German Red Prince

That shouldn't be the case. How could so many people be unemployed? Even if the Kingdom of Rhine is currently carrying out some kind of "industrial restructuring," subsidies and such will still be approved. That amount of money is more than enough to handle these kinds of problems. How could it not solve the unemployment problem and the city's environmental problems?

"Looks like there's a big problem here." Thorne sat on a chair in the open-air restaurant, holding a piece of "Charlemagne's flatbread," a type of army ration supposedly invented by Charlemagne. It's basically a large flatbread with a sausage and some other fillings; the taste is alright, and most importantly, it's filling. Looking at the flatbread in his hand, Thorne couldn't help but think, "Isn't this just a roujiamo (Chinese hamburger)?"

He and Thälmann were squatting on the street eating when a radio on their stall suddenly came on, broadcasting an interview with the mayor of Darmstadt.

"What are your thoughts on the unemployment problem in Darmstadt, and how do you think the current situation can be resolved?" the reporter asked.

"The mayor?" Thorne thought for a moment. He remembered that Holman had mentioned this mayor before, and this person seemed to have some problems.

“The employment situation in Darmstadt is indeed not very good right now. Many people can’t find jobs and are under a lot of pressure. But I think they can find their own ways to make money. They can be more flexible and use their own skills to earn some income. They can find flexible employment and not rely on others for everything. Our city government is also facing difficulties. They need to find their own solutions.”

"Moreover, I think that flexible employment is also an effective supplement to traditional employment. Even the United States and Russia cannot do this. It is a leading performance. We are also studying some measures and methods for flexible employment. I think that after a trial, it can be promoted throughout Germany, so that this more advanced employment method can bring economic vitality to Germany and bring a small German shock to other countries."

"Moreover, the per capita living standard of the German people far exceeds that of other countries. A street in Berlin can shake the whole of Europe, and a street in Darmstadt can at least shake the whole of New York."

"If you want to find flexible employment, there are actually many ways. For example, you can use your own car. Darmstadt has a well-developed mechanical industry, so every household can drive their own car to pick up some jobs or haul goods. You can also rent out your spare house. I think this is a good way to solve income and employment problems. Flexible employment can really solve a lot of problems."

"puff--"

Thorne spat out the water he had just drunk after hearing the mayor's outrageous speech; he was truly speechless.

The more he listened, the more outrageous it became. One street shaking the entire city of New York? It seems the American people are still quite uncivilized.

His words made no mention of what he should have done himself, but kept emphasizing what you should have done. In other words, you've ended up like this, unemployed and all that, it's all your own fault for not working hard enough. Darmstadt has its own rules, and you can only blame yourselves for being in such a miserable state.

What do you mean every household has a car? They rent out their vacant houses. If that were true, Thorne wouldn't still be homeless on the streets. This mayor is really trying hard to imagine the lives of the poor. I'm so sad.

"What do you think?" Thorne asked Thallman.

"I don't know what to say, I have nothing to say." Goodness, even Thallman is speechless.

"It's a bit outrageous, but I think it's normal for him to say such things. After all, Germany hasn't completed its revolution yet. I believe that such remarks would never appear in a socialist country, because the people would hang him."

“That’s not necessarily true.” Thorne smiled. “Listen to what he just said, that every family has a car and that vacant houses are rented out. This is clearly out of touch with the lives of the people. Anyone who says such things is either stupid or malicious. If we don’t stay closely connected with the people and understand their living conditions, we might say something even more outrageous than him.”

"Without the right to investigate, there is no right to speak. If those in power remain aloof, they are easily deceived and their connection with the masses is severed. They can be misled by impressive-looking data on paper. If they are ambitious and eager for quick success, they may issue even more exaggerated orders and instructions. In order to carry out these instructions, the officials below will often be more strict."

"In this way, we will continue to be kept in the dark by these impressive statistics, thinking that we are living in a peaceful and prosperous era. We must understand that the truth will never be hidden, and the anger of the people will never be contained. Their power is immense. Look at Louis XVI; he still hasn't found his own head."

