Crown Prince Frederick's economic account was calculated in great detail, and a detailed ledger showed that the bookkeeper was not a person who could be easily fooled.

The current scene made all the land Junker nobles present very embarrassed, and they had no idea when Frederick would settle the score, and he was so shrewd that it hit the soft underbelly of the land Junkers who wanted to raise tariffs.

A nobleman from the Thuringian region, who was close to the crown prince, broke the silence and said, "Your Royal Highness, your opinion is a bit one-sided, in fact, you should not only look at the price of grain sold in the market, but also take into account that our production costs are also changing all the time. ”

"Dear Michel von Esenhener, can you introduce me?" The crown prince asked.

"Of course, Your Royal Highness, you must know that our agricultural machinery and seeds need to be imported, and now these things are also rising in price like crazy, causing the cost of our agricultural production to skyrocket. If tariffs had not been raised, we would now earn much less than we did before by deducting the cost of these agricultural machinery and seeds from the selling price of grain in the market. Michel von Esenhener from Thuringen said.

"Agricultural machinery and seed prices are rising? I received the news that the prices of German industrial products are getting lower and lower? The crown prince asked curiously.

"Respect His Royal Highness, German agricultural machinery is indeed very cheap, but the quality of those German goods is not good at all. The landed aristocrats of us here use the best British and American imports, and if we use the domestic German goods, they are cheaper. However, the cost of maintenance is surprisingly high, and in the end, it is still cheap and good quality imported goods. Baron Auerbach hurriedly interjected in order to make up for his stupidity.

"Oh, it seems that the imported ones are not all disasters, it turns out that the machinery and equipment are imported. But how can the price of such a good thing skyrocket? The crown prince asked, puzzled.

"It's all to blame on the German machine builders, the fools who saw that we had formed the Iron Valley Alliance, raised tariffs to protect the price of grain, and they did the same, and also demanded higher tariffs on imported machinery. Now the price of imported machinery products is also rising three times a day, that group of fools are not good at improving the quality of products, just do garbage goods, and now they are embarrassed to ask for tariff protection, tariffs should not protect them! Baron Auerbach said indignantly.

"Oh, it turns out that who the tariff protects depends on whether it is in the interests of the Junkers!" The crown prince concluded with a smile.

After listening to the crown prince's words, all the land Junkers present at the moment cursed in their hearts to Baron Auerbach, "Pig teammates! ”

Count Junker Ewald von Kleist, the Grand Junker from Pomerania, saw that the scene was clearly not on the track he had planned, so he had to stand up from behind the scenes and say, "Your Highness, what they just said was a few details. In fact, the most crucial issue is that the protection of the land and the price of grain for the Junkers is the basis for the protection of Germany, and it is the embodiment of the German patriotic spirit. ”

"The embodiment of patriotism? Dear Earl Kleist, your point of view is very new! The crown prince said with a straight face.

"His Royal Highness the Crown Prince, the foundation of Germany is the Junkers, so eating the food of the Junkers is a manifestation of patriotism. Since it's patriotic, everyone eats appropriately expensive grains, and they also sacrifice for the country, how can patriotism not pay any price, right?! Count Kleist narrowed his eyes and gestured to his fellow nobles.

"Yes, to love Junk is to love Germany!"

"Eating high-priced food is the embodiment of love!"

"Juncker is everything to Germany! They deserve to pay a high price to love us! ”

The group of nobles shouted at the crown prince in a mess. The crown prince was still smiling, looking at the group of nobles quietly.

Looking at the smiling, mysterious crown prince, the noisy nobles finally quieted down. Looking at the nobles who had calmed down, the crown prince still smiled and asked Baron Auerbach, "Baron Auerbach, I remember you just said that 75 years ago all your oats were exported to England, and ordinary Germans can't afford to eat your grains at all, right?" ”

Baron Auerbach hesitated to answer the Crown Prince's question casually, and just as he was about to turn his head to consult his fellow nobles, he heard the Crown Prince continue, "Can an upright Bavarian peasant ask for permission even for the facts?" Where did the Gengzhi of the Bavarian plateau go? ”

This sentence hurt the self-esteem of Baron Auerbach, this upright man on the Bavarian plateau, felt the blood gushing up, and said in a rough voice, "Your Royal Highness, you are right, 75 years ago, my oats were exported, and the Germans at that time really couldn't afford to eat my oats!" ”

Then he added cleverly, "The grain of all the nobles here was also exported, and the British liked our grain products at that time, while the Prussians and German commoners could not afford to consume our grain, and only the British could afford this high price." ”

"75 years ago, all your grain was exported, so whose grain were the Prussians, or the Germans, eating back then?" The crown prince asked, but the crowd was dumbfounded.

