The Russian fleet was the third planned to arrive at Norfolk Military Harbor, and when the German and Austro-Hungarian fleets entered the American port side by side "in close friendliness", the Russians were still a day's voyage away from their destination.

Although the weather in the eastern Pacific Ocean was beautiful at this time, Tsar Agrini's face was gloomy, and he was not pleased to visit the United States after Germany and Austria-Hungary, but because their fleet met the Japanese fleet escorting the Japanese delegation on the way.

As usual, the Japanese, who like to show off their strength, sent a rather powerful fleet of 2 new battleships, 3 armored cruisers, 4 light cruisers, and 7 auxiliary ships to escort a huge naval delegation of nearly 200 people, headed by Prime Minister Shigenobu Okuma, Foreign Minister Takaaki Katen, and Navy Minister Minoru Saito. In the eyes of outsiders, the main purpose of the Japanese visit was not only to attend the naval conference, but also to expand the influence of the Japanese government in the world.

Before the Americans could feel the pressure, the Russians were unfortunate enough to encounter this powerful Japanese fleet. In contrast, the escort ships in the Russian fleet had no place at all, and the Russian admirals who had participated in the Russo-Japanese naval battle 10 years earlier were even more "enemies who were very angry when they saw each other."

"Your Majesty, eat something!" Diana, once Princess Linda of Austria and now Empress of Russia, came to Aglieni with a plate of delicate pastries. The most luxurious room on the Russian royal liner "Crown" here, even every subtle decoration needs to be described as luxurious, the windows of the room are ajar, the curtains as white as snow sway in the sea breeze, but all this can not make the Russian emperor feel the slightest pleasure, now Agrini would rather be in a small, cold cabin, but that cabin must belong to an incomparably powerful warship, the battleship mast fluttering white, blue and red tricolor flags, preferably followed by an equally powerful, The same fleet flying the flag of Tsarist Russia.

Unfortunately, the reality is that Agliini is still on this luxurious, but unarmed ship. He was escorted only by a few old armored cruisers, and on the sea less than 5 nautical miles away, the Japanese fleet, which was dozens of times more powerful than him, was sailing at the same speed - whether it was pure coincidence or deliberate, the Russian fleet sailed to the Hawaiian Islands and ran into the Japanese fleet, after which the Russian fleet accelerated, slowed down, or turned, and the Japanese fleet followed them closely.

Although she didn't say it, Linda knew very well that her husband was not sullen by the force of the Japanese, for the ruler of a large and troubled country. In this case, what is lost is the most precious face, and the bloody Aglini cares about "face" very much.

Aglini still kept his face open, he hadn't eaten since last night, except for a little coffee in the morning.

Linda sat down softly next to Aglini, the guards had already been sent away by the depressed Tsar, and there were only the two of them in the room.

"Your Majesty doesn't have to be angry with those short dwarves, don't look at their current naval strength, but they are far inferior to us Russia in terms of territory, resources, and potential, as long as Your Majesty can continue to work hard, it won't take long for us to catch up with them!" Your Majesty. Remember your ten-year naval plan? ”

Hear this. Aglini's almost frozen gaze finally moved.

"Ten-Year Plan ......"

At the beginning of his ascension to the throne, Aglini was ambitious and made great efforts to stabilize the situation in the country, but as time went on. He learned more and more about what a bad mess he had inherited, and that the poor situation in all aspects of the backward economy, industry, military, and society had made him depressed for a while, but fortunately, with Linda's constant encouragement, he was determined to make great efforts, and the ten-year plan for naval construction was an important part of the revitalization plan.

In general, the plan drawn up by Aglini and Linda is to build a navy that will reach the first-class level in Europe within ten years, and in order to accomplish this goal, the Russian Navy will successively build a number of advanced capital ships, and make technical improvements to the existing unfinished ships, and maintain and transform the ships already in service. In addition, in order to avoid military competition with Germany, Austria, Japan, and other naval powers, these newly built and renovated ships will be distributed more evenly among the Baltic Fleet, the Black Sea Fleet, and the Pacific Fleet. This seems to be the old mistake of the Russo-Japanese War - the three main fleets need to travel thousands of miles to meet in wartime. In fact, there has been a considerable improvement. At Linda's suggestion, Aglini set up a special logistics department from the naval department, which would follow the example of Germany in deploying coaling ships and coaling points overseas, and once the war was approaching, the three main fleets would assemble in advance in a planned manner under the deployment of this logistics department, and then fight together against the enemy in the strongest state.

