The Military Commission meeting of the Civilized Party concluded. As usual, He Rui reviewed the minutes temporarily compiled by the secretary. Even Hu Xiushan, usually a man of few words, stood with the others in the open space outside the courtyard after leaving the conference room.

Hu Xiushan asked, "Xu Jia, Ruofan has changed quite a bit lately. Is that General François really that high-level?"

Xu Jia, still in charge of organizational work and holding a vast amount of intelligence, saw that everyone was concerned about Cheng Ruofan's changes. He shared some public information: "In the Battle of Tannenberg, this General François was still a corps commander when he disobeyed orders until the end of the battle. Ludendorff almost hated him to death."

The members of the Military Commission had all seen the list of personnel from the German General Staff recommended by Major General Karl of the old German Army, but they hadn't paid much attention to General François at the time. Before accepting the assistance of this miniature German General Staff, He Rui had thoroughly analyzed the attitude towards this help in a meeting, citing the idiom, "Stones from other hills may serve to polish the jade of this one."

The organizational structure of the Northeast Army was built on democracy, equality, and the unity of officers and soldiers, rather than the top-down elite management of a militaristic state like Germany. Therefore, the Military Commission members were learning the operational organization of Germany, not copying it entirely.

With this definition set, the members didn't care much about who composed the miniature German General Staff, but rather how they operated. Hearing now that General François was actually someone who disobeyed orders, they were truly surprised.

Zhong Yifu felt the matter shouldn't be so conspiratorial and asked, "Do you think Hindenburg and Ludendorff held a grudge against this General?"

Xu Jia felt that when it came to reliability in doing things, Zhong Yifu was actually quite reliable. However, this guy had a peculiar trait: everyone thought he would be more impulsive. So Xu Jia laughed, "Let's hope our own comrades don't end up like him. Being brave enough to take responsibility to the point of disregarding everything... disobeying orders will get you sent to a military tribunal."

Being spoken to like this, Zhong Yifu didn't get angry. He, like the other comrades, felt that Cheng Ruofan was the one most likely to disobey orders. Of course, no one mentioned Zheng Silang. Even now, according to the latest psychological terms they had learned, Zheng Silang's 'psychological stability' exceeded that of Cheng Ruofan.

Zheng Silang had long since let go of his concern about his past. Hearing that someone had disobeyed orders, he actually became interested. "What exactly did he do?"

Seeing everyone so interested, Xu Jia could only reply, "Let's go to the archives and have a look together. I don't remember it too clearly either."

While Chief of Staff Cheng Ruofan and the invited miniature German General Staff were discussing the war between Russia and Poland happening ten thousand miles away, the members of the Military Commission sat in the small reading room of the archives, learning about General François's experiences.

The Battle of Tannenberg was a great victory for Germany. General François had an extremely impulsive personality. In the first battle on the Eastern Front at Stallupönen, François, without informing his superior—Eighth Army Commander Prittwitz—launched an unorthodox attack aimed at driving Rennenkampf's Russian First Army back to the Russian border.

François's action at Stallupönen was successful, causing his superior, Eighth Army Commander Prittwitz, to launch an offensive against Rennenkampf's army at Gumbinnen. This attack failed, causing Prittwitz to panic and order the German army to retreat to the Vistula River.

Reading this, a burst of low laughter came from the small reading room. Although the young soldiers hadn't fought a major war... no, precisely *because* the young soldiers hadn't fought a major war, they had a great interest in the careers of other soldiers. Every high-ranking officer in the small reading room knew very well that they had to gain knowledge through study to make up for their deficiencies.

Soon, the Eighth Army Commander was dismissed. The command of East Prussia was subsequently transferred to Hindenburg, who was recalled from retirement, while Ludendorff served as the Chief of Staff of the Eighth Army.

At Tannenberg, François again refused to accept defensive orders and disobeyed Ludendorff's direct orders twice in succession. Especially on the 28th, Ludendorff, afraid that the defense line would be breached, panicked for a moment and ordered François's entire corps to advance north to Lahna to support the fighting in the center.

