.“ Have you really decided that you want to go to the United States? I don't know much about that country, is it safe to travel like this? ”

Lisa, who was standing behind Tatsuten, seemed to have been thinking about it all day since Tatsuten told her that they would be visiting the United States and attending an important meeting soon. Perhaps she doesn't think America is special

As Chen Tian expected, things suddenly went faster after his meeting with the American ambassador. On the third day alone, there was a positive response from Washington, and the Wilson government expressed its strong approval of the German proposal to "conclude an international naval entente." After that, the diplomatic services of both sides quickly gave this idea a chance to be realized with rare efficiency. Under the joint lobbying of the two sides, Austria-Hungary, Russia, Turkey, and Japan have agreed to participate in the international naval conference, and the initiating countries, Germany and the United States, will send special delegations to Washington, the capital of the United States.

"Don't worry! Matthew will take care of our itinerary, and the U.S. government will fully cooperate with us! For the woman's worries, Chen Tian had no choice but to comfort her like this. In fact, she was more worried about the assassination of Wilhelm II, and some ministers, notably Chancellor Batemann, thought that it would be enough for her to attend the Washington Naval Conference, and that the discussion of a naval entente would not require the Emperor of the German Empire to make a personal trip.

For these confusions, Chen Tian felt that there was no need to answer them one by one. What's more, his trip was absolutely supported by Tirpitz and Bilo, and Marshal Bilow even repeatedly asked the United States to see the situation of the U.S. Army in person, but Chen Tian considered that Tirpitz and Bilo could ensure the stability of the country when he left, so he politely declined the old marshal's initiative.

"Oh well! I'm going to pick up my mother and take her to the palace for a while, and help take care of Sasha and Andres! Lisa didn't continue to cling to her sensual apprehensions, after all, the man in front of her was not a rash person.

Hearing this, Chen Tiancai remembered that it had been a long time since he had seen his father-in-law and mother-in-law. After deciding to take Lisa to the United States. He took his mother, Madame Prince Heydrich, to the palace, but forgot about the Pascals, who lived in Hamburg.

"Well, I think my mother will be glad that she and Madame Pascal always have much to talk about! By the way, and General Pascal, who has been in good health lately! ”

"It's good, but I think it's boring to stay at home after retiring, and I'm either fiddling with maps or going hunting in the countryside all day. It looks like it rusts when you stop! Lisa said in a strange tone.

Chen Tian looked back at the first lady of the German Empire, she had indeed matured a lot in the past ten years, but she had not finished doing anything or what she should not do.

"Ah, the emperor ** people are like this, I think it will be no exception when I get old!" Chen Tian said with a rare smile on his face, and unconsciously, his smile in the past year has been much less than before.

Lisa looked helpless, but her face was also full of autumn smiles. "Alas. Do you soldiers want to sleep with a rifle in your arms all day? ”

"Not necessarily!" Chen Tian pretended to be serious and thought for a while, "Artillerymen should like to sleep with cannons on their pillows, and sailors will lie on the deck to sleep." Pilots probably dream of soaring in the air! ”

"Alas, we German women are so pitiful!" Lisa was completely helpless, but she was not depressed or depressed by this, and after a while, she turned around and went to prepare for her departure.

On November 17, 1915, three days after Chentian's 33rd birthday, a brand-new battleship set sail in the military port of Wilhelm in northwestern Germany. Despite not being able to catch up with the previous war, the Dvlinger-class battlecruiser "Lützov" entered service as scheduled. The ship was named "Lützov" in honor of an excellent Prussian cavalry general, Baron Adolf Ludwig Wilhelm von Lützov. As its name suggests. "Lützov" has an innate glory, not only because it is the newest and best battlecruiser in the German Navy, not only because it embodies the essence of the German shipbuilding industry, but because it undertook the heavy responsibility of carrying the German Emperor on its first voyage, which is an unprecedented glory of any German battleship!

This time, the "Lützov" was accompanied by four other ships on its voyage to the Americas: the cruiser "Stuttgart" with a displacement of 9,000 tons and equipped with 206 mm guns, the "Munich" with a displacement of 6,200 tons and 152 mm guns and anti-submarine equipment, the auxiliary cruiser "Leant" with a displacement of 4,900 tons and six guns with millimeter guns, and the new hospital ship "Huber" with first-class medical equipment of 3,300 tons.

The German Navy had long regarded Britain, which was across the sea, as its main hypothetical target. But what Tirpitz single-handedly created was a veritable "ocean-going fleet". At a cruising speed of 10 knots, the Nassau class has a range of 9,400 nautical miles, the Caesar and King classes are 8,000 nautical miles, and only the Helgoland class is slightly less, but it also reaches 5,500 nautical miles. In comparison, the British George V class has a range of just over 4,000 nautical miles, the Giant class has 6,100 nautical miles, the St. Vincent class has a range of 6,900 nautical miles, and the Queen Elizabeth class has a design range of 8,600 nautical miles. Among the current capital ships of the United States, except for the latest New York-class with a range of 9,600 nautical miles, the Florida-class and Delaware-class are both less than 7,000 nautical miles.

