Chapter 88 Wedding
August 1, 1919, 7 o'clock in the morning.
In the center of Roermond, a small town in Limburg Province, the Netherlands, a group of well-dressed Germans have already gathered in a Baroque church.
There are also some "tourists" who come from nowhere. They are all tall and strong, wearing more loose shirts and suit shorts. They keep patrolling around this ancient church, looking at everyone passing by with vigilant eyes. Their eyes are bright, and one hand is always in the bulging pocket of the suit shorts.
For these uninvited guests, the Dutch residents in the small town hardly care about them. No one thinks that these Germans will bring any danger to their rich and peaceful life.
Since the Napoleonic Wars, the Netherlands has been practicing a neutral policy in Europe, even the separation of the Southern Netherlands (Belgium) did not trigger a war. In the just-concluded World War, the Netherlands also pursued a neutral policy of not provoking either side.
After Germany's defeat, the Netherlands also provided asylum to the German emperor who fled from power. In the eyes of the smart Dutch, this is obviously beneficial to their future peaceful life - after Queen Wilhelmina learned the content of the Treaty of Versailles, she was more convinced that protecting William II was beneficial to the Netherlands.
Because the treaty was too harsh, the Germans would either collapse completely or attack violently under the oppression of this treaty!
And the Dutch queen, who knew the Germans well, was convinced that Germany would inevitably jump off the wall in the future. Now the Netherlands can try to please Germany, and it may be able to avoid being invaded in the future - the act of pleasing Germany is not only to protect other German royal nobles of William II, but the Netherlands has also become one of the destinations for the transfer of German military industry production.
A large amount of machinery and funds were secretly transferred to the Netherlands before the Rhine region was occupied by France. Even the German National Bank, which was secretly controlled by the German Industrial Promotion Committee, rushed more than 150 tons of gold into the Netherlands in October and November 1918 (some of it was in Switzerland and Courland). It was stored in the vault of the Dutch branch of the National Bank - this was to prevent the gold from being requisitioned by the future German government to compensate the Allies.
After the contents of the Treaty of Versailles were announced, more funds were transferred to the Netherlands and Switzerland. Because everyone knows that the German Mark will soon become waste paper. By then, Germany will be a country lacking capital, and every gold coin will be extremely precious.
The owners of the gold marks transferred to the Netherlands and Switzerland - most of them are the most famous industrialists in Germany - today, a considerable number of them are sitting in this ancient church in the Dutch town of Roermond. They are here to attend a wedding.
The groom of this wedding is now staying in the preaching seat of the church, chatting with a group of expensive guests. This groom is Ludwig von Heinsberg Hessmann. He originally planned to hold the wedding in Heinsberg, Chloe's hometown, but it is located in the Rhine region and is now occupied by the Allies. So the wedding venue can only be changed to Roermond in the Netherlands.
"Count, congratulations!"
The guests began to call Hessmann the Count, a title that had been recognized by the German Emperor William. Crown Prince William and his wife, Duchess Cecilia, also appeared in the chapel. The Crown Prince personally informed all the guests of the news that William II agreed to Hessmann becoming the Count of Heinsberg.
This was equivalent to putting a label of a royalist backbone on Hessmann's forehead, which was very beneficial to his position in the German aristocracy in the future.
Hessmann seemed very proud at the moment, and seemed to be satisfied with his current position.
Having been recognized by William II and previously regarded as a confidant by Hindenburg, Hessmann's position in the Junker Officers Corps became more and more prominent. After these days of observation, Hessmann has figured out the bottom line of the various factions in the Weimar Republic.
If divided according to the most commonly used political tendencies in Europe, there are four major groups: center-right, center-left, extreme right, and J-left. Among them, the Junkers are not extreme right, but belong to the center-right group. The political partners are the bourgeois and conservative parties such as the Catholic Center Party, the Liberal Party, and the Democratic Party.