François realized the extreme importance of cutting off the enemy's retreat. Due to his character of being indifferent to any order he did not agree with, he continued to march along the original route. By the next day, his corps had cut off the Russian army's escape route to the south.

This act of insubordination actually helped Hindenburg and Ludendorff achieve a decisive victory over Samsonov's Second Army—Russian Commander-in-Chief Samsonov's suicide in a dense forest before being captured by the German army constituted the climax of this victory. And François also led his troops to capture 90,000 prisoners in this victory, securing the main fruits of the victory.

Since then, General François continued to achieve many merits and attained the rank of General, but his promotion stopped at the corps level. In comparison, Hindenburg became a Field Marshal, and General Ludendorff became the core commanding the German army in the later stages. Among other commanders of the same rank as François, there were Field Marshals and Generals. This highlighted François's ill fate.

Even though Zheng Silang had let go of his own hang-ups, he couldn't laugh at this moment. The other commissioners also sighed; human destiny is so indescribable. Perhaps François was very strong, or perhaps it was just accidental intuition that allowed him to win a huge victory. But regardless of which it was, in an organization like the army where obedience is the highest duty, violating discipline must be punished.

Since they had started rereading the materials, everyone looked through the profiles of the other personnel again. Among the group recommended by Professor Karl, General François had the highest rank; the others were mostly Colonels and Major Generals. their basic resumes were dominated by service within the General Staff organization.

Originally, everyone wanted to watch the drama, but after experiencing a change in mood, they were in no hurry to adjourn and began to discuss the characteristics of the German General Staff system.

Cheng Ruofan was currently sitting in front of an old man with a bald head, two large mustaches, and a fierce appearance. The old man's tone was grim, but deep in his eyes, there was a passion for war. After listening to Cheng Ruofan insist on finishing his description of the war situation in broken German, the old man asked, "Major General Cheng, do you wish to know how the General Staff should operate in such a situation?"

"Yes," Cheng Ruofan answered immediately.

The fierce-looking bald old man was none other than General François. He immediately replied, "The General Staff would find a way to dispatch a military observation group to observe. Any speculation is meaningless; one must see the actual war with one's own eyes to make a judgment."

Cheng Ruofan was stunned. He indeed hadn't considered sending a military observation group. Without first-hand information, there was no way to make reliable judgments about the war.

Seeing Cheng Ruofan's expression, the old man didn't mock him. Although old François actually had some criticism regarding the appearance of this Northeast Army Chief of Staff—handsome officers were popular in the army, but beautiful ones were not.

However, having experienced the blood and gore of war, the old man knew very well that a fierce-looking soldier didn't necessarily equate to bravery, and Cheng Ruofan's offensive spirit exceeded François's imagination. The idea proposed by Cheng Ruofan to set a pocket formation to annihilate the Russian Red Army also had considerable merit militarily.

The old man's mind worked quickly, and he soon replied, "Major General Cheng, in Germany, this is called a pincer movement. The key lies in your grasp and understanding of the troops. Assuming the intelligence you provide is all correct, you need a force that has completed at least half a year of training, and an officer corps with four years of training to execute such an operation. The commander of this army needs to possess staff capabilities."

Cheng Ruofan had considerable admiration for the German General Staff. Hearing the troop construction time proposed by General François, he couldn't help but be surprised. "Your Excellency, only half a year and four years? Is the time too short?"

The old man shook his head, his bald head appearing unusually striking in the bright light. "You have already made a judgment on the Poles' fighting will. As long as an army has an offensive spirit, this time is sufficient. What really takes time is cultivating soldiers who focus only on the war itself, not on victory or defeat."

Cheng Ruofan felt he understood and nodded.

The old man told Cheng Ruofan to go back first and come again in the afternoon. Cheng Ruofan shook his head repeatedly. "What I want to learn is how the General Staff Headquarters operates normally under sudden circumstances. Please let me see it with my own eyes."

