Chapter 89: Suicide

“Ring… ring!” The ringing of the telephone broke the strange atmosphere in the room. Akado reached out and picked up the receiver. “Hello, this is Akado Rudolph.”

“I’m very glad I can still hear your voice, my friend,” a man said teasingly from the other end of the line.

Akado snorted. “Mr. Smith, you’re not calling at this time just to deliberately laugh at my situation, are you?”

“To be honest, I’d love to laugh at you for a bit, but this time is not the right time,” Smith chuckled awkwardly, then said, “Just now, the French ambassador to Great Britain gave us a call. He asked me to inform you.”

“Speak! Do the French wish to go to war?” Akado’s lips trembled slightly. He tried hard to hold it back, but his voice was still somewhat shaky.

“I thought General Akado didn’t know the meaning of fear,” Smith said sarcastically. “The French have informed me that the French troops who opened fire in the Rhineland region were not under French command. They all belong to a radical organization. Therefore, France will not be responsible for this conflict, and those French soldiers who opened fire on the German army are no longer under French protection.”

“In other words, this was just a misunderstanding?” Akado asked, letting out a deep breath.

“Yes,” Smith replied. “However, according to intelligence the French have obtained, their air force reconnaissance planes have discovered that two German panzer divisions and four infantry divisions are moving west. They hope you will immediately stop this controversial military action.”

“As you wish,” Akado said with a smile. “I will immediately order the armed forces to retreat. These military actions were all measures taken to prevent our French friends from acting irrationally.”

“As a friend, I still advise you not to test the Frenchmen’s bottom line again. Otherwise, your country will have to face the wrath of the strongest land army in all of Europe,” Smith said, then hung up the phone.

Click. Hanging the receiver back on the phone, Akado only then realized that his collar was soaked with sweat. He glanced at Anna standing beside him, pulled the beauty into his arms, and deeply kissed her tender, red lips.

Akado didn’t know what others were thinking, but right now, he really needed to vent! No one could imagine the immense pressure he had been shouldering just now—it was possible he had started a war. Of course, in fact, he had won. He had victoriously pushed himself onto a pedestal!

Well, since it was a pedestal, there had to be some rewards that only a god could bestow, right? If you had a stunningly beautiful, sexy goddess by your side when you lifted the World Cup trophy, would you kiss her? No? Go jerk off to a wall for the rest of your life, buddy!

His action stunned von Bock and the others around them. Then, from Akado’s words and his current action, they deduced the outcome of the situation. And so, von Bock was the first to start applauding, and soon after, the entire office was filled with thunderous applause.

Akado released Anna and waved to the crowd with a smile. “The French have admitted defeat! We’ve taken back the Rhineland!”

“Long live the Greater Germany Party!” an officer stood at attention, raised his right hand, and gave a standard German salute.

“Heil Akado!” “Heil Victory!” “Long live Akado Rudolph!” Everyone stood at attention and saluted. The office was filled with cheers.

“Ring… ring!” The phone rang again. Akado pressed down his palm to signal for everyone to be quiet, then picked up the phone. “This is Akado Rudolph.”

“General! It’s Lutz! … I’m on a bridge… over the Rhine! The enemy position is only… less than a hundred meters away! Across the bridge, there are a few… French soldiers, setting up simple defensive positions. They have… a light machine gun. And a few others are using rifles… to provide covering fire,” on the other end, Lutz’s voice had some interference, but it could still be heard clearly.

“Lutz! I am ordering you now! Open fire immediately! Lead your troops across the bridge! Those French soldiers are resisting spontaneously! Their main force has already retreated!” Akado ordered loudly.

“General! My manpower… is limited! If we maintain a defensive… perhaps we can hold out until tomorrow. If… we attack… now, then if we encounter a counter-attack by a large French force… we will be completely crushed,” Lutz said anxiously from the other end.

Akado ordered sternly, “Lutz! Attack immediately! Trust me! you must obey the order! Long live victory!”

“Alright! General! I will… execute… the order!” Lutz said, then hung up the phone.

“Call the party headquarters! Tell Krupp and the others that my operation is complete! The German Reichswehr has successfully retaken the Rhineland demilitarized zone!” Akado gave an order to the still-blushing Anna. “I’m treating you to dinner tonight!”

“Have Mr. Robert Adams arrange a banquet for me! We will celebrate this great victory! This afternoon, you go and get yourself a custom-made evening gown! Be my dance partner!” Akado’s mood right now could be described as excellent. He said loudly to Anna, who had already taken a few steps away, drawing a round of good-natured laughter and whistles.

“As you command, my General!” Anna nodded shyly and walked out of Akado’s office amidst a chorus of teasing.

