Hearing this assurance, Hitler's expression finally softened. He knew that the young man in front of him would never jump to conclusions, and would not tell the whole story unless he was 120% sure. Thinking of the other party's and Raeder's different accounts of the situation in the Atlantic, a thought took shape in his mind; Although the time was not yet fully ripe, Hitler decided to take this crucial step.

Jonaston paused, and finally concluded: "Therefore, the key to the current battle of the Atlantic is not a military battle, but a political contest. As long as we can rule out the interference of the United States, the death knell of the British Empire will surely be officially sounded before the arrival of next autumn! And under the wise leadership of your Führer, Germany was now rushing towards this goal: with the submission of Spain and the westward departure of the Italian fleet in the Mediterranean, even if Roosevelt, the traitor of war, was no longer reconciled, he could only grit his teeth and retreat in the face of the absolute superiority of the Axis forces in the North Atlantic. ”

Hitler withdrew his gaze and remained silent, which undoubtedly summed up the current situation of the war. It is clearly several times more effective to politically deter the Americans than to appoint a talented aviation commander. His previous provocation may still have some effect on ordinary soldiers, but in the face of Jonas, who is also proficient in diplomatic strategy, he can only do nothing. After a long time, Hitler exhaled and exclaimed, "Maybe you're right." It's just that you still don't know enough about the political difficulties. It's not easy to achieve what you're talking about. ”

Feeling that Hitler's tone became sincere, and his eyes were no longer sharp as before, Jonas moved slightly in his heart, and said tentatively: "Is it that the Spanish commander still insists on asking for the price and refuses to give in?" ”

"Who else but this vile viper?" Hitler clenched his back molars, and hatred was written all over his face. In the past half month, the name Franco has surpassed Churchill and Roosevelt to become the most hated existence in the Führer's heart: the latter two were originally enemies of Germany, and there is nothing to blame for what they do, but Franco repays virtue with resentment, and is completely alien to the former benefactors who supported his ascension. Although Franco had recently relented on the issue of the entry of German troops, it was out of speculative bets; Crucially, he offered a price that was completely unacceptable to Hitler.

"Didn't the Italian leader go to talk to him, and couldn't he change his attitude?" Jonas whispered.

Hitler's gaze flickered with a hint of sharpness, and after a moment it dawned on him: the other party must have received the news from Ziano Jr., and what he thought was secret did not exist with him at all. Thinking of this, Hitler had no idea of concealing it, and immediately briefly recounted to him Mussolini's meeting with Franco.

“…… Franco was indeed closer to Rome than we were, but the leader still failed to fundamentally change the viper, and his asking price was still very high. "Franco asked for a loan of 3 billion marks, and he also asked us to provide 100 BF-109 fighters and 3 anti-aircraft artillery regiments to protect important industrial areas." I can give planes and anti-aircraft artillery, the key is that he stressed that the loan cannot be discounted with arms, and it must be fully guaranteed funds or in kind! Who does he think he deserves to be thrown so much money at him by Germany? ”

Jonas frowned, he already fully understood Hitler's state of mind at this time. With the defeat of France, Spain, a pawn in southwestern Europe, has completely lost its original utility: for Germany, the weak and dilapidated Spain is not even as good as a few Eastern European brothers, at least they can be used as a springboard for attacking the Soviet Union!

Therefore, even if Germany has a lot of money now, it will not invest in the rotten stock of Spain, not to mention that Germany is not as rich as the outside world speculates, and almost all the war dividends have been used to fill the economic sinkhole before the war. Tranquilly, Jonas would have rejected Franco's unreasonable demand: what are you kidding, if you agree to such conditions, will it not become a job for Spain as a result of Germany's hard work to win the war?

"If a few years ago any European country had dared to treat Germany's goodwill in such a way, it would have disappeared from the map!" Hitler gritted his teeth, his voice full of hatred and hatred. Since Germany officially rearmament, the surrounding countries have all made concessions and compromises everywhere; Even if the left side of the face was squeezed by Hitler and hurt hotly, the right side of the face should be stretched up with a smile, lest the Führer be angry and detonate the war so that everyone can play it completely. The only country that dares to step on the olive branch handed over by Bai is called Poland, and its fate has been seen by the world!

This time, however, Hitler could no longer eliminate his opponents by force as he had done before. In order to establish a new European order with Germany as the core, it was impossible for Hitler to wield a big gun to carry out violent deterrence without restrictions; In particular, Spain, as a pro-German country, has more or less a symbol of "horse bone" in the minds of Eastern European countries and even Italy. If the corresponding differences are not properly handled, the fundamentals of Germany's European leaders will not be stable; Franco probably saw this precisely because he dared to bite a large amount of interests and not let go!

