Chapter 2: The Age of Confusion

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  The plot is once again staged on German soil. The leader of the Nazi Party, Adolf Hitler, has returned and severely criticized the incompetence of the Nazi Party under Erich Ludendorff's leadership, sarcastically saying at the party headquarters: "When I was away, you only knew how to fight for power, use intrigue against your own comrades, and expose each other's scars!"

  "We should unite the forces within the party, we want to enter the cabinet in a legitimate way. Our new strategy is to win elections, shouting and inciting are outdated methods! History is moving forward, if we don't follow the footsteps of history, we will be eliminated by history!"

  "From today on, the party will be led by me. If I fail, I'll step down! But... I absolutely won't fail! This struggle can only have two outcomes - either the enemy dies or I do!"

  At last Hitler shouted loudly: "Failed! Wrap my corpse in the party flag!"

  In a chorus of "Long live victory", Hitler left the chaotic party headquarters.

  Under Hitler's direction, the Nazi Party began to constrain the SA, trying every means to change the SA's impression of only causing chaos, but with limited effect. Ernst R?hm, leader of the SA, refused Hitler's reform of the SA and continued to do as he pleased.

  Joseph Goebbels, the young man who was trying to oust Hitler from the Nazi Party when he was not around, was given a new role. Hitler valued Goebbels' propaganda skills and upon his return from the Staadt family's estate, he devised a new newspaper campaign based on events that would take place in Lugano, Switzerland.

  Hitler's propaganda campaign was successful among the people, and he lavishly praised German Foreign Minister Stresemann's contributions to Germany in the newspapers, considering Stresemann a great man of a new generation. However, his flattery offended one person - Paul Ludwig Hans Anton von Hindenburg, the current President of the Weimar Republic (i.e., Germany).

  ……

  After Hitler received sufficient funding with the support of the Junker aristocracy led by the von Stauffenberg family, the Nazi Party experienced tremendous growth. In 1929, Hitler purchased a three-story building on Brienner Strasse in Munich - Barlow Palace, as the national headquarters of the Nazi Party.

  Hitler knew he couldn't do without the support of the Strak family, so today he came to the Strak's house as usual. As soon as he entered the door, Hitler opened his arms and hugged Hal, then smiled at Xu Yang who was reading a book beside Hal. In Hitler's eyes, the future heir of the Strak family was priceless. He took out a gift box from his pocket: "My little friend, how are you?"

  Xu Yang remained engrossed in his book, oblivious to Hitler's gesture of handing him a gift box.

  Xu Yang - the heir of the Strak family, he has the title of genius youth in Munich. The upper class praises young Strak for having the elegance of Junker nobility at a young age, he can speak fluent East Prussian German before the age of one, and before the age of two, he learned standard Mandarin from an eastern teacher.

  People kindly laughed and said: "Little Strack's Chinese is even more standard than German. The little guy, who just turned fourteen, even helps his father run the family business!"

  In the eyes of the Stark family's servants, their young master was incredibly intelligent, but there was one thing that wasn't quite right. "The young master is so clever it doesn't seem like he's a child, we've never seen him play with kids his own age. He prefers to read books that only middle-aged people would read. We're really worried for the old master that the young master might have some kind of strange illness..."

  In short... Xuyang seemed very extraordinary. Especially in Hitler's eyes, Little Stada could always come up with some suggestions that were helpful to him.

  Ha'er smiled and said: "Old friend, you're not here to see me, are you?"

  Hitler rarely smiled: "Of course, I'm here to see Little Strak. Haha... Old Hal, the future belongs to young people, you won't mind, will you?"

  Harl had been keeping up that weak appearance in front of Hitler for four years, and he politely invited Hitler's party into the living room.

  Xu Yang continued to read his book, completely ignoring Hitler and the others. Perhaps Hitler was already accustomed to this little guy's strange behavior, but he quietly sat in the living room for half an hour without disturbing him, despite always having the slogan "time is precious" on his lips.

  Xu Yang closed the book and said to himself: "It's so difficult to set up a military school." He asked rudely: "How long have you been sitting here?"

  Hitler showed no embarrassment, but rather interest, and asked: "My little friend, do you want to set up your own private military academy? That's something the army should be doing. Besides, they won't agree to it."

  "Sir!" Xuyang said with a very serious expression on his childish face: "Do you really think that only the army can establish military schools? Then why do your stormtroopers exist? Do they have discipline?"

  It can be said that Xu Yang's words were very hurtful, but Hitler didn't care at all and instead asked in a tone of inquiry: "Are you saying the Stormtroopers have become unbearable to people?"

