Chapter 187 Krupp

In the afternoon, Yannick came to the Krupp Arsenal.

The founder of Krupp was Alfred Krupp Sr., whose cannons helped Bismarck defeat Austria and France in the mid-19th century. Since then, he has become the pillar of the German Empire and is favored by the highest authorities of the country.

However, the Krupp family is not prosperous in male offspring. When the second-generation president of Krupp, Friedrich Alfred Krupp, committed suicide due to the exposure of the homosexual scandal by the press, only Alfred Krupp's granddaughter Bertha Krupp could inherit this huge industrial empire.

In order to prevent the Krupp family business from being controlled by political opponents, William II personally arranged Bertha's marriage. He asked the diplomat Gustav to marry the "Cannon Queen" and allowed Gustav to add the noble surname Krupp to his name (in simple terms, he became a son-in-law). Later, Bertha gave birth to Alfred Krupp Jr.

It is Gustav Krupp who is now in charge of Krupp. At this time, he had already led people to wait at the gate. When he saw Yannick getting out of the car, he hurried forward. "Your Highness, your arrival really makes this place glorious."

"Mr. Gustav, you and I really caught up with a good era, didn't we." Yannick said something that made Gustav puzzled, and looked at the little Alfred Krupp behind Gustav. "Hey, Alfred, long time no see."

"Your Highness." Little Alfred Krupp was two years younger than Yannick, and was a graceful young man.

"I heard that you went to Poland. How was it there?"

"To be honest, it was not very good, Your Highness." Little Alfred smiled bitterly. "The facilities there are relatively backward, and most of them need to be updated."

Yannick laughed. "It's normal to be backward. If they are more advanced than us, then we should be beaten. Update and produce as soon as possible. After all, the useful life of those prisoners of war is only three years."

This time they captured more than 1 million Polish soldiers. Of course, Yannick would not let them sit idle in the prisoner-of-war camp and waste precious food. He distributed these prisoners to entrepreneurs of factories and companies who were willing to produce in Poland.

Little Alfred hesitated and whispered. "Your Highness, forcing prisoners of war to do heavy physical labor violates the Geneva Convention."

Yannick said disapprovingly. "I didn't force them. They volunteered. They enjoy the same eight-hour work system as German workers. We provide them with food and accommodation, and pay them wages. How is this different from normal work?"

Little Alfred was stunned. "Your Highness, you want us to pay them normal wages?" What kind of prisoners are these? They are simply hired workers.

Yannick nodded. "I was just about to tell you about this. Yes, I plan to let you pay wages to those working prisoners of war. But the wage standard is only one-fourth of that of ordinary workers." The current minimum wage for German workers is 200 Reichsmarks per month, so the wages of prisoners of war are about 50 Reichsmarks.

In the original time and space, the Soviet Union and Germany divided Poland in 1939. In 1941, the Soviet-German War broke out and Germany completely occupied Poland. In 1944, the average wage of Polish employees was 20 marks per month. The black market price of pork was more than 200 marks per kilogram, which means that a Polish person could buy two kilograms of pork with a year's salary.

Not only that, the restaurant of a torpedo factory on the outskirts of Warsaw was divided into two passages for Germans and Poles. If you were late, left early, dropped your tools on the ground, chatted or smoked during work hours, you would be beaten and kicked immediately, and then locked up in a confinement room for more than 24 hours.

Polish farmers were forced to hand over their land to their German neighbors, and there were 160,000 German immigrants from Ukraine. When they arrived in Warsaw, they were naked, but a few months later they had hundreds of acres of land and a group of hired workers. The former Polish landlords had to squeeze into the dilapidated houses where the German hired farmers lived. They had to work 12 hours a day, and any unauthorized outing would be subject to the most severe punishment. One day, a German suddenly remembered a sentence from his Polish neighbor many years ago: "Why do you always speak German? You are not in Berlin", so he sent his neighbor to the Dachau death camp.

Poles are not allowed to enter shops, parks, gardens, trams on weekends, and cars at any time. Almost all Polish schools are closed, the Polish governor at the time said. "It is enough for their children to learn to count to 100."

In Yannick's view, this method of rule is simply brain-dead to the extreme. Anyone would have the idea of ​​rebellion. You can't get rid of them all, the wave of resistance will become more and more frequent, and uprisings will occur one after another in various places. Isn't this just adding trouble to yourself?

"This is the empire's century-long plan. If anyone thinks that he has made great contributions and can deceive his superiors and subordinates, and obey in public but disobey in private? I don't mind inviting his whole family to live in the concentration camp to continue to serve the empire." The people are the most easily satisfied people in the world. As long as they have good food, clothing, housing and transportation, they will not have the heart to rebel.

Gustav Krupp, who was following him, spoke hurriedly. "Please rest assured, Your Highness. The Krupp family's loyalty to you is clear to all. They will never compromise on your orders."

"Of course I know this. Alfred, do you know Marx?"

Little Alfred hesitated and asked back. "Are you talking about Karl Marx who wrote 'Das Kapital'?"

"Yes, I remember a sentence in that book Capital, 'If there is 100% profit, capitalists will take risks; if there is 200% profit, capitalists will defy the law; if there is 300% profit, then capitalists will trample on everything in the world!'. I have given you enough profit, I hope you will not be greedy."

The father and son nodded in agreement, and Yannick continued to give instructions. "The wages of those prisoners of war cannot be delayed or deducted; they must be treated if they are sick. Guards will be stationed in each factory for supervision. If there are disobedient prisoners of war who lead trouble, they will be handed over to the guards for handling. Those who perform well will be rewarded. For example, arrange a meeting with their families."

After giving instructions, Yannick mentioned the purpose of this trip. "I won't say much nonsense. Are the things I want to see ready?" He emphasized so much. If someone really doesn't know how to live or die, then he can't do anything, just throw them into the concentration camp.

"Everything is ready and can start at any time." Gustav replied hurriedly.

Yannick nodded. "Then let's waste time and go and see it now!"

"Your Highness, please."

The group came to an empty experimental field and walked to the observation platform on the side. They saw an 88mm caliber anti-aircraft gun not far away. A standard artillery team was busy around the artillery.

Gustav asked respectfully. "Your Highness, can we start?" Seeing Yannick nodded, he turned around and waved his hand downwards.

"Load!" With the loud command of the artillery team leader, an armor-piercing shell was pushed into the barrel.

"Aim at the target!"

"Fire!"

"Boom!"