Chapter 191: The Soviet Envoy

Advanced chapter until 500+ at patreon.com/caleredhair

Stalin’s mood these past few days had not been good, or rather, it could be said to be very bad. The Soviet Red Army had suffered heavy losses on the front lines. He had already executed several frontline commanders. It wasn’t until Marshal Voroshilov arrived at the front and he had also sent his two most capable confidants, Khrushchev and Yezhov, that the situation was finally stabilized.

However, it was only stabilized. These two men did not bring new hope to the chaotic front line. What Stalin continued to receive was one report after another on the rout of the frontline troops. Compared to the smooth advance of the German army on the western Polish front, the stagnant Soviet Red Army had caused him to lose a great deal of face.

Following that, he had received news of a great victory at the front, which had slightly calmed his angry mood. But the news that came later was one defeat after another. He received a report from the material transport department, claiming that the guns and ammunition lost at the front were enough to arm half of Poland, yet the result of this was only a pitiful little hilltop in the Polish wilderness.

This result made Stalin very dissatisfied. His plan to prove his abilities to the world had fallen through, and instead, a bunch of incompetents were embarrassing him. He felt it was time to end this farce, and also time to find a fig leaf to cover his own embarrassment.

So, after receiving the report from Yezhov, Khrushchev, and the others, and seeing the suggestion to send an envoy to Germany to renegotiate, he finally couldn’t help but smash his cherished pipe and lock himself in his room for a whole day. The next morning, a Soviet diplomat set off in a hurry with Stalin’s letter of appointment. He was to rush to Romania, and from there to Berlin, Germany.

This envoy had received instructions from Yezhov. He first rushed to the Soviet-Polish front and consulted with Khrushchev, Yezhov, and Voroshilov for half a day. Only then did he make the arduous journey to Berlin in a great hurry and meet with the German Foreign Minister, Merkel.

This Soviet envoy, without any preamble, confessed his purpose to Merkel and produced a list of materials offered by Stalin. “Respected Mr. Merkel, I believe the conditions offered by our great leader, Comrade Stalin, are already very generous, including a series of materials such as oil and food…”

Merkel very rudely waved his hand, interrupting the Soviet diplomat, and said with his chin held high, “According to the treaty previously signed between our two countries, we declared war on Poland one month later. After paying a heavy price, our army has now gained the advantage over the Polish army… To redraw the future Soviet-German border with the Soviet Union at this time, I feel, would be of no benefit to our country at all.”

“We have already offered all the materials we can! You should know that the cost of these materials has already caused a serious obstacle to our five-year plan,” the Soviet envoy said, a little anxiously. “You should report this back to Mr. Führer and let him decide on such an important matter!”

Merkel laughed out loud, glanced at the Soviet envoy, and replied, “The Führer has already entrusted me with full responsibility for such minor matters. To be honest, I am not very optimistic about these material transactions, because it seems we can obtain even greater benefits in Poland.”

“State Germany’s demands, then, and let’s see if we can accept them,” the Soviet envoy said, being very direct. He was not angry, but spread his hands, ready to be carved up like a fish. His attitude even amused Merkel.

“Of course, we need all of these materials,” Merkel said, his hand on his chin, as if thinking about the conditions he should propose. After a while, he continued, “But this time, what we want more is people.”

“People?” the Soviet envoy was taken aback. He then looked at Merkel. “What kind of people do you want us to exchange?”

“Not just any people,” Merkel said with a wave of his hand. “We want human resources! We want all the Polish prisoners of war captured by the Soviet Union, a total of 850,000.”

“We simply can’t have that many Polish prisoners of war, Mr. Merkel! This is a condition we cannot meet,” the Soviet envoy said, shaking his head with a sigh. “If we could capture 850,000 Polish prisoners, I wouldn’t have rushed here to see you.”

Merkel smiled again, like a mischievous child whose prank had succeeded. “In fact, if our Germany completes the encirclement of Warsaw, Poland will collapse in an instant. You will have several months to capture ‘prisoners,’ won’t you?”

“But we cannot guarantee that we will be able to have such a huge number of prisoners,” the Soviet envoy said after thinking for a moment. “If what you want is the population of Poland, I think I can go back and think of a way. But if the number is not enough, what then?”

“Supplement the numbers with healthy males from your concentration camps!” Merkel said, immediately remembering what Akado had told him.

