At the same time that Kohl was on his way to Japan as a German envoy, Count Ziano remained in Berlin as an Italian envoy. After the meeting in Serbia and the friendly football match between the two countries, Mussolini returned with good news of Serbia, but the task he gave to Count Ziano seemed to the latter to be wishful thinking, and the Germans would only see it if they could agree. But in this way, he had to find a way to complete the task assigned by Mussolini, or at least try to find a way, so he had no choice but to continue to stay in Berlin.

Although he had a good relationship with the Führer, he did not dare to touch his brow easily, and finally decided to find Ribbentrop first, hoping to make a center through him, so that he would not be able to get off the stage at that time. Ribbentrop thought that there was something good waiting for Ziano, but he didn't expect that what he said was actually this, and after listening to it, his face was elongated, and he said angrily: "Do you think if I go to report these things to the Führer, will I be driven out by him as a fool?" ”

Ziano certainly didn't come empty-handed, and it wasn't enough to deal with Ribbentrop with a gold watch, he also sent two oil paintings. For the sake of filial piety, Ribbentrop's face looked much better, and at last he reluctantly agreed to give it a try, to create as friendly an atmosphere as possible for the Italians, but the tone of his report to Hoffmann changed completely, and he said indignantly: "I really don't know what the Italians think, Führer...... It's just whimsical...... It was a big mistake for us to make an alliance with the Italians. ”

Speer was also there, and the two laughed together. Laughed at the innocence and arrogance of Italy, and finally stopped laughing, Hoffman told Ribbentrop: "All right. You don't have to talk about it there, let the Count come and tell him about Italy. ”

"Talking?" Ribbentrop's eyes widened, "Führer, you're not joking, are you?" ”

"What are you kidding, there is something to talk about." Hoffman turned to Speer and said, "What do you say?" ”

"I think so." Speer understood what Hoffmann meant. He nodded knowingly

Ribbentrop was bewildered by the strange expressions and conversations of the two, but since the Führer had indicated that there was a discussion, he promised to return to Ziano at once. Of course, when he came out of the Führer's office to look for the Italians, his expression was not so polite. Instead, he took all the credit in his own name: he said that after his efforts to communicate, the Führer was willing to listen carefully to Italy's ideas, and was willing to give Italy a little compensation for the last North African campaign - after all, he had to give an account for the loss of so many people by the Italian leader, but asked Count Zia to communicate clearly with the Führer in person.

Ziano was still thinking about how to speak. Now since the Führer did not refuse in one go. Naturally, he had to try his luck the next day. Looking at this son-in-law who staged a coup d'état and finally imprisoned Mussolini in history, Hoffmann suddenly laughed: "I heard that our beloved leader has given the count another problem, and Kesselring told me that last time you sent a lot of gold watches, he also got a piece." You've done a great job, and if some of our bureaucrats were half as clever as the count, I could have saved a lot of trouble. ”

"Isn't it...... Ziano's face didn't change in the slightest, as if Hoffman was teasing someone else. He poured out a lot of bitter water to express his difficulty in maintaining the situation in Italy in all aspects, and criticized Mussolini's actions with half-truths and half-truths. Both Hoffmann and Speer wanted to laugh.

The two forced a smile and talked about the topic to the arrangements in North Africa. Hoffmann said with a pleasant face: "I have understood the meaning of the leader, and his appetite is still amazing, but I am more curious about what we can gain from doing this. ”

Ziano was speechless for a while, Italy's launch of the North African campaign was originally a whim of Mussolini, if it was not really unable to withstand the British, the Führer would not have formed an African army and sent Rommel to North Africa, whether it was ******** or traditional relations, North Africa had nothing to do with Germany, and he couldn't think of how much benefit the other side could have, so he had to go around in circles and preach the important value of the traditional friendship between Germany and Italy and the Italian ally, and Speer rolled his eyes when he heard it.

