The Third Reich in Desperation

Both parties are very satisfied with the final agreement.Germany provided the Soviet Union with 30 not-so-advanced machine tools, 5 copies of defective battleship blueprints after secret modification, and built a large number of roads along the line from Moscow to Berlin, and the Soviet Union exported steel to build a railway network.The Soviet Union provided Germany with promised iron ore that clearly exceeded the demand for aid in the construction of battleships, and paid in installments 200 million kilograms of wheat and rice, 30 cattle, [-] million tons of oil, and a total of [-] tons of various ores.

Compared with the happy atmosphere in the Moscow conference room, the atmosphere in Berlin Sickert's office is much more awkward.

"Admiral Ludendorff, General Sickert, and through the method of ascending and descending, Colonel Reinhardt was transferred to the transportation department. The transfer document that was just signed this morning was transferred at noon." Rose, who was left by Zhang Chengtian to replace him, comforted Ludendorff, the visitor who broke into Sickert's office.

"Oh?" Ludendorff was still very surprised that Sickert transferred Zhang Chengtian away.Before that, Ludendorff once thought that Sickert was going to help his disciple take revenge on himself.

Ludendorff, who thought that Sickert was compromising to himself, laughed arrogantly, "I just said that this young man is shallow and reckless. Admiral Sickert sees this very clearly."

Sickert, who was sitting behind the desk, hadn't spoken since the beginning, and he planned to keep silent.Let Ross who Zhang Chengtian stayed behind handle it.

However, Ludendorff was not satisfied with this.What Ludendorff wanted to hear was Sickert answering himself, announcing Ludendorff's victory himself.For this reason, Ludendorff has been staring at Sickert, unwilling to leave.

"Ross, don't talk nonsense with Admiral Ludendorff. Please help me get him out." Sickert really couldn't stand Ludendorff's rampant style.If you can't bear it, don't bear it!As Zhang Chengtian's teacher, Sickert also learned certain qualities from Zhang Chengtian subtly.

Regarding Sickert's sudden statement, Ludendorff couldn't react for a while, "Sickert, what do you mean? Don't waste your previous efforts just to show off your quick tongue!"

"Speedy? In my opinion, you are Ludendorff who has the quickest tongue." An angry Sickert yelled Ludendorff's name directly. "I can tell you here that Reinhardt will come back sooner or later. I never thought of hiding this outstanding student!"

Ludendorff was not to be outdone: "Come back? Once you, an impulsive student, come back and cause any trouble, you will have to carry it on your back."

After hearing these words, Sickert snorted coldly: "Under my Sickert, there is no such thing as causing trouble. Even if my student pokes a hole in the sky, I will take care of him. I'm afraid he won't be able to do it! "

Text Chapter 20 Returning to China

Zhang Chengtian stayed in Moscow for nearly two years. In the past two years, the serious Comrade Stalin's attitude towards Zhang Chengtian changed from impatience at the beginning to admiration now.

Taking advantage of his special status, Zhang Chengtian often praised Stalin's shrewdness when meeting Soviet officials.Even a small part of the grain shipped by the Soviet Union to Germany was withheld and distributed in the name of Stalin to the farmers who were tightening their belts.

Of course, Zhang Chengtian did all of this for Stalin to see.Zhang Chengtian didn't even let anyone pass the news to Stalin himself from the beginning to the end.After all, in the Soviet Union, such things could easily reach Stalin's ears.

Stalin, who was in charge of the Soviet-German cooperation project, naturally liked Zhang Chengtian's kindness.In fact, the Soviet-German cooperation project is progressing very smoothly.As a result, Stalin received public praise from Comrade Lenin, who was getting worse and worse, at the party congress many times.

Looking at Stalin's future competitors, their luck was not so good.When Zhang Chengtian accepted a meeting with Lenin.Zhang Chengtian pointed out by name that Trotsky, Kamenev, Zinoviev and others formed small groups in the Soviet Union, disregarding the life and death of peasants, and procrastinating in their work style, etc., which are common problems of Soviet officials.

Lenin laughed off Zhang Chengtian's complaint, but when these words reached Stalin's ears, Stalin, who had already been in charge of almost unlimited power, immediately granted Guderian a tank training site with a radius of 10 kilometers, and transferred it to Kesselring. training machine.

At the end of 1922, after the German secret armored forces and secret air force training were standardized.Zhang Chengtian and Bonna held a "red wedding" in Moscow, and Stalin, who had already served as the General Secretary of the Soviet Union, attended the congratulations in person.Due to the great symbolic significance of Stalin's attendance, the wedding was also widely reported by Soviet newspapers as the beginning of the Soviet-German honeymoon period.

