"You mean......" Ribbentrope, who was full of hope, was suddenly stunned when he heard Sune's reply to him, "Lease the port of Ceuta to us, and then give our troops the right of passage in Spain, but you don't participate in the war?" ”

"It can be understood that way." Sunai spread his hands, "You know, Spain's strength is insufficient, resource reserves and equipment are also insufficient, we must leave enough time to prepare, now we still have many trading companies to collect resources and materials for your country, if you rashly declare war, this line will be broken immediately, which is very unfavorable to your country, especially the channel for that batch of 'special commodities' will be cut off at once; in addition, our air defense capability is also very poor, lack of aircraft, anti-aircraft artillery, if Britain and the United States bomb us, I am afraid that it will be difficult to prevent, so ......"

"Well, your country's attitude can at least help us solve the problem of Gibraltar first." Ribbentrop knew that this was Spain's final reply, and that Franco had a little concession because of the rapid capture of Malta, so he immediately said no more, and only informed him of the news back home.

As soon as Hoffmann returned to Berlin, he received the final terms sent back by Ribbentrop from Madrid.

"Franco asked for 200 Bf-109s, 100 Stukka, 100 No. 4 tanks, 100 88mm anti-aircraft guns plus equipment for 4 infantry divisions?" Hoffman frowned and asked, "And then he only gave us the port and the necessary right of way?" ”

"Maybe add the right to station in the ports of mainland Spain - to facilitate the entry and exit of U-boats."

"He's done all this and wants to stay out of it?" Hoffman sneered, "This is an outright act of war. ”

"So the Spaniards didn't say anything about neutrality, they only said about a non-belligerent state." "I asked officials from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and legal experts, and they said that there is no international law to support such an act, but ...... This is the latest interpretation of the non-belligerents on the Spanish side, and it seems to be a bit of a pleasure. ”

Spain is now a neutral country, but this neutral country has an attitude, which is called a "non-belligerent" situation, and if you have to use other countries as an analogy, this attitude is a bit similar to that of France, which allows the use of its own territory, but its own armed forces will not participate in any military operations - France and Spain agree to borrow a sword, but they don't care what you do after borrowing a knife.

"It's really great!" "What do you think of Mr. Franco's actions as his perfect understanding of non-belligerents?" ”

"The High Command thinks it is okay to accept this ambiguous position for the time being, because then we have no obligation to defend Spain, which is weaker than the Italians, and we cannot afford to carry ourselves any more baggage, and ......," Keitel explained, "Minister Ribbentrop thinks it is more advantageous to maintain a communication channel through Spain and Latin America than to have Spain fight for us now." ”

"What about the others?"

"Minister Speer believes that it is possible to bring in Spanish workers, whose quality is not too bad, and which can greatly alleviate the problem of labor shortage in the country; Himmler leaders believed that 1-2 volunteer divisions could be recruited in Spain to augment the SS units. Keitel didn't see the strength of the Spanish National Army as it was now, but he saw the merits of the Spanish Falangists in the performance of the Blue Division, so he did not rule out recruiting Hispanic volunteers.

"Pick me up Himmler." Hoffman thought for a moment and immediately had an idea, and the microphone said, "I authorize you to recruit two Spanish volunteer divisions, but you should pay attention to the selection of personnel, and the proportion of ethnic groups in the Catalan and Basque countries should be appropriately increased, and it is best to increase the proportion of ethnic groups in each division. ”

"Führer, do you want to?" Himmler was immediately excited on the other end of the phone.

"Do this job well, but don't let people see it, you'll know later, we have to be patient."

Although Hoffman didn't say anything, Himmler and Keitel immediately understood the meaning of the Führer's words.

After putting down the phone, Hoffman thought calmly: "Tell the Spaniards to lease us the Canary Islands together, and I will agree to all other requests." ”

"I'm afraid it's going to be hard." Keitel said embarrassedly, "He's keeping an eye on that archipelago. ”

"He will agree, you let Ribbentrop tell him that I will take Gibraltar first and then ask for the Canary Islands, we Germans are measured, and we will not mess with the territory that cannot be defended."

"What if he doesn't agree to let go?"

