"Mr. President, the 'Shape Shì Room' has arrived."

The voice of Colonel Carton, the president's adjutant, rang in Roosevelt's ears, pulling the president of the United States out of his own thoughts. He looked up and saw that he had been pushed into the 'Shape Room', a conference room with an area of about 250 square meters located in the basement of the White House, with a large conference table and a somewhat dim light.

Vice President Ghana, Secretary of State Hull, Secretary of the Army Denn, Secretary of the Treasury Morgenthau, Secretary of the Navy Swanson, Secretary of Commerce Hopkins, as well as Army Chief of Staff MacArthur and Chief of Naval Operations William Brown. Leahy has been waiting here for a long time. Seeing Roosevelt in a wheelchair being pushed in by Colonel Caton, everyone stood up and looked at him. The president of the United States seems to have aged a lot these days, and everyone knows in their hearts that the shape of the world war and the Pacific War has long been clear, and the fourth naval battle of Hawaii ended in the victory of the United States, and it seems that the Japanese Soviet will not be able to jump for a few days. What bothers Roosevelt now must be the post-war world landscape.

The layout of the Chinese in Asia looks very good, the Greater China Federation with the Greater East Asia region as the core has done a good job, and after Little Japan was defeated by the United States, most of them also defected to the Greater China Federation, so that the Greater East Asia region finally completed integration. What's even more surprising is that while they are building a "big empire", they actually came up with a democratic system, although lù has the beginning of the family government, but this is not a problem, President Roosevelt himself was born in a wealthy political family, his uncle Theodore. Roosevelt also served as president of the United States.

Moreover, while the Federation of Great China has a democratic government, it also has a very strong leader, Chang Ruiqing. With this great man who can be called the father of the Great China Federation, the government of the Great China Federation will not fall into "democratic chaos", which is a difficulty that many countries with strong feudal traditions often encounter when embarking on the road of democracy, and the Great China Federation because of the existence of Chang Ruiqing, a strong leader, it is not a problem to stabilize the political situation for decades, and when Chang Ruiqing is gone, the unity of the federation and the democratic system have irreversibly matured. In the conceivable future, an incomparably large and unified East Asian nation will inevitably dominate the western coast of the Pacific.

But the prospects for the Greater American Community, which Roosevelt pushed for with all his might, did not look rosy. Even in the United States, there is a huge disagreement on whether to help Latin American countries prosper together. Although everyone believes that a unified Greater East Asia and a unified Greater Europe are likely to emerge in the world in the future, these two behemoths cannot be confronted by a divided America, so it is extremely necessary to establish an American community.

However, the "hegemony" of the United States in the Americas does not seem very real now, unlike China's overwhelming superiority in Greater East Asia, and even inferior to Germany's position in Europe - at least those European countries are more mature countries, able to speak reasonably, and have more responsible responsibilities. How can they think about the dollars in the pockets of Americans like those Latin American countries, but they don't want to think about why the United States is prosperous and strong, why they are sitting on abundant natural resources or are still poor? If they do not reform their politics and build a clean and efficient democratic system under the guidance of the United States, no matter how much money the Americans spend, these countries will not really develop.

Therefore, both the Republican Party and the Nazi Party strongly advocate taking political reform in Latin American countries as a prerequisite for the United States to provide large amounts of economic aid, while those leaders in Latin American countries regard the United States' attempt to export democracy as "neocolonialism" and have proposed to stick to their own path, to consider their own national conditions, not to copy the American experience, and even more oppose the United States as universal values.

However, these guys have expressed a welcoming attitude towards US aid, and are willing to open their markets to the United States and join the Inter-American Mutual Defense Treaty in exchange for US economic aid. In short, as long as it doesn't involve American-style democracy, everything else is negotiable. It is worth mentioning that most of the Latin American ** and their families and high-ranking officials who resolutely oppose American-style democracy have American passports, deposit their hard-earned money in the United States, and buy mansions in the United States as a retreat after they lose power...... Aren't these people against American-style democracy? Why did they secretly become Americans?

Seeing a map of North and South America laid out on the conference table, President Roosevelt sighed slightly. Dealing with these Latin Americans, it's fake to say that you don't feel annoyed, and sometimes you really don't want to pay attention to these guys. But in a blink of an eye, he restrained his mind again and slowly glanced at everyone: "Let's not talk about Latin America, the situation in East Asia during this period is very incomprehensible, and the Japanese are shouting about the "Sino-US Joint Communique" all day long, saying that we and China are ready to join hands to destroy the Japanese nation, what do you think is going on? ”

Hopkins reacted the fastest, and it seems that he had thought about this issue for a long time, and he said with a smile: "It seems that the Japanese GCD has realized that they are the next annexation target of the Chinese, so they fabricated this "Sino-US Joint Communique" to create hatred of China in China, maybe the Japanese are preparing for war against China." ”

