Chapter 7

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Mid-October 1908 --

Werner found himself in the direst of straits.

He had been outed as a homosexual by Maximilian Harden, the editor of the periodical "The Future," in the magazine.

The Harden-Eulenburg scandal in historical fact was a major scandal that shook the very foundations of the Emperor's authority in Germany.

Werner, who never imagined that he would be falsely accused instead of Eulenburg, was taken aback.

In reality, he, who was unfamiliar with court affairs, had no way of knowing whether Eulenburg and Wilhelm II were in such a relationship.

Eulenburg had visited Werner a few days after the award ceremony and they had met many times since then. On one occasion, Werner had talked about his idea of coordination among the great powers.

Eulenburg had praised his argument and advised Wilhelm II even more strongly to adopt a policy of coordination among the great powers.

Indeed, a policy of coordination among the great powers was extremely realistic and the right choice diplomatically.

However, it was not always possible to make that choice.

Maximilian Harden was a radical imperialist, and to him and other radicals, Werner's words at the award ceremony seemed extremely weak.

In any case, Werner, who was well aware of the power of the media in the 21st century, considered this a crisis in his life.

According to the article, it was written that Werner had been favored by Wilhelm II through Eulenburg's mediation, which was entirely baseless.

Here, Werner's past actions worked against him.

It was widely known that he kept nearly a hundred women.

Would it not be strange if such a womanizer were also a homosexual?

Such doubts were enough to awaken in those who read the article.

Since the publication of the article, many high-ranking military officials and government officials visited Werner daily to verify the facts, and each time he had to prove his innocence.

Fortunately, he had allies.

Many newspaper reporters who were close to Werner published articles to help him out of this predicament, stating that the allegations were baseless.

His father, Gerth, who had recently retired, and his older brother, Karl, a military veteran, testified to Werner's innocence within the military.

Moreover, Hitler, who had finally been accepted into the Vienna Academy of Fine Arts on his fourth attempt, rushed to defend him, using his innate talent for rhetoric to argue that he could not possibly be involved with men.

However, the scandal was a major one, regardless of whether it was true or not. Many people who claimed to be his friends or acquaintances, whom Werner had never seen or heard of, stormed the newspaper offices and testified that he was a homosexual.

Many of them were motivated by the small amount of information fees they would receive for testifying.

They were not exactly poor, but they were not exactly wealthy either.

In this world, where the middle class had significantly increased in Germany, there were still many people seeking money.

To quell this incident, Werner thought he needed a large number of testimonies.

So, he first asked his legal wife, Erika, and the approximately 100 women he kept to testify.

Erika, of course, and the prostitutes also cooperated to protect their stable lives, which would be affected if rumors about Werner spread.

Werner had the testimonies published by reporters he was close to.

The testimonies did not touch on the extremely perverse acts that were actually taking place, but it was said that he changed women every day and every night on holidays.

Other testimonies came from store clerks at shops he frequented, Ford and the Wright brothers of RFR, and many other related parties.

They all testified that when they went to the Leipzig mansion, the women standing next to Werner changed every hour.

As a result, the evaluation was that, indeed, he was just a womanizer, which was neither good nor bad, and somewhat ambiguous.

By early December, the series of disturbances had subsided.

The resolution came when, in the presence of many supporters, Werner filed a criminal complaint against Harden for defamation, the cause of the incident.

When the complaint was accepted, the supporters cheered loudly, and various newspapers reported the victory, stating that Harden's allegations were entirely fabricated.

After that, Harden was found guilty at an alarming speed and was thrown into prison.

Moreover, the radical imperialists lost a significant amount of their influence due to this incident.

Late December 1908 --

"Truly, you have had quite a misfortune."

Wilhelm II began the conversation.

"Yes, I have caused inconvenience in many areas this time..."

Werner said, bowing slightly.

"It's all right. However, I, like His Majesty, feel angry that you were insulted," Eulenburg stated.

This three-way meeting was held directly by Wilhelm II, both before and after the resolution of the disturbance.

They gathered in a secluded conference room in the Berlin Palace.

"I think that, like our Germany, you have broken through many companies to reach your current position. Unfortunately, you have made quite a few enemies, haven't you?"

Werner remained silent at the question.

During the incident, he had thoroughly investigated the background, and the masterminds, or rather, the masterminds, were investors and entrepreneurs from other countries who had gone bankrupt due to RFR's rise.

While competition is a prerequisite for development, it is inevitable that resentment and bitterness arise from it.

"I have had many opportunities to talk with you, and while you advocate coordination at the national level, you seem to want your company to always be the leader at the economic level," Eulenburg said.

Werner had no way to respond to Eulenburg's words.

Indeed, he believed that he must always lead the economy and technology.

