On December 25th and 26th, Chancellor Bismarck was actually in Berlin Cathedral, and in addition to praying in the church, the Chancellor went with Crown Prince Frederick to meet His Majesty Wilhelm I at Charlottenburg Palace.

I came to Berlin Cathedral again on the 26th, purely because the Christmas charity event led by Crown Prince Frederick and his wife yesterday was too dazzling, and there were a few small things to talk to Crown Prince Frederick and Joy.

It is completely impossible for an old-fashioned aristocrat like Chancellor Bismarck to take off his formal clothes and change into overalls to serve the poor people of Berlin, both because of the traditional aristocratic education that Prime Minister Bismarck received and because of the pride in the old Chancellor's heart.

Looking at the busy Berlin aristocrats in the Berlin Cathedral like worker bees, Chancellor Bismarck sneered and said to himself, "You political speculators, since the Crown Prince was snubbed by His Majesty in 71, you have alienated His Royal Highness Crown Prince Frederick like a plague, and now you are working so hard to repair your friendship, you are really a bunch of fools who don't know what shame is." ”

"You are stupid because you have never understood the hidden blood kinship between the emperor and the crown prince, and you have only seen the appearance of my fierce quarrel with Crown Prince Frederick in the past, but you do not know that the quarrel of insisting on principles is the best way to win the true friendship of an upright person."

"How to win the long friendship between the two generations of the Emperor and the heir of the Hohenzollern family, is not something that you speculators can understand!"

"Speaking of continuing the long friendship with the Hohenzollerns, it's time to focus on Herbert's friendship with William." Thinking of this, the tall prime minister couldn't help but quietly straighten his chest and looked carefully at the fiery group of worker bees, and sure enough, there was no Prince William in the group of young children in the Hohenzollern family.

Squinting his eyes, he scanned carefully for a long time, and this time he could see the faces of many familiar nobles, among which he could not only see the figure of Sir Delbrück, his chief of staff, but also the old back of Count Blow, Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, and as for the appearance of the other seven chief officers of the office wearing one-piece overalls, they also crossed their eyes from time to time.

"It seems that Herbert really didn't lie this time, and did go to Hesse with Prince William, alas, this annoying fellow finally listened to me, and finally did not go to Countess Boyten again."

But looking at the scene of people coming and going in front of him, the corner of Prime Minister Bismarck's eyes couldn't help twitching, and he still couldn't help it in his heart, and scolded secretly, "These bastards! ”

Compared with the ridicule in his heart before, when he angrily reprimanded this group of speculators this time, he felt a little more helplessness in his heart, and the depressed breath in his heart pressed the back of the already slightly hunched back even more stiff, "No matter when, the monarch's side is always indispensable to meet the existence of the horseman, it seems that it is time for me to have a serious talk with the crown prince." ”

Thinking of this, Prime Minister Bismarck took a deep breath, straightened his back again, and began to chase after a man again with a pair of eagle-like eyes.

Whether it was unloading all kinds of ingredients and articles from the wagon and carrying them into the kitchen, or moving the freshly prepared hot soup pots, bread pans, and sausage pots from the back kitchen to the front desk where they needed to be distributed, or when he was stopped by some familiar veteran, strange Prussian peasant, or other admirer, he always had a sincere smile on his face, at least in the eyes of Chancellor Bismarck, and patiently communicated with everyone.

He never shouted at the aristocrats who seemed to be making up the numbers, or stretching their waists to the reporters of various countries, posing for various poses, but only smiled and patted their shoulders, and begged them in a warm tone to help him do what he thought the group of fellows could do.

In the face of those deliberate flatterers, always use self-deprecation to respond to the other party's flattery, if the other party's words obviously cross the line, you can also use words and actions with clear eyes, and resolutely say "No!" ”

He has the courage to laugh at himself and always smile, knows what to say no to, and more importantly, he has realized the power of the emerging workers and learned how to win the favor of them.

Prime Minister Bismarck, who had been hiding and observing for a long time, suddenly fell into a wonderful state, warm, extremely relaxed, his back was no longer tight, his neck was not sore, his hands were raised higher, and he seemed to be back in 1862, when he was 47 years old when he first became the prime minister of Prussia.

To be the chancellor of the future Frederick III for the rest of his life, at this moment, it became the greatest wish of the chancellor Bismarck.

