When Ludwig von Hersmann walked into his office in Berlin's Charlottenburg district, his aide-de-camp Paulus had placed two newspapers, the Volks-Observator and the Berliner Zeitung, side by side on his desk.
Glancing at the Berlin Zeitung, the city's largest circulation, Hersmann found that the newspaper, known for its moderation and neutrality, had an unprecedented use of eight banners in italics: 132 billion gold marks in reparations; Germany is completely bankrupt; The paper mark is about to depreciate sharply, and the people's savings will be wiped out; The People's Party and the Democratic Party announced their withdrawal from the coalition government, the Fehlenbach cabinet was reduced to a minority cabinet, and the chancellor asked the president to order the dissolution of parliament and early elections.
In contrast to the rather urbane roar of the Berliner Zeitung, the front page of the Volksgätt newspaper published an editorial drafted by Hersmann and revised by Rosenberg under the headline "Currency Wars."
The editorial, which directly refers to the reparations figures finalized by the Allied Reparations Commission, as an attempt to destroy the foundations of the German economy, concludes with a strong appeal to every German to collect gold and silver coins as far as possible, and not to deposit them in banks, lest they be expropriated by the government to pay reparations to the Entente.
Hersman placed his handbag on his desk, and then asked Paulus, who had followed him in, "Captain, how many newspapers today have mentioned the question of the mark being greatly devalued" "Almost all the newspapers mentioned it," Paulus replied.
"The Bolshevik Party's Red Banner, like the People's Observer, called on the working class to run on the banks for gold and silver coins on the front page."
It is a pity that the Nazi Party and the Bolshevik Party have a common point of view, and their point of view is very correct, and from now on the mark will become a kite with a broken string, and it will fall off one by one.
"Is there anyone going to run on it?"
Hersman asked.
"Yes."
Paulus replied, "There are long queues at the gates of every bank in Berlin, but they probably won't have the opportunity to get gold and silver coins from the banks." ” Hersman sighed.
"Declared regulated" "Yes, the Imperial Bank meeting lasted until the early hours of the morning, and the decision was made to temporarily introduce gold, silver and exchange controls."
"Hmph, well-informed and well-informed people have already replaced Mark" Hersman himself was, of course, a "well-informed" person.
His and Chloe's deposits had long since been exchanged for gold coins and deposited in the Baltic Republic.
The cash in the marks held by the Economic Promotion Company, the Bank of Riga, and the Ludwig Chloe Company has long since been exchanged for various hard currencies and deposited in Baltic or Switzerland.
In addition to Junker officers like Hersmann, most of Germany's monopoly capitalists have long been prepared for the expectation that the mark will become waste paper, which was nothing new to them a year ago.
In addition, many Jewish merchants in Germany, after the announcement of the reparations demanded by the Allies on January 28 of this year, exchanged their mark notes for as much as they could, or bought as much as possible, although many people did so, but these Jewish merchants were undoubtedly the most hated by the Germans Thanks to the combined efforts of these people, the mark has depreciated a lot over the past few months, and prices in Germany have risen as a result.
And now there are probably only the German middle class, the petty bourgeoisie and the proletariat who are still holding the mark banknotes, but these people will soon become brothers of the same class.
Because when a loaf of bread is worth tens of thousands, millions, or hundreds of millions, there is still no middle class and small assets in Germany At that moment, the phone on Hersman's desk suddenly rang.
Paulus walked over and picked up the earpiece: "This is the Intelligence Department, Colonel, hello, the lieutenant colonel has arrived, I'll tell you right away." ” He hung up the phone and said to Hersmann: "It's Colonel Schleicher's call, the president has approved the dissolution of parliament" This is to be expected, given that the constitution already stipulates that the prime minister can make a nomination, and the president should approve the authorization of a state of emergency unless it is in accordance with article 48 of the constitution.
"The Colonel told you to go to the political office immediately."
Paulus then asked, "Lieutenant Colonel, are you going out now?"
"Go out, right now" Hersman nodded, although he and Schleicher were both shoulder to shoulder chiefs of the General Staff, but the latter was the big brother in the army, so he still had to be respected.
He picked up his purse again, and had just taken a few steps when he suddenly stopped again.
"By the way, did the briefing on the Hungarian war arrive?"
"It's delivered."
"Bring it, I'll see it in the car."
Hersman confessed.
During this time, in addition to the "currency war", it was the Hungarian war.
Russia and Poland signed the Riga Peace Treaty in March 1921, ending the war.
Then the Polish army invaded Hungary under the command of the French, and the Polish army was dispatched, which immediately changed the balance on the battlefield.
Unlike the French, now that the Poles are addicted to war, Pingduzhen and Soviet Russia are kneeling, and little Hungary is not in sight.
And the Poles were ruthless in the suppression of the Bolsheviks, killing no less in right-bank Ukraine and Lithuania.
They were not like the French who were held back by the Bolsheviks at home So, all the bad news came from Hungary during this time And if the Hungarian Bolshevik Party is defeated, Germany's situation will be even worse, at least on the map.
The French are likely to force Germany to cut its army to 100,000 and may also demand that Germany disband the General Staff.
In this case, not a single army officer could trust President Albert and his Social Democrats.
"Ludwig, how long can the Hungarians hold out" In the smoky office of the Political Office of the General Staff, Hersmann heard the voice of Admiral Seckert as soon as he entered the door.
"Admiral, do you mean the fall of Budapest" Hersman handed the briefcase to his adjutant, and then gave a military salute to Admiral Seckert.
He saw Seckert nod, and then added: "Within the year the Poles will be able to control most of Slovakia, and next spring they will attack Budapest."
If nothing else, Budapest will change hands by the end of next year.
After a pause, he added, "This is the judgment of Major General Falkbell and my father, but a small-scale guerrilla war can be sustained for a long time." ” "There's no point," Seckert sighed, "unless we have our support, but that's impossible, and it seems that we must consider the possibility of maintaining the size of the army in secret." ” What this meant was that Hindenburg or Ludendorff had to be brought to power in 1923.
"Although we have two chances, I hope that this one will be victorious, and not the next one," Admiral Seckert said in a tone that seemed to give orders to the troops, "and the election of the members of Congress will be held on June 25 and 26 this year, and the new Congress will begin on July 1."
I hope that by that time there will be fewer than 138 seats for the Social Democrats and the Independent Social Democrats" "Your Excellency, please rest assured, even if we are missing a few seats, the Intelligence Service will have a way to get some of the Social Democratic MPs to defect at a critical moment," Hersmann said.
"Okay," said Admiral Seckert, nodding his head, "Ludwig, immediately after today's meeting, you will accompany Admiral Ludendorff to Munich to discuss the election with the Workers' Party."
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