-----------------------------
If we reach 15 comments. You have five hours from the time this chapter is posted. If we reach the goal, the next chapter will be posted in eight hours.(Valid comments must include information about what you like or dislike about the story, what you would like to see about the story, or any questions you may have about the story,Only one comment per person will be accepted, as the devil is in the details.)
-----------------------------
''So they gave the position to you'' Manstein said while raising an eyebrow and making a slight grimace with his lower lip after hearing that it was now my responsibility to handle the entire Baltic Duchy.
''That is correct. Unfortunately this multicultural hell is now my multicultural hell, and I have to make it serve German interests as quickly as possible so its industry and economy support the war effort'' I said while making several grimaces as I began opening the books the regent had prepared for me while I was absent.
''Luckily not much has happened. After several clashes against partisans in January, most armed groups were imprisoned or forced to hide in the forests where my men quickly captured them by following the smoke from their campfires used to survive the cold. So I can confidently say everything is under control... although the city of Pskov is not exactly calm'' Manstein said while walking over to stand at my right side.
''Let me see... yes, many demonstrations from socialist organizations clashing against conservative forces trying to turn that city into another civil war zone just like Russia...'' I said while reviewing several files and documents.
''Yes, we have barely entered Pskov aside from disarming armed gangs. Beyond that there are many fights ending in beatings between them... so I doubt it is more serious than that. For a while one of your men discovered the Russians were trying to arm the locals, although that ended once the civil war started and they had to use all their equipment trying to win... there is not much information regarding the frontlines, who controls what, or where they are fighting, but they most likely cannot support the Russian diasporas anymore'' Manstein said.
''Honestly I do not like this situation much... considering the Russians are the most problematic group since eventually there will be a government trying to recover what they lost in this war. I do not know whether the fastest solution would simply be deporting the Russians back to Russia and repopulating with other cultures'' I said thoughtfully.
''That is an option, though not a very advisable one considering we have no idea how many workers we would lose since these lands are not exactly famous for their abundance of natural resources'' Manstein said while placing his hands behind his back and observing my documents.
''Yes, this place is a pigsty if you look at it from an extraction perspective. There is no iron, coal, or phosphate deposits. The only things here are forests and agriculture, so at best we can build processing industries around those resources and work from there, but beyond that we are extremely limited. They will require huge amounts of fertilizer and I doubt selling timber and animal pelts will be a good source of state revenue'' I said while considering what we actually had available.
''What about amber? Supposedly there are large amber deposits that could become valuable on the market, although obviously after the war'' Manstein said.
''No, too much time and investment. Right now every bill Germany gives us has to be used to make this place as efficient as possible. Besides, I already have many orders to fulfill... first we must make the schools function... build schools where needed and teach German to the entire population'' I said while reviewing several documents regarding the number of schools, their capacity, and the estimated number of youths within mandatory education age.
''But... does that not go against what you said before about not ruling against the majority? We would basically be giving in to the Baltic German nobility'' Manstein asked.
''Yes, but the Kaiser wants us to approve work visas so people from here can temporarily work in Germany since finding workers becomes harder the longer the war drags on. At the same time industrial production keeps expanding so they need laborers, and we cannot simply send a Lithuanian or Estonian without understanding what his foreman is telling him... something like fifty fifty, classes in German and in the local language... at least for the foreseeable future'' I said while clasping my hands together as I explained the reason behind my change in position.
''Well, we cannot refuse orders from the Heimat... so I suppose we will have to obey them. Anything else we must do under the Kaiser's orders?'' the German officer asked.
''Yes. We must establish the army of the Baltic Duchy to reduce occupation costs and place it under the duchy's authority, paying it with our own currency... which means creating our own money. So we need to find gold somewhere in order to prove those bills are not worthless paper... which brings us back to the same issue that we do not really have much to sell because these lands are not exactly rich in raw materials... maybe we could produce cement in massive quantities and sell it as construction material, but beyond that I cannot think of much that could easily work'' I said while tapping the tip of the pencil against the desk as I thought.
''Training men will not be easy... if we want to raise an army quickly we will have to recruit from the cultural majorities, which means we would end up with a problem similar to our Austrian allies'' Manstein said.
''Yes, I am not going to command an army that speaks five different languages. We will have to recruit Germans, that is completely non negotiable, but the Baltic German population is small, mostly nobility and middle class. It is not something where we can simply walk in and recruit en masse...'' I said while cursing quietly as I thought about how difficult it would be to build an army from scratch.
But slowly my gaze turned toward the Tenth Army officer currently under my command.
''What?'' Manstein asked while staring back at me without changing posture.
''They might transfer some Tenth Army units under the control of the Baltische Landeswehr...'' I said while looking directly at Manstein.
