Chapter 70: Bad News

“Is anyone willing to tell me what this is?” Hitler stared at his subordinates, his eagle-like, sharp gaze seeming capable of piercing a man. “Speak!”

“My… my Führer…” a Nazi Party cadre stammered, wanting to speak while wiping the sweat from his forehead with a handkerchief. Hitler was an absolute authority within the Nazi Party. He held the powerful Stormtrooper army in his hands, and these thugs were not only used against outsiders but also within the Nazi Party itself. So these Nazi Party cadres were all very afraid of him.

Hitler’s gaze swept over to him, but his tone remained icy. “So, you know what these are?”

Not far from his feet, a long white cloth was spread out. On the left side, a sentence was written in blood: “Whoever stands in my way will die!” On top of the cloth, 20 left hands were neatly arranged. The bloodstains had already dried, and there was a faint smell of formalin in the air, but it was still not enough to cover the stench emanating from these severed limbs.

This morning, the Nazi Party headquarters had received a large package. The addressee was written as Adolf Hitler. But because of the strange smell it was emitting, the Nazi Party cadres had opened the package for inspection and saw these severed hands.

“They are hands! Adolf! I understand your feelings right now, but anger is of no use,” the head of the Nazi Party Stormtroopers, Röhm, said, standing at attention to the side.

“You know my feelings? You know my feelings right now? Are you sure you know how I feel seeing the hands of my loyal subordinates chopped off and sent to me for inspection, and then I can only remain silent and pretend nothing has happened?” Hitler roared, throwing the documents in his hand at Röhm’s face.

“Your subordinates have disappointed me greatly. They were only doing a small thing, and they still got caught! They confessed everything. Our leader in the northern Berlin region was arrested yesterday! Goebbels was fined 40,000 Marks just to get bail,” he said, pointing at the documents on the floor and venting his anger loudly. “And what about next time? If they get caught again next time, and you and I are arrested, we’ll be finished!”

“There was nothing I could do. In some areas, the Greater Germany Party has formed the SS. These bastards specialize in dealing with the Stormtroopers. They have guns, and they secretly have the support of the Reichswehr and the police. We have suffered quite a few losses,” Röhm also felt sorry for his men and defended them.

“They have guns!” Hitler looked at Röhm angrily. “Don’t we? I gave you the procurement funds for a thousand rifles. Don’t tell me you bought slingshots!”

“Our foundation is strongest in Munich, and we also have the most guns. But we had only been in a gunfight with the SS for a few minutes before the Reichswehr arrived,” Röhm said, seeming somewhat helpless as he continued his defense. “The Reichswehr has machine guns and armored cars. We were all disarmed, and a dozen of our men were taken away.”

“Bastard! Akado Rudolph! You bitch!” Hitler cursed. He then turned to look at another of his favored subordinates, Himmler. “How is our infiltration of the Reichswehr coming along?”

“Not very smoothly,” Himmler replied.

“Not very smoothly? Didn’t we already decide on a policy? My party supports the Reichswehr’s expansion and war preparations, giving them almost independent power. What more do they want?” Hitler asked with a frown.

Himmler pushed up the glasses on his nose, looking somewhat nervous. “At the same time as your release from prison, the Reichswehr conducted an internal purge. All of our party members were cleared out of the Reichswehr. A small number of people, in order to continue serving in the Reichswehr, even renounced their party membership and joined the Greater Germany Party.”

“A purge?” Hitler was taken aback, then became furious out of humiliation. “What about our connections? Mobilize those who were purged, sue them in court! Even if we lose, won’t we still gain publicity? The bigger the fuss, the better! Isn’t this your specialty, Goebbels?”

Goebbels replied with some resignation, “That was our original plan, but the SS intimidated our people and even arrested many of them and sent them to the Reichswehr interrogation department on charges of espionage and selling state intelligence. We are still trying to work on this matter, but the Reichswehr’s attitude is very firm. There is currently no good solution.”

“On the issue of opposing the Jews, we are at a disadvantage. Many businessmen of Jewish descent secretly support the Greater Germany Party. They provide operating funds for the party. Our own sources of funding are very tight. A large number of capitalists who were originally optimistic about us have now switched to the camp of the Greater Germany Party. After all, that side can provide many substantial benefits. We here only rely on propaganda slogans, which seems somewhat powerless.”

“Don’t you have any good news at all?” Hitler said, flying into a rage.

