The Rise of the Third Reich

Stalin called to invite Hessmann to have dinner at the Kremlin - it was really embarrassing, but it was a good sign!

Hessman put down the phone and Natalie knocked on the door. She put on a blue evening gown and a mink shawl draped over her shoulders.

"Ludwig, the car is ready." Natalie said to Hessmann who opened the door for her. "Are you going alone or with Chloe and Rudolf?"

"I'm going alone," Hersman said. "Rudolph is asleep and Chloe is going to stay with him."

"Okay," Natalie said to Chloe in the living room, "Dear Chloe, do you mind if I accompany Ludwig?"

"No, of course I don't mind." Chloe smiled generously at Natalie, then stood up and handed Hessmann's uniform and coat to him, and kissed her husband on the cheek again before saying goodbye. The two said goodbye.

"Ludwig," Natalie took Hersmann's arm and walked down the corridor of the National Hotel. There were no people in the corridor, it was very quiet, and the carpet was very soft and comfortable to walk on. "Let me tell you a piece of information... This is against discipline!"

"Oh?" Hessman asked curiously, "What information?"

"There's an American who wants to steal your business!" Natalie whispered, "Do you know a man named Hammer?"

Of course Hirschman knew! This is a very famous American broker, a friend of Lenin and Stalin, and will become an old friend of the Chinese people in history, named Armon Hamer.

Comrade Lenin was able to make friends with him, an American college student in his early twenties, despite his busy schedule, of course because of his role as a bridge. And this Hammer did not live up to Lenin's trust. He organized the "American United Corporation" to bridge the gap between the United States and the Soviet Union, attracted a lot of investment for the Soviet Union, and made many big deals.

"Amon Hammer, United Company of America." Hersman said lightly, "I think he is a representative sent to the Soviet Union by a large American conglomerate, right?"

"I don't know about this," Natalie said, "but he does have great powers... He recently suggested that we go to the United States to open a foreign trade group company specializing in Soviet-American trade. He also said that opening such a company would help us win the U.S. Diplomatic recognition. Once we get recognition from the United States, Soviet foreign trade companies can obtain American buyer’s credit!”

Americans are starting to show off! Hessman thought to himself: The currency war is still going on. Because Germany supports the "gold exchange", the pound has temporarily secured its position as the international reserve currency, but the United States will never give up. They will not break up with Britain directly, but they still have to use underhanded tactics of poaching.

Britain and the United States are like the eldest and second eldest sons in a big family. It is one thing to fight for the patriarch behind closed doors, but it is another thing to fight with outsiders. They are more disciplined when fighting by themselves and will not smash the plate. Fighting with outsiders means fighting to the death.

Now that Germany has temporarily collapsed and the Soviet Union has not risen, it is natural that Britain and the United States will be fighting over each other. Historically, the United States used the "Dawes Plan" to establish the gold standard - actually the dollar standard. It also caused chaos in Europe by supporting Germany and the Soviet Union, and finally smashed the throne of the British Empire.

But now, the "Dawes Plan" has become the "Keynes Plan", and the Americans have temporarily lost a game. So they worked harder here in the Soviet Union to take away German business. As long as the leaders of the Soviet Union are not stupid, they can also see the secret behind this, and they will take advantage of it when it is time to take advantage of it...

"I understand," Hessmann pretended to be grateful and smiled at Natalie. "I will remember your friendship. If you encounter trouble in the future, just come to Germany to find me. Or, have someone send me a message. That’s it.”

"Trouble?" Natalie Lesinskaya chuckled, "What trouble will I encounter?"

How come you don’t have any difficulties? You are a Trotskyist! Hersman thought to himself, you and Kollontai are both Trotskyists. The Trotskyists are out of power now - they were repaired by Lenin - and once Lenin is defeated, Stalin will do something even more sinister...

"Ludwig, welcome to the Soviet Union!"

Hersman met Stalin, who would soon become the first man in the Soviet Union, in a restaurant in the Kremlin. The future dictator was a bit thin and looked particularly short. He came up to hug Hessmann wearing loose clothes.

"I heard that Comrade Lenin was seriously ill, so I rushed here right away." Hersman said with some regret, "I have been too busy in the past two years and have not come to visit Comrade Lenin. I didn't expect..."

Stalin raised his thick eyebrows and said in a low and slightly sad tone: "Yes, I really didn't expect that our mentor would leave us at such a young age."

"Are you about to leave?"

"The doctor said it's just for the next few days." Stalin took out a handkerchief and wiped his eyes, "By the way, we have something that we may need your help with."

"If you need anything, just ask."

"We want to preserve Lenin's body and study his unique and genius brain."

"Ah..." Hessman was startled for a moment. Wasn't Stalin afraid of being off-putting when he mentioned this before eating?

"Our technical strength is not enough," Stalin said, smoking his trademark pipe. "I hope Germany can provide experts."

"Okay, I'll make arrangements when I get back tonight." Hessman agreed without hesitation.

"That's great!" Stalin smiled from the bottom of his heart, showing his teeth that were yellowed by smoke. "Ah, that's right, that's right. Natalie mentioned to me that you agreed to let Mercedes-Benz transfer technology to us. ?”

"Yes, I agreed." Hersman knew that the Americans would come to grab the business - they could not grab the aircraft business for the time being. Because the Americans have no advantage in this regard for the time being, German aircraft manufacturing companies, especially the two giants Fokker and Junker, are far stronger than their American counterparts. But the Soviet car business is an opportunity for them, so they must seize it firmly!

"However, the factory you cooperate with Mercedes-Benz is very small," Hersman said with a smile, "It is just an assembly plant and it is impossible to become a car city. If you really want to develop the Soviet automobile industry, then you must prepare to do a big job."

"Car city?"

"Yes, a city with automobile production as the core." Hersman explained, "From steelmaking, steel rolling, tires, glass and various parts of the car, to final assembly, they are all concentrated together. It can be achieved that ore enters the city and cars leave the city!"

The production method that Hersman said was very popular in large American companies in the 1920s and 1930s. Ford Motor and General Motors' factories are all laid out in this way. In later China, there are also so-called "industrial parks." Although it will not be from ore to car, the various supporting factories of a certain industry will be concentrated and laid out, which can reduce the cost of logistics.

"Ore goes into the city, and cars go out of the city? This is really attractive... But the entire construction period will be very long, right?"

"Yes," said Hersman, "Opel and BMW have received funding from the Industrial Promotion Committee and are preparing to build a car city in Russelsheim. Large-scale assembly line production will be carried out to establish a large-scale production model from steel rolling to complete vehicles. If you need it, we can export a similar car city to the Soviet Union. If we start construction now, the first car can roll off the assembly line in 3 years, and 100% Soviet localization can be achieved in 5 years."

This Opel-BMW car city was born out of the Keynes Plan, with a plan to produce 150,000 to 300,000 cars per year, and then take part of them to pay off the Allied debts.

"Great, this is exactly what we need." Stalin said, "But we don't want things like Mercedes-Benz cars, we want trucks, a lot of trucks!"

"Okay, it's a deal!"

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