Anti-Japanese War: The whole world is a base vehicle

"Want to find out the origins of these warships?" Raeder held the telegram sent by the naval commanders of Italy and France in both hands. After quickly scanning the content, the corners of his mouth couldn't help but rise slightly, and a slightly smug smile quietly bloomed on his face.

He knew in his heart that this time, the German Navy had finally regained its dignity, and those days of being despised and neglected in the past seemed to have become a thing of the past.

Thinking back to those days, the attitudes of the navies of these two countries towards the German Navy were extremely cold.

On weekdays, they rarely responded to him, as if the German Navy was not in their eyes at all. As for commanding the battle and asking them to obey the orders of the German Navy, that was a fantasy and basically impossible.

Take the French for example, they were very determined. In order to prevent the warships from falling into the hands of the Germans, they would rather be cruel and let those warships sink to the bottom of the sea than hand them over. This shows how much the French were on guard against the German Navy at that time. They looked down on it from the bottom of their hearts and felt that they must not let their own warships become a force to strengthen the German Navy.

But now, the situation has taken a big turn. When Raeder asked Italy and France to cooperate in command, he thought that the other party would bargain or directly refuse, but he didn't expect that they had no objections and just silently agreed and prepared to cooperate.

From this we can see that in this ever-changing situation at sea, if you want to convince the other party and make them obey your command wholeheartedly, you can only rely on real strength.

The sudden display of so many battleships by the German army was like showing off its most powerful "trump card", which immediately changed the attitudes of the Italian and French navies. They no longer dared to underestimate the German navy. When Raeder thought of this, he felt even more proud.

"Marshal, we must not let them know." Lieutenant General Lütjens looked anxious and could not help but step forward to persuade him. His brows were furrowed, and his eyes were full of worry. In his opinion, the origin of this battleship was the trump card of the German Navy. It was the key to their ability to stand tall on the sea and make other countries' navies wary. How could it be leaked out easily? Once it was known, the advantage that the German army had accumulated with great difficulty would be gone.

However, Raeder had a different opinion. He sighed slightly and said slowly: "Even if we want to hide it, I'm afraid we can't hide it for long." He knew in his heart that all forces were now full of curiosity about the many battleships that suddenly appeared in the German army. Like a group of cats that smelled blood, they were all secretly spying, trying to find out the secret behind it. It was not easy to cover up this secret.

"Why?" Lütjens looked at the other party with a puzzled look on his face, his eyes wide open. The puzzled expression seemed to say, as long as everyone keeps their mouths shut, how can it be hidden? He really couldn't understand why the marshal would make such an assertion.

"Because that's what others are planning." Redel shook his head helplessly, with a hint of helplessness and bitterness in his tone.

He knew very well that the navies and intelligence agencies of other countries were all trying to dig out this secret and would certainly try every possible means to investigate and spy. It would be almost impossible for the German army to completely block the news.

"Unless we can buy all their warships, but do we have that much funding?" Raeder continued with a wry smile, his face full of helplessness. You know, for these warships, he really begged for help from everyone, ran around, found many people, and talked until his lips were worn out. It took a lot of trouble to finally get the superiors to agree to provide a special fund.

But this funding is not given for no reason. There are requirements for it, and that is to produce results. These warships must perform well in naval battles, demonstrate their value, and prove that this investment is worthwhile.

So now facing the situation that the origin of the warship may be leaked, Raeder is helpless and torn. He wants to keep the secret, but he is aware of the difficulties of reality. He can only try his best to deal with this dilemma.

"So what you mean?" Lieutenant General Lütjens had a bad feeling in his heart. His brows were slightly furrowed, and there was a hint of worry in his eyes. He felt that what he was going to hear next might not be optimistic.

"I'm afraid someone has already gone to sell the warships." Admiral Raeder said helplessly with a wry smile on his face. He knew very well that in order to make these hard-earned warships quickly form combat effectiveness and put them into actual combat so that he could report to his superiors and show results, he really spent a lot of time and effort and hired a lot of people to help.

Originally, at the beginning, he was quite surprised, wondering why the other party was so generous and readily agreed to send people to help operate the warship. He was secretly glad to have met a good helper.

But now thinking back, I'm afraid I've already fallen into a trap carefully set by others.

"Who made our navy so disappointing?" Admiral Raeder sighed helplessly, his tone full of reluctance and self-blame. The development of the German navy has been limited in recent years. The number of sailors is too small, which is not matched with the scale of so many warships. As a result, it is impossible to control all the warships. There is no choice but to hire outsiders.

Moreover, after being hired, he discovered that the other party's operating level was obviously higher than that of the German sailors, which made him feel very jealous. Seeing others operate the warships so skillfully and making various tactical moves smoothly, and then comparing it with his own sailors, the gap was obvious, but there was nothing he could do and he had to rely on others. He felt very uncomfortable, as if a big stone was blocking his way. He felt very aggrieved.

Hearing this, Lieutenant General Lütjens also looked helpless. He knew his current situation very well, but things had come to this point and he could only accept this reality helplessly. However, how to deal with various possible situations next became a difficult problem before them. Both of them fell into deep thought for a while.

.........

On the other side, Darlan stood on the deck of the flagship, waiting for someone to come with a puzzled look in his eyes. Originally, he saw a ship approaching in the distance, and thought that it was probably an officer sent by the German army to contact them. After all, in the current situation, there were many things that needed to be communicated and coordinated between the various parties.

