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"Buckle up." There was a knock on the door.

"Come in!" Jochen exclaimed.

The attendant pushed open the door and saluted Jochen and Goltz, and reported: "Your Majesty, Your Excellency the Prime Minister, Your Excellency the Chief of the General Staff of the Navy, and Your Excellency the Minister of Defense are here. ”

"Ask them to come in directly." Jochen nodded.

"Your Majesty." Led by Holwig, the trio bowed to Jochen.

"Come and see, we have given the French another blow in the direction of France!" Jochen happily handed the report that Goltz had brought to Holwig.

The report was very brief, and Holwig read it after only a few glances, handed it to Tirpitz, and then congratulated Goltz: "It is a blessing for the empire that the army has once again won a great victory under the leadership of Your Excellency. ”

"The plan of attack on Baledik was proposed by His Highness Reinhardt, and I dare not take credit." Gortz modestly excused himself, and then said to Jochen with a smile: "The report submitted by His Excellency Ruprecht on the application for the Medal of Merit for His Royal Highness Reinhardt has been submitted to the Medal Committee of the Ministry of Defense, and I think it will soon be in the hands of Your Majesty, right?" ”

"How long has it been since the war started? To award Reinhardt the Medal of Merit? I don't think it's appropriate, and I think it's enough to give him a first-class iron cross. Jochen waved his hand, and then said to Defense Minister Georg? Michaelis ordered: "The headquarters of the 6th Army has also submitted a report on the application for medals for officers and soldiers fighting on the front line, right?" Add Leo's name in it, and you can dispose of the separate report directly, so you don't have to show it to me. ”

The Order Committee was set up in 1810 by King William III of Prussia to screen candidates for the Order and award medals.

Jochen raised his hand to stop the people who wanted to persuade him: "The crown prince of the empire himself will receive care, opportunities, and resources that are difficult for ordinary officers and soldiers to get on the front line. If it's too easy for him to get honor, then what's the point of me agreeing to let him go to the front? Sitting in the office of the General Staff in the rear, he can get these things as well. Then he half-jokingly said, "I don't have any meritorious service medals." ”

Goltz and Tirpitz immediately expressed their loyalty: "The Army (Navy) will do everything in its power to win the victory for His Majesty, so that His Majesty will be able to wear the Oak Leaf Grand Cross of Merit on his chest." ”

The Grand Cross of Merit Medal mentioned by Golz and Tirpitz was a special meritorious medal established by Wilhelm I after the end of the Austro-Prussian War to recognize leaders who made outstanding contributions to the war in which Prussia became the leader of Germany, and only three people received it. King William I, Crown Prince Frederick and Red Prince Karl declared that the medal would be awarded only once and not again.

However, Wilhelm I himself reneged on his promise, and after the Russo-Turkish War, at the Berlin Conference, Wilhelm I made an exception to award Alexander II a Grand Cross of Merit Medal in order to show his friendship with Russia, but this medal did not save the situation that caused the deterioration of relations between the two countries because Bismarck cooperated with Britain in the Berlin Conference.

Of the only 4 medals that were awarded, only Frederick and Karl had oak leaf ornaments, and William I's own did not. Its value is incalculable.

William I was so cautious about his honor that he refused to put oak leaves on his medal of merit. After being secretly added by Frederick III, who was still the crown prince at the time, at night he accepted it half-pushed, but he was still reluctant to change the standard blue background two-white ribbon version of the ribbon to the three white ribbons that should be used for the oak leaf Meritorious Service Medal, so William I's Meritorious Service Medal became the only oak leaf decoration meritorious service medal that used two white ribbon version ribbons.

Then Jochen is harsh on his honor, and has never awarded himself a medal since he succeeded to the throne, which can be called simple compared to his grandfather and father, who have made countless achievements in war. And because he did not participate in the war, he did not have anything to do with the Iron Cross and the Order of Merit.

