The Emperor of the Song Dynasty looked through the latest summary of national conditions in solemn silence. Especially on the pages of the detailed table of military expenditures, he read very carefully. The empire's current production capacity of tanks, aircraft, etc. has reached its highest peak since 1937. , with the suspension of aircraft carrier construction, more military expenditures flowed to the Air Force and Army, especially the Air Force. New turbojet fighter jets are being produced frantically, and the seven largest domestic aircraft manufacturers have received large-scale orders.
Even though the j-6m series of fighters currently being produced mainly are simplified versions with greatly reduced production processes and are not as good as the previous regular series j-6a/b models, they still maintain absolute suppression authority over the Axis Air Force.
Based on the J-6, the Imperial Air Force restarted a previous high-altitude and high-speed model that had not been put into actual production, and put it into production under the serial number of the J-606 fighter to make up for certain deficiencies in the high-speed performance of the J-6 fighter.
In fact, it cannot be regarded as a flaw, but because of more comprehensive considerations, the aerodynamic design of the J-6 fighter fuselage has not reached the highest level of turbojet fighter jets at high altitudes and high speeds.
The situation in China should be said to be pretty good.
Song Biao spent more than ten minutes reviewing the national situation in early September. At this time, Lieutenant General Chen Jiayou, the commander-in-chief of the inner court, personally sent a reply from the front line.
This is exactly the call back from Commander-in-Chief Zhao Tingzhu that Emperor Song Biao is waiting for.
He opened the telegram book and took a look. The answer was simple, easy to understand, and not beyond his expectation. He returned the telegram book to Chen Jiayou without much expression, and then asked Jiang and Gu: " Do you have a clear conclusion now about declaring war on the Axis Powers?"
Gu Weijun replied: "Recently, unified propaganda against Nazism and fascism has been arranged, but judging from the current polls, most citizens still have doubts about declaring war on Germany. Congress had previously conducted an anonymous symbolic poll In the vote, only 1/3 of the members of Congress supported the declaration of war against Germany. Judging from the preparation of military expenditures, it is still not the right time to start a war against Germany. However, the speed of military expansion of the German army has obviously exceeded our expectations. The German team is planning to develop nuclear weapons. The process is still unclear, but it is expected that its related funding will expand on a larger scale during this year, and it is estimated that the basic part of the research may have been completed."
Having said this, Gu Weijun did not continue to answer. He didn't express his attitude clearly, he just gave a vague answer. More importantly, he wanted to wait to see the emperor's specific opinions before making a new reply.
Jiang Fangzhen did not have too many doubts and simply replied: "I think we must start a war now. If we wait any longer, I am afraid there will be more variables that are unknown."
Emperor Song Biao was no longer as hesitant about this as before, and nodded: "Then declare war on Italy. The Empire and France have been allies for many years, and have the mission of maintaining world stability. They cannot condone Italian fascism's invasion of Africa, and officially declare war on Italy." Sign an alliance agreement and send troops to fight in North Africa. Protect the interests of the empire and curb the expansion of fascism. The Northwest Front is in no rush to start a war and continues to increase the scale of troop deployment. If the German army takes the initiative to attack, it will notify the whole country. Officially launch a comprehensive counterattack against the German army."
His answer no longer allows for any further mediation by the cabinet and is final.
No matter how much inconvenience Gu Weijun has, he can only bite the bullet and mobilize the cabinet to support the war. The good news is that it will start in North Africa first. Taking the opportunity to occupy North Africa and Egypt, and controlling the Suez Canal and the Red Sea has also been the empire's long-cherished wish.
Britain and France actually don¡¯t really want China to intervene in North Africa and the Mediterranean at this stage. However, without the empire's troops, it would be impossible for them to defeat Germany with their strength. Without the empire's support, they would all perish and eventually be ruled by Nazi Germany.
The two powers were harming each other, whichever was the lesser. Britain and France could only accept the empire's conditions and actively begged the empire to send troops to declare war.
This is a great historical opportunity that should never be missed.
Gu Weijun naturally understands the truth. Some historical opportunities are indeed fleeting.
He had nothing to say, so he and Chief of General Staff Jiang Fangzhen bowed their heads and obeyed His Majesty the Emperor.