Compared with the battleships, the German battlecruisers from the von der Tann class to the Devgrenlin class basically sacrificed a certain endurance in exchange for high speed, and the latest "Lützov" is no exception, with a cruising speed of 14 knots and can sail up to 5600 nautical miles. But thanks to the superior capabilities of the Naval General Staff, Germany had long since divided the world's seas into a series of zones, each headed by a German Quartermaster Officer, who had the authority to order all the ships in the zone to go wherever the German ships might have to join them. It has the right to requisition the assets of German banks and comptoirs for the supply of warships. In this way, the ships of the German Navy could be refueled almost in the world's oceans.

In the next two weeks, the fleet headed by the "Lützov" will cross the North Sea and then the Atlantic Ocean and finally arrive in Washington, D.C. Traveling on such a new warship with a displacement of 31,200 tons and a maximum speed of 26.5 knots, not to mention Chen Tian and Lisa, even the accompanying Chief of the General Staff of the Navy, Marshal Hugo von Pohl, and other members of the naval delegation also felt very sure.

Because of this special voyage, the Admiralty had made a great deal of elaborate arrangements for the new, even paint-stained battleship, with the Kaiser and his wife and his attendants occupying the most comfortable cabins among them, and the accompanying officers and officers being properly arranged. For the Admiralty such a hard work. Chen Tian is naturally appreciative. Now there were nearly 1,300 men on board the "Lützov" with officers and sailors, plus four other ships, and the total number of the entire fleet exceeded 3,000 men, including twenty-five of the best cooks and the equivalent of a medium-sized field hospital.

The weather had begun to cool down in November, and Chentian, dressed in a trench coat, visited the warship with great interest with the help of Captain Feng Dalwick, leaving the footsteps of the young emperor from the deck to the empty machine gun battle position. In the end, Chen Tian also stopped and watched for a while on the open-air air defense observation post. Viewed from above, it was a sturdy and powerful battleship, with the waves being split flat by the huge bow and retreating along the hull. In the center of the bow deck are two large turrets stacked on top of each other. Four of the German Navy's finest large-caliber naval guns, the 50-fold diameter 305 mm guns, stared up at the sea in front of them. Like traditional German battleships, the bridge of this warship was not high, behind which were two huge chimneys separated by almost 30 meters. At this time, the battleship was advancing at a cruising speed of 14 knots. But the smoke coming out of the chimney was not as thick as that of other German warships, because the "Lützov" and its other two sister ships were powered by a mixture of oil and coal, with 14 boilers providing 63,000 horsepower for the huge battleship.

On this battleship, the other two main turrets are arranged in the center line of the rear, which is also a popular design pattern in navies around the world - the front and rear firepower is equally powerful, and all the main guns can be fired at the side of the ship at the same time. In the face of this situation, Chen Tian sometimes thinks of the main gun arrangement on the battleships of the Third Reich in another world, the arrangement of the first weak and the second strong is really helpless, but fortunately, the same situation will not be repeated in this world.

"Your Majesty, it's windy here. Beware of colds! ”

Von, Field Marshal Bohr, head of the German delegation to the Washington Naval Conference, cautiously reminded the emperor. By this time, winter had quietly arrived, and perhaps the weather was still warm in the distant Pacific Ocean, but the wind was cold for the fleet, which had just left the German mainland and sailed on the North Sea.

"Oh, got it!"

Chen Tian was not disgusted by the advice of his subordinates, he knew that although he was in the prime of life. But it doesn't stop you. If you are unfortunate enough to catch a cold at this time, although you will not cancel the trip, it will cause a lot of inconvenience to the rest of the day. This time, Tirpitz, Bilow, Hindenburg and other veterans did not accompany him, and even his henchman Matthew stayed in Berlin, so the surroundings of Chentian were somewhat dull. Pol is also considered a naval veteran, and he and Chentian respect each other, but they don't have much personal friendship.

After another glance at the refreshing blue sky and the similarly colored sea, Chen Tian turned around and began to walk down the steps, by the way, he glanced at the ships that followed the "Lutzov", their bodies were much more delicate in comparison, but the hospital ship "Huber" painted all white made people shine, the slender and simple hull, the bow typical of the sailing era and the auxiliary sails on the mast were all out of place with the steel warships around them.

After this, Tatsuten returned to his room. The woman, who had no interest in anything related to the battleship, was sitting in a comfortable chair by the porthole reading The Red and the Black.

Chentian also read that book, and read the Chinese version at the time. Although it is a masterpiece, it may not be recognized by everyone, just like this well-armed battlecruiser, in Lisa's eyes, is just a "terrible, cold, huge war machine".

"It's a nice day, so you really don't go up to the deck?" Knowing that he would get a negative answer, Chen Tian still asked.

Sure enough. Lisa vetoed the proposal very firmly.

"Oh no, I don't want to smell the bad smell coming out of the chimney!"

