Chapter 85: The Financial Crisis

In the dim prison cell, two soldiers in Reichswehr uniforms pulled open the heavy iron door. Akado, followed by Lieutenant Colonel Gascoigne, ducked into this damp and cold place.

There was a person in the corner. Seeing someone coming, he immediately curled up. It seemed he had been abused quite a bit in this cell these past few days, so he did not cry out or resist, but just huddled in the corner, staring with a pair of eyes at the two officers who entered.

“Mr. Scheidemann, if I’m not mistaken, this is the first time we two have formally met,” Akado said with a smile, looking at the figure in the corner. “It’s a pleasure to see you here.”

“Who are you? Akado Rudolph?” The former vice-chancellor, Scheidemann, who was huddled in the corner, squinted his eyes against the light to look at the entering Akado. “What have you come for? To laugh at me?”

“En! There’s a little bit of that,” Akado said with a smile. “A plan of mine is not going very smoothly, so I came over to relax a bit.”

Scheidemann looked dismissive, snorted coldly, and said, “Sooner or later, you will come back here! Be locked up in here! And then be strangled with a piano wire! They have all been bewitched. In truth, you are Germany’s greatest disaster!”

“Tell me! How am I Germany’s greatest disaster?” Akado said, a harmless smile on his face. He pulled over a chair that a soldier had brought in, sat down, and looked at Scheidemann. “Hurry up and say it, so I can be a little happier when I deal with you in a moment.”

“I have experienced war! I know the cruelty of war! Your secret expansion of the military will ultimately lead the German people into suffering! You will get everyone killed! Am I wrong?” Scheidemann roared loudly.

Akado nodded. “This is just your one-sided speculation. If it’s just this kind of speculation, I can also say that I am leading the German people towards strength. Correct?”

“You’re just quibbling! Bastard! This is quibbling! We have already been defeated! You know better than anyone what we paid in the last war! How many patriotic generals and officials had to step down in dismay to take responsibility for the defeat! We haven’t even recovered our strength yet, and you are already preparing to lead the German people to their deaths again!” Scheidemann shouted in a rage. As he shouted, the shackles on his hands rattled.

“Hahaha. Time will prove everything,” Akado laughed heartily. “Not a deduction like yours.”

“By the time it’s proven that you’re wrong, it will be too late! Germany will fall into an abyss of eternal damnation because of your ambition!” Scheidemann stared at Akado like a venomous snake and said through gritted teeth, “What will you use to atone for your mistakes then?”

“And what about you? What will you use to atone for your own mistakes?” Akado asked with a smile.

“Me?” Scheidemann was taken aback. “What mistakes have I made?”

“Since you insist that I am a devil, yet you had the chance to get rid of me, this devil! Unfortunately, you failed! You have failed the power given to you by the German people! So, since you did not strike down the devil and let Germany walk towards destruction, aren’t you even more deserving of death?” Akado asked with a smile.

“You! This is sophistry!” Scheidemann was so angry he wanted to pounce on Akado and strangle him, but he was kicked back into the corner by Gascoigne at his side.

Akado stood up and dusted himself off. “Time will prove everything, Scheidemann! When I make Germany invincible, I hope you can be responsible for your words today! Lieutenant Colonel Gascoigne, don’t kill him. I want to keep him to play with slowly.”

After he finished speaking, Gascoigne waved his hand. Two Reichswehr lieutenants behind him came forward. They were holding leather clubs, and bloodthirsty, grim smiles hung on the corners of their mouths. “Rest assured, General, sir! We will take good care of him!” And following behind them was a medic carrying a first-aid kit.

Having vented his anger and pressure, Akado walked out of the prison door without looking back. From the cell came the sound of feet violently kicking a sandbag, and the hysterical screams of a man. The screams were like the wailing of ghosts and the howling of wolves, carrying far, far down the prison corridor.

“Is Miss Grace alright?” Having reached the main gate, Akado turned his head to look at Gascoigne and asked.

“We dare not release her, because she does, after all, know some of the contents of Operation Pluto,” Gascoigne said helplessly. “And you, General, have ordered that she is not to be dealt with, so we have no choice but to keep her locked up.”

He glanced at Akado and continued, “Every day, she is served good food and drink respectfully, and is also provided with newspapers and books.”

“I have always been striving for my ideals and the future of Germany. For this purpose, I have wronged many people. I promised Grace a large sum of money, but I broke my word, because I spent all of this money on the Reichswehr,” Akado said with a sigh, then continued, “It is I who have wronged her.”

