The Third Reich of Struggle

  Li De stood in front of the huge window of the eagle's nest, outside the window, a thin layer of white snow, like a giant soft woolen blanket, covered on the distant mountains and near ridges, shining with cold silver light. Although he was in the temporary palace, his heart was always on the front line at all times.

  Today is November 14th, he can't sit still anymore, got up very early: the construction of Speer's workshop is unknown; the army and Central Group Army commander's stubborn attack will start tomorrow; the Southern Group Army has entered Crimea; what worries him most is that there is no news from the Northern Group Army, making him worried.

  Logically, the Soviet counterattack on Tikhvin should have started two days ago. The Soviet 54th Army's major counterattack against Volkhov also began this morning, but there was no news from the Northern Group Army, as if it had vanished into thin air. Had its judgment been wrong? He couldn't help but doubt himself a little.

  But this excessive calm often breeds a storm. Other fronts have some news every day, even if it's bad news. The Northern Group Army didn't make a sound, which just shows that something must have happened there, but General Leeb didn't want to lose face and covered up the enemy's attack, planning to eliminate the danger first and then point at the Führer's nose and say that the Russian counterattack he predicted never happened. "Yes, it must be so," he said angrily.

  At 9:00 am, a young officer in uniform came to visit. Li De knew that the visitor was Hepner's messenger. A few days ago, he and Hepner agreed that for secrecy, they would cut off all modern means of communication and return to the era of Napoleon's messengers.

  Li De led the visitor to a small teahouse, where a young officer in casual attire handed an envelope to the leader. The thick cowhide envelope was sealed with wax, and the two were busy preventing others from following them, but they didn't have scissors, so they had to use their teeth to open the envelope.

  Lee De hastily opened the map inside, which was densely marked with troop numbers, force configuration, weapon equipment, attack routes and other basic situations. Obviously, Hepner had already prepared, waiting for the Fuhrer's order.

  As expected, the young officer confirmed that the enemy had already counterattacked: The Soviet Seventh Army had pushed the German troops back ten or more kilometers and reached the northern suburbs of Tikhvin; when he boarded the plane this morning, he saw that the Soviet forces on the western front were also taking action, with tens of thousands of Soviet soldiers wearing white winter camouflage uniforms chasing after the German 1st Army soldiers who wore summer clothes in the icy snow.

  Lee De was excited like he had been injected with chicken blood, circling non-stop in the small teahouse, occasionally stopping to point at the messenger: "Tell Hepner to continue in Prussia and Zele... something something Shenzhou..." "Zeleietsky Shenzhou!" "Right, wait for orders in Zeleietsky that swamp - Russian names are really annoying - don't expose the target. Let the enemy have a taste of sweetness first, let the Soviet army move south, all the way to Kirish, then the 41st Army will come with a strong right hook."

  After sending away the young officer, Li De decided to go to the front line immediately. He came to his room and Aiwa had already packed his luggage for him. Li De wanted to comfort her with a few words, but Aiwa covered his mouth with her hand and caressed his face tenderly: "Don't say anything, dear, you've been with me for four whole days, I'm very satisfied. You're the leader, how many national affairs are waiting for you?" After saying that, she kissed him for a long time, Li De felt tears wetting her face and also moistening his own face.

  He walked very far, Aiwa still waved his hand on the balcony. He felt a wave of emotion: what a good woman, gentle and considerate, Adolf, how can you bear to let such a woman guard the boudoir in vain, too ignorant to cherish the fragrance and pity the jade.

  Halfway up the mountain, they ran into Goebbels, who was accompanied by the first Hitler Youth member: Harrold, a young fellow already wearing white infantry lieutenant's shoulder straps. Goebbels said he had come especially to take him up the mountain to thank the Fuehrer.

  Li De said let him return to the front line: "I heard from Speer that you are doing very well, and you were on the cover of the 'Defense Army' magazine. I want to visit your place specially."

  Herald listened and turned around to head down the mountain.

  Baur piloted the Condor through the white clouds, surrounded by six Messerschmitt fighters. Hitler sat on a sofa in his cabin, with Luftwaffe adjutant Schmundt, handsome air force adjutant Below and Bormann nearby, while SS Colonel Otto Günsche and several Leibstandarte soldiers sat at the back of the plane, stewardess Erna Flegel brought him fruit, biscuits and tea, smiled at him and walked away with a swing of her hips.

  The plane suddenly entered the vast cloud sea, and the airflow made the plane shake violently. Li De suddenly felt a wave of dizziness, and big beads of sweat rolled down his forehead like broken jade. He breathed rapidly, his whole body trembling. The deputy officer and Bao Man rushed to surround him, while the flight attendant, Aidelai, pushed them aside and came to the president's side, squatting down to wipe his chest with her hand.

  Under Adelaide's care, Yuan Shou calmed down a bit, and everyone let out a sigh of relief. Before Bao Er could finish shouting "enemy plane", the special machine suddenly accelerated and roared upwards, the lights inside flickering on and off. Li De seemed to see a rapidly rotating illusion, and screamed like he saw a ghost in broad daylight, before fainting...

