Glancing back at Accardo, Colonel Smith took two steps back, came to Accardo, and sighed: "This time the Wehrmacht has really gone too far, the British intelligence services have always been able to find clues that you are developing the armed forces in violation of your own permission, and this time France seems to have found more, and your development has made our two countries very uneasy." ”

"And what do you think personally?" asked Accardo, staring at Colonel Smith, "Do you also think that the German army is a threat, even though it has been completely destroyed by the Treaty of Versailles? Do you think that the Wehrmacht is fully capable of the two-front defense of Germany? ”

"That's why we've been turning a blind eye to the Wehrmacht's private petty actions, do you really think you're hiding it from everyone?" Smith shrugged his shoulders and made a nonchalant gesture: "You must know that our national intelligence officers and French intelligence personnel know that you have one, and this plan is to secretly expand the size of the Wehrmacht so that it can deal with the threat of the French * team and the Polish army. And the size of the Wehrmacht is almost no less than 200,000, but we still don't see anything to do. ”

"We're just trying to protect ourselves! isn't that too much?" said Accardo angrily. It is very difficult for a country to seek dignity in any world, and if the war is won, then there will be dignity, and if the war is lost, both Germany and China will end in the same way, and it will be humiliation.

"Very excessive. Smith took over the conversation proudly: "You must know that you are a defeated country, your life and death are in our hands, and you can only protect yourself when we allow you to protect yourself!"

Accardo was silent, this is the power of a victorious country, and this is the arrogance and domineering that a victorious country should have. The humiliation of being a human being twice, both on the weaker side, was unforgettable, and this time Accardo was able to appreciate the feelings of the notorious Manchu officials when they signed the various contracts—but if they still had a little pride, it would be painful.

However, he was not allowed to flinch or stand there sentimentally, so he raised his head again, continued to stare at Colonel Smith, and asked word by word: "You say that the word 'we' encompasses many countries, such as France! Is the British Empire and France always one?"

"Of course, we always stand with strong allies. Oh, it may not be quite accurate to say that, so to speak—we always stand with justice and truth!" said Colonel Smith, holding out an index finger and wagging it.

"I hope you would say the same when France could dominate all of Europe, recreate the glory of Emperor Napoleon, and threaten British supremacy in the world. Accardo said as he turned back and walked down the steps: "Germany was defeated by the French this time, but it lost one Accardo Rudolph, but after the French dominated the continent, it was His Majesty George V who fell." ”

"Wait!" Smith held out his hand and said loudly, "Please wait." ”

Accardo stopped, a smile on his lips.

......

In the Netherlands, at the Royal Palace, there was a knock on the door of the office of Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands, and then several royal ministers and parliamentary officials walked in.

"Her Majesty, this time the condemnation made by the French has been studied and decided to ignore it. A parliamentary official stepped forward and said: "This is a decision made to safeguard the fundamental rights and interests of the people of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, and I hope you will support it." ”

"I've said a long time ago that the French are a bunch of people who don't know how to be satisfied. Queen Wilhelmina put down the pen in her hand, looked at her subjects, and said slowly: "They once asked me to hand over His Majesty Kaiser Wilhelm, but I refused. ”

She stood up, walked in front of her subordinates, and said firmly: "Then now they ask me to hand over the technology and assets owned by our people, and I will definitely refuse. Long live the Kingdom of the Netherlands. ”

"Long live the Kingdom of the Netherlands." All the ministers and officials bowed their heads and said respectfully.

A few hours later, the Dutch government issued a brief statement: "The great Kingdom of the Netherlands has decided not to interfere with the technical cooperation of any of its own companies or individuals with German enterprises, nor with the establishment of joint ventures between any company or individual with Germany for the service of the Dutch." The French Government will completely ignore the unreasonable demands made by the Kingdom of the Netherlands, which is disappointed and deplores the arrogance and self-righteousness of the French Government. ”

Krupp's ploy succeeded, and when he first founded the IVS company in The Hague (also known as the shipbuilding engineering office), he sold 49% of the shares of the company to Dutch businessmen, including the big Dutch capitalists including Clark, and now the French came to destroy the company and rob it of its technology and workers, and of course they were hated by these Dutch businessmen who had already made a lot of money.

