Reborn in Hong Kong: The Tycoon Grows Up

I don’t know what to do, not only does it involve personal interests; at this moment, it also concerns the interests of the country and the people, as well as the future direction. No one dares to draw conclusions easily, and no one can afford the serious consequences of failure!

Moreover, after so many years of hostility, it is still unclear whether he will be ostracized! People's hearts are separated from each other, and many things have to be guarded against!

Before the Berlin Wall was built, the number of immigrants from East Germany to West Germany was more than 3 million. From a time perspective, many of these 3 million people fled a while ago, but many also fled one after another later. Judging from the composition, in addition to the expulsion of Germans from Eastern Europe, there are also some intellectuals, such as professors, engineers, doctors, and teachers who fled voluntarily.

Disparities have always existed among different regions in Germany; there are disparities between the north and the south of Germany, but also between the east and west. Germany's mineral resources, especially coal and iron ore, are basically located in the west, while the east is slightly barren. Centering on mineral resources, Germany had three major industrial zones before World War II: the Ruhr, the Saarland, and Silesia. The Ruhr and the Saarland were located in the west of Germany, and Silesia was in the east; but they were later ceded to Poland. Industrial zones are also industrial agglomeration areas, and the distribution of industrial zones reflects the actual development situation.

East Germany suffered the most damage during the war. Of course, West Germany also had it, but East Germany was more serious and was almost reduced to ruins. The war razed more than 1.3 million houses in East Germany to the ground and turned more than 800,000 houses into ruins; houses were extremely scarce for a long time after the war. Not only that, several major industrial cities in East Germany, such as Chemnitz and Dresden, were either destroyed during the war or had their equipment removed by the Soviets.

At the same time, under the influence of the Soviet Union, East Germany embarked on an extensive economic development path with high energy consumption, high pollution and heavy industry. This method is very powerful at the beginning and can increase GDP in large amounts. However, this model is unsustainable. On the one hand, heavy industry means high pollution and high emissions; on the other hand, the products exported by East Germany are not very competitive in the international market; their market share in capitalist countries is very low.

As for West Germany, in addition to its own endowments, West Germany also received the Marshall Plan after the war. To put it bluntly, this plan is for the United States to provide economic assistance and assist in reconstruction of Western European countries that were damaged by the war. There are gifts and loans. Within four years of the plan's implementation, West Germany received $1.5 billion in economic aid. When the war broke out, West Germany, like Western European countries, returned to pre-war levels. In the next 30 years or so, West Germany entered a period of rapid development; its social economy showed a prosperous scene, leaving East Germany further behind.

To put it mildly, it is the merger of the two Germanys, rather than the annexation of West Germany and East Germany; and this is indeed the case.

At this time, a middle-aged man thought for a while and said: "Mr. President, what does West Germany mean? What are the economic, political, military, and other arrangements after the merger of the two Germanys? And the United States, the Soviet Union, Britain and France Whatever your attitude is, these must be taken into consideration.”

It is indeed very frustrating, but who made Germany a defeated country? Defeat means losing everything. If it were not for the Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union, it would be difficult for Germany to develop. Now that the two Germanys have the opportunity to merge, no one wants to miss the opportunity.

Such opportunities don't come around all the time. If the German nation wants to become strong, it must seize it!

Manfred Gerlach said with a serious expression: "After the reunification of the two Germanys, more than 100 generals in the current army must retire from active service; middle-level and grassroots officers will also be laid off and demobilized; only a small number of soldiers can continue to serve."

"As for weapons and equipment, what should be dismantled should be dismantled, and what should be sold should be sold. Some of the more advanced Soviet-made equipment will be handed over to the Soviet army clusters in Germany that have not yet withdrawn in accordance with regulations."

"As for the economic aspect, East German marks will be exchanged at a one-to-one ratio; the basic economic interests of the East German people will be fully guaranteed."

"At the same time, it will take over the East German financial system that is on the verge of bankruptcy; everyone knows that the East German economy is extremely dependent on the former Soviet Union. Now the Soviet Union is already precarious, and the entire system will collapse along with it, which can easily cause the collapse of the East German economy. At present, East German state-owned enterprises The proportion is so huge that the companies have basically gone bankrupt, causing the East German financial industry to be on the verge of bankruptcy; the data is shocking!"

