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On the first day of June 1879, he appeared in front of the Charlottenburg Palace early in the morning and asked to visit William I's guests, who were neither the prime minister and prince of Russia, nor the president of Peru, nor the special envoy of Chile.

Rather, the Grand Junker from Pomerania, Count Ewald von Kleist, who was the first to come to the Charlottenburg Palace this morning to meet His Majesty the Emperor, thanks to the secret military and political cabinet of the Prussian court, which was always with the Hohenzollerns, and dealt with military and political affairs.

The dual political system of the German Empire was manifested in many ways, politically, there were both the imperial cabinet of the emperor and the cabinet of government of the chancellor, the legislative center of the federal parliament and the imperial parliament, and the military department of the general staff of Moltke the elder and the general chamber of general of the military chamber of the palace military cabinet, General Émile von Alberten.

In this dual system, when it is done well, there will be many golden partners, such as Wilhelm I and Bismarck, Hindenburg and Ludendorff, and when it is not done well, there will be a war between Wilhelm II and Bismarck, and later OKW and OKH.

The Kleist family, an old Junker aristocratic family, had long had relatives serving in the military cabinet of the Charlottenburg Palace, and the operation of this relationship, coupled with the recommendation of the new Quartermaster Waldsey to the chief of the chamberlain, General Alberton, was finally able to meet the emperor in the morning.

Quartermaster Wadsey is now a big celebrity in the German military, that is, as the successor of Moltke Sr., he was promoted to the position of Quartermaster General, and by virtue of his previous experience as an attendant officer beside Wilhelm I, he was also loved by General Alberton, the chief of staff.

Don't be fooled by the literal meaning of the title Quartermaster General, or Erste General quartiermeister, who is responsible for the management of military supplies, but Quartermaster General is the general who directs operations.

In fact, the title of Quartermaster General should be Deputy Chief of the General Staff, but the generals who hold this position like to call themselves First Quartermaster General.

The earliest source of the term Quartermaster General is Sweden, the first militaristic country in Europe, as the most powerful European country in the 17th century, the Swedes invented this department, which was imitated by Elector Frederick Wilhelm of Prussia.

The Prussian Quartermaster General's Department was reformed by Generals Scharnhorst and Gneisnau before evolving into the General Staff of the German Army.

Well, this statement is not particularly rigorous, in fact, a more rigorous statement should be the department of the Quartermaster General's Department, after going through the military reforms of General Scharnhorst, General Gneissnau, General Clausewitz, Moltke the Elder, etc., part of it evolved into the German General Staff, and part of it evolved into the War Department.

The position of Quartermaster General tends more towards an honorary military rank.

Although they all evolved from the Quartermaster's Department, and the General Staff was at the same level as the Ministry of War in terms of rank, because the previous Minister of War was Count Ron, the current Minister of War Georg von Kamek had one more right than Moltke Sr., that is, the right to meet the Emperor directly, which made Wadsey feel extremely unhappy.

The two sides have always fought together on military and political issues concerning the German army, and both hope that they will have the final say in the appointment and dismissal of military personnel in the army.

Believing that an enemy is a friend, General Alberton and General Wadsey are now very good.

In fact, Count Kleist was in Berlin yesterday, and he lived at the house of Sir von Holinstein, the political director of the Foreign Office, and naturally met with Peruvian President Prado.

Immediately after a lengthy conversation with President Prado, Count Kleist and Sir Holstein agreed on how to aid Peru and the details of obtaining Peruvian guano mining rights and future saltpeter mining rights.

Immediately afterwards, Sir Holstein asked the Earl of Kleist to pave the way for President Prado to build a bridge and try to get the draft agreements before the Emperor, while he remained in the background.

The reason why Sir Holstein did not stand in the foreground and hid behind the scenes was very simple: he could use his carefully woven connections in the Foreign Office to have the confidence to bring President Prado to Germany in the name of the German Foreign Office, but he was not confident that he would be able to hide from the old chancellor in the end by his actions.

In order to prevent the old prime minister from knowing and getting caught, Sir Holstein's invitation to President Prado was verbal, and the greeting at the train station was private.

Even if the above things were finally discovered by the old prime minister, he had a lot of excuses to explain, but it was a real crime to introduce William I to the palace.

The Count of Kleist was asked to come forward just so that the old prime minister would not grab his pigtails, but this was only one of the purposes.

Purpose 2, compared to Count Kleist, he is far inferior to him in terms of title, status and wealth. Besides, this kind of show up is not something that people like like to hide behind the scenes are willing to do.

In the end, politics itself is a game, and until the end, I will not easily engage in a life-and-death struggle with the old prime minister, in short, now is not the time to show my face.

The Earl of Kleist immediately approached Quartermaster Wadsey that night, and after a conspiracy between the two, General Wadsey immediately agreed with Sir Holstein and Earl Kleist.

Militarily, the Peruvian-Bolivian coalition has completely suppressed Chile at the moment, and politically, the British behind Chile remain neutral, while Peru and Bolivia have the support of the French and Americans behind them.

All things considered, there seems to be nothing more wonderful than choosing Chile, which has been beaten alongside Peru and Bolivia, not only to get on good terms with the Americans and the French, but also to take advantage of guano and saltpeter.

General Wadsey was a simple man, and immediately found his ally, General Alberten, and after receiving General Waldsee's request, and after General Alberton's quick maneuvering, William I finally agreed to take a little time out of breakfast to meet with Count Kleist after breakfast before receiving the Russian guests today.

