In the past few days, when the Americans were terrified of Mexico's entry into the Axis camp, behind-the-scenes mediation around the armistice in Western Europe was also in full swing. The situation is already clear, whether it is the Belgian battlefield or the French battlefield, the Anglo-French forces that were defeated by the Sino-German armored forces are demoralized, have no fighting spirit, and no longer have much will and courage to fight. And the governments of Britain and France are clearly compromisers who have the upper hand. None of them want to put the precious lives of the young people of both countries into this doomed war. However, the main force of the encircled British and French forces has not yet received an order to allow surrender, so they can only grit their teeth and resist hard, with tens of thousands of casualties every day, and the positions they hold are becoming more and more fragmented. By May 13, the Sino-German coalition forces had cut off their defensive lines, splitting more than one million Anglo-French troops into two parts. One of the encirclements was around Varem-Saint-Tredon between Liège and Brussels, and the remnants of about 700,000 men were defeated! The other encirclement was a little further north in the Belingen area, where less than 500,000 Anglo-French troops were trapped, desperately awaiting orders to surrender.

In France, German Army Group B had already driven straight in, pouring in through the Ardennes Forest, as if it were no man's land. In just a few days, the front was effortlessly advanced to the line from the Somme to the Aisne. Although the French cobbled together 71 reserve divisions west of the Somme-Aisne River to create a "Weigand Line". However, in the face of the Sino-German coalition that occupied an absolute advantage, the French army really could not see any future except waiting for the moment of collapse.

Even the French government, which was still shouting about defending Paris, was quietly preparing to move the government to Tours. And on the main roads leading to the south of France, there are no troops with high morale ready to rush to the front, only long and endless lines of refugees. The frightened French, carrying their most precious belongings, carried their most precious belongings, slowly southward, in cars, carriages, donkey carts, and even on their shoulders. All sorts of pessimistic gossip permeated the fleeing procession. One moment it was said that the Germans had broken through the Somme, and the next it was said that Italy and Spain were threatening to declare war on France. A little later, it was the Mexican army that had defeated the American army and invaded Texas...... In short, the war has been lost! Now we are waiting for the Roman Peace Conference, where Marshal Pétain can negotiate a treaty that will not lose power and humiliate the country!

But. This kind of thing is impossible even if you think about it. When the British and French troops entered the capital of China, they burned down people's palaces and forced them to pay reparations! This time, the Chinese are going to Paris, and I don't know whether to burn the Louvre or Versailles?

Perhaps because of the chain reaction caused by Luo Yaoguo's soul crossing, the Italian leaders on the Roman side were doing their best to promote peace in Europe during this time...... Heard. Because of his contribution to world peace, the Nobel Peace Prize in 1940 was probably awarded to the Italian fascist leader!

A large number of diplomatic transactions were carried out under his facilitation. Ambassadors, deputies, envoys, prime ministers, prime ministers, heads of state, etc. All gathered in Italy. Telegrams traveled back and forth between the capitals of the major belligerents and Rome, and ideas were proposed. One suggestion after another came to the minds of world leaders.

The envoys and leaders of the defeated countries, such as Britain, France, Benelux, and other countries destined to be called "traitors," are still trying their best to deal with the victors. I hope to recover a little loss for my country. Even if it is a gram of gold, it is good to cut an inch of land.

The leaders and diplomats of the victorious four countries, China, Japan, Germany, and Russia, were even busier. For the benefit of their respective countries, they had to bargain not only with the defeated five powers, but also with the other victorious and neutral powers, mainly Italy. Sometimes I have to play a little trick of combining vertical and horizontal.

Among the four victorious countries, China and Germany are undoubtedly the most weighty. Japan is mainly looking for trouble with the United States...... The contribution cannot be said to be small, and Russia is a bit of a soy sauce meaning, from the declaration of war to the present, basically did not fire a single shot at Britain and France, but only sent troops to attack Iran under the control of the Soviet GCD with the Chinese. Therefore, when dividing up the spoils, the spoils were also distributed according to the size of the output, and China and Germany naturally took the lion's share, and the territory and reparations were all made in a big deal.

