"His Majesty the Emperor eventually agreed to our request, but also made a compromise with Austria-Hungary. Although the cost may be higher, it is acceptable. In the conference room of the German General Staff, Hindenburg, in his capacity as Chief of the General Staff, briefed everyone present on the final partition of Italy, and paid tribute to Field Marshal Richthofen, who had personally come forward to ask for his life from Germany. A very important reason why Richthofen dared to come into direct conflict with the Kaiser was the support of other military leaders. Even so. It took a lot of twists and turns in the middle. But it's all in the past. Now the elites of the German Reich had to discuss the future situation, and the situation was not as rosy as they had imagined.

"This time the performance of the Allied bloc disappointed us, the Kaiser underestimated the opponent, and what about our allies? Austria-Hungary was defeated even by a small number of British and Chinese troops. The Turkish navy failed to defeat the Italian assault fleet for weeks, and eventually allowed the other side to run to India. And what about Spain? I suspect that it has joined the Entente and has not taken any effective action throughout the operation! The 200,000 French troops on the Franco-Spanish border scared Spain into not daring to move! The Entente passed through the Strait of Gibraltar into the Mediterranean without hindrance. Ludendorff's words were filled with anger.

"The key is still in France! From the time of Prime Minister Bismarck, Germany's greatest enemy was France, and Europe was too small to accommodate two powerful land powers. The French, on the other hand, could hold Spain down with one hand, and in the event of another war, I doubt that Spain would be able to fulfil its obligations under the treaty. Unless we can effectively secure Spain on land, they will be on our side, and only if Spain is willing to cooperate with us will we be able to gain a foothold in the Atlantic and lock down the Mediterranean. Count Spee's words were full of concern. After all, the German Navy was planning to use the Mediterranean Sea as its own backyard!

"And France can also be used as a base for the RAF and the US Air Force, especially the former, which can enter France as long as it crosses the English Channel. In just a few hours, the British Air Force will be able to launch an attack on our country. The Rhine-Ruhr region, which is vital to our economy and industry, is at the guns of the other side. The Air Force calculated that the overall strength and potential of the Luftwaffe was slightly weaker than that of the British and French Air Forces combined. If war breaks out again, and the other side makes full use of the bases in France to launch air strikes against Germany, our air force will not have to do anything else. Richthofen also supported the former.

"But before that, even if the empire concentrated all its efforts to launch a war against France, it would be difficult to achieve victory, and we could only hope to overwhelm the opponent before the US Army intervened on a large scale, and we only had about a 40% chance. And this time, after a reassessment of the Allied air forces and electronic capabilities, I think our odds will drop even further. In terms of the balance of power, we may be in a worse position than in World War I. Because in World War I Germany was able to stabilize Britain and France, while Italy, Austria-Hungary and Spain were our friends. But this time, because of the intervention of the Third Branch, our advantage was greatly reduced. I'm afraid it will be difficult to take France. Hindenburg's words were full of pessimism.

"The other side has an superior air force, and a defense line called Maginot has been built on the eastern border of France, which is more powerful than we can imagine, and there are millions of French and British expeditionary forces behind the line. In this case. It's hard for us to break through. More critically, times have changed, and our army can hold off an opponent's attack on the ground. But they can still fly over our heads and attack our cities and industrial bases. If we can't solve this problem, we simply don't have the strength to move in the direction of South Asia. Ludendorff continued. …

"Actually, as far as I can see, the French have a weaker will to fight than in the First World War. And they were more conservative, as can be seen from this war, France was the closest to Italy, but they invested the least. In terms of air force, the number of squadrons dispatched by the Entente countries, Britain and the United States, was the largest, and then Huaxia, although there were not many troops directly involved in the war. However, the Italian Air Force has been supplied with a large number of aircraft, while the French Air Force has almost no troops participating in the war. In the north, the British were in charge. To the south are the United States and Italy. The air power of France is insignificant. Kesselring said.

"It's the same with the Army, although the French Army is more numerous. However, it feels that the will to fight is weaker than in the first battle, and they rely heavily on cover. The tactics are also biased towards attrition of opponents through defense, rather than taking the initiative to attack. Perhaps the French shed so much blood in the First World War that they feared war, and that seems good news to us. General Bock agreed with Kesselring's words, and then excused himself.