"Although the Japanese government's economic and industrial strength is very strong now, Your Majesty should not forget this naval meeting!" Linda continued, "I think the Germans and Americans will work together to limit the size of their navies and avoid an out-of-control arms race, so as long as we can get the most favorable terms possible for Russia." Within that decade, the Russian Navy had every chance to catch up with Japan, whose development was limited! ”

Aglini finally raised his head, "My Queen, although you are right, it is inevitable that the Germans and Americans will collude to suppress us and force us to focus on the army in the future, so that our strategy will always be limited by them!" ”

Linda was a little surprised by Aglini's words of loss, when she married Aglini, he was a proud soldier, but now it seems that more than a year of emperor career has worn away his **, the young man who was strong and strong at the beginning is now deep and cautious, but it is strange.

Originally, the queen should not interfere in politics, Linda was originally content to play the role of a virtuous helper with this concept, but Agrini was only a good soldier, and he was qualified for combat command and winning people's hearts, but international politics and strategy did not dare to be flattering, and with Aglini's approval, Linda was obliged to help her husband.

"Your Majesty, I have already discussed it with my brother, and our two countries will help each other at the naval conference!"

Linda's elder brother was Karl, the crown prince of Austria-Hungary, and they were both descendants of Archduke Ludwig, the brother of Emperor Franz I, and they were also half-siblings. With this relationship, the private relationship between the St. Petersburg court and the Vienna court seems much closer, but only a few people know about it. Although Linda's relationship with her brother is not like water, it has not been very harmonious since childhood. This did not prevent them from cooperating politically, especially Linda, the Russian empress who was also popular among the Austrian royal family and the people.

"I don't need sympathy, you know that!" Aglini coldly replied that although he had received German financial and weapons aid since the time of Wilhelm II, and had been strategically cooperating with the Germans, he had a strong resistance to Vienna. Even Linda couldn't fully understand his attitude.

Linda raised her eyebrows in displeasure, this expression seemed disrespectful to ordinary people, but for Aglini it was accustomed to it, and the ministers and generals who had a good impression of Linda almost no one criticized it even if they saw it. What is hidden behind this subtle expression has been roughly ignored by people. Unbeknownst at this time, it was this unwitting connivance that led history down a different path.

Aglini continued to keep a straight face, and Linda turned and walked towards the door, and just before she could walk out of the room, she stopped, turned her back to the Tsar, and asked:

"Half an hour later there was a strategy session. Would you like to come and participate? ”

Aglini expressed his silence in denial. Linda left the room with a blank face. After refreshments, she arrived punctually in the ship's special conference room, which was attended by Admiral Ivan Grigorovich, Minister of the Tsarist Navy. Deputy Commander of the Baltic Fleet, Vice Admiral Anatoly Kusov, Deputy Commander of the Black Sea Fleet, Vice Admiral Dominich Sennikov, Deputy Commander of the Pacific Fleet, Vice Admiral Igor Akinf, Deputy Chief of the General Staff of the Navy and Rear Admiral Kazakov, and more than a dozen other generals, not to mention that these people are all "deputy" level generals, and their status in the current Tsarist Russian Navy is not low at all, and what they have in common is that they have a close relationship with the imperial family.

"Your Majesty is not in good health, so I will preside over this meeting!" Linda looked at everyone present, and as always, no one objected, so she motioned for the naval officer in charge of the intelligence to start reporting the latest information.

"Your Majesty. Generals, according to the latest information we have received from the Germans, the Germans and Americans have reached a basic agreement that they want to limit the total tonnage of the capital ships of the navies of various countries to a relatively low level, which is estimated at 450,000 tons for Germany and Austria, 300,000 tons for the United States and Japan, and 200,000 tons for China and Turkey! ”

After a brief report, everyone was silent, and their eyes were focused on the queen.

"200,000 tons...... At present, the total tonnage of China's navy's capital ships is slightly more than 200,000 tons. Admiral, I'm right! Linda looked at Admiral Ivan very seriously.

