The moonlight is like water, as if it casts a soft veil on the Berlin Chancellery at night.

In one of the grand and solemn office rooms, Hitler sat at his desk and reviewed the thick documents in front of him; There was a hint of tiredness on his face, but his grayish-brown eyes were bright and energetic. The gentle breeze blew in from the window, bringing a dry and cool Mid-Autumn Festival, and although it did not have the natural smell of the Eagle's Nest Villa, it still made the cheerful Hitler breathe a long sigh of relief and straighten his body comfortably.

After five weeks of fighting, the fighting on the Bode Plains finally died down yesterday, October 6. The last resistance in Poland was wiped out, and the remaining armed men either fled across the border into Romania or lay dormant in Poland as partisan forces capable of harassment and destruction. In fact, the real battle was over long before 17 September, and for more than two weeks the German Army was only sweeping up the remnants, completely smashing and crushing the small forces of the enemy that were still stubbornly resisting.

Since the second half of the Polish campaign had already entered garbage time, the results of the German Army were quickly roughly calculated. At present, nearly 700,000 Polish officers and soldiers are currently being held in prisoner-of-war camps, and the total number of dead and wounded in the month-long fighting is nearly 200,000. Poland's million-strong army was almost completely annihilated by Germany, and this armed force, known as the world's second army, was wiped out in an instant under the attack of two powerful neighbors in the east and west. In contrast, the German Army, which crushed its opponents at the speed of chopping melons and vegetables, lost only 40,000 troops in total. Among them, 20,000 are ordinary lightly injured people: they can recover from the hospital for as long as half a year or as short as ten months, and they can start a new life again.

Although from the perspective of peacetime, the death of tens of thousands of German Army troops is definitely an earth-shattering super turmoil, but for this kind of life-and-death national war, it is a dazzling and great victory. You must know that in the last world war, on average, more than 1,200 people were killed in the German army every day, and the death notices printed by the army could not be filled at all. According to the pessimistic estimates of the vast majority of the German people based on the experience of World War I, their conquest of Poland would have to cost 500,000 men and lasted about half a year before it could be effective. Now that the German Army has destroyed the Polish armed forces so cleanly, the total losses are not worth the amount of a small and medium-sized battle in the past, it is simply unbelievable as a myth!

Under the clamor of Goebbels' propaganda machine, the attitude of the German people towards the current war finally began to change radically. Originally, they were full of fear and fear of the outbreak of war, fearing that the ill-prepared Germany would repeat the mistake of losing the last war, but as the dust of the Polish campaign quickly settled, the inherent self-confidence in their hearts that had been sealed for a long time as a world power also reawakened and occupied a place on the scale of rational weighing.

For Hitler, who led himself to the road of war, the German people no longer have any complicated and complaining psychology. Although this time did not achieve a bloodless victory like the Munich Agreement, it was a great conquest to harvest a territory of 188,000 square kilometers and 20 million people in one month, and to reintegrate West Prussia, the Silesian Province and the Free City of Danzig, which had been separated from the motherland for 20 years, into the sacred territory of the German Golden Ou, and to take revenge on the vile Poles (Goebbels' propaganda) who had brutally persecuted the Germanic peoples.

As the supreme commander who promoted the Polish campaign, Hitler's position among the people and the army was once again raised to a new level. Previously, Hitler's entire image was that of a genius in domestic and foreign affairs, a wise leader who allowed Germany to restore its economy, rearmament, and international standing, and dominate the world. Now, however, his military genius is beginning to emerge, and he has a faint hint of Kaiser Wilhelm I's commanding power. The ignorant public, who had been monopolized by Goebbels, was superstitious about him, and even the high-ranking generals in the army, who thought they were talented, began to face up to Hitler, a former army corporal who was also Minister of Defense, for the first time, with a professional and solemn eye.

Thinking that those veteran army generals, who had always had their nostrils facing the sky, finally changed their posture in front of him, Hitler's heart couldn't help but be full of pleasure, and at the same time fiercely despised this group of inexplicably arrogant bastards. The thinking of these people has long been rigid and rotten, and they are destined to be eliminated by the times, and one day they will be kicked out of the army and completely transformed this force into a sword for themselves and the party with Nazi ideology.

