6 May 1940, London, 10 Downing Street, Small Dining Room.

British Prime Minister Winston Churchill is working with French Deputy Secretary of War Charles de Gaulle, and the Permanent Secretary for Foreign Affairs Robert Murphy. Vanhitart had dinner together.

Charles de Gaulle, the future leader of Free France, had not yet defected, but had been sent to England by French Prime Minister Reynaud to discuss the Anglo-French confederation - Reynaud had not yet given up on the idea of moving the government to North Africa. To lead the French navy and the overseas empire to continue resistance, it was necessary to have the full support of the British, and the Anglo-French confederation was obviously the most secure means.

Churchill was now also very interested in the Confederation, which was the best means by which Britain could legitimately acquire France's overseas colonies and fleet. If the Confederation failed and the French government was reluctant to move away from the mainland, the British would have to use force to seize the French colonies and destroy the French fleet.

So Churchill appointed one of his confidants, the Permanent Secretary for Foreign Affairs, Robert Murphy. Van Hittart and de Gaulle discuss the specific terms of the union.

"We have to fight. We're going to fight. We ask our friends to keep fighting as well...... Either way, the British government was prepared to continue the war of resistance. ”

At dinner, Churchill gushed to de Gaulle with the stirring words: "We believe that we will crush Kaiser Wilhelm and his wicked empire." We will not change our purpose for war. We will destroy this evil empire forever, and we will not accept any peace proposals from it. Otherwise, it will be a scourge for all of Europe and for the whole world. No, the war will continue. This evil empire can only end with us being wiped out or our victory. ”

He was silent for a moment, then looked at de Gaulle and said, "This is where we stand." But I still hope that there will be someone to fight with us in France, and that the truly brave French will never be intimidated by the evil empire! ”

The tall General de Gaulle looked at the stocky Churchill and just said coldly: "We French people will not be intimidated by any enemy, we will do whatever it takes for the good of the French motherland, of course we will resist to the end!" Even if the mainland is occupied, there will be people who will come out to lead the resistance. ”

The man De Gaulle was referring to was not himself, but Paul. Renault. In fact, he already knew that Renault's prime minister was in jeopardy, but he still hoped that Renault would throw off the noisy parliament, the useless political parties, and the constitution of the Third Republic, which made the country weak, and stand up and lead those who were willing to die for the French motherland to continue the fight.

"But we French people know this fact," de Gaulle's gaze suddenly turned cold, "Kaiser Wilhelm is not evil, he is a Napoleonic emperor, if he were French, we would love him, and we would fight for you England for him." It's a pity that he's not French, he's German. That's the only reason we are against Kaiser Wilhelm and his European Community! ”

"Yes!" Churchill nodded, "That's why we oppose Germany's domination of Europe!" He raised his glass and was about to say a few words of good luck when a secretary from 10 Downing Street walked in briskly and whispered a few words in Churchill's ear. The British Prime Minister's brows suddenly tightened, and he looked at de Gaulle, "Monsieur Reynaud resigned as Prime Minister this evening, and now Marshal Petain is the Prime Minister of France." ”

De Gaulle did not show any expression of surprise, but smiled and said: "Marshal Petain will soon seek an armistice, but there will be people in France who will continue to fight." ”

Churchill nodded approvingly and said, "Whoever it is, the British Empire is willing to support him and see him as the leader of France!" ”

……

"I am very pleased that you are here in Berlin at a time when justice is about to return to Europe. For the justice to be achieved does not belong only to Germany, but also to the land and the people represented by St. Stephen's crown. Otto, I will support your claim for St. Stephen's crown, and I will also restore Hungary to its pre-1918 territory as much as possible...... It is the result of hundreds of years and thousands of years of historical evolution, and should not be easily dismembered by some New World cowboy with the wrong idea of national self-determination! ”

At the same time, in the splendid Charlottenburg Palace, Kaiser Wilhelm was talking with Crown Prince Otto, the head of the Habsburgs. Otto. Feng. Habsburg-Lorraine was the eldest son of the Austro-Hungarian Emperor Karl I, who was only 7 years old when the Austro-Hungarian Empire fell. His father, Karl I, had sought restoration in Hungary after the fall of the empire (Karl I was also King of Hungary), but was sent by the Allies to Madeira (in the Atlantic), where he lived in extreme poverty and died of pneumonia in 1922 at the age of 34. After that, Crown Prince Otto became the patriarch of the Habsburgs.