General François felt that the request made by this Chief of Staff of the Northeast Army was truly interesting, but inwardly he also felt it was only natural. Although Germany had been defeated, German soldiers still had great confidence in the General Staff system. Even though he had retired from active service and it was impossible to join the army again in this life, General François still believed there was no problem with the General Staff system; the problem lay with idiots like Ludendorff.

So, within thirty minutes, General François let Cheng Ruofan see how a miniature General Staff worked.

There were no documents, so white paper was used instead. The miniature German General Staff first retrieved intelligence on the unit designations, combat history, and commanders of both warring sides, and based on these, laid out the basic appearance of the combat sand table.

At the same time, based on the terrain of the combat area, especially intelligence on railways, roads, wharves, and ports, the sand table layout was completed.

While completing the battlefield sand table, the members of the General Staff took out several small boxes. After opening them, Cheng Ruofan saw some dice of different colors. The dice of different colors were placed in groups, colorful and striking. If not for the war sand table in front of him, it would be easy to form the association that these German soldiers were about to gamble.

Since he didn't know if the Northeast Army's wargaming used dice, General François assumed they didn't. He explained to Cheng Ruofan, "Every unit in war must be set with various conditions. Since there is no frontline data, we set parameters for them. The dice are the tools for making judgments. After all, all kinds of things can happen."

For a moment, Cheng Ruofan was somewhat disappointed. These preparations were no different from what the Northeast Army had already completed. Including the dice, the Northeast Army General Staff had them all.

However, dice were only used for pure paper exercises. The political commissars in the Northeast Army were responsible for the daily ideological education and political training of the troops. They grasped the subtle conditions of the troops through detailed work, not by playing with dice.

Carrying this disappointment, Cheng Ruofan asked, "Your Excellency, can the deduction begin?"

General François shook his head. "No, it's already over. Deduction lacking intelligence is nothing but self-entertainment. Major General Cheng, war is a very serious matter. Even in war deductions at the junior military academy, the data and materials we provide are much richer than the intelligence you can provide now. Under the current circumstances, we cannot begin the deduction."

Being hit like this by the old man, Cheng Ruofan's respect for the German General Staff increased a bit. Cheng Ruofan felt he somewhat understood 'historical accumulation'. Currently, because the Northeast Army was expanding its scale rapidly, there were people of all characters in the army. So the General Staff had realized the need to make large-scale adjustments to military personnel, especially officers. Anyone who did not meet the current needs had to be screened out. With General François's unruly character, he still almost instinctively insisted on the seriousness of war. The accumulation of the German General Staff was truly admirable.

So Cheng Ruofan took his leave. Old man François didn't stand on ceremony, nor did he ask him to stay; he just watched Cheng Ruofan leave.

After Cheng Ruofan left, old General François asked, "The term of our cooperation with Your Excellency He Rui is three months. The time is almost up. I am considering returning to Germany. What about you gentlemen?"

The members of this miniature German General Staff heard the General's disappointment, and everyone had their own disappointments. But one of them asked helplessly, "What will we do after returning to Germany?"

Instantly, the emotions of these German soldiers turned into another kind of disappointment. Yes, what would they do back home?

The Treaty of Versailles had suppressed Germany very severely, abolishing the General Staff, limiting the army to less than 100,000 men and the number of officers to 3,000. Without exception, none of these German soldiers who came to China could return to the army.

Among the Allied Powers, France wished it could destroy Germany completely, so it publicly proposed retaliatory indemnities. Germany had to pay huge war reparations. Now, Germany's domestic economy was in a depression, and it was hard to find a job. Not to mention these former German officers who had originally thought they would live in the army all their lives and receive a pension after retirement.

General François remained disappointed. "The Northeast Army is too childish. Rather than calling them an army, it's better to say they are infants trying to imitate a powerful army. They have only ideals but no practice. I even feel they are inferior to the Polish army."

