The specific work of persuading Germany and Persia was still the responsibility of Tan Renhao. After talking to Gan Yongxing, this task fell to Tan Renhao. Before Nie Renfeng and Raeder discussed the Reich's assistance to the German naval fleet, Tan Renhao took out a detailed assessment report, and then sent it to the head of the German naval delegation.

The German Navy learned from other sources that the Tang Empire had obtained the news that the two battleships that Japan had not built, and immediately made formal contact with the Tang Empire government, hoping to purchase these two battleships from the Tang Empire, and fund the completion of the construction of these two battleships, and then use them as the core, plus other auxiliary warships directly purchased from the Tang Empire, to form the "Far East Fleet" of the German Navy.

The Persian Empire also quickly got the relevant information, and after the German Navy asked for the two warships, it also quickly contacted the imperial government, hoping that the Tang Empire could provide the two battleships to the Persian Empire, and was even willing to use its own shipyard to complete the construction work, while the Tang Empire only needed to provide relevant technical assistance and manpower assistance for the Persian Empire. And in return, the Persian Empire was willing to provide the Tang Empire with more oil supplies.

To put it bluntly, both Germany and the Persian Empire had their eyes on the two largest battleships in the world at the time, and both knew that these two battleships could radically change the status of their navy. But the problem was that at that time, even the Tang Empire thought that repairing these two battleships itself did not make much sense, and neither Persia nor Germany had enough capacity to complete the construction of these two battleships, and it was impossible to provide logistical support for these two battleships at a high price.

Tan Renhao made these two unsolvable problems very clearly stated in the document, and he did not propose other solutions. The main reason is that Nie Renfeng did not authorize him to do this. Then. Tan Renhao had already considered if the empire was willing to aid Germany and the Persian empire. It can actually be done.

In the 26th year of the local naval budget, the fourth batch of "New Provincial Capital" class battleships were not included in the construction work. At this time, the empire had at least six slipways that could build such capital ships. The construction of the third batch of four "New Provincial Capital" class battleships will be completed at the beginning of 26. In other words, at the age of 26. None of these slipways will be used for the construction of battleships, or they will be empty.

Either it will be used to build new aircraft carriers. However, now that the Imperial Navy has completed the construction of a new aircraft carrier, and the slipway for building an aircraft carrier is not exactly the same as the one for building a battleship, these slipways for building battleships are not on the list for building aircraft carriers.

"Headmaster. My thought was that if Germany and the Persian Empire needed more battleships, why not meet their needs with the fourth batch of 'New Provincial Capital' class battleships? ”

Tan Renhao's idea is very straightforward, "At least, we don't have a plan to build the fourth batch of 'new provincial capital' class battleships next year, and those slipways are not included in the plan to build a new aircraft carrier." The shipyard already had a surplus of construction capacity, which we could use to build battleships for Germany and Persia. ”

Nie Renfeng laughed. "You mean, we can still make some money this way?"

Tan Renhao also laughed. "Both Germany and Persia were eager to acquire new ships. Especially battleships and aircraft carriers. At least, we don't have enough aircraft carriers to supply them now, and the battleship side. After the third batch of 'new provincial capitals' entered service. We don't need more battleships anymore, and there are problems with funding. So, I think. Why not provide Germany and Persia with battleships and use the money earned to build us more? ”

Nie Renfeng smiled and didn't speak, waiting for Tan Renhao to continue.

"We can now take advantage of the German and Persian mentality. They have always been unwilling to be inferior in the navy, and they have always worked hard to build a strong fleet of their own. Then we will sell these ships to Germany and Persia at a regular trade price, which will be more than double the cost of purchase. In other words, to build a battleship for Germany, the extra money can be used to purchase one more battleship, or three 'Lake' class aircraft carriers, which is a good deal! ”

"But the problem is that we have to buy in the name of the navy, otherwise the shipyard will get most of the profits." Gan Yongxing explained the crux of the matter, "If it is procured in the name of the navy, we will have to set aside funds in next year's plan, but we do not have this funds." Also, this has to be approved by the Prime Minister, who has made it clear that the Navy will not get more battleships, and the focus for 26 years will be on new aircraft carriers, as well as the construction of escort carriers, transport ships, landing ships, and not on battleships.

It's going to be a lot of fun, at least, we'll have to pay for it first. ”

"We can ask Germany and Persia to pay part of the purchase money in advance, so the funding gap should not be very large."

"According to the regular method of trade procurement, it is all cash on delivery, and there is no reason for Germany and Persia to pay in advance!"

"Then we can put pressure on them!"

"That's not the problem." Nie Renfeng stopped the argument between the two, "The procurement budget of the navy must be approved by the prime minister, if this is indeed beneficial to the navy and in line with the basic policy of the empire, I believe the prime minister will not embarrass us." But the point is, why didn't the prime minister come up with this plan? ”

Tan Renhao and Gan Yongxing both looked at the principal, and at this time, they also realized that the problem was not as simple as it seemed on the surface.

"Actually, we all know very well that next year, we will have six large slipways vacated for the construction of battleships, and judging by the construction plan now arranged, these six slipways will mainly provide maintenance services for battleships, and will not undertake construction work. But we all knew that there was no need for the battleships of Task Force 3 to be repaired, so almost all of these slipways would be idle. Doesn't the Prime Minister know about this issue? Nie Renfeng glanced at the two students, "The prime minister not only knows, but also knows it very well in his heart. So why didn't he come up with this solution? ”

As a matter of fact. The sale of capital ships to Germany and Persia was not a problem for the Imperial Navy. It is a question of the basic national policy of the Empire.

