Chapter 751: Descendants

Germany, in the Chancellor’s office in Berlin, there was a series of urgent knocks on the door. The old Chancellor August’s physical condition was not what it used to be. He struggled to remove the monocle from his eye, then squinted and said in a not-so-loud voice, “Come in.”

“Heil Akado Rudolph, our Führer! Mr. Chancellor!” An SS officer entered the room, then stood at attention before the old man’s desk and said, “News just came in. The Führer, without notifying the Ministry of the Interior, went to Rotterdam, Netherlands, alone first. Along the way, he saw many things that angered him. Just now, the Führer gave the order for a purge. The imperial industrial investors in Rotterdam and the surrounding areas are all included in the order to be eliminated.”

August placed the eyeglass in his palm on a spread-out deerskin cloth on his desk, looked up at the officer who had come to deliver the news, and said slowly, “This is not the first time the Führer has killed people. For you to come and make a special announcement, it can’t be that simple. Let me guess… this matter must be related to me. If it’s not that foolish grandson of mine getting himself into trouble again, I really can’t think of any other reason why you would be here.”

What is a tragic work environment for a person? It’s having an idiot for a superior, one who always fails to make an accurate judgment of the situation and then fruitlessly makes his subordinates try to clean up the mess from his previous mistakes. What is an even more tragic work environment? It’s having a genius for a superior. Such a superior will make you feel inferior, and then you will know that you will never in your life be able to surpass this superior and take his place.

“Alright, don’t look like you don’t know what to say,” August said, standing up. His physical condition was not very good now. Most of the time, he just gave some guiding opinions, and the specific operations were left to others. But as long as he was there, Germany’s internal affairs were in order. He was like a stabilizing pillar, steadying the domestic situation in Germany.

He had easily seen everything from the officer’s face, so he knew that his previous guesses were likely eighty to ninety percent correct. As one of the most powerful men in the Empire, August had always been dedicated to the rise of Germany, so it was inevitable that he had neglected the trivial matters of managing his family. Now that his grandson had done something that Akado could not tolerate, August himself had a bitter taste in his mouth.

Even a vicious tiger does not eat its own cubs, let alone a human being of flesh and blood. Of course, August hoped his grandson could escape this disaster, but he also understood Akado’s fury in the Netherlands.

He had worked conscientiously. Since joining Akado’s side, he had devoted almost all his energy to making Germany more stable and prosperous. He had helped Akado formulate policies and implement various advanced laws, keeping Germany on the fast track of development. He had helped Akado manage his vast family business, allowing Germany to quickly absorb and integrate these new territories after occupying so many places.

But he now knew that while he himself was working his old bones to the marrow for the future of Germany, his own descendants were destroying the integration and absorption policy he was so proud of, all for a little bit of immediate profit. It was impossible to make a region truly integrate into a country without 100 years. The long transition after a military occupation was the true test of a country’s foundation.

Unfortunately, August had done his best to mobilize almost half of the economic activity and the process of national integration in the occupied territories, only to have it all ruined by those bastards who treated the future of the Empire like a child’s game. The trust and virtuous cycle that had been so hard to build were now teetering on the brink of collapse in the face of petty profits.

Let alone Akado, even August had the heart to strangle his own disappointing eldest grandson. But in the process of standing up and walking to the door, he still managed to persuade himself to make one last effort for this unworthy descendant of his family.

As he reached the door, he suddenly felt a wave of dizziness. The entire room began to spin in his vision. He fell backward into the arms of the SS officer who was following him. He heard the officer repeatedly and anxiously shouting, “Chancellor! Chancellor! Someone! Get a doctor! Quick!” and then he lost consciousness.

…

In the mountain villa of Gustav Krupp, the head of the German Industrial Association, former advisor to the German Ministry of Industry, and the great capitalist of Germany’s most powerful arms industry, a room was always reserved for the Führer.

Slap! Krupp backhanded his younger son across the face. Then, in a rage, he threw the bottle of expensive French red wine in his hand into the fireplace, making the fire there burn even brighter. This short, not-so-imposing man’s eyes were now as dangerous and ferocious as those of a lone wolf.

