"I think we should give Prince Ruprecht a central position, so that if something needs to be discussed, Prussia will be more closely connected with the other kingdoms, right?" The Kaiser looked at Count Schlieffen, who was a little pale in front of him, and said.

The Bavarian exercise has ended, the Kaiser has known the relevant situation, on the whole, mixed blessings, the happy thing is that the Kaiser finally took advantage of other people's hands to clean up the army within the army of a large general staff, after all, as a ruler, if you can only rely on one type of people militarily, you will not always feel comfortable, when there are two or more groups to choose from, the Kaiser will be satisfied.

In the past, the Kaiser was under great pressure to reorganize the Prussian General Staff, because more than eighty percent of Prussia's high-ranking officers were Junker aristocrats. The complex network of relationships between them makes it difficult for any force to infiltrate. At least not in Prussia there was no such power. And the Kaiser could only rely on them, because there was no more professional and better officer corps inside Prussia!

But now it is different, whether it is field maneuvering exercises or offensive and defensive exercises, the performance of the Prussian General Staff is not satisfactory, the Kaiser has sufficient structure to reorganize the General Staff, and the help from the three kingdoms of Bavaria, Württemberg and Saxony gives the Kaiser new options for dealing with military issues.

Therefore, when the Kaiser proposed to turn the Prussian General Staff into the General Staff of the German Army, neither Schlieffen nor Moltke had any reason to object, and the current Kaiser was not afraid of the other party's threat of resignation! Count Schlieffen, who realized that the general situation was inviolable, did not resist this issue and agreed in principle to the Kaiser's arrangement. But there's a lot more to be discussed in terms of details.

So now the question arises, how to change the German General Staff! Is it like the Federal Parliament, where power is distributed according to the proportion of the army, or how? If it were the former, there would not be much difference between changing and not changing, and the position of the Prussian army in Germany would be at least 70% or more! If the ratio of troops is determined, the voice of other states is almost optional.

As for enhancing exchanges between states? There is no need to reorganize the General Staff, the willingness is very simple, there are military representatives between Prussia and the major states, and exchanges between the two sides are relatively frequent. If this is changed, then it does not make much sense whether the General Staff is changed or not, and this result is unacceptable to the Kaiser, and it is equally unacceptable to Prince Ruprecht.

At the same time, however, the Kaiser could not accept that the other states had an equal position with Prussia in terms of military command, and could not even allow such a thing as a threat to Prussia's control of the Imperial army. Let other states have veto power over the plans of the General Staff? That's impossible.

"The military is in the service of politics, and the role of the General Staff is to draw up battle plans according to our requirements, and not to get the government to cooperate with their battle plans! This is the way to put the cart before the horse, and the General Staff should draw up different plans according to the different situations we may face, instead of holding on to one plan from beginning to end. ”

"The final decision on the military affairs of the empire should be in the hands of the emperor and the king, not the soldiers! We are the masters of this country, so it is up to us to give the order to draw up the plan that is being asked of the General Staff, and it is up to us to decide whether or not to approve the plan that has been drawn up. ”

"In short, it cannot be said that Count Schlieffen thinks that only one plan is feasible, then we can only have one plan." While the Kaiser was struggling with the reorganization of the military system, the prince proposed a new one! The General Staff should only do a good job of staff officers, and the decision on who to fight and how to fight should be decided by another organization!

"Another agency?" The Kaiser fell into deep thought. In fact, according to the laws of the empire, the Kaiser has the right to decide everything in the army, but because the Kaiser's skills are not military specializations, he does not dare to make decisions without permission.

"If you think that the impact on the original chain of command is too great, you can also set up an informal military staff group to provide reference for German military decision-making, and at the same time, the German General Staff will include some representatives from other kingdoms, and these representatives will have the right to meet the emperor independently." The prince thought for a moment and said.

"It's a good idea." The Kaiser thought for a moment and said that it was acceptable, first of all, the establishment of an informal military staff would indeed allow the Kaiser to hear a different voice from the General Staff, and avoid the fact that the General Staff would be the only one. Allowing representatives of other countries to meet the Kaiser at the General Staff would also allow the Kaiser to keep track of the internal situation in the General Staff. This greatly strengthened the Kaiser's control over the army.

In fact, from the perspective of German history, the expansion of the power of the General Staff was also after the Franco-Prussian War, and the chief of the General Staff had to meet the Kaiser in the presence of the Prime Minister before that. Bismarck is even more powerful! Before the Franco-Prussian War, Moltke the Elder wanted to meet the Kaiser, and he still needed to get the approval of the Prime Minister!

In His Royal Highness's vision, the structure of the revamped Imperial General Staff should be such that the central government, headed by the Kaiser and the heads of states, would issue an operational requirement based on political and national needs, and the German General Staff would then be responsible for drawing up operational plans around this operational requirement. Once the plan was made, the Kaiser and his staff discussed it and made a final decision.

If the plan passes, then everyone will be happy, if the plan does not work, then call back and redo, if the chief of staff says that it cannot be completed, then directly replace, and the Kaiser and his staff can also learn about the plan and armament development at any time through the audience of the staff personnel.

As for what are the benefits of doing so for the traverser? The benefits are naturally great, first of all, the prince himself has been upgraded to **** before the First World War, and has an important position in the kingdom's power organs and military organs, so when making plans, Ruprecht must be indispensable, with his position and relationship with the Kaiser, the prince can completely influence Germany's military strategy, and he will become one of the formulators of strategy, rather than a passive recipient as in history.

As for whether such a decision-making system will lead to a situation in which the layman directs the insider? It is possible in other countries, but it is not possible in Germany alone, because at that time, the **** and core personnel of the major German states in World War 1 knew some military affairs!

For example, at the beginning of World War 1, the 7 armies of the Western Front, the commander of the Fourth Army was Duke Alberlecht of Württemberg, the commander of the Fifth Army was the German Crown Prince, and the commander of the Sixth Army was Bavarian **** Ruprecht. There are still people who can command a group army.

Thanks to the book friend Hai Youbian, bighill1982's reward~~~, and the book friends and classmates are in love, Seven Point Arrowman, Cllyf, ZW911, Youbo's monthly pass support ~~~! Ask for subscription, ask for tips~~~! (To be continued.) )