Berlin, Germany.

At the end of December 1914 in Berlin, almost everyone, whether it was a high-class nobleman or a commoner, had their eyes on the Anglo-German war that was going on in England. If this battle is likened to a wonderful football game, then the German team's striker Chen Tian successfully broke into the British team penalty area from the left side soon after the opening and scored, the British team launched a crazy counterattack after that, but unfortunately they did not threaten the German navy, land and air force The back line, but was played by the veteran Hindenburg played a beautiful counterattack, just over halfway through the first half, the German team has a 2-0 lead.

For German fans, there's nothing better than this fantastic start.

Although the British have no way to threaten the German team's penalty area, subtle changes are quietly taking place in the German team's penalty area. Of course, almost no one notices all this, except for Tatsuten and his assassins.

The burly, iron-faced Rainey had been in the palace for some time, and he did little but waited for the Emperor's summons every day, and saw no one. Gradually, only when the emperor needed to convey confidential information to Chentian, his special liaison officer would be mentioned, and in normal times, few people would think about this special person, except for the Praetorian Guard officers, attendants, and sweeping uncles who always "happened" to appear near him.

When people are not expecting it, Rainey will always walk around the palace as if nothing happened. After getting acquainted with Rainey's face, as long as he didn't set foot in the special restricted area, the Praetorian Guard officers and soldiers didn't pay much attention to his seemingly habitual and boring movements, only the strange people were always with them.

Rainey was well-behaved, and he never showed any intention of trying to set foot in places that were not within his purview, including the Emperor's and Prince's bedchambers.

As the night began, no one had ever seen the Special Liaison take a step out of the door, and in order to ensure his "safety", the commander of the Royal Guard had set up a sentry at the door of his room

The Imperial Palace in Germany was naturally a heavily guarded place, and the Imperial Guard, armed with Mauser rifles, bayonets, Luger pistols and armoured vehicles, was well-trained and very respectful, but their main defense targets were vandals who tried to infiltrate the palace, and there was little surveillance and inspection of those who lived in the palace, so no one noticed that there was a ninja-like figure in the palace. Just as the thickest-armed, most powerful tank can ricochet rifle, machine-gun bullets, and small-caliber anti-tank shells, but can't avoid hidden pitfalls dug in the road, local methods can sometimes restrain advanced weapons.

No one had ever seen the huge but agile man in black in the early hours of the morning, this guy walked as fast as the wind and without a sound, climbing over the wall and pillars was a piece of cake for him, and if the commander of the Praetorian Guard knew about it, he would probably fall into bed in the middle of the night, because if this man had bad intentions, the emperor's life would have been lost.

In fact, this man in black does have bad intentions, but the emperor's life needs to be saved for the time being, and once the country oscillates during the war, the army on the front line will inevitably be greatly affected, unless the situation reaches the point of last resort.

Of course, Rainey didn't go out every night, and he slept peacefully in his room every night for the first few days until he saw the strange Oriental doctor.

Rainey first saw the man on a cloudy morning, taking an "aimless" walk in the back garden of the palace after breakfast. There are many flowers and trees in the emperor's back garden, and in the snowy winter, there is another kind of fun here. However, Wilhelm II's interest was not in the garden, he preferred to go to the square in front of the palace to parade and watch the changing of the guard, and it was because of his hobby that the Royal Janissary arranged several solemn changing of the guard several times a day. Generally speaking, the emperor often appears there after breakfast, and there are naturally many Janissary guards and snipers in ambush near the square, after all, it is easy to be watched by people when the life of a monarch with such a powerful empire is in control.

Although the ministers were sometimes summoned by the Emperor in the back garden, the chances of the Emperor appearing here were generally very small, and the Empress was not in the mood to hang out since Prince's Rusty Bean, and the little princesses liked to stay in the warm room in winter. Therefore, this morning, apart from Rainey, there were only two uncles in the huge back garden.

Rainey recognized them at a glance, they showed their faces not infrequently, Rainey knew that the Emperor and the Praetorian Guard were not fools, they kept a quiet watch on themselves, and if they did nothing, then everything would be fine; If you have to do something, you have to know it.

This happens to be a ninja's specialty!

Although the Japanese ninja gradually declined after the cold weapon era, many of the legendary magical skills have been forgotten with the loss of time, which also has many similarities with Chinese kung fu. It is said that Rainey's drunkard master and the terrible Nohara were the last shinobi of Koga and Iga, respectively, one of them was destitute and the other could only help people take care of the home. Although Rainey's master only taught Rainey Ninja Kung Fu for the sake of drinking, he still trained Rainey from a small foreigner to a good little ninja for more than ten years.

While Rennie was walking back and forth in the back garden through the snow, several court guards hurried through the corridor next to the garden with a thin old man with gray hair and beard. After all, Rainey is a person who has spent more than ten years in Japan, and he has spent most of the year in Qingdao with Chentian, and he can see at a glance from the dress of the little old man that he is a Chinese, a very traditional Chinese medicine doctor. In this era, most of the Chinese langzhong wore that kind of wide old-fashioned coat, and this little old man was wearing this kind of clothes, and a guard next to him was carrying a large square box in his hand, which seemed to be the old man's belongings for dinner.