After a long while, he finally moved his gaze from his younger son’s face and looked at his wife, who had been sitting not far away without speaking. As a man who had married into the Krupp family, Gustav Krupp had always been respectful to his wife. She was also one of the largest shareholders in the entire Krupp group. Although in recent years, with the help of Akado’s power, Gustav’s personal industrial assets had become comparable to his wife’s, she still held a pivotal position in the entire family.

“Gustav… he is my son! Why are you doing this?” Krupp’s wife finally spoke, her brow furrowed. She was still relatively fond of her sons, especially her eldest, who had already made a lot of money for the family in the Netherlands.

Like a traditional capitalist, she did not care about the means of making money, nor did she care about the problems that arose after the money was made. So in her eyes, her husband was making a mountain out of a molehill. How much had her family given for the entire Third Reich? Wasn’t it enough for the Führer to be a little more lenient with them?

“You have done so much for the Empire. The Führer rose to power with the support of our family. On what grounds is he turning against us now and causing trouble for our family? Our son just opened a few factories in the Netherlands and exploited some workers, that’s all. What’s the problem?” The more she spoke, the angrier she became, and her expression was not good. “We won the war, and in the end, we still have to work for those who lost the war. And now we can’t even make these defeated people work overtime and dock some of their wages? Then what are we even fighting this war for?”

Her words represented the majority of capitalists who were exploiting the loopholes and using the theory of the victor nation to exploit the workers of other countries. And her reasoning made sense: I won the war, I am enjoying the spoils of victory, so why can’t I exercise my power to squeeze the costs of the defeated side and maximize my profits?

It must be said that from a personal point of view, this view was undoubtedly correct. But this was simply shifting the conflict to the state. In other words, it was raising the cost to the level of national hatred and directly pushing it onto one’s own country. Even if analyzed purely from an economic interest perspective, in fact, Germany had already repaid everything these capitalists had invested in supporting the German war effort with the land and some preferential policies in the occupied territories. And now, when these capitalists were taking more, they had forgotten to find a way to share some of the obligations for their own country.

Krupp was no fool. The friends he had associated with for so long were all the top elites of the Empire: Speer, Jelinek… The virtuous cycle model proposed by these experts in economics and industry had been deeply ingrained in Krupp’s mind. He naturally knew what kind of disaster breaking this balance would bring to this country.

Germany had spent a great deal of energy and time to win the hearts and minds of the people in the occupied territories, and then in turn to nurture the German homeland, forming a so-called “virtuous cycle.” This was also an important part of Speer’s plan to integrate the industrial capacity of the occupied territories. If this development process were to be obstructed by some people for the sake of immediate interests, then Germany’s early investment would have no return, and its war potential would also fall into a state of decline. This could very well crush Germany’s fragile wartime economy and plunge the country into turmoil.

“Arrange a plane for me! I need to get to Rotterdam! Now! Immediately!” Krupp glanced at his wife, then sighed. He also could not bear to part with his son. After all, those who would destroy their own family for the sake of righteousness were in the minority. As a father, he had to fight for a chance for his son to live, no matter what.

…

Akado leaned back on the sofa, listening to Ger personally report on the progress of the recent arrests. “My Führer, Lieutenant General Dek has been taken into custody. His troops have been taken over by officers sent by General Keitel. The loyalty of the troops to you is still beyond question. Of the several main culprits involved, two have already committed suicide, and another was caught while trying to escape. All persons involved and their families are now under our control.”

“In one hour, get ready. Right in front of the main gate of the palace, begin the executions. For every person killed, you must announce their crimes. All will be charged with the crime of exploiting German civilians and will be hanged,” Akado said slowly. He felt very tired. These damn bastards seemed to be endless. Humanity’s indulgence of its own selfish desires was always the same, regardless of national borders or time.

“Führer, news just came in. Chancellor August is gravely ill…” Ger said softly, a seemingly unrelated piece of news.

Akado was taken aback for a moment, then was silent for a few seconds before asking, “And then? Who else? Continue.”

“Krupp’s plane has taken off from Berlin and is on its way,” Ger continued to reply.

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