Roosevelt seemed to be speaking his mind out loud again, and his mind turned back to the question of the colonies and the colonial markets, which he believed to be at the heart of all future opportunities for peace. He replaced a cigarette in his cigarette holder and said with a thoughtful expression: "The colonial system is equal to war. Extracting all resources from India, Burma, Java. To remove all the wealth from these countries without giving them anything in return, such as education, a better standard of living, minimum sanitation, etc., is tantamount to setting the fuse of war in ambush. ”

"When we mention the word India, pay attention to Churchill's expression!"

"India should immediately adopt a republican state, and after some years—five or ten years, it should have the power to determine its own position, whether to remain within the limits of the empire or to gain full readability."

"As a republican country, India should be entitled to a modern form of government, a modest standard of health and education, just like China. But how could India get all this when Britain kept removing its wealth from India? Every year, the people of India await two big things – death and paying taxes. More accurate than anything else, they have famines every year. They call this period the season of famine. ”

He paused, thinking for a moment.

"I must tell Churchill everything I saw last time in the British Gambia." He said, with a firm tone in his voice, "That morning," he said. Now his voice was full of sincere feelings, "At half past eight, we took the car to the airport. The natives just started working. Dressed in rags, they all looked gloomy. They told me that it was not until near noon that the natives became more lively and happy, for the sun had dried the dew on the ground and banished the morning cold. They say that the average wage of these natives is only one shilling and ninepence. A shilling ninepence! Not even five dimes! ”

"Is it an hour?" Hopkins asked.

"One day! Pennies a day! In addition, they can also get half a cup of rice. Roosevelt moved around his large bed with some unease. Filth, disease, and mortality are horribly high. I asked them about their average age of life, and you'd never guess. Only twenty-six years old! These people live a life that is not even as good as cattle and sheep. Their cattle and sheep can outlive them! ”

Listening to Roosevelt's words, Hopkins did not speak for a long time.

"Churchill probably thought I didn't take it seriously last time. This time he should have understood that I wasn't joking. Roosevelt looked at me for a long time with a thoughtful look. You've been to Algiers, my friend, how is that place? What is the situation in Algiers? He asked.

Hopkins told him that it was exactly the same thing there. The land is rich, the resources are abundant, the natives are unbelievably poor, only a few Caucasian people live very well, and a few indigenous princes live very well, in addition to poverty, sickness and ignorance. He nodded.

Roosevelt then spoke of the course to be taken: "We should help France to restore its status as a world power, and then entrust it with the administration of its pre-war colonies, and as a commission, it must report annually on the state of its deputies, such as the extent of illiteracy, the treatment and eradication of civilian diseases, and so on......"

"Wait a minute." Hopkins interjected, "To whom should it report?" ”

"When the Organization of the United Nations is established, it shall report to the Council of the United Nations. There is no side. Roosevelt replied, "The four great powers of the world -- the United States, Great Britain, China, and France -- should be responsible for establishing world peace after this victory." These four great powers should shoulder a great responsibility to help all backward and sluggish colonial regions in the world to promote education, improve living standards, and improve people's health. And when these colonial regions reach maturity one day, they should have the opportunity to enjoy reading — as long as the United Nations as a whole agrees that they are qualified to read enough. If we can't do that, then we might as well admit that we can't avoid another war. ”

"Your idea is very good." Hopkins agreed with Roosevelt's idea, but he immediately raised his concerns, "But will Mr. Yang Shuoming and our friend Churchill agree?" ”

"I had an exchange of views with Mr. Yang Shuoming, and he fully agreed with my idea and said that it was in line with the trend of world historical development." Roosevelt smiled and said, "The trouble actually came from our friend Churchill. ”

"However, these beautiful ideas can only be realized after the end of the war." Roosevelt seemed to realize that his dream of becoming a "world leader" was a little too far away from the problems he was facing.

The next morning, after breakfast, Marshall, Admiral King, Arnold, Hopkins, and Harriman all came; Soon after, General Tien, the secretary general of the U.S. Joint Staff Headquarters, joined the discussion. Hopkins listened for a moment, knowing that they were discussing proceedings in the Anglo-American Joint Chiefs of Staff. There must have been some twists and turns in this process; This time, they talked about noon before stopping.

The weather was very sunny and beautiful. Just look out at the bright flowers in the garden and you can immediately feel that lunch should be eaten in the open air. There were six people in total: Hopkins and Harriman; Churchill and his personal attendant, Lieutenant Commander Thomson; Roosevelt and son Ilio. At the center of the conversation was the plan of the afternoon's work and the people who should be summoned: Eisenhower, Murphy, and so on. At the same time, Churchill asked that he be allowed to introduce General Alexander, the commander-in-chief of the British forces in the Middle East, to meet with everyone, if Alexander came. They were happily eating and talking; Many issues have been discussed only occasionally, and no one has discussed them at length.

