January 1, 1915, 1:35 p.m., Cologne Military Airport, Germany.

The "owl" that Chen Tian rode slowly descended to the ground after circling for two weeks, and at both ends of the runway, thousands of heavily armed soldiers lined up in a neat line, and the German soil felt familiar and intimate. However, in the face of this situation, Chen Tian couldn't be happy, and there was no joy or honor in his heart. The situation is still dire, and more than six hours after the German government announces the death of Wilhelm II, but the heir to the throne has not been announced, and the interest and speculation of governments are growing rapidly.

Despite this, after the plane came to a standstill, Chen Tian walked out of the cabin and waved at the soldiers with a relaxed face, and the crowd suddenly cheered. However, Chen Tian also knew that at this time, the ordinary soldiers worshiped him more because they thought that they would ascend to the throne of Germany, in addition, his status in the hearts of the people did not exceed that of Wilhelm II, in the case of a smooth war, his merits and influence on the war were far from reaching the level of a savior, if the war lasted longer, or the war situation was more harsh, all this might be different. At this time in Germany, Gigi. Wilhelm's name, like Tirpitz and Heydrich, means hero and brilliant military strategist, nothing more.

While the planes were refueled, the escort fighters also landed on the huge airfield built for the attack on Belgium, which was deserted after the fall of Belgium, and only a few army units were stationed here, except for a few patrol aircraft.

The commander in charge of greeting Chentian was an elderly general, and he excitedly told Chentian that he had a relationship with Wilhelm II and Prime Minister Bismarck, and now it would be the honor of his life to meet the new emperor. Seeing that the old general was immersed in pride and glory and couldn't help himself, Chen Tian couldn't bear to spoil this atmosphere, but the truth was that he was still a little away from the throne, a distance that was not easy to cross.

At 2 o'clock, the group of planes escorting Chentian back to Berlin took off on time, and there was a burst of joy and cheers on the ground.

"Falkenhein ......"

Chen Tian silently muttered the name in his mouth, although he had prepared for the worst, he was still a little puzzled by Falkenhein's dissenting vote, after all, in the cooperation between France and England, the War Secretary and Chief of the General Staff worked with him quite happily.

"Your Highness, Marshal Tirpitz has sent a secret message!"

Chen Tian silently accepted the telegram handed by the staff officer, who wrote in his memoirs decades later that he had "never seen a person so calm in such a situation, and he seemed to have an innate leadership temperament."

Tirpitz's telegram was short and subtle, but it was enough to make Chentian's mouth open.

"It turns out that Prince is really just a waste!" After knowing the details of his opponent, Chen Tian was both relieved and surprised, relieved that even if the people of the country were to vote, probably not many people would elect a waste to be the emperor, and the surprise was that the fools in the cabinet would actually let Prince inherit the throne, which also made him understand an eternal truth, politicians are regardless of nationality, even if this is Germany, which is known for its old-fashioned and strict nature.

"Naval support alone is not enough!"

Chen Tian thought so, and then asked his staff to send out several secret telegrams one by one. Fortunately, the convening of the parliament and the voting and deliberation are not something that can be completed in a day or two, not to mention that it is a major issue related to the succession to the throne, which means that he still has a lot of time in his hands.

One hour later, the escort fighters that took off from Bielefeld came to replace the previous batch of escort planes, and these escort fighters were arranged by the Air Force Department controlled by Chentian, so Chentian was still relatively relieved. In the next nearly four hours of the voyage, there will be another three groups of fighters to replace the escort, after all, the range and air time of fighters are not as good as those of bombers. Looking at the wooden flying machines outside the window, Chen Tian couldn't help but think of the grand blueprint he drew for the Luftwaffe, Stukka, Messerschmidt, V series rockets, these resounding names will make the world tremble, and Germany's all-metal planes and even jets will become the masters of the sky.

Berlin, Imperial Palace.