Before the outbreak of war, and especially after the economic crisis. The Empire had been financing its armaments by providing arms and equipment to its allies. This can be regarded as an economic tool.

For example, in 15 years, the empire built four capital ships for Persia, and subsequently provided modification services for these four capital ships. But the problem is. After the outbreak of the war, the Imperial Navy was built almost from the ruins, and the navy played a decisive role in the war. As the war progressed, the Empire's naval and ground strength was rapidly recovering, but one thing was clear to everyone was that if the Empire wanted to be the biggest beneficiary of the war, it had to maintain its supremacy at sea. Enemies and allies alike, any threat to the Empire's maritime supremacy will not be tolerated. This, of course, included the supply of capital ships to Germany and Persia.

This is also the bottom line of the basic national policy of the empire, the empire can take on more maritime combat missions, and even bear greater investment and sacrifice. But after the end of the war, a state that could threaten the Empire's maritime supremacy must not be tolerated. And for any country, capital ships such as battleships and aircraft carriers are a symbol of naval strength. It is a symbol of a country's strength and status.

Perhaps, in the eyes of Tan Renhao and even Nie Renfeng, arming the German and Persian navies can improve the combat effectiveness of the imperial navy, reduce the pressure on the imperial navy, and provide help to the final enemy of the war. But the problem is that in Xue Xiyue's eyes, the problem is by no means so simple. It would be beneficial to arm the German and Persian navies during the war, but the question was, after the Empire had defeated the maritime powers of the United States, Britain, France, and Japan, would it have to create a new enemy with its own hands? Even if no one could have predicted that Germany or Persia would become an enemy of the empire, it would be at least an adversary. In order for the empire to maintain its hegemony in the world, it must prevent and combat any form of adversary, so can the empire tolerate Germany and Persia having strong navies? The answer is obviously no, the Empire will never allow such an outcome!

This is the crux of the matter, Xue Xiyue still refused to provide capital ships to Germany and Persia when he knew that the empire had a spare force for shipbuilding, and it was obvious that Xue Xiyue was thinking about the problem from the perspective of a politician.

The war had now been fought, the dawn of victory had appeared, and the Imperial Navy was rapidly becoming stronger, and it was only a matter of time before the enemy was defeated.

"Actually, we don't need to think too much about it." Nie Renfeng explained, "The prime minister didn't mention this, maybe he just wanted to use it as a political weight, and then get more benefits from Germany and Persia." Now, what we need to do is to make our attitude clear and make both Germany and Persia realize that we do not have enough capacity to help them now. Renhao, you have to come up with a document that can justify itself as soon as possible. ”

Tan Renhao sighed secretly and had to take on this new task.

"Yongxing, in the past few days, you have to contact the representatives of Germany and Persia, first find out their purpose, and then assist Renhao to complete our assessment report." Nie Renfeng looked at the two students, "I will get in touch with the prime minister as soon as possible, and then find a way to get clear instructions from the prime minister." ”

"Tomorrow's meeting ......"

"As usual, we must not make Germany and Persia suspicious, but do not mention the matter of aid, put the meeting on the agenda, and hope that the Prime Minister will give us clear instructions as soon as possible, so that we know how to deal with the Germans and Persians."

"Okay, then we'll come up with a report as soon as possible."

After saying goodbye to Nie Renfeng, Tan Renhao and Gan Yongxing left the principal's office.

"Chief of Staff, I don't think this will work." Tan Renhao raised his concerns, "Both Germany and Persia should know how much shipbuilding capacity we have, and now we clearly have a few slipways to vacate, and if we don't fulfill our promises, there will definitely be problems." ”

"I know, but the prime minister must have plans for it." Gan Yongxing also sighed secretly, "Of course, we should all put the interests of the empire first, and the prime minister is the supreme commander of the empire, we must do what the prime minister wants." Now, we'd better hurry up and come up with useful ways to delay as much time as possible. ”

"Well, I'll think about it." Tan Renhao smiled bitterly, "Try to get the report out by tomorrow morning, but I don't think there is a good way to get Germany and Persia to agree with us." ”

"Don't think so much, try to do what you do." Gan Yongxing patted Tan Renhao on the shoulder, "Moreover, the principal has already said that he will contact the prime minister as soon as possible and get specific instructions from the prime minister, and then we will know what to do, but it really can't be done, we can also let the government deal with this problem." ”

"I hope so." Tan Renhao shook his head.

After saying goodbye to the chief of staff, Tan Renhao returned to his office. To put it bluntly, the principal gave him a political task, not a military one.

After calming down, Tan Renhao also saw the official face of this matter clearly.

The Allied bloc is not a rope twisted together, but a loose alliance, an alliance with common interests. If many small countries in this alliance only played a supporting role, and even the Persian Empire was only a supporting role, then there is no doubt that the Tang Empire and Germany were the two protagonists in the alliance.

If the League is a big family, then the Tang Empire is undoubtedly the eldest in this family, and Germany is only the second. But the problem is that Germany is not willing to be the second boss forever, but Germany does not have the ability to seize the position of the boss when resisting foreign enemies, and even has no chance to become the boss of the family at another time. Germany, then, has only one choice, to go independent and become the head of a new family.

That's the crux of the matter. Now the Tang Empire and Germany had a lot of common interests, so they fought in one trench, supported each other, cooperated with each other, and fought together. But after the end of the war, will Germany remain in this trench? No one can guarantee that, then, as the leader of the Tang Empire, Xue Xiyue will definitely have to consider this issue.

These questions are beyond Tan Renhao's ability, and he is just a pawn in this struggle.