Chapter 837 The division is complete

In the north at the beginning of September, it has been autumn in many places, but it is still hot in the Mediterranean Sea. The hot sun shines on people, just like being thrown into a charcoal fire. The bursts of shouts from the bay added a few fire to the heat wave.

This is Marsashlock Bay in the south of Malta. Unlike Valletta in the north, it has few residents and no good dock facilities, but it has an excellent natural harbor. Cape Delimara and Cape Benesa are like the arms of giants, holding a deep blue.

After a preliminary survey of the topography of Malta, the Imperial Royal Navy and the General Staff changed their mind and moved the base from Valletta here. On the one hand, they can avoid the more populated residential areas in the north, and on the other hand, the water depth is enough and the conditions are also very good, and there is a large flat area of mountains on the right side of the bay. It is very suitable for building an air base.

The only trouble is that Marsashlock Bay lacks good infrastructure. Except for a few fishing boat docks, there are no deep-water facilities at all. The cost of building from scratch is not small, especially the sea route from China to here is too far away, so if you want to repair the base, you must rely on the material support of Austria-Hungary or the Ottomans, especially It is cement and steel.

As for manpower, there is no shortage at all in this era. In addition to thousands of Indian prisoners of war, there are also thousands of captured Italian sailors. The hard work of thousands of people makes the Marsashrock Bay look like a big construction site.

In the whistle, three large ocean-going cargo ships slowly sailed into the bay under the protection of destroyers. Since the deep-water wharf has not been built, large ships need to rely on small boats to connect and unload after arriving.

Most of the fleet sent the necessities of grain and fuel, because of the need to maintain the North American war zone, coupled with the support of the European battlefield, there are not many transport ships available in Xinhua at present. Although the Xinhua ship project has reached the centralized delivery period, it is basically a ship that has been dragged away, and there is no breath at all. Yes.

Bateman guessed it well. In fact, Xinhua has also been overloaded. Since the beginning of the war, it has been fighting continuously, coupled with long-distance cross-oceanic operations. The material consumption is only much more than that of Germany's fighting at home. Even if it began to reserve many years ago, it can't stand the loss for two consecutive years.

It seems that outsiders have obtained gold from the United States and the Tsar, and Australia, and is still plundering from the United States and other occupied territories of the world. Every day, hundreds of ships pull back millions of tons of machines, ores and materials from California and even the already controlled Gulf of Mexico, let alone close. Close at hand, the Indian Peninsula was once known as the pearl of the crown by Britain, but the problem is that these things can't be equipped with the army immediately after being moved back.

For example, after you get gold, you must first print the gold into banknotes, and then use banknotes to purchase shells, bullets, and supplies for the army, which take time to manufacture.

At present, domestic weapons have been developing in the direction of technological advantages, that is to say, they have begun to gradually phase out low-tech weapons and equipment, and make every effort to manufacture the latest generation of weapons. However, the manufacture of these weapons requires workers to master more and better technologies, and the processing level is also very high, which will take some time.

The empire is not that it can't afford it, nor is it without money, but it can't be built.

In the past, a Falcon biplane was only 1,000 yuan, but now a Mustang fighter is nearly 100,000, and the work is a hundred times more complicated. In the past, if the four major aircraft manufacturers produced wooden biplanes, at least it would not be slower than the current British and German speed, but the speed of these aircraft has never been fast, let alone now. More complex Raytheon large bombers have been added.

It takes enough time to convert materials and wealth into productivity, but war will not give you time. If the emperor hadn't started to reserve artillery shells and other materials ten years earlier, super-scale procurement of tanks, aircraft and cannons in peacetime, and built a number of leading ships, now he can only control the Pacific Ocean at most, and the Indian Ocean may You can intervene, but landing in the United States and entering the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea are basically dreams.

In the final analysis, with the deepening of the war, the gap in industrial capacity of various countries has gradually emerged, and the abruptly raised empire has gradually shown its decline. If it hadn't been for the demographic advantage, it would not have been as capable and powerless as Europe, and it might not have been possible to come to the present.

Looking at the fleet that began to unload, Gu Junhuo sighed gently.

It is precisely because the industrial manufacturing capacity has reached the limit and the huge consumption of the North American theater needs to be maintained. After the victory of the Battle of the Ionian Sea, the General Staff began to take the initiative to reduce its investment in the Mediterranean Sea, and the Seventh Fleet received much less supplement. Although it did not affect the operation, it was for the construction of such a large For the base, it is a little difficult.