"To be honest, I can give him all the things that the leader wants, and even give him a little more, for example****** now in the hands of the French, I can also enjoy special benefits in Italy at that time, but most importantly, how much are you willing to pay for these things?" Hoffman's expression became serious, "So far, North Africa is by no means the place that the leader said, and it can be taken down with a slight push, and the British will to fight and strength are not as weak as initially estimated, and there will be heavy costs and sacrifices to continue the North African campaign, is Italy ready?" ”

"Italy certainly has a responsibility." Ziano hurriedly said, "The Führer has agreed that we will withdraw some of our troops from the Eastern Front, and the leader believes that if necessary, we can re-engage in the war in North Africa, in addition to this, our logistical support and naval and air support in North Africa will also be strengthened simultaneously." ”

"It's all necessary, but it's not enough." Hoffman said with a straight face, "First, I don't agree with the retreating troops of the Eastern Front to be thrown into North Africa again, they have just experienced fierce fighting, they are physically and mentally exhausted, and it is difficult for them to adapt to the fierce battle without rest and replenishment, and their original combat environment is a land of ice and snow, which is too different from North Africa; Secondly, I do not propose to continue to expand the size of the Italian army units, I think it is more advantageous to strengthen them and optimize their structure than to simply increase their numbers; Third, the direction of further expansion of Italy's military is to increase the strength of the navy and air force; Fourth, and most importantly, if we are to expand the scale and depth of the war in North Africa, we need to make major adjustments to the entire combat system and supporting forces. ”

"I wonder what are the aspects involved in the major reshuffle of the Führer?"

"There are two aspects." Hoffman explained his thoughts to Ziano, "First, militarily it is necessary to establish a joint operational command on the southern front, with unified command and management of the relevant forces -- I am not only talking about the forces to be put into the North African theater, but including the navy and air force of all Italian regions must be included in the unified strategy of the southern front, except for the army; Second, Italy's economic structure and important military industries must be integrated into a unified management system, complementing and supporting Germany's industrial capacity, and it can no longer produce certain equipment on its own, so as not to put more pressure on logistical support. ”

"Production coordination mainly involves three aspects, one is the unified scheduling of personnel and resources; the second is the reduction of relevant varieties and the concentration of forces in the production system of military products; The third is to carry out large-scale economic coordination. Speer adds, "Piaget may not have been aware of the adjustment of production after the general mobilization system, we have cut a lot of equipment to concentrate on production, and we have focused on versatility and interchangeability in production, and I think Italian industry should also undergo this transformation, which is very beneficial to increase production and efficiency." In addition, Italy can get full technical authorization to produce advanced equipment from Germany, instead of putting its own strength on the research and development of duplicate products, just like last month your country also sent a note requesting the expansion of the import of DB601 series engines, I think it is completely possible to carry out production license license production in your country. ”

"I still know the situation relatively well, we have tried, but the imitation cannot be compared with Germany in terms of technical maturity and cost." Ziano thought that if it weren't for the difficulty of producing it ourselves, we wouldn't waste foreign exchange on imports from Germany over and over again.

"This can be changed, and we can send engineers and experts to your country to transform and upgrade." Speer said meaningfully, "With Italy's industrial base and technological prowess, you should have made better use of it -- after all, you are a more powerful industrial country than Japan, but now the quantity and quality of the main products are not as good as Japan's." ”

Ziano defended himself with a few words: "That's because we lack the necessary resources and oil." ”

"If the production of the two countries is coordinated, you don't need to worry about resources and oil, the German side will do its best to ensure supply." Speer understood what Hoffmann meant, and he wanted to keep Italy's production forces under his control, "Isn't the fuel of the Italian army, as it has been recently, sufficiently secured?" ”

Ziano thought for a moment and asked a key question: "If a joint command is formed, who will be the supreme commander?" ”

"Field Marshal Kesselring is qualified for this position in the Army and Air Force, he is the commander-in-chief of the German Southern Front, has extensive experience in land and air operations, and is familiar with all aspects of your country, although the Italian native army is not under his command; The naval side, of course, should be under the command of the Italian generals, and our submarines and other forces in the Mediterranean direction can also be included in this unified command system. Hoffman said bluntly, "The two countries should establish a mechanism for the exchange of daily intelligence and staff work, and be jointly responsible to the supreme commander of their respective countries. ”

Ziano thought to himself: the appetite of the leader is great, and the appetite of the Führer is not small! In this way, Italy's military power and industrial production will no longer be inseparable from Germany, and it will not be enough to talk about the loss of sovereignty, but it will certainly not be as flexible as before. Anyone who stands in fairness and justice should vote for such an adjustment, and should not hesitate to admit that it would be more desirable for the Germans to take command. But when he thought of Mussolini's poor pride, he wondered whether the leaders would agree to pay such a price for the sake of North Africa's interests.

He finally said: "I understand what the Führer and His Excellency Speer mean, and I will return to Italy as soon as possible to report to the leader." (To be continued.) )