"Unthinkable that the war would end with an air raid, and the Germans accepted our proposal in this way?" In the Furious Officers' Dining Room, a drinking party celebrating victory and the end of the war is underway. Senior naval officers of various countries are talking about this victory with great interest. In a private room next to the banquet hall, Thomas was communicating with Yang Yonglin in a whisper. The language is full of emotion and a hint of loss. This was the beginning of an era when airplanes, which were considered toys before World War I, finally came to dominate the battlefield. And the battleships, which once represented the glory of an era, are about to turn into auxiliary forces. This made him, who had been a battleship commander, feel lost and lost.

"Wise choice, they have already gained Italy, and by the time we shrink our forces to Naples, the war is over, and all that remains is a battle for face." Yang Yonglin said with a smile.

"Well, we got a decent ending, and at the same time told the Germans that their skills are not enough, and we have suppressed our opponents in terms of both comprehensive national strength and technology, and I'm afraid William and his General Staff may not be able to sleep all night, right?" There was a hint of sarcasm in Thomas's eyes.

"It won't be that easy. After all, Germany is a first-class power, and their technological background is still very strong, and they have learned a lot from this war, and many of our technologies are still immature. We have advantages, but we are limited. In addition, the technical and tactical level within the Entente countries was also uneven, your country was the strongest, the United States was second, and the French were stronger than Austria-Hungary. And Germany is slightly worse than your country. Yang Yonglin is far less optimistic than Thomas, as a former ally, Huaxia or Xu Jie. There is still a relatively objective understanding of how high Germany's combat effectiveness and technological level are.

Taking aviation technology as an example, before 1943, the technical level of the Luftwaffe fighter was the world's first-class. Especially in 42 years, when the F190A4 first came out, it was a small disaster in Europe. As a result, the British had to immediately upgrade the Spitfire 5. It wasn't until after the advent of Spitfire 9 that the balance of technology was rebalanced. As for the Americans? Well, things like the P38 and P40 will only work in Europe. But fortunately, after the U.S. imperialists' P51 was equipped with the liquid-cooled engine of the British, the P51B finally gained a technical advantage, but with the advancement of technology on both sides, with the emergence of F190D9 and BF109K, these fighters have the same combat power as the other party's Spitfire 14 and P51D in terms of performance (in fact, P51D is not as good as P51B in terms of flight performance, and P51B is still stronger than F190D and BF109K. A significant reason for the P51D's performance degradation is the increase in fuel. ）。 But by that time the Third Reich was powerless. Overall. Purely technically speaking, the direct gap between the tactical air forces of Germany and the United States and Britain has not been very large. In the early stage, you can occasionally suppress your opponent. Germany is much stronger and more technologically strong in this dimension, so it should not be taken lightly.

Perhaps, but the war did increase the confidence of the Entente. Although the Germans got Italy, they got nothing more than a shell, and we got the best part of Italy! Italy's navy, technicians, national coffers and much more. Thomas said pleasantly.

Thomas is not exaggerating when he says this. The result of this war was not so much that the Germans gained Italy after paying a heavy price, but that the Germans carved up Italy together with the Entente after paying a heavy price! Even before the outbreak of the war, Tycho had planned to transfer a large number of technicians and equipment to the provinces of China and the British to Australia. And after the outbreak of war. It also emptied the entire Italian treasury, and by the way, moved a lot of people from the south. …

According to the statistics of the relevant departments in China and Italy, the period between the deterioration of relations between Italy and the Central Powers and the end of the Italian Civil War lasted several years. At least 2.7 million young adults in Italy have left the country for China and Australia. Many of these people are skilled workers and businessmen. The wealth and power they possess are much higher than they seem. And since then, Italians, unable to stand Mussolini's tyranny, have managed to flee the country. The loss of the country's foreign exchange reserves and gold reserves has left Mussolini's government in a state of financial scarcity. Until the start of the Second World War, Italy's industrial capacity did not return to its pre-war level, after all, Tycho's actions were tantamount to directly siphoning out decades of Italian accumulation!

