The tide ebbed and flowed, and as time passed, the steel skeleton of the new battleship was expanding and extending at a speed that was recognizable to the naked eye, and it would eventually form a complete skeleton of the ship. Pen, fun, pavilion www. biquge。 According to the engineers, this progress has never been faster, and it is entirely possible to achieve the goal of reducing costs and cycle times if we continue to do so.

The ship-building engineers are full of confidence and longing, while Natsuki has to endure both physical and mental grinding. The days of being in a wheelchair continued, and although there was new news from Charlotte's side, the situation did not look promising: she left Elizabeth Women's College not because of physical illness or disgust with school, but because of the family's will, and even stayed in Hill Manor in Thetford all summer, not leaving an inch.

If the heart loses its freedom, no matter how peaceful and beautiful the scenery is, it will be like a prison. Natsuki wished that he could appear next to Charlotte immediately, and as long as she gave her a look of certainty, he desperately eloped away with her.

Even in fairy tales, good wishes can only be realized after several twists and turns, and there are no kind-hearted fairies and elves in the real world, and no matter how big the difficulties are, they can only be overcome by their own efforts. In view of the fact that most of his commercial intelligence officers were bold and flexible civilians, with little formal espionage training, it would be good to be able to collect this information about Charlotte, and in order to realize the next step, Natsuki decided to rely on the power of professional institutions - under the attention of Frederick the Great and his successors, intelligence agencies have become an important part of the German military decision-making body, and they have not only established a system of censorship of telegrams and books, which has set a precedent for the widespread selection of intelligence, but also set up secret intelligence stations abroad. As a result, the scope of foreign intelligence hunting has been further expanded, fixed, and detailed, and counterintelligence and pseudointelligence departments have been set up, and the division of responsibilities has been fully refined. At the beginning of the 20th century, with the exception of the British Empire, whose intelligence network spread all over the world was incomparable to that of the Germans, in Europe, the means and efficiency of the German intelligence services should have surpassed those of other powers.

Back in Berlin, Natsuki first met with Major von Rierreis, the chief of intelligence of the Navy General Staff, and had a long conversation with him, considering that the German Navy's intelligence force was still very weak and the experience of sending spies was still very limited, Natsuki then met with von Inder, the head of the Military Intelligence Bureau of the Army General Staff. The veteran intelligence officer agreed to Natsuki's request, and in addition to using two spies stationed in the United Kingdom with no clear mission, he also sent a team of novices from the intelligence officer training school who had just passed the final exam to cooperate with the operation.

With the help of the military intelligence department, Xia Shu's worries suddenly alleviated a lot, and in him and Feng. On the night of Instehl's meeting, after the dinner of the first family of the Empire, Crown Prince William took the initiative to push Natsuki for a walk. Without the presence of others, the topic quickly turned to the matter of Natsuki "borrowing" spy personnel.

"Some of the most capable of our intelligence officers sent to Britain have been lurked, and they may be exposed if they are deployed on a temporary basis, so Pate has no intention of being disrespectful to you in this arrangement. Those close to me know that your business is my business, there is no doubt about it. ”

On the crown prince's thin face, the smile that pretended to be friendly was the same as usual. Although he knows that he is not an open-minded, mature and stable person, after many years of getting along, Xia Shu has no dislike for him in his heart, but he often reminds himself that he must not get carried away because of the crown prince's overtures, whether it is a king or a person with the qualifications of a king, he will not tolerate others sleeping soundly next to the couch.

"This was originally my private matter, but now I have to use national resources, I am really ashamed." Natsuki blamed himself at first, and then thanked Crown Prince William for his assistance. In fact, when he decided to meet von Instehl, he expected this to happen. Until the navy achieved true maritime supremacy, Germany's roots remained on the mainland, and as the legal heir to the empire, Crown Prince Wilhelm had spared no effort to expand his prestige and influence in the army, and his ranks and positions were promoted at a rate far beyond his personal ability. In recent years, he first served as the commander of the Royal Guards Infantry Regiment with the rank of colonel, and then transferred to the Army General Staff, where he participated in the planning of military exercises of various scales, accumulating valuable experience for the future command of large regiments.

Crown Prince William smiled and patted Natsuki on the shoulder, and said no more words of relief.

"A family of great military prowess – even in the position of our rivals – deserves enough respect. Ten or twenty years ago, our marriage to such a family would have been blessed by the people of both countries, but now that the situation is extraordinary, and Britain and Germany have become direct competitors in trade, colony, politics, and even militarily, the British are generally prejudiced against us, and our people will not have the same good opinion of Britain as they did with their cousins in the past...... Ahem...... To put it simply, you can have a secret lover relationship with an English woman for a long time, but if you are married, I suggest you think carefully, after all, it is related to your bright future, understand? ”

Natsuki lowered his head and didn't look at Crown Prince William, but said, "Well, your tone just now is exactly the same as that of the queen mother. Did she tell you to persuade me? ”

"No, that's my own feelings." William replied quickly.

