Ciano Jr. looked Mussolini's face squarely and said unhurriedly: "Although Italy is seeking benefits from Germany and Britain and France at the same time, the overall number is still not satisfactory. The main reason for this is that Italy's position is more biased in favor www.biquge.info of Germany: Britain and France have little hope of winning our country to defect, while Germany believes that our country will eventually jump on their chariot and does not attach much importance to Italy. If Italy had taken advantage of the Soviet-Finnish war to express its position, then Germany, Britain and France would never ignore this trend. At that time, we will not only be able to ask Germany for more supplies, but also from Britain and France what they were not willing to give. ”

Mussolini paced slowly in front of the map, the sparkle in his eyes gradually brightening and clearing.

Contrary to what most people think, the current situation in Italy is not a bright spot for this year's economic growth of 7.1%, but rather a weak recession in which the number of goods on the market is declining and consumer prices are rising. The reason for this is that excessive military spending has greatly crowded out government spending that should have been used for people's livelihood, making the country appear in a top-heavy and abnormal state of development. Bank of Italy's reserves have fallen from 3.63 billion lire to 2.877 billion lira this year, while the government deficit has soared from 4.1 billion lira last year to 5.5 billion this year. The stock exchange boom has also gone from boom to bust in the previous two weeks, and while it is not as desperate as the Wall Street stock market crash of 1929, it has actually caused a cold winter wind to blow in Italy.

But can Italy just put the sword in the treasury and turn the dysfunctional national economy around? The answer is clearly no. As the leader of the dictatorship, Mussolini was determined to restore Italy to the glory of the Roman Empire from the day he came to power 16 years ago, and the only way to extend Italy's influence into the former territories that once belonged to the Roman Empire was to rely on the stick in his hand. As the saying goes, "Diplomacy comes from machine guns, and there is equality everywhere with artillery", this colonial norm of the Age of Discovery, is still an invincible absolute truth today.

It is thanks to its "strong" military power that Italy has been able to annex Ethiopia and Albania in succession in the past few years, taking the first step towards rebuilding its ancestral territory.

Today, although Italy's military strength is no longer the same as that of Mussolini at the beginning of his reign, it still looks shabby compared with Germany, the Soviet Union, Britain and France. After all, Italy's national strength is there, and its innate conditions are much lower than those of the top powers. However, even so, Mussolini decided to compete for Italy's interests in the current wolf-fed Europe, which prompted Italy to invest heavily in defense armaments, which exacerbated Italy's economic difficulties.

It would be an ideal situation if Italy's own economic crux could be resolved through political means. In addition, Italy can even find Germany, Britain, and France in the field of arms expansion, and ask them to provide it with raw materials for production and finished weapons. Judging by the current situation, this is not impossible!

"Propaganda, Ghalry, please do it." After figuring out the secret, Mussolini immediately explained to his son-in-law in front of him. Today, Mussolini is increasingly entrusting the work of the government to Ziano Jr., so that he can grow more quickly into a qualified successor to the leader. Little Ziano respectfully agreed, and at the same time breathed a sigh of relief in his heart. This time, he finally dragged Mussolini off the crooked-necked tree in Germany, and let him see that there was another dense paulownia tree next to him.

"It's just a pity that we can't really support Finland effectively." Mussolini slowly shook his head with a look of regret on his face. Little Ziano was silent, and sighed in the same frustration: Finland's land, population, and wealth were afraid that before mid-December all the land and wealth would fall to the evil Bolsheviks.

"Boom! Rumble! Rumble! "Shells exploded like thunderbolts on the hilly and snowy fields, waves of air burst into the sky, and shrapnel shot vertically and horizontally; The hard snow was immediately blasted into hot pits, and the whole ground trembled violently. In the face of the roaring rage of the god of war, the warriors of flesh and blood could only hide in their bunkers and struggle, and they all blocked their ears to prevent the loud noise from directly stunting their consciousness and mind.

Finnish machine gunner Aalto gritted his teeth and crawled in the trench more than a meter deep, allowing the deafening explosion to slam his nerves like a sledgehammer. Snow chips continued to fall into the bunker, gradually spreading a white gauze blanket on his back. This was the third time that the Soviets had prepared for firepower today, and the stormy explosions seemed to be pouring all the ammunition on the heads of the Finnish troops. Aalto only felt as if he was in the middle of a stormy sea, and could be swallowed up by the waves that swept him in at any moment.

