With this pact, Germany was largely able to shake off the low status it had been bullying and oppressed since its defeat in the war, and by joining the League of Nations, it was able to return to the world stage as a European power. In addition, the possibility of an attack on Germany, which had been seriously weakened by the armed forces, was no longer possible for Germany, and Germany's national security was guaranteed as never before. Whether it is the enhancement of international status or the guarantee of national security, all of them are important prerequisites for the great cause of national rejuvenation that the German government has painstakingly tried to achieve over the past six years or so!

In fact, the reason why Germany was able to win the Locarno conference this time was not only the 47-year-old Weimar Foreign Minister Stresemann's clear mind and brilliant insight, but also the current situation. With the full rapprochement between Germany and the Soviet Union in the Treaty of Rapallo in 1922, and the resurgence of German power in the nearly a year since the implementation of the Dawes Plan, the traditional Entente powers, led by Britain and France, had to begin to think about improving the living conditions of Germany: after all, they could not allow Germany to fall to the east and become the front line for the Red Devils to continue to export the revolutionary plague to Western Europe. No matter how great the feud between Germany and Britain and France is, in the final analysis, it is only an internal contradiction in the capitalist world; And if the Bolsheviks came, all the celebrities, magnates, political and business elites in London and Paris would be condemned as a hostile class and sent to the gallows!

Under the shadow of red, even the French government, which wants to step on 10,000 feet in Germany and make it impossible to turn over, has to reconsider which of the Teutons and the joint shovel is more threatening to itself. In addition, France's forced occupation of Germany's Ruhr area two years ago also caused it to be condemned and criticized internationally, and finally made itself lose its leading position on the issue of reparations to Germany. This failed experience undoubtedly made the subsequent French government feel the pressure to continue to pursue an extremely hard-line policy. In view of this, France could only reluctantly swallow the bitter fruit of the restoration of Germany's status.

As for Britain, which did not want to see Western Europe dominate, and Italy, which had a long gap with France, they were even more pleased with Germany's recovery after its extreme decline, so it was naturally impossible to raise any objections. This conference was the beginning of the future German performance on the European stage. Shortly after the signing of the Locarno Convention, Germany became the sixth permanent member of the League of Nations and adopted a five-year German-Soviet Treaty of Friendship and Neutrality, which became the pivot of the East-West in their contacts and games. It can be said that, in addition to the fact that its military power was still heavily constrained, Germany in 1926 had completely restored its international status in the former imperial era, and even surpassed it in terms of strategic posture!

Although this situation was based on the premise of complete "disability" brought about by the collapse of the empire, in the economic and military fields, and the old pirate of England, it was undoubtedly the beginning of another golden age in which Germany could take advantage of the opportunity to strengthen itself. The "ideal period of rapid naval development" that Fang Yan had previously said to Raeder had also come unexpectedly as Germany's strategic and economic situation had greatly improved. Through the radio broadcasts on the battleship and the information obtained during the rendezvous with the supply ship, Fang Yan, who was in the depths of the ocean, also learned about the current change in the situation in Europe; With joy in his heart, he began to look forward to what he would be like when he returned to land from his sailing training, which would be a platform that would be wider than the ocean in front of him.

The North Atlantic breeze blows like ice blades and snow swords on people's faces, and gray drift ice can be seen everywhere as far as the eye can see, rising and falling with the swelling of the sea. A slender warship is speeding forward with the roar of the power system. In the face of the rough waves and rolling ice, the warship in the middle of it seems to be completely unhurried: with every slight turn, it can avoid the most violent crests and ice chips. After more than half an hour, the howling wind had subsided significantly, and the waves had calmed down again, leaving only the ice floes reflecting a dazzling luster.

"I didn't expect you, Jonas, to have improved your seamanship to such an extent." The first mate saw the calm sea in front of him, and said to the young man standing side by side beside him with a sense of amazement. The warship had inadvertently entered the edge of a storm zone while sailing, and the roaring waves and the drift ice they were carrying were something that no light warship commander wanted to see. However, the boy next to him quickly made the right judgment, and with his own authorization, the warship drove to the brink of raging winds. Based on this practice alone, the first mate had a reason to give the highest grade to the person next to him in this nautical training; Even if this is far less difficult than the captain of the ship to drive the battleship out of the wind zone a few months ago, and turn the whole ship into a safe place, this is definitely the level of a professional navigator!

