Under the bright spring light at Easter.

Crown Prince Frederick was chatting with Sir Grusen, Karl, the "Blood Prince", his brother-in-law, Archduchess Friedrich of Baden, and his cousin, Prince Carl August.

In the two weeks since the implementation of Crown Prince Frederick's New Economic Policy, the implementation in Prussia has been relatively smooth, but out of Prussia, the pace of progress in other large and small kingdoms, grand duchies, duchies, and pro-kingdoms of the German Empire has not been as fast as Crown Prince Frederick and Hermann wanted.

According to the Constitution of the German Empire of 1871, the German Empire was a federal state, in which the states delegated military, diplomatic, taxation, and criminal powers to the Reich government (the four southern German states also retained diplomatic and military powers), and only the powers of education, health, and local administration.

The new economic policy that the crown prince wants to promote actually involves more local administration, and if the German states do not support it, out of Prussia, the crown prince's economic policy will not be able to continue.

Frankly speaking, the German Empire was in fact a coalition forcibly brought together by the patriotic fervor of nationalists and liberals, and at present the states were able to achieve unity in diplomacy and military affairs, but economically, culturally, and religiously, many states and empires, or Prussia, could not advance or retreat together.

The most notable example is that Prussia has 17 of the 58 seats in the Reich Federal Parliament, Bavaria, the second largest state, 6, Saxony 4, Württemberg, and only one or two seats in the remaining 20 or so small states and autonomous cities.

It only takes 14 votes to veto a bill, and if the crown prince's decision displeased other states, the crown prince's bill will be rejected in minutes.

The defeat in the First World War was also lost to some extent at the hands of the kings and grand dukes of the various states, so the first thing Prussia did after the First World War was to destroy these states with the help of the wave of revolution and establish the Weimar Republic in the true sense of the word with centralized government.

In the conception of Crown Prince Frederick and Sir Grusson, it was impossible for the empire to use such extreme means of revolution to destroy the feudal states and forcibly promote the centralized system, but only to use more moderate economic means to subtly influence the states, and finally let the states hand over again the important rights of diplomatic, military, economic, educational, and health that should have been attributed to the central government.

A pile of sand (the states), mixed with water (the German national idea) and cement (common economic interests), mixed (the fusion of ideas and the economy), finally turned into hard concrete (the new Germany). This is the ultimate goal of the Crown Prince's NEP, and it is also the goal shared by Sir Gruson and Joey.

Based on the above concept, even if the various states treat each other coldly, the crown prince must also greet each other with a smile, on the one hand, it is based on the thinking of the whole country, and Prussia cannot make its own mess by itself, if it does so, whether it succeeds or not, it can only be separated from each other in the end; On the other hand, the crown prince needed to find a model in these states, a model of a state that would follow Prussia in building a new Germany, with meat to eat and great economic benefits.

Crucially, it is always the mother who will step in to help her son. After Empress Augusta heard about the crown prince's difficulties, she did not hesitate and went directly to her maiden home and found her nephew, Grand Duke Karl Alexander.

After the Empress explained the situation, the Grand Duchy of Saxony-Weimar-Eisenach became the first state to jump out and explicitly support the Crown Prince's NEP.

In fact, even if Empress Augusta did not come forward, Archduke Karl-Alexander would have helped his cousin, Crown Prince Frederick, because Archduke Karl-Alexander was the patron of the Weimar Freemasonry, and Crown Prince Frederick, like his ancestor Frederick the Great, was the patron of the Freemasons of Berlin, and Sir Grusen was the patron of the Magdeburg Freemasonry.

Just as Merck was the Freemasonic protector of the Free Hanseatic Union, the Free and Hanseatic Alliance expressed its support for the Crown Prince's New Economic Policy early on.

Even as a member of the Protestant Freemasonry, the crown prince knew early on that the Grand Sanhedrin of Karl Alexander supported him, but he was still grateful to his mother for going straight to his parents' house without consulting him, asking the Grand Duchy of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach to come forward to support him. A little earlier, he deliberately took Crown Princess Victoria to the palace to thank his mother.

