In southern Europe, the Allies were extremely annoyed by the Italian wall-to-wall grass, before the start of the war, Italy was originally a member of the Allied Powers, but secretly communicated with the Entente, and after being promised a lot of benefits by the British, they left Germany and wanted to follow the British boss's ass behind, but they did not expect that after the war began, Britain and France were beaten by Germany on the Western Front, and the French were directly destroyed. But it was driven back by France, and then Britain and France and other Entente countries organized troops in North Africa to land in southern Italy with naval fleets escorting, and soon Italy was beaten to the point that there was no resistance to it, and Italy then married the Entente.

After losing 1.7 million troops, Tsarist Russia had no offensive capability, and the Western Front was on the defensive. In order to solve the growing threat from the south, Germany had to send some troops south to join Austria-Hungary against the 600,000 troops of the Entente organization.

"In the southern battlefield of Europe, the Entente has about 55 people, plus 300,000 Italian troops, a total of 850,000, while Germany and Austria-Hungary have a total of one million people, and they have a slight advantage in the strength of the allies, and now the two sides are fighting in the Alps!"

"In addition, according to the intelligence obtained by the European branch of the Iron and Blood Investigation Bureau, Serbia has been defeated, the army has been routed by the armies of Germany, Austria-Hungary, Turkey and Bulgaria, and the Serbian authorities are in exile in North Africa and are moving in the direction of London, and it is estimated that they will organize a government-in-exile in London!"

"In the Atlantic, North Sea, the British Royal Navy fleet and the German High Seas Fleet have fought several small battles. Both sides won and lost each other, and neither suffered much loss. The German navy was still too conservative, probably overwhelmed by the centuries-old majesty of the British Royal Navy fleet. Unable to let go, there was a kind of obstacle in the psychology of the officers and men of the German Navy. According to reliable intelligence, the Germans have begun to deploy large-scale submarine forces on various routes in the Atlantic, and there is intelligence that Germany is likely to launch an 'unrestricted submarine war' in order to curb the blood pumped to Britain from outside," Yang Du reported on the European side.

Someone asked: "What is 'unrestricted submarine warfare'".

Yang Du explained: "This is a tactical term proposed by the German navy, the so-called unrestricted submarine warfare, which refers to all the ships, including merchant ships and passenger ships, that German submarines encounter on the route to British waters. As long as it is not its own or an ally's ship, it can attack without warning, with the aim of blockading Britain. ”

Cai Yi frowned when he heard this, and said, "In this way, isn't Britain very dangerous?" We all know that Britain is a small country and surrounded by the sea, if the route to Britain is blocked, Britain will have no external resources to support it, how can this battle be fought? ”

This is indeed a problem. The British Royal Navy fleet is indeed the most powerful fleet in the world, but in terms of navy they are inferior to the Germans, that is, submarine forces, in the study of submarines. The Germans have far surpassed the British and other countries.

Submarine forces also belong to the naval sequence, but submarine forces and surface ships have different combat spaces, and submarines can attack underwater. And surface ships cannot, until now. As long as the submarine is not exposed to the surface for too long, the surface ship has nothing to do with the submarine. Because depth charges have not yet been invented, the naval fleets of any country in the world are not equipped with depth charges for anti-submarine use, and ships are not equipped with machine guns against submarines.

In terms of economic efficiency, the cost of building a cruiser is much higher than the cost of building a submarine, and the difference in construction costs is more than ten times. That is to say, the funds for the construction of a cruiser can build many submarines, a submarine only needs a few dozen people to operate, and a cruiser needs hundreds of people, and if a submarine launches a torpedo, if it hits the cruiser, there is a great chance that it will cause fatal damage to the cruiser.

Thinking about this comparison situation, the Germans themselves are short of resources, so they chose to build a large-scale submarine force, because they know that it is too difficult for them to surpass Britain in terms of navy, and the arms race actually drags them very badly.

