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After a three-month voyage around the world, the "Big Bad Wolf Fleet" of the Chinese Empire arrived at Bordeaux in the Bay of Biscay, France, an important stop on the journey. Pen % fun % Pavilion www.biquge.info╔╗

French President Albert gave up a series of schedules in Paris and personally rushed to Bordeaux to meet with Admiral Li Dingxin, commander of the Chinese Imperial Navy, and conveyed his greetings to Wang Chenhao, Emperor of the Chinese Empire, through Yan Wang Guoming.

"We will give France our full support!"

Li Dingxin conveyed to Albert the attitude of the Chinese Imperial Government, which was specially instructed by Wang Chenhao to Li Dingxin before leaving. Wang Chenhao did not want France to be defeated by the German blitzkrieg, and hoped to use France to consume Germany's military strength and national strength as much as possible.

"Great!" Albert was overjoyed when he received Li Dingxin's affirmative reply, and hurriedly said: "With the support of your country, I believe that France will be able to survive the current difficulties and drive away the German invading army!" ”

The French Minister of Defense, Army Commander-in-Chief Pétain, could no longer sit still, and hurriedly asked: "I wonder when your country will be able to give French aid?" ”

Li Dingxin smiled slightly and said, "In the morning, you should see more than 20 of our large supply ships!" ”

Pétain asked, "What do you mean?" ”

Wang Guoming, who was next to Li Dingxin, explained: "The ship is full of the arms that your country urgently needs, and they are all our most advanced weapons and equipment. Before leaving, my father asked us to meet your country's procurement requirements as much as possible. ”

Albert and Petain looked at each other, and both showed excited expressions, but Petain still said with some doubts: "I wonder how it compares to the equipment that your country sold to Greece?" ”

Wang Guoming smiled: "Naturally, it's only high, not low!" Please rest assured of this. In order to fully demonstrate the sincerity of the Chinese Empire. The Imperial Government will provide your country with the most advanced weapons and equipment, including various fighter jets such as the Black Hawk, Leopard main battle tanks and other combat vehicles, and we will do our best to meet your needs. ”

Pétain asked: "Then can we buy your H5 bombers?" ”

Wang Guoming and Li Dingxin looked at each other and smiled, and then said: "Don't talk about Bang Five, Bang Six can be provided to you!" ”

Petain continued to ask tentatively, "Is the atomic bomb okay?" ”

Wang Guoming and Li Dingxin were stunned for a moment, and Li Dingxin quickly replied: "If the war requires it, this possibility cannot be ruled out!" We hope that your country will be able to prove that you will continue to fight, and with the support of the Chinese Empire, I believe that you will be able to defeat Germany. ╔╗”

Petain was only a test taker. He understood the importance of the atomic bomb, and the Chinese Empire could not export the atomic bomb to France. However, after receiving Li Dingxin's affirmative reply again, Petain suddenly breathed a sigh of relief in his heart. smiled: "With your country's guarantee, we are much more relieved!" ”

Then, Petain went straight to the point and said: "We have prepared 800 billion francs (about 10.3 billion dragon coins) for the purchase of weapons and equipment, and hope to be able to obtain the weapons and equipment we need from your country as soon as possible." ”

Li Dingxin and Wang Guoming glanced at each other, and when they heard about the huge military purchase project of 800 billion francs, they both showed a knowing smile.

"Here's our purchase list!"

Petain handed Li Dingxin a list of French military purchases, and Li Dingxin read it and gave it to Wang Guoming and the other officers who accompanied him to browse.

I have to say that the French army is ruthless this time, which can be seen from their military purchase list.

The list of the French army mainly includes the air force: the purchase of 400 long-range heavy bombers, 1,000 medium and short-range bombers, and 2,000 fighters. 400 transport aircraft, etc.; Army: Procurement of 3,000 main battle tanks, 1,500 infantry combat vehicles, 500 anti-tank combat vehicles, 2,000 anti-materiel weapons, and 400 field ambulances, engineering vehicles, command vehicles, etc. In addition, the French army also deliberately sought weapons of mass destruction from the Chinese Empire, including high-powered aerial bombs with white phosphorus charges.

After reading the list of military purchases, Li Dingxin and others said to Albert and Petain: "Our H-6 Aerial Fortress strategic bomber has a global reach, and its 9-ton bomb carrying capacity is fully capable of long-range bombing missions of your air force, and its quotation is 950,000 dragon dollars. ╔╗Medium and short-range bombers: Our H-5 has incomparable penetration capabilities. Its offer is 320,000 dragon coins. As for the fighter plane, our J-10 fighter has absolute air supremacy, and its offer is 90,000 dragon coins. Our Y-8 Pegasus transport aircraft has been famous all over the world for decades, and its price is 620,000 dragon coins. Needless to say, our M28A3 tanks can effectively restrain the German main tanks No. 3 and No. 4. It is quoted at 100,000 dragon coins, and the W16 wheeled infantry tank and anti-tank tank are both quoted at 60,000 dragon coins......"

