German Red Prince

Page 6

"You must fight for your rights yourselves, not rely on others to give them to you. You must rely on your own strength to get what you deserve."

I cannot help you forever, and you must not be afraid. You must know that death is not for you!

Goebbels was clearly excited today; everything he had witnessed on the road had made him somewhat out of control, and he began to speak passionately and eloquently.

The crowd, who had been discussing something, gradually quieted down as Goebbels began his speech, listening intently. Taking advantage of the moment when no one was looking, a shadow flashed out of the room.

"Fellow countrymen, we are bleeding, every worker is bleeding. They are like parasites, feeding on our flesh and blood, yet they wear a hypocritical coat and condescendingly criticize us!"

They accuse us of laziness, of deception, of cunning, and that we are in the most difficult circumstances.

While we're working, we think about what to eat next, whether our wages will be enough, how our expenses will be next week, and whether our families will go hungry. We never know the meaning of work; we only care about whether our meager salary can support our families!

Goebbels became even more excited, sweating profusely. He even dragged his disabled body onto a nearby table, waving his hands exaggeratedly.

Why don't we think about the meaning of our work? Because it has nothing to do with us. Factory owners exploit us relentlessly and then 'mercifully' pay us wages far below the value we create.

After they've eaten their fill, they start accusing us of being barbaric, of striking, of being lazy, of not striving, of not earning them more profit!

Goebbels looked around and saw countless eyes staring at him, each one gleaming with light. He was determined to go all out; if he could inspire more people, everything he did would be worthwhile.

"Their methods are becoming increasingly sophisticated, and the variety of approaches they employ is dazzling. Our struggle must also evolve and grow. If they show no restraint and intensify their oppression of us, driving us to our deaths, then we too must, before we die, peel off their hypocritical facade!"

Applause erupted, and the people around him joined in. Thorne also clapped, showing that Goebbels was still full of ideals.

"Bang." The door was pushed open, and Sheriff York arrived with a group of officers. Someone had reported that a workers' rally was being organized here, a conspiracy to incite the workers.

Sheriff York looked at Goebbels standing on the table; it was undoubtedly him. He waved his hand, signaling for his men to take him away.

But as the police officers approached Goebbels, a group of workers blocked their way, and the atmosphere immediately became tense.

“Sheriff York, are you here to ruin my business?” Thorne’s voice broke the eerie silence.

York felt like he wanted to die. He wanted to beat the informant to a pulp. Once was enough, why did it have to happen again?

“This gentleman is my friend,” Thorne said, looking at York.

"I hope you won't cause him any trouble. Also, this restaurant is our family's property, so please don't interfere with our normal business operations. I hope you can be lenient; bringing so many police officers in will undoubtedly leave a very bad impression on our customers."

York swallowed hard, took off his hat, bowed to Thorne, and said, "Yes, sir, excuse me." He then left, and cheers erupted from inside the room.

"Aren't we going to do anything about it?" a new police officer asked, somewhat puzzled.

"What's it to you? He's a prince of the Kingdom of Rhine, what right do you have to interfere?" York glared at him.

"Then, what about the one who snitched?" the officer next to him asked.

"Give him a beating and kick him out! Who knows whose dog this is! I'm having such bad luck, running into this kind of thing every day." York looked disgusted; he was getting really annoyed by these people.

"Long live Mr. Carl!" Hannah couldn't help but cheer.

"Long live!" Everyone cheered together.

"Thank you," Goebbels said as he approached Thorne.

“It’s alright, there are a few empty rooms here. If you don’t mind, you can stay for a while. Mr. Adolf, would you mind?” Thorne asked, turning around.

“Absolutely no problem.” Adolf smiled; he was also very interested in Goebbels.

“Well, then I’m sorry to have bothered you.” Goebbels hesitated for a moment, but still grasped Thorne’s hand. He would no longer have to worry about the expensive rent in Berlin.

"You're welcome." Thorne smiled. "Everyone, I apologize for what happened earlier. I promise this won't happen again. As a token of my apology, this meal is on me. Please help yourselves!"

Thorne raised his soda high, "Cheers!"

"Cheers!" The people in the restaurant raised their glasses as well.

"Does His Highness own this shop?" Dudman asked after they came out.

“Yes, what do you think?” Thorne looked at him, and the guy smiled awkwardly and said, “Very good, very good. I admire Your Highness to the core.”

"Stop with the flattery, are you eyeing that girl?" Thorne teased, and Dudman immediately blushed. The other two also looked at him with interest.

"Um... the weather's nice today," Dudman stammered, giving an irrelevant answer.

"Hahahaha." Everyone couldn't hold back any longer and burst into laughter. Thorne patted Dudman on the shoulder, "Don't worry, I'll take her back to Rhine with me. I'll still keep my brother's marriage in mind."

"Really!" Dudman exclaimed in surprise. He then blushed immediately. "Thank you, Your Highness Thorne."

"What Your Highness? In a couple of days, let's become sworn brothers. Calling me Your Highness is too formal." Thorne pretended to be a little displeased.

