Darlan naturally didn't want his subordinates to end up like this, of course, they could also become underground guerrillas, but this was what Darlan didn't want to see, and he now, like Petain, hoped that Germany could win the final victory. Pen? Interesting? Pavilion wWw. ｂiquge。 ｉｎfo

"So, Chinese ginger, what do you mean?" Darlan asked.

"I'm a merchant, I need some protection by force, such as mercenaries, just like your French Foreign Legion, you see, I'm ready to buy some warships now, so can I also hire your soldiers? It just so happens that you can turn into active disarmament, so we're all good, aren't we? Jiang Cheng said with a smile.

"My friend, do you know how many resources a navy needs to raise? Do you want to raise a navy? Darlan said as if he were watching a joke.

"It's my thing, isn't it? You just tell me if you want to, and I'll do the rest with General Dönitz. Of course, there will be no missing gifts from you. Jiang Cheng glanced at Dönitz.

Dönitz said, "Darlang, Ginger's abilities are unimaginable, he has a nickname called Miracle Ginger in our Germany, he always works miracles, and he is our most loyal friend in Germany, so you don't need to worry." ”

Darlan nodded and said, "Okay, then what I want to know is, how many warships do you need?" ”

Jiang Cheng wrenched his fingers and said, "I want three destroyers, two frigates and at least a thousand navies, and I know that there is a detachment heading to Canada, you once sent them a telegram to turn back, but they refused to obey your orders, I think this detachment can also be sold to me?" ”

At the time of the First World War, the French Navy was a powerful force second only to the British Navy, with 16 battleships, 6 cruisers and 24 destroyers in the Mediterranean Sea alone, and due to the depression of the naval holiday period, although it recovered in the 30s, before the war, there were only 1 aircraft carrier, 3 battleships, 7 heavy cruisers, 12 light cruisers, more than 50 destroyers of various types, and a total of 101 submarines of various types, ranking fourth in the world in terms of comprehensive strength, after Britain, the United States and Japan, At this time, after the British attack and the defection of some fleets in the colonies, the strength is now less than sixty percent.

Darlang couldn't help but smile when he heard Jiang Cheng's request, because the number Jiang Cheng said was just the number of warships injured in France this time, although there were no cruisers, but the Joan of Arc in that detachment was a cruiser, although it was already a 40-year-old ship, but the Chinese wanted it just to train sailors to prepare for the post-war, so the new one was wasted.

Darlan thought about it, Hitler had already spoken, Jiang Cheng bought all the money for the French Vichy government to use, then his admiralty could get at least a large piece, and there were still a lot of ships lying in his dock, including the future battleship "Richelieu" of the French Navy.

This "Richelieu" battleship is not ordinary, he is the newest and strongest battleship in France, he began construction in 1935 to the present, has almost been completed, he has a full load displacement of 47,600 tons, the main armor is a two-layer structure, first 17 ° inclination angle of 330 mm main armor, followed by a layer of 18 mm anti-spall lining, the second layer of 50 mm large angle inclined dome armor. The main gun is a 380mm 45 times caliber naval gun, the ship is 263 meters long, and can be immune to its own main guns in the range of 18,800 meters to 29,800 meters, which can be said to be a battleship of the Sea King class.

Darlan's idea was very simple, with the money from the sale of the old ship to build a new battleship, not too much, as long as the "Richelieu" could be built, he could go to the British to take revenge, if there was no income, he did not believe that Vichy France, which had lost its industrial area and needed to bear the military expenses of the German army, could build this battleship.

Indeed, in the era of strong ships and sharp guns, a powerful battleship was enough to change the outcome of a naval battle, not to mention that Darlan knew that the Germans would not be without battleships, at least not after.

It only took three days for Jiang Cheng to sign all the contracts with Vichy France of the Petain government and complete the formalities, looking at the battleship that was constantly flashing in the dockyard because of repairs, the corners of Jiang Cheng's mouth curled slightly, and next, he was going to the Americas.