Roosevelt nodded and smiled, thinking that it would be good if the Japanese really had to fight Chinese, so that the United States could soon hear the good news of Japan's demise after retaking the Hawaiian Islands...... It's just that I don't know how China is going to annex Japan, Japan is no better than those small countries on the Indochina Peninsula, which were originally slaves of European countries, and of course they are happy to be citizens of the Great Chinese Federation. The Japanese nation has an extremely strong sense of national identity, so how can they be willing to allow their country to be annexed by China? By the way, Japan's democratic leader Xiyuan Temple Gongwang is still in the United States, and as soon as Japan is destroyed, let Xiyuan Temple Gongwang them go back and make trouble for Chang Ruiqing, if the referendum on the Republic of Japan to join the Great China Federation fails, hehe, I don't know how Chang Ruiqing will end?

Hearing Hopkins mention that Japan might go to war with China, MacArthur chuckled under his side. Roosevelt turned his head and asked with a smile, "Doug, what do you think?" ”

MacArthur shook his head and said, "I can't talk about it, but I don't believe that Japan dares to take the initiative to provoke China, they can't beat the Chinese at all, and there is no hope of victory." ”

Roosevelt looked at William again. Leahy. The latter was smoking a cigar leisurely, and when he saw Roosevelt's gaze, he also shook his head: "I agree with Admiral MacArthur's opinion, it is impossible for the Japanese to take the initiative to attack China, because there is no chance of winning, even if they launch a surprise attack and get lucky enough to severely damage the Chinese South Sea Fleet, it is impossible to win." ”

"If the Nanyang Fleet is hit hard, won't it have a chance to win?" Roosevelt looked at William. Lehi had an unconvinced expression on his face.

"Nope." William. Leahie's answer was crisp. "Because the Japanese Combined Fleet is too close to Vladivostok and South Korea from several major ports on the Japanese mainland, including Kure, Sasebo, and Yokosuka, as well as Yokohama and Osaka, with their large shipyards, and Tokyo, the capital of Japan. The Chinese built many large airfields there, and the Chinese J-4E, J-3D, Ju.88, He-111, and the newly commissioned H-7 and J-1 aircraft took off from Vladivostok and South Korean airfields, all covering Japan's major ports and major cities. And the performance of the Japanese combat aircraft is very poor, far inferior to the Chinese fighters, and the number is far less than that of the Chinese, once the war starts, China does not need to send its navy at all, and it can blow up Japan by bombing. ”

Secretary of the Admiralty, Swanson, followed William. Raisi's words continued: "Mr. President, the southernmost tip of the Korean Peninsula is only about 300 kilometers away from Kure Port and Sasebo, the two major military ports of the Japanese Navy, and only about 500 kilometers away from Osaka. In other words, once the war broke out between China and Japan, the entire port of western Japan could not be used as a naval port. Because Chinese fighters and dive bombers will come with bombs at any time, putting warships in these military ports is to use them as targets. In this way, the military ports available to the Japanese on the mainland can only be limited to a few ports in Tokyo Bay, which are less than 1,000 kilometers from the Chinese army's airfields in South Korea and Vladivostok, and although the J-4E and J-3D are not within reach, the Chinese still have more than 2,500 Ju.88, He-111 and H-7 with a combat radius of more than 1,000 kilometers. They could adopt the tactics of night bombing, dispatching thousands of sorties every night to drop thousands of tons of bombs on the Japanese military port in Tokyo Bay. ”

Roosevelt had already understood that he had been an assistant secretary of the Navy, and he was not a complete layman to the Navy, and of course he understood the importance of his home port to the Navy's fleet, and that the Navy's big warships could not be adrift at sea all day long, that they needed to be overhauled regularly, that they needed to be repaired in the dock after being damaged in battle, and that the Navy's massive quantities of ammunition, fuel, weapons, and parts and supplies needed to be stored, and that it would not work without a reliable base area. He also knew that a port with thousands of planes coming back every night to drop bombs could not afford to be a home port. In other words, once China and Japan go to war, the Japanese Combined Fleet will not be able to find a port on the mainland that can be used as the home port of the Combined Fleet. Outside of Japan, the only ports that could serve as home ports for the fleet are Manila in the Philippines and Batavia in the East Indies, both of which are also less than 1,000 kilometers from Taiwan and Singapore. The Chinese do not need to dispatch aircraft carriers at all to bomb the Japanese Combined Fleet with nowhere to settle down. And a naval fleet that doesn't even have a "home" probably can't even exert one's combat power?

"In this way, it is impossible for the Japanese to take the initiative to attack China, but what is their purpose in inciting hatred of China at home?" Roosevelt shook his head and smiled as if self-deprecatingly: "Oriental thinking is always very peculiar, and we don't think about that." ”

He smiled and looked at Chief of Naval Operations William. Leahy's tone was non-negotiable: "Admiral, the Navy should do everything possible to recover the Hawaiian Islands and maintain a military presence in the South Pacific!" ”

"South Pacific? Mr. President, are you worried about the Japanese attacking Australia? "William. Before Leahy could speak, Hopkins interjected.

