Of course it was impossible. Britain and France had their own methods. For this reason, Chamberlain still summoned cabinet members to discuss countermeasures.

Since Britain and France wanted to encourage Germany to attack the Soviet Union, they could divert the trouble eastward and give Britain enough time to develop advanced weapons. At the same time, when Germany and the Soviet Union were both losing, they could unite with the Soviet Union to completely kill Germany. Of course, they could also unite

Germany will completely carve up the Soviet Union. If the situation is really as expected by Britain and France, Britain and France will make a lot of money. Germany's industry and technology, the territory and resources of the Soviet Union, no matter which country Britain and France carve up, the harvest will be huge.

Now Britain and France do not want Germany to get rid of the oil blockade. If Germany does not attack the Soviet Union and turns around and attacks Britain and France first, then Britain and France will be shooting themselves in the foot. Therefore, this secret sabotage activity is absolutely indispensable. The British and French allied forces send troops to Romania

There is no need to think about it, you can only act blackly.

The British Prime Minister's Office, No. 10 Downing Street, Chamberlain held a cabinet meeting on September 26. This cabinet is different from the normal cabinet and is called the war cabinet. Due to the outbreak of the war, in order to increase the efficiency of decision-making and maintain confidentiality, only a few people were present.

Part of the war cabinet.

?Neville Chamberlain: British Prime Minister and Leader of the House of Commons

Sir Samuel Hall: Lord Privy Seal

Sir John Simon: Chancellor of the Exchequer

?Lord Halifax: Foreign Secretary

?Leslie Hall-Belisha: Secretary of State for War

Sir Kingsley Wood: Air Secretary

?Churchill: First Lord of the Admiralty

?Lord Chatfield: Secretary of Defense

?Lord Hankey: Ignore the ministers

?Stewart Menzies: Director of MI6

Chamberlain was obviously much older. Germany's aggressive momentum and powerful offensive capabilities really made Chamberlain restless and exhausted.

"Ministers, I think you have all read the documents in your hands. Now let me ask a question: How to sabotage Germany's arms-for-oil program without Germany knowing about it or without arousing Germany's anger? Let's talk about your own opinions.

Strategy."

This time, the British Minister of Defense spoke first. Chamberlain asked twice, but no one answered, which made the atmosphere a bit awkward. Churchill did have a strategy, but he did not want to express his position immediately.

"Mr. Prime Minister, it is very difficult to fulfill your request. You want to destroy Germany's deal, and you also want Germany not to know, or not to be angry if you find out. I don't think there is such a perfect thing in the world."

After the British Minister of Defense finished speaking, he stopped expressing his position. Chamberlain had no choice but to ask Churchill to speak by name. Churchill was not willing to have a head-on conflict with Chamberlain now. The British King had already told Churchill very clearly. Now Britain needs Chamberlain to deal with Germany.

, when the Anglo-German war broke out, that was when Chamberlain stepped down.

"Ahem... Mr. Prime Minister, I think we can go directly to Romania's dictator Antonescu. We will throw money at him. We will give him as much as he wants, and then let him blow up the oil fields by himself. This is something he

It has nothing to do with us if we blow up the oil field ourselves, or if the oil field is blown up due to some accident."

When Churchill said this, the British Finance Minister quit his job and quickly grabbed Churchill's words and shouted with dissatisfaction:

"I said Mr. Churchill, your proposal is feasible. What if Antonescu opens his mouth? He wants hundreds of millions of pounds. Should we also give it? Even if we buy up all the oil in Romania, we can't do it.

One hundred million pounds. In addition, our current financial budget has been completed. All projects are heavily invested, especially weapons research and development, which has cost us a lot of money. Now we really don’t have much money. The most I can do

Spend twenty million pounds to implement Mr. Churchill’s plan.”

Churchill had not spoken before in order to avoid arguing with Chamberlain, but this did not mean that Churchill's fiery temper had been corrected. When Churchill heard the finance minister complaining about poverty again, he took a hard puff on his cigarette and puffed out a large puff of strong smoke.

The smoke almost killed the people in the conference room.

"I say Finance Minister, you know how to complain. This is a matter of life and death for the UK. You only spend 20 million pounds. What is enough? Antonescu will blow himself up for your 20 million pounds."

oil fields, you are just dreaming. If Britain were all like you

He is a guy who wants money rather than his life. It is only a matter of time before Britain is destroyed by the Germans. If that is the case, even if the Minister of Finance has a lot of property, he will rob it by the Germans, even his wife.

My daughter was also snatched away by the Germans and put on the bed to be ridden on a horse."

Churchill still couldn't change his bad mouth, and would make personal attacks even if he said something nice. This time, he even attacked the wife and daughter of the Finance Minister.

"You, you,..."