“Population! What I want is population! A population that can work for Germany immediately without pay!” Akado said, pointing to Poland and the adjacent Slovakia and East Prussia. “I want to build these regions into one of the world’s top industrial zones within a year.”

He pointed to the documents on the table, signaling for the key members of the Greater German Party present to pick them up and take a look. Bosch, Krupp, August, Jelinek, Schacht, and others opened the files and began to look through the booklet titled “Future German Light Industry Development Plan.”

The plan laid out in great detail the bloody development of Germany’s light industry and handicrafts. In regions like Frankfurt, Schwedt, and Eisenhüttenstadt, Germany would build 21 textile industry concentration camps and 17 handicraft clothing concentration camps to produce cheap products with almost no labor costs to supply the whole of Germany.

And in the occupied Polish territories, Akado vigorously promoted farming, preparing to turn Poland into the granary for all of Germany. He pinned all his hopes for supplementing the German civilian’s living supplies for the next year, 1938, on this plan. This was also the reason why he had repeatedly promised the German people that some of the material rationing systems would be abolished in 1938.

Fifty-seven mines across the country would be supplemented with 20,000 convict laborers. In coordination with the existing workers, they would increase ore output by more than 30% within six months. In addition, 3,000 skilled workers would be carefully selected from the prisoners of war to supplement the various factories, to be engaged in the production of industrial goods.

The plan that August had drawn up for the Führer was to supplement Germany with at least 1.6 million fresh, cheap laborers, freeing up more of the existing skilled workers for supervision, control, and inspection. This would both reduce the work intensity of the original German workers and increase the output and quality of industrial products.

Now, this plan was already in operation. The approximately 700,000 Polish soldiers captured by Germany on the front lines had mostly been dispersed and sent to various parts of Germany for forced labor. The Polish officers who had originally commanded them were broken up and assigned as foremen for this labor force. The business tycoons were happily enjoying the fruits of victory won in the war. They quietly carved up the labor force and then sharpened their knives, preparing to snatch up the increased output of raw materials.

The Wehrmacht generously gave up 10% of the mining output and 80% of the prisoners to repay the debts owed to the major arms manufacturers. Hundreds of millions of MEFO bills were redeemed by the government with materials and then re-issued to these factories for a new round of arms production… These newly born arms manufacturers had not a cent of cash in their hands, but they had inexplicably become immensely wealthy.

Every German could find a job, and in some places, the vacant positions could never be filled. The war had not made Germany depressed; on the contrary, there was a scene of thriving prosperity everywhere. It was just that people were not used to the rationing system for some goods. For example, often you had the money, but you couldn’t necessarily buy a brand-new Mercedes-Benz car.

The German economy that Akado had taken over was in fact a complete mess. Germany had been burdened with huge war reparations debts since 1919 and had suffered heavy losses in the subsequent international capitalist economic crisis. He had relied on his past life’s experience to speculate on the American stock market to barely pull the German economy back from the brink of collapse to a state of just getting by.

Schacht was truly a financial genius. Relying on the initial capital provided by Akado, he had slowly saved the German economy, putting this nearly destroyed financial environment on a path of forward development. However, all of this was just the beginning. The sanctions from Britain and France and the war with Poland had made the country’s material shortages even more severe, which had already caused some dissatisfaction among the populace.

Akado had to deal with all these things. But with the addition of August, the efficiency seemed to have improved a bit. However, this mess was still a huge headache for everyone. Although it was much better than before, it was still not the ideal state in Akado’s mind.

A knock came at the door of the conference room, and then Merkel walked in from outside. He triumphantly placed the new treaty in front of Akado. “My Führer. After some tough negotiations, the Soviets have agreed to hand over 600,000 healthy Polish prisoners and 200,000 women. In addition, we have gained territory extending 50 kilometers further east than originally planned. The Soviet Union will also provide us with 3 million barrels of oil as compensation.”

“Excellent!” August said, taking the document as it was passed to him and glancing at it before nodding. “Our urgent need for human resources can be fully met by the end of this year. This way, we can divert some money to invest in infrastructure, and more money will flow into the market, revitalizing our economy.”

“Better than expected,” Schacht said with a smile. “At least our economic situation is slightly better than France’s.”

Akado looked at everyone present at the meeting and raised the corners of his mouth in a confident smile. “Gentlemen, now that this problem is at least partially solved, please help me govern this country well! Then I can concentrate on leading everyone to expand the borders of the Third Reich and letting our swastika flag cover the entire world.”

“Führer, long live!” everyone stood up, saluted, and shouted.