Rasputin of the East

＜ Episode 148 >

“I will arrange a non-aggression pact with the UK.”

“… what did you say?”

Joachim von Ribentrop said proudly.

“I will try to arrange a non-aggression pact with Britain.”

“Does that make sense?”

“Isn’t there anything that doesn’t make sense?”

In Ribentrop’s confidence, Minister Zhugashvili turned to his friend.

The Prime Minister, Adolf Hitler, was clearly showing curiosity.

“It’s a non-aggression pact with Britain.”

“Moreover, we plan to try alliances.”

“loan.”

Foreign Minister Konstantin Neuraf wrinkled his face openly.

Ribbentrop is his subordinate and vice-minister of foreign affairs.

However, he couldn’t feel good because he was ignoring the chain of command, using his friendship with Hitler as a weapon.

There is no way the Prime Minister would adopt such an irrational idea. After Hitler’s craving for Ribentrop, he saw Hitler while he was preparing to take over the baton and crave it.

‘no way?’

Seeing the interest on Hitler’s face, Neuraf exclaimed nonetheless.

“If France is the enemy, France and Russia are allies, and France is the enemy, a confrontation with Russia is inevitable, no matter what happens. Then, isn’t it a bad way to attract Britain, Russia’s enemy?’

Hitler didn’t really care what the Ministry of Foreign Affairs was doing to disrupt the French-Russian alliance so far and prevent Russia from intervening when war broke out with France.

Of course, the German imperial family, the military, and the foreign ministry were not letting go as Hitler had thought, but were making every effort to separate France and Russia and improve relations between Germany and Russia. For example, this year, Princess Victoria Louise was even scheduled to go to Russia to attend a Victory Day event. It was also planned to celebrate the birth of the Czech king.

In fact, the external cause was the latter, but in reality it was the former.

In the first place, if you were going to celebrate the birth of a child, you should have gone sooner, but the fact that the timing was set like this was conscious of the victory day. At least, I can’t openly announce that I’m attending the day to commemorate the destruction of the Germans by the Russians, so I made an external justification in that way.

‘Come to think of it, the yangban was the fifth or the sixth.’

Of course, it was a trivial matter that all the children had different mothers except for two twins.

In the first place, it is not an era in which the monarch is criticized for being lewd, and it is rare for a high-ranking person in each country to have never had an affair.

Well, it still became a topic of discussion, but it wasn’t that important right now.

“I……”

read at https://readwn.com

Minister Joseph, who was listening quietly, had a shaky expression on his face.

“I don’t really like it.”

The second rank in the party looked at Hitler with a puzzled expression on his face, but Hitler grinned.

“No, no, I think Ribbentrop is right, isn’t this a ploy to unravel German diplomacy at once! Shacht?”

Looking at the Minister of Economy Almar Shacht, Hitler asked eagerly.

“Can we revive the economy by collaborating with the UK?”

“……It’s too vague.”

“If we can form a non-aggression pact with Britain, and furthermore, an alliance, can we overcome the current difficulties!”

“Theoretically it is possible. Assuming that the alliance with Britain is successful…”

read at https://readwn.com

Minister Shacht tried to explain something, but Hitler, who blew all the ‘theoretically’ part and the extra explanation on the back into one ear, looked straight at the navy.

“Admiral Leather, can you combine the French and Russian navy with the Royal Navy to win?”

“It is quite possible. Negotiations on the return of the Bavarian class with the Russian Empire are currently concluded and are expected to be delivered next month. Also, the naval plan is proceeding smoothly, so it is possible to subdue the French and Russian naval forces.”

It was an immediate answer.

“Yes, it is possible, it is possible, yes, Ribentrop! I’ll give you all the tickets, so pack up and go to England! The name of Prime Minister Moseley’s inaugural address would suffice.”

The faces of the army generals hardened.

“Prime Minister, please reconsider.”

“Is it because you don’t have the confidence to beat Russia?”

“France is just an empty cannon, but not Russia. They are a real threat.”

“Goering!”

Hermann Göring glanced at him. As an early member of the party, but not a key member of the party, the ace pilot, who received the gift of independence and commandership of the Luftwaffe, received Hitler’s attention.

“You promised in future battles that you could use air strikes to wipe out enemy tanks and ground forces before they even collide with ours, didn’t you?”

The slender handsome man who touched the hearts of women, who had never received morphine, nodded silently.

“Then can we wipe out the Russian army instead of our cowardly army?”

“It takes time.”

“Is it time?”

“The Empire’s aviation technology is still not good enough. This is only possible by widening the gap between the aviation technology of the Russian Empire and the aviation technology of the German Empire.”

“Why?”

“Russia has a huge population. There are so many pilots, and it seems that the number of tactical aircraft and bombers will be enormous. According to Lanchester’s Law, it is obvious that the victory goes to the side with the greater number of pilots and aircraft of the same class. There is a need to clear it.”

“I’ll give you any investment, and the current power gap is meaningless as there is no immediate war going on.

Excited, Hitler smashed the desk.

“And Britain’s aviation technology isn’t bad either, let’s try to negotiate that in the alliance, Ribbentrop, let you go to this inauguration of the British Prime Minister.”

“All right. Thank you for the opportunity! Prime Minister!”

***

Ohrana’s nerves were also focused in London.

“The special envoy of the Japanese Empire is Fumimaro Konoe, a young politician who is still in his thirties, but at the same time has the support of the army and the navy.”