After thinking about it, Gu Junhuo was still worried and decided to see the progress. It happened that Zhou Cheng, the chief of staff, also came in, and the two walked to the dock together.

"Hasn't the cement promised by Austria-Hungary arrived yet?"

Seeing that only one-third of the air base has been completed so far, and the dock and naval facilities are basically a skeleton, Gu Junhuo was even more anxious and hurriedly said, "I'll urge you later. It's almost 10 days late!"

Because it was transported too far from China, Xinhua Zheng Axe had previously reached a contract with the Austro-Hungarian Empire to exchange grain for engineering materials. The most important thing was cement and other construction materials. However, the speed of supply by the Austro-Hungarian Empire was too uncomfortable. In addition, it was more or less mixed with some political factors, so Gu Junhuo did not Don't be in a hurry.

Zhou Cheng next to

didn't know that he needed to build a Malta base as soon as possible. In addition, if the airport alone is repaired, the Raytheon bombers taking off from here can cover the Mediterranean coast of France, Greece, Spain and other places, basically covering the whole Mediterranean Sea, which can well supplement the continuous operations of the aircraft carrier battle group, and the embarrassment of a single aircraft carrying too small.

But he didn't have much to do anything about it. The domestic industry of Austria-Hungary was basically paralyzed, and it was difficult for cement, steel and other materials to support his own needs. If he wanted to quickly provide it to the Seventh Fleet, he could only rely on God's help.

"Wait a minute, I've sent a telegram many times, but it didn't work much." Zhou Cheng curled his lips and sighed, "This old industrial country is really old."

"It's a pity, if it's Italy."

Although Gu Junhuo didn't finish, Zhou Cheng knew what he meant. Italy's industrial capacity was much better than Austria-Hungary. Unfortunately, Italy has not fully surrendered at present and could not provide material needs. Although the two submitted many reports to suggest sending marines to Sicily or simply land in Apennine, It occupies one or two industrial zones as fast as possible, but there has been no reply, and the total number of troops currently stationed in Malta is only more than 5,000, most of which are still the Japanese Marine Corps.

After Zhou Cheng took out a cigarette, he said angrily, "I'm surprised. What else should I pay attention to from it? Italy is like this. After nearly two months of continuous bombing by us, the coast has been basically paralyzed, and there is a serious food shortage. At this time, there is no need for too many troops at all. The transfer of 30,000 to 50,000 people from Greater Kuwait and North Africa is enough to force them to surrender, and it can completely overthrow the rule of Emmanuel III. Why do you have so much ink?

Gu Jun Huo Yinyin guessed the above idea. Seeing that there was no one left and right, he said, "It's not that simple! Now Malta is ours, at least until we defeat our Seventh Fleet, no one can take it here! But the problem is that Malta is the heart of the Mediterranean Sea, and the Strait of Tunis is the only place for Europe to go to the Suez Canal. Now that we occupy it, people will naturally be anxious.

"You mean Germany?" Zhou Cheng raised his eyebrows and asked.

"Who else can there be?" Gu Junhuo looked at the blue bay and continued, "It is impossible for Germany to be willing to be choked by us. After the occupation of the Panama and Suez Canals by us one after another, it is their last hope to control the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean.

I don't know how the general assembly will make a decision in the end, but the situation here is already very clear.

The best way for Germany to crack Malta's sore throat is to hold Italy in its arms, so that Sicily is across the sea from us. At least we can't cover the sky with one hand.

And Italy has a certain industrial base and a relatively developed railway network. In the worst case, it can also reach Italy by rail, and then take the Adriatic Sea to bypass the Tunisian Strait to threaten the Suez Canal.

"Damn it, does Germany want to turn against us?" Zhou Cheng has a straight surname. After hearing this, he immediately scolded.

"It's not enough to turn around, but it's necessary to take advantage of the war to seize the opportunity. Don't we do the same? Germany is an arrogant nation. Once it wins the war, there is no reason to be willing to look at our nose, so they will fight for part of the initiative in the final stage. Although it is not a direct confrontation, it must lay a good foundation for possible confrontation in the future.

"It's no wonder that after the Second Task Force bombarded Cape Verde, German submarines have been operating there. I heard that they also sent a small army ashore. I dare to create a fait accompli and grab the territory!"

"Ha ha, just grab it. Maybe the emperor doesn't have so many ideas in the Atlantic Ocean." Gu Junhuo smiled, but when he saw the bare airport, he frowned: "You can contact Greater Kuwait later to see if there is any cement and steel stored. It's not impossible to delay like this."