It was almost past one o'clock in the afternoon, and the Crown Prince Frederick and his wife and the German aristocrats who had come to volunteer finally had time to sit down together for a simple lunch, a beer soup, a piece of brown bread and a boiled sausage, and all the adults' lunch was left over from this free charity event for the poor.

To reward Joey for the half-grown children who came to help, an extra wheat soup replaced the beer soup in the children's hands.

After the bustling crowd receded, Chancellor Bismarck could no longer hide his tall figure, and the old prime minister, who showed his figure, simply walked towards Crown Prince Frederick with a generous face.

"Hi Otto, alright!" Crown Prince Frederick put down the knife and fork in his hand, wiped the corner of his mouth with a handkerchief, and greeted the old prime minister with a smile.

Bismarck took off his top hat with a smile, bowed lightly to Crown Prince Frederick, and then sat down in the seat that was specially given up next to the crown prince, and smiled and complimented Princess Victoria, "Your Highness, your charity event is so successful, sincere congratulations!" ”

"If Herbert hadn't accompanied Prince William to Hesse, I would have asked him to help." Prime Minister Bismarck spread his hands with regret on his face.

Princess Victoria's eyes flickered, and she turned her head slightly and gave Joey an inquiring look, Joey pursed the corners of her mouth, frowned with a bitter face, and nodded lightly.

After glaring at Joey lightly, the crown princess began to greet the old prime minister.

Joey craned his neck and glanced in the direction of the back kitchen, and after seeing nothing unusual, he picked up a piece of black bread, and Ginter next to him leaned over to Joey and said softly, "I let them hide in the room where dry goods are stored in the back kitchen, and lunch was also delivered." ”

"Thanks to you, it's too dangerous, if the old man sees it, I guess—" Joey grinned, broke off a piece of bread, and quickly stuffed it into his mouth, crushing himself to the shock.

Today, near noon, as soon as Chancellor Bismarck walked into the Berlin Cathedral, he was caught by the sharp-eyed Ginter, who immediately turned his head and told Joey, who was frightened and hurriedly ran into the back kitchen to warn the couple who were helping his mother cook.

The lovers were Herbert von Bismarck and Elisabeth von Karrot Boiten, who were widely known throughout Berlin and even in German upper circles.

In fact, Herbert had been helping out in Berlin Cathedral for both days, and the so-called accompanying Wilhelm to Hesse was just an excuse to deceive the old chancellor into spending Christmas with his lover, Countess Boyten.

The Count of Boiten was located in the Silesian province of Boiten (present-day Bitom in Poland), a city which, together with Gliwice and Zabze, formed the famous center of steel and coal in eastern Prussia.

It must be noted that the current marital status of the Countess of Boyten is still married, and Herbert is unmarried, so the correct way to express the relationship between the two in 1879 should be that Herbert is the lover of the Countess of Boyten.

As mentioned earlier, it is allowed for a married noblewoman to find a lover in European aristocratic society, and it is more tolerant than a male nobleman to find a lover, and young unmarried women are discriminated against as mistresses, while young unmarried men are accepted as mistresses.

For this messy relationship between nobles, Joey also understood the difference after careful explanation by his friend Ginter.

Who said that women were only emancipated in the twentieth century, at least the ladies in the European aristocratic circle had long been emancipated, there were too many aristocrats with financial freedom, love freedom, and indulgence in life for both men and women, and some marriages between nobles were no longer sacred, but only political.

Joey, who has always believed that marriage is sacred, originally didn't care about these at all, but he didn't want his mother to be close friends with Countess Boyten, in fact, it should be said that he was friends with the countess's maiden family, the Catholic Carrot family.

I didn't expect that Countess Boyten would take Herbert and come to Berlin Cathedral to help the crown princess.

As supporters of the Prussian Catholic Central Party, the Carrot family has always been a staunch opponent of Prime Minister Bismarck, and married to the family of Count Boiten, who are also Catholic Central Party, and it stands to reason that Miss Elisabeth Carrot should not have any life relations with the Bismarck family.

However, fate is so elusive, God knows why, Herbert at a ball this year, after meeting the Countess of Boyten for the first time, began to be madly infatuated with her, and the Countess was also fascinated, accepted this love 10 years younger than herself, and the two quickly became the most famous pair of lovers in the Berlin aristocratic circle.