Somewhat boring, Chen Tian walked to the other side of the room, where there was a door-shaped passage, which used to be the study specially prepared for him. Before leaving, Chen Tian had already arranged everything, and the internal affairs were in the sole responsibility of Prime Minister Bateman, Stresemann was in charge of foreign affairs, and Tirpitz and Bilow kept an eye on the army. General Matthew takes control of Berlin, and even the succession to the imperial throne has been announced - Wilhelm Andrés is the first heir, and in the event of an accident, the four-year-old crown prince will rule the country with the assistance of Prince Heydrich. As a result, his richly decorated mahogany desk was not piled up with papers waiting to be reviewed as usual, and now only very important documents were sent that needed to be made by him.

For the first time since ascending the throne, Chen Tian was a little idle, and the world seemed to have really entered an era of complete peace.

"Forget it, let's call everyone to study the upcoming international naval conference!" Chen Tian proposed it himself, but he quickly denied himself. Because they're going to be on this ship for two weeks. In addition, the Navy Staff has prepared all the required information before boarding the ship, so the time is very abundant! In addition, when he visited the battleship just now, Chen Tian had already noticed that some people were tired. They may be taking a nap at this time.

After reviewing the few documents he had, he wanted to find some fun in the press. Jonalet prepared for him the latest issue of the Berliner Zeitung and several internal publications within the Navy, one called "Navigation", the other "Naval Warfare", and the last one, which Chen Tian thought was very good, called "Age of Empires". The layout of these newspapers and periodicals was as rigid as most of the publications of this era, but the content was acceptable, some of them were about various kinds of navigation, and some were about ancient and modern naval warfare.

Chentian flipped through it like this until the attendant invited him to dinner. 12 noon. About four hours after leaving Wilhelmshaven, a fleet on duty in the North Sea temporarily joined the escort group: the battleships Rhineland and Posen, as well as several other cruisers and destroyers of the First Detachment of the High Seas Fleet. After the end of the Battle of England, the German Navy announced the lifting of the blockade of the British Navy and sent some ships to the British military port Pascavlo and Portland military ports, which were stipulated in the German-British Peace Treaty. In addition to this, the Navy maintained a certain number of guard ships in the North Sea, the northern waters of Scotland, the Irish Sea, and the eastern Atlantic, and leased two good harbors from the Irish as warship anchors and supply bases.

"Your Majesty, the battleships Rhineland and Posen have sent a signal, and all the officers and men of the Navy salute you!" Captain of the "Lützov". It was also the commander of this fleet, Rear Admiral Dalwick, who happily reported to Chentian.

Chen Tian looked at the sea outside the porthole, and the two warships were sailing not far behind the side.

"Oh, tell them for me, every one of them is good, and I'm so proud of them! I hope they will be able to keep the bravery and loyalty of the Navy alive, and I wish them a good mood! ”

"Yes, Your Majesty!"

Needless to say, the officers and men of the navy in their simplicity must have been thrilled by the emperor's praise. The "Rhineland" and "Posen" are Nassau-class battleships, as the first class dreadnoughts of the German Navy, their displacement is only two-thirds of the "Lützov", and the four battleships of the same class were launched in 1909-1910, equipped with 12 280 mm 45 times diameter Krupp SKL/45 guns, with a speed of 20 knots. The Posen is used for vigilance and defense in the coastal waters of the mainland as well as in the North Sea.

"There should be no hostile ships in the North Sea now, such as the submarines sent by the British government-in-exile?" Chen Tian's casual sentence was enough to shock the admirals present, the war had been over for more than three months, and the North Sea had fallen into the complete control of the German Navy a long time ago, but even so, no one was 100% sure whether the enemy's submarines would enter the North Sea. After Robert I's Native English government signed an armistice with Germany, the British government in exile in Canada refused to recognize it, and declared that it would continue to fight Germany and its allies until the British mainland was recovered and the Central Powers were defeated.

Before Marshal Pol spoke, almost everyone in the audience looked at each other.

"Your Majesty, you don't have to worry about that! Our ships equipped with sonar equipment and depth charges patrol the North Sea every day, you see, there are 4-5 auxiliary cruisers and destroyers of this kind in this alert fleet that has just come to escort the convoy, plus airships and aircraft of naval aviation, it is not easy for any enemy submarine to operate in the North Sea! Since March of this year, our German warships and merchant ships have not been attacked by any situation in the North Sea region! ”

"Don't be nervous, I'm just kidding!"

Chen Tian appeased this group of soldiers who didn't seem to have any humor cells on them, not to mention whether the British government-in-exile could send ocean-going submarines with superior performance to the North Sea, the route of his trip this time was highly secretive, even if he happened to encounter an enemy submarine, the anti-submarine power of the "Munich" and the high speed of the "Lützov" could get out of the predicament, if it was the enemy's surface ships, then even if the British government-in-exile concentrated all the remaining warships, I am afraid that it would not be the opponent of the "Lützov"!