“Is that possible?”

“That is a mystery. He also participated as one of the Japanese delegations in the Den Haag Treaty, which ended the last great war, and is growing at an unprecedented speed. He is a little older than His Majesty… but former Prime Minister Saionji Kinmochi is said to be his guardian and support him.”

“Right.”

Gonoera, it sounds like a name you’ve heard a lot somewhere, but if you think I’ve heard it a lot, there’s a good chance you’re a militarist. Of course, if you are a promising politician in Japan right now, you will.

“There will also be a visit to the UK by Joachim Ribentrop, Deputy Foreign Minister of the German Empire, and Italo Balbo, Deputy Minister of Economy as a representative of Italy.”

“Balbo with escape? Wasn’t he in the Air Force?”

“Yes?”

Irina had an expression on her face as if she was talking about something.

“What kind of air force… are you talking about the Army Air Corps in Italy? And italo Balbo is the Army, but it has nothing to do with the Air Corps.”

“yes?”

Italo Balbo, surprisingly, was a person who had no ties to airplanes until after the Army Air Corps became independent as the Air Force and was transferred from the position of deputy minister of economy to the position of commander of the Air Force. The case was different with Hermann Göring, who was also an Air Force ace during World War I.

Of course, the prevailing opinion was that if the Red Baron, Honorary Marshal of the Luftwaffe, Richthofen, had officially retired and remained in politics or the military, it would have been difficult to get the position.

“Um… I must have misunderstood. You must have mistaken it with Göring.”

“All right.”

I don’t know if she understood, but she nodded.

I sighed as I watched her report while sitting in a chair dedicated to her for a while.

“If you’re tired, take a break, I’ll take care of the intelligence department, and let Konef do other chores.”

“no. And General Ivan Konev is a high-ranking general, but if he works as His Majesty’s secretary, wouldn’t it be a little daunting?”

“What, hey, how powerful is the position of the Chief of Staff, since it’s at the ministerial level?”

Irina smiled and sat down.

“Three forces are growing in size.”

“It’s hard to hear that the third generation is the third generation.”

“Then, shall we call it the 4th generation?”

“No, more than that…”

I didn’t think long. Wouldn’t it be better to use the name used in the original history?

“Call me the Axis.”

“The Axis… did you think of that line?”

Irina nodded, looking at the black line that connected Tokyo in Japan, Berlin in Germany, Rome in Italy, and London in England.

“I call them internally until they come up with a proper name, at least until they come up with a name for their gang.”

“Do you think they will form an alliance at this inauguration?”

“With a very high probability.”

Hitler was a very improvised person. Stalin may have objected… First of all, Hitler is the first in the party, and the Prime Minister is also Hitler, Stalin, no, Djugashvili is just a spectacular sight.

“Princess Victoria Louise arrived in Korea yesterday. You know that announcing such an alliance at this time would put everyone in a difficult position.”

“Do you know that Hitler is a human figure that thinks and moves like that?”

“Well…….”

“Mussolini is consolidating power within his own country, gaining the support of the Catholic Church.”

Pius XI negotiated with Mussolini to give up his papal rights and return the Vatican, in exchange for which the church began to support Mussolini.

“Of course, it doesn’t end there. A large amount of cash was paid to the Vatican in a lump sum, and since then, funds have continued to flow from the Italian treasury to the Holy See. Other than that, there are back-and-forth deals, and Mussolini is pouring huge sums of money into the Vatican.”

The support of the Catholic Church is an essential part of Mussolini’s maintenance of power. It’s not unusual to work hard on your relationship with the Pope.

“A lot of information is coming in on the back deals. We were able to collect some information about corruption inside the Vatican. Shall we open it? It could be quite a shock to the morality of the Holy See.”

“Okay, there might be a headwind. Wasn’t Pius XI the opposite of Mussolini in the first place?”

“There is no law that says that the will of the Pope and the Holy See must coincide. The Holy See is also a place where we live in interaction with the world. I need money too.”

“Hey… the Orthodox Church is no different.”

A bitter smile flashed across her and my lips in an instant.

Aren’t we the ones who take the lead in using religion right now?

“Did you miss going to heaven?”

“Have you not broken the Ten Commandments quite a bit? I worked on the Sabbath, and I respect my parents….

The memory of making my father-in-law into an old man in the back room in the de facto coup d’état, although there were some voluntary parts, came to mind.

“I murdered, I committed adultery, I stole, I lied, wow. You broke more than half.”

It’s murder. I killed a lot in the war, there were a lot of people I shot and killed with my own hands, and there were a lot of people killed by our guns during the purge, and about adultery… I don’t really have much to say.

Theft is… If I said I was not stealing illegally, but in a wide range, I stole a lot. Did I say that stealing one thing is a thief, but stealing a country is called righteousness? Someone said this long ago in the East.

It’s a lie. All the fake news that was spread politically in the country… I should have told the whole world a couple of times.

“Shall we pray hard and ask for extenuating circumstances?”

“Looks like it’s already too late.”

Irina’s jokes were mixed with laughter.

“In France, the left-wing regime comes to power, in the United States Roosevelt is in power, in Germany, Hitler, in England, Moseley…”

I took a deep breath.

“The fuse is burning and I can’t turn it off.”

“We have to survive.”

“okay.”

I nodded.

“The one who laughs last is the real winner.”