The emperor's jokes and courtiers can't really be taken as jokes. The emperor of the German Empire was too shabby in his exploits, and the whole empire was disgraced. Golz and Tirpitz immediately thought of the Grand Cross of Merit with oak leaves, which the Emperor was fully entitled to carry if Germany had won the war that had affected the entire European continent.

The swiftness of the reaction of the two old military sticks, and the synchronization of the answers, stunned the two civil officials, Holwig and Georg, before they slowed down by half a beat to express their willingness to die for the glory of His Majesty the Emperor.

Jochen laughed: "I'm just talking, if the German Empire can become the hegemon of all of Europe. To be its emperor is a supreme honor in itself. Now we should be concerned about how to win this war, and only when we win can we mention anything else. ”

When the emperor said this, everyone nodded yes, but today's episode. All 4 of them will keep it in mind.

"Since the outbreak of the war, the consumption of materials and the cost of funds are still expected, and there has been no impact on the domestic economy." "However, it can be expected that once the war on the Eastern Front begins, the attrition will increase rapidly. ”

"We are coordinating all factories to start working in three shifts to meet future material needs, but there is still some resistance to bringing female workers into factories, especially military factories." Georg added.

"There is no discussion on this point, and if the executive order has no effect on those people, the national mobilization will inevitably lead to a lack of productive forces, and I cannot give up the use of all the available labor force in the country because of some old and stubborn old ideas. If those guys are obsessed, the army will take over the management, and any action to obstruct the country's acts of war during the war is treason! I don't need to stress this enough! Jochen's tone hardened, his own queen preaching that women should take more responsibility in the war, and the capitalists clinging to old ideas. This is not to give face to the queen, and it is also not to give yourself face!

"Yes, Your Majesty." Georg nodded, but he didn't point out that the reason why these guys were not so honest was because according to the order of His Majesty the Emperor, all kinds of materials and equipment during the war must be purchased at the lowest price. Suppressing the profit margins of these guys, although they can't really do it, but they want to make some trouble for the government in these innocuous places. However, since His Majesty the Emperor said that coercion can be used, then this question is not a problem.

"The banks are now all regulated by the Imperial Government, and the implementation has been very smooth because there are rules to follow." Holwig is talking about the domestic economic crisis when Jochen was still the crown prince, and the imperial government had already established a mechanism to control the operation of the country's economic system in a state of emergency. Now the implementation is naturally familiar: "The stock market has not yet taken coercive measures, and because of the outbreak of war, the overall situation of the stock market is still rising. ”

"The war stimulated the industry, and the rise was inevitable. But when the war drags on for too long, the stock market will be immediately shocked. Governments must be well monitored and prepared to respond. Jochen nodded.

"At the moment, our trade with the United States continues, and we have increased our efforts to import materials from the United States for stockpiling. However, our merchant ships in the North Sea have been intercepted and inspected by the British many times, although they have not yet been detained. But it still has a big impact on our routes. "Now the whole German upper class has no illusions about the British, and Holwig is not very surprised by the actions of the British. But the trouble it brought gave him quite a headache.

"If we can't do it, we should reduce the number of our own merchant ships and ask the U.S. side to use their merchant ships for transportation, and flying the American flag should be more or less effective. But it's not a long-term solution. The British are now desperately trying to find an excuse to intervene in the war, and once Britain enters the war, the North Sea will inevitably be completely blocked. Jochen thought about it, and said that there was not much he could do about it: "Although we can also continue to get supplies from the United States through the Swedes. But you can't just hope for that. ”

"The plan for the deployment of the reserve has been completed, and if it really comes to the point where the government needs to take over the rationing, we are also prepared." Holwig is quite confident about this.

