In the afternoon of the same day, Ribbentrop rushed to Lisbon and told the Portuguese Ministry of Foreign Affairs three things very simply: first, Germany had no intention of invading Portugal, but the Portuguese Atlantic islands, including the Azores, must be occupied, because these islands are conducive to containing Britain and the United States, and Germany has great goals, not only for Germany, but also for a strong and prosperous Europe, but Germany only uses these territories in time of war and has no intention of annexation; secondly, if the Lisbon authorities were willing to lease these territories to Germany, Germany would pay considerable rents and promised to help Portugal expand some of its African colonies after victory in the war; Thirdly, Germany very much welcomes Portugal's accession to the Axis, and if it does not join for the time being, it also expresses its understanding that Portugal can continue to rely on its special position to make a fortune, and Germany will give all kinds of care, and the relevant minerals and agricultural products can be sold to Germany at a price slightly higher than the market price.

As for the rent, the Germans were also very sincere, and offered to give Portugal 100 Bf-109 and 100 No. 4 tanks a year, which could be paid for three years in advance, and after bargaining, two more divisions of British equipment were temporarily added.

Although Salazar was annoyed to death by the whole thing, he was still very peaceful, and did not pester Ribbentrop endlessly like a resentful woman, and even made a rare joke when meeting the latter: "Minister Goebbels's propaganda is too strong, and the German Navy sank 300,000 tons of Royal Navy warships?" That's too big a number for me to help you clarify......"

"It's a bit hard to believe, but it turns out that the British lied...... The Tirpitz and Zeppelin, which they said were badly damaged, are not in the Azores at the moment, and the reporters must have taken a lot of photos. Ribbentrop laughed in response.

It is unknown what the two ended up saying behind closed doors, but judging by the laughter and talk during the meeting, it seems that Salazar himself did not take the matter to heart. By the time the talks were over and the Lend-Lease treaty was ready, the two men signed and issued a joint statement with great speed, and the crowd listened only to a bunch of diplomatic rhetoric without any substance, and the press conference did not leave any time for the press to ask questions.

In fact, Salazar's henchmen knew that the whole thing was by no means simple, and that he had urgently contacted the British and American ambassadors long before Ribbentrop came, hoping to hear their thoughts, but the more he heard the reactions of the two countries, the more cold he became, and even annoyed when he heard it: the British ambassador first accused Portugal of allowing the German fleet to resupply and destroy the friendly relations between Britain and Portugal, and then regretted that Portugal did not choose to resist to the end, saying that he would never sit idly by; The United States, on the other hand, wholeheartedly invited Portugal to join the alliance and expressed its willingness to provide military assistance to help the country resist German aggression.

Salazar sneered and saw off the ambassadors of the two countries, and then called the Spanish dictator Franco to hear his opinion that Spain had recently promised to provide all the facilities to the Germans, but had not declared war on Britain and the United States. No one knew what they were talking about, but Salazar put down the phone with a melancholy look that several people could see clearly, and he only muttered one sentence: "The United States is too far away, Britain is too slippery, and Germany is too close......"

"The Führer, Minister Ribbentrop, sent a telegram: the agreement has been reached, Salazar has promised to lease both the Azores and Madeira to us in time of war, they continue to remain neutral, and the rent is also paid at the price agreed in advance, but the other side temporarily asks for two more infantry divisions of British equipment, and he agrees."

"That's a good job!" Hoffman smiled, "Salazar is a smart man, more reliable than Franco, and we should be polite to the Portuguese." ”

After this period of tossing, they promised to provide British equipment to Italy, Egypt, Iraq, Iran, Spain, Turkey, Portugal and other countries, and gave or sold all the British equipment captured by Germany from Dunkirk to the end of the Egyptian campaign. When Keitel reported the situation to him, Hoffman sighed and said humorously: "The British have been beaten too hard in the past two years, so that Churchill can take a breather and leave time to produce more equipment." Next, other countries are going to send American weapons, so that Guderian can sell more strength......"

Everyone in the Supreme Command was stunned for a moment, and then burst into laughter.

On the third day of the occupation of Anshato, a convoy of convoys from A Coruña, Spain, arrived in Anshatito Sanstinto, and Tom felt hopeless when he looked at the steady flow of building materials, artillery, infantry, aircraft, and other military supplies from the ship: the Germans were not improvising at all, they had already made preparations for the capture of Anshatito Sanstinto - three days of preparation of these supplies and personnel were not enough, let alone the usual five days of travel from Spain to Angra Sanstinto by ship.

