Tukhachevsky still went to France as originally planned, and flew in the sky for 17 or 8 hours in a TB3 transport plane before arriving in Paris, the capital of France. When he dragged his exhaustion out of the cabin, the first thing he saw was a HE111 transport plane painted with blue sky and white sun and red markings. Several Chinese defense force officers and civilian officials in black suits were drilling into several cars with Chinese and French flags.

At this time, Jiang Baili, Minister of National Preparedness of the Central People's Republic of China, and Zeng Qi, Minister of Commerce of China, certainly did not come to Paris to promote the first fire. Although this is an excellent opportunity to sell arms, the Sino-German alliance still needs to be maintained. Jiang Baili and Zeng Qi were special envoys of Chinese Premier Chang Ruiqing and had come to Paris to mediate the Franco-German war. And the reason why Chang Ruiqing asked the two of them to act as peacemakers was Hitler's request, and the German chancellor was actually anxious to end Germany's two-front war.

Therefore, when the war on the front line is progressing smoothly, China and Britain are still entrusted to come forward to make peace. As long as France agreed to cede Alsace, Lorraine, French North Africa, French Morocco, and French Cameroon to Germany, give up French Indochina, and hand over all tanks, artillery and trucks of the French Army. Then Germany would be willing to let France go, and would neither demand reparations nor occupy other French territories.

When Jiang Baili and Zeng Qi's car drove out of the airport, both of them saw the TB3 transport plane in which Tukhachevsky was traveling.

"That plane is ......" Zeng Qi was surprised, as if he did not expect that a Soviet plane would appear in France. The two can be separated by the Germans' control zone!

"It's TB3, the old hen known as Trotsky, who flies very slowly. However, the range is very long, it can fly 2000 km, and it should have flown from Constantinople. "Although you have to fly over the control areas of Germany or Italy, there shouldn't be much risk if you fly at night...... I don't know who is sitting on it? ”

"It must be Trotsky's envoy, right?" Zeng Qi had already lit a cigar, took two puffs, and said with a smile: "I guess I'm here to cheer up the French government." If France fails, he won't have a good time! That's right, Baili Gong. The current battle situation should be very beneficial for us, right? Is there any hope of ending the war this year? ”

"This year?" Jiang Baili shook his head: "Where is it so easy, the bitter battle has just begun!" ”

"Bitter fighting? As soon as France is finished, the German army will be able to concentrate all its efforts on fighting the Soviet Union, how can there be a bitter battle? ”

Jiang Baili glanced at this short, dark and fat man. The Minister of Commerce, who did not have the slightest grace, glanced at it. Sighing softly, he said, "Brother Mu Han, you are thinking too simply. France lost this battle, but it also leaked Germany's bottom on the Eastern Front. Now Trotsky did not have to worry for a while about his Western Front being wēixié by the Germans...... Don't worry until May next year. ”

"Why? Will France be able to resist until May next year? ”

"Of course it can't be, it's a miracle that the French can survive this month." Jiang Baili said: "But after pacifying France, the Germans also lost the opportunity to attack the Soviet mainland this year. Because the winter in the Soviet Union came very early and was very cold, and the western part of the Soviet Union generally had rain and snow in late autumn, and the roads were muddy and difficult to walk. Therefore, the best time to attack the Soviet Union can only be from May to September every year, and it is best to start the offensive in May. At the end of September, it was transferred to recuperation. And it's already mid-June, even if the French campaign ends this month. Germany would not be able to redeploy its panzer forces to the Eastern Front until the end of July at the earliest. There are 8 or 9 months left to defeat such a behemoth as the Soviet Union? Moreover, the German army can only mobilize troops in place at most at the end of July, and it is necessary to prepare a large amount of materials to really launch an offensive, especially special materials for winter operations, so this year it is too late to launch it anyway, and it seems that we have to prepare for a period of hard fighting. ”

When the two men were talking, the car had already driven into the city of Paris, perhaps because the disaster on the front line had happened too quickly, and the citizens of the French capital had not had time to react. So the market in Paris was quite stable, except for the impassioned French patriotic songs played everywhere, there was not even much war atmosphere, and the French people who came and went in the streets still seemed very leisurely, and there was no sign that the country was at war and had been defeated.

However, such a scene has a different meaning to Tukhachevsky. Looking out the car window at the Parisian street scene, Tukhachevsky let out a long sigh.

"What's wrong? Comrade Tukhachevsky, why are you sighing again? Litvinov looked at the chief of the General Staff of the Red Army with some strange feeling, and on the way from Moscow, Tukhachevsky's mood seemed to be extremely bad, and he kept sighing, as if it was not France but the Soviet Union that was now defeated.

Tukhachevsky pointed out the window and said with a wry smile: "Can you not sigh?" Where does this look like a city that is about to be attacked? ”

Litvinov looked at the scene outside the car window, and it was indeed prosperous and stable, but didn't this show that the French people were calm and calm in the face of danger?

