On March 23, the fourth year of the Grand Duke, in an estate outside Berlin.

Prince Wilhelm Friedrich Ludwig of Germany, met with a group of young officers and officers in civilian clothes.

A group of officers were carrying newspapers and various printed telenewspapers.

As soon as Prince William came out, a group of people immediately opened their mouths:

"Your Highness, Da Ming has publicly announced the conditions for surrender in the past two days, and they are really extremely harsh conditions-"

"We absolutely can't accept it, and no one can!"

"Your Highness, we can support you to become the king, and we can follow you to surrender to the Ming Dynasty, but it can't be such a condition."

"Are the Ming people mistaken, the current situation is that Taixi is all over Mars, Daming is at least a little more tolerant, and he can easily take over most of the Taixi Continent, but they have given such bad conditions......"

"The conditions for this voluntary surrender are basically the same as the disposition of defeat, or even worse, confiscation of property and even exile to Mozhou-"

"In this way, the groups from all walks of life in Taixi will definitely fight with Daming to the end-

"Anyway, in the end, it's just confiscation of property and exile, and there is no substantial difference from the current direct surrender."

Prince Wilhelm Ludwig slammed the table next to him and shouted loudly in his Daming dialect:

"Shut up!

"I have reminded you more than once to see more about the history and performing arts of the Ming Dynasty, and to understand more about the thinking and habits of the Ming people.

"As a result, none of you are going to put even a little bit into your mind!

"What are the conditions for surrender? What are the conditions for surrender? What does it mean to be basically the same as the punishment for defeat?

"Why did Da Ming offer you the conditions to surrender? What qualifications do you have now to discuss the terms of surrender with the Ming people?

"Have you ever gone to see what the Ming people said?

"Da Ming is making public your plan of atonement!

"If you refuse now, you refuse to atone, you don't admit your faults, you die unrepentant, you die!

"Guess how the literati and historians of the Ming Dynasty would record these things?

"The people of Taisi are stubborn, and they are still unrepentant even when they are already certain to be defeated, even when they are dying.

"Since you die without repentance, then the Ming Dynasty can only completely destroy you!

"The people of Shenzhou do things, especially the court of the orthodox dynasty, and they have always pursued a righteous name and a righteous name.

"Therefore, the open plan of atonement is to give you one last chance before you are executed completely!

"If you still want to refuse, then wait for your own death.

"In the future, no matter how the Ming Dynasty disposes of all the Taixi people, there will be no question about the behavior of the Ming Dynasty in history.

"Killing your whole family in the future is to cleanse the sin."

There was a sudden silence at the scene.

Then, someone stalked his neck and said:

"If the Ming Dynasty asks us to atone for our sins, and the punishment is to confiscate all our property and exile Mozhou, then we can only die without repentance!

"We can only be stubborn and fight to the death with Daming!

"Because even if we ourselves are still willing to surrender, the aristocrats, merchants, bankers, and proprietors who support us will not be able to accept it."

This person's words were immediately supported by many people, and the scene became angry again.

The internal cause of anger has changed from suspicion and anger to helplessness and anger.

Prince Wilhelm Ludwig clenched his fists hard:

"This is a conspiracy, the class that controls the resources of society, cannot accept this condition of atonement, even if the upper class wants to surrender, it is useless.

"Unless...... Unless the workers and peasants who really have nothing stand up and kill the stratum that hold the resources first, and then surrender to the Ming Dynasty.

"They have nothing in the first place, and of course they don't care about the punishment of confiscating assets, and it is impossible for the Ming Dynasty to exile all ordinary people.

In the eyes of the Ming court, these ordinary people should be innocent and have no ability to commit crimes.

"But how can a scattered group of workers and peasants organize themselves to decide the direction of the country without the participation of officials and military officers with organizational skills?

"They can only wait for the complete defeat of the imperial court, and the Ming army will enter and directly begin to rule them......

"For them, it really makes no difference whether they surrender or not."

The young officers and officials at the scene listened to the analysis of their own prince.

After a brief period of stunned and stunned, it was soon followed by complaints and lamentations, as well as helpless cursing of reality.

In the midst of this chaos, Prince William's personal servant ran in:

"Your Highness, Your Majesty has sent a palace secretary to attack you, and Your Majesty has something to discuss with you."

