It was not only the secret organization of young officers such as Nasser who was willing to provide intelligence to the German army, but Ali Maher, the court governor of Egyptian King Farouk I and a former prime minister of Egypt, also expressed a fully pro-German and anti-British position - an intention that was so obvious and early (1940) that the British immediately took him down. Now, he secretly sent his son Maher Jr. to communicate, just one hour after Nasser. Kesselring guessed that the two might have taken about the same time to get the information, but the British were more vigilant against Maher, and it was more difficult for little Maher to get out.

Kesselring was originally the key entry point for Arri Maher to solve the Egyptian problem, but now looking at Hoffman's attitude, he is a little uncertain.

Hoffman laughed at this: "Albert, you do what you think, don't be influenced by me, one thing I want to remind you is that Maher is very capable and charismatic according to you, and has always been close to us, what do you think are his shortcomings?" ”

"There is a strong sense of independence and autonomy, and it is likely that they are not willing to be controlled by us."

"That's not right." Hoffman shook his head, "His biggest problem is not being able to break with the king. This king is so dull and incompetent that the common people of all Egypt hate him, but since Mahir, as the head of the court, is valued and trusted by the king, and the father and son have been favored by the royal family for two generations, what do you think he can do? ”

The current King of Egypt, Farouk I, who succeeded to the throne in 1936, is a corrupt and depraved and shameless king. He had neither great military exploits nor any talent for governing the country. He became king only by feudal hereditary lineage. He is not only lustful but also delicious: after marriage, there are countless mistresses, a large number of actresses and well-known female talents are his bed playthings, and all the women in Cairo who are a little beautiful cannot escape his clutches; He eats twelve eggs for breakfast. He could eat 40 quails for lunch, drink up to 30 bottles of beer a day, and often shut himself up in a dark room to eat chocolate, and his weight skyrocketed to more than 300 pounds, which he weighed only half of when he studied in England before he ascended the throne. Although he has no talent and no virtue, he has a skill, that is, he is good at pickpocketing. At every court banquet he had to steal from the people attending the conference - he was not short of money, but he liked to steal, and even stole his pocket watch during his visit to Egypt. provoked the fat man of Qiu to be furious!

"Hold on to the situation as much as he can, but sooner or later he will face a choice between Egypt and the king." Kesselring also knew about King Farouk's "glorious deeds" and immediately said. "It's not hard to choose for a mature politician, right?"

"He was wrong which one he chose...... The best thing to do is for him to take advantage of the current political situation to force the king to abdicate and change to a republic. Or replace other royal figures as symbolic puppets, but is this possible? -- The election of a king means that he is in opposition to the greatest number of ordinary people, and his rule cannot last long; Abandoning the king means that he has failed the king and is ungrateful, which will become a key weakness for him to remain in power. Hoffman laughed, "You know, he's not trusted because his name is Maher. It was because he was the king's teacher that he had his current status. To change him is to cut off the diseased left hand with his right hand. Can you do it easily? Even if he can do it, is he a normal person? ”

"This ......," Kesselring couldn't help but think of President Hindenburg, who was not yet a faint monarch after the old marshal had been so prestigious and powerful that he had not been able to restore the Hohenzollern royal throne and had been forced to hand over power to the National Socialist Workers' Party and the Führer. It is no wonder that the Führer took a fancy to these two young officers as soon as he came up - he must have seen in them his former shadow.

"So what now?" Kesselring also hesitated, "I've hooked up with Maher, maybe I'm only clinging to the temporary stability in the moment and ignoring the future." ”

"You're doing the right thing, it's the country that's wrong." Hoffman sighed, "Actually, there is another way to solve this problem - let this king die before Maher falls!" ”

"It's difficult. As far as I know, the king was only in his 30s, and he had nothing special to do with him except that he was fat, and he was in the prime of life. Kesselring narrowed his eyes and gestured with his right hand to cut off his head, "Is that so?" Let's just say that the British did it. ”

Hoffman shook his head slowly: "You can't do this!" If we are exposed, we will be too passive, and Maher will definitely be separated from us. ”

"If it doesn't work, I can't think of a way."

"This guy is both and good food, and one day he will die in a woman's belly." Hoffman laughed, "We'll have to find someone to help him......

Kesselring's eyes suddenly lit up, and he suddenly brightened: "These two young people you fancie? ”

"Take your time, don't rush, don't hint or encourage them to do it, but gradually make them realize that the problems of Egypt, the difficulties of Prime Minister Maher, are caused by one person - that's enough!"

"The Führer is wise!" Kesselring thought to himself: The latter is hardly a problem, it is estimated that the two young men are already thinking like this now, it is just that they are not ready to be the murderers of the king.

"If Alexander's escape is true, the political situation in Egypt is just around the corner, what instructions do you have?"

