Germany does not seek survival

Without the support of Liebknecht and Kautsky, it would be difficult for the National Socialist Party to send large-scale reinforcements to Berlin. However, as long as it had the support of the Luxemburg faction in the German Communist Party, the Wehrmacht could first transfer a division to Leipzig for garrison.

Mrs. Zetkin of the Luxemburg faction still controlled Leipzig. The Wehrmacht could accept Mrs. Zetkin's invitation and enter the local area in the name of the Leipzig Workers, Peasants and Soldiers Committee.

The key lies in how much military force the Allies provide to Ebert and whether the National Socialist Party can defeat this force.

Faust's expression gradually became cold. He had to make more preparations for everything in the future... No matter what, Faust would not give in.

The blood has never been cold, how could the wind be higher than it!

Chapter 193: Rhineland Plan

Around three o'clock in the afternoon, the celebrations in Paris reached their climax after the news of victory was received. Marshal Foch, the commander-in-chief of the Allied Forces, was driving to a cabinet meeting when his car was surrounded by a crowd.

It was Pétain who brought a troop to maintain order, and Marshal Foch finally managed to get out of the crowd. When he arrived at the cabinet, French Prime Minister Clemenceau was being kissed by his old rival Poincaré.

“They almost dragged me out of the car!”

Marshal Foch jokingly said that France's tiger Prime Minister Clemenceau laughed out loud: "Since this morning, no fewer than 500 girls have kissed me."

Clemenceau raised his hand and said, "Victory is the result of everyone's joint efforts. From the highest officials to the common people, everyone has done their part."

Afterwards, everyone went to the House of Representatives together and passed the British Embassy on the way. The yard of the British Embassy in France was surrounded by a large group of people, and the car of the British Ambassador to France, Lord Derby, could hardly drive out.

Many Parisians, draped in British flags, stood on the roof of a taxi, directing the blue band to play the national anthem and shouting from time to time: "Long live Britain!" Then, everyone sang the "Marseillaise" and walked towards the House of Representatives while singing.

Pandemonium reigned inside and outside the Chamber of Deputies. Even though the building was packed, those outside struggled to get in. At 4 p.m., Clemenceau arrived, and the 600 members of the Chamber were filled with emotion, offering a warm welcome to the Prime Minister. General Pétain noted that as Clemenceau read the articles, nearly everyone in the audience had tears in their eyes. With each article, a roar of approval erupted from the room, "a truly unforgettable spectacle of grandeur."

Clemenceau first cheered for the liberation of Alsace-Lorraine, and then praised the French soldiers: "Yesterday you fought for God, today you fight for humanity, and forever you fight for your ideals."

Only the British ambassador to France, Lord Derby, was a little worried. He was indeed quite uneasy because Clemenceau announced that France had won the war, without mentioning Britain's contribution to the war or any other Allied Powers such as the United States and Belgium.

It seemed that with the victory of the World War, some cracks had begun to appear in the close alliance between Britain and France for four years.

The most basic problem was that the French were determined to annex the coal-rich Saar Basin, while the British strongly opposed it. What was even more exaggerated was that France also had territorial ambitions for the entire Rhineland region, which was dozens of times larger than the Saar Basin. This was something that the British absolutely could not accept.

The Saar Basin is already the essence of Germany's coal industry. If France is allowed to annex the Saar Basin, France's industrial strength will undergo a qualitative leap and may well surpass Britain, making Britain the third largest industrial country in Europe, after Germany and France. If the United States is included, Britain will become the fourth largest industrial country in the world.

As for the Rhineland, if the French were to annex it, France would directly restore the glory of Napoleon's heyday, and the entire European continent would become the French's victory.

The citizens of Paris were still celebrating wildly. A bonfire was lit in the Place de la Concorde. People tore down long slogans from Parisian buses and threw them into the fire along with tar-coated pieces of wood. The fire spread throughout the city, lighting up every block. From the Eiffel Tower to Notre Dame de Paris, there were bustling crowds of people along the way, all laughing and smiling.