Rainey did not have a deep understanding of Chinese medicine, but many things in Japan were passed down from China, and he had heard of some of the miraculous effects of Chinese herbal medicine and acupuncture, including legends such as resurrection of the dead. Rainey finally understood that Chentian's worries were not unfounded, and he sailed the ship carefully.

After a few days of observation, Rainey discovered that the little old man would go to Prince's dormitory at 8 or 9 a.m. every day, and then come out at lunchtime, escorted by the guards. Usually at 8 or 9 p.m. he would come back again, this time in about half an hour to an hour.

Rainey silently wrote down the activity pattern of the Chinese medicine practitioner, and if nothing else, the morning is the main time for treatment, and the evening is for re-examination. Unfortunately, it was not easy for Rainey to get out during these two times, and it was only in the early hours of the morning when people were most tired that he had the opportunity to sneak out and wander freely.

There are countless secrets hidden in the palace at night, but what Rennie wants to know is what happened to the crown prince of Rusty Bean, and this is what Tatsuten wants to know.

At 3 o'clock in the morning the next day, Rainey changed into a night suit for the first time in the palace, and with his previous careful observation, he easily avoided the fixed and non-fixed patrol posts in the palace and infiltrated Prince's dormitory, but the closer he got to Prince's room, the tighter the defense of the Praetorian Guards, and finally Rainey had to return in a huff, he didn't even see Prince in the first sortie, but he understood the truth that the future was long, and he had to continue to look patiently for opportunities.

When he returned to his room, Rainey quietly observed the two sentries at the door, they couldn't stop dozing, and they didn't notice Rainey slipping out of the window, after all, this is the third floor, and ordinary people don't have much idea about the high windowsill.

Rainey had thought about learning something from that Chinese medicine practitioner, but he also knew that the emperor would definitely protect this old man, and once he came into contact with him, it was likely to attract the attention of the emperor and the Praetorian Guard, so he had to give up.

Rainey's second and third attempts to approach Prince's room were all stopped because the Praetorian Guards were too tightly guarded, but it was precisely because of this extraordinary vigilance that Rainey felt more and more that Prince's room was hiding some secret that no one knew, and this premonition grew stronger and stronger in his heart.

In order to find out the truth, Rainey decided to resort to some simple little tricks.

On 27 December, the first day of the German attack on Britain, the Chentian Army landed at Bonemouth and successfully consolidated the beachhead.

By 12 p.m., most of Berlin's residents had fallen asleep, and only a few who claimed to be fans of Chentian were still drinking to celebrate. Wilhelm II was rarely involved in non-military affairs (as is the case in history, Wilhelm II delegated all ordinary government affairs to the cabinet and government departments, and was in charge of foreign policy and military decision-making), so he naturally did not pick up the lamp in his study to review documents.

After a few patrols flashed lightly, Rainey made his way to the treasury in the southwest corner of the palace, which contained neither gold and silver jewels nor silk silk, and certainly not a huge armory. There is a big difference between the royal palace in the West and the imperial palace in the East, at least the monarchs of Europe will not keep three thousand beauties in the harem, and few people hide gold and silver in the palace, especially in modern times, their legal property is generally used for investment or stored in banks and vaults.

The storeroom in front of Rainey was just a place to store miscellaneous items. The so-called miscellaneous items are those that are not needed for the time being and may be useful in the future, some that have just been purchased and have not yet had time to arrange, and some that have been temporarily forgotten here, in short, some things that are neither too expensive nor cheap.

The most important thing is that the wall away from this treasury is the sleeping house of Prince.

"It's on fire......"

The patrolling Praetorian Guard soldiers were the first to notice the flames in the southwest storehouse, because there were many flammable materials of wood and cloth, the small fire quickly turned into a large fire, and then the raging flames and billowing smoke gushed out from the roof of the storehouse, and the fire brigade dedicated to the royal family quickly threw themselves into the battle to extinguish the fire, and the officers and soldiers of the Praetorian Guard also gathered to help extinguish the fire, and the alarm bells of the fire trucks and the shouts of the people filled the entire palace, and both the emperor and the residents near the palace were woken up. After making sure that Berlin was not attacked by air raids and that there were explosions before the fire, Wilhelm II watched the crowd busy with a bitter expression.

Rainey's residence was located to the west of the palace, not too far from the burning treasury. After the fire alarm went out, the sentry guarding the door of Rainey's room began to knock.

"Colonel, Colonel, it's on fire!"

After a while, seeing that there was no movement in the room, the sentry called the officer on duty, and after much thought, the officer on duty asked the officer to open the door. However, when the lights were turned on, they found Rainey lying motionless on the bed.

"Colonel! Captain! ”

The officer on duty leaned over and shouted a few times, and Rainey opened his eyes sleepily.

