Night is about to fall, and the imperial meeting is still in progress in the Charlottemberg Palace in Berlin, Germany

In the magnificent conference hall, the 67-year-old Emperor William sat half-resisting on his golden chair with gemstones. The 42-year-old Crown Prince Louis sat respectfully on his left hand, and on his right hand was the current prime minister of the German Empire. Heinrich von Nigert, who often claimed to be "Bismark Second", followed by the imperial cabinet ministers, the chief of the imperial general staff and the chief of the army, navy and air force staff.

The primary topic of this imperial meeting was the forced dispatch of troops from the New United Kingdom to Malta, and what Germany should do to deal with this. Obviously, this is not an independent issue, and how to choose involves the causes and consequences of the incident and the overall consideration at the strategic level.

Although the war fought by the Three Kingdoms of New Aoi lasted only for more than four weeks, it had a very small impact on European countries: flour prices rose by 30%-40%, precious metal prices rose by 40% on average, medicines rose by 50%, industrial raw materials prices rose by 20%-70%, and the surge in commodity prices caused the social and production order of various countries to be impacted, and the economic losses caused by this were even more immeasurable.

The Germans have great achievements, and this loss does not harm the national body. They have learned the lesson without taking action in person. They have played a role in killing chickens and making a fuss within the Allied camp, which can be said to have taken a big advantage. However, this war also made the Germans recognise the strategic position of the Mediterranean. Today, German industry is highly dependent on high-quality crude oil produced in the Middle East and Persian Gulf. Since the Mediterranean hinterland was declared a war zone during the war, oil tankers traveling between the Middle East and Europe had to detour the Cape of Good Hope at the southern end of Africa. Not to mention the significant increase in transportation and time costs, three oil tankers and two cargo ships were lost due to the impact of the reefs. The German Navy spent a lot of manpower and material resources to rescue the wrecked ships, and was also overwhelmed by some negative social opinion.

Shortly after the signing of the armistice agreement, the German Navy's General Staff submitted a wartime assessment report to the emperor and the General Staff. The report pointed out that the existing strength of the German Navy is enough to cope with the war between the two oceans and can defeat the challenges issued by the two powerful countries at the same time. However, the maintenance and performance of the fleet's combat effectiveness depends largely on the guarantee of logistics supply. The biggest problem at present is that the main force of the German Navy is scattered in the local area, the Azores and the Persian Gulf. The center of this strategic triangle is precisely located in the Mediterranean Sea, which the German team does not directly control!

Taking advantage of the opportunity to discuss how to deal with the Malta incident, General Linderman, who represented the German Navy at the imperial meeting, pointed out incisively that oil is the source of the German military. If Germany cannot strengthen its control over the Mediterranean and ensure the high safety of the Mediterranean transportation line at any time, the next step is to establish a series of military strongholds in the coastal areas of East Africa, South Africa and West Africa, or try every means to lay the land oil pipeline from Basra to Berlin and ensure its safety.

After listening to the explanation of the Chief of Staff of the Navy, William Xiao spoke slowly and said: "Malta is the spoils obtained from the British after the German soldiers fought bloody battles on the front line and fought hard to defeat the Allied team. In 1933, in order to stabilize the Italians and prevent them from stabbing us in the back, it was handed over to the Italian army to occupy it. If the royal power of Italy collapses and the regime collapses, then we have sufficient reasons to declare the Berlin-Roman Treaty signed in 1933 to be invalidated and reintroduce Malta into the overseas territory of the empire."

After the emperor finished speaking, Prime Minister Earl Von Nigert and Foreign Minister Baron Von Mashar all looked thoughtful. In contrast, the soldiers present were all dancing and sharp-tongued.

The Mediterranean has witnessed the rise and fall of one empire after another for thousands of years. The Macedonians, Romans, Persians, and Turks all ruled the Mediterranean during their heyday. Although the British Empire, which once dominated the world, did not plunder a large amount of land along the Mediterranean coast, had gained the right to speak in the Mediterranean situation with its occupation of the Strait of Gibraltar and the Suez Canal, and the dispatch of fleets with relatively superior advantages in the Mediterranean.

As another colonial empire with sun-rest throughout the world after the British Empire, after winning the First World War, the German Empire focused on expanding the Asian, African and American colonial territories and competing for world hegemony. Therefore, it took the initiative to give up control of the Mediterranean, allowing the Mediterranean coastal countries to check and balance each other and restrain each other. As for the international situation of that era, this move was understandable, but with the changes in the world pattern, it "lost control" the Mediterranean Sea and gradually became a weakness and a heart-wrenching problem of the new world overlord.

