"Your Majesty, this is a private request from German Ambassador Baslob. I dare not make a decision privately. I can only hope that your Majesty will rule."
General Pleishan, Chief of the General Staff, was telling Edel what Ambassador Baslob had just discussed with him.
In fact, this matter is very simple. The German government hopes to purchase two aircraft from Romania, with a price of 1 million marks each. Of course, it is not because the Germans are dissatisfied with the money that Germany can pay such a high price. They need two of the latest Romanian aircraft.
Condor fighters, to be more precise, what they need is a shooting coordinator.
Regarding information about the Romanian army, Germany still has many channels to know due to its advantage of being a consultant for many years. This time, it learned that Romania has a new aircraft that can attack forward without damaging the propeller. It is fighting in Europe.
The fierce Germans urgently need this weapon. Berlin not only knows the news about the new aircraft, but they also know about the armored experimental battalion being formed. However, they have not yet encountered such an organic armored force on the battlefield.
, so it makes sense that it didn’t get attention.
After receiving Berlin's request, Ambassador Baslob was testing Romania's attitude toward General Plemont. So why didn't he directly ask Eder? Because Romania is now a neutral country, and if Ambassador Baslob goes
Looking for Eder would be too conspicuous and would be easily noticed by the Allied Ambassadors, so he asked General Pleishan, the Chief of General Staff.
Of course, Chief of General Staff Plesan did not dare to make his own decision, and he knew that this was the German Ambassador Baslob who wanted to send a message to Eder himself. And Prime Minister Bretianu was famously pro-British and French, and even more so.
It was impossible to go to the Prime Minister to send a message. After all, this was a shady matter, and Ambassador Baslob was very distrustful of Prime Minister Bretianu.
(According to the law of neutrality, neutral countries cannot sell military supplies and technology to participating countries. Of course, this is for small countries. For example, the neutrality of the United States in World War I was completely biased towards the Allies, and the Allies did not dare to accuse it. In the end, it is said
If you have the strength, you have the final say on how to call it neutral.)
Edel is also very embarrassed about Germany's request. He is not surprised that Germany knows that Romania has new aircraft. After all, Germany has had a military advisory group in Romania for nearly ten years, so it is normal to know some information. And there are many domestic aircraft in Romania.
Young officers all have a favorable impression of Germany. After all, not too many officers go to Germany for further training every year.
"Chief of General Staff, what do you think?"
Edel asked about the general in front of him. After Germany withdrew its military advisory group from the outbreak of the war, his confidant general had been working to weaken Germany's influence in the Romanian military, but it had been less than a year.
, the current effect is not obvious.
After thinking about it for a moment, General Pulie replied, "Your Majesty, we cannot provide our new aircraft to Germany in an honest and open manner. This will undermine our country's principle of neutrality. And rejecting Germany's request will also be detrimental to our external environment."
After all, the current situation of the Allied Powers is very favorable, and it is difficult for us to refuse. So I don’t have any good solution."
Faced with the ball kicked by General Pleisan, Edel is thinking differently now. He knows that it will not be long before the French put the prototype of the shooting coordinator on the plane. Providing it now can also gain some benefits for Romania. If he waits until
If Germany obtains this technology from aircraft wreckage, Romania will have nothing to do with it, and it will also make Germany wary of Romania. In order to better paralyze Germany, Edel felt it was necessary to give Germany something.
After thinking it over carefully, Edel made his decision to General Pulishan.
"Your Excellency, Chief of General Staff, you can tell Ambassador Baslob that Romania does not intend to sell new aircraft, but we can let them obtain this technology. But this can only be done secretly. If someone discovers it, Romania will terminate
Germany provides the technology, and Romania will never admit it."
The reason why Edel said this was because he was afraid that Germany would deliberately expose the secret deal with Romania and make the Allied Powers wary of Romania. This was not what Edel wanted to see. He also planned to seize the benefits in the later stages of World War I. If
Britain and France are wary of Romania, but it cannot be replaced by a small shooting coordinator.
After hearing Edel's reply, Preshan replied, "Okay, Your Majesty, I will let Ambassador Baslob discuss a plan that satisfies everyone."
It's not that he didn't have an answer just now. The only way to make secret technology transactions with other countries is for Edel to decide. He can't make decisions for the king, and Admiral Puleishan knows this very well.
"Admiral Pleishan, when secretly exporting technology to Germany, he does not need to charge them any fees."
When General Edel was preparing to leave on Mount Ple, he added that now that Romania's fiscal revenue has increased significantly, he can't bear the cost of two million lei.
"Okay, Your Majesty."
After watching General Pulie leave, Edel suddenly missed his wife and children. He called a guard at the door and said, "If there is nothing important today, don't call me."
"Okay, Your Majesty."
After getting Edel's consent, General Prey arranged for a confidant to go to the German Embassy and tell Ambassador Baslob the news. Ambassador Baslob, who had been waiting for a long time, quickly arranged a
He called his confidants to discuss with him how to complete this technology transaction secretly. In the end, they came up with an incredible plan.
The Romanian military will take out the drawings of the Condor fighter from the Coanda aircraft factory, and then leave behind the drawings of the shooting coordinator, and will also arrange other things for the nearby guards. The German side will arrange an agile person,
During this period, go to the data room to pick up the "lost" drawings. The next day, Coanda Aircraft Manufacturing Factory will call the police and report that the data is lost, and the police will come over to check it out. As for how to send it back to the country,
I believe these Germans will always know.
Fortunately, this plan was not seen by Edel, otherwise he would have thought of the word "hiding one's ears and stealing the bell". This story has appeared in the motherland for two thousand years, but it still appears in Romania.
Within two days, the Romanian military found the Coanda Aircraft Manufacturing Factory and requested that the drawings of the Condor be sent to the General Staff. The reason was that the General Staff needed backup. Coanda and Feraicu had no doubts and allowed the military to proceed.
The data room on the Condor fighter was taken out, but a staff officer "accidentally" "left" the drawings of the shooting coordinator in the data room.
There was an "unexpected" power outage at the aircraft manufacturing plant that day, and guards were called in to check the situation. As a result, the "lost" drawings were taken away by someone who was interested, and the data room was turned into a mess. So the next day, the aircraft manufacturing plant
The news spread that it had been visited by thieves. But the drawing had already taken the early morning train to Berlin.
Thus Romania's secret deal with Germany was completed.
