The hallmark of a successful prom is that some people are satisfied and some people are not.

For Crown Prince Rudolph, this ball was not satisfied, not to mention the dance partner he found at the ball, until the end of the ball, Crown Prince Rudolph did not figure out what kind of princess she was.

Crown Prince Rudolph thought that he took the initiative to find his dance partner because he was infatuated with his handsome appearance and charming demeanor, but finally found out that she was infatuated with Prince William. Nothing beats the pride of this crown prince, who inherited his mother's narcissistic personality, more than this fact.

After easily getting rid of this heavy, obsessively looking at Prince William's "low IQ" princess, Crown Prince Rudolph remembered to talk to Crown Prince Frederick about national affairs, such as Rudolph was going to teach Crown Prince Frederick a few tricks and how to get rid of Bismarck, but he never found Crown Prince Frederick in the palace.

It wasn't until near midnight, when the ball had ended and the host needed to see off the guests, that Crown Prince Rudolph saw Frederick and Chancellor Bismarck, talking and laughing, coming out of a room. You don't need Rudolph to guess, just by looking at the expressions of the two, you can know that the conversation between the two is very harmonious.

This made Crown Prince Rudolph very sad and disappointed, in Rudolph's heart, an upright and noble person should not pretend to his political opponents, but should treat his political enemies like a cold winter rainstorm, in short, Rudolph completely unacceptable to Crown Prince Frederick's behavior.

In Rudolph's eyes, Crown Prince Frederick's performance could only be classified as inferior and clumsy, and then in his heart, Crown Prince Frederick's weight immediately became much lighter.

Taking the opportunity of the final farewell, Crown Prince Rudolph's love suddenly overflowed again, and before he could say a few goodbyes to his master, he began to send some life revelations to Crown Prince Frederick, but these words he said made Joey, who was beside him to see off the guests, dumbfounded.

"Dear Frederick, the biggest problem in Germany now is gerontocracy, you look at how old Bismarck and Moltke are, how can they continue to control the government and the army? Only me, and of course Frederick, you are not a young man, and you and I are the future of Germany and Austria! ”

"Dear Frederick, I know that you love liberalism and industrialization as much as I do. Now I can impart to you some of the best things about Austria's industrialization, the most important of which is the rapid removal of the decrepit ones. Frederick, you have to remember that liberalization and industrialization are youthfulness, and the key is that you dare to imagine how high your imagination is, how high Germany's liberalization and industrialization achievements are! You see that the industrialization of Austria-Hungary is developing so fast, it is the result of my imagination! ”

Just when Joey was grinning when he heard it, he really couldn't figure out where Crown Prince Rudolph's extremely narcissistic personality came from, his father, Crown Prince Frederick, replied lightly, "Marshal Moltke defeated the most powerful army in Europe at the age of 71, Prince Bismarck helped Germany get 5 billion francs in compensation at the age of 56, and my teacher, Earl Ron, solved the logistics problem for the 1 million German army through hard planning at the age of 68, and the above three people who are almost 200 years old, He was the founding father of the Second German Reich. ”

Crown Prince Rudolph wanted to say something, but was pulled away by Count Andráhi, who was embarrassed and embarrassed.

Joey looked at the reluctant Austro-Hungarian crown prince and shook his head, this young crown prince is really not narcissistic, but arrogant......

It is not only Crown Prince Rudolf who will not be reconciled tonight, but also Count Ewald von Kleist, the Grand Junker from Pomerania. The original intention of tonight was to persuade the crown prince to support his Iron Valley Alliance, but he didn't want to after a scene with the crown prince in the evening, the few people who traveled with Count Kleist, especially the Baron Friedrich von Auerbach from Bavaria, have now completely become supporters of Crown Prince Frederick, and they actually followed the crown prince and began to oppose the Valley Iron Alliance.

This situation made Count Kleist unbearable, and since he could not convince the crown prince, he used strong means to oppress, using the opposition in the Imperial Diet and the big figures in the Iron Valley Alliance, such as asking Chancellor Bismarck to force the crown prince to accept the policy of high tariffs in the Iron Valley Alliance.