At the end of December, Zhang Chengtian was urgently and secretly transferred back to Germany by Sickert to deal with a possible French invasion.Before leaving, Zhang Chengtian only greeted the two remaining German leaders, Guderian and Kesselring.In the middle of the night, he secretly visited Stalin, the general secretary of the Soviet Union, and left Stalin with a suggestion to join forces with Kamenev and Zinoviev to fight against Trotsky. He took a plane to Berlin and stayed away for 12 years. Moscow.

Zhang Chengtian, who returned to Germany, was surprised to find that the domestic economy showed signs of collapse.Mark has begun to depreciate crazily, and the people have begun to struggle on the line of food and clothing.But the French side kept urging Germany to pay off the heavy war reparations!

The Weimar government's only response to France's debt collection was to print money at full speed.As more and more banknotes were printed without corresponding real economic support, Germany quickly fell into hyperinflation, and the inflation rate had risen to 200% per month.And Zhang Chengtian knew that this was far from the end, and the inflation rate in the future would even reach a monthly increase of 2500%.

The wages of common people in Germany can't keep up with "inflation" at all. When they receive their wages, they can still eat for a month. After sleeping, their wages may only be enough to buy black bread for a few days.

Regarding the tragic situation in Germany, after meeting Zhang Chengtian in the office, Sickert said angrily: "The Weimar government spent two years emptying out the savings of ordinary German families. How can the German people trust them? Germany The people have begun to miss Germany, which was the dominant power in Europe during the Kaiser’s time. Germany was not the strongest at that time, but it was not as embarrassing as it is now.”

Knowing that this period of history is unavoidable, Zhang Chengtian can only comfort his motherland-loving teacher: "Teacher, it is impossible to return to the era of the Kaiser. However, the history of Germany will not end! We have had the sacred The first empire in the Roman era has experienced the second empire in the Bismarck period. In the future, we will create a stronger third empire. Even if this empire was born in such a desperate situation, it will still rise unstoppably .”

The Third Reich in Desperation? !Sickert was deeply moved by Zhang Chengtian's words.Against such a pessimistic background, a young man in his early 20s boldly imagined a new empire in the future!

Continuing to comfort Daw Sickert, Zhang Chengtian said confidently: "In fact, the current economic crisis will happen sooner or later. The seeds of the crisis have been planted since the moment we signed the Treaty of Versailles. It is for this reason that I went to the Soviet Union early. seek cooperation."

Speaking of this, Zhang Chengtian smiled and raised his eyebrows: "I came back this time, and I also brought a food aid agreement from Stalin, who was the general secretary of the Soviet Union." Zhang Chengtian lowered his voice and moved closer to Sickert's ear, whispering revealed a data.

"200 million tons of food aid free of charge!?" After hearing the specific data, Sickert was so scared that the pen in his hand fell to the floor. "Do they really have such rich grain resources?" Sickert, who had never been to the Soviet Union, asked in surprise.

"Rich? This word is probably not accurate. As far as I know, Ukraine, the breadbasket of the Soviet Union. Its people can't even eat enough. However, no one cares about the life and death of Ukrainians. Even the food distributed by me, It has always been in the pockets of the Russians." Zhang Chengtian replied disdainfully, and in Stalin's view, he distributed food to the Russians in his name to promote him.But in fact, this has left seeds of hatred of envy and inequality in the hearts of starving Ukrainians.

Sickert, who had resolved his doubts, was too lazy to comment on the Soviet Union's approach.He went straight to the point and informed the student of the news that France frequently mobilized troops on the border of the Ruhr area of ​​Germany.Sickert wondered if his usual foresighted student had anticipated this situation in advance.

Of course, what Sickert really wanted to hear was Zhang Chengtian's countermeasures.Sickert wants to see if his disciple is worthy of his support during this time.In order to support Zhang Chengtian's work in the Soviet Union, Sickert continued to withstand Ludendorff's pressure for two years and concealed Zhang Chengtian's whereabouts.So much so that Ludendorff has not even seen the cover document for Zhang Chengtian's transfer to the Ministry of Transport until now.

"Woo", Zhang Chengtian knew about the history of the French occupation of the Ruhr area in advance.

Due to the restrictions of the Treaty of Versailles, Germany has no troops in the Rhine Demilitarized Zone adjacent to the Ruhr industrial area.Therefore, whether it is war or peace, it must be decided in advance.Otherwise, once war starts, Germany will not be able to dispatch troops to the Ruhr in a short period of time.

Originally, Germany's "10 Army" had the ability to defeat the French advance army.However, using the "10 army" to fight on the front line is tantamount to killing chickens and picking eggs.Zhang Chengtian knew that they were the backbone of the German Wehrmacht in the future.It would be a great waste to use it directly for combat, which is also contrary to the original intention of myself and Sickert.

Moreover, Zhang Chengtian did not want to expose the combat effectiveness of the German Wehrmacht to the world prematurely.

Then, the only thing that can be used is Steve's civilian military organization, the SS.

