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The thin heel strikes on the marble floor of the French naval headquarters in Marseille, pleasant and rhythmic. It's just that the French naval officers, who have always been known for their romance, today have no intention of glancing at the owners of the high heels, and all stand in their seats in a daze, staring at the telegraph, waiting for the latest news.

The last thirty hours are a disgrace for France and the French Navy! It's tormenting! It is full of perfidy! In addition to the three capital ships in North Africa that were lost in one go, two battleships that fled to Britain and one battleship in Alexandria were also disarmed by the British, and the only remaining of the Fourth Navy before the war was the Jean-Bar in the West Indies and the two Dunkirk-class battleships that fled to Greece. But even these three ships are already in danger! The U.S. Navy has already dispatched to stop the Jeanbar, Greece is a neutral country, it is impossible to let the French fleet anchor for a long time, and in the face of the four British battleships and two aircraft carriers staring at the outside, the exhausted and lacking ammunition supply fleet is destined to be sunk as long as it leaves the port! Moreover, the sinking of the Hood completely angered the British government and people. The latest news, several battleships, including Nelson and Rodney, have already begun to mobilize, and if a settlement is not reached soon, then they will sail for the Mediterranean within a week.

Who can save the French Navy?

"General, we're meeting again." Led by the adjutant, Jin Bihui and Zeng Qi, China's plenipotentiary representative to Europe, walked into Darlang's office.

Darlang's face was numb, and he even stared at Jin Bihui with anger. From the moment she brought the news to Marseille, it was as if the French Navy had stepped into a trap! The threads are closely interlocked, and it is really hard to believe that there is no China playing tricks here. But anger will not solve the problem, the most important thing at the moment is to keep the battleship, as long as there are battleships, the French Navy still has hope of a comeback, otherwise it will be another Germany. So he waved his hand to disperse the officer. After inviting the two of them to sit down, he asked with self-deprecation: "Mr. Ambassador, Miss Jin, are you going to fall into the well, or." ”

"200 million yuan (about 100 million US dollars)." Zeng Qi was very direct, and put the contract and a letter that had been prepared long ago in front of Darlang: "It has been deposited in a Swiss bank and will be handed over to your government after the war." The fleet in Greece will be leased to us, and we will promise to ensure the safety of the people on board, and will return the warship to your government after the war, and we will compensate for any losses at a discount. Here is the contract and the handwritten letter of Marshal Petain, who promised that everything is up to you. ”

It dropped from 400 million to 200 million yuan. Darlang's heart was filled with bitterness. Some unwillingly looked at Jin Bihui: "I'm afraid this doesn't match the price proposed by Miss Jin." ”

Jin Bihui said with a smile: "General, two hundred million dollars includes the Richelieu and Jeanbar. ”

"Keep the Barr in my control!" Darlang said angrily.

"Oh? Can you convince the U.S. government to let it go? Jin Bihui was not angry at all. In fact, after the news of the U.S. Navy's dispatch to intercept came out, Yang Qiu knew that the Barr had no chance with him, so he asked Jin Bihui to lower the price. It's a bit of a pity, the Richelieu-class battleships are one of the few good things that Yang Qiu can look at. It's much better than the Beijing level. After all, so far there is still a gap between the metallurgical level of the Republic of China and France, even if the naval artillery technology is all copied from France, and a lot of metallurgical technology has been introduced from France, but the performance is still weaker.

A sentence made Darlan lean back on the back of his chair like a deflated ball. It took a long time to pick up the peace agreement, but I didn't look at it twice and put it down, and I seemed to be unwilling in my heart. "What if I refuse?" ”

Zeng Qi looked at Jin Bihui, although he was currently the highest diplomatic official of the Republic of China in Europe, but he was not responsible for this matter. So after Jin Bihui got the hint, he leaned forward. For the first time, two cold lights flashed in Xiu's eyes: "You can order all of them to sink themselves, or we can sink them!" ”

"You guys?" Darlan asked, stunned.

"Yes, us!"

Jin Bihui's words shocked Darlang's heart. China and Britain are going to form an alliance! Britain, isolated and on the verge of defeat, got its first important ally at the most critical time. This means that Eurasia is no longer fighting on its own. The war is officially moving towards the confrontation of a world-class military alliance! Thinking of the U.S. Navy's interception of the Jean Barr, it clearly means that behind the UK, two huge figures have slowly emerged.

Once this alliance is officially formed, it will be extremely terrifying.

China, the world's No. 1 human resource (ranked before the war), the world's fourth-largest comprehensive national strength, the world's third-largest army (considered to be behind the Soviet Union and Germany), the world's No. 1 Air Force (ranked after the invasion of Persia), and the world's fifth-largest navy!

The United States, which is the fourth in the world in terms of human resources, the world's first in terms of comprehensive national strength, the second navy in the world, and accounts for sixty percent of the world's total manufacturing industry!

The United Kingdom, the world's second largest human resource (including colonies and the Commonwealth), the world's second largest comprehensive national strength, the world's first navy, and the world's sixth army!

In front of this alliance, which has already emerged, Darlan has no choice. Either watch the hard work of a lifetime come to naught, or save the last vestiges of vitality for the French Navy! Thinking of this, he picked up the "Sino-French Naval Concession Agreement" handed by Zeng Qi again, and his right hand trembled uncontrollably.

On 30 June, after 48 hours of urgent communication and consultation with the Chinese Government, Yang Qiu and Churchill reached an agreement with the French Government to lease all the French fleets trapped in Greece. With Darlan's nod, this agreement officially came into effect, which meant that the French Navy, which was ranked fourth before the war, disappeared overnight!

