Chapter 32

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Chapter 32: Military Reforms

Leader One was an idealist. He wanted his country to be strong, his people to be happy, and he hoped that Prussia and Germany would not bring suffering to others. He tried his best not to harm anyone and envisioned a future where Germany could stand confidently and justly in the world.

Leader One was also a realist. He knew that many things he wished for were not feasible. He had a clear understanding of the issues facing Prussia and Germany. Being a small country with a small population located in central Europe, the unified Germany would only be of a certain size. To become powerful, they would have to not only focus on self-development but also seize opportunities from others.

He desired peace and global harmony, yet he understood that peace was merely an idealistic dream. The world could never truly be harmonious.

A too stubborn, too ambitious Germany died twice.

A not stubborn, completely without ambition Germany will die ten thousand times.

If not strong enough, there may not be the word Germany in the future. Germany’s geographical location is a huge advantage in times of peace, but a disaster in barbaric times, surrounded by dangers, every country in all directions wants Germany dead.

If too strong, crossing the bottom line of other countries, World War I, World War II, Germany’s two deaths were the inevitable outcome.

Everything must have a limit, nothing should be taken to extremes, extremes mean destruction.

Leader One doesn’t really care about ideologies, route issues, he doesn’t care about those things, as long as the country is strong, the people are prosperous, any policy can be used, as long as it is feasible.

The strategy of making a strong country prosperous cannot be too absurd or extreme, it must start with a clear understanding of the reality, balance all interests to ensure everyone is happy, solve current pressing problems and address root causes as much as possible after careful consideration, immediately consider the side effects and aftermath of the strategy.

As long as a strategy is highly feasible, has minimal side effects, and benefits the country and the people, Leader One doesn’t care what color that strategy is.

But he does care about the color of the country Prussia and Germany, it must be a mix of gray and blue.

Everyone has conflicting feelings and thoughts, just like Leader One. He believes in serving his country and people, but also desires power.

He wants the country to be strong and the people to be happy, but he also dreams of being an emperor, not for money or pleasure, but for authority. Leader One’s ultimate goal in life is to be at the top of everything and bask in the admiration from below.

Leader One defines his governing policy as follows:

Prussia is a monarchy, following a capitalist path with German characteristics.

As times change, the monarchy will likely not survive, so it will transition into a constitutional dual monarchy.

The key feature of a constitutional dual monarchy is having a hereditary monarch as the head of state with real power, appointing cabinet members, government accountability to the monarch, parliament making laws but the monarch having veto power.

It’s a blend of monarchy and republic, where the monarch still holds significant power but shares some with others.

If times change again, it could become a republic with a constitutional monarch, making the German Emperor a figurehead. But that change might not happen until Leader One’s great-grandchild is in power – whether a grandson or granddaughter.

These are uncertain times, as the history of Blue Star and Earth will differ. Who knows what might happen in a hundred or two hundred years…

So, Leader One wanted to prepare himself and his future generations well, leaving Germany a spacious and flexible path.

In a hundred years, if the blue color is strong, they will continue being blue, and if the red color is strong, they will instantly turn red – that’s how it is for Germany.

No matter what, Germany cannot become the top country; neither the red camp nor the blue camp can achieve that. Germany’s size determines that it can be a regionally influential country, but not a superpower.

Just like the British Empire, a small country with few people, except they hit the perfect timing.

The following two superpowers and a nearly superpower are all massive in size.

Germany can’t replicate the success of the British Empire, nor the USA and the USSR. Germany’s unique warmongering history has failed twice.

Therefore, Leader One’s goal is clear: a monarchy, special capitalism, curbing excessive militarism and nationalism, gradually becoming a greatly influential non-superpower country. Being ranked 3rd or 4th globally would be considered successful – being the world’s second without interference from the top would be even more successful.

This is Leader One’s true grand ambition, but he publicly announced a false one.

On the first day of Prince Regent Leader One’s work, he told Catherine about his grand ambition, and the next day he had her deliver it to Parliament, causing a huge stir.

This included taking away all privileges from the nobles, Junkers and nobles could no longer enjoy the combination of legislative, judicial, and executive powers in their own territory, nor receive noble subsidies.

Abolishing the conscription system, reducing Prussia’s regular military forces to ten thousand people, and significantly cutting military expenses.

All enterprises were forcibly nationalized, all land seized by the state, former hereditary territories transformed into hereditary land use rights.

