The core of European diplomacy in the nineteenth century, or world diplomacy, was to revolve around the behemoth of the British Empire, and after solving the core problem of Britain, diplomatic difficulties in other directions were no longer difficult.

Now Joey's Plan B, coupled with his own Plan A, for a while, Prime Minister Bismarck has even more confidence.

Taking advantage of the high spirits, Prime Minister Bismarck casually asked if Joey had any better ideas for dealing with France, especially how to make another profit from the French.

To the surprise of Prime Minister Bismarck, after thinking about it for a long time, Joey said, "My lord, with France, maybe we have arrived, and the big stick in our right hand is hidden behind us, and it is time to hand out the olive branch in our left hand."

"In accordance with the New Economic Plan drawn up by my father and Sir Gruson, this year's focus is on consolidating and uniting the political forces in the country in support of the New Economic Plan.

"The work that was originally planned to be completed in June next year is currently optimistic that it is expected to be completed after the New Year, that is to say, the economic construction that originally began in the second half of next year is very likely to be started in January or February next year."

"Having received your unequivocal support, Sir Grusen revised the New Economic Plan, which enjoyed widespread support in the Prussian Parliament, in the pro-Prussian states, among the Junkers, among the bankers, among the business owners, and among the working class, and that there was now no shortage of goods or money. But my only concern, or extreme worry, is the lack of people, the lack of valuable human resources. ”

"Jojo, according to our plan, aren't the relevant human resources attracted from Hesse, Württemberg and Bavaria?" Prime Minister Bismarck frowned and asked with some confusion.

Crown Prince Frederick also looked at his youngest son a little strangely, how could the French issue have something to do with his economic planning and human resource gap?

In April this year, after Crown Prince Frederick took full charge of Germany's economic, financial and foreign trade affairs, he began to work with Sir Grusen to promote the transformation and upgrading of German industrial technology and get rid of the new economic plan of German manufacturing cheap image.

As with all changes, innovations, and reforms, changemakers faced opposition and resistance of all kinds, ranging from the covert obstruction of the German aristocracy to the overt challenge of the landed Junkers, the threat of strikes instigated by socialists in exile, and the blatant opposition of several major German states, especially Bavaria, Hesse and Württemberg, in the Reichstag.

Fortunately, with Joey, a traverser, accidentally gaining the support of Emperor Wilhelm I, and uniting Prime Minister Bismarck, it was like overcoming obstacles through the forest of misery, Crown Prince Frederick and Sir Grusson started from breaking the Iron Valley Alliance, to the divisive measures against the land Junkers vainly trying to form an alliance, to the vigorous pacification of the workers' strike movement, and to artificially lower the cost of living in the city by expanding food imports to hurt the interests of some land Junkers, By ensuring that workers and city dwellers are not threatened by hunger, the industrial Junkers are safeguarded, which in turn stimulates their enthusiasm for technological change and upgrading, and invests heavily in retraining programs for unemployed farmers and workers to acquire new skills to meet the needs of future development.

Finally, with the help of the mentality of many aristocrats and capitalists who want to get close to themselves and seek more political and economic benefits, Crown Prince Frederick actively raised funds from the nobles and capitalists through the foundation of the crown princess, and vigorously promoted charitable funding activities, so that the most embarrassed German people at the bottom could have enough to get through the most difficult time.

As with the "October Edict" reform implemented by the Baron of the Stein Empire 80 years ago, the difficulties and dangers in it are varied, and the bitterness is indescribable.

Even with this painstaking efforts, the alliance of Bavaria, Hesse and Württemberg was the last peak that the NEP could not cross.

At the beginning of the German Empire, as a political compromise, Prussia made great concessions to the other states, large and small, and Prussia could reject any resolution that was unfavorable to it, and the other states, especially the three states of the South German Union, were united to reject any proposal that was unfavorable to them.

Hesse, Württemberg and Bavaria, which have large agricultural populations, are fed by rivers that originate in the Alps for many years, and Crown Prince Frederick's expansion of grain imports is also seriously offending the economic interests of the Junkers in the lands of the three states.

