Naturally, the Entente's fanfare could not hide from the Germans, but how to deal with it was a question.

Once the Entente powers exert their forces on the east, west and south fronts at the same time, the life of the Central Powers will not be easy, and now Austria-Hungary is obviously unable to contain the two countries at the same time, even if it is difficult to deal with the previous one alone!

In line with the principle that those who can work harder, it is natural that the Germans themselves will go to it, and then the problem will come. First of all, taking into account the fact that the strength of the German army on the third line will be insufficient, and secondly, it will be difficult to guarantee the logistics supply!

The chief of the German General Staff, Falkingham, had returned to Berlin, and he was succeeded by the famous German general Marshal August von Mackensen.

Falkingham proposed: "Your Majesty, now that the Russians are crippled, at least this one they cannot trouble us in the winter; If it were just Bulgaria, Austria-Hungary should be able to cope with it, we should concentrate our forces on a breakthrough on the Western Front, and as long as we can break through Paris, we will be able to force the French out of the war! ”

Clearly, Falkingham, who had just won a big victory on the Eastern Front, hoped to replicate this miracle on the Western Front, playing a 1:2 or even 1:3 exchange ratio, and using brutal casualties to force the French to withdraw from the war.

However, his proposal did not meet with the support of the German High Command, and Chancellor Theobarden von Batemann Holwig questioned: "Your Excellency Chief of Staff, how can you be sure that the Russians will not launch a counteroffensive after we launch a full-scale offensive on the Western Front?"

Even the Russians don't have to spend much effort, as long as they cooperate with Bulgaria, Austria-Hungary will not be able to withstand it. Our allies are now weakened to the extreme, and if there is another major defeat on the front, it could collapse at any moment!

What if we don't have the ability to defeat the French before the collapse of Austria-Hungary?

And even if we break through Paris, the French still choose to continue the war? Are we going to keep fighting? So who can tell me when this war will be a head? ”

The meaning of the black-clad prime minister is obvious, the strategic goals that Germany has now set are beyond the reach of the country, and the strategic goals must be lowered!

Falkingham sneered and said, "So what is the opinion of Mr. Prime Minister that can allow us to win this war?" ”

Bateman Holwig said calmly: "Peace talks, use diplomatic means to end the embarrassing situation we are facing now!"

The Entente countries are not monolithic, and we can have separate peace talks with them to end this war! ”

This is not the first time that "peace talks" have been proposed, and even in private, the Germans have already been in contact with various countries, but the gap between the conditions between the two sides is too great to reach an agreement.

This time Batemann Holwig publicly mentioned it here, and it is obvious that his "peace talks" are completely different from the previous negotiations in private, and Germany must make concessions and show sincerity!

Wilhelm II asked expressionlessly: "How to talk?" What's the bottom line? ”

Negotiation is not so simple, this also involves the major domestic interest groups, making concessions in any direction, will make one or several interest groups lose their interests!

Therefore, even if Wilhelm II was very interested in "peace talks", he could not reveal it and cause a backlash from domestic interest groups!

After being silent for a moment, Bateman Holwig said calmly: "Before the peace talks, we must first learn from the British and distinguish who is our primary enemy, who is our secondary enemy, and who is our potential enemy!"

In dealing with our main enemy, we must be suppressed to the death, and there is no possibility of relaxation; With secondary and potential enemies, we can compromise and even cooperate in the short term! ”

Wilhelm II's face is very bad now, and Batemann Holwig is obviously accusing him of not distinguishing priorities in his previous foreign policy that caused the current embarrassing situation!

After a pause, Batemann Holwig continued: "Actually, we have already had an answer to this question, our main enemy is the French, the secondary enemy is the British, and the potential enemies are Russia and Bulgaria!"

Therefore, we can now compromise with Russia and Bulgaria, whose interests do not conflict much with us in the short term, and exchange interests in exchange for their withdrawal from the war.

The Russians are not asking for a high price now, they are just asking for territorial integrity, and we can fully satisfy them!

The Bulgarians are asking for a little more, but it's within our reach!

For example, we can tacitly divide the Ottoman Empire between the two countries, let the three countries divide Romania, and in exchange the Russians will cede a piece of land from Russian Poland to us as compensation!

In other areas, the borders of the countries before the war were restored, so that we could take into account the interests of Austria-Hungary, Bulgaria, and the Russian Empire at the same time, and we could end the war on the Eastern and Southern Fronts first!

When the two countries withdraw from the war and negotiate with the British Empire, we can promise to abandon the Great Naval Plan in exchange for the understanding of the British, and then jointly divide the French colonies!