“Because of the French victory in the Rif War, Morocco continues to be ruled by the French, so France’s economic situation has improved. Therefore, the funds secretly supporting us will continue to be supplied. They hope that we can gain some say in the next parliamentary election, to be used to counter the Greater Germany Party,” Goebbels said after some thought. This was the only piece of good news he had on hand, but this good news also had a follow-up: the Nazi Party had to win some seats in the next election to let the French see their potential.

“Bastard! Dogshit! Bitch! Akado! Sooner or later, I will have you arrested and hanged! You just wait! Dammit! Bastard!” Hitler kicked away a hand that had belonged to a man he had just called a loyal subordinate and began to curse loudly.

The people around him all remained silent. They all lowered their heads and listened to him cursing nonstop here alone. After a full half an hour, he gradually calmed his emotions.

He was afraid. He felt helpless. He could only rely on vicious curses to drive away the fear in his heart.

He had relied on attacking the Jews to win the support of the capitalists. Unfortunately, Akado had brought out various advanced management methods and production process improvements, allowing the capitalists to see a more beautiful future. So his allure was no match for Akado’s distribution of benefits. He had easily lost his economic resources, allowing his opponent, the Greater Germany Party, to develop and grow stronger.

He gathered the Stormtroopers, using near-hooligan tactics to attack his political enemies, not hesitating to use intimidation and even assault and other underhanded means to achieve his goals. But now, with the existence of the organization known as the Greater Germany SS, which was more ruthless and cunning than his Stormtroopers, even his ruffian tactics were no longer effective.

He understood his opponent better than anyone else. He was crystal clear about the black shadow hiding behind the Reichswehr and the Greater Germany Party. The only person who was opposing him and had the ability to defeat him was Akado Rudolph, the man who was once his close friend, even half a teacher.

A long time ago, Akado had pointed out the development model that the Greater Germany Party was now using. It was even grander and more magnificent than the model the Greater Germany Party was currently implementing. Unfortunately, it was he who was too eager for success, choosing a path that he himself could not adjust or turn back from. Although the Nazi Party had progressed rapidly at the beginning, once Akado started his own faction and brought out the righteous army of the Greater Germany Party, all of his unorthodox and evil ways were useless.

He clearly knew they were useless, because he had learned all these entanglement tactics from Akado. Although he had a deep understanding of their essence, he knew that Akado was a gap he could not cross. So he despaired.

He couldn’t help but despair. He knew full well that he couldn’t outplay Akado in the dark and dirty games. In other areas, he was not even half a match for Akado. And even if he wanted to turn back and start over, it was impossible, because his Nazi Party had already embarked on an unchangeable path. If he improved relations with the Jews and abandoned extreme nationalism, then even his current followers would disperse. At that time, he would truly have nothing left.

As he cursed, he grew tired. He finally found a chair and sat down. He closed his eyes, not daring to face his dejected subordinates. Goebbels gave a slight nod. Röhm saw it and nodded back. The few of them tiptoed out of Hitler’s office. Outside, the few female secretaries and staff members were so scared they didn’t dare to breathe, burying their heads in non-existent work.

Hitler fell asleep. He had a dream, a strange dream. In the dream, the SS he hated with a passion were his loyal subordinates. In the dream, he stood on the high platform of a leader, accepting the mountain-like cheers of the masses below. Everyone was shouting, “Heil, Hitler.”

But in the blink of an eye, the nightmare came. He was curled up in a dark basement, listening to the distant rumble of cannons, watching the peeling paint fall from the walls. With a trembling hand, he held a small black pistol. There was betrayal and curses everywhere, crying and despair everywhere. The Soviet tanks were only a few dozen meters away. He had to give Germany an explanation.

Suddenly, he opened his eyes, looked around the unfamiliar surroundings, shook his head, and stood up. Looking at the silent office, he sighed helplessly.

At the same time, Gascoigne walked into Akado’s office. “General, the good news is a little later than our estimate, but the definite news is that the general strike has begun among the workers in Great Britain.”

Akado let out a deep breath. This showed that history had not changed too much. Some major historical events still had to happen when they were supposed to. This made him more confident in his grasp of the situation. “Call Stresemann. Prepare for the negotiations with the British.”

“General, you are truly like a god in your predictions. You said the British would have a large-scale strike in these few months, and it really happened. It’s too divine!” Gascoigne seemed very happy, and for a moment, his flattery flowed like a tide.

“If you have time, read more books. Economic problems can be analyzed to a conclusion in advance. It’s not a difficult thing,” Akado said with a smile.

Gascoigne nodded in admiration and went out. Akado, on the other hand, chuckled to himself. A former World War I soldier who had barely read any books was advising a former high-achieving student of the German Reichswehr’s military academy to read more books… as expected, when a person is shameless, they are invincible.