Sir Grusen looked at his old friend, Crown Prince Frederick, with bright eyes, and asked, "Fritz, do you really want to hear it?" ”

The crown prince also looked at his old friend with bright eyes and said, "I am from the Hohenzollerns, everything exists for Germany, this is my motto." ”

"Well, Fritz, I would like to say three things: one, the ground; 2. People; 3. The city. Sir Grusen held out three fingers.

"First, the ground! I don't just mean land in the concrete sense of the word, but land and the agriculture, industry, and trade that derives from it. Sir Gruson gave his own interpretation of the first word.

"Since we talked about land first, Fritz, I will give you a set of agricultural data on the current land of Germany, taking Saxony, a large agricultural province of Prussia, as an example, on the existing land, about 370,000 hectares of land are planted with rye, 120,000 hectares of land are planted with barley, 230,000 hectares of land are planted with oats, and 110,000 hectares of land are planted with wheat, a total of 840,000 hectares of land is planted with these four cereals."

"Root crops and livestock farming together are less than 100,000 hectares. When it comes to filling the stomach, root crops are far more effective than grains, and animal husbandry, which provides meat and transportation, is far more profitable than pure grains. ”

What does this data mean? It shows that the Junkers occupy the most and best land, but produce the cheapest crops. And this is not just in Saxony, but also in the agricultural regions of Bavaria, Hanover, Brandenburg, Thuringia, Pomerania and Posen, where the proportion of root crops and livestock is even lower. ”

"Since 75 years, Germany has gone from being an agricultural exporter to a pure importer, and I learned from the director of the Chancellor's Office Delbrück that last year it imported about 2.9 million tons of wheat cereals from the United States, 1.28 million tons from Russia, and last year Germany produced only 4.1 million tons."

In other words, half of the wheat bread on the German table was provided by Russians and Americans. Or, to be more precise, from 75 onwards, the Junkers could no longer feed the entire German people. "Sir Grusen gives the current state of grain in Germany.

"Uncle Hermann, the Russians exported 1.28 million tons of grain to Germany in a year? Don't Russians eat grains? Joy exclaimed to Sir Gruson. Because Joey knew very well that in his previous life in the master's program in economic psychology, he had compared the grain production of European countries in the 21st century. As a grain importer in the 21st century, Russia's own grain production has been hovering around 1 million tons a year.

Although Russia in the previous life lost the granaries of Ukraine and part of Poland compared to the current Russian Empire, with the addition of modern agriculture and the well-developed Siberia, the former actually has a better grain production capacity than the latter.

"Every gold ruble of the Russians' industrialization comes from the grain trade, they force their farmers to sell grain at the lowest price, in order to quickly get the start-up capital of industrialization, Russia doesn't care whether these serfs live or die, so why are the Ukrainians and Poles always rebelling, because they have to starve to death when the land is harvested. Serfdom has been abolished in Russia, hehe, that's just a change of name. Sometimes I wonder if the Poles are much better at honesty than the Romanovs. Sir Gruson gave Joey the bloody inside story behind Russia's industrialization.

"Russians themselves often say that the way they sell their own food is called starvation export. Don't be shocked, little Joey, if it weren't for your emperor's grandfather, your father, Prince Bismarck, Count Moltke, Count Rhone, Prince of Blood, who defeated the French to obtain 5 billion francs of start-up capital, Prussia's industrialization process might have been even more difficult than that of the Russians. Sir Grusen shook his head and laughed.

"Joey, please listen carefully to your Uncle Herman's speech, it's not polite to interject casually." The crown prince looked at his son solemnly. Joey stuck out his tongue and quickly poured two glasses of mineral water for Uncle Herman and his father, and sat quietly next to him and listened carefully.

