After pondering for a moment, Chancellor Conrad said, "Your Highness's plan could perhaps be bolder still. Not just Dalmatia—we might further expand our sources of immigration."
"After all, Dalmatia's German population is less than a million. Filling Venice alone would be difficult enough. Relying on the population of one such place to drive Germanization across the entire country would be an arduous task."
Persuaded by Rudolf, Conrad no longer cared about the debate over "bloodlines." Compared with the current problem of the core ethnic group being too small, Mixed-blood Germans were an utterly insignificant issue—perhaps not an issue at all.
Casting aside the old nest, the heavens and earth suddenly opened wide—this was how Chancellor Conrad felt at the moment.
Building further upon Rudolf's plan, Conrad went even further. "Your Highness's plan reminds me of something: the issue of German descendants in the United States a few months ago."
"The United States has the world's third-largest German population. We might use this opportunity to draw some Germans dissatisfied with the American government back to the German territories."
Rudolf said, "But your suggestion carries considerable risk as well. After all, America's Germans have been indoctrinated by American ideas for a long time, which could increase instability."
So-called American ideas were nothing more than democracy and freedom. Rudolf himself had once been a supporter of such ideas, yet now he had turned around to defend monarchic autocracy. This showed the transformation in Rudolf's thinking.
Chancellor Conrad gave a bitter smile. "Your Highness, I naturally understand that. But in today's world, among the major countries where Germans are settled, it is difficult for us to find a suitable source of population."
"Germany—when Germany's economy had been poor, quite a few Germans had moved to the Empire. But now, Germany's population outflow has completely