"Besides, Hannah is very talented, and I want to take her back for further training. Dudman, even if you study well at the academy and spar with her, you might not be able to beat her."

Dudman found it hard to believe that a girl could have such a talent for military affairs; he had never heard of a woman becoming a general.

Thorne looked at the astonished Dudman and said, "You look down on her because she's a girl? Hannah can develop a completely new strategy on her own. If you don't study hard, you might not even be good enough for her."

"I will." Dudman nodded firmly, determined to study harder and improve his abilities.

"Thomas, what do you think of what just happened?" Thorne suddenly asked.

Thomas paused for a moment. “From the perspective of an Imperial soldier, his remarks are somewhat dangerous and could easily incite a mob. But personally, I don’t oppose his remarks, and I even agree with some of his views, because my father was also a worker,” Thomas replied.

"I see." Thorne looked up and smiled slightly; no one knew what he was thinking.

"Gentlemen, please have mercy."

Thorne's thoughts were interrupted when a homeless man with a missing leg leaned against the roadside, pleading.

Thorne saw the medals hanging on his collar; a decorated soldier was now wandering the streets.

He glanced back at Thomas and his group; their expressions weren't good, and he wondered what they were thinking.

"Take it."

Thorne handed him two hundred marks, a bitter feeling welling up inside him.

"Thank you, thank you, God bless you." The man nodded repeatedly, expressing his gratitude.

"I saved one, I saved two, but what's the use?" Thorne muttered to himself after walking for a while.

The three people following behind also remained silent, simply keeping their heads down.

"Don't say we have nothing, we will be the masters of the world!"

Thorne was determined to devote himself to a greater cause. Today, during Goebbels' speech, he seemed to see flames in the eyes of the crowd, just like the German who was dragged to the corner and shot.

The flames of those people are burning slowly, though they are small and weak now.

A single spark can start a prairie fire. Thorne understood why the man could smile so openly and with such peace when facing the firing squad.

Because you can kill one person, two people, you can wave your hand and push countless people to hell, but you can never kill an idea.

It will hover over the reactionary forces like a ghost, mocking them and watching how terrified the reactionary forces guarding a pile of gold and silver treasures are!

Justice can never be eradicated, because truth will always exist!

Chapter 8 Deduction

The holiday passed quickly, and Thorne and the others had to return to school to continue their studies, repeating the same monotonous life every day.

However, Dudman was different from before; he became unusually quiet and spent his days researching something.

During class that day, Instructor Morrie led everyone to a huge sand table. Thorne looked at the massive sand table, which was incredibly detailed. The various annotations and information on it made him admire the Germans' meticulousness.

“The course will end in a few weeks, and there will be a practice session. If we lose…” Morley paused for a moment, “you won’t get away with embarrassing me.”

The classroom fell silent; everyone tensed up. Instructor Morrie was extremely strict; losing would be disastrous.

"Let me tell you, I don't care whose sons or daughters you are. Once you're in the army, you're soldiers. You'll all become officers. Leading troops in battle requires strategy. I don't want us to lose the entire war because of one mistake you make on the battlefield. As a commander, you must strive for victory in both campaigns and strategy."

At this point, he walked to the sand table and said, “An excellent commander must not only know how to attack, but also how to defend. Attack is the spear, and defense is the shield. If you don’t know how to defend, no matter how far the spear of attack goes, it will be useless.”

Mori pointed to the sand table covered with flags and various markings. "The blue team is the attacking enemy, and the red team is our defending force. There is a division attacking you. I'm giving you two regiments. Try to hold off the enemy for as long as possible and inflict enough losses on them, and you will win. Discuss your strategy yourselves and give me your answer in twenty minutes." He then started the timer.

The crowd erupted in discussion, gathering around the table in small groups. Thorne approached Thomas and Fred and asked, "What do you think?"

Thomas stroked his chin. "It's not difficult to hold out for as long as possible and inflict some casualties on the enemy, but we'll inevitably suffer significant losses ourselves. I wonder if there's any way to avoid that."

“Indeed.” Fred nodded. “We don’t have many troops, so we can’t buy much time unless we disregard casualties. But that would put us at a disadvantage because we’ve been pinned down on our positions by the enemy.”

"You two have learned a lot." Thorne smiled. Watching so much military training had improved them considerably; they were no longer just ordinary soldiers who only knew how to shoot.

"Where's Dudman?" Thorne looked around with some confusion and saw Dudman standing next to the sand table, deep in thought with a furrowed brow.

"This guy has improved a lot too." Thorne silently praised in his heart. Could this be the power of love?

"Your Highness Thorne, what are your thoughts?" Thomas asked.

"Well, I think..." Thorne was about to say something when Instructor Mori shouted, "Time's up! Who wants to tell us what your plan is?"

"I think we can deploy some concealed soldiers and skirmishers in front of the first line of defense to hinder their advance."

