"I received a secret message. On the bridge www.biquge.info of the USS Unicorn, Cunningham called Spruance into his cabin and looked at him with a blank face, "The future of you and me, and the future of the two great powers, do you want to hear it?" ”

Hearing the other party's tone so solemn, Spruance's face also became solemn: "Sir, something major has changed." ”

"News came from Washington that President Roosevelt was too ill to serve on the board of directors, and that Vice President Wallace was currently acting in his place, and that the newly appointed vice president was very dissatisfied with the current state of war and with the sacrifices and sacrifices made by the United States, and first looked for an excuse to stop aid to the Soviet Union, and it was said that he was preparing to stop aid to Great Britain, and was even seeking peace with Germany -- seeking German-American peace at the cost of abandoning Great Britain."

Spruance was stunned by the surprise: "Is this true? Don't be a German rumor, right? After you were invaded by Germany, President Roosevelt advocated aid and passed the Lend-Lease Act, and now that the two countries are suffering from Nazis and Japanese militarism, how can you just stop? Haven't so many people died in vain? ”

"You can never think of a politician's trick! They only have their own interests in their eyes, only more shameless, not the most shameless. Cunningham muttered, "I called you here in the hope that we would communicate well and not turn against each other. ”

Spruance was also stunned when he heard the words "turn against each other", and only after a long time did he squeeze out half a sentence from between his teeth: "You mean, ballista?" ”

Cunningham nodded: "Churchill used ballistas on the French, so he was afraid that others would also give him a ballista......"

The Ballista Project was originally planned to prevent the French fleet from being used by the Germans after the French surrender, and the Royal Navy not only seized and disarmed all warships under its control, but also sent a fleet to attack the rest of the French warships, which had been allies a few days ago, and eventually led to the turn of Britain and France against each other.

"What do you mean?"

"Although London has not yet given me clear instructions, I believe that if the information is true, the necessary preparations will be made whether or not the fleet will no longer be loyal to the current king and the Churchill regime. I think the best thing to do is to break up peacefully and not hurt each other. Cunningham said calmly, "Just like a couple facing a moment of divorce, despite all kinds of unpleasantness, please look at the sweetness of having been together in the past, don't scratch each other bloody at the last moment, it's better to separate gracefully, and leave each other a memory." ”

Spruance was dumbfounded, and after a long time, he said, "You say ......"

"I don't know what the top brass of the two militaries ended up arranging for the fleet, but I think that if you are determined to abandon Great Britain, the Atlantic Combined Fleet will certainly not be able to continue to sustain it." Cunningham muttered, "Although some of the warships were later gifted to us by you, considering the sacrifices and efforts of the British Empire, I think these are the property of the Royal Navy in the true sense of the word, and I hope that your country will not attack their ideas." The United States is very rich, its national strength is very strong, and the level of warship construction is the best in the world, so you should not come to grab these things. I would like to make some adjustments in advance to temporarily change the situation in which each side has officers and men serving on each other's warships, and all the officers and men of the Royal Navy are concentrated on our warships, and the same is true for your officers and men......"

"You received other instructions?"

"Nope." Cunningham shook his head, "Although I don't have a good relationship with Churchill and I don't like him very much, as long as he is the leader of the country determined by the democracy of the British Empire, I will obey his orders, but if this situation changes, I will not necessarily obey." In my mind, the foundation of Britain will always be on those small islands, rich or poor, strong or weak, I will never leave her. ”

Spruance remembered the rumors of Edward VIII's restoration and George VI's coming to Canada, forming a situation of one country on the side of Great Britain, and his heart moved: "Will you be loyal to Edward VIII in the future?" ”

"No, exactly, I will not work with the Germans." He patted the empty trouser tube, "I lost this leg in Africa because of the Germans, so I will never forgive the Germans." But that doesn't mean I'm willing to fight a civil war. Think about it, one government in Canada, one government in London, how many Britons will die when the time comes? I cannot give up this army, which the Britons expect from the British, to strengthen the Canadian side. What's more, you don't want to fight with the Germans, what does it mean that I hide in Canada with my troops? Exile Fleet? I looked down on De Gaulle all my life, and he was as good as Petain. ”

"But even according to that rumor, people who are willing to support the Churchill administration can still come to Canada."