Emperor Song Biao continued: "The central government and the party must strengthen propaganda, unify the people's thinking, speed up the allocation of resources, and introduce wartime policies. Military and political power will also be temporarily taken over by the Central National Defense Commission. We either do not participate in the war, or we must participate in the war We must firmly seize this historical opportunity, establish ourselves as a true world hegemon in one battle, and stand at the top of the world from then on, without any room for controversy. The empire¡¯s attitude must be resolute. The empire must be the world¡¯s largest power, and Nazi Germany must never be allowed to challenge the empire. Authority and interests, the North African theater needs to be fought quickly and quickly to expel Italy from all of North Africa, concentrate naval power into the Mediterranean, annihilate the main force of the Italian navy, and bring Spain into the alliance camp.??When Spain sends troops to fight against Germany, it must ensure that Spain does not fall and lay the foundation for a counterattack against Germany. "
Jiang Fangzhen said: "I am afraid that the battlefield in Southwest Europe will be plunged into a bitter battle. Our army currently has four armies deployed in Spain. Together with the troops of Spain and France, the total number of the army is close to three million, with 230,000 tanks and armored vehicles, and 18 artillery pieces. Wanmen, the Air Force has more than 7,000 fighter planes and can fight fiercely with the German army for about half a year. If it faces a general attack by the German and Italian armies and the slave countries at the same time, it will be difficult to say."
Emperor Song Biao thought for a while and said: "Leave this issue to Liu Gengyun to consider. First clean up North Africa, fast, with the power of thunder, to stabilize the entire North Africa in one fell swoop, and then consider concentrating troops to defend the Iberian Peninsula. Once the German army If you take the initiative to attack, you will strengthen a comprehensive offensive in the northwest. Now you must accelerate the expansion of military advantages in the northwest and force the German army to move its main forces to Eastern Europe. In addition, you can negotiate with the United Kingdom and ask the United Kingdom to send troops to the Iberian Peninsula to open up the European continent. The battlefield. After the surrender of France, the British Army has not been involved in the war on a large scale. It is expected that millions of troops can be deployed to intervene in the southern European battlefield, which can greatly alleviate the situation in Spain."
Gu Weijun said: "Now I don't know if Spain is sure that it is willing to participate in the war!"
Emperor Song Biao replied calmly: "The answer to this matter is only four words, coercion and inducement. There must always be benefits to participating in the war. Whatever benefits he wants, then give him those benefits."
Gu Weijun thought about it and could roughly guess the benefits that the Spanish government needed, and he could agree to it. He said: "I will immediately summon the Spanish ambassador, and also send a ministerial-level special envoy to Spain for direct negotiations, and strive to win Spain into the war as soon as possible."
Emperor Song Biao hummed and continued to emphasize: "Since this war has begun, it must have the full support of the people. The Central Defense Commission must set up a special agency to be responsible for the declaration of war and united front work. It must ensure that all citizens can unite their thoughts and resolutely To win this war, if necessary, a Hadith can be arranged, and perhaps, I must also come forward and personally state the reasons why our country must go to war."
Both Gu Weijun and Jiang Fangzhen were overjoyed and replied: "This is the best strategy."
If the Emperor of the Song Dynasty is willing to come forward and call on the people to participate in the war, it will definitely be the best united front strategy. The emperor enjoys extremely high authority and reputation in the country. As long as the emperor is willing to speak out and make his attitude clear, various poll crises will not be a problem at all. Military conscription, unified deployment and military debt raising will no longer be any problem. Everything is just a word from the emperor. It's just words, it just depends on whether Emperor Song is willing to come out and express his position.
It is about the honor, disgrace and fate of the country, and there is no reason why the Emperor of Song Dynasty should not come forward to settle everything.
This morning. Emperor Song Biao discussed the "Hadith" with the Prime Minister and Chief of General Staff, as well as issues such as accelerating military deployment and raising military expenditures. Within this week, various deployments and domestic public opinion propaganda and guidance will be accelerated, and we will strive to achieve the goal in September. A public declaration of war was made on the 20th. Officially launched a large-scale war of annihilation in North Africa, expelling the Italian army from North Africa, and took this opportunity to establish the "Horn of North Africa" ??in Ethiopia, Egypt, and Libya, laying the foundation for the empire's overall interests in Africa.
