27-28-August/1915
Without much delay, I presented myself accompanied by some of my men to receive the Austro-Hungarians.
There were many men who gave me the impression they were administrators sent from Vienna to handle the administration of Ukraine.
As I waited, the man designated for the Ukrainian crown finally appeared, Wilhelm von Habsburg.
I immediately approached the archduke.
"Major Karl…" said the new ruler
"Greetings, Your Majesty" I said with a slight smile
"I prefer the term regent… it was not to my liking to accept the position assigned to me. I would rather be chosen by the Ukrainian people as their king, not imposed by force… but it was this or allowing one of those hetmans to rule with an iron fist and bleed my people dry" said the regent
"Your… people? Shouldn't the Austrian Germans be your people?" I said, raising an eyebrow
"Since the war began, I have been reading Ukrainian literature, and I must say I love it… since childhood I was taught that Ukrainians were nothing more than a bandit people… all tied to the Poles my father favors so much… well, now he will not be ruling Poland as he insisted. My position as regent prevents him from taking the Polish crown due to the risk of two members of the same line holding royal titles" he said with a satisfied smile
"Who are these with you?" I asked, looking at the group of various ages following him
"Military officers and civilian servants from the areas around Lviv. A bit of everything to manage the situation. I understand you were sent with new recruits to maintain order" said the regent
"Yes, thirteen thousand. Twelve thousand newly recruited men and my veterans. We have a solid force to try to contain the pogroms taking place. From what I have gathered, there have been three major pogroms in the city, with nearly a thousand Jewish deaths. The same reason… they have food, and the people are starving" I replied as I walked beside him
"How much budget has Germany assigned to all of this?" he asked as we moved through the streets
"I do not know the exact figure, but I was given twenty-five million marks to begin an agricultural program" I answered
"Only that? You must be joking… that is nothing… we have to feed millions" he said, stopping and staring at me
"They denied the budget I requested… I asked for seven hundred million to deal with the food crisis. We will have to buy food from countries not yet in the war. We could import from Sweden through the port of Danzig. It would take a few days, but we might secure something. Another option is Romania. It may be expensive… or perhaps not. They might try to ease tensions, considering they are thinking of joining the Entente, and now that Russia cannot support them, they may want to keep both Germany and Austria-Hungary calm" I said without breaking eye contact
"I have some budget as well, but not much. There are priorities… though none more important than feeding the people…" said the regent as we approached the governor's palace
"I brought food and seeds… but I doubt it will feed many… a few thousand, perhaps tens of thousands if rationed carefully… though shipments will arrive every month" I said
"And where did you get it?" he asked without slowing his pace
"My family's lands. Through my own methods, we have increased food production several times over while reducing costs. This comes from my own pocket" I said, observing the large building ahead
"We do not have the budget to buy overpriced food… do not try to profit from this" he said, turning to look at me, though his tone had shifted from severe to concerned
"At cost price… and trust me, it will be low. My inputs are pig manure, straw, fish remains, and manual labor. Every month we produce mushrooms, and soon tomatoes and potatoes once natural fertilizers are ready. We use a system that allows production even in winter. Everything will be sold to Ukraine unless the German state requisitions it" I said, nodding
"Oh… good… that is… unusual. It is rare to meet someone who is not trying to squeeze every last coin out of the Ukrainians… thank you" said the regent, clearly surprised, his expression thoughtful
"I would not sleep well making money while people starve… I can sell weapons… but I am not a monster" I replied, gesturing toward the palace
"I see" said the regent, and we continued toward the governor's palace
Many of those accompanying us began inspecting the rooms and organizing the place, laying the foundations for the new administration.
As I followed the regent, we reached what had been the office of the Tsar's local authority. It was empty, aside from dusty furniture left behind.
"How much food did you bring?" asked the regent as soon as he sat down
"I do not know the exact amount, but it is considerable. Enough to feed perhaps one hundred thousand people for a few weeks, but no more. The grain, which makes up most of what I brought, is for planting next year. It may be abundant, but we cannot sell the future" I answered
"Good… first we must stop the pogroms, and at the same time gather as much food as possible to ration it… so your first order will be to requisition all food being stored by the Jews,Ukrainians and Russians in the city. Give them vouchers for what is taken, and it will be returned when possible. If they refuse… you know what to do… take it by force" said the regent
"I will begin tomorrow… there is something else to do first" I replied immediately
"It's important to do it as soon as possible, we can't waste a single day" he replied, frowning
"No one I brought knows how to use a rifle, I'll go to the Kiev fortress, issue rifles to the recruits, and make sure they know how to use them so they can accompany us… but there are too many people in the city to do this with just a thousand men" I replied
"Good" he said, rubbing his nose while frowning "do it quickly, but begin in the morning. If they keep stockpiling food, we'll have more problems. By tomorrow all food must be requisitioned, and we must expand this policy across Ukraine and create storage depots with those reserves while we try to build a stable administration" said the regent
I nodded and quickly returned to the fortress, where we began crash training on how to use a rifle and how to hold it. For now, they only needed to be there to look like a larger force, so until nightfall we trained them on how to use the rifle, how to carry it, and how to position the sling so they would appear competent.