Archduke Friedrich of Baden, as the smartest archduke in the history of the German Empire, of course knew how to support his brother-in-law's work, and after some detailed discussions with several people, he did not hesitate to agree to the implementation of the new economic policy of the crown prince in the Grand Duchy of Baden.

Crown Prince Frederick has been happy recently, and after his comeback, he can finally practice his liberal ideals, and his ideals are supported by a large number of friends.

By the end of April 1879, the relationship between the Imperial Palace and Charlottenburg Palace had been very different from a month earlier. Warmth replaces coldness, laughter replaces ridicule, the concept of home is re-established, and everyone cherishes this time after feeling the warmth between family members again.

The crown princess of Vidulia felt happy under the bright Easter sun, although the shadow of his third son's early death the year before was not completely dissipated, but after a heart-to-heart communication with his eldest son at the beginning of the month, William is now obviously willing to talk to himself more, and he can listen to his own opinions to some extent, which was completely unimaginable a month ago.

A month ago, after Crown Princess Victoria only felt that she had lost her third son, she looked at William, who was becoming more and more indifferent and estranged from her, and knew that she would also lose her eldest son.

I only felt that the clouds in Germany were darker and lower than in England, and that the air in Berlin was more difficult to breathe than the fog in London.

In the 21 years since she was married to Germany in January 1858, there had never been such a difficult day as in March 1879, when the crown princess looked at her youngest son, who was constantly suffering from illness, and even wanted to accompany her son for a moment.

When the crown princess kept praying to God and was willing to give everything for Joey's recovery, her own Jojo finally woke up from a coma, and then everything brightened up in the eyes of the crown princess.

When I followed Qiaoqiao's advice and stopped looking at anything with a stubborn political attitude, and began to reconsider the problem from the perspective of family and family, I suddenly found that the originally tense relationship between mother-in-law and daughter-in-law, father and son, and mother and son gradually thawed and even softened.

Even in order to fulfill the promise he made when he prayed to God for Joey's recovery, Crown Prince Victoria changed his habit for many years and began to take the initiative to show favor to the German ladies in Berlin's social circles, no longer making sharp criticisms of Prussia's traditional values, and even if he had an opinion, he changed it to a euphemism, and tried his best to put away his previous gesture of British superiority in front of his German relatives.

This change has made her mother-in-law look at it in her heart, and she has also been positively recognized by the queen, and the social circle in Berlin also feels that the crown princess is becoming more and more friendly and likable.

For the first time in the past 21 years, Crown Princess Victoria felt that the sky in Germany is blue, bluer than Britain, and the air in Germany is sweet, thousands of times better than London, because her home, the people she loves and the people who love her are here, in Germany.

The old emperor William I has also been happy recently, at least his old wife Empress Augusta is willing to look at him with serious eyes, and even at the ball dinner of the imperial palace, he ate with him for the first time in the past 50 years of marriage, "Oh, we still ate together on the first day of marriage." The old Emperor Wilhelm I, after carefully recalling the past years, corrected his own misunderstanding slightly.

"When I'm old, I'm suddenly willing to recall the past, I don't know what's going on, I can't remember yesterday's events clearly, but the things of fifty years ago are vivid." Kaiser Wilhelm sat on a large chair in the pavilion of the Imperial Palace Lawn, looking at the children playing on the lawn, and suddenly sighed.

"Compared to my brother, I am not at all talented, I am just a Prussia who loves my profession as an officer, and likes to delve into weapons and military theory, and if my brother lives to my age, I may be able to become a good Minister of War or Minister of War."

"But in this way, my old friend Albrecht was robbed of his position, haha, I became the promoter of Prussian military reform..... But I'm not necessarily better than my friends. The old emperor thought of his old friend, Count Ron, who had passed away.

