Iron and Blood: A Triumph of the Will

What was supposed to be a celebration banquet turned into a disaster because of the two people's comments.

The atmosphere had completely cooled down, and so the opening ceremony, but the celebration banquet that never ended, came to a close.

As for the proposal to march into Upper Silesia now, Joachim naturally did not agree, because he also had many things to deal with.

After all, the troops stationed in Upper Silesia have not yet been mobilized. Even if the enemy's leader is captured, the left-wing forces are still very strong when united.

So Joachim is now thinking of waiting for the left wing to fight amongst themselves.

He'll just sit on the shore and watch the boat capsize... and he still has things to do right now.

The German Empire had many Polish inhabitants on its eastern frontier. Apart from Silesia, the only place where Poles were in the majority was Poznan. Although it was an agricultural province, it was not of great strategic value.

From the Germans' perspective, it would undoubtedly be the price of peace, since Germans would only make up 31% of the total population, while Poles would make up more than 60%.

According to Wilson's principle of national self-awareness, a referendum would be held there after the war... and then it would join Poland without any controversy. The Germans did not think that the Poles would vote for them, so they naturally regarded it as the price of peace.

But for Joachim, it was an excellent political tool.

If he accomplishes an impossible task, he will gain immense prestige throughout Germany.

This is an excellent way for him to make up for his lack of political prestige.

Looking at the time, he had been in Breslau for almost two weeks, which meant that the Poles were already plotting a rebellion...

For him, discovering it in advance was a great opportunity to catch the Poles off guard.

Joachim was already planning which troops he should deploy, as Lower Silesia of Poz was not far away.

Joachim could reach the city center in two or three hours with a simple walk, but such a large-scale mobilization would undoubtedly arouse the vigilance of the Poles along the way.

What should we do?

Joachim walked forward, lost in thought...

However, Manstein, who was following behind him, called out to him: "Your Highness, I feel I have something I want to tell you."

"what?"

Joachim, interrupted by his thoughts, turned around blankly: "Just tell me what's going on between you and me."

"Erich, I have complete trust in you."

Did you just say something inappropriate?

"what?"

Joachim fell silent for a moment, trying to recall his mistakes.

"Your Highness, did you just mention Holland?"

"What's wrong with the Netherlands?" Joachim didn't think he had done anything wrong. After all, his father, Wilhelm II, would be issuing a formal statement in two or three days, permanently relinquishing the Prussian monarchy and the imperial power of the German Empire. So, it wasn't a big deal for him to tell Ludwig Edeler about his father's position.

He couldn't possibly abandon his position as governor of Silesia and go directly to the Netherlands to pledge allegiance to his father, could he?

impossible?

Joachim felt that if that social Darwinist leader could really do such a thing, then he was actually acting strangely.

"The reason he is willing to cooperate with you now is because he has not received clear instructions from His Majesty the Emperor."

"You've now absconded with His Majesty's wealth. What will you do if His Majesty issues an imperial edict ordering him to make things difficult for you?"

"If people's hearts are scattered, wealth will be scattered, and our fledgling business will be destroyed."

"It's not that exaggerated."

"Our King Wilhelm II is a weak and incompetent man; once he falls, he can never get back up."

"Even if he knew about our business in Silesia, what could he do?"

"There's nothing he can do but watch from the Netherlands as we carry on the legacy of our ancestors."

Joachim shrugged, not believing for a second that his cheap father was capable of anything.

In his view, Wilhelm II was a complete unrealistic and arrogant man whose fragile personality would collapse at the slightest setback.

According to his recollection of history, William II experienced several major upheavals after abandoning the throne and fleeing to the Netherlands.

As a result, rumors of his suicide attempts frequently circulated outside.

As for those loyal subjects of the empire, they no longer treated Wilhelm II with the same respect as before.

They felt it was a disgrace that Wilhelm II had survived to this day.

The German royalists felt ashamed at the sight of Wilhelm II's cowardly behavior.

Although they didn't say it aloud, they had long wanted Wilhelm II dead.

They believed that only the death of the emperor could end this undignified situation.

Therefore, Joachim never thought Wilhelm II could accomplish anything.

Life's journey is never smooth sailing; decades of hard work are all for the sake of achieving our goals.

They overcame countless difficulties that ordinary people could hardly overcome.

Even if you fall, you can always get back up.

He fell down again, and got up again.

No matter how difficult it is, it's all for the sake of the goal in our hearts.

If Wilhelm II truly possessed that drive, then it wouldn't have been Adolf who came to power in 1933, but rather Wilhelm II himself.

But history has already provided the answer: Wilhelm II was not capable of shouldering the burden of the empire.

"Alright, Your Highness, you have convinced me."

Manstein nodded vigorously, expressing his approval of Joachim.

"It's not about persuasion, it's about facts."

"Your Highness, what should we do next?"

"Find someone to keep an eye on him and make him send me all the telegrams and phone calls he makes every day."

"This task needs to be handled by a specialist; soldiers aren't really suited for this."

"Then we'll have to establish our own intelligence agency."

"I can handle this, but which organization should we follow?"

"We're stuck for now. Do you have any ideas?"

When it came to intelligence matters, Joachim was truly at a loss, because in his impression, the intelligence agencies of the German Empire were really not very good, from the Second Reich to the Third Reich. One was Abwell, and the other was the Army Intelligence Directorate of the General Staff, both of which were incompetent.

The former was thoroughly infiltrated by the Allies, while the latter later became completely transparent to the Allies, which really annoyed Joachim.

"Actually, I'm not very clear about intelligence matters, and I believe that professional matters should be handled by professionals."

Manstein stroked his chin, deep in thought about these questions. Finally, after a long pause, he asked, "How much does Your Highness know about Walter Nikolai?"