As he left the palace on Linden Street, Count Kleist got into the carriage of Prime Minister Bismarck and waited for the arrival of the Prime Minister.

Bismarck was not surprised to wait for Count Kleist, and at tonight's ball, the Prime Minister had already seen the Count leading a group of Junkers to stop the crown prince, and as for what was being discussed, the old Prime Minister didn't need to guess what was going on.

Therefore, Prime Minister Bismarck did not have any courtesy greetings, and asked directly, "Your Excellency, how are you talking with His Royal Highness the Crown Prince tonight?" ”

Hearing the Prime Minister's inquiry, Count Kleist began to complain like a resentful woman, first complaining that there were shameful traitors among the Junkers who were traveling with him, then complaining that the crown prince did not understand that the basis of Germany was the Junkers, and did not understand that protecting the Junkers was protecting Germany, and finally, loudly complaining that the crown prince did not understand, and the Junkers' patriotic heart to raise the price of grain.

The old prime minister listened to Count Kleist's babbling complaints expressionlessly, but his mind returned to the deep conversation with His Royal Highness the Crown Prince just now.

Less than an hour ago, Crown Prince Frederick and the old chancellor frankly expressed his intention to implement the New Economic Policy after taking office, as well as his attitude towards the high tariff policy of the Valley-Iron Union, and most importantly, expressed his willingness to work hard with the old chancellor for the future of Germany.

In the face of Crown Prince Frederick's frank admission, the old prime minister was quite moved, although he was somewhat moved, but the old prime minister's heart that had gone through ups and downs, out of instinct, still issued a test of the crown prince's new economic policy, such as in the training of the unemployed, in the issuance of Juncker's special agricultural science and technology allowance, in the examination of urban investment, and in the establishment of the German Industrial Standards Guild, the old prime minister's own requirements.

Crown Prince Frederick, after pondering, immediately agreed to the request for what he could agree; For the request that he could not agree to immediately, he also gave the old prime minister a reason, and also attached a timetable for when he could solve the old prime minister's problem. Such an attitude and answer made the old prime minister feel the full sincerity of the crown prince.

Although the two sides did not agree on their political philosophies, they were highly consistent in serving Germany. So after dinner, after nearly an hour of frank exchange of opinions, Lao Zai's assessment of the crown prince was, "A person who is good at compromise and sticks to principles, a collaborator who can openly cooperate in government affairs." ”

Looking at the cautious eyes of Count Kleist, Chancellor Bismarck pondered for a moment and said, "Your Excellency, I have just exchanged some views with the Crown Prince, including the issue of high tariffs in the Valley-Iron Alliance, and my opinion is that His Royal Highness the Crown Prince's New Economic Policy is very tempting, and if it is really as the Crown Prince envisions, it may be a good thing for Germany." ”

Chancellor Bismarck then patted Count Kleist on the shoulder and comforted him with a smile, "Of course, I also explained to His Royal Highness the Crown Prince that the interests of the Junkers in the German land are equally important, and any attempt to damage the Junkers is to destroy the foundation of the empire, which is unacceptable." ”

"At my request, the crown prince will provide subsidies for agricultural machinery, seeds and fertilizers for all the land Junkers. You have to believe, Lord Earl, that the future of the Land Junkers will be better and better, and that the current difficulties are only temporary. ”

"Betrayal! You are a complete betrayal! You guys, you're betraying the foundations of Germany! are betraying the class from which you come from! Count Kleist lowered his head and gritted his teeth in his heart, "Since you are all betraying your class, but I will not be willing and degenerate, then it is up to me, I to save Juncker!" ”

Prince Alexander, the Minister of Guard of Emperor Wilhelm I, was also full of anger tonight. When he learned that his niece begged Empress Augusta to take her with him to the Princess's Ball, Prince Alexander knew that William had secretly captured Elizabeth's heart under his strict defense.

Prince Alexander has a lot of eyeliner, even if the prince sits alone in the dark office of Charlottenburg Palace, but every move of Elizabeth and William in the palace has been passed on to him in a steady stream, so that the prince knows all the situation for the first time.

