"Did he really say that?" Mussolini was frightened or angry when he received Accardo's request from the envoy, his clenched fists trembled slightly, and he looked like an elderly Parkinson's patient.

In fact, the Italian Navy is superior to the Army in terms of will to fight and combat readiness. The main reason why dozens of warships anchored in the harbor was not entirely due to the cowardice of the admirals, but the fact that they faithfully carried out the order of the leader Mussolini not to fight a decisive battle with the British Navy's Mediterranean Fleet outside Alexandria.

In Mussolini's view, the British Navy's Mediterranean Fleet was indeed unable to defeat the main Italian fleet, but after meeting with several admirals of the Navy, he strengthened his thoughts, and he and these admirals believed that even if the British Navy was finally surrounded and annihilated by the Italian Navy, the Italian Navy would lose two to three percent in the end.

Theoretically, the annihilation of the British Mediterranean Fleet would leave the Italian Navy without an opponent in the entire Mediterranean, and even if it was to eat the opponent with losses, it would not be an unacceptable thing for the Italian Navy that wanted to control the Mediterranean, but Mussolini was born in politics, and he was not thinking about a complete military balance of power.

Politicians tend to see more and more comprehensive things, sometimes good things, sometimes outright tragedy. In Mussolini's eyes, after the total annihilation of the British Mediterranean Fleet, there was not only an Italian navy on the entire "Italian inner lake", but also the French naval fleet, which was relatively weak but could not be ignored, and the future Mediterranean naval detachment that Mussolini was even more worried about.

Therefore, he felt that he should think of something to do to preserve the size and strength of the Italian navy. He felt that in the future of the Mediterranean, the Italian navy should maintain a small area of absolute strength, and in order to ensure this power, he decided to break his promise.

Anyone with a discerning eye knows that after the loss of coastal ports such as Alexandria, the British Mediterranean Fleet had only two ends, either leaving the Mediterranean or surrendering to the Axis powers in the Mediterranean region. Whichever of these two paths the British chose had little essential effect on the Italian Navy's goal of dominating the Mediterranean.

As for the more distant future, Mussolini was too lazy to think about it anymore, and he really did not have the idea of sending the Italian navy to the Indian Ocean. For the Italian Navy, which lacks the ability to deploy ocean-going operations, dominating the Mediterranean Sea is the biggest dream they can think of in their lives.

Because the highest ideal, or rather the highest strategic goal, of Italy joining the Axis powers and brazenly waging war was to "establish the splendor of the Roman Empire" and "make the Mediterranean an inland lake of the Kingdom of Italy", as for other ideas, the Italians really did not have the courage or imagination to put them into practice.

The slogan of establishing the glory of the Roman Empire is a bit too ambitious, after all, the Roman regime in the Roman era owned France, Switzerland, most of Germany, the entire Balkans and almost all of North Africa, but now unless the Italians are crazy, let alone half of France, Italy still can't afford to provoke them, let them run to order Germany to hand over Munich to Italy to rebuild the Roman Empire, this kind of thing they will never dare.

Therefore, Mussolini's other slogan, "Make the Mediterranean an inner lake of the Kingdom of Italy", has become the last bit of nostalgia in the minds of the Italian leadership. So several generals of the Italian navy joined forces to bewitch Mussolini and came up with such a plan that cost Accardo a full 3,000 German paratroopers.

Now the Germans have shown their swords, and it is Tarzan who is overwhelming, leaving no room for maneuver for the Italians. Either promise a series of humiliating covenants to compensate the Germans for the losses they have been teased this time, or prepare for the monstrous fury of the German Army Group J.

Mussolini's first reaction when he heard the news was dizzy, and the J Army in Hort's hands was something that the group of waste army generals under his command could withstand? If Italy had the ability to fight the 200,000 German troops alone, it would not have been chased and beaten by tens of thousands of British soldiers in North Africa.

His mind kept flashing back to the past achievements: Rommel and Guderian led four armored divisions to sweep through France, and while the French were on their knees and begging for mercy, the Italian troops were beaten back to the border by the French; hundreds of thousands of Italian troops were chased all the way from the Egyptian border by tens of thousands of British troops back to Tunis, and now the North African war situation Rommel has arrived at Cairo and is ready to take his marshal's scepter at the right time; the Italian troops in the Balkans are beaten all over the ground by Greece and Yugoslavia, and finally they are begging the Germans for help to regain their face。

Thinking of this, he couldn't help wiping the cold sweat on his face, once Germany and Italy really fought each other, he would be able to see the beautiful scenery of the German army encircling Rome within a few days, and his army generals estimated that the first reaction when they heard the Germans calling was not to organize resistance, but to bring people to seize him and give it to the German masters.

