Jochen's suggestion was met with resolute opposition from Kester, and Mashal immediately stated that this proposal was unacceptable: "Your Highness, such an opinion is too inconsiderate! Even without our help, if His Majesty Nikolai had ordered the Baltic Fleet to go to the Far East to support, the Russian fleet would have left. If you just want the Russians to stop making trouble for us, you don't have to take such a big risk at all! ”

"Your Highness, you should also know that under the Anglo-Japanese alliance, if the main forces of the Russian Baltic Fleet were exhausted, the British would not agree to let them go through Gibraltar and through the Suez Canal to the Far East, and we would not allow the Russians to use the Kiel Canal. ”

The Suez Canal is an international free navigable waterway stipulated by the Convention, but the Kiel Canal is completely privately owned by Germany, unlike after World War I or World War II, when the Kiel Canal was stipulated as an international free navigable waterway, and the current Kiel Canal can be used by anyone except German ships.

It is also for this reason that German merchant ships in and out of the Baltic Sea have a huge competitive advantage over those of other countries.

Of course, Koster and Mashal were not thinking about the fact that the Kiel Canal was privately owned by Germany, but for security reasons, as Germany's main artery connecting the North Sea and the Baltic Sea, the Kiel Canal was not only of commercial significance, but also of military significance.

If the Russians were to use the Kiel Canal, who would be responsible if something happened to the Russians?

And everyone here is also a sensible person, everyone knows that if the Russians can't go through the Suez Canal, then the sailing mileage of the Cape of Good Hope will reach 1.8W nautical miles! Such a long voyage, even if Germany lent the Russians to use the Kiel Canal, it would only shorten it by a few hundred nautical miles, which is actually of little significance.

Although it is almost certain that support will be sent in the character of Nicholas II. But with such a long voyage, it is still unknown how much combat power the Russians will have even if they reach the Far East.

That's why Koster said that the Russian Pacific Fleet should take the initiative to attack, first fight out a part of the Japanese Navy, and then after the Russian fleet arrives in the Far East, whether it is a direct decisive battle, or a period of rest before a decisive battle. will be more advantageous.

Of course, this is not something that the Germans can decide, but the Germans have to consider that it is too risky to let the Russian fleet use the Kiel Canal.

In the face of Mashal and Koster's opposition, Jochen snorted: "The Baltic Fleet will only think about how to faithfully carry out Nikki's orders, how to rush to the Far East to teach those Japanese a lesson, so it will not cause us trouble."

And they will also be worried that in the narrow waterway of the Kiel Canal, as long as our fleet is blocked at both ends. Their powerful Baltic Fleet could be easily wiped out, and I think the Russians will be nervous at that time. ”

"Your Highness! Please be careful! It's not funny! Mashal immediately protested that it was heart-wrenching to make such a joke about the Kiel Canal. Although Machar knew that His Royal Highness the Crown Prince was joking, as the crown prince made such a joke, it showed that he had at least thought so.

As the ruler of the empire, if Jochen wanted to turn the joke into reality and really insisted on ordering the navy to do so, the navy was really unlikely to disobey. Then even if the Russian Baltic Fleet is destroyed, then the Russians will sink the battleship into the canal. Cleaning up the ships that were stuck in the canals would also have left the Germans' arteries dead for a long time.

So he was serious, and the one-eyed Machar raised his voice to say that such a joke could not be made.

"Your Highness. The Kiel Canal is an extremely important strategic point in our country, and if you really want to deal with the Baltic Fleet of the Russians, the Ocean Fleet can accomplish this task, and there is no need to use this method, because a small Russian fleet is not enough to cover the normal operation of the Kiel Canal. Kester replied sternly.

However, Koster's slightly shaky beard could still tell that the chief of the naval staff was also joking, but this way of answering still showed that Koster was not at ease with the loan of the Kiel Canal to the Russians.

Both the Imperial Prime Minister and the Chief of the General Staff of the Imperial Royal Navy expressed their resolute opposition. Yochen had to stiffen his expression to make himself look a little more serious, and then continued to discuss with the two.

"Otherwise, let the Baltic Fleet, escorted by our warships, assemble at the mouth of the Kiel Canal, and then let them pass through the Guò Canal one by one. They would then continue to be escorted out of our waters by our ships, which would minimize the risk of their passage through the Guò Kiel Canal. Jochen asked for Mashal and Koster's advice.

Jochen still wanted the Russians to cut corners, not because the Russians had a few hundred nautical miles less to make a difference. It's about not letting the Russians make another incident of the Doger sandbar being hit by mistake.

The Dogle Sandbank, where the Anglo-German battlecruiser fleet would later be brutally killed, seemed to fatally cause trouble for the British to the Germans in 1904.