Simon, the British Finance Minister, could not utter a word. Thinking of the lovely wife he had just married and his two daughters who were expecting children, Simon almost vomited blood and was so angry that he could not utter a word.

"Pa..."

Churchill knocked his big pipe on the conference table, and then looked contemptuously at Simon who could not speak a word:

"You, you, you, what I said is not true. If Britain is defeated and surrenders, do you think the Germans will let you war criminals go? All of us sitting here will be hanged by the Germans. Your property, women,

Can I still keep it? Absolutely not."

Silence, deathly silence, although Churchill's words were harsh, they were also true.

Now the British Finance Minister was no longer as angry as before. After holding it in for a long time, he finally uttered a sentence.

"Now we only have 60 million pounds on our books. The rest of the money has been invested in weapons research and development and production. It is true that there is no money left. Now I express my position that these 60 million pounds will be used to implement Churchill's plan.

plan."

The current exchange rate is 1 pound to 4 U.S. dollars, which is almost 240 million U.S. dollars. In 1939, 1 gram of gold only sold for 1 U.S. dollar. This amount of money is huge.

Of course, Churchill knew the current financial situation of the UK. Churchill is now responsible for the research, development and production of weapons in the UK. These funds have basically emptied most of the British fiscal budget. Churchill saw that the finance minister was willing to spend 60 million pounds.

This is why there is no fuss. Think about it, the British Finance Minister is really cheap. Churchill refused to give him money unless he scolded him. Churchill scolded him and then he obediently took out the money.

After the funding issue was settled, the rest was the work of MI6. Of course, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs also had to contribute, and they began to discuss specific action steps.

…

September 28, 1939

Destined to be a turbulent day, the Soviet Union successively entered Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia on this day. The Soviet troops successively entered each country and the establishment of new governments essentially caused the three countries to completely lose their independence. When the three governments implemented any important measures,

All had to act in accordance with Moscow's instructions or the will of Moscow's representatives. The three Baltic countries used both kindness and power towards the Soviet Union and forced them to sign a mutual assistance treaty. They dared not speak out. They lacked trust in Stalin's leadership group and were worried about the future of the three Baltic countries.

The Soviet Union has essentially annexed the three Baltic countries. In theory, the Soviet Union sent troops to protect the three Baltic countries.

Since the war had already begun, each major country had its own plans. Therefore, the Soviet Union's annexation of the three Baltic countries did not cause much international repercussions. Germany was busy on the Western Front at this time and had no time to look eastward, and it was unwilling to cut off ties with the Soviet Union prematurely.

When the three Baltic countries requested Germany to mediate, Germany's attitude was that "this is purely a matter for the Soviet Union and the Baltic countries" and "Germany has no intention to interfere in the political affairs of the Baltic countries." The attitudes of Britain and France were also negative, and the British and French troops were fighting

Under the strong military deterrence of the German army, it had neither the power nor the time to take care of the three Baltic countries far away in Eastern Europe, and could only let the Soviet Union's actions in the three Baltic countries go unchecked.

Germany's exercises on the Romanian border were also in full swing, with the sound of artillery and armor roaring. The temptation of British and French interests was also thrown out to Romania. The British offer was a compensation of 60 million pounds, allowing Romania to blow up the oil fields.

The tactics of various countries have been revealed, and the choice depends on Romanian dictator Antonescu. Antonescu does have military talent and administrative organization capabilities, but Romania's backward industrial base and technological strength make Romania still a

A typical agricultural country, Antonescu must choose the side that is most beneficial to Romania under the current circumstances.

What is most beneficial to Romania? The actual situation of each country is different and the needs will be different. What Romania needs most now is security. This is the most important thing. Not long ago, Hungary, the Soviet Union and Bulgaria have sent troops to occupy Romania.

In many places, the final analysis is that Romania does not have a strong armed force. Although Romania is a neutral country, the surrounding evil neighbors still look at Romania covetously.

As for who can protect Romania better, it doesn’t take much thinking to know that Germany can protect Romania best. Now Romania is a neighbor of Germany. If Romania refuses Germany’s request, it is likely that Germany will immediately launch a war against Romania and Romania will be destroyed.

It only takes a few minutes. Don't expect Britain, France or the Soviet Union to send troops to help Romania. It's not possible.

On the other hand, Romania can obtain technical support from Germany and achieve basic industrialization in the country. Although Germany cannot provide the most advanced technology to Romania, some basic industries will still be supported.

Under such circumstances, who Antonescu could choose was, of course, Germany. The financial temptations of Britain and France and the Soviet Union's invasion of the three Baltic countries did not allow Romania to choose. Romania's arms-for-oil plan with Germany was quickly finalized.

Germany paid for this not only with the captured arms, but also with the sale of some Panzer III and Panzer IV tanks to Romania, and the construction of some factories to Romania, and Romania would use oil to pay Germany's expenses.

...(To be continued...)
Chapter completed!