I don't know how long it took for the deafening roar that gripped Alto's ears to finally turn into a distant echo. Aalto's eyelids moved, and he struggled to prop himself up with his hands. Feeling a strong swelling pain in his brain, Alto grabbed a handful of snow chips and applied them to his face, and under the stimulation of the cold of more than minus 20 degrees, the previous discomfort was finally forcibly dispelled.

"Sauli, are you dead? The Russians are rushing up again! Aalto was shocked at the khaki wave on the snow in the distance, and immediately turned around and shook his comrades lying beside him violently with his arms. With a low cry of pain, the soldier staggered to his feet, and before the latter could recover his senses, Aalto slapped a handful of ice and snow on the other man's face and shouted, "Immediately help me set up a machine gun, quick!" Before he could finish speaking, Aalto had already lifted the tripod to the cover.

After a period of scramble and busyness, a Russian-style M1910 Makqin water-cooled heavy machine gun was finally erected. The co-gunner, known as Sauli, holds a chain of 200 rounds of ammunition that smoothly feeds into the firing machine gun at any time. Aalto took the time to look at the other comrades around him, and saw that hundreds of people in the company were quietly lurking in their bunkers, waiting for the enemy troops in the distance to enter the firing range. Aalto suddenly realized that the previous rounds of Russian shelling did not seem to pose much of a threat to his side; Nearly half of their artillery fire flew through their defensive area, with no effect other than to blow up numerous potholes.

"What's going on with the Russians? Did they misjudge our position, or did their artillery not know how to calibrate? Aalto hesitated, but was quickly overstruck by joy. In any case, this is a very good thing for me: the bunker fortifications of this position are still quite rudimentary, and if they are accurately set by the heavy artillery of the Soviet army, there is absolutely no hope of holding it!

"God, it looks like a Russian tank!" An exclamation suddenly resounded over the Finnish position. Aalto looked intently and saw two behemoths slowly emerge from behind the mound a kilometer away. Against the backdrop of white snow, the two Soviet T-26 tanks painted in olive green were ten times more conspicuous than the large group of Soviet soldiers in khaki uniforms in the rear; Although their movements in the snow are constantly pitted and slippery, they have an irresistible majesty of their own.

Aalto stared blankly at the two steel monsters, his hands curled in leather cases covered with cold sweat: if the attacking Soviets were only the more than 500 infantry in front of them, the company to which he belonged should not be afraid at all, but if these two tanks were added, the situation changed completely. The heaviest firepower of the entire company is this old heavy machine gun in its own hands, and there is not even an anti-tank gun, how can this be resisted?

"Don't panic! After the battle starts, first destroy the Russian infantry, isolate the tanks as much as possible, and now hand over all the ****** to the 1st platoon and 1st squad, this is our only chance to get rid of the Russian tanks! The Finnish company commander shouted loudly in the position, and his majestic and heavy voice reunited the morale that had been somewhat broken. Aalto took a deep breath, and the panic in his heart gradually calmed down. Compared to the 1st squad commando who was about to carry out a close-range attack next, the danger he faced was nothing at all.

"Bang!" When the distance between the two sides was reduced to 400 meters, gunshots suddenly rang out on the silent snowfield; The Soviet soldiers immediately lay down at lightning speed, ready to rely on tanks to suppress the enemy's firepower. Two T-26s lived up to the expectations of the Soviet soldiers, stopping one after another and firing heavily with 37-mm guns at the Finnish positions, where clouds of explosion smoke rose from the Finnish positions. However, the next situation has become a different scenario.

After roughly suppressing the fire from the Finnish positions, the two tanks quickly opened up at full speed and rumbled towards the opposing lines. Soviet soldiers in the rear hurriedly got up and re-followed. However, due to the speed of the tank, the Soviet infantry, which alternately covered the advance in a cat-waist position, gradually distanced itself from the tank. A few minutes later, the Soviet infantry had fallen behind the tank for more than 100 meters, completely unsheltered by steel. At this time, they were only about 200 meters away from the Finnish position, and they were already the best targets for Finnish gunners in the snow in khaki uniforms!

"Sudden ......" Aalto, who received the order of the company commander, did not hesitate any longer, and suddenly pulled the trigger in his hand; I saw that the khaki figure two hundred meters away was suddenly knocked to the ground like a bowling pin, and a large number of blood-red spots appeared in the yellow-brown color. Other Finnish soldiers who had been dormant for a long time also opened fire intensively at this moment, and the heart-rending screams soon resounded throughout the world. (To be continued.) )