"Bahrain? What is that place? ”

With this question in mind, Kaiser Wilhelm II walked to the floor-to-ceiling globe, and the Imperial Chancellor von Batemann Holwig and Count Clemens von Delbrück, who was in charge of colonial diplomacy, immediately followed, and the Imperial dignitaries and the heads of the army and navy were seated with proper manners, but their curious eyes betrayed the fact that they were completely unfamiliar with the name. Pen, fun, pavilion www. biquge。 info

Natsuki replied unhurriedly: "It is an island located in the western part of the Persian Gulf, very close to the Qatar Peninsula, with an area of less than 1,000 square kilometers, and the island is inhabited by a large number of Arabs, which is not too backward. ”

Under Natsuki's reminder, Wilhelm II finally found the very inconspicuous small country of West Asia from the globe. Bahrain's history dates back to 3000 BC, it was a Phoenician territory, then part of the Arab Empire, occupied by the Portuguese in the 16th century, under Persian rule in the 17th century, gained independence in 1703, was invaded by the British in 1820, forced to sign a series of political and military treaties, became a British protectorate, and until 1915, people have not found oil resources in this West Asian island country, Its greatest economic and military significance lies in the capital, the port of Manama, an important port in the Gulf region, a trading staging point and a permanent base for the British fleet.

"What a palm-sized place." Wilhelm II turned from the globe, "Can oil be extracted on the island?" ”

This is a sensitive and critical issue, and the economic and military value of oil resources is increasing day by day. Before the outbreak of the war, the largest oil producers were either in the hands of the neutral United States, or under the control of Britain and Russia, the German Army's dependence on oil was still relatively small, but the German Navy was deeply affected by the lack of oil resources, and the latest cutting-edge dreadnoughts could only conservatively use coal-fired boilers. Because of this, when the armistice negotiations with Britain were first launched, Germany clearly put forward a claim for the right to exploit oil in the Middle East, and the British were unwilling to let go, so the negotiations ended in vain. By the time of the second armistice negotiations, Britain was forced to make concessions due to the situation, and before the armistice treaty was formally signed, the German government and army had already begun to formulate a grand plan to march into the Persian Gulf, which shows that the Germans attach great importance to oil resources.

Bahrain, located in the western part of the Persian Gulf, has so far remained unknown, not because the island's oil fields are difficult to explore, but because oil exploration teams from all over the world have searched for oil fields in Iran and Iraq, and have made one amazing discovery after another. Against the backdrop of such times, who would set their sights on the humble island of Bahrain?

Natsuki glanced at everyone with a pretended mysterious smile: "Some geologists assert that there are oil fields everywhere in the Persian Gulf, and if Bahrain can extract oil, everyone should not be surprised. Geologists also say that the area with the highest concentration of oil resources is still in Mesopotamia, and that the richest oil field is probably the Masjid Lehman field, which the British have already exploited in Iran. ”

Such an answer was clever, but also appetizing, and the Count von delbrück could not help asking: "Is the geologist mentioned by His Highness Reynolds, the Scotsman who discovered the Masgid Lehman field?" Or is it ...... Your Highness has already organized an oil exploration team to go to the Persian region? ”

"I've just awarded a grant to UCD geology majors to conduct field research on the oil resources of the Middle East, and the professors should be on their way with their personnel and equipment as soon as possible. It is also hoped that His Excellency the Earl will be taken care of in this regard. Natsuki's words not only answered the question of Count von delbrück, but also took advantage of the situation to put on a low posture of the weak, so as not to resent the imperial ministers and military leaders. After all, with Ireland's current strength, it is impossible to make a difference in the Persian Gulf alone, where the interests of the powerful countries are intertwined and the pattern is intricate.

"Judging from the past, His Highness's prophecy has always been accurate." Von Batemann said this probably half flattering, half ulterior motives.

Natsuki smiled, "Vision is a kind of prophecy. If Your Excellency the Prime Minister is interested, you may wish to consider developing Bahrain jointly with Ireland, which is now short of capital and technology, and it is difficult to run a distant island on its own. ”

Von Batemann turned his head to look at the Kaiser with a calm face, and since Bismarck's resignation, Germany's successive chancellors have basically acted on the emperor's face, and rarely have a distinctive personality and bold political opinions.

Wilhelm II did not hesitate, and said very generously: "It is true that Iran has now explored enough oil resources for the world to use for hundreds of years, and Germany will focus on Mesopotamia for a long time to come." In this case, Bahrain was rewarded for its loyalty to Ireland and the German Empire. The Imperial Navy General Staff Headquarters is responsible for informing our expeditionary fleet to send a Marine Corps to occupy Bahrain as soon as possible, and to properly hand it over when our Irish allies arrive. ”

Admiral von Pohl, Chief of Staff of the Navy, stood up and said, "As you wish, Your Majesty. ”

Wilhelm II then added: "Well, the armistice treaty should not have a clause that could not be handed over to Ireland after we took over the British colonies, right?" ”

"Not at all, my majesty." Count von delbrück replied loudly, "It doesn't matter if there is, the British have no strength to compete with us, and now we have the final say." ”

The gentlemen present burst into laughter.