"Under this situation, if a West German bank acquires an East German bank, not only will it not be able to make a profit, it will also have to invest a lot of money to fill the hole. Everyone needs to understand this! In addition, it will also be responsible for the repayment of East Germany's foreign debt; it will also be responsible for East Germany's pension finance, medical system; West Germany agreed to reduce or reduce the tens of billions of dollars in foreign debt owed by the Soviet Union to the West; of course, the debt issue between East and West Germany will also be written off!"

"As for the political aspect, if everyone agrees, I will directly announce the dissolution of the East German government and allow each state to implement autonomy. Then it will join West Germany as an autonomous state. Under the current situation, if the two Germanys want to achieve reunification, this is the only way. "

"Not only officers need to retire, but we people also need to retire; but now it is for the German nation, so what does it matter at the expense of personal interests. Everyone can receive a pension, and there is no problem in enjoying their old age."

"At present, the Soviet Union itself is in trouble and it is difficult to make substantial intervention; the Soviet Union requires West Germany to provide 12 billion marks in free aid and is equivalent to buying East Germany from the Soviets. West Germany said there is no problem, as long as the Soviet Union agrees It doesn’t matter how much money it costs to merge the two Germanys!”

"France's withdrawal from NATO has made the Americans very unhappy; France-US relations are currently at an all-time low. Originally, the United States relied on NATO to intervene in European affairs, but now its plan has basically come to nothing. West Germany used this as capital to make a guarantee to the United States that once German reunification; Germany will continue to stay in the NATO system and try its best to help and maintain the leadership of the United States; the Americans have no reason to refuse, and most importantly, they have no other choice!"

"The United States and the Soviet Union have basically agreed to the reunification of Germany; and the British still need to count on Germany's support. If they are really pushed into a hurry, the worst possible scenario is to send all the retired weapons and equipment from East Germany to Argentina. Let's see how the British end up. .”

"As for France, it will recognize the other party's leadership position on the European continent; it is a compromise, but there is no good solution at the moment."

After hearing this, everyone at the scene fell into silence; West Germany's consideration was not incomplete. To deal with the United States, the Soviet Union, Britain and France, there is no longer any external pressure. As for countries such as Poland and Italy, there is no need to take them seriously.

Spending such a huge price to successfully merge the two Germanys has already done our best; but we dare not expect too much.

Once people have rights, they will enter an infinite loop; no one wants to lose them. Announcing the dissolution of the government means that they instantly become ordinary citizens; they are no longer the president, ministers, or high-level officials of the country.

On the one hand, there are the interests of the German nation, and on the other hand, the gains and losses of personal rights. We all know how to choose in our hearts, but it is inevitable that we are still a little unwilling.

An old man with blond hair and blue eyes stood up and said: "Everyone, as a veteran of World War II, the glory of the German Third Reich may never be seen again."

"But seeing that Germany was split into two countries, and part of the territory was occupied by the Poles, I still feel uncomfortable. Now that there is an opportunity to merge, we must go all out; we must do our best to facilitate this."

"If you are still thinking about personal gains and losses now, you are a sinner of the entire German nation; it doesn't matter if you retire from active service, as long as it is beneficial to the development of the nation and the country; the military will support it unconditionally!"

The old man's words caused the scene to fall into silence; at the same time, he was thinking about what to do next.

As the top leader of the military, they have made their attitude clear; they have even stated that it is no problem to retire from active service; why are they still hesitating!

The Minister of Education stood up and said: "Although I don't want to admit it, from the analysis of education system and level alone, we are already too far behind. We could still compete with West Germany before, but since entering the information society, the gap in education level between East and West Germany is now gradually increase.

"I also want all children to use computers to study, but education funds are far from enough. For the sake of the children's future, it's no big deal for us to withdraw!"

The military and education departments have already expressed their stance, and other departments are naturally not to be far behind; they have expressed their agreement to the merger of the two Germanys, even if they lose their current positions.

Manfred Gerlach stood up, bowed to everyone and said: "Thank you for your contribution to the country and the nation. Your high moral integrity will always be remembered by the German nation!"

"I will contact West Germany later to discuss the specific details; but before that, I still have to show some sincerity!"