The faith of Prince Alexander from the Grand Duchy of Hesse has always been a strange existence in the German court, in Germany Prussians are basically Protestant (high Lutheranism), in the west and south of Germany, people mostly believe in Catholicism, including those West Slavs represented by Poles and Czechs in the east, while Prince Alexander's faith is Orthodox.

It can be said that since his grandfather, Hesse on the Rhine has been constantly contemplating strange believers, converting from Catholicism to Protestantism and then to Orthodox Christianity. Of course, the Hessian family did not change their beliefs for no reason, the key is that the Hessian women married into a certain country as queens, and the Hessian men's beliefs would become the same as those of a certain country.

The most recent empress of the Hessian family was the Russian Empress Maria Alexandrovna lying in the hospital bed of the Great Kremlin, because the princess of the Hessian family converted to Orthodox Christianity, so Alexander's father, Ludwig II of Hesse, changed their family's faith to Orthodox Christianity.

Although the religious beliefs of the Hessian men have changed, Prince Alexander firmly believes that his Orthodox faith is pious and persistent, and Prince Alexander has publicly declared more than once that the faith of himself and his family will eventually stay on the Orthodox Church, and there will never be a change of faith because of a woman, although the prince's nephew Ludwig IV, because he married Queen Elizabeth's second daughter, Princess Alice, and once again embraced Protestantism (high Anglican Church).

Anyone who met Prince Alexander basically believed that Prince Alexander was fanatical about Orthodoxy and devout to the Romanovs, so he was jokingly called the prince of Russia in the German court.

Prince Alexander has always regarded Princess Elizabeth as the perfect candidate for the position of future Tsar Empress, and although Princess Elizabeth is almost 4 years older than Nikolai Alexandrovich Romanov, who has the right to inherit the throne and is unmarried, in the eyes of Prince Alexander, a devout Orthodox Christian, this is not a problem.

The actual meaning behind the prince is that as long as he can marry a woman from the Hesse family to Russia, nothing is a problem.

When the eyeliner told the Prince that William and Elizabeth had waltzed together for the third time, Prince Alexander felt that his world was as cold and dark as this office.

"I will not allow, I will never allow! Elizabeth is married to a pathetic cripple, and I will ruin you by all means, this cripple, and the guy who helped you secretly deliver love letters....."

Mary-Wadsey was equally dissatisfied with the ball in the palace tonight, and on the way home after the ball, she kept complaining to her second husband, General Wadsey, who was about to become an assistant to old Moltke, that such as the crown princess's charity was a complete show, disgusted by the smell of Jews in the palace, and extremely disgusted by the appearance of Eugénie, the French queen, and even felt that the palace had too much of an English smell.

Half a year ago, Alfred Graf Wadsey had just been transferred back to the Berlin Imperial Palace from the post of chief of staff of the German Second Army Corps stationed in Hanover to serve as a staff officer of the military attendant of the court of Wilhelm I. At that time, there was a rumor in the German General Staff that Moltke was very optimistic about Wadsey's staff talent, and it was said that Wadsey wanted to be his successor, so Wadsey had not yet sat hot in the position of the palace military staff officer, and went to the General Staff two months ago.

Now all in the General Staff, there is a new legend that Wadsey will be the Quartermaster General of the General Staff.

After listening to his wife's complaints for a long time, Wadsey asked Mary-Wadsey a gloomy question, "I saw Sir Gruson hiding in a room with some Jewish bankers, not knowing what he was plotting. ”

"Alfred, supposedly he was discussing, how to support the crown prince's work as Minister of Economy, saying that he was going to finance the crown prince's plan, oh, the new economic plan." Mary Wadsey twisted into her husband's arms and said coquettishly, "Alfred, I got the news by dancing with the Jews because I was disgusted with the stench of Jews, and you have to make it up to me." ”

Wadsey hugged his newlywed wife from the United States, who was over 42 years old and still dressed in a bewitching dress, kneaded and kissed him fiercely, touched the beard on his lips, and said in a low voice, "From the time I joined the army, I knew that the crown prince liked Jews, and his wife's motherland actually used Jews as prime ministers, Mary, do you know what this means?!" ”

Mary Wadsey looked at her husband with a look of lust and reluctance, and said, "Alfred, what does this mean?" ”