Chapter 405: Each Takes What It Wants (South Street’s Ally Plus )

  Chapter 395: Each Takes What It Needs (South Street’s Allies Plus 5)

Bernard was speechless, the hidden danger is no bigger than survival. Future problems, the future to say, first through the current disaster, only then have the capital to consider these issues.

The threat of the Russians we all personally feel, property damage is only a small problem, the key is that personal safety are not guaranteed.

Garnisburg is in a state of depression because of the poor military discipline of the Czar’s army, who would dare to do business when you have to be afraid to go out on the street?

A priest suggested: “Why don’t we discuss this with the nobles in the city?”

Bishop Bernard hurriedly said, “No way! Father Reyn, you should know the situation of the nobles in the city, the Russians are watching them to death, now that we are at their doorsteps, do you want to leave?”

The Junker nobles were still very loyal to the Kingdom of Prussia, and many of these hot-blooded youths were leading guerrillas behind enemy lines, so naturally they were under the focus of the Russians.

It is not that Bishop Bernard does not support the partisans, it is really that East Prussia is too small, a district of more than 30,000 square kilometers of land convergence of three hundred and eighty thousand Russian troops, this is still how to play?

Naturally, the result was self-evident: the resistance was wiped out, the partisan supporters suffered heavy losses, and the Russians used tens of thousands of corpses to teach them a lesson: don’t mess around.

This is also the reason why the local nobles gathered together, they were really scared, fearing that the Russian barbarians would have a brain fart and kill them too.

Everyone gathered together, even if someone had a head jerk and wanted to make a move, the noble officers in the Russian army would stop it, it belonged to their common class interests.

The aristocrats themselves are difficult to protect, now come together there is a great possibility that will lead to fire. Under normal circumstances, the Russian army will not be on them these religious people, the initiative to get together is not to be said.

James pretended to be worried and urged: “Gentlemen, it is better to make a decision early, the Russians will not give us so much time.

Gnesburg now has so many old and weak women and children, it is almost impossible to sign a normal employment contract. It won’t be so easy to convince the Austrian company to hire them either.”

Hearing James’ words, the crowd’s faces changed drastically. Under normal circumstances, the colonial company employed young and strong laborers, and it was very difficult for the old, weak, women and children to find work.

Now wanting to leave through the labor hiring channel wasn’t that simple either.

Father Bragg asked expectantly, “Mr. James, you must have a way to solve this problem, right?”

James said with slight hesitation, “If the number of people is small, I can still ask my friends for help.

Right now, in the entirety of Gnesburg, there are at least tens of thousands of people that need to be moved, and most of them are still old and weak. Under normal circumstances, no colonization company would employ them.

The only way is for us to pay for the shipping ourselves, and I’m contacting friends to help. These companies should offer a false employment contract for the sake of fellow countrymen.”

This was James’s brilliance, and the crowd, who had been hesitant to leave, now involuntarily switched sides and considered how to organize the group’s departure.

Bishop Bernard frowned and said, “This is very troublesome, there are too many people in Guernsey Castle who need to leave, most of the populace cannot afford to pay for the journey, and our church cannot come up with the money.

Not to mention the fact that when we get to the continent, there will be no more work and everyone’s livelihood will be a problem.”

With tens of thousands of people needing to leave, the travel and settling-in costs required are not a small amount.

If before the war, the church had been able to raise this amount of money, it is unlikely that now the banks have all been looted by the Russians and the church is left with only the property in the churches.

The most important thing about religion is faith, as long as there are believers in the money sooner or later can earn back. With no money in his pocket, Bernard could only give up this opportunity to consolidate his faith.

James thought for a moment and said, “The road expenses can only be borrowed first, when we arrive at the place we can turn to the local church, we can also ask for help from the German National Revival Society.

Although most of the old and weak women and children, but everyone is not unable to work. No matter what, they can also do laundry and cook, or help the plantation owners pick cotton.

I have many friends over there who can provide some of the jobs. If there are special circumstances and we really can’t find work, we’ll apply for colonial government relief!”

A moment of crisis reveals true love, James certainly wanted to make money, but when he returned to Gurney’s Castle, he also really wanted to help his compatriots.

Instead of staying here in a precarious life, it would be better to go to Austrian Africa to start a new life.

Like most people, James had despaired of the government in Berlin, and he didn’t think the Kingdom of Prussia could win the war.

The current digs were, in James’ mind, a holy act of rescue, in helping his countrymen escape the clutches of the Russians.

The assimilation of the East Prussian region had long since been completed, many Poles and Lithuanians had become Germans, and on official documents of the Berlin government the local German population had exceeded seven layers.

The rest had also long since gotten used to speaking and writing German, and their habits were similar to those of the Germans. Just go to Austrian Africa and pose as a German and apply for aid, no one would even be bored enough to check.

Franz was very interested in the population, which naturally affected the officials below him. In the eyes of the capitalists, the old, weak, women and children had little value, but in the eyes of the government officials, they were also the population.

