This silver model of a warship, which evokes Patrick Barnaby wanting to teach Joey how to build a warship, is the work of Michelle Fadrion, the chief jeweler of Charlottenburg Palace.

The blueprint of the model comes from Joey's memories of his previous life, the lead ship of the German Royal Navy's Kaiser (SMS Kaiser), which was designed in 1889 and launched in 1896.

Joy knew that the current German shipbuilding level was weak, but in order to give Mr. Nathaniel Barnaby a good impression when they first met, Joy deliberately chose the Caesar-Frederick III class among the German former dreadnoughts as a model.

On the one hand, the original design of the pre-dreadnoughts of the German Empire was basically taken to the ditch by the French (yes, the original design of the pre-dreadnoughts of the Brandenburg-class, the Germans were copying the French), if the model of the Brandenburg-class was built, Joey was afraid that he would be looked down upon by the well-informed Mr. Nathaniel Barnaby, at least the Caesar-Frederick III seemed to have corrected a lot of stupid mistakes of the Brandenburg class.

Even after correcting the mistakes of the Brandenburg class, this model still has many mistakes in the eyes of Mr. Patrick Barnaby, and Joey's Caesar Frederick III. There is no way, the level of German warship design in the pre-dreadnought era is so bad, far behind Britain, France and the United States.

On the other hand, Caesar Frederick III was named after Joey's own father, and Joey originally intended to give it to Mr. Nathaniel Barnaby as a birthday present when appropriate.

This is not Joey's slamming the door, the key is that this model needs 560 imperial gold marks according to Mr. Michelle Fadrion's offer, Joey has been bankrupt for many days for this model, and finally secretly explained the situation to his grandfather, and only proceeded after getting his grandfather's financial support.

William I of course knew that the Vitulian Foundation in Joey's hands had been very rich recently, and nearly 5 million imperial gold marks had been received throughout April, and when he lent Joey money, he smiled and joked to Joey, "Jojo, you have a mountain of gold in your hand, how can you not even have a mere 560 gold marks." ”

Joey's reply was, "Grandpa Emperor, my money and the money I have are two different things. I can't use the money I have to pay for my business. Grandpa, my wealth lies in my intellectual, moral and social responsibility, not just money. ”

"What a stinky Jojo!" William I scolded with a laugh.

At the beginning of April, Alexander II's royal meeting was interrupted by the problem of his beloved junior Ekaterina-Mikhaillovna Dolgorukova's room, and after a series of complicated processes of finding a new house, choosing new furniture and moving with his young lover, Alexander II finally had time to continue the unfinished meeting with his courtiers in the third week of April.

For more than two weeks, Emperor Alexander II happily accompanied his mistress, while the Russian princes and ministers quarreled and had to settle their political opponents with the tradition of pistols and bombs.

When someone with a heart passed on the ugliness of these princes and ministers to His Majesty the Tsar, hoping that Alexander II would come forward to solve the problem as soon as possible, His Majesty the Tsar sneered and scolded, "What is the meaning of a fight, they are all making a show for me, they have the ability to throw handkerchiefs to duel!" ”

After hearing the contempt of the old tsar, the attitude of the princes and ministers was that it is our business whether the performance is good or not, and whether we watch it or not is the business of your Emperor and His Majesty.

Prior to the Imperial Council, Alexander II had a military meeting with his Minister of War and Minister of War, Field Marshal Dmitry Alekseevich Milyutin, to discuss the new reorganization and redeployment of the Russian army, which began last year.

The focus of this reorganization and redeployment plan is to strengthen Russia's forces on the Western Front, and to transfer many of the regiments that had confronted Ottoman Turkey, as well as the reserve corps near Moscow, to the Baltic coast, Poland, and Ukraine, that is, to the border with Germany and Austria-Hungary.