"Of course, but how many people can Canada accommodate? 100,000? 1 million? There are more than 40 million on the island of Britain! Can you take them all? Can we abandon our mother country, with its millennia-old cultural and historical traditions? No matter how good Canada is, it's not Great Britain! ”

Speaking of which, Spruance would be hell if he couldn't understand Cunningham. Cunningham's attitude was clear: if the United States no longer supported Great Britain, Britain would not need to enter the war no longer in any matter how Churchill struggled, and he was even unwilling to hand over the fleet to Canada or the United States in order to reduce Churchill's possible toss-up.

"Can you wait a little longer?" Spruance finally advised, "I understand and respect your decision, but please do not get excited, everything is still undecided, and some actions in the eyes of those who care will cause more serious hardship, and President Roosevelt said it well - the only thing that scares us is fear itself." ”

"I also hope it's just a clumsy, long-running rumor." Cunningham sighed and said no more.

Compared with the undercurrents surging up and down the Navy, the scene of congressional inquiries in Washington has formed a raging torrent.

"Ladies and gentlemen, President Roosevelt is unable to serve because of illness, and in accordance with the Constitution and tradition of our country, I am acting as President in question. At present, I have not broken through the direction set by the President and the Congress in various domestic and foreign policy decisions, but this does not mean that I agree with and appreciate that every decision is correct. Before I briefing, I would like to draw your attention to the high level of secrecy...... "Henry Wallace preemptively turned against the guest before the menacing inquiries of the parliamentarians, and came with a long paragraph:

"Since the outbreak of the war in Europe in 1939, especially after the passage of the Lend-Lease Act, in response to the war with the Axis countries, our country has strengthened various national defense undertakings and provided support to the allies, and by the end of 1943, the United States has spent more than 300 billion dollars on military spending, which is evenly distributed to Americans, which means that the government can buy a very good car for every citizen or provide all tuition fees from elementary school to high school...... The military budget for fiscal year 1944 was originally set to be about 130 billion, but the actual budget may exceed 150 billion. ”

Everyone in the audience turned their heads to each other, and everyone was shocked by this number.

In addition to the United States' own military construction, these military expenditures are mainly used to finance various allies, including Great Britain and its Dominions, the Soviet Union, China, other European countries and resistance forces, totaling nearly $100 billion. Of the nearly $100 billion, Great Britain and its dominions and colonies received nearly 90 billion, the Soviet Union more than 8 billion, China less than 1 billion, Free France about 700 million, and all other countries and localities combined for less than 500 million. What did these high costs turn out to become?

At its peak, we lost 1.2 million to 1.4 million tonnes of supplies and ships each month on the Anglo-Canadian route, and 5 million tonnes in one fell swoop in the Battle of Newfoundland. According to incomplete statistics, about 20 million to 22 million tons of materials delivered to Britain and the Soviet Union were lost in the Atlantic, and we also lost nearly 20 million tons of ship tonnage at the same time (the materials were only lost one way, and the ships would also be lost on the return trip, including some British ships), and the materials that were actually transported to the hands of the allies were only more than 20 million tons.

Although the material losses were shocking enough, the human losses were even more serious, and we lost nearly 80,000 seamen and naval officers and sailors in the entire escort operation. They were either buried in rough seas or spent years in enemy prisoner-of-war camps.

Since Japan's surprise attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941, the total losses of the armed forces of the United States have been as high as more than 800,000, of which nearly 400,000 were killed in battle, more than 100,000 were seriously injured or permanently mutilated, another 100,000 to 150,000 were missing or captured, and only about 200,000 of their injuries could still be cured.

Did you know that in the naval battle of the southern Indian Ocean, almost all of the two full-strength army divisions transferred by boat, along with their equipment, were killed in the sea? Did you know that during the landing on the Horn of East Africa and the ensuing campaign, we lost almost all of our troops who participated in the Battle of the Torch? Do you know that those fast-building escort aircraft carriers are not sinking one by one, but sinking by a dozen? Did you know that by now we have lost almost all the battleships, heavy cruisers and aircraft carriers built before the war? Did you know that in Cape Verde, 2 desperate and isolated U.S. Army divisions eventually surrendered to a German army that numbered only one-fifteenth of them? Do you know that Hitler now had two SS American divisions in his hands, all of which were made up of captured officers and soldiers of our army, who used to bask in the sunshine of freedom with us, but now they were forced to raise their right hand and shout every day, 'Hi, Hitler!' Did you know that a lot of the Voice of Europe broadcast news is true, very credible, at least much more reliable than our news media? ……”

This barrage of "do you know" suffocated the audience......