"Come in, two."

The door to Hindenburg's office was opened, and Hersmann was greeted by a grim-faced Lieutenant Colonel Schulenburg. The Treaty of Versailles was a bolt from the blue for him and mid-level German officers such as Hersmann and Schleicher. Lieutenant colonels and colonels of their age, in the German Army of normal size, are promoted to the rank of general in a matter of only ten or fifteen years. If it is not particularly unlucky, lieutenant generals and generals are all high-probability events.

And behind the promotion of military ranks, of course, there are corresponding powers and interests!

Now, according to the treaty, the size of the German army in the future is limited to a mere 100,000 men! How many divisions can such a few people make? How many people can be division commanders and regiment commanders? And even the General Staff will have to be disbanded, so how many seats will the elite of the General Staff have to be reduced? The future of the big guy is not optimistic even if you think about it!

Hersmann and Schleicher walked into the office, and inside were Hindenburg and Seckert. Seckert returned from Paris, bringing with him a copy of the Treaty of Versailles. Hindenburg had already read a copy of the Treaty word for word, and was now naturally grimacing.

There is also a clause for the trial of war criminals! It's a human life! And to judge the emperor, this is really too deceitful. I think the Germans didn't propose to try the two Napoleonic emperors back then!

"Kurt, Ludwig, you're here together." Field Marshal Hindenburg sat behind his desk and waved at the two juniors. "You've probably seen all the copies of the treaty, right?"

Of course, they hadn't seen the copy that Seckert had brought, but Hersmann had spies, and Stacy had now taken over many of the agents of the former Military Intelligence Directorate, setting up an intelligence station in Paris.

A copy of the Treaty of Versailles had been delivered to Hersmann this morning, and Schleicher had received a copy from Hersmann later—although Hersmann was bent on making Stasy his own independent kingdom, Schleicher considered himself the successor of the Junker group and considered Hersmann his younger brother. So ask Hersman to get any important information, and report it to him immediately.

Rather than refuse, Hersman gladly complied. Because he was well aware of Schleicher's energy in the Weimar Republic, and he also knew that this man had no ill will towards him.

Hersmann was ten years younger than Schleicher, and in the seniority of the military, the two should not be in a competitive relationship, but a succession relationship. Hersman could have taken over Schleicher's class, and if Schleicher could become chief of the General Staff, he would most likely regard Hirschmann as one of the candidates for his successor.

The reasons that make the relationship between the two harmonious don't stop there. In his time with Schleicher, Hersmann discovered that this man was a more traditional aristocratic officer, although he knew the importance of intelligence work. However, he had little interest in leading and controlling secret service organizations, nor did he see them as a powerful force.

"I've seen it." Hersmann began by answering Hindenburg's question.

"What do you think?" Hindenburg asked.

"It's bad overall," Hersman said, "but there's a positive!" ”

"On the positive side?" Feng. Seckert looked at Hersman with a nervous look, "I don't see that!" ”

"First of all, the treaty did not deal with the United Principalities of the Baltics." "That means we have a great chance of keeping it there, having a puppet state that is not controlled by the treaty." ”

"Second, this peace conference has actually greatly improved Germany's external security environment." "Although we have been weakened, we have preserved most of our territory and population," said Hersmann. Austria-Hungary no longer exists, and Austria has a clear preference for a unified state with us. Moreover, Russia was not only excluded from the peace conference, but because of the emergence of Greater Poland, they ceased to be neighbors with us. As far as I know, Soviet Russia, in order to concentrate its forces against Belarus, is preparing to cede half of Ukraine and half of Belarus to Poland......"

"Is there such a thing?" Feng. Seckert smiled mockingly, "Do the Poles dare to ask for it?" ”

"Of course they dare, the Poles have always been very bold!" Hersman said with a smile, "This determines that we will have a long-term and stable cooperative relationship with Soviet Russia in the future." ”

"Second, it educated 66 million German people," Hersmann continued, "to show them who the real enemy of Germany was!" It also let the people know who are the sinners who betrayed the country! In this way, we will have a clear goal in the next war, and we will be united. ”

"The real enemy of Germany?" Feng. Seckert asked, "Who do you think it is?" ”

"Great Britain, the United States and France!" "These three countries are bent on destroying us," said Hersmann, "and the reason why Germany did not turn Germany into another Austria-Hungary this time was because of the emergence of Soviet Russia and Red Hungary." ”

"Isn't Soviet Russia an enemy?"

Hersman looked at von. Seckert, seriously: "General, I think we can only fight in one direction!" ”

"Then why not deal with Soviet Russia first?"

"Because Germany can't be a dog in England, France and the United States!" Hersman said. "Not only because of dignity, but also because Germany is too powerful, both in industry and in population, we are a big European country and a power. Britain, France, and the United States, which dominate the world, will not allow us to get enough booty in the East to make us stronger. For example, Poland and Ukraine...... So, we should defeat Britain, France and the United States first, and at least Britain and France first. ”

"How do you beat them?" Seckert seemed a little moved, and Hersman's analysis made sense.

"Gain strength through cooperation with Soviet Russia, and then seize the military transformation of the future."

"The military revolution of the future?"

"It will be brought about by significant advances in internal combustion engine technology!" "The power of the internal combustion engine has increased at least dozens of times in the last 50 years, and several times in the last few years," Hersman said. If it can increase more than 5 times in the next 20 years, it will trigger a revolution in military affairs! ”

"Tanks? Plane? "Feng. Seckert shook his head, "But the treaty has bound our hands and feet!" ”

"Then we'll find a way to break through this bondage!" Hersman replied. "This is an attempt to strangle our treaty, so it is not about complying with it, but about how to break through!"

"Break through from where?"

"Baltic, Soviet Russia and Hungary!"

Feng. Seckert turned his head to look at Hindenburg, and suddenly laughed: "Marshal, you are right, Ludwig is indeed a talent...... Why didn't I see it in the past? ”

Hindenburg tilted his head back and sighed: "He and Kurt are the kind of people who can become Chief of the General Staff and First Quartermaster General in the future. Pity...... There will not necessarily be a General Staff in the future! ”

"Your Excellency, I think it is necessary to preserve the General Staff and the standing army of at least 300,000 men. In the future, we need to keep the army as powerful as possible. ”

Hersman knew that the history that followed, that the General Staff became a Directorate of Troops, and that only 100,000 men remained in the Army. This was a significant weakening for the Juncker-controlled army, making them powerless to confront extremist parties such as the Nazi Party in the future.

Now Hersmann already feels very clearly that the emergence of the Nazi Party in Germany will be inevitable!

The November Revolution and the Treaty of Versailles together will give birth to the Nazis! This is determined by the will of tens of millions of Germans, and no one can stop it, but to go with the flow. And the future Germany really needs extremist forces like the Nazis and the cooperation of the military - because only the Nazi Gjunker has the power to restore National Socialism in Germany.

But the army controlled by Juncker cannot be too weak, the military is too weak, then Juncker will not rule Germany with the Nazis. The German army will become an instrument of Nazi rule and eventually a victim!

"But how are we going to break this damn pact?"

"Hungary!" Hersman said, "A Hungarian Soviet Republic ruled by the Bolsheviks!" As long as it exists, we have a reason to maintain a large force. Moreover, France, as the hegemon of the European continent, was obliged to suppress the Hungarian revolution in order to prevent it from spreading to the whole of Central Europe and the Balkans...... We can make the mission of the French in Hungary difficult. ”

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