"No matter how much we expand the area of land for cultivation, our land will not be comparable to that of the United States and Russia, and our agricultural policy will not be supported by the homestead laws of the Americans, nor will we have as many serfs in Russia as they can exploit. Speaking of population, I also have a data on population, last year the population of Germany was 46 million, and some population experts predict that the population of Germany will reach 60 million by the end of this century, and the rate of grain production in this land is completely insufficient to support the growth rate of this population. ”

"In addition, the tax and production costs of German land are much higher than those of the United States, Russia, and other major food countries. Now the agricultural crisis in Germany, in the hands of the Iron Valley alliance formed by the Prime Minister and the Conservatives and the Centre, is about to turn into a dead-end situation for our agriculture. ”

"Why is it a dead end, the Prime Minister's Iron Valley Alliance demanded an increase in tariffs on grain, because foreign grain hit the price of grain in Germany, and the Junkers farmers were hit by the price shock, and their interests were damaged." Sir Grusen looked at the crown prince sympathetically and said, "Including the Hohenzollern family, your family has 24,500 hectares of land, and the prime minister's family has more than 9,000 hectares, and you two are the main forces of the Iron Valley Alliance. ”

"But will simply raising tariffs on grain imports solve the problem? Suppose we limit the import of grains by raising tariffs for the benefit of the Junkers, who would have thought that we would suffer? The inhabitants and workers of the cities, who have to spend more money on food, have a fixed annual income, and their money into food means that the purchasing power of other products, especially industrial goods, shrinks, which in turn affects the sales of industrial goods, and ultimately affects German industry. Sir Gruson said in a low tone.

"Germany's increase in import tariffs will also lead other countries to raise tariffs as retaliation, the most notable example is the contradiction between us and Russia, the prime minister raised Russian grain tariffs last year, and the angry Russians immediately raised tariffs on German industrial products, and the sales of German industrial products in Russia are now struggling, which has led to the closure of many factories in the country, and the result is that German workers and residents can not eat cheap Russian food, and many people are unemployed because of Russia's retaliation!" Sir Gruson's tone was still heavy.

Joy scratched his head next to him, and then realized that Germany's increase in agricultural taxes on Russia was not only to help Austria, but also to put actual pressure on the country's citizens.

"Now the world's major grain exporters are India, the United States, Canada, Australia, Russia and Argentina, if we raise tariffs on agriculture in these countries, then they will also retaliate, the same increase in tariffs on German industrial products, these countries are the main consumers of German industrial products, then how will German industry develop?"

"You know, our biggest competitor in industrialization is Britain, they still do not make any restrictions on free trade, if because of tariff retaliation with these major countries of the world, German goods and British goods become a price level in these countries to compete, our industrial products will lose even the label of cheap, then Germany's industrial dream will be shattered." Sir Grusen paints a picture of the future of Germany's industrial catastrophe.

"Today, 79 years ago, more than three-fifths of the overall German economy is still agriculture, and industry accounts for less than two-fifths. If it is really to protect more than 3/5 of agriculture and give up less than 2/5 of the future of German industry, then Germany will never be able to get rid of the title of agricultural country, and will always be inferior in the world, even worse than the Russians! ”

Sir Gruson, with his sparkling eyes, stared at Crown Prince Frederick and asked, "Frederick, are you willing to give up the ideals of industrialization?" Go and be a mule and horse that can only work on Prussian soil! ”

"No, never!" Frederick replied in a loud and firm voice.

"No way!" Joey shook his hand and shouted viciously in his heart, "Russians know that they are desperately trying to squeeze their peasants to develop industry, and we are giving up industrialization for the benefit of a group of big peasants who stand at the top of the agricultural circle." ”

"Okay, Fritz, I believe in you, but I want to remind you of the predicament you are about to face! If you want to get cheap food for the workers and residents of the city, you will face resistance from the Iron Valley Alliance, led by His Excellency the Prime Minister, consisting of the Centre Party and the Conservative Party. In addition to this, do not forget that your Hohenzollern family is also the largest Junker in Prussia. Sir Gruson said with a smile.

"Herman, since you asked the question, I'm sure you'll give me your answer." The crown prince thought for a while, and then replied with a smile.

At the same time, Joey also fell into deep thought, "What will my answer to these questions be?" ”