It is expected that at the end of April this year, after the completion of the transfer of the Russian army, 65% of the Russian army's strength, about 500,000 troops, will be deployed to the Western Front. According to the confident statement of Field Marshal Milyutin, now the Reich has shown an overwhelming superiority over the German and Austro-Hungarian armies in terms of the number of troops, as for the quality...... At least not inferior to the Austro-Hungarian army.

Looking at the Tsar's satisfied face, Field Marshal Milyutin hesitated and then whispered, "Your Majesty, if you are going to start a war against the Germans, please forgive me, now is not the best time. ”

"Hehe, even my old Mira thinks I'm going to war with the Germans, and it seems that I made a good move." Alexander II felt a little complacent, but still asked quietly, "Mira, do you think that we can't defeat those Prussians, and you have so little confidence in our army?" ”

Faced with the old Tsar, who he was really not sure of, Field Marshal Milyutin thought about it again and again, and decided to put it in a different way, "Your Majesty, I don't mean to say that the heroic Russian army can't defeat the Germans, I mean that to start a war against Germany now will be to fight the wrong war with the wrong people at the wrong time." ”

"The Germans, now are not the main enemies in the path of the Empire's advance, they are only a potential adversary, and if we now fight a national war with Germany, a potential enemy, even a great victory will weaken our strength, and will only cheapen Your Majesty, your main enemy, the British."

Field Marshal Milyutin looked carefully at the face of the old tsar, who did not show any emotion, and continued with a sigh, "Also, Your Majesty, the current military reform in Russia is not going very well. ”

When the old tsar heard the word military reform, a headache struck. The military reform, which was one of the two major reforms after his accession to the throne, like the other major reform of serfdom, was now carried out with stumbling and encountering unusually great resistance. But as a stubborn strongman, the old tsar nodded, and motioned for his old marshal to continue.

"Your Majesty, although the army has implemented a universal compulsory military system, the soldiers' salary of only 2 rubles and 10 kopecks a year is too low, and according to the feedback from the Gendarmerie Administration, soldiers in some places have already sold the army's ration of leather shoes and underwear for money."

In addition, although the military middle school has been abolished and replaced with a seven-year military middle school, there are still too few educated officers in the middle and lower ranks, and many troops have reported that many soldiers will not use the newly issued breech-loading rapid-fire guns, and the situation in the artillery units is even worse. The crux of the matter was that there were too few military officers in the army and too many noble officers, and once the battle began, I feared that the troops would not be able to organize an effective battle. ”

"There are also big problems with the logistics of the army, although the density of railways on the western front is the highest in the empire, but it is still not perfect......."

Next, Field Marshal Milyutin also wanted to talk about a series of problems such as the backwardness of the Russian army's military thinking, the basic lack of active combat awareness among officers and soldiers, and so on, but seeing that the old tsar's face had obviously darkened, the old Mila wisely kept silent.

"Mira, I'm clear about all the things you're talking about." The old tsar looked at the field marshal he had drawn and patiently explained, "I know that the soldiers' salaries are low, and I also want to raise their salaries, even if it is one ruble, 800,000 rubles will be taken out of the imperial treasury every year." ”

"But Mira, you must know that now everywhere we are reaching out to me for money, and the grain we exchange for precious foreign exchange is not selling well at all with the Germans because of the tariffs. Now, I can only hope that the army will be patient, and patient, and that after this period has passed, Mila, tell me my valiant soldiers, that I will not do them any wrong. ”

The old tsar patted the field marshal on the shoulder and said, "Mira, as for the lack of junior officers, as well as the lack of military qualities of officers, I will help you solve it now, and I now approve your request to open two military academies in St. Petersburg, Pavlov and Konstantin." "The old tsar knew how to control his subordinates, and he should give some carrots to motivate his subordinates.

