Chapter 4: The Yonge Noble Family (Part 1)

  Xu Yang had just returned home and was informed by Lao Ye that Haru was waiting for him in the study. After changing into casual clothes, Xu Yang followed Lao Ye to the door of the study. Before entering, Lao Ye hinted that there were several important guests inside, who seemed to have come specifically for Xu Yang.

  "Don't be surprised. Your reputation is greater than anyone could have imagined, and last time your advice helped the Junker gentlemen avoid unnecessary losses."

  Xu Yang nodded to show he understood and adjusted his clothes before gesturing for Lao Ye to push open the door of the study.

  The servant lightly knocked on the wooden door and pushed it open a small gap. "Master, young master has arrived."

  The atmosphere in the study sounded quite good. A young maid opened the door of the study and came out, saying softly: "Master invites Young Master and you to go in."

  The door was not open very wide, only allowing one adult to pass through. Xu Yang walked into the study and first saw the maids holding drinks and snacks with professional smiles on their faces, taking care of the guests meticulously. This also suggested that this was a friendly gathering and would not involve business or other aspects.

  The main study in Xu Yang's home was very spacious, with the exception of the east-facing floor-to-ceiling window, the other three walls were lined with large bookcases filled with neatly arranged books. A set of genuine leather sofas that had been preserved since the Middle Ages was placed in front of the east-facing floor-to-ceiling window. The sunlight at this location was very sufficient, and even if one's mood was gloomy, sitting on the sofa looking outwards, the view within sight was a beautifully decorated garden, which would somewhat change one's melancholy mood.

  The guests fell silent and stopped talking as Xu Yang walked in, they were all Rong Ke nobles. The reason why the two words "Rong Ke" are added before the word "noble", is that only a member of the Rong Ke noble family can truly understand. People's impression of the Rong Ke nobles is that they are a group of big landlords, excluding outsiders and having a deep sense of aggression. Hmm... these impressions are basically not wrong, but what outsiders don't know is; their unity!

  The characteristic of the Junkers was that they put the prefix "von" before their surname to indicate their noble status. After Prussia was founded in the 16th century, the Junkers actively joined the military and accumulated war merits, gradually becoming the military nobility class of Prussia. By the time of the Hohenzollern Empire, the Junkers held key positions in the army and government, enjoying extremely high social status and strong political influence. The prominent figures on the German political scene during the imperial era were all Junker aristocrats.

  A popular saying at the time was: Prussia rules Germany, Junkers rule Prussia, therefore Junkers are the masters of Germany.

  The Junker aristocrats had always been highly vigilant towards Hitler's Nazi Party for two reasons: firstly, the Nazi Party advocated socialism, one of whose policies was land reform, which directly targeted the large landowners in the east, making the Junker aristocrats extremely nervous.

  There is another very important point, the national defense army and the Junker nobility are two sides of the same coin. The leader of the stormtroopers, Rohm, repeatedly threatened to reform the national defense army, smashing the old order. Hitler's attitude was ambiguous, which also made the military's Junker nobles uneasy, until Hitler contacted the Staak family and the situation changed. However, the Staak family's investment in Hitler does not mean that the Junker nobility has accepted Hitler or accepted the Nazi party under Hitler's leadership. The purpose of these old men's trip is already very clear...

  Xu Yang respectfully greeted the guests and finally sat quietly beside Harl. These guests were all familiar to him, none of whom were not extraordinary influential Junker aristocratic families. Among the eight guests, five were from East Prussia, one was from Rhine, and two were from Utenburg.

  Haru lets the maids leave the study room, leaving only Butler Kōji by his side to attend to him. This is when they discuss serious matters.

  Hal personally poured a new cup of coffee for each guest, sat down and said in a serious tone: "It concerns our future, my son Kahn-von-Stark must be present."

  The host nodded his head in agreement. It was customary for the first heir of a noble family to be present when important matters were being discussed, and it was also a sign of respect for the guest.

