Chapter 627: Weighed Down by Sin
In this world, who is a good person, and who is a bad person? Is a landlord who owns fields and rents them out to others for cultivation necessarily a bad person? Are there not tenant farmers who, after generations of hard work and saving, finally lifted themselves out of poverty to become landlords? Is a laborer who becomes a technical expert, is eventually promoted to an official, and then goes down the wrong path of corruption, a good person?
In ancient times, there were landlords praised as philanthropists by the people for a hundred miles around. In the new society, there are corrupt officials reviled by the people. Among the aristocrats and landlords, there are outliers who are charitable and generous, just as there are countless scoundrels from the working class or academia who are guilty of every crime imaginable. Therefore, to classify people as good or bad based on their class is not entirely correct.
Before the Soviet Red Army took his family’s property, Vasilevsky had never done anything wrong. His ancestors had made their fortune through seafaring and later established a family estate. But all of this was snatched away from Vasilevsky, a young man who had never oppressed anyone, and became public property.
Of course, the Vasilevsky of today is over forty. With the help of German intelligence, he has been responsible for the deaths of at least 15, if not 20, people. By normal standards, he could now be considered utterly evil. But the people who took his property called him comrade, and everyone around them called them good people.
The only thing is, this “good person” has never married and is tormented by nightmares until dawn every day. He knows that many of the people he has killed were innocent good people just like himself, people who worked hard every day just for a bite to eat. But he must carry out the plan to delay production, must send these people who have done nothing wrong to Siberia to be tormented to death.
We say that Hitler was an arch-demon, but can we say that the first German soldier who marched into the Rhineland demilitarized zone under his orders was a demon? No. He was carrying out an order for his nation and his country. In the name of the great cause of defending his country’s sovereignty and integrity, he could even be called a hero.
Before Hitler came to power, for the sake of maintaining Germany’s national unity and the continued prosperity of the German nation, the forefathers of the German Wehrmacht challenged the Treaty of Versailles their entire lives. Were they the sinners of the war? Were they the accomplices of a demon? If so, are all those who shed their blood for their nation war-maniacs and sinners against humanity?
So when von Seeckt found Akado and asked him to strengthen his country’s military for Germany’s future, he was not preparing for a war of aggression. On the contrary, the goal he fought for his entire life was to ensure his country would not be invaded. But Akado used the foundation von Seeckt had built to occupy France, invade Britain, and crush the Soviet Union. Now, Germany’s territory is vaster than ever before, and its influence extends over a larger area than at the most powerful period in its history. The strength of Germany is there for all to see.
In the eyes of the German people, Akado, who brought victory to Germany, happiness to the German people, and unparalleled strength to the entire nation, is undoubtedly a hero of the entire nation. His prestige among the German people has surpassed that of any emperor or king. His status in Germany is even comparable to that of God.
Countless soldiers have placed their hands on the swastika flag and solemnly sworn that they will be loyal to Akado Rudolph for their entire lives and give their lives for the Führer. These soldiers raise their hands high, dedicating their passion to their idol and leader. Their fanaticism is so intense that it seems incredible to any outsider.
Fanaticism. This word is perplexing. Once a person enters this state, the things he does become incredible. This is also why many people in power like to use fanaticism to inspire their people. Once people’s fanaticism is aroused, this force can often be devastating.
When you see Japanese soldiers in World War II, with no ammunition and no food, at the end of their rope, raising their hands high, fanatically shouting “Long live the Emperor,” choosing to commit suicide with a hand grenade rather than surrender, don’t you think these people are simply incomprehensible?
When you see German soldiers, loyal to their Führer simply because of an oath, giving their all to the state, going to the battlefield for one of the Führer’s decisions, and fighting to the death until the very last moment, don’t you think it’s somewhat surreal and unreal?
When you see a Chinese revolutionary shouting in the face of the enemy’s bayonet, facing death with the most composed expression, believing even in the moment he closes his eyes that a new world will eventually come and that China’s future will be victorious, don’t you think this must be a cliché from a TV drama?
No, these things all really happened. When a person firmly believes he is right, he will strive and work for it. Sometimes this effort is wrong, and sometimes it is right. But regardless, they will work hard to achieve the result they hope for, to win the goal they desire.
