At last the feast began, and Chloe and Margaret brought pots of enticing scented food to a long, beautiful-looking table that Chloe had picked up from Petrograd. Hersmann opened a bottle of Heinkel Champagne and poured the glasses in front of the guests one by one, with a fragrant yellowish liquid.

And tonight's star, Iron Man Herman, ignored Margaret's eyebrows, and only cared about Karl Murphy, who had just retired as a major general. Haushofer asked. The retirement of this major general is really incomprehensible, and now it is wartime, Karl. Haushofer is not very old, so why should he retire?

"It's just retiring from the army, not retiring, but going to do some important work." The Major General glanced at Goering, and then at the other bewildered officers—they were all Karl Brown. The people in Haushofer's circle are all over forty years old, and their military ranks are all lieutenant colonels and colonels. "I will be the chairman of the Industry Promotion Council, which is an agency under the Prime Minister's Office."

"Industry Promotion Council?" Herman. Goering glanced at Faulk, the young millionaire who was attracted to Margaret, Hersmann's sister, and was chatting with the little girl, who was only sixteen or seventeen years old, and was not at all interesting. The fat man, who likes mature women, turned his head and talked to Major General Haushofer again, he has a very keen sense of political issues, and has found that this industrial promotion committee is not simple. He asked tentatively, "Mr. Falk is also a member of this committee, right?" ”

"Yes, he is a representative of the aviation community." Cal. "There will be people in important industrial sectors such as aviation, manufacturing, machinery, steel, chemicals, mining, etc. The financial community and the army, navy, and air force will also be represented. By the way, Ludwig was a representative of the Army, and he was also a member of the Committee for the Promotion of Industry. ”

"Ludwig is also a commissioner?" Goering turned his head to look at Hersmann, "Ludwig, you are now a lieutenant colonel...... That's amazing! You served in the Great General Staff? ”

"Almost, I'm the general manager of a Russian-German economic promotion company under the General Staff." Hersman replied with a smile. The general manager of the Russian-German Economic Promotion Company and a member of the Industrial Promotion Committee is Hersmann's public identity -- Director Stasi is a "hidden man", and except for a very few people, people will not know that Director Stasi's name is Ludwig. Feng. Hersman, all they know is the code name "General".

"The Russian-German Economic Promotion Company must be a very important company." Göring looked at Hersmann's blue Max medal and thought: he must be a genius in business!

"It's just that it's more important in wartime," Hersman said in a somewhat heavy tone, "and in the long run it's the Industrial Promotion Committee that has a better future." ”

"Really?" Goering seemed to be an inquiring man, "What does this committee do?" ”

"To help German industry transform after the war," Hersmann said, "what was to be produced in peacetime was not the same as it was in wartime, with some factories reducing capacity and others increasing capacity." In addition, German industry had achieved a number of achievements in the war, and it was important to preserve them and let them continue to develop. The achievements of the military industry should not be lost because of the post-war era of peace. ”

What he said could be published in the newspapers. After all, this industrial promotion committee is a body hanging under the Prime Minister's Office, and there must always be a plausible reason for its existence.

"Sounds good," said Goering, nodding understandingly. "But how does this committee do those things?"

"The committee will first take control of a bank," said Carl. Haushofer took a sip of champagne and said slowly, "It's Yamal. Dr. Schacht is the President of the German National Bank, of which Dr. Schacht is also a member of the Committee. The German National Bank will provide low-interest loans to the most important sectors of German industry to help them tide over the difficult times......"

The "Gray Plan" is constantly being refined, and now it has become an unusually large "surrender plan". It includes economic, political, military, scientific and technological, diplomatic, propaganda and intelligence and many other aspects. In the beginning, the Plan was entirely entrusted to the Eastern Division of the Military Intelligence. Later, however, the situation on the battlefield on the Western Front became more and more unfavorable, and the General Staff accelerated the formulation and implementation of the "Plan", so more and more people and departments participated, and all aspects began to divide labor and cooperate.

The staff officers of the Russian Section of the Eastern Division of the Military Intelligence, led by Hersmann, drew up the General Outline of the Grey Plan, the Greater Poland Plan, and the Courland Plan.

And Carl. Major General Haushofer began to work with some important figures in German industry and finance to formulate the "Dark Sword Plan", and the Industrial Promotion Committee was the body that formulated and implemented the "Dark Sword Plan".

The Strategic Operations Division of the Grand General Staff was responsible for developing the Freikorps Plan to preserve the vitality of the Army. The aviation management department under the General Staff began to draw up the "club plan". The Navy Staff is secretly working on the "Rainbow Plan"

And these plans, which were drawn up by the talented staff officers of Germany and the elites of all aspects, needed to be carried out. In addition to the "Free Corps Plan", "Rainbow Plan" and "Club Plan", which can be the responsibility of the command of the Army, Navy and Air Force. The Greater Poland Plan, the Courland Plan, and the Dark Saber Plan had to be implemented through the cooperation of several departments.

The Greater Poland Plan was now in charge of a "Free Poland Committee" consisting of the German Foreign Office and the Grand General Staff, as well as the Polish Provisional Council of State. Pilsudski was also released from prison two weeks ago and returned to the post of military minister of the Polish Provisional Council of State. In the coming months, a series of "fair and reasonable" treaties will be signed between the Chancellery of the German Empire, the Provisional Council of State of Poland, and the Provisional Government of Lithuania and the Autonomous State of Courland.

The first to be determined was the Polish-Lithuanian Treaty of Unity, with Poland and Lithuania as the core of the Polish Commonwealth - which showed that Hersmann's idea of "strengthening Poland and making it a bulwark against the westward advance of the Bolsheviks" was fully accepted by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Great General Staff.

Then came the release of the Polish-Courland Cooperation Treaty. The agreement stipulated that the Courland Autonomous State would join the Polish Confederation and have "near-independent" autonomy in the event that the Baltic United States could not be formed because of the strong opposition of the Entente, or if the United Baltic States were invaded by Soviet Russia and could not defend themselves.

At the same time, the treaty also stipulated that the United Baltic States would cede to the Polish Confederation the port of Liepaja, near Lithuania, if Poland pledged not to claim West Prussia and Poznan from Germany after the Baltic Union had been formally established and universally recognized internationally.

Finally, there was the German-Polish Agreement, which was kept secret for the time being, which provided for the post-war Polish-German border. Poland forever renounced its territorial claims to Poznan (called Posen in Germany) and West Prussia. In exchange, Germany handed over Lithuania to Poland and also promised to support Poland in acquiring all of Galicia (including Western Ukraine) after the collapse of Austria-Hungary. Since the main inhabitants of Lithuania and Eastern Galicia (i.e., Western Ukraine) were not Poles, the agreement was in effect to exchange Lithuania and Western Ukraine for Posen and West Prussia - if the Poles could abide by the agreement after the defeat of Germany, then Poland and Germany would undoubtedly become friends!

Hersman and his Stasi are currently working on the Courland and Darksaber projects, as well as the Thor Project, which is still ongoing after the February Revolution in Russia. The Courland Plan, the Darksaber Project, and the Thor Plan, three projects that seem to have little to do with each other on the surface, are actually a whole. Because the German military industry could not have survived the post-war difficulties with more than just loans. Rather, it was to involve the cooperation of the Industrial Promotion Council, the Courland Autonomous State (and possibly the Baltic United States) and Soviet Russia.

And the channel that connects these three forces is Stasi hidden behind the scenes!