According to the agreement, the French Navy will not only temporarily hand over the Djibouti base to Chinese trusteeship, but also the battleships Dunkirk, Strasbourg, Algeria, Foch, Duplex, Tourville, Glory, Marseillaise, Montcalm, Bertin, Terrible, Reckless, Vicious, Triumph, The destroyers Albatross, the Great Eagle, and the Sparrowhawk, a total of 17 (some of which were intercepted and then withdrawn to France) were all leased to the Chinese Navy for 200 million people. According to the agreement, China will ensure the safety of the personnel on board and will not use the warship for Europe. At the end of the war, the warship will be returned to the French government free of charge, and if there is any damage, the two sides will negotiate a discount compensation.

Meantime. Roosevelt also followed Yang Qiu's example and leased the battleship Jeanbar, the aircraft carrier Béarne, and five other ships hiding in the West Indies for $40 million to join the US Navy's Atlantic Fleet, which would also be returned to the French government after the war. The British navy divided the remaining three battleships and sixty other ships, which were to be handed over to the Free French Navy in due course. And the Vichy French Navy had only two heavy cruisers, three light cruisers, ten destroyers and more than two dozen submarines.

The Fourth Navy, which was well-deserved before the war, was completely carved up in just five days! A once world-wide old empire has come to an end with the fall of the navy!

Although the French Navy was solved, the British were no better. Within a week, the British Navy lost one aircraft carrier, two Avenger-class battleships and two heavy cruisers in the Indian Ocean. Then there was the loss of the Hood in the Mediterranean, the loss of the battlecruisers Prestige and Counterattack in the Battle of the Andaman Sea, and the battleship HMS Royal Oak, which was sunk by German submarines after the war, leaving the British Empire with only nine capital ships with 15 battleships/battlecruisers before the war. Moreover, the Resolve needs to lie in the dock for at least a year, and the Warrior and George V are also determined to not be able to participate in the war for half a year, even if the George V class is stimulated by the Shandong to speed up the construction, but the latter four will not be commissioned until early 1941 at the earliest. This means that before March 1941, Britain could only take out seven battleships, the Nelson, the Rodney, the Queen Elizabeth, the war-weary, the Barham, the Malaya, and the Avenger (four George V were under construction).

On the other side of the sea, the United States has 18 battleships (there are also 2 North Carolina, 4 Nanda, and 6 Iowa under construction), Japan has 14 (including old-fashioned, 3 Yamato under construction), and China has 8 (4 Shandong under construction). Not counting the two Dunkirk-class). The gap on the aircraft carrier is even greater! The Chinese Navy already has a total of eight fleet aircraft carriers, including two Beihai-class, four Sichuan-class, and two Liaoning-class, with a total tonnage of nearly 210,000 tons, as well as four general-class escort aircraft carriers (eight Liaoning and ten general-class aircraft carriers are under construction), and there are also 11 aircraft carriers (five light aircraft carriers are under construction or refitted). Although the United States has only five fleet aircraft carriers. But construction of five Essex-class aircraft carriers has already begun at the same time. On the contrary, after successive losses, even with the just-delivered Radiance, only four aircraft carriers remained: the Glory, the Ark Royal, the Dreadnought, and the Radiance (four under construction).

In terms of tonnage and volume, Britain is already behind the second place. With the launch and delivery of Italy's four Veneto-class fast battleships, the Bismarck and Tirpitz battleships approaching service, and the Shandong-class battleships delivered at the end of the year. Before the war, the total tonnage of the world's No. 1 Navy plummeted to the fourth place in an instant, while the Chinese Navy, which was supplemented by 17 French warships, surpassed Japan in total tonnage in one fell swoop and became the second in the world!

The Sino-French Naval Concession Agreement was an important turning point in this world war! With the officers and men of the 22 Fleet boarding the French battleships and passing through the Suez Canal under the escort of the British fleet under the Chinese flag and the naval flag, the new world order took shape in Cairo.

On 1 July, the General Staff and the Admiralty in Beijing sent 5,000 naval officers and sailors to Djibouti to receive French warships, and at the same time sent 27 10,000-ton ships, three engineering ships, and two large floating docks to the Chagos Archipelago, and formally upgraded the 22 Fleet to the Third Fleet (known as the Indian Ocean Fleet), and at the same time ordered the Second Fleet and the Third Fleet to protect the two Dunkirk-class ships for repatriation and refitting, and they will all be transferred to the combat sequence of the Third Fleet together with the remaining French warships after repair.

There is no doubt that in addition to the United Kingdom, Germany and Japan are two other unlucky eggs! Although Hitler ostensibly agreed to the independence of the French Navy, he always wanted to take the French Navy into his pocket, but he did not expect that China, the United States and Britain would actually divide the Fourth Navy under their noses. Raeder was even more angry, and immediately persuaded Hitler to completely take the Mediterranean France and attack Spain and Gibraltar to implement the Great Mediterranean plan! Japan was even more unlucky, trying to defeat half of the Indian fleet, thinking that it could turn around and concentrate on dealing with the Sino-US flank, but unexpectedly, the Chinese navy, which was inferior to its own in total tonnage, added 17 warships overnight. Without firing a single shot, a main fleet of three aircraft carriers, four battleships, six heavy cruisers, eight light cruisers, seventeen destroyers, eight frigates, and fourteen submarines was pulled up in the Indian Ocean, making a total of sixty-six ships. It also has bases in the Chagos Archipelago, Djibouti (leased), Addu Atoll, Seychelles (which will be opened to the Navy by the United Kingdom after the alliance) and the Persian Gulf, taking the Indian Ocean into its hands in one fell swoop.

Played in vain!