The night was deep, the wind was blowing, and the first snow of the winter of 1937 was already falling over Berlin.

In the magnificent main hall of the palace, German Prime Minister Ekmann is reporting the current situation to the tall figure of the head in a respectful tone. As the chief cabinet minister accountable only to the emperor, the German chancellor was in charge of all aspects of the normal functioning of an empire, including the military, such as diplomacy, economy, colonial and foreign trade, justice, transportation, agriculture and food. In addition to the traditional army officer corps, headed by the Chief of the General Staff, which has always been self-contained, the navy and air forces have their own state secretaries under the control of the prime minister; At present, during the war against the United States, Eckman has a lot to report to Qingying.

"Your Majesty, the Ambassador of Portugal conveyed to us the peaceful will of the United States Government. They want to stop this so-called senseless war and let peace return to the Atlantic and the Caribbean. As a sign of their peace intentions, the Americans are willing to surrender Dominica to the Imperial Empire for safekeeping and to pay us an indemnity sufficient to cover the war losses. Ekman spoke softly, with a hint of joy in his words, "The Japanese attack in the Pacific has set the United States on fire, and they can no longer withstand the tremendous pressure from the two oceans. ”

Qingying raised her eyebrows slightly, as if she was completely surprised by the appearance of this news; He looked at the assistant in front of him with some surprise, but the latter gave him an absolutely positive look. The war has continued to this day, and the attitude of the German decision-makers towards the United States has long been on the verge of becoming clear: if they want peace, they will shake hands with the United States when Britain and France collapsed five months ago. It was precisely in order to strangle this enemy with great potential in the cradle of growth that Qing Ying withstood the great difficulties brought about by transoceanic operations. It also drove the German war plane to continue to operate for nearly half a year. And yet now. The U.S. government has even handed itself another olive branch. With Roosevelt's shrewdness and ability, don't you understand that the war between Germany and the United States, two super-powers, will not end until a complete conclusion is made?

"Your Majesty, it is highly likely that the U.S. government is doing this to divide the alliance between the Allies so that they can avoid confrontation with several of Germany's satellite allies." Ekman paused, and explained his considerations to the monarch in front of him, "At present, Germany has formed an alliance with Austria, Italy, and Japan. But there was no complete common interest to be relied upon in the war against the United States: with the exception of Japan, which was in direct conflict with the United States, neither Vienna nor Rome had any historical hatred for the United States. The reason why they are still fighting alongside us in the Caribbean is largely due to the treaty of the Defense Alliance, and their subjects have no intention of crossing thousands of kilometers of the Atlantic to fight the Americans to the death! When the Americans' peace statement reached Austria-Hungary and Italy, they accepted it almost immediately. Even if these two countries do not make peace with the United States alone because of Germany's might, their decisions will inevitably be contrary to our will. The most immediate consequence of this was the cessation of firm support for the German war in the Americas, or even the repatriation of combat units from the front. However, we, who are fighting across the oceans, need the rotation of the forces of these two countries. ”

Qingying didn't speak, and she already thought deeply of Ekman's words in her heart.

In Germany, enthusiasm for carrying out the war with the United States to the end is extremely high. This is not only due to the far-reaching considerations of the German high-level to prevent the gradual deterioration. There was also a fertile ground for the war to be supported by the various classes: most of the members of the Imperial Diet were Junker aristocrats and capital magnates, and the government's massive war expenditures allowed them to make a lot of money in the frenzy of production. In their own self-interest, they were no less enthusiastic about the war than any far-sighted decision-maker. The Liberal Party and the Social Democrats, who played an important role in Congress, opposed the endless operation of the Prussian war machine, but they hated the United States even more bitterly for its gross interference in the internal affairs of Europe and the first to issue war ultimatums to Germany. They all hoped that Germany would use the "fist wrapped in iron armor" to teach the Saxon cowboys who thought they were the world's gendarmes a hard lesson. As for the common people, they had long been greatly encouraged by the unprecedented victories they had previously won against England and France; Under the propaganda of the German government, the United States has replaced the role of Britain as the most evil person behind the war in Europe. In the face of this filthy and despicable evil force, the German people, who have been deeply impregnated in the blood by the key words "honor", "collective", "reich" and so on, have only one thought left, that is, to exterminate it with all their might!

