Chapter 116: Beaten Like a Dog

“The ceremonies for all German armed forces to swear their oaths of allegiance to the Führer have all been completed, my Führer,” General von Brauchitsch said, placing a report neatly on Akado’s desk. He then took a step back, stood at attention, and reported, “You are now, in name and in reality, the Commander-in-Chief of the German armed forces.”

“Believe me, General, I have no interest in those boring positions of power. The only reason I hold all this authority in my own hands is that I don’t want a bunch of idiots holding me back,” Akado said directly with a smile.

Brauchitsch nodded. “I personally have the utmost trust in you, my Führer. However, there is still a small group within the army that remains wary of you, which is not conducive to your leadership and command of the entire Wehrmacht.”

“What have they asked of you? Or rather, what do you need me to do to put the Wehrmacht at ease?” Akado asked, still smiling.

Brauchitsch thought for a moment, seeming to weigh his words, and finally said, “My Führer, the Wehrmacht does not look kindly upon any domestic armed forces in Germany that are outside of its control. For example, the Nazi Party’s SA, or your SS.”

“I understand,” Akado nodded. “I will explain the situation to Reinhard Heydrich. The armed forces of the SS will be transferred to the command of the Wehrmacht. Apart from their independent organization, all other aspects will be merged with the Wehrmacht. What do you think of this plan?”

“Thank you so much, my Führer!” Brauchitsch exclaimed, snapping to attention and saluting. “Long live the Führer!”

“Don’t be so quick to thank me. I am only doing what I feel I should,” Akado said with a wave of his hand. “Since the SS is being handed over to the Wehrmacht, the Wehrmacht must give me a corresponding return. I’ll give you two days. Find a way to remove all the important military leaders with royalist backgrounds from positions of real power!”

“Is it necessary to be in such a hurry?” Brauchitsch asked with a frown.

Akado handed him a document. “Of course! We must hurry! The planned new round of military expansion is about to begin! I don’t want any flies buzzing around and causing trouble at a time like this!”

“Yes! I will see to it at once! Long live the Führer!” Brauchitsch saluted.

Just as General von Brauchitsch left, Anna pushed open the office door and walked in, handing a document to Akado. “My Führer, your fiancée, Miss Mercedes, has returned to Berlin from America. Her train arrives this afternoon. According to your wishes, you will be going to the train station personally this evening to welcome her.”

“Anna, don’t be jealous!” Akado took a sip of water and was choked by Anna’s sullen tone. He coughed and said, “Cough, cough! You know many things… forget it! Is it my fault? Fine. Go and help me prepare. Tonight, you, Fanny, and Mercedes will all have dinner with me.”

Who says it’s common for transmigrators to have three wives and four concubines? When you have this many women, where do you find the energy and time to deal with them? I have to read documents for more than ten hours a day and attend several meetings. I’m busy from morning till night without even time to eat. Those bastards in other novels transmigrate, advance technology, and train troops—and they still have time for romance! Isn’t that a load of bull? Akado thought resentfully.

“Alright, alright. I know that in the heart of a philandering Führer like you, there’s a place for me. I was just joking with you,” Anna said, leaning in to massage Akado’s shoulders. “Fanny and I will go shopping tonight. We’ll leave your safety to Depp and his men. If we all meet together, it will be awkward for Mercedes, and it won’t be easy for you either. Since we all like you, we’d feel bad if you were upset.”

“What bad things are you saying about me?” Only a few people could walk into the Führer’s office without knocking, and coincidentally, most of them were women, like the person who had just entered: the German Minister of Propaganda, Fanny.

“Ah, you’ve come at the perfect time! I just happen to have something for you!” Akado immediately switched back to work mode upon seeing Fanny. “In the major newspapers we control, use the largest possible space to publicize the current situation in the Sudetenland region of Czechoslovakia! Use a large number of photographs! Show the unjust treatment the German-speaking people are receiving there! How are the preparations for the domestic propaganda offensive?”

Fanny expertly placed the documents she brought on Akado’s desk, then casually picked up Akado’s water glass and took a sip before replying, “Don’t worry. With the success of Austria as a precedent, people’s emotions are very easy to mobilize. The successful return of Austria has united the German people as never before. We are no longer a nation that just anyone would dare to provoke.”

“Continue to prepare materials on this topic! When we need to use them, release everything at once! Create the fact that the Sudetenland has been a sacred and inalienable part of German territory since ancient times!” Akado said, staring at the map of Germany opposite him with narrowed eyes.