If this effort is right, and the final result is good, then he becomes an outstanding person, a great man whose name will be remembered for ages. But if this effort is wrong, and the final result is bad, then this person is what people call a demon and a sinner, a pitiful person who will be endlessly flogged by history.
But is there an absolute distinction between right and wrong in the world? Is there an absolute distinction between good and bad? The Emperor Wu of Han and Emperor Taizong of Tang, whom we Han people praise, were demons and tyrants hated to the bone by other ethnic groups. The war criminals we ourselves revile and resent are enshrined in the shrines of another country. This is the world. This is a cruel world.
When a powerful country is born, it will face exclusion and oppression from its rivals. No one is willing to give up vested interests, and no one is willing to acknowledge the emergence of a new competitor. The tottering Qing Dynasty sailed its Beiyang Fleet to Japan to show off its power shortly after the fleet was established. If even a decaying dynasty behaved like this, it is not difficult to imagine what kind of face the countries of the world really have.
Their ships are strong and their cannons are powerful, so why shouldn’t they attack you? If they attack you, they are the bad guys, the war criminals? How come no one says Genghis Khan was a war criminal? How come no one says the Shunzhi and Kangxi emperors were war criminals? Was Napoleon a war criminal? Was Bismarck a butcher and a demon? To this day, the President of the United States is still attacking here and there—the key question is, why has no one arrested and executed them to comfort the souls of the world’s afflicted?
The most foolish thing in this world is to place the hope of so-called peace on others. Only one’s own strength is the most reliable guarantee. Only when you are invincible can you use your own rules to restrain others, and only then do you have the right to dictate how others live.
If Chinese soldiers were stationed in Tokyo, if Chinese aircraft carriers were docked in the Persian Gulf, if Chinese fighter jets frequently appeared in America’s air defense identification zone, would anyone still go to worship the demon butchers who invaded China? When China is truly number one in the world, Chinese diplomats can also look down their noses at the Japanese and say, “Cede Okinawa. Will you comply or not!”
If viewed from the perspective of justice, Akado is an evil person, an unpardonable war-maniac. He and Hitler can be said to be two of a kind. At least in foreign policy, he is following Germany’s old path of aggression and expansion. But this is a path that the Chinese have walked, the Americans have walked, the British have walked, the Japanese have walked, the French have walked; the Portuguese, Spanish, and Dutch have all walked it. When they walked it, they were very bloody, very barbaric, and not at all “civilized.”
Akado also knows that he is no good person. He knows that a whole host of even more detestable sinners are working for him. He is well aware of the unspeakable things that keep the German war machine running. For the tens of thousands who die every year in the concentration camps in Poland and the collective farms in the eastern territories, the German high command deserves to die a thousand times over for their actions.
But if you think about what France did to Prussia during the Napoleonic era, and then think about how Prussia later captured the French emperor, and then the Treaty of Versailles that Britain and France forced Germany to sign after the First World War… human civilization is simply too long. In the long river of time, who can say for sure who is the aggressor and who is the victim?
So, Akado is just repeating this cycle of “when will the cycle of vengeance ever end,” re-enacting on the ever-turning wheel of history what happened thousands of years ago in his own way. It’s just that due to the development and progress of mankind, due to the rise and promotion of technology, this time the war game between humans is more cruel, more bloody, and the means of aggression are more sophisticated and more efficient.
Therefore, this current German Führer knows his own sins and has faced them calmly. Anyone who knows a little bit of history knows that even if the demon Hitler had never appeared, even if Akado had stabbed Hitler to death in 1918 and then killed himself, history would have produced an “Eastler” or a “Northler” to lead Germany on the path of revenge. The world would still have faced its catastrophe, and humanity would still have shed blood and sacrificed—nothing would have changed, that’s all.
Knowing something is wrong, yet having to do it. Knowing it is a sinful act, yet having to continue. This is the tragedy of being the leader of a group, because once the group is formed and everything is set in motion, it will not stop because of the will of any single person. When Akado made the decision to replace Hitler, he no longer had the luxury of regret.
The German war machine has begun to roll forward. It will crush anything that stands in its way, including its own driver—unless it reaches its destination and achieves victory, or it crashes into a hard wall and is smashed to pieces!
Published: 2025-09-12T04:02:01.000+00:00
Last Edited: 2026-01-28T16:35:46.000+00:00
URL: https://www.patreon.com/caleredhair/posts/mtr-c627-weighed-138711809
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