The Murata Shigeji attack echelon that set off at the end was supposed to hang up torpedoes with a suspicious attitude to bomb Socotra Island, but it turned out that Kusaka Ryunosuke guessed correctly, and along the way, I really found a merchant ship formation on the sea, a full 14 ships, the route went all the way to the northwest, probably from India to Egypt and the Middle East to deliver supplies, only 4 old destroyers were on escort duty, less than 200 nautical miles from the center of the fleet, and the speed was only a pitiful 11 knots, On the one hand, he urgently called the destroyers of the fleet to come and capture them, and on the other hand, he did not hesitate to give the order to sink the escort ships.

Even Cunningham's fast column could not afford the full force of the carrier-based aircraft, not to mention these long-outdated S-class destroyers, in less than 4 minutes, all 4 destroyers were sent to the bottom of the sea by aircraft. Subsequently, he sent a telegram to the merchant ships below, asking them to immediately adjust their course to the south, and then left three Zeros and four Ninety-Seven ships in the air to closely monitor the sea.

The method of capturing merchant ships by plane was also thought up by Murata Shigeji, and under the threat of Japanese planes overhead, the merchant fleet could only obediently comply, while Murata himself led a large group of planes to rush towards Socotra Island. After the release of all the attack forces, only a few water patrol planes remained on the island, which was basically in a state of waiting for death, and under the indiscriminate bombing of dozens of Japanese planes, the airfield, base, and warehouse were in ruins.

"Sir, what are we going to do next? Did you really stay here for 35 days? "After a major victory, there was jubilation in the Musashi Commander Tower. Everyone's faces were relaxed and happy, and any tense mood of the grass deer was completely relaxed.

"yes, mission accomplished. I don't know what to do next. Horikichi smiled, "It's like not knowing what to do after Pearl Harbor won and the army swept through Southeast Asia." ”

"This ......" Kusaka showed an embarrassed look: Horikichi was telling the truth, after the overwhelming victory in the early stages of the war, the Combined Fleet suddenly did not know what to do, Yamamoto Isoroku took refuge in the anchorage of Pillar Island with a huge echelon of battleships, and the Military Command Department finally chose to avoid the contradictions in the westward advance in the face of the fierce debate of "eastward advance" and "southward advance" (to capture Australia) - and then there was the Battle of Ceylon. As a result, the mistake made in the Battle of Ceylon was repeated at Midway, but the latter one was not as lucky as the Battle of Ceylon.

"But this time it's different. The defenders of the South Seas and the top brass of the Military Command Department are probably eagerly waiting for the fleet to return -- now that the news must have spread, the US military knows that the main force of the fleet is not in the South Seas, and will attack even more frantically. ”

"The U.S. military is gaining momentum, and it is extremely unwise to go back and confront it now." Horikichi looked at the grass deer who wanted to say something. He waved his hand to stop his speech, "Don't worry, let me think about it, and inform the German side of the battle report first." ”

At 18:00 p.m. The Combined Fleet sent a telegram to the German operational command in Alexandria:

Today. Our combined fleet successfully completed its predetermined operational objectives, completely annihilated the British and American reinforcement fleets, destroyed a total of 1 enemy aircraft carrier, 5 battleships, 6 light and heavy cruisers, and 12 destroyers and transport ships. The fleet is being pursued and annihilated by all means. The fleet undertakes to sweep away all enemy ships within the combat range of carrier-based aircraft and ensure absolute sea supremacy in the Arabian Sea and the North Indian Ocean. I look forward to an early and victorious rendezvous with your army.

"Good! Very good! ”

In Alexandria, at the invitation of Rommel, Hoffmann and Mussolini each arrived at the port with a large entourage and held a grand dinner.

"I propose......," Hoffman said, raising his glass, "Cheers to the great victory of the Three Kingdoms Axis!" ”

"Cheers!" The Italian leader was also red-faced, happy not knowing what to say.

For the sake of such a major victory, Rommel and Guderian were gently let go by the leader about "mistreating and wronging" the Italian troops, and not only sternly reprimanded the generals in the prisoner of war camp with a straight face and ordered them to apologize to Rommel, but also had to accompany them with a smile and award the Kingdom Medal, which represents the highest honor in Italy, to Rommel and Guderian in recognition of their outstanding contributions in defending Libya and rescuing captured Italian soldiers -- the leader's small abacus was very shrewd, He was counting on the Germans to help him deal with the British in Ethiopia.

Hoffman, of course, would not be too ugly for Mussolini, and he also counted on the Italian Navy to fight hard, so he not only distributed all the equipment and materials of the Italian troops, but also promised to give them a batch of captured equipment - armored vehicles captured by Guderian's African Army, Valentine, Crusader tanks, a large number of artillery and ammunition are ready to be thrown to the Italians, the heavy fuel oil in Alexandria also promised to allocate 150,000 tons to the Italian Navy, and also agreed to allocate 200 Bf-109s to Italy from the mainland to strengthen air defense. As for the compensation promised to the Japanese side, it was promised that Germany would bear all of it, and it also said that it would send troops to "clean" the British in Ethiopia......

