Battle of the Third Reich Chapter 48: Special Envoy for Diplomacy (Part 1)

　　"My head of state, those Japanese people are already waiting outside. Will you see them now?"

　　 Ribbentrop humbly stood beside Xu Jun and asked in a low voice.

　　 "Um... let them in."

　　 Xu Jun turned around from the window and handed the documents in his hand to his deputy foreign minister.

　　 "The one that should come will come..."

　　 Xu Jun stroked the broken hair on his forehead, trimmed his clothes a little, and then walked towards the side door leading to the conference room with his hands on his back.

　　 "Mr. Ambassador, the head of state invites you in."

　　 Ribbentrop smiled while standing in front of Oshima Hiroshi and said softly.

　　 "Ah, thank you, Mr. Minister."

　　 Hiroshi Oshima had already stood up from the gorgeous sofa in the lounge. Hearing Ribbentrop’s words, he quickly exchanged a glance at his companion, and then slowly raised him. The briefcase that had been hugged to his chest before, tidyed up his clothes, and put on his German-style woolen hat.

　　"Please wait, Mr. Minister, please tell the head of state that Keitel and General Manstein are already on the way and will arrive here on time."

　　 Disenhofen said loudly on the phone.

　　 "Well, I see, Eric."

　　 Ribbentrop smiled and waved to Dissenhofen, then turned his head to the group of Japanese and urged: "Everyone, please follow me, the head of state is still waiting."

　　 "Ah, yes, Mr. Minister, please lead the way."

　　 Before starting, the Japanese envoys suddenly bowed respectfully to Disenhofen, who was sitting behind the desk, and startled the young adjutant. Before Dissenhofen could react, the well-dressed Japanese had followed Ribbentrop quickly and walked into Xu Jun's office with a formal expression.

　　 "Oh?"

　　 Tysenhofen scratched his head suspiciously, then shrugged his shoulders.

　　 "What a strange group of people."

　　 Regarding the sudden change of the top German leadership in June, the Japanese government may be the most concerned about the world.

　　 Last year, the German government quickly signed the "Soviet-German Non-Aggression Treaty" with Russia without notifying the Japanese government, which steadily caught the Japanese government by surprise. Prime Minister Kiichiro Hiranuma, who had just come to power soon, managed to survive the tremendous pressure brought by the Nomonkan defeat. He was burying his head in planning to form an alliance with Germany and Italy to jointly deal with Russia’s empire plan. He did not expect the Germans to be here. He hit a sap on his head without mercy. The grand plan of the Great Japanese Empire to unite Germany and Italy to find a place from Maozi with its arms all over the place seemed to have been ruined, and the Hiranuma cabinet had to be disbanded on the spot.

　　 It’s only been seven months before and after. Poor, the imperial prime minister, at this time, he didn’t even have time to sit on his butt. When he encountered such a bad thing, he couldn’t cry.

　　 The originally fast-growing German-Japanese relationship stalled like a brake, and the clamor for a German-Japanese alliance in Japan came to an end. For a while, the Japanese government and people all accused the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of why it failed to get half a point in advance. After spending so much manpower and material resources, and even ignorant of such an important diplomatic event, how can such a Ministry of Foreign Affairs allow people to continue to trust. The officials of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs were so deceived by a lot of hats as incompetence, malfeasance, idiots, trash, etc., the Ministry of Foreign Affairs did not dare to tell others what they were doing during that period of time. .

　　 Next on stage is Prime Minister Nobuyuki Abe, who has suffered the same fate as Prime Minister Heinuma. Not long after he took office, the army general was baffled by a large number of domestic trade conflicts and food shortages. This general made a good fight and set fire to it. Ruling the country would cost him his old life. Although he struggled hard, he quickly lost the trust of everyone in the Japanese government and the opposition, and had to be forced to Resign and step down. He was more miserable than Kiichiro Hiranuma. He had been in power for less than three months, which was shorter than Xu Jun's original time. Abe's incompetence completely lost the face of the Japanese army general, and immediately after he stepped down, he was kicked aside by the military and sat on a cold bench.

　　 The hapless person who succeeded Abe was the navy-born General Mitsumasa Yoneuchi. This prime minister was quite capable, maintaining the navy’s glorious tradition of careful thinking, and able to calmly conceive of Japan’s development policy. However, what is unexpected is that in addition to inheriting the navy-style calm way of thinking, the admiral also inherited the navy's tradition of being close to the United Kingdom and the United States. After taking office, he joined the foreign minister Arita and began preparing for diplomacy. Coordinating with the United Kingdom and the United States to ease the contradiction between the two sides. Minnet's attitude completely angered the army system that had always hated the United Kingdom and the United States. With the resignation of the Minister of Army Shunroku Hata and his resignation, Yonechi Mitsumasa had no choice but to grit his teeth and bow down. He lasted for three and a half months, more than ten days longer than that fool of Abe, and finally didn't shame the Navy.

