-----------------------------
If there are spelling mistakes, please let me know.
Leave a comment; support is always appreciated.
I remind you to leave your ideas or what you would like to see.
-------------------------------
12-September-1915
The good chernozem… the agricultural gold of Ukraine, the best soil for cultivation due to the climatic conditions that create a thick layer of humus filled with the nutrients plants need to grow. If someone wanted to get rich selling food, this was the place to start and, taking advantage of my position as head of state security and, of course, minister of agriculture, I could obtain this land that would probably be worth millions of marks without paying a single coin.
I had committed myself to doing the best job possible and I was doing it. I did not know if I was particularly good at administration, since beyond setting up a patrol system that used our German troops to the fullest and, in theory, allowed the garrisons to oversee a large part of Ukraine, especially the major cities.
This had almost completely reduced the pogroms… although of course the number of dead Jews was already counted in the tens of thousands according to the information my men had gathered in the field.
In addition to establishing a telegraph system between all garrisons, we finally connected Kiev with the rest of Ukraine or at least its main cities, where we realized we needed more men to secure the country, so my first reports to Berlin stated that we needed more recruits, as well as more funding to bring Ukraine back on its feet, informing them that so far everything was going badly and that without proper funding and political support the goals we had been given were just that, goals…
It did not take long to see movement from Berlin on that matter. After sending a detailed report, they seemed to realize that twenty five million marks would not solve the problem, so they granted me another fifty million newly printed marks.
At the same time communication channels were opened with Romania with the intention of ceding Moldavia, except for the Odessa region, which was important if Germany wanted to use the port to supply the Ottomans. The idea behind this territorial concession, aside from the fact that we did not have the capacity to defend it, was to keep Romania neutral in the war and have them sell us food and livestock at lower prices in exchange for the land.
We would have to see how that turned out.
Another recruitment campaign had also begun, this time larger and across Germany, once again targeting men aged sixteen to nineteen, offering them training in case they were later sent to the front. This time it was not limited to Berlin and its surroundings, it became state propaganda, and recruits began arriving daily by train to join the force, just like the Austrians, now that the harvest had ended recruitment became much easier.
I had also sold an idea to Berlin and Vienna that each man here represented ten to fifteen locals working for Germany, so it made sense to have them working here rather than in Germany. I had nothing to verify that theory, but for some reason it made more sense to the Kaisers than documents full of verifiable data.
I had taken control of the many training fields in Ukraine and assigned some of my best men to train recruits in something I had already developed with a select group, urban warfare. It was essential for fighting partisans to understand how to use the terrain of cities, and I had a group of two hundred men trained for that purpose who now served as instructors in all training camps while we continued receiving new recruits.
At least most of my responsibilities as head of security in Ukraine were under control and, as time passed, control would only increase, since once the recruits finished their training and those who had arrived earlier were fully prepared, we would have a highly competent militarized police capable of dismantling partisan networks and maintaining control without requiring constant micromanagement.
But the agricultural results were still pending.
The sound of boiling water caught my attention and I quickly looked toward the field kitchens we had acquired working tirelessly to produce food. We were using the extra production from my farms for cooking, since the best way to recruit workers in Ukraine was by paying them in food every day, because Ukrainian marks, just as the regent had feared, had no value…
They were worth the same as the paper you wipe your ass with, since in the state the economy was in they were useless. Food could not be bought because prices were controlled and there was no real production. Some factories were trying to operate, but most raw materials came from the Donetskiy Basseyn region, where most mines were located along with phosphates, and it was also where the Russians had heavily fortified their positions to prevent its capture, which meant the front had stalled.
The Russians had roughly the same numbers as the German, Austro-Hungarian and Polish forces, and with winter approaching all offensives would slow down, and with their reserves full it was in their interest to wait.
"How is that going?" I said with a smile while looking at the group of around three hundred soldiers cooking the recipe I had given them.
"Good, Major" replied the recruit who was cutting carrots into cubes.
"Let me try it" I said pointing at the one stirring a large iron pot where everything was being cooked.
"Here you go" he said, serving a small bowl filled with potatoes, mushrooms, carrots, peas and small pieces of pork, the fat separated from the meat.
"It is good… add a bit more salt" I said after tasting it.
"At once" said the soldier, taking a large spoonful of salt and dropping it into the pot before stirring.