  Lee woke up to find himself lying in Miss Adelaide's arms, his head resting on her soft thighs. Above him, Bowman told the two lieutenants that next time they went out, they had to bring the Führer's personal doctor along.

  Li De regained consciousness, and he understood that this was a conditioned reflex left by the thrilling crossing. It seemed that he couldn't take planes in the future. His whole body was soaked with sweat, his underwear sticking to his chest, back, buttocks, and thighs, but he still lay quietly on the soft, fragrant thighs. The loyal driver, Bao Er, comforted him, saying they would arrive at Smolensk Airport in ten minutes, and Li De felt a pang of regret: Why was it Smolensk? It would be better to go to Vladivostok.

  Before Li De's disappointment had a chance to show on his face, Bao Er somewhat nervously reported that the airport command center had informed them that Smolensk Airport was too foggy and they were being diverted to a secret military airport north of Kaluga in Ilyinka.

  Leid didn't feel particularly remorseful, so he could continue using his thigh as a pillow. However, he noticed the pillow becoming increasingly restless, and he caught a whiff of a faint bloody smell. Miss Adelheid's face was flushed red, her breathing rapid, and her eyes fixed on the Führer, as if hinting at something. Leid stared blankly at her, until she finally couldn't hold it in anymore and whispered: "My Führer, I've had my period for two days now, I need to go to the bathroom."

  The plane landed with a jolt at the military airfield in Bryansk. In order to maintain secrecy, no one was informed of this trip to the front line, so there were no ceremonial troops, officials or deliberately organized welcoming crowds, only a few workers who came up and walked away with a sullen expression when they found out that the plane had not brought supplies. Schmundt got off the plane and asked a nearby signalman where he could find a vehicle, to which the other man looked at him and said to go ask at the command tower, as he was only in charge of guiding planes.

  Schmundt looked out at the distant command tower and said to the signalman, "I am Colonel Schmundt. Please inform them that an important guest from Berlin has arrived and ask them to send a car as soon as possible. Any car will do."

  The signalman waved the "Signal" magazine in his hand, unmoved: "Sorry, Colonel, every time a transport plane lands, everyone says it's an important guest. It's still troublesome for you to run a trip yourself, not to mention the Colonel, even if the general comes, I will say so." After finishing, he opened the magazine and looked at it.

  Schmundt was shaking with rage, no one around the Führer had ever been insulted like that before. He snatched the magazine out of his hand and bellowed: "I order you to report at once, the Führer has arrived."

  The other party retorted and snatched back the magazine: "Even a general wouldn't want to come to this broken airport. How dare you make fun of the leader."

  Li De walked down the dizzying stairs with Bei Luo's support and came before them. The signalman's eyes widened like two table tennis balls, and the magazine in his hand fell to the ground, blown far away by the wind. He also rushed towards the command tower as if blown by the wind. Suddenly, a bucket car arrived in front of the plane, and an air force lieutenant colonel jumped out before it had even stopped moving. Without even standing still, he raised his hand in salute: "Airport duty officer reporting for duty, my leader."

  "What about the person in charge of the airport?"

  Air Force Lieutenant Colonel raised his hand in salute: "Report to the leader, Colonel returned to Germany yesterday."

  Li De raised his voice: "The war is imminent, what's so important?"

  Air Force Lieutenant Colonel replied with a raised hand and a salute: "Replying to the President's words, it is said that his daughter had a birthday."

  Li De furiously ordered Air Force Deputy Commander Bello: "Check the resume of that colonel. Is his daughter's birthday more important than the battle on the front line?"

  "Yes!" Belo replied loudly, turning to the bewildered commander: "Still not taking us away from here."

  Dozens of ground crew and local Russian and Ukrainian workers had gathered around, cheering the German, while locals simply looked on in curiosity. A Ukrainian woman burst out of the crowd and ran towards him, grabbed by guards, she walked back and forth, waving a white cloth and shouting: "Please give this tablecloth to the German leader."

  Lee took the tablecloth, a handmade product of local Russians with roses in the middle. Lee handed it to little Adelheid behind him and casually removed the gold-plated necklace from her neck and put it on the Russian woman's neck. Before she could thank him, he quickly left. Miss Adelheid crumpled up the tablecloth and tucked it under her armpit, looking back at every step and complaining: "My leader, why did you give my necklace to her? Mine was worth ten marks, while what she gave you is worth no more than five marks." Lee said without turning his head: "I'll make up for the remaining half." Upon hearing this, she unfolded the tablecloth, looked at it, folded it neatly and held it in her hands, smiling silently.

  Lidell got the lady into the car, Bowman and Schmont followed, and Bellows yelled at the driver: "Up, I order you to get out, stand up -" After the driver stood up straight, he jumped into the driving room and drove the bucket car towards the command tower. A group of people followed closely behind like a tail.