“General!” Gascoigne narrowed his eyes and leaned in close to Akado. “How about tonight I just…”

“Sigh,” Akado let out a long breath. “Just keep her locked up. If one day I truly succeed, I will go and see her.”

…

Seabirds circled in the sky. The air was mixed with the smell of the sea. People on the pier waved goodbye to their friends and relatives. Passengers holding tickets walked up the prepared iron gangway into the vast ship’s cabin.

“Woooo…!” A steam whistle sounded, signaling that the ship was about to set sail. At this moment, in an ordinary passenger cabin on the ship, two men were lying on two separate beds fixed to the wall. Not far from them, near the door, another man was leaning against the wall, humming a song.

“To leave Germany just like this, I’m a bit unwilling,” one of the men lying on the bed said with a sigh.

“What’s there to be unhappy about? We are being forced to leave this place, not going out on a tour! If you have the guts, you can choose not to go,” the other man lying on the bed said with a cold snort. He was wearing a German Army uniform without shoulder boards or collar tabs. His collar was open. Judging by his attire, he was at least a lieutenant.

“‘Six of Hearts’! Shut up! Paul! You shut up too!” the man leaning against the wall barked coldly. “You are returning to retire with meritorious service! What’s so bad about that? In our line of work, at any second, you could be betrayed by a teammate. For the sake of intelligence, there is no one who cannot be sacrificed.”

He looked through the round porthole opposite him at the distant sea surface. “At least you are still alive, aren’t you? I have many friends who don’t even have the chance to complain about me anymore.”

These two people were the meritorious spies Paul and “Six of Hearts,” whom the British government had managed to save. It was just that they were now on file with the German intelligence department and were being escorted out of the country. And the third person in the cabin was another spy arrested by Germany. He had been secretly imprisoned for more than three years and was only exchanged back to his country by the British government today.

“Compared to the Germans, we are all losers,” the man standing said with a sigh. “I was exposed because a German spy got a hold of a list of our people. And the German spy who stole that list, we know his codename is ‘Gray Wolf,’ but we never caught him.”

“Why wasn’t he caught? There shouldn’t be many officers who could get their hands on that document,” Six of Hearts asked with a frown. “Just like our operation this time, I was exposed the very next day!”

“They bought off one of our senior officers. After we found out, that officer committed suicide out of guilt! The lead was broken,” the standing man said helplessly.

“Broken? How could it be such a coincidence?” Paul said, sitting up. “They killed him to silence him! I never thought we still had such a group of enemies hidden within our own ranks!”

Six of Hearts sighed. “Even if we know they killed him to silence him, there’s nothing we can do. We have no evidence!”

The standing man gave a wry smile. “Heh, I was the only one who survived after seven of my brothers were exposed because of this ‘Gray Wolf’. The only reason I’m alive is for revenge.”

“I will help you as much as I can,” Six of Hearts said solemnly.

“Thank you. You can call me ‘Ghost’,” the man laughed, revealing a set of yellowed teeth. “One day, the truth will come out. The Germans think no one can discover their secrets, but I know a little more! They are secretly developing their own power. In fact, the British, French, and Belgians all know about their little moves. It’s just that for this reason or that, no one has made an issue of it yet.”

“Rest assured, Ghost! Our efforts will not be without reward. One day, the Germans will pay the price for their belligerence and stupidity!” Six of Hearts said with a smile.

“That’s right! Kill these German bastards!” Paul said, his eyes narrowing.

…

Akado did not have to wait too long. On July 22, 1929, “Operation Sewing Needle,” long awaited by the German financial world, finally began full implementation. Over 15 billion US dollars of consolidated German capital poured into the US stock market, instantly making the already unshakable bull market even stronger. However, after making a huge sum of money, this massive fund disappeared without a trace on October 22 of the same year, leaving everyone scratching their heads.

No one knew that after several successful operations, this huge sum of 15 billion had successfully turned into a terrifying 30 billion US dollars. This profit made Akado a god-like existence in German business circles. The voices of opposition disappeared overnight, and Akado’s personal prestige was strengthened to an unprecedented degree.

But Akado himself knew that this was only the first half of the so-called “Operation Sewing Needle” being completed. What he had to do next, there was still much, much more.

Just one month later, on November 22, the world economic crisis erupted, making people completely forget about this huge sum of money that had come and gone so quickly, and they began to cry and wail as they dealt with this unprecedented disaster.