Iron Cross Fire

"So, Field Marshal Hindenburg, I think we can make peace with the Russians."

This was what Kuster said before leaving. After receiving a positive reply, he hurried to his camp. The day's negotiations were over for the time being.

Hindenburg had a phone call with the top German officials. Kaiser Wilhelm and his cabinet were pleasantly surprised and made a list of what they wanted and gave him the right to host the signing meeting.

As for Kuster, he did not communicate with his superiors. He deliberately planned to tell the empire's ruling class before signing the contract, so that he would not let the emperor interfere with him or suffer any loss.

The next day, a telegram was sent from Moscow, which was controlled by the Allies. A few days later, several Russian officials from Petersburg came to Moscow.

This used to be their hometown, but now if you want to go there, you need to go through the scrutiny of foreigners, and you are allowed to enter only after being humiliated.

Hindenburg and Kuster stood side by side and greeted the Russians with smiles.

The two brought the group into the conference room and asked the servants to bring a few plates of food so they could relax.

Before the meeting officially started, Kuster sneaked out of the door, lowered his head and said a few words to the person next to him, and then the person ran away without a trace.

Kuster walked into the conference room again and coughed. The people in the auditorium immediately stopped and focused their attention on him.

"Okay, do you guys have anything else? If not, let's get down to business."

Kuster walked straight to the largest table in the house, took out a chair and sat down. Several Germans beside him also took out chairs. Their faces were full of pride, and they were obviously ready for the negotiation. here we go.

The Russians were a little worried and refused to sit down. They frowned and had red eyes, looking like they might cry at any time.

It wasn't until Kuster urged them that he slowly sat down unwillingly, his eyes filled with hatred.

"Come on, let's count what we have on hand first." Kuster was the first to start the conversation. He took out a folder and started flipping through it:

"Austro-Hungary controls southern Poland and Ukraine. Turkey, the Caucasus and the surrounding Crimea. Germany controls most of Livonia and Belarus. As for Moscow, it is the result of our joint efforts.

Russians, what about you? With only Petersburg and Siberia left, and the broken monarchy, I'm afraid you won't be able to defeat any country. "

Kuster's words were quite vicious. Not only did he reveal his bargaining chip, he also exposed Russia's dire situation, making the morale of the Russians present even lower.

But there was still a brave man who stood up and yelled:

"That's better than a country that is about to fall apart! It's hard to imagine how chaotic a country without a dominant ethnic group will be."

Kuster's face suddenly became terrifying. Even though there was no obvious change, his body was exuding a looming biting cold air.

Hindenburg put a hand on his shoulder, trying to calm him down, then turned his attention to the Russian and said calmly:

"I suggest that as a defeated general, you should not cause too much trouble - otherwise your motherland will pay a greater price for this."

This silenced the lively Russians, and the meeting officially began.

The first step is to start to divide the political realm. Speaking in human terms is the ceding of territory.

Since Kuster had made the bargaining chips clear enough before, the Russians did not dare to make too many mistakes, but there would be a little ridicule.

As Kuster said, his appetite was indeed not big. He only asked for more territory in Poland and expanded his sphere of influence to the area bordering Ukraine.

However, he had some additional conditions, which required specific areas to become their vassal states and a small special enclave:

"Western Ukraine and southern Belarus will become independent, and their heads of state will be determined by us. Sevastopol, I hope this land can be directly under the control of the central government of our empire."

After speaking, he also looked at everyone's reactions. Sure enough, the German people were very satisfied, and it seemed that their interests were not affected.

There were only a few angry Russians glaring, but Kuster didn't care.

The Germans soon put forward their own demands, that is, to cede Livonia (the three Baltic countries) and Belarus to them.

In order to prevent Russia from coming back, they decided to split several countries to check and balance Russia, but they were stopped by Kuster.

Since the Turks did not send people to attend the meeting in time, Kuster, who led them, naturally became an agent. If he did not gain some benefits for Turkey, his reputation in Turkey would drop sharply until Turkey no longer supported him.

He ceded the Transcaucasus region to Turkey, and the former Caucasus was divided into vassal states subordinate to Turkey. He believed that these conditions would be enough to satisfy the Turks.

The distribution of land benefits is over, and then it’s time to pay reparations.

With the current situation in Russia, I am afraid that it will not be able to get a penny out, and it can only depreciate the ruble. The huge inflation caused will also make the ruble become less and less valuable, accelerating the demise of the currently weak Russia, and thus being defeated by a powerful country. replaced by Russia.

So Kuster proposed a suggestion, that is, to use hard currency for compensation. Precious metals such as gold and silver, as well as oil, etc. If you really can't afford it, you can also use industrial raw materials for compensation, but don't use industrial finished products for compensation, which will strengthen Russia's industrial strength.

The Germans were quite interested in this, which was too novel for them, and agreed with a try-it attitude.

The Russians also agreed, after all, Russia is vast and rich in resources. Some people are still secretly laughing at Kuster's stupidity.

After obtaining the consent of many parties, Kuster, who represented Austria-Hungary and Turkey at the same time, ordered the establishment of a post-war reparations committee for Russia, and the members of the Allied Powers decided on the amount of compensation.

As for the amount of reparations, it must be a lot, even astronomical, otherwise why would the Russians be so bitter.

In diplomacy, Russia was forced to demand recognition of the independence of Finland and Kazakhstan.

At the national political level, Russia's autocratic regime was disintegrated and replaced by a multi-party system; the absolute power of the tsar was abolished and replaced by a monarchical parliamentary system. This is nothing to the Russians, after all, it has been achieved long ago.

Finally, Russia handed over all its overseas colonial interests (except Siberia) to Germany for temporary lease, with a lease period of about 99 years.

It is worth noting that this was only signed against Tsarist Russia, and other countries and forces were not recognized. In other words, if the Tsarist regime was overthrown within these 99 years, this lease decree would become invalid, and Germany would have permanent sovereignty.

Kuster presented the white paper full of handwriting in front of everyone and signed a few lines on it first:

Austrian Lieutenant General and Commander-in-Chief of the Caucasus Theater of Turkey, Carlil Wade-Kuster.

Austro-Hungarian Empire, Ottoman-Turkish Empire.

Hindenburg and Ludendorff also came forward and signed their names next to "Kuster":

German Marshal, Hindenburg. German General, Ludendorff.

German Empire.

A Russian trembled and walked forward, hesitating to write, sobbing a few times, and then tremblingly wrote a string of words.

However, because Kuster did not understand Russian, he could not understand what he was writing. He only knew that he could not even write steadily.

This contract that determined the fate of a world power was solemnly placed in a box, treasured and shipped to Germany.

Before closing the lid, Kuster saw the last few words written at the bottom of the contract:

"It will take effect the next day."

On the evening of July 2, 1915, the Moscow Peace Treaty was officially signed.

Volume 2, end.

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