Section 09: Busy Vacation

  Li De finally arrived at a villa in the mountains near Berchtesgaden, Upper Salzburg.

  At that time, Hitler fell deeply in love with the lakes and mountains here when he completed the second volume of "Mein Kampf" on the Obersalzberg. Soon after, he bought land and built a private villa and hot spring here, which became a large residence after several expansions, becoming the second seat of government for Nazi leaders outside Berlin. It was also Hitler's palace on the Obersalzberg.

  After the Nazi takeover, the Berghof underwent a large-scale transformation. The central hall of the building had a floor-to-ceiling window that could be lowered to provide an unobstructed view of the Alps and the picturesque K?nigssee lake in Berchtesgaden. The scenery varies with the seasons: in spring, new greenery and blooming flowers make it hard to leave; summer brings blue skies and white clouds, clear waters and gentle waves; autumn is characterized by red foliage, grazing cattle and sheep on the slopes, morning fog and evening sunsets; winter brings a serene silence, making it a paradise for alpine skiers.

  In 1939, to celebrate Hitler's fiftieth birthday, Martin Bormann ordered the construction of a teahouse on the Kehlstein, a rocky outcrop above Berchtesgaden. The building was finished in just thirteen months and was officially handed over to Hitler on his birthday.

  Li De, with a tourist mentality, eagerly went to visit the famous "Eagle's Nest". Accompanied by Bowman, from the foot of the mountain took a car to the platform, from the platform through a tunnel and a hundred-meter-long passage, arrived at the entrance of the elevator, then took the elevator to reach the famous "Eagle's Nest". Inside the "Eagle's Nest", there was a glass larger than a supermarket window, floating in the clouds, with steep cliffs and fairy-tale scenery that could not be praised enough, as if entering a fairy tale world.

  "It was cold in the Eagle's Nest, and Hitler only stayed for ten minutes before coming down. Eva had not been feeling well, so she slept in late, sleeping until 10 am, when her personal servant, Linge, called from outside the door: "Good morning, my Führer! You should get up now." At the same time, he placed the newspaper and news summary in front of the door.

  Hitler picked up the newspaper and news brief, quickly scanning through them. They were all dull things - either speeches by local officials or statements of determination to fight the enemy to the end after being inspired by the speeches, or a bridge was built in the east and a section of highway opened to traffic in the west, all under the banner of improving people's livelihoods and caring about people's lives.

  Around noon, Li De rang the bell to have breakfast delivered. Lin Ge brought a cup of milk and some bread made according to specific recipes to the table. For several days, it had been the same routine of milk and bread for breakfast, with the greatest indulgence being an additional serving of apple sauce. Li De requested an extra fried egg, which was only brought in after being approved by Bao Man.

  After finishing breakfast, Hans Lendenburg, his personal bodyguard, handed him an urgent telegram. While wiping his mouth, he learned about the events of the previous night and then Li De made today's work plan, with the top priority being to urgently summon Hepner.

  His aides waited for him in the hall to report. He stood in the huge room, pacing back and forth while talking to the people attending the meeting, his eyes occasionally stopping on the snow-capped peaks of the Alps, the entire Alpine landscape framed by enormous window frames like shop windows.

  The brilliant architect Speer took the renovation plan of Berlin and came up to meet him. Li De let him put away the plan and gave him a special task - to go to the front line personally to supervise the construction of the "East Wall" project, ensuring that the front-line troops would switch to defense.

  "In addition, you can also inspect the frontline weapons and equipment as well as the local factories' resumption of production." He said a few words that were incomprehensible but full of infinite expectation and reverie to Speer, who was about to leave with his drawings.

  Minister of Health, Mr. Kondi reported that several positions were arranged for Dr. Moore, but he was not satisfied and asked what to do. Li De absent-mindedly suggested letting him take the post of Deputy Director of the Drug Regulatory Bureau.

  "But he doesn't understand anything, not even a pharmacist, all he knows is how to extract hormones from bulls." The Minister of Health said disdainfully.

  Li De comforted him, saying: "So it's a deputy director. I once promised him that at least one of the people who left my place would be arranged to be at the departmental level." His attendants heard this and were overjoyed, eager for the leader to drive them out of here immediately, so they could also become leaders at the departmental level.

  The Minister of Health had just been dismissed, the Minister of Imperial Racial Affairs stepped forward and reported on the plan to relocate more than 10,000 remaining Jews in Berlin to the East. Lide listened with a disgusted frown for a while, then asked: "Are you here to request a solution for transportation?"

  The other party honestly replied: "Yes, because two days ago you gave the order that even a section of rail, a freight car must be used on the front line."

  Lee thought that if it weren't for the traffic jam, this guy would not have reported to him about the relocation of Jews. Although he was worried about the fate of the Jews, these remaining Jews had a hard time in Berlin, not to mention wearing yellow six-pointed star badges, Nuremberg laws deprived them of their civil rights, and others did not take them as human beings.

  But at present, every vehicle had to be sent to the front line with winter clothes and could not be wasted on these miscellaneous things. Therefore, he dismissed this racial madman on the grounds that there was no means of transportation. Perhaps it was Li De's heart, but when the official left, he glared at him fiercely.

  Just appointed Plenipotentiary for Labor Mobilization in Wartime, Sauckel, came to report on the labor shortage. Hitler suddenly became enraged and shouted: "Four and a half months have passed since the outbreak of war against the Soviet Union, more than 3 million Soviet prisoners of war have been captured, but already almost half of them have died for nothing in prison camps. Isn't this a workforce?"

  Sch?ckl's face turned into a cucumber, arguing that this should be the responsibility of the army, Li De was still huffing and puffing: "What about the Jews? It is said that so many Jews are missing, can't they be used as labor force? This is simply criminal."

