The Italian question reflected the contradictions and conflicts between the Tang Empire, the Persian Empire and Germany, and although the contradictions were eventually resolved by mutual compromise and concession, it was this conflict that ultimately made the Tang Empire more cautious in dealing with the question of the surrender of the British.

By 12 April, Task Force 2 and Task Force 5 had returned to the fortress of Gibraltar, ending operations in the Mediterranean. At this time, all of Italy was occupied by Allied forces, Germany controlled the Apennine Peninsula and Sardinia, the Persian Empire controlled Sicily, and the Tang Empire occupied the island of Malta. Relatively speaking, the German occupation area was the largest, and the Tang Empire's occupation area was the smallest, but in terms of importance, Malta Island was the most critical area, which blocked Germany's access to the Mediterranean Sea and ensured the Tang Empire's interests in the Mediterranean.

By this time, Tan Renhao was also basically certain that Britain would soon surrender. The British forces in the interior of Malta not only did not put up effective resistance, but even surrendered to the 101st Marine Division before the Italian troops. Obviously, these British troops only surrendered after receiving orders. But in the next few days, apart from receiving Luftwaffe ground planes appearing over the Mediterranean Sea from time to time, and occasionally German ground long-range reconnaissance planes appearing near the fortress, Tan Renhao did not receive any other news, and the naval command did not send further instructions on the fleet's actions, as if the war had ended, and there was no need for the fleet to carry out combat missions at all.

As a matter of fact. While Tan Renhao was anxiously waiting for news, the negotiations on the Rio de Janeiro side were nearing the end. The rapid attack of the German airborne troops not only shocked the Tang Empire, but also irritated the British. If the German Airborne Forces had appeared in the airspace over the British mainland, Britain would have been occupied by Germany and eventually become part of the German land, and would no longer be an independent, powerful country. On April 6th. That is, on the third day after the surrender of Italy. The British secret negotiators made significant concessions and took the negotiations a big step forward.

In the early stages of the negotiations, the main disagreement between the two sides was the position of Britain in the post-war period. The Tang Empire promised to guarantee the integrity of Britain, and even offered to help Britain recover its economy and revitalize its national power after the war. But the British opened up the land in higher conditions. In addition to the above points, it is also required to retain a sufficiently strong military force. In particular, the naval fleet used this to counter the Germans, who had already controlled the entire European continent. As far as the situation is concerned, it is impossible for the Tang Empire to accept this condition. At the beginning, it was precisely because Britain had a powerful ground fleet that led to more than a hundred years of naval wars between the Tang Empire and the European powers, which finally caused the Tang Empire to almost collapse and gave Japan a chance to rise, resulting in the loss of global hegemony of the Tang Empire. Therefore. The two sides were at odds over how much British military power should retain after the war.

In the middle of the negotiations, both the Tang Empire and the British made concessions. The Tang Empire agreed that Britain would maintain a properly sized fleet after the war. After all, Britain is a country that depends on the sea for its survival, and it is impossible for Britain to compete with Germany on the ground. If there is no fleet that surpasses the German navy, then Britain will only be a third-rate country in Europe, which is not in line with the fundamental strategy of the Tang Empire to contain Germany with Britain. Britain also appropriately reduced the size of its reserved fleet. But the problem is that the gap between the requirements of the two sides is quite huge. At that time, Britain proposed to keep at least eight battleships, three aircraft carriers, and dozens of other warships, with a total fleet tonnage of 750,000 tons, and only agreed that Britain would keep 400,000 gross tonnage warships. Four of them were battleships, two aircraft carriers .

Because the gap between the requirements of both sides is quite huge. And it was impossible to make concessions again, and the negotiations almost broke down at this point. By the beginning of 27. Negotiations are starting again. At that time, Germany was actively preparing to attack the British mainland, and the German "Far East Fleet" was on its way home, and the British felt great pressure and had to take the initiative to negotiate again, and in the negotiations, they first made concessions, reducing the total tonnage of the fleet to 550,000 tons, including six battleships. However, at this time, the Tang Empire was not enthusiastic about the negotiations, and did not make corresponding concessions, still insisting that Britain could only keep 400,000 gross tonnage warships, at most only one aircraft carrier

Portugal also quickly changed its position as the First Fleet swept the Canary Islands, Madeira along the way, and subsequently the surrender of Spain. When it's time to get the land. The British had to make concessions again, while reducing the total tonnage of the fleet to 500,000 tons, but still demanded the retention of ships, two aircraft carriers. And at this time. On the contrary, the attitude of the Tang Empire hardened, and still insisted on only giving Britain 400,000 gross tonnage warships, including four battleships and two aircraft carriers.

