The Dragon That Devours the World

Vienna, January 23, 1912. Fastest update

An open-air painting booth was filled with paintings somewhere, and those paintings were held down by a piece of glass to avoid being corroded by ice and snow. On the side, a shabby young man was sitting on a small wooden stool with a thick overcoat, wrapping himself tightly, only revealing a pair of eyes and scanning the pedestrian.

He curled up to resist the impact of the cold winter that had not yet receded, only the white mist exhaling from his mouth and nose proved his signs of life.

People come and go by the painting stalls, but people who have just spent Christmas have no intention of looking at the works of an unknown painter. There are many outdated artists like this in Vienna. They are in a hurry, passing by the painting stalls one by one. From daytime to noon, not even one stopped.

And the young man seemed to be used to it. He looked at the glass that was gradually covered with a layer of frost. The paintings under the glass were hidden by the frost and even a little invisible, and he lowered his head in silence.

Suddenly, a pair of young men and women passed by. The man caught a glimpse of the painting stall, but he stopped and leaned down to wipe the frost on the glass, wanting to see what the painting looked like.

There was a surprise in his heart, and the young man hurriedly stood up and introduced his painting to the man.

"Sir, please allow me to introduce to you the idea of ​​my painting, my painting..."

But before the happy voice was finished, the man shook his head, stood up straight, and said to the female companion beside him.

"Let's go."

Loss fills the young man's heart, looking at the men and women who have not yet gone far, he can still hear the curious inquiry of his female partner.

"What's wrong? Don't you plan to see it again?"

"Look, the painting is too rigid..."

The owner of the voice drifted away, only the young man who was left silent, clenching his fist tightly, the young man who was once proud and confident, was full of loss and low self-esteem at this moment.

After three years, I still didn't achieve anything in Vienna.

Instead of setting up a stall, but quietly putting away the paintings, the young man is going to his favorite cafe.

...

Cafes were extremely popular in Vienna at that time.

Due to the prosperity of Vienna, many artists and thinkers from all over the world gathered here, their habits and consumption gave birth to a large number of cafes, and many people who pursued different philosophies were also discussing politics in this peaceful city. .

Conspirators, politicians, scholars, medical scientists, scientists, artists... the population of nearly one million together form this prosperous metropolis.

The central cafe is also quite famous among the many coffee houses, because of its unique taste, Adolf likes this cafe very much. As long as he has some extra money, he will patronize it, at least it is very warm here, completely different from the cold outside.

And in this cafe full of customers, this down-and-out young man was savoring coffee alone, and at the same time thinking about what to do next.

"Do you want to leave Vienna."

Suddenly, a thought flashed through his mind.

This idea has only come to pass recently. During these three years in Vienna, he has lived a poor life. He occasionally thinks that maybe it would be better to go to other places. And before he finished thinking carefully in his mind, the noise not far away disrupted everything.

"Mr……"

Not far away, a poorly-dressed middle-aged man was holding something in his arms, as if he was a businessman peddling something, saying something to guests at other tables. However, the guests who were drinking coffee were suddenly disturbed, and the unhappiness in their hearts could be imagined. They all waved impatiently and drove him away.

The middle-aged man was forced to rush from one table to another, and finally came all the way to Adolf's table.

"Sir, take a look at this thing of mine, this thing of mine..."

The middle-aged man spoke eagerly, and while unfolding the cloth covered with what he was holding, the interested Adolf looked down, then frowned, and immediately understood why none of the guests in front were interested.

I saw a rusty iron statue among the coarse cloth, and it could be vaguely seen that it was dressed up as a girl in military uniform. Obviously, it hasn't been maintained for a long time. Even if it was temporarily wiped off, many corners and corners are still full of rust, which makes people disgusting.

Seeing that Adolf had no interest, the middle-aged man was anxious at the time and said hurriedly.

"Sir, this is handed down from my grandfather. He is a big collector. He has collected a lot of treasures. This is his most treasured treasure. If you don't believe me, you can ask Tobias, believe a lot. People still know his name, I just think there are many artists here, maybe some who know the goods, only sold here..."

