In order to maintain the absolute superiority of the Italian fleet in the Mediterranean, Mussolini spent the greatest amount of money he could find: he brought a full 30,000 Italian assault medals to be awarded to all the German paratroopers and pilots who participated in the airborne operation, and even brought a large sum of money to comfort the families of the German paratroopers who died in battle. In short, the Italian approach was that as long as they were not allowed to fight, everything else was negotiable.

When he met Accardo, Mussolini showed his greatest sincerity, and even bowed to the German paratroopers martyrs' cemetery in front of the cameras of many media. It also covers the full bereavement of the disabled and the war-dead - twice the standard under normal circumstances.

"My Führer, 400,000! 400,000 Italian volunteers, joined the German army to fight for the Third Reich! It was completely placed under German command, and we sent another 300,000 men, trained by the Wehrmacht, to fight with the German army. Mussolini said to Accardo almost pleadingly: "Italy's preparations for war have never been completed, and it is obviously unrealistic to send out 2 million troops now, and it is already all we have to find a way to come up with 700,000 troops." ”

Mussolini was indeed telling the truth, after all, part of Italy's troops are still in North Africa, and it is already quite a sincere move to transfer 700,000 troops to Germany on the Eastern Front.

Germany does not have excessive requirements for the Mediterranean, but Germany has signed the "Balkan Fast Track Agreement" with Turkey and Italy, which stipulates that Germany can build and use a railway-road complex transportation line from Germany to Athens, and can also develop its own or cooperate in the development of oil and gas pipelines on this line in the future.

This ensured that Germany had a convenient transport route to the Mediterranean, along with enough of it to control Crete, a vital unsinkable aircraft carrier in the Mediterranean. And once the Suez Canal is controlled, Germany can also continue to transport oil from the Middle East to Germany itself. What no one knows is that Germany actually has a hole card for the North Sea oil and gas field reserves that no one knows, and if the supply of Romanian oil fields is added, it is enough for Germany's future oil and gas resources to meet its own oil and gas consumption.

Mussonili put on a posture of wanting to kill or kill, but Accardo had no reason to fall into the trap again, and he even gave up the idea of holding the Italian admiral accountable because Mussolini took the initiative to pay a sky-high price for the compensation of the fallen paratroopers.

Of course, Accardo made a request for Egypt's Alexandria port and the Suez Canal, and Mussolini nodded and agreed, only slightly using this heavy bargaining chip to arbitrage a certain amount of Middle East oil share, this exchange was even a bit groveling, making Accardo feel that the Italians really realized their mistake this time.

Seeing off Mussolini, who had returned home, Accardo stood on the Berlin platform with his hands behind his back, feeling that the meeting was somewhat unexpected to him, and he said that he could not say that something was wrong, but he had an intuition that something was wrong. So he stood there in a short daze, hoping to recall the flaws in the whole meeting.

Augustus stood beside him, with an old god on his face, and finally he decided not to let Accardo worry about such a trivial matter, and opened his mouth to reveal the heavenly opportunity: "The Italians are upside down, and it is not surprising that they admit defeat so simply this time, but they did not show the slightest unwillingness, and this matter is worthy of our attention." ”

"You mean that the Italians have a superior point of guidance?" Accardo frowned, not remembering any commendable Italian strategists during World War II. This nation is just habitually tilted on both sides by virtue of the direction of the wind, and as for the strategic vision, there seems to be nothing special about it.

"If there were a master by Mussolini's side, then the Italians would not have hastily sent troops to France, and they would not have defeated Ethiopia in a daze, and now there is such a bunch of. Augustus shook his head and said, "It's very simple, if the Americans are not behind the scenes, then it will be hell." ”

"The Americans, you mean, the Americans are in contact with Italy?" The intelligence services deployed in Accardo in Italy have reported on this, and there is no official turn between the United States and Germany -- or between the United States and the Axis powers, so the US embassy in Italy is still quite active, at least they meet frequently with the Italian high-level and seem to have signed some small contracts such as inconspicuous economic agreements.

