February 24, 1933.

The car of Ye Lin, the Chinese Minister to Germany, drove through the streets of Berlin. The small flag of the Republic of China fluttered in the wind on the hood, displaying her diplomatic status.

The car slowed as it passed the Kroll Opera House. Ye Lin looked with interest at the Stormtroopers (SA) in their khaki uniforms, who were standing three rows deep outside the building. They noticed Ye Lin as well; several SA leaders immediately led their subordinates to the entrance, ready to receive the car from the Chinese Legation that appeared to be stopping.

Ye Lin did not order the car to stop, though she would have liked to go inside the Kroll Opera House to watch the spectacle. Since the Reichstag Fire a short while ago, the Kroll Opera House had served as the temporary venue for the Reichstag. Here, Hitler was using every means possible to secure the support of two-thirds of the deputies to pass the "Law to Remedy the Distress of People and Reich" (the Enabling Act). The only solution proposed in this bill was to grant the Nazi Party unlimited power.

The Weimar Constitution allowed for public observation of parliamentary sessions, but the current encirclement of the temporary venue by the SA reminded Ye Lin of events during Yuan Shikai's presidency. To secure his position as Great President, Yuan Shikai had locked up the MPs, refusing to let them eat or leave until they passed his measures. The Nazi Party before her eyes likely looked down on Yuan Shikai, but their actions were essentially no different.

Ye Lin had once followed the Northeast Army through the Shanhai Pass, witnessing with her own eyes how He Rui's government swept away the warlords like withered leaves, unifying China in the snap of a finger. From He Rui's arrival in the Northeast with 50 men in 1915 to the convening of the National Political Consultative Conference in 1925, it had taken exactly ten years. In a similar ten-year span, Ye Lin did not appreciate the commotion "Little Moustache" was currently making.

"Go back," Ye Lin said, turning on the car radio to see if there was a live broadcast of the Reichstag vote. To her disappointment, there was none. Little Moustache was still engaging in coerced voting and didn't even dare let the German people hear his methods.

Disappointing! Truly disappointing! Ye Lin's evaluation of Little Moustache dropped another notch.

Inside the Kroll Opera House, the Nazi Party had deployed a large number of Stormtroopers to monitor the participating deputies. All Communist Party deputies had been stripped of their mandates and could not vote. The German right wing fully supported Hitler; the pro-Nazi upper classes lobbied the center-left parties, while the SA applied pressure through various threats.

Under these circumstances, Otto Wels, the Chairman of the Social Democratic Party (SPD), stood up alone to debate Hitler, knowing full well the situation was hopeless.

"The day before yesterday, Chancellor Hitler issued a declaration in Potsdam which we have all heard. He said: 'Some people suffer from the delusion that there can be eternal winners and eternal losers in this world, which led to the mad demands for reparations and created the catastrophe of the world economy.' This statement applies not only to foreign affairs but also to domestic politics. Indeed, as the Chancellor says, there are no eternal winners and no eternal losers. The idea that there are is pure nonsense.

"The Chancellor's words remind us of a speech made in the National Assembly on July 23, 1919: 'We are defenseless, but not honourless.' It is true that the enemy wants to take away our honor, but they will eventually burn themselves. In this global tragedy, it will not be us who are disgraced. We believe this to our dying breath."

The Nazi Party members immediately began to clamor, "Who said that?"

Hitler did not know whom Otto Wels was quoting, nor did he care. Fifteen years had passed since the establishment of the Weimar Republic, and in those fifteen years, the Republic had tossed the German people into destitution. The people now had no interest in party politics. No matter how glibly those parties spoke or how reasonable their words seemed, the reality of universal poverty among the German people was a fact no words could deny.

SPD Chairman Otto Wels, however, showed no fear. He answered loudly: "This passage comes from a declaration issued by the then-SPD government on behalf of the German people to the world, four hours before the armistice deadline. Its purpose was to stop the enemy's continued advance. This declaration is a valuable supplement to the Chancellor's speech."

Hearing this, the Nazis erupted in a chorus of boos, just as Hitler had expected.

Otto Wels naturally knew the fundamental reason for Hitler's fearlessness: the German people no longer believed in party politics at all. Since they didn't believe, it was useless for supporters of party politics to say anything. But Otto Wels was still unwilling to meet his end kneeling; he continued: "The gentlemen of the Nazi Party claim they are launching a national revolution, not a National *Socialist* revolution. For the moment, the only relationship their movement has to socialism is their effort to destroy the German social democratic movement. Yet for two generations, the latter has upheld socialist ideals and will continue to do so. If the Nazi Party merely wanted to implement socialist laws, they would not need the Enabling Act at all. The vast majority of those present would support them. Any motion they proposed that aligned with the interests of workers, farmers, white-collar workers, civil servants, and the middle class would receive overwhelming support, if not unanimous approval."

The Nazis below the podium jeered again. This was not anger at being exposed for "abandoning socialism," but disgust at Otto Wels' stubborn resistance.

Facing the overwhelming boos, Otto Wels felt a sense of relief. He had finally finished the most important passage exposing Hitler's betrayal of socialism; the rest was less important. Otto Wels felt he had done his best.