　　 Then was the current Prime Minister Fumio Konoe, who was more than a year after stepping down, the political veteran, under the order of the emperor, came back to form a cabinet again, more than two months earlier than in history.

　　 Until this time, the Japanese diplomatic service finally took a sigh of relief. The Minister of Foreign Affairs Matsuoka Yoyou of the Guards Cabinet, the famous "Mainlandist" diplomat once again picked up the plan to form an alliance with Germany and Italy. But this time behind the Three-Power Alliance, the target Japan wants to deal with is no longer Russia in the north, but the United States across the Pacific. The radical Matsuoka even plans to start negotiations with Russia immediately after the successful alliance of the three countries, striving to draw Russia into the alliance of the three countries, and confront the United States with the power of the four countries.

　　 The officials of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs have obtained clear goals and started gearing up to revive the former glory of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. But before they have finished the basic adjustments of Japan's foreign policy, the Germans, who have been stable for a few days, have once again made a major event that shocked the world.

　　 After rigorous preparations, Germany suddenly launched a lightning attack on European lowland countries. When they first learned of this news, the Japanese were really taken aback. They did not expect that Germany would be so impatient and challenged Europe's most powerful national alliance alone. The subsequent development of the situation made the Japanese even more stunned, and the German army showed extraordinary combat effectiveness. The seemingly powerful Anglo-French army had no power to fight back in front of the German army, and watched the German army rampage into the land of no man in Europe.

　　 Public opinion in Japan is boiling again, and the topic of the German-Japanese alliance has once again occupied the dominant position of the people after dinner. Especially those young and strong officers in the army. Their eyes were green and blood boiled by the brilliant achievements of Germany. This group of fanatical guys even shouted out the slogan that we must not miss this bus, and won the military Recognition of some senior generals.

　　 Not only does the military think so, but most people in the cabinet also agree with this view. Many people think that by virtue of the kind of good relations that Japan and Germany have maintained before, and the previous "International Agreement on Production and Production" at the bottom, Japan will surely be able to catch the ride of Germany's world dominance.

　　 Seeing that Britain and France are about to be completely defeated by Germany, there will be no country in Asia except the United States on the other side of the Pacific that can stop the advancement of the Japanese imperial army. It will not be the day when the ideal of His Majesty Yabaru Kazuu is realized. Far. However, no one thought that just as the whole country cheered, the Germans once again made a super joke with the Japanese, and their head of state had changed.

　　When the Ministry of Foreign Affairs learned of this news, the Minister of Foreign Affairs could hardly believe it was true.

　　What the **** are the Germans doing? It's the end of a few Japanese prime ministers. The last time I played with Hiranuma, Japan changed the government of the Three Realms in more than a year. The two terms of the government took less than half a year, and the Japanese political situation was in chaos. Now that the brand-new Guards Cabinet has just taken office, the southward strategy has finally been determined. Japan is preparing to launch a new round of diplomatic mediation for the German-Italian-Japanese alliance, but the Germans have created this situation again. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs had previously studied Hitler's personal character and habits in order to be able to please the German head of state, but now it is better that the target under study did not say a word of hello and hung up.

　　 When they learned that it was the young deputy head of state Reinhard von Steide who had been keeping a low profile, the officials of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs felt that the problem became serious. Originally, the German head of state was ranked second on the succession list of Air Force Marshal Goering. Now the German head of state is ranked third, and he has been serving as an idle minister in the government, serving as a military commander. Previously, it had not attracted the attention of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The intelligence department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs had collected a lot of information on the German leaders, most of which belonged to Hitler and Goering, and installed three file cabinets. Few of these documents are about the deputy head of state.

　　 I also blame Reinhardt for hiding too tightly in normal times. He has always lived in a sneaky manner. Except for the high-level Nazi rallies, all other activities will appear within three minutes. The diplomatic banquet held by the Japanese embassy he did once He didn't attend, and never accepted interviews from reporters. Compared with his lively predecessor, he was like a person of two worlds. Because of his incomprehensible low-key, the intelligence department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs found it difficult to obtain valuable information from him and selectively ignored him.

　　 Now the dignified Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Empire of Japan knows almost nothing about this new German head of state. The information on this von Stedder in the Intelligence Service, all the photo files add up to less than ten pages. How can this not make the diplomats depressed? When it was learned that the new German head of state was this man, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Japanese Empire was suddenly panicked. Matsuoka Yoyou was dumbfounded on the spot, and if this matter was spread, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs' hats of idiots, malfeasance, and waste would never be taken off.

　　The desperate Minister of Foreign Affairs gave a death order. He must have all the information about the new German head of state before France surrenders. Otherwise, he will expel all personnel related to this, even if the guy is entrusted by the emperor. Good fruit. The Minister of Foreign Affairs gave the order, and the poor group of officials below had no choice but to jump up and down to find the personal information of the German head of state. Various routines and relationships, both open and secret, have all been used, and the Japanese diplomats have sacrificed their money for their expensive salary.

