While Britain and the United States were busy with the affairs of the Azores, the huge Japanese combined fleet was living a life of pleasure and pleasure. Pen & Fun & Pavilion www.biquge.info

Horikichi's 8-year chairman was not in vain, he commanded the troops, and he also had a set of mediating the psychology of employees (officers and soldiers), and after two life-fighting battles in the South Solomon Sea and the Indian Ocean, he let the fleet relax after arriving in Italy. With the arrival of a large number of warships, the maintenance of the repairs, the maintenance of the maintenance, and the installation of new equipment, the whole fleet became idle, so except for the sufficient supervision manpower, the rest of the officers and men let him go ashore in batches.

Germany and Italy quite recognized and praised the results of the Combined Fleet, especially in the Indian Ocean and North African Campaigns, Japan made great contributions to the Axis victory, so they were very polite to the Japanese officers and men, Italy gave a good rest environment and daily supplies, and Germany provided all kinds of other conveniences, ranging from torpedoes and heavy oil to large facilities and equipment such as radars and catapults, everything that the Combined Fleet needed was fully satisfied, and as for the manpower and material resources for repair and maintenance, the two countries also took care of it. It is equivalent to raising a whole fleet during this time. The Japanese navy, which had a pro-British tradition, had disappeared for the most part of the war, and after seeing the strength of the German army and the prosperity of European countries, the pro-British plot completely disappeared without a trace.

After consulting with a group of staff members and obtaining domestic consent, Horikichi decided to separately set aside 10 million marks from the 1 billion marks granted by Germany to be used for the personal lives of officers and soldiers, and spread it among more than 60,000 people, with the least being in the early 100s and the big rank being more than 1,000. General-level officers do not have much opportunity to spend money because they are entertained by the high-level military of Germany and Italy.

The total amount of this money seems to be relatively large, and when it is distributed, it is equivalent to a month's salary for a German officer and soldier of the same rank. But in the eyes of the Japanese soldiers, they were overjoyed to be able to get such a large amount of pocket money under the premise that the daily supply was fully contracted and the supply was beyond the standard. Although the Italians are not very reliable in other respects, they are famous for their food, and they are known for their food, and they supply a lot of cheese, steak, and red wine, which looks staggering - the Japanese navy is also regarded as a first-class supply in the Japanese army, and has seen the world, but it is still ashamed to compare with the pomp and circumstance of Italy. Coupled with the fact that Mussolini could not demonstrate his strength militarily, it had to be reflected in these aspects.

When the pocket money was distributed, the top brass of the fleet explained that the money could be used to get drunk, happy, shop, or saved, and it would not interfere with the soldiers' use. There is only one point, now it is in the territory of the alliance, coupled with the language barrier and the different customs, all actions represent the image of the imperial army, do not make a mess, otherwise it will be severely punished. In the face of a backward country like China, the Japanese soldiers are usually messing around, and they are unreasonable and want to make trouble, and when facing Germany and Italy, which are developed countries that need to look up, they are polite and pretend to be good people (note: the quality of the Japanese navy is much stronger than that of the army), although there are some jokes, but there is no chaos.

Of course, there are really Japanese officers and soldiers who go to buy fun, and the Italian girls are all enthusiastic, but the Japanese soldiers are generally not tall, standing next to the tall girl is not even up to other people's chins, and it is difficult to even kiss the mouth, and after taking off their clothes, the thing under the crotch looks as thin as a toothpick according to Western standards...... In a word, the Yanma is not so easy to ride, and the Japanese officers and soldiers who dare to "try it out" often run away in embarrassment amid laughter.

After seeing the situation of the withering of commerce in Japanese cities, the Japanese army was generally shocked by the commercial prosperity and abundant products in Italy, and the ordinary soldiers bought cigarettes, alcohol, clothes, snacks, and bags, while the officers set their sights on foreign gadgets that were very rare in China -- low-ranking officers bought radios and watches, and middle- and high-ranking officers bought cameras, gramophones, and records, and in particular, Leica cameras from Germany were even more sought-after. Due to the successive victories of the Axis forces in the past six months, the value of the mark has been very stable, and even faintly appreciated, and the streets and alleys are full of huge Japanese shopping groups, which will make a group of merchants happy.

No one knows that this is all the credit of Hoffmann's crossing, precisely because he seized the control of the Indian Ocean and the Middle East and the Eastern Mediterranean, and the Axis's control of the Mediterranean Sea has completely reached the point of monopoly, and the agricultural products and mineral resources of the countries of the Middle East and Southeast Europe are continuously transported by sea to Italy and then to Germany, while Germany and Italy import their heavy industry and military products to various countries -- arms in wartime are very sought-after, especially German goods, which have a very convincing record, and small countries are proud of a complete set of German equipment.

When Britain had the upper hand in the Mediterranean, Germany and Italy also made trouble through the navy and air force, but now the situation is reversed, especially after Malta is taken, the Mediterranean Sea has completely become an inner lake of the axis, and all the threats around it have been stifled in advance, and the Allied forces cannot be deployed at all. There were several bold British submarines that tried to use Gibraltar as a base to break diplomatic relations, but one after another was sunk, and now Gibraltar is too busy to take care of itself, and the so-called breaking of diplomatic relations is even more on paper.