Tobias?

Hearing that, Adolf couldn't help turning his head.

He has heard of this name. This is a well-known collector. It is said that he collected a large number of famous paintings and treasures decades ago, but he looked at the middle-aged man in front of him and couldn't help but sneer.

"Big collector? The most cherished treasure? I don't think you know how long it was left in the corner. You turned it out, right?"

As he said, he looked at the middle-aged man again and touched his chin.

"I heard that Tobias' family was down after...Are you his grandson?"

The middle-aged man's face became stiff, and he smiled somewhat sly, his face showed an unnatural look, and all this was captured by Adolf's eyes, but he remained silent. In the middle-aged man in front of him, he could feel the sickness of a gambler, which was a temperament that was developed due to long-term abuse of gambling.

Adolf guessed something vaguely, but didn't say anything, but looked at the iron statue again.

There is no doubt that this is a rusty statue, which looks like scrap iron, but his keen insight into art still makes Adolf aware of some clues.

It’s too fine. Although many places are covered by rust, Adolf can still detect the meticulously carved traces on the statue, the meticulous and refined details of armor, face and even fingertips. It is by no means what ordinary sculptures would have.

And as if he had noticed Adolf's gaze, the middle-aged man said eagerly.

"As long as one hundred crowns, I will sell this to you."

One hundred crowns is equivalent to two or three months' income of ordinary workers, but Adolf snorted coldly.

"Huh, one hundred crowns? I think it's only worth two crowns."

"Two crowns? How could it be possible."

Hearing the sound, the middle-aged man almost shouted angrily...

But after the final bargaining, the middle-aged man sold it to Adolf for five crowns. After all, no one except Adolf wanted to sell this piece of "scrap iron."

When he got the money, the middle-aged man walked away happily, trying to get his own money, while Adolf looked at the figure, lowered his head and touched his wallet. There was already no money in it. There are only a few small banknotes and a few coins left.

The five crowns just now is actually Adolf's last bit of money this month, and he almost can't buy this sculpture.

"I'm going to the porridge shed again..."

Adolf laughed at himself in his heart, that he and the beggar are more and more alike.

But even so, I don't know why, he still bought the sculpture inexplicably, but an inexplicable impulse was pushing him.

Standing up, after paying the money at the table, he was about to leave here.

"Boom..."

And just as he walked out of the cafe, he suddenly felt his shoulder hit someone. Turning his head to look, and the other person happened to be looking at him. It was a young man with a two-handed beard, who looked very handsome and had some doubts on his face.

"Sorry."

The other party took the initiative to speak, his voice with some Russian accent.

Russian?

Adolf frowned and didn't answer. He just walked away, and the young man looked at the back who was going straight away, as if a little puzzled.

"Jojo, what are you looking at?"

Aside, the young man's companion asked.

The young man shook his head.

"No, it's nothing."

With that, the two went into the Central Cafe together, discussing Russian politics and Bolshevism.

During the month from December 1912 to January 1913, a young Russian named Stalin came to Vienna to negotiate with Trotsky about the cause of communism in Russia. And because there are two jo() in his name, the alias at the time was jojo...

...

In 1913, Adolf Hitler moved to Munich, Germany.

During this period, Germany’s politics was extremely unstable. Decades ago, the German Prime Minister Bismarck’s flexible diplomatic skills allowed him to reunite the Europeans and unify the originally scattered Germany in Europe, which was full of great powers. Got up,

From the second half of the 19th century to the beginning of the 20th century, during the time of the iron-blooded prime minister Bismarck, the unified German Empire ushered in all-round development by leaps and bounds. Using the reparations in the Franco-Prussian War, the fruits of the Industrial Revolution were pushed in the German Empire. To the **.

The influx of rural populations has led to rapid urbanization, unprecedented improvements in national education and social security, and rapid changes in science and technology have changed the life of this ancient empire. Until 1914, Germany had become the second largest in the world after the United States. The industrial country's strong strength enables it to challenge the empire at sea while the sun never sets, but it also has a powerful army capable of dominating Europe.