In Austria-Hungary and Italy, however, the situation is very different from that in Germany. They have no such war motives as Germany, and will try to get out of it whenever they have a chance for peace. Although the two allies were less than half the strength of Germany, they had in their hands a fleet of considerable size that had been accumulated since the treaty era; However, due to the insufficient projection power of the transoceanic operations, the German Navy had every need to bring the Austrian and Italian fleets under its command -- after all, the German fleet could not keep its main forces in South America for a long time, and it would occupy a considerable number of active forces on the way back to port for maintenance and on the way back and forth.

"We should hold a meeting with the heads of government of Austria-Hungary and Italy to reaffirm the obligations that abound between the Central Powers. France and England were defeated by Germany, and there was no reason why they could sit back and enjoy the fruits of their victory without doing their part for Germany's war in the Americas! Qingying spoke slowly, his words full of coldness, "We should make a corresponding list of wars, so that they must send no less than this number of troops and supplies to the American battlefield every month, otherwise Germany will regard it as a betrayal of the alliance and have the right to take any action." It is believed that both Vienna and Rome will make the wisest choice. ”

Ekman was slightly shocked, and then said yes. With the defeat of Britain and France, the only force on the European continent to contain Germany also disappeared; The undulating Irga River in the east and the vast expanse of Europe stretching west to Gibraltar can only be honored at the moment by the only will of Berlin. In this case, Germany no longer needs to allow its satellite states to have separate calculations, as it did in the past. Whether they want it or not, Austria and Italy can only be coerced by Germany into this final war; You must know that due to geographical distance, the vast majority of Germany's appalling army is still stationed on its own soil, and there is no country that can not tremble in front of them!

"What about our armaments production, and how far has Germany's wartime economy been?" After a moment of silence, Qingying asked again. The question of Austria-Hungary and Italy just now reminded him of this dimension which is crucial to the present war; In order to wage an all-out struggle against the United States, all kinds of materials like a sea are absolutely indispensable. Although the current United States is far less terrifying than it was seven years from now, due to the severe weakening of the economic crisis and the early outbreak of war, the huge and efficient production is undoubtedly the key to victory if it is to be completely defeated.

Hearing Qingying's words, Ekman showed a hint of joy on his face and said, "Your Majesty, I am also preparing to report to you on our amazing success in production. In the past three months, the Empire's coefficient of production of consumer goods has fallen from 96 in the first three months of the war, while the coefficient of production of military industry has surged from 133 to 206; The reason for such a large-scale increase was that we played a decisive role in the reception and utilization of British and French industries, as well as in the overall integration of the production process by Speer, Deputy Minister of Armaments! From August to November, we had 562 merchant ships in service, with a total tonnage of more than 3.2 million tons, a rate of construction that would allow Germany to continue to throw its forces into the American theater. In addition, shipyards delivered three Hindenburg-class heavy aircraft carriers, six air defense cruisers, 21 armored destroyers, and 17 submarines to the Navy during this period. Aircraft manufacturing was a top priority, with nearly 14,000 aircraft coming off the production line within three months, of which more than 7,000 were twin- or four-engine bombers. The next step is to shift our operations in the Caribbean to an all-out island-taking attack, and that's when the bombers are putting their might into play. ”

"Speer......" Qingying muttered the name, thoughts rushing in her heart. As the second most powerful German man in another time and space, second only to the mustache, the architect Speer, who was not yet 40 years old, made a shocking achievement in the field of arms production that he had never been involved in before: in 1944, when the Allied bombing of Germany was at its peak, Germany's arms production reached an unprecedented peak. The large amount of ammunition supplies enabled the Germans, who had suffered heavy setbacks on all fronts, to still have the strength to resist the enemy's attacks and inflict heavy casualties on the enemy. In a way, Speer played more of a role in the latter stages of the war than any other German general, and without his control, Germany would have collapsed by the summer of 1944 at best!

Ekman nodded, his words full of undisguised praise: "Your Majesty, this young man has played an irreplaceable role in our efforts to improve production efficiency in the process of increasing production. Even at a time when resources and manpower are tilted towards the navy and air force, we still built 1,500 IV tanks and 300 Tiger tanks in three months. He could have been better suited to the post of Minister of Production than Toth. (To be continued......)

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