The modern army has nothing more than two combat systems. One is artillery-infantry coordination, and the other is tank-infantry coordination.
In the empire's large mechanized military system. Artillery and infantry coordination is still one of the main parts. Especially in the case of large-scale troop expansion, the mass production of artillery and trucks is much faster than that of tanks. A group army mainly composed of artillery and infantry usually only needs to deploy 3 to 3 to Five tank regiments can effectively tear open the enemy's defense line and launch a large-scale army position attack.
Using such a military system to confront the German Armored Army Group would be like an egg against a rock, and it cannot be considered the strongest strength of the Imperial Army system. However, with light armored infantry and towed artillery as the main body for coordinated operations, the motorized infantry With the support of , air force and some main battle tank groups, it is more than enough to deal with the Italian army and the North African battlefield.
With such an organization, four to five armies plus the British and French colonial forces can effectively control the entire Africa, and the actual scale of investment is much smaller than the main armored army group.
In this war, military expenditure is definitely a very huge challenge. Even the empire must use military expenditure fully, effectively and rationally, but in the main showdown with the German army, it is impossible to save money.
For these problems, the Central Military Headquarters already has relatively appropriate military plans.
In the morning of that day, Emperor Song Biao and Chief of General Staff Jiang Fangzhen roughly established the entire plan, striving to control the total military expenditure of the entire war to 35 billion yuan, which would be completed within 30 months in two and a half years. war.
"This is a world war after all. With the total number of troops approaching 15 million, whether the 35 billion Chinese yuan in military expenditures can be used is indeed a question. It is not about recruiting 15 million people."But, you still have to fire guns, deploy aircraft, tanks, armored vehicles and all other expenses.
Over the past year and a half, the central cabinet has been thinking of ways to raise military spending. The national treasury currently has a fiscal surplus of 13 billion yuan that can be directly used for military spending, which includes part of the proceeds from the sale of central state assets. In the next three years, During this period, the annual financial allocation can be maintained at about 7 billion yuan, which is basically enough to cover the military expenditures of this war.
In addition to the sale of war bonds, it is best to strive to raise 40 billion in military expenditures, and refund more and make up less, because there is another very important issue to consider, that is, the Central Military Department must continue to maintain financial support to other allies. Support, the central bank will also purchase large amounts of British and French bonds.
Adding up all the expenditures, the total military expenditures during the entire war is likely to be an astronomical figure. This is different from the war against Japan. Even though the third Sino-Japanese War lasted for two years, the actual total expenditures were actually not Large, and a large part of these expenses are equipment costs, which can also be used for this war against Germany.
Precisely because this is likely to be an astronomical figure, the empire is even more forced to force Britain and France to repay these expenses after the war.
The empire still has to hold on. If after the war, the United States took the opportunity to use the gold-dollar offensive to sweep across Europe, the empire would also have to find a way to exclude the United States. At the very least, it would be based on the United States providing equal lease terms and loan support to Britain and France. After the war was over, it would also give the United States a share. The advantage is to win over the United States to continue to suppress Europe, and the dominance must be in the hands of the empire.
After the war, the empire had better ensure that it has a financial reserve of 10 billion yuan, which can be used for the European reconstruction plan. This prevents the United States from dominating this process and allows the United States to seize control of the European economy without any reason.
Jiang Fangzhen went back to handle military affairs at noon. Emperor Song Biao kept Prime Minister Gu Weijun and summoned Finance Minister Chen Jin into the palace to discuss the post-war order and financial hegemony issues in advance. It is not difficult for the empire to defeat the Nazi axis. What is difficult is how to continue to suppress the United States after the war.
Therefore, this matter must be prepared with both hands, ending the war as soon as possible, controlling the large amount of national debt and fiscal reserves, and preserving the empire's financial and industrial suppression of the United States as much as possible.
In other words, the best way is to use nuclear weapons. The sooner the better.
After Emperor Song Biao made his position clear, the empire had no room for maneuver in formally declaring war on Italy. The prime minister of the central cabinet had the right to directly sign a war order. Once the prime minister signed the order. And if it is approved by the Song Emperor, it does not need to be discussed by the National Assembly.
