Chapter 1084: Not Easy to Fool

Akado hoped that Japan, under pressure from the United States, would become a chain around China’s neck. With this chain, China would never be able to side with the United States, and the Eurasian-African economic sphere that Germany was pursuing would finally become a possibility. And at this time, the situation in the Pacific theater was already very favorable for Germany. For the United States to want to defeat Japan in a short period of time was clearly a very difficult matter.

Thinking of this, Akado finally ended his conversation with Ribbentrop. “Now, what you have to do is to immediately prepare for the German-Soviet negotiations. Wait for us to completely crush that stubborn Stalin on the main front, and then the whole process can be initiated.”

“Yes, my Führer!” Ribbentrop quickly nodded and replied, “I will go and draft the future diplomatic charter now, and then submit it to you.”

“It’s about time. I have to go and give the soldiers at the front a boost of morale. This is the first experimental television broadcast in Germany. Its scale has surpassed our competitor. The stuff the Americans are doing is still just experimental television picture transmission, and I hear that Berlin already has 4,000 television sets.” Akado proudly mentioned the television project to Ribbentrop. In fact, Germany had bought many foreign patents in advance and had brought in many scientists, which was why it was only a few short years ahead in the popularization of television.

The people in Berlin who had televisions now were either rich or noble. It was basically not counted as a popularization of television channels. But more than 4,000 television sets, in this chaotic era of war, was indeed already a great pioneering achievement. Just like the gramophone, this new electronic product could be considered as pointing the way to the future.

“Under your leadership, everything in Germany can be said to be at a world-leading level,” Ribbentrop said, deftly slipping in a compliment. But what he said was indeed from his heart. In these past few days, several cities in Germany had begun to experience traffic congestion. In the United States, this was something that only happened in a few cities, like New York.

The large amount of crude oil from Libya had greatly improved Germany’s oil consumption environment. This improvement was reflected in the people’s livelihood, which was that Germany had finally begun to stop restricting ordinary citizens from buying cheap, people’s cars. For a time, German civilian cars were in short supply, and the streets and alleys were filled with the roar of the civilian-model Kübelwagen engines.

“It’s not an easy thing to get through Wilhelmstrasse quickly now.” One day, after being stuck in traffic for nearly half an hour, the German Minister of Transport had said this to his assistant with regret. His words had been passed around as a joke among the German high command. When everyone saw him, they would immediately ask, “Is the Minister of Transport stuck in traffic?”

It was also fortunate that Akado, when planning the new urban areas around Berlin, had used a wider road standard, which had saved the entire city of Berlin from being paralyzed by the road conditions. According to statistics, Germany now had more than 5.5 million motor vehicles. Almost every seventeen people had one car. And these cars had to compete with another 300,000 horses for the right to use the roads, which sounded a bit anachronistic.

Akado, of course, did not have to experience the taste of being stuck in traffic on the public roads, because back then, he had experienced an even more disastrous feeling in a place that was jokingly called the “Imperial Capital.” Compared to that level of being stuck in one place, completely unable to move, Akado really wanted to sneer at his officials—this isn’t even traffic, okay?

The cameras were already set up in the speech hall. The floor was covered with cables and other equipment. For the first time in human history, such a complex recording device was being used to record and broadcast a major historical event in its entirety. Before Akado went on stage, there was even a professional makeup artist to touch up his makeup, so that the Führer’s image on television could be even more imposing and handsome.

“Yes! Try to use accessories with a strong contrast of light and dark! We are recording in black and white and in color at the same time. We have to take into account the black and white television sets, so that the audience can distinguish the medals and other decorations on the Führer’s body,” the professional photographer, Hugo, who was also Akado’s personal photographer, was exchanging his experience with the other camera crew.

“Set up the camera there! Yes! At that angle, you have to look up at the Führer! Understand?” Fanny ordered her subordinates, who were already swamped with work. The filming of the Führer had to be just right. The angle and the lighting all had requirements. The propaganda department was shaping Akado as a god of Germany, so when it came to showing Akado as tall and handsome, they had never been stingy with their ink.

“Is this really necessary? It’s just a television broadcast, not even a live one. Do we have to make it so exaggerated?” Akado asked, as he was being fussed over by two professional costumers, who were adjusting his black SS uniform. He frowned at the German Chancellor, Dominis, who was beside him.

