On March 12, Fang Yan finally waited for the order of the Navy General Headquarters. Pen × fun × Pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 Info Raeder ordered him to hand over the work to the deputy director of the Repair Bureau, and then went to Rome as a special adviser to the Italian Navy to contribute to the development of the other party's navy. In addition, Fang Yan also needs to conduct a detailed survey of the organization, training, ship maintenance, and material preparation of the Italian Navy, so that Berlin can grasp the real combat power of the other side.

Although on the surface, Fang Yan's new task is not insignificant, for Fang Yan, who has been in the front-line fleet for many years, this is a valuable opportunity for him to gain insight into other areas of the navy. What's more, with the release of Germany's annual shipbuilding plan for 1940 on March 7, the pressure on the shipbuilding and maintenance bureau has increased dramatically.

According to the plan, Germany will start construction of 3 large fleet aircraft carriers, 6 air defense light cruisers, 16 armored destroyers, 36 Type VII submarines, and dozens of other ships this year. Fang Yan had long wanted to push out these heavy and tedious tasks, and now Raeder's order was right in his own hands; He quickly handed over the affairs in hand and turned to preparing for the south.

Three days later, Fang Yan arrived at the military airfield south of Berlin on time. On the open runway, Fang Yan found the special plane that was going to carry him to Rome at a glance: although the Junkers-52 uses a fixed landing gear and the maximum speed is a little slow, it is strong and reliable, and it can force a landing even in the field, which is very favored by German generals. Rome is about 1,200 kilometers away from Berlin, and there is a flight over the majestic Alps on the way, and the safe and stable "Junker Aunt" is obviously Fang Yan's first choice for this trip.

"General Brom, Infantry Colonel Zeitzler salutes you!" When Fang Yan walked to the escalator of the transport plane, a middle-aged man in a gray military uniform stood up with his back straight, saluted Fang Yan and said. Fang Yan had already noticed the school officer who was waiting at the bottom of the escalator, and looked at him carefully after returning the salute. The middle-aged man, who called himself Zeitzler, was not tall and had the same square mustache as Hitler's on his kind face; Those light blue eyes seemed to have spirituality, and when the gaze bloomed, a capable and clear temperament was immediately revealed.

"I heard that Mr. Colonel is the most outstanding staff officer of the General Headquarters of the Army. It just so happens that I am also a staff officer, so it is a pleasure to be able to walk with you. Fang Yan smiled and shook Zeitzler's hand, and the joy in his heart came spontaneously. Although the middle-aged man in front of him was not as famous as Guderian and Manstein in later generations, he was also a figure to be reckoned with in the German Army: he succeeded Halder as Chief of the General Staff from September 1942, and became the de facto leader of the German Army on the Eastern Front when Hitler became Commander-in-Chief of the Army.

It would have been fine if it had been like this, but the most important thing was that Zeitzler was only an infantry colonel after the Battle of France! It was not until the spring of 1941 that Zeitzler was promoted to major general, and the army generals who had more prestige and seniority than him were at least 100 or more. However, Hitler favored Zeitzler in a different way: not only did he skip the rank and promote him to general, but he also transferred him to the center and entrusted him with the great responsibility of chief of the General Staff.

If he were an ordinary person, it would be impossible for him to bear such an earth-shaking heavy responsibility, but Zeitzler, a pure newcomer who had just stepped into the threshold of generals one and a half years ago, worked diligently as chief of the general staff, and gradually won the unanimous trust of his old bosses, Liszt, Kleist, and other veteran army commanders.

In a way, Zeitzler is like Eisenhower in Germany: although he has a humble starting point and is easy to be looked down upon, he has the potential and strength to become a commander-in-chief. In the face of such a potential stock in front of him, Fang Yan, who intends to extend his influence to the army, couldn't help but be moved. He began to think about how he could radiate the aura of the Eight Kings and make Zeitzlerna bow his head.

Zeitzler didn't have such complicated thoughts as Fang Yan at all, and when he heard the legendary major general in front of him put himself alongside him, he suddenly felt honored. At the beginning of boarding the plane, Zeitzler still controlled himself and the other party to be humble, but when Aunt Juncker soared into the clouds and began to fly level, Zeitzler, who was upright by nature, completely let go of himself and began to talk to Fang Yan about their respective staff experiences, as well as the current European continent and world situation.