The admiral thought for a while, and quickly nodded, "Back to Your Majesty, if you don't count the ships under construction, it's about 210,000 tons!" ”

Everyone looked at each other, and it seemed that their empress was far more familiar with the navy than the emperor. In fact, not only the navy, but also the senior generals of the army have seen the excellence of this queen more than once.

"Seems a bit harsh!" Vice Admiral Kusov was dissatisfied, as it would make it impossible for Russia to build new ships until the old ones were decommissioned. Although the Baltic Fleet he was in charge of lost the latest Gangut-class battleships and some major coastal defense ships in the war, it is still the most powerful of the three Russian fleets, and the best warships in Russia's latest shipbuilding plan will also be given priority to this fleet.

"No, General, not harsh at all!" Linda unexpectedly put forward the opposite opinion, "The total tonnage of the old and new capital ships of the Japanese Navy now exceeds 400,000 tons, and the combat effectiveness of most of them cannot be underestimated anywhere!" If this naval treaty is finally implemented in the aforementioned tonnage, then the greatest losses will undoubtedly be the Japanese Navy! Not only will they have to dismantle a considerable part of the capital ships, but the construction of new warships will also be greatly affected for a long time to come! In this respect, our Russian Navy is different, most of the ships in our hands at the moment are old warships that are more than 10 or even 20 years old, and they would have been decommissioned long ago if it were not for financial constraints, so such a treaty will do more good than bad for us! ”

After two minutes, Ivan was the first to break the silence: "Your Majesty! ”

Linda did not have the slightest joy on her face after receiving the compliment, and she said meaningfully: "Now it seems that the most famous are probably the Germans, they seem to have planned everything for this treaty a long time ago, and the sale of those old warships not only won them money, but also expanded their influence!" ”

"They dealt with those battleships that were not weak in combat effectiveness turned out to be premeditated, and the Germans are really getting more and more terrible!" It finally dawned on the generals that they had thought that the Germans had been carried away by the victory, because the armored battleships they had sold were of high quality and reasonably priced, and now it seems that this is indeed a good deal.

"But...... Even if those warships are excluded, the total tonnage of Germany's current capital ships is still nearly 550,000 tons! Rear Admiral Kazakov, deputy chief of staff of the Navy, whispered that the biggest advantage of this general is that he knows the naval situation of various countries well, and after a little calculation, he gave the approximate total tonnage of the capital ships of several other countries: "500,000 tons for Austria-Hungary, 350,000 tons for the United States, and 150,000 tons for Turkey!" ”

Linda glanced at the young chief of staff, with a faint appreciation in her eyes.

In this way, Japan and Germany suffered the most, but this was not the final result. The Japanese will certainly not accept such a treaty easily, and the Germans will definitely make a fuss with the numbers, I guess this is inevitable! Not long ago, Vice Admiral Akinf, who led the fleet to participate in the exercise of the Japanese-German-Russian joint fleet, expounded his views very directly.

In front of this queen, who never loses her temper, the generals are also willing to express their opinions like him, because even if he doesn't speak well, he will not be reprimanded, and he has the opportunity to be appreciated by the queen and even rise to the top. In contrast, Tsar Agrini encouraged his generals to speak, but rarely took their advice.

The deputy commander of the Black Sea Fleet was not reconciled, and he said with a serious face: "That's right! The Germans could not have sunk a 100,000-ton superior warship themselves, and perhaps they would have assigned some of the warships to other countries, such as Britain or Ireland, and in fact still controlled by themselves! ”

Linda, who was sitting on the chair, folded her hands in front of her, always looked like a standard lady. After listening to everyone's opinions, she spoke unhurriedly:

"No, I think Germany is getting more and more terrible now!"

Judging from the reactions of everyone present, the degree of surprise for this sentence varies. Linda carefully observed everyone's facial expressions and gave her own explanation: "Only by sacrificing certain interests can other countries be convinced!" Think about it, if Germany really limits the tonnage of its naval capital ships to 450,000 tons, that is to say, at the expense of 100,000 tons, will the Austro-Hungarian, Japanese and American delegations still strongly resist? ”

Generals, you look at me, I look at you, and then give a unanimous response: "Your Majesty's name!" ”

Linda nodded with satisfaction, but said to herself with regret in her heart: What a good ruler he is, but it's a pity that he wants to go to the United States in person, so it's no wonder that he can't blame himself!