Faced with the serious loss of agricultural land from the peasants, Crown Prince Frederick encouraged the domestic bourgeoisie to buy a large amount of agricultural land, which in the long run helped to shift capital from industry to land cultivation, promoted the emergence of capitalist farms, and finally enabled German agriculture to complete the transformation from feudal renting to capitalist farms.

But this point is a fatal blow to many nobles.

Since the beginning of the nineteenth century, Prussia began to promote the reform of serfs, coupled with the industrial revolution in Germany itself, the income of many nobles who originally relied on land production has plummeted, and with the weakening of their economic status, by 1879, more than 80% of the German aristocracy had debt problems.

Crown Prince Frederick's new economic reforms, which suppressed the price of cereals and reduced the income of the Junkers, took the peasants out of the land and sent them to the cities and factories, and now encouraged the capitalists in the cities to take money and go to the countryside to buy up agricultural land in the hands of the aristocracy, and then to develop a new type of capital-centralized farm economy.

In the eyes of the declining aristocracy, this is all a drain on them.

In fact, the land reform promoted by Crown Prince Frederick actually took into account the interests of the aristocracy, allowing the land Junkers to convert their land into shares in new farms and run modern capital farms with the capitalists, which was essentially a good opportunity to promote the transformation of the land Junkers.

However, in order to prevent the failure of the French-style reform of agricultural capitalization, that is, to prevent the capitalists from buying land not for business but in exchange for aristocratic status, as in the old land Junkers, the purchased land was divided into small plots and rented to the peasants in order to collect rent.

Crown Prince Frederick forcefully refused to grant the new landowner a title of nobility and ordered the acquired agricultural land to be used only for the sole purpose of agriculture, with penalties ranging from suspension of agricultural loans, fines, confiscation of security deposits, and eventual forced cancellation of the transaction, resulting in imprisonment for fraudulent transactions.

Even if these measures were well implemented in the North German states and the Duchy of Baden, in the mouths of those who were well-intentioned in Württemberg, Hesse and Bavaria, they were described as a conspiracy by Protestant Prussia against the Catholic South German states, in a vain attempt to seize the land of the Catholic aristocracy and weaken the number of the Catholic aristocracy.

In addition, Sir Grusen's proposal in the Reichstag to take back the right to mint the currency of the various states and unify the coinage of Germany into the Central Bank of Berlin was resolutely opposed by these South German states that had the right to mint money and live on the money.

After several parliamentary encounters, Joy came up with a new idea for his father, Chancellor Bismarck, and Sir Grusen, and simply proposed a new economic plan that would be implemented in the Northern League and the Duchy of Baden, leaving aside the three states of South Germany.

In addition to relying on capital, technology and resources, this new economic plan, which was ultimately aimed only at the industrial transformation and technological upgrading of the Northern Union and the Duchy of Baden, and the expansion of the scale of German industrial production, required an important condition was high-quality human resources.

Originally, according to the original plan, the New Economic Plan was to be implemented throughout the German Empire, and the corresponding human resource gap would be filled first by the Protestant countries of Sweden, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Denmark, followed by Austria, Italy, and finally to Europe.

Now that the three South German states are not participating, the plan to bring in talent from Austria and Italy has been postponed again, and in addition to continuing to attract talent from the Protestant countries, efforts have also been made to attract talent from the three non-cooperative states.

The economic black hole effect of economically developed areas on backward areas is used, or it is called the driving effect and fund-absorbing effect..... Well, no matter what it is called, talents and capital will never stay in poor and backward areas, whether they are spontaneous or forced, they will spontaneously gather in economically developed areas, and this is the reason why the strong are always strong.

If the backward regions do not keep up with the footsteps of the developed regions and do not change themselves, the result will inevitably be that their limited capital and talents will flow infinitely to the developed regions, and the poor will become poorer and the weaker will remain weak, the so-called Matthew effect.