Tukhachevsky snorted: "This is a completely undefended city, there are no fortifications to be seen along the way, and no one is building them...... What else is there to defend Paris in this way? France is ready to compromise! ”

As soon as Tukhachevsky was reminded, Litvinov also saw that there was a problem. It is true that Paris is not armed, although the enemy is still far away on the line of the Merz River, but it is not possible to complete the defense of a city as large as Paris in a day or two, so why should construction start now?

At this moment, Jiang Baili and Zeng Qi had already arrived at the French Prime Minister's Palace, and there was a bit of a sad look of defeat. Black smoke was rising from several chimneys in the Prime Minister's Office, apparently burning Wen Jiàn. The judicial officials or government officials who came in and out all looked anxious, as if there was some big bad news.

Jiang Baili and Zeng Qi had just been ushered into a conference room by a nervous-looking blonde female secretary at the prime minister's office when they heard footsteps coming from another open door. Turn your head to look. I saw that British Foreign Secretary Eden and French Prime Minister Daladier walked in side by side, both of them had similar expressions, but Daladier looked even more depressed. muttered to himself: "It's over, it's all over, France is defeated, defeated......"

It turned out that there was really the latest bad news coming back from the front. The Merz River had been broken through by German armoured troops, and the Iron Cross flag was flying over the city of Sedan. As for the French armored forces rushing from Nancy to Sedan, they were bombed all the way by German planes, and lost at least 20% of their combat strength before they could face the German armored forces. It was now just in the vicinity of Verdun, and the vanguard of the Germans was already approaching Verdun. It seems that another battle of Verdun is about to begin in this land that once made the Germans cry.

But this time it was probably the French who were going to cry, because the German armored forces had broken through behind the second line of defense, and the hundreds of thousands of French troops there were again under the pinned back attack of the German Army Group C. It seems that there is no way to retreat. The 40 French divisions that had penetrated deep into Belgium on the Northern Front were also being attacked by the German Army Group A, which was clearly superior in strength, and it was only a matter of time before they were defeated. Now France's last mechanized group with strong combat effectiveness has to go to war with the German armored group, which is far more powerful than itself, without air superiority at all, and defeat is probably inevitable. When the time comes. France really doesn't have any troops to use......

On the side, British Foreign Secretary Aiden was comforting Daladier with kind words. At the same time, he was trying to persuade the French chancellor to accept Hitler's peace terms immediately, which were not too harsh in the eyes of the British. If the French government did not accept it immediately, once they waited for their two armored forces to be wiped out by the Germans, Hitler would definitely have to raise the price, and if they did not make any demands on the French fleet, this was the last thing Britain wanted to see.

"Mr. Chancellor, Mr. Aiden." Jiang Baili and Zeng Qi hurriedly stepped forward to say hello to them. Meet the Chinese guests. Prime Minister Daladier seemed to remember something, and only then did he regain a little of his bearings as a leader. After shaking hands, he said in a deep voice, "You must have come with the same intention as Mr. Aiden...... I think Mr. Hitler must have been in a hurry to end this war, because he still had millions of Red Army troops in the USSR to the east! ”

"Uh......" Jiang Baili was stunned by Daladier's words. Could it be that this French prime minister is still fantasizing that the Soviet Red Army can save France from defeat? British Foreign Secretary Aiden also frowned beside him, the French are now compromising to "lose half", and there may not be a time for revival in the future, they will continue to fight, and when the main force is finished and Paris falls, France will be slaughtered by the Germans!

This is Zeng Qi, the Minister of Commerce who does not understand military affairs, who spoke, and he smiled and said: "Your Excellency, I think if you count on the help of the Soviet Red Army, I am afraid that you will be disappointed in the end." Because our country will not allow the Soviet Red Army to have spare forces to march on Poland and Romania! Just yesterday morning, our army of three million had finished its rest and began its march to Krasnoyarsk! Do you think Trotsky would have wanted the whole of Siberia to help France keep Alsace and Lorraine? ”

Although this answer was a layman, it still completely shattered the glimmer of hope that Daladi had just ignited. As for the Battle of Krasnoyarsk in China, Dalady heard from his generals that the Soviet Union in Siberia seemed to be in a bad situation, that the territory lost was the size of several French mainlands, and that the Red Army was now gathering heavy forces at Krasnoyarsk on the Yenisei River to prepare for a decisive battle with the invading Chinese army. Krasnoyarsk is said to be very important, once the Soviet army is lost, it will be difficult to maintain Eastern Siberia, and even let the squadron attack Western Siberia! Compared with Siberia, which has an area of more than 10 million square kilometers, Alsace and Lorraine in France are simply sesame seeds, so how could Trotsky not care about Siberia to help France keep Alsace and Lorraine?

