"It's always easier to destroy than to build, gentlemen. It takes us a few seconds to destroy a building, but it takes a few years to build a building, and it takes a year or more to complete. I believe that all the gentlemen here understand this simple truth. ”

Seeing the officers nodding their heads in agreement below, Xu Jun took a deep breath and continued.

"The dream of building a modern Roman empire was very tempting. But how was the Roman Empire founded? By force?

Indeed, the Roman legions were invincible, sweeping across Europe, and the empire extended even into the interior of Africa and Asia.

The Roman legions, relying on superior tactics and equipment ahead of their time, well-trained soldiers, and advanced military concepts, gained a force far superior to their backward and stale enemies, all of which were strikingly similar to the advantages we have now.

But does this mean that we can build a second Roman Empire by force? My answer is no, we will never be able to accomplish this by force in this day and age. ”

Xu Jun stopped, he put down the scepter in his hand, picked up the cup on the table, and took a sip of water, and the officers all looked at him with bated breath.

"I think the reason for this is that several gentlemen here have already thought of it, and I want to hear your opinions."

Xu Jun looked at the triumvirate of the command department sitting on the left-hand side.

"My Führer, I understand what you mean, what you said earlier is also a problem that has been bothering me until now, and I am very worried about our current situation, my Führer."

Yodel, chief of staff of the Operations Division, said respectfully.

"Indeed, Field Marshal Brauchitsch and I are well aware of this, and this is why we are determined to follow you steadfastly, as we have always said to our men, that only you can clearly see the existence of the crisis, and that only you can save Germany from danger and lead us to a real rise, my Führer."

Keitel hurriedly continued, and the shrewd chief of staff of the High Command took von . Brauchitsch's share was also said.

"You have spoken to us specifically about this, and my Führer, I still have fresh memories of the scene and have great admiration for your profound insights and the kind of far-reaching vision and strategic thinking that lies behind them."

Feng. Brauchitsch hurriedly climbed up the ladder.

"It is true that we do not have the strength to build what Hitler called a thousand-year empire, and as His Excellency the Führer said, this is just a crazy dream."

It was Halder who spoke, the chief of the Army General Staff, who had just been given a make-up lesson by Xu Jun.

Halder, who had a somewhat stubborn personality, was half frightened to death by the kind of strategic thinking that was ahead of the entire era and the analytical ability and judgment beyond his imagination displayed by Führer Xu.

He saw a guy who was more like Superman than Hitler, and in those hours His Excellency the Chief of the General Staff of the Army behaved like a rookie cadet who had just entered the military academy, sitting intently listening intently to the young Führer's flickering, ah no, it should be a lecture.

By the time Halder walked out of the Führer's office, His Excellency Chief of the General Staff of the German Army had become the most staunch admirer and follower of Führer Reinhardt. Brauchitsch, von. Keitel, Jodl, Guderian, Raeder, von. Rundsteadt, von. Bloomberg, von. Manstein, von. Loeb, von. After Bock, another victim was deceived by Xu Jun with advanced knowledge.

"My Führer, let's not mention the navy and air force, let's talk about our army first. I began to investigate the questions you raised the last time you met me alone, and sure enough, as you say, they are not only existent, but they are so serious that if it had not been for your reminder, we might still be intoxicated by the illusion of victory in the French campaign, and if they had been revealed in the next battle, we might have suffered irreparable losses.

The Army Staff is working on a comprehensive improvement program in line with your intentions, and I really want to stop time now and hope that we have time to start this program before it is too late. ”

Yodel said earnestly, only to cause another whisper among the generals below.

"I also hope to catch up, General Halder, our enemy will not sit there stupidly and wait, we can only deal with the crisis in the future now if we are fully prepared in all directions."

Xu Jun nodded and replied.

"As I mentioned earlier, the Roman Empire was not established by force alone, and the Romans spent countless hours and energy trying their best to create a safe surrounding environment for themselves, which gave them the space to develop strongly.

The Romans relied on wisdom and perseverance for the most part, and their endless diplomatic and political manoeuvres were often more effective than the killings of Roman legions.

The Romans knew then that force was only a last resort and that force could not solve all problems, and it is ridiculous that we now think that we can conquer the whole world by force alone.

Now that we have taken the first step, we have been forced by the situation, but we have also reached the point where there is no turning back, we can only continue to walk, and I only hope that we can all work together to make Germany truly rise in Europe and the world.

Before we can do that, we have to re-examine ourselves and the world so that we can find the right direction for Germany. ”

"Hitler's statement that the Germanic nation is the best nation in the world and should be the ruling nation, and that the non-Germanic nation must accept the rule of the Germanic nation, seems to me to be a complete pipe dream.

We are indeed an excellent nation, and as an excellent nation, we should have a clear brain, instead of believing that we are the ruling nation.

In this day and age, it is impossible for one people to easily enslave and rule another. The continuous development of science and technology has made the earth smaller and narrowed the gap between nations.

It is impossible to repeat the situation that the cultural and technological differences between two neighboring nations are tens or even hundreds of years, and it is difficult to force another nation to submit by force and killing, which was already difficult to do in Europe a hundred years ago, not to mention that now we are facing a Europe with a highly developed civilization.