Prince Wilhelm Ludwig was silent for a few seconds, and instead of replying to his servant immediately, he looked at the supporter in front of him again:

"If anyone is willing to give up everything here and follow me out of Germany to live, they can go back and prepare.

"If you follow me to Daming alone, you may not need to be exiled to Mozhou.

"Of course, it's just possible, how resolute Da Ming is in treating us, I can't be sure ...... now"

After Wilhelm Ludwig had finished speaking, he left the meeting hall with his servants, joined King Wilhelm I's secretary, and rode by car to meet his royal father.

In the office of the German king and the new Holy Roman Emperor Wilhelm I, the king placed several newspapers and telegrams on the table.

Then he looked at his second son Wilhelm Ludwig with a heavy expression:

"My child...... I'm sure you've read the newspapers, and it's true, and our intelligence officers have confirmed it.

"The so-called surrender conditions set by the Ming Dynasty are to persecute the monarchs of our countries to death.

"According to your understanding of the Ming people, are we desperate now?"

Prince Wilhelm Ludwig did not answer this question:

"Father, I want to go to Daming."

King Wilhelm I asked with some surprise:

"What do you think...... Is it possible that if you go in person, it is possible to negotiate better terms? ”

Prince Wilhelm Ludwig shook his head directly:

"I can try, but most likely I can't, so my actual idea is to go to Daming on behalf of the Hohenzollern family.

"At least prove that the Hohenzollerns are willing to atone for their sins, that they are willing to accept any kind of conditions.

"What if...... Germany and the Hohenzollern family are gone, and I have the opportunity to leave a branch for the family in the Ming Dynasty......

"Besides, if Daming needs the name of the Hohenzollern family, I still have a chance to play a role.

"And then the family can regain status, or there may be ...... to continue"

King Wilhelm I was silent for a few seconds, then shook his head very helplessly and said:

"If that's the case, if your destination is Daming, you probably won't be able to go......

"Your identity is too sensitive, and now everyone up and down will be watching your movements.

"Even if you go to sign the surrender agreement, they can ask me to refuse to admit it, but it is best for them to just leave it alone.

"I have arranged for you to be the governor of France, nominally to be in charge of the unified command of the local army and the suppression of the rebellion of the local French.

"The Ming Navy has a garrison in the UK, you can find a way to smuggle yourself to the UK and have direct contact with the Ming Navy.

"You...... There is an option to openly betray Germany and the Hohenzollerns......"

Prince Wilhelm Ludwig quickly understood his father's words.

The German aristocracy, bureaucrats, military officers, merchants, bankers, and proprietors could not accept the terms of atonement.

Even if his father wanted to surrender, he couldn't do it.

If the father insists on surrendering, the people below may even kill the king and make another prince the king.

Wilhelm Ludwig didn't know how to express his feelings, and finally just nodded in silence.

Three days later, Prince Wilhelm Ludwig was appointed governor.

He immediately took a few of his followers with him and took the train to Paris, where the Doge's Palace was located.

Immediately after arriving in Paris, Prince William decided to make a roundabout.

Inspect cities and barracks, even harbor cities with certain dangers, and inspect the few small warships that remain.

After returning and going to the air base, the prince asked a bomber to take him into the air to experience flying.

As a result, after the plane took off and left the airfield, the prince's followers took control of the plane and let the bomber fly directly to Britain across the Channel.

Most people didn't realize that the prince Ludwig wanted to escape.

When the people at the air base discovered that something was wrong, the plane had already reached the sky over the strait and made contact with the Daming Air Force on the opposite side.

Prince William sat on the plane, looking out at the clouds through the window, looking back in the direction of his country, and his mood was unusually heavy.

Prince Wilhelm remembered his father's words that he could openly betray Germany and the Hohenzollerns.

So, is it a real betrayal or a false betrayal?

Could there be aristocrats, bureaucrats, and businessmen who really betray their families...... Or even a group?

Prince William felt like his mind was a little messy.

In my heart, I inexplicably remembered Zhu Yuanzhang, the Taizu Emperor of the Ming Dynasty.

Prince William has studied the history of the Ming Dynasty and is relatively clear about the experience of the founding emperor of the Ming Dynasty.

