February 10 was an extremely ordinary day, but it was not so ordinary for the German shipbuilders, who had been preparing for a week after receiving the list of naval ships, waiting for the day when they bid in the conference room on the second floor of the Prince's Palace.

The Richthofen Grand Hotel in Berlin welcomed a large number of local German wealthy people to settle in today, and unlike the previous business representatives, all of them came this time as corporate representatives or major strategic decision-makers.

The two co-chairmen of the Blomforth shipyard, Hermann Blom and Inster Forss, arrived together and seemed ready to take on the other rivals.

The Richthofen Hotel is not only the highest-class clubhouse in the German Confederation, but also the meeting place of the German center of power. There are still five days before the bidding meeting of the first batch of shore defense patrol boats, and the representatives of the enterprises have prepared the bidding documents in advance to register in advance and seize the advantageous position, which shows how hungry and thirsty enterprises want to get a nutritious cake. In order to facilitate the acquisition of more relevant information, almost all the restaurants on the second floor were set by these wealthy merchants, and the atmosphere of bidding became stronger in advance.

"How? I'm just going to have to plan ahead. A middle-aged man with classic big back and big back spoke, his name was Inster Forss.

"Mr. Foss, don't be so nervous, our strength doesn't have to be like this at all, you should be confident." The answer was Heilman Blom, whose shipyards had merged and their former rivals had come together.

"It's not a question of nervousness or not, Mr. Blom, I'm not in the mood to joke, but do you know how many competitors there are this time?" Inster Forss was skeptical of Blom's composure, feeling that his partner was completely unfocused on the bid.

"Mr. Foss, you are also exalting these people too much, and these people are also opponents?" Blom took a sip of red wine and said proudly: "With our economic and technical strength, how many opponents can Germany have?" ”

This is indeed true, before the merger, Blom Shipyard and Fox Shipyard were already two old enterprises in this industry, and after the merger, their strength has increased exponentially, and they can be regarded as the second private enterprise in the country to build an industrial zone by themselves, of course, this is the data re-counted after the merger.

"Okay, is the Royal William Shipyard our opponent?" Fox seemed to be telling his partner that there were plenty of rivals.

"The Royal William Shipyard is indeed one, but their family can't afford to place so many orders." Blom conceded the opponent.

"So, what about the Germania shipyard?" Fox continued.

"It's one too." Foss's acumen had to be admitted, and Blom had no choice but to agree again.

"Also, the Bremen Wiesel shipyard shouldn't be under the Germania shipyard, right?" Foss didn't give up and wanted to force Blom to be cautious.

"Their eyes are not on the big tonnage right now." Blom didn't care about the Bremen Machinery shipyard.

"That's weird, how do you know?" Foss asked, puzzled.

"Do you really think I don't care? FUCHS, I have already heard that Bremen Machinery Ships now has several orders for 60,000-ton cargo ships on hand, and they do not have spare docks for production for the time being. Blom poured himself another glass of red wine, intending to finish it in one gulp, but was stopped by Foss.

"What about the De Himag shipyard, as far as they are concerned, they must be watching these orders like flies biting blood?" FUCHS has a good reputation for shipbuilding companies across the country.

Blom had no choice but to patiently continue to explain: "Don't dare to say anything else, don't worry about the Deschmag shipyard. There are credible rumors that they have received an order, but there has been no movement, and for some reason, almost half of the shipyard workers have disappeared, and it seems that they are not participating in the bidding. Foss, can you rest assured? ”

Foss was stunned for a moment, why did most of the workers disappear? This is a puzzling question, if this is the case, it is indeed not a threat, and I am immediately relieved.

"Blom, besides the above, don't we have any other opponents?" Foss asked, confused.

"Yes, of course, Krupp Shipping is one of our opponents." Blom wiped his mouth with a napkin and said half-jokingly.

"And what about the eastern and southern regions?" Foss was talking about the Baltic Sea regions such as Estonia, as well as the newly annexed Austrian region, which included Venice.

"I have to say that your worries are not meaningless, and we still lack some information in this area. A foreign affairs team of the Ministry of National Defense will meet with the Turkish delegation here this evening, and one of the German representatives is a major who knows me, so we may as well listen to what he has to say then. It was with Foss's concerns in mind that Blom planned to enter the Richthofen Hotel ahead of time, intending to inquire further about the exact news.

"Wehrmacht Major? Do you still have such a relationship? How much valuable information can a major give us, though? Foss was not optimistic about a major officer, but he was curious about who the major in Blom's mouth was and how the two met, because in Germany, companies rarely had direct contact with the authorities, especially the military.

