integrity······ Well, I don't seem to be alone, and there seem to be comrades next to me.

Field Marshal Reichenau turned his head to look at Admiral Zeitzler, who was sitting on the side.

The ideas of Colonel-General Zeitzler were much the same as those of Marshal Reichenau, and were perfectly in line with the thinking of his professional soldiers.

The Führer planned this step, jumping from Moscow to the Caucasus Mountains.

Taking the southernmost Army Group of South Ukraine as the starting point, the logistics line stretched from Kharkov all the way to the northern foothills of the Caucasus Mountains, with a visual measurement of more than 1,000 kilometers.

From the northern foot of the Caucasus Mountains to the south into the Baku oil field, at least another 500 kilometers, the most terrible thing is that it is all mountainous, mountainous, mountainous, and this logistics line is still needed.

From a purely logistical point of view, the plan to move south is very unreliable.

Zeitzler made up his mind and turned his head to look at Marshal Reichenau, who was sitting beside him, and happened to see that Marshal Reichenau was also looking at him.

The eyes of the two collided slightly, and they instantly reached a consensus that they should resolutely resist the unreliable behavior of the Führer.

Marshal Reichenau was about to speak, but was preempted by one person.

"The plan to go south is not bad, but changing the plan in this way will make it difficult for the soldiers on the front line to adapt," Goering said. In addition, I always felt that the Turks were not very reliable, and there seemed to be something wrong with their request. ”

Hitler asked, "What's wrong?" ”

Goering shook his head: "I don't know, but my gut tells me that there must be something wrong here." We can do this, the army command will draw up another operational plan for the southward advance, and the plan for attacking Moscow will also be drawn up at the same time, and when Heinz returns, we will listen to his opinion. Heinz was young and had a flexible brain, and if the Turks had a conspiracy, he would have been able to see it. ”

"I agree with Marshal Goering that we can make two plans at the same time, and then listen to the advice of General Rosen, who is a genius and will certainly be able to offer us the most genius of the plan. Moreover, I also think that we are really a bit passive to go at the pace of the Turks. "Field Marshal Reichenau followed in the footsteps of Goering with great political literacy, did not collide head-on with Hitler, and chose the route of saving the country with a curve.

"I also think it's better to have two plans." Zeitzler saw Hitler looking at him and hurriedly followed suit.

Seeing that the three senior generals were in agreement at the same time, Hitler pondered for a few seconds, nodded and said, "Then make two plans and discuss them when Heinz returns." ”

Goering quietly wiped the sweat from his palms on his thighs.

It's good that he lived up to Heinz's entrustment and dragged the Führer.

Before leaving, Heinz personally told the Führer to resolutely resist if he changed the plan to attack Moscow without authorization, and if he could not resist it, he would delay it until he returned, especially when the Führer headed south in the direction of the Caucasus and Stalingrad.

Heinz was really a visionary, and the more he was afraid of something, the Führer would have to do.

However, how did he know that the Yuan was going south?

Yes, he is a genius, and a genius can guess the Führer's actions to deserve the title of genius.

Goering was in a state of thought, when he suddenly heard Hitler say: "I remember that Heinz had already set off for his home, and he seemed to have encountered some trouble on the way. ”

Goering shook his head.

"There is no further news yet, and I am waiting."

As soon as Goering finished speaking, the door to the conference room was suddenly pushed open.

Hitler's adjutant walked into the conference room, hurried to Hitler's side, whispered a few words to Hitler, and handed Hitler a telegram.

After reading the telegram, Hitler smiled dumbly: "Heinz was so energetic that he even invented a coded telegram to shout about a battleship duel with the Japanese." ”

Goering looked confused.

Battleship duel? What's going on?