And so on and so forth…

Did Leader One really want to implement these policies? No.

He was not foolish, he understood very clearly that the strategy he proposed was a very colorful and splendid act, an excessively radical move that did not fit the times or any period of rubbish strategy.

If implementation began for real, with the decree announced in the morning, Leader One’s head would be chopped down in the evening.

He was just using a fake toy to scare people, with no intention of really following through.

Prussians always like to reconcile and compromise. For example, if you say, "This room is too dark, we need to open a window here," everyone would surely disagree. But if you propose to demolish the roof, they would compromise and agree to open the window.

Start by proposing a condition that the other party will never accept.

Then compromise a little, so the other party will agree to a secondary condition that they originally wouldn’t accept.

Catherine gave a speech at the Parliament in the morning, and by noon, a crowd had gathered outside Leader One’s office.

The first to arrive was Minister of National Defense Marshall Steinmetz.

Marshall Steinmetz was shocked. He had received his appointment yesterday afternoon and started working at the Ministry of National Defense this morning, only to hear about the Regent’s crazy plan shortly after.

"Your Highness, we had already agreed on a military reform plan before, and you approved it. Isn’t it a bit too much to change the terms now?"

The Marshal saw through Leader One’s attempt to change the terms, but had to come over to negotiate.

Leader One straightforwardly said, "Mr. Marshal, I carefully reviewed the military reform plan you proposed before, and the Parliament will never agree to it."

"However, I am very much focused on national defense, and I won’t ignore the needs of the military. I have come up with a new reform plan. Please take a look and see if you can accept it."

Leader One took out a document bag from the drawer, on which was written "Prussia Military Reform 1835 Edition."

The Marshal didn’t look at the document but sighed, "But we had already agreed on the terms before your coup."

Leader One asked, "What coup? What terms? Did I clearly say yes?"

The Marshal replied firmly, "Your Highness has disappointed our military, we may consider restoring His Majesty’s health and reorganizing the state affairs."

Leader One stood his ground, "If I die, my elder brother will also die. Then it will be my third brother who will succeed. You should know what kind of person my third brother is."

The Marshal, somewhat resigned, said, "He is a very ‘interesting’ person."

"Please, Marshal, take a look at my military reform plan. I will gradually increase the military investment and ensure that you become stronger continuously. But for now, we need to be patient as the country is facing countless troubles," said Leader One.

"Your Highness, we really can’t wait any longer. We can’t take it slow; we want more money," the Marshal said.

"I am not trying to oppress the military. I fully support a strong army. But please understand, with Prussia’s current awful financial situation, how dare you ask for more military spending! Your damn military budget already accounts for forty percent of the government’s total financial expenditure, what more do you want?"

Leader One slammed his hand on the table and shouted loudly in the office, scaring the people in the hallway.

Leader One was the first king in Prussian history to boldly yell at the military leaders, who were so scared that they were taken aback.

The Marshal had to back down, as the Prince Regent and the king’s lives were tied together. If anything happened to them, a new king would take their place, which would not be good for the military. It was better to agree to the Prince Regent’s gradual strengthening plan.

The Hohenzollern family’s way of education was excellent. Throughout generations, the head of the family would only focus on educating one or two children, deliberately causing the rest to be seen as useless to avoid internal conflicts within the royal family.

The former king had ten children. Prince Frederick and Prince Redel received a complete royal court education, while even the second son, Prince Wilhelm, only studied traditional military education.

As for the other seven children…they were so insignificant that they didn’t even have a mention in history books or encyclopedias.

This was where Leader One’s confidence came from. As long as Leader One and his older brother were tied together, the military would tolerate him more. Unless Leader One cornered them, the military would have to compromise.

Prince Wilhelm, who had some talents, was already killed by rioters. If Leader One and his old brother also died, and the remaining fools from the Hohenzollern family took over, Prussia would be in serious trouble.

When Leader One successfully changed the feudal system and ascended to the throne of King of Prussia or even became German Emperor, his older brother would be at risk of being killed by rioters. This would solidify Leader One’s position.

Right now, Leader One is dominating the negotiations with the military.

But it was all just talk, everyone had to give in a little and compromise with each other without making things look too bad.

"I’m sorry, Marshal, I lost my temper just now. I must apologize to you. Please take a look at the military reform plan I put forward."

The Marshal opened the file, feeling sad, then happy, then sad again. His mood was all over the place.

The Marshal said, "Decent work, just a bit flawed."