The Third Reich: The Return of the King

"Rear Admiral Mainz, the military, especially the navy, is very dissatisfied with your recent decision-making, do you know about this?"

Bolin, Presidential Palace.

When Mainz submitted his application for military spending for 1920 to President Hindenburg, President Hindenburg banged his hand on his desk and told him a piece of news in a somewhat serious tone.

"Well, I know, in fact, these were predicted in the report I gave you before!"

Mainz's attitude was very calm, and he was not at all surprised or surprised by the news from President Hindenburg.

"Oh?

President Hindenburg raised an eyebrow, he was very busy as president, and he had a lot of things to do every day, so he had little free time for himself, and he hadn't had time to read the report submitted by Mainz.

"Well, the main warships of the navy have all been lost, and I don't think it's necessary to continue to maintain such a large scale, after all, the current annual military expenditure is only about 5 million pounds, such a small military expenditure, it is difficult to maintain a large army, unless you can transfer part of the 540 million pounds indemnified to the Entente to the army, otherwise the size of the army must be reduced!"

Mainz said with a smile that after the First World War, the largest expenditure of the government of the Weimar Republic was war reparations, and the annual indemnity amount was 5.4 Britain, which was often huge, accounting for about 80% of the fiscal revenue.

President Hindenburg did not have a good solution to this problem, and his solution was to print the mark to pay off the debt, taking advantage of the fact that the mark still had some purchasing power.

This led to a rapid depreciation of the mark, and the Allies were not very receptive to the mark at first, and were even more reluctant to accept it, and they strongly demanded that the Weimar Republic pay its debts in gold or pounds.

So after hearing Mainz's words, Hindenburg was silent.

Lack of money!

This is the most serious problem facing the government of the Weimar Republic at present, and the huge war reparations are like a mountain weighing on them, leaving them almost breathless!

If someone reached out to President Hindenburg to ask for money at this time, he would be very angry, because the government had no money.

But Mainz not only did not ask him for money, but also used large-scale disarmament to reduce expenses, which made Hindenburg's heart feel mixed, and he did not know what to say for a while.

"I know you're understanding my difficulties, but I'm worried that such a large-scale disarmament, especially for the navy, will seriously weaken the strength of the Imperial Navy, and even make the navy completely incapacitated, although I am from the army, but at this time, as the president, I have to consider these things from the perspective of the overall situation, Rear Admiral, aren't you worried about the consequences?"

Hindenburg tried to convince Mainz with reason, but Mainz's attitude was unusually firm.

"Old marshal, I know you have good intentions, but with all due respect, even if we maintain the original size of the navy, we still have no combat effectiveness, the most important thing in the navy is equipment, followed by people, we keep five thousand people, it is equivalent to retaining the basic skeleton of the navy, in the absence of equipment, there is no point in retaining more people, and I want to carry out a large-scale purge of the navy!"

The last sentence is probably the real intention of the main general!

Thinking like this, Hindenburg stared at the Major General for a while, and will look at him calmly, without any timidity or weakness.

Hindenburg sighed and moved away first, "Okay, then you can just do it, I will stand behind you and support you, however, I hope you can think carefully, your decision may change the fate of the empire!"

......

After leaving the presidential palace, Mainz did not choose to leave immediately, but attended several balls in the capital, where he met with some people by the way.

The major general was born in the aristocratic Junckers, and he was very proficient in aristocratic etiquette and even court etiquette, so whenever he attended the ball, he could quickly become the focus of the ball.

Young, in a high position, handsome, and after the baptism of war, the major general has a mature temperament that men of this age do not have, and this temperament makes many celebrities in high society fall for it.

At the end of a ball, there were no less than ten people looking for him to dance.

Mainz rarely refuses invitations from these people, and of course, he occasionally refuses if he meets someone who looks too sorry for the audience.

Shaking the red wine in the goblet in his hand, Mainz's eyes roamed the middle of the dance floor.

Most of the people present this time were members of the Junker aristocracy, and Mainz's military reform had a relatively large impact on these people, so they united and invited Mainz to participate in this ball, hoping to take this opportunity to persuade Mainz to open his eyes and raise his hand in the interests of the Junker aristocracy.

So the people who came to invite him to dance just now were basically the daughters of the general's family, and some of them were even related to his family.

Mainz did not reveal any words about the temptation of these people.

The Junker aristocracy was an unavoidable problem for the German army, and Mainz did not intend to uproot the Junker aristocracy, which was unrealistic because it would offend the interests of many people.

But this does not mean that he will compromise with the Junkers, Mainz intends to expel all the Junkers in the navy, because the scale of the navy is too small, and if the navy cannot be reformed according to his wishes, then what he has done before will be in vain!

"Excuse me, could you please invite me to do a dance?"

Just as he was thinking about it, a crisp voice came from his ears.

Mainz glanced back and found a man about sixteen or seventeen years old, wearing a goose-yellow dress, with a graceful figure, young and beautiful, although not the most beautiful woman Mainz had ever seen, but the most eye-catching and comfortable person he had ever seen.

The girl looked nervous, her face was flushed, and there was a trace of sweat on her forehead, and a wisp of bangs was wet and attached to her forehead, which was even more charming.

"Excuse me, could you please invite me to do a dance?"

Seeing that Mainz looked at her but did not speak, the girl gritted her teeth and plucked up the courage to repeat what she had said before.

Mainz raised an eyebrow, not paying attention to what the other party was saying before, but this time he heard it clearly.

It's just that when he participates in the ball, others have always invited him to dance, and he has never taken the initiative to send an invitation.

This girl is a special case, she actually invited herself to invite her to dance, this sentence is very awkward, but the meaning is very clear.

It's kind of interesting, and Mainz cares a little.

He thought for a moment and chuckled, "Why don't you invite me, but ask me to invite you?"

"Because I told my friend that the youngest Minister of Defense in the Empire would invite me to dance!"

"Oh?

"Hmm!"

"I'm sorry, I can't promise you!"

Mainz smiled and shook her head, but the girl was stunned: "Ah, why?"

"Because there is no one here called the Minister of Defense, only one one called Mainz, will you accept an invitation from a man called Mainz?"

"Of course!"

The girl's eyes lit up!_

Fei Lu reminds you: three things to read-