The Dutch merchant consortium did not disappoint the Germans, and they did not wait for news from Germany to launch a frenzied counterattack against the French alone, first condemning France for its arrogance and hegemony in international public opinion, followed by a series of economic threats, which made the French government, which thought it was well prepared and was already planning how to divide the fruits of victory, disgraced for a while.

......

And at this moment in Berlin, Germany, in front of the British Embassy, Accardo and Smith were still standing on the steps one by one, Accardo stopped leaving, looked back at Smith who reached out on the steps, and the two stared at each other.

"You are right, General Accardo Rudolph, a continent dominated by France is not in the interests of the British Empire, and I am persuaded by you. Smith finally broke the silence, nodded and said, "I will send a telegram back to the UK to ask about the handling of this incident." ”

"Without further ado, I think I know the answer now, so that I can deal with the French, who want to dominate Europe. Accardo said, "Don't you mind if I go in and sit down?"

"Of course! At least you're still my Smith's honored guest, please come with me! I've got a very tasty coffee for you. Smith made a gesture of please.

Half an hour later, while Accardo was still in the room, drinking Colonel Smith's hand-ground and boiled coffee, Smith was called out of the meeting room by his secretary to take a top-secret telegram from the British mainland—not an untranslated original code, but a fluent English sentence.

Smith opened the telegram folder, and the text read: "Colonel Smith, the British Empire is unwilling to face a France that has lost its shackles, and even less to see a powerful France dominate the European continent, and it is in the fundamental interests of the British Empire to have a Germany with a certain strength, and the attitude of the Dutch government has been clear, the French should not succeed, and we are always on the side of the victors, so this time the Empire has decided to support the side of Germany." God forbid, long live the British Empire as well as His Majesty George V. ”

Closing the above, Smith handed the text folder to his female secretary: "Destroy it immediately!

Seeing the female secretary nodding and walking away in the corridor, he changed his smile and pushed the door of the reception room again, and said to Accardo, who was drinking coffee on the opposite side, in a very kind and friendly voice: "Do you want another drink? It's a very nice day today, isn't it?"

Accardo put down his coffee cup, nodded and said, "It looks like you didn't get the order to shoot me." Right?"

Smith nodded, and said with a smile: "The French will not have the support of the British Empire this time! They do not have enough evidence at hand, at least that's what the intelligence we got from the British side shows." So this time your Wehrmacht is in danger...... Now, then, it is the turn of the Germans to be friendly to us, General Accardo Rudolph, and what benefit does Germany intend to give Britain this time?"

"The German Navy originally planned to build five ironclads, but now three are under construction, and we will cancel the construction of the other two, 'Prussia' and 'Admiral Ludwig', to prove that we have no intention of challenging the British Empire's sea power in the Atlantic. Accardo took out the text from Sindra and handed it to Smith: "In three years, Germany will not launch naval ships above the heavy cruiser, how about this mention?"

"Your generosity is beyond my expectations!, General Accardo, I really hope that you will remain in power in Germany, so that the British Empire and Germany will be very friendly partners. Smith obviously didn't expect Accardo to come up with such tempting conditions at once, and immediately said with a smile.

Of course, this was not all the quid pro quo, and the condition was that the maximum gun caliber of the German destroyers would not be greater than 88 mm - so that the German Navy would become a regional power, not an ocean-going decisive force. Accardo added with a smile: "So Germany is no longer a challenger to British sea power, but a supporter of relying on British sea power to protect its own rights and interests." ”

"I like the word "supporter!" Since the Wehrmacht has prepared such an attractive bargaining chip, let me tell you about your conditions. Smith's eyes lit up as he looked at Accardo and said. He couldn't help but be excited about this condition, because if the German navy succumbed, then Britain would be able to spare more strength to deal with the Japanese navy rising in the Far East and the American navy on the other side of the ocean.