Chapter 1111: Chapter 102: Gottingen_2

But of course, the Royal Navy would not pay attention to any diplomatic protests, and when the Americans found out that the British Foreign Office had read but not replied to their protests, they angrily went to the office to lodge a complaint, hoping that the Governor of the Two Guangs would step in to uphold justice.

It takes one stroke to write two Germans, the recruitment methods of the Royal Navy are not honorable, and the Prussian army’s recruitment methods are equally unpresentable.

However, because the Prussians’ sphere of influence was too small, in most cases they could only ambush at the borders to kidnap foreign young and strong men.

The King of Prussia Frederick William I, mentioned by Schneider, even established a Giant Guards unit back then, the most elite unit of Prussia, completely composed of young soldiers over six feet tall.

At social banquets, other German princes and nobles would boast about how much wealth and land they had, how many beautiful girls they possessed, while Frederick William I would show off his 2,500 young men over 1.83 meters tall. With these young men, wealth and land were no issues, and beautiful girls would flock to Prussia.

To obtain these young men, he used various means of coercion and inducement, and when necessary, he would even exert diplomatic pressure on neighboring states, demanding that they tribute the most outstanding young men to Prussia.

If necessary, Frederick William I, to snatch these men, did not even mind launching an 18th century Trojan War.

The Greeks’ Trojan War was to recapture the most beautiful woman in the world, while the Prussians’ Trojan War was to capture the tallest and strongest men in the world.

However, although Arthur had already had some prior understanding of Prussia.

Schneider had also warned him beforehand: “Never have any expectations from the German Junker landlords, let alone expect them to have any gentlemanly manners, they are simply not the same kind of creatures as the nobility from London and Paris. Arthur, I’m not exaggerating, if you had met my father, grandfather, and maternal grandfather, you would know that I’m not exaggerating at all.”

Arthur learned from Schneider that actually the term ‘Junker’ only represented the land nobility of Prussia and other northern states, and they shouldn’t even be called nobility because many of them only had ‘von’ in their names but didn’t even have a formal noble title.

These people, unlike the wealthy nobility of western and southern Germany, lived in barren environments along the way, leading lives that were neither very prosperous nor particularly poor. If they were in Britain, these people would be called the gentry class.

Their lifestyle and mindset are vastly different from the noble citizens of the wealthy cities of western and southern Germany. Compared to London and Paris, it is as if they are not from the same world.

Moreover, due to poorer economic conditions, most of them did not receive proper education, nor did they want better education, as lack of culture did not affect their military careers.

Therefore, if there’s no battle to fight, the Junkers have neither the opportunity nor the interest in seeing the broad and exciting world outside.

So, in Germany, Junker landlords are often linked with a lack of culture and narrow views.

According to Schneider, it is like this: “They generally haven’t been educated, their words are not coherent, their expressions inarticulate, and their speech is even stuttered. They merely string together nouns and nominal words randomly, and end with an exclamation mark.”

Arthur initially thought this was just Schneider’s stereotype, but after eating a few meals at roadside inns, he realized it was all true.

The kind of aura where one opens their mouth and it is obvious they haven’t been schooled for many years is indeed not easy to hide.

Perhaps it is precisely because of the Junkers’ lack of culture that Prussia is determined to promote educational reform vigorously, forcing them to attend school for several years no matter what.

The Prussian minister, Baron Stein, who was in charge of leading the educational reforms, had issued sharp criticism about this phenomenon.

“The Junker nobility is a burden to Prussia, as they are too numerous, largely poor, and insatiably greedy for positions, salaries, privileges, and various kinds of perks. Their poverty prevents them from receiving a good education, leading them to attend inferior military schools. Owing to their lack of education, they cannot qualify for high-level positions. Once they are promoted to higher commanders, it leads to catastrophic harm to the army.

I can even say that the severe setbacks suffered by the Prussian army during the Napoleonic Wars were because our commanders read too little! However, this large group of inadequately educated people, shamefully, has the audacity to demand higher positions. Being both nobility and aspiring officials, they are truly a disaster for their compatriots!”

However, to exclusively criticize these Junker nobles does not seem fair or just to Arthur.

Because from what he observed in the hotel, these Junkers were merely emulating their King.

Each of them did their utmost to play their role as stern in character, strict in discipline, but loving household leaders.

Moreover, the Junkers not only behaved this way towards their wives and direct descendants, but when facing servants and subordinate farmers, they also sought to act like father figures, just like what the King of Prussia did to them.

To a Junker, if you describe him as a stern but kind authority and manager, always busy for the livelihood of a big family, he would surely be very pleased and eagerly invite you for a drink.

These folks might not count as good people, but they are part of normal people.

Although whenever German newspapers mention the Junkers, it is uniformly critical, blaming all problems on the Junkers’ heads.

However, a fair assessment shows it’s merely bullying due to the Junkers’ lack of culture, as these people cannot even articulate a complete, eloquent sentence, let alone write articles to defend themselves.

If they think the Junkers are blocking the way, the primary task should be to downsize the army, because by controlling the number of the army, most channels for the Junkers to advance can be locked, thus naturally reducing their influence.

However, it is widely known that Prussia cannot reduce its army.

While Arthur was mulling over various thoughts about Germany, sitting across from him were two ladies who still had not recovered from their recently rollercoaster life experiences.

Clara never would have thought that the university student complaining about having a mountain of debt in the tavern was indeed a British diplomat.

Oh, maybe not anymore, but he has developed well, suddenly becoming a well-respected university professor.

She was again reminded of the complaints she made about Arthur in the tavern that day.

This young man indeed had the essence of Thiers in him, full of lies, yet every lie had a prepared fallback, so nobody blamed him.

Moreover, not only do they not blame him, but they also all feel thankful to him.

The Royalists account him infinite gratitude, and should Clara ever express any doubt about Sir Arthur Hastings, she would be immediately rebutted.

Because in the eyes of those country peasants who had never seen the perils of Paris, a British knight willing to risk his life to take them out of France already proved his noble character.

However, to Clara, things were surely not that simple.

If this young man really was the second Thiers, then today he didn’t betray the Royalists not because he was moral, but because he felt the current price wasn’t high enough.

What exactly does he want to do?

Clara was full of doubt.

Yet, she didn’t ponder for long, as the carriage’s jolts lessened, and she saw from the window a town’s full view appearing on the horizon.

“Is that Gottingen?”