On a yacht in the Gulf of Finland, Linhan and Stalin talked for five days. Five days later, Linhan said goodbye to Stalin and returned to Germany by boat, and the journey was smooth sailing, and Stalin did not do anything.

During the conversation, Lin Han felt that he had gained a lot. At the time of the breakup, it had been agreed that in early May 1938, the heads of state of China, the Soviet Union and Germany would hold another extremely secret trilateral meeting, and the meeting place was chosen in Leningrad.

On the other hand, Germany's plans to annex Austria were rapidly being planned.

As early as May 1936, Germany signed the "German-Austrian Agreement" with the new German regime in Austria, which demanded that Austria would always act in accordance with the principle of recognizing itself as "a Germanic state" in its foreign policy, and that it would stipulate in secret clauses that German and Austrian fascists should be allowed to participate in Austrian government institutions. After a year of secret preparations, by April, Hannah decided that the time was ripe for the annexation of Austria.

In Austria at this time, the pro-German Nazi A. Seis-Inquart had been appointed Minister of the Interior and Minister of Security, holding police power. On April 12, some German agents sent to Austria, with the assistance of Nazi party members, created riots and riots in various parts of Austria, and then the Germans manipulated the media to publicize the report that "the Austrian government was surrounded by anarchist mobs" and fabricated the Austrian government's "urgent request" for Germany to send troops to suppress the riots -- Historically, Germany entered Austria under the banner of opposing "communism," but in this historical plane, because Hitler's "red" label was getting stronger and stronger. This excuse was too embarrassing even for the Nazis themselves. I had to drag out the "anarchists" out of the top cylinder.

As a result, tens of thousands of German troops on the German-Austrian border, who had been prepared, drove straight into Austria and occupied Austria bloodlessly. April 13, Adolf. Hannah went to Vienna and signed the law of German-Austrian merger, which became the Eastern province of the Third German Reich.

In the process, Britain and France did not respond effectively except for strict protests. The British had just broken free from the quagmire of China, and not to mention the heavy losses, the anti-war wind at home was even more prosperous. Even now the British government is intervening in the Spanish Civil War. There is also tremendous pressure from the people to demand an armistice. Where is there a mood to interfere in the matter of the German-Austrian merger.

As for the French, after the First World War, the huge casualty figures had knocked out the last bit of courage of the French, after the news of the German merger broke. The biggest voice of the people is not accusations against Germany. Rather, it was the thunderous slogan of the women, "Do it (crab love, not war)."

And the Soviet side. Although Soviet-German relations had greatly improved, the Soviet Union strongly condemned Germany's aggression at the "initiative request" of the German side. Although the USSR was "condemned" to Germany. But in this era when Sood-De was too close, many people thought it was a pretentious double reed play.

In fact, after the meeting in the Gulf of Finland, the secret exchanges between the top leaders of the Soviet Union and Germany became even closer. In March of that year, Germany sold the barrels of nine fifteen-inch naval guns to the Soviet Union, in addition to a complete triple fifteen-inch turret. At the beginning of April, the gun completed the test firing of the gun in the Soviet Union, and the Soviet side was very satisfied with the performance of the gun. Soon after, the Germans dismantled and packed all the equipment needed to make the cannon and shipped it to the Soviet Union by sea.

After getting a full set of equipment, it also means that the Soviet Union's ability to manufacture large artillery has made a qualitative leap. In exchange, the USSR was paid for in large quantities of agricultural products, minerals, oil. Military cooperation between the Soviet Union and Germany became even closer after the meeting in the Gulf of Finland. As for Germany's annexation of Austria, the Soviet Union was merely pretending to be a rhetorical cannon.

Historically, Germany was hampered by Italy in the process of annexing Austria, and Mussolini's chief diplomatic adviser publicly reiterated on several occasions that "the independence of Austria must be guaranteed first". Even when Germany showed its intention to annex Austria, Italy sent four divisions to the border to demonstrate. Italy's attitude towards Austria did not change until the signing of the Anti-Comintern Pact between Germany and Italy.

