My German Empire - Chapter 49:

This night was a disaster for some people, but most of the low-level civilians were not affected.

In the early morning of the next day, the sky was still dark, and there were long lines in front of KFC everywhere as usual. Although the previous government had set up relief points, few people wanted to go there to get food. The food distributed by the government was not only pitifully small in quantity, but also not very fresh, and sometimes even moldy brown bread was given out.

Compared with these damned politicians, His Royal Highness is more sympathetic towards the common people. These days, after filling their stomachs, they either go out to find a job or flood the streets to protest against the incompetent government’s inaction.

Unexpectedly, the scale of the protest was getting bigger and bigger. Although there were several conflicts in the middle, it actually worked. The parliament was dissolved, the Chancellor resigned, and the emperor regained power.

“Erich, what are your plans later?” the middle-aged man standing in the middle of the line asked his companion next to him. Erich shrugged and said helplessly. “What plan? Just continue searching for a job. Hey, I don’t know how the Emperor can solve this terrible dilemma. Edward, look at my clothes, I have already stitched them three times.”

Edward looked around and whispered. “You don’t know yet, His Majesty the Emperor is not in the country right now. His Royal Highness Wilhelm is in charge now.”

“Huh?” Erich wondered. “how do you know?”

There was a hint of pride in Edward’s words. “My relative’s child belongs to the Imperial Guard. Yesterday…” But he closed his mouth immediately when he saw several military trucks approaching from the distance. Isn’t that the soldier he is familiar with standing on the truck?

Several trucks parked in front of the KFC gate under the curious eyes of everyone. Edward saw that the carriages were empty except for the ten soldiers on the first truck.

Just when he was wondering what was going on, he saw the first truck’s co-pilot door open, and the officer of the Imperial Guard with the rank of lieutenant stood on the boarding pedal with a simple shouting microphone in his hand. “Recruiting! Those who are willing to work, get on the truck. We will take care of the meals, and you will also be paid wages every day! Those who go now can still catch up with lunch!”

“Wow!” The crowd was stunned, and then rushed towards the truck. Had it not been for the soldiers to maintain order, these people would probably be fighting. The lieutenant continued to shout. “Don’t fight! Don’t fight! There is a lot of work, and it’s enough for everybody here to get one. Get in the car slowly!”

Even if what the lieutenant said is true, everyone was still worried that they would not be able to get a job and tried to squeeze forward. Soon, the first truck was full of people and drove away from KFC. Only a few minutes later the second truck was also full of people and left.

Edward and Erich were lucky enough to squeeze into the first truck, and after the car started, Edward spoke. “So, do you think they will really give us wages?”

Erich said nonchalantly. “Just follow them, as long as we can make a living.”

Edward shrugged his nose suddenly after being bumped in the truck for more than half an hour. “What’s this smell, it’s so fragrant!” Looking along the direction of the smell, he saw dozens of military cauldrons not far away. The bursts of fragrance came out of a few large military pots.

Without even looking at them, he knew that there was meat in the pot, and the smell of meat kept digging into his nose, which made him swallow his saliva, wishing to jump out of the car and run over to eat it.

However, there are also dozens of imperial guards maintaining order here, and no one dares to mess around. He saw the lead lieutenant standing on several stacked boxes and shouting to the people climbing down the truck. “Each person will receive a lunch box. After eating the food, you have to return the box.”

The crowd once again lined up to receive the military lunch box, and everyone was provided with a piece of brown bread, a potato and broth.

Edward took the broth and walked aside, and he couldn’t wait to take a sip. The broth was so hot that he suddenly changed his complexion because he was reluctant to spit it out, and it was too hot to swallow. With the broth in his mouth he waited until the soup became cold enough to swallow it.

Erich who followed him was speechless. “You are too anxious, is your mouth not burning?”

Edward finally swallowed the broth in his mouth and smiled bitterly. “It’s been a long time since I have had meat and I didn’t wanna waste it” He blew a few mouthfuls at the lunch box, and took a big sip carefully.

At this time the lieutenant continued to shout. “The job here is to repair roads. After lunch, those with relevant work experience, please stand to the left. Like driving trucks, excavators, forklifts, bulldozers, and road rollers, even someone who can cook will do. If you don’t know anything, please go to the right and grab tools.”

“That’s right.” Edward took a bite of brown bread and walked towards the left side since he had experience of driving a forklift on construction sites before.

*

Wilhelm was truly shocked by the amount of wealth found in the operation last night and this is only a small part of their wealth. The deposits of these people and the rest of the real estate are not even counted yet.

This reminded him of the law of immortality of wealth, “Wealth will never truly disappear, it is only transferred from one to another!”

Now, when the poor workers at the bottom can’t even eat a single piece of bread, it seems that everyone is impoverished. But in fact, the pockets of the capitalists are bulging!

Just in the first half of the year, the official statistics showed that the number of unemployed in Germany was 6 million. According to the investigation by Wilhelm’s intelligence agency, this number should be more when the temporary workers are included. The final estimate is 8.75 million! ! You know that the population of Germany is less than 70 million! Excluding the old, the weak, the sick, and the disabled, one out of four male laborers is unemployed.

This is like a ticking time bomb that can explode any moment! !

After all, the United States can rely on its own natural resources to carry forward. With its vast colony, Britain will be able to tide over the difficulties in the end. But only Germany will be the miserable one. As a member of the capitalist camp, it is restricted by the Treaty of Versailles and exploited by Britain and France, making Germany’s situation even more dangerous.

This is also one of the reasons why Wilhelm started his plan in advance, but the result was much better than he expected. The big Junkers who got in the way were burned clean, even saving their cremation fees. Without these backbones, the remaining forces will be wiped out before they can react in the future.

There was a bit of trouble in the army when some people deliberately attacked, but they were countered by the middle and low-level officers and soldiers under them. Even a military court session was saved and they were directly sent to the concentration camps.