"I have good news for you here, too." Mannerheim smiled as soon as Ribbentrop released his intentions.

As he spoke, Mannerheim beckoned, motioning for Silasvo to speak for him.

After all, as the commander-in-chief of the Finnish Defense Forces, Mannerheim is not very convenient for him, if anything.

"Honorable German Foreign Minister, Mr. Ribbentrop, our government is also preparing to regain the lands lost in the Winter War and to strive for a further extension to Karelia and the creation of a greater Finnish state." Silas Swal stepped forward and announced.

"Is this what your government means?" Although he had received the news in advance, Ribbentrop was shocked when he heard the Finns announce it with his own ears.

If Finland itself had the will to fight the Soviet Union, it would have been good news for Germany.

"That's what the government meant, and we, President Risto Lüti of Finland, have secretly told me about this decision." Mannerheim nodded, personally confirming Ribbentrop.

Although it is inconvenient for him, in the capacity of the commander-in-chief, to announce the decisions of domestic politicians. But this did not prevent him from further confirming it after the announcement of Silasvo's deputy.

"After the Soviets went to war against you Germany, we worked out a strategic direction for counterattacking with you in the future." Mannerheim made a gesture of invitation to Ribbentrop and motioned to leave the airport and head to the convoy to meet the president, after which he discussed the issue further.

"From the point of view of our strategic objectives, we also want to capture part of the Soviet land and shorten the Finnish-Soviet border as much as possible in order to reduce the possibility of future Soviet aggression against us. There is a slogan that is in vogue in our country — shortened borders, lasting peace. Therefore, when we entered the war, the Finnish army not only regained its own lost territory, but also continued to shorten the length of the border, helping the Allied allies to continue the offensive and capture the Kola Peninsula, East Karelia, and even northern Estonia. ”

This is a perfectly acceptable option from the perspective of Finland's own interests.

In this way, the Finnish army will not only regain its own territory with the help of its allies, but will continue to attack for the sake of its allies in the name of further securing its own security, until the Kola Peninsula, Eastern Karelia, and even northern Estonia are conquered.

In this way, the Finnish army also fulfilled its responsibilities as a member of the Allied camp.

In terms of Finland's national strength, they can't take on too many tasks, and the above scope of capture already needs to consume a lot of Finnish strength.

By the time it reached northern Estonia, the Finnish army was estimated to be at the end of its strength and did not have the strength to continue fighting, so it simply stopped there.

Ribbentrop was already very satisfied with the promise made by Mannerheim. From this point of view, the tasks of his current trip to Finland have basically been accomplished by 99 percent.

All that remains to do is to go back to the President of Finland to confirm it, sign a secret agreement, express friendship, and promise the Allies that they will send allies to fight alongside the Finnish army in Mannerheim.

Quite satisfied, at Mannerheim's invitation, he joined a translator sent by the Finnish side, as well as Mannerheim, to make the car at the head of the convoy.

In the car, through an interpreter, Ribbentrop assured Mannerheim from the diplomatic aspect of his own expertise: "I will arrange a meeting for the League of Nations to divide East Karelia to Finland and give you a reason and a pretext for sending troops." ”

That's Ribbentrop's specialty. Although he didn't know much about military affairs, when Mannerheim mentioned East Karelia, he immediately thought of the political articles that could be done on it.

Although East Karelia was never Finnish territory, the majority of its inhabitants belonged to ethnic Finns, and Finland appealed to the League of Nations, which was under British and French control, several times for its territorial claims, but they were not supported.

Now that the League of Nations has become an organization controlled by Germany and Italy, and Italy is secretly controlled by Germany because of Rossi, the German Foreign Minister Ribbentrop can actually be equated with the Secretary General of the League of Nations, and the decision of the German Foreign Office is equivalent to the decision of the League of Nations.

This is why Ribbentrop was able to make a direct commitment to Finland on behalf of the League of Nations.

"Thank you."

Half a day later, Mannerheim replied.

He was excited and delighted because it was exactly what he needed!

Internally, he can use the slogan of shortening the border line to start this "continuation war" between the Soviet Union and Finland, but externally, it still needs the League of Nations to give a ruling, and then the Finnish army will send troops in accordance with the League of Nations ruling, which seems to be in line with justice.

Indeed, there is only interest and no justice in international exchanges. However, the country that started the war always needs to find a good excuse for itself to enter the war.

"You are much more sincere than the Soviets." Mannerheim, who was happy in his heart, sighed to Ribbentrop from the bottom of his heart: "In order to prevent us from getting too close to Germany, the Soviet Union has made a war with you and at the same time has shown goodwill to our government. In addition to replacing the Soviet ambassador to Finland with a more flexible official on the Finnish-Soviet issue, they also expressed no objection to our cooperation with Sweden. ”

"Oh?" Ribbentrop knew, of course, that Mannerheim would talk about it himself, which would mean that the Soviets' plans had been frustrated.

However, he still cooperated with Mannerheim's topic and asked rhetorically: "Then did your government agree?" ”

"Of course not!" Mannerheim, who had long been ready to answer, laughed and said: "We have long realized that it is a wrong policy to rely on mutual assistance between the Nordic countries militarily, and the only ally that is really worth relying on is strong Germany. President Risto Ruti also declared that the country's defence readiness would be the first priority of the Government. ”

Mannerheim turned his head to look at Ribbentrop beside him and said with a smile: "In the past year, we have purchased a large amount of arms from you Germany and reorganized the army, and our military expenditure in this year is equivalent to 45% of the entire Finnish fiscal revenue. Moreover, our army, relying on a large amount of munitions, has been expanded to 15 infantry divisions, 1 cavalry brigade and 2 spear brigades, as well as a large number of reserve detachments. ”

"In our country, more than one-tenth of the total population of men, all in military uniform, await the final battle of revenge." Mannerheim said in a ruthless tone and with a cold expression: "How can we forget everything they have done to us and give up revenge on them just because the Soviets have changed a few diplomatic ambassadors?!" ”