Negotiations reached an impasse, and just as the British were about to concede ground again, the German High Seas Fleet suddenly entered the North Sea, and then Summerville successfully defeated the German High Seas Fleet, breaking the German Navy's plan to seize sea supremacy in the North Sea. This hardened the attitude of the British. Obviously, the negotiations were already very unfavorable for the Don Empire. And fundamentally, the Don Empire was always trying to get Britain to surrender. Therefore, just when the British secret negotiators were preparing to leave Rio de Janeiro, the Tang Empire made major concessions in the negotiations, agreeing to let the British keep 500,000 ships, but they could still only have 4 battleships, and the number of aircraft carriers was increased to 3. At that time, the reason put forward by the Tang Empire was also more convincing, the British Navy only 4 "avant-garde" class battleships could continue to serve after the end of the war, and only 3 "Eagle" class aircraft carriers could continue to be used after the war. It will definitely be decommissioned, and it is impossible for Britain to start construction of the Neuka battleship immediately after the end of the war, and the German Navy has only the "Far East Fleet" left, with only three battleships, so the British Bao 4 battleship is more realistic.

The Tang Empire made concessions to save the negotiations, but the British intensified their efforts and continued to demand the retention of six battleships. At the same time, it was also demanded that the Don Empire must stop selling warships to Germany. At that time, there were several rounds of closed-door talks between British and Tang Negotiators, the contents of which were never made public. However, the German "Far East Fleet" then went north alone, and the Don Imperial fleet remained at the Gibraltar fortress. In the end, the German "Far East Fleet" was intercepted by the British Home Fleet, and it was almost completely destroyed. Obviously, at that time, the British put forward more demands, and it was very likely that the Tang Empire would try to disarm the Yuandong Fleet." In the case that it was impossible to directly attack, by isolating the "Far East Fleet", creating an opportunity for the British Navy to annihilate the "Far East Fleet" was the only way that the Tang Empire could use at that time.

With the defeat of the German "Far Eastern Fleet", perhaps there was a taste of sweetness, believing that the attitude of the Tang Empire had weakened. In the ensuing negotiations, the British's demands became even more unreasonable. Judging from the records of local negotiations at that time, the British even proposed that after the war, the Tang Empire would assist Britain in building two battleships, and the Tang Empire would have to sell some key technologies of new warships to Britain. For example, radar, high-strength armor steel plate forging process. Ultra-high pressure steam boiler manufacturing process, self-tightening forging large-caliber main gun body tube production line, etc.

The unreasonable demands of the British eventually led to the breakdown of negotiations, not to mention the sale of these advanced technologies to the British, during the entire war, the Tang Empire did not sell the most advanced military technology to any country, as well as military-related industrial technology, even if it was supplied to Germany and the Persian Empire with weapons and equipment, most of them were second-rate goods. And not best. In order to defeat the arrogance of the British and let the British recognize the situation, the Imperial Prime Minister Xue Xiyue personally issued an order to annihilate the British home fleet. Tan Renhao fulfilled this mission well, knocking out the last hope of the British, and also making the British lose the last bit of bargaining chips. March 24, the day after the Battle of England. Confidential talks in Rio de Janeiro began again.