General Pétain still had a sullen face at this time. During the war, many people commented that Pétain was an extreme pessimist. Today's atmosphere of victory was so cheerful, but among the many politicians and generals of the Allied Powers, only Pétain still had a bitter face.

"Marshal Foch and British Minister Churchill want all members of the Hohenzollern royal family to be shot. What do you think?"

Foch looked at his good student Pétain intently and said, "My opinion is that the Kaiser's actions should be made public, and his merits and demerits should be judged by future generations!"

Pétain's eyes moved slightly. A British minister strongly advocated the execution of all members of the German royal family, while a French marshal hoped to give the German royal family a chance to live. It sounded ironic that the constitutional monarchy of the British wanted to kill the German royalists, while the republican France wanted to win over the German royalists.

This is not surprising.

The German Navy's Operation Rainbow dealt a resounding slap to the British. After the High Seas Fleet in Wilhelmshaven fled to the port of Riga, the British were furious. Churchill, as the most hardline anti-German figure in British politics, now broke with his usual attitude and began to vigorously advocate that the Abbott government should be supported to maintain stability in Germany. What was his intention?

It is nothing more than asking the Ebert government to suppress the German royalists in Riga!

The British were furious and determined to destroy the High Seas Fleet at all costs.

The French think in completely opposite ways to the British.

Both Prime Minister Clemenceau and Marshal Foch had territorial ambitions towards Germany. This was the established plan of the French government. At the very least, they wanted to annex Germany's Saar Basin, which was very rich in coal resources. This could greatly make up for the weaknesses of French industry.

The ultimate goal is to annex the entire Rhineland region and incorporate Germany's strongest industrial area, the Ruhr area, into France.

If it cannot directly annex the Rhineland-Ruhr region, France also hopes to at least support a French puppet state, the Rhine Confederation, on the German land west of the Rhine.

To do this, the French would need to confront the Berlin authorities directly.

In the secret agreement proposed by Albert, the Social Democratic government had already taken the humiliation of the country to the extreme. They agreed to all the British demands in terms of navy, but in terms of territory, the Social Democratic government was only willing to accept one-third of the conditions proposed by France.

Albert agreed to cede Alsace-Lorraine, and also agreed to cede a small number of strategic locations on the German-Belgian border to Belgium. He also agreed to cede Schleswig to Denmark and Posen to Poland. However, on the issue of the Saar Basin and the Rhineland, no matter how shameless Albert was, he could not accept France's conditions without any bottom line.

These conditions are really too excessive.

Albert only agreed that the French army could directly station troops in the Saar Basin and the Rhineland. In the future, the economic output of the Saar Basin and the Rhineland industrial zone would be directly delivered to France as war reparations. The French army would withdraw from the Saar Basin and the Rhineland after Germany fully repaid the war reparations.

This is Albert's bottom line, but the French are still not particularly satisfied.

Marshal Foch said proudly, "The Ebert government's terms are so cheap, and yet they still expect the Allies to help arm six regular German divisions so they can suppress the revolutionaries in Berlin."

General Pétain narrowed his eyes. In fact, Pétain was quite satisfied with the conditions proposed by the Albert government. He was more worried that if the French government refused to accept this condition, it might at best worsen the relationship between Britain and France, or at worst lead to the collapse of the Albert government that was willing to compromise and make concessions.

General Pétain said, "Marshal, if the Ebert government falls, the revolutionary government that comes to power may form a direct alliance with Soviet Russia, and they may no longer accept even Ebert's conditions."

Marshal Foch snorted nonchalantly: "If the Ebert government does not accept our terms, the French army will attack Berlin and destroy the Ebert government. If the revolutionary government does not accept our terms, we can also attack Berlin and destroy the revolutionary government."