"Several recent espionage cases uncovered by Gascol, including fringe espionage cases such as the bribery of small capitalists, have some American shadows behind them. With one hand behind his back and the other on crutches, Augustus walked first to the stairs by the platform, and Accardo followed suit, walking beside the old man.

"The Axis bloc accounts for almost half of the world's industrial base, and it has the breadbasket of Ukraine and Poland, and most of the ore and industrial raw materials are under control...... If it is integrated, it can even be said to be invincible. Augustus said as he walked: "If it were me, the huge alliance that could not be defeated by external forces, the best way would of course be to divide and disintegrate internally. ”

"Isn't that a bit funny? Although Italy is in the heart of Germany, the Mediterranean Sea is in my hands, and as long as Gibraltar and the Suez Canal are still under our control, even if Italy rebels, how much of a wave can it make?" Accardo felt that he would not draw up such a plan, at least on the surface, such a doomed rebellion was meaningless.

"It's not for Italy to really beat us. Augustus, of course, did not think that Italy alone could create any uncontrollable crisis in front of Germany. However, he continued: "Shaking the alliance system of the Axis countries is already a good business with little investment and quick results, after all, the Americans have just opened a bunch of conditions, just like Australia has changed its flag, and it is actually enough for us to be disgusted." ”

He walked to the top of the stairs and stopped, then turned to look at Accardo: "My Führer, my concern is not that Italy is making trouble now, but that if the war situation reaches a stalemate, it will come out and ruin our good deeds. Although there are not enough successes, there are more failures. ”

Accardo nodded, agreeing with Augustus's idea, he thought about it carefully, and then said: "Two plans, either do it now, and directly do it once and for all...... Either stay with Hult and wait for them to make the first move, and we'll make a name for it. ”

"Keep an eye on the hostile forces operating in Italy, and then draw up a workable contingency plan, using the second plan. Augustus also thought deeply, and finally chose the second option: "Now that we take the initiative, there is no evidence to say, and in the end it will seriously affect the trust within the Axis countries, after all, it is not a good thing to make many allies feel that we are too strong." ”

After Augustus finished speaking, he and Accardo walked down the stairs and into the underground passage, where the lights became slightly dimmed, Accardo waved his hand, signaling the guards and retinue that followed not to follow, some of them guarded the entrance, and the other part immediately turned around and ran to the passage on the other side.

In the passage, Augustus seemed to suddenly remember something, and said to Accardo: "I almost forgot that earlier today, the official protest sent by the United States asked us not to try to approach the Middle East region again, and privately revealed to our diplomats that they were willing to give up a part of the oil share, hoping that we would maintain the actual control line between the two sides in Egypt now." ”

Accardo laughed out loud when he heard this, and then said with a smile: "The Americans are really getting more and more funny, when they can fight, they say that they will fight, and when they can't fight, they think that if they give us a little money, they can end the war if they want to." Are we beggars begging for food in the Third Reich?"

"And us?" August's eyes lit up, knowing that Accardo might be going to make a bigger move this time.

"Continue to play stupid!" Accardo didn't think much about it, and gave a long-standing solution: "Since they don't mention why the Americans' forces in the Middle East appear in Egypt, we will continue to fight on the other side of the Suez Canal! They will either pinch their noses and admit this dumb loss, or they will flip the table and have a real war with us!"

As the two men spoke, they walked out of the underground passage, and at the exit, there were already standing SS soldiers maintaining order and safety, as well as military generals and foreign journalists who were not royal media such as the Großdeutsche Zeitung, who had been waiting for a long time, pressing the shutter on the most powerful men in the Third Reich.

"What do you think of the outcome of this meeting with the Italian leader, Mr. Mussolini, and is it satisfactory?" "Yuan Xiansheng, do you think military cooperation in North Africa will extend to the vicinity of the Suez Canal?"

"I had a very pleasant meeting with Mr. Leader, and we have cooperated and consulted on many issues, the details of which are not convenient to disclose, but the friendship between the two countries is immutable. Accardo smiled at the reporters' flashing lights and spoke in a meaty official tone.

Now that the dirty performance has begun, let's take the stage together! Accardo waved to the camera and thought: When the curtain falls, it will be up to you to see who is the clown and who is the protagonist!