This was a form of arrogance as a person from the future and an unconscious action due to having a god's perspective.

"I invited a banker named Schacht, who is close to you, to look at this country from an economic perspective..."

Wilhelm II's face became serious as he spoke.

"According to him, there is a movement for the major powers to be wary of Germany's rapid growth. This is no exception even for the Dual Monarchy, which is in Germany's lower abdomen."

Werner felt as if his heart had been seized by a hawk, realizing that RFR was being indirectly referred to.

His gaze remained fixed downward.

Seeing his expression, Wilhelm II smiled wryly on his stern face.

"No, I am not blaming you. Thanks to you, Schacht says that the German economy has developed significantly compared to ten years ago. The production of crude steel... I think that was it. He said that what is an indicator of national power, which was around 17 million tons just ten years ago, has jumped to 20 million tons."

"I am deeply convinced. By developing the country, other countries will form alliances to be wary, and if we try to take a coordination route, the economy will not function... This is extremely difficult," Eulenburg said.

Wilhelm II and Werner nodded in agreement.

If one side is raised, the other will not stand... In fact, the current Europe was such that the great powers could destroy both.

"Here, I thought. Recently, I received a book on military strategy from the Chief of the General Staff, Moltke, which Napoleon also loved to read. It was written thousands of years ago, and since much of it is no longer applicable, it seems to have been edited somewhat..."

He paused and then declared loudly.

"My military expansion policy based on military power for thousands of years has been said to be outdated. From now on, I want to expand Germany's influence through diplomacy, not military power."

Werner and Eulenburg stared intently at Wilhelm II.

The Kaiser of historical fact and the current Kaiser were different. On October 28, 1908, the Daily Telegraph incident was caused, but in this world, the British media was preoccupied with Werner's homosexuality scandal, and the interview with Wilhelm II during his visit to Britain for a holiday was only related to that.

Wilhelm II had handled it smoothly, so in this world, there was no Daily Telegraph incident.

He stroked his Kaiser mustache and asked in response to their gaze.

"Is there a problem?"

The Kaiser, with a smug look, and Werner and Eulenburg simply shook their heads.

Then, Werner slowly opened his mouth.

"Your Majesty, I have been arrogant. I thought I could do anything."

Wilhelm II nodded in response to Werner's painful words.

This affirmation was also directed at himself.

He had also been convinced that he could do better than Bismarck.

"We must compromise to some extent with foreign companies as well. We must let them profit, and create a win-win situation... I must have reached a stage where I need to choose sharing rather than monopolizing the pie."

This three-way meeting was recorded in Eulenburg's diary and later became known in history as the "Berlin Great Turnaround."

After the meeting, Werner took immediate action.

He focused on the Anatolian Railway Company, a German company with interests in the Ottoman Empire.

Specifically, the mining rights for a 20 km wide strip of land on both sides of the railway line, which accompanied the company's right to construct the railway from Turkey to Baghdad.

Unfortunately, Wilhelm II had made a somewhat deranged speech during his state visit to the Ottoman Empire, declaring that Germany was the friend of the world's 300 million Muslims, which also became one of the factors that provoked the great powers.

Nevertheless, in exchange for this, Germany and the Ottoman Empire maintained a very good relationship.

This worked to their advantage here.

Werner purchased these mining rights through the Rundschtedt Oil Company and, in May 1909, established the Turkish Petroleum Company (TPC) jointly with oil companies from various countries, particularly Britain and America, to propose oil exploration and development.

The oil companies from various countries jumped at this proposal.

Through Schacht, the German Imperial Bank was also involved, with a capital ratio of 51% for German banks and companies, 7% for Werner personally, and 42% for British and American oil companies.

Among these, the Anglo-Persian Oil Company, which was supposed to be established in 1909, had already been established as the British Oil Company (BP) in this world, and it also invested in the Middle East development.

Others included American Standard Oil and the Dutch-British Royal Dutch Shell.

Incidentally, due to the capital ratio, Werner became known as "Mr. Seven."

In any case, with the establishment of TPC, Werner began to set up joint venture companies with British and American companies for resource development in places other than German colonies.

Most of these were Jewish-owned.

Moreover, these actions strengthened pro-German sentiment in Britain and America.

On the other hand, Werner considered that the self-sufficiency of strategic resources such as copper and rubber was insufficient.

The issue of copper was relatively easy to resolve.

Copper is an important strategic material, and there are many mines.

Moreover, the Bismarck copper mine on Bougainville Island, which was a German territory, was one of the largest in the world. To develop the tiny island in the South Pacific and the northeastern part of New Guinea, Werner established the New Guinea Comprehensive Development Company, inviting many domestic companies, not just RFR.

The