As the Turkish-flagged freighter approached the dock, a light rain finally began to fall, and the temperature, which was barely above freezing, dropped rapidly. Despite wearing a thick coat and sitting in a luxurious carriage, Maxim sneezed heavily from the chill that had crept through the cracks.

"Sorry! Excuse me! The best armor experts in Democratic Russia apologized to several people around him, but muttered in his heart: "Damn the place, the damn weather!" ”

Sitting across from him, Borisov seemed indifferent to the change in temperature, his eyes fixed on the freighter most of the time, only occasionally looking around, surrounded by his cronies' troops, numbering 200 men, and each armed with a powerful MP24 submachine gun, enough to deter anyone who tried to approach the dock.

A few minutes later, several men in Turkish uniforms descended the gangway, and after talking to the Russian officer at the joint, one of them turned around and led a Russian officer back to the ship.

It took about ten minutes for them to reappear in the ship's side passage, this time with another group of people behind them, a group of men in rat-gray German uniforms.

"Let's go!"

Maxim's characteristic voice brought Maxim back from his wandering thoughts to reality, and he couldn't help but get out of the car and follow closely at the thought that he was about to see the "new weapon" of the Germans with his own eyes.

The group soon got on board, full of men in Turkish sailors' uniforms, armed with rifles and submachine guns, and the Turks' more Asian faces made Maxim feel insecure, and his heart was a little calmer when he looked at the upright and calm Burisov. After passing through the long passage and the metal staircase after section, they finally reached the ship's hold, where, in the still-bright light, Maxim saw piles of cargo tightly covered with tarpaulin, several in succession.

"This is Mr. Burisov, the Vice-President of Democratic Russia, and this is the head of our Special Advisory Group, General Heino von Ebberstein!" The interpreter, dressed in the captain's uniform of the German Army, introduced both sides in fluent Russian and German.

Two people who have never met before embraced each other like a pair of old friends. Tired of Burisov's smiling face, Maxim turned his attention to the cargo in the cabin, and although the thick canvas obscured their true faces, Maxim could roughly distinguish which were artillery, vehicles, and large wooden crates containing some special equipment. Soon, Maxim's gaze rested on one of the piles of cargo, which had a body like a small mountain. And it was angular, and the long tubular object revealed its identity—Maxim guessed that it was the protagonist of the day, a large guy that was much larger than any other tank.

Maxim was visually measuring the size of the big guy when he was startled by the sharp and thin voice.

"Come, let me introduce you, this is our expert in armor technology, Dr. Maxim! Doctor, this is the head of the Special Advisory Group, General Heino von Eberstein! This is Lieutenant Colonel Konipkamp, the technical officer of the Special Advisory Group! ”

"Hello! Hello! Maxim politely shook hands with each other.

"Oh, you're Dr. Maxim?" Lieutenant Colonel Konipukamp said in surprise, "I've heard about you and your design institute for a long time, but I didn't expect to meet you here today." What an honor! ”

This situation surprised even Maxim himself. He looked carefully at the technical officer, who was just in his early thirties, but he didn't have any impression in his head. But it's no wonder, not to mention the young age of the officer. Even a person who is quite accomplished in a certain field may not receive much attention in the current talent-rich German Empire. The opposite is true in Democratic Russia, where the military government, which is the rightful "heir" of the old Tsarist government, is facing a serious talent crisis, and the historical reasons for the plundering and luring of German war are only one of the reasons why for the time being, their rival, the Soviet government, clearly has an advantage in terms of technical talent. The high-ranking technicians who remain in Democratic Russia are either old-fashioned elements or, like Maxim, whose entire family is under special care from the government.

Despite the polite compliments from his German counterpart, Maxim felt a little honored.

"Lieutenant Colonel, you accompany them to check the goods!" The German general, who was nearly fifty years old, spoke. Then he made a "this way, please" gesture to Borisov, "Your Excellency Vice President, let's talk inside!" ”

"Hmm!" Borisov nodded, then gave his cronies a look, and then followed the Germans through another door to the huge cargo hold. What they were going to talk about, Maxim did not know, only that they reappeared when the count was about to end.

"Here's the list of goods!" Lieutenant Colonel Konipkamp pulled out a stack of papers from his bag and was about to hand them to Maxim, but was "intercepted" by his other hand.

"I'm in charge of this!" Burisov's cronies said to Konipkamp with a smirk.

The German nodded, calmly and slightly helplessly at Maxim. Experts, while respected, are often excluded from the hierarchy of power.

"2,000 MP24s plus 1,200,000 rounds of 9mm Luger rounds, well, that's enough to equip a garrison regiment! Are they all over here? Open it and take a look! "It's not as shrill as someone else's, but it's also brutal.

Konipkamp motioned to the Turkish soldiers present to do the same, and after the canvases were removed, piles of neatly arranged wooden boxes appeared in front of everyone, but neither Konipkamp nor Maxim showed any interest in these boxes, only Borisov's cronies couldn't wait for his men to open one of the boxes and took out a shiny MP24 and fiddled with it.

Konypkamp watched patiently as the Russians from the countryside fiddled with their weapons, and only then did he lead them to the appropriate cargo hold when the lead man gave out something else on the list.

