The winter of 1919 was particularly difficult, with bitterly cold weather and hungry stomachs that made it difficult to look forward to the future. So when the 1920 New Year arrived, not many Germans felt any New Year's breath.

In this cold winter, a job is a gift from God for many people, and Bern knows this all too well. He was walking through the vast precincts of the Royal William Shipyard, which had been busy for half a day, except for the occasional Allied personnel in military uniforms. Bern turned a blind eye to them and went straight to the area where he worked.

Pushing open the door of a factory building on the side of the dock, he walked straight inside. It is full of shipbuilding equipment such as brackets, anchor sprockets, brakes, winches, sprockets, gearboxes, and various water pumps. These are all indispensable equipment for the construction of a ship sailing at sea, and Bern is one of the people responsible for the care and maintenance of this equipment.

When he walked in, there were already several colleagues here.

"Bern, you're a lot late today."

A colleague greeted him.

Bern explained to his colleague in a potato-scented tone: "No way, I just paid my salary yesterday and I need to buy some potatoes and firewood, and the day before yesterday the family was interrupted." ”

Hearing Bern's explanation, none of the colleagues were saying anything, and everyone knew that the Bern family was the case. With three children and a frail wife, the family is counting on him to work to support the family, and no one can blame a husband who is so burdened.

After chatting for a few words, they immediately began to check the equipment, and at this time, a colleague whispered mysteriously: "We won't be able to do this job for long." ”

"What?"

"Crackle."

All his colleagues stared at the speaker, while Bern was strewn about the ruler and other items scattered all over the floor.

At this time, a leading colleague spoke: "Charlotte, do you know what you are talking about? ”

After one person spoke, others spoke. "Charlotte, this is no joke."

Unemployment, for them now, is simply a disaster. If you look at the people in Wilhelmshaven who are now idle, they are hungry and dirty, and they carry with them what little clothes they have, and they find a place where no one is in the roadside bridge and sleep. Many people do not see the sun the next day, and many of these people's bodies are transported outside the city for burial every day.

None of them wanted to live this life, and even though the job was barely enough to support themselves, they were much better off than those people, at least they had a house to live in and food to eat.

Seeing that everyone was accusing him, this colleague named Charol was also anxious, and he said directly: "Do you think I don't want this, I want it too." ”

At this time, Bern stopped the other colleagues from wanting to continue, and he stepped forward and patted Charell on the shoulder and said: "I'm sure you won't take such a thing, so where did you hear this news?" ”

Berne's words attracted a lot of attention, and everyone wanted to hear what Charelle had to say.

"Because I forgot to take my things in the factory yesterday, when I was returning to the factory, I overheard two Allied officers stationed at the scene talking to each other. They said that because our shipyard was a royal property, we should compensate the Entente as the assets of Kaiser Wilhelm, who was the main person responsible for waging the war. ”

The content of Charlotte's words immediately attracted the rebuttal of other colleagues: "Even if they are compensated, the shipyard can't be moved, they always need someone to work in the shipyard." Can't we fire those of us who are familiar with the shipyard and find new ones? ”

In the face of the rebuttal, Charelle immediately continued: "I thought so at the time, but then I heard from them that they wanted to see if anyone took over the shipyard equipment, and if no one took over, they would all be dismantled back to China. Is this to continue to work on the shipyard? ”

Charolle's words silenced everyone present, they were all familiar with shipbuilding, how could they build ships without equipment.

A colleague talks about the shipyard equipment. "I remember that the shipyard had only installed a 320-ton gantry crane for less than a year, as well as a large hydraulic press, and it was very difficult to relocate these equipment."

"When I installed the hydraulic press, I took someone a week to install it. But what's the use of this, these Entente people are completely intent on tearing down our factories. ”

A colleague angrily said what was on his mind.

Another colleague said what everyone was most concerned about. "What are we going to do if the shipyard is moved?"

Yes, don't talk about anything else now, making sure you can live is the most important thing.

"Do you want us to organize a demonstration by the shipyard employees and demand that they not move the shipyard?"

A colleague said what he thought was possible.

"No, do you think these Entente people will care if we live or die? And they have a regiment of French garrisons outside the city, how many of them we have now. ”

Another colleague retorted to his words.

Demonstrations are not okay. Not to mention that there are only a few hundred people in the shipyard now, even when there were tens of thousands of people before, these people from the Entente countries will definitely not be soft in suppression. There were millions of casualties on both sides in the battle, and there were French troops outside the city. Don't forget that the French are at the moment at a feud with them, and I believe they will not let go of this opportunity.

"Otherwise, we will go to the city government and ask the state to buy this shipyard so that we can continue to work."

One idea didn't work, and a colleague made another suggestion.

"Now where does the government get the money to buy the shipyard, which has invested tens of millions of marks."

The mark they are talking about is not the mark that looks like waste paper now, but the gold mark before the outbreak of the war, which can actually be exchanged for gold from the bank. Now the city government can't even control the people who have lost their jobs, where will they invest in the shipyard, and they don't have the money.

The colleague couldn't help but say, "This can't do this, that's not good, are we just waiting?" ”

"What else can we do? Expect someone to buy the shipyard from the Entente, and someone must be willing. ”

Seeing that they were all like headless flies, the colleague suddenly asked about Bern. "Bern, what do you think we should do?"

Bern, who was grim-faced, thought for a while, and said in a slow tone: "I don't know, but there will always be a way." There's always a way. ”

After Bern finished speaking, he picked up his tools and walked towards the equipment. Today's work is not done yet, so we must continue to do things.

After seeing Bern leave, Charelle looked at him sympathetically and said, "Among our people, Bern is the most stressed, don't embarrass him." ”