The center-left is the Social Democratic Party, the middle class, and some working class with better economic conditions. They were originally the mainstream of German society. Germany was originally an olive-shaped society, small at both ends and large in the middle. But such a structure will be completely changed after the defeat, which means that the main foundation of the Social Democratic Party is melting. Due to the repressive stance in the January Revolution, a huge rift has occurred between the Social Democratic Party and the proletariat, making the Social Democratic Party the biggest victim of the changes in the German social structure.
As for the extreme right and the left, they are the forces represented by the Nazi Party and the Bolshevik Party. They are almost a group of people, all of whom are extremely dissatisfied with the status quo.
If Hersmann wants to become a figure who can call the shots in Germany and even the world in the future, he must become the leader of one of these four factions. And he also wants to prepare for the future World War II, so he can only stay in the Junkers' group. If he goes to the Nazis, he will be in opposition for at least a dozen years, and he can't make any preparations.
"Here, here... Ludwig, Chloe is here!" Anthony Falk, wearing a neat tuxedo and with a big smile on his face, strode into the church and waved vigorously at Hessman. Because of his increasingly close relationship with Margaret, he became Hessman's best man.
After a period of stagnation, the Dark Sword Project, which aims to preserve the vitality of the German military industry, finally began to move forward. During these three months, Mr. Anthony Fokker spent most of his time in Riga busy with the start of the aircraft factory.
The factory opened in Riga is now called the FK-BF Consortium, a joint venture between BMW, Fokker and Economic Promotion Company. It is planned to open an aircraft engine factory, an aircraft assembly factory, and an aircraft experimental center. However, only the aircraft assembly factory is currently in operation. Aircraft are assembled using parts shipped from Germany before the armistice. An F-2 civilian transport aircraft has also been developed, and many orders have been received.
Although the business is not big yet, it is still a good start - as a military fan and German fan in the future, Hersman knows very well where the biggest weakness of Germany's air force is. With this FK-BF Consortium, there are unlimited possibilities in the future...
"Ludwig, Ludwig, what are you daydreaming about!" Hersman heard the voice of his father, Old Otto, again. Old Otto rushed back from Budapest to attend his son's wedding. Although the Weimar government and the German General Staff issued a serious order prohibiting German citizens from going to Hungary to help the Bolsheviks, this order was not very effective.
The military advisers originally assigned to the grassroots team were only concentrated in the "Special Technical School" in Budapest as instructors... They would pass on their knowledge of guerrilla warfare to the Hungarians before the spring of 1920. Then they would gradually withdraw, and only a small observation group would remain in Hungary to study guerrilla warfare.
But that was all in the future, and the most important thing now was to marry Chloe.
Hessman suppressed his excitement and walked quickly towards the church door.
At this moment, Chloe, wearing a white wedding dress, walked in step by step, accompanied by Margaret and Countess Heinsberg, who served as bridesmaids.
Chloe is so beautiful!
Hessman stopped and looked at Chloe walking towards him, and he gave a sincere admiration in his heart.
Chloe is already a very outstanding beauty. Today, she dressed up carefully and looked even more charming and beautiful. With her charming and seductive figure, she was like the goddess of beauty Venus descended to the world.
This is the wife who will accompany me for life!
Oh my God, I can actually marry such a wife, and she is a wealthy countess. It's unbelievable.
Hersman stared at Chloe blankly, and was so excited that he couldn't speak for a while...
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Let me explain why the protagonist did not join the Nazi Party. This is a reasonable arrangement. If you want to open a political golden thigh, the protagonist can of course have one hand in the army and the other hand in the party. But the Weimar Constitution does not allow this. After all, Germany is not the Republic of China. And even if this article is changed, it will not be good for the protagonist. Because there are a lot of officers in the parliament of the Weimar Republic, such as Ludendorff and Tirpitz, who are all members of the parliament. Later, von Papen, who became the chairman of the Catholic Central Party, is also a member of the Honorary Officers Corps. If the constitution is changed, the officers in the parliament will go to the army to recruit people, which will be a mess.