And in this plane, Italy still opposes the German-Austrian merger. But the current German military strength is at least equal to that of Germany at the beginning of 1940. The number of tank No. 2 equipped with 40-mm tank guns alone exceeded 1,500, and a new production line for tank No. 3 was being prepared. The number of available air force aircraft exceeded a thousand. Both the Air Force and the Army are far superior to Italy, not to mention that Hannah, who was born as a traverser, knows very well how funny the combat effectiveness of "Noodles" is.

Now in Italy, there are more than 100,000 troops in Spain to help Franco fight the civil war, and it is even more distracted. When the German annexation of Austria was so rapid that the Italians protested afterwards, Hannah ignored him.

On the fourth day of Germany's annexation of Austria, Italy completed its mobilization on the German-Austrian border and sent four divisions to the border to demonstrate force. The Germans could only send two armored regiments and one infantry brigade to the border to confront them. On that day, however, the Germans dispatched a full 1,000 sorties of aircraft to patrol and demonstrate over the border.

Although the Germans had mobilized less than 500 planes that day, it was enough to scare the Italian air force into its own state - and like other countries, the Italian air force was also in a period of transition for a new generation. The air battle that took place in China in 1936 had already heralded the end of the biplane era and the rise of the monoplane era to the world in advance.

In this air force race, the Germans ran to the first place, the Soviets followed closely behind, and the British, relying on the long-term technological accumulation of the old imperialist countries, quickly caught up after finding the right direction of development. As for the Italians, who have low eyes and low hands, now the new generation of fighters in their air force is still being developed, and the fighters in service in their hands are still outdated biplanes CR32, where is it possible to confront the German fighters who have made a resounding reputation in the battlefields of China and Spain.

"If we clash with the Germans, in a week the Italian Air Force will not be in existence."

At that time, the commander of the Italian Air Force replied to Mussolini in this way, strongly opposing the confrontation between Italy and Germany at this time. Thereupon. The Italians, who had low eyes and were fond of showing off, quickly shrank back in a weak heart after listening to the advice of the commander of the air force. The crisis of war between Germany and Italy was short-lived, and then ended silently.

In April 1937, Germany annexed Austria without any danger, and its national and military strength rose to a new level.

By May 8, 1937, when the situation in Austria had calmed down, Adolf. Under the pretext of a vacation in Munihei, Hannah secretly flew to the Soviet Union on the same day to meet with Stalin in Leningrad. He was also met there by Chairman Li Run-seok of China.

Lin Han did not attend this meeting. However, Li Huamei rushed back from Spain to participate in the tripartite talks as a representative and interpreter of the Chinese side. As Lin Han's doppelganger, Li Huamei is also fluent in German and Russian, and at this meeting with such a high level of secrecy. There is no better person to be the Chinese translator than her.

In the air battle of Spain for almost three months. Li Huamei has shot down more than 40 planes. Easily swiped his crash count to more than three hundred. If you include the planes that were shot down by her "assistance", her results in Spain could easily break through the triple digits. Before she left Spain temporarily, she was in charge of the southern Spanish front. The British and Italian pilots who helped Franco participate in the war were even beaten to the point of refusing to attack.

At this time, the British government was already considering a plan to withdraw the "volunteers" from the Spanish battlefield. The Spanish Civil War continued and was moving in an increasingly brutal direction. The RAF had planned to retrain Guò for the Spanish Civil War, but who knew that it would meet an old rival here. In the air battle on the southern front where Li Huamei was located, due to the small density of planes on both sides, the number of fighters on both sides was not large in each air battle. Li Huamei, a super ace, was played to the maximum in air combat.

As long as Li Huamei participated in skirmishes, the RAF's combat rhythm was always disrupted by her unreasonable long-range shooting ability. Although the aircraft of the two warring sides were comparable in performance, the rhythm of the air battle was chaotic, and the victory and defeat were quickly turned to one side.

In less than three months of participating in the Spanish Civil War, the Royal Air Force lost more than 200 planes and a similar number of pilots over Spain's southern front. The RAF wanted to "brush" some experience in Spain, but it turned out to be a big-money business. The Spanish Civil War was going on in an increasingly brutal direction, and the British pilots who were captured were basically shot outright, and these became permanent losses.