After returning to the negotiating table, the representatives of the Tang Empire first reiterated the requirements of the Imperial Territory, that is, they only promised to let Britain maintain 300,000 gross tonnage warships after the war, and its land conditions were reduced by 10 gross tonnage. In addition, there are clear restrictions on the performance of battleships and aircraft carriers, the maximum displacement of battleships shall not exceed 35,000, and the caliber of the main gun shall not exceed 400 meters. And the number of main guns must not exceed 8. The maximum displacement of the aircraft carrier shall not exceed 25000~

There is no doubt that this is the Tang Empire's desire to teach the British a lesson, so that the British can understand that the Tang Empire's fists are harder, and they are more confident in victory. Because of this, the negotiations quickly reached an impasse. The British have lowered the requirements, but still want to keep 500,000 gross tonnage ground warships, while retaining 4 battleships with a maximum displacement of 55,000 tons, and aircraft carriers with a displacement of 4,500 tons and a carrier number of 100.

By the end of March, the talks looked set to break down again. At this time, Xue Xiyue sent Zong Hanqin, the minister of internal affairs, to Rio de Janeiro to replace the vice minister of foreign affairs and was directly in charge of the negotiations. Britain has also sent a foreign secretary, and the level of negotiation has been raised a lot. It's obvious. By this time, neither side wants to delay any longer. Sending ministers with more decision-making skills to negotiate is also more conducive to resolving substantive differences and contradictions.

By April 1st. The question of the size of the fleet in the post-war territories reserved by the British was basically solved, and the specific target was finally determined that the British Navy would maintain 400,000 gross tonnage of battleships and 2 aircraft carriers. The full load displacement of the battleship shall not exceed 55,000 tons, the caliber of the main gun shall not exceed 400 meters, and the number of main guns shall not exceed 9. This also ensured that the British ground battleships could not surpass the "New Capital" class in terms of performance. The ground displacement of the aircraft carrier shall not exceed 45000~.This performance is very close to the "Lake" class. At that time, the Imperial Navy was already building "Island" class aircraft carriers, so it was impossible for the British aircraft carriers on post-war reservations to surpass the Tang Empire aircraft carriers in terms of performance.

In addition to making concessions in terms of the displacement of the battleship and other performance, the final achievement of the ground index was very close to the original requirements of the Tang Empire. Moreover, the German Navy at that time did not have a decent fleet, so the British were also relatively happy with this result. If the Tang Empire had been able to assist Britain in building new battleships after the war, then the British Navy would not have been worse than the German Navy. Of course, who would have thought that with the rapid development of technology in the post-war period, battleships would quickly withdraw from the stage of naval warfare?

As the main contradiction was resolved, the two sides began to deal with some minor issues. It was at this time that Germany captured the Apennine Peninsula and Sardinia with lightning speed, and the rapid attack of the German airborne troops shocked both the Don Empire and the British in Rio de Janeiro. On April 2, Zong Hanqin and the British Foreign Secretary had already confirmed that the surrender agreement would be formally signed on April 8. On the night of April 5, the two held secret talks for several hours, delaying the signing of the final surrender agreement by Britain, and at the same time determining that the Tang Empire Expeditionary Force would be stationed in Britain before Britain officially announced its surrender, so as to prevent Germany from dispatching airborne troops to occupy LinkedIn after Britain announced its surrender!

On April 6, Zong Hanqin sent a telegram to Prime Minister Xue Xiyue, and the British Foreign Secretary also reported the results of the negotiations to his Prime Minister. After obtaining the consent of the highest authorities, the two sides began negotiations on the specific matters concerning the entry of the Tang Empire expeditionary force into the British territory. In order to avoid innocent casualties during the operation. There is a lot of preparation that must be in place in advance. Thus, it was not until 12 April, the day the Second and Fifth Task Forces returned to the Gibraltar Fortress that the final decision was made. The Tang Empire would first send three Marine Divisions to Portsmouth, Bristol, and Liverpool, and then take over control of the southern and central regions of England for three days. It was only after it was established that the Tang Empire had succeeded in taking control of the most critical areas of Britain and had entered the city of London before the British king officially announced his surrender. During this period, the British will send military police and police forces to assist the Tang Imperial Marines in their operations to avoid unnecessary clashes and casualties.

At 8 p.m. on April 12, Tan Renhao received a telegram from the Navy Command. This telegram was sent by the Navy's newest cryptography and was over ten pages long. This is exactly the order of the beginning of the operation, the fleet and the marines must all leave the port before dawn and go to the UK as fast as possible to complete the operation to occupy LinkedIn!