The advent of love has always been like this, what makes outsiders see that it is so inexplicable, but it makes people in the bureau never be able to refuse.

Yesterday, Prime Minister Bismarck came and went in a hurry, which not only frightened the lovers, but also frightened Joey and his mother, for fear that the stubborn old prime minister would do something out of the ordinary in the venue.

After Chancellor Bismarck and Crown Prince Frederick left, the lovers came to comfort Crown Prince Frederick, especially Herbert said bluntly, "My father has always hated this kind of popular activity, in his heart, the nobles should sit in the study, drink coffee and smoke cigars at Christmas, no matter how bad it is, it should be an afternoon nap, and it is impossible to come here to watch others do manual work, this is not the old stubborn character." ”

Although Herbert had a point, Joey was always worried that this kind of thing would happen again, so he privately greeted his friend Ginter, asking him to pay attention to whether there was a tall old man with a slightly hunched back and a top hat suddenly appeared here.

It turns out that the more you worry about what happens, the more things will happen.

Today, Chancellor Bismarck has quietly come again.

Chancellor Bismarck also noticed the eye contact between Crown Princess Frederick and Joey, and instead of taking it to heart, he sighed for no reason, "If Herbert is as competitive as his younger brother William, and gets married and has children early, he can't say that his grandson is the same age as Joey, they will definitely become a pair of good friends." ”

After whispering today's statement from the British Foreign Office to Crown Prince Frederick, he whispered to Crown Prince Frederick about several targeted plans that he had ordered the Foreign Office to formulate.

Although Prime Minister Bismarck had previously informed himself of the specific plan of action in the field of diplomacy at the Schulenburg work conference, it was all a general explanation, except for the fact that he had in-depth communication with the Prime Minister and Joey on the three of them on private occasions, this was the first time that the old prime minister explained to himself in detail in public the origin of the idea of the diplomatic action plan, the conception of the steps and the expectation of the target results.

After the crown prince took a deep look at the gushing Prime Minister, he could only listen carefully with a smile and without saying a word, sometimes frowning and thinking, sometimes nodding his head.

Countless eyes were cast boldly or cautiously on these two men, and the gaze cast on Crown Prince Frederick contained more admiration, while those cast on Bismarck were intense envy and jealousy.

Speaking of the high level of interest, Prime Minister Bismarck actually broke the convention of skipping lunch at noon, made an exception and asked for a piece of brown bread, dipped in the beer soup in his hand, and chatted while eating.

After chatting with Crown Prince Frederick, Chancellor Bismarck couldn't help but put the topic on Joey, pointing to the uniform full of people at the table, and asked Joey, "Jojo, this is your masterpiece again, right?" ”

"Oh, no, my lord, these coveralls are the masterpieces of Monsieur Quandt and the gentlemen of the Saxony-Thuringian textile consortium through the German clothing company they have formed." Joey denied with a serious face, "I just think this garment is perfect for showcasing the beauty of all the gentlemen and ladies who are here to serve the public today." ”

"Oh." Prime Minister Bismarck nodded noncommittally, wiped his mouth with his handkerchief, and asked Joey with a curious face, "Why do I think that the clothes on everyone's body, whether it is men and women, young and old, whether it is moving or still, can always vaguely see a neat beauty in their bodies?" ”

"Hey, my lord, it's called industrial beauty!" Joey grinned, sure enough, the old prime minister looked at things more profoundly, and was able to immediately find the beauty of the essence of things, as if he had met a bosom friend, Joey couldn't help but explain proudly.

"Yes, it's an industrial beauty hidden in garment manufacturing."

"They are different from the independent hand-made customization of the tailors in the city, but the industrialized garment manufacturing method from a group of workers, similar to the now popular Bartrick's clothing pattern grading method in the British, except that we do not send the standard size paper pattern to the customer and then customize it according to the customer's requirements, but produce the garment according to the standard size version first, and then promote it in the market."

The meaning behind Joy's words is that instead of passively waiting for the development of the market, it is better to actively cultivate the market and exert influence on the market, which is the core of marketing in the twentieth century.

In fact, people in the nineteenth century were also naughtly realizing this theory, the simplest example is the "Barttrick" clothing sample company that Joey just mentioned, which is the British clothing company promoted by Queen Victoria.

