"I don't want to! Herman, you need to help me find an answer to a problem that I solve," Frederick said firmly, to his old friend.

Sir Gruson nodded, "Fritz, please let me finish all the questions and then we will find an answer together." ”

"Second, people! I am talking about the peasants, the factory workers, the city dwellers, the merchants, and so on, all the people who labor and produce in the land. Sir Grusen gave his own interpretation of the second word.

"As I said earlier, more than three-fifths of the German economy is currently agricultural, and more than 80% of the population is engaged in agricultural production, that is, more than 36 million people are fixed to the land. Fewer than 10 million people live in cities. But with less than 10 million people making up 40% of Germany's economy, what will the future of Germany's economy be like if we can release more people from the land, Fritz? Sir Gruson asked.

"Since the 36 million German peasants on German soil cannot support themselves by growing food, they should find a way to survive. For example, let them come to the city. Sir Grusen made an offer.

"Herman, you must know that the economic crisis in the country in recent years has led to a large number of unemployed workers, and if the peasants who have lost their land are allowed to move to the city, I dare not imagine the consequences!" Crown Prince Frederick immediately shook his head and reminded his friend.

"Fritz, you said it well. We would like to put the problem of the peasants here first, and we will talk about the unemployed workers. Speaking of unemployed workers, did you know Fritz that German industry has been wandering in a labyrinth for a long time! ”

"In '71, when we won the Franco-Prussian War and received a reparation of 5 billion francs, everyone didn't know what to do with this huge amount of money. At that time, everyone wanted to do only one thing, and invest all the money in the industrial development of Germany. Speaking of which, my corporate empire in Magsburg is also a beneficiary of this huge amount of money. From '71 to '72, 197 steel companies of various names appeared in Germany. ”

"But after the arrival of the steel economic crisis in 73 years, only 16 of the 197 iron and steel companies remain, and these 16 are still merging. As an entrepreneur of Steel Concentric, I would just like to say that the price of steel in '78 was only 30% of the price in '73. Sir Gruson shook his head helplessly.

"Now it seems that the consequences of today's steel industry were planted after the victory in the Franco-Prussian War in 71." Sir Gruson sighed, "The empire used this indemnity to establish not only a large number of iron and steel enterprises, but also many enterprises in machinery, clothing, chemicals, and light industry. In the end, the number of these companies far exceeded the needs of the German market, and in order to survive, the business owners had to expand into the world market. On this path of expansion, some German companies have found a way to expand their products cheaply. ”

"I think that if I think that my things are cheap enough, people will buy them, and in the end, I go further and further down the road of cheap expansion. What is even more ridiculous is that from 75 onwards, the British also learned the German strategy of selling at a reduced price because of the economic crisis. The quality of British goods is better and the price is low, forcing those German companies that make cheap goods to make their products cheaper, so cheap that they don't even want the least bottom line. Because of them, when it comes to German goods in the world, everyone thinks that they are synonymous with garbage. ”

Sir Gruson continued with a wistful expression, "These cheap companies do not know how to introspect and do not improve the quality of their products in order to gain competitiveness, and blame the failure of their competition in the international and domestic markets on the lack of government protection. They put pressure on the prime minister before, and now, I guess there will be a lot of people who will put pressure on you at tonight's ball, hoping that you will intervene in the market to protect them... Protect their bargains, protect their products that are called German garbage. ”

Sir Gruson took a sip of the water in his glass, "The Junkers shouted to protect the price of grain, and also gave a lesson to some of the steelmakers, so these steelmakers found the Junkers, and they formed an alliance, which I would like to call the Iron Valley Alliance." If I were to say this alliance, it would be purely a political alliance of the Great Junkers, who would rather not make money than give the German common people access to cheap food, and shake hands with a business owner specializing in the production of junk products. This is what I am talking about as the current labyrinth of German industry. ”

"What I just said may come across as pessimistic. However, Fritz begs you to believe that the entrepreneurs who survived the economic crisis are not all greedy and shameless, and there are many people like me. We're all thinking about it, too. We have factories and equipment that are not inferior to those in the UK, and we have the same production methods, but why can't we make products of the same quality as the UK? My friend and I thought about it for a long time and finally found a key point. ”

Sir Gruson suddenly accentuated his tone and said, "It's people, the quality of the Germans is lost to the British. ”

"The British learned how to work in factories more than 100 years ago, and there are more than three generations of people in a family in an English city who have worked in industrial production. However, in Germany, the longest working worker, his work experience is less than 20 years, German enterprises are full of young and inexperienced workers, no matter how good the equipment is not lacking skilled workers, can not produce good products! ”

"Hire people, invite the British, invite the Americans, invite the French to train them, retrain them in new job skills, and teach them new livelihood skills, such as manual skills, service skills, business skills!" Joy jumped up and shouted, "Even the peasants who have lost their land are not terrible, Germany has long been universally compulsory, the literacy rate of German peasants is the best in the world, and training those peasants is as easy as training unemployed workers." ”

Regardless of her father's ugly face, Joey continued, "It doesn't matter if the unemployed are farmers or workers, the state can spend money to train them, and if the state doesn't want to, use Mom's Foundation. Let everyone be engaged in industry, or handicrafts and services, or even business, by virtue of their own skills. ”

Then Joey thought to himself, "Yes, just like in my previous life, I used all kinds of skills to strengthen the unemployed, help them find new jobs, and give them more psychological counseling to help them adapt to the new era." If I can get Mom's Foundation to do it, ha, it will be the foundation of a strong political party....."