Li Dingxin quoted on the side. Albert and Pétain's side kept calculating the total price.

"That's too expensive, isn't it? It's over our budget! "All the French have one expression at the moment, a face full of complaints.

Li Dingxin pretended not to know, and said with a smile: "It's okay, we are willing to establish a long-term cooperative relationship with your country, so we will give you a nine-percent discount on this transaction." ”

Petain and others calculated that according to the quotation of the Chinese Empire, even if it was discounted, the final total amount was as high as 15 billion dragon coins, exceeding the French budget by as much as 4.7 billion dragon coins. For France at this moment, because of the huge threat of war, 90% of France's finances have been transferred to the military invasion of Germany, Italy and Spain, because at this time, the French side basically took credit to the arms dealers in France, and there was no money to give at all. Being able to spend 10.3 billion dragon dollars on the purchase of military equipment is already the limit of the French finances.

"It's still too expensive!"

Albert and Pétain said in unison.

Wang Guoming persuaded them at this time: "The biggest military threat to your country at present is the German armored forces from the direction of the Netherlands and Belgium. If you want to stop the German armored forces, you need the weapons and equipment we provide you, especially the H-6 bomber group, because they can help you successfully destroy the German logistics supply lines. ”

Albert turned to Pétain. The latter whispered, "Mr. President." He was right, if we can destroy the German logistical supply lines, then we can successfully stop the Germans. ”

Albert nodded, and said, "Can this really stop the Germans?" ”

Li Dingxin explained: "Of course! It is a well-known fact that the German armored forces were dependent on logistical supplies. ╔╗ Well, in order to express our sincerity, we are willing to provide you with more valuable information. ”

Pétain asked, "What do you mean?" ”

Li Dingxin then said: "Germany's oil supply in Romania is 10 million tons per year, while Germany consumes about 7.6 million tons of oil per year. and lubricating oil, etc., the consumption of oil has reached 14 million tons. Romania was no longer able to meet the oil consumption of the German army, and the rest was borne by the USSR. The Chinese Empire has severely restricted the oil zones of Baku in the Caucasus and the Persian Gulf in the Middle East and oil exports to Germany, as long as your country can buy our weapons and equipment. We are willing to provide you with the exact coordinates of all oil refineries and petrochemical plants in Germany, as well as the coordinates of the distribution of German oil factories in Romania, as well as the equipment and armament information of the German air defense forces, and we can provide you with them. ”

Petain's eyes lit up and he excitedly said: "If we have this information, we only need to send a bomber force to bomb the above-mentioned areas fiercely, which is enough to paralyze the logistics and oil supply of the German army, then the German armored forces will soon have to stop." ”

Albert certainly understood what Petain meant, and that one of the main grievances between the Allies and the Entente in the European landscape of the 20th century was the competition over oil. Germany is an oil-poor country. Its economic development required a large supply of oil, and if the Chinese Empire limited the supply of oil to Germany and destroyed the main German oil facilities in Romania, then it could stop the attack of the German steel torrent.

But the conundrum facing Albert is the problem of funding, and 15 billion dragon coins is a huge expense for France.

Li Dingxin saw Albert's concerns, so he suggested: "Your country and Britain are allies, can you buy them together?" After all, the defeat of Germany is also something that Britain is looking forward to, and there is no need for your country to bear it alone! ”

Albert thought for a moment and nodded, "You're right! We can't afford to lose this opportunity, so please give me a day to figure it out! ”

Li Dingxin agreed. ╔╗Because he and his fleet will stay in France for a week.

Soon, Albert spoke to British Prime Minister Winston Churchill on the phone and told the British side his idea. Churchill then convened a meeting of the British Cabinet to discuss the feasibility of a strategic air strike on German logistical supply lines. The British Air Force believed that there was no need to spend huge sums of money on the purchase of strategic bombers from the Chinese Empire. Because the new bombers of the British Air Force are more than competent.

At this time, the RAF went through the development of the treaty era. The early O-400 bombers have been retired one after another, replacing the "Hereford...... Bombers and Avro "Manchester" bombers.

The overall performance of these two bombers is almost the same, and they are both advanced bombers developed and manufactured in the United Kingdom. Among them, Handley-Petti "Hereford", like the Avro "Manchester" bomber, also had poor overall performance due to engine problems, but finally passed the British Aviation Commission's audit and was put into mass production...... The prototype was modified from a prototype of the Hampton Tons, sold to Sweden, using two 955 hp (712 kW) Napier Javelin VIIIH engines. The first flight was successful in June 1937, and SCHOTT Brothers was awarded an order for the first 200 aircraft (which was later increased to 752). Haaland received an order for the production of 150 Avro "Manchester" bombers (which was later increased to 250).

