Chancellor Stresemann's words reminded Eric and made him ponder, and at this moment, he clearly had a premonition that the German Confederation was in a crisis of politics and power.

Before he walked into Room 1, even when he announced his decision to reshuffle the cabinet, he quickly gained insight into everyone's mentality, but the human heart could not see through it, and he ignored it. The members of the Federal Party, whom he regarded as his confidants, and the members of the SPD, the People's Party, and the Republican Party in front of him, all seem to be no different, and they are all born to power. Familiar, unfamiliar, past, present, and even later, they all have only one ultimate goal, and that is profit. I didn't seem to feel this way before, but that didn't stop me from thinking like this.

He had wanted to use the opportunity to focus on the formation and logistics of the National Guard, but he hastened to retract the idea because the timing was not right. In order to resolve this embarrassment and crisis, it is necessary to have a highly identified goal emerge.

Annexation of Hungary! Eric quickly found the topic.

"My marshals, how is the Hungarian war going? Hoffman, Chief of the General Staff, tell me about it," Eric's eyes searched for the delegates in the United Front Work Department. This military support to Hungary has always been carried out by the United Front Work Department, with the Ministry of Defense providing assistance.

When Hoffmann heard this, he immediately stood up and replied: "Dear Mr. President, with the strong assistance of our army, the Hungarian and Romanian sides have maintained the attitude of 1919, after all, it is difficult for Hungary to return to its former military strength. ”

"I wonder how sure Hungary is of winning this war, I hear that they still have some of the lost ground that they haven't regained, what's going on?" Eric was concerned about whether Hungary could win as soon as possible, take the opportunity to divide up Romania's territory, and then move closer to Germany again in the face of the territorial crisis, repeating Austria's plan to annex Germany.

"If we formally send troops, especially powerful tank troops, we will be able to decide the winner in the first half of next year." Hoffman replied bluntly.

As soon as these words came out, everyone present fell into a kind of worry: if Germany does not send troops, Germany's influence in Europe will be lost year by year, and if it intervenes with high-profile troops, it does not know what kind of international crisis it will cause, and Britain does not want Germany to create trouble in Europe again after the war.

"Dear Mr. President, from my point of view, we don't need to be in such a hurry, as I understand that the Federalist Party is growing very fast in Hungary, and we can wait and see what happens." It was Almar who spoke, he felt that fighting Romania was not the same as fighting Italy, the country unconditionally supported Hungary, and the war did not gain much, while in Italy he could get territory and a large amount of war reparations. Romania, on the other hand, could not let Germany get involved in either its economy or its territory, and winning the war would not help its finances at all.

"Well, what is the situation on the Bulgarian side now?" Eric then asked Ratnow.

"April 16 next year is the Bulgarian presidential election, and if nothing else, the chances of the Bulgarian Federalist Party winning the election are very good." Rathenau was quick to answer Eric's question.

"There shouldn't be any problems on the Ottoman side, right?" Eric has always been concerned about the Middle East.

"Things on the Bulgarian side were suppressed by arms sales from Greece." Rathenau mentioned the Greek arms purchase. "Ask our side to cancel the sale of tank No. 3 to Greece."

"Arms sales can continue, ignore Bulgaria." Eric didn't want to waste any more energy on arms sales.

"But......" Rat Nau was a little embarrassed when he heard Eric say this.

"Ratnau, what is it?" Eric sensed that there was something in Ratnow's words, and immediately thought of Germany's oil exploitation rights in the Kuwait and Iraqi regions.

"If Germany does not revoke its arms sales to Greece, mining permits in areas such as Kuwait and Iraq will also be delayed indefinitely." Rathenau said regretfully.

"I think they dare!?" It was old Hindenburg who spoke, with a loud voice, and at the same time the cane poked hard into the ground: "These guys, don't forget who saved them from being slaughtered!" Hindenburg glared at Ratnau, and then at the military, as if to reassure everyone.

Rathenau and Brauchitsch and others immediately understood.

"Mr. President is right, the right to exploit oil has been agreed upon by the two sides in black and white for a long time, and they cannot be allowed to trample on it at will just because of arms sales to Greece." Before the military could take a stand, a number of cabinet officials began to speak out.

In 1919, Germany's annual oil consumption reached 46 million barrels, and oil extraction in Kuwait and other places became a national priority, which could not only earn foreign exchange on the spot, but also greatly alleviate the huge domestic demand.

Eric did not even suspect that a national war vote against the Ottoman Empire alone "tearing up the Entente" in the case of the use of troops against other countries would have been almost unanimous.

At present, Germany's military and economy have been completely linked to oil, not to mention military equipment, even small to every household, almost inseparable from petroleum products.