Marshal Foch said so, but absolutely no one in the Allied Powers would support Marshal Foch to continue fighting, not even a single person.

Peace talks were a foregone conclusion. Both Britain and the United States had generally accepted all the peace terms proposed by the Abbott government. Only the French government was still dissatisfied.

If this dissatisfaction continues, it may make Britain and the United States feel that the French are too greedy and still unsatisfied.

Pétain thought about it and suggested, "We can first agree on a draft treaty with the Albert government. Then, as required by the government, we will arm six German divisions to return to Germany to suppress the revolution. Just six divisions. If the Germans intend to tear up the draft treaty and continue the war, six divisions will not be able to withstand the Allied forces."

"After the Ebert government stabilizes the domestic situation in Germany, the various countries will hold a formal peace conference in Paris in January next year. France can continue to strive for the Rhineland at the conference."

Marshal Foch was never satisfied. During the war, he was clearly aware that there was a huge gap in strength between France and Germany. If France could not fundamentally strengthen itself and weaken Germany, this peace would be nothing more than a twenty-year armistice.

Twenty years later, a recovered Germany will still be much stronger than France.

Marshal Foch is sending people to contact the German royalists in East Prussia, but the French are supporting these royals who deserve to be guillotined!

Marshal Foch's idea was that if Albert continued to be stubborn and unwilling to cede the Rhineland, then France would assist the royalists and let the royalists and the Poles form a coalition force to enter Berlin.

In any case, the Rhineland has always been the base camp of those who oppose the monarchy in Germany. By ceding the Rhineland, the German royalists can fundamentally solve this problem.

General Pétain was not so optimistic. He believed that the situation was changing. If France did not agree to the draft armistice treaty, Britain and the United States might turn to the German side, and France would be isolated.

After repeated persuasion from Pétain, Marshal Foch slightly gave up his grand plan of forming an alliance with the royalists to attack Berlin. When it came to Clemenceau, the French tiger prime minister also shared the same idea as Pétain.

Clemenceau lit a cigar, took a deep puff, and then blew out a series of smoke rings. "Let's do as the British say. We will return the weapons and equipment of six German divisions, but only six divisions, no more. Moreover, this batch of weapons should be counted as weapons purchased by the German government from France. After the Ebert government puts down the rebellion, Germany will still need to repay this arms debt."

Chapter 194: The National Army Appears

Germany is full of forests and rivers. Under the winter wind and snow, the gloomy and indifferent blue sky stretches endlessly. Compared with the meticulously carved Austria and the bustling France, this Central European wilderness retains more of the overall grandeur of nature.

Before and during the war, the Rhine was one of the busiest waterways in the world, with a constant stream of ships coming and going. However, after the armistice, most of the ships were confiscated by the Allied forces, and it was rare to hear the sound of steamship whistles on the river.

Snow and wind were blowing on the east bank of the Rhine. Millions of German troops were surrounded by the Allied forces near the Ruhr area. The front line continued to shrink. Under the supervision of the Allies, in the last half month, the German army had handed over thousands of heavy artillery and tens of thousands of machine guns to the Allies.

Fortunately, the German front did not collapse. Some troops were indeed affected by the revolutionary atmosphere and had disintegrated, but more troops, thanks to Ludendorff's efforts, still maintained order.

Dozens of trucks rumbled across the soft snow along the Rhine. After the Allies and the Albert government reached a draft peace treaty, the French, who had the toughest attitude towards Germany, finally gave in. The British army immediately transported back six divisions of weapons and equipment to Ludendorff's troops.

"Your battle line has never collapsed. Why? Because we have never been defeated!"

Ludendorff stood in front of the Barbara Church with a tall spire in the small town of Braubach. He faced the six German divisions that had regrouped and said solemnly:

"While the Reds in Berlin were forcing the generals to surrender, the army's retreat continued in an orderly manner. This group of strikers, deserters, speculators and politicians stabbed us in the back, and that is why Germany was defeated."