Prime Minister Gu Weijun can no longer maintain the previous vague strategy and can only forcefully defend himself in Congress and demand a formal declaration of war on Italy. There is no need to seek approval from Congress at all now, but support from Congress will still be needed in the future. Therefore, unifying domestic thinking has become a very important issue, and various propaganda and public opinion guidance work have also been launched on a large scale.
Faced with this situation, the German and Polish ambassadors urgently came forward to discuss with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, hoping that the empire could continue to maintain its original stance of not participating in the war. Under the current situation, China, the United States, Spain, Brazil, Iran, Turkey and other countries have not participated in the war. In fact, all countries have preferences here. The United States maintains a relatively balanced balance between the Allies and the Axis Powers due to arms sales issues. Sweden is also slightly biased towards the Axis Powers due to self-protection factors, while Turkey is obviously biased towards the Axis Powers. Among these countries, except for China and the United States, they are all countries with relatively small influence and are not important.
"If the United States suddenly joins the war, no matter which side it joins, it will directly lead to a huge turning point in the battlefield. However, compared with China, the United States' influence is still much smaller.
To be precise, China¡¯s strength and influence are basically equal to the sum of Britain, France, Germany, Italy, and Poland.
Once China officially joins the war, the entire Asian League will be involved, and China's other important partners around the world, such as Brazil and Chile in South America, Spain in Europe, Ethiopia in Africa, and other countries may be directly involved in the war, and may even Involving the entire South America to join the war.
This is a very scary thing.
Nazi Germany did plan to challenge the Chinese Empire¡¯s global hegemony and establish the Germanic world hegemony, but this was a very long-term plan and it was impossible to achieve this goal within ten years.
Of course, it is indeed impossible for the Chinese Empire to give Nazi Germany this time period and opportunity.
The United States can sit on the sidelines and wait for the new historical opportunities brought by Germany's challenge to China. China absolutely cannot wait.
After Gu Weijun delivered a policy speech in Congress and expressed his clear intention to join the war, both Germany and Poland immediately sent their ambassadors to urgently start negotiations, hoping to continue to prevent China from joining the war through diplomatic mediation, because once China joins the war,It is very likely that the current strength of the country cannot bear it.
Although the British Empire is miserable, after all, it still has strong backing such as Canada, Australia, and South Africa, and it still maintains the relationship between a suzerain and colonial power with India.
The British Empire still has the largest number of colonies in the world and a huge reserve of war resources, while China is the leader of the entire Asian Union, with a population, resources and industrial strength that rivals that of the entire Europe, as well as the most powerful financial and technological strength in the world. .
As long as China officially joins the war, Britain will definitely fight with China to the end. Germany may not be able to withstand a long-term war of attrition with China and Britain.
Let¡¯s talk.
We still have to talk about it.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs still sent the deputy foreign minister to negotiate with Germany and Poland. The price was very high. First, Germany must completely withdraw from France and recognize the Free French government; second, the Axis powers must completely withdraw from Africa; third, the Axis powers must completely withdraw from Africa. Russia must be withdrawn.
France was the most important industrial base outside Nazi Germany¡¯s territory, and Russia was Nazi Germany¡¯s resource base and industrial base. If these two places were given up, Germany would have no chance to continue to challenge imperial hegemony.
This negotiation was unlikely to yield any results. By September 18, although the empire had not officially declared war, the two armies stationed in Ethiopia had already entered Egypt, and the air force also began a large-scale attack on the Italian army stationed in Libya. The Central Naval Aviation The combined fleet departed from the ports of Aden and North Macau, detouring through South Africa and entering the Atlantic Ocean.
The first stop of the Imperial Navy is the Congo. After occupying the Congo, the entire fleet will not be stationed in the Portuguese port of Reis until Portugal is confirmed to be drawn into the Allied camp. After that, it will enter the Mediterranean and destroy the Italian Navy in one fell swoop.
The purpose of going around in a big circle is for two things. One is to occupy the Congo base in West Africa, and the other is to use military strength to force Spain and Portugal to completely fall into the Allied camp.
The imperial army¡¯s offensive has begun, and a new era is about to come.