The municipality issued a proclamation clearly announcing that the Azores and Madeira islands would be leased to the Germans, that Portuguese citizens could continue to stay in Angra do Heroísmo if they wished to stay, but that the port would be under military control in the future, and that the fleet would take them back to Lisbon free of charge if they wished to return home, but the municipality warned that the Azores could face war in the coming period, and hoped that all residents who could evacuate would be evacuated as soon as possible.

As a result of the intervention of the Lisbon authorities, and Hofmann's declaration of respect for the Portuguese, an agreement was reached on all Anglo-American nationals in the Azores and Madeira: these nationals were not to be regarded as enemy nationals, and that they were allowed to return to Portugal with all their personal property, and that the British and American ships seized in the port were to be returned to their owners, except that the goods were confiscated by Germany, and that they could be used in the migration.

After the announcement was issued, everyone was busy, wave after wave of people left on boats, and the number of people who had been living in the "hot spring" inn quickly decreased, and everyone was waiting for a ticket to leave Angra Sangra Heroísmo. But at this time, there were still people who came to the hotel to check in.

"Everyone is running to Lisbon, why are you still checking in?"

"What about you? Why not move out? There will be no tourists coming to Sansírísmo in the future. The visitor asked Tom rhetorically.

"No way, I'm leaving, but at least I have to arrange all the guests in the hotel." Tom sighed, "All my assets are in Port Heroísboa, and when I get to Lisbon, I have no relatives and probably have to go to beg." ”

"You're funny, sir." The visitor looked at Tom with a grin, and suddenly the subject changed, "This painting behind you looks a little familiar." ”

"Really? You have good eyesight! This is a parody of Cézanne's early works, which have been handed down by my grandfather. ”

"Not quite like ...... It looks a bit like the real thing. ”

"Really? How about I sell it to you? The asking price is not high, and you can take it for $1000. ”

"It's not cheap, but I know someone who might be willing to pay $1,000."

After saying this, Tom's strength seemed to be drained for a moment, and it was a little untenable—these inexplicable conversations were the joint codes he had been waiting for for 25 years.

"Let's go see your room......" After leading to the room, Tom closed the door, and cautiously looked around, for fear that someone would be watching, and then lowered his voice and said in a slightly excited tone, "Who are you?" Why did you remember me? I've been out of the job for many years......"

"I work as a telegraph operator on a merchant ship, sort of a liaison in the MI6 convoy, our ship is Portuguese-flagged, so it was not detained by the Germans, and last night I received an inexplicable instruction from the radio to come to this inn to talk to the 'crows' about these words......"

Tom felt like he was about to spurt out a mouthful of old blood, MI6 was so unreliable, just find someone to activate the spy who has been lurking for 25 years?

"Maybe you don't necessarily want to accept this task, and I don't want to force you, I'm leaving Anglo Heroísmo tomorrow." "They'll be on the BBC tomorrow night at 8 p.m., including the frequency and requirements for the announcement, and I know so much." ”

"I have to think about it......"

"To be honest, it's not a good job." The visitor looked at Tom sympathetically, "I'm leaving." ”

"Do you want to do it?" Tom fell on the bed, his eyes fixed on the ceiling: he had always thought that he was ignored, that he had been forgotten, that he had been uneasy, anxious, and resentful, but when the order came, he began to hesitate again, and the two voices in his head began to quarrel:

"You have professional training from MI6, and you should be brave enough to stand up when the country needs you!"

"Come on, Lao Tzu has been lurking for 25 years, and the statute of limitations has long expired, and now I am free, not an intelligence officer......"

"But you are British, and you have Anglo-Saxon blood in your veins."

"Yes, but I'm a Portuguese citizen now."

"The country needs you."

"Why didn't anyone pay attention to me when I needed the country? How many 25 years of life are there for 25 years of leaving me alone in Anglo-Heroísmo and running my own hotel to make ends meet? ”

"Now the motherland has sent people."

"It's such an unreliable guy who looks like child's play - I repeat, you never paid attention to me, then and now! I'm not even as a pawn as ......"

In the end, he figured it out: listen to the BBC radio anyway and see what the instructions were. As for the radio, he smiled, and it was not a problem for him - everyone who knew Mr. Tom Philip knew him as a veteran radio enthusiast, who liked to tinker with radio and ore radios in addition to running a hotel, and was well known in the radio enthusiast circles of Porto Sansírísmo and even Portugal, and there was an old-fashioned spark plug radio telegraph in the lobby of the hotel, which many travelers liked to look at and touch when they stayed at the hotel.

This is the greatest pride of the "crow" to prove that he is an intelligence officer, but unfortunately, no one has ever understood his loneliness...... (To be continued.) )