"We have given South Tyrol and Trento to the vile Italians, and we have given Albania and most of Greece to the Italians. Isn't that enough? See what the Italians are doing, what are they writing? In the battle with the French, they were defeated again and again, and they did nothing but consume food and supplies, and in the fighting in North Africa, without the help of our country, your country, and the Turks, how could they have resisted the attacks of the French and the British? Even if the Entente army here is only 2 rate! Their only role is that of an elite navy, and we are not paying them enough to pay the Italian fleet under Tycho? King Fritz complained in the presence of the German ambassador to Austria. He was very unhappy with Wilhelm II's hesitation!

"Don't forget that the Austro-Hungarian Navy paid a greater price for this war than the Italian Navy, we lost 4 super dreadnoughts, while the Italians only lost 1 super dreadnought and 3 dreadnoughts, and when it comes to courage and sacrifice, we are more powerful than the Italians! At the beginning, your country asked our navy to obey the command of Count Spee and the Italians, and we agreed, and during the battle, the Italian navy suffered huge losses due to its many malicious actions, and we endured it for the sake of the general situation. Until now, it is absolutely impossible to accept that let's continue to wave the flag for the interests of the Italians! King Fritz paused and continued: "Our country and your country are both Germanic peoples, and what are the Italians?" We will always be the staunchest allies, and the Italians are wavering. I think your country should be well aware of that. ”

The Emperor's opinions and grievances were conveyed to the Kaiser by the German envoy without omission. And Wilhelm II was also hesitating about this matter, "When the Three Emperors Alliance was about to collapse, we chose Austria-Hungary as a partner. Pushed my cousin to a dead end. We won the war. And now we are faced with a similar choice, the same alliance of the Three Emperors, and there are some contradictions between Austria and Italy. Where do we go from here? Wilhelm II was lost in thought, Tirpitz's words still echoing in his ears. This old minister who has been with him for many years is indeed a little weak, but the affection between the monarch and the minister still makes him have to attach great importance to the words of this old minister, and on the other side, it is the request of the king of a country. The latter stands for Austria-Hungary. On behalf of this country!

"It's a tough thing to do." Wilhelm II couldn't help touching his forehead and said. The collapse of the Three Emperors Alliance was a certain inevitability, not only in the contradictions between Austria-Hungary and Russia in the Balkans, but also in the irreconcilable contradictions between the German Empire and Russia. If Russia's plan to expand eastward fails, it will inevitably be found from the west, and France, as Russia's traditional ally, is a sworn enemy of Germany, making it difficult for Russia not to think otherwise. What's more, after Britain and France joined forces to control Russia's economic lifeline. It was only a matter of time before Russia completely fell to the Entente. But it seems that this is not the case in Italy.

Compared with Russia's ambitions, Italy can be regarded as holding on to themselves, they just want to get some benefits from around the Mediterranean, the weak army and the relatively strong navy are in line with their policy, the northern part of Italy is mostly mountainous, even if the foreign enemy wants to attack it is very difficult, and Italy is too long from north to south and narrow from east to west, which is very suitable for defense. A country with little ambition and not too much strength is quite suitable to be an ally of Germany. However, the Kingdom of Italy and Austria-Hungary did not deal with each other. Even since the founding of Italy, the two sides have not dealt with each other! By the way, there is another point, it seems that relations between Italy and Turkey are not good, and Libya was taken away by Italy from the Turks.

If Austria-Hungary is undoubtedly Germany's staunchest ally, it seems that Germany should consider the feelings of this little brother, if it were not for Italy's geographical location and navy, Wilhelm II would have supported Austria-Hungary's opinion a long time ago. Therefore, Germany has always been procrastinating in its response to Italy's requests, and this result naturally gave the Italians a hint of conspiracy.

"The war is over, the usefulness of Italy is gone, Germany and Austria-Hungary are all the way, they have received a lot of benefits from Russia, and even Turkey has received the Crimea and Transcaucasia! And we just want to get that barren land and a few islands in Africa, and the Germans deal with us like this? This is too much! Without Italy, the Allies would certainly not have been able to gain sea supremacy in the Mediterranean, let alone control all of West Africa, these ungrateful fellows! "Italy are not fools, and they have realized the change in attitude of Germany and Austria after their requests have been rejected several times. And when all kinds of information were gathered, in a high-level meeting in Italy, Italian Prime Minister Orlando said angrily. But anger is anger, and the Kingdom of Italy does not seem to have a good way to counter such betrayal.

