บท 321: Chapter 398 The Girl
After making a round, Wilhelm left the grocery store and walked a bit further, stopping in front of a bookstore window.
Various new books were hanging in the window, many of which were "written" by him. After looking for a while, Wilhelm entered the bookstore. The shopkeeper, who was arranging books in front of the bookshelf, saw a few burly men with "unfriendly faces" coming in and became a bit flustered, nervously asking, "Are you here to buy books?"
The shopkeeper naturally spoke in Dutch, but Wilhelm did not understand Dutch. Reinhard, who was beside him, asked as instructed, "Boss, what is the best-selling book here?"
The shopkeeper walked to the bookshelf near the door and pointed to a row of books on top. "All the books here sell well, but if you're asking about the best-selling ones, it would be these comics." Wilhelm saw various comics on that shelf, such as "Tom and Jerry," "Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck," "Superman," etc., all produced by the German "Zeus" company's comic studio.
Years ago, Wilhelm had Goebbels gather a group of cartoonists to set up a comic studio, plagiarizing all kinds of famous American comics from the original timeline.
Casually pulling out a "Tom and Jerry," he checked the price; 1.3 marks.
The current minimum wage for German workers is 200 Imperial Marks per month, and the wages for workers in the occupied areas are slightly lower; converted to the purchasing power of later generations, it's roughly equivalent to a monthly salary of 3000 yuan buying a comic book for 20 yuan.
Expensive?
Perhaps some people find it expensive, others may find it acceptable.
Wilhelm silently put the book back on the shelf, walked out of the bookstore, and instructed Reinhard, "Take note, and tell Goebbels when we return, to reduce the price of these comic books by 50%. It doesn't matter if there is no profit, I want every child in the occupied areas to be able to afford these comics."
"As you command." Seeing a hint of confusion flash across Reinhard's face, Wilhelm casually asked, "Reinhard, have you ever heard of 'the greatest good is like water'?"
"No, Your Highness." Reinhard shook his head blankly.
The greatest good is like water, a phrase from Laozi's "Tao Te Ching, Chapter 8": The highest good is like water. Water benefits all things without contention, it dwells in places that people dislike, thus it is close to the Tao. In dwelling, be close to the land. In meditation, go deep in the heart. In dealing with others, be gentle and kind. In speech, be true. In ruling, be just. In business, be competent. In action, watch the timing. Only by not contending, can one be without fault. More than 500 years ago, Laozi recognized the supreme goodness of water.
"There is nothing softer and weaker than water, yet nothing is better at overcoming the hard and strong." This also comes from "Tao Te Ching, Chapter 78," and the idiom "constant dripping wears away the stone" also tells of water's soft exterior and tough interior, its resilience, water is the ultimate in softness and hardness.
In ancient times, during the wars between Wu and Yue, Wu Zixu of Wu once said, "The terrain of Yue is like ours, both are water towns. We can attack Yue using their boats and eating their food, but attacking Qi would be all harm and no benefit."
This reflects a problem, that is, how to govern after occupation.
The so-called greatest good is like water, which means that in ruling, one cannot seek quick success; one should assimilate the culture like water, becoming one with it.
Or it can be said this way: what truly invades a country, what takes down its cities, is not the army, but culture; the governance of a holy era follows the culture smoothly.
Wilhelm chuckled and said, "Let me put it this way, what truly troubles rulers through the ages is not how to conquer lands, but how to govern a place after occupying it, how to manage the land they have taken by force. Continue using force? Of course not. The Ming Dynasty had a saying, 'One can conquer the world on horseback, but cannot govern it on horseback.' If one continues to use force, it is very likely to evolve into tyranny, and the people will naturally resist with force. To truly occupy a country, one must destroy and assimilate it culturally and in terms of national identity, starting from indoctrinating the youth with new universal values."
Reinhard bowed his head slightly and respectfully said, "Your Highness is wise."
Wilhelm shook his head nonchalantly and asked, "How is the GSP's work going?"
"Very smoothly, Your Highness."
Wilhelm said very seriously, "We have taken the first step of a thousand-year foundation, and I do not want to see some rat droppings or fools ruin our efforts. Especially those greedy merchants, they can do anything for profit; we must keep a close eye on them. If they really do something out of line, I would be very happy to send their entire family to the concentration camp to continue serving the empire." The greed of merchants is innate and endless; if not restrained, they could sell the country itself.
"As you command, Your Highness!"
Continuing to stroll forward, he finally arrived at the corner where KFC was located, and saw a skinny little girl standing next to the entrance of KFC selling newspapers, her tender face reddened by the cold wind.
"Sir, would you like to buy a newspaper?" Seeing Wilhelm approaching, the little girl extended her hand to offer him a newspaper. Her large eyes were so clear and pure, an innocent gaze without a trace of distraction, bright as the cold stars in the dark night; Wilhelm took one look and was charmed by this purity and clarity.
Wilhelm pointed at the door of KFC. "Little sister, it's so cold, why don't you stay inside?"
The little girl blinked her clear, large eyes, showing a hint of confusion and helplessness on her face. Wilhelm guessed she didn't understand his German, as her own German sentence was not well-spoken and sounded quite raw. Although he didn't understand Dutch, she should understand English. So he repeated it in English.
This time the little girl understood and, somewhat embarrassedly rubbing her clothes, replied in English, "I'm afraid of bothering people."
"..." Looking at her patched coat, Wilhelm nodded thoughtfully. "Come on, brother will treat you to something delicious."
"!!" The little girl instinctively stepped back, her eyes becoming a bit more cautious.
Wilhelm smiled and said, "Don't worry, brother is not a bad person."
The little girl frowned tightly, her face full of disbelief. "But good people don't wear fake beards."
"..." Wilhelm touched his fake beard and glanced at Reinhard, who looked somewhat embarrassed. "Well, there's a reason for that, but I'm curious how you figured it out?"
The little girl timidly said, "I've seen all kinds of fake beards when I was learning ballet at the theater, and your fake beard looks very similar to those."
"I see." Wilhelm showed a look of sudden realization. "But I'm indeed not a bad person, and I know you."
The little girl opened her mouth in surprise. "You know me?"
Wilhelm nodded affirmatively. "Your name is Edda van Heemstra, but that's not your real name, is it? Your real name is Audrey Kathleen Ruston, right?"
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Batorian
Batorian So Wilhelm tracked down his "ideal future wife" while she is still a little girl (born 1929). I really hope that doesn't turn weird in the next chapters. Don't let me down now, chinese author...
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