Yang Du said again: "According to the information obtained by the Iron and Blood Investigation Bureau in the inner line of the development of the German headquarters, in addition to the Germans preparing to send submarines to hunt on various routes leading to Britain, they are also preparing to lay a large number of mines on various routes to Britain, and they have a preliminary plan to deploy a total of 100,000 mines, not to mention merchant ships and passenger ships, even if large warships touch mines, it is very dangerous, if merchant ships and passenger ships hit mines, more than seventy percent of the probability will sink!" ”

"Shhh So thought so in the hearts of the people.

Someone worried: "Isn't Britain very dangerous, then?" If Britain had surrendered, the French would have perished a long time ago, and they would definitely have surrendered, and Tsarist Russia would have been so tired that it was about to lie down, so let's fight the Allies alone? This can't be beaten in any case, the German army has more than 3 million on the Eastern Front, 2 million on the Western Front, 600,000 on the Southern Front, although the Austro-Hungarian army is not too much, but there are also 2 million small people, plus Bulgaria, Ottoman Turkey, Japan, I am afraid that there are not 10 million troops in total, my God, we only have 3.5 million now, not to mention the number of troops, the war is not only about the troops, but also the comprehensive national strength, if it weren't for the fact that we now have the Air Force, Just before the war, Japan's national strength was stronger than ours, and Germany and Austria-Hungary combined, how can we fight? ”

As soon as this analysis was said, the faces of the staff members were a little moved, and the atmosphere in the conference room was a little solemn. At this time, someone said: "Lao Liang, what you said is too unfounded, the situation is not necessarily as bad as you think, if the Germans really adopt unrestricted submarine warfare, the British intelligence department is not dry, they will definitely get the news in advance, if they don't know." Can't we sue them? Let them be prepared in advance, and they will surely fail miserably? ”

Tang Shaoyi also smiled: "Yes." Brother Liang, you are too pessimistic! The Germans are prepared to do this, but we can find a way. Can a living person suffocate urine? ”

"Ahem!"

When everyone heard the coughing sound, they turned their heads to see that it was Xiao Zhenlei, and they were silent. Xiao Zhenlei knocked on the table and said: "Actually, I hope that Germany's unrestricted submarine warfare can be successful, at least in the early stage, it will play a certain role in blocking Britain's sea transportation lines!" ”

Everyone was stunned when they heard this, thinking that this should not be, the heavy losses of the British did us no good, how could the president have such thoughts? Could it be that the president naturally hated the British, wishing that the British would be killed by the Germans?

Cai Ye was puzzled: "Why does the president have this idea? Could it be that the President wants to weaken Britain through Germany? But if Britain is defeated. It will inevitably trigger a chain reaction, Britain is the pillar of the Entente, and if this pillar falls, I am afraid that all the Entente countries will surrender, and then only our country will be left alone! ”

Xiao Zhenlei took out a cigarette and lit it, took two puffs beautifully, and said: "It is one thing to weaken Britain and other Entente countries through Germany, and I have been doing this because the British have accumulated for so long in the past few hundred years, and they are too powerful and too rich. With such a powerful country as it exists, our country will never be able to come out on top, and it will no longer be able to be so strong and rich, and it must be weakened. But you can rest assured that the British will not be defeated so easily, and they have the heritage of hundreds of years of world hegemony. It had the most powerful naval fleet, and there were still ways to deal with German unrestricted submarine warfare. They will not let the Germans block their transport lines! ”

"I hope that the unrestricted submarine warfare of the Germans will succeed for another reason. You can think about it, if Germany were to carry out unrestricted submarine warfare, what other country would suffer losses other than Britain? ”

The crowd listened to this question, and soon someone reacted: "America! Yes, it's the United States! If Germany implements unrestricted submarine warfare, the United States will suffer a lot of losses for it! ”

Xiao Zhenlei nodded and said: "Yes, the United States is a big commercial exporter, more than half of its income comes from overseas trade, if the Germans implement unlimited submarine warfare, the United States will inevitably suffer heavy losses, we and the United States are allies, but after we declared war on Japan, the United States adhered to the principle of neutrality, and did not declare war on Japan, but only imposed an embargo on goods and goods against Japan, but if the United States suffered a lot of losses because of the German blockade, would the Americans be willing?" The Americans will inevitably send troops against Germany for their own benefit! Even if the US government does not want to go to war, the American capitalists will urge the US government to declare war on Germany! ”

Everyone suddenly realized, so it is, so it is! I didn't expect that this matter would involve the United States, and if the United States declared war on Germany, then the strength of the Entente would be greatly increased, so it seemed that Germany's unrestricted submarine warfare was a stupid trick.