To keep the old and weak can buy people’s hearts, the Vienna government is not short of food; women and children, not to mention, women are also laborers, children can grow up, are valuable.

Fewer young and strong means better management, and immigrants with families in tow are the best immigrants. Once settled in the area, none of these people can leave.

Borrowing money for the road was nothing more than setting a threshold for leaving and prolonging their time working in the colony.

After three or five years, whether the Russians occupied East Prussia or the Kingdom of Prussia regained its homeland, there would be new inhabitants in these places, and the immigrants would have trouble surviving if they wanted to go back then.

The only way of life, can not afford to refuse. Church members are not all vicious villains, the black sheep is only a minority, ordinary people at most a little greedy for money, private life indiscretions.

In front of the life and death of tens of thousands of people, everyone still knew what to choose.

This is the characteristic of European society, want to organize the people to leave, only two groups have this kind of influence: the nobles and the church.

James didn’t think he had the ability to persuade the Junker nobles to leave. The Kingdom of Prussia could offer them a deal that Austria could never give.

So from the beginning, the local nobles were put under house arrest, which the outside world thought was the handiwork of the Russians, but actually happened after James bribed Russian officers.

Czarist government and no shortage of population, keep a bunch of may at any time be transformed into a partisan presence, completely asking for trouble, might as well waste to sell to Austria forget.

With the intentional cooperation of the Russians, the emigration organized by James went very smoothly. It was as if the Russians saw nothing and let them organize the string.

Colonel Nikolai, stationed in Gnesburg, looked at the employment contract submitted by James, the dense names on it he did not even bother to look at, and casually threw it to the side.

“Mr. James, according to Russian Imperial law, for every laborer you hire you will need to pay a 5 ruble employment tax, a total of 448,000 rubles.”

James was shocked in his heart, but still had a smile on his face and said, “Your Excellency, Lieutenant Colonel, we only hired 12,000 people, the rest are all family members accompanying us.”

Colonel Nicholas sneered and said, “Unfortunately, this is a time of war and the situation is somewhat unique. We still have to clear out the spies, these family members cannot leave for the time being.”

James, who had reacted, immediately handed over a check for 5,000 divine guilders. This was a check issued by the Royal Bank, which could be cashed in major European cities.

After looking at the number and carefully identifying the authenticity, Colonel Nicolai’s face eased a little and collected it as if nothing had happened.

Tearing the tax check out of his hand, he reissued a tax check for 60,000 rubles and handed it to James.

This is the benefit of wartime, Gnesburg can be robbed pretty much, there is no tax to speak of, the tsarist government naturally will not send tax collectors.

Colonel Nicholas made things difficult for James, naturally to make a buck. Do not look at James organized so many immigrants, but the real youth and strong enough still 6000 people.

Fill in the employment of 12,000 people, mainly because it must be ensured that each household employs one person, in order to be able to legally bring their families to leave. In order not to make trouble, this money James can not dare to save.

After getting the approval, James breathed a sigh of relief. The Austrian Ministry of Foreign Affairs also had an office in East Prussia, and with this legalization, he was able to get the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to intervene.

After sending James away, a young officer asked suspiciously, “Uncle, why did you let him off the hook when you had agreed to blackmail them?”

Collecting taxes, have you ever seen an army collecting taxes? Not to mention that this is still a newly occupied area, there is no concept of tax at all.

From start to finish, it was Colonel Nikolai and the others who wanted to extort a fortune before taking the opportunity to make a temporary tax office.

“Boris, you’re still too young. If I really want to extort on, I guess I won’t get a single ruble at the end of the day, and I’ll have to go home early to retire. Do you remember the telegram you received last night?”

Boris reacted and said, “You mean to say that the Austrian Foreign Ministry has intervened?”

Colonel Nicholas nodded, the money for this population trade sale had long been collected by the St. Petersburg government and was included in the Russian-Austrian loan.

Now the one who stepped in was James, a civilian businessman, and they dared to extort a sum of money, if it was the Austrian Foreign Ministry, the situation would be different.

Most of the Russian army’s logistical supplies were provided by Austria. If this time provokes a dispute between the two countries and affects the war, they, the perpetrators, will definitely not have a good time.

The Tsarist government was indeed corrupt, but that didn’t mean that Alexander II wanted to see it corrupt. If they jumped out at this time, they might be made an example of.

Gnesburg was just an index, the entire region of East Prussia was filled with immigrant merchants, and everyone was working to move East Prussia.

No, I should say everyone was working to free their countrymen. To free one’s fellow countrymen from the Russians’ magic grip was the official answer given by Austria.

Whether others believed it or not, the participants did anyway. The people of East Prussia, who chose to leave, believed it too.

It was a good cooperation of the Russian army, and their completely vernacular performance had scared the local population.

No one wanted to live in precarious times, and conscripting strong men to fight less battlefields and their own country was even more emotionally difficult for them to accept.

(End of chapter)