　　 But they are disappointed that the information obtained from any channel is as short and terribly short. The resume of the German head of state was as clean as a piece of white paper, which made the Japanese start to wonder if this guy fell from the sky. The most surprising thing for the Japanese is that they originally wanted to find out some information from the German ambassador to Japan, General Eugene Otter. However, they never expected that the ambassador would treat his new head of state. Understanding is as poor as they are. Fortunately, he still hung the portrait of the new head of state in the embassy, ​​and he didn't even know how tall his big boss was.

　　The officials of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs who were finally forced to desperately had to risk being ridiculed and bite the bullet and seek help from the military intelligence department of the Japanese Army and Navy. But the result was disappointing to them. The Japanese military did not establish a reliable intelligence network in Europe. It’s no wonder that the army and navy in Europe have no other sources of intelligence besides military attachés in various embassies. Moreover, they only care about military-related intelligence. There is less information about political leaders of various countries than the Ministry of Foreign Affairs collects.

　　 Just when the officials of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs fell into despair, they received unexpected help, and the personal assistant of the German ambassador reached out to them. The German named Sorge provided the officials of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs with detailed information about the new German head of state, including the head of state’s personality, habits, personal preferences, and even personal financial status. All the information was detailed and accurate. People can't believe it. Sorge claimed to have studied the imperial head of state in Berlin, and that man was only the deputy head of state at that time. Although the leader of the Nazi Party did not like to be interviewed by reporters and participate in rallies, he often participated in activities within the Nazi Party. These materials were personally discovered by Sorge from people around Reinhardt as a reporter. Sorge also joked to Japanese officials that he originally wanted to write a few touted articles for the deputy head of state on the basis of these materials as an entry ladder, but he was sent to Japan before he could write. After arriving in Japan, he has been busy with newspapers and embassies, and has no time for private creation, and these materials have been put aside. When he heard from Ambassador Otter that Japan wanted to find information about the German head of state, as a sincere friend of Japan, he very much hoped to be able to do something for Japan. Then he remembered the information collected before. , I found it right away, hoping that these materials can be helpful to Japan.

　　 The officials of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs are like a long drought in the rain. They are really grateful for Sorge’s enthusiasm. Several officials secretly made up their minds. After this matter is over, they must pay Sorge heavily and return it. Great kindness.

　　 Looking at the detailed information, Matsuoka finally showed a smile on his face. The Italian embassy has sent a telegram that the Mussolini government has agreed to form an alliance with Japan. It is now up to the new German head of state to decide. Now that you have these materials on hand, you can be more sure of putting this young head of state in Germany.

　　 To be honest, Matsuoka is not worried about any changes in Germany, even if the leader is changed, the establishment of the Japan-Germany-Italian alliance is the general trend, and no one can change it. The friendly relations between Germany and Japan have been developed for more than one or two years, and both sides have had good cooperation in various fields. Germany and Japan signed the "International Agreement on Production" before this, which can already be seen as an informal manifestation of alliance. Moreover, Germany has just defeated France and occupied a number of lowland countries such as Belgium and the Netherlands. It is now at a time when it needs political assistance. The only countries that can echo Germany politically are Italy and Japan~IndoMTL.com~Matsuoka does not see that Germany has a reason to abandon these two allies. Unless that Reinhardt is crazy, he will be very happy to establish an alliance with Japan.

　　 At the cabinet meeting, the Prime Minister of Guards has determined that the strategic direction of the late empire will be placed in the south. Taking advantage of the opportunity of Britain and France and other countries to be defeated by Germany and unable to protect their South Asian colonies, expand to Southeast Asia and occupy Southeast Asia Rich resource producing areas, only by relying on these resources can Japan continue this war. Japan must make full use of the influence of Germany's current victory and direct the attention of the United States to Europe as much as possible, so that Japan can free up its hands to solve the problems of the Asian colonies as soon as possible.

　　 Just as Yoyou Matsuoka sat at his desk confidently studying the draft of the cabinet-made alliance agreement with Germany, an urgent encrypted telegram from the Japanese Embassy in Italy was placed in front of him.

　　 Before reading the beginning of the telegram, the Japanese Foreign Minister stood up in surprise.

　　 "What a group of idiots! Sooner or later, the great ideals of His Majesty the Emperor will be destroyed in the hands of these idiot soldiers."

　　 Matsuoka Yoro weakly pressed his sore forehead, and slowly collapsed on the seat. The telegram between the fingers drifted slowly to the feet.

　　 There are a few lines of small characters written in a red pencil on the electric newspaper

　　"Today I received a notification from the German side that the Imperial Army’s German Observation Mission had a fierce conflict with the German military. The exact circumstances are unknown. The two YT officers have been detained by the German side. I have tried my best to communicate with the German side. There is a result. The German side is unclear on the matter, and it seems that the problem is more serious than expected. W."