Churchill spoke of the war in North Africa, which he thought was going well, but it was not surprising. He declared that he was going to surround Rommel's troops to the sea and wipe them out, but when such an outcome would appear was still a big question mark. In the afternoon of that day, the two sides made a detailed report and discussed their plans for future military operations in order to decide on a second target. Only then did Churchill mention the situation on the British mainland, and he proposed that the American army help the British army recover the mainland and invade the European continent through the English Channel. Soon, the plan became a point of public contention between the two sides.

"How could the German [***] team land in England so easily?" Roosevelt asked, "Is it because of the 'Big Germany'?" ”

"I must correct your statement, Mr. President." Churchill looked a little angry, "The enemy set foot on our land, and paid a great price, thousands of enemies were wiped out on the beachhead by the heroic Emperor [***] team, and the enemy dispatched the 'Großdeutschland' to provide their landing personnel with strong artillery powder cover, but the 'Großdeutschland' was seriously wounded by the bombers of the Imperial Air Force." As it turned out, in the face of powerful bombers, the 'Großdeutschland' could only be beaten. ”

"I have the highest respect for the heroic fighting spirit and achievements of the British [***] team." Roosevelt knew that his less rigorous questioning had pierced Churchill's pride, but he still wanted to know how the British had a plan to salvage the losing battle, "Does Your Excellency Prime Minister now have a plan to launch a counterattack against the enemy?" ”

"Of course we have." Churchill nodded confidently, "In fact, we already have plans for dealing with the 'Big Germany' and German submarines. This is a real whimsy, and our enemies would never have imagined that we would use such a method against them. ”

Roosevelt felt very strange when he saw a strange smile on Churchill's face, and he couldn't understand why Churchill could still smile so happily at such a moment.

"You know, Mr. President, the Manhattan Project has been in place for more than a year, and a lot of progress has been made, but it will take some time to put the results of the research into practice, and the plan I just mentioned, you knew before, is now almost complete."

"You're talking about the 'Habakuk' plan, right? Your Excellency the Prime Minister? Roosevelt suddenly remembered something and immediately asked.

"Yes, it's the 'Habakuk' plan." Churchill smiled and nodded, "Now, it's about to become a reality." The Imperial Axe will see its trials before moving to Canada. ”

World War II entered 1942, and the war in Europe was raging, but the situation was very unfavorable to the Allies. Due to the lack of aerial refueling capabilities, the US fighter planes could not fly across the Atlantic to participate in the war, so the Allies had to break up the transport fleet and secretly transport supplies from the US mainland to Britain to participate in the war against Germany. Because German submarines at that time pursued Dönitz's proven "wolf pack" tactics, those transport ships that carried urgently needed supplies across the Atlantic repeatedly became the prey of German submarine "wolf packs". In November 1942 alone, the Allies had 134 merchant ships in the Atlantic, losing a total tonnage of 860,000 merchant ships, Britain, a country that relied on sea supplies, was almost completely blocked, the capital London could only last for a month, and the supplies of other cities in Britain were also exhausted. Due to the lack of bases on the Atlantic route for escort fighters to take off and land, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill was helpless for a while against the rampant activity of German submarines from the Atlantic.

To make matters worse, due to the total blockade of the German Navy, Britain had a severe shortage of steel in the country, which made it impossible to build enough anti-submarine destroyers and escort carriers to deal with the underwater "wolf pack" of the Germans. Just when the whole of Britain was having a headache over this, a man named Jeffrey? Pike, a British journalist and intelligence officer, had the whimsical idea to build an unsinkable "aircraft carrier" against German submarines in the North Atlantic Ocean and the huge ice in the Arctic Ocean, not far from Britain. In October 1942, Parker sent his "Iceberg Aircraft Carrier" idea and construction plan to British Admiral Mountbatten, suggesting that the British Army select huge ice blocks in the Arctic waters, and after processing, drag them to the Atlantic Ocean to transform into "Iceberg Aircraft Carriers" as a take-off and landing platform for escort fighters. Admiral Mountbatten saw this idea, and although he thought it was a bit ridiculous, it was still a solution in a very critical situation at the time, and it was worth trying. So, Mountbatten reported this bold and almost absurd idea to Churchill, who was worried about national affairs. In order to convince Churchill, Admiral Mountbatten personally brought samples of ice from the Arctic to Churchill's baths for experiments to test the stability of the Arctic ice and the rate of melting. Churchill was equally intrigued by the idea and instructed the Admiralty to immediately demonstrate it, naming it the top-secret plan of "Habakuk" (Habakuk was an ancient Hebrew prophet).