Looking at Field Marshal Milyutin's excited expression, the old tsar continued, "There are too many nobles in the empire, and if they are placed elsewhere, they can only cause trouble for the country, I can only put them in the army, because I trust my army, I trust you old Mira, the army and you will never live up to my hopes, right?" ”

Field Marshal Milyutin stood up straight, saluted the old tsar, "Your Majesty, the army and I will never fail to live up to your expectations, and will always be your loyal saber!" At your command, your loyal army will attack Prussia, and we will adorn your badge with victory. ”

The old tsar waved his hand and said with a smile, "Mira, you are wrong, what you said earlier is very correct, the main enemy of the empire is the British, the Germans are only a potential opponent, and it is not worth fighting a big battle with the Germans now." ”

"The real intention of transferring the Imperial Army to the Western Front, it seems that you still do not really understand." The old tsar pointed out the door, "Wait, I want to discuss an important matter with that group of drama actors, that is, to find a way for the empire to join the German-Austrian alliance with dignity and form a new alliance of the three emperors together." ”

"You know at the Berlin conference last year, the Germans and Austrians teamed up to trap Russia." The old tsar paused and said with a deep gaze.

"At present, joining the Three Emperors Alliance as soon as possible is an extremely urgent matter for Russia. But Russia is a big country, and we can't ask people to join any alliance, but we want to show the world our muscles, make them fear us, let them beg us to join, and that's why I want you to transfer most of your troops to the Western Front. ”

"Also, I have always kept in mind the problem of army logistics that Mila just said, and I also want to solve it through this transfer, after all, Poland and Ukraine on the Western Front are the granaries of Russia, and there is also a reasonable railway network, putting the main forces here, on the one hand, it can deter Germany and Austria from being half-hearted about the Three Emperors Alliance, and on the other hand, it is to solve the problem of feeding the army."

"Although I can't pay them for the time being, I must feed my army." The tsar said with a hint of sadness.

"Thank you, Your Majesty, on behalf of the army, for your kindness and kindness." Field Marshal Milyutin said in a choked voice.

"Uh, my old Mira is really sentimental, in fact, this transfer, I still want to solve the financial problem of the empire, forget it, this blackmail plan, it is better to let the outside drama actors know."

Qing Dynasty, Tianjin City, Zhili Governor Tianjin Xingguan, study.

After Zhou Fu carefully read the official document sent by the Prime Minister's Affairs Yamen, he said to Li Hongzhang with a smile, "Gradually, Prince Gong finally can't hold back. He raised the official document in his hand and said, "In and out of the words, as long as you come up with the regulations for Japan, it is easy to discuss the matter of purchasing ironclad ships in Beiyang." ”

Li Hongzhang smiled on his face, spit out a mouthful of thick phlegm, and cleared his throat, "Hmph, I have to let the old man be in a hurry before he says happy words, it seems that the group of clear streams in the capital who change tricks and curse people every day are not useless, haha!" ”

"Gradually see you." Zhou Fu also stroked his beard and smiled, "Did I send the letter to Japan in the past few days?" ”

"Yushan, it's not a matter of asking someone to hand over a word to President Grant of the United States, to find out whether this president is willing to serve as a special envoy between Qing and Japan, how is this matter done." Li Hongzhang didn't answer, but asked about another thing first.

"I just received a telegram in the morning, which was sent by Min Zhai from Hong Kong." Zhou Fu dug out Ying Baoshi's telegram from a pile of telegrams, "Min Zhai said that through the help of Councilor Ng Ting-fong of the Hong Kong Legislative Council, he has already probed President Grant's tone, and President Grant expressed his willingness to do his best for peace between Qing and Japan. ”

"Good! Good! Good! Minzhai did a good job! Li Hongzhang high-fived.

"Yushan, send the excerpt to Japan by express, and be sure to make it clear to the people in the Prime Minister's Yamen that US President Grant is willing to accept my invitation Li Hongzhang to serve as a special envoy for peace between Qing and Japan." Li Hongzhang deliberately accented his name.

Then he said with a smile, "I, Li, am not a person who is greedy for merit, and it is also a big deal to say to Prince Gong and invite ministers from various countries to come forward to preside over the world axioms." The two-pronged approach, the combination of odd and positive is the way to use soldiers! ”