Bellevue Palace is home to the Secret Service, and five kilometres further east along the river is the Chancellery in Stresemann, just across the street from the Federal State Parliament.

On his way home, Stresemann specially invited Deputy Foreign Minister Walter Brown? Ratnau returned to his home with him, and in recent times he had discovered that many things that he could not communicate in public might be more open and honest in private.

As soon as the two of them sat down, Stresemann took out the "Program of Cooperation among the Member States of the League of Nations" of the Soviet representative, and said with a smile: "Dear Walter? Mr. Rathenau, I am very honored to have you here, but I have nothing to eat or drink, and don't think I'll bring out wine to entertain you, I really don't, and I'm sorry. Look, I'm content to have such a place to live. Of course, you deign to come to the Humble House, not for a drink, but for a very important matter of state affairs, and as Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs of the German Confederation, I would love to hear your opinion, yes, Hermann? Minister Miller is busy negotiating the war, and the burden of the country's diplomatic work is on your shoulders, and your work is obvious to all. At present, it is very necessary for Germany to form an ideological tacit understanding with the Soviet Union, Poland and other countries, so this matter is very much in need of your assistance, only in this way will it be more conducive to the early settlement of the war on the Western Front and the return of the people to life, and Mr. President is very much looking forward to this. ”

Rathenau slumped into the couch as much as he could, spread his hands and said, "Oh, my Prime Minister, you mean you want to hear my opinion on the cooperation of this alliance?" No, no, no, as you know, I, the deputy foreign minister, actually don't have any real insight, and I have this opportunity to rely on the old and sell the old because of you and Mr. President, and I think it would be better for you to listen to what Mr. Miller has to say. ”

The result of the kick was expected, and Stresemann knew that Rathenau was not interested in the covenant and hastened to add: "Well, as the best citizen in the world, I know that you have always been against ......"

Without waiting for Stresemann to finish speaking, he listened to Rathenau make a silent gesture, and then said softly: "Your Excellency, I am sorry, I know what you want to say next, in fact, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has no other choice for the decision of Mr. President and yourself, this is my opinion, but I think that in this matter you should first consider the advice of the majority of the cabinet members, who may be more interested in knowing what Germany is doing." ”

The reason why Stresemann asked Rathenau to talk at home was because of the different diplomatic views of both sides, but fortunately, although Rathenau was stubborn, most of the time he would still make some appropriate compromises on his own ideas, so he was not annoyed or angry, and deliberately lowered his posture and said: "Okay, dear Mr. Rathenau, there is no best plan at the moment, the German Confederation is now in a difficult situation at home and abroad, and just one battlefield on the Western Front has exhausted us, and if we make enemies on all sides, the pressure will increase exponentially, If you refuse to participate for personal reasons of unilateral emotion, I will have to replace this matter with someone else, but in this way, it will inevitably make the Soviet Union feel that we have neglected them in our actions, you see, the deputy minister of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs does not come forward, and it is not appropriate to say anything, and besides, the legitimacy of this document will definitely be criticized by the world. ”

Rathenau, who had been trained in several administrations, was obviously very sophisticated, and he did not respond positively to Stresemann's statement, but closed his old eyes and said: "Do you think that this German-Soviet meeting was President Eric's intention, and that he would do his best to bring about it?" ”

The reason why Adrian talked with the Soviet representatives with great interest was certainly not only for the purpose of forming a cooperation between the two sides, but also for the sake of mere formalities, but it was inconvenient to explain to Ratnau: "With such a high-profile reception and such a solemn invitation to the representatives of the Soviet Union to come to Germany for a state visit, does Mr. President not want to have other cooperation?" He would think that the outcome of the negotiation is not important? Don't want this big thing to happen? And then the next one is just for the world to see a joke? Or is it that our German Supreme Commander-in-Chief is playing a diplomatic game? ”

Rathenau was not in a hurry, he felt that Mr. Chancellor was doing a fake show, so he answered his questions and said: "This is only for the Entente to see, Mr. President, you want to kill two birds with one stone, my Mr. Chancellor, you are now obsessed." ”

The conversation came to Stresemann's surprise, he didn't expect Rathenau to be so blunt about Adrian's true thoughts. At this time, Rathenau felt that he had won a preliminary victory in his opinion, looked left and right, and then said in a disappointed tone: "What the hell, what are the people in the Chancellery busy with?" It's reasonable to say that I don't have wine to drink, I've been here for so long, and I can't bear to drink a cup of tea, so I can't say it, Your Excellency the Prime Minister, is this how you received me, the vice minister of foreign affairs? He laughed.