As long as this is done, there will be only one Frenchman left, and they will certainly not refuse our armistice negotiations, then we will win this war! ”

After saying that, Batemann Holwig chose to shut up, knowing that his proposal would definitely not be so easy to pass, which meant that the Germans would have to give up a lot of the benefits that had already been made.

This also means that he is on the opposite side of the three major interest groups of the German financial community, the navy, and the Junker aristocracy, and it is difficult to get through!

Sure enough, Hindenburg opened his mouth and retorted: "So we will fight this war in vain?" Not only will we not get anything good on the Eastern Front, but even our worst enemy, France, will we have to keep it?

We have paid such a great price and fought this war, so that you politicians have come to the sacrifice of our allies in exchange for peace, and such a peace will work for the great German Reich? ”

Batemann Holwig didn't answer, just glared at Hindenburg coldly, the meaning was very clear, he was reminding Hindenburg not to forget that the information was a soldier of the German Empire, and he couldn't just consider the problem from the standpoint of the Junker aristocracy!

Perhaps aware of this, Hindenburg chose to shut up and never speak again. The class position forced him to oppose this "peace talks", but he had to admit that this was the easiest way to get the German Empire out of its predicament at the moment!

Alfred von Tirpitz, the Minister of the Admiralty, spoke up, and he could not make the slightest concession on this question, which was at stake for the future of the Imperial German Navy, and as a staunch supporter of the theory of sea power, he believed that Germany must have a fleet commensurate with its national strength!

"Mr. Prime Minister, if we have to give up the sword in our hands for the sake of peace, then what can guarantee such peace?

Even if we have reached an agreement with the Entente now, they can still form an alliance to contain the empire again in the future, can we continue to compromise?

Besides, aren't the lessons of this war enough? If it weren't for the limited strength of our navy, would the British have been able to impose a material blockade on us?

Without the material blockade, we would have won this war! For the sake of the future of the empire not to be threatened, we cannot accept such a humiliating peace! ”

Batemann Holwig still did not refute it, everyone knows these big truths, but there is one thing that everyone does not pay attention to, that is, the German Empire does not have such a strong national power!

Wilhelm II was very disappointed, although he also thought that these conditions were a bit harsh on the German Empire, but he hoped that someone would support the peace talks, after all, the war was going on now, and the prospects were becoming less and less optimistic.

Batemann Holwig was not surprised by the military's opposition, he simply wanted the support of the government, and if the government could fully support it, he could also persuade Wilhelm II to force the peace talks.

Finance Minister Karl smiled bitterly and said: "Ladies and gentlemen, we have been running fiscal deficits for more than ten years, and everyone must know what this means.

In addition, as far as I know, the country's strategic material reserves have also fallen to the lowest point since the start of the war, and if it weren't for the military's gains in Russia this time, maybe we would be hungry now! ”

The Minister of the Interior cooperated: "Yes, our grain reserves have reached a very dangerous number, if it were not for the more than 5 million tons of grain brought back by the military from Russia this time, we would be sad this winter!"

Everyone knows that we are a food importer and import millions of tons of agricultural products from overseas every year. Since the outbreak of the war, we have only been able to import some of our grain from a few neutral countries, and we have to face vicious competition from the Entente!

Due to the factors of the war, the domestic grain production continues to decline, and now we have a food deficit of more than three million tons every year, and if the war continues, this number will continue to increase!

It's not just us who are short of food, even Austria-Hungary has a food shortage, and they have a food deficit of more than a million tons every year!

Not to mention the Italians, who have an even worse food shortage than we do, and I don't even know how they will survive this winter! ”

The Minister of Logistics added: "Not only is there a shortage of food, but there is also a shortage of other strategic materials, and due to the factors of raw materials, our military production has almost reached the limit!"

However, this number is not enough to support the war consumption on the front line, and our weapons and ammunition reserves have dropped to a very dangerous number, and we cannot support three battlefields at the same time! ”

……

Everyone understands that the black-clothed prime minister is forcing the palace, he has gambled his political life, if he can't persuade the major political factions to jointly suppress the domestic interest groups, then his position as prime minister will be done.

In this regard, everyone has to admire his courage to stand against so many interest groups, even if the war is over, he will not have a good life.

Now the decision is in the hands of Wilhelm II, and if he dares to fully support Batemann Holwig's plan for peace talks, then with the influence of the royal family in the army, there is a great deal of confidence that this resolution will be passed!

Of course, if it fails, the consequences will be very serious, the army may take over power, and the royal family and government will be hollowed out!

……