"But so what? Expecting the French to withdraw from the Entente? Or bet that France will do nothing in the war, as Spain did? France is a big country, and the contradictions between us and France are irreconcilable, how can we pin our hopes of victory in the war on the cowardice of the other side? When we concentrate our forces in the Middle East, thousands of kilometers away, who can guarantee that France will not burrow from behind the lines of defense and launch an attack on the Empire? The size of the empire is too small, and it lacks enough depth, and under the force of the air force and mechanized troops, the slightest mistake could destroy the entire empire! The French problem must be solved! Until this issue is resolved, I don't think it's realistic to discuss either Plan K or the plan to raid South Asia! Hindenburg did not deny what Kesselring and Bock had said, but was angry at the fluke. In his opinion, what the two of them said and what they wanted to express was simply treating war as child's play!

"In fact, it can be seen from this war that before the showdown between the two sides, neither we nor the Entente were deliberately avoiding the expansion of the war, for example, this time, the fighting between the two sides was almost confined to Italy itself, and we did not launch an attack on the Entente colonies, and except for Italy, the Entente did not launch an attack on the Balkans and our sea lines of communication. This is an objective fact that needs to be taken into account when making a plan. I'm not sure about anything else, but if we had done something to Iran, the French wouldn't have reacted much. Hindenburg waved his hand and motioned for Ludendorff to finish listening first.

"If nothing else, then our opponents in Iran can only start with the British and Huaxia, and Huaxia is not going all out because of its own oil fields in the Middle East. Over time, Americans may join in. However, because of the distance, the United States needs a long time to prepare. And the French are definitely not going to invest too much in Iran. The size of the British army was limited, so in order to make up for the lack of combat power, it was necessary to supplement it with the air force and navy. In this case, the Royal Air Force, which poses the greatest direct threat to us, will be redeployed to the east in large quantities, and our pressure will be relieved a lot. Hindenburg continued.

"That's right, it's not a big problem for us to take Iran, but it doesn't seem to have much to do with us solving the threat to the west, right?" Ludendorff was a little confused.

"We can't take France with the support of Britain and the United States, but if Britain and France concentrate their forces in the Middle East, thousands of kilometers away, then who can save France?" Hindenburg asked rhetorically with a smile.

"It's impossible, we attacked Iran about 3 years later. But by that time, we were only ready to fight a limited war in the Middle East, and we did not have the ability to start a full-scale war with the Entente and China. And an attack on France will surely provoke a total war! And even if Britain and the United States focus their attention on the Middle East, if we want to break through the Maginot Line, it will not be a matter of time and a half, if the Western Front cannot be broken and the Eastern Front cannot be defended, then it will be all over. Ludendorff retorted loudly. …

"Listen to me, we can do this, and when we launch Plan K, we will leave a bridgehead for Britain and the United States in Iran, and even give them some more benefits in the post-war negotiations. So what will Britain and the United States do next? They strengthened the bridgehead and moved elite troops to South Asia. With an army of the same size, the cost of deploying the British in South Asia was much higher than that of France. But India is impossible to give up, and we can use the advantage of distance to weaken the power of the Entente in disguise. And when the final battle came, our first target was France, not India! After clearing the European continent, we will turn around and deal with Britain and the United States and China! Hindenburg said earnestly.

"This plan seems to be feasible, but it still does not solve the original problem: how can we quickly capture France at a small cost? Moreover, even if the British transferred a considerable part of their air force to the Middle East, we would still not have an advantage in the total number of air forces, and even if we temporarily abandoned the Eastern Front and even parts of the Two Rivers Valley, our advantage would still not be large. Ludendorff was still not optimistic about Hindenburg's plans.

"If our navy and air force can guarantee that the army will be sent through the Maginot Line, will the army be confident that it will quickly defeat France in a relatively flat area?" While the two field marshals were arguing, Count Spee, who represented the Navy at the meeting, interjected. And as soon as his words came out, the army generals present couldn't help but be shocked! This situation was coveted by the German Army. Decisive battle in the wilderness, the German Army is not afraid of any country! Whether it is the United States and Britain in Western Europe, or China!

There will be a more ~~~ later, please subscribe for support~~~. (To be continued)