Although he had been mentally prepared for the Führer's vegetarianism, when the meal was served, Hoffman gasped in his heart, and there were only two plates of food in front of him, one was boiled fruit in sugar, which was made of milk, oatmeal, apple puree, walnuts, lemons, and other things; On the other plate was a vegetable salad, with peas and lentils except for a few slices of cabbage and lettuce, and no meat was visible. In front of others, delicacies such as caviar from the Black Sea, salmon from Norway, ham or bacon from Bavaria are arranged. Hoffman only felt his Adam's apple swelling, and he tried desperately to suppress the saliva inside. He wanted to shout "give me a copy of their lunch", but considering that the current situation was not clear enough, he could only suppress this most basic desire.

"Schmunt, do you have any good advice on personnel appointments and dismissals?"

"After careful consideration, I believe that General Zeitzler is effectively qualified for this role......"

"Zeitzler?" Hoffmann was a little surprised, he knew that Halder had historically held the post of Chief of the Army General Staff until September 24, 1942, and was replaced by Kurt-Zeitzler.

"General Zeitzler commanded troops to thwart the British and Canadians attack at Dieppe four days ago. According to the captives, 6,000 people took part in the attack, but 60% of them were wiped out by General Zeitzler, giving them a memorable lesson. I think he is an optimistic and courageous soldier who can make a good chief of staff. ”

Martin Baumann also interjected: "Although others have different recommendations, Comrade Göring and I agree that General Zeitzler is a suitable candidate. ”

"I know him, he has always had an outstanding performance when he was the chief of staff of Army Group D." Hoffman nodded, it seemed that Goering, Martin Baumann, Schmund and others had reached an agreement, Zeitzler's appointment was probably inescapable, he swallowed a mouthful of sugar boiled fruit and asked, "Who else do you recommend?" ”

Martin Bowman and Schmund glanced at each other, not sure what Hoffmann meant, so they could only answer honestly: "There are also people who recommend Field Marshal Manstein and General Guderian ......"

"Manstein has another appointment! As for Guderian......" Hoffman muttered for a moment, he wanted to consider what he could do with him. After the defeat in the Battle of Moscow in December 1941, Guderian had a great conflict with the Führer, and with the help of others, intentionally or unintentionally, he was ordered to retire from active duty and transfer to the reserves, and is now at home. Although Guderian surpassed Zeitzler in both fame and military exploits, he had a fatal weakness - he was too cold and arrogant, and he did not get along with most of the army group commanders on the Eastern Front, which was undoubtedly fatal for the role of chief of staff. "This position is not suitable for Guderian either, I have other tasks for him to complete, it is too wasteful to give him a vacation at home, the chief of staff is Zeitzler."

Hearing the Führer's conclusion, Schmund was obviously relieved, although Zeitzler has good ability and has recently had Dieppe's military exploits, but after all, he is too young and has little seniority, and he was only recently promoted to major general (equivalent to Brigadier General in the British and American States). His recommendation of Zeitzler as chief of the General Staff was mixed with private goods, just because the other party was his close friend, and the reason why Goering agreed with this recommendation was nothing more than that Zeitzler was not highly qualified and easy to control.

Hoffmann was now at peace, and he was determined not to complain about the bizarre nature of the crossing and the awkwardness of his position, but only to do the job well - in his eyes, it was a live-action version of "Iron Ambition", but the cost of failure was relatively high - either the corpse of the Reich Chancellery bunker or the gallows of the Nuremberg court, and he was determined to use his professional knowledge and historical foresight to take Germany down a different path, and the preliminary adjustment plan had been formed in his mind, After a casual bite of vegetable salad, he said: "Send a telegram to Zeitzler and Guderian at once, hoping that they will be here at dinner today, and I will dine with them." By the way, help me adjust my meal in the evening, bring me some jam and white bread, and it would be nice if I could add another omelette! ”

"As you wish, Führer." Schmunt, who had just opened a knife on a steak, slowly put down his knife and fork, and immediately rushed to the confidential room to explain. Hoffman glanced at his steak and swallowed again, only to retract his reluctant gaze - he could have replaced the chief of the General Staff without hesitation, but only the slightest tweaks to the meal.

Bowman was obviously a little stunned, and was talking about Zeitzler, why did he find Guderian too? Before he could come to his senses, Hoffman explained: "Wait until the latest telegrams, war reports, and letters are delivered to the office, I need to keep abreast of the latest developments on the front." ”

As it got dark, Madame Jung came in to report that General Guderian had arrived and was waiting to be summoned. Hoffman pushed away the papers on the table: "Let him in." ”

Guderian's image is almost exactly the same as Hoffman's memory, although he has been transferred to the reserve, he is still dressed in a straight military uniform, with an oak-leaf knight's iron cross on his chest, reminding people of his great achievements for the Third Reich in the battles of France and Poland, only to see him respectfully raise his hand and salute, with a slight doubt on his face.

Hoffman stood up and stretched out his hand to shake hands with the other party: "It seems that you have had a good rest in the past few months, and your face seems to have gained a lot of weight?" ”

Guderian shrugged, the Führer's opening remarks were not very humorous.

Hoffman beckoned him to sit down, and said, "Say, how many times have you scolded me in your heart in the past few months?" ”

As soon as he heard this, Guderian's face was slightly red, and he was suddenly a little embarrassed, the Führer's unhappiness when he kicked himself out of the army in a hurry was still vivid, and there were naturally no fewer complaints in the open and secret, but now the Führer greeted himself with a pleasant face, as a pure and arrogant soldier, telling lies is a bit against his will, and he can't say flattering words, he doesn't know how to take this stubble.

Looking at his embarrassment, Hoffman smiled: "It seems that there are a lot of scoldings, and I can't count them all at once." But today is not the time for reckoning, I have misheard the slander of others and I am too agitated in your matter, and I have to apologize to you. ”

"Führer, I'm ......," Guderian stood up excitedly, he was thrown out of the army a few months ago as a moment of great shame for him, but now that the Führer has apologized himself, all the dissatisfaction and resentment seem to have disappeared at once, "I shouldn't have said too many things that offended you. ”

Hoffmann was very satisfied with Guderian's performance, Guderian and Halder were different, the former was ordered to transfer to the reserve after he complained a lot about the Führer, but he was still loyal, the latter has always been one of the masterminds of the Wehrmacht to overthrow the Führer, and was also involved in the 720 incident, no matter what kind of hardship, since he stood in the Führer's position, it was difficult for him to understand and accept this betrayal.

"Let the past be in the past, and now it's time for us to look forward again." Hoffman had to admit that the Führer's incitement in eloquence and expression was ten times greater than his own, and he stood up, habitually waved his hands, and asked word for word, in a serious and calm tone, "Mr. Guderian, are you still willing to be as loyal to me as you have been before?" Are you still willing to continue to dedicate all your wisdom and strength to the Empire? ”

Guderian "snapped" and stood upright: "Honorable Führer, I will be infinitely loyal to you, and I will give all my strength to the sacred cause of the empire, and I will not hesitate to break my bones." ”

When the dusty Zeitzler also appeared in front of him, Hoffmann immediately asked the Führer's personal attendant Heinz Ringer to inform the restaurant to open the meal, through an afternoon of contact, Hoffmann found that Heinz Ringer showed the same attitude towards himself as before, without the slightest suspicion, even if some habits did not conform to the Führer's previous conventions, the other party automatically regarded it as a normal change of the Führer after vertigo, which made Hoffmann feel a lot more relieved - he became more and more confident in this time travel game.