"Yeah, indeed."

Thallman nodded; he had been thoroughly educated by Thorne these past two days and was now completely obedient.

Thorne's words were more meaningful than anything he had learned in Britain. From Thorne, he gained a deeper understanding of the power of the people and the qualities a revolutionary should possess.

Revolutionaries cannot stand aloof; they must unite with the masses. To rely on them, one must stand with them as equals. Revolution demands action, not opportunism, and certainly not deception. A revolutionary's promises are not empty words, but concrete plans and a bright future.

"Let's go, we can only go to Holman. It seems we really can't find any vacant houses. There are only broken cardboard boxes here."

Thorne stood up; he was about to officially begin his trip to Darmstadt.

Chapter 54 Rheinmetall

"Thallman, do you know how to get to the Philsonmeier Sanatorium?"

“Mr. So...Kar, this is my first time here too.” Thallman scratched his head. They were going to the sanatorium to find Holman, but none of them knew the way.

"What are we going to do? If we can't find him, we'll really have to sleep in cardboard boxes tonight." Thorne slapped his forehead and sighed.

He was careless; he came excitedly thinking he could find a place to live. He didn't expect the living conditions here to be so much worse than he imagined, and there weren't that many "vacant houses."

"What should we do? Heaven is against us!" Thorne cried out in despair. "Someone, please save us!"

"Hey, hello, are you going to the Philsonmeier Sanatorium?" someone suddenly asked from behind Thorne.

"Yes, that's right. Are you also going to the Philsonmeier Sanatorium? Can you tell us how to get there?" Thorne seemed to have grasped at a straw; whether he would sleep on the streets tonight depended on this person.

“We’re going the same way, let me take you,” Elena invited. She had just finished school and was on her way to visit her sister at the nursing home when she heard Thorne asking for help on the street.

"Thank you, beautiful lady." Thorne jumped into the car. Great, he finally had a place to stay.

"What are you going to Philsenmel for?" Elena asked from inside the car.

Her younger sister was receiving treatment there with the help of kind people; otherwise, given their family's financial situation, she wouldn't have gone to that luxurious sanatorium. The two people in front of her were wearing work clothes, and judging from their attire, they didn't seem like they could afford to stay in that kind of sanatorium.

“We’ll go find someone, ma’am,” Thorne replied.

"No need to be so polite. My name is Elena. And you are?"

“My name is Karl, and this is Ernst. It’s an honor to meet you.” Thorne introduced himself and Thallman to Elena. “We’re both looking for jobs, and we know a friend who can help us find some, so we came to see him. We heard he works in Felssenmel, but we don’t know the way, so we ran into you.”

"Why are you here looking for work?" Elena found it unbelievable. "Don't you know how many people have run away? This is the first time I've seen people come here on their own initiative."

"Can't find any work, so I came here to try my luck." Thorne chuckled.

"What strange people. By the way, who are you looking for?" Elena asked the two of them with some curiosity.

"Looking for Mr. Holman, I heard he's visiting his daughter there now."

"Huh? Mr. Holman? Visiting his daughter?" Elena felt a little confused. Her father was also named Holman. Could it really be such a coincidence?

Upon arrival, Elena bid farewell to the two men and entered the sanatorium.

Thorne saw Hamo at the sanatorium, and Hamo saw Thorne and rushed over.

"Your Highness."

"No, don't call me that. I'm just a junior apprentice now." Thorne pointed to his plain uniform and smiled.

"Don't let anyone see you bowing to a worker, it's weird."

“Yes, Your Highness.” Hamo straightened up.

“Don’t call me Your Highness, call me Karl. I’m a worker now.” Thorne adjusted his hat. “By the way, where is Holman? We need to get started.”

“Come with me, Mr. Karl.” Hammer led Thorne into the sanatorium.

Elena entered the ward and was shocked by what she saw: Holman was sitting by the bed, reading a book with Arya.

