Iron and Blood: A Triumph of the Will

"......."

Joachim remained silent; he felt uneasy.

This way of exploiting people really goes against his values. The mark left by nine years of compulsory education makes his eyes feel painful, as if someone is pricking them with needles.

"Yes, Your Highness." Manstein, who had been silent for a long time, finally spoke up: "The more this is the case, the less we should act on emotion. On the contrary, the more ruthless we are, the more others will benefit... Charity and relief cannot change people's circumstances, nor will they promote social progress. It is precisely because they do not work hard enough that they will struggle on the poverty line for the rest of their lives."

"Once you start thinking about redistributing wealth, you're no different from those syndicalists."

"Furthermore, in today's society, no matter how humble a person's background is, they should understand that their life is full of unlimited opportunities. The reason they fail to succeed is because they lack ability and have deprived themselves of the opportunity to succeed..."

"What a dog-eat-dog world!"

Manstein's words made Joachim uncomfortable. He got out of the Mercedes and walked quickly toward the factory gate.

Manstein and Wolf hurriedly followed in the footsteps of the prince, fearing that something might happen to him.

"Your Highness."

The portly factory manager clearly knew Joachim.

Upon seeing the other party arrive, he immediately bowed and scraped, his previous arrogance vanishing without a trace.

Joachim merely glanced at him and silently continued walking forward.

He felt uneasy and dared not look at the Poles.

Because he had just glanced at them out of the corner of his eye, and in just one glance, he could almost see a kind of numbness from starvation on their faces.

It wasn't just the Poles; even the Germans next to them were the same way.

Honestly, he was tormented by his conscience at that moment.

I just felt that something was wrong with this world, that it was absurd.

Logically speaking, people around the world in the 20th century had gradually moved towards industrialization, accompanied by the rise of syndicalism.

Theories like Social Darwinism should be gradually disappearing, so why are they becoming more and more popular in the world?

Ludwig Edeller, Terpkamer, and even Manstein were all out-and-out social Darwinists...

Does social Darwinism represent the essence of human society in the 20th century?

Joachim was puzzled; he couldn't understand whether the problem lay with him or with the world.

Joachim hadn't thought about these things at first.

Because his primary concern at the time was ensuring his political career's survival throughout Germany, only then could he consider other issues.

However, now that the problems in his political career have been resolved, more problems have arisen.

"Your Highness, what's wrong?" Manstein casually dismissed Wolf and quickly caught up. "I sense something's wrong with you..."

"Me?"

Joachim calmly shook his head and said with a forced smile, "I'm fine, I'm alright."

"Is it because of my remarks?"

"..." Joachim remained silent, which was taken as tacit agreement.

"But I don't see any problem with it. Everyone does it this way."

Manstein looked at Joachim and felt that the German prince was becoming increasingly shrouded in mystery.

Unlike many others he had met, the officers surrounding Manstein never saw anything wrong with Social Darwinism.

After all, whether it's the British, the French, or the Americans across the ocean, everyone does it this way.

They were all social Darwinists.

Look at the Germans, they even restricted child labor and forced them to go to school... and as a result, a bunch of syndicalists emerged.

In the UK, however, there aren't as many restrictions. A 9-year-old is a legal child laborer... working 14 hours a day, and look at them, they're all doing just fine.

Seeing that Joachim remained silent, Manstein continued to persuade him: "In today's world, poverty itself is a form of suffering, and whether in Britain or America, poverty is a disgrace. This is not only what we think, but also what American capitalists across the ocean think..."

"Everyone does it this way, and there's nothing wrong with it in itself."

So does that mean it's always been the right way?

Joachim found these remarks increasingly absurd.

As the cold wind blew, he felt increasingly disoriented, but then he suddenly came to his senses.

Precisely because it has always been this way, this world needs me, a time traveler, to break it.

Otherwise, why would he have traveled through time?

Just to become an emperor?

Just to save Hohenzollern?

The vision is too narrow, far too narrow.

Now that we've come into this world, let's use our rights to change it.

Transform it into a world that you find pleasing to the eye.

For better or for worse, he, Joachim, will reshape the world in his own way.

Establish special territories on the island of Honshu, eliminate capitalism in the United States, and in Russia...

In short, he is the designer of the entire world, and always will be.

At that time, the whole world will be his greatest work.

As the saying goes, there has never been a savior, and Joachim was not destined to become the emperor of all Germany.

So since he can't stand this, he's determined to change it!

As the Internationale says, we can only change the world by relying on ourselves, not on so-called gods or emperors.

After thinking it through, the German prince smiled and turned to Manstein: "Yes, that's what everyone does."

"I also don't think there's any problem."

"Your Highness...you..."

Manstein had thought he would need a long speech to persuade Joachim to change his mind, but it turned out to be so easy.

In just two short sentences, he persuaded the other party.

"Erich, do you have any other questions?"

Joachim greeted Manstein with a smile, but it looked somewhat insincere in the sunlight.

"Without Your Highness, I am very happy about Your Highness's change..."

"Yeah?"

"Yes, Your Highness."

"Alright, go tell those factory managers that whether they are Polish or German, we will accept them all and pay them the same for equal work."

"Huh?"

Manstein stood there, stunned, as if he had misheard.

"We need to further expand our production, and our troops also need more weapons."

Joachim turned to look for Wolf.

The man was sent aside by Manstein to smoke, and Joachim called out, "Smoking, have you had enough, Wolf?"

"Always be prepared, Your Highness."

"Can I trust you?"

"The word 'loyalty' exists only in my dictionary!"

"Very well, I'm prepared to monopolize all the factories in Potsbury...whether they're German or foreign."

"What do you want me to do?"

"It's up to you. I want to get these things at the lowest possible cost."

Joachim casually opened a folder, signed his name on it, and handed it to Wolf: "Gentlemen, prepare yourselves, we will become the largest oligarchs in all of Germany in the future."