After the President's words were expressed, diplomats from all over the world were surprised. Not to mention whether it was time to convert a supply port near the Red Sea to a military base. Just talking about this requirement itself, this move is actually equivalent to asking Italy for a leased land. From the current position of the Mussolini regime in Italy, it is almost impossible to agree to this requirement, because in the eyes of the proud Italians, the current "Horse of Africa" ​​is Italy's "local land", and foreign leased land cannot appear in the local area. For those fascists who advocate "Rome's glory", this is an important criterion for them to distinguish "patriots" and "hostile elements". Mussolini's arbitrary behavior would not dare to touch this bad luck.

Moreover, considering that Britain and France also have colonies in the Somalia region, once Italy takes a certain Somalia port under its control to China as a naval base, no one can guarantee that Britain and France will not organize a joint army to attack the military fortress belonging to China. At this time, what should the Italian government make a choice?

Even Gu Weijun was a little surprised, so he hurried to see how he answered.

Ziano hesitated for a moment, then said something, basically denied the feasibility of Zhao Bei's suggestion.

"Mr. President, in my personal opinion, your suggestions from this naval base seem to be difficult to accept by the Italian people. The Somalia region was seized by the Italian army through bloody battles from the conspiracy of international power. On this land, the Italian people may not want to see other countries' troops appear. However, from the perspective of the Italian government, your suggestions are very sincere. I will convey your suggestions to the Italian leader and ask him to make arbitration."

"If it doesn't work, you don't have to force it."

Zhao Bei nodded, then changed his mind and proposed a workaround.

"Actually, I have another suggestion, that is, the Italian government agrees to let our merchant ships fly the Italian flag and moor to the Eritrea port through the Mande Strait connecting the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden. And I hope that the Italian warships stationed in the local area can provide the necessary escort for these merchant fleets. If the Italian government is willing to do this, I think our citizens will be very grateful to the Italian government's timely support for the benevolent and righteous actions. In the future, it should not be very difficult to raise the issue of alliance between the two countries, and there is nothing to say in the parliament."

After hearing this, Ziano understood that there was no need to ask, these "merchant fleets" must be transporting naval supplies to supply Chinese submarines that were active in the Red Sea. If the Italian government agreed to do so, it would undoubtedly provide indirect logistics support for these submarines of the Chinese Navy. For the United Kingdom, this is enough to constitute an excuse to declare war on Italy.

To be honest, as an Italian, Ziano opposed Mussolini from the beginning to challenge the interests of Britain and France. After the war between China and Britain, when he heard that the Chinese Navy's submarines had begun to cruise in the Red Sea, Ziano almost subconsciously worried about Mussolini's position in the Sino-British battle. Later facts also proved that Ziano's concerns were justified. Faced with the "irrespectful request" to open up the coastal waters of Eritrea to the Italian government so that British Navy's destroyers and submarines could enter this area to search for Chinese submarines, Mussolini refused and had no room for reconciliation. Judging from this action alone, Ziano understood that his arbitrary father-in-law planned to take advantage of the situation in the Sino-British battle.

Now, the "mad president" of China actually proposed the "suggestion" to use Italian naval ships to escort the Chinese naval supply transport fleet flying the Italian flag. Ziano was not only surprised, but also worried that he had never underestimated this strongman in China. He even doubted whether there was any conspiracy here.

However, the decision was not in the hands of Ziano, but in Mussolini. Before visiting China, Mussolini had carefully advised Ziano that no matter what exchange conditions and requirements the Chinese people proposed, Ziano must report to the leader himself "as soon as possible". It cannot be concealed or delayed. In any case, it must achieve the two goals of this visit to China: First, ask China to transfer the full set of design drawings and production processes of the "Falcon" fighter jet to Italy; second, it reached a secret agreement with the Chinese government that if Italy conflicts with a "European power" in the future, it is hoped that the Chinese government can at least maintain "good-intention neutrality" and not impose trade sanctions and raw material embargo on Italy.

In fact, in order to use industrial raw materials from China and Asia, the Italian government began to establish a "supervised military-industry system" in Somalia and Eritrea a few years ago, intending to directly manufacture arms and ammunition in the local area to supply Italian East African Legion when the Suez Canal was blocked by the UK.

From this we can see that Mussolini did not want to fight with Britain and France, but wanted to find a reliable backing and allies first. This backing and allies were China and Japan. According to the "leader", the ideal situation was that Italy, China and Japan jointly signed a military alliance treaty to deal with Britain and France. The unsatisfactory situation was that Italy could not seek military alliance with China and Japan so that it could only settle for the second best, as long as it was exchanged for the "friendly neutrality" of the two countries during the war. The "leader" himself fully believed that relying on the "Roman holy warriors", Italy could completely defeat the "endless Britain" by fighting alone.

