Chapter 1 Prologue: Hirschman's Struggle

Captain Ludwig von Hersmann took a rented carriage from the Army General Hospital Branch in the small town of Zossen to the General Staff Headquarters in König Square in Berlin; the cold and damp weather in Berlin in February was very similar to his mood at the moment. He woke up in that damned shabby hospital more than a month ago, as a German militarist who was wounded on the Eastern Front of World War I... But he clearly remembered that before he fell into a coma, he was Lu Xiaohua, a Chinese student studying at the First Natural Science Academy of Humboldt University in Germany!

"Damn Germans! Damn old man Shi! Damn brain wave experiment..." Captain Hersmann leaned on the back of the carriage and cursed in standard Chinese Mandarin. As a former "German fan", Lu Xiaohua is quite superstitious about things or people with "German" in them, otherwise he would not have traveled all the way to Germany to study - now it seems that this is a huge mistake. If he had not come to Germany, he would not have met Professor Schlieffen, the Frankenstein, and would not have been fooled by this unreliable German old man to do some harmless brain wave control experiments, so that his pure soul would not have inexplicably traveled through time and space to the body of an officer of the Greater German Empire a hundred years ago.

Although Lu Xiaohua liked "travel through time" before he encountered it. But if it really happened to him, it would not be so easy to accept. This is not a Ye Gonghaolong, but waking up in a dirty and dilapidated military hospital, with gauze wrapped around his head, feeling like he was about to fall apart, dying, and saying goodbye to everything he loved in the past - parents, brothers, studies, and the girlfriend he finally got, and then facing a new life that is likely to be a tragedy!

Yes, it is likely to be a tragedy!

Because the era in which Lu Xiaohua was reborn was itself a tragic era - it was March 1917, the First World War was at its climax, countless lives were devoured by the flames of war, and the whole of Europe was almost reduced to ruins. And for the camp where he was now, Germany, there was still more than a year before the final defeat.

With the historical and military knowledge that Lu Xiaohua, a German fan who no longer believed in the Germans, had, he really couldn't think of how a German Army captain could possibly save the Second Empire that was about to perish?

Even if it was Lu Xiaohua, no, it should be Captain Ludwig von Hersmann who received a notice to report to the General Staff at König Square... What role could a captain play even if he arrived at the General Staff?

At most, he would serve tea and water and run errands. According to the memory left by Captain Hersmann, who graduated from the Grosslichfeld Military Academy with excellent grades, to Lu Xiaohua. Serving tea, water and running errands in the General Staff was a necessary path for most German elites to rise.

According to the game rules of the German Army, which are all about competing with fathers and academic qualifications, Captain Hessmann (a Junker nobleman), who has a "Feng" in his name and good academic qualifications, is an army officer with a promising future. He will wander back and forth between the General Staff, embassies abroad, and army units for many years, accumulate various experiences, and gradually get promoted. When he is in his forties or fifties, if he is lucky, he can be promoted to the rank of general. Become a corps commander or a director in the General Staff... If he wants to go further, it depends on whether the German Emperor is interested in this German Army elite who can speak five languages, is not tall, is a little fat, has many freckles on his face, and has a very pleasing smile.

Of course, the above German Army promotion path is meaningless to Hessmann now. Because he knows that the arrogant German Second Germany has only one more year left.

Since Lu Xiaohua was transformed into a German captain instead of a general, no one can save this empire that is stuck in the quagmire of war. After the defeat, Germany would be castrated and bound by the Treaty of Versailles, and the size of the Wehrmacht Army would be reduced to a mere 100,000. Hessmann was lucky to stay in this small army and not be laid off. He would have to wait until the Führer came to power to get promoted and make a fortune...

By the way, where is the Führer now? Is he recovering in the hospital or squatting on the Western Front? Should I go to him as soon as possible to make him familiar? When the Nazis come to power, I will also become a marshal or something? But... can that madman Hitler win the world war this time? If he is defeated again, I, a marshal of the Third Reich, might have to go to the gallows with him!

Thinking of the hanging, Hessmann felt his neck tighten and it was difficult to breathe. He stretched out his hand to open the car window, and the cold and humid air blew into the car, driving away the feeling of chest tightness and shortness of breath from Hessmann. His eyes turned to the streets outside the window. The carriage had entered the city of Berlin and was traveling on the Kurfürstendamm. The road was very deserted. Although it was already noon, there were few pedestrians - most of the men who could pick up a rifle had been drafted into the army. Everywhere had become deserted. It was still better in big cities like Berlin, but it was even more deserted in the countryside. Large tracts of land were abandoned because there was no labor to cultivate it.