“Cindra!” Akado called loudly for his work secretary.

“I’m sorry, General, sir! I have a boyfriend,” Cindra said, walking over and saluting. She then glanced sideways at the nearly delirious Akado and said coldly.

“Hahaha!” General von Bock, who had been standing beside Akado all this time, couldn’t help but burst out laughing.

Akado was also very embarrassed. He rubbed his nose and said sheepishly, “Secretary Cindra, I was asking you to immediately call Fanny and have her immediately distribute the printed newspapers and pamphlets according to the original plan! Let the whole world know that we have taken back the Rhineland.”

“Yes, General!” Cindra lowered her head in embarrassment. “I’m sorry, General! I… I really do have a boyfriend.”

“It’s alright! You can invite him to join our banquet tonight!” Akado said with a hearty laugh. “Everyone goes together tonight! You can all bring a dance partner!”

“Hooray!” A cheer even more enthusiastic than before filled the entire office.

“Send a telegram to Miss Mercedes, who is in America helping me audit the accounts of the Coca-Cola company! Have her come back and treat me to dinner,” Akado added after some thought to Cindra. “Have Fanny come over tonight too! Let’s all celebrate together.”

“Should I have the band prepare two dance numbers for you?” Cindra asked, raising an eyebrow. “General, sir?”

Hearing the heavy sarcasm in her voice, Akado also felt embarrassed. It seemed he was not the male protagonist of a novel, where with a single burst of heroic aura, a group of women would throw themselves into his arms—although there were not a few women revolving around him, it was a pity that Cindra was not one of them.

“General Akado, sometimes some women don’t mind if a man has many romantic affairs, while some are just the opposite. You’d better… forget it, why am I saying all this,” von Bock chuckled and turned to leave.

Akado said sheepishly, “Alright! I get it! I will be mindful of my influence. Deploying the troops in the Rhineland region will still depend on you. It will be hard work for you next.”

“General, sir!” von Bock laughed heartily. “If hardship comes in two kinds, then to be weary from victory, even if it’s a little more tiring, will still feel like happiness. We have taken back our territory. This is the highest honor for a soldier. I have dreamed of it countless times, and you have made me realize this dream.”

“For Germany,” Akado said solemnly.

“Thank you,” von Bock saluted at attention.

At the presidential palace, Hindenburg expressionlessly tossed the operation report aside. He looked at the few officials and generals standing before him and sighed, “From this day on, his prestige is about the same as mine! We no longer have the ability to restrain him, nor the ability to suppress him.”

He stood up, trembling slightly, walked to the window, saw the cheering crowd outside, and spoke again, “In any case, what we lost, he helped us get back! On this point, we should thank him… In the future… let’s not have any more prejudice against him.”

He turned his head, looked at those silent old subordinates, old ministers, and sighed once more. “We are all doing this for the strength of Germany. I am trying. He is risking his life. On this point, I am not as good as him.”

“President!” an old general raised his head, wanting to say a word of persuasion, but was stopped by Hindenburg raising his hand.

“Although his adventure this time was wrong, he did, after all, win,” Hindenburg glanced at that old subordinate and said, closing his eyes. “From today on! Any document he brings, I will approve. This country! I am handing it over to him.”

“Yes, Mr. President,” everyone replied in a low voice, with a hint of sighing.

“Extra! Extra! The German Reichswehr retakes the Rhineland! Thirty-two French rebels killed!”

“Come and see! The Rhineland is recovered! The Reichswehr has wiped away its shame! The Greater Germany Party has saved Germany!”

“General Akado Rudolph leads the army across the Rhine! Germany emerges from the shadow of war! The Greater Germany Party is about to lead us out of the economic crisis!”

Several newsboys shouted outside the window of the presidential palace, using a different tone from the people inside…

“Bang!” A gunshot echoed in the deep corridor, sending a chill down one’s spine. Two soldiers in black SS uniforms walked expressionlessly out of the prison cell door. One of them, the leader, looked at the Reichswehr officer opposite him and said coldly, “She was very sensible. She committed suicide.”

The Reichswehr officer nodded. “The facts have proven that General Akado is the leader who is taking us to victory. So it is necessary for us to solve all of the leader’s little problems.”

“Heil Akado!” The SS soldiers and officer saluted in unison.

The Reichswehr officer took out a stamp, breathed on it, and stamped a mark on a document: “Canceled.”

On the document, it was clearly written: “Colonel Grace, Secretary-General of the Reichswehr High Command’s secretarial office, former administrative secretary to General von Seeckt. Died in the line of duty in a plane crash in the southern mountainous region of Munich. Date XXXX. Officer’s resume…”