Although Russia did not contribute much, because Hitler and Luo Yaoguo both wanted to win over the Russian empress, they also gained a little.

The most bitter thing was Japan, and the big battles against the United States seemed to outsiders to be won with great ease, as if the American GIs were vulnerable. But in fact, every battle is a tough battle! It was all won by the Japanese army and navy fighting with their lives. But the spoils of war were not divided much! Only half of the territory was acquired from LandIndia and Papua New Guinea (the Philippines was exchanged for the Far Eastern Coastal Zone). And Papua New Guinea among them is now controlled by the US troops who have withdrawn from the Philippines! If the Japanese want to get their hands on it, they have to go to the army to fight. As for the Central American Federation and Hawaii, since the war against the United States has not ended after all, it is not yet a trophy, and it may be that the Americans will take it back at some point. For such a result, Prime Minister Fumihiro Konoe, who personally went to Rome to attend the peace conference, publicly expressed his extraordinary dissatisfaction!

However, they wanted to obtain the territorial claims of Eastern Australia, but they still did not have the support of the two victorious giants, China and Germany. The reason for the Germans was simple: they wanted to make peace with Britain as soon as possible, so that they could concentrate on destroying the United States, and therefore they could not be too harsh on the British. China, on the other hand, was noncommittal to Japan's demands, but also expressed the hope that an agreement could be reached with Britain and France as soon as possible, so that a large sum of gold could be scraped back to live its own small life - the meaning behind this statement seems to be that China does not want to get involved in the next war against the United States! Of course, Hitler was extremely dissatisfied with this, and even lashed out in front of Mussolini and Konoe Fumiro, accusing China of being a traitor to the Axis powers! However, in public, the head of the Third German Reich still made a gesture of unbreakable Sino-German friendship.

China's military strength may not be as good as that of Germany, but it is definitely not something that Germany can subdue by force. After all, these two countries are not only far apart, but also the United States, the third oldest country in the world, if China and the United States join forces, Germany's dream of world domination will be shattered! In addition, China had another killer weapon that Hitler was afraid of: the Chinese side started the atomic bomb project earlier than Germany, and before the nuclear fission theory was made public, they had already used the technology and industrial power of Germany and the United States to break through the biggest problem in making the atomic bomb - isotope separation technology. According to the head of the German atomic bomb project, Otto. Hahn and Weiner. Heisenberg's estimate that China will definitely have the atomic bomb before the United States and Germany!

China's reluctance to join the anti-American alliance was certainly a blow to Hitler's plan to destroy the United States. However, it did not affect the interest of Japan and Italy in participating in the war against the United States. Together with the Central American Federation and Mexico, which had declared war on the United States together with Japan, Hitler had cobbled together a five-nation anti-American alliance.

Furthermore. In the eyes of Hitler and the German High Command, the main battlefield of the war against the United States could not be the West Coast of the United States. Because the Pacific Ocean is too vast, and both China and Japan have very limited shipping capacity. It is impossible to transport millions of troops to North America in a short period of time, and maintain their logistical supplies. So. The key to the destruction of the United States is control of the Atlantic. As long as Germany has a firm grip on the Atlantic, it will be able to use Europe's strong maritime capabilities to send a powerful German army to the continental United States. As soon as the German Army comes ashore, the "amateur level" Army of the United States will definitely not be an opponent!

Thus, Hitler and Mussolini's main focus at the Rome Peace Conference was on the fleets and merchant ships that plotted against Britain and France. At the same time that Hitler's lion opened his mouth to extort huge war reparations from Britain and France. Mussolini came out again to play the role of peacemaker, proposing to use British and French fleets and merchant ships to offset part of the reparations - if Britain and France could "lease" their fleets and merchant ships to Germany in the future war to destroy the United States, then Germany would exempt Britain and France from 50% of the war reparations! If Britain and France could follow Germany into the war against the United States, then Germany would have forgiven both countries of all war reparations! And. It would also allow Britain and France to get a share of the spoils from the United States.