"Dad!" Elena ran to her father in surprise, hugged Holman, and cried.

"Dad, you're finally back!" Elena couldn't contain her emotions. After so long, her father had finally returned. She had thought of her father while listening to Thorne's words on the way, and was still somewhat dazed. She never expected that her father would actually come back.

"Elena, I'm back." Looking at his children, Holman felt an indescribable guilt; he owed them so much.

"How have you been these days? How have you been doing?" Holman asked with some concern.

"Yes, thanks to Mr. Hammer, Mom is now working at the nursing home, we've moved here, and my brother can continue his schooling. We're doing very well now."

"That's good, that's good." Holman sighed. Was his experience in Frankfurt unfortunate or fortunate?

He still can't bear to recall his experience in the Gulag; it was definitely the darkest memory of his life. But without that experience, he wouldn't have met Thorne.

If he hadn't met Thorne, he might have perished in that kidnapping operation. Even if he had escaped that time, he would have continued to stand on the edge of a knife and carry out even more dangerous missions, going further and further down this path of no return.

He did all this for his family, but if he continued those missions, his family would inevitably be drawn in. He didn't even want to think about what would happen then.

So Holman is still quite grateful that meeting Thorne was probably the best outcome for him. He escaped from that organization with no way out and his family was not dragged into his dark conspiracy.

"Hi, Mr. Holman, I think I've come at the wrong time?" Thorne said with a smile as he opened the door and saw the scene inside.

Holman saw Thorne smiling at him, and his thoughts were instantly drawn back to the dark Gulag. He seemed to see the young man in the Gulag who had been smiling sinisterly at him. He felt his legs go weak and he almost collapsed to the ground.

“Mr. Holman, this is Mr. Carl, he’s here to see you.” Hammer quickly stepped forward and said when he saw that Holman was not in a good mood.

“Yes, Mr. Holman, didn’t we agree on this?” Thorne looked at Holman with a sincere expression.

"Dad, you know them?"

Elena was somewhat surprised, not expecting that the Mr. Holman that Thorne mentioned in the car was her father.

Thorne looked at Elena with some surprise. This world is so small, so incredibly small. How could such a coincidence happen?

“I never expected that Mr. Holman would be your father. What a coincidence, Miss Elena.”

"What's this all about? Have you met before?"

Holman looked at the two people with surprised expressions and asked in confusion.

“They came to Felsemmel to look for someone, but they didn’t know the way. I happened to be looking after Arya, so I brought them along. I didn’t expect they were looking for you, Father,” Elena explained to Holman.

“I see, what a coincidence.” Holman patted Arya’s head and stood up.

"I have some things to do with these friends, we have to go to work. Arya, you need to take good care of yourself and get some rest. Elena, take good care of your sister. I will never leave you again."

“Okay, Daddy.” Arya nodded obediently. Holman glanced at them reluctantly, then walked out.

“Mr. Holmann, after our investigation, we decided to work at the Rhine Machinery Factory. The Rhine Machinery Factory is a factory directly under the Kingdom of Rhine, but it seems there are some management problems in Darmstadt. We decided to go and see what they’re up to here,” Thorne said to Holmann.

Rheinmetall is the official comprehensive manufacturing plant of the Kingdom of Rhine, covering civilian, military and a range of other fields.

This machine shop is renowned for its precision machining; most of the parts for Porsche, the famous car brand in the Rhine Kingdom, are supplied by the Rhine Machine Shop.

Not only car parts, but also standard weapons and a large amount of equipment for the Rhine Kingdom's army are produced by Rhine Machinery Factory. It can be said that this company is the industrial backbone of the Rhine Kingdom.

There's clearly something wrong with the factory in Darmstadt. Before Thorne arrived, the Stasi had already investigated Darmstadt. Regarding the profits of the Rheinmachinery plant there, although there seemed to be nothing wrong on the surface, after careful investigation, the Stasi still found loopholes in these seemingly rigorous and impeccable data. The level of falsification of accounts is quite impressive. It seems there's a lot more to it than meets the eye. It seems they're quite vigilant.