After receiving this order, the British ship design experts and engineers also felt absurd, but they still did not dare to slack off, and immediately took action, fighting all night and night, and after several weeks of hard work, they came up with the blueprint for the design of the "iceberg aircraft carrier": This aircraft carrier, which is made entirely of ice, is 1,000 meters long and is driven by 26 engines, which can be used by heavy bombers to take off and land, and can withstand the attack of incoming torpedoes. In order to prevent the ice from melting, cryogenic tubes were installed on the hull of the ship, and cold air was continuously pumped and delivered.

Just when the blueprint was released and people's excitement, curiosity and hope were just ignited, in the subsequent test, a fatal problem poured cold water on the designers and engineers - the "iceberg aircraft carrier" could not withstand the attack of torpedoes. Ice cubes are notoriously brittle. Therefore, the ice on the surface of the "iceberg aircraft carrier" was too fragile to withstand the attack of torpedoes, which was a very fatal problem in the context of the German Navy's vigorous pursuit of submarine "wolf pack" tactics at that time.

And just when the mountains and rivers were exhausted, someone recommended Australian molecular biology expert Marx to Admiral Mountbatten, a staunch supporter of the plan. Dr. Perutz. Thus, in early 1943, in order to overcome the problem of the hardness of the materials for the frenzied iceship project, the British political axe secretly requisitioned a frozen warehouse near London. Perutz and her assistants conducted grueling experiments in temperatures of minus 15 degrees Celsius in antifreeze suits. Eventually, they added cotton, sawdust, and wood pulp to fresh water, and then froze the mixture to make huge chunks of solid ice, and then they took the ice cubes and did a shooting test with them, and found that the improved ice cubes had good mechanical and high strength, and were as hard as cement, and the effect was surprisingly good, and they named the material "concrete".

After solving the material problem. In August 1943, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt personally watched the strength test of this "cement ice cube". Immediately, the two leaders decided to use this ice to build the largest warship in human history - "Habakuk" "Iceberg Aircraft Carrier", after all, compared with steel, the cost of ice is low, and the density is less than water, and there is no demand for main materials to build a super-large aircraft carrier. At this time, the plan of the "iceberg aircraft carrier" has changed, but it is not so small; the "Habakuk" aircraft carrier has a total length of 610 meters, a width of 61 meters, 26 propeller thrusters, a displacement of 220,000 tons, and can carry 200 fighters, 100 bombers, and 100 antiaircraft guns. Needless to say, the tonnage of such a size as the "Habakuk" was a giant warship in the world at that time, and even the super battleship "Großdeutschland" of the German Navy that is now in service has a full load displacement of only about 200,000 tons. In this sense, the British "Habakuk" program for the construction of the "iceberg aircraft carrier" may be the largest warship construction program in the history of mankind at present.

In order to ensure the smooth implementation of the "Habakuk" plan, the British Admiralty organized a team of experts to first begin the construction of an ice aircraft carrier model in Patricia Lake under the Canadian Rocky Mountains for testing. A month later, a model of the "Iceberg Aircraft Carrier" with a length of 20 meters, a width of 9 meters, a displacement of 1,000 tons, with wooden planks on the outside, asphalt on the inner bulkheads, and tubular ventilation holes in the hull, was launched. Surprisingly, the model worked well on water at 15 degrees Celsius and did not melt in the hot summer months, much to the surprise of the dissenting British admirals. The military believes that the "iceberg carrier" can withstand the impact of waves up to 30 meters high and can transport heavy weapons, which will make the allied landing operation very easy. When it is attacked, especially torpedoes, it only needs to inject cold water into the injured area to freeze it, and the damage management operation can be completed, because the "iceberg aircraft carrier" will not sink. Its only drawback, though, is that it is extremely slow, reaching less than 10 kilometers per hour.

During the construction of the "Iceberg Aircraft Carrier", it has been constantly subjected to various doubts and criticisms, after all, this idea is indeed extremely absurd, but most of the senior British and American naval officers believe in this plan and are full of expectations for the special use of the "Iceberg Aircraft Carrier". Thanks to the tireless efforts of scientists in Britain and the United States, problems such as heat dissipation in large engines and "viscous flow" (similar to the self-movement of glaciers under millions of tons of dead weight, known as glaciation) have been solved.

(To be continued)