Ch.227What do you desire?

* * *

What is this?

Right now, Grandfather Wilhelm’s face looks rather unusual.

[Anastasia-kun, I have something to tell you.]

The kind of line that would appear in a dating sim with that face.

When I finally gestured for him to speak, the Kaiser opened his heavy mouth.

“Ahem. Well. This probably has nothing to do with what we’re doing now. I didn’t expect England to fall so pathetically.”

Yes. I thought he might bring up something about England. I wonder what our uncle wants to say.

I should probably go along with him for now.

Honestly, if it weren’t for me, the German homeland would have been torn apart by the Allied forces by now.

“That’s actually fortunate. If the Allies had won then, Kaiser, you wouldn’t have been able to fully recover your homeland.”

If the Allies had won, would Churchill have given Germany intact to Wilhelm?

Would France have left the German Empire alone when it had tried to stab them in the back?

I don’t know for sure, but they would have demanded Alsace-Lorraine and probably the occupied Rhineland too.

“When I think about it, that’s true.”

“After Dunkirk, England can hardly claim a stake in the war. France should be happy just to recover their homeland.”

And Russia has taken the lead.

This means that if Russia wants, they could give all of the German homeland back.

“So, France can’t demand a share, and if England claims their share, we can brazenly refuse them.”

That’s right.

This is something the Kaiser should actually be grateful to me for.

They wouldn’t have just left the German Empire alone when it had tried to stab them in the back.

“Yes. However, if I may say something to the Kaiser.”

“What is it?”

“It might be difficult if the Danubian Federation demands southern German territory.”

We can’t give all of Germany to Hitler, but…

One of Hitler’s stated reasons for war was the liberation of the German people.

This means that to maintain at least some justification, we might need to cede some German territory.

Originally, while we’ve been generous, it’s Wilhelm’s own fault that he lost the German homeland in the first place.

Am I wrong?

In that position, he should be thankful to get back even North Germany.

“Ah, I see.”

“Yes. Since we supported Danubia, we can’t simply ignore them.”

Hitler’s role in this war has been quite significant.

Thanks to his space defense in the Sudetenland, we were able to push back on the Polish front.

Those French Commune people were incredibly stubborn.

If the Sudetenland main forces had come too, we might have taken longer, or we might have had to drop a nuclear bomb to reduce casualties.

“Hmm, I’d like to make a suggestion.”

With a serious face, I’m not sure what he’s trying to propose.

“Please go ahead.”

“If you think about it, isn’t the French Commune the official government of France right now?”

Why is he suddenly bringing this up?

“That’s true. Thorez isn’t just a puppet state leader, and he boldly took the Low Countries too.”

Of course, we consider that red government to be a puppet regime since they’re our enemy, but people are different when they enter and leave.

When looking coldly at post-war settlements, if we want to ignore the Free French government-in-exile’s opinions and carve up the French Commune among ourselves, it makes sense to recognize the Commune as the official government.

But why is he bringing this up?

Thorez’s French Commune is different from Vichy France.

They didn’t simply return Alsace-Lorraine, the main disputed territory between Germany and France, to Germany but entered into joint governance.

“That is, if they’re a formal belligerent, couldn’t we take some of their land after this war?”

You don’t mean…

From your tone, it seems like you’re talking about more than just Alsace-Lorraine, but French mainland territory.

“Are you saying you want French land beyond Alsace-Lorraine?”

Isn’t this person being too greedy?

“I want to take one more piece besides Alsace-Lorraine. To be honest, isn’t France always a troublesome entity when it becomes an enemy? Shouldn’t we reduce France’s power while we have the chance?”

This guy?

He seems to have territorial ambitions right now.

No, Wilhelm II is barely hanging on to life as it is.

He probably wants to leave his daughter a slightly larger country than the one he ruined.

It doesn’t seem like simple greed for land.

Then let’s hear where he wants. We’ll have to discuss land division later anyway.

“Which area do you want?”

Let’s hear where he wants first.