Germany got what he wanted, not only on land, but also at sea, the German navy can now leave the North Sea, and then enter the Mediterranean, anchored in the ports of Spain, Austria-Hungary or the Turks, the once incomparably powerful British Grand Fleet no longer exists, the French navy is even more in name only, to this point, the Germans can completely deploy part of their forces overseas, and in this case, it seems that the Italian navy is not only not so necessary, Maybe it's more of an unstable factor in the eyes of the Germans, right? Austria-Hungary and Turkey will never betray Germany, and Spain should also be careful of the liquidation of Britain and France, it seems that only Italy has more options, right? The Italians are not stupid, they also feel to some extent what the Germans are thinking now, not only because Austria-Hungary is in the way, but more importantly, Italy is no longer of much value, but has become an unstable factor!

At this time, Italy was a little depressed, and the calculations of the allies made the happy Italy unable to obtain the expected benefits, and it was not for today that it was fighting desperately for a long time? Those who travel a hundred miles are half ninety, and the last step is to plant a follow-up, do you complain or not? And at this time, the Italians seemed to remember one thing, that is, Vittorio Cuniberti, who was in charge of naval equipment, seemed to have a good relationship with Xu Jie, and there was no way in officialdom, so could it be useful to take a personal relationship? Although even the Italians do not think that this method has much chance of success, at this moment, the Italian government, which is desperately ill and rushed to the hospital, obviously does not care so much.

Unexpectedly, when the Italians handed over Vittorio Cuniberti's personal letter to the relevant personnel in Huaxia, Xu Jie's reply arrived, and Xu Jie did not say how to help, that is, let the Italians sabotage the talks as much as possible, and it was better to adjourn the meeting. In order to buy time to think of a solution. The Italians were overjoyed to see the reply, and Huaxia had already revealed in the letter the idea of being willing to help, which made the Italians feel a little overwhelmed. Just like the purchase of the Longxiang battleship from Huaxia back then, the Italian top brass almost thought that they were dreaming, and after pinching a few times and feeling the pain, the Italians immediately began to arrange, although Italy's status could not be compared with Britain, France, the United States and Germany, but if it was to make trouble, it would be difficult for this meeting to continue, after all, the North African situation under discussion could not be separated from Italy, and Germany could not directly kick Italy away and negotiate with the Entente. Italy is also a great power after all!

"Wouldn't it be nice for us to get involved?" At the same time, at the high-level meeting within Huaxia, Zhang Peilun felt very incomprehensible about Xu Jie's support for Italy's intervention in the internal affairs of the allies. What about the spoils, and you can't take advantage of it, and you risk offending Germany to help Italy? Is this necessary? It can't be a matter of will, right? Xu Jie's answer is very simple: "It's really bad for us to get involved in this matter, but it's definitely even worse if Germany is allowed to completely control the Mediterranean!" The Mediterranean is in our best interests only in the hands of France and Italy, and if Germany has the Mediterranean Sea and joins forces with Turkey, the next direction of expansion will be Iran and India, and then what? Xu Jie finally replied with a rhetorical question.

"Wouldn't it? India was one of the most important colonies of the British, and India was too far away from Germany. Zhang Peilun was stunned for a moment, and asked in disbelief?

"Far away? Through the Austro-Hungarian Empire and Germany's railway, Germany could easily transport troops and supplies to the Mediterranean coast, and through the Guò Eastern Railway, Germany could even let the army take a train to the border area of Iran, and the convoy by sea only had to pass through the Red Sea to the Indian Ocean, plus the base in the Persian Gulf, they could easily enter the Arabian Sea! United Kingdom? The current empire on which the sun never sets no longer exists, it is just a sunset empire, Germany can now make a draw, and in more than ten years, why should Britain confront Germany? What's more, India is so far away from the British mainland that now the British want to go around all of Africa! Xu Jie replied sternly that the bottom line of China's tolerance for Germany is not to meddle in South Asian affairs, so in order to avoid conflict between the two sides, Xu Jie believes that it is still necessary to bury a nail in the Mediterranean!

The rest of Xu Jie didn't say to Zhang Peilun, that is, if Italy stands in several key positions in the Mediterranean and does not tend to Germany in the next battle, then in order to prevent trouble, Germany must leave a hand to Italy, which has a certain sea and air power, at least part of the other party's strength will be involved, and if the Italians are a little more active, close to Britain and France, I am afraid that Germany will not have the idea and ability to move eastward, right? Thinking of this, Xu Jie couldn't help sneering and saying that from Huaxia's point of view, the strength of the two sides is close, and it is in the best interests of the two sides to limit the conflict to a certain range, and it is worth it to help Italy.

Thanks to the book friend zhouyu1976, hukaikaka for the reward~~~, and the book friend world demon wolf, happy idiot monthly pass support ~~~. (To be continued......)