On 29 May, the day after the phone call with Hipper, Blom and his party hurried to Berlin.

In this direct face-to-face conversation, a group of naval officials such as Hipper, Ruetjens and others were merely spectators, only playing the role of on-site supervision and project approval, and did not personally consult with Blom and others, who were sent by Ferdinand. In fact, the construction of the aircraft carrier is not so much the responsibility of the naval command as the implementation of Otto Siriakos, appointed by President Eric Adrian.

Although Siriakos has no experience in building aircraft carriers, he is a senior officer in the Navy after all, and he has lived in the military for more than ten years, plus the tempering of war, and knows a lot about navigation, ship building, and weapon configuration.

The two sides were polite, but Siricos sat down first, and when he saw the blueprints submitted by the Blomforth shipyard, he couldn't help but be shocked, but he was very steady, not only did not show his surprise, but also looked at it seriously.

Ciriacos, who had seen the drawings, did not say anything, but got up and held the drawings in his hands and sent them to Hipper and Lütjans for examination.

Marshal Hippel did not care at first, in his opinion, this was nothing more than an ordinary design drawing, so many German manufacturers have no new ideas, what can a Blomforth shipyard be extraordinary. However, after receiving the drawings, Rutteyans' eyes were wide open, and he felt like he couldn't put it down. Hipper's long-term contact with ship design drawings undoubtedly attracted him deeply by Ruetjans's special expression.

"It's amazing, it's unexpected." After Hippert saw it, he silently admired it in his heart, he never expected that the Blomforth shipyard would have such a unique design, it was really unique.

Seeing that Marshal Hipper was very satisfied, Siriacos expressed his opinion to the leadership. Of course, he was not optimistic about the Blomforth shipyard before, even when Ferdinand solemnly introduced the shipyard to him, he did not express his position directly, but always kept his own ideas, but when he saw the design drawings submitted by the other party, professional rationality was broken. He had everything he wanted, he didn't expect, and there were many new designs that were the first of their kind in the German industry. The design completely subverted all his imagination, and Siricos seemed to see a microcosm of the German Federal Navy's advance towards the blue waters.

Smacking his dry lips, Siriacos finally spoke: "Although I don't approve of Mr. Ferdinand's approach, I have to say that I can't fault this design, and now, I have to thank Mr. Ferdinand, it is his selfishness that allows me to be lucky enough to see such a perfect design." ”

Hipper and Ruetjens were both standard military men, and in fact, they didn't like the kidnapping practices of the Eric group, but this time they were completely impressed by the design of the Blomforth shipyard, sitting not far from here and smiling and nodding their heads in favor of Siriacos.

"According to the rules of the federal government, you should participate in the negotiation and bidding activities so that others do not make irresponsible comments, and as for the cost budget, you should also keep up quickly so that we can selectively refer to the designs of other shipyards." As the treasurer of the Federal Navy, Lütjans had to first understand the value of the ship, including seaworthiness, combat effectiveness and other issues.

Blom and Foss sat still, especially after being praised by several senior naval officials, and they were even more cautious lest they say the wrong thing.

"Did you bring your budget plan, I would love to know how much it would cost to build such a large warship." Lütjans went straight in.

Blom and Foss looked at each other for a moment before speaking: "We have brought the budget proposal at the same time, and it will take 92 million marks to synthesize both materials and construction. ”

With that, Fox hurriedly went from his handbag to get the budget sheet.

Fox's briefcase was huge, and as the zipper slowly opened, revealing a thick stack of budget forms, Siriakos looked at the thick stack of materials, and thought to himself, how long would it take to read this budget sheet.

There were no expensive guns on the drawings, and there was not a single new fighter parked, how could the cost be so high, Siriacos couldn't figure it out, so he had to transfer the materials to Lütjans.

"Don't worry about Siriacos, we'll finish our work first, and as for the budget price, we can go to Mr. President to discuss." Ruetjens liked young generals like Siriacos, after all, they were the same kind of people, they were all talents valued by Mr. President, and although he did not approve of the approach of the Eric group, it did not affect their loyalty to the president.

"Your Excellency the General Affairs Officer is right! That's all there is to it. Siriacos was worried about whether such a budget could pass the approval hurdle, and although Ferdinand said hello, the country's financial system was very rigorous, and no one could cheat for personal gain, even if Ferdinand was his friend, he could not blatantly reach out to the government to grab money.

"That's all for today, let's discuss it after we go back, and I hope to give us a more reasonable budget plan." Lütjans said.

Blom and Foss, very intrigued, quickly gathered their things, stood up and politely apologized to Hipper and Lütjans, and then left the naval headquarters.