Eric did not think as simplistic as Hindenburg, and he did not want to send troops against the Ottoman Empire, which was still a very strong ally for Germany and could contain the powerful Soviets and parts of the British and French armed forces.

Everyone present looked at Eric, hoping that the president would give a clear course of action.

Eric was not in a hurry to make a statement, but sank deep into his body on the couch and began to think seriously about the problem. Germany can neither tear its face with the Ottoman Empire at this time, but also cannot lose this arms sale, this is indeed a thorny problem, after all, it is too late to cancel arms sales to Greece, orders have already been distributed, and the damage to enterprises is certain, but the most important thing is that it will have a negative impact on other countries, in the final analysis, it is the damage to international credibility, which is really a whole thing. Moreover, once the threat of the Ottoman Empire was lifted, Germany's international prestige for winning the German-Italian war would also be greatly reduced.

After thinking twice, Eric had no choice but to say: "If the Ottoman Empire is willing to take over the Greek arms order at the original price, Germany can sell them this part of the equipment, and there is no other possibility." "This is no way, the Ottomans are not easy to move, and the domestic merchants are not easy to offend.

"Okay Mr. President, I will contact the Ottoman Empire as soon as possible." Ratnau was given a new implementation plan, and his mind was much calmer, and he quickly sat down.

"Things in Hungary can't be unexpected in any way, Hungary has to win before the election, you know what I mean?" Eric looked at Hoffman and said: "Since we have chosen war, we must consider taking some necessary decisive measures at any cost, and other departments must fully cooperate, which is a top priority." ”

There was an immediate and neat response in the room, which was the embodiment of the power that was briefly gathered in the face of the highest interests.

After that, Eric continued to discuss the details of what had been announced, and the room was once again in a heated noise, which Eric had become accustomed to, and with the participation of the People's Party, the Social Democrats, and the Republicans, the Federalist was in a slightly better position than before, and Eric only needed to find a point of convergence and play a stick to show fairness, and he could easily get the agreement of both sides.

Discussion is just a formality, and the picture is just a mouthful, but this program is indispensable. Eric and Hindenburg were about to go to the academic institute to give academic lectures, and they could not afford to delay in time, and it didn't matter how many people would be willing to go to the academic academy to listen to them.

……

Time flies so fast, on November 10th, after the long-lost sun came out, the temperature rose a little, Eric planned to finish his morning's work and go out to find a place to eat, because the food in the presidential palace was the same under the management of Annata, he was tired of eating, and wanted to change his taste, and just walked to the gate, but was stopped by Stresemann, who rushed over.

"Mr. President! Where are you going? The Prime Minister hurried over excitedly.

"Oh! Your Excellency Chancellor Stresemann, what makes you so happy? Eric felt a little confused when he saw him in such a hurry, because this was not the usual personality of the prime minister.

"Report to Your Excellency the President, negotiations on the Suez Canal are over!" Chancellor Stresemann raised his right hand in a telegram and said: "Urkadet sent back the final results of the negotiations in the telegram!" ”

Eric was very pleased to hear this, and this was the first good news he heard in the second half of 1920. After a major event was settled, Germany finally obtained the right to open the Suez Canal.

After reading the telegram, Eric said excitedly: "Urkadt must be rewarded, you draw up a charter, and I will personally award him the honor on the day he returns!" ”

"Haha, this matter is already being discussed, and the Ministry of Defense is also going to award him a medal!" Strezemann was overjoyed.

Urkadt attended a meeting on "The Right to Use the Suez Canal" jointly held by Britain, France, Germany, the United States, Italy, Austria and Hobbia. Realizing that its control over Egypt was almost ineffective, the Ottoman Turks openly discussed the issue of Egypt's independence and the re-settlement of the Suez Canal at the suggestion of Germany.

Britain and France were naturally most interested in this issue, as was Italy. These countries have colonies in Africa, Asia and other places, and the fact that they can travel back and forth from the Suez Canal is of course great news for the huge sea voyages that can be saved.

The Entente powers, which were unable to dominate the Ottomans in World War I, were invited by the Ottoman Empire and Germany to discuss the right to use the canal in Suez, which was intentionally done by Eric, and in addition, Germany's annexation of Austria and the occupation of a large area of territory in the German-Italian war, the Entente had always been enthusiastic, and the purpose of inviting them to participate in the negotiation of the right to use the canal was to alleviate the above contradictions and change the direction to silence them.

Germany's recovery of Austria's lost territory was already causing high tension in the surrounding areas, not to mention the demand for the cession of the Veneto region and the pursuit of a military base in the Mediterranean.

Eric knew very well that the interests of countries were like this, and he did not want Germany to become fat in one breath and end up with Napoleon.