Chapter 22
Chapter 22
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Translator: Ace
Chapter: 22
Chapter Title: Land of the Junkers
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The funeral of Victoria Adelaide, the Dowager Empress, had concluded amid a storm of grief.
With the mourning period over, life was supposed to return to normal—that was the natural order of things.
Yet Berlin, no, all of Germany, was ablaze with unprecedented gossip.
[Potsdam's Oriental Boy Becomes a Noble of the German Empire!]
[A Yellow Man Made a Baron!]
[The Boy Baron Inherits the Dowager Empress's Legacy!]
Hans Choi.
The boy who had saved Kaiser Wilhelm II's life and was also the author of a popular newspaper serial novel was not only bequeathed a grand mansion but had now become Baron Hans von Choi of the German Empire.
And the reactions from German society were, as expected, wildly varied.
"Hah. A yellow man receiving a title? Tsk tsk, what has become of this country?"
"Heavens! Nothing like this happened under Wilhelm I. These are the end times. The end times!"
"Come to think of it, there were rumors that the boy is the Kaiser's favorite... Could it be?"
The vast majority of Germany's upper class clicked their tongues and scowled in displeasure the moment they opened their morning papers.
It was a perfectly understandable reaction.
In the eyes of these typical European whites, a yellow man was no different from a black man—an inferior being who could never stand on the same level as whites.
And now such a yellow man had become a noble of the German Empire?
This went beyond the realm of the absurd; it was something that simply could not be tolerated.
It was far worse than some idiotic joke about blacks being equal to whites.
So they vented their grievances against the Kaiser without restraint.
Along with all sorts of conspiracy theories, the indecent rumor that had spread through high society when Hans first entered the palace—that Wilhelm II had fallen into pederasty like the ancient Greeks—resurfaced once more.
"Hey, have you seen? Hans Choi's become a noble."
"Who's that?"
"You know, the Oriental boy who saved the Kaiser."
"Whether an Oriental or a dog becomes a noble, what do I care? Let's get to work."
However, a significant number of ordinary German citizens, while surprised by the news, did not react with the same fervor as the elites.
Of course, racial prejudice lingered, but to them, imperial matters were as distant as clouds in the sky. As always, they simply used the gossip about Hans as beer accompaniment for their backbiting.
After all, one Oriental becoming a noble brought them neither harm nor benefit.
Thus, many Germans dismissed it as just another of Kaiser Wilhelm's eccentricities.
As they always did.
"Some of us slave away all day just to feed our kids, while others wake up rich and even snag a noble title."
"I'm jealous. So jealous!"
There were also those who envied Hans.
In any era, any country, resentment toward the successful was inevitable.
Especially since, in their eyes, Hans had inherited the Dowager Empress's fortune—including Schloss Friedrichshof—solely due to the Kaiser's favor. It stung all the more for that.
Of course, there were some positive reactions toward Hans as well.
A few socialists opposed to racism and the handful of Oriental students in Germany weary of European prejudice welcomed Hans's ennoblement.
But the former were reds one should avoid like the plague, and the latter offered no political utility—most were Japanese, to boot. They were pretty but worthless ornaments.
Yet the most vehement backlash came from the Junkers, the notoriously conservative and rigid Prussian aristocracy of the German Empire.
Just as everyone had predicted.
"How could such a thing happen?!"
"The Kaiser's gone mad! Otherwise, how could he make a monkey spawn one of our noble, honorable German aristocrats?!"
Wilhelm II bringing Hans into the palace?
They could grudgingly tolerate that, a hundred concessions made.
Hans was a child, and at least back then, he had the merit of saving the Kaiser's life.
But granting him a noble title crossed the line—badly.
So the Junkers sprang into action immediately.
Their first target was, predictably, the ever-vulnerable Chancellor von Bülow.
Confronting Wilhelm II directly was a burden even for the Junkers.
Of course, from the innocent chancellor's perspective, it was an infuriating situation.
"Chancellor, you didn't stop this—what have you been doing?!"
"This stains the Empire's authority! We cannot accept granting a title to that Oriental brat!"
"Hear, hear!"
In the Reichstag, the imperial parliament, the Junkers' fury echoed loudly.
Bülow's face grew more rotten by the minute as he endured a barrage of insults the moment he arrived.
"So what am I supposed to do about it?"
"Convey the Reichstag's will to His Majesty. Ask him to reconsider this matter!"
"At the very least, the title given to Hans Choi must be revoked or stripped away!"
The Reichstag's will? More like the Junkers' will.
The other deputies, excluding the Prussian Junker ones, watched the farce with cold, disinterested expressions, as if saying, Here they go again.
'Dealing with immature children would be far preferable.'
Muttering inwardly, Chancellor von Bülow barely restrained his exploding patience and declared firmly to the Junkers in a venomous tone.
"I refuse."
