Chapter 753 Let’s Fight and Talk

"But how can the United States agree to a ceasefire if the Hawaiian Islands are not returned?"

Japanese Foreign Minister Tani Masayuki, who was attending the headquarters meeting, couldn't help but interrupt when he heard Yamamoto Isoroku's contradictory narration.

Yamamoto Isoroku smiled bitterly and replied: "Tani, whether to return the Hawaiian Islands is a problem between Japan and the United States, and whether to agree to start peace talks is a problem between Japan and Germany. Now my empire is already at odds with the United States, can it still turn against Germany?"

The current Japan-Germany alliance is somewhat similar to the Anglo-American alliance. Both are the weak holding the thighs of the strong, and there is no equality at all. Germany has now pacified most of Europe, and is about to take over Britain. It has also obtained resources in North Africa and the Middle East, and has firmly controlled the Atlantic sea power. It seems that victory is in sight, and even the United States and the Soviet Union have taken the initiative to seek peace. In other words, Germany has "three-thirds of the world" no matter how bad it is. It's hard to say whether it will be a thousand-year empire, but it is certain that it will be a hundred years of prosperity.

Japan's situation is relatively much more dangerous. The United States' "dumpling ships" and aircraft seas are about to hit. If Germany and the United States negotiate a separate peace, then the powerful strength of the American industry will all fall on Japan... There is no need to transfuse blood for the European battlefield. The United States' 100 million tons of steel, 200 million tons of oil, hundreds of thousands of tons of aluminum, and more than 200 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity will all be used to deal with Japan. How can Japan not perish?

Yamamoto Isoroku glanced at the several vice ministers of the navy and the army present, and then said in a very serious tone: "The empire now seems to be in its prime, but in fact it is in crisis. If it loses Germany's support again, it will inevitably be doomed to perish!"

Tojo Hideki has already understood what the great hero Yamamoto meant. The Hawaiian Islands cannot be handed over, but the face of the German big brother must be given. In other words, negotiations with the Americans can begin, and whether they can be negotiated is a matter for the future.

"Then will Australia still be attacked?" The army's big deer Sugiyama Moto asked.

Yamamoto and Tojo looked at each other and did not answer. Attacking Australia was the intention of the living god, and now the German big brother said that it could not be attacked... This is difficult. And difficult things, of course, can only be put aside for a while, just pretend it does not exist.

"Mr. Prime Minister," Yamamoto Isoroku thought for a moment and did not directly answer the fool Yuan, but said to Tojo Hideki, "Why not hold a meeting of the leaders of the Axis powers to discuss the war and peace issues with Hitler and Hessmann in person, and at the same time tell them the truth about the current predicament of the empire... I believe Germany does not want to see the United States dominate the Pacific region."

Yamamoto actually meant to let Tojo Hideki ask Hitler and Hessmann for some benefits - Japan is so obedient and agrees to make peace, shouldn't Germany give some benefits?

Tojo understood what Yamamoto meant, so he asked, "What does the navy need?"

"Of course, the most urgent need is aviation technology!" Yamamoto Isoroku frowned and said, "According to intelligence, the United States currently has three new fighters with superior performance in use, two of which are carrier-based fighters and one is a heavy fighter. If the Empire cannot come up with new aircraft to fight against them, the future war will inevitably be very difficult."

Tojo Hideki shook his head and said, "But the performance of several fighters provided by Germany is not satisfactory."

"That's a design problem," Yamamoto Isoroku said, "In key technologies such as engines and airborne electronic detection equipment, Germany still has many advantages. If we can cooperate in development, the progress of the 17th test ship battle, P1Y (Galaxy bomber), N40 project (Renshan bomber) and Ki84 project should be greatly accelerated. If the above models can be completed before the US counterattack, we will be able to defend the absolute national defense circle."

Now Yamamoto Isoroku's idea of ​​the Pacific decisive battle is to advance south and defend east. Advancing south is of course to attack Australia to prevent the United States from using Australia as a springboard to counterattack, and defending east is to defend Hawaii.

Yamamoto's idea of ​​defending Hawaii is "gradual interception". Yamamoto's plan is to use submarines, shore-based aviation, and aircraft carrier mobile forces to attack the US fleet one by one to weaken its strength, and finally to fight a decisive battle with the main battleships to destroy the main force of the Pacific Fleet, forcing the United States to abandon the plan to retake Hawaii and reach a peace agreement with Japan.

In Yamamoto's view, shore-based aviation is the top priority for implementing "gradual interception"! In order to establish a strong shore-based aviation, Japan must complete projects such as P1Y, N40 and Ki84 as soon as possible.

If possible, Yamamoto also hopes to cooperate with Germany to develop a local fighter (actually an airport guardian) for air defense operations in the Hawaiian Islands.

...

