Chapter 3

Under the bright sun in southern Germany, a smoke-spewing train sped along the railway to Zurich. On both sides of the tracks, apart from desolate farms and pastures with few cattle or sheep, there were vast stretches of dense forests.

The train was not crowded, with most carriages having less than half of their seats occupied, mostly by women, children, or elderly men. Our Captain Hessemann was also on this train, but he was not in a regular carriage; instead, he was in a spacious private compartment. With him were a few others, one of whom was a young Army Lieutenant named Karl Stöckhausen. He had golden hair, a tall and robust build, and appeared to be not yet 20 years old.

He was an assistant assigned to Hessemann by Captain Kesselring, drawn from the General Staff's guard unit. Along with him were three other burly soldiers. Their task was not to protect Hessemann but to act as porters—there were no lightweight military radios at the time, only large and cumbersome ones that Hessemann alone could not carry.

In addition to these four "laborers," the spacious compartment also housed two officials from the Imperial Foreign Ministry on Wilhelmstrasse—contact with Comrade Lenin had always been handled by the German Embassy in Switzerland. This time, the contact with Lenin was jointly managed by the General Staff and the Foreign Ministry.

Thus, the Foreign Ministry also sent a junior official to work alongside Hessemann, First Secretary Oscar von Ettel from the Swiss Embassy. He was a man in his thirties, a large, fat man with big eyes, thick eyebrows, a red and swollen nose, thick glasses, a loud voice, and a huge appetite—being a diplomat in food-rich Switzerland was a dream job for him.

Hessemann guessed that this fat man must have had a good background and had used some connections to secure this position as a diplomat in Switzerland. Otherwise, at his age, he would have been on the front lines.

Accompanying Ettel was a young lady with an oval face, a high and straight nose that seemed to be carved, wavy blonde hair, and very beautiful ice-blue eyes. Her skin was very fair, like cream, and she was clearly a very attractive woman.

The only flaw was that her figure seemed a bit plump, or perhaps not plump but enticingly full... because she always wore a loose gray wool skirt, making it hard for Hessemann to judge.

This lady was also a diplomat, a member of the German Embassy in Switzerland—unthinkable before the war, but now with so many men conscripted, there were plenty of positions for women.

The beautiful lady who had secured a position at the German Embassy in Switzerland was named Klöe von Heinsberg and held the title of baroness, inherited from her father who had died in battle (her fiancé had also died on the front lines, a truly tragic fate).

Additionally, according to Ettel's introduction, Miss Heinsberg was also a female university student, a graduate of the History Department at the University of Munich. Coincidentally, her history professor at the University of Munich, Karl Haushofer, was also Hessemann's tactics instructor at the Grosslichtenfeld Military Academy.

"Good heavens, you were also a student of Colonel Haushofer?" Hessemann looked at the female diplomat of the German Empire with surprise and said in a serious tone, "He was a very strict teacher. Our class was often punished, either running around the big track or doing dozens of push-ups. I imagine he was also strict at the University of Munich?"

Miss Heinsberg was amused by Hessemann and giggled, "Captain, university is not like military school; it is a very free place. In my impression, Doctor Haushofer was a very kind and gentlemanly man, a good teacher."

But after the failure of World War II, this good teacher would commit suicide! A gloomy thought involuntarily crept into Hessemann's mind... in his memory, Colonel Haushofer and his Jewish wife (an honorary German) committed suicide by poisoning themselves a year after Germany's defeat.

By the way, there were many Jews who fought and even died for Germany as honorary Germans! So in Hessemann's view, Jews were not the enemies of Germany; the true enemies of Germany were the big financiers in Wall Street and London, who did not allow Germany to rise... although a considerable number of these financiers were Jews, the number of Jews who fought for the Nazis was certainly greater than the number of international Jewish financiers.

"Moreover, Doctor Haushofer was very talented. His lectures on European history were very interesting and not at all boring," Miss Heinsberg continued to praise her teacher, her eyes fixed on the melancholy Hessemann. "Captain, what are you worried about?"

"No, no," Hessemann shook his head and forced a smile. "I was thinking about the Colonel's geopolitical views, I believe he also discussed them at the University of Munich?"

In Hessemann's memory, Haushofer was also a famous geopolitician. Rudolf Hess was his student, and Hitler was deeply influenced by him. After the Nazis came to power, he became the president of the German Academy of Sciences.

Hessemann had heard of Haushofer's geopolitical ideals in his later life: a German-Soviet alliance, two land powers united against the British-American maritime powers. In this regard, he was more astute than Hitler and Stalin. If those two dictators had listened to him, the fates of the Third Reich and the Red Empire would not have been so tragic. Among the two dictators, Hitler's geopolitical views were clearly more muddled—because Hitler favored Britain and was hostile to Russia...