Dominis, who was standing there, also dressed as if he were a groom, could only show a helpless expression as he replied to Akado, “My Führer, this is part of the propaganda plan of the world’s number one power. We must do our best to cooperate with the work of the propaganda department. They want to collect a series of ‘German world firsts’ to prove that the Germanic nation is the greatest nation in the world.”

Akado sighed, and helplessly continued to let the people around him fuss over him. He continued to speak to Dominis, “It seems that this time, we must put some thought into our propaganda. After all, I hear the election is about to begin, and I would like to be re-elected for another term.”

Dominis smiled and did not reply, because just a few days ago, Germany’s new election had begun. And just one month before this election, the German Reichstag had passed a special wartime election bill, allowing the great Führer to continue to serve as the actual leader of the country during the war, while the election would continue, and its results would not be used for a change of government.

In other words, the election would proceed according to the laws and regulations, but the new “Führer” who was elected would not take office. Everyone would just play a game of election, and then elect a person with the highest popular support to show their face. In this situation, for anyone to rashly stand up and run for election would be to question and provoke the Führer, Akado. So no one with the strength or the ability to run for election had stood up to be this buffoon.

The various political parties had also just symbolically found a few newcomers, to come out and meet the public and to show their faces. If there were no surprises, in this election, Akado would still be elected with an absolute, overwhelming number of votes, and would, with a proper mandate, continue to fight for the future of the Germanic nation as the German Führer.

In fact, the people were not opposed to Akado doing this. If one had to find fault, it was just a helplessness at Akado’s clinging to power. About a year ago, someone had proposed the plan of the Führer proclaiming himself emperor, to persuade Akado to take it a step further, to leave a position of power for everyone to have something to look forward to. But to this day, Akado himself had been noncommittal about this plan, which had also made everyone’s expectations a little confusing.

“Regarding your Far East strategy, I have already studied it in detail,” Dominis said to Akado after the two tailors had left. “The matter of Mongolia, well, to give it away is to give it away. But a place like Vladivostok, the Soviets will not let go of it easily.”

“We have a massive army at their border. Is it up to them to decide whether to give it or not?” Akado asked in return with a cold laugh.

“Indeed, as you said, my Führer. They will eventually compromise. But I don’t think that to hand over the Far East to China is an absolutely advantageous thing,” Dominis said. He did not have a transmigrated soul. From the perspective of Germany, he had a more objective view of this plan. “This will increase the difficulty of our negotiations, and it may also inadvertently create a powerful opponent.”

He didn’t wait for Akado to argue, but continued to state his case. “A powerful China in the Far East will seek its own status and sphere of influence. So I do not recommend ceding a place like Vladivostok to China.”

“In fact, I am just weakening the Soviet Union, to prevent our eastern border from being threatened,” Akado said with a smile, explaining his point of view to his Chancellor. “To leave Vladivostok to the Soviet Union is more dangerous than to put it in the hands of the Chinese.”

Dominis nodded and said in agreement, “On this point, my view is the same as yours. But I think it would be more in Germany’s interests to divide the rest of Siberia in two, wouldn’t it? One with its capital in Vladivostok, and one with its capital in Chelyabinsk.”

“…” It seems that to fool the Germans into giving China a helping hand is a very difficult task. Akado thought to himself, looking at Dominis. Who said foreigners are not proficient in strategy? This group of people, who have also been playing at intrigue and conspiracy for thousands of years, their abacus is clattering loudly!

“Then our plan to lease Taiwan might not be so feasible,” Akado had no choice but to lay out this additional condition, and to start bargaining.

“Ha, we can restore China’s northern border and give Mongolia to China. We can also provide cheap industrial equipment and countless kinds of goods,” Dominis said very frankly. “If I were a Chinese official, and I was offered such a heavenly, preferential environment, to ask me to agree to lease a port in Taiwan… I would agree immediately.”

“Alright!” Akado nodded with resignation. He was now the Führer of Germany and could not just blindly aid China. So he went with the flow and agreed to Dominis’s request. “What you’ve said also makes a lot of sense. The specific negotiations will be up to you, Ribbentrop, and the Foreign Ministry. Just remember one thing in the grand scheme of things, China is our ally. We must actively win them over, and we cannot push them to the Americans. That’s all.”

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