If the kings and nobles of Bavaria firmly believe that they can catch up with the traditional theories of developed regions by adhering to the glorious tradition of hard work behind closed doors, Joey will definitely laugh out loud, it has always been that openness can promote economic development and national progress, and he has never heard that building cars behind closed doors can be the first in the world.

What is there to be afraid of who only dares to harm himself behind closed doors, and who dare not go out and harm the world?!

Either Prussia will absorb the talents and capital of the three South German states, and finally be eaten by the bones, or keep up with Prussia's economic footsteps and accept Prussia's political conditions to transform itself.

Whether to destroy or survive, in front of the three states of Bavaria, there are only two ways in the end.

"My lord, at my behalf, the Ahensbach Institute has carried out a potential risk assessment of the new economic plan." Joey scratched his head apologetically.

"According to the study, if the new economic plan is launched early next year, the biggest potential risk is the talent gap, even if the talent plan that has been designed is brought in, and enough talent is attracted from the three southern German states, there is still a huge labor gap, which is expected to be 40,000 in 1880, 70,000 in 1881, and more than 110,000 in 1882."

"Oh my God, why is it Ahrensbach again..."Chancellor Bismarck stroked his head and couldn't help but interrupt, "Jojo, how many things has this institute done on it?" ”

"Well, my lord, it's not something that should be called a problem, but there are a lot of issues that are currently being promoted." Joey thought about it seriously, and then began to fold his hands and count, "In addition to the research group that studies the diplomatic credibility of various countries, there are also research groups that study the economies of various countries, such as economic policy, monetary policy, stock market trends, etc., and there are also research groups that study British and French colonial policies, such as the similarities and differences in colonial policies in Africa, the Near East, and the Far East, as well as the research groups that study the military strength of various countries, and ......"

Listening to Joey's incessant talk, Chancellor Bismarck was never sure how much he had listened, but at least one thing was certain, this Ahrensbach Institute was really special, and he didn't let go of anything, and he had to study everything.

It wasn't until Joey finished speaking that Chancellor Bismarck couldn't help but ask another irrelevant question, "Jojo, the members of the Ahensbach Institute, where do they all come from?" ”

"The researchers are mainly Prussians and Jews, but of course, there are some excellent people from other regions and countries." Joey replied with some smugness.

The ability to combine the natural rigor of the Prussians with the natural calculating genius of the Jews in the Ahrensbach Institute has always been one of Joey's proudest works.

"I knew this was the case, and it was really rigorous and calculating...", Chancellor Bismarck waved his hand without temper, and motioned for Joey to continue.

"Oh, and as I mentioned earlier, the labor shortage in the coming years will be a big factor limiting the effectiveness of the new economic plan, so getting more people is the most important thing for us."

"Expanding immigration? Language, customs, religion are all tricky issues, and I don't recommend this approach. ”

"There is no suitable source from the outside, we can only tap the potential from within, and the military, that is, from within, has the largest labor sector."

"In order to guard against the revenge of the French, our army has piled up nearly 400,000 troops on the German-French border, and this huge army force is not only a huge financial burden on the government, but also occupies a large number of young and middle-aged laborers."

"If the troops in Alsace and Lorraine can be gradually reduced to about 300,000 in three years' time, plus a large number of people drawn from the South German Confederation to work, then the labor force will not be too much of a problem in these years."

"Therefore, a proper diplomatic rapprochement with France and the reduction of military pressure on the Western Front are a great thing for economic development and financial burden. My lord, if you understand it from another angle, this is also the French sending us money. ”

Investing 80% of the national income in the army sounds absolutely bloody, but as the navigator and purse of the empire, Crown Prince Frederick and Chancellor Bismarck certainly understood the pain.

Joey's idea, I have to say, is very attractive.

It was indeed very attractive, Crown Prince Frederick and Chancellor Bismarck looked at each other deeply, and after exchanging a vague glance, Chancellor Bismarck's gaze turned to Joey.