"Honorable Führer, may I make an immature opinion?" After a long silence, Jonas spoke softly.

"Of course, what else can't be said directly between us?" Hitler saw the concerns of the person in front of him, and waved his hand, "Political strategy and military affairs are closely related things, and the top brass of the army often argued with me during the Sudetenland crisis. If a general only knows how to fight, he will never be able to go further to become a commander-in-chief. ”

Jonas glanced at Hitler's expression and spoke slowly: "We may be able to respond to the Spaniards' request in a different way." Judging by the conditions put forward by Franco, what he wanted was undoubtedly the reconstruction of Spain's capital economy. It is impossible for us to give him a huge loan, but we can give orders to Spain domestically. ”

"Order?" Hitler frowned.

Jonas nodded, "Exactly." Taking the navy as an example, at present, our army needs a large number of landing craft to attack Britain, and the number will definitely not be too much, and we can completely place orders for 500 landing craft with various shipyards in Spain and pay for them through the normal process of international trade. Before the Civil War, Spain was also a country that could assemble heavy cruisers, and now it is natural to produce 200-ton low-end slow boats. ”

"In addition, this has the added advantage that the local shipbuilding forces in Germany can be relieved of the heavy task of producing low-end dinghys and can refocus their resources and manpower on the construction of important ships. As far as I know, in order to meet the requirements of the Sea Lion program for transport vessels, shipyards in various parts of the country have significantly slowed down or even stopped the construction of capital warships. Only two of the eight destroyers built in 1938 have been completed so far, and the Navy has just lost seven Z-drives in the Danish Strait, and it is in urgent need of new ships. If we can subcontract part of the landing craft project, it will be of obvious benefit to the restoration of the strength of our fleet. Jonas added.

Hitler chewed on Jonas's words, his eyes gradually shining with a sharp light. Although he was born at the bottom and did not understand the economy, he had been in charge of the empire over the years and had learned some basic knowledge from Whart and others. If Franco wanted Spain to get out of its post-war domestic predicament, then Germany's large orders for its goods were the best incentive to stimulate the recovery of the industry; Compared with the high loans that do not see any return in the short term, this can get real materials, which is obviously not much higher in the current war environment!

Moreover, what is Germany lacking at the moment is more than landing craft? Next year, Germany will move eastward to settle accounts with Stalin, and then the fields of transportation, engineering, communications, and military supplies will be a huge cake, and it is entirely possible to cut off a corner without cream for Franco to taste. In addition, the German consumer goods market could also be opened to Spain, just in time to compensate for the reduction in daily necessities caused by the war.

As for the funds, Germany will certainly pay for it, but it is obviously too much savings compared to the number of Franco's lion openings. No matter how you look at it, this is a good move, and Franco does not worry that he will be in financial trouble because of the loss of American resources. In addition, Hitler sniffed out a hidden line: this hand could tie the Spanish bourgeoisie to the German chariot from an economic level, and when the interests of the latter were closely related to the German war, Franco could not drive them at will!

"If Spain can do this, what about France and the other European occupying powers?" Hitler's mind flashed with lightning. In an instant, he felt a new door slowly open to him from the darkness.

Due to the inherent culture and history formed in modern times, Germany will certainly not forcibly annex the Western territories it currently controls after the war. At that time, how to make the countries of Western Europe, which had been severely beaten, willingly follow him, and not reproduce the social form of Germany after World War I, was a question that Hitler had been thinking about since he won the victory on the Western Front.

In order to eliminate the hatred between France and Germany, Hitler had already given France many preferential treatment politically, and the effect has been quite obvious so far. And if it can be supplemented by economic means to alleviate its domestic contradictions and win over the bourgeoisie and government bureaucrats, it will surely reap a more ideal situation!

"Jonas, you've come up with a very feasible strategy!" When Hitler came back from his divergent thoughts, he was in a very good mood and his words were full of praise. Hitler was vaguely aware that the youth in front of him had already had a whole set of mature ideas; The reason why the other party only said a small part is completely to let him figure out the key for himself, so that the final result can be attributed to his personal decision-making. Hitler had a good reason for making this speculation: knowing that the unit price of a 200-ton landing craft was less than 250,000 marks, how could he think that Franco, with the shrewdness of Jonas, would be stunned by the export trade of more than 100 million marks?

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