At the same time as the Japanese officers and soldiers were shopping, the official purchasing group was also making a big purchase. In addition to the 1 billion credit granted by Germany in advance, the two sides reached an agreement on the deal of two lightning cruisers, with a total price of 35 million marks, although the original cost is much lower, but in Horikichi's opinion, these two old ships are not of much use in the army now, and it is better to replace them with other better equipment.

But Raeder's next suggestion made him prick up his ears

"At present, the Imperial Navy is engaged in a broken battle in the Atlantic, and it is hoped that these two warships will be put into service immediately, so they will ...... from Gibraltar"

Originally, Horiyoshi thought that the Germans were urging him to hand over as soon as possible, so he naturally agreed, but the next sentence made him stunned: "We hope to recruit Japanese volunteers to drive these two ships, preferably the officers and soldiers on the original ships - we are willing to pay for this." ”

Horikichi instinctively wanted to refuse at first, but when he heard that Germany was willing to pay 5 million marks and promised to let these officers and men return when the Combined Fleet returned home, in case of casualties in the middle of the battle, he would be compensated according to German standards, and the loss of warships had nothing to do with Japan.

"Sir, 5 million is not a small amount, if you buy a Tiger tank, you can buy 8 of them......

"Yes, the officers and soldiers are idle, it is better to go to the sea to practice, and experience what it is like to break diplomatic relations, the Imperial Navy has not broken diplomatic relations......"

At the suggestion of a staff officer, Horiyoshi finally agreed to immediately send two warships, Kitagami and Oi, to sea, but he did not put the 5 million marks into the purchase like the others, but gave them as pocket money - the rest of the officers and men were increased by half according to the original standard, and the officers and men of the two ships were doubled.

The veteran admirals all think that Hori Yiyoshi is powerful, and these tens of thousands of officers and soldiers will not be dead to the commander in the future? A commander who can win battles and give preferential treatment to officers and soldiers is the most popular, and the position of commander of the Combined Fleet is not easy for anyone to change unless Horiyoshi himself does not want to sit in this position.

Horikichi's business skills were revealed during the big purchase, and he didn't just focus on weapons and equipment like ordinary generals, but also paid attention to other things.

Industrial machine tools, buy!

Precision equipment, buy!

Optical instruments, buy!

Radar, radio, cipher machine, buy!

French trucks, buy!

Swedish anti-aircraft artillery, buy!

Belgian Special Steel, Buy!

Coal-to-liquid technology, buy, buy, buy!

Chemical additives in fuel, buy, buy, buy!

"General, this is the latest anti-inflammatory drug developed by the Empire, and it has a miraculous effect on surgical infections......"

"Miraculous effect?" Horikichi pondered, "How does it compare to sulfonamides?" ”

"It's much stronger than sulfonamides, and the key is that many pathogens can't be dealt with, but this new drug, penicillin, can."

"How's the price?"

"The market price is 125 marks a bottle, and you can charge 100 marks at cost price, but you can only sell 100,000 bottles at most, and there is no more, which is the most scarce type of medicine."

As soon as I heard the price and looked at the little bit of powder in front of me, the attachés behind me gasped, this price is almost more than gold, but it's really not cheap!

"Can you authorize us to produce it?" Horikichi narrowed his eyes and asked, "Or sell us the patent?" ”

"Not for the time being, because Bayer, which develops technology, is currently refusing to sell or authorize even domestic companies, and your quota is still deliberately squeezed out of the Wehrmacht by the Führer, so ......"

"I understand the deep friendship of the Führer, so we will come with 100,000 bottles, and we will buy them again in the future."

In fact, the properties of penicillin are no secret after Fleming published the relevant papers, German chemists repeated the experiment as early as 5 years ago to obtain exactly the same thing, the difficulty lies in large-scale extraction, at this point Hoffmann used the hand of crossing, concentrated the best German chemists and revealed the idea of making from corn to tackle the problem, the result was quickly successful, the production speed is faster than the United States. The officers accompanying the procurement by the High Command did not lie, the drug was very difficult to obtain on the market, except for the large quantities available to the troops.

"Sir, no one knows whether this medicine has an effect or not, why do you buy so much at once?"

"If it works, ask Ambassador Hiroshi Oshima if it works, and the Germans will not lie to us."

"But you can't get it back with such good technology......"

"Forget it, aren't the domestic chaebols like this?" Horikichi narrowed his eyes and asked Kusaka, "Will you make false accounts?" ”

"Fake accounts?" The latter's eyes widened and he cried out in surprise, "What are you?" ”

"As long as this thing is taken back to China, I am afraid that the officers and soldiers who are wounded in blood will not need much in the end, and the big head will be snatched away by high-ranking officials and nobles......" Horikichi sighed, "I said that I only bought 80,000 bottles, and the rest are stored in Musashi, and I am not allowed to move without my permission." (To be continued.) )