"It's all thanks to what you taught me." Fang Yan bowed solemnly to the first mate and said in a sincere tone. In the past six months or so of training, the captain has always taken good care of himself, and in addition to his main navigation duties, he has also provided himself with many opportunities to practice in the secondary aspect of naval firepower. Now, Fang Yan has fully understood the working principle of traditional naval guns and their fire control, and these first-hand experiences from the practice of going on ships have also made him more mature in the design of warships.

"With a visit to Norway, we can return to Germany at the end of this long ocean trip." Looking at the vast deep blue that was still as far as the eye could see, the first mate couldn't help but say with a slight sigh. It was already February 1926, more than seven months after their departure from the port of Kiel. Under normal circumstances, with the current German navy, which is limited to the Baltic and North Seas, it is rare to get such a long-lasting mission; Even if Fang Yan and these military cadets have a sailing training period of up to half a year, there is no rule that they cannot return to their home port halfway, and they must stay in the deep sea with water and sky. But this time, the people of the Navy Command had allowed themselves to wander for so long in the depths of the North Atlantic, far from home; On the time of return, the captain was given the order to make a detour through the Danish Strait north of Iceland and then south via the Norwegian waterway. You know, this is a big circle for the warship, which is several times farther than returning directly through the English Channel?

Hearing the words of the first mate next to him, Fang Yan had a different kind of guess in his heart. One of the main reasons why the Emden has been in the North Atlantic for so long, with a total voyage of more than 20,000 nautical miles, is likely to be to gather enough meteorological and sea state information about the ocean. The reason why the English Channel is not chosen twice is also to be closer to the actual combat in order to gain rich experience in entering and exiting the North Atlantic Ocean from the north of Scotland to the south of Greenland. The most likely factor that led to this change was Fang Yan's conversation with Raeder a year earlier about the nature of sea power: whether it was a future war against France or Britain, the task of the German Navy was to destroy the enemy's sea power, the right to use the sea, and the North Atlantic was clearly the central arena for achieving this goal. Therefore, for this future main battlefield, the German Navy naturally has to be more familiar!

"I hope that this time I will be able to catch up with the tender for a new type of cruiser." Fang Yan muttered to himself in his heart. Due to the tragic geographical location of Germany, ships entering the North Atlantic for hunting during the war undoubtedly required a considerable degree of seaworthiness and endurance; And the prerequisite for such a high threshold is a rather serious challenge for warships of the 10,000-ton class or less. Although the non-aviation ships that started construction today are destined to fail to become the main force of the fleet in the future, Fang Yan still hopes that more ships will be able to join the future Atlantic naval battle.

Taking a step back, even if Germany were to occupy the northern and western coasts of France, as it had historically done, and the geographical disadvantage of conducting naval operations against Britain no longer existed, the ships in its domestic ports would first have to rush out of the North Sea and reach French ports through the North Atlantic, which is obviously difficult for ships with low seafaring capabilities to do. As for crossing the English Channel, it was too risky, and the other side of the Shane sisters were all caught in the operation, and only the auspicious ship Prince Eugen was unscathed. In addition, even German ships operating in the North Atlantic, based in the western ports of France, needed to be seaworthy, because the ocean was so vast that German warships would have gone far away to intercept British transports.

After several days of sailing, the Emden finally reached the offshore area of Norway, a Nordic country. The cadets and sailors, who had long been impatient at sea, cheered excitedly, and they could not wait for a rest. Fang Yan, who was not on this warship for a long time, suddenly felt a little heavy and sad on the eve of the end of the training, and he sincerely thanked the first mate who had given him great help and the officers and men who had worked with him for more than half a year, and then gathered his mind and waited for the arrival of the battleship returning to Kiel.