“…… Actually, I think Germany has gained enough today. After some exchanges, Zeitzler, who opened his heart to Fang Yan, leaned back on a special plane seat and said with a complicated expression, "We have not only recovered the territory lost in the East during the World War, but also the richest central Poland and the elite region of the former Austro-Hungarian Empire. The door to Northern Europe was also opened, and Denmark and Norway had become de facto German colonial fiefdoms in Europe. ”

"If Germany had at this time sought a separate understanding with France, France would almost certainly have acced. Since the government of Paris was unwilling to go to war with Germany in the first place, the declaration of war on 3 September was entirely due to the fulfillment of its obligations to Poland and to the instigation and urging of London. The dominant voice in the French parliament is still the prevention of the Red Revolution, and on this point we can easily reach a class consensus with them, thus creating the basis for peace talks. ”

"As for the French military, it is even more unlikely to launch a large-scale attack on the Rhine. The core idea of the French Army after the war was defense, and if they were to move eastward, not only would they be unprepared for the battle system, but the Maginot Line, which had been built with huge sums of money, would become a useless pile of rubble and scrap metal. If there were peace talks between Germany and France, the French military would certainly be in favor of it, so that real peace would soon be ushered in on the Western Front. Zeitzler said slowly.

Fang Yan raised his eyebrows slightly, and asked rhetorically: "Mr. Colonel, do you hope that Germany and France will live in peace from now on?" You must know that in the minds of the people, France is an even more hated enemy than England - it not only took Alsace and Lorraine from Germany, but also forced Germany to pay huge reparations that would collapse its finances several times, and even plundered and destroyed the Ruhr industrial area like a bandit! Anyone who went bankrupt in 1923 as a result of the Marc disaster hated France, the culprit. Not to mention the fact that more than half of the 2 million soldiers we lost in the world war were at the hands of the French. At present, hundreds of thousands of young people have joined the army at the call of the Führer precisely to avenge their fathers. ”

Zeitzler was silent for a moment, and then said: "I have never forgotten the crimes committed by France against Germany in the Treaty of Versailles. However, I always believe that the Supreme High Command should have a more rational choice. In the last war, it took us four years to inflict nearly 6 million casualties on France, but we could not bring them to their knees. Now that the French army, relying on the Maginot Line, is more able to withstand attrition than it was 25 years ago, then it will take several years and millions of lives for Germany to crush them? ”

"Rather than fighting a long war of attrition with France, it is better to preserve our strength and deal with Britain, which has lost its maritime protection. As long as Britain falls, France will no longer be able to compete with Germany, and in the end there is a high probability that Germany's western border issue will be resolved peacefully. Zeitzler said.

Hearing these words, Fang Yan knew that this should be the opinion of the vast majority of generals in the German Army at present. These generals are all old men who participated in the First World War, and they have the most direct experience of the tenacity and tenacity of the French army, once the Western Front enters a real hot war, then it is not possible to achieve it in 1 year, 2 years and hundreds of thousands of lives. Therefore, the ideal situation is to sit down at the negotiating table before the two sides have fought an irresolvable blood feud, and the French side certainly does not want to burn everything, and there is undoubtedly great hope for German-French peace talks.

As a soldier who also fought hard in the trenches of the Western Front for four years, Hitler undoubtedly knew this. However, at this time, he had already made up his mind to solve the Western problem once and for all: the friendship of the Soviet Union could not be guaranteed for a long time, and if France was left to fight today, Germany would most likely fall into the dilemma of fighting on two fronts again in the future.

Truly convinced that the Germans would replicate the victory in the Polish campaign in France, Guderian may be the only one in the army who has figured out armored warfare. And even Manstein, who proposed the "sickle" plan, had doubts about the power of the armored cluster, and he thought more about the fact that if the tank division broke through from the center and could not rush to the English Channel, then retreating to encircling one or two main coalition armies would greatly reduce the pressure on the future war of attrition.

"Mr. Colonel, why don't we make a bet? If the army does not defeat France within 3 months, I will ask my brother to build you an exclusive car for free, and if France is defeated within 3 months, I hope you will be able to do something for me then. Of course, I won't let you do anything that violates the law and the oath of honor of a soldier. A confident smile appeared on the corner of Fang Yan's mouth, and he proposed leisurely.

"3 months?" Zeitzler's eyes widened, and his gaze at Fang Yan was full of disbelief. In the summer of 1914, the officers and soldiers of the major belligerents also believed that they would be able to "return triumphantly before the leaves fall", but the course of the war in the industrial age exceeded all expectations, and the warring sides were exhausted by four hellish and painful years, until one side completely collapsed. Today, the degree of industrialization and propaganda efficiency of various countries have improved significantly compared to those years, and they beat France in 3 months? Is it really that the coalition forces are weak chickens like Poland?

"I'm about to save up for a car now, thanks to General Brom." After being stunned, Zeitzler quickly became smiling and immediately agreed. Fang Yan's heart was secretly refreshed, and he was about to say something more, when the announcement on the plane rang out at this time: "Dear general, colonel, we will be in Rome soon." ”