V4CH18: Solving the Confusion

　"I am glad to see you again, the Commander-in-Chief has sent me to convey to you the order of your promotion, Lord Marshal." The man sitting on the couch stood up and respectfully bowed to Xu Jun.

　　"I really didn't expect that the Commander-in-Chief would send you to convey this order, it is so delightful for me to see you. My chief of staff sir. Hahahahaha." Xu Jun smiled and returned a military salute to the other side.

　　"Pleased? Lord Field Marshal. I don't think so, from the moment you walked into this office you didn't make me feel that you had a happy mood, I could see that you were irritable. In order not to disturb you out of consideration, I did not make a sound, it seems that you have indeed fallen into great distress, that you did not notice my presence until now." Wehrler, the chief of staff of the "Cypress" legion, smiled and said. (TL: This guy's name gets misspelled a lot, so much so that I don't remember his real name anymore, I'm just gonna stick with Wehrle.)

　　"Haha, you're really joking, I'm not troubled by anything anymore when I see you because I believe you can answer all my doubts for me, and it seems you've gotten a little benefit from this matter as well, haha, this uniform suits you very well." Xu Jun looked at his chief of staff's pair of gold silk shoulder badges and said.

　　"Haha, Lord Marshal. I have indeed brought you the news you wanted to know. I am sure you will be satisfied with the information I brought. However, can we sit down and talk, I have been sitting in a plane for four or five hours now, and even my back is almost upside down." Wehrle smiled and said.

　　"Oh, you see I really didn't pay attention, come on, let's go to the small living room, it's quiet and comfortable there." Xu Jun took Wehrle by the arm and enthusiastically led his chief of staff towards the small living room by the office.

　　"General, oh no, Field Marshal." At this moment Hans pushed the door and came in, still holding Xu Jun's marshal uniform and scepter, when he saw the scene in the room he couldn't help but stare. "Chief of Staff Wehrle? What brings you here?"

　　"Haha, Hans! you are just in time, go tell the orderly to make a pot of coffee for us." Xu Jun said to Hans with a smile.

　　"As ordered, my marshal. Then these... You know where to put them first." Hans raised the things in his hand.

　　"Just put it on the sofa first, haha, I'll look at them later."

　　"As ordered, Lord Marshal." Hans noticed that Xu Jun's good mood had returned and although he didn't know why he felt very happy about it.

　　"By the way, Hans, when you have arranged the work at hand, come over for a moment, I have something to tell you," Wehrle called out to Hans who was about to leave, and also gave him a wink.

　　"Yes, Sir General." Hans was a little surprised to see Wehrle's general's uniform, but he still nodded politely in greeting and turned around to exit the door.

　　"Hans is an excellent soldier, although he seems slightly more simple compared to the rest of us, but still a very capable subordinate." Xu Jun smiled and said.

　　"But simplicity is not a bad thing, a soldier's quality nowadays has long been degenerated. Seeing Hans reminds me of my younger self when I did everything with simple faith to complete. It's so poignant to think about. My Lord Marshal."

　　Wehrle and Xu Jun entered the small living room and sat face to face at the overly ornate-looking coffee table. Xu Jun looked at the chief of staff in front of him, his heart was full of expectation and joy.

　　When Wehrle first came into Xu Jun's view, the battle of Dunkirk had not yet been fought, in order to help Xu Jun realize his plan for that battle. General Keitel, the chief of staff of the command, handed over a group of other staff members to Xu Jun.

Because he did not know much about Wehrle's identity, Xu Jun kept a certain distance from him at first. Because Wehrle had been working under Hitler's hand, it was impossible for Xu Jun to trust him completely. But after a few days of contact, Xu Jun's perception of Wehrle completely changed. This is a very serious staff officer, his professionalism and workability make Xu Jun feel very satisfied. Although Wehrle's tactical and strategic aspects appear slightly conservative, he still can not hide that this staff officer has very good organization and planning ability. Thanks to his efforts and those of the staff officers, any of Xu Jun's ideas and plans could be implemented in the most precise and quick manner. It can be said that he played a very big role in the final victory of Xu Jun's battle. He used his outstanding ability to gain the goodwill of Xu Jun, and when Xu Jun learned his true identity, he gained the true trust of Xu Jun, who was a "cleric".

