Winston Churchill frowned as he looked at the telegram that had just been delivered to him.

Everyone in the meeting looked at him in unison.

"Mr. Prime Minister, what does the telegram say?" Finally, the Chancellor of the Exchequer couldn't help but ask.

"The Germans have just sent a telegram," Churchill handed the telegram to Arthur, the minister sitting next to him. Greenwood, "They officially announced the capture of former Queen Isabella, stating that they had given Isabella treatment in accordance with her status, and it was all normal here, but in the second half of the electricity, they announced that Lin Youde and Isabella had made a bet that if Isabella did not fall in love with Lin Youde within six months, Lin Youde would be free after six months. ”

Churchill looked around the room.

"Guys, do you know what that means?"

The crowd looked at each other, but no one spoke.

So Winston Churchill slapped the table and raised his voice sharply and shouted, "This means that the German spies have infiltrated very close to us!" This means that the Eye of Odin will be able to get the content of our new resolution in half a day! ”

Churchill's words fell, and the whole room fell into a dead silence.

Finally, Arthur? Greenwood broke the silence: "I'm not sure if our side leaked the information, or maybe it was just a coincidence. In addition, we have informed some of the heads of the press last evening that they have been angry about the propaganda plans that followed, and that perhaps there were German spies among them. ”

Churchill was silent for a moment before he said slowly: "Yes, but we have to prepare for the worst." After today's meeting, until we find out whether or not the information was leaked, and how it was leaked, we will not have any more meetings like this. National decision-making will be made by a leaner team, and no one has an opinion, right? ”

The crowd exchanged glances again, and in the end no one objected to Churchill's decision.

"Very well," Churchill nodded, his thick neck making the nod less obvious, "and then let's discuss how to deal with it." I don't think we can think about the new queen for the time being, and we can withdraw the press releases that have not yet been sent. I remember this morning we should have just made an ambiguous announcement, right? ”

The cabinet member in charge of publicity nodded.

"Isn't that right?" Ironside frowned, "Just because the Germans changed their original decision with a single power call, it would damage the prestige of the government......"

"The Germans don't just send one electricity." Churchill glanced at the general, "They must have a follow-up propaganda plan, if it was the last war, we could have put an end to the spread of these messages through the guò ********, but now that the radio is so popular, as long as the Germans deploy radio stations along the French coastline to broadcast these messages constantly, the people will definitely receive them." ”

"It could also be a conspiracy by Lin Youde to send Isabella, who was loyal to her, back to us in six months......" Ironside retorted.

Churchill shook his head: "If that's the case, then why limit it to six months?" ”

"Maybe there's some way he can get Isabella to give in to him after six months."

"That means Isabella hasn't given in yet, has she?" Churchill stared at Ironside, "So we should at least admit Isabella as our man, shouldn't we?" As for six months later, when Isabella, who was controlled by Lin Youde through some means, returns to the UK, we can control her through other methods, or even get rid of her according to the situation, and we will have the final say on what to do at that time. Of course, the safest thing is to overhead her, and I don't think it's hard to do. ”

At this time, Cunningham said: "I am also in favor of not carrying out the decision to make the queen a traitor for the time being, and in the present situation, it is clear that the queen's arrest will arouse the people's desire to resist more, but it will not incite the people as excessively as the queen was killed, and we can declare to the public that the current shape of the frontal battlefield is very bad, and we must retreat from the continent, but we will continue to fight until our beloved queen returns to us." ”

"That's right, it can not only increase national cohesion, but also ensure that the withdrawal of troops is supported by the people." Winston Churchill paused, adding, "More importantly, it can also ensure political stability and avoid unnecessary changes in leadership." ”

As soon as Churchill's words came out, the cabinet members, who seemed to have some dissent, immediately shut up.

"Well, then, let's decide." Churchill pulled out a cigar and played with it in his hand, "Withdraw the follow-up propaganda copy and reformulate the propaganda plan." Okay, guys, now I'm going to discuss with the generals a specific plan of action for the withdrawal, and you can leave. ”

Many cabinet members were very dissatisfied with Churchill's exclusion of them from the decision-making of military operations, but they knew that Churchill would definitely talk about German spies who might have lurked in the upper echelons of the government, so they didn't say much, obediently packed up their things, and left quietly and orderly.

**

Petrograd, Hermitage.

Iron Ji slapped the table and laughed.

"Hahahaha, what is this, there is such a thing! The two countries are at war, and if the supreme ruler makes such a bet, aren't they afraid that the soldiers on the front line will lose their will to fight? ”

Beside Iron Ji, Natalia held the full text of the German telegram she had just sent in her hand, she frowned and read it carefully, her eyes swept to the last line, and then immediately returned to the top line and re-read the telegram.

"It's unusual." Natalia shook her head, "I believe Isabella was caught, and I believe Isabella didn't give in, but this bet ......"

"Do you think this bet is a lie? In fact, Isabella has been injected with a huge amount of inhibitors and has become a vegetative person at the mercy of Lin Youde, do you think so? Iron Ji leaned back in her chair and rested her feet on the table—a gesture that honestly didn't match her petite stature.

"I think it's the most likely, but I don't understand the point of the lie that concocted this bet. If it is to confuse the public, then a more credible lie should be made, even if it is announced that Isabella is madly in love with Lin Youde, it is more credible than this bet. ”

After listening to Natalia's words, Iron Ji also showed a contemplative expression. After thinking for a while, she sighed: "I can't think of a reason for Lin Youde to do this, tsk, I suddenly care about what happened after Isabella was caught." However, one thing I am sure of is that Lin Youde must have been on her. ”

"I can only say that this is very likely."

"Right, right! But none of this has much to do with us, and whatever the truth is, what we have to do has not changed. ”

"Yes, in any case, you will have to meet with the Vatican's secret envoy in ten minutes."

