Chapter 17

Our Discord Server: https://discord.gg/PazjBDkTmW

Chapter 17: The Show Begins

The prince regent of England, the Duke and Duchess of Kent, are nobles from Prussia. Leader One is willing to call them the father of industrialization in Prussia.

As long as you give money to the Duke and Duchess of Kent, you can buy anything, even a state-of-the-art planetary steam engine that represents the world’s top transportation equipment.

The spaceship-style steam locomotive is a symbol of modern steam trains, almost getting rid of the old trains’ problems. If we improve the transmission structure and upgrade the boiler continuously, it can be used directly until the next century.

In other words, it’s like the United States selling the full set of technology for the Ford-class aircraft carrier in 2020.

The Prince Regent of Prussia, who was originally fighting on the front line, immediately set off on his way back upon hearing the chaos in his country. Now, he is riding on a steam train from the Ruhr area to Berlin.

The carriage of this Prince Regent special train is just a regular passenger carriage. Leader One randomly took one section, not planning to build a luxurious train.

In 1839, steam engine technology was not advanced. The materials and manufacturing processes limited the steam pressure to below 0.4 megapascals, even in light load conditions, reaching just over 30 kilometers per hour. In heavy load conditions, the speed dropped to a mere twelve kilometers per hour, slower than a galloping horse.

However, trains could travel day and night non-stop, and in this era, technology was advancing rapidly, with speed and carrying capacity significantly increasing every year.

Leader One and Catherine sat side by side in chairs. Leader One couldn’t stand the noise, so he plugged his ears with two handkerchiefs and closed his eyes to rest.

This was Catherine’s first time riding a steam train. She leaned against the window, looking curiously outside, watching the trees passing by move in reverse.

"Does this thing have to run on railway tracks? What if it derails? If it could go anywhere at will, heading straight to the battlefield to crush enemies…"

Catherine was talking, but when she saw that Leader One was not paying attention to her, she turned around and pulled out Leader One’s earphones to speak to him again.

"If this thing can be taken to the battlefield, and we put some cannons on it, would it be like the water tanks in the sci-fi novels you mentioned, Your Highness the Regent?" Catherine remembered a few science fiction novels written by Your Highness the Regent.

Leader One, "Armored trains? Water tanks are smaller, not as big as a train."

Catherine was very interested in military vehicles. Coming from a family of famous generals, with four generations of ancestors who were distinguished cavalry generals from Prussia, the Bittenfeld family had a rich military tradition. Catherine thought it would be nice to replace horses with iron machines.

"You should have been born a hundred years later, it might be possible by then."

"Why not now? Let the people from the Academy of Engineering make the steam engine smaller. I’ve heard about something called a steam tractor from England. A small steam engine should work fine."

Leader One regretfully explained to her that the steam tractor was just a useless thing, and the steam water tank was even worse.

Emperor Napoleon III was a passionate fan of Leader One. He spent money to have craftsmen build a steam water tank, but it turned out to be a huge iron waste that could only move at a speed of 4 centimeters per second. It had a layer of two millimeters of iron armor, a three-pound cannon, and no accuracy at all.

In 1839, the power of steam engines was too low. When miniaturized to the size of a tractor, the power was reduced to about five horsepower, which was quite disappointing.

Catherine had a sudden idea, "What if we put a super huge cannon on the back of this train, and use rail tracks to transport it to battle?"

Leader One looked surprised, "You guessed about the train cannon?"

Unfortunately, the times did not allow it. Catherine’s creative idea could only stay in imagination. Steam locomotives could not be used directly for combat in this era, only indirectly for things like transporting soldiers and supplies.

Leader One wasn’t the first person to realize the military strategic use of trains, but he was the first to take it seriously. Repairing the railways was necessary for both military and industrial purposes.

As Prussia became wealthier due to industrialization, cheap labor was still needed for the railway construction. Every kilometer of railway required many sacrifices. Currently, there weren’t many unemployed people in Prussia, and it was difficult to use work in exchange for relief. The railway construction was slow, but Leader One still tried his best to push the policy forward, even considering recruiting workers from Poland.

(Poland: Prussia, fuck you!)

On the night of February 8, 1839, the Prince Regent of Prussia returned to loyal Berlin.

The royal guards walked with Leader One onto the streets, and first they arrived at Brandenburg Gate.

Walking through the central gate of Brandenburg Gate, Leader One was surprised to feel the bullet and cannon marks on the walls. He thought to himself, "Why is my gate like this? Even when the Soviet army came, it wasn’t this bad."

At this time, Prussia’s Liberal Revolution was entering its second phase, with daily battles in Free Prussia.

