"Is Nicholas dizzy? Now is this time to invite countries to an international peace conference? "Same words, same attitudes, but in different places. In his study at the Charlotenburg Palace, Tirpitz said the same thing to Nicholas II's whims.

"Nicky is indeed whimsical, but I have to give him this face." Jochen said helplessly: "If you don't go, it's disrespectful to Russia." So I think that all the countries invited by Nicky will laugh at his naivety and have to think seriously about how to try to reach terms that are beneficial to them at this meeting. ”

Jochen was not surprised that his cousin had made such an initiative, as Nicholas II had done the same thing, and the Russian navy was worse off than it was in history, and there was also a crown prince ship that was seized by Germany and returned to the Baltic Sea after the war.

However, now that the Crown Prince has sunk, leaving only one Sevastopol, the Russian Navy took pity on this old thing, and decided not to let her travel thousands of miles again, and simply strengthened her to the Siberian Detachment, so that the Siberian Detachment, with 1 battleship and 4 armored cruisers, was barely a force that could be said in the Far East.

However, in this way, the Baltic Fleet only had one Borodino-class ex-dreadnought-class ship No. 5 Glory, which was beaten all over the ground in the war, and the two ex-dreadnoughts under construction could not be completed for a long time, and because of the increase in the cost of the Russo-Japanese War, the Russians could not even afford to buy Rurik II.

Therefore, it is not surprising that Nicholas II was in a hurry and came up with such a proposal.

But although it is necessary to give Nicholas II this face, it is definitely not the Russians who can really say the final word in this meeting.

"What qualifications do the Russians have now to ask us to disarm? Do they think they're the third in the world? Once again, Tirpitz said the same thing to Fisher.

"The Russians will make trouble for us! They called this meeting, but no one cared about their opinions, but the damned British would have taken the opportunity to trouble us. Tirpitz still saw it very clearly.

"That's right, we now have an advantage in the number of dreadnoughts, and the British are worried that they don't have a chance to restrain us. It is conceivable that the British will stare at us at the meeting. Jochen also had a headache, and Nich had done something stupid to kill Germany.

"What would the British say if they wanted to restrain us?" Prime Minister Machar asked: "We can think about some countermeasures first. ”

"Well, now we have an advantage in the number of new battleships, so I think the British should make a fuss about the total number of capital ships." Tirpitz pondered: "If I were Fisher, I would ask for a comparison of the number of capital ships of the two countries based on the current total number of capital ships of the British and German navies." This way they could regain their advantage by replacing the old ones with newer ones. ”

"And the British will definitely try to keep the ratio between us as low as possible, and they will not be able to accept a 2:3 ratio of our capital ships, which is very bad for us." Jochen added.

"Anything less than 2:3 is not good for us! We can now start construction of 5 capital ships a year, can the British do it and start construction of 8 capital ships a year? As long as we maintain the current rate of capital ship construction, the gap in strength between us and the British, will become smaller and smaller! So any conditions of the British are unacceptable to us! Tirpitz said toughly.

Jochen nodded, Tirpitz was right, after the second amendment to the Naval Act was passed, Germany could and had to start construction of 5 capital ships a year, while the British suffered from financial difficulties. It is simply impossible to maintain the number of capital ships built with 8 capital ships per year.

Even if the British went crazy once in history and put forward the idea of "two ships against one ship", after starting construction of 8 capital ships at one time, they were immediately beaten back to their original shape the following year. And as the price of super-dreadnoughts became more and more expensive, the British had to face the reality that they could not afford to play the game.

However, there was no such problem in Germany, and as the race to build ships intensified, Germany was under tremendous pressure to pass the second and third amendments to the "Navy Act" in 1908 and 1911 to continue to increase the amount of funds invested each year.

Jochen has now effectively given the German Navy a fleet size that exceeds even the size of the fleet that was last amended in 1911 to the Naval Act. But in fact, the annual investment of 160 million marks is actually insufficient as the cost of warships rises.

So as long as the British go crazy. Jochen was able to ask the council to increase the allocation of funds to deal with the price increase while the number of ships built remained the same. While it is true that this will force the people to bear a heavier burden on the country's finances, Germany, which is stronger than it has historically been, can certainly afford to play the money-burning game better than the British.

So whatever price the British put forward would be bad for Germany. Because as long as the British do not accept the 2:3 ratio of numbers, then there is no possibility of a qiē negotiation.

