"What! Our contact with Krupp, with Hugenberg, and with Ladder was all unilaterally cut off! After listening to his subordinates' reports, Karp suddenly had a bad premonition. After all, such an unforeseen event is generally not a good thing.

However, Karp is a figure who has been in the upper echelons for many years. He understands that at this moment, this kind of information must not be leaked. If chaos is caused, the long-planned coup d'état will be burned. Moreover, a coup d'état is already on the verge of a coup. More than 2,000 coup troops led by Rütwitz were secretly on their way to Berlin. At this time, Karp really didn't have the energy or time to stop and investigate carefully.

"First, don't report this matter to anyone but me, and let me know as soon as you resume contact with the three major families. Second, let the forces led by Lütwitz quickly occupy the government buildings in Berlin and drive out the members of the parliament and government. Thirdly, let our men, as soon as they arrive in Berlin, go to Brandenburg to invite Ludendorff and other officials of the old army faction of the Reich to join the new government. After a brief moment of thought, Karp gave three instructions to his cronies. However, Karp already had a hunch. There seems to be an unknown kind of trouble on the horizon.

With the sound of a crisp gunshot, a large number of armed men emerged in the night of Berlin. Due to the large number of Wehrmacht members in the Karp coup, the Wehrmacht was strictly ordered not to clash with the insurgents. In contrast to the Wehrmacht's restraint, Ludendorff, the representative of the old Army, and his troops with the "mark" immediately declared allegiance to the government, did not support the Karp riots, and assumed an offensive posture. Civil war is on the verge of breaking out!

This was followed by a force that had already reached Stuttgart, helping the government that had fled there to stabilize its position. As the supreme commander of this force, a captain named Reinhardt, in a meeting with the upper echelons of the government, proposed a strategy to call for a general strike of German workers against the coup. The strategy was immediately favored by the exiled government, and a general strike engulfed Berlin.

On 17 March, Karp's new government was completely inoperable, and under pressure from the local army to declare his allegiance to the government of the Weimar Republic, Karp was forced to dissolve the new government and fled to Sweden.

President Ebert later returned to power, the strikes ceased one after another, and order began to be restored in Germany. At the same time, the names of the two men were talked about on the streets of Germany. One was the Imperial General Ludendorff, who decisively supported the government at the beginning of the coup d'état and formed a confrontation with the Karp rebels. The other is Captain Reinhardt, who anticipated the foothold of the government and assisted the government in maintaining stability, including Ludendorff's deployment and the Berlin strike. It can be said that these two people have contributed a lot to this counterinsurgency. The Wehrmacht, which originally had a good hand of cards, did not do much except to declare allegiance to the government after Ludendorff declared his allegiance to the government.

However, compared with Ludendorff and Zhang Chengtian, who became Reinhardt after the crossing, the actions of the Wehrmacht are inevitably a little hindsight. After all, the icing on the cake is often not as meaningful as sending charcoal in the snow!

After the incident, Ludendorff was reactivated. Captain Reinhardt was promoted to the rank of colonel and transferred to Berlin. The Wehrmacht welcomed a new Commander-in-Chief of the Army, 54-year-old Hans Brown. Feng. Sickert.

Hans. Feng. Sickert, the founder of the "100,000 Army" of Germany in later generations, the army he trained for Germany became the backbone of the later expansion of the German army. It can be said that Sickert is a well-deserved father of the German army in World War II!

And the day after Sickert took office, he brought in Zhang Chengtian, who was transferred to Berlin.

"Major Reinhardt was ordered to come and report." Zhang Chengtian, who didn't know Sickert's intentions, walked into Sickert's office in a serious manner with the most serious gesture he could show.