"Doctor Haushofer advocated for German-Russian coordination," Miss Heinsberg exchanged a glance with the fat Ettel. She smiled and asked, "Captain, I assume you do not agree with this view?"

"On the contrary," Hessemann shrugged and then paused, as if carefully choosing his words. "In fact, I agree with Bismarck's view. Russia is particularly important to Germany. The reason this war has dragged on is because we are fighting both France and Russia simultaneously... if we could have transferred our forces from the Eastern Front to the Western Front from the beginning, a glorious peace would have come much sooner."

While speaking, Hessemann kept his eyes on Ettel's face. He knew that in German politics and diplomacy, there were always loyal followers of Bismarck's policies, such as Gustav Stresemann, who later became the Chancellor of the Weimar Republic, and Schulenburg, who served as the ambassador to the Soviet Union.

Ettel remained silent, only glancing at Heinsberg. Heinsberg raised her voice, "Captain, isn't there now an opportunity to achieve German-Russian coordination?"

"You mean Lenin?" Hessemann looked at the beautiful and charming Heinsberg. He guessed she was a pretty mouthpiece, and as a female member of the embassy, she had no real prospects, so she was not afraid to say the wrong thing. All the sensitive topics today were raised by her, indicating that she was following Ettel's orders to probe his stance.

Ettel, who was already a first secretary at a young age, was bound to have a bright future. He must have had a powerful backer, perhaps even the Foreign Minister himself, Kühlmann! It seemed that contact with Lenin had always been directly controlled by Wilhelmstrasse (the Foreign Ministry).

"Captain, do you know who Lenin is?" Ettel took up the conversation, smiling.

"I do!" Hessemann replied, "He is the leader of the Bolshevik faction of the Russian Social Democratic Party, and has been in exile in Switzerland since the failure of the 1905 revolution."

Ettel nodded, "However, the current Russian Provisional Government is not controlled by the Bolsheviks, but by Lenin's political rivals, the Constitutional Democrats, Progressives, and Octoberists."

Ettel spoke slowly, carefully observing Hessemann's expression. Ten years ago, he had been ordered to contact Lenin under the guise of "Mr. Green, a member of the German Social Democratic Party," and provided him with substantial financial support. On December 28 of last year, Ettel had arranged a meeting between Lenin and the German ambassador to Switzerland, Count von Romberg, where they discussed the possibility of Lenin returning to Russia via Germany... one could say that Comrade Lenin was the key to Ettel's career success.

However, Germany today was not the same as it was ten years ago. The military had grown in power and was involved in everything, and the "big cake" of Lenin was no exception.

Ettel did not mind the military's involvement; what he feared was that they would ruin everything. That was why he was probing Hessemann's stance during the journey to Switzerland, hoping that Hessemann would accept his views and allow him to continue playing a leading role in "helping" Lenin.

"If the Russian Provisional Government is unwilling to negotiate peace with us, then Lenin and his Bolsheviks are the only hope for the Empire to restore peace on the Eastern Front. Their ability to cause chaos should not be underestimated," Ettel said slowly. "Captain, you have been on the Eastern Front for a long time. Do you think we have the capability to completely defeat them?"

"Indeed, we do not have the capability to completely defeat Russia, at least not on the battlefield," Hessemann admitted frankly. He did not care about the German diplomat's greed for the "big cake" of Lenin, because the diplomat did not know how big the cake really was.

In fact, in present-day Germany, no one except Hessemann knew how big the cake of Lenin was, or how to fully utilize him!

"To defeat Russia, occupying Warsaw, Riga, Brest, and Vilna is not enough, even occupying Minsk and Kiev would not be enough to force Russia to surrender completely. We must capture Moscow and Petrograd, but we definitely do not have the strength to do so."

Ettel nodded in satisfaction and smiled, "Therefore, we can only try to resolve the Eastern Front through political means. The revolution last month has plunged Russia into chaos. If we can support Lenin in further destabilizing Russia, peace on the Eastern Front is within reach, and we will be invincible, just like in the Seven Years' War!"

The Seven Years' War took place from 1754 to 1763, essentially a conflict between the Anglo-Prussian alliance and the rest of the European continent. Although Prussia had a military genius like Frederick the Great, it was still overwhelmed by the powerful enemies of France, Austria, and Russia, even losing Berlin. However, just as Prussia was on the brink of destruction, the Russian Empress Elizabeth died, and her successor, Peter III, a fan of Frederick the Great, returned all the territories Russia had occupied from Prussia and formed an alliance with Prussia, saving Prussia from certain doom.

However, such good fortune would likely not come to Wilhelm II!