A moment later, the current chief of staff of the Army, Duke of Dolothia from Bavaria, said: "At lunch, I tested Colonel Hills's tone. The Irish diplomatic officer revealed that the real intention of occupying Malta was to ensure that the Italians paid the war reparations as promised. Other than that, they had no intention."

Geographically, the Mediterranean Sea is roughly divided into two parts with Malta as the midpoint. In addition, Malta Island guards the narrow passage between the Eastern Mediterranean and the Mediterranean, which is perfect for calling it "the heart of the Mediterranean".

After thinking for a while, the emperor spoke: "We can think that the Irish occupied Malta to ensure that after the Italian royal family and the current government are overthrown, the successor will comply with the armistice agreement to repay the huge war reparations that are enough to bankrupt the country twice. After the Italians paid the reparations or promised in the official form that they would pay the reparations, the Irish would withdraw troops from Malta. Since the Irish purpose is so simple, why can't we occupy Malta on our behalf?"

This question caught everyone present off guard, so that in the next two or three minutes, the conference hall was so quiet that people could almost hear the breathing.

Then, Prime Minister Von Nigert finally spoke: "There is no logical problem. My respected Majesty, the problem is that if we do this, we will recite the book for the Italians."

"As long as Malta is in our hands, it doesn't matter whether the Italians fulfill their contracts." The emperor waved his hand, "If the Italians pay the war reparations, then we will exchange the previous reason for the occupation of Malta. If the Italians don't pay the war reparations, we don't even need to use the previous reason."

The Prime Minister asked respectfully: "If the Italians refuse to pay this war reparation, then will we bear the part that the new United Kingdom deserves?"

The emperor smiled disdainfully: "What a joke! The Italians lost the war and should bear the compensation. How could we make the payment on their behalf?"

The Prime Minister politely curled his lips, the implication was to let the emperor sort out the contradiction between these words.

William was old but not confused. Seeing the Prime Minister's expression, he put away his smile and frowned and thought: "Even if the Italians would rather give up Malta than pay their war reparations, we can force them to compromise through other ways, or compensate them with other suitable things, right?"

"This is certainly not a problem, but it is contrary to the principle we originally decided not to directly intervene in the war." Earl von Nigate reminded.

"But the war is over," Emperor William defended himself, "we have been directly coordinating the ongoing war and the affairs left over after the war."

Since the emperor said this, and the generals present were obviously inclined to reoccupy Malta, "Bismark Second" wisely chose silence.

"Louis!" William Little was instructed to his heir to the throne, "You will fly to Ireland tomorrow to greet His Majesty King Joachim I, and convey my opinion: In order to avoid unnecessary conflicts and casualties, it is recommended that the League of Nations mediate the Malta issue, and the German team will occupy Malta in the name of the League of Nations peacekeeping forces. In the future, no matter how the situation changes, we will determine that the armistice agreement is effective and actively urge Italy to implement the relevant provisions of the agreement. If the Italian government is unable to repay the reparations, we support the new United Kingdom and the Austro-Hungarian Empire to obtain some form of in-kind compensation from Italy."

"Yes, Father," Crown Prince Louis replied in a loud voice.

"We will re-establish the peaceful order in the Mediterranean through control of Malta." William Jr. said this immediately, but did not specify whether this should be passed on to the helmsman of the new United Kingdom.

"Malta is just a strategic fulcrum for controlling the Mediterranean." William Xiao turned his attention to everyone here and pointed in his usual tone: "In order to gain absolute control over the Mediterranean and thus ensure the stability of Germany's global strategy, we should seek control of the Strait of Gibraltar and the Suez Canal through political, diplomatic and military means. Due to military failures, Italy's international status has dropped sharply, and its influence and control in its traditional sphere of influence have been severely weakened. This is an excellent time for us to re-intervene in North Africa and Northeast Africa. Everyone, if you have any good insights and suggestions, just say it!"

The Duke of Dolothia, who was born in the Bavarian royal family, is the youngest among the crowd except Crown Prince Louis. He made his debut during World War II. After that, with his outstanding talents, good reputation and outstanding temperament, he quickly became a dazzling star in the German world. In 1948, he was promoted to the Chief of Staff of the German Army and became another member of the Bavarian royal family who had great military achievements after Ruprecht. At this time, he spoke unswervingly:

"Under the current world situation, we can completely regain control of the Mediterranean without large-scale expansion. As long as we make clever and fully utilize the weapon of the United Nations peacekeeping force, hire Irish troops to fight for us if necessary, and even do not need to make too much adjustments to the existing military deployment, there will be no large casualties."
Chapter completed!