The Shadow of Great Britain

Chapter 1129: Chapter 109: Sausage Tactics (Part 3)

But in the diplomatic community, some candidates can leverage their wealth and influence, or their luck in knowing foreign languages, especially French, as a reason to gain favor. Even if their language skills are merely at the level of restaurant waiters or headwaiters, they can easily obtain certification to take up diplomatic positions in our country.

I’m not joking with you. Thanks to my grandfather’s connections, I’ve met quite a few former Prussian envoys. They were clueless about politics and their reports only included matters they could discuss fluently in French. Yet simply due to their familiarity with French, they achieved high positions, which is utterly absurd!

Our esteemed marshals, such as Bruegel, Gneisenau, and Goben, were not originally Prussians. Likewise, civil servants like Stein, Hardenberg, Motz, and Groellman were not either. Our politicians are like saplings in a nursery; for their roots to fully develop, they must be replanted as if it’s necessary.

Arthur tapped his fingers on the table, pondering: ”So, is this the reason you’re causing trouble at school? You believe studying law at the University of Gottingen is useless and won’t benefit your future development?”

”Exactly!” Bismarck rolled his eyes and took a drink: ”Most professors here are sick, and the students are all sick too! This place is filled with narrow-minded, mean-spirited bourgeois views just like my mother’s. Oh, right, most of the time, they call it liberalism. Just like the local hero, Heinrich Heine, he’s a typical liberal bourgeois!”

Listening to this, Arthur couldn’t help but feel that this kid was even harder to get along with than he was back in the day.

When attending the University of London, Arthur, despite having a poor relationship with his supervising professor, was on good terms with his classmates and quite fond of the school, which felt like a construction site at the time.

However, Bismarck’s dissatisfaction extended beyond professors; it included classmates and the school itself.

For a young man who received Prussian compulsory education, even Gottingen University, considered autocratic and conservative by Heine, was too liberal for Bismarck.

Amidst Gottingen University’s clamor for supporting the students of Frankfurt, Bismarck indeed seemed like an oddity.

Yet for Arthur, if everyone thought like Bismarck, the job of the National Special Representative wouldn’t be so difficult.

Arthur pulled out the letter from Bismarck’s mother sent to the school, feigning seriousness as he said: ”Otto, I think you really should read this letter carefully. I know you dislike school, but if you continue to approach your studies this way, I’m afraid you’ll only have the option to join the military.”

”Join the military?” Bismarck asked suspiciously: ”Why?”

”Because your mother instructed the school to inform you that you now have only two choices: either graduate from university or enlist in the military to earn some spending money. However, I understand your pessimism about the future; you believe a university diploma is useless. To a certain extent, I agree with your view. A university diploma alone is indeed worthless, but if you successfully graduate from the law program and perform well in your job, I can issue a recommendation letter from the school to Prussia’s judicial department, introducing the distinguished graduate of Gottingen University’s law program, Mr. Otto von Bismarck.”

At this point, Arthur paused, unobtrusively slicing the sausage on his plate, dividing it slice by slice: ”To the best of my knowledge, to work in Prussian courts, you must pass two judicial exams, and the pass rate for those exams isn’t particularly high, is it?”