Surely he’s not going to say something ridiculous like wanting all of mainland France.

“I want to reclaim Burgundy, the rightful land of the Germans.”

He’s speaking with dignity, but Burgundy is Bourgogne.

Burgundy. Burgundy.

I didn’t expect him to want that here. Sigh.

Honestly, he should be grateful just for getting his homeland back, and I want to slap him, but…

Unexpectedly, it doesn’t seem like a bad idea.

It would be good to weaken France a bit now. Taking Burgundy could further weaken France.

Since it’s connected to Alsace-Lorraine, there shouldn’t be any issues with borders. But claiming it as “rightful land” now seems a bit strange.

But wouldn’t that be giving too much to Germany?

This is something to think about.

“Hmm, that’s something to consider.”

But it’s not impossible.

Burgundy, unlike typical French territory, has maintained its independence.

They say it was only fully integrated in modern times, but maintained its independence until the early modern period.

The Burgundian tribe itself was a branch of the Germanic peoples.

Of course, by this time, the Burgundian identity had apparently disappeared.

“Of course, I’m not saying we should just take it. If the south falls to Danubia, then… Couldn’t we work something out? Think about it. There’s also Volga Germany within Russia, and although I don’t intend to bring up our support during the civil war, we’re certainly not strangers. If post-war Europe is reorganized under Russian order, couldn’t we do anything?”

“Hmm.”

Yes, Germany and Russia don’t have an ordinary relationship.

Even if the German Empire’s ultimate move of deploying Lenin hadn’t been executed, the Empire would have eventually collapsed.

The Russian Empire at that time had clear limitations.

There are still many people who follow me but criticize my father Nicholas.

“And this war might end unexpectedly easily.”

I intend to thoroughly deal with the Reds in this war, but what Wilhelm is talking about has a different meaning.

He must have some confidence to make such a proposal to me.

“Why is that?”

“There are Junkers among the Communist German People’s Army. They’ve indicated they’ll surrender when we attack.”

Oh, that’s interesting.

I was planning to attack Communist Germany vigorously under the pretext of war and recovering Germany, turning it into a wasteland and making Germany struggle with reconstruction for a while.

But what if it’s misinformation? What if Goebbels has thrown some carrots to the Junkers and recruited them?

If they deliberately spread misinformation to trap us, the story might be different.

So I see the possibility of misinformation.

“But it could be misinformation.”

“Churchill also thought it was misinformation and ended up being massacred at Dunkirk. And unlike what they call Operation Sickle, there’s nothing suspicious about this one.”

Operation Sickle was indeed suspicious information.

Especially here, Operation Sickle was a tremendous gamble.

“But there must be hardcore communists?”

I’m guessing Goebbels would have cultivated quite a few genuine communists.

The main communist forces must have entered the Sudetenland.

Of course, I plan to annihilate them, but even if a few Junkers come to our side, Goebbels wouldn’t have given them more authority than necessary unless he was a fool.

“Even they are in the Sudetenland, so at most it would be just parts including Berlin. Anyway, we can minimize our losses.”

Oh, you’ve thought this through?

I never dreamed our Wilhelm was such a strategic thinker.

Our one-armed man is amazing!

“I apologize to the Kaiser, but tearing things apart so recklessly could only increase anti-Russian sentiment in the post-war European order.”

“With Russia possessing such overwhelming power, who would dare do anything? Looking at England, it seems they’ll lose their colonies too. England will be nothing more than an island nation. France, as we’ve seen in this war, is a country that can flip and become an enemy when things go wrong. You know well how dangerous their national power can be when they become enemies, just by looking at the current war.”

That’s right. Honestly, if France hadn’t sided with Germany, this might have ended with Hitler.

Just look at how the French People’s Army, now a Red Army, is defending the Sudetenland and this front.

We’re pushing forward based on our overwhelming national power, but the mobilization power of France, Communist Germany’s ally, is tremendous right now.

It would be good to weaken France, but…

On the other hand, giving Burgundy might make Germany too powerful.