  Harl felt extremely proud of his son's performance, thinking to himself: "This is the child of Liliana and me, he will become the greatest person in the Stark family!" Then, he left the living room under the pretext of preparing dinner.

  Xu Yang saw his old man off before saying: "Of course! Why should people tolerate those unruly thugs?! If you don't want your career to be ruined by the people's wrath, you must use strong measures to stop them! So setting up a military school has become necessary, hasn't it?"

  Hitler hesitated; he didn't want to deal with the SA, but the problem lay with its leader R?hm. He asked: "My little friend, what news have you got?"

  "You also know..." Xu Yang's face finally showed a mischievous smile suitable for his age: "You also know I'm only fourteen..."

  His words were interrupted by Hitler: "No! In my eyes you have more wisdom than many older people."

  Xu Yang continued: "Because of our family's good relationship with the military leaders, I often went to the Army Department to play. Unintentionally, I discovered a document about the army's plan to deal with the Stormtroopers, I memorized it and secretly copied a copy...". As he spoke, he pulled out a folded piece of paper from his book page and handed it to Hitler.

  Hitler handed it over to the Nazi official who had accompanied him to Strasser's home, "We..." He seemed to want to say something else and stopped, after a while he said with difficulty: "My little friend, R?hm won't listen to my opinion, the SA is like his personal guard."

  "A new force that can be controlled!" Xu Yang stood up, "Your Excellency, you need a new force that can be controlled. This force will replace the notorious Stormtroopers."

  Hitler fell silent for a moment before saying in a firm tone: "Kahr-von-Stauffenberg, you are the apostle sent by God to help me!"

  ……

  "What?! Are you sure about this?!"

  When Xu Yang asked to dump all of the family's shares in American companies within a month, Hal stared at his son with a shocked expression.

  Xu Yang looked at Harl with a puzzled face, he didn't know how to explain what would happen in the future, and could only vaguely say: "We should indeed do this. Father, don't you think our news is slower than the Krupp family?"

  "Krupp? What's that got to do with them. My son, are you all right?"

  Xu Yang shrugged and spread his hands: "Dad! Do you think I would do something stupid to harm the interests of my own family? Besides, it doesn't hurt us much anyway!"

  "My goodness!" Hal rushed forward and hugged Xuyang, very worriedly using his own forehead to measure the temperature. After confirming that his son was not feverish, he asked even more puzzled: "Child, tell me why you want to do this."

  Harl looked at his son biting his lip without explanation, and with a very anxious look, suddenly felt some heartache. He just wanted to comfort him warmly when Liliana came over.

  Liliana was shocked by Xuyang's appearance and ran over to hug him tightly, asking softly: "Child, what's wrong?"

  Xu Yang's cheap mother still loves him very much, she never asks Xu Yang for reasons, and every time she supports him in the most direct way. When Xu Yang just learned a complete sentence of German, he made a request that left the whole family speechless, he hoped to have a teacher who could speak Chinese. As a result, Liliana disregarded her husband's opposition and spent a large sum of money to find a renowned scholar from a distant Eastern country. No one went into why a child under two years old would know that there was a language called Chinese in the East, nor did anyone know why little Strak had to invite a Chinese teacher after just learning to speak.

  "It's a good thing the child doesn't ask for the moon, or my wife would probably pull it down with a rope." Just hearing Hal say this to outsiders can prove how much of a doting mother Lirien is to her own child.

  Liliana glared at her husband, if Hal didn't come up with a satisfactory explanation, she would probably threaten not to let him into the house tonight.

  Ha'er rubbed his own nose tip, and it was very difficult to explain for half a day before he could clearly explain the course of events.

  At this time, Liriana was also confused. She knew that her son was different from other children and would always make some strange moves. "Why did you let your father sell the stock?" she asked.

  Xu Yang looked crestfallen and wanted to burrow into Liriana's arms, "Mother, don't you believe me either?"

  Liliana heard that her son's voice was trembling, as if he was about to cry, and hurriedly comforted him again. It is worth noting that Xu Yang has not cried since the moment he was born, always showing great courage and understanding.

  No one can truly understand every mother's thoughts.

  Liliana didn't care about the reason why Xu Yang wanted to do this, and she shouted at Haru: "Do whatever the kid wants! Is money more important than our baby? Go do it now!" She pointed at the door.

  This was Lirien's first loud shout. Hal thought it necessary to change his wife's overindulgence towards their son, believing that a fine Junker noble child could not be spoiled by parents, "Dear, we need to talk about this. It concerns Karn's future growth!"