When the Japanese request for a leaders' meeting reached Berlin, Hersman was on vacation in Geneva, Switzerland with Natalie Lesinskaya. It's not that the two of them have any special relationship, but that they are going to meet a special friend in Geneva-Mrs. Kollontai, the Soviet ambassador to Switzerland.

Kollontai was Natalie's old boss and an old friend of Hessman. She was appointed as the ambassador to Switzerland. Of course, Stalin wanted to negotiate peace through Hessman. Hitler knew this very well, so he let Hessman take charge of this matter.

The meeting place was the Suez Palace, which was located on the shore of Lake Geneva, full of artistic atmosphere and very quiet. This was a prize given to Hessman by the late German Emperor Wilhelm II to commend his great victory in the Mediterranean.

"What? Alexandra, you said that Yakov might have been captured by our people?"

At the beginning of the meeting, Hersman heard a piece of news from Kollontai that surprised him a little bit - Stalin's eldest son Yakov might have been captured by the German army in the Battle of Belarus.

Is it possible that Yakov is destined to be a prisoner? Hersman thought, the German army didn't capture many Red Army prisoners of war, so how could there be a Yakov among them?

"It is also possible that he died," Kollontai saw Hersman's reaction and knew that the Germans didn't know that they had captured or killed Stalin's son. "But we hope to confirm that if Yakov was captured but his identity was not exposed..."

Try to find out whether Yakov is dead or alive, and if he is still alive, try to secretly bring him back to the Soviet Union. This is the task that Berya personally instructed.

Hersman understood what Kollontai meant and immediately promised: "Alexandra, please tell Stalin that if Yakov is really here, he is our guest and he can go back to the Soviet Union at any time. We will not make this public, and we will not use Yakov to threaten anything."

"Great, thank you very much." Kollontai smiled gratefully at Hersman and said, "If Yakov can return to the Soviet Union secretly, we will also release a group of German prisoners of war in return immediately, which is of course done in a confidential manner... Confidentiality is the most important thing."

Hersman was polite for not making any requests. Mrs. Kollontai was also an "old diplomat" and naturally knew how to express it - if Yakov was really in the hands of the Germans, then he was a valuable bargaining chip, and it was impossible to get him back to the Soviet Union secretly without paying any price.

"I understand, this matter must be kept secret," Hersman glanced at Natalie, "I'll let Natalie be responsible for it personally."

In fact, Yakov is not the most important thing, confidentiality is the most important thing! Under confidentiality, the deal can be reached, but if the matter is exposed, Yakov will only become a martyr.

"Then I'm relieved." Kollontai said, and took out a file belt and handed it to Natalie who was sitting next to Hersman.

In the bag were Yakov's photo and the unit number, position and place of disappearance before being captured, as well as photos and introductions of comrades who disappeared with Yakov - if these people were in the German prisoner-of-war camp and knew that Yakov was captured, then Natalie would have to try to clean them up!

There was no major disagreement between the two sides on the issue of Yakov. Because Hersman knew that Stalin was a man who didn't recognize his relatives, he wanted to get his son back not out of family affection, but because he didn't want to be a family member of the anti-G revolution.

However, the "Yakov issue" was just a small issue before the formal negotiations began. Although it was a good start to easily reach an agreement on this issue, it did not mean that the peace talks would have a satisfactory result.

Because there were huge differences between the Soviet Union and Germany on the conditions for peace talks!

"Ukraine!? Ludwig, you want Ukraine? This is too much, we absolutely cannot agree to it!"

Hearing Hersman's request to cede Ukraine, Mrs. Kollontai immediately realized that there were irreconcilable differences between the two sides.

"The Soviet Union cannot lose Ukraine, just like you Germany cannot lose the Rhine region. Without Ukraine, the Soviet Union will no longer be a great country!" Kollontai said to Hersman with great excitement.

She was telling the truth! Although the Soviet Union is vast and rich in resources, most of its areas are located in the inland areas with high altitude and inconvenient transportation. Such a geographical location has made most of the Soviet Union actually unsuitable for industrialization - industrialization cannot be forced to develop without cost, and transportation costs are an important part of industrial costs. Therefore, only when industrial resources are located in coastal or river areas with convenient transportation can they play a huge value.

For example, the coal and iron ore resources in the Rhine region of Germany have brought low-cost advantages to Germany's heavy industry.

On the vast land of the Soviet Union, only the Caucasus oil-producing areas and resource-rich Ukraine are areas with relatively low industrialization costs. Especially Ukraine, which has rich resources and fertile land, and the climate is not too cold (it is difficult to build in too cold areas), and the transportation is extremely convenient, with convenient Dnieper River water transportation and Black Sea shipping.

If the Soviet Union loses Ukraine, then the Soviet industry will suffer a heavy blow, and it will be difficult to compete with Germany in the future. If Germany gets Ukraine, it means that it has another Rhineland! It won't be long before Germany will become a real superpower that can be compared with the United States in terms of industrial production scale.