The protest groups turned into armed uprisings, dividing into many factions attacking each other, with workers and citizen classes armed, landowner Junkers and farmers armed, liberal member of parliament armed, bourgeoisie armed, armed middle-class liberals and new Protestants united, Catholic armed…

With already huge social contradictions, along with the betrayal of liberal parliament members, and the parliament and cabinet pointing fingers at each other, Anna and the members constantly spreading rumors and inciting conflict, this great revolution began to have a taste of the French Revolution; Berlin directly turned into a battlefield.

During the Berlin "PLAYERUNKNOWN’S BATTLEGROUNDS contest", the military strictly followed the previous arrangements of the prince regent, maintaining a high level of restraint, which meant doing nothing, just watching the various groups fighting.

The regular army had been watching the spectacle for many days, while the national army… except for the First Army led by Hans, all other formations joined the riot, and they could now be considered rebels.

In the prince regent’s office at Redel-Catherine Manor, Leader One sat contentedly listening to the situation, as Anna and Hans recounted the recent chaos and various forces.

Anna, hands on her hips, with a speechless expression, "Those little worm-like MPs can’t play, they sent assassins to kill me, over twenty times, and a few Magic Energy Knights were involved."

Leader One looked around Anna with concern, finding no missing parts or wounds, he relaxed and sat back down.

Hans, "General Ron sent the Teutonic Knights to protect Mrs. Bismarck, and the assassins with murderous intent have all been eliminated."

Leader One was very happy and said, "Well done, Ron, you are promoted to general."

Those members of parliament who planned to assassinate Anna, as well as the liberal politicians who betrayed the people, were ordered by Your Highness the Regent to arrest and bring to Frederick Square for trial by the public. The guillotine was also brought out to have these traitors judged by the people.

In public trials, the death penalty is the starting point, so none of these politicians will survive.

Oh, by the way, Leader One also has a list. Last time during the Great Judgment, he did not take action against those Grand Aristocrat Jungerherrs for various reasons.

Now is a good opportunity, with chaos spreading throughout Europe. Many nobles have died. Do you remember the once prestigious Austrian Prime Minister Metternich? During the revolution in Austria, many government officials were executed on the spot. Metternich had to flee the city disguised as a woman, like a desperate fugitive, fearing capture by revolutionaries. No noble dared to help him.

Over four hundred nobles died in Austria within a month, with no reaction from the international community. Who has the time to interfere in others’ affairs now?

With no foreign powers to intervene and internal chaos in Prussia, Leader One took the opportunity to eliminate dissenters. He planned to get rid of those boastful Grand Aristocrat Jungerherrs, seize their assets for the state, isn’t it wonderful?

Anna asked, "Is it time to wrap things up? We should end this revolution."

Leader One replied, "Not yet, let’s play with them a bit."

The Liberal Revolution in Prussia had taken a different turn, with Anna making some changes to Leader One’s plan, but still achieving the main goal.

What had started as a challenge from progressive groups to the old world, had turned into a confusion of different groups fighting among themselves. Nobody was targeting Leader One, the prince regent. He had distanced himself from the entire revolution early on. People outside believed he had been sidelined, unaware of the chaos, and felt he didn’t need to take any responsibility.

Four rebellious groups, claiming to be acting in the name of loyalty to the king, were causing trouble. They aimed to restore power to the prince regent and eliminate the corrupt officials pressuring him.

To some extent, none of the groups saw Leader One as an enemy. All the rebellious groups considered the prince regent as one of their own, mainly due to his good reputation among the people and also because he used various tactics to shift attention away from himself during the revolution.

As the unrest continued among the people, Leader One grew happier. The louder the noise of the Liberal Revolution, the more opportunity he had to get rid of dissenters, weaken the power of the nobility and landlord class, force businessmen to compromise, suppress religious influence, reduce local government authority, and possibly even implement land reforms.

"Catherine, you can now lead the Royal Cavalry to take action. Remove the people listed in the first batch. Remember, we are responding to the voices of the people, delivering justice by punishing and confiscating the possessions of these harmful traitors against our nation."

"As you command, Your Highness!" Catherine quickly left.

Riding the wave of the times, Leader One had a lot to do. Not only did he aim to gain complete control of the country, but he also needed to address the practical needs of the people.

The main reason behind the revolution was that the people were living in extreme hardship. Their work was exhausting and perilous, with the little they earned just enough to get by. They had no social status, no entertainment, no social welfare…

The needs of these people must be met, or there will be another outbreak after this big revolution.

"I need absolute royal power."

"The people need the right to live like humans."

"The country needs to be strong, united, honored, and dignified."

"Let the tide of this great revolution sweep everything away, and the history of Prussia and Germany enters a new chapter from this moment!"

Leader One waved his hand, signaling Anna and Hans to prepare.

The show is about to begin.