Chapter 289: Washington

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“Who is he?” Churchill asked, looking at Chamberlain only after the man had walked out. “He has no name, but in our intelligence department,

“Who is he?” Churchill asked, looking at Chamberlain only after the man had walked out.

“He has no name, but in our intelligence department, he has a codename, a very awe-inspiring codename,” Chamberlain said with a smile.

“Ghost?” Speaking of the intelligence department, this was the name that had been in the limelight these past few years. Everyone had only ever heard the name but had never seen the man’s true face. So Churchill immediately guessed the man’s origin.

“That’s right!” Chamberlain nodded. “He is the best agent I could find, and also the only agent who dares to carry out the mission.”

“What can he do? Going to Germany, at most he can carry out some sabotage, but that won’t change the current balance of power between the two sides,” Churchill said, somewhat dismissively.

“That is not something you need to concern yourself with. You only need to dispatch a submarine to send them to the designated location. It’s very simple,” Chamberlain said with a wave of his hand. He was clearly unwilling to reveal the specific details of this operation, so Churchill tactfully did not press the matter further.

To follow both sides of the story, on one side, Churchill took his leave of Chamberlain and, with his adjutant, hurried back to his office. He immediately instructed the navy to find a submarine and prepare to send some intelligence personnel to Germany. This kind of mission had been carried out many times, and no one suspected anything.

On the other side, Ghost had also returned to his own office. Inside, four of his subordinates were already waiting. Two of them were strange figures wearing masks.

“Our operational plan has been approved by the Prime Minister. In three days, we will depart by submarine and make a secret landing in Germany,” Ghost said with a smile as soon as he entered the room.

Hearing this news, a man leaning against the wall was wiping a pistol in his hand. He looked up and glanced at Ghost. “Is it reliable? What if our operational plan is discovered by the Germans? We’ll be finished.”

“Don’t be scared out of your wits by that German spy, Gray Wolf, who hasn’t been caught yet. He is far from being omnipresent in Britain,” Ghost said, glancing at the man leaning against the wall. “Six of Hearts, how is your training coming along?”

“Absolutely no problem. The men who protect His Majesty the King—I could take down two of them on my own with ease,” the Six of Hearts said with a smile.

“Very good. This time, only the First Lord of the Admiralty, Churchill, who has always been hostile to Germany, and the Prime Minister, Chamberlain, know about this operational plan, so you can rest assured about the level of secrecy,” Ghost said very solemnly, pointing to the two people wearing masks. “So I have also called them here. Let me introduce you. These are the aces in my hand. They have been ordered to carry out another plan at the same time.”

“Hello,” Paul, who had been sitting in a chair and had not spoken, said as a greeting. He had been sent to the agent department for training after returning from Germany and could now be said to be a very outstanding British intelligence officer.

“Thank you,” one of the masked people replied. As soon as she spoke, Paul and the Six of Hearts, who was leaning against the wall, were visibly taken aback.

“A woman?” the Six of Hearts asked with a frown.

“That’s right! Some missions are easier to accomplish if a woman does them,” Ghost said with a nod.

“Do you look down on women?” the woman in the mask asked coldly.

“I’m sorry. For you to dare to go to Germany with us desperados, you are also a remarkable agent,” the Six of Hearts explained with an apologetic look.

“It’s nothing,” the woman said, and then fell silent.

And the masked person beside her, who had kept their head covered with a hood and was wearing a white mask, did not say a word.

“If our mission fails, then it will all be up to you,” Ghost said, walking to the side of the silent masked person and speaking softly. “You are our ace. I hope you can succeed.”

The person nodded but still did not speak.

“Dismissed,” Ghost said with a smile and a wave of his hand. Soon, the few people had all walked out of his office.

On the distant west coast of the Atlantic Ocean is the rich and powerful United States of America. And the capital of this country is the world-famous Washington. If you were to ask Akado which building in Washington he liked the most, he would tell you very seriously: the Lincoln Memorial.

Yes, the Lincoln Memorial. It is regarded as an eternal statue of the United States and a symbol of the city of Washington, built to commemorate the sixteenth President of the United States, Abraham Lincoln. The memorial is located at the west end of the National Mall in Washington, on the east bank of the Potomac River, which is as green as jade, and faces the Capitol at the east end. It is a memorial hall in the style of an ancient Greek temple, built entirely of white granite and marble.

Akado had once given a speech in the German Reichstag. He had said to those who were listening, “I did indeed start a war, but it was to defend the unity and prosperity of the Great Germanic Nation! In 1861, this great American president dared to face war to abolish slavery. In 1937, in order not to let the German people be enslaved, I, Akado Rudolph, am likewise not afraid of war!”

