Zhang Meng hurriedly took the Air Force No. 1 special plane back to Chang'an, and just returned to the Daming Palace, the civil and military officials handed over signs to ask for an audience, and Zhang Meng immediately convened an emergency imperial meeting.

As soon as Zhang Wei was reinstated as foreign minister, the first thing he did not expect was to receive an urgent letter from the German and Italian embassies in Tang, and Germany's sudden move against Poland was concealed from all countries, and the purpose was to attack its unpreparedness by surprise and test the effect of the blitzkrieg for the first time. After Germany attacked Poland, the vital interests of Britain and France in Poland were violated, and war was immediately declared on Germany. Italy, as an ally of Germany, also immediately fulfilled the alliance treaty, declared war on Britain and France the next day, and at the same time, like Germany, sent an official letter to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Tang Empire.

Zhang Meng didn't need to read it to know what the content of the official document was, it was nothing more than that Germany and Italy agreed to the friendly cooperation and alliance of the Tang Dynasty and demanded that the Tang Empire declare war on Britain and France.

Zhang Wei smiled bitterly and nodded at Zhang Meng's judgment, which was completely correct.

The German army blitzed Poland, and Britain, France, and Italy declared war on each other, which represented the official outbreak of the Second Shijie War, two years earlier than Zhang Meng knew. Once the Tang Dynasty intervened, it meant that Asia was also involved, and the Second Shijie War broke out in full force.

Germany's sudden blitzkrieg on Poland and its courage to face the declaration of war by Britain and France was very surprising, but it also made sense when you thought about it.

Not to mention that Germany was brutally sanctioned by the Versailles Treaty due to its defeat in World War I, and sooner or later it was forced to resist, and Hitler's ambition to launch the Second Shijie War had long been known to everyone in Sima Zhao's heart, but it was only a matter of time. Originally, Hitler's allies would have been Italy and Japan. But both countries were too weak for Japan to provide any support to Germany, which was far away in Europe, and Germany allied with Japan because Japan's opponents, including China, were too weak. Hitler had no choice but to choose Japan, also out of fear of the United States, hoping that Japan would contain the United States at a critical moment.

However, with the strong rise of the Tang Empire, Japan was beaten to the ground and sued for peace, and Hitler's goal suddenly shifted from Japan to the Tang Empire. Strategically ally with the Tang Empire, because the location of the Tang Empire is too good, and there are territories and colonies of Britain, France and the United States on the left and right. It was just right to contain Britain, France, and the United States in wartime and reduce the military pressure on the German army in Europe. At the tactical level, the military cooperation between the Tang Empire and Germany led to the rapid upgrading of the German army's weapons and equipment. The Junkers 87 fighter (German version of the Don Army Raptor fighter), the Junkers 88 bomber (the German version of the Tang Army's Hellfire bomber), and the Leopard main battle tank (the German version of the Tang Army's Tiger King main battle tank) developed by the Tang Empire for the German Wehrmacht are in a leading position in Europe, which is in line with the essence of the German army's new tactical blitzkrieg thinking, thus giving the German army the confidence to launch a Shijie war in advance.

On the other hand, the Tang Empire provided large low-interest loans to Germany, so that the German army was fully financially guaranteed. For a time, Britain, France and other countries could not compete with the advanced weapons and equipment such as aircraft and tanks given to Germany by Datang in terms of military equipment, so they implemented a policy of appeasement towards Germany. It was hoped that the German invasion of Britain and France would be postponed, and Britain and France would take advantage of this time to step up the development and production of new weapons and equipment that could fight the German army at home. And Hitler obviously understood this, so he did not want to give Britain and France enough time to prepare, so he would start the war in advance.

Of course, Hitler also had one more thing to hide from the two allies of the Tang Empire and Italy, that is, Hitler had secretly signed a non-aggression pact with the Soviet Union the day before he sent troops to Poland, and the additional clause was that the two countries would jointly divide Poland. I have to admire Hitler's superb political skill and wisdom, so that Britain and France even declared war on Germany. They did not dare to directly send troops to attack Germany, but feared the union of Germany and the Soviet Union. There are scruples.

At the same time, Britain and France are also concerned about another important factor, that is, the Tang Empire in the far Pacific, because the Tang Empire is also an ally of Germany. The reason why Britain and France only declared war but did not send troops was also to take into account the reaction of the Tang Empire, fearing that the Tang Empire would also be involved in the war, so that the British and French colonies in Asia would be in danger, after all, the Tang Dynasty was obviously in an advantage in the second Tang-Japanese War.

"Please also ask Your Highness to think twice, the minister does not recommend joining the war now. The minister thought that the resumption of a major war in Europe would be a good time to make a windfall by selling arms and strategic materials. The United States in the last Shijie War was only strengthened by selling arms and materials to all sides, and the Empire should now follow the example of the United States, after all, the Empire has hoarded a huge amount of strategic materials in the global economic crisis, and now it can be sold to the warring countries at a high price, which will make huge profits. Prime Minister Zeng Guochang said first. Prior to this, the cabinet had already held an emergency meeting, and all the ministers exchanged views, so Zeng Guochang's attitude at this moment basically represented the opinion of the majority of the cabinet.

It's just that there were different opinions in the previous cabinet meeting, which represented the Datang military of the main battle faction.

At this time, the Tang Army was in full swing, and it was a glorious moment, and the military officers were even more confident, and they did not agree with the opinion of the cabinet.

"Your Highness, now is the time to seize the British and French colonies. In the periphery of the Empire, the French Pacific colonies have always been an obstacle to the Empire's construction of an absolute defensive circle, and the key to the eventual closure of the absolute defensive circle. At present, the French and Japanese armies are colluding to build airfield runways and garrisons and fortifications on many islands, which is a huge security hazard to the empire and needs to be removed in time. At the same time, the British colony of Australia is in front of you, which is the main supplier of mineral resources, grain, meat, and timber resources to the empire, and it is also the strategic rear of the empire. I also hope that His Royal Highness will judge! The voice of Defense Minister Cai Zhenghua was loud and surrounded the hall for a long time.

The others didn't speak, in fact, these two attitudes, Zhang Meng didn't need to ask for opinions one by one, they already knew it.

There are pros and cons on both sides, Zhang Meng not only wants to make a lot of war money, but also wants to occupy territory and expand the territory, and it is difficult to choose for a while.

Just when Zhang Meng was hesitating and difficult to make a decision, Zhang Wei hurriedly went out for a while, and soon came back with an ugly face.

"Your Highness, I don't think we have a choice!" Zhang Wei smiled bitterly, and immediately handed Zhang Meng the latest foreign affairs report in his hand, and said at the same time: "Just now, Japan declared war on Germany and Italy respectively!" ”

Zeng Guochang and other cabinet ministers who supported the postponement of the war were stunned for a moment, and then they all shook their heads helplessly and sighed, obviously they also guessed the result.

Zhang Meng also smiled bitterly: "It was difficult to make up our minds, but now it seems that we have no choice." Since Japan has declared war on Germany and Italy, Britain and France will soon have to declare war on our Tang Empire, so we don't have to hesitate, notify the Ministry of Men to prepare to draft a declaration of war against Britain and France, and the Ministry of Defense will hold a general mobilization order for war in a while. ”

"Your Ministers obey!" Cai Zhenghua and other military officials were overjoyed when they heard this, and they went down happily to prepare. (To be continued......)