Chapter 16
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Chapter 16: Let You See What the Black Hand Is
At the cabinet lunch on January 29th, Anna found the Minister of Finance, the famous but foolish Count Walton.
"Respected Mr. Count, this is the ‘Economic Development Plan Adjustment and National Strategic Plan Adjustment’ drafted by the Ministry of Finance. Please review it for any necessary changes. If there are none, please present it at this afternoon’s parliament session."
Anna respectfully handed over a thick document – oh no, a plan book – totaling 179 pages with tiny, hard-to-read words.
After finishing lunch, Count Walton simple flipped through the dessert menu and nodded.
Walton knew his abilities and had no ambitions, leaving all strategies to his secretary while he sought fame and reputation.
Anna showed great respect towards Walton, which pleased him, as Bismarck was known to be stubborn but he could make her yield.
At one thirty in the afternoon, the Parliament House reopened, with a sign on the door prohibiting dogs (including Bismarck) from entering.
Cabinet Secretary Schultz assigned the first task of the afternoon to the Minister of Finance, who entered with a thick dictionary to prepare for a speech.
Anna wrote the speech, full of meaningless words and with no nutritional value, and the elderly Minister of Finance Count Walton… his speech was hypnotic in rhythm and tone.
The tired parliamentarians, having just eaten, were already drowsy. The hypnotic speech from the elderly and senile Minister of Finance put half of them to sleep.
It wasn’t until the Speaker banged his gavel, producing a sharp metallic sound, that everyone was startled awake.
Oh… Oh? It’s time for a vote, right? What was the motion again?
The Minister of Finance handed over a detailed proposal to some important members of the parliament, but they were too lazy to read it. Every sentence in the proposal seemed logical, but also seemed pointless, filling 179 pages with nonsense.
Cabinet Secretary Schultz then entered the assembly hall and distributed a summary of the proposal to each member of the parliament.
The summary was just one piece of paper, outlining the need to improve domestic financial security, enhance financial market stability, attract foreign investment, strengthen regulation of credit institutions, accelerate national economic growth, increase urban residents’ income…
The members of parliament asked, "Sounds good, but how will it be implemented specifically?"
The Minister of Finance couldn’t provide a clear answer, Count Walton pretended to be clueless, claiming the question was beyond the scope of the prepared answers.
It was Baron Schultz who stepped in to explain that the specific implementation methods were detailed in the full proposal, involving amendments to various prior proposals.
The members of parliament understood that to know the specifics of this proposal, they not only had to read through the 179-page document, but also refer back to dictionaries of previous years’ proposals.
This was a common tactic of the cabinet – to write proposals extremely thick like dictionaries, linking them back to previous documents, burying the actual policies they wanted to implement within a sea of meaningless words, to avoid too much interference from the parliament.
The experienced members of parliament knew that direct opposition was the best choice.
However…in the past two months, all 35 proposals from the Ministry of Finance have been opposed. We can’t go too far, the country still needs to get things done. Just in case the Regent comes back and sees.
"I’ve been away for two months, and you haven’t done anything, have you? You all better work hard!"
This situation is not good. The prince regent is really daring to do such things, after all, there have been precedents. Those people who went to the Antarctic zoo all froze to death. Do you know what a frostbitten stick means? It means freezing into a stick in the icy snow.
So the gentlemen members of parliament can only choose another approach for the dictionary proposal. Regardless of what is written in the thick dictionary, first agree, then hire some smart and clever young people to find the issues in the dictionary. Afterwards, if something is wrong, it can be withdrawn or the Cabinet can be pressured to cancel the plan.
If the gentlemen members of parliament insist on examining the proposal on the spot, the Cabinet will choose a hypnotist like the Minister of Finance to give a lecture, which can torture people for hours on end.
And so, in the fourth week of 1839, Proposal No. 5 was passed with a high vote.
The gentlemen members of parliament continued with other agendas, while the Minister of Finance happily went home to sleep.
Baron Schultz also left the council hall and returned to his office.
Anna had been waiting on the long sofa in the Cabinet Secretary’s office for quite some time.
"The parliament has passed the bill." Baron Schultz had a sly smile on his face.
"I will go to the newspaper office to send a report, and then immediately summon the prince regent back," Anna stood up.
"Anna, it will take at least eight days for the prince regent to return to Berlin. Can you handle the pressure during this time?"
"Huh? Eight days? I will write to him, and he will come back in about 20 days."
Schultz, who is fifty-five years old this year, is considered old in these times, but he has a youthful mindset and is eager to embrace new things. Without understanding new developments and embracing the new era, one cannot adapt to the changing times.
Anna, who is twenty-four years old, is considered young, but she is not very open to accepting new things. She is not very willing to actively seek out new information and does not subscribe to technology newspapers, unaware of the breakthroughs in science and technology.
Baron Schultz began to explain steam engines and railways to Anna.
Anna interrupted, "Although I haven’t ridden one, I still know what a train is."
"Do you know what a telegraph is?" Baron Schultz continued, "Six years ago, the academicians Gauss and Weber of the Academy of Sciences invented something that could communicate over long distances, called a telegraph. Your Highness the Regent pays great attention to it and has been demanding improvements. On January 10th this year, the long telegraph line from Berlin to Cologne was completed and opened, with very impressive results."
With the telegraph from Berlin to Cologne and the railway from Berlin to the Rhine Industrial Zone, communication and travel time have been greatly reduced, even though they can’t directly reach the prince regent in South Germany for the battle.
Leader One only needs eight days to return from South Germany to Berlin. During the time before the prince regent returns, Anna must handle the pressure.
She tricked the members of parliament by mixing in content to cancel worker rights protection in today’s afternoon proposal. She used a deceptive proposal to trick the members into agreeing to abolish worker rights protection without their knowledge.
That evening, Anna sent a report to the newspapers. Oh, the Liberal Party members agreed to abolish worker rights protection! They have betrayed the people who chose them!
The public’s anger immediately turned towards the parliament members and the Minister of Finance.
The furious public didn’t want to hear explanations. They wished they could eat the Liberal Party members alive. We elected you to parliament, and you are selling out the people?
Anna sat in the hereditary manor granted by Leader One, smiling as she watched the chaos unfold in Berlin at night.
This is different from Leader One’s original plan, Your Highness the Regent. He had planned a more moderate approach initially, allowing the Liberal Party to gain momentum. Then, at the peak of their influence, he would use popular support to eliminate dissent and weaken the power of traditional nobility and landlord Junkers, resolving the Liberal Revolution later with a mix of rewards and punishments.
Anna has accelerated and intensified the entire process, bringing the middle phase earlier. Being a member of the Junker landlord group herself, she does not want the prince regent to weaken the interests of the Junker landlords.
She was initially a little dissatisfied with the plan, but was planning to follow Leader One’s plan well. However, those darn members of parliament acted unfairly. They framed Anna for bad things and wanted to use her as a scapegoat.
Since you members of parliament have given me a chance, I have a reason to modify the prince regent’s plan, then I, Anna, will show you what it means to act unfairly.
She really embarrassed the members of parliament who tried to break the windows, but is that enough? No, it’s not.
Anna turned the tables by sowing discord and framing others. Now, liberal citizens feel that their elected officials have betrayed them, causing tension between liberals. Angry crowds armed with stolen muskets from the arsenal are about to take action, and the parliamentarians may be in danger.
The members of parliament will definitely fight back rather than sit idly by.
Anna needs to protect herself during this time, withstand the pressure, and things will improve when the prince regent returns.