Daming Taizu was originally a peasant and participated in the rebellion with peasants as the main body.

But the organizers of the uprising were not all peasants.

There were some Buddhists, as well as squire scholars who were landlords themselves.

The longer the peasant revolt continued, the smaller the number of pure peasants among the middle and upper strata of the whole group.

When the Ming Taizu had sufficient actual control, more and more landlords began to participate in the peasant revolt.

These people were clearly opportunistic within the landlord community.

At the same time, the Ming Taizu, who was the leader of the peasant uprising, also began to declare that he wanted to protect the property of the landlords.

These landlord-born scholars were asked to help them govern the territories they had acquired.

This is a response to the opportunists.

The two sides hit it off and began to take what they needed and continue to cooperate.

After the Ming Taizu became the emperor, he also continued to rely on landlords and scholars to assist him in ruling the entire Ming Dynasty.

Emperor Daming's family soon became the largest land lords in Shenzhou.

Now it's the largest in the world.

At first glance, the landlord scholars who initially participated in this peasant revolt seemed to have betrayed their families and even their communities.

However, the final result was that Daming Taizu betrayed the peasants and threw himself into the group of landlords.

Compare it with the course of other large number of peasant revolts in the history of China.

Prince William soon discovered that only the Great Ming Taizu, who had betrayed the peasants, had succeeded.

Pure peasant revolts were only for the sake of revolt, without the idea and goal of building a new state system.

The vast majority of real peasants in the classical era had no knowledge or understanding.

The leaders of the peasant revolt who had achieved initial success had to rely on the traditional landlords, gentry and scholars who had taken refuge in them to administer their territories.

Now, the "landlords" of the Taixi countries, that is, among the nobles, bureaucrats, merchants, and proprietors, also began to take the initiative to try to speculate on the side of the Ming Dynasty.

It's just that Da Ming strongly refused......

Because, the current Ming Dynasty is not the Kingdom of Wu that has just gained a little territory, but a world empire that is rich in most of the world and one billion subjects.

Daming doesn't need them, and of course he won't give any rights in exchange for their obedience and cooperation.

This, of course, will force them to organize their own forces to resist to the death.

But it can also lead to some thoughtful members who really betray their social group.

In particular, they become members of the branch after three generations in the upper strata of society.

I have not actually experienced the harshness of life at the bottom, I have not experienced the hardships and pains of the era of entrepreneurial competition, and I have basic compassion for the people at the bottom who live in poverty.

He has a relatively high level of education, but in the traditional family system, it is difficult to get the actual right to speak and cannot display his ambitions.

These people often have their own ideas and know how to build and manage the state.

The modern "peasants", that is, the workers in the cities, also know some words to some extent, and the key is that they are all gathered together.

Their power...... It should be easier to launch than the peasants of classical times.

You can organize a group of such people yourself, and then try to mobilize the forces of ordinary workers in the cities......

Wilhelm Ludwig felt that he had grasped something, and that he seemed to have spied on a completely new political line across the board.

However, I don't have the time and ability to try.

It only takes two years at most, and maybe only one year at the earliest, and Da Ming can thoroughly assess the entire Taixi Continent......

After the end of the war, the Ming Dynasty took most of the resources of the Taixi ruling class himself, and gave a small part to the local low-level workers and peasants.

In this way, the livelihood of local low-level workers and farmers will be better than before.

Social contradictions can be alleviated......

The demands of ordinary workers and peasants are very simple, as long as they can live a normal and relatively stable life, and exchange their labor for sufficient necessities of life.

They have no interest in engaging in risky political activities.

Unless they have a sufficiently high level of literacy, and they have all kinds of ideas that come with a level of literacy......

However, Daming does not engage in compulsory education at all, not even the most basic compulsory education in primary schools, even if the primary schools that spend money only learn the most basic social knowledge.

At least until the upper grades of middle school, you will learn some about politics, law, and science.

But the school of the aristocratic elite was extremely hard.

The academic arrangements of the members of the royal family of the Ming Dynasty are even more full, and the highest standard is to graduate from college at the age of fifteen.

History, Law, Economics, Politics, Driving, Guns, ......