Of course, these are all later words, so I won't mention them for the time being. According to the agreement reached directly between the Entente and the Central Powers, for the next month, the armies of both sides would cease hostilities, and Germany could discharge its troops to parts of the areas not controlled by the Entente. At the same time, however, the Entente could obtain guarantees of safe evacuation of people and goods from the area. In a month's time, the Entente* team will be evacuated from mainland Italy. And two months later, the Italian government-in-exile supported by the Entente and Tycho would be evacuated from Sicily and Sardinia. So far. The Italian War would officially come to an end, and the two sides could continue to negotiate the exchange of prisoners of war. Of course, the Entente and Huaxia said that they would not negotiate with the new Italian government, and the governments of the four countries did not recognize the legitimacy of Mussolini's government!

"I'll be back someday! I will wash away the humiliation inflicted on Italy by Germany and Austria-Hungary! I swear! On the aircraft carrier Aquila, the flagship of the Italian Navy, Tycho roared loudly at Naples in the distance. A few minutes later, all the guns of the entire Italian fleet began to roar, and violent explosions and fires could be detected on land tens of kilometers away. With the last ships leaving the Italian coast, the U.S. and British fleets will return directly to their homeland, while the Italian fleet, accompanied by the Chinese fleet, will first go to France for resupply, then to the United States, and then to the Pacific Ocean through the Panama Canal. As for the French fleet, it returned directly to the southern military port of Toulon. This will be followed by the evacuation to France on the west coast, and after the fall of Italy, the French navy will be withdrawn to the mainland, with the exception of some submarines and small shore defense vessels. The entire Mediterranean Sea truly became the inner lake of the Central Powers.

While the Entente was withdrawing from Italy, the Central Powers were busy distributing the dividends of the war! Facts have proved that the sentence that brothers settle accounts is very correct, not to mention that Germany and Austria are not brothers, and in the process of dividing the spoils, some problems did arise between the two sides. The first problem was that the Kaiser did not want Austria-Hungary to get its hands on Italy's oil fields in North Africa!

"This time we invested a bit more, and the losses were even more than we thought before the war. War has to bring benefits, otherwise there will be no war. Although the war is over, we will have to continue to invest in the foreseeable future until the Italian government is able to provide for itself. We lost thousands of aircraft in this war. Almost wiped out the establishment of 3 aviation armies. How can these losses be compensated? Isn't it a good financial situation? The Italian oil fields are so close that we can use the resources here to make up for the shortfall. Did Austria-Hungary independently conduct a major campaign on its own? The Battle of the Mediterranean was defeated by the Italian Navy, and the offensive in the north ended in failure, and it was up to us to help end the battle. According to their strength and performance, it is enough to get the northern regions of Italy, the oil fields in the south cannot be given to them! At one meeting, Richthofen, who had always been obedient to the Kaiser, made a brazen proposal to bring the oil fields of North Africa under German control, and his proposal was supported by the navy and army. …

"Isn't that a slap in my face?" The face of the Kaiser is the face of Germany, and Richthofen's suggestion was for Wilhelm II to overturn the original guarantee! Wilhelm II's face changed back and forth several times, but he finally held back his anger and did not blame Richthofen for reacting so strongly this time. In this war, the air force suffered the greatest losses from beginning to end, and as Germany reassessed the level of the Allied air force, the original plan of the air force almost had to be pushed back, and the ferocity of the British Royal Air Force made the Germans uneasy. So Richthofen urgently needs to expand its strength, and what does it take to expand its strength? Pilots, planes, and more fuel! Powerful pilots are trained by burning gasoline, and even more extreme voices within the Luftwaffe intend to directly let the Air Force control 6% of Libyan fuel! Of course, when it was actually proposed in the end, Richthofen still saved some face for you, the oil fields must be under German control, and the Luftwaffe must get 40%! If that doesn't work, Richthofen is ready to do it!

As the saying goes, the soft are afraid of the hard, and the hard are afraid of death, Richthofen doesn't even want the commander of the air force, and the Kaiser really can't do anything to him! He's gone, who's going to take the Luftwaffe? Schell and Hipper, who clashed with the Kaiser many times after the war, remained in the position of naval commander until the end. So Wilhelm II obviously had to make an account of Richthofen. The final question becomes, whether to save the Kaiser's face or to be an air marshal! The rejection of the original promise would have had a very serious impact on Germany's credibility and relations with Austria-Hungary. In desperation, the Kaiser decided to adjourn the meeting for the time being, and talk about it later. He needs to weigh this issue on multiple fronts. Even if it was to be recovered, it would have to give Austria-Hungary a certain amount of compensation.

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