"Okay." After Zhou Cheng answered, he just turned around and was ready to send a telegram. Suddenly, a jeep drove quickly in front of him.

"Report, telegram forwarded from China."

"Oh? What's the matter?"

"The order of the Prime Minister's Office and the General Staff is required to release all Italian prisoners of war within five days. In addition, the materials lacking in the construction of the Malta base have been promised to arrive here from Ancona within four days.

"What!"

Not to mention Zhou Shu, even Gu Junhuo straightened his eyes. Could it be said that Italy surrendered? But if you surrender, how can you take the initiative to provide materials to build a base in Malta? Don't they know that once the Marsashrock Bay base is built, the whole territory of Italy will be shrouded under the wings of long-range bombers?!

"Report Commander, the Prime Minister has reached an agreement with Germany to allow Italy to return to the alliance."

The staff took out the second confidential telegram and handed it to Gu Junhuo and said, "This is the encrypted telegram of the general staff. The Cairo Conference has made significant progress. The Italian political axe has promised to pay precious materials such as gold and silver worth 500 million blue coins to China as the first compensation, and then in the next ten We will be compensated 100 million blue coins and paid corresponding interest every year for five years. In addition, all the post-war dividends except the colonies will be handed over and dealt with by us!"

Gu Junhuo and Zhou Cheng were directly dumbfounded, and handed over 500 million yuan at a time! A total of 1.5 billion blue coins and interest will be compensated in the next 15 years, and finally all the post-war dividends obtained after joining the alliance will be handed over to the empire!

You heard it right, didn't you?!

The staff smiled. In fact, he just got the telegram with this expression and said again, "The command ordered us to send warships to Vatican City immediately. The Italian political axe will deliver 230 tons of gold and 1,500 tons of silver reserves to us within ten days to offset the first batch of 500 million yuan indemnity, and the Chief of Staff also Be sure to do a good job of protection.

In addition, our first batch of grain-carrying fleet has set sail from Mumbai and will enter the Mediterranean Sea for Italy in seven days. According to intelligence, six French submarines left the port of Marseille last night. The military department predicted that it is very likely that France has learned about Italy's defection, so it is ready to attack the grain-carrying fleet and asked us Do a good job of answering and escorting.

After listening to this series of words, Zhou Cheng suddenly couldn't laugh or cry. Is there any colony in Italy?

Italy's Somalia is now controlled by its own side. Libya is more entangled. It is hard to say whether Osman will take the opportunity to take it back. Apart from these two places, Italy belongs to nothing more than small islands and Albania. How many resources can be provided to supply countries?

Just as he was about to calculate whether Italy could pay off the debt, Zhou Cheng suddenly thought of a big thing and suddenly patted his thigh: "Oh, Li Xiuyan just sent me a telegram saying that he was going to bombard Venice!"

Under the fierce running of Chief of Staff Zhou, Li Xiuyan's shell was finally stopped.

On September 11, the Cairo Conference ended secretly. During the six-day meeting, the Allies coordinated and deployed to accelerate the end of the war, the distribution of post-war interests, the distribution of materials to various countries, etc., and prepared for the upcoming victory.

At the meeting, Xinhua and Germany finally reached an agreement on the distribution of benefits through a series of bargaining, which also ensured that the meeting could successfully complete all the topics.

The famous British Times later described the Cairo Conference as this.

"This is a watershed for the world's emerging forces to replace the old empire, and it is also a dirty trade fair to divide the world naked. At the meeting, we can only see guns, knives and forks, but not a little friendliness.

What's even more heartbreaking is that Great Britain has been excluded from the core of the world for the first time!"

No matter how sarcastic and sour the British Times were afterwards, Li Mo voluntarily gave up a large number of African and Atlantic interests, which became the driving force for the meeting to proceed smoothly. In return, William II, who almost held Africa and the Atlantic Ocean in his hand except the Caribbean, also reported that it would not interfere with Xinhua's acquisition of the interests of parts of the Indian Ocean after the war, and was willing to see the Royal Navy stationed in Malta to maintain peace in the Mediterranean.

At the same time, Germany will also actively cooperate with Xinhua to implement the "weak U.S. policy", which has achieved the goal of weakening the strength of the United States and the Allied countries for a long time.

In terms of the most eye-catching interests, while Xinhua enjoys 60% of the compensation of the United States after the war, Germany will also enjoy 60% of the British compensation after the war, and the rest will be distributed by all parties according to their contributions.

On September 15, 1917, the fourth day after the Cairo Conference, Italy betrayed the agreement and announced its accession to the alliance.

(to be continued)