Thinking of Count Ron, and the old emperor remembering his last words before parting, Wilhelm I could not help muttering to himself, "Albrecht, you are like my dear brother, you are liberals at heart." When I was younger, I thought my brother was good at everything, but I was not satisfied with his penchant for compromise and concessions. ”

"As the heir to my father's throne, my brother has learned different things from me? Could it be that the Hohenzollerns have always emphasized that God is the head of the king, the king is the head of the Junkers, and the Junkers are the heads of the common people, is wrong? Why, brother, you and Albrecht are so fond of liberalism? After all these years, I still can't figure it out. ”

"The liberal parliamentarians at the Frankfurt Conference often embarrass you, and you still love them so much, brother, why is that? Could it be that the common people are responsible to the noble lord, the noble lord is responsible to the king, and the king is responsible to God, and this kind of trinity social organization is not good? ”

In the distance, the hearty laughter of Crown Prince Frederick and his friends was heard, and Wilhelm I watched his tall son from afar, his thoughts drifting away in the warm spring sun and deep sleep.

"I am old, and I was raised by my father as an officer from an early age. My father always said that my mission was to protect and support my brother, and my father never taught me how to govern the country, but my brother, who had no children, eventually left the position to me, and what I could do was to run the country's barracks like a soldier. ”

"I am a good officer, but not necessarily a good emperor, since you have always been optimistic about Frederick's liberal ideas as you, brother, and my strong and resolute sister-in-law would rather leave her crown of empress to Victoria than to leave my wife, with whom I have been at odds all my life."

"Okay, brother, just let Frederick do what you want, I'm tired, I just want to lie comfortably in this spring and sleep happily."

Empress Augusta is undoubtedly the happiest one, the old fellow who has been reluctant to talk to herself for 50 years, has been accosting herself from time to time recently. He even sent flowers to his bedroom, and changed his habit of spending lavishly from criticism and accusations in the past, to an encouraging attitude of letting himself spend more and spending as much as he wanted.

Empress Augusta's initial feeling was that her old man was crazy, after all, the Hohenzollern family had a hereditary intermittent mental illness, and her uncle, Frederick William IV, like her husband, was a person who was easily agitated and had great mood swings, and was eventually driven crazy by the complicated political struggles of Prussia.

"Could it be that the damn robber of Xingaosen has come to bully her husband again?!" This was Empress Augusta's first reaction.

His husband can only be left to bully himself, even if he never looks down on his husband, but others bully his husband, which is a big rebellion in the eyes of the queen, so Prime Minister Bismarck has always been the most disgusted person in the eyes of Queen Augusta, there is no one.

But after a few days of careful observation, she found that her husband was very happy, especially after her son came back, she found that William I was very happy recently, and the old face that had been on the board for a lifetime actually smiled!

Send flowers, give gifts, make up for yourself when you have nothing to do, and let yourself spend the money as you like.....

"Well, if this old guy is crazy, this crazy guy is quite likable." Queen Augusta, who had never blushed to her husband, actually blushed for the first time.

Between William I and Empress Augusta, who had been holding their breath for half a century, suddenly leaked so inexplicably, Empress Augusta felt that everything was so pleasing to the eye, and even the number of times she scolded the Prussian blue-skinned monster was significantly reduced.

"My daughter-in-law knows what she has done, and she is grateful, no longer like a proud British princess, but like a German daughter-in-law. His son also knew that he had brought his wife to give him gifts, and he felt sorry for what he had done for him. ”

Looking at William, who finally saw Elizabeth's carriage in the distance, and Joey, who was running crazy on the lawn with children of the same age, "Willy is in love with Ella, and Jojo, a stupid person, can actually guess his mind and know that he has kidnapped his best friend's precious granddaughter." ”

"Well, why does the spring breeze smell so good in April this year! It smells of happiness. ”

Joey, the initiator of all this, unknowingly follows his friends to play happily.