After Natalia finished speaking, Iron Ji laughed: "Don't be like this, Natalia, I'm talking about things to be done in the general direction, not such trivial things as in front of me." ”

That's when the phone on Natalia's desk rang.

Natalia picked up the earpiece, said "um" twice, "Got it, let them in." ”

After putting down the phone, Natalia said to Iron Hime, "The Pope's envoy has arrived, and the secretary is leading them in. ”

"It's annoying to see that thin old man again."

As soon as she finished speaking, the door opened, and the emaciated old man of Iron Queen's mouth appeared in the door of her huge office. The old man entered the room with his head held high, and sat down on the couch in the middle of the room, behind which several of his young attendants were lined up, poorly trained.

When the voice of the secretary closing the door and leaving fell, the old man spoke first: "Your Excellency Iron Ji, I ......"

"We are preparing for the offensive." Iron Ji replied before the old man asked, "You should also know that it takes a huge amount of artillery shells to start a war, and the Russian army consumed two million shells of various calibers every month in the last war, and our current reserves are not very sufficient. In addition, there are ammunition and supplies for the troops, replacement parts and consumables for the magic armor, all of which require a long time to prepare. When our army launched its first large-scale offensive in the last war, many soldiers did not even receive rifles, and I did not allow that to happen to my soldiers. ”

"But Your Excellency, if you don't attack again, the British may not be able to hold on......"

"No matter how powerful the Luftwaffe is, they don't have a navy and can't threaten the British mainland. Moreover, it is impossible for Lin Youde to send all his Shenji to the Western Front, after all, we have already declared war on them, and it is not strange to attack at any time, he must ensure that there is Shenji to defend the Eastern Front. The attack on Britain could only rely on the French gods, but would the French really do their best? I don't think so. ”

The corners of the Holy See's secret envoy's mouth trembled slightly, but a smile full of joy appeared on the face of Iron Ji, who noticed this.

The two sides talked for another half an hour, and the representatives of the Holy See tried in every possible way to persuade Iron Ji to start attacking, but the Russian dictator resolutely refused.

After the Holy See envoy left, Natalia said to Iron Ji with a helpless expression, "You should at least give them a comforting promise." ”

"Then they will continue to come and urge me in a few days, and the trouble will die. It's better to dispel their thoughts at this time. As he spoke, Iron Ji opened the paper folder on the table and took out this quarter's domestic economic report from it.

"We finally relied on the support of the Americans, and the domestic situation was very good, and of course we could delay it for as long as we could. What's more, at the current pace, in another five years we could sweep Europe on our own. ”

Natalia interrupted Iron Ji's triumphant speech: "It's still relatively difficult to sweep Europe, and the number of gods we have, even if we add the so-called Austro-Hungarian ****, can't compete with the whole of Europe." ”

"Don't worry, the British goddess will fight Lin Youde to the end, even if no one dies in battle, there will definitely be a few who will be crippled, and the combat effectiveness will be greatly reduced. And I didn't really say that I would wait five years before going to war, I just planned to let this stability last for a while, such as half a year, if the British can't hold out even half a year, we don't need to rush to send troops to save them, right? In case we send troops at that time, Lin Youde and we are on the bar, but the British are watching the play on the island, then we will not lose?

"Besides, it is also good for us that Britain is destroyed, at least the coveted Black Sea outlet will definitely be obtained, and then in Persia, Afghanistan and other places, the force that has been restraining us from going south will also disappear, and Lin Youde's Germany will definitely not be able to run to these places to stop us, and the lands that His Majesty Alexander II dreamed of back then have finally become our Russian possessions. Isn't that a welcome thing? So, although I personally very much want to destroy Germany, capture Lin Youde alive, and then kill his obnoxious lover Conrad, in fact, there is no problem for us not to attack Germany, and we will not lose at all. ”

After Iron Ji finished speaking, Natalia sighed.

"You have a point, but is it really good for us to declare no war like this? The international community will think that we are not taking our word for granted. ”

"It's as if England and France have always kept their word." Iron Ji shrugged, "Besides, now it seems that the so-called international community has come to reshuffle the cards again, after shuffling the cards, who cares if you are true to your word before." ”

This time, Natalia didn't contradict Iron Ji again.

**

As soon as the old man of the Vatican returned to the carriage, his chief servant cursed: "These Russian bastards! ”

"Don't do that, we expected this before we came, didn't we?" The old man, who was a secret envoy, was very calm, "However, that little girl of Iron and Steel has a much calmer attitude after the Turkish War, which is a bit unexpected by the old man." ”

At this time, another servant of the old man said: "Otherwise, we will simply tell the Russians that Lin Youde may have the ability to make Shenji pregnant with Shenji, so that Russia will ......"

"Do you have all the Xiang in your head?" The old man suddenly scolded, "Our purpose is twofold, the first is to exterminate pan-humanism, and the second is that Lin Youde, the demon who brought chaos to the world, must die. Do you think Lin Youde's special physique will still die after it is made public? When the time comes, we will have to go to great lengths to assassinate him, and if we are not careful, we will have a vendetta against another great power! Haven't you thought about any of this? What did you learn from me? ”

The servant blushed, bowed his head and stopped talking.

The old man took a deep breath.

"But the present situation is not particularly bad," he continued, "and although the Chancellor tries to show that she has no interest in sending troops, I can see that she still has a considerable desire for German land, and for the skills that the Germans have mastered, and I can feel it. She just wanted to delay a little longer, after all, the Russian economy has been doing well lately. I think that the Russian army will launch an offensive in half a year at the latest, and the state of 'fake war' on the Eastern Front will end. That's how we report to the Vatican. ”

(Today's housework is delayed, it's too late to change the third chapter, and it's okay to make up tomorrow)