However, in Europe’s complex geographic relations and between the royal families of various countries, Germany’s territory is particularly small, but Bismarck is keenly aware that it cannot easily challenge Britain’s bottom line. At this moment, Britain occupies one-third and one-quarter of the world’s land. With a population of one, British colonies are everywhere in the world, so Bismarck has always maintained a high degree of vigilance and caution.

But after the death of the old emperor, the new and radical 29-year-old Emperor Wilhelm II was not willing to be controlled by the prime minister. In the end, the iron-blooded prime minister, who was already more than seventy years old, went to the wild angrily.

After getting rid of Bismarck, the young new emperor was able to display his ambitions.

"Germany's journey is the sea of ​​stars!"

The proud young emperor declared this way.

On June 28, 1914, during an inspection by the Austro-Hungarian Crown Prince Ferdinand and his wife in Sarajevo, Serbia, they were shot and killed by the Serbian youth Gavrijo Principe. A month later, with the support of Germany, the Austro-Hungarian Empire declared war on Serbia under the pretext of the Sarajevo incident. Then Germany, Russia, France, Britain and other countries went into war one after another...

World War I broke out.

In this unprecedented world war, a humble young man chose to join the army.

...

On the Western Front, the German army pushed forward all the way, but the Marne River in France was blocked by the British and French forces. The soldiers fought **** battles, but they couldn't open their mouths. On the eastern battlefield, Germany, which was the first to declare war, took the upper hand. It moved forward and occupied a large amount of territory. Then it was blocked by Russia's dangerous environment and it was difficult to move forward.

The war between the east and the west has reached a stalemate...

However, the tragic modern warfare far exceeded people's imagination at the time. Under the conditions of full-scale war and overall war, the resources of the entire society are tilted toward war. The enlistment of a large number of men in the army has made the rear arsenal population short. Countries have to hire a large number of women to participate in the factory, and children are also forced to take care of light work such as snow shoveling.

The shortage of supplies, the busy pressure, and the burden of life weighed heavily on everyone's shoulders. The soldiers on the front line rolled in blood, while the women behind were working overtime in the factory.

The enthusiasm at the beginning of the war was gone forever, and more and more doubts and demonstrations, and even anti-war sentiments grew.

But for Germany as a whole, it is not without good news. The Soviet Revolution in Russia forced Russia to cease war with Germany. There is no war on the Eastern Front. Germany can concentrate its entire energy on the war on the Western Front. Hope of victory. It seems to have appeared.

however……

On October 25, 1918, an order from the German Naval Command was transmitted to the port of Kiel.

"Fighting with the British... If you fail, you will sink honorably..."

After the captain read out the entire command with a complex expression, the command was not complicated. In order to cooperate with Germany's counterattack on the western front, the Navy Command ordered the fleet to go out of port to engage the British army. If it fails, it would rather die than retreat. But for these sailors, this is simply unacceptable. They have already suffered heavy losses in the naval battle. At this moment, let them forcefully leave the port, not to mention that they can't beat the eye-catching British fleet. This is just to send them to death.

The many sailors in front of them looked at each other, most of them were wounded, and some were wounded blind and severed. After a long time, an angry voice sounded.

"Fuck the order!"

Not long after ~www.readwn.com~ the entire fleet boiled, and more than 60,000 sailors with low morale disembarked from the fleet and refused to order...

The marine mutiny of Kiel Harbour.

...

With this mutiny, turmoil swept across the entire German Empire. Mass demonstrations and demonstrations of the people finally forced the end of the war. The German Emperor had to sign the Peace Treaty of Versailles with the Allied Powers. The hope of victory that seemed to bloom has not yet bloomed, but has withered...

Germany was defeated.

In the eyes of many Germans, Germany was not defeated because of the collapse of the front line, but because of the people who stabbed the knife in the rear.

And when the news of the defeat reached a hospital, a soldier who was fighting on the front line and was wounded twice and was recuperating in the hospital just learned the news.

"Do not!!!"

An angry and desperate voice sounded on the hospital bed.