-- North Africa

One by one, Italian troops, numbering about 220,000 men in Ethiopia and Eritrea, were commanded by the Duke of Aosta. And in North Africa there is another army group of about 250,000 men, divided into two army groups. In addition, there are units of seven indigenous battalions and two paratrooper battalions, as well as tank groups "Libya". The commander was Marshal Balpo. And their opponent British army is only the seventh armored division, two-thirds of the fourth Indian division, one-third of the New Zealand division, and 14 British battalions and two royal artillery regiments, with a total strength of about 50,000 people, they are surrounded by the Italian army on both sides, and what makes the British commander even more uncomfortable is that because of the shortage of British native troops, Britain cannot reinforce Africa at all, and the whole world feels that it is only a matter of time before the British army is eaten by Italy, of course, there are some people who will object, But Italian leader Benito Mussolini was definitely not one of them.

Mussolini, at this time is almost 60 years old, burly he looks more like a soldier than Hitler, he has been a dictatorship for almost 20 years since 1922, in these 20 years, he built a large number of buildings and roads, and built a new Italian army, he is extremely belligerent, his dream is to reproduce the glory of the Roman Empire, so he has launched wars against Greece, Ethiopia, Albania, unfortunately, What doesn't quite match his ambition is that his army is too bad, and it shows a military level that people can't bear to look at on the battlefield everywhere, but Mussolini himself feels good, this time, he saw his little brother Hitler draw France in a war, and suddenly felt that the opportunity was coming, first sent troops to France, but was almost killed by millions of French troops in the south of France, but fortunately France surrendered to Germany, which did not make too much foreign appearance, and now, his eyes are on Africa, The Roman Empire was an empire that spanned Europe, Asia and Africa, so how could it be without Africa? And the British in Africa are so weak - at least on the surface.

Mussolini came to the Italian headquarters in Africa, which is located in Ethiopia, and it is worth mentioning that, unlike what many people know, the Ethiopian army that fought against Italy was not a group of natives armed with spears and bows and arrows, but a modern British army with machine guns and cannons, and in terms of equipment alone, it was even much better than the equipment of the various Chinese warlords at that time.

"Leader, you see, this is the map of Africa, the British are now concentrating their forces on both sides, hoping to fend off our attack, they should already know something." The Italian commander, Duke Aosta, introduced Mussolini.

Mussolini nodded and said, "It took Hitler 40 days to defeat France, so how many days will it take us to defeat the British army in Africa?" ”

Duke Aosta thought for a moment and said, "In less than two months, this place is different from France, the traffic here is very bad, and our time is on the road. ”

Mussolini, though somewhat dissatisfied, agreed with him, and God knows how hard it took him to get here, and he asked, "How long will it take us to attack?" ”

Duke Aosta replied, "The main thing is that our logistics are not fully in place, we are not ready for war before, and it will take about two months before we can start the offensive. ”

Next to Mussolini's son-in-law, Ziano, asked, "What supplies do we have that we haven't prepared?" Haven't you been shipping supplies for the past month? ”

"There are many more, ammunition, fuel, medicine, food and wine, we all lack them, without which we will not be able to fight." ”

Mussolini stopped Ciano and said, "We have to believe in our generals, well, it's better to hurry, we are preparing, our opponents are preparing." ”

"All of them! All of them! All !! ”

Suddenly, there was a burst of cannon fire outside, and the Duke of Aosta immediately shouted, "What's wrong?" ”

After a while, a guard came in and said, "Report! It was an unknown plane that appeared in the sky over our army and was shot down by our air defense forces! ”

Duke Aosta glanced at Mussolini proudly, and now he showed a big face, who would dare to say that he was not effective in governing the army, see? As soon as the British's plane appeared, it was shot down by me, and Mussolini also said with appreciation, "Not bad!" You've done a good job, hoping that you'll be able to defeat the British as quickly and neatly as you do, and spread the glory of the Roman Empire all over Africa. ”

"Newspaper .. Report!! Another messenger walked in, only this time his tone was completely wrong, and his eyes were full of panic, as if something extremely incredible and terrible had happened.