  The room was like a ton of explosives, the buzzing noise turned into a commotion. Li De immediately realized he had made a mistake. He clearly heard someone say excitedly, "Isn't the policy towards Jews set by the Führer?" Schaul swung his hands and finally managed to calm everyone down, his face red with rage, saying word by word to Li De: "My Führer, I really can't believe my ears, opposing Jews is the foundation of our party. How could you sympathize with the enemy of the nation?"

  "My Führer, I dare not transmit your words to the Reichsführer SS Himmler, because he would not believe that you could utter such a thing. On the contrary, he might think that I have distorted your words and in his rage he will break my neck." - General Karl Wolff

  Li De hastily corrected: "Where are you all going? You haven't waited for me to express my full meaning and have already expressed your indignation towards the Jews."

  Everyone was waiting for the leader's words, but Li De didn't say anything. He was thinking of more suitable words. At this time, a stout figure accompanied by a loud voice walked into the hall: "Hello my leader, if I came a few minutes later, you would have been driven to death by these subordinates, haha."

  Air Force Adjutant Below took G?ring's coat, the Reich Marshal wearing a newly tailored dark green uniform, looking like an American general. He quickly moved his sturdy legs to Liedtke's side, first gazing at Liedtke in astonishment, then waving the marshal's baton to everyone, saying loudly: "I request that everyone speak softly, as the Führer has been seriously injured and can be said to have narrowly escaped death."

  Li De almost hugged him, but the next words were not so pleasant to hear: "I said earlier that the leader was hijacked and his brain must have been stimulated, so some of the things you don't need to take seriously, such as the previous words that not treating Jews as labor force is a crime."

  Gorin was right, Li De's brain was indeed stimulated. However, it was after hearing what he just said.

  Shaoke irritably asked: "My leader and deputy leader, what do you say we should do about the labor shortage?"

  G?ring replied immediately: "I think what the Führer meant to say was this, namely that we can use the strong Jews as labor force until they are no longer able to work, isn't that right, my Führer?"

  Lee De only nodded, in order to maintain his authority and prevent G?ring from stealing the show, he loudly ordered Colonel Schmundt, the Army Deputy Chief of Staff, and General Field Marshal Keitel's deputy, Colonel von Amstberg: "Convey my orders, from now on, strictly manage the prisoner-of-war camps, do not allow large-scale abnormal deaths to occur. The Plenipotentiary for Labor Mobilization, Sauckel, has the right to recruit prisoners of war in the prisoner-of-war camps."

  Shaurer's face suddenly cleared up, and he gave a spirited Nazi salute before retreating. G?ring's eyes rolled over to Lide and said: "My Führer, our air force has some surplus personnel. In order to carry out your orders just now, I suggest that our air force take over some of the prisoner-of-war camps."

  Li De nodded in agreement, and Goring was overjoyed. He lavished praise on the Führer, saying that if he hadn't seen it with his own eyes, he wouldn't have believed how serious the Führer's injuries were. All of this was a result of the army's inadequate protection.

  Lee Du glanced at G?hring warily, still talking incessantly: "The air force is made up of people educated in National Socialist ideology and also has a chivalrous spirit, while the army represents conservative forces, for example, there are even pastors in the army..."

  Li De didn't want to listen to his nagging, nor did he want to become an object of exploitation for his subordinates. He reminded him that there were two army representatives right in front of him. G?ring tilted his big head, put his hands on the shoulders of Schmundt and Oberst von Below, and said with a thick face: "You two are my best friends, I believe you won't mind. I'll send you two rabbits another day, okay?"

  Schmundt said seriously, "This is the fifth rabbit you promised me." The atmosphere in the room relaxed. Li De had just given Goring a candy and handed over the management of the prisoner-of-war camp to him. He spread another layer of cream on the candy: "Speaking of hunting, I plan to convene the National Assembly in a few days to pass your Hunting Act, named after you. I believe this is the first law in history to protect animals. You have made a contribution to humanity, dear Goring."

  Goring was overjoyed and stuttered his thanks to the Fuehrer.

  The army is currently tight, but for a long time, Goring has been in a superior position as the leader of the party and the state, greatly expanding the air force. The air force, which has only over 3,000 aircraft, has 1.9 million officers and soldiers, and its treatment is also higher than that of the army and navy. In Li De's opinion, it would not be excessive to cut the air force personnel in half.

  The foolish and self-righteous G?ring proposed to take over the prisoner-of-war camps, which was exactly what Lidell had in mind. However, this small-scale operation was not enough for him; he wanted to make a big splash by transferring personnel on a large scale. He continued to sweet-talk G?ring: "My dear Hermann, I think we should transfer some surplus personnel from the Navy and Air Force to the Army. You're the Deputy Führer, why don't you set an example?"

  The smile on G?ring's face froze, the clear sky was filled with dark clouds, and then it started raining: "My Führer, please forgive me for speaking directly. You have been too deeply influenced by the army. So far, all our victories have had less than half of them as the credit of the air force. Now the enemy's air force is developing rapidly, but we are going to reduce the air force, I disagree."

  G?ring turned his head like a big child, Li De said patiently, as the deputy head of state, from now on, we should pay more attention to the guidelines and policies of the empire, don't be petty about small things. Unexpectedly, G?ring retorted with one sentence: "Things related to air force development are naturally big things, not petty at all."

  The Minister of Posts, who was standing beside him, couldn't wait any longer and took the opportunity to report to the head of state about issuing new stamps. Li De glanced at Goring and suggested to the Minister of Posts that a set of stamps featuring Vice Chancellor Goring be issued especially. However, Goring didn't take the bait this time, or rather, he was not having it. He said angrily that he wasn't interested in being stuck on envelopes with everyone's saliva and then left without looking back.