"My Führer, Foreign Minister Ribbentrop, has arrived." While his thoughts were wandering, Hitler suddenly heard his own guard officer knocking on the door to report to him. Hitler's gaze was slightly condensed, and he answered the call to let the comer in. Moments later, Ribbentrop's tall figure appeared in front of the purple wood gate, and Hitler had already put on a gentle smile and shook hands warmly.

"My dear Foreign Minister, what happened to the trade agreement we negotiated with the Soviets?" When Ribbentrop sat down on the guest sofa, Hitler asked with some impatience. It turned out that since the armies of the Soviet Union and Germany met in Poland, the two dictatorships, which were completely opposed to each other ********, had begun negotiations for further cooperation under the traction of common interests. Germany needed oil, food, and industrial raw materials from the East to compensate for the deep damage caused by the disruption of maritime shipping, and the Soviet Union coveted Germany's precision machinery and weaponry, and planned to greatly accelerate its own industrialization after the introduction of technology.

On the surface, this seemed like a win-win situation for everyone, but neither Hitler nor Stalin saw each other as their true allies. Hitler even believed that the Soviet Union's neutrality in this war could only be maintained for 6~8 months, and it was impossible to predict how long it would be. Therefore, in this transaction, both parties have their own ghosts, and they only want to benefit themselves, rather than seeing each other benefit. As a result, the negotiations have always been in a difficult state of see-saw, and they have not been able to reach a common agreement for a long time.

Hearing Hitler's words, Ribbentrop's face immediately appeared with a look of intense righteous indignation, and he said: "Although the Russians have proposed a new plan at our strong request, their raw material quotation is still much higher than the market price, and the rare metal ore is even three times the international price!" And we quoted a bf-109D fighter for 180,000 marks, which was strongly protested by the greedy Russians. There is a huge shortage of demand for this new type of aircraft, and even Italy, which has the closest relationship with our country, has only sold two squadrons this year at a unit price of 150,000 marks. ”

Hitler gritted his teeth, and hatred flashed in his eyes; It was inevitable that Germany would be extorted by the Soviet Union in this deal, because it was now almost an absolute seller's market for the Soviet Union. Not to mention that the Soviet Union can now completely abandon Germany and do business with Britain and France, the key political attitude that he can make Germany free of two-front warfare is enough for Germany to stabilize the former with a real mark. Although Hitler knew this very well, he did not expect that Stalin would be so vicious in doing business: the Soviet Union would not stop at 40% of Poland after Germany destroyed the main force of the Polish army, and even had to make a pit of its own trade before it would give up!

"What about the attitude of the Italians, did they promise to sell us more raw materials in the future?" Hitler was silent for a moment, then asked. According to the agreement reached between the German and Italian governments before the outbreak of the war, Italy could maintain "cautious neutrality" until its own war preparations were completed, but in return, Italy needed to establish a fast line for Germany to import goods and resell various raw materials purchased from overseas trade to Germany. Although Italy still has to pay the difference, the final price is far less ridiculously high than in the Soviet Union. If Germany could buy more supplies from Italy, the number of people slaughtered by the Soviets would naturally be less.

Ribbentrop said with a look of shame on his face: "I am sorry, honorable Führer, I was unable to convince the Italian leaders to agree to increase the supply of supplies to us. Although the leader himself was sympathetic to our cause, there was now a rapid rise in anti-German forces within the Italian government: these men were extremely dissatisfied with our weak compromise with the Soviet Union, especially with the benefits of the Soviet Union's success in Poland, and regarded this as a complete betrayal of Italy by Germany on the anti-Bolshevik road. Many of these people were the backbone of the fascist party, and the leaders had to take their attitudes into account. ”

Hitler's eyes darkened slightly. In fact, he had already predicted this result in his heart: the more Germany relied on the Soviet Union in Eastern Europe, the more it would touch Italy's nerves, and make this ally of the great powers that he had won over from Britain and France with great difficulty at odds with him. However, it had no choice but to ensure the success of the struggle against Britain and France at this juncture, and only by trying to keep the Soviet Union out of the war. Hitler habitually looked at the huge map of Europe on the front wall of his office, and his mind flashed with thoughts; Suddenly, his eyes flashed, and he immediately opened the chest of drawers under his desk and quickly rummaged through the many papers. (To be continued.) )