The first production model rolled off the assembly line in Belfast on May 17, 1938, and was tested at the Aircraft and Weapons Testing Centre in Matham-Heath, England, where the results showed that the performance of the aircraft was roughly comparable to that of the Hamptons, except that the engines were less than ideal, prone to overheating on the ground and cooling down too quickly in flight, and the high decibel noise produced by their operation also caused discomfort to the crew. The front-line troops used only a limited number of "Herefords" for a short time. They were then handed over to the training units. For example, the 16th Combat Training Squadron (OTU) stationed in Upper Blackford, Oxfordshire, received the first batch of "Hereford" on 7 May 1939. Avro "Manchester" bombers were used by the 14th Field Training Squadron based in Caudismo.

As the RAF's main bomber, the HP-53 bomber is a 4-seat medium bomber with two 1000 hp Napier "gladiators" engines...... Cylinder H-type water-cooled engine, empty weight 11,700 lbs., maximum take-off weight: 17,800 lbs., maximum speed 265 mph, cruising at 15,500 feet at 172 mph, practical ceiling up to 19,000 feet. ╔╗ Maximum range of 1,200 miles, with 4,000 pounds of aerial bombs, its self-defense weapons are two 0.303-inch forward machine guns, one on the back and one on the belly.

Since the British Air Force considered Britain and France united. If you do not buy the H-5 and H-6 of the Chinese Empire in time, you can also complete the task of bombing the German army's logistics supply line and the German petrochemical base.

Albert also had no opinions, so he listened to Churchill's words and gave up the purchase of H-5 and H-6 bombers of the Chinese Empire. As a result, the cost of arms purchases dropped significantly, and the British government subsidized France with 1.2 billion dragon dollars, which eventually led to the joint purchase of 11.5 billion dragon dollars of weapons and equipment from the Chinese Empire.

Although Li Dingxin felt sorry for Britain and France for giving up the purchase of bombs and bombs, he still gave Britain and France information about the coordinates of the German army's supply lines, supply stations, petrochemical bases, and oil production bases in Romania, as well as the strength of the defense in accordance with the will of the imperial emperor Wang Chenhao. Britain and France were greatly grateful for this move. It has injected a softening agent into the originally discordant Sino-British relations and Sino-French relations.

Having received valuable intelligence from the Chinese Empire, the British Air Force and the French Air Force immediately organized a huge air group with more than 1,200 bombers to prepare for a strategic bombing of Germany, focusing on attacking German logistics supply depots and oil extraction bases in Romania.

Prior to this, the British Air Force carried out a large-scale bombing retaliatory operation on the German mainland in retaliation for the indiscriminate bombing of London by German bomber groups, and in the first year and a half of the war, the bomb volume reached 35,000 tons. The results were extremely small on the whole, and the bombing was carried out mainly at night, and the main direction of the bombing was to disrupt the German transportation system and destroy the morale of ordinary citizens and workers.

In the area bombardment of the city. Incendiary bombs were mainly used, and their number gradually increased, accounting for 50 percent of the total number of bombs dropped. Although the effect of area bombing is better than that of precision bombing, the amount of bombs dropped is small, and the bombing method is wave attack. So the losses from the bombing were reduced.

The development of industrial production in Germany is very smooth. It is not so much the damage caused by the bombing as the impact of the interruption of the air raid siren. The effect of the bombing on the mood of the German citizens. Not a big problem. However, the increase in martial law due to air raid sirens has brought a certain mental fatigue to the citizens and affected the efficiency of work.

As a result of the success of the British Air Force's air defense operations in the British homeland air operations, Germany had a tendency to overestimate the possibility of air defense, and the idea that an attack on the British Air Force could effectively conduct air defense operations prevailed.

The German High Command failed to recognize that the air attack on Britain and the air defense operation on the German mainland were tactically completely different. When the Luftwaffe attacked Britain, its targets were confined to a relatively narrow area, so the British side was able to carry out air defense operations smoothly. And the Luftwaffe attacks were often carried out against the defense centers of the British fighter forces.

On the German mainland, on contrast, the targets were scattered over a wide area, and many important points were difficult to cover with fighter jets and anti-aircraft artillery. As a result, the British Air Force often attacked false targets, or abruptly changed course during the attack, so that German fighter fleets that were concentrated on standby on the route were in the air, distracting their air defense. Moreover, each time the target of the attack was changed, the anti-aircraft artillery units were forced to change positions, making it difficult for the Germans to conduct anti-aircraft fire. At that time, the Germans, although they still maintained a strong fighter flight unit on the Western Front and their anti-aircraft artillery units had a high interception capability, could not thwart the enemy's air attack.

