Christmas 1929 was fast approaching, and evergreen trees with ribbons appeared in the houses of families in Germany, symbolizing the merciful redemption of Christ, the Son of God. Almost all German citizens sincerely pray that this sudden economic crisis will pass as soon as possible, but to their bitterness and sadness, the truth is always inexorably contrary to their wishes.

As time went on, the hazy winter that hung over Germany grew colder. Tens of thousands of small and medium-sized enterprises have gone bankrupt and closed, the number of beggars living on the streets has skyrocketed, and the long streets are deserted and the alleys are quiet. When night falls, the whole of Germany dims from space, and the splendor of two months ago is gone. Rudolph's shipyards, car factories, and oil fields in Libya have also been affected by this cold snap, and inevitably there have been production cuts and layoffs.

However, the Union shipyards, controlled by his eldest son Freya, were still reaping high dividends from Soviet Russia. After two years of construction, the battleship Frunze and the two cruisers Sverdlov and Dzerzhinsky were launched; The Russian government is gradually paying the shipyard $50 million for the second half of the contract, which is expected to be paid by the end of 1930 when the ship is completed. This tidal wave of lucrative income has made Rudolph's assets still steadily increase, and its overall situation is far better than that of other forces in China. If this continues, Rudolph will even be able to take advantage of the opportunity to carry out large-scale low-cost annexation, as he did in 1923 - in a depressed economic situation, with bankrupt factories and enterprises everywhere!

If Rudolf was a solid reef that stood firm in the face of this economic storm, then Hitler was a dragon trapped in the shallows: he had been waiting for the arrival of the tsunami wave for a long time and swam into the sea in extreme ecstasy. Hitler instantly realized that the economic crisis that had spilled over from the United States was the perfect time to turn his political ambitions into reality. Millions of unemployed people are demanding jobs, small shopkeepers are asking for help, young people are asking for at least a future to feed on, and he can promise them all this with a strong strategy that is very different from that of the present government!

Under Hitler's painstaking planning, an unprecedented wave of propaganda by the National Socialist Party was immediately launched in full swing in Germany. At this time, the ban on him not speaking in public had expired, and this undoubtedly meant that his eloquence, which was extremely contagious and incendiary, had been given the opportunity to perform to the fullest. In his speeches and propaganda, Hitler claimed that all the suffering that was now happening to the German people was the result of the reparations of the Treaty of Versailles and the collusion between the current traitorous government and the financial oligarchy. If he comes to power, he will restore Germany to strength, refuse to pay reparations, tear up the Treaty of Versailles, purge corruption, force the financial giants to submit (especially if they are Jewish), and make sure that every German has a job and bread.

At the same time, Rudolph was generous to the National Socialist Party, providing funds for the printing and distribution of pamphlets, the organization of rallies, and the offering of small but genuine but heartwarming favors such as bread and ham to the audience. Although Hitler made a lot of attacks on the big industrialists, including him, in his propaganda, Rudolf understood that this was just a means to buy the hearts and minds of the people. At present, there are two forces in Germany that are above the government, one is the army, and the other is the oligarchs. How could Hitler, in order to gain and secure power, really do such a self-destructive thing as harming the interests of the big industrialists?

Soon, the momentum of the Kuomintang Socialist Party sprung up like mushrooms after a rain, and began to grow rapidly into the sky. Large numbers of unemployed workers joined the SA, and all they had to do was march in the streets every day, threatening other parties with broom poles and chair legs, and enjoy free wheat flour and potato soup – an appeal to unemployed workers who had lost their regular source of income. The number of members of the National Socialist Party has also swelled dramatically, growing more than three times faster than in the same period last year. Everywhere Hitler spoke, he provoked a tsunami of popular outcry and a furious roar against the present government and the Entente bloc.

Despite the turbulence in the outside world, Fang Yan's navy inside still maintained a calm paradise. Under the austere Raeder's leadership, the Navy was even less interested in politics than the Army, and almost truly had the sole mission of defending the country. What made the entire navy excited and happy was that the six "Königsberg" class light cruisers, which were started in 1926~1927, had all been completed and put into service by the end of January 1930. At present, the old small cruisers equipped with reciprocating steam engines are no longer in the harbor, and they are replaced by new warships with a very modern and advanced atmosphere, and their service has made the first qualitative leap in the strength of the German Navy.