''Eh... I do not think they would allow that'' Manstein replied.
''I can justify it... because I do not think I can compete with Ukraine's offer and every young man willing to migrate would choose Ukraine instead of the Baltics considering we are offering them the most fertile lands in the world versus ordinary land... in a cold climate that apparently would not produce much'' I said while looking at Manstein with a smile.
''Let us see what the OHL responds to your request'' Manstein said.
''Believe me, I am absolutely going to do it'' I replied with a grin. ''Good, back to work.''
And so began my enormous headache of managing this place. There were massive amounts of problems that had to be solved and the first of them was that there was no coal to keep the power plants running. We depended on Russian coal and for the moment reserves had been used, but those reserves were already running dry, so we had to find a way to generate energy. That meant signing a contract with the Kingdom of Ukraine to purchase several tons of coal every month in order to finance the electrification of the cities.
After that I had to implement the Ukrainian agricultural plan, which for the most part meant applying the same plan as the previous year while taking into account the proper use of the land so it would not be overworked, making proper use of crop rotation and natural fertilizers. Wherever possible we expanded the cultivated land even further since we now had around fourteen hundred tractors compared to the four hundred from the previous year, allowing far larger areas to be worked.
Inside the Baltic Duchy there was not much direct control to exercise since the nobles who owned a large portion of the arable land already had their own plans and were not very willing to cooperate with the new government due to our previous friction regarding the disarmament of their guards and militias.
So I was left managing only a number of lands that had belonged directly to Russian or Russified nobles which had been confiscated, along with the lands handed to me personally. They were not particularly large and, worst of all, they were not connected together, forcing me to constantly move the fifty tractors I had brought in order to work them.
That was during the first days of my administration. The following days were dedicated to the formal establishment of the administration and the army, where there were far more changes regarding how I dealt with the locals.
All the temporary administrators Adolf von Pilchau had appointed were removed and replacements were selected based on performance and usefulness to the administration. The total number of administrators was also heavily reduced since many of them were noble administrators who occupied those positions more because of their titles than their actual abilities. They had skills, certainly, but many of those positions had been granted due to noble status rather than competence.
Considering I needed a small and efficient state capable of being everywhere at once, I had to eliminate many redundant positions while ensuring the administration remained largely German speaking among the many cultures and that German became the administrative language.
Naturally this brought many complaints from the Baltic German nobility since many nobles were dismissed from the administration despite in some cases barely providing any service and simply collecting a salary from the payroll.
So for an entire week, with assistance from the Abteilung IIIb, we identified in most cases those who did not work but still collected wages, while also restructuring the administration by cutting away proven corruption and other issues that forced me to conduct a severe purge of the local bureaucracy.
That brought accusations that I was not building a government for Germans but for peasants. The complaints came from the nobility, insisting I should respect noble titles and all the rest as justification for keeping them in office.
I had to clean out municipalities, courts, and local police forces. Everything had been tainted by the corruption inherited from the feudal noble system of the Russian Empire and I had to carefully purge it by reviewing every loophole they used to worm themselves inside.
Since I possessed the monopoly on force these reforms were easy to push through because if the nobles had still possessed their armed militias it would almost certainly have caused revolts and possibly even a coup attempt against me, but now all they could do was grit their teeth and obey.
As for the Baltische Landeswehr, that became another dilemma. A voluntary recruitment campaign was started to see how many men could be recruited from the German communities and the result was eight hundred twenty seven soldiers.
That was all we managed to obtain through voluntary recruitment because I did not want to resort to conscription. Besides I doubted any colonization policy would work considering the fertile Ukrainian lands existed in direct competition with the Baltic territories, so I ended up making a somewhat similar offer among the Tenth Army forces after explaining the situation through telegrams to the OHL and the Kaiser.
I needed men for the duchy's armed forces, so I offered all troops present in the occupation the chance to settle in the Baltics with land grants, a house, and a small subsidy as motivation.
That way I managed to fill the numbers and reach ten thousand men. Even so it took enormous effort to convince people and form the Baltic army.
But there were problems there as well because the local nobility expected to follow the same example as the German Army with the Junkers and also preserve the privileges they had enjoyed under the Russian Empire where many were automatically assigned as officers. When the distribution of troops and officer positions began, nobles arrived asking how many positions would be reserved for them.
It was strange seeing them fail to receive the answer they expected since at that moment only soldiers and low ranking officers existed, yet men arrived asking directly for positions from major upward.
Once again it became a scandal of nobles demanding meetings to complain that noble institutions were not being respected while councils of nobles and knights demanded greater recognition of their ancient titles.
I ignored all of it completely because no matter how much they complained I still had far more important things to do.
-----------------------------
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 7 chapters available
without spaces
p atreon. com/Chill _ean_GUY
Thank you all for your support!