The former watchers were gone, as Rainey had discovered when he sneaked back to his lodgings in the morning, and he was not surprised that the soldiers guarding outside had been replaced by the Praetorian Guards. Wilhelm II had a habit that important organizations and troops could only be mobilized by himself, and when he was assassinated, the spies and spies who worked directly for him suddenly became headless flies, and there was no common commander among the various units of the Berlin Janissaries, and until the new emperor appeared, they could only guard their respective areas.

In the morning, the officials and envoys who had been "kind" to stay in the palace could only move around in a small area, and after the noon cabinet meeting, some people began to be allowed to leave the palace, and as for special liaison officers like Rennie, although they could not leave the palace, they could move around the palace relatively freely.

After lunch, Rainey walked around a few distances from Prince's bedchamber, and although the patrolling Praetorian Guard soldiers were almost oblivious to him, the guards were alert as soon as he approached Prince's bedchamber. Day and night there was no chance to start, which made Rainey depressed, but when he saw the Oriental doctor coming out of the dormitory again, he had an idea, he had not dared to follow this old man because of the spy surveillance, and now it seems that this guy may be a good breakthrough.

After quietly following the old Chinese medicine doctor and the guards who escorted him, Rainey came to an inconspicuous corner of the palace, where the more ordinary envoys and visitors were entertained. After sending the old man into the corner room on the second floor, the guards waited closely at the door.

Rainey silently greeted the former spies in his heart, and walked back as if nothing had happened, knowing that he had something to do tonight.

Without the Minister of the Navy, the Minister of Maritime Affairs, and the Chief of the General Staff of the Navy, the chamber where Bülow and the others were located seemed to be missing something, and the Cabinet had already decided, and all they had to do now was to wait for the parliament to pass the bill on the right to the throne, and to discuss how to ensure the security of the country until the new emperor ascended the throne.

Among the ministers and generals present, Falkenhain was still the most grim-faced, and it seemed that the decision made after hard deliberation did not make him feel relieved. The admirals were all absent, and none of the army generals except the Duke of Württemberg had enough weight to speak.

"I think there should be martial law in Berlin and even in Germany as a whole!" The Duke of Württemberg said indignantly, he seemed dissatisfied with the Admiralty's order to put all the ports on alert, and the ministers were quite concerned about this, and after the morning argument, the attitude of Tirpitz and the Admiralty was already very obvious.

"Don't get excited, Duke! Widespread martial law will only make things worse, and no one wants panic in Germany, except our enemies! "Prime Minister Bernhardt. Feng. Bilo is a little more sedate, 65 is not too big for a politician, Bismarck is still the prime minister at 75, and if Wilhelm II had not dismissed him because of political disagreements, his political life would have been longer. At 65 years old, a man of this age has a great deal of experience and experience, and it is very important that Bilow is now in good health and full of energy, and that he still has much to do for a man who wants to achieve great things like Bismarck.

"Your Excellency Prime Minister, the Navy will not make any out-of-the-ordinary moves! You must know that hundreds of thousands of our soldiers are fighting across the sea, and if they strike, the consequences will be unimaginable! Lord Poole, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, said cautiously and worriedly, after all, Germany had already entered a wartime mechanism, and the role of the army was even more important than that of the government and the cabinet.

Billo glanced at Falkenhain with a pleading gaze, Germany is currently changing from an army power to an army and navy power, and the status of the navy is still very high in the whole country, but in Germany itself, especially in inland areas like Berlin, the weight of the army's voice is heavier than that of the navy.

Although the other ministers looked at him expectantly, Falkenhain remained silent, not even raising his eyelids.

Bülo was disappointed by this, and in fact the War Office did not have a very strong support for the cabinet from the very beginning. Feng. General Bülow left his seat in the morning and went straight to the barracks outside Berlin, and although they had not yet made any statement, their attitude worried the Cabinet.

After all, the Cabinet and the War Ministry did not have the right to mobilize the Berlin Janissaries.