The current SS is nominally part of the National Socialist German Workers Party.However, Hitler, who had already called the wind and rain in the party, knew nothing about it.After covering up everywhere, the names of the members of the SS were nothing more than the names of a group of ordinary party members in Hitler's eyes.

After telling Sickert the idea of ​​using the SS, what Zhang Chengtian got was Sickert's seemingly stern question, "Most of the weapons and equipment of the SS were eliminated after World War I, and their training is far from meeting the combat requirements. .War is not a game! And the enemy we are facing this time is obviously not that simple. Avoiding the edge is the most sensible choice for a commander. In the past two years, have you forgotten all the military theory I taught you? Yet?"

Faced with Sickert's test, Zhang Chengtian calmly replied, "Teacher, you and I know whether the government will approve the resistance of the National Defense Forces. Since the weak government is unwilling to bear the responsibility of resistance, let the civilian SS Resistance is already our only option."

"But you can't be sure whether your so-called SS can stop the advance of France. Maybe all your efforts are in vain." Sickert trained Zhang Chengtian without any emotion, just like he was the first This is the first time for Zhang Chengtian to analyze the battle case as objectively.

Zhang Chengtian also answered with a fair attitude as if he was listening to Sickert's lecture for the first time: "Sometimes, we have no choice. Every inch of Germany's land is not superfluous. No one has the right to take it from us. Not even the French army, which is known as the number one army in Europe.” After a pause, Zhang Chengtian uttered the words engraved in his bones since he was a child: “Anyone who offends our German will be punished no matter how strong he is!”

Sickert finally showed a gratified look, this student, he did not make a mistake!

Text Chapter 21 The Pride of France

At this moment, in a conference room in Paris, France.The discussion of another group of people is also going on.

"The Germans have not paid us the indemnity owed for a long time. This is a disguised resistance to the Treaty of Versailles! As a major member of the victorious country, France must use stronger means to claim our own interests. It is time to unite Belgium sent troops to occupy the Ruhr industrial area in Germany, and taught the Germans some lessons." A major general of the French Prime Minister Poincare's faction is trumpeting his radical theory.

As Prime Minister of France, Poincaré has not had an easy time of late.Some time ago, the parliament passed a large-scale defense construction plan-to build a line of defense that can never be broken, the Maginot Line of Defense.

As this line of defense that has been given high hopes, the Maginot Line can be said to be the most advanced combination of fortifications of this era.

The ground part is armored or reinforced concrete machine gun fortifications and artillery fortifications, and the underground part has several floors, including command posts, personnel rest rooms, food storage rooms, ammunition depots, ambulance stations, power stations, filter ventilation rooms, etc.All the fortifications are connected by passages and electric vehicles.The weapons in the shooting fortifications are specially designed and installed.

Anti-tank obstacles within the line of defense mainly include anti-tank trenches, cliffs, cliffs, and metal and concrete piles, and are reinforced with minefields.The anti-infantry barriers are generally metal piles or wood pile barbed wire, and some areas are also equipped with electrified barbed wire.

Some people say that the French nation has never produced a military genius since Napoleon.Although this remark is biased, it also illustrates the fact that France lacks good generals!

The disastrous defeat in the Franco-Prussian War gave the French an opportunity to reorganize their military theory and thinking. After bearing the heavy national humiliation cross, the French devoted themselves to the concept of "large-scale attack" as a classic military thought for revenge.

The facts of World War I proved that French generals were not very good at using this idea.On the contrary, it is France's old enemy. Germany has played a large-scale offensive very smoothly.

After hundreds of thousands of lives were lost in the First World War, the French were finally becoming more pragmatic and discarded the ludicrous ideas.In the end, with the help of the British allies, through trench warfare, the old enemy Germany was defeated with difficulty.

The victory brought about by trench warfare made the French military thought jump from one extreme to the other - from "complete offense" to "complete defense".

So far, the French still regard the Battle of Verdun as the pride of World War I.They believed that this battle was a symbol of the French national spirit of sacrificing bravely in the face of powerful enemies and persevering to the end to win.

But no matter how nice the words are, the problems will continue to appear when it is implemented.The most intuitive problem is that the cost of the Maginot Line is too expensive!To repair this line of defense, an initial investment of 10 billion enamel is required, and an additional investment of no less than 40 billion enamel will be required later.

As the prime minister of France, Poincaré naturally had the task of collecting money.However, the current economic environment in France is not good.Domestic funds are not easy to mobilize, so where can we raise money?The only way out seemed to be squeezing Germany.

Anyway, Germany owes France compensation, and the result of drawing blood from Germany is nothing more than offending Germany.It's better to offend the Germans than the French.Poincaré easily made this multiple-choice question.It's a pity that the judge and the chancellor forgot that politics is not a simple multiple-choice question, and Germany will not let anyone fiddle with it.