At this time, only Hipper and Lütjens were left in the small conference hall.

"Don't say that Siriakos is a little frustrated, even I can't believe my ears, the cost of this warship is too high, subverting my imagination." Hipper was older and had the highest rank, so he didn't have so many worries when he spoke.

"When is your Excellency the Commander going to take this blueprint and budget to Mr. President?" Knowing that Hipper's budget proposal for the warship was not approved of either, Lütjans asked Marshal Hipper's intention to present a showdown with the president. After all, with such an expensive cost, the Navy's military spending is very difficult, not to mention the unit price of hundreds of millions of dollars, which is not something that a few of them can decide at will, even if the Navy can come up with so much money, it must be recognized by the Ministry of Defense.

"Your Excellency the Chief of General Affairs will go in person, it is not appropriate for me to go." There has never been a fight between Hipper and Ruetjans, they are like friends for many years, "You know, the last battle cruiser plan made me a nose in the dust, but fortunately, Mr. President was polite and didn't out of the presidential palace on the spot." ”

"The old marshal's face Mr. President will still give it, the cruiser design last time was really not novel enough, but this time it may be, after all, Plan Z was started by Mr. President himself, if the old marshal sends this drawing, maybe Mr. President will smile." Lütjans always felt that Eric was fond of aircraft carriers, and perhaps he could only have some room for bargaining in terms of price.

"Are you really that sure? Your Excellency the Chief of Affairs, don't make fun of old decay. Hipper picked up the blueprints and said, "I'm beating a drum in my heart." However, it has to be said that the cost of this warship is not much lower, and there is a reason why it is expensive. ”

"Mr. President inspected the 1st Armored Division, watched the test of Tank No. 4, and finally allocated 4 million marks of his annual presidential fund to General Manstein. Lütjans said it wildly, but Hippert was scared, but he understood that Lütjans wanted him to use the drawings to go to Mr. President for money.

"Forget it, the old decay is out. Let people prepare the car, I will go to the Hansa Felth Palace right away. Hipper's thought about it again and again finally relented.

After receiving a telephone call from Lütjens at the Chancellery, Minister Brauchitsch hurriedly put down his work and hurried to the Hansa Felth Palace by car. At this time, Hipper stopped his car in front of the gate of the presidential palace and met Brauchitsch.

Looking at Hipper's complacent look, Brauchitsch guessed that the navy must have made a big move this time.

As president of the Federation, Eric may not have much interest in the regime, but he takes military power very seriously and holds it firmly in his hands, because only the barrel of a gun speaks for weight.

"Hello Mr. Minister!" When Field Marshal Hipperr saw Brauchitsch hurrying up, he immediately thought that it might have been deliberately arranged by Lütjans. Depending on the relationship between the two, Raushitsch may be able to help Hippert out of his awkwardness.

"Let's go in together, honorable old marshal, the construction of the navy has been getting smaller and smaller recently, and it's time to come out and do activities." Brauchitsch asked Hippert to walk ahead of him as a sign of respect. When the two walked past Anata's secretary's room, they found that Anata was busy, so they asked the guards to report and went directly to the president's office.

Eric also received a call from Ruetjens at the same time, and was already sitting on the couch waiting for their arrival.

"Feel free to do it, everyone is a regular visitor." Eric welcomed them with a smile.

After Eric's warm-up, Hipper's tense expression finally eased a lot, and after the two of them saluted a beautiful military salute at the same time, they each found a suitable place to sit down.

Before Eric could speak, Hipper had already opened his briefcase and placed the drawings neatly on the refreshment table.

Eric had already seen the same drawings, but he couldn't tell them clearly to avoid gossip, so he had to look at them pretendly.

After closing the drawings, Eric said with deliberate surprise: "The design is okay, very unique, and very individual, in line with the style of the German Navy." Is the budget plan out? ”

Eric actually knows the budget price, although he also thinks that the price is a bit expensive, but it is worth the money, since the military is here, there is still some room for counter-offer.

"The design is perfect, but the cost is close to 100 million, so we can only ask Mr. President for advice." Hippert said stiffly.

As soon as Hipper's words were finished, Eric immediately felt that the script had deviated, could it be that Blom had changed it when they went to make an offer?

"Your Excellency the Marshal, are you sure that the budget price of the contractor is 100 million?" Eric is now full of questions, what went wrong in the middle, and why did the price go up again?

Suddenly, Eric's question was asked, and Hipper quickly corrected his mistake.

"The actual budget is 92 million." Hipper replied.