Mussolini asked curiously, "What's wrong?" ”

The communications soldier swallowed and said, "The scout found the downed plane... It turned out that it was an aircraft of our army. ”

"Huh? How can it be?? "Duke Aosta almost wanted to slap that communication soldier, but he really hit it by mistake, don't say it at this time, wait for the leader to leave, and then talk about it differently, now say, where to put your face.

"And... And we found some documents on the remains of the pilots ... Possible.. It could be Marshal Balpo...", the head of the communications soldier was bowed to death, and he was also unlucky to be pushed by everyone to tell this bad news, and God knows what storm is coming.

"You... Who are you talking about? Mussolini asked incredulously.

"Yes.. It's Marshal Itano Balpo! The signal soldier closed his eyes and shouted loudly, Mussolini only felt that his head was going to be dizzy, and he couldn't help but take a step back, and the Duke of Aosta next to him was even more cold sweat.

This Balpo is not an ordinary person, he is the soul of the Italian Air Force, his status can be said to be similar to Goering's status in Germany, he can't help but set a number of flight records, but also made the Italian Air Force has developed rapidly, and during his tenure as Governor of Libya, Libya was transformed from a backward colony into a model for Italian provinces. Jiang Cheng proposed that the oil field could be completed so quickly, and there was a credit to him, in the eyes of many people, he was "fascist visionary" and the embodiment of a new Italy, it can be said that if Mussolini died, he was an extremely hard contender for the heir, but such a person was actually shot down by the anti-aircraft guns of his own army on the way to the conference on his own plane, which is simply more nonsense than fiction.

Mussolini is worthy of being an old politician, he immediately weighed the pros and cons, this man is dead, and it is useless to say anything, not to mention that this Balpo has been writing to himself to persuade himself not to go to war with the British, and if he really lives well, he will become an opposition in the party. Mussolini said to the Duke of Aosta, "This matter is very serious, but it is common for planes to be difficult to distinguish when they are in the sky, and the most important thing now is to take care of the aftermath!" I will at once put Marshal Graziani in his place, and you will remember that you will pay tribute to the soul of Marshal Balpo with the souls of fifty thousand Englishmen. ”

When the Duke of Aosta heard that he would not be held responsible, his heart was overjoyed, and he said with great sorrow, "Yes! Please rest assured, this incident is indeed my mistake, and I will definitely fight this battle well! ”

Walking out of the headquarters, Ziano asked, "Leader, do you want to leave by plane?" ”

Mussolini only felt that his back was numb, and immediately shook his head and said, "Don't sit!" Definitely not sitting... Let's make a car to go to the port first, take a warship and return home, and then in Africa, I won't fly if I die! ”

Italy has not yet started the war, and it has lost a general first, if they know some Chinese culture, they will probably know what this means, but although there is nothing ominous, the Italian army still has a heavy heart, and feels that this war may not be the same as the battle that Germany fought in France.

-- Washington, D.C., U.S.A

The U.S. economy has begun to develop at an accelerated pace under the nourishment of the wars in Asia and Europe, and although it is not yet really on the fast track, some arms dealers and factory owners with a keen sense of smell have begun to prepare for the layout, and everyone knows that war will always come with death and the god of wealth.

Jiang Cheng flipped through Zhang Ye's account books, drank tea from time to time, put it down for a long time and said to Situ Meitang, "Old man, how is your health lately?" ”

Situ Meitang touched his beard and said with a smile, "The little devil has not been driven away, I dare not fall, you can rest assured, the people of Shandong heard that they were in trouble." ”

Jiang Cheng nodded and said, "Yes, but don't worry, the old man, the little devil didn't get any good, and left tens of thousands of corpses for our fellow villagers to bury, and our time is slowly ripe, soon, it won't take a few years." (To be continued.) )