"Participated in the planning of the original Navy Rainbow Operation; Predict the whereabouts of the government and assist the government in maintaining stability in a timely manner; participated in the planning of the Berlin strike; Participate in Ludendorff's plan for a standoff with Karp. Major Reinhardt, your resume is a legend. Look at your age, a major in his 20s! You are perhaps the fastest-promoted officer in German history. As soon as Sickert saw Chang Chengtian, he listed the materials of his investigation of Zhang Chengtian, of course, this was done with good intentions. Without waiting for Zhang Chengtian to reply, Sickert continued, "I know the person Ludendorff, he is a typical old imperial officer. Instead of supporting the coup d'état of Karp and his party, he pledged to serve the Weimar loyal government. I'm sure you must have played an important role in this.... You're doing the right thing, and I'm grateful that you can do so much for the stability of our country. Still, I want to know how someone as young as you can do so much. ”

Zhang Chengtian, who was praised by Sickert, was very embarrassed, and he suddenly felt that this old man was not as uninteresting as in history. Zhang Chengtian also replied and praised, "Hehe, my ability is far from that of General Sickett." Think about the beginning, the German army you led was stationed in Turkey. When the Turks are in a rout, you can also hold your ground and lead the Germans to deal with it calmly. In this regard, the military history of the British also records that 'a small number of German detachments were highly disciplined, and in the midst of the catastrophe of scattered troops, unrecognizable faces, and a large number of stragglers, about two regiments of German troops maintained their cohesion and fighting spirit, maneuvering as freely as on the parade ground, stopping to shoot and then moving to the rear. ’”

Hearing Zhang Chengtian's touted Sikert, he couldn't help but feel comfortable. After all, they are human beings, and they will be happy when they hear compliments. What's more, Zhang Chengtian is talking about what he is most proud of in Sikert. So Sickert put aside the question and went straight to the point: "Major Reinhardt, I sense that you are a talented man, and I hope that you will work on a higher platform for the revitalization of Germany's future." ”

When Sickert put down his doubts, Zhang Chengtian also breathed a sigh of relief. I can't say it myself, but I know everything, and I just take out the good ideas that everyone originally came up with in advance. In that case, it is expected that Sickt will think of himself as a psychopath.

"Before I put you in your position, I want you to answer me a question. Major Reinhardt, how do you think Germany can defend itself against future threats with the 100,000 troops limited by the Treaty of Versailles? This is Sickert's test for Zhang Chengtian, and he wants to use it to judge whether Zhang Chengtian only has ghost ideas or real materials.

Of course, Zhang Chengtian was happy when he heard this question. It is impossible for anyone in this world to know better than him what Sycht wants to hear, and to do what he likes.

"What we need now is an army that can be the backbone of the country, the best trained and the most capable of leadership. The officer corps must be retained, but it needs to be renamed externally. The criteria set for military personnel should be: soldiers in good health and more than 12 years of service experience; Officers should have at least 25 years of military experience. Once you become a member of the Defence Force, you receive specialized training in a particular area, with an emphasis on leadership. We need to value the individual skills and initiative of soldiers. So that every private is trained to be a sergeant, so that every sergeant is trained to be an officer, and every officer is trained to be a general. Drills are conducted every six months to improve professional skills and improve professionalism. There were no tanks or anti-aircraft artillery, so they used cardboard and wood to imitate them, and used toy airplanes to simulate real airplanes to practice shooting in the air. During the exercise, individual soldiers should refer to themselves as a platoon or represent an 8-man machine gun crew. ”

That's great! Sickert heard what he wanted to hear most, and the unknown Major was completely in tune with himself. And he even worked out a lot of details that he hadn't thought about yet. Such a person is the talent that he needs most at the moment, and he is the talent that Germany needs the most at the moment!

"Major Reinhardt, write me a report on the whole army as soon as possible. Once the report is approved, it will be up to you to assist me in taking charge of the specific steps for the reorganization of the army. Of course, in order to better assist me, I will have you promoted to the rank of lieutenant colonel and the chief of staff of the division. After all, I've just stabilized now, and I still have the right to promotion. Hearing the satisfactory answer, Sickert did not hesitate to give Zhang Chengtian a promotion again.