However, the British and French governments certainly had no desire to follow Hitler in the war against the United States. The United Kingdom, in particular, would have their Canadian Dominion on the lips of the United States if Britain joined the Axis powers. Isn't the United States about to attack Canada right away? The UK is also a parliamentary democracy with a constitutional monarchy. The British people are now full of hatred for Hitler's Germany, and it is impossible for them to support the government's participation in the war against the United States.

The attitude of France is more ambiguous, they are different from Britain, Hitler's army has already set foot on French soil! And. France does not have a gold-producing region like South Africa, and the compensation of a total of 7,100 tons of gold demanded by China, Germany and Japan will make the road to French revival extremely difficult in the future. And on May 15th. At the Rome Peace Conference, Hitler threw out a plan that was quite attractive to France: as long as France agreed to transfer the fleet to the German navy and agreed to pay 2,000 tons of gold to China immediately after the signing of the peace treaty, the Sino-German coalition would not cross the Somme-Aisne line to attack Paris! In other words, the Sino-German coalition agreed to an armistice with the Anglo-French forces on French soil.

After receiving this promise, Marshal Petain, the French negotiator in Rome, strongly suggested to the French government that consideration should be given to handing over the de facto useless French fleet to Germany for debt payment. Of course, France itself will not participate in the war against the United States...... Because the French are really tired of war, whether the purpose of this war is to defend their own country or to invade other countries.

The news of France's imminent submission also put great pressure on Britain, which was still making its final struggles. If a peace treaty was reached between France and Germany, Germany would have access to the entire French fleet, and the German navy would have an overwhelming advantage over the British navy. At that time, the main forces of the German Army, which had been withdrawn from the battlefields of France and Belgium, would be ready to land on the British mainland at any time!

However, just when Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain was preparing to sign a traitorous treaty with China, Germany, Japan and Russia, there was another change in Australia that caught Britain by surprise.

On May 16, 1939, a huge Japanese fleet suddenly appeared on the east coast of Australia!

……

One of the most common rainstorms in the South Pacific has swept across the east coast of Australia. Standing on the bridge of the battleship Nagato, General Yamamoto couldn't help but moisten the corners of his eyes as he looked at the vast coastline shrouded in dark clouds twenty nautical miles west of sea level.

He now personally commands two-thirds of the Japanese Empire's maritime forces, and in addition to the aircraft carriers Shozuru, Ryuchamp, and Shoho of the Second Air Fleet and the four Kaohsiung-class heavy cruisers, almost the capital ships of the entire Combined Fleet, including four large aircraft carriers such as Akagi, Kaga, Jinryu, and Zuizuru, five battleships including Nagato, Mutsu, Ise, Kirishima, and Hiei, and four top-class heavy cruisers that have just been completed and put into active service are all incorporated into this "First Southern Fleet" under the personal command of Commander Isoroku Yamamoto of the Combined Fleet 。 These capital ships, together with more than seventy percent of the combined fleet's light cruisers and destroyers, as well as nearly 200 large and small transport ships and oil tankers, form this huge fleet on the east coast of Australia! This operation alone almost consumed thirty percent of the Imperial Japanese Navy's oil stockpiles, and all kinds of supplies in the navy's warehouses. The shells and aerial bombs of the naval guns were also replenished to the "Southern Fleet" and the Second Air Fleet, which was sailing to the Americas, for the simultaneous Australian and American raiding operations.