Seeing that Daladier's face fell, Aiden immediately struck while the iron was hot and persuaded: "Mr. Prime Minister, your expectations of the Soviet Union are understandable, but do you really think that France can continue to fight after losing 100 to 120 divisions?" Even now, at the cost of abandoning Krasnoyarsk, Trotsky would have mobilized his forces to attack Poland and Romania, at most he would have helped France win a slightly more favourable armistice. But do you think such a result makes sense for Trotsky? For him. The only significance of France's existence was to fight Germany with the Soviet Union. As long as France could not fight any longer, he did not necessarily have to pay anything for France. ”

Daladier lowered his head and remained silent, obviously moved by Zeng Qi and Aiden's words. Jiang Baili saw that there was a door. He also immediately began to flicker: "Mr. Prime Minister, please don't forget the position of the British Empire, although Britain, like us, was neutral in the Franco-German war, but the Soviet Union was the enemy of Britain and Germany. Now Britain, like us and Germany, is fully armed. If necessary, Britain can also send troops to Poland, Romania! That's right. And Italy, where Mr. Mussolini has 8 million bayonets! As long as two percent of them were sent to Eastern Europe, the Soviets would not be able to hit Warsaw even with all their might! ”

As he spoke, he gave Aiden a look. The British Foreign Secretary immediately exclaimed again: "Ah, I remember, Churchill, the former Admiral Secretary of the Admiralty who left London, told me that the Italian naval fleet was transporting army units to Tripoli. It seems that it was intended to attack the French North African colonies! ”

"Damn Italians!" Daladier cursed in a low voice. Gritting his teeth, clenching his fists, he lowered his head and was silent for a long time before muttering, "What about Italy?" How will our war with Italy end? ”

"How else can it be over?" Aiden shrugged his shoulders and said with a smile: "Of course, it counts wherever you fight, isn't there a saying that what you can't get on the battlefield, don't you want to get it from the negotiation table?" ”

That is, if Italy cannot fight an inch of French territory. Are they just going to work for nothing? Prime Minister Daladier asked.

Aiden smiled and replied, "That's what Chancellor Hitler meant, so the best thing for France now is to end the war with Germany as much as possible." In this way, France will not lose to the Italians again, and will be able to keep most of the empire. ”

Daladier nodded silently, apparently having made up his mind to compromise and surrender to Germany.

And at this moment, Tukhachevsky and Litvinov were also arrested by French Defense Minister Paul Brown. Renault invited him to the Palace of Blennes, where the French Ministry of Defense is located. Paul. Renault is now the leader of the main battle faction or the resistance faction, and even to the point where the situation on the front line has completely collapsed, he has not chosen to give up and compromise. However, he had no idea at all, and after chatting with Tukhachevsky for a few words, he suddenly asked: "So, Mr. Chief of the General Staff, do you have any good ideas about the current situation facing France?" ”

Tukhachevsky was stunned for a moment by this question, and he said that the chief of the General Staff of the Soviet Red Army was not the chief of the General Staff of the French Army. Renault's question should be asked to Gan Malin. But he soon began to give Paul . Renault made a move. "First of all, it's a dead guard! The troops fighting the Germans on the front line, especially the French armored units that entered Belgium, the French armored units on the Verdun front, and the infantry of the former enemy in Alsace (Second Line No.), must hold on to the spot and not think about retreating! Because, the Luftwaffe and mechanized units are too strong, and under their blows and pursuits, the retreat will definitely turn into a rout, and it is better to hold to the end to prepare time for the defense of Paris. ”

"Stick to Paris?!" Renault was disappointed for a while, he originally thought that the chief of the General Staff of the Red Army would have some tricks to turn things around, but he didn't expect that it was an old-fashioned method of defending the city, in front of the Germans' aircraft and artillery, could Paris, which had no city walls, be able to defend it? He shook his head and said, "Mr. Tukhachevsky, someone in the French War Office has proposed such a proposal to immediately withdraw the troops on the front, withdraw all the main forces of Belgium, Verdun and Alsace to the south, and at the same time abandon Paris and set up a new line of defense along the Loire to defend the south of France. ”

"It's useless, it's hard to withdraw the troops on the front line completely, even if you retreat across the Loire, there are only a few remnants of the defeated army left, and it's difficult to get back on the battlefield without a month or two of replenishment. Moreover, the Loire is 1,015 kilometers long, and it is impossible to form a long and horizontal defense system. In World War I, it might not have been a big problem, but in the current era of mechanized warfare, this kind of long and dense defense line is simply not able to withstand the surprise attack of armored clusters. So the only way to save France now was to organize the defense of Paris, mobilizing and arming all the workers and peasants outside Paris to defend the capital. Rely on the countless tall buildings in the city of Paris and the Seine River that crosses the city to fight to the end, and defend Paris as the Poles defended Warsaw. Mr. Minister of Defense, the experience we have learned from the battlefields in Poland is that the armored forces are simply powerless against heavily defended large cities, and those collapsed ruins of reinforced concrete are the best bunkers......"

Tukhachevsky was still gushing ideas for the French. Renault's face was extremely gloomy. The Russians' solution turned out to be to turn Paris into ruins! It's incredible, how can you fight like this?

"Mr. Minister of Defense! Mr. Minister of Defense! Oh no...... "Paul. Before Renault could raise any objection to Tukhachevsky's proposal, a tall French general rushed in angrily pushing the door open, shouting: "The Chancellery has called, Daladier is ready to accept the mediation of China and Britain and surrender to Germany!" ”