I kept moving through the area while everyone continued cutting the supplies they had been given to keep the large pots going, as Ukrainians began arriving to work.
Lines quickly formed to receive food. It was not much, nothing extraordinary, but within the strict rationing we had implemented it was more than what they usually received in a day, and that mattered, since it meant less food had to be distributed daily, allowing us to keep city and village reserves as full as possible.
Most of the people coming were from the fields around Kiev, small villages where they would normally be processing their harvest and baking bread, but now they could only look for anything to fill their stomachs.
People began eating the single hard boiled egg they could get, while their children finished the broth.
Chickens had become one of the most valuable things available, since the Russians had ignored them due to their number and small size, prioritizing cattle and pigs, so all chickens were now kept inside city garrisons, as their eggs were valuable as food and their shells as material for homemade fertilizer.
This was more charity than productivity, so we even gave work to children aged eight to ten, since the goal was to provide aid while still advancing the work.
We were feeding twenty four thousand Ukrainians from nearby villages.
As the first groups finished eating they left the area, returning their bowls and handing back the shells.
I had brought everything I had from Poznan, completely halting my expansion plans there, leaving only the foundations of greenhouses that had already been built, but bringing all engineers and architects here to begin work, and the results were already visible.
Several greenhouses had already been built, since we had a massive workforce, and I had placed large orders for steel and glass panels from steel mills and glass factories near Posen.
Along with the workers I had brought, progress was fast, as thousands prepared the land while the work was systematized, cutting down construction time and relying on cheap labor paid only in food. With two meals a day to keep them satisfied we had around nineteen thousand people working, and although the children were not of working age they handled the simplest tasks, as their parents had them work anyway.
Taking care of the plants in the first greenhouses.
Some greenhouses were for research, using the natural fertilizers I had ordered in advance, taking them from compost after three months instead of the six I originally intended.
We were working on genetic selection of seeds. It might not be significant yet, but under ideal conditions multiple generations of a plant could be grown, accelerating the process of creating the most suitable wheat seed for future harvests.
Along with all kinds of crops to guide seed improvement, carrots, lettuce, cucumbers, tomatoes, lentils, peas and potatoes, each had two greenhouses dedicated exclusively to that purpose.
Some were purely for mass production, such as the tomato greenhouses, where workers and children constantly monitored temperature, burning methane gas to maintain optimal conditions and taking care of the plants to keep those ideal environments.
Most, however, focused on mushrooms, chard, spinach, peas, carrots and turnips… fast growing crops, even if the latter was usually considered animal feed, in desperate times it was better than starving.
Everything was done quickly, people spread across the area with shovels and picks, digging and preparing foundations, since every group of greenhouses required systems to supply water and methane gas, repeating the process over and over.
Work advanced rapidly because there were specialized crews repeating the same tasks again and again, along with prefabricated materials from factories and steelworks that had been working with us for months, allowing us to operate at maximum efficiency.
I stood watching the work as more greenhouses were quickly assembled and planting began, taking advantage of the rich fertile soil that did not require heavy use of natural or industrial fertilizers.
Everything seemed to be going well, building around three greenhouses of two hundred by two hundred, and we only stopped when we ran out of materials, finishing slightly after midday, when people gathered to receive their second meal before returning home.
While everyone continued cooking and eating I went to the telegraph and contacted my father to see if more contracts could be arranged with additional companies, since the system was progressing well but resource acquisition remained a problem.
Together with the telegraph operator I requested that, if possible, more German steelworks send us steel in the required formats, along with more glass panels to be delivered by train.
"Major… we have a problem… one of our patrols was ambushed in the north, no casualties… the shots missed but they fled into the marshes…" said one of the telegraph operators, reading the message.
"Partisans…" I said with a grim expression… "I already gave them the carrot… now comes the stick… unlucky for them I am an expert in marshes" I said looking at the operators, who smiled at the comment.
-----------------------------
If there are spelling mistakes, please let me know.
Leave a comment; support is always appreciated.
I remind you to leave your ideas or what you would like to see.
-------------------------------
Hello everyone! If you'd like to read chapters in advance, you can support me on P.a.t.r.e.o.n. Currently, there are 9 chapters available
without spaces
p atreon. com/Chill _ean_GUY
Thank you all for your support!