The majestic chorus of 10,000 people still reverberates in my heart, and the previous "Hohenfriedberg March" has been played again. Pen @ fun @ pavilion wWw. ｂｉｑUｇE。 infoBoth the guests of honor on the viewing platform and the onlookers in the outer circle watched the next military parade in a standing position. The German Royal Guards were the first to pass in front of the viewing platform, and the Royal Guards were as vigorous as the British Navy brought people shock and awe. This was followed by the Royal German Military Band, with military musicians holding instruments of various sizes and relatively large distances, but each with a precise and consistent stride and pace.

On the speedboat next to the royal yacht "Hohenzollern", Natsuki had recovered from the enthusiasm of the whole audience just now, and he calmly looked at the procession on the dock. The German soldiers in sight are marked by pointed steel helmets and navy round caps, and they hold their heads high and walk energetically in the German goose step - this kind of "walking in the right step" with the upper body upright and the legs swinging vigorously is derived from a European dance, which was first adopted by Friedrich the Great in the Prussian army parade in the 18th century, and because of the elite quality of the Prussian army, this footwork has gradually been learned and popularized by some countries.

More than 2,000 naval infantry came in six queues, some from the garrison units of the base, and some from the Marine Corps (specially equipped combat infantry on battleships and cruisers).

While the land parade was underway, two zeppelins also took advantage of the calm rain to help the fun. The earliest airships date back more than a hundred years, and the epoch-making Zeppelin was built by the famous Ferdinand. Feng. Invented by Count Zeppelin in 1900. German military strategists saw its great potential at a glance, and Count Zeppelin was a retired German soldier, and this invention was used by the German army. Today's Led Zeppelin has taken on a rather large form, and many people are captivated by its majesty and wonder as if they were locked in a charm at first sight.

Compared to the round hot air balloons, these airships are as proud as dinosaurs in the sky, and their appearance is always accompanied by the distinctive roar of high-horsepower engines - Daimler's new gasoline engine, although expensive and short-lived, has received considerable orders from Zeppelin and the Royal Shipyard. The former was owned by Count Zeppelin, the sole builder of Zeppelin, and the latter, a German royal property that was once on the verge of bankruptcy and has now successfully transformed into a leader in the manufacture of racing and torpedo boats, and its administrator is none other than the young genius of the Hohenzollern family, Prince Joachim of Germany!

The traditional land parade is over, and the highlight of the military port festival is still to come. Amid the rousing military music, Kaiser Wilhelm II walked past the guard of honour with guns in a naval attire, followed by Crown Prince Wilhelm, two key figures in the German Navy today, the Kaiser's brother and Admiral Prince Heinrich, and the founder of the German Navy, Secretary of State for the Navy and Minister of the Prussian Navy von. Count Tirpitz.

By the time the first four men ascended the pier, Joachim was already wearing a round navy hat with a flat top and short brim (a traditional boat-shaped navy hat would have to be paired with a gown). The 14-year-old, who is not yet a regular member of the German Navy, has just entered the Kiel Naval Academy for his initial training, which normally leads to the German Navy as a midshipman after three and a half years of rigorous training. Joachim's brother, Adalbert, the third son of Kaiser Wilhelm II, is also currently studying at the prestigious naval academy, where he has completed all theoretical courses and will be able to graduate after several months of training in a training ship.

Unlike his brother's political considerations for choosing the navy, Natsuki entered the navy with both strong personal wishes and deep hopes for Kaiser Wilhelm II. The unruly Wilhelm II admired his maternal grandmother, Queen Victoria of England, and also admired the domineering spirit of the British fleet in all directions, and was deeply influenced by Mahan's idea of controlling sea power, believing that only by developing overseas could he become one of the world's great powers.

After wearing the German crown, the growing national power made Wilhelm II more and more eager to have an invincible naval fleet, and he himself had a strong interest in warships, but ship design was a rather complex science, and Wilhelm II, who needed to take charge of the entire empire, had to hand over the task of forming a first-class fleet to a more professional person, that is, his "eternal Tirpitz". The chancellor of the admiralty, who shares the Kaiser's interests, is certainly a trustworthy person, but until time proves everything, no one can guarantee that he will build a fleet with top-level competitiveness -- Germany's geopolitical environment determines that it must always put the development of the army in the first place, and the resources invested in naval construction cannot be endless, so the quality of the ships is particularly important.