  Liliana knew that her actions were a bit over the top, so she slowed down her tone and asked: "You know the child, in these fourteen years, has he ever made a mistake with any of your suggestions? He won't lose without a reason!" She stroked Xu Yang's tender face, "Sorry, dear, I was just a bit excited. Did I scare you?" The last sentence was directed at Xu Yang.

  Hal sighed and understood that he could no longer change the fact that Liliana spoiled her son: "Okay! Okay...... I'll do it." The response sounded so helpless.

  ……

  October 29, 1929, the stock market crash on Wall Street in the United States proved how correct Xu Yang's previous suggestion to Harl was. Prior to this, a flood of funds from European countries poured into the United States, with banks lending a total of approximately $8 billion to securities firms for trading in the New York stock market, except for the German Junker aristocratic family led by Stade, known as the Junker aristocracy with strong aggressive consciousness, barbarism and ignorance of investment.

  The news of the Wall Street crash came from New York, USA, affecting not only the Junker nobles but also the Weimar Republic led by Hindenburg!

  Post-war Germany was in chaos, with domestic hyperinflation, the Ruhr region occupied by Franco-Belgian troops, Hitler's putsch at a Munich beer hall, and attempts to overthrow the Weimar Republic. People lived in misery...

  However, as Britain and the US took precautions against Soviet Russia (hostility), they helped defeated Germany to rebuild its economy, and economic recovery brought a certain degree of calm in politics.

  From October 5 to October 16, 1925, Stresemann's foreign policy regained political equality for defeated Germany through the signing of the Treaty of Locarno and entry into the League of Nations.

  In 1925, after the death of the first imperial president, Social Democrat Friedrich Ebert, former Field Marshal Hindenburg was elected as head of state as a right-wing candidate. Although he guarded the constitution, in his heart he had no liking for the republican form of government. With the onset of the world economic crisis in 1929, the Weimar Republic began to deteriorate!

  Because Britain and France were worried about being trapped in the economic crisis and feared war, they made Germany a base against the Soviet Union and adopted an appeasement policy towards its expansion. They did not know what impact their actions would bring, it can be said that the sword they handed over to others was later used to cut themselves.

  At the same time, the Nazi Party led by Hitler gradually increased its influence. It strengthened itself by absorbing various small parties and taking advantage of the impact of the economic crisis to win over large numbers of unemployed people with propaganda and agitation, shaking people's confidence in state power.

  At a time when society was in turmoil, Xuyang was lazily lying on the balcony of his home, thinking. Standing beside him was Stray, the young grandson of the butler, Loye. Stray held a silver tray with several cups of fruit juice extracted from the juicer, and whenever Xuyang felt thirsty, as soon as he beckoned, Stray would promptly hand over the juice to his young master.

  Xu Yang stood up and stretched out his hand to catch the snowflakes falling from the sky, "In another 10 years... Ah! In 10 years, World War II will break out again." He looked up at Stray and asked, "Hey... Stray, if in 10 years I'll be leading a legion on the battlefield, will you still serve by my side like now?"

  Streil is sixteen years old this year and is the grandson of Xu Yang's family butler, Gao Ye. He is a very excellent German.

  Traditionally, Junker nobles, their stewards always hoped to find a good path for their relatives. They sent children of similar age and future employers to the employer's consent and arranged them as attendants beside the employer's future heir. This was to allow the host and the future right-hand man to cultivate feelings. The so-called Junker noble steward is not just managing the daily life of the employer's family.

  A qualified butler, his job is to manage the servants hired by the master of the house, assign tasks to each person, supervise and inspect them. He knows even the most infrequently used etiquette, knows the subtle differences between Bordeaux wines in 1831 and 1832, understands the delicacies of various countries, and makes every valuable item suitable for its place. Shopping, household finance, laundry, receiving guests, preparing dinner parties, house maintenance, gardening, contacting external merchants, etc., all need to be arranged by the butler, ensuring that the entire mansion runs smoothly. He is even more familiar with the rules of the game among the nobles than his master, and strictly follows the traditional etiquette requirements for his words and deeds, so the best servant has no life of his own, everything revolves around the house and the master.

  The stereotype of Germans is notorious, they value discipline and etiquette between classes, and are accustomed to obedience. In response to the young master's questions, Stray would certainly answer with his passionate tone.

  "In ten years, young master will definitely become a member of the national defense army. With your excellence and military talent, you will surely make a name for yourself! I am willing to follow you at all times!"

  Xu Yang was overjoyed and excitedly patted Stray's shoulder, shouting: "Then let's do something earth-shaking together!"

  The snow in the sky is still floating...