Wilhelm II nodded with satisfaction, and then said to Natsuki: "Ireland now has a relatively harmonious relationship with France, and it is possible to take advantage of this condition to buy from the French the shipyards and ships that they cannot afford to operate, especially the oil tankers that transport petroleum fuel, and we will charter them at a favorable price when the time comes." ”

"It's a great idea." Natsuki faced the Kaiser with a respectful smile, "Thank you for the reminder. ”

"That's it. Now except for Willy, Jochen, Alfred, Olg, Hugo, the rest can go. Wilhelm II said to the crowd who had come to his office. The fate of Bahrain was decided without consulting the countries concerned or consulting the protectorates, and the tyranny and unreasonableness of the hegemony has not changed for thousands of years.

The Kaiser left only Crown Prince Wilhelm, Natsuki and the triumvirate of the Imperial Navy, and the next discussion was naturally on the topic of the navy. After everyone had left, Wilhelm II rang the bell on the table, and an attendant officer entered the office with a naval colonel, and they lifted the veil placed in the corner against the wall, and a dozen drawings of the ship at different angles and proportions were immediately displayed in front of everyone.

The Colonel was a member of the Imperial Navy's Technical Council, with whom Natsuki had a close friendship, but on such occasions, the two simply exchanged salutes when they met eye contact.

"After the signing of the armistice treaty, our shipbuilding engineers surveyed the ships under construction in various British shipyards, and their Queen Elizabeth-class battleships were slightly inferior to our Bavarian-class battleships in overall performance, but they were built faster than ours," the colonel said. In order to absolutely guarantee the Empire's superiority at sea, we have readjusted the work plans of the major shipyards, and the construction of the Bavaria-class has been prioritized over the repair of ships in service. In addition, we refer to the design of the Queen Elizabeth class, and we are preparing to upgrade the technical design of the Bavarian class to a certain extent, and the pictures on the left are the improved Bavarian class. ”

The Bavaria-class is a new generation of capital ships of the German Navy after the King-class dreadnoughts, and the design of the original version was carried out under the auspices of Natsuki. Since it is his own proud work, Natsuki is no stranger to the lines and data on the drawings, he carefully read it twice, the so-called upgrade is basically focused on power, and the intention is naturally to obtain a higher speed than the British Queen Elizabeth class. The historical Queen Elizabeth class, before the major refit in the 30s, had a top speed of 25 knots, was the fastest super dreadnought at that time, and its powerful power came from the excellent performance of the full heavy oil boiler and Parsons gear reduction steam turbine, and the design work of the Bavarian class began as early as 1912, at that time no one could say that Germany would definitely have an advantage in the future war, and then obtain a stable source of oil. Therefore, the Bavarian class adopts the power structure of some oil-fired boilers and coal-fired boilers, and designs and installs indiducing steam turbines produced in China, and the maximum speed calculated according to the design data is equivalent to that of the King-class, that is, about 24 knots. Now that the war is slowly coming to an end, it is still uncertain whether the Allied forces will be able to seize Russia's Baku oil fields, but the occupation of the Persian Gulf has entered the substantive stage, and there should not be much variability. Under these circumstances, it made sense to replace Bavaria with a full set of oil-fired boilers, but such a change would slow down the construction of the battleship, and unless the British shipbuilding project was interfered with, the Bavaria-class would be in service more than half a year later than the Queen Elizabeth class, no matter how hard the Germans tried.

"There should be no problem with such an improvement in terms of technology, if nothing else, the improved Bavarian class can successfully break through 25 knots, and the endurance will also be improved, at the cost of delaying the construction period, in my personal opinion, the sacrifice of time is worth it, after all, the British Navy cannot use one or two Queen Elizabeth class to set off a big storm."

Natsuki gave his opinion matter-of-factly, noticing a smug look on the Kaiser's face, and it seemed that the improvement plan was carried out at his insistence.

The remaining blueprints belong to the new capital ships from the Bavarian class, and they belong to the Battlecruisers - or they can be divided into fast battleships separately, as they have both the speed of the Battlecruiser and the defense of the Dreadnought.

The colonel continued: "The military potential of Britain and France has been greatly weakened by the armistice treaty, and our number one hypothetical enemy in the future should be the industrially powerful United States, and the future decisive battle will also be transferred from the North Sea to the depths of the Atlantic, so we have made a relatively large adjustment to the design of the Mackensen-class battlecruisers, and the seaworthiness and endurance have been mentioned in the first place, and the first two ships that are about to lay keels still use 13.8-inch caliber main guns, and the design tonnage has been increased to 33,500 tons; The last five ships raised the caliber of the main guns to 15 inches, and the design tonnage increased to 34500 tons. ”

The Mackensen class was Natsuki's last work in the German Navy, and it now appears that the original design has been significantly adjusted, and it is not enough to see if it has technical flaws.

"The design idea is definitely correct, once built, they will definitely become the best main warships in the world, but ......" Xia Shu said while looking at it, "I have always believed that the future naval war is not only the world of big ships and huge guns, the role of carrier-based aviation will become more and more great, the construction cost of an aircraft carrier is only half of that of a battleship, but its carrier-based aircraft have the opportunity to sink many battleships with torpedoes and bombs, this foreseeable trend should attract your attention." ”

(End of chapter)