"Jonas?" The middle-aged man's eyes flashed, and he spoke softly. Lucas nodded and said, "He's the youngest son of the owner of the Brom-Forss shipyard, and you can recognize him from the crowd at a glance." At first I thought he was the least qualified officer among the cadets, but as I got in touch with him, I realized that he had long regarded the navy as his ideal, and had been fighting for it for years before he entered the school. ”

"Brom-Fox Shipyard ......" Hearing Lucas's background introduction to Fang Yan, the middle-aged man's heart suddenly moved slightly, but he didn't think of his own past because of how prominent the other party's family background was. For 12 years, from 1906 to 1918, he served on the battleships built at the shipyard, from lieutenant to colonel; In the magnificent Battle of the Stargerk Strait, he witnessed the supreme glory of the battle cruiser he created as the chief staff officer of General Hipper. The difficulties and glittering brilliance contained in the sinking of three British battle cruisers and the rescue of the main force of the High Seas Fleet twice in the case of an absolute disadvantage in strength are the pinnacle feats that the middle-aged man who experienced all this in the smoke of life-and-death artillery fire can never forget!

The middle-aged man exhaled and ended this bloody memory that emerged from the bottom of his heart. After a moment of silence, he slowly re-said, "Descendant of the former glorious creator, I hope it will not disappoint me. Colonel Lucas, I would like to teach these young people a lesson in a week's time, so that they understand the national mission that they have on their shoulders, and this is what I, as a person who have come before, should teach them. ”

Lucas was stunned when he heard this, he didn't expect that the person in front of him, with the respect of a lieutenant general commander, would be directly involved in the initial training of military cadets. You must know that even as a colonel, he only observes and evaluates these students, and he never directly participates in specific daily training courses. However, after a moment, a happy smile bloomed on his wrinkled face, and he said, "General Raeder, you are willing to take the time to raise these cadets, it is their greatest benefit in this training." ”

"Then I'll leave it to you." The middle-aged general, known as Raeder, had a solemn face, as if he had not been affected by the other party's slightly flattering words. In his 30-year military career, rigor and pragmatism have always been the core principles he adheres to; If it weren't for this, he would not have been appreciated by Kaiser Wilhelm II, Tirpitz, and Hipper, and he would not have been appreciated by Kaiser Wilhelm II, Tirpitz, and Hipper, and he would not have returned to the throne of only four vice admirals in the current German Navy after being relegated to the history of the war just a year after being involved in political turmoil. Raeder paused for a moment, then said again: "When these young men finish their basic training in the middle of next month, you should also return to the work of wargame deduction and technical evaluation as soon as possible." Now the Navy's technical specifications for the new light cruiser have not yet been finalized, and the pressure on Admiral Cenkel is great. In any case, we must complete this task within the next year and issue a tender statement to the major shipyards in the country. Otherwise, we will not receive another mark next year for the construction of ships. ”

The smile on Lucas's face gradually faded, and there was some solemn compliment in his heart. At present, several years have passed since the 20-year service period for the Entente to allow the construction of a new replacement ship, but the German Navy has only built a new light cruiser of an experimental nature, the Emden. In addition to the core reason that the Weimar government has been mired in financial crisis in the past few years and has not been able to come up with sufficient funds, another very important factor is also due to the fact that the German Navy itself has not finalized the specific performance of the replacement ship, which also makes it completely impossible to start the bidding competition for major shipyards in the future.

Now, however, the situation has changed. With the continuous implementation of the Dawes plan, the German economy finally showed a considerable rebound after five consecutive years of recession; Seeing that the government has already been able to provide funds for the construction of ships, the navy naturally wants to innovate and replace those old and tattered ones with new ones. The right-wing forces, which were extremely active in the government, had long been asking for government funding to revive Germany's weak armament, which had fallen to the bottom. Even conservative leftists have little objection to regaining strength within the framework of the peace treaty. For the navy, the only thing that hinders them from building ships is themselves.

