88

"Major General Mainz, the military, especially the Navy, is very dissatisfied with your recent decisions. Do you know about this?"

Bolin, Presidential Palace.

When Mainz submitted its application for annual military expenditures for 1920 to President Hindenburg, President Hindenburg banged his hand on the desk and told him a piece of news in a serious tone.

"Well, I know, in fact, these were predicted in my previous report to you!"

Mainz's attitude was very calm, and he was not surprised or surprised at all by the news told by President Hindenburg.

"oh? Yeah?"

President Hindenburg raised his eyebrows. After becoming president, he was very busy with his work and had a lot of things to do every day, so he hardly had much free time for himself, and he had not yet received the report submitted by Mainz. There's still time to see

"Well, all the main battleships of the Navy have been lost.

I think it is unnecessary to continue to maintain such a large scale.

After all, the current military expenditure for a year is only about 5 million pounds.

With such a small military expenditure, it is difficult to maintain a large force unless You can divert part of the 540 million pounds in compensation to the Allies to the army, otherwise the size of the army must be reduced!

Mainz said with a smile.

After World War I, the largest expenditure of the Weimar Republic government was war reparations.

The annual compensation amount was 5.

4 British pounds.

This amount was very huge, accounting for almost 80% of the fiscal revenue.

If you include In terms of military expenditures, salaries of the government civil service, and daily consumption, the government's fiscal revenue could not make ends meet.

President Hindenburg had no good way to solve this problem. His solution was to print Marks on a large scale while the Marks still had some purchasing power. To repay the debt. This method caused the mark to depreciate rapidly. The Allies were not very willing to accept the mark from the beginning, and they were even more reluctant to accept the mark at this time. They strongly demanded that the Weimar Republic use gold or pounds to repay the debt.

After these words, Hindenburg was silent.

Lack of money!

This is the most serious problem facing the Weimar Republic government at present. The huge war reparations are weighing on them like a mountain, making them almost breathless.!

If someone asked President Hindenburg for money at this time, he would definitely be very angry, because the government has no money at all.

But instead of asking for money, Mainz used large-scale disarmament to reduce expenditures. This made Hindenburg feel mixed emotions, and he didn't know what to say for a while.

"I know you are understanding of my difficulties, but I am worried that such large-scale disarmament, especially the disarmament of the navy, will seriously weaken the strength of the imperial navy and even cause the navy to completely lose its combat effectiveness. Although I am from the army, I am still in the army at this time. As president, you have to consider these things from an overall perspective. Major General, aren't you worried about the consequences?"

Hindenburg tried to persuade Mainz with reason, but Mainz's attitude was extremely firm.

"Old Marshal, I know you have good intentions, but with all due respect, even if we maintain the original size of the navy, we still have no combat effectiveness. The most important thing in the navy is equipment, followed by people. If we retain five thousand people, it means retaining Without the basic skeleton of the navy, it makes no sense to retain more people without equipment. Moreover, I want to conduct a large-scale purge of the navy!"

I'm afraid the last sentence is the true intention of General Main!

Thinking this, Hindenburg stared at the major general for a while, and the general looked at him calmly, without any timidity or guilt.

Hindenburg sighed He took a breath and moved away first,"Okay, then just go ahead and do it. I will stand behind you and support you. However, I hope you can think carefully. Your decision may rewrite the history of the empire." destiny!"

...

After coming out of the presidential palace, Mainz did not choose to leave immediately. Instead, he attended several dances in the capital and met some people by the way.

The major general was born in the Junker aristocracy and was very proficient in aristocratic etiquette and even court etiquette, so whenever he attended a dance, he could quickly become the focus of the dance.

Young, in a high position, handsome, and experienced the baptism of war, the major general has a mature temperament that men of this age do not have. This temperament has attracted many ladies from the upper class.

After a dance, there were no less than ten people dancing with him.

Mainz rarely refuses invitations from these people. Of course, he will occasionally refuse if he encounters someone who looks too unworthy of the audience.

Swirling the red wine in the goblet in his hand, Mainz's eyes roamed the center of the dance floor.

Most of the people present this time were members of the Junkers aristocracy. Mainz's military reforms had a greater impact on these people, so they jointly invited Mainz to participate in this dance, hoping to use this The opportunity came to convince Mainz to open his eyes and show favor to the interests of the Junker nobles.

So those who came to invite him to dance were basically the daughters of the general family, and some of them were even related to his family.

Mainz did not say anything about these people's temptations.

The Junkers are an unavoidable problem for the German army. Mainz does not intend to uproot the Junkers. This is unrealistic because it will offend the interests of many people.

But this does not mean that he will compromise with the Junker nobles. Mainz plans to expel all Junker nobles from the navy, because the size of the navy after cutting is too small. If the navy cannot be carried out according to his wishes, If he reforms, then what he has done before will be in vain!

"Excuse me, could you please invite me to dance?"

Just when he was thinking about this matter, a crisp voice came from his ears.

Mainz looked back and saw a man about sixteen or seventeen years old, wearing a goose-yellow dress, with a graceful figure. She is young and beautiful. Although she is not the most beautiful woman he has ever seen in Mainz, she is the most eye-catching and the most comfortable person he has ever seen.

The girl looks very nervous, with a red face and a bruise on her forehead. A trace of sweat wetted a strand of bangs and stuck it to his forehead, making it look even more charming.

"Excuse me, could you please invite me to dance?"

Seeing Mainz looking at her but not speaking, the girl gritted her teeth and mustered up the courage to repeat what she said before.

Mainz raised his eyebrows. He didn't pay attention to what the other party said before, but this time he did. I understand.

However, when he attends dances, he is always invited to dance by others.

This girl is a special case. She actually invites him to dance. This sentence is very difficult to say. But the meaning was very clear.

This was interesting, and Mainz was a little concerned.

He thought about it and chuckled:"Why don't you invite me, but ask me to invite you?"

"Because I told my friend, the youngest defense minister in the empire would ask me to dance!"

"oh? is that so?"

"Um!"

"Sorry, I can't promise you!

Mainz smiled and shook his head, but the girl was stunned:"Ah, why?""

"Because there is no one named Minister of Defense here, only a man named Mainz. Will you accept the invitation of a man named Mainz?"

"certainly!"

The girl's eyes lit