  "You have always had doubts about the Stach family's support for the National Socialist Party, and I think that's justified. But it doesn't affect our unity! The National Socialist Party's policy includes land reform aimed at the Junker nobility, which affects our interests. Thank you for tolerating the Stach family's support for the National Socialist Party." Harla stood up with Xu Yang and solemnly performed a courtesy ceremony of the Junker nobility.

  The head of the Galloni family from the East spoke first: "Every occurrence has its own rules. Before we arrived in Munich, we had already received a letter of intent from the Strak family and understood why they did so. Now, what we need to know is what benefits will we gain and what will we lose by doing this?"

  Other guests expressed similar doubts about the Gallifreyans.

  Xu Yang clearly sensed that Harl was somewhat tense, and from a distance, he could see that his palms were already sweating. Harl remained silent for a long time, then slowly stood up and walked to the floor-to-ceiling window, pointing outside with an extremely sincere tone: "The Germany after defeat is completely different from before. If we still cling to the land, we will lose even more. Why don't we give up some small interests first to gain greater benefits? Losing a few manors, in the future, we will get the whole world!"

  Xu Yang carefully observed each guest's expression and found that they were somewhat moved.

  "Are you saying that there will be a war in the future?" They were not asking, but rather expecting. The Junker nobles' consciousness of aggression was fully revealed in these people, and those who could be masters of the house were absolutely not ordinary people. How could they not understand the current situation in Germany? Anyone with a little brain knows that there must be a big change in the future of Germany, but because it is impossible to determine what kind of change it will be, they dare not relax their grip on their interests.

  Xu Yang knew they were weighing the pros and cons, engaging in a fierce struggle within their minds.

  After finishing speaking, Ha stood quietly in front of the floor-to-ceiling window and didn't say a word, believing that the guests would soon discuss and come to a conclusion.

  The whole discussion ultimately boils down to one word: "army". The national defense army must exist under the control of the Junker nobility! They unanimously demanded that the Strasser family arrange a banquet, where they would meet Hitler. Of course, before meeting him, they will not change their attitude of 'soft resistance' towards the Nazi Party, and what happens next depends on the outcome after the meeting.

  Serious topics of conversation having been concluded, the guests began another purpose of their trip, that is to take a good look at the glory of Junker nobility in Munich - Kahr von Stak.

  Xu Yang actually has a more convincing set of facts to move them.

  Xu Yang knew that the communication between the Gong and Kui aristocratic families was far from over, and this was just a tentative meeting. Among these guests who came, only a few represented some of the Gong aristocrats who did not understand why the Sida Ke family invested in the National Socialist Party. Such meetings would happen many times, and more people would attend each time.

  The Stauffenberg family represented the interests of most Junker nobility in Munich and all of Bavaria, so it was not surprising that Junkers from other parts of Germany with ties to the Stauffenbergs would sound out the NSDAP.

  The maids came in again at Herr Hall's behest, bearing traditional Prussian petit fours back and forth among the guests. The well-trained maids knew just how to attend to the guests, win their hearts, and make them feel at home; they wore perpetual, professional smiles on their faces.

  Xu Yang was pondering where to start in order to fulfill his promise to the people. Each of these guests seemed so extraordinary, and even when they were chatting, their faces all wore a noble and aristocratic guard, not to defend against sudden attacks, but to worry about whether their words and deeds would hurt people's impression of the Kong family.

  The Junker nobleman from the Rhineland, named Babo-Lipsett, was a fifty-year-old old man who had participated in World War I and always wore the gray infantry uniform of the Bavarian-style army officer rank he had at the time of his enlistment. Although he did not receive even half a medal, he still took pride in having made an effort for his country.

  Germany's defeat in World War I was a huge blow to Lippe-Weissenfeld, and he often complained about the unfulfilled ambitions in his heart. Compared with the 'nothing gained' in military career, he had very good harvests in business management. If someone compared this with his military career, he would clench his fists and beat that person up.

  At this time, Lipsett was still like the impression of Xu Yang, touching his own military uniform and telling others about his experience when he joined the army.

  "The bomb exploded just in front of me, not far away. I was knocked to the ground and when I got up, it had become a big crater. God bless, the broken arms and legs inside the crater were shocking. Just one 150-pound bomb took seven soldiers from me. I found myself unharmed..."