The Germans are good at machinery, and the booming shipbuilding industry has also allowed them to have a group of excellent ship engineers, which is the capital of the German Navy to realize the dream of the ocean. With ordinary thinking, excellent engineers can ensure quality, and talented engineers can bring about technological leaps. Genius born at the age of 5 to build a model of a wooden warship, to make an elaborate model of an electric boat at the age of 7, to correct a professional designer's drawing mistakes at the age of 9, and to design a speedboat with first-class performance at the age of 11 - for Natsuki, who has worked in the field of modern ships for many years, these are just appetizers, but in the eyes of Kaiser Wilhelm II and his follower Tirpitz, they are priceless gifts from heaven to the German Navy!

With the encouragement of the Reich's top brass, the young Prince Joachim became a frequent visitor to the German Admiralty, frequenting the offices and databases of shipbuilding appraisers, and following Tirpitz to Germany's major shipyards. At the suggestion of Prince Joachim, the Germania shipyard made important design improvements to the 1898 torpedo boats, resulting in a significant improvement in the seaworthiness of the 25 ships built over the 30 that had been completed earlier. Later, the speedboat designed by Prince Joachim won the Bremen Cup water race in 1903 and later won the Admiralty's tender for a small torpedo boat. Until 1908, the Royal Shipyard under his management was to supply the German Navy with 180 Thunderbolt speedboats for offshore operations, with a total contract value of up to 19.8 million marks. Under these circumstances, not only Kaiser Wilhelm II, but also Tirpitz and all the officials of the Admiralty eagerly awaited the royal genius to join the German Navy - and when Joachim was physically fit enough, they finally got their wish!

Wilhelm II and his entourage boarded the Hohenzollern, and the German Emperor's flag, with the Black Eagle, the Crown and the Iron Cross as the main motifs, was raised on the yacht, and the clear whistle announced the beginning of the parade. After the launch of the royal yacht, Natsuki followed closely behind the side with his speedboat, and the scene looked like a horse and a sheepdog walking together. When they reached the middle of the harbor, they were joined by seven other Thunderbolt boats and four torpedo boats of the 1895 type, guarding the Hohenzollern like royal saber guards. Everywhere the royal yacht went, ships fired gun salutes, but not everyone was full of respect for the mighty military empire and its rulers. In recent years, Germany has shown an increasingly strong expansionist nature in foreign affairs, politics, colonial affairs, and other aspects, and has acted arbitrarily on some sensitive issues; the Tsarist regime of Russia, which was close to and dependent on Germany during the Bismarck period, turned to an alliance with the French, and Britain, which has always pursued a "continental equilibrium" and "liberal policy," has also concluded a defensive alliance with France. While material wealth was growing rapidly, Germany was increasingly isolated, and its only two allies, Austria-Hungary and Italy, one was too weak to take care of itself, and the other was wavering and uncertain, and could not provide a truly reliable strategic guarantee, but repeatedly dragged Germany into the quagmire of regional disputes......

PS: 1. Since the Second German Reich belonged to the commonwealth of states with a constitutional monarchy, there was only one minister at the political level of the empire, such as the "chancellor", and the heads of various internal and foreign affairs departments were called state secretaries, for example: Tirpitz's official position was the state secretary of the imperial navy and the minister of the navy of the Kingdom of Prussia.

2. Under the gold standard system in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the gold content of national currencies was as follows:

£1 = 7. 32,238 grams of gold

1 franc = 0. 2903225 grams of gold

$1 = 1. 50,463 grams of gold

1 German gold mark = 10 German mark = 3. 58,425 grams of gold

1 ruble = 0. 774234 grams of gold

1 yen = 0. 75 grams of gold

The exchange rates of each country are calculated directly on the basis of the gold content, and the following percentages can be used for rough estimates:

1 pound sterling = 25 francs = 5 US dollars = 2 German gold marks = 20 German marks = 9 rubles = 10 yen

(End of chapter)