According to the provisions of the Treaty of Versailles, the entire German navy was allowed to have only 8 light cruisers with a displacement of no more than 6000 tons, of which 2 were in reserve; In the Washington Naval Treaty signed by the great powers in 1922, the standard displacement of cruisers could reach 10,000 tons, and the number has not yet been restricted! Such a serious asymmetrical disadvantage forced the German Navy, which had never given up the heart of the blue water, to weigh the various options repeatedly, lest it play the wrong hand that was originally out of context. As a result, the German Navy's own trade-offs were dragged down by the German Navy's own trade-offs, resulting in the government not allocating a penny to the Navy this year to start construction of new ships. Faced with this situation, all the senior officers from Commander-in-Chief of the Navy to Zenkel felt the pressure, and it was imperative that the replacement of the old light cruisers be finalized as soon as possible, both for the sake of the country and for the sake of their own group.

Over the next ten minutes, Raeder asked Lucas to briefly tell him about the other cadets in the training regiment. And Lucas, who obviously led more than one training group, answered fluently throughout the whole process, and concisely explained the target's character, talents, and possible future development directions in a few sentences. After a few final words, Raeder waved the Colonel out of his office, and on a piece of paper next to his right, he had already written several names.

"Bang!" The gunfire was piercing, and Fang Yan, who was flat-ended with a rifle, only felt a strong force suddenly transmitted from the butt to his right shoulder, but for his young body, which had been tempered for months, this impact was nothing at all. On top of the one-foot-square paper target 500 meters away, a small black hole appeared at the 9th ring near the center, and the subsequent shots were quite close to the original one. When he heard the stout major report his results from afar, Fang Yan's face couldn't help but show a heartfelt smile.

"Damn, Jonas, how did you find that bullseye in the crosshairs that is smaller than Finn's eye?" David, who had a somewhat handsome face, said with a bitter face at the moment, full of chagrin and frustration. He was supposed to be in the top five of all the cadets, but with the advent of the shooting program, his poor marksmanship, which spread out so much and almost never exceeded the five rings, was greatly delayed. Over the course of a week, he had been punished several times by the grumpy Stocky Major. David looked at the Mauser 98K in his hand with some annoyance, and said: "According to me, this kind of shooting training is not of much use to our navy at all, and now it is not a sailing oar from the Nelson era, and there is no need for rifles to fight at sea." ”

"Damn David, it's because your eyes are as big as dead people that you can't find the center of the target!" Finn, who was born in the old aristocracy, unceremoniously hit back at the words of the old man, and the eyes the size of mung beans finally opened a little in the back. He patted the shoulder of the bearded young man beside him and said, "Noah could only hit two or three rings at the beginning, and sometimes he even missed the target, but after practice, his average score is basically guaranteed to be around 6 rings." If you don't practice more to get to the passing line, I can't guarantee that Colonel Lucas will give you a chance on this project! ”

Noah, the bearded young man, smiled a little shyly, and in the process of scratching his hair, he inadvertently revealed his calluses and new blisters on his right index finger. The tall Otto nodded when he heard this, his face was full of solemnity, and he said, "Finn is right. We've been doing it for the past four and a half months, and no one wants any accidents to happen to you, David, because of this project. Over the next few days, we will take turns practicing with you until you can score more than 65 rings in 10 shots. In particular, you should ask Jonas for advice. ”

After shooting, Fang Yan closed the insurance, and a little surprise appeared in his happy smile, he found that he seemed to have a special talent in this field, and hitting the bullseye at a long distance was surprisingly easy for him. Although Fang Yan felt that he was not very capable of teaching by word and deed, he would not shirk the practice of accompanying his comrades. Feeling the sincere gazes of the few people next to him, David's heart swelled with strong emotion, he nodded emphatically, and there was no longer the previous frustration in his expression.

"This is the end of today's shooting training, everyone immediately lined up and returned to the dormitory, and David went out to run 15 laps around the playground!" The voice of the stout major came clearly from hundreds of meters away, and David, who was named, collapsed. After a while, the familiar majestic voice sounded again: "It's 4:28 a.m., and by 5 o'clock sharp, everyone will gather in the conference room, and there will be a special lecture." ”