"Our country is still fighting against the enemy, and for the good of the whole country, I don't think they will be so impulsive and selfish!" The Prime Minister comforted everyone and comforted himself.

"In a few hours, His Royal Highness the Acting Crown Prince will be back in Berlin!" Hans, the Minister of Trade, reminded him, and there was silence in the room, as people exchanged glances with each other, but no one said anything.

"Alas......" the Prime Minister sighed lowly, it was he who sent a telegram asking Chen Tian to rush back to Berlin urgently, but now this has become a headache for him, "Sooner or later, it will come, although this is a little unfair to His Highness, but we still have to try our best to persuade him, after leading the troops to defeat the British, he will still become a hero and hero of the empire!" ”

If everyone does not respond, a fool will give up the throne to be a hero and hero, but now it is Prince who is the same as the fool, not Chentian.

The ministers didn't know much about Chentian's political ability, and in the face of an unclear opponent, everyone couldn't help but feel a little apprehensive, and they could only hope that God had not given him the same political ability as his military ability.

In fact, Chen Tian did not have the political power he was born with, but the cruel reality made him gradually understand many things, all thanks to the death of Wilhelm II.

"We probably made the wrong decision from the start!" Falkenhayin suddenly broke the silence in the conference room and said, and the ministers did not react to the meaning of this sentence at once, and even the prime minister looked at the Minister of War blankly.

"We are probably underestimating the strength of our opponents!" Falkenhain seemed to be talking to himself, but his low and depressed tone quickly turned the mood of everyone present.

After dozens of seconds of silence, Prime Minister Bilow said in the same deep tone, "But Your Excellency, since we have done this, I am afraid that we will not be able to turn back!" ”

Falkenhayn glanced up at Bülow, and the two of them found much in each other's eyes.

After a long while, Falkenhain nodded, "Well, we must be prepared for all possible contingencies!" Duke, put the troops of your army group on the outskirts of Berlin on urgent alert; The troops stationed on the mainland were put on combat readiness and assembled on the railroad; In addition, I would like to invite General Graf and the other generals of the Praetorian Guard to come here, and I would like to talk to them! ”

"Yes!" The Duke of Württemberg suddenly became refreshed, and he immediately stood up and saluted, and then strode towards the door.

The Prime Minister and the ministers were also relieved to see this positive attitude of the Minister of War, and at this time they finally realized the trouble that the wartime mechanism had brought to the government, but from the perspective of the whole country, such a mechanism should not be abolished in any way.

After thinking for a while, Falkenhain spoke again: "Your Excellency, I will do my best to ensure the safety of Berlin until the new emperor ascends to the throne, and as for the rest, I will leave it to you to deal with!" ”

"Good!" Although they had come together for different purposes, Barrow was pleased with Falkenhein's attitude, and in any case, with the support of the War Office, he was one step closer to his ideals.

As for Falkenhein, with no way back, he had no choice but to bolt himself firmly to Birlo's carriage.

At 4 p.m., on the southern outskirts of Berlin, the 100,000-strong Zitten Barracks was alive but not crowded, and 30 highly successful infantry regiments from east to west belonged to the Duke of Württemberg's 2nd, General Büloh's 4th and Ruprefit's 6th Army. When the Duke of Württemberg's lieutenant came to the garrison to announce the alert of the 10 regiments of the 2nd Army, he learned that the troops of the 4th and 6th armies had already begun to be on alert in the morning, and at the same time had made certain movements and deployments, and from the map, the troops of General Bülow and Rupresit had formed a shallow encirclement of Württemberg's headquarters and occupied the necessary route to the city of Berlin, and at this time they had set up some temporary posts, but they had not blocked these roads for the time being.

In the evening, when Chentian's landline flew to Berlin, the Oli regiment returning from Turkey also slowly docked at the station on the outskirts of Berlin, and the 5 infantry regiments and 1 armored regiment drove into the Qiteng barracks after getting off the car.