But when the man boarded the flagship, Darlang took a closer look and found that it was not what he expected. No! To be precise, the other party seemed to be not only here to contact him, but also had other tasks. After a conversation, Darlang finally understood that the other party was indeed here to communicate with him, but at the same time, he was also tasked with selling warships, which really surprised him. "You have warships?" Darlang's eyes widened, his face full of disbelief. To be honest, if he hadn't seen the majestic warships of the German army appear in front of him, letting him know that there seemed to be many unimaginable things happening quietly in this world, he would never believe that what the man said was true.

Because in his understanding, warships are not something that can be sold casually. This is too outrageous, like a fairy tale.

"That's right. We have warships of all types. As long as we have money, nothing is a problem." Li Si looked at Darlang with confidence and said solemnly. His tone was as if he had so many warships in his hands that he couldn't count them all, and as long as the other party could come up with enough money, the deal could be made immediately.

"For example, the Richelieu-class battleship can be delivered to you in three months at the latest, as long as you can afford it." Li Si continued, his expression very relaxed, as if he was talking about a trivial matter.

Hearing this, Darlang was completely shocked, his mouth opened wide, and he couldn't close it for a long time. His heart skipped a beat, and countless thoughts flashed through his mind, and he was even more curious about the other party's background.

The Richelieu-class battleship is a very powerful warship, with a complex construction process and high technical content. Not every force can own it. But the man in front of him actually said that he could provide it as long as he was paid. This was indeed beyond his expectations. He thought to himself that this person must have an unusual background and story behind him. For a moment, he stared at Li Si, trying to find some clues from him.

"Can you really provide it?" Darlang was silent for a long time, frowning, with a hint of hesitation and expectation in his eyes, before he slowly asked. At this moment, his heart was like a bottle of five flavors overturned, with all kinds of tastes surging in his heart.

After France surrendered, the French fleet became fragmented.

Some warships ran away, yes, they ran to South America. I don’t know what the captains were thinking, but they never came back. It is estimated that they will not come back for a while. This caused the French Navy to lose a lot of strength.

Another part of the warships were fooled by the British and followed them to the British Isles without knowing why. Now the originally complete and powerful French fleet seemed to have been drained of its muscles and bones, and now it can be said that it is seriously damaged.

Darlan was originally troubled by this matter and was thinking every day about how to restore the vitality of the French fleet.

You know, after the defeat, France faced a sky-high war reparations. That huge figure was like a mountain, suffocating the entire country. People lived in hardship and the government had to tighten its belt to make ends meet. There was no extra money to allocate to the military to build warships, so it was basically unrealistic to want to scrape out money to build warships.

But if he could expand the fleet by purchasing, it would be a good choice, but if the price was too high, he might not be able to afford it. After all, France's financial situation was so bad that every expenditure had to be carefully calculated and no carelessness was allowed.

The reason why Darlan was determined to restore the vitality of the French fleet was naturally because of his considerations.

He knew very well that in order to safeguard France's overseas interests and suppress those colonies that betrayed France, he needed a strong navy.

Seeing that France was defeated, the colonies began to make moves and wanted to break away from France's control. However, without the support of the navy, it would be impossible to suppress them across the vast ocean with the army alone. Therefore, it was imperative for Darlan to restore the strength of the fleet, but he had to think carefully about buying warships. After all, it was a matter of great importance and he could not make a hasty decision.

"Of course, the German battleships were provided by us. I believe those battleships should be able to prove our strength, right?" Li Si said slowly with a smile on his face, his eyes showing some confidence and pride. His expression seemed to say that the German army could be so powerful on the sea today, but it was all due to the battleships they provided, and their strength was beyond doubt.

Hearing this, Darlan suddenly understood. The doubts that had been lingering in his mind suddenly became clear, just like the sky after the clouds were cleared. He was originally curious about how the German army suddenly had so many battleships. This powerful fleet that appeared out of nowhere was really puzzling. Now he finally understood that they were all bought.

However, he was still quite shocked by the German army's lavish spending. He thought to himself, how much would it cost to buy so many battleships? This was not a small amount of money. Even during the heyday of the French Navy, if they wanted to buy so many at once, they would have to think twice. After all, battleships were expensive and the funds required were quite huge.

But when you think about the German army sweeping across Europe and seizing countless gold, silver and treasures wherever they went, in comparison, the money for buying warships seems nothing. They do have the financial resources to build such a powerful naval force.

"Well, let's get two Richelieu-class battleships first." Darlan thought about it and weighed the pros and cons before speaking slowly. In his opinion, although the fleet urgently needed to be strengthened, France's current financial situation was really tight. Buying two ships first would temporarily alleviate the urgent need, and then slowly find a solution later.

Hearing this, Li Si suddenly became unhappy. The smile on his face disappeared instantly and his brows furrowed. In his mind, two ships were too few. He originally thought that with the French Navy's eagerness to recover, it would have to buy several ships. These two ships were too far from his expectations. He felt that this deal was a bit unprofitable, but he couldn't get angry directly. He could only suppress his displeasure and think about how to persuade Darlan to buy more.

You have to know that the German army ordered more than 50 warships, but France only had this few, which was like sending away a beggar. Naturally, he was dissatisfied.

"Don't you want revenge?" Li Si looked at the other party with a mocking expression. (End of this chapter)