“Holman, you used to work in a machine factory and you’re very skilled, so we need you. Also…” Thorne said somewhat awkwardly, “Well, your whole family has moved to the sanatorium, so your old house must still be empty. We have nowhere to live, so we can only rely on you.”

“No problem, Your Highness Thorne, leave it to me.” Holman readily agreed. Although the two of them had some unexpected incidents before, Holman wouldn’t be where he is today without Thorne’s help, and now it was time for him to repay the favor.

“No need to call me Your Highness, just call me Karl.” Thorne smiled at Holman. “Holman, do you trust me?”

“Of course, Mr. Carl, I believe you,” Holman replied immediately.

"Here, take this." Thorne took out a small box and handed it to Holman.

Holman opened the box, which contained various kinds of medicine bottles.

“Your wife is a nurse, and the instructions for the medicine are inside. She should be able to understand them. If you trust me, use the medicine in here to treat Arya. All the medicines in here are special drugs that I have found, and they should be very effective for Arya.”

These medicines are all highly effective drugs from the treasure chest, and they are still very effective in dealing with tuberculosis.

“Thank you, Mr. Carl.” Holman bowed to Thorne. He had complete faith in Thorne; without him, Arya’s situation would only be worse, perhaps beyond repair.

"Let's go, let's go report to the Rhine Machinery Factory." Thorne clapped his hands; it was time for them to go to work!

Rheinmetall

"Emanlon, what's wrong with you this month? So many defective products?" A worker handed the inspector's report to Emmanlon, who was working.

"How is that possible?" Emmanuel put down his work, took the order, and looked at it.

"How could there be so many? Impossible!" Emmanron was also taken aback. After all, he had been a skilled worker for eight years. How could he possibly produce so many defective products?

"Where's the inspector? I don't believe it, I'm going to find the inspector!"

"Forget it, it's always the other way around. You're the one who comes to them, not the other way around. You made so many defective products and they only gave you a receipt. They're already being very kind by not deducting your wages. Just be more careful next month." The worker patted Emmanuel on the shoulder and left.

"impossible?"

Emmanron looked at the receipts in his hand. No matter how many mistakes he made, he couldn't possibly have produced so many defective products. He was a skilled worker with eight years of experience.

Could it be? Could it really be that he was careless? Perhaps it was indeed his oversight. In that case, he must be more vigilant this month and absolutely cannot make the same mistake again, otherwise it would be too unfair to his eight years of hard work.

In a secluded warehouse, a box was opened, revealing weapons that had previously been identified as "defective" but were now neatly arranged inside.

Moreover, anyone with eyes can see that these weapons stacked together have been oiled and are shining; how could they possibly be so-called substandard products?

Looking at the weapons in the box, the people in the warehouse picked up a few to check, nodded, then loaded the box onto a truck and drove away, mingling with a pile of miscellaneous items.

Chapter 55 Not Very Clever

Workers on the roadside are standing on trucks to catch boxes being handed up by people below.

He took a box that was passed to him and saw a shriveled, rotten apple inside that smelled of decay. He curled his lip in disgust, picked up the apple, and threw it onto the street.

Inside the dark, damp sewer, a pair of eyes the size of mung beans gleamed.

It is... a mouse?

Yes, it's a rat that lives deep in the sewers.

Its belly was shrunken from hunger, and its gray-black fur was very dirty and messy, making it look somewhat listless.

At this moment, the mouse was rubbing its little hands because it saw a rotten apple lying quietly in the middle of the road. The mouse, which had been hungry for several days, was of course not going to let go of this gift from heaven.

It was about to climb out of the sewer, and it struggled to put its paws on the stone bricks when suddenly a sound of footsteps was heard.

"Squeak!"

The mouse immediately shrank back into its hiding corner and began to squeak urgently.

Its whiskers trembled nervously, and it kept rubbing its face with its paws, but its little eyes remained fixed on the rotten apple on the road.