Roosevelt smiled slightly, noncommittal: "Judging from the current situation, China will establish absolute rule in Greater East Asia and Siberia, and form a strong alliance with the world of Mismlin. Germany will lead Europe and turn most of Africa and part of the Middle East into their sphere of influence, while the Americas will be our American...... But whose territory will Australia be? That's a continent of more than 7 million square kilometers! I think neither the Chinese nor the Germans will ignore Australia, and we in the United States cannot ignore it either! ”

"Mr. President, should we focus our energies and financial resources on building an American Community?" Hopkins reminded with a frown. "I think the Chinese and the Germans should be allowed to compete for Australia."

"Harry, don't you understand?" Roosevelt glanced at his brain, Hopkins. "The Japanese GCD, like those in South America, is absolutely unwilling to lose power, and they will definitely do their best to struggle, even if they make the entire Japanese nation bury themselves...... If they have no chance of winning a war with China in the north, then going south to take Australia will likely be their last resort. And that's our chance! ”

Hopkins sighed inwardly, knowing that His Excellency the President had not forgotten to lay the foundation for the United States to seize world hegemony in the future. It is impossible for the United States to lead the world in a cage in the Americas, so there is no need to go out, and if you can't meddle in Europe and Asia, then meddle in Australia!

Roosevelt went on to say, "Admiral Leahy, let our fleet resting in Rangoon immediately leave for Port Moresby to join Spruance's fleet, and the two fleets will be merged into Task Force 18, with Spruance as commander. ”

"Yes!" William. Lech paused and asked, "Mr. President, what is the mission of Task Force 18?" ”

"Protecting Australia, of course." Roosevelt turned his face to Secretary of State Hull, who was sitting to his left: "Cordell, the process of concluding the US-Australia-New Zealand Security Treaty should be accelerated, preferably in the first quarter of 1936." ”

"Yes, Mr. President."

As soon as Hull's words fell, Chief of Naval Operations Leahy spoke again: "Mr. President, our 18th Task Force may not be able to withstand the attack of the Japanese Combined Fleet!" They may have 10 to 15 Soryu-class aircraft carriers, and Task Force 18 has only two aircraft carriers, the USS Essex and the USS Saratoga. ”

"Admiral, the question now is not whether Task Force 18 can defend Australia, but whether the United States has the determination to defend Australia!" Roosevelt said that he looked resolute. "As long as the United States can show the world her determination, I believe we will not be alone in Australia! Also, the navy must do everything in its power to regain all the lost territory in the Hawaiian Islands! Be sure to take it all back by the end of March! ”

"Mr. President, I see."

Roosevelt nodded, and glanced at everyone present with a stern gaze. "Ladies and gentlemen, there has never been a country in recorded history that has become the world's leading power simply because it is particularly rich! I don't think the United States can compete with military powers like Germany and China with a few stinky money in its pocket. It's impossible...... At present, there are no small countries in Europe and Asia that dare to defy the authority of Germany and China! But in Latin America, even the poorest and weakest countries can ignore the will of the United States! Because in their eyes, the United States is just a nouveau riche with a few stinky money, and if they were to be put in Asia and Europe, would they dare to treat China and Germany like that? ”

Roosevelt took a deep breath and raised his voice: "Historically, only countries with strong enough fists can become hegemons, and it doesn't really matter whether they have money or not!" Therefore, if we want to successfully establish the Greater American Community and compete with China and Germany after the war, we must let the world see how powerful the United States is! If we take the back seat of the Hawaiian Islands and wait for Japan's defeat, then the United States will lose the last chance to show its muscles, and in the future, those Latin American leaders will continue to despise us, and even swing back and forth between the United States and Germany......"

At this moment, the door to the White House-shaped shì room opened, and a pale, mustachioed White House secretary walked in and handed Roosevelt a brown envelope. "I'm sorry, Mr. President."

"Okay, okay, leave it to me." The secretary went out. The President of the United States tore open the envelope and took out a piece of white stationery with a telegram on it.

"It was handed over by the State Department," Roosevelt glanced at Secretary of State Hull, and immediately looked interested. "Our ambassador to China got some news through a special channel." He paused. "China and Germany seem to have reached a secret treaty with Japan, and they want to use Japan's naval power to expel our power from Australia, and Australia will become the new home of the Japanese nation."

"Sounds like a hoax." Hopkins commented. "Maybe China and Germany want to use this to get their hands on Australia."

"But the Japanese GCD looks like they've been fooled." Roosevelt smiled coldly: "They are like a bunch of drowning fools, no matter what kind of life-saving straw they have to grasp." He snorted and looked at William. Raisi: "I hope the Navy can teach this group of Japanese fools a good lesson, and we must let the world see clearly how powerful the US Navy is!" (To be continued!)

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