The German Empire was once an emerging power that posed quite a threat even to the mighty England.

“Alright. Let’s see after the war then. If the Danubian Federation tears apart Serbia and takes some of Italy, they might not be in a position to do anything with South Germany.”

The Danubian Federation is somehow holding off Communist Germany’s sincere punch.

The fact that they’re somehow holding off attacks from two countries means they’re clinging on like a water ghost.

And in that process, there must be damage.

As I expected, Hitler might just need to maintain some justification later.

“Thank you.”

The Kaiser bowed his head sincerely in gratitude.

It’s a bit embarrassing when he does that. I was surprised he came out in the first place.

He probably wants to end on a high note.

He wants to show one last powerful image as the Kaiser of Germany.

For the Austro-Hungarian map, we can cut off Bosnia, take some from Italy, and after thorough post-war processing, Danubia probably won’t have the strength to take South Germany.

Since we’re now in a military alliance with Poland, Danzig will be meaningless, so we could give it to our one-armed friend.

Actually, while Danzig is largely a matter of justification, we can’t tear apart East Prussia like in the original history.

This is because East Prussia, as the remnant force of the Kaiser’s German Empire, has strong legitimacy as the successor to the German Empire, so it would be burdensome to take.

“We can return Danzig. Poland got it thanks to England anyway, and it’s a bit awkward to keep an area with many Germans as Polish territory.”

I’ve heard that in this history too, there’s quite a bit of friction between the Polish army and the Germans in that region.

In this world line, Poland took Danzig under the pretense of protecting East Prussia from the communists.

“Oh? Is that so?”

“Yes. Since we’re in a military alliance with Poland, there’s nothing we can’t give you. But this too is a matter to discuss after the war.”

But Burgundy is a bit… it feels like carving out a piece of the map.

Burgundy is really something to think about.

No matter what, we can’t make France hold a grudge over Burgundy.

But putting all that aside.

If Europe is reorganized under Russian order, binding it into the same economic zone would be tantamount to unifying Europe with just countries existing in various regions.

In such a situation, I should be able to organize the map.

“I understand.”

“Is Bermont’s army fighting well?”

Bermont has only been in East Prussia, and I’ve only seen him when awarding medals and during military parades.

That’s why I’m curious.

“As expected from those with experience fighting communists, they all fight well.”

Indeed, if it weren’t for Bermont, Poland might have targeted East Prussia long ago.

Seeing how they tried to seize the opportunity to push back Communist Germany, Poland’s expansionist desires can’t be underestimated.

For Poland, East Prussia—it’s fortunate we made it clear that the German Empire is protected by Russia, otherwise who knows what might have happened.

“Well, I’ll go back now. To reclaim the homeland, we must fight better than anyone else.”

“Yes. Please continue to provide information about the Junkers.”

If the war ends quickly, that’s good for us too.

It means we can end this war without having to use nuclear weapons.

Instead, we might drop that nuclear bomb on Belgrade.

Anyway, we need to show Russia’s strength to make Europe follow Russia by demonstrating how powerful we are.

I should discuss this with the command later.

“I will.”

The Kaiser turned his back and walked toward his army.

Somehow, even with his emaciated body, he’s trying to burn brightly at the end. I wonder if things wouldn’t have been better if he had built his country like this from the beginning.

Well, Russia is in no position to criticize.

Toward the end of the Great War, the military replaced the Kaiser. Even though the Kaiser regained power through peace with England, that was all.

Yes. Since he’s given a lot to Russia, we can accommodate him within reasonable limits.

“It seems the Kaiser has made up his mind properly.”

Drozdovsky also stuck out his tongue.

“But wanting to take Burgundy is a bit presumptuous.”

Indeed, Burgundy is presumptuous.

It seems he’s doing this with the thought of somehow restoring the German Empire’s power to what it was before. Or maybe it’s just greed.

Burgundy, Burgundy, hmm. It’s not good to be too protective of Germany either.

I’m thinking of carving out one piece from France, so why not make that piece Burgundy?