The shops and restaurants on the street were deserted, and half of them simply closed down - in fact, these shops and restaurants did not have enough goods to sell. Only the shops supplying rationed materials had long queues in front of them... For Germany, this world war was too long and too large. The pre-war reserve materials had long been consumed, and too many laborers became soldiers with guns, which also caused a heavy blow to Germany's production. In addition, due to the blockade of the British Navy, Germany could not purchase much-needed materials from overseas.

Various factors made it increasingly difficult for Germany to supply. Not only was it difficult for ordinary people to get enough food to fill their stomachs, but even the meals for patients in the army hospital where Hessman lived became a little worse... It seemed that this defeat was inevitable.

Then what about the next world war? That was related to whether he would go to the gallows, so he had to think about it carefully!

Captain Hessman's brows gradually gathered together, and what emerged in his mind were the memories of World War II brought by later generations, as well as various in-depth analyses of Germany in World War II on later military forums.

If we put aside the high-sounding banners of democracy, freedom, and anti-fascism, the Second World War, like the First World War, was a challenge by late-developing powers to the old empires that had already divided the world - mainly Britain and the United States. If you look at the maps before the First World War and before the Second World War, you will know that more than half of the undeveloped and underdeveloped territories in the world are colonies or spheres of influence of Britain and the United States.

Among them, Britain has the largest territory, known as the sun never sets, and colonies all over the world! It also owns India and South Africa (gold-producing) two rich lands. Moreover, the British Empire also has the most powerful navy in the world and is the master of the ocean!

The colonies of the later democratic beacon America are not many, but the sphere of influence is not small - they claim that America belongs to Americans. Except for Canada and a few small colonies controlled by Europeans, the entire America can be regarded as America's sphere of influence!

In addition, the United States has two important colonies in the Pacific Ocean, Hawaii and the Philippines, and their homeland is rich and vast. It is enough to support the world's largest economy, and its future is boundless.

In addition, America is quite close to the British Empire in terms of culture, thought, system and capital!

According to some non-mainstream economists in later generations, the British Empire and the American Empire are both countries controlled by big capital and big financial groups. There is no boundary between capital in Britain and the United States, so the transfer of world domination from Britain to the United States does not make any difference to these financial groups hiding behind the scenes - they can easily transfer capital from Britain to the United States, and use the shell of the United States to continue to rule the world!

However, if the world's domination is transferred to the hands of the German Empire, which pursues nationalism, it will undoubtedly be the end of the world for the British and American financial groups - although Germany also has many famous financial groups, it is always the army that pursues nationalism, not the financial group that rules Germany.

If it is said that the financial group owns the country in Britain and the United States, then in Germany it is the army that owns the country. The financial group must serve the army and the country, not the other way around.

It is precisely based on this point that the big financial groups that rule the United States are unwilling to see Britain defeated by countries other than the United States in the world war! I am even more reluctant to see the emergence of a European continent ruled by German nationalists...

According to this theory, the essence of the two world wars is the struggle between international capitalism and the nationalism of late-developing powers.

The result of both struggles was the complete defeat of the nationalism of late-developing countries! In the eyes of some keyboard politicians in later generations, this is inevitable - because the international capitalist side was united in the world war. Although there were contradictions in national interests between Britain and the United States, which were dominated by big capital and big consortiums, the contradictions did not turn into confrontation after all. On the contrary, the late-developing powers in Europe dominated by nationalism fought to the death.

The late-developing powers that were also suppressed by international capitalism, such as Germany and Russia (including the Soviet Union, which pursued socialism in one country), not only failed to unite in the world war, but fought each other and shed blood, becoming a stepping stone for the United States, the "chosen country" of international capitalism, to ascend to the throne of hegemony.

"What a tragedy!" Hersman sighed painfully, as if he had seen the noose around his neck.

"No! I can't let the evil American imperialism hang me... I must think of a way!"

As he mumbled in Chinese, the carriage suddenly stopped, and then the elderly driver shouted: "Captain, we have arrived at König Square."