"Hahaha! Little Qiaoqiao said well, I thought of going with me! Wait a minute, and we'll talk to your father about how we can change that. Sir Gruson smiled and touched Joey's head, and said to the crown prince, who was a little angry and looking at Joey, "Don't be angry, Fritz, since I am willing to let Joey listen to our conversation, I just want to see if little Jojo is as amazing as those scientists say, and now his idea really did not disappoint me." ”

"Fritz, if we do not strengthen the quality of the German workers and continue to dare not change the current status quo of producing cheap products, then Germany will only go further and further down the road of cheapness. In the end, in competition with other countries, there is only one way for German entrepreneurs to make a profit: the labor exploitation of workers is becoming more and more serious. If there is no profit from the product, their labor and wages can only be exploited from the workers, who work heavier and less for wages. ”

Sir Gruson breathed a sigh of relief and said in a low voice, "If the workers end up with the inexpensive domestic food to protect the Junkers' wallets, then the whole thing will end up in another November Revolution." ”

"Fritz, please believe that although there is an Iron Valley Alliance, there are still many entrepreneurs, entrepreneurs like me and Junckers who oppose the establishment of trade barriers, because we still believe that the real Germany is not afraid of fair and free market competition."

Sir Gruson straightened his body and soothed his aching waist a little, and when Crown Prince Frederick saw this, he quickly pulled up his old friend and put him on the sofa, changed into a comfortable position and continued the discussion.

"Well, let's talk about the city again. Third, the city! When I say the city, I don't mean Swanstein Castle or Hohenzollern Castle, but a transportation hub, an industrial city, and a comprehensive city in this part of Germany. These cities represent Germany's future, and if it wants to have a place in the future, it must move quickly from rural to urban. Sir Gruson gave his own interpretation of the third word.

"Now Germany's big cities are mainly concentrated in Westfalen, because sensitive words cannot be used in words that are familiar to Chinese. and the Rhineland, where there are no other big cities in the north except for a tsundere Hamburg. To the east, there is only the new town of Berlin, and to the south, Munich. Sir Grusen gave a brief description of the distribution of the major cities in Germany in '79.

"Why do I emphasize the city, a city can accommodate hundreds of thousands, even millions of people, on the one hand, the city gives a large number of workers and civilians a place to live and shelter, and on the other hand, the city brings a strong consumption power, far exceeding the consumption power of the same population in the countryside. The more cities there are, the more intensive the flow of capital, labor and goods, and each city with a strong resource allocation efficiency will inevitably have a positive impact on the German industrial economy. ”

"From a political point of view, Fritz, your political capital lies in the workers and civilians in the cities, and more and more cities will only bring you more political benefits. As soon as she married in Germany, she used her kindness to help you win the favor of people in the city, and she had the right eye. Believe me, the Junkers will eventually be swept into the trash, and whoever controls the workers and urban civilians of Germany will control the future of Germany. Sir Gruson affirmed the Crown Prince.

"In the UK, the urbanization rate in the UK was over 70% in '78, while in Germany it was less than 30%. If Germany can also reach the level of urbanization in the United Kingdom, the population of Germany will be enough to ensure that Germany will surpass the United Kingdom in terms of economic aggregate. ”

Sir Grusen began to analyze each of them, "but there are also many shortcomings in the process of urbanization in Germany today. First of all, a large number of peasants in the east who were fixed to the land did not feel the attractiveness of the cities, and the urban development in the east, north and south lagged completely behind that of the west. There are only 21 cities with a population of more than 20,000 in the east, north and south combined, while in the west there are 35 cities in the Rhineland and Westpharen alone. ”

"Secondly, the infrastructure in the city is not enough, there is not enough public safety, transportation and sanitation facilities, there are not enough educational resources, there is not enough cheap housing."

"Finally, there are not enough modern municipal managers in German cities."

Sir Grusen paused and said to the crown prince with great seriousness, "I must declare to you Fritz that I am firmly opposed to the existing confederation policy of Germany, and I always believe that the German territory must be unified and power centralized, and that there are so many kingdoms, grand duchies, principalities, pro-kingdoms and free cities like the present day, which have seriously damaged and hindered the strength of the German Empire. ”

"Fritz, I hope that when you become emperor, I sincerely hope that you will abolish these stupid and backward states." Sir Grusen pleaded with the Crown Prince with a serious expression.

The crown prince nodded and silently agreed.

"The reason why there are no megacities like London and Paris in Germany is because there are so many states in the country that hinder the development of German cities." Sir Gruson emphasised again.

"To give you an example, the same textile cities, Nottingham and Leicester in the United Kingdom, have a population dozens of times that of Barmen in Germany! Doesn't Bamen have the conditions to develop into a big city? Not at all, all the conditions of Barmen were better than Nottingham and Leicester, but because Barmen belonged to the Grand Duchy of Oldenburg, Archduke Paul Friedrich August was unwilling to live or die, and merged Barmen with the Prussian city of Wupperta to develop into a large city. ”

"In the process of establishing a city, there will inevitably be immigrants from all walks of life, and it is important to note that there will be racial and regional discrimination in this, and if this problem cannot be solved, then the city will become a paradise for careerists." Sir Grusen concluded.

Crown Prince Frederick, after making the last notes in his notebook, asked his old friend Sir Gruson, "Herman, I have written down all the problems, and now I can tell you how you can solve them?" ”

Sir Gruson did not reply to Crown Prince Frederick immediately, but smiled at Joey and asked, "Joey, you are also taking notes, do you have any answer to your question about Uncle Herman?" ”

"Uncle Herman, I have some ideas, and if you don't mind, I'd like to hear from you first, and then I'll talk about my thoughts. Please correct me in that case. Joey said with a smile.