"You don't need to know the details in the middle, although the rank of major is not big, his family is quite famous in Prussia, Sauken, have you heard of it?" Blom whispered close to the table.

"Who in the Sauken family doesn't know, the question is who do you know?" Foss certainly knew that the Saukens, one of the largest families in East Prussia, were already the largest of the local families before the Teutonic Knights reached there.

"Talker." Blom was proud of the mention of the major, and deliberately said that half was left and half left.

"Say his name, don't sell it Blom." Foss refused to give up and continued to get to the bottom of it.

"Dietrich von Schauken, I've heard of it." Blom's voice was small, like the buzzing of a mosquito, but Foss could hear it all word for word.

"God! His name is more appealing than his official title. Fox was startled at first, but it didn't take long for surprise to turn to doubt, and he asked, "How can you be sure that you can get information from him?" ”

"Forss, just do what you have to do, and don't need to ask how to do it, but I have a more reliable piece of information that confirms that he will most likely be named to serve in the Admiralty." Blom's words were not shocking, which surprised Foss again.

There is currently only one person in Germany who has the right to be transferred by name, and that is the president, Erik Adrian.

Seeing that Foss was still unsatisfied and wanted to continue to inquire, Blom had no choice but to stop it, picking out that there were many shady details, and it was useless to inquire too much. Foss had no choice but to give up......

The Ministry of Defence building was apparently more heavily guarded than the presidential palace, and in the minister's office, Earhart Cecil arrived at the order.

"Your Excellency, Cecil has come to receive your instructions, and I ask you to attach it." Cecil did not dare to be casual in front of Brauchitsch, and stood upright at his desk.

"How are you adapting to work?" When Brauchitsch saw Cecil, he put down the "Turkish Shipbuilding Plan" submitted by the Admiralty, which he was preparing.

"Thank you for your concern, the work has been handed over, and I am preparing to accept a new task, please arrange it for Your Excellency the Minister." Cecil's assignments were not all from Brauchitsch, but were assigned to the following five large agencies: the Navy Command, the Army Command, the Air Force Command, the Logistics Service, the Defense Research Agency, and a number of smaller agencies directly under him.

"Cecil, I'm sure you've heard about my return from Hanseatic Palace." Brauchitsch said pointedly.

Cecil shook his head deliberately inexplicably, in fact, he already knew that it was also his duty to spy on the Minister of Defense, but he could not make Brauchitsch feel uncomfortable.

"You are Mr. President's most trusted old subordinate, and so am I, let's talk about it a little bit of a family." Brauchitsch quipped, and then changed to "What do you think should be done if someone objects against Mr. President?" ”

"I will follow the command of His Excellency the Minister." Hearing this, Cecil didn't think it was strange, the president of the federal country, the sea of opponents has gone, but compared to the entire population of the country, it is only a tiny one, and it can't all be solved in secret, right?

Seeing that Cecil had no reaction, Brauchitsch secretly scolded the cunning, and then reminded: "In the recent matter of the formation of the air force in the army and navy, Air Marshal Toth has a great opinion on the nature of the army aviation and the living aviation business, and openly expressed his opposition to the resolution of Mr. President in front of me, this kind of voice should not appear, and I am very annoyed now, and Mr. President is also very unhappy. ”

Cecil listened attentively, and his reaction was not very strong. Brauchitsch couldn't stop there, thinking that Cecil must understand Eric's intentions from here and prepare to calm the situation in advance. There is no doubt that the veteran Toth dared to oppose Eric, and the same as against the Ministry of Defense.

When Cecil heard this, he roughly understood what Brauchitsch meant, and it seemed that the matter had been acquiesced in by the President, and that all he had to do was to gather as much information as he could, and to give a warning to such and such an actor "appropriately" at the request of the state.

Air Marshal Toth is a heavyweight, naturally in the number one watch list, Cecil understood what the Minister of Defense meant, and then whispered: "Recently, the Air Force has been in frequent contact with several suppliers, and some of them are private and secret contacts, which is abnormal, because the contact location is very secret, and our investigation has also increased, please rest assured, Your Excellency the Minister." ”

Brauchitsch secretly smashed his tongue and touched privately? Hidden location? If it is not done in secret, can it still be made public? "Continue to track and monitor and, if necessary, control ......"

"Yes!" Cecil exited the office.

At this time, the same scene was played out at the Hansa Fürth Palace, and Colmar received a new presidential order.