Originally, according to European customs, all clothing should be tailored by tailors, but in 1861, the British Bartrick Company, which was engaged in the garment manufacturing industry, creatively designed the "clothing pattern grading" garment standard size chart, British housewives began to resort to this paper pattern to make their own clothes, magazines and mail order business have provided people with the service of buying paper patterns, and in 1875, the clothes cut and sewn according to the standard paper pattern became fashionable, and the annual sales of the Bartrick Company were as high as 10 million pounds.

Her Majesty the Empress is fully capable of affording the private costumes of all members of the royal family, but she still ordered a suit for her children, based on the model of the Bartrick Pattern Company, and the "Batrick" paper pattern quickly became the most talked about thing in the European fashion industry under the vigorous publicity of the media.

Essentially, Bartrick is an example of nurturing market demand through advertising and then turning technology into productivity to meet market demand, and what Joey is doing today is similar to his own grandmother's approach.

Therefore, the aristocrats present have no objection to the fact that they can change into clothes made by German workers to advertise the German textile industry, after all, there is the great Queen Victoria in front of them.

If there is any difference between the ready-to-wear manufacturing of German garment companies that Joey admires and the British Bartrick company, it is that the German garment company is aimed at the vast market of workers and urban civilians, while the Bartrick company is still facing the haute couture market.

The current state of the German textile industry limits Joey's search for high-end ready-to-wear manufacturers like Hugo Bosch, but what does it matter if they produce clothing for the general public, as long as they strike a balance between cost and quality, they will still make money.

More importantly, large-scale garment production would promote the development of sewing machines, which were an important industrial product in the nineteenth century, and were even included in the category of machine tool manufacturing, which meant that the weak German machine tool industry in 1879 had a great opportunity for development.

From sewing machines to machine tools, and then to the high-end machining industry, with the right starting point, the road of the machining industry is half the way.

"Oh, Jojo, what do you mean, the beauty of these clothes comes from standard sizes, but how can standard sizes become beautiful?" Chancellor Bismarck was still confused.

"Ha, my lord, beauty is the same as mathematics, all beauty can be calculated, in the past 4 months, we have mobilized a lot of manpower, collected as many German adult men and women, as well as children's height, shoulder width, chest circumference, waist circumference, hip circumference, collar circumference and sleeve length data, and then used mathematical statistical methods to calculate, and finally developed Germany's own clothing size chart."

"Then we compared the British clothing size chart, and then we did a mathematical sequence of optimizations, and finally formed the standard size of clothing for Europeans, or more rigorously, at least Germans and Britons."

"With this standard garment size, we can produce a large number of standard garments, and people only need to remember that they are in sizes S, M, L, and X in the future, and they can smoothly choose the right clothes."

"Today's clothing for all of us is less than half a day's production." Joey said triumphantly.

"So, it's the beauty of mathematics." Chancellor Bismarck nodded in understanding, then swiped his hand in front of him and continued, "So, you have made these costumes with mathematical beauty. ”

"However, it has nothing to do with you, Jojo."

"That's right! My lord. Joey nodded hurriedly, his eyes narrowing into a slit with a smile.

The people around him burst into laughter at the same time.

Looking at Joey, who was a little dazed, the old prime minister stretched out four fingers and said with a narrow smile, "Four times, Jojo, you said us four times!" ”

"Qiaoqiao, I've caught you now, and you actually lied to such a poor old man as me, which is very serious, because it involves a matter of honor between us." The old chancellor Bismarck said with a serious face, "Therefore, you owe me one, a compensation for my wounded heart, an invention of yours." ”

"I want one, not inferior to the invention of Monsieur Quandt and these gentlemen!" Looking at Joey, who nodded in a panic, Prime Minister Bismarck reminded him very seriously.

"Okay, okay, my lord, I have one..." Joey, who was already dazed, just wanted to say something and immediately made a difference, but was stopped by Prime Minister Bismarck, and then Prime Minister Bismarck straightened up, looked around at the eager eyes around him, and said with a smile.

"Ladies and gentlemen, I am going to visit the Imperial Palace tonight, so early tomorrow morning, if there are people who are interested in this invention in my hand, they can come to Schulenburg to talk to me."