Hearing this evaluation, none of the German officers refuted it. Through the exchanges during this period, it was difficult for the German officers to accept the unity of officers and soldiers in the Northeast Army. However, having experienced the Great War in Europe, where these officers participated in cruel warfare alongside ordinary soldiers, they felt they could tolerate some decisions like this.

But the military democracy system was truly incomprehensible to these officers. Any new tactics of the Northeast Army had to pass through a military democratic meeting, where officers and soldiers discussed together. Discussing how to use it.

Such actions not only didn't exist in the German army but were also against discipline. What the German army had to do was implementation from top to bottom; any proposal from soldiers was harmful. This was the experience summarized from Germany's long history of militarism.

Eventually, some of these German officers began to think that General François's view made sense. At least half of the officers developed the intention to leave. When a Colonel finally spoke up, "I also want to return to Germany," other officers began to express the same view one after another.

Cheng Ruofan didn't know that this group of German officers actually wanted to leave. All the way back, he was thinking about the war. Especially the issue of military democracy in the internal construction of the Northeast Army.

The more he dealt with the guys from the German General Staff, the more clearly Cheng Ruofan understood the difference between the German General Staff and the Northeast Army. This stemmed from the difference in the philosophy of army building. Cheng Ruofan originally thought it could be reconciled, but the more contact he had, the more he felt it was irreconcilable.

As soon as he saw He Rui, Cheng Ruofan simply poured out his thoughts. "Chairman, I think after the cooperation period ends, we should send these people back to Germany. However, can we establish regular military exchanges with other countries?"

"Regular military exchange mechanism? Ruofan, that's a very good idea." He Rui laughed.

Seeing He Rui support his view, the unhappiness in Cheng Ruofan's heart erupted. Although he was considered an admirer of the German General Staff system, Cheng Ruofan didn't think so himself. If the strength of the British General Staff or the French General Staff exceeded that of Germany, Cheng Ruofan would support them without hesitation. Cheng Ruofan wanted to learn from whoever could help China win.

But meeting them was not as good as hearing about them. Including General François, the hero of the Tannenberg victory, they all disappointed Cheng Ruofan. They couldn't perform magic to turn rot into gold. Along the way, Cheng Ruofan thought it over and felt he had held the German General Staff system in too high regard.

So, Cheng Ruofan said, "Chairman, I will never belittle myself again..."

"Wait." He Rui interrupted Cheng Ruofan's emotional outburst. "Belittling oneself is normal. I think you can use another term, called increasing your knowledge. If your knowledge is shallow, you can't correctly recognize yourself or the world. Also, intelligence has arrived. Take a look first."

Cheng Ruofan quickly took the intelligence. It was new news about Soviet Russia and Poland.

By the end of May 1920, the balance of forces between the Soviet and Polish sides was temporarily equal, but the Polish Left Wing Group facing the Red Army's Western Front was relatively weak. Therefore, Red Army Commander-in-Chief Kamenev planned for the Western Front to launch the main assault against the Polish Left Wing. On April 28, 1920, the Central Committee of the Russian Communist Party approved the strategic counter-offensive plan formulated by Kamenev. The plan stipulated that the Western Front and the Southwestern Front would coordinate closely and launch centripetal assaults on Warsaw from the northeast and southeast respectively. The Western Front would serve as the main attack north of the Pripyat River, taking Warsaw directly along the direction of Minsk and Białystok. The Southwestern Front would cooperate with the Western Front's operations south of the Pripyat River, launching an auxiliary assault along the direction of Rivne and Lublin. Before the counter-offensive, Trotsky, Chairman of the Revolutionary Military Council of the Soviet Republic, fully believed that the workers' and peasants' revolution in Poland was at a climax, and he made a very optimistic estimate of the war prospects. Tukhachevsky also based his actions on this estimate, which resulted in his underestimating the enemy and advancing rashly during the war, falling short of success at the last stage.