On September 25, 1917, Hersmann and Chloe were joined by Karl. Together with Stockhausen, departed Petrograd by train. Near Petrograd under the Bolsheviks, the railway was already barely usable. Hersman and the other three occupied a carriage, and he and Chloe sat by the window facing each other. Stockhausen sat in the doorway, fiddling with a scimitar with a walrus handle and a gilded scabbard, which Hersmann had given him - Hesman had paid twenty gold marks, and if he had scraped off the thick layer of gold plated on the scabbard, it would have been heavier than a gold mark coin (20 marks)!

Elsewhere in the carriage, most of the chairs had been temporarily removed, and the vacated space was filled with antiques that Hersman had bought—mainly furniture and pianos wrapped in blankets and held securely in place with rope. Of course, the blankets that wrap them are also antiques. The price of these antiques is surprisingly cheap, and it only costs 3,000 gold marks in total, which is equivalent to more than 700 and less than 800 dollars!

If you ship them to Zurich, you can sell them for 30 times or 40 times the price! If you sell in Berlin, you can also have a ten-or twenty-fold increase, and even after deducting all the transportation and tariffs, you will still have quite a good income.

Just when Hersman was thinking about setting up a company to deal in Russian antiques. The train has passed through the city of Pskov and stopped at a small railway station, 20 kilometers west of the city. It was close to the ceasefire line between the Russian and German armies - a day earlier, Soviet Russia and the German-Austrian alliance had negotiated a temporary armistice, and the two sides signed an armistice for 28 days. It is also stipulated that peace talks will be held in Brest-Litovsk on 10 October. So by this time, there was no more gunfire on the Pskov front, and even railway traffic was barely restored thanks to the efforts of German sappers.

The General Command of the Eastern Front of the German Army had known for a long time the arrival of a miraculous captain who had contributed to the coming of power to power of the Bolsheviks and the armistice negotiations. Hersmann's fan of the emperor also personally called Prince Leopold, commander-in-chief of the German Eastern Front, and asked him to send the legendary German hero to Berlin as quickly as possible.

Prince Leopold, on the other hand, sent his own lieutenant, a stern and thin captain with a bitter gourd-faced face, to meet Hersman at this small station closest to the front line, with some condolences. When the thirtie-year-old stepped into the carriage where Hersman was, he was immediately stunned by the scene in front of him - where did he get the good things in this carriage? This "magical captain" shouldn't have taken advantage of the chaos to rob the Catherine Palace, right?

"Captain? You are ......" Hirschman did not wear a military uniform, so he did not salute the passers, but politely extended his right hand.

"Oh," the captain reacted, reaching out to shake Hersmann's hand, before introducing himself, "I'm Franz. Captain Halder, military adjutant to His Royal Highness Prince Leopold, Commander-in-Chief of the Eastern Front. ”

It turned out to be the Chief of the Army General Staff of the future Third Reich! A great military strategist, but unfortunately Hitler did not listen to his advice and dismissed him during the Battle of Stalingrad (Halder believed that the Germans could not win at Stalingrad). Later, he was also involved in a conspiracy against Hitler and was imprisoned in a concentration camp. After the defeat of Germany, he continued to be imprisoned as a war criminal......

Thinking about the tragic fate of Halder going to prison, Hersmann introduced himself: "Captain, I'm Ludwig. Feng. Captain Hersmann, was ordered to return to Berlin from Petrograd. He pointed to Carl and Chloe again, "They're my assistants, Carl. Stockhausen and Chloe. Feng. Heinsberg. ”

That's all he can say. Halder didn't ask much, but beckoned out the door, and a couple of German soldiers came up with baskets full of bread, cheese, eggs, and meat, placed them on a carved antique table, and left.

"Captain Hersmann, I have been ordered to accompany you to Berlin." Halder glanced at the antique furniture and piano inside the carriage. "His Royal Highness Prince Leopold, Commander-in-Chief of the Eastern Front, has given me the order to send you to Berlin in the shortest possible time...... Even if you have more luggage, it's not a problem. ”

It's really sweet! Hersman smiled gratefully at Halder, then reached out and made a gesture of please, "Mr. Halder, please be seated." I've brought some good coffee and let's have some together. Also, I'd like to ask you something. ”

……

"Mr. Halder, how much do you know about the situation on the coast of the Russian Baltic Sea?"

As the train continued to move forward, Hersmann asked about the situation on the Baltic coast. Halder, now the military adjutant to the commander-in-chief of the Eastern Front, should have known better about the Baltic coast than Hessmann - Lenin was ready to abandon Courland, Livland, Estonia, Livonia and Lithuania...... That is, the later Baltic states. However, as far as Hersmann knows, these three countries were not under the control of Germany after World War I, especially Courland, Livland, Estonia, Livonia and other places where the Germans had a considerable foundation, and in the end it seems that they did not become a "small East Germany" with an area of more than 100,000 square kilometers, but became Latvia and Estonia.

"There?" Halder smiled, "Except for part of Estonia, which is basically under control, if it weren't for the truce, we would have been able to break into Petrograd in a week!" ”

"Mr. Halder, I'm asking for a political solution."

"Politically?" Halder paused, glanced at Hersmann, and then pondered, "A political solution is still brewing, and some German nobles have proposed the idea of establishing a United Duchy of the Baltics. ”

There really is a plan to establish a "little East Germany"! Hersman suddenly looked interested. If this "little East Germany" can come true, then Germany will have one more "shell" that can be used. Many things that Germany could not do, let the "little East Germany" do. This was extremely advantageous in breaking the restrictions imposed on Germany by the Treaty of Versailles.

Moreover, taking into account the fact that this "little East Germany", located on the shores of the Baltic, was next to the USSR. If the country can maintain close and friendly relations with the Soviet Union, it can become a bridge of cooperation between the Soviet Union and Germany in the future.

Of course, in the more distant future, it is also possible that it will become a bridgehead for Germany to contain the westward advance of the USSR!

"So, what's the difficulty in implementing this solution?" Hersman asked bluntly.

"The difficulty is in the population!" Halder picked up Chloe's hand-brewed coffee and took a sip with a look of aftertaste. "Population is the biggest problem...... Our people are in the minority after all. Even excluding Lithuania, in Courland, Livran, Estonia and Livonia, we do not have as many people as Estonians and Latvians. ”

"How much worse?"

"It's a lot worse......," Halder smacked his lips, "there are only a few hundred thousand German-speaking people there at most, and Estonian and Latvian speakers nearly two million, and if we can increase the number of people by a few hundred thousand, to seven or eight hundred thousand, then the problem will not be very big." After all, among Estonians and Latvians, there are also many pro-Germans. I think that when the war is over, some immigrants will be organized to come to the Baltic principalities. ”

Halder seems to have failed to realize that Germany was going to lose the war! Hersmann frowned, "Hundreds of thousands of Germans...... If we could get that many people by 1919, we could at least make the Gulf of Riga our territory and no one would want to take it away. ”

He thought in his heart that if he could settle hundreds of thousands of Germans in Russia around the Gulf of Riga, it would be no problem for the population to exceed 800,000. According to the mobilization ratio of 12%, it is possible to equip the armed force of nearly 100,000 people. If the country can be friendly with Soviet Russia again, then there is no need to fear the British interfering......

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The third more is offered, and there will be more at 0:00 tomorrow! For the sake of how hard Luo Luo works, everyone will support Luo Luo again, okay?