Judging by the forces used in these two "Raiders" operations. The Japanese army and navy are clearly focused on Australia. For such an arrangement, Yamamoto Fifty-six felt a little bit of a knife to kill the chicken. Does the Japanese Navy have a worthy opponent in Australia? Could it be the ruined British-Australian Grand Fleet? Looking around at the huge fleet that was quietly cruising at a low speed, Yamamoto Fifty-six exhaled lightly and pestered the chief of staff Ugaki behind him: "Is there any news of the Australian Grand Fleet?" ”

Ugaki replied with a frown, "Your Excellency, Commander." According to German naval intelligence, Sydney's Jackson Harbour was empty, with not a single warship or ship except for a few fishing boats. Other ports in Eastern Australia, as well as Port Moresby and New Zealand, have also found no trace of the Australian Grand Fleet. The submarine we sent out also found nothing. The reconnaissance planes also did not spot a single British ship. ”

Yamamoto fifty-six frowned and did not speak, walked over to the chart table, crossed his arms and glanced at it over and over again. Although the Australian Grand Fleet had already suffered heavy losses in previous battles with the Chinese, according to what Japan had in its possession, the fleet still had at least three large aircraft carriers! That's a pretty formidable combat force. Originally, Yamamoto estimated. Australia's Grand Fleet could be deployed deep in the Indian Ocean off the coast of Western Australia to deal with the Chinese who invaded Western Australia. Although this fleet will certainly not be able to deal with the Chinese Nanyang Fleet, it will engage in surrender. It is still possible to break the logistics line of the Chinese. But the war in Western Australia has been going on so far. The British Army just fled, and their Navy was nowhere to be seen! Could it be that the British have decided to abandon Western Australia and divert their forces to Eastern Australia? But...... Why does the Grand Fleet of Australia seem to have disappeared from the coast of Australia again?

He wrinkled his eyebrows and asked Ugaki again: "What is the movement of the squadron?" Ugaki picked up a baton and pointed to the coast of Western Australia on the chart: "According to the report of the Chinese side." and reports of German observers stationed in the Chinese and Australian Fronts. The squadron's progress in Western Australia was extremely smooth, including the port of Perth, Albany and other important ports were easily captured. At present, a Chinese armored division has been transported to Perth. Uninstalling. It is estimated that around May 20, the Chinese will launch an attack to the east. ”

Yamamoto fifty-six muttered, "It seems that the British are ready to abandon Western Australia." Ugaki nodded, and his expression became solemn: "Judging from the current situation, it is very likely that Britain will sign a peace treaty with China and cede Western Australia." Then concentrate forces to defend the Eastern Australia...... Your Excellency, we are likely to face a tough battle in Eastern Australia! Yamamoto fifty-six nodded and said, "I agree with this judgment, but where did the British Australian Grand Fleet go?" Australia is a vast country and surrounded by seas, and without a strong fleet, it is impossible to defend the cycle by land alone. ”

"But the 600,000 ANZ troops are not a force to be reckoned with, and our 8 divisions and 200,000 troops are afraid that they can't deal with it." Ugaki reminded.

"200,000 to 600,000 ......" Yamamoto thought for a while, smiled and said: "It depends on the ability of the animals in the army, I, the admiral, don't understand!" ”

"Haha, it turns out that there are still things that Yamamoto-kun doesn't understand!" At this moment, the laughter of the commander of the Japanese Eastern Australian Front, General Asakamiya Obihiko, came from outside the door. Then I saw a Japanese general in his fifties with a mustache like a toothbrush, and under the support of a lieutenant general, a major general and an adjutant, he walked into the bridge of the battleship Nagato.

Yamamoto Fifty-six and Ugaki hurriedly bowed to the prince general, although Yamamoto and he are both generals, but the identity of the prince is there, and Yamamoto still wants to be a dwarf.

King Asakanomiya nodded lightly, even if it was a return salute, he walked to the edge of the giant chart platform, went around, found the sea off Brisbane, where the fleet is now located, stretched out his finger and pointed to the port of Brisbane, and said to Yamamoto: "Yamamoto-kun, the army is ready to land in Brisbane at any time!" If there is no problem with the Navy, I hope to be able to set foot on Australian soil today! (To be continued.) If you like this work, you are welcome to vote for recommendation and monthly passes, and your support is my biggest motivation. )