Darlan naturally does not want his men to end up like this. Of course, they may also become underground guerrillas, but this is what Darlan does not want to see. He, like Pétain, hopes most.
That is, Germany can win the final victory.
"So, Chinese ginger, what do you mean?" Darlan asked.
"I am a businessman, and I need some force protection, such as mercenaries, just like your French Foreign Legion. Look, I am going to buy some warships now, so can I also hire your soldiers? Just right,
You can take the initiative to disarmament, so we are all better, right?" Jiang Cheng said with a smile.
"My friend, do you know how many resources it takes to raise a navy? Do you want to raise a navy?" Darlan said as if he was watching a joke.
"This is my business, isn't it? Just tell me if you are willing. I will work with General Dönitz on the rest. Of course, some of your gifts will not be missing." Jiang Cheng looked at it.
Dönitz glanced at him.
Dönitz said, "Darlan, Jiang's ability is beyond your imagination. He has a nickname in Germany called Miracle Ginger. He can always create miracles, and he is our most loyal friend in Germany, so you don't need to
Worry."
Darlan nodded and said, "Okay, then what I want to know is, how many battleships do you need?"
Jiang Cheng clapped his fingers and said, "I want three destroyers, two frigates and at least a thousand navy. In addition, I know that a squadron is heading to Canada. You once sent them a telegram asking them to turn back, but they refused to obey.
Your order, I think this squadron can also be sold to me, how about it?"
During World War I, the French Navy was a powerful force second only to the British Navy, with 16 battleships, 6 cruisers and 24 destroyers in the Mediterranean alone. However, due to the depression of the Navy during the holiday period, although
It recovered somewhat in the 1930s, but before the war, it only had 1 aircraft carrier, 3 battleships, 7 heavy cruisers, 12 light cruisers, more than 50 destroyers of various types, and a total of 101 submarines of various types. Its overall strength ranked first in the world.
Fourth, after Britain, the United States and Japan, after the British attack and the mutiny of some fleets in the colonies, the current strength is less than 60%.
Darlan couldn't help but smile when he heard Jiang Cheng's request, because the number Jiang Cheng mentioned happened to be the number of battleships injured in France. Although there were no cruisers, the Joan of Arc in that squadron was a cruiser.
Although it is already a 40-year-old ship, the Chinese only wanted it to train sailors to prepare for the war, so a new one would be a waste.
Darlan thought for a while and realized that Hitler had already spoken. All the money Jiang Cheng spent on buying the ship would be used by the French Vichy government. Then his navy would at least get a big chunk of it. There were still quite a few ships lying in his dock.
, including the French Navy’s future battleship “Richelieu”.
This battleship "Richelieu" is not ordinary. It is the latest and most powerful battleship in France. It has been under construction since 1935 and is almost completed. Its full load displacement is 47,600 tons. Its main armor is a two-layer structure. First, it has 17
°The 330mm main armor with an inclined angle is followed by a layer of 18mm anti-collapse liner, and the second layer is a 50mm large angle inclined dome armor. The main gun is a 380MM 45 times caliber naval gun. The ship is 263 meters long and can
With a main gun that is immune to itself in the range of 18,800 meters to 29,800 meters, it can be said to be a sea-dominance-level battleship.
Darlan's idea is very simple. Use the money from selling damaged old ships to build new battleships. Not too many. As long as he can build the "Richelieu", he can take revenge on the British. If he doesn't have this money
In terms of income, he didn't believe that Vichy France, which had lost its industrial area and still had to bear the German military expenses, could build this battleship.
Indeed, in the era of strong ships and powerful guns, a powerful battleship was enough to change the outcome of a naval battle. Moreover, Darlan knew that the Germans would not be without battleships, at least not in the future.
It only took three days for Jiang Cheng to sign all the contracts and complete the procedures with the Vichy France of the Pétain government. Looking at the warships that were constantly flashing sparks due to maintenance in the dock, Jiang Cheng's mouth curled up slightly.
Benqi, the next step is to go to America.