Although Ziano is not as optimistic as Mussolini, he also believes that if he can seek military alliances with China, it will be very beneficial to Italy's national strategy, and may force Britain to actively compromise and win without fighting. Just as China did during the European War, he used the wars of other countries to seek war dividends for Italy. In that case, the "leader" dream of restoring the glorious era of ancient Rome without fighting, and Italy will not be used by the German Nazis as cannon fodder.

If he had a choice, Zianon would rather form an alliance with France than with Germany. In this regard, he also had huge differences in positions with the "leader", insisting that the German Nazis were equally ambitious for Italy.

"Mr. President, your suggestion is more flexible. I personally think it is more reasonable than renting a military port directly. But in the same way, I cannot directly answer you 'yes' or 'no'. I can only pass your suggestion to the Italian leader and ask him to make arbitration."

Ziano carefully chose the wording, and he really couldn't answer this question. Before he arrived in China, Mussolini had no instructions on these questions, and there was no ready-made answer. However, Ziano also believed that if China agreed to transfer the full set of design drawings and production processes of the "Falcon" fighter, Mussolini would probably accept this exchange of interests.

However, the topic of "Falcon" fighter jets is not convenient for public discussion here. The people present included German and Japanese diplomats, and Mussolini, who were unwilling to let others know that Italy's industrial progress also needed help from an Asian country, especially this country was the target of Italian colonial plunder.

"In this case, please send a telegram to Rome immediately, convey my suggestions to your leader, and bring my greetings by the way. I have always paid attention to Italy's great cause. I believe that your leader is a rare foresight international strategist in Italy in modern times. I think it is very necessary for China and Italy to strengthen exchanges in the future."

Seeing that Ziano's answer was not very straightforward, Zhao Bei immediately understood that Mussolini was not determined to fight against Britain immediately, so he became even more anxious to create a war, so he hurriedly urged Ziano to go and shoot the telegram.

Taking advantage of the moment when Ziano led his secretary to the telegraph room, Zhao Bei had a free conversation with the German and Japanese diplomats in China, learned about the current situation in the two countries, and inquired about the position of the two governments on the Berlin-Rome-Tokyo axis, and was unsurprisingly informed by the ambassadors of the two countries that the three countries had held multiple rounds of consultations on this issue, and the progress is currently going smoothly, and the Chinese government will officially make a statement.

Zhao Bei won't get together in this lively. The "Three-Country Axis" is great. There is no need to organize another "Four-Country Axis". These three countries can be used as cannon fodder for China, but they can't let China take them to charge to the luxury camps of European and American powers. The President may be a little crazy, but it's not crazy yet. With the current Chinese national strength, it may be competent to resist the joint attack between the United States and the Soviet Union. However, if other European countries and even American countries are pulled to the hostile camp, then no one can guarantee that China can survive this melee. It's not easy to manage these years, and Zhao Bei can't afford to bet. Moreover, he plans to make a fortune in the European war and will go down the mountain to pick peaches after the war.

Half an hour later, Count Ziano finally returned to the reception room. Although he did not immediately receive a reply from the Italian "leader", he told the President that the leader would "seriously consider" the Chinese merchant fleet's parking space in the Eritrea port.

Some words are inconvenient to say in front of diplomats from all over the world. Zhao Bei understood this very well and did not bother with this topic. Anyway, Italy is the fish on his chopping board and cannot escape.

However, in order to cheer up these foreign envoys, Zhao Beirang Adjutant read a front-line telegram he had just received. According to the content of the telegram, the Chinese army had successfully encircled Mandalay, an important city in central Myanmar this afternoon. At present, the Battle of Mandalay has begun, and according to reliable information, 50,000 British and Indian troops have been trapped in a heavy siege, and it is only a matter of time before annihilation is completed.

The military officers and ambassadors of all countries present were all excited when they heard the news. There is no doubt that the success of the Chinese team has eloquently proved a basic fact: Britain, the former "Empire of Sun Never Setting" is indeed dying, and the remaining question is: Who can seize the greatest benefit from the British corpse? China is already one step ahead, it depends on the other countries.

Looking at the expressions of envoys from various countries, Zhao Bei was very satisfied. He also believed that this European war would definitely be created by him, and the Pacific region would not be peaceful for too long.v
Chapter completed!