　　When Jack placed the batch of "bishops" he saved into various key government departments, those "bishops" did not wait idly for their masters to give orders, in addition to finding ways to gain control of their own departments. From the moment they have power, they have begun to find more followers for their masters. Of course, this selection is very confidential and strict. At first, those who are allowed to enter the periphery of the organization are called "believers". Only after some of them have indeed shown that they have sufficient ability and absolute loyalty, they are allowed to enter the inner circle of the organization. Those who were absorbed into the inner circle were called "clerics".

　　Wehrle was one of the best "clerics". When Xu Jun got a report from one of his "bishops" to confirm the identity of Wehrle, he realized that there was such a thing. But Xu Jun and Wehrle both do not want to reveal this layer of the veil, both sides became unspoken about it. But after this, in the eyes of others, Wehrle and Xu Jun's cooperation began to become more and more tacit and understanding, this may be a relationship that could stay together for a long time, with no one from other places suspecting the connection between these two people.

　　Wehrle was in charge of finalizing the details of the military plan in the command, so he had contact with all the senior officers in the command and even the commanders of all the Wehrmacht services. For this reason, he became a member of Martin. Because of the diversity of his sources of information and the degree of secrecy of the information he had access to, he also became a part of Martin Bormann's inner circle. Now he must have come here with the latest developments in the command. The information and intelligence that Borman gave himself. This is what Xu Jun now wants to know the most, just relying on those "bishops" to pass on the information can not allow them to accurately understand the overall situation of the development of the current situation, only from the core of the Commander-in-Chief to get the most detailed understanding of Hitler's response, so that they can make the next correct decision. decision.

　　"Wehrle, was the weather not very good when you came?" Xu Jun asked with a smile.

　　"Yes, it was awful, those damn air currents made my plane bump like a charging torpedo boat, I almost threw up at that time," Wehrle replied with a laugh as well.

　　"That must have been really hard on you. How is the situation of the corps now before you left." Xu Jun asked indifferently.

　　"The whole regiment is still sunbathing in Dunkirk, all the soldiers are like on vacation, and the boys were enthusiastically learning how to use large caliber guns to catch fish when I was recalled to the command." Speaking of "Cypress", Wehrle's face was filled with a proud smile.

　　"Ah? I see. So, do they still have their fighting strength? They're not getting lazy, are they?"

　　"Of course not, their daily drills are still as hard as when you were there. I believe that in a short time, you will have another group of excellent commanding officers, but that's what I'm worried about, the top has been slowly reaching out to your corps." A faint trace of worry flashed across Wehrle's face.

　　"That's what I was going to ask you. Why did the Führer promote me to Field Marshal, is there some conspiracy in the middle of it? I just turned his Poland upside down and took out a large number of his appreciated officers, by all rights he should be very angry, there must be some reason for him to do this now." Xu Jun finally turned the words into the subject, what he could not figure out now was this, and he hoped that Wehrle could give him a definite answer.

　　At this time, there was a soft knock on the door of the small living room, only to hear Hans report from the door, "Marshal, the coffee you asked for."

　　"Oh, come on in Hans." Xu Jun said loudly.

　　Hans pushed open the door and walked in with a tray containing a coffee pot and cups, he put the tray on the coffee table and poured a cup of coffee for each of Xu Jun and Wehrle, then stood quietly by Xu Jun's side.

　　"Haha, Hans, just let the orderlies do this kind of thing, why do you come to do these things yourself." Wehrle smiled and said to Hans.

　　"It's okay, I think you and the marshal must have very important things to talk about, and it may not be convenient to have orderlies present, so I'll come myself. Oh, General, you said earlier that you had something to say to me, may I ask what it was?" Hans looked at Wehrle in confusion.

　　"It's nothing important, I didn't think I would be so lucky to have a general pour me coffee." Wehrle smiled and lifted the coffee cup in front of him.

　　"General!" Xu Jun and Hans let out a surprised cry at the same time. Xu Jun's face was filled with joy, while Hans' face was filled with disbelief.