"I have my own plans and considerations." Natsuki smiled indifferently, "Speaking of which, I really admire Archduke Franz Ferdinand, he would rather give up the inheritance of his children than protect his love and marriage, how open-minded should he be?" Thankfully, I don't have to bear the same heavy responsibilities as the Grand Duke, and even if I marry the common people, it will not have disastrous consequences in this increasingly enlightened era. ”

"Jochen......" William hesitated for a moment, then looked at Natsuki with a resolute expression: "I can't tolerate anyone treating you as an unreliable character because of any problem, if you insist on this unacceptable love, I, Friedrich Wilhelm, will not hesitate to send my sincere blessings and do my best to keep you from slander and harm." ”

Natsuki raised his head in surprise, he knew what a heavy support this was, brotherhood should not have been said about him, but in the ruling class where power dumping is commonplace, blood relations are often as thin as a piece of paper in front of interests, Natsuki offered his words of loyalty with interest. I saw that Crown Prince William smiled contentedly, and he said: "In order not to make you feel uneasy, how about you do me a favor too?" ”

The prince of a dignified country needs the help of a little prince like himself? Natsuki quickly calculated in his heart that William had given him a stadium at his wedding, and in recent years, he had given away top-of-the-line cars, luxury yachts, and new planes to celebrate his birthday, and he couldn't think of anything else that the crown prince could use and that he could provide.

Seeing Natsuki's puzzled face, William continued to maintain his satisfied smile, he turned around in place, his smile gradually faded, but his expression showed dissatisfaction: "There will be a regiment-level combat drill next month, and the staff officer will be in charge of the team leader, someone wants to see me make a fool of myself, and I must not let them succeed." ”

It turns out that the crown prince is also troubled, Natsuki thought to himself. This "someone" should refer to those veteran army generals, and Moltke the Younger, the chief of the General Staff who was trusted by the Kaiser, may also be among them. But since he is not an army officer and has never tried to command a land battle, he is basically a layman, so how can he help? William is simply sick and rushed to the doctor, even if the staff officers of the General Staff are unable to exert their full strength due to restrictions, then they should go to the lower troops to search for powerful officers, how can they think of asking themselves for help?

In response to Natsuki's question, William quickly answered: "In the past, the regimental drills were not based on Schlieffen's battle plan, and all routes and schedules were accurately planned, but this time I was asked to prepare for a battle that was not included in the plan. With little time left, they expected that even if I could complete the plan with the available manpower, it would be full of loopholes, and then their assertion was fulfilled that my current experience was not enough to be the staff commander of a large corps. ”

…… I think that only the old-fashioned Germans don't give face to the prince, but in other countries, it's too late to flatter and stammer!

Natsuki just muttered in his heart, but he said with relief: "The ability to command a large corps of battles, some people are barely qualified by decades of accumulation, and some are innate commanders. Of course, those in front of you will not be convinced, and you don't have to worry too much about it. Over time, they will eventually be impressed by your talent. ”

William nodded again and again when he heard this: "I definitely won't care about people with mediocre qualifications, but this exercise is imperative, and my father will also come to watch it in person, I can't let them see the joke." Jochen, I know you have a wide range of interests, and you have carefully studied all the military books in the Royal Library, whether naval or land, right? ”

Natsuki can't deny that.

"Although you have never received formal army course teaching, I believe that with your military talent, you will be able to come up with subtle tactics that will stun those old guys, and my professional staff officers and I will turn the tactics you have formulated into elaborate combat plans, and you and I will definitely be able to put on a wonderful show together!" The more William spoke, the more excited he became, and he showed a slight madness in the moonlight.

Once great ambitions are suppressed, they will desperately seek opportunities for release......

Xia Shu thought for a while, it is true that he has not undergone the formal education of the army, but his attention to the technology and strategic and tactical thinking of land weapons in this era has not stopped. In terms of the quality of the troops, the German army was superior to other great powers, but this advantage was not enough to offset the strategic defects of the two-front operation and the disparity in the overall strength of the two belligerents. So, he said conclusively: "Although I am not 100% sure, as long as it is your Royal Highness the Crown Prince's orders, I will do my best." ”

With Natsuki's promise, William seems to have put his previous worries behind him, but he doesn't know if he can maintain his current optimism after seeing Natsuki's talent for land combat.

(End of chapter)