"Chancellor von Bülow!"
"Are you in your right mind?!"
"Is this how an imperial chancellor behaves?!"
"I'm perfectly sane, so shut your mouths. The granting of titles is the Emperor's exclusive prerogative. Neither I nor the Reichstag have any right to interfere, no matter whom His Majesty chooses."
"Wh-what?!"
"You're joking!"
The Junkers were utterly dumbfounded by Bülow's words.
A faint smirk tugged at the chancellor's lips after landing that blow.
Of course, if the German Empire had been a proper constitutional monarchy, things might have been different.
But in reality, it was an absolute monarchy cloaked in constitutional garb. The Reichstag had no legal grounds to challenge a decision stemming from the Kaiser's sacred rights.
Had Bülow stepped in, perhaps, but he showed no intention of siding with the Junkers.
This was essentially a loophole exploiting the Empire's political system, and the outmaneuvered Junkers screamed at the chancellor with bloodshot eyes.
"So you're saying you'll stand by and watch this happen?!"
"What does imperial law expect me to do? If you have grievances, go plead directly to His Majesty. Though I doubt he'll listen to you."
"Th-this...!"
The Junkers ground their teeth as Bülow sauntered out, but they lacked the courage to confront Wilhelm II directly, just as he had said.
In the end, they left the parliament empty-handed.
Without Bülow's will to change things, their clamor would achieve nothing.
So they turned to their next move.
They aimed to mobilize the military, their stronghold.
"I'm sorry, but you should head back now."
"Your Excellency!"
But this time, too, things didn't go as the Junkers planned.
Several Junker generals visited the Chief of the General Staff, but the current head of the Imperial German Army was Count Alfred von Schlieffen—and Schlieffen was sympathetic to Hans.
Moreover, unlike his predecessors, Schlieffen kept his distance from political soldiers.
"A soldier need only do a soldier's duty. The military must remain neutral."
"But this shakes the Empire's very foundations!"
"If something this trivial could shake the Empire's foundations, Germany would have fallen long ago. I understand your passion, but this is pointless. Don't waste your efforts—go home."
Schlieffen spoke calmly, and the Junkers bowed their heads and left his office.
With the military's top brass taking that stance, they were powerless.
"Bülow treats it lightly, and now Schlieffen too—what is it with everyone downplaying this?!"
"We have no choice but to convey our will directly to the Kaiser."
"Hah, but won't that incur His Majesty's wrath...?"
The Junkers dissatisfied with Hans fell into contemplation.
For that yellow brat to become their equal in nobility wounded their pride and was hard to accept.
Yet stepping forward themselves risked challenging Wilhelm II's authority.
And that was something no Junker desired.
They had too much to lose.
In the end, some radical Junkers resorted to their final measure.
"Let's bring him in."
"Him?"
"Field Marshal Waldersee."
"What? Wal-Waldersee?!"
The name Waldersee filled the Junkers' faces with shock.
Count Alfred von Waldersee.
Former Chief of the General Staff and current Field Marshal of the German Empire.
An extreme conservative and anti-Semite who made even the Kaiser seem moderate.
At least Wilhelm II harbored no animosity toward Jews and, while disliking democrats and liberals, didn't treat them as subhuman or call for crushing them like reds.
Had Waldersee not been dispatched to China to suppress the Boxers as commander of the Eight-Nation Alliance, there would surely have been trouble when Hans entered the palace.
Thus, with Bülow's full support, Schlieffen had delayed Waldersee's return from China as much as possible.
In a tinderbox situation doused with oil like Hans, Waldersee was a spark neither Bülow nor Schlieffen wanted.
But time was running out.
Next month, the Boxer Protocol—the Xinhai Treaty—would finally be signed to conclude the Boxer Rebellion.
Waldersee would lose any pretext to remain in China.
The great powers' forces stationed there would withdraw, save a few, and the German expeditionary force, mission complete, would return home.
Along with Field Marshal Waldersee.
"Isn't that... too dangerous?"
"You all know it. Waldersee is uncontrollable."
Some Junkers, well aware of Waldersee's nature, voiced concerns about involving him.
He had lost the Kaiser's favor and his power had waned with age, but Waldersee was once a notorious political soldier even Bismarck had wary of.
Misstep, and it could be catching one bedbug only to burn the thatched house.
A blade too sharp could cut its wielder.
"Besides, he has too many enemies. Bringing him in will only escalate problems."
"We should reconsider this..."
"Then will you take the lead?"
"Ahem..."
At the sarcastic remark, the hesitant Junkers averted their eyes with grunts.
And with that, the matter was settled.
"Then we're all in agreement."
Germany moves when Prussia moves, and Prussia moves when the Junkers move.
It was so in the past, is so now, and must be so in the future.
The Junkers could not tolerate a yellow foreign element named Hans von Choi intruding upon that.