Its implementation, Treseman, also felt very strange, in the past, not to mention the guests, that is, when he came home from work every day, the people would be busy waiting, but today it is unusual, the house is cold, and people don't know where they went. I can't help but feel a fire in my heart: "Andreas, Andreas......"

After shouting several times but no one answered, Stresemann smiled ashamedly at Ratnau and said, "I'm really sorry to respect the Vice-Minister, because I am busy with state affairs every day and neglect to discipline, these people have become more and more ignorant of the rules."

After a while, an ordinary middle-aged woman came over with a tray, and Stresemann was about to say a few words, when he saw that it was his wife, and asked curiously: "Oh! My lady, where are you singing? Leaving the servants to be idle, and even serving tea by yourself, have all my servants been fired by you? ”

Mrs. Straitman's answer surprised Rathenau as well: "Yes, my Chancellor, your meager salary is not enough to buy me a parasol in addition to the daily expenses of the family, not to mention some cats and dogs at home, not even a gluttonous mouse, and you still want to support a servant?" Oh! What an unrealistic idea. Yo yo yo, you see, the honorable deputy minister didn't say hello first, look at what has been given in this house. ”

"Oh! Dear Mrs. Stresemann, it is a pleasure to meet you! Hahaha...... Gustav, my Excellency Prime Minister, this is yours! Rathenau quickly got up from the sofa and bowed to Mrs. Strassemann.

Mrs. Stresemann also bowed to Rathenau apologetically: "Don't be surprised, Your Excellency, you don't know when this damned war will end. If our lives are like this, the common people are even more pitiful. ”

Nowadays, life is not easy in Europe, and this is not only the current situation in Germany, Stresemann is very embarrassed on the sidelines, saying: "The French don't want us to live a good life, Germany has no other choice." Then he squinted at his wife and said, "Do you want food?" Well, Mr. Deputy Minister, his decision means that Germany will immediately have the urgently needed goods for tens of millions of people to survive the winter. ”

Rathenau did not reply, and Mrs. Stresemann, seeing that they had something to discuss, motioned for Rathenau to stay for dinner, and then left. Immediately, Stresemann and Rathenau returned to the topic they had just discussed.

Rathenau did not hide his point of view: "I had reservations when Mr. President extended an invitation to the Soviet side, and I did not fully accept your point of view, but from the analysis of the current situation in Germany, there is no choice, and to this day, I can only reserve my opinion. ”

Things were changing for the better, and Stresemann was very happy, because Rathenau was so open-minded, which showed that he was not wary of the chancellor. As a result, Stresemann also opened his heart and expressed the tacit understanding between himself and the president: "President Eric's idea has made you right, your loyalty to the president is very commendable, as the country's chancellor, I can only express my sincere gratitude, your attitude will determine whether Germany can get out of the predicament at present, Mr. Rathenau." Cooperation with the Soviet Union was indeed a top priority, and although we were not fully prepared, it would at least give us a very important bargaining chip in dealing with the difficulties of Britain, the United States, and France. Well, I'm in a much better mood, it's German happiness and we've all been looking forward to it for a long time. ”

Rathenau eventually relented, agreeing to part of the Soviet-German cooperation.

Walter? Rathenau rubbed his forehead and said: "Let's talk first, if I let the Gong Party have one more seat in the House of Representatives, I will take the initiative to resign, this is the bottom line, and it is also a condition for me to communicate with others, how about it?" ”

Stresemann curled the corners of his mouth and said, "As you wish." ”

Walter? Rathenau is a leading member of the Democratic Party, not a Federalist Party. During Miller's trip to Paris for negotiations, he hoped that Deputy Minister Rathenau would make efforts on cooperation between the Soviet Union and Germany, and the key to whether Germany could reach a consensus with the Soviet Union was also inseparable from the assistance of Deputy Foreign Minister Rathenau, and most importantly, the support of the Democratic Party behind him. Stresemann knows very well in his heart that the Democratic Party has always kept a wait-and-see view of the three major parties in Germany, and this is related to the infighting and hatred between the two parties before, and Stresemann, the prime minister, cannot bypass the support of the Democratic Party if he wants to achieve cooperation between Germany and the Soviet Union.