"But……"

"The Red Bandits stabbed Germany in the back, but the German army was not defeated!"

The Rhine River runs through the western territory of Germany. Until the end of the war, the German army was able to keep the enemy out of the country, and the war did not spread to the land of the Rhineland.

The end point of the Middle Rhine Valley is Koblenz, a large city in the Ruhr area. The river flows through, and both sides are lined with ancient castles, factories, railways, chimneys and idyllic towns. The Industrial Revolution and the Middle Ages are melted into one, and the scenery is amazing.

A short distance further from Koblenz is the beautiful town of Braubach.

During the Roman era, the west bank of the Rhine served as a Roman defense line, with Roman garrisons stationed along the riverbank. Several Roman legionary bases were located in major cities, and these legionary bases were later transformed into cities. The east bank of the Rhine was Germanic territory, and Roman legions established buffer zones along the riverbank, clearing out trees to prevent German movement.

Around the 4th century BC, the Celts came to Braubach to mine silver. However, the earliest time this town appeared in European history books was after the 7th century AD. In 1276, Rudolf I of Habsburg approved Braubach as a free city. After Napoleon's defeat, the Congress of Vienna assigned Braubach to the Duchy of Nassau. In 1866, this place belonged to Prussia.

The Allied forces had already entered Koblenz, and the German troops' base was constantly squeezed by the Allied forces. When Ludendorff reorganized the elite troops of six divisions, he could only transfer his front-line general staff to Braubach.

The town is full of medieval-style buildings such as half-timbered houses with a romantic touch of neoclassicism. The tallest building in the town, Barbara Church, and the Marksburg Castle outside the town look very much like the most classic European pastoral scenery in fairy tales.

Of course, these half-timbered houses, Gothic churches, neoclassical castles...

In fact, the history is not very long and cannot be traced back to the Middle Ages at all, let alone the Middle Ages, not even to the Renaissance or even modern times. They are all new buildings built after the unification of Germany.

During the period of rapid economic development after German reunification, with booming industry and the fast-paced modern life in big cities, it was easy to get lost. It was inevitable that Germans developed a nostalgic sentiment for the countryside.

Over the past forty years, the Germans have used modern industrial technology to create a number of neoclassical rural towns. The most famous of these is probably the Neuschwanstein Castle built by King Ludwig II of Bavaria.

This "ancient castle" was not fully built until 1886, only 28 years left before the outbreak of World War I.

Ludendorff stood on the rooftop, which was painted ochre-yellow, raised his arms high and shouted:

"Like Joan of Arc, I hear a voice calling us to save Germany. We must rescue Germany from the clutches of the Communists, from the abyss of despair, and restore it to its rightful greatness."

Ludendorff carefully selected from the millions of German troops and was finally able to put together a combat force of six divisions. The morale of these soldiers was still good, and Ludendorff also thought of a better way of propaganda.

That is to exaggerate the Red Terror in Berlin to the German army and constantly publicize Berlin's insults and discrimination against soldiers to the soldiers on the front line.

"For four years, you have been heroes defending our country, sleeping on the ice and drinking the snow on the front lines, enduring the most unbearable suffering in the world. And those strikers, deserters, speculators, and politicians in the rear, those red bandits, who have accomplished nothing and only held us back, have become heroes of the revolution, while we have become reactionaries destroying Germany. What a joke!"

"We will never allow anyone to confuse right and wrong. We want to save Germany and restore the honor of the soldiers on the front line!"

Ludendorff's propaganda had a great effect. Six divisions of German officers and soldiers had been rearmed by him. With a wave of his hand, this corps, which could be called "huge" in Germany, was ready to embark on the road back to Berlin.

"Prepare... advance, target Berlin, suppress all communist bandits."

Ludendorff also specially selected a group of disabled soldiers from the field hospitals on the front line. These soldiers with missing limbs also sat among the six German divisions. They had all kinds of ranks from major to ordinary privates, and everyone had an expression of dissatisfaction and even hatred on their faces.