The British government, which had not yet recovered from the great bloodshed in China's quagmire, could no longer bear similar losses without a general mobilization for war. 1 The Spanish Civil War, which had been unfinished for a long time, and the increasingly brutal war, reminded the British from top to bottom of the nightmare they had when they were bogged down in China a year earlier.

The British government, which has had a psychological shadow, really doesn't want to get involved in another quagmire.

In May 1937, when the Soviet Union and Germany began secret negotiations in Leningrad, Britain also sent a note to Germany asking for negotiations on the situation in Spain. The demands of the British were nothing more than for the Germans to withdraw from Spain and no longer interfere in the Spanish Civil War.

The drastic changes in China from 1935 to 1936 hurt Britain deeply. In addition to all the investments and interests in China being wiped out, the United States, Germany, and the Soviet Union have joined hands to slaughter the knife in the international financial market, China's interests have been completely lost, the intervention war has been defeated, the financial market has been "sheared" again, and the three major blood losses have been lost. What scares the British government even more is that they saw the shadow of the United States in the financial sniping they suffered last year.

The thought that the United States, the Soviet Union, and Germany might join forces to attack its vast colonies in this difficult era of economic crisis, when the British Empire was at its weakest, could not sleep peacefully. Because of a series of successive political, military and even economic mistakes and fiascos on the China issue, British Conservative Prime Minister Stanley. Baldwin had already been forced to step down early in February 1937. The current British Prime Minister is Neville Chamberlain, the architect of the famous "Munich Conspiracy" in history, and he advocated the withdrawal of the British Empire from Spain as soon as he came to power.

At this time, the Germans had also obtained what they wanted here in Spain, and were preparing to gradually withdraw from Spain, and the British demanded that they were in the right hands. The submarine that was destined for the Soviet Union was loaded with 210 tons of gold, and after it was sunk, the Spanish Republican Army had less than 100 tons of gold left. Although the Soviets were also tracking down the whereabouts of the missing submarine afterwards, the Soviets did not suspect Germany because there was not a single German warship in the Mediterranean Sea at the time of the wreck.

Ostensibly, Germany pretended to refuse to withdraw, and Britain and France pressed forward step by step, and Germany proposed to convene a conference of Germany, France, Britain, Italy, and the Soviet Union, and the British agreed to this proposal.

The Germans' proposal was for all foreign powers to withdraw from Spain and let the Spaniards figure it out on their own. This demand was not far from that of the British government, but the Italians, who were low-eyed, objected, the French had no opinion, and the Soviets were still staring at the remaining gold in the hands of the Spaniards, on the pretext that they would never stop supporting Spain until Britain, France and Italy stopped supporting Franco, so the lawsuits of several parties in London still had to be fought.

At the same time, a meeting of the "Big Three" in Leningrad was also being held.

The "Big Three" conference in Leningrad discussed the division of the world between China, the Soviet Union and Germany after the outbreak of the world war a few years later, well, no, it should be the issue of exporting the proletarian revolution to the whole world of China, the Soviet Union and Germany, which was actually a continuation of the Kiel Conference in 1934.

At the Kiel Conference in 1934, the protagonists were the Soviets and Germans, and the "alliance" between the two sides at that time was nothing more than a "false alliance" under mutual mistrust of each other. But by 1937, with the victory of the Chinese Revolution, the tremendous improvement of the external strategic environment of the Soviet Union, and the recent successful meeting between Lin Han and Stalin, trust between the three countries had increased, and the desire to establish a "real alliance" between the three parties had suddenly increased.

Lin Han did not attend the meeting, but Li Huamei and Hannah were both present as interpreters, and by this time he had returned to the German shipyard to speed up the construction of the 40,000-ton battleship. (To be continued......)

PS: This chapter is a transitional plot. The plot progress will be quite fast, I'm not one of those authors who like to desperately fill history and complex historical materials, this book has been written so far, it feels like it's almost the end, it is estimated that in the past, about another 200,000 to 300,000 words will be written, and it will be the end. The plot of World War II, it is currently estimated that in the past, almost ten chapters or even less, will start World War II.

According to my own writing plan, I will finish the book in February, but depending on the situation, it may take another half a month, and it is estimated that the book will be 100% completed in March. When the wind is not tight, I will go to write the "Last Reaper".