I'm playing whack-a-mole in Siberia

Chapter 726 Naturalization
Alexander remained in Germany until just before Christmas when he returned to Constantinople.

The negotiations are not over yet and will continue next year.

The main disagreement was Alexander's request for someone to oversee Deutsche Bank's operations, which was strongly opposed by shareholders.

Before the end of the year, the United States held a presidential election, and Republican Warren Harding won and became the 29th President of the United States.

Harding became president not because of his outstanding abilities, but because of his mediocrity.

Harding's running mate was Calvin Coolidge, who became Vice President of the United States after Harding was successfully elected.

Coolidge's nephew was John Coolidge, the legal advisor to the Dolgorukov family.

George had no feelings towards Harding, but felt sorry for Wilson.

Last October, Wilson suffered a stroke that left the left side of his body completely paralyzed and his left eye blind.

When Wilson suffered his stroke, the U.S. economic situation was already extremely tense.

During the World War, the United States sent 400 million soldiers to Europe to fight. After the end of the World War, Wilson was in Paris to attend the Paris Peace Conference and had no time to properly resettle the veterans.

After the economic crisis broke out, workers in the U.S. steel and meat processing industries went on strike, and racial riots began to spread in cities such as Chicago and Omaha.

When the United States needed Wilson to perform his presidential duties most, he suffered a stroke and completely lost his ability to work.

This also became an important reason for the introduction of the 25th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

In the last one or two months at the end of the year, festivals in Constantinople follow one after another, and every day is a carnival.

First comes Christmas and New Year's Day, then the Russian New Year, and then the Chinese New Year.

George instructed Witte to take good care of the Germans working in Russia and make them feel the friendliness of Russia.

Werther hesitated to speak.

Since Russia introduced a large number of workers from Germany, tens of thousands of Germans have applied for Russian citizenship, and this situation has attracted the attention of the Weimar government.

If it were an ordinary German, it would be fine.

It just so happens that most of those who apply for Russian citizenship are engineers, military officers and other professional and technical personnel.

The news Witte received was that the Weimar government was considering restricting professional and technical personnel from going to Russia to work.

This cannot be blamed on those Germans who applied for Russian citizenship.

Germany is still hungry and the food shortage has not been completely alleviated.

Not only is there enough food in Russia, but the living standards in all aspects are also high, which is very attractive to Germans working in Russia.

Guderian felt this deeply.

The living standard in Amur is even better than in Russia and Europe.

Before Christmas, Granat invited Guderian and several familiar German officers to his home, and Guderian gladly accepted the invitation.

The Army Academy staff building where Granat lives looks square and plain on the outside, but it's actually quite impressive on the inside.

It is incredible in Germany that a family building with only four floors is equipped with an elevator.

Granat's home is over 200 square meters, and an entire floor is occupied only by Granat's family.

There are 9 people in Granat's family, and Granat is the only one who works.

"This is very normal in the Amurs. In many Amur families, only one person works. If both of them work, they can't take care of the family."

After Granat's introduction, Guderian learned that Granat's wife was actually a German.

To welcome the arrival of the fellow villagers, Granat's wife specially cut a German ham.

Guderian thought that Granat's wife made it herself, but after asking, he found out that it was a year-end benefit issued by the Vladivostok Municipal Government.

Guderian couldn't eat. Guderian remembered that it seemed to be the second year of the outbreak of the World War. In order to save feed, Germany slaughtered livestock on a large scale. Since then, even the German army had difficulty eating ham.

Guderian always thought that Germany no longer produced ham since then.

I only now realize that Germany has been producing ham all along.

It’s just that ordinary Germans are not eligible to enjoy it.

"This is the biggest difference between Grand Duke Yuriev and those noble lords. Those noble lords never care about the lives of ordinary people. Only Grand Duke Yuriev cares whether we old guys have food and whether we eat well."

Granat has been in the army for 20 years, serving in the Amur.

"If you can meet the Grand Duke or the Grand Duchess, can you ask the Grand Duke to admonish those school inspectors? They have arranged too many extracurricular activities, which have affected the children's studies."

Guderian was surprised by Mrs. Granat's request.

Who could Grand Duke Yuriev meet whenever he wanted?
There is also a photo of Granat and George hanging on the wall of Granat Restaurant.

It was not an individual photo, but a large group photo of many people. George was sitting in the center of the front row, and Granat was sitting in the third row just above and behind George.

“Wouldn’t it be nice to have extracurricular activities?”

Granat does not have too high expectations for his children's studies, he only asks that they grow up healthily.

If I fail to get into Vladivostok University, I will continue to serve in the army under George.

"Of course not! Look at those schools run by Chinese people. Students are busy from morning till night. They even have books in their hands while eating—"

Mrs. Granat was anxious. This was too much.

"Do you like that?"

Granat asked the children for their opinions.

A bunch of little idiots had different opinions, some nodded, some shook their heads.

“If you like to learn, go to a school run by Chinese people.”

Granat: It doesn’t matter. Everyone has their own aspirations.

Guderian was very interested in Amur's educational model.

"Ta Kung Pao attaches great importance to education and requires all school-age children to go to school. I think this is unnecessary. Some people don't like to study at all and don't cherish the opportunity at all. They are just wasting their time and educational resources in school."

What Granat was accustomed to was something that only happened in dreams to Guderian and other German officers.

"Someone in our school bullied other students and was expelled from school."

Granat's youngest son Vladimir just started elementary school this year.

"It's not enough to just fire them, those dog mothers should be sentenced!"

Granat's pure military style.

“Don’t swear in front of the kids.”

Mrs. Granat stopped it in time.

The meal was lively and after it, Granat invited Guderian and the officers to have a cup of coffee before they left.

Guderian had just returned to the dormitory when Nicholas, who had arrived at the Vladivostok Army Academy at the same time as him, came to see Guderian.

"William, I want to become a Russian citizen—"

Nicholas was very calm and seemed to have made up his mind.

This is the fourth German officer to choose Russian citizenship this month.

(End of this chapter)