The gray steel surface of the ship was wiped clean and shiny by the sailors, and there was not the slightest stain to be seen when you touched it with white gloves; Fang Yan boarded the deck of a "Koblenz" that also belonged to the Königsberg class, and a sense of pride arose that the current warship was created by himself. Compared to the historical models, this class of cruisers is undoubtedly much more powerful, the most striking of which are the two 210 mm main turrets at the bow and tail, which are quite strong compared to the width of the deck. Coupled with the two twin 128mm secondary guns on the back and above it, as well as the sleek and neat bridge, its appearance and appearance will definitely make the domestic people feel excited, and feel that the taxes they paid are really not in vain!

Since there was no treaty that limited the caliber of the main guns that could be used on German naval warships, the British and French, despite their reluctance, could only accept the fact that the cruisers were equipped with 210 mm guns. However, the British and French thought that it was not an unacceptable provocation for the Germans to do so. Although the caliber of the ship's main gun is 7 mm larger than the upper caliber of the cruiser's main gun stipulated in the Washington Treaty, strictly speaking, it has been classified as a capital ship, but this gun is an old gun in service before the World War; If calculated according to the standards of mainstream countries such as the United Kingdom and the United States, its body length is only 42 times the diameter. The 203 mm guns equipped by Britain and France for the treaty cruisers were both 50 times the length of the barrel, which meant that their shells would be much faster than their German counterparts in terms of discharge speed, and their armor-piercing ability would be significantly superior to that of their opponents.

The British and French calculations were satisfactory, but Fang Yan's involvement made the balance of the game completely tilt in favor of the German ships. First of all, the Königsberg-class defense is enough to be immune to 203 mm shells at a distance of 13,000 meters, and secondly, although the ship's guns are old, the key shells have been completely changed: not only the weight of the shell has been increased from 108kg to 150kg in one fell swoop, but the addition of a long and sharp hood at the warhead also provides excellent aerodynamic characteristics for the shells when flying in the air, which makes a qualitative leap in the speed of survival when hitting the target.

According to the test results of the German Navy, the armor-piercing projectile with an initial velocity of 735 m/s fired by the gun under normal charge can penetrate 170 mm thick surface-hardened armor at a distance of 14,000 meters, and even with a semi-armor-piercing projectile, it has a considerable performance of 130 mm. Thanks to the high trajectory brought by the low muzzle velocity, its horizontal penetration depth at this distance has also been greatly increased to 40 mm, which is undoubtedly fatal for the Anglo-French-American treaty cruisers that lack effective defense. Except for the individual areas of individual warships, the Allied cruisers had no immunity zone at all under the fire of their German counterparts, which was exactly the excellent situation created by Fang Yan with all his intervention!

Due to the accurate design calculation and skilled construction technology, the standard displacement of the ship was steadily controlled at 7,500 tons; Thanks to this, with a rated output of 70,000 hp, it was able to reach an expected speed of 31.5 knots during sea trials. The range of 6,500 nautical miles/15 knots is also uncompromised, and the use of cruising turbines greatly reduces the steam consumption of the turbine unit at low loads. If it weren't for the 10,000-ton cruiser in the Italian Navy, which adopted the same design approach, the Königsberg-class would be the brightest star of the current era.

"This class of cruisers will be the loyal and industrious military horses of the German Navy." Seeing the scene of the battleship quietly dormant in front of him, Fang Yan couldn't help but whisper with emotion. For the sake of cost performance, it is undoubtedly inappropriate to build similar ships in the future era of the Third Reich, and they will inevitably shoulder a variety of missions, including sabotage, escort, air defense, artillery warfare, and even troop transportation and mine-laying. I hope that these ships (mothers) can have the same auspicious luck as the Prince Eugen in the historical plane, and can always be active at the forefront of the battlefield; If so, it would also be a blessing for the German Navy and the country as a whole.

Several light cruisers, which were in the period of equipment commissioning and personnel running-in, did not stay in the port for too long. After completing their supplies, they quickly pulled anchor and sailed out of the harbor, heading out for the vast expanse of the ocean. Fang Yan also started his new year's further study after the visit, and used his spare time to complete the draft design of the aircraft carrier plan. As the work continued, Fang Yan suddenly discovered a key point that he had previously overlooked: as the protagonist and powerful auxiliary of future naval and air battles, the technical reserves he had invested in aircraft and radar were still a little insufficient.