As the enemy's artillery fire gradually extends beyond its range, their fire support will be significantly reduced. We can suppress the enemy forces here immediately, delaying their advance. Even if they break through the first line of defense, it will waste a lot of time and result in the loss of some troops.

Even if they break through the first line of defense, we can use artillery to bombard this area before they break through the first line and rush into the second line of defense.

Utilize the distance between the first and second lines of defense to weaken the enemy to the greatest extent possible, and then conduct a formal blocking action to prevent them from advancing further. Send out small groups of soldiers to harass and drive the enemy back, then repeat this strategy in the next round.

"My main plan is to use artillery to deplete the enemy's forces as much as possible during the defensive battle," one student replied.

Morrie nodded. This answer was very professional and could be considered a standard answer.

“But we don’t have many men. If we continue this tactic several times, we will exhaust our forces and won’t be able to stop the enemy for long.” Instructor Mori’s tone changed again as he looked back.

"Does anyone else have any plans?"

Everyone was now at a loss. This was clearly the best solution. What method could be better than this?

“I have an idea,” Dudman suddenly raised his hand, looking somewhat nervous.

He took a deep breath as he approached the sand table to calm himself down.

“I think everyone’s overlooking something,” Dudman said, pointing to the rear of the position. “Everyone’s overlooking the tanks behind the position.”

"Tanks?" Everyone looked at Dudman with some doubt. Weren't these supposed to be battlefield auxiliary vehicles? They also had a high failure rate and could only be effective when combined with cavalry and infantry.

Thorne smiled at Dudman; it seemed this guy hadn't wasted his time studying these past few days.

Seeing Thorne's smile, Dudman relaxed and gradually got into the zone.

"As far as I know, tanks have been continuously improved in recent years, with increased speed and firepower, and a reduced failure rate. My plan is to avoid spreading troops across the long front lines and to avoid a war of attrition with the enemy."

"We can concentrate our relatively superior forces on the inner line. We can deploy troops on the front and rely on heavy firepower to hold back the enemy's main attacking force, or we can fight and retreat at the same time to create a false impression for the enemy, making them mistakenly believe that our army is in retreat, and constantly send soldiers forward to disconnect their soldiers from the rear. In either case, what we need to do on the front is to attract most of the enemy's forces and inflict considerable delay, harassment and casualties on the enemy."

"After drawing away the enemy's main force, we can send out another hidden elite force, in coordination with tanks, to outflank the enemy's flanks and rear. Before the enemy can react, we can use the tanks' heavy firepower to launch a fierce attack, putting the enemy's attacking force in a pincer movement and catching them off guard. If we're lucky, we can wipe out the enemy's main attacking force."

"If our troops are elite enough or even more numerous, we can even take advantage of the enemy's disarray, using the speed and firepower of our tanks to find weak points in the enemy's rear defenses and quickly break through, thus launching a counterattack to pursue and destroy all the enemy."

After Dudman finished speaking, he looked at the audience somewhat uneasily. The classroom was silent; everyone was stunned by Dudman's demonstration.

Thorne was stunned. This guy had actually come up with such advanced tactics, combining the elastic defense theory and blitzkrieg theory from World War II. He was at least a brilliant strategist! Thorne marveled at his good fortune in finding three treasures in that trench.

"Crack, snap, snap."

Instructor Morrie was the first to recover from his shock and began to applaud.

Instead of passively defending, this guy is thinking about attacking, using offense as defense.

The ability to retreat and annihilate the enemy's main force, or to advance and completely crush the enemy, was such a bold move that even he couldn't help but admire it; this was the future of Germany.

Moreover, he used tanks, which was specifically instructed by someone before he set up this sand table simulation.

Dudman stepped down from the podium amidst applause. "Very good, Dudman. Although it was a bit risky, it was a very creative approach," Instructor Mori praised.

"Alright, students," he called out, and everyone immediately stood at attention.

"Disband."

Instructor Morrie was to report this simulation to his superiors.

After watching him walk away, everyone cheered and ran off, with Thorne patting Dudman's arm and praising him repeatedly.

"Not bad, you've been studying really hard these past few days, making such great progress. Don't worry, with me here, your future happiness is guaranteed." Thorne joked, making Dudman a little embarrassed.

"How did you come to this conclusion today?" Thorne couldn't help but ask curiously.

"I found an article written by a man named Guderian, in which he described the role of tanks and the power generated by combining tanks in an attack. I also combined it with the defensive strategies I had read before, which was mentioned by the previous author, and summarized them into today's plan," Dudman replied.

"Great, impressive." Thorne gave a thumbs up, which also reminded him that he should find an opportunity to meet Guderian in the future and see if he could dig up this treasure as well.

"Come on, let's go back and have something good to eat." Thorne waved his hand and led the three back to the dormitory.

Mori reported the situation, and Model, who was sitting in a chair reviewing the records, was also somewhat surprised. Part of the tactics in this defensive strategy coincided with his own ideas, and at the same time, it also brought him new insights.

“Take me there, I want to see him,” Model said.