At first light we began moving through the city, using my captains as officers to lead the requisition against the Jews.
"So, how do we act?" Hans said while walking with his submachine gun in hand
"Peacefully for now, we enter those neighborhoods, they usually have their own shops and warehouses, so we take everything. That way people won't have any incentive beyond the hatred they inherited from the Russians, and it should end the slaughter happening against them" I said while walking
We finally reached one of the first Jewish districts, where there was a strange sense of normality as many people moved about doing business.
"By the authority of Regent Wilhelm von Habsburg, all those who possess large reserves of food and grain are ordered to hand them over immediately. Everything will be weighed and you will receive vouchers for your property, which will be returned once this terrible crisis has passed" I said, raising my voice as thousands of men began entering the street
There was a long and tense silence, and when I saw many people retreat into their homes and shops, I knew they would not cooperate willingly. I quickly sent my men into the businesses and warehouses to search for food.
Complaints rose almost immediately as my men began taking cans, crates, and sacks out of the shops to be weighed.
"Who do you think you are? You do nothing when they kill us but the moment you hear we have something you come to take it all" I heard a woman shout at me from a window
Things started heating up as more people tried to stop the confiscation, while others simply gave up and accepted the vouchers.
"Remember, unless necessary, no shooting" I said, reminding the recruits who were already getting nervous
I kept moving, watching as a large warehouse was being emptied, sack after sack of grain being carried out.
"This was more of a stereotype in Germany, but… damn, they really are hoarders" Ferdinand said, staring at the stockpile
"We'll have to do the same with the Ukrainians, or we'll send the message that taking food from Jews is acceptable. There are many hoarders who, through connections with Russian nobles, probably filled their granaries. Taxes were paid in currency, most of the harvest was sold, so we'll likely find people with enough food to feed the entire city for some time" I said while observing the place
"I see, so this will be everyday work… much better than sleeping badly and eating cold food…" Ferdinand said, but I cut him off as I reacted
"WEAPON!" I shouted, grabbing my submachine gun and firing at someone who had appeared in a window aiming a rifle
I fired several rounds until I saw the weapon fall to the street and the man collapse back inside
"Check the windows, check the windows, drop what you're doing and cover your positions" I shouted, scanning around as the recruits panicked and my veterans took positions against the walls aiming at the windows
People began running in every direction
"Do not fire on anyone who isn't armed" I said, looking at the confused recruits pointing at everything
"Those sons of bitches" Ernst said, leading his group toward the shop
"Watch your angles, don't rush into any room" I shouted at him
"Fine… damn it… if this is how they want to play and they're hiding weapons, we'll search every house and take everything they shouldn't have" I said, organizing the searches
We entered the houses and soon armed clashes broke out.
We quickly began pulling out hidden weapons.
"And how do you expect us to defend ourselves? You don't help us at all, a week ago they killed a hundred of ours and you did nothing" one of the Jewish leaders told me
"I don't give a damn, only the army and police can carry weapons and we're taking them all" I said while watching my men pull out both food and weapons
I hadn't planned to search every house so thoroughly, but seeing civilians armed left me no choice but to expand the searches across the entire city.
"At least we'll have patrols moving through regularly?" he said, frowning
"Yes, we just established a government yesterday and there will be police moving through the area, so if you want to do something useful, stay inside and don't interfere, because nothing will stop me from searching every last hole for weapons" I said
"I'll speak with the others… I hope those patrols actually appear" he said
"And they will" I replied, focusing on signing the requisition vouchers
While I worked, Austro-Hungarian officers arrived asking what was happening. After explaining the situation, operations continued. We emptied houses of excess food, leaving enough for a month per household and taking the rest.
By midday we had covered a large part of the city. Each house required around five men for a thorough search, so we were clearing roughly 2,600 houses every ten minutes.
As things calmed down, the Jews began voluntarily handing over weapons. The stockpile was considerable, nearly two thousand rifles hidden.
Just as we were about to begin on the Ukrainian side, I received new orders.
We were now to requisition gold using the same system, as they wanted to establish a paper-based economy and create a Ukrainian mark backed by gold reserves.
"Ahh" I said, grabbing my face "couldn't this have come earlier, now we have to start all over again searching house by house for gold…" I told the messenger who delivered the order
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