"However, the War Department and the General Staff Headquarters will not agree to a rash reduction in the number of land forces on the Western Front, and even if it makes trouble with Your Majesty, it will be difficult for us to get support, and I cannot guarantee that we can immediately convince the cunning French to reduce the number of troops on the German-French border with us." Prime Minister Bismarck shook his head with regret on his face, "Qiaoqiao, although your idea is good, it can't be realized diplomatically, this is a big problem." ”

"It seems that this is really the case, what is needed to reduce the border garrison is mutual trust between the two sides, and there is really no mutual trust in the current German-French relations...."Joey's radiant face quickly dimmed.

"It can be done without touching the number of the army on the Western Front, and reducing the total number of soldiers in the army year by year." Crown Prince Frederick, who had been watching the change in his son's expression, suddenly spoke, "It is only necessary to extend the service time of active soldiers, and at the same time reduce the number of conscripts year by year. ”

Joey's eyes lit up again, and he looked at his father with a look of hope.

"However, if you want to do this, you can't reduce the strength to defend the country, then you need to exchange Qiaoqiao's patented technology, especially smokeless gunpowder technology, and you need to transfer it to other domestic weapons manufacturers to expand the production of bullets, and also reduce your HK81A2 procurement cost, so that more troops can be equipped with this weapon, and the details of trench warfare infantry tactics you proposed a few days ago in order to prevent the Russians from attacking us, as well as the design ideas of rapid-fire guns and machine guns."

"As long as you can hand over these things, I will ask the War Department and the General Staff to make an assessment, and if the results of the assessment are as you said, the defense facilities composed of barbed wire, trenches, and permanent fortifications, plus the fire network composed of mines, machine guns, rapid-fire guns, and long-range heavy artillery, are enough for a small number of troops to defend against a large-scale enemy attack, and I have a way to persuade the army to reduce the troops on the Western Front by half within three years, and the total strength is limited to 250,000."

Crown Prince Frederick looked at Joey and said categorically.

Joey took a breath, this is no longer a matter of his father's footsteps being too fast, but a matter of infringing on the rights and interests of himself and those he represents, Joey, who has a 21st century soul through the soul, is the courage to defend his own rights and interests.

Your own affairs should be solved by yourself, and your own rights and interests should be safeguarded by yourself.

After taking a deep breath, Joey, with a determined expression, replied in a self-justifying tone, "Father, regarding the patented technology of smokeless gunpowder, such as the Ludwig Royal Arsenal, the Loy Company, the Hernell Company, and the Krupp Company, if they are willing to agree to pay the appropriate patent fees, and meet some technical requirements of the Grusen Arsenal and the HK Company, I can exert some influence within the Foundation and initiate a vote at the board level to vote on the transfer of technology." ”

The implication is that although I provided the formula for smokeless gunpowder on behalf of the Foundation, it was the R&D capabilities of Grusen that ultimately made it happen, so this technology is not owned by me Joey personally, but by a group or a company.

Defending the country is a sacred reason, but no one can deprive everyone of their rights and interests under the sacred excuse, and cannot protect and respect the rights and interests of a person, a group, or a company, so what is the state protecting?

In a business society that emphasizes contract, equality and justice, any normal person will despise that rhetoric, not asking what the state has done for you, but asking what you have done for the country, especially from the mouth of a Catholic who is not allowed to be unfaithful to marriage, this sanctimonious and hypocritical American president, probably like to use the name of the state as a fig leaf for the shameless to do evil.

In Joey's mind, the most correct expression of the state and the people should be that the people realize their own personal value through the existence of the state, the country is great because it protects the existence of the people's own value, the state is the country of the people, and the monarch should be the protector of the people rather than the oppressor.

So it is with the kingdom and the people, and so with the Father and the Son.

Therefore, the transfer is not unconditional, not only to pay the appropriate fee, but also to accept the conditions of the transfer, the commercial society pays attention to the spirit of the contract, and the conditions cannot be agreed upon.