The Ming Emperor also prepared all sorts of means to try to keep the income and status of ordinary workers not too different from those of scholars?

Ordinary laborers who work purely by their strength are deliberately combined with traditional craftsmen with a little bit of craftsmanship.

Researchers who have participated in professional studies and obtained craftsman certificates, and even those who can enjoy the treatment of top officials, are managed in the same system.

Collectively refer to them all as the most basic craftsmen......

The ordinary people at the bottom of the Ming Dynasty don't need to spend their brains to study hard, and they can live a very comfortable life.

Able to get enough wages to live and play.

More comfortable and relaxed than most of Tessie's elite.

Even, as long as they work a little harder, they can be promoted along the craftsman system.

But the vast majority of ordinary workers do not need to work hard, and they do not have much motivation to work hard.

As his mind slowly came here, Wilhelm Ludwig's eyes widened suddenly:

"Emperor Daming...... Was it being guided in this direction from the beginning?

"Many of the social habits and laws of the Ming Dynasty seem to be to prevent the power of the people at the bottom from being mobilized by those who have a heart!

"Emperor Daming has already considered this possibility?

"It's really likely, because there have been too many peasant uprisings in Shenzhou in the past, how can you not take precautions?"

Soon after the plane of Prince Wilhelm Ludwig of Germany entered the English Channel, the Ming Air Force came to meet and control it.

Then he landed at an airfield on the outskirts of London, England, under the escort of the Ming Air Force.

The Ming military and the British court went to the airport to meet and control Wilhelm Ludwig and his party.

After the Ming military personnel confirmed William's identity, they took William to meet Guan Tianpei, the commander of the Navy stationed in the United Kingdom.

After all, William is a prince of Germany, and he can be regarded as the son of a duke's family in Daming.

Of course, more importantly, he used to be a member of the guards of the current Ming Emperor, which is a more special identity.

Guan Tianpei is the captain of the guard of the Ming Emperor, and William can be regarded as Guan Tianpei's former subordinate, and it is most appropriate to hand over William to Guan Tianpei to deal with.

When Guan Tianpei saw William, although he was a little curious and surprised, he was generally more relaxed and cordial.

Guan Tianpei patted William directly on the shoulder and asked him about his situation.

William directly heartbroken:

"I sincerely hope that Germany will be brave enough to admit its mistakes and accept the teachings and jurisdiction of the Ming Dynasty.

But most of the bureaucrats, officers, and aristocrats who now control the situation in the country are a group of die-hard elements.

"I know that such a German court has no future at all.

So I took the opportunity to serve in France and defected directly to the Ming Dynasty.

"I hope to be able to convey to the public, through the Ming and British broadcasting systems, my decision to break with the existing Kingdom of Germany and Hohenzollern.

Then the German people could be called upon to abandon the present stubborn German court.

"Come to the side of the Ming Dynasty to confront and punish them......"

William's half-truths are half-true.

If it was possible, Wilhelm certainly hoped that Germany would succeed and become the de facto overlord of the Tessie.

He even looked forward to defeating the Ming Dynasty and ascending to the top of the world in the name of Rome.

But William knew it was completely impossible.

In the current situation, there is only one choice you can make......

I hope to gain the trust of Daming......

Guan Tianpei nodded slightly after hearing this, and didn't think about whether what William said was true, anyway, he wasn't ready to arrange it according to his ideas:

"I understand your difficulties, Your Majesty should have a good impression of you, and I shouldn't embarrass you now.

"So you don't have to make a pretentious break with your country and family, and what will happen when you inherit Hohenzollern?

"It's not appropriate for you to stay here, and if you go to fight the Germans, you really won't be human inside and out.

"So go to the Great Food Country, go to Napoleon's army, and become a junior officer.

"Follow Napoleon in the Ottoman crackdowns."

William was a little surprised, this arrangement was not what he expected, but it seemed to be very appropriate.

Wilhelm, of course, did not want to break with his own family or fight the rest of the Germans head-on, if he could.

Going to the Great Food Country is not exile, and you can still be a grassroots officer, and the enemy is still an Ottoman heretic.

There is no psychological pressure at all, and there is no difficulty.

William was silent for a while, and then honestly agreed:

"Thank you, General, for ...... size"

(End of chapter)