Seeing that everyone understood, Xiao Zhenlei smiled and said: "Okay, let's talk about this matter here first, and then continue to pay attention to it, let's talk about other things, is there any other news?" ”

At this time, Tang Shaoyi said: "President, the Navy Command has handed over an official letter, saying that Japan has secretly sent people to contact the naval fleet anchored in Tokyo Bay, expressing its hope for secret peace talks with our country!" ”

"Oh?" Xiao Zhenlei was stunned, "Secret peace talks? Can't the Japanese bear it? ”

Tang Shaoyi said: "That's pretty much what it means, now that the Japanese naval fleet is gone, and we bomb it all day long, Tokyo has been bombed into ruins, and it is rumored that Emperor Taisho has hid in the basement!" In this case, it is normal for the Japanese to not be able to bear it! ”

Xiao Zhenlei shook his head when he heard this: "No, no, no, the Japanese are not so easy to succumb, think about it, if it were you, you would have been the king and hegemon in Asia for nearly half a century, and now you will succumb after suffering such a little setback?" As long as it is a normal person, it will not accept it, although the Japanese navy is gone, but the army has not suffered any losses, not only that, Japan has also seized a lot of land in the Far East and Siberia, will the Japanese be willing to lose? ”

Tang Shaoyi's face was a little solemn when she heard this, and she asked: "What does the president mean is that the Japanese are asking for peace or not, and is it true that they are delaying time?" ”

Xiao Zhenlei nodded and said: "I don't think this possibility can be ruled out, if they really have this kind of thought, then what is their purpose?" ”

"To find a way to deal with our bomber swarm, of course! If there is a way to deal with our bomber group, the Japanese are afraid that there will be no more peace talks! ”

The staff members all nodded when they heard this, and many of these people here had gone to Japan to study, and a few of them had studied in the United States, so they still had a deep understanding of Japan's character.

Tang Shaoyi asked: "What does the president mean?" To talk or not to talk? ”

Xiao Zhenlei thought for a while and smiled: "Talk, you can talk, it's okay to talk, but during the negotiation, our offensive will not stop!" ”

Some aides were worried: "But if the news of our secret negotiations with Japan is learned by Britain, France, and other countries, will the Entente be suspicious of our country?" ”

Xiao Zhenlei waved his hand and said: "It's okay, if we are worried about Britain and France knowing, then Japan must also be worried about being known by Germany, both sides will keep it secret in this regard, besides, even if it is known by Britain and France, it doesn't matter, if we can force Japan to surrender, Britain and France and other countries are still desperate, after all, after the Allies have less Japan, the overall strength will also decline, and Tsarist Russia will not have to be attacked from both sides!" ”

The staff nodded in agreement, and Tang Shaoyi said again: "Then how to talk about it?" What's the bottom line? ”

Xiao Zhenlei thought for a while, looked at the staff and asked, "What do you think you want to talk about?" Did we send someone over to talk about it? Or let the Japanese send someone over? ”

Yang Shiqi clenched his fists and arched his hand: "President, I think it is better to let them send someone over to talk, on the one hand, it can be monitored nearby, if the Japanese negotiator contacts the Japanese mainland, we can listen and decipher, if we can grasp the thoughts of the Japanese at any time." On the other hand, the negotiation venue is located in our country, our negotiators have the psychological advantage of the home field, and they will be calm and unhurried during the negotiation. ”

Xiao Zhenlei weighed it in his heart, and immediately said: "Okay, let the navy notify the Japanese side, let them send someone over, and the navy will send a ship to send it over!" On our side, we will inform the foreign education department of the Cabinet and ask them to send competent personnel to take charge of the negotiations, and in addition, we must choose the place for the negotiations and block the news."

"Understood!" (To be continued......)