Hoffman pondered for a moment: "We can let Maher immediately form an Egyptian emergency committee, in fact break away from the Anglo-Egyptian alliance, fully reshuffle the government and cabinet, establish the national defense force and expand the number of troops, and the national defense force will cooperate with us to attack the British forces in Sudan, Ethiopia, Somalia, and Kenya." ”

"Egyptian Defense Forces?" Kesselring frowned, "Maybe not able to fight, will it be a delay?" ”

"Send our officers - all the way down to the company level! The Egyptian Defense Forces must be formed and must participate in the war, and as long as they shoot at the British and taste the killing, they will not be able to turn back. ”

Kesselring thought to himself: the Führer is ruthless enough! Do the Egyptians want to quit in the future after they have surrendered?

"And these two officers can be put in the army to train and see how they are doing? It's the talent that immediately stands out. Hoffman patted Kesselring on the shoulder, "I'll go back to Alexandria and wait for good news from Rommel, I'll leave it to you." ”

On the morning of December 24, Kesselring, in his capacity as commander-in-chief of the German Southern Front, issued a "Policy Note on Egypt":

…… The German Government notes with great interest the repeated reaffirmation of the neutrality and related policies of the Egyptian Government as a crucial way of saving the Egyptian nation and its people from the scourge of war and rejuvenating them. But it is well known that where there is a British army, we will annihilate it, and therefore we will do the same in Egypt. We expect politicians who genuinely have the long-term interests of Egypt to lead the Egyptian people in driving out the British troops entrenched in Egypt, and we will not hesitate to provide German assistance if needed.

In the evening of the same day, while Alexander arranged for the retreat of his troops, Mari-Maher himself escaped from the supervision of the British soldiers with his henchmen and hid in the German barracks, and then quickly issued a notice in the name of the "Egyptian Emergency Committee", announcing through the radio the guidelines of "political alliance, economic cooperation, and military cooperation" between Germany and Egypt, stipulating:

1. After the situation in Egypt is stabilized, the transitional government will be reorganized and established on the basis of the Emergency Committee and truly democratic general elections will be held, so that Egypt will gain full independence and freedom;

2. Declare the abrogation of all contracts with Great Britain, confiscate all the properties of the British government, enterprises and expatriates in Egypt, and reserve the right to claim compensation from Britain for colonial rule;

3. Establish the Egyptian Defense Force, with a tentative number of 200,000 personnel: 3 divisions in the short term, 12 divisions in the long term, and naval forces at the same time;

4. Invite the German Wehrmacht to be stationed in friendly stations and help Egypt expel and destroy all British troops;

5. Germany and Egypt agreed to trade and trade at reciprocal prices: Germany sold arms, machinery and equipment to Egypt and the industrial technology needed by Egypt, and Egypt sold agricultural and sideline products to Germany, especially cotton, which had been greatly overstocked due to the war.

In addition to these public terms, Kesselring also signed a secret agreement with Maher:

1. Germany pledged to support the new Egyptian government with Ali Maher as prime minister, and the new government hired military and political advisers and technical experts from Germany;

2. In the future, the Canal Company will be an enterprise jointly controlled by Germany and Egypt, each holding 50% of the shares, and the German army will be stationed in the Canal Zone at the invitation of the Egyptian government, with no more than 5,000 troops;

3. The Egyptian Defense Forces cooperated with the German military operations in East Africa;

4. With immediate effect, the Anglo-Egyptian Agreement on Condominium in Sudan will be abrogated, the territory of Sudan will be separated in accordance with the principle of appropriateness, and all territories closely related to Egypt and belonging to Egypt's traditional sphere of influence will be annexed to Egypt.

Alexander, believing that he had done a clever job, told Ramsden the truth about the retreat route at the end of the evening when he finally commanded a small part of his troops to board the train, but soon discovered that he had been fooled. In the afternoon of the next day, the commander of the German naval aviation, Richthofen, with the assistance of the Italian Navy, directed the planes to take off from the makeshift airfield at the southern end of the Suez Canal Zone, skimmed directly south of Cairo and bombarded ships in the river near Keena. After actual combat training in the Black Sea, the navy has become very comfortable in dealing with sea targets, not to mention the slow transport ships on the Nile that are slow and cannot maneuver in a large area at all.

After the bombardment in the middle of the afternoon, most of the fleeing British flotilla was sunk in the middle of the way, and although many British officers and soldiers jumped into the Nile to struggle for survival, the other passing Egyptian ships were completely indifferent and had long avoided the side. The Germans, on the other hand, had no interest in the retreating British troops by train, and let them run all the way to Aswan.

"See, this is the route of retreat you have arranged, and you think you are clever......" Ramsden angrily threw the telegram at Alexander's feet, "and tell you, not the 27th nor the 28th, Guderian's vanguard has arrived this afternoon, and we will be surrounded by regiments by to-night." (To be continued.) )