"Whether we can solve the problem of food and resources after we are blockaded still depends on the performance of the army on the Eastern Front. So now we've started to coordinate the tilt of resources towards the army side. Georg said: "There are certain sacrifices to be made on the naval side. ”

"The two large cruisers that have already started construction have been stopped, and all the materials that have begun to be prepared for the third planned construction will be concentrated on the four large cruisers that will be started in 12 or 13. The construction of large combat ships of the Navy will also be halted altogether. Concentrate on small and medium-sized ships. Tirpitz was helpless when he said this. The war broke out, military spending increased, the cost of equipment decreased, but the plan for the construction of naval ships was thwarted.

Historically, the German Navy's naval shipbuilding plan during the war included 2 Bavarian-class battleships and 4 Mackensen-class battlecruisers, a total of 6 ships.

None of these six ships were completed during the war, and the construction of these ships also delayed the construction of two Bavaria-class and one De Vlinger-class approved in 1912, resulting in the failure of these ships to catch up with the Battle of Jutland. And it also affected the repair of ships after several battles, so it did not make sense to force the number of builds. It is important to concentrate on the completion of the ships that are moving faster and to ensure the number of small and medium-sized combat ships to be built.

And this will not have much impact on the contrast between the British and German naval forces, because the large warships that the British really completed in the war are also 0, and the two prestige-class battlecruisers really have to be counted as pre-war orders, and everyone is still fighting for the speed of completion of pre-war orders in the end, so Germany's disadvantage is not obvious, so it is more valuable to give priority to ensuring that pre-war orders can be completed as soon as possible than to start more warships.

Georg nodded: "The main needs submitted by the army side at present are concentrated in ammunition, machine guns, artillery, automobiles, etc., and it is possible to increase the production capacity of these things in a short period of time, and there should be no problems." ”

"Now we're going to add one more thing." Goltz said, "Airplanes, we need more planes, better planes." As you can see in the report, the large-scale use of aircraft can make a very significant difference, so I think it is necessary to increase the number of aircraft produced, and only about 100 aircraft like the NS-3B are simply not enough. Moreover, if we use aircraft in this way, our enemies will also quickly learn that we do not have absolute superiority in technology, so more numbers and higher performance are necessary conditions for us to continue to maintain superiority in air combat in the future. ”

Goltz's judgment is not wrong, Germany's advantage over Britain and France in the field of aviation is only about two years at most, if in 1914 Britain and France were still using engines with less than 100 horsepower, then engines with more than 200 horsepower can be seen in 1916 at the latest.

And the same is true in the field of design, the NS-3B's lead as a 4-engine bomber does not last long. The Russians have now made their 4-shot bomber - Ilya? The Muromets bomber, in history, this is the world's first 4-engine heavy bomber. It's just limited by the shortcomings of Tsarist Russia's engine technology, the current Ilya? The total engine power of the Muromets bomber was only 480 hp, but at the rate of historical improvement, it could rise to 600 hp in 1915 and 880 hp in 1917, making it the world's first fully enclosed cockpit aircraft at the time. Not to mention Handley, who is even better in the UK? Peggy V1500 bomber.

"More NS-3Bs?" Jochen laughed: "If we can form more KG wings, then I'd like to see the faces of all the French when they appear in Paris." ”

Jochen's joke didn't elicit a reaction from the others, but Goltz suddenly became hot, not excited, but frightened.

Others had not seen the power of special bombs, they had seen it with their own eyes, and the reports from the front were very detailed, that 128 planes could inflict such heavy damage, and that more planes would bomb a big city like Paris.

Goltz looked at His Majesty the Emperor, and although His Majesty had a smile on his face, his eyes were full of eagerness to try the idea, and Gortz suddenly had an understanding that he seemed to know better about the character of His Majesty the Emperor. Before Goltz could say anything, there was a knock on the door.

"Come in!" With Jochen's shout, the attendant pushed the door and walked in, saying in a panic: "East Prussia is in a hurry, the Russians are attacking!" ”

[Thank you for your continued support, this time from the 515 Fan Festival of the Writer's Hall of Glory and the General Election of Works, I hope you can support it.] In addition, there are some red envelopes on the fan festival, get one and continue the subscription! (To be continued.) )