——North Africa
Italian armies began to assemble one after another. Italy has about 220,000 people in Ethiopia and Eritrea, and the commander is the Duke of Aosta. There are also about 250,000 army groups in North Africa, divided into two armies. In addition, there are seven
An indigenous battalion and two paratrooper battalions as well as the "Libyan" tank group. The commander is Marshal Balbo. Their opponent, the British army, only has the 7th Armored Division, two-thirds of the 4th Indian Division, and three-thirds of the New Zealand Division.
One, there are also 14 British battalions and two Royal Artillery regiments, with a total strength of about 50,000. They are surrounded by Italian troops on both sides. What makes the British commander even more uncomfortable is that the British local forces are
The shortage made it impossible for Britain to send reinforcements to Africa. The whole world felt that it was only a matter of time before the British army was eaten up by Italy. Of course, some people would have objections, but Italian leader Mussolini was definitely not one of them.
Mussolini was almost 60 years old at this time. He was tall and looked more like a soldier than Hitler. From 1922 to today, when he received the power to form a government in Italy, he has been in dictatorship for nearly 20 years.
In these 20 years, he built a large number of buildings and roads, and established a new Italian army. He was extremely warlike. His dream was to restore the glory of the Roman Empire, so he launched successive attacks on Greece, Egypt, and Greece.
The war in Serbia and Albania. Unfortunately, what did not match his ambition was that his army performed too poorly. It showed military standards on every battlefield that people could not bear to look at.
, but Mussolini himself felt good. This time, when he saw his little brother Hitler defeat France in one battle, he immediately felt that an opportunity was coming. He first sent troops to France, but was almost killed by millions of French troops in southern France.
Fortunately, France surrendered to Germany, which did not make a big fool of itself. Now, he has set his sights on Africa. The Roman Empire was an empire spanning Europe, Asia and Africa. How could it be done without Africa? And the British in Africa are
So weak - at least on the surface.
Mussolini came to the Italian headquarters in Africa, which is located in Ethiopia. It is worth mentioning that, unlike what many people know, the Ethiopian army that fought against Italy was not a group of indigenous people armed with spears and bows.
, but a modern British army armed with machine guns and cannons. Judging from the equipment alone, it was even much better than the equipment of various Chinese warlords at that time.
"Leader, look, this is the map of Africa. The British are now concentrating their forces on both sides, hoping to resist our attack. They should already know some news." Italian Commander-in-Chief Duke of Aosta introduced to Mussolini
road.
Mussolini nodded and said, "It took Hitler 40 days to defeat France, so how many days will it take for us to defeat the British army in Africa?"
The Duke of Aosta thought for a while and said, "In less than two months, the traffic here is different from France. The traffic here is very bad, and we spend all our time on the road."
Although Mussolini was a little dissatisfied, he still agreed with his point of view. God knows how much effort he had to come here. He asked, "How long will it take for us to launch an attack?"
The Duke of Aosta replied, "The main reason is that our logistics supplies are not fully in place yet. We were not ready to go to war before. It will take about two months to start the attack."
Next to him, Mussolini's son-in-law Ciano asked, "What supplies do we have that we haven't prepared yet? Haven't we been transporting supplies in the past month?"
The Duke of Aosta twirled his fingers and said, "There are still a lot of ammunition, fuel, medicine, food and red wine. We are short of them. Without these, we cannot fight the war."
Mussolini stopped Ciano and said, "We have to trust our generals. Well, it's better to be faster. We are preparing, and our opponents are also preparing."
"Everything! Everything! Everything!!!!"
Suddenly, there were bursts of gunfire outside, and the Duke of Aosta immediately shouted, "What happened?"
After a while, a guard came in and said, "Report! An unknown aircraft appeared in the sky above our army and was shot down by our air defense force!"
The Duke of Aosta glanced at Mussolini proudly, and now his face was revealed. Who dares to say that he is incompetent in running the army? Did you see it? The British plane just appeared and was shot down by me.
, Mussolini also said with appreciation, "Not bad! You did a good job. I hope you can defeat the British quickly and neatly like this, and spread the glory of the Roman Empire all over Africa."