In fact, the Earl of Kleist, in the short period of two months after the Prince's Ball in early April, had already visited the old emperor several times, each time to cry to William I about the tragic fate of the Junkers under the Crown Prince's New Economic Policy.

When he first heard the cry of Count Kleist, the old emperor was very shocked, and hurriedly summoned Prime Minister Bismarck and Crown Prince Frederick into the palace to inquire about the situation, and finally reluctantly dispelled his doubts on the basis of Crown Prince Frederick's patient explanation and Bismarck's credit endorsement of the above situation.

When Joey learned about this, he directly suggested that his father invite the Junkers of the land, who supported the NEP, to the palace to meet William I and tell them what they thought of the NEP.

As Joey had predicted, when Juncker, a group of lands who supported the Crown Prince's NEP and whose prestige and seniority were no less than those of the Earl of Kleist, met with Wilhelm I, the old emperor immediately understood that the purpose of Count Kleist's complaint was actually dissatisfaction with the NEP, not the current state of German agriculture as he depicted.

Since it is a "new" economic policy, some people are bound to be satisfied and some people are not satisfied, and if there is controversy, it means that this economic policy is effective.

The old emperor, who had been in power for many years, naturally saw the trick, so the next few times Count Kleist entered the palace to visit, it was also a perfunctory attitude, and the Count Kleist should cry, and the old emperor should persuade, after a few rounds, the old emperor was really annoyed.

So last night, when he heard General Alberton, the chief of his military guard, say that Count Kleist was coming to visit him again, the old emperor's first reaction was, "Forget it, I'm busy!" ”

But General Alberten, who knew how to figure out the thoughts of the old emperor, spoke very artistically.

"Your Majesty, as far as I know, Count Kleist is not here to complain this time, but he, after thoroughly understanding the New Economic Policy of His Royal Highness Crown Prince Frederick, has come up with a method of how to put it into practice." General Alberton said respectfully.

"It's a good thing, Émile, to tell you the truth I'd be afraid of this Count Kleist, if I hadn't known his father,....." William I shook his head a little complaining, "but it's a good thing, after so much persuasion by me, he finally understood Frederick's painstaking efforts. ”

"But, Emile, now that he has understood Frederick's NEP, is it necessary to see me again?" Wilhelm I frowned and asked his military chief of staff.

"Your Majesty, frankly, I think Count Kleist is making a complete fuss about disturbing you about this, and Your Majesty is so busy that there is no need to see him." General Alberton first expressed his opinion according to the old emperor's meaning, and looking at the gradually softening face of William I, the chief of military attendants continued with a smile.

"But listening to what Count Kleist meant, the solution he proposed this time seems to be to solve the problem of the land Junkers as a whole, and to completely solve the problems of the land Junkers for His Royal Highness Crown Prince Frederick, if this is true, it is worthy of your Majesty's reception."

"Oh, Count Kleist's head can come up with such a big plan?" William I was somewhat surprised.

"Your Majesty, who said it wasn't, when I heard this, I was also surprised." General Alberton smiled and said, "After all, Your Majesty, you are the king of the Junkers, and it is a Prussian tradition for the Junkers to report to you the plan, and Count Kleist is a traditional man." ”

"Well, I'm a traditional old guy too. Arrange your time, Emir. William I thought about it, but nodded in agreement.

Finally, the Earl of Kleist met William I after his breakfast.

When Count Kleist had finished the words he had prepared overnight, William I asked with some confusion, "Dear Earl, don't you know that Chile is a friend of Prussia?" ”

"Your Majesty, as a Prussian, I certainly know that Chile is a friend of Prussia. But the Peruvians made it very clear that they did not want to invade Chile, but only to take back the Atacama Desert region, and the Antofagasta region of the Atacama Desert, where the Chileans are now fighting, belongs to the Bolivians. ”

Count Kleist deliberately omitted to say that the Atacama Desert region actually belonged to the three, and that Peru took back the Atacama Desert, which was actually the field that drove Chile out of the saltpeter mines in South America.

Count Kleist's bet is that the old emperor is not aware of the current situation in the Atacama region, and from the current point of view, it seems that Count Kleist is going to win the bet.

"Peruvians assure that they are not ready to invade Chile?"

"Yes, Your Majesty!" Count Kleist replied with a serious face, "This is also a solemn promise from Peruvian President Prado!" Count Kleist wittily added.

"Who knows how far these madmen from Peru and Bolivia will go to the war, and who would dare to believe their words, despite the promises of this Peruvian?" This is what Sir Holstein said about the Peruvians last night, and Count Kleist has always kept it in mind.

"Economic interests must be grasped, as for this war in the South Pacific, whether it will lead to the death of Chile, who knows? In the event that Peru invades and annexes Chile, I can't carry this pot, and I will have to carry it on the back of the president of Peru. "This is the true mentality of Earl Kleist.

As an emperor, William I was of course aware of the interests of the guano and saltpeter business, and he had to adjust his posture in the face of the huge lure of Peru's willingness to sell guano and saltpeter mining rights.

"I have no objection to engagement with Peru if Chile's independence can be guaranteed." After hesitating for a long time, the old emperor finally relented, "But this matter involves diplomacy and economics, and it must involve the Prime Minister and Frederick, and it can't be run by you and a bunch of small people from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs." ”

"I'll talk to Frederick first, don't worry!" The old emperor finally maintained a trace of calm in this matter.