It is hard for me to imagine that we can rely on force to bring the peoples of Europe, who have long been accustomed to seduction, into real submission.

If we continue to think about European unity in the same way we thought about it, what I know now is that the German government has drawn up an occupation plan that is not as good as Napoleon's, and I can imagine what the final consequences will be.

I know that all of you here are high-ranking officers, and everyone can look at this problem rationally, which is why the German ** team has not suffered from the full erosion of this crazy idea.

I hope that this situation will remain and that it will bring the whole of Germany back to its senses, which is a task that the commanders of the army must keep in mind. ”

"We are on the road to war for the sake of living space."

Xu Jun paused for a moment and then said, "What is living space, why do we lack living space?" You should have some understanding of this.

The defeat in the last war had deprived Germany of all influence it had in Europe, and Germany had been suppressed by Britain and France and their allies for two decades, fearing a resurgence of Germany.

But stupid they want to get more benefits from Germany, and bankrupt Germany can't give them any benefits, driven by this greed, they give Germany a chance to rise again, and at the same time, cowardly, they also build a strong cage for Germany.

Germany was poor in resources, we did not have a stable and reliable source of resources, everything was in the hands of the Entente who were wary of Germany.

In order to regain dignity and honor, we must rearm ourselves, which was the ideal and belief of all German people at that time.

In order to realize his crazy ideals, Hitler wanted to rearm Germany, and after he came to power, he was eager to turn his ideals into reality.

However, to arm ourselves would require more resources, and the Entente would certainly not help us to rearm ourselves, they did not want to see a re-emergence of Germany.

If they see Germany as a threat, we will lose most of our resources, and Hitler's national economic policy has made our already narrow channels of imports even narrower, which is the essence of what he calls the crisis of Germany's living space, and the best reason for him to speed up the pace of rearming Germany.

So we start a war to seize resources and expand our sphere of influence, and if we want to win the war and protect the fruits of the war, we must continue to grow the army, and if we want to grow the army, we must continue to seize more resources, so we continue to wage another war, and we fall into a terrible vicious circle.

In the end, the fear of possible intervention by the Entente in our actions and the hatred that had accumulated over the decades made us finally compelled to launch the European campaign.

You should be well aware of our situation now, we can no longer go on according to the crazy plan that Hitler had devised at that time, that would be self-defeating.

We will not be able to obtain the living space we need by our existing strength alone, let alone the enslavement of any people, and if we do so, we will be attacked from all sides, politically, militarily, economically, in any area that may harm us, and our hidden enemies will not give up this opportunity to attack Germany in a grand manner.

And you all know how powerful the resistance to oppression will be, because we ourselves are the best examples.

At that time, unless all the rebellious peoples were killed, the flames of revolt should never be extinguished, and if the intervention of foreign powers was at the same time, when the hidden enemy came out behind the scenes and took the opportunity to attack Germany, it would be the beginning of disaster, because the weak enemy would not dare to challenge us, and the struggle could probably turn into a protracted and bitter battle.

I do not doubt your determination to fight Germany against the whole world for the sake of Germany's revival and for our sake, but determination and reality are two different things and cannot be confused.

So, what we need to do now is to do everything we can to build a living space in the true sense of the word, a stable and secure living space, before other countries with ulterior motives intervene in European affairs, and remember that it must be stable and secure, both politically and militarily. ”

"My Führer, now I think that all the gentlemen present here have understood what you are trying to tell us, that you have made it clear to us the crisis that is about to befall Germany. This strengthened our determination to follow you, and I thank God for making us choose to support you in our entirety over Hitler at that time, and I thank God for giving us a sober and wise leader, because only you can lead us out of this difficult situation.

Please tell us what the Navy should do at this time, what difficulties we will face, and the Imperial Navy will continue to obey all your orders and destroy all apparent and potential enemies. ”

Commander-in-Chief of the Navy Raeder finally made his first speech at the meeting, and by the way, he put on a posture to show his determination to be loyal to the end.

"I am about to discuss with you in detail the strategic concept for the future of the Navy, and when this regular meeting is over, I will meet with you and the members of the Navy General Command and several fleet commanders alone. Marshal Raeder, I am very grateful for your loyalty to the Empire and to me personally, and I will always remember that. ”

Xu Jun nodded approvingly to Raeder, it seems that the sweetness given to the navy has indeed satisfied the commander-in-chief of the navy, even in the face of His Excellency Marshal Raeder of Hitler, he has never said such a sensual sentence before.

"My Führer, our Air Force is the same, you need not doubt the infinite loyalty of the Luftwaffe to you, as long as you point the way, the Luftwaffe will not hesitate to destroy all enemies for you."

Milch, the current deputy commander of the Air Force, finally couldn't help but speak, because he was cleaned up by Xu Jun, the Minister of Imperial Aviation, who had always been a bit domineering, is now much more low-key.

"I understand, General Milch, I have confidence in the Air Force." Xu Jun smiled and nodded, Milch suddenly felt a lot better about himself, and even his waist seemed to be straighter.