"What's the matter? You guys...... Why did you come into my room? ”

"I'm sorry! Colonel, the palace is on fire! We're here to let you know so you don't get scared, and for everyone's safety, we'd better get out of the house and go to the ground! The officer on duty quickly introduced the knowledge of fire prevention, when a cold wind blew from the window, and the temperature in the room suddenly dropped a lot.

"What? Fire...... My God! Okay, I got it! Go out first! I'll get dressed and come out, just wait for me for a few minutes! As he spoke, Rainey was tucked under the covers with only one head on the outside, and his hair looked messy from sleep.

"Yes!"

Before leaving, the officer on duty carefully closed the window for Rennie, and then muttered, "If you open the window in winter, it will be cold to death!" ”

After the sentinels left, Rainey quickly took off his black night suit and hid it, although his daily training has not been so hard in recent years, but he is still very accurate in calculating the time.

Rainey quickly got dressed and walked out the door, "What's the fire?" ”

"There!" The officer on duty pointed to the storeroom not far away and said that although many officers and soldiers had joined the ranks of extinguishing the fire, the dry winter still made the fire unabated.

"Let's go put out the fire! For the sake of His Majesty the Emperor, even if he shows his life, he will not hesitate to do so! Rainey proudly encouraged the sentinels around him, and then led the way in the direction of the fire.

"Good! Extinguish the fire! The sentinels responded, and the officers on duty were clearly caught up in this atmosphere of defending the emperor.

"The ghost is going to put out the fire!" Rainey blended into the crowd halfway through, and unwittingly turned to the other side—Prince's bedchamber!

Obviously, there was some slight confusion in Prince's dormitory due to the fire, and the number of guards was not much reduced, but the order of the guard was not so tight. Although he didn't wear a night suit, Rainey's gray uniform was just as difficult to spot in the dark.

Eventually, Rainey lived up to his expectations and made his way to the window of Prince's bedroom, and when he tried to approach it a few times before, he found that even at night, all the lights in Prince's room were not completely extinguished, and the light through the lampshade was not so harsh, and the whole room was in a soft light.

Lying on the large bed in the center of the room was the focus of Rainey and Chentian's attention, Prince, who had fallen into a vegetative state during the Battle of the Seine, although there was a commotion outside, this guy still fell asleep motionless. Next to Prince sat two ladies, whom Rainey knew, the older being Empress Victoria, wife of Wilhelm II and Prince's mother, and the younger being Prince's wife, Princess Josephine of Austria.

When Prince and Josephine got married, Chen Tian mistakenly thought that Prince was going to snatch his first love Linda, but later learned that it was a false alarm, and Chen Tian didn't think much about it at that time. As he matured, he realized that Wilhelm II had chosen a good marriage for his son, that Archduke Ferdinand, the crown prince of Austria-Hungary, was an incompetent fellow, and that if the Austrian emperor died, the mighty Germany would most likely annex Austria. When Ferdinand was assassinated, Wilhelm II was overjoyed, because the Austrian emperor had only one heir, and the life of the old Austrian emperor was nearing the end.

However, from this point of view alone, Prince is indeed more suitable for the German throne than Chentian, which also makes Chentian have more regrets for missing Linda in addition to emotional reasons, although the Austro-Hungarian Empire is decadent, but the rich Austria is still coveted by the German monarchs (Austria was not incorporated into the Empire when the Second German Reich was established, there are many complex reasons for this, and the policy of the iron-blooded Chancellor Bismarck also played a great role, but Austria and Germany are inextricably linked. Historically, the Second Reich brought endless honor, iron and blood, **** rule to the Germans, and great military victories were the guarantee of this honor, and later, the Austrian Hitler and his National Socialist Party determined to build a greater Germany long ago), Hungary was a traditional agrarian country, and it did not matter much whether it was received or not.

Obviously, due to the presence of the queen and the crown princess, Rennie did not have a way to get close to Prince at this time. But just as he was about to leave, an officer walked into Prince's room and said something to the queen, who glanced back at Prince on the bed and nodded in agreement. Then the officer waved in two guards, and the queen walked slowly to the bed and said something to Prince on the bed.

Next, Rainey saw a shocking scene, Prince actually sat up with the help of the guards, who carefully dressed him and helped him to his feet. Prince's movements were still a little stiff, but he was indeed walking on his own.

Under the light, Prince's face was a little stiff and his eyes were glazed, but it was surprising enough that he could wake up. Rainey knew exactly what he was seeing meant, and he had to report to Tatsu as soon as possible and take the action he had planned.

"Stop! What people! ”

Just as Rainey was about to slip out of Prince's bedchamber, two Praetorian Guard soldiers spotted him. It was precisely because of the chaos caused by the fire that the guards patrolled irregularly, and Rennie, who had been in and out of the area several times without being found, met the two guards who had come out of nowhere.

"Hell!" Rainey scolded in a low voice, making up lies or extinguishing his mouth, he only had these two ways to choose.