He had passionately compared the beliefs of the two countries thus: “The American people revere freedom, and the German people likewise long for freedom! We are not afraid of any power or provocation. We dare to meet any threat! We are the bravest nation in the world! We are the most resilient nation in the world! If Britain wants to continue to treat us as slaves, then I, like President Abraham Lincoln, will say one thing to King George of Britain: ‘Come on!'”

The Lincoln Memorial in Washington, which Akado liked the most, had its groundbreaking in 1914 and was completed in 1922. A marble statue of Lincoln is placed in the center of the memorial hall. His hands are placed on the two arms of the chair, and his expression is solemn. Above the statue is an inscription—”In this temple, as in the hearts of the people for whom he saved the Union, the memory of Abraham Lincoln is enshrined forever.” The Lincoln Memorial is not only a tribute to this late president but also a tribute to the people of the entire nation. One of America’s most immortal statues is preserved here. Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address and his second inaugural address are also engraved on the marble walls. The 36 columns in the hall represent the 36 states into which the United States was divided at the time of Lincoln’s death.

Now, at this very moment, the current President of the United States, Roosevelt, was standing in front of this richly symbolic building, staring silently at the tall statue of Lincoln on the facade. It seemed that all Americans were not very much in favor of the United States getting involved in this new war. The entire Congress was dissatisfied with Roosevelt’s policy of favoring Britain, and some extremist politicians even hoped that the United States would join Germany in carving up Britain’s overseas colonies.

But this far-sighted American president in a wheelchair was a seasoned politician. He had keenly seen the disadvantages of remaining neutral and also disagreed with the despicable act of kicking a man when he was down. He stubbornly believed that a divided, weak Europe that needed American help was in the best interest of the United States.

“What’s the word from the British side?” After a long while, Roosevelt broke the silence and asked his aide.

“Mr. President, the British side seems to be very interested in our plan, but they feel that the price we are asking is too high and difficult to accept,” the aide said, looking down at the document in his hand. “As it stands now, our compromise with the Republican Party is indeed a bit too great. The price they are demanding is too high, which prevents us from immediately launching cooperation with Britain.”

“There’s no other way. Cut the terms of the treaty by twenty percent and see what the British think. As for the Republican side, I will personally pay them a visit. I hope they can understand my difficulties,” Roosevelt said with a sigh. He lacked the kind of decisive authority that Akado had in Germany, so many things were constrained, and his efficiency was also lower.

While Akado was busy with self-strengthening, Roosevelt had not been idle either. He had established a government whose members were balanced both geographically and politically. It included liberal Democrats, conservative Democrats, three Republican members, and two female ministers.

His legislative program was aimed at the broad electorate, seeking to help the main interest groups in the American economy and to win the support of the Republicans. Its specific measures included establishing the Agricultural Adjustment Administration to raise the prices of agricultural products and to restore agricultural prosperity; providing loans to large and medium-sized enterprises to stimulate business; and establishing special agencies to provide relief and employment opportunities for unemployed workers.

Under the implementation of his series of reform plans, the United States had become the second country after Germany to emerge from the financial crisis. The entire country, although slowly, was indeed recovering.

But compared to Germany’s policy of expansion to pass on its crisis, the progress brought about by domestic economic reform was clearly slower. So in fact, the United States was still in a period of recovery and had not, like Germany, completely restored its industrial development.

Therefore, a portion of the United States decided to take advantage of Roosevelt’s eagerness to support Britain and proposed a cooperation plan with an exorbitant price. The British were, of course, no fools, so the cooperation negotiations between the two sides had not made any real progress for a while.

“How are things on the China side?” On the one hand, he was worried about the situation in Britain, but on the other, he had to divert his energy to the even more worrying situation in the Far East. The Nationalist government of China had lost control of Shanghai yesterday, but the Japanese army had already lost 75,000 soldiers for this hasty attack. The two sides were still in a fierce exchange of fire, and the entire Shanghai area was a scorched earth.

The combat performance of the Chinese army had added another variable to Roosevelt’s calculations. He could not understand why Germany and Japan had already formed an alliance, yet Germany had used China’s hand to screw Japan over so badly in the Far East. So he was even more unsure of what Germany’s intentions were and could not easily choose the direction of his move.

Of course, he would never know that, in fact, screwing over Japan was a precautionary fuse that Germany had set for the future situation, in order to slow down the speed of Japan’s invasion of China, and thus to make Japan’s war with the United States come later.