This series of generous actions made the leader so happy that he didn't know what to say, and he expressed his gratitude again and again, and drank a large glass of wine in one go, so the scene of the German-Italian alliance was particularly intimate!

After the banquet, Hoffmann, who kept his head in a high level of coolness, refused Mussolini's invitation to visit Alexandria by night on the grounds of physical exhaustion, and summoned Rommel and Gauss to discuss the next battle plan with Keitel, Kesselring, Zeitzler, and Jodel.

"What do you think about dealing with the British in Cairo?"

"An offensive may not be a good way to go, and I suggest focusing on a political solution." Rommel explained, "If the results offered by the Japanese were true, the hopes of reinforcements for the British in Cairo would have been completely dashed, and although they still had a number of troops off the coast of Mozambique, the overwhelming naval power of the three countries was completely insurmountable." Now there are only three roads in front of the British army in Cairo, the first one, to defend Cairo and fight to the death; second, immediately abandon the Cairo breakout; The third is the surrender to our army as a whole. ”

"The results are fine, we have observers on the ship." Hoffman first reassured them, "Which one do you think they will choose?" ”

"Neither is a good choice. Although Cairo's defense system is good, it is a dead end to defend it - when Heinz's troops arrive, our army can form a superiority over the British army in Cairo by more than twice the strength, and even trap and starve them to death without even fighting; The second way they can choose is not much direction, now that our army controls the canal zone, the fleet is cruising in the Red Sea, the British army can not break through to the east, the only choice is to go south, retreat into Upper Egypt, East Africa, but as long as they leave the strong fortifications, they are easily pursued and eliminated by our army; The third is very difficult to implement, but in the past two days I have been approached by leading Egyptian figures, who are adamantly opposed to fighting in Cairo and want to solve the problem with dignity, and if we respect the interests of the indigenous Egyptian forces, we may be able to control the country more easily. ”

"Albert ......" Hoffman turned his head to Marshal Kesselring, "Egypt's nationalist sentiment is relatively strong, the Waffle Party is very powerful in Egypt and has repeatedly opposed British colonial rule, it is a political force that can be approached, I hope you will take up the burden of a political solution to the Egyptian problem." ”

"Yes, what about our goals and bottom line?"

"The establishment of a new government that is universally embraced by the Egyptian populace must support and join the Axis, in exchange for some adjustment of interests. For example, Sudan is currently under Anglo-Egyptian condominium, and I intend to annex northern Sudan directly to Egypt, and southern Sudan to Libya and Ethiopia - I promised the Italians that Libya and Ethiopia would be bordered territorially. Also, the Suez Canal and the attached canal zone must be firmly controlled, at least at the same level as the British. ”

Keitel was indignant: "What contribution does Italy have to take so much benefit? Libya is what we helped them keep, Egypt is ours, Ethiopia they are counting on us to fight - we have paid so much and they have benefited in vain. ”

"If we take a long-term view, Italy will definitely have to exchange other territories with us if it takes Sudan and Ethiopia." Hoffman pointed to the map, "I have my eye on the former French Somaliland, Eritrea, British Somalia and Italian Somalia, and I hope to connect this piece and eat Kenya again, and restore our position in Tanganyika (a German colony during World War I, and other colonies included Cameroon, Togo, etc.) to form a new German East African territory." ”

As soon as they heard that German East Africa was one size bigger, everyone's eyes lit up and they were interested, and they followed Hoffman's fingers from the Red Sea to the Strait of Mozambique, and their eyes were full of fanaticism.

"This is the long-term goal, and there are three main things to do in the near future, the first is to take complete control of Egypt, with Erwin in charge militarily and Albert in charge politically; The second thing was to occupy the island of Cyprus and put pressure on Turkey, with the plan drawn up by Chief Zeitzler, and Marshal Keitel and Ribbentrop going to deal with the Turks; The third thing is to draw up a battle plan for Syria and Iraq, especially the two oil fields in Mosul and Basra, which should be seized as soon as possible, and the damage of the British should be reduced as much as possible -- whether our planes, tanks, and warships will have enough fuel in the second half of next year depends on this, yodel, you are responsible for this plan. ”

"I'm afraid that the troops in East Africa and the Middle East are not enough, even if Heinz comes up, it looks thin, can the Führer give some more support?" Rommel pleaded, "Don't be Italians, I'm fed up with them." ”

Everyone burst into laughter.

"Transfer an armored division first." Hoffman smiled, "Send the 7th Panzer Division to you, they have completed the reinforcement on the mainland, they can be dispatched, and the navy can cooperate with you." ”

As soon as he heard that the old troops were coming, Rommel happily accepted. (To be continued.) )