"As for the purchase cost of the HK81A2 rifle, I guarantee that with the increase in the purchase volume of the military and the improvement of the production technology and process of the HK company, the purchase unit price will definitely be reduced, but the premise is that the purchase quantity must be guaranteed, if there is no guarantee of quantity, the cost of the gun will not be able to drop more."

In the business society of businessmen, if you want me to lower the price of my products, according to the spirit of reciprocity, you have to ensure my sales, force me to reduce the price without any reason, and force me to buy and sell, this kind of business that harms my own interests, sorry I don't do it.

The wind can enter, the rain can enter, the king cannot enter, and I am in charge of my territory, which is a tradition of Europeans since ancient times.

"I am willing to provide the military with a theoretical system of trench warfare, consisting of trenches, barbed wire, permanent fortifications, mines, machine guns, and rapid-fire artillery, free of charge, for the General Staff to evaluate its effectiveness."

Different from the material wealth of the individual, the wealth of ideas and theories belongs to the nation and the spiritual wealth of the country, and in order to root the abstract concept of the state in the hearts of all the people and turn it into a living image, it needs to be carefully shaped at the spiritual level, just like the European countries in the nineteenth century, in order to arouse the people's love for the country, and adopt the shaping of the mother's image of the country, the sword held in the hands of the German mother Germania, the idea of war is also part of the country's martial spirit.

Spirit and matter, to whom they should belong, Joey is very clear in this regard.

"However, in three years the Alsace and Lorraine regions will be completed with a permanent fortification complex of mines, trenches, barbed wire, cement or steel fortresses, and a sufficient number of fire systems consisting of light and heavy artillery and machine guns, plus a large number of reloaded rifles..."

"Father, I have to say that this military expenditure far exceeds the economic benefits generated by the liberation of 150,000 laborers from the army, and the economic benefits of this money flowing are far better than solidifying them into immovable military assets that can only be depreciated." Joey tried to persuade him.

"However, Grusen Arsenal, HK Company and Joey, you can make a lot of money, I guarantee that this is at least a fortune worth hundreds of millions of gold marks, and you may not be able to meet a great opportunity once in your life, so you are willing to give it up like this?!" Crown Prince Frederick frowned and asked very sadly.

"Money, I like it, I like to make money, but I don't make money for the sake of making money, I am the master of money and not its slave, and I also understand my responsibilities and responsibilities."

"Father, I was born on this land, first and foremost, as a person, a member of the Hohenzollern family, so I need to use the standard of right and wrong to look at the behavior of the country I love, and use the responsibility of the Hohenzollern family to defend the country I love."

"Only when these things are satisfied, I am a businessman, and I need to consider my business rights and interests in a fair and contractual spirit."

"So, don't you want this money?" Emperor Frederick stared at Joy with regret on his face.

"Yes, father, don't." Joey nodded happily, "Besides, obtaining commercial profiteering in China is an illegal thing in itself, after all, the law is in the king." ”

Joey patted the top of his head gently.

Looking at Joey, who was full of seriousness, a smile began to slowly climb up the faces of Crown Prince Frederick and Chancellor Bismarck.

"I've said it a long time ago, Jojo has an interesting soul hidden in his body, and you and Victoria have a great, wonderful son!" Chancellor Bismarck said to Crown Prince Frederick in a tone that was half admiring and half complimentary.

Crown Prince Frederick happily accepted the compliment from Lao Zai, looked at Joey, who was a little confused, and said with a smile, "Jojo, today is an exam, a test that we wanted to do a long time ago. ”

"Your answer exceeded our expectations, I didn't even think your answer would be so great, Jojo, you can always surprise us differently."

Pretty skins are always the same, but interesting souls are different.

"And the easing of diplomatic relations with France?" Joey looked nervously at Chancellor Bismarck.

"Jojo, like you said, détente with France is to make money, and making money from the pockets of the French is exactly what I do best." Prime Minister Bismarck looked at Joey narrowly and smiled.

He turned to his father again.

"I can't reduce the total strength of the garrison on the Western Front to 250,000, but it will be reduced by 70,000 in two years, which is not a big problem." Crown Prince Frederick smiled.