"Here are 125 K50 guns and 500 boxes of 5mm Krupp shells!"

Two Turkish soldiers helped open one of the large boxes, which contained a brand-new 50mm mortar, but like the MP24s, most of these mortars were not new equipment that had just come off the production line, but old products used by the German army, but they were polished and oiled and some badly worn parts were replaced before they were shipped to Russia, which can still be found in actual use.

"15 GB armored vehicles and 50 P300 engines!" Konipkamp said, pointing to the group of armored vehicles arranged in five rows.

"Uh-huh!" Burisov's cronies nodded in satisfaction as they looked at the list. But after a while, he asked abruptly: "By the way, what about the new equipment you brought with the ship?" ”

"At the end of the list!" Kony Pukamp said coldly.

"Where's the cargo?" His voice seemed urgent, and it seemed that he had finally remembered the point of his trip.

"In the cargo hold over there, follow me!"

Kony Pukamp was still so unhurried, his eyes quietly glanced at Maxim, and it happened that Maxim was also looking at him, and the moment they looked at each other, they both saw something strange in each other's eyes. One is full of anticipation. One is both proud and somewhat provocative.

Sure enough, the group returned to the cabin from which they had started, and Maxim's eyes quickly locked on the "small hill" he had first seen, and this time he looked closely, and there were five of them.

Normally, no more than 3 new tanks will be built in the initial testing phase, and they will not be in the single digits until the various tests are completed and ready for mass production, but there are exceptions, one is that the situation does not allow the manufacturing department to conduct a full test, and the other is to take it to the battlefield for actual combat testing. But not every tank will have such an opportunity. For example, the Germans' No. 1 tank, also known as the "Stone 1", was carried out in a highly confidential state from the completion of the prototype to the mass production, not to mention the battlefield tests. Even the German emperor at that time only knew the name of this new weapon in his army for a long time, but did not know much about it, which can be regarded as a great anecdote in military circles.

"Everyone!" Before lifting the canvas, Konypkamp suddenly turned around and said to everyone in a very serious tone: "What you see and hear next is highly confidential, and you must not disclose this information to anyone, otherwise Germany will take all necessary measures, including stopping the supply of funds and weapons to Democratic Russia, and withdrawing all aid personnel in Russia!" ”

Maxim was shocked again, his curiosity had been hung to a very high level, and if he was not allowed to look at what was under the canvas in the future, insomnia would probably be inevitable.

"All right, Lieutenant Colonel! We all already know that. Let's check the goods! "This time it was the turn of Borisov's cronies, the general, to be careless.

"Your Excellency General, although the goods have been verified by you, they can only be handed over to the 77th Infantry Division for use, and our people will also supervise and record the whole process!" Once again, Konepkamp read out the terms agreed upon by both parties.

"Of course!" The voice was flirtatious and unimpressed.

After explaining everything, Konypkamp turned around and nodded to the few Turkish soldiers standing around, who quickly untied the ropes tied to the canvas.

"Hiss......"

None of the Russians present said a word, only the sound of gasping for air.

It was a steel chariot nearly two men tall and thick from the front, with a snow-white color and a body stronger than a rhinoceros. The large turret looks sturdy, the thick, long barrel exudes an intimidating momentum, and the jagged protrusions at the front of the hull give the impression that you can't hide from it, if not sharp.

None of the Russians present had ever seen anything like it, not even Maxim, who claimed to be the first armored expert in Democratic Russia, had never thought of building such a huge weapon of war. It can be said that any kind of tank and armored vehicle developed by various countries before has such a huge body and powerful artillery as the United States and Europe. Shocked, Maxim wondered if the power system of this massive vehicle would allow it to perform the same actions as a normal tank.

"I hope you have prepared a large crane of at least 50 tons according to our requirements, otherwise it will be difficult for you to transport it from here to shore!" Kony Pukamp said proudly.

"50 tons!" Hearing this figure, Maxim was really taken aback, with the current steel and engine technology strength of Democratic Russia, it is quite difficult to independently manufacture a 20-ton tank, and their latest T-1 self-propelled anti-tank gun has a total weight of more than 20 tons in a standard combat state, but after all, it is the product of a patchwork of a tank chassis and a 75 mm anti-tank gun, and there is still a considerable distance from the real tank at the technical level. Moreover, apart from the Americans, no country had ever been equipped with tanks of more than 35 tons before, and this huge span was really incredible to Maxim.

Although Burisov's confidant, the handsome general who was not yet forty years old, was quite surprised at this time, he did not say much praise because of his feelings, but told Konippkamp unequivocally: "Don't worry, Lieutenant Colonel, we have prepared a 100-ton crane, and the train and guards have been arranged, and this cargo will be transported away in less than five hours!" ”

"That's good!"

Konippkamp then turned sideways to let the Russians approach the snow-white steel chariot, while the Turkish soldiers behind had also removed the canvas from the other four tanks, which were identical except for the numbers on the turrets.

“005！” Maxim gently stroked the cold body of the heavy tank, and gently read the Arabic numerals on its turret, which he thought was the largest of them, but after looking at the other four, he was surprised to find that "005" was only the smallest of them.

"It seems that the Germans have full confidence in this tank and are ready for mass production!" Maxim couldn't help but sigh in his heart. (Full Text)