In fact, Jochen was well aware of what the Russians had become of this meeting in history. Historically, the Second Hague International Peace Conference held in 1907 had 10 new conventions, six of which were on the rules of naval warfare that were favorable to Britain's maintenance of maritime supremacy under British leadership.

In addition, in the name of peace, the British also demanded that the naval powers reduce their armament expenditures, and as the initiators of the disarmament plan, the British were able to ensure that their strength would remain far stronger than that of other countries after disarmament, and this was basically a trap laid by the strong countries against the weak countries.

Such is the diplomatic wisdom of the British. The cunning "disarmament" of the so-called "disarmament" construction limits the arms race of potential adversaries, thereby guaranteeing its own superiority, winning the moral high ground, and relieving itself of heavy burdens and gaining respite.

This kind of self-deceptive bandit logic of "only the governor is allowed to set fires, and the people are not allowed to light lamps" will still be the code of conduct followed by some countries in the future. In this way, it is an attempt to restrict the natural development of other countries so as not to pose a "threat" to them, or as a "justice" to interfere with and blame the normal development of other countries.

However, the stupidity of this approach lies precisely in treating everyone else as fools, which will not only not get a sincere response from the opponent, but will increase the opponent's suspicion and disgust.

Therefore, in history, Germany had only one judgment on the disarmament of the British, that is, the purpose of the British was to limit the development of others through the strategy of delaying the army in order to continue to maintain their status as a great power. And at this time, Germany, not to mention the British Royal Navy, even the Russian-French alliance navy had an advantage over the Germans, so it was naturally a categorical refusal, which was very wise, but such wisdom also required a price.

But Jochen had to admit that the facts were irrelevant to the "stupid" populace, who would listen to government propaganda and label other countries as "enemies" and "threats". If this "enemy" is not careful and eventually fails, then they will inevitably be branded as "evil".

The Second German Reich, Wilhelm II, and Tirpitz had such imprints. In his previous life, Jochen had seen an argument that was supported by a considerable number of people. It is not surprising that the arrogant Wilhelm II and the evil old military stick Tirpitz did not take the liberty of challenging the sea power of the British, and finally brought the empire to ruin.

However, the British gave the Germans a chance, and the friendly offer to stop the naval race and maintain world peace was categorically rejected by the "evil" Germans, and in the end the British had to compete with the Germans on the road of the arms race, and finally exhausted their energy in World War I, leading to the fall of the empire.

This statement has become the evidence used by many "people of insight" to prove that Germany dragged the two empires into the abyss for its own ambition to dominate the world, and that Germany is evil, and it is really that presentable, because the British did propose the idea of disarmament, and Germany did reject it.

In fact, there are many such brands, such as the evil Soviet Union and the evil Stalin, and then a certain red country and its leaders who took over from the Soviet Union, fortunately, this country has not yet failed, so the brand of evil has not yet been branded, and it can only make some people talk about it.

Ah, of course, not to mention a certain Third Reich, the mustache and his pie duì are indeed evil, and Joechen has only one word for anyone who washes the floor for the mustache and his pie: "Huang Na should make soap." ”

Although Jochen understands that as long as Germany does not lose in the end, he may not have to carry the pot himself, but it is better to leave some handles for people to grasp and avoid it.

"We can't just say no, not only will we not give face to the Russians, but it will allow the British to attack our mouth, so that we will be very passive diplomatically. Of course, the British will blame us as long as they don't achieve their goal, but we need to have weapons to fight back, and we can't let the British have a say. Jochen said in a stern tone.

"We have to be superficially in favor of disarmament, and that attitude must be made before we can think about countermeasures." Machar said that the premise must be set first.

"But neither the required quantity nor the prescribed gross tonnage is against us." Tirpitz immediately said that although it was necessary to make an attitude, any proposal that wanted the Navy to make concessions was unacceptable.

"So we have to come up with a disarmament solution that is unacceptable to the British, but which is beneficial to us." "Even if we all know it's just an excuse, an excuse to force the British to oppose disarmament," Jochen said. ”

"Yes, Your Majesty." Tirpitz and Mashal both agreed immediately, but said so, but the solution was not something that could be thought of immediately, so both of them frowned and looked distressed. (To be continued......)

PS: Ship N summer life will start in a few hours, I wish you all good luck