"Take Gibraltar and still not let go? Franco wasn't that stupid. Hoffman laughed, "If he doesn't agree, I won't take it myself?" We are not a Spanish colony, so we don't need Madrid's permission for anything. ”

These two sentences stunned Keitel for a moment, and only after a long time did he compliment him as if he were flattering: "Führer, you said it too well. ”

"Go and prepare for the Battle of Gibraltar well, no matter how good it is, it's useless to say anything else, you can fight it. Germany's position and future are determined by fighting, not by negotiations, and if the negotiations were so effective, perhaps we would still be arguing over the question of the ownership of the Rhineland. ”

After Keitel left, Hoffman began to pace and think in his office: judging from the situation in Spain, although Franco had taken a step back from his original position, he had obviously not made up his mind, and the intelligence system told him that the contacts between the heads of state of France, Italy, and Spain were very frequent, and there was a vague intention to make contact, and Madrid's attitude was likely to be influenced by Petain, which was something that needed to be paid attention to in the future. This little military aid to the Spaniards was insignificant, and Franco must have known that the Italian side had received a large amount of military aid, and the conditions he offered were a little high but still within his own tolerance, indicating that the Madrid side had been carefully considered and considered.

"The old fox." He couldn't help but curse a little in his heart.

It has always been reported that the United States and Spain have maintained relatively close relations, and the Americans have even semi-openly allowed Jews to exchange supplies through Spain, which shows that there is a tacit understanding between Madrid and Washington, and that Franco dares to agree to borrow and lend today, and it is estimated that he must have a way to settle Washington and gain the understanding of the Americans.

He had to sigh that politicians really need ability and talent, and the strategy of balancing on a tightrope is not something anyone can play, and this time Franco's scale was very good - he did not participate in the war but provided convenience, so that he had nothing to say, and of course he could not be aggressive when he took the axis of benefits; And the Allies could not act in a-for-tat hostile manner - that is, it was obvious that Spain would continue to push the Axis side, and Churchill and Roosevelt were smart men who would not do such stupid things.

Today, he finally understands why the Spanish regime has survived since the end of World War II, Spain has not only ignored the sanctions of lifting the membership of the United Nations and international isolation, but has also slowly developed, and what is even more amazing is that Franco, a dictator, actually lived to the end of his life, and finally got the king out to be his successor.

He originally wanted to look for anti-Franco forces within Spain so that he could carry out a small palace coup if necessary, but Martin Bauman looked around and reluctantly told himself that all the Spanish ministers and above were personally selected and appointed by Franco, all of them were his henchmen, and there was no one in the Falangist Party who could compete with Franco, not even anyone who could threaten his position, and if there were, he had become a cold corpse. Petain's natural enemy was his age, Mussolini's natural enemy was his frivolity and sloppiness, and Franco was almost invulnerable.

Hoffman strongly felt the difficulty of being a politician: if it weren't for the foundation laid by the Führer and the military power of the Third Reich in Europe, he would have been swallowed up by others and there would be no scum left.

The news of the loss of Malta reached London that evening, and the first reaction of the wartime cabinet was that it was a rumor, deliberately fabricated by Germany and Italy. But after verification and investigation, this news is true, but I didn't expect that only 3 hours later, the cornerstone of the British Empire in the Middle Mediterranean has fallen into the hands of the Germans, and now Gibraltar is really in danger.

"There is news from Spain that Franco has been forced to agree to Germany's demands for a lease and a loan, and Madrid asks us once again whether we will agree to the peaceful transfer of Gibraltar before the arrival of the German armed forces in Spain. If they could, they would refuse Germany's request. ”

"Do you want to talk to the Spaniards again?" Field Marshal Brooke spoke, "It's good to delay a little. ”

"It's too late." "If we agree, the Spaniards will ask to be in tonight." ”

There was silence at the meeting, and all eyes were on Churchill for his final decision, which was not a good decision.

"Will Spain declare war on us?"

"No, the United States has repeatedly confirmed that Spain will not engage in any other hostile action other than by means of a passage or a lend-lease, and therefore they will not take any other hostile action, at most by attacking German targets in Spain. President Roosevelt suggested that we could distill Spain's special position -- just leave them as French. ”

"Very well, let them come, anyone who wants Gibraltar, whether it is German or Spanish, must step over our corpses." Churchill proudly said, "To give it to Spain is to lose Gibraltar, and to be beaten down by the Germans is to lose Gibraltar." If I had to choose one of the two ways, I would rather lose it to the Germans in a vigorous resistance than to the Spaniards, who are duplicitous and cunning. (To be continued.) )