Due to the excessive tension after the voyage, the Baltic Fleet was passing through the Dogger sandbar between Britain and Denmark, and the Kamchatka workboat, which had been left behind due to mechanical problems, suddenly sent a telegram saying: "It has been attacked by a Japanese mine-striking ship. ”

The commander of the fleet, Rozhest Stevensky, immediately asked: "Immediately report on the number of enemy ships, as well as the directions. Kamchatka's answer made the entire fleet creep: "8 ships, from all directions." ”

So the Russians turned on their searchlights and shone on the sea, and then they spotted the shadows of some small boats, and the indiscriminate Russians immediately opened fire on them.

Then the Russians poked hornet's nest, and these small boats, which were British trawlers, were fishing for cod here, and were so beaten by the Russian fleet that one was sunk and three people died. After that, the battleship Eagle also made a fuss, and sent a report: "The enemy cruiser has been spotted and is attacking me." ”

Then they fought with their own cruiser Aurora, and the battleship and the cruiser did not have any serious consequences, and the Russians lost a sailor and a chaplain. A fleet of fishing boats can also achieve such results, and the level of the Russians can be imagined.

The Russians did not cause much damage, the problem was that you were hitting the British fishing boats. The British immediately made a fuss, and someone hit their own fishing boat in front of their own house, which made the British put their faces? Immediately sent a note to the Russian ambassador in London: "The matter is not resolved before. The Baltic Fleet was not allowed to continue sailing, otherwise the British Empire would be at war with Russia in a week's time. ”

The British Royal Navy then sent ships to monitor the whole process, and the Russians could not enter the Spanish port to refuel, and finally the Russian Foreign Ministry promised to pay the British fishermen 66,000 pounds in compensation, and handed over the Baltic Fleet officers who caused the accident, before the British signaled that the Spaniards agreed to refuel the Russians.

Of course, all these bad things are the responsibility of the Russians. It has nothing to do with Germany, but the Germans are innocently lying in this matter. In the eyes of the British public, Germany, on the side of Russia, had become Britain's first enemy, and even after Nicholas II had personally sent a letter of apology to resolve tensions between Britain and Russia, he still brutally seized the German transport ship Colonel Manzel, which had supplied coal to the Russian fleet.

At the same time, the British newspapers once again showed their shameless features with efficient propaganda, using all their means to convince Russia that the rumor of an "attack by Japanese torpedo boats" by mistake was a German conspiracy. On the other hand, militants in Britain began to speak of annihilating the German navy by surprise attack.

British Home Affairs to Arthur? Lee openly declared: "In the event of a war against Germany, the Royal Navy will strike first before the adversary reads the news of the declaration of war in the newspapers!" ”

Such an attitude inevitably caused panic in Germany. Fisher's "Copenhagen Declaration" made the residents of Germany's coastal cities panic all day long, and the residents of Wilhelmshaven did not even dare to let their children go to school.

Because the Russians made the Germans take the blame, of course Jochen had to find a way to avoid this kind of thing, but the question was how to keep the Russians from getting nervous, so that the British would not take advantage of the problem?

So Jochen thought of the best way to put the Russian fleet under the "protection" of the German fleet and avoid the shallows of the North Sea, where fishing boats gathered. It is to let the Russians go through the Kiel Canal, go directly south through the Kiel Canal and go south to the English Channel, and get out of the way quickly. And the Russians are going to go through the Kiel Canal. Then the Germans' demand for the "protection" of the Russian fleet was less abrupt.

As a result, he didn't expect to hit a wall here in Koster and Machar, and Jochen was naturally unwilling, and continued to rack his brains to put forward his opinion: "Since the Russian fleet is going to enter our territorial waters, so their personnel are not allowed to enter the battle position, and their gun suits must not be taken off, and they must be escorted by our ships throughout the entire process in our territorial waters." So you can see if you can. ”

Seeing that Jochen's idea of letting the Russians use the Kiel Canal was so insistent, Koster first began to think about it from the technical level: "If you concentrate the 13 battleships of the Ocean Fleet, you will indeed have an absolute advantage over the Russian Baltic Fleet, so the Russians will indeed not be able to turn over any storms under the 'escort' of our ships."

The only problem was the passage into the Kiel Canal, which was so narrow that it would be a huge problem for us if something happened to the Russians in the middle of it. And this trouble. We don't have enough to make sure it doesn't happen. ”

When Koster said this, Machar's attitude also softened: "What His Highness said is still reasonable, the biggest task of the Russians now is to rush to the Far East to destroy those Japanese, and they should not make trouble for us who can help them at this time." ”

"In that case, the Russians will be allowed to use the Kiel Canal as long as they agree to our conditions." Seeing that the attitudes of Koster and Mashal were no longer resolute, Jochen decided to use the power in his hands to make a direct decision at this time, so that the two would not have a strong sense of resistance.

When Kerst and Mashal saw Jochen's decision, they could only nod their heads in agreement, (to be continued......)

PS: Today's unit has a meeting, and I have to be outside for two days and one night, so tomorrow's update will be gone, please forgive me