　　"Yes, Brigadier General Hans. You have been promoted to Brigadier General, and your appointment letter and new uniform are in a leather case next to the sofa in the outer room, so you can go and see for yourself. I'm sorry I hid it from you until now, I just wanted to see this look on your face right now. Hahahahaha." After saying that, Wehrle sat with his coffee and laughed.

　　"This time, the Commanding General have spent a lot of money, promoting three brigadier generals in a row. This is a gesture of the War Ministry to you, which contains the meaning I think you must be able to understand." Wehrle turned his head to Xu Jun and said.

　　"Hans, you go try on your new uniform, then go walk around in front of Mueller a few times, so that that guy doesn't get too complacent." He said to Hans, ignoring Wehrle.

　　"As ordered, Lord Marshal." Hans sensed Xu Jun's meaning, and he knew that the next conversation between Xu Jun and Wehrle would be a very confidential matter and the commander did not want him to be present, so he quickly nodded and replied with a smile, "Marshal, I want to try out my uniform very much so. I will go out then." He then nodded to Wehrle in salute, turned and walked out of the small living room, and gently closed the door behind him.

　　"A wise man of the ministry, my marshal. Do you still not trust him?" Wehrle asked softly.

　　"No, I trust him very much, but I don't want him to get involved in this matter too deeply, it's not good for his future development." Xu Jun shook his head and said.

　　"Wow, it seems I was thinking too much, what you said does make sense. It's really a lucky thing to be a subordinate of a leader who loves and cares for his men like you do."

　　"Let's not talk about that, why did the Commander-in-Chief send you this time, don't you think the contrast between the scale of this promotion and the form it takes is too great? I don't expect the Führer to personally come to confer the rank on us, but a promotion ceremony like this with one marshal and three brigadier generals should come to at least a group of marshals or admirals, doesn't this feel too childish to you?" Xu Jun looked at Wehrle, sipped his coffee, and asked suspiciously.

　　"Marshal, you immediately cut to the heart of the matter, this is the most critical thing in this matter." Wehrle said seriously to Xu Jun: "If I want to explain this clearly, I really do not know where to start. I think I'd better tell you from the beginning."

　　"Good, talk quickly. Don't leave out every single detail." Xu Jun eagerly replied.

　　"That is, the morning after you arrived in Warsaw and staged that big purge, when the Führer received a detailed report on the matter from the Reich Security Service, he was furious at that time, and he immediately called a meeting with all the senior officials who were in the Commanding General's Department at that time. Since that meeting was classified as top secret, I did not attend, but I still know some snippets of the meeting from the mouths of several generals who attended.

　　The Führer was so angry that he beat the table and called you a traitor and a conspirator. He demanded that you be arrested and brought to Berlin for interrogation. But his request was opposed by all the participants, who advised him to dismiss the idea. They gave him all the reasons why he could not confront you, the most important of which was that every person you had executed had concrete evidence that they had deserved to die, and that if you were to be arrested for removing those vermin from Germany, it would have a huge impact on Hitler's reputation and on the reputation of the Nazi Party as a whole, especially since you have most of the power in the Wehrmacht. You have an unparalleled reputation in the Wehrmacht, and any action against you would be very damaging to the stability and security of the German state.

　　After all this persuasion from them, he finally gave up that idea. But because the generals in the command at that time may have said something that did not satisfy him, the result was a very tense situation. General Keitel said to me that he felt danger, a great danger, in the Führer's eyes. And several other generals felt the same way, but when they tried to make up for their mistakes it was too late, they knew then that because of you they had been listed on the side of the enemy by the Führer.

　　So from that moment on, the generals of the General Command decided to stand behind you completely. The generals knew that only by preserving you could they, and the army, be preserved, and they knew that now only you could fight against the Führer. Originally they were prepared to remain neutral and wait-and-see in this matter, but now it seems to be impossible, they simply stand firmly on your side, they also see that you are ready to do something big this time, these generals feel that following you may allow them to use their respective abilities better than following that Führer." Speaking of this, Wehrle took a sip of coffee.

　　"You're saying that the Army is now in complete confrontation with the Führer? that can't be right." Xu Jun asked suspiciously. "Such a thing simply does not convince me."