"Report... report!!" Another signal soldier walked in, but this time his tone was completely wrong, and his eyes were full of panic, as if something extremely incredible and terrible had happened.
Mussolini asked strangely, "What happened?"
The communications soldier swallowed his saliva and said, "The scouts found the downed plane...and found that it was our army's plane."
"Ah? How is it possible??" Duke Aosta almost wanted to slap the signal soldier. Even if it was really a mistake, he didn't want to say it now. He would say something different after the leader left. Say it now,
Where do you put your face?
"And...and we found some documents on the pilot's body...maybe...maybe it was Marshal Balboa..." As he said that, the communications soldier's head was lowered. He was also unlucky to be pushed by everyone.
To tell you this sad news, God knows what kind of storm is about to come.
"You...who are you talking about?" Mussolini asked in disbelief.
"Yes...it's Marshal Itano Balbo!" The signal soldier closed his eyes, stood at attention and shouted loudly. Mussolini felt that his head was going to be dizzy, and couldn't help but take a step back, while Aosta next to him
The Duke even broke out in a cold sweat.
This Balbo is no ordinary figure. He is the soul-level marshal of the Italian Air Force. His status can be said to be similar to Göring's status in Germany. He can't help but create many flight records, which has also made the Italian Air Force develop rapidly, and
When he served as the governor of Libya, he transformed Libya from a backward colony into a model for the Italian province. The oil field proposed by Jiang Cheng was completed so quickly, which is partly due to his contribution. In the eyes of many people, he
He is the "visionary of fascism" and the incarnation of a new Italy. It can be said that if Mussolini dies, he will be an extremely vigorous contender for his successor, but such a man actually flew his own plane to attend the meeting.
He was shot down by his own army's anti-aircraft artillery on the road. This is more nonsense than fiction.
Mussolini was worthy of being an old politician. He immediately weighed the pros and cons. This man was already dead, so any words he said were in vain. What’s more, Balbo kept writing to himself to persuade him not to go to war with the British and to really fight it alive.
If not, he became an opposition within the party. Mussolini said to the Duke of Aosta, "This matter is very serious, but it is common for planes to be difficult to distinguish in the sky. The most important thing now is to deal with the aftermath! I will immediately
Let Marshal Graziani take over his post, and remember, you have to use the souls of fifty thousand British people to pay homage to the soul of Marshal Balbo."
When the Duke of Aosta heard that he would not be held responsible, he was overjoyed and said with great sadness, "Yes! Leader, please rest assured that this matter is indeed my mistake, and I will definitely fight this battle well!"
Walking out of the headquarters, Ciano asked, "Leader, do you want to leave by plane?"
Mussolini felt his back was numb, and immediately shook his head and said, "I won't sit! I won't sit. Let's take a bus to the port first, and then take a warship back to China. In Africa, I will never fly by plane."
!”
Italy has not yet started the war and has lost a general first. If they know something about Chinese culture, they will probably know what this means. However, although there is no ominous statement, the Italian army is still feeling heavy in their hearts. It feels that this battle may be the same as that of Germany in France.
The battle was not the same.
--United States Washington
The economy of the United States has begun to develop at an accelerated pace under the flames of war in Asia and Europe. Although it has not really embarked on the fast lane yet, some arms dealers and factory owners with a keen sense of smell have begun to prepare for the layout. Everyone knows
, war always comes with the God of Death and the God of Wealth.
Jiang Cheng flipped through Zhang Ye's account books, drank tea from time to time, put it down for a long time and said to Situ Meitang, "Old man, how is your health lately?"
Situ Meitang touched his beard and said with a smile, "I don't dare to fall until the little devil is driven away. Don't worry. I heard that the people of Shandong are in trouble."
Jiang Cheng nodded and said, "Yes, but don't worry, old man. The little devils didn't get well either. They left tens of thousands of corpses for our fellow villagers to bury with them. Moreover, our time has gradually matured. It's almost here. It won't take a few years."