However, Crown Prince Otto has been in refuge in Belgium for the past few years because he opposes the German-Austrian merger (he is the heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne). When the Germans invaded Belgium, he wanted to take refuge in the United States. However, he was very impressed by the abrogation of the Treaty of Saint-Germain and the Treaty of Trianon on the terms of peace proposed by Germany. The latter, in particular, meant that Hungary could regain most of its lost territory! This will definitely make every Hungarian enthusiast and see Kaiser Wilhelm as a savior.

So as long as William said a word, Crown Prince Otto would immediately wear the St. Stephen's crown. Even the Hungarian regent Horti. Admiral Miklosh did not dare to say half a word.

Hearing that Emperor Wilhelm was willing to support himself as the king of Greater Hungary, Crown Prince Otto was so excited that he burst into tears, and quickly stood up and bowed deeply to William.

"My Majesty, the Habsburgs are eternally grateful to you for their justice, and for this we will voluntarily renounce all rights to the Kingdom of Austria and other royal domains."

Kaiser Wilhelm nodded, in fact, he was not worried about the Habsburgs' claim to the Austrian crown realm. Because the Austrians now think of themselves as Germans, no one wants to engage in a dualist empire with the Hungarians.

Then he looked again at the Acting Chief of the General Staff, Field Marshal Hersman. The proposal to reorganize the political map of the Balkans was actually proposed by Hersmann, not because he had any affection for the Habsburgs (Chloe had a good impression of the Habsburgs), but because he knew that Hungary in history was the hardcore of Germany. In 44 and 45 years, there was a Hungarian Arrow Cross Party that came to power and followed Germany to fight to the death (but if you think about how the Allies managed Hungary, you can understand the Arrow Cross). Since it is a hardcore, of course, it should be strengthened well, as a watchdog for the German Empire and the future European Community in the Balkans.

In addition, Croatia under the Kingdom of Yugoslavia also followed Germany very hard in World War II. So Hersman thought of taking Croatia, Slovenia (Slovenia was the Austrian crown territory) and West Banat (now part of Serbia) from Yugoslavia, and then let Croatia and Hungary form a federation, and West Banat would also be returned to Serbia.

After his idea was proposed, Kaiser Wilhelm had a rare chance to interfere in government affairs, believing that Crown Prince Otto of the Habsburg dynasty should be the king of Hungary and Croatia. Because the thrones of these two kings were originally Habsburg, Crown Prince Otto was the legitimate heir.

The seat of the Hungarian king is now vacant, and Crown Prince Otto is just going to take over, as long as Germany supports it, there will be no problem.

And Croatia was annexed to Yugoslavia and did not have its own king. Peter II of the Obrenović dynasty of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia was considered a Croat king.

But this king had no basis for the Croatian throne, and had no blood support - Peter II's ancestors were shepherds who led the rebellion, and had nothing to do with the ancient Croatian royal family, and the Croatian throne of the Habsburgs was inherited by blood; There was also no religious support - Peter II was an Orthodox Christian, while the Croats were Catholic, but the Habsburg royal family had always been Catholic.

Therefore, in Croatia there was no one who supported Peter II, and no one wanted to be a Yugoslav. Croatia and Hungary formed a re-monarchy from 1102 until the end of World War I. Then the righteous President of the United States, Wilson, adopted the principle of national self-determination, repudiated the more than 800-year-old history of Croatian-Hungarian unity, and made the Croats "self-determined" as Yugoslavs.

This rule of international law, which does not respect history and the status quo and arbitrarily changes the territory of a country, should of course be abolished.

"His Royal Highness," said Field Marshal Hersmann, who sat in the fourth seat to the left of Kaiser Wilhelm, said to Crown Prince Otto with a smile, "and we believe that the pre-1860 Hungarian-Croatian union system is very reasonable and should be restored." Moreover, we believe that Serbia, Montenegro and Bosnia also have the right to form a federation. Serbs deserve their own country, not be ruled by foreigners. ”

Hersmann, of course, knew that the Balkans were a powder keg, and if not handled well, he would be burned. So he didn't want to completely tear down the Kingdom of Yugoslavia. It is enough to ask the Kingdom of Yugoslavia to spit out what does not belong to them, and after the settlement of the Croatian and Banat problems, the European Community should also give Yugoslavia a place.

He went on to say: "Your Royal Highness, what we want to build is a community where all Europeans can live together peacefully and happily and enjoy economic prosperity. This is a big European family, and no one should be inherently excluded...... As long as they are Europeans and believe in God! (To be continued.) )