  Xu Yang listened to Lipsett's experiences every time he met someone, slowly approaching him. When Lipsett took a sip of coffee and was about to speak again, Xu Yang walked over and saluted him with great regret, saying: "Colonel, it's really unfortunate that you weren't injured at that time! The Emperor wouldn't be stingy with medals for the bravery of soldiers."

  Lipsett nodded in agreement, ruefully slapping his bare right chest: "God's favor has kept me unscathed, but also deprived me of the chance to earn honors."

  Most of the Junker nobles still yearn for a return to the old autocratic era in their bones, and as soon as Xu Yang talks about Emperor De with reverence, they can't help but like this robust young man who is extremely mismatched with his age.

  Xu Yang has already attracted the attention of the guests, and he is one step closer to his goal. He turned his gaze to Eugen-Schimmel (a Junker aristocrat from East Prussia) and said: "Uncle Schimmel, is our hometown still as beautiful as it used to be?" The hometown Xu Yang referred to was Prussia.

  Xin Mu Le is a middle-aged man in his thirties, always with a confident smile on his face. However, Xu Yang's question made the expression on his face stiffen, and his smile turned into anger and indignation. He said: "The scenery of Danzig in East Prussia is changing, its high point is hanging the Polish flag, the Poles are trampling the beautiful and rich land with their stinky boots, making people live in fear."

  Xin Mu's words left everyone clenched in fists for a long time, speechless. Each person's face had a different expression, both angry and helpless. Xuyang finally achieved his goal; arousing the guests' dissatisfaction with reality.

  "I just stepped out...” Xu Yang paused on purpose, letting their gazes focus on him, “The streets are filled with people who have frozen to death or starved to death. People wander helplessly in the snowy ground, despite life being so harsh and desperate, they still try to find a glimmer of hope.”

  The guests' expressions became somewhat strange, as if they didn't understand what Xuyang meant by these words.

  "My father, in September, had donated some grain to the SA of the Nazi Party...” Xu Yang saw that the guests were looking at Harl with accusing eyes and explained on his behalf: “All of you esteemed guests know that Munich is the birthplace of the Nazi Party, they have a lot of influence here, my father sometimes has no choice but to curry favor. What I want to say is... the SA took out the grain, set up charity stalls on the streets, and helped those poor people."

  Ha'er looked at Xuyang with some surprise, seemingly asking him why he had shifted the blame for his own actions onto his elders.

  It is clear that the guests already knew what Xuyang wanted to express, but most of them were unwilling to take a stand.

  Sinmuler looked around at everyone and expressed the concerns in their hearts, "The Nazi Party is winning people's hearts, which will increase their strength. Hitler is really not to be underestimated, he did this to create momentum for the next election."

  Lipsett took over, "We can't just let them get away with it! The noble Junker aristocracy must have more say than that Bohemian non-commissioned officer, the people are the Junkers' people!"

  "We have land, we have surplus grain, and we have the power to help those poor people, but we didn't do it. The miserable scenes I saw on the defeated German soil were unavoidable, and we couldn't help everyone. But what's unforgivable is that we didn't even try our best to help people, this is the dereliction of duty of us Junkers as German masters! Xuyang ignored the guests' embarrassed faces, "The expressions on those people's faces when they received the potato soup, I will never forget. Aid knows no personal boundaries, nor party affiliations, and people will remember who helped them! When they found out that the Stormtroopers' food was donated by the Starker family, do you know what they cheered for?"

  Hal thought his son was going too far, a child who had not yet come of age daring to reprimand what he called dereliction of duty in front of a group of adults. To keep the guests from getting angry, he bellowed: "Karl von Stahl, shut your mouth!"

  Xu Yang skillfully dodged his father's criticism with a smile and suddenly shouted with all his might: "Long live the glorious German Junker nobility!"

  After Xu Yang finished shouting, he didn't go to see the shocked expressions on everyone's faces. He walked back very relaxed and sat down in his original position, elegantly raised his coffee cup towards everyone with a nod, and slowly brought the full cup of coffee to his mouth for a sip.