"Of course, I ate the grain of those Russians, from the beginning of the Prussian-Danish War to the end of the Franco-Prussian War, every grain in my corps came from Russia, and I didn't see a grain of grain from all of you! Your cereals have always been on the British table! The crown prince gave the real answer in a loud voice.

The crown prince pointed to Count Kleist and said, "Dear Count Kleist, tell me that it is patriotic only to eat the grains of your Great Junkers. So 75 years ago you brought grain to the British table, and the British didn't love the British anymore, or did you always be British? ”

The crown prince looked at Count Kleist coldly, and continued, "The Junkers have military Junkers, court Junkers, parliamentary Junkers, land Junkers, and capital Junkers, and I wonder when the Land Junkers can represent all Junkers, or the Hohenzollern family?" ”

The crown prince looked around at all the nobles, "Since when did eating the food of the Kleist family, the Auerbach family, the Mayer family, the Esenhener family, and your family represent Edwill, instead of serving His Majesty Emperor Wilhelm I?" ”

In the dance hall outside the room, the piano sound of Chopin's mazurka sounded, but the nobles present broke into a cold sweat, but they did not dare to refute a word.

"It's ridiculous that your Auerbach family mainly produces oats, and your Kleist family mainly produces wheat and rye, do I eat your oats and love the country, or do I eat your wheat to be patriotic?" The crown prince glanced at Baron Meyer from Saxony again and said, "The Meyer family also grows wheat and rye, as far as I know, there has always been price competition between you and the Kleist family, so I am very curious, am I patriotic to eat 183 marks a metric ton of wheat from your Meyer family, or am I patriotic to eat 189 marks a metric ton of wheat from the Kleist family?" After all, it seems that the more expensive the Kleist family, the more expensive it is, the more patriotic it is! ”

Earl Kleist and Baron Meyer didn't dare to meet the crown prince's knife-like gaze, so they could only shrink their heads tighter.

Crown Prince Frederick glanced coldly at the nobles who had become silent, and then said loudly, "Patriotism is a noble thing, patriotism is an idea rather than a material, don't put on a patriotic cloak of you vulgar and copper-smelling goods, you are so disgusting and disgusting!" ”

"If a land Junker wants to be patriotic, he will offer your countrymen the best grain at the fairest price! And not thinking about squeezing more profits out of your fellow citizens! ”

The crown prince paused for a moment and softened his tone, "Germany is now facing many difficulties, not only in agriculture, but also in industry, science, and military. Since you are the Junkers, the foundation of the German Empire, then you should come up with a Junker quality and ask yourself what you have done for Germany. What can be done to do better? A Junker should look like a Junker, and he should shoulder more responsibilities, instead of trying to squeeze the interests of his own compatriots! ”

After allowing the land Juncker present to digest his speech a little, Crown Prince Frederick continued.

"I have always been concerned about German agriculture, and I have never forgotten you, the foundations of Germany. But I don't think raising tariffs is the only way to protect you. Today you ask for tariff protection for yourself, and tomorrow others will ask for tariffs to protect themselves. The end result, as Baron Auerbach said, is that although you have raised the price of grain, the price of agricultural machinery and seeds has also increased, and you have not benefited from the high tariffs, but only in the hands of the international grain traders! ”

Crown Prince Frederick looked at the Junkers and said seriously, "I always think that it is better to raise the tariffs than to increase the agricultural subsidies for the purchase of machinery and equipment and seeds, and all the subsidies will be paid directly to you, not to others like the grain tariffs." ”

"As for the quality of domestic agricultural machinery that you are worried about, I assure you that I will use the strictest means to improve the quality of domestic machinery! As a first step, I will demand the development of strict industrial standards for German agricultural machinery. You know what kind of agricultural machinery is the best to use, and I hope and ask you to participate in the formulation of standards together, and hope that you can finally use German machinery comparable to British and American goods. ”

This is a beautiful mazurka solo dance that Crown Prince Frederick danced alone in front of the Junkers of German land.