"What mistakes have we made? For four years, we have fought everywhere to defend our country, on the Western Front, on the Eastern Front, on the peaks of the Alps, in the snowy plains of Eastern Europe, guided by the Iron Cross, bravely charging forward for the survival of the German nation, regardless of life and death. Does that make us reactionaries? If we have made any mistakes, our mistake is patriotism."

"patriotic!"

"patriotic!"

"Eliminate the Red Bandits! Eliminate the Traitors!"

"Kill all the red bandits!"

……

The six German divisions were already excited. They all believed that this was the only way to save Germany. The soldiers had to take responsibility and they had to take the initiative to eliminate the remnants and scum in Berlin.

Ludendorff was extremely satisfied with this. After the oath-taking ceremony, he immediately arranged for his generals to take command of the troops, and all six divisions were to march towards Berlin along the railway.

After returning to the front-line general staff in Marksburg, Ludendorff met the SPD representative Scheidemann again. Scheidemann was drinking local wine from the town of Braubach, and the swaying wine glass reflected the Rhineland.

In those days, the reflections still showed knights with fluttering cloaks, who walked in and out along the Rhine. Time passed quickly, and the knights were gone. Scheidemann looked up and around, and could not help but sigh:

"Standing on the watchtower here, you can overlook all the land and waterways, the towns and fields below. If there were an attack by a foreign enemy or a civil unrest in the past, you would have seen it all. And the multi-story gates behind are built so that one man can block the way for ten thousand. How impressive! The castle is spacious and the grounds are winding. You can imagine how the nobles and princes used their authority to build such a beautiful and solid prison, imprisoning both outsiders and themselves, in the days of wildness and division."

Ludendorff sneered, "Mr. Scheidemann, this castle was built in 1892. It's much younger than your children. If it weren't for that, your writing would be truly brilliant."

Scheidemann was a little embarrassed. Ludendorff patted a military map on the table and said, "Contact President Ebert quickly. Once my army arrives, we need a presidential decree and written authorization from the Provisional Government to march into Berlin and suppress everything! Also, my army needs an official name."

Albert had previously explained many things to Scheidemann, and Scheidemann promised Ludendorff: "General, your six divisions are the regular army of the new republic and can use the designations and names of the national regular army."

"There needs to be a formal title!"

Scheidemann thought for a moment and said, "You can use the designation of the Peace Corps, just like our garrison in Berlin."

Ludendorff snorted coldly: "Mr. Scheidemann, are you kidding? Can the German army use such a ridiculous name?"

"Well, how about a designation like the National Defense Force?"

"National Defense Force, it has the same name as the National Defense Force under Faust."

Scheidemann was a little embarrassed. "What name do you think is best?"

Ludendorff said without hesitation: "As the regular army of the country, we should just use the name of the National Army!"

Chapter 195: Faust's Arrangement

The atmosphere in Berlin is depressing.

Faust no longer lived in that cramped apartment building. These days, he simply moved into the red brick building of the General Staff Headquarters and worked with a group of General Staff officers who came from civilian backgrounds.

Rathenau, chairman of the German General Electric Corporation, also often came to the General Staff to see Faust. In order to avoid unnecessary associations from the outside world, Faust also specifically informed the Stasi and asked the Stasi to arrange a set of makeup clothes for Rathenau, so that Rathenau would wear military uniform every time he entered the General Staff building.

Several "experts" that Rathenau had previously introduced to Faust also arrived at the General Staff Building.

Robert Bosch, the most important entrepreneur in Stuttgart and chairman of Bosch Automotive AG, nicknamed "Red Bosch";

Optics expert Otto Schott, Chairman of the Carl Zeiss Foundation and current generation leader of Zeiss;

Rudolf Hilferding, a leading figure of the Austrian Marxist school of economics;