Army Resettlement and Military-to-Civilian Conversion

Before long, Eitel took off his heavy imperial robes and sat in his office chair.

Stacks of documents were piled high before him, but he had no intention of looking at them just then.

Instead, he kept waiting, waiting for his ministers to arrive.

"Knock, knock, knock."

Eitel did not have to wait long before a series of knocks followed.

"Come in."

Eitel gave the order, and the door opened as soon as his words fell.

"Your Majesty, what did you need us for?"

Chancellor Max, General Rudolf, and Field Marshal Hindenburg walked in.

"You've all read the terms of this Treaty of Versailles, haven't you?"

"Tell me whatever thoughts you have."

Eitel propped his chin on both hands and looked earnestly at the three men before him.

The three men paused at the question, then Max spoke first.

"Your Majesty, I believe you have secured the most lenient terms possible for the German Empire in this Treaty of Versailles."

"But fully implementing these terms will still take a considerable amount of time. After all, dismantling those arms factories will take a long time."

"Furthermore, with the army's severance pay to consider, we will need to deliberate at length."

Max's words were sound and well reasoned, but they were not what Eitel wanted to hear. He wanted concrete solutions, not the words "deliberate at length."

Giving Max a dissatisfied glance, Eitel turned to Field Marshal Hindenburg.

"Field Marshal Hindenburg, what do you think?"

Field Marshal Hindenburg immediately straightened at the question and answered earnestly, "Your Majesty, I believe our army is enormous. Disbanding it all at once would require tremendous financial and material resources. We can divide these troops into five groups and demobilize them gradually."

"I have set the first group at five hundred thousand men. A considerable portion of them will be assigned to police stations across the country to become police officers. The others will need steady jobs and a resettlement payment."

Hearing Field Marshal Hindenburg's answer, Eitel nodded before saying, "You've done well, Field Marshal Hindenburg. I'll leave the army's current demobilization work to you and General Rudolf."

"As I said before, select the finest soldiers and officers in the army and send them to military academies across the country for further study. I want every one of these hundred thousand men trained and educated to an officer's standard."

"Also."

At this point, Eitel turned to Chancellor Max. "Chancellor Max, all arms factories across the country, apart from certain factories producing specialized equipment and small-caliber weapons, are to undergo military-to-civilian conversion on-site."

"Have the aircraft manufacturers remove all weapons and produce only civilian aircraft. Remember, apart from having no weapons, everything must meet military aircraft standards. Convert the armored vehicle factories into automobile factories on-site, and turn the other military logistics and supply factories into ordinary food factories."

"Finally, for those that cannot be converted, retain useful blueprints and experienced engineers for future use."

At this point, Eitel seemed to remember something and looked at Chancellor Max again. "Chancellor Max, we also need to establish the Imperial Research Institute."

"Then invite the country's scientists and experienced engineers to join it."

Hearing His Majesty Eitel's swift, decisive orders, Chancellor Max and the two generals immediately stood together and gave His Majesty Eitel an imperial military salute.

Then, without another word, they strode out to carry out his orders.

At that moment, the German Empire's efficient, capable manner was displayed to the fullest.

Once the three men had left, Eitel opened the system interface.

Previously, because so few functions were available, he had not paid much attention to the system's various modules. He had simply selected the national focus that would help him most at the time.

Now he finally had time to take a good look at what functions the system offered.

He opened the system interface, and the clear interface of the Hearts of Iron System appeared before him.

He clicked the national flag, and information about the German Empire's form of government and its various buffs and debuffs appeared before him.

But as Eitel looked at that string of red debuffs on the interface, his expression instantly turned speechless.

[Lack of Supplies]

[Bitter Consequences of World War I]

[Conscription Plan Switching Penalty]

After reading through them, Eitel felt a little drained, but he soon rallied his spirits. All of this was only temporary.

With the system's help, he would soon rise again!

He looked at the national focus slots to one side again.

There were now three national focus slots.

The Retake the Empire national focus was still glowing.

As for the other two national focus slots, Eitel began thinking carefully.

"What the empire needs now is development. Both the economy and consumable goods urgently need attention."

"After parliament concluded, America signed a fifteen-year food export contract with their representatives. At the same time, various aid construction and loan contracts were signed as well."

"But the funds haven't arrived yet."

As Eitel thought, he selected a national focus.

[National focus: Prioritize Economic Growth. Effects: effects: resources gained through trade +15%, consumer goods demand -10%, civilian factory output +8%]

[The Economic Miracle path is currently selected. You may switch to the Four Year Plan branch at any time.]

Hearing the system's description, Eitel paused. He remembered that in the game, once he chose one path, he could no longer choose another.

He had not expected to be able to switch between the two branches at any time now.

He just did not know whether he could switch his main national focus.

The moment Eitel thought of this, the system issued a notification.

[The host has selected a main national focus path branch. Major national focus branch selections cannot be changed.]

Hearing the system's icy notification, Eitel looked disappointed.

He had actually rather wanted to try taking Xi'er's path.

After all, Xi'er's life had been legendary enough.

If he had not lost his head and tried to fight on two fronts at once, he would not have lost so badly.

It had to be said, there really was something about Tsarist Russia. Napoleon and many emperors with lofty ambitions had all broken themselves against it.

Even the Second German Reich and the Third German Reich had come to grief at their hands.

At that thought, Eitel shivered and decided he would never provoke that bunch of Slavic hard men before he could overwhelm them technologically.

He looked at the system interface again.

He had already decided on the final national focus as well.

Eitel's hand lightly tapped the screen.

[National focus: Build the Reichsautobahn. Effects: domestic infrastructure construction speed +20%, increased railway transport efficiency, reduced supply losses nationwide.]

Looking at this national focus, Eitel lowered his hand.

"Although it won't have much effect in the short term, in the long run, this decision's advantages far outweigh its disadvantages. Besides, building highways requires workers, which will give those demobilized soldiers jobs."

"As for those soldiers' wages, I'll still have to rely on America's loan assistance for now."

With that, Eitel turned to the next section of the system interface.

He had finished selecting the national focuses, but he had yet to select the accompanying decisions and laws.