Fanny smiled with fascination. “Akado, you are so captivating when you work! You’re so handsome!”

“Yes, yes, he’s so handsome! Should I make way for you, you little vixen?” Anna teased from behind Akado, continuing to massage his shoulders.

“That would be wonderful, of course, if you’re really willing,” Fanny giggled, covering her mouth. “Just don’t blame me later for not honoring our sisterly bond and eating all by myself.”

Akado felt Anna’s fingers digging into his shoulder muscles with obvious force. The pain forced a wry smile from him. “Alright, you two beauties! Let’s go have lunch together. This afternoon, I have to attend the production meeting of the Armaments Committee. You two, please spare me.”

“Can’t take it already?” Anna gave a charming smile. “I haven’t even started trying.”

“That’s right,” Fanny nodded in agreement. “Miss Mercedes isn’t back until this evening. Isn’t it a bit early for you to be begging for mercy?”

Akado helplessly grabbed a document and pretended to be engrossed in it like a meditating monk. In front of these two confidantes, he truly couldn’t muster an ounce of his Führer aura. He felt he was not fated to enjoy those novel-like plots where the hero projects an overpowering presence and beautiful women immediately bow in submission.

He glanced out of the corner of his eye at the desk and saw that the pile of documents seemed to have grown thicker in the short time he hadn’t been looking. His gaze then shifted to Fanny’s rather ample chest, and as luck would have it, he met her fiery gaze. He quickly averted his eyes and began to read the document with a serious expression.

“Those idiots back home!” Smith threw the newspaper onto his desk and pointed at the huge headline. “Do those fools think that if they sell Czechoslovakia to Germany, Germany will turn around and fight the Soviet Union?”

He took a sip of coffee and continued to curse, “Aren’t they still colluding in secret? In the end, the threat from France hasn’t been eradicated, and the German threat has grown strong again. It’s truly losing a watermelon to pick up a sesame seed! The loss outweighs the gain!”

“That Akado Rudolph, who climbed his way up from a common soldier, really has some skill! To think he could just create a dictatorial government like that,” the aide said, sitting next to Smith with an expression of admiration. “And he really dares to praise himself, calling himself Führer? Führer? Tsk, tsk, a fine title indeed.”

“He doesn’t just have some skill; he is a formidable opponent of the kind with great wisdom,” Smith said very seriously. “Dealing with him all these years, I am probably the person in all of Britain who has studied him the most. His rise, his meteoric ascent—I’ve witnessed it all. It seems like he has always relied on heaven-defying luck, but on closer inspection, this person seems to rely more on his own abilities.”

“From his inexplicable promotion to the High Command by Seeckt, everything this man has done has been bizarre,” Smith said, tapping his fingers on the desk and shaking his head slightly. “He had a smooth ride all the way up, yet Seeckt, Stresemann, Krupp, and even President Hindenburg at the time, all seemed to intentionally or unintentionally favor this Akado!”

“This man is also truly very capable. He led the Wehrmacht through several crises from the Allied Military Control Commission. Under his leadership, the Wehrmacht has become several times stronger than the scale stipulated by the Treaty of Versailles. In the end, he even revised it into a ‘New Treaty of Versailles,’ legalizing the expansion of the Wehrmacht.”

“And then this fellow, step by step, walked into his current position. The moment Hindenburg died, he became Germany’s red-hot hero and leader,” Smith’s fingers stopped tapping. “If I were His Majesty the King, I would use all my strength to never again compromise with such an opponent. We have already lost on Austria. If we take one more step back on the issue of Czechoslovakia, then the whole world will belong to this man.”

“Oh, come on, Colonel Smith. His Majesty the King won’t listen to you or me. We are just military attachés in Germany, not his Secretary of State for War,” the aide said with a smile.

“That joke isn’t funny at all,” Smith snorted. “If we don’t care about these things at all, then when a real problem arises in a few days, we will be the first batch of German prisoners!”

“Come on, Colonel Smith,” the aide was amused by Smith’s worries. “The Germans just lost a war a dozen years ago! Their army is still being watched over by our Allied Military Control Commission. We are just using them to deal with the Soviets. You really shouldn’t worry too much.”

Smith sighed helplessly. “I certainly hope so. I just always have this premonition that sooner or later, we will suffer a great loss at the hands of this Führer Akado Rudolph. And not just us, the French and the Americans too.”

“Don’t worry, Colonel Smith! When that time comes, we’ll do just like we did a dozen years ago! We can still beat them like a dog!” the aide said with a laugh.