In the case that the air defense of the German army was in such a state. The British Air Force slowed down the pace of the attack, though. But it has gradually strengthened its mobile and striking forces.

It was for this reason that the British Air Force thought that their bomber group would be able to penetrate directly into the German rear and carry out a major bombing campaign directly on the oil bases in Romania. But the British did not know how much the Germans valued oil. For Germany, an oil-poor country, oil is the key to whether it can develop industry and maintain the attack power of the army. Therefore, the German side has extremely tight protection of the oil zone in Romania, deploying a large number of air defense units and air force fighter units. And for the British and French air forces, the maximum combat radius of their medium-range bombers is just enough to cover the oil fields of Romania.

But the self-confidence of the British is strong, they are strong in their convictions. Therefore, the abduction of the French Air Force also embarked on a point of no return.

On the night of February 5, 1940, the British and French air forces dispatched 1,200 bombers, escorted by 860 fighters, to pounce on Romania.

At this time. The main force of the Luftwaffe was partly on the German-French battlefield, and partly defended Berlin and the Ruhr industrial area, without judging the intentions of the British and French air forces, and thought that it was an indiscriminate bombardment of the German mainland, and only a small number of fighters intercepted it, but it was quickly repelled by the British and French fighters escorting it.

On the evening of the 6th, British and French bomber groups arrived in the oil industrial area of Tergumules, Romania, and began a large-scale bombing of it. The air raid was a great success, thanks to the fact that the Chinese Empire provided Britain and France with detailed information on the area, and that the Allied air forces were well aware of the deployment and duty hours of the German air defense forces on the ground. Significant results have been achieved.

The oil area was saturated and bombed by tens of thousands of tons of aerial bombs, and in an instant it was in flames, and the fire burned from the night of 6 to the morning of 19 June before being extinguished by the German and Romanian troops, and tens of millions of tons of oil were destroyed, causing huge economic and military losses to Germany.

As a direct result of the air raids, Germany's domestic reserves of industrial oil were less than 1.2 million tons, which was only enough for German industry to operate normally for one month. The military gasoline reserve was less than 700,000 tons, which was only enough for the German mechanized troops for a month and a half.

For the first time since World War II, Germany faced a serious oil crisis, even one large enough to affect the entire war.

Hitler immediately ordered the resumption of production in the Romanian oil industrial zone at any cost, and at the same time urgently imported 3 million tons of oil and 1 million tons of refined oil from the USSR. For the Soviets who took advantage of the fire to rob, Hitler gritted his teeth and paid for it, but it also planted the seeds of hatred, because Hitler had to invade the Soviet Union militarily in order to completely get out of the oil crisis. Thus obtaining the rich oil resources of the USSR in the Caucasus.

Of course, Hitler also quickly made contact with the United States and Venezuela in the Americas. Permission to import oil from the United States and Venezuela was obtained, but the cycle of transporting oil back from the Americas was too long, and the British and French navies would intercept and attack it, so it was not safe. Therefore, Hitler was still inclined to the idea of restoring Romania's oil supplies and an armed invasion of the Soviet Union.

The British and French air forces won a great victory in the air attack on Romania, and for a time the Entente countries were excited. But soon the British and French air forces tasted the consequences, Hitler ordered the German army to strengthen the air defense capability of the Romanian oil field at any cost, deploying six air defense divisions and two air wings, surrounding the oil field like an iron barrel, and the air defense capacity was ten times that of the previous one.

During the air raids in mid-to-late February, the British and French air forces were fiercely intercepted by the Luftwaffe and hit hard by ground anti-aircraft fire, and in just half a month, the British and French air forces lost 543 bombers and 622 escort fighters. Germany set up ground air defense posts everywhere over the vast territory, providing the Luftwaffe and ground air defense forces with at least an hour of early warning time, which led to a sharp reduction in the bombing effect of the British and French air forces in the Romanian oil area.

By early March, Germany had resumed operations in the Romanian oil field, and the German industrial and military oil crisis was resolved.

Although the Allied air forces on the Romanian oil fields ultimately failed, they succeeded in delaying the total German attack on the Anglo-French forces, and the Anglo-French forces at the front line gained a precious month and a half to prepare. During this period of time, the Anglo-French coalition forces achieved a large-scale replacement of the advanced weapons and equipment of the Chinese Empire, and completed the task of rapid training, so that the Anglo-French forces in turn pressed the German, Italian and Spanish armies in terms of weapons and equipment, and gained the upper hand. (To be continued) RQ