Two days ago, when it was learned that the navy had not gone to sea but had let go of the British Mediterranean Fleet, the generals of the army met Mussolini en masse, and the chief of staff of the Italian army at that time said to Mussolini with tears in his eyes...... The exact time depended on the speed with which the Germans collected the prisoners and advanced, and had nothing to do with the resistance of the Italian army. ”

From that time on, Mussolini knew that it was more realistic to expect these army generals to fight to the end and create a miracle of victory over the German army than to pray to God in the church for a lightning bolt to kill Accardo. The navy supported his decision, but once the German army was guilty, the navy would at most give him a small boat and send him to South America or North America, and there were many similar success stories, such as Charles de Gaulle and the British royal family......

After thinking about it, Mussolini felt that it was better to take another path: go to Berlin and kneel in front of Accardo's boots, and then nod vigorously no matter what the other party said, then at least the position of the first loyal dog under the command of His Majesty the Axis Emperor Xià Accardo is absolutely unassailable.

"Prepare for me, I'll go to Berlin myself. It seems that the German head of state, Mr. Accardo Rudolf, has misunderstood us Italians, and we must explain it to our old friends face to face in the spirit of preserving the traditional friendship between our two countries. Although anyone with a discerning eye knows that he went to Berlin this time to beg for mercy on his knees, at least for the sake of face, Mussolini had to say it in a high-sounding manner.

Everyone breathed a sigh of relief, since Mussolini was soft, then at least Germany and Italy would not meet each other, and everyone could at least be prosperous and rich, and talk about topics such as making a small fortune under the glory of the Third Reich. In a word, if someone goes to soften, then everything will be fine, as for who will pretend to be this grandson, it is not the category that everyone is worried about.

"Leader, plane or train?" asked a secretary in charge of Mussolini's itinerary in a low voice behind Mussolini. He had to prepare his means of transportation in advance, and it was up to the leader to decide which one to use.

......As soon as Mussolini wanted to say that he was going to Germany by plane, he remembered the last time he went to Germany to attend the inauguration ceremony of the Third Reich Financial Building, and as soon as the plane entered German airspace, it was surrounded by four fighter planes to accompany the flight, and he felt that it was safer to take the train -- I heard that the German radar can now detect the flight of a bird at a long distance, and if the other side wants to change an obedient Italian leader, it will artificially create an air crash.

Thinking of this, he decided to be on the safe side: "Don't prepare for the plane, let's take the train, and in addition, I have to bother Mr. Special Envoy to go to Berlin again, take the plane, leave tonight, tell the Führer, and say that everything is easy to discuss." ”

Mussolini also thought about it, didn't he just want the training and command of the Italian troops? Lao Tzu was a single man once, and I would give as much as I wanted; in short, Italy was a country that followed behind Germany's war force, and it was natural that it could reap the benefits and pay a price. As for the interests of other places, to put it bluntly, they were all helped by the Germans, and they were given wherever they wanted, as long as they were not excessive, this time Lao Tzu made up his mind to be an ostrich!

Mussolini, who had already made this plan, felt that since he had done it, it was better to do all the scenes at once, and give Accardo and the German generals a big face, so that when the Germans were ready to ask for a sky-high price, they would have to be more restrained.

So he waved to his secretary again and ordered: "Let the honor guard of the Black Shirts prepare, this time go with me to Berlin, Germany, and help me prepare 30 huge wreaths to be transported to Germany by special train, I will lay wreaths for the fallen paratroopers, and bow and repent!"

He thought for a while, glanced at the chief of staff of the navy, who had privately decided to take the blame for this matter, and finally added: "The chief of staff of the navy will also go to Berlin with me, if the Germans ......"

"Leader, don't say it again, after all, it is better than people, I will go with you to Berlin to see the Führer, if he can't swallow this breath, I will judge myself in front of him and give an explanation to the Third Reich!" Knowing his fate, and also knowing that sticking out his head is also a knife and shrinking his head is also a knife, the chief of staff of the Navy bowed his head and admitted: "I will bear the responsibility of a qiē!"