Just as Ye Lin's car returned to the Legation, the German national radio program playing on the receiver was suddenly interrupted by stirring martial music. Ye Lin, who had been about to get out, closed the car door and sat firmly back in her seat.

"Latest news: The Reichstag has passed the 'Law to Remedy the Distress of People and Reich' with 444 votes in favor and 94 against. As soon as it is signed by President Hindenburg, the law will take immediate effect."

The number of deputies from each German party immediately floated into Ye Lin's mind, causing her to chuckle. "Heh." Ye Lin had already felt that Hitler's breadth of mind could not compare to He Rui's, and now she was certain. In China's 1925 Political Consultative Conference, He Rui's central government had distributed a significant number of parliamentary seats—which they could have kept entirely for themselves—to various local factions, ensuring that forces from every province had a voice in the assembly.

That approach had faced opposition within the Civilization Party. But looking at the results, the Civilization Party had not lost power because they lacked an overwhelming majority of seats; instead, they had firmly grasped power by constructing a national regime.

Ye Lin wondered if Little Moustache would regret this. Passing the Enabling Act required two-thirds of the entire parliament. With the 444 votes Little Moustache obtained, even if all 120 Social Democratic deputies and all 81 Communist deputies had attended and voted against it, it would have been of no use. Little Moustache would still have won the final victory.

*This* is what 'scope' means! Ye Lin laughed to herself.

Over the next few days, Ye Lin's evaluation of Little Moustache's scope dropped even further. Using the Enabling Act, Hitler banned all political parties other than the Nazi Party. Within two months of becoming Chancellor, he had completed the Nazi one-party dictatorship. Little Moustache could be considered a formidable figure of his time, but in Chinese history, such figures were so numerous they offered no sense of novelty.

In her routine report to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ye Lin wrote: "...If Hitler wants to fulfill his promises to the voters, he must now immediately focus all attention on economic development. Judging from Hitler's decision to heavily rely on Schacht, the economic departments of the Weimar government have carried out many economic development plans over the past fifteen years. Now, perhaps a party has emerged that can carry these economic policies through to the end. This is also the Nazi Party's greatest opportunity..."

Foreign Minister Li Shiguang took this report to see He Rui. At first, he did not give the report to He Rui immediately but spoke about the French government. "The French government is very happy to see us lower our diplomatic relations with Germany, but the internal struggle within the French government has begun to intensify. Several political parties have again proposed plans to topple the cabinet. Chairman, will France never settle down?"

He Rui was also helpless. He had originally expected the French government to remain stable for at least two terms, but once the country had money, internal struggles would still be fierce. There is a view in historiography that the system of the French Third Republic was originally prepared for a dynastic restoration, so the President was given high powers but was also subject to certain constraints.

But whether it was the Bonaparte family or the Bourbon family, neither ultimately completed a restoration. In the end, the only consensus remaining among the upper echelons of the French Third Republic was that another Napoleon-like figure must never appear. When a group of politicians sharing power faced issues of interest, their performance was always ugly.

He Rui smiled bitterly. "I overestimated French politicians."

Li Shiguang smiled. "At least the French government has handed the work of economic development over to the capitalists, and the government has not set obstacles for them."

"That is not necessarily a merit," He Rui warned. "Capitalists pursue policies that are beneficial to themselves; they have neither the ability nor the willingness to develop the economy. For capitalists, economic development is merely a collateral result of increasing their own profits."

Li Shiguang had not expected that he wouldn't be able to keep up with He Rui's train of thought, so he handed Ye Lin's report to him. While He Rui read the report, Li Shiguang hurriedly organized his thoughts.

Seeing that Ye Lin attached great importance to Germany's future economic development, He Rui was not worried about Little Moustache's efforts in this regard. Little Moustache's only direction now was to develop the economy, and historically, he did a good job in the early stages.

He Rui hadn't cared about Germany for a long time. Now turning his gaze to Germany, he couldn't help but feel some sympathy for the German people. Germany's resource endowment was limited. Even if Little Moustache exhausted his efforts, the markets Germany could possess would be limited to the German homeland and a portion of the Soviet and Eastern European markets.

China's rise to this point relied on the 900-million-person mega-market of the East Asian Alliance + the Soviet Union + France. Could Little Moustache scrape together a market of even 100 million?

Moreover, to balance France's influence in the East Asian Alliance and to gain access to the Chinese market, Britain and the United States had to invest in China and engage in trade. France was Germany's arch-enemy. Although Britain and the United States would invest some in Germany, to avoid angering France, such investment and market opening would be very limited.

Seeing He Rui lost in thought, Li Shiguang dared not disturb him. However, the Foreign Ministry was busy, so Li Shiguang coughed lightly.

He Rui moved his gaze away from the report and said to Li Shiguang, "Professor Karl is rushing to China and will arrive in the capital the day after tomorrow. Shall we have dinner with Professor Karl?"

Li Shiguang answered immediately, "Good." The last time he saw Professor Karl was at the Lausanne Conference in Switzerland dealing with Germany's debt repayment. Li Shiguang felt his attitude toward Professor Karl had been too tough at the time; having a chance to eat together now would be perfect for expressing goodwill and apologies.