The decisive battle against the Third Reich

After handing over their pistols and being searched by a guard, Qinchuan and Colonel Koch were allowed to enter the office.

There was only one desk lamp on in the office, and in the dim light a German officer was flipping through documents... His hair was neatly combed into three parts, and he wore a pair of round black-rimmed glasses. His complexion was fair, and he had a mustache on his mouth. If not because he knew that the man in front of him was Himmler, who had the blood of millions of people on his hands, Qin Chuan would even mistake him for a naive college student.

"Your Excellency, National Leader!" Koch and Qin Chuan stood in front of the desk and saluted.

Himmler's military rank was unique, he was the leader of the National SS, so his subordinates called him "National Leader"... Of course, "National" is obviously a redundancy, but calling it this way makes it sound more special and more important. Himmler liked to be called that.

Himmler didn't even raise his eyelids, he was still flipping through the documents on the table. After a while, he said: "Colonel Koch, I remember saying that the person I want to see is the captain!" "

Colonel Koch couldn't help being surprised, and then he quickly stood up and said: "Yes, Your Excellency, National Leader!"

Without hesitation, he saluted and left Qin Chuan alone in front of the desk.

"Captain, you should know about our 'preventive arrest powers'!"

The so-called "preventive arrest power" is to deal with many unexpected threats. The Gestapo can make "preventive" arrests to prevent these threats before they occur.

This has the same effect as the modern American "preemption theory"... "Preemptive strike" is to deal with many unexpected threats. The United States believes that they have the right to "take preemptive action when necessary."

It is conceivable that once these are recognized, their power will easily be infinitely expanded and even developed to "do whatever they want", because any of their actions can be called "preventive" to deal with potential and possible threats.

"Yes, Your Excellency, National Leader!" Qin Chuan replied.

"Then..." Himmler raised the document in his hand: "How do you explain this?"

Qin Chuan knew that Himmler was talking about killing and wounding four Gestapo men.

An answer quickly swirled in Qin Chuan's mind: The Gestapo did not identify themselves to me. Qin Chuan thought they were killers sent by the enemy to deal with Qin Chuan.

This answer may be a good explanation. After all, Qin Chuan had a similar experience on the Eastern Front.

However, the best answer is not necessarily the most appropriate answer... Everyone knows that Qin Chuan cannot fail to guess that they are the Gestapo, and Himmler certainly knows this.

In this case, the best answer is to hide something from Himmler. This may be the key point of Himmler's question.

After thinking about it, Qin Chuan replied: "I just want to live, Your Excellency, the leader of the country, out of instinct... You know, I just came back from the battlefield, and my first reaction was to protect myself and kill the opponent. I didn't have time to think!"

"So...you knew they were the Gestapo before you took action?"

"Yes!" Qin Chuan nodded.

The atmosphere in the office suddenly fell into silence. Himmler stared at Qin Chuan for a long time without speaking, which made Qin Chuan feel a little anxious and unsure whether he had made the right bet.

"Well done, Captain!" Himmler said: "A clean counterattack. It is said that the whole process only took three minutes. You are worthy of being a 'legendary staff sergeant.' They obviously underestimated you!"

Qin Chuan felt relieved as soon as Himmler said these words, which showed that Qin Chuan had gained Himmler's trust to some extent.

"And your efforts in counterfeiting!" Himmler continued: "This proves your ability and loyalty to the Reich, but..."

At this point, Himmler stopped, then lit a match with a "click", lit a cigarette for himself and started smoking silently.

Qin Chuan knew Himmler's troubles. He could be said to be feeding a tiger into trouble. He single-handedly trained Heydrich but allowed him to become powerful. Hitler even intended to make Heydrich his successor... This was also Himmler's embarrassment. In this place, Heydrich was nominally Himmler's subordinate, but he held great power, especially being favored by Hitler. This made Himmler never dare to do anything to Heydrich, even if he now captured a Heydrich. The evidence sent by the Gestapo was incontrovertible.

The reason is simple. The Gestapo has the "preventive arrest power." Heydrich only needs to explain that he suspects Qin Chuan has some problems and tries to arrest him for questioning.

Of course, Heydrich did not want this matter to be exposed, because he did not want to bear the doubts from the people and the Wehrmacht. After all, Qin Chuan was a German fighting hero, and the Gestapo's actions would obviously arouse public outrage from the people and the Wehrmacht... The Wehrmacht's Soldiers fought life and death on the front lines to achieve meritorious service, but when they arrived at the rear, they were persecuted by the Gestapo. This was also detrimental to Germany from a war perspective, because it would severely damage the morale of the Wehrmacht.

Therefore, Heydrich tacitly accepted Qin Chuan's previous statement of "assassination by the Soviets."

"You can go out now, Captain!" Himmler said. "I want to talk to Colonel Koch!"

"As you command, Your Excellency, National Leader!"

After Qin Chuan walked out of the office, he raised his head to Colonel Koch who was waiting outside the door. Colonel Koch understood, adjusted his uniform and walked into the office.

Qin Chuan lit a cigarette outside the office. He didn't understand what kind of medicine Himmler was selling in this gourd. If he wanted to see him, why he only said a few words and didn't even make a vague statement. Did he want to Are you letting this go?

But given Himmler's current situation, and since he didn't know that Heydrich would die soon, he should at least do something.

Colonel Koch soon emerged from the office, and with him came Himmler.

At this time, Himmler had already put on his military cap. He looked at Qin Chuan standing outside the door, nodded slightly, and then left with the guard.

After Himmler walked away, Colonel Koch said to Qin Chuan with a happy face: "Captain, we are in good luck. The leaders of the country intend to fully support us in making counterfeit banknotes, and will also send guards to protect us!"

"What did you say?" Qin Chuan's expression changed involuntarily.

"Yes, you heard it right!" Colonel Koch said: "It turns out that the national leader also had a plan to make counterfeit banknotes before, but I don't know why it was terminated. The national leader said that he would send all the information to others. This will obviously Speed ​​up our research!"

Qin Chuan couldn't help but turn pale when he heard this. He realized that he and Colonel Koch had been used as pawns by Himmler.