The June 9, 1915, issue of the New York Daily Times featured a front-page biographical article entitled "The German Saints," detailing Prince Joachim of the House of Hohenzollern, a candidate for the Irish throne. Pen "Fun" Since the signing of the armistice treaty between the Commonwealth countries and the Allied countries, this orthodox journal with a high reputation in the United States has been published for more than a week in a row on the leaders who played an important role in the war, and Kaiser Wilhelm II, who stood on the top of the world, occupied the first place, followed by the guardian of the thousand-year-old empire, Emperor Franz Joseph I, the powerful ruler of the Islamic world, the Ottoman Sultan Mohammed V, the frustrated leader King George V, the resolute French President Poincaré, the soul of Yugoslavia, King Peter I of Serbia, and the less influential leaders of the belligerent countries.www.biquge.infoFor example, King Leopold I of Belgium, King Ferdinand I of Bulgaria, King Emanuele III of Italy, and Japan, which was rising in the Far East and the Pacific, were overlooked.

Although this unprecedented and brutal war has cost nearly two million lives, more than seven million wounded, tens of millions of civilians displaced, and the economic losses caused are a very startling astronomical amount, the American people far away from the European battlefield have only a superficial understanding of these big figures who decided the course of the war, and even many people will say their names incorrectly. Americans began to look with curiosity at these commanders, who could make thousands of soldiers rush to death with the wave of their hands, so the New York Daily Times' character series was quickly popular. The order of the appearance of this mission series is obviously according to the importance of the American understanding, so it was followed by another legend of the Moltke family - Helmut von Moltke, chief of the German General Staff, Alfred von Tirpitz, the father of the German ocean-going fleet, and the French battle flag Gallieni, and the tenth "figure" presented to the eyes of the Americans was named Prince Joachim, who was nicknamed "German saint". When the ordinary American realizes that the German royal family who was chosen by the Irish as the new leader is only 25 years old, but he is a talented ship-building engineer, a successful business operator and business leader, an outstanding naval general, a first-class marine commander and other roles as a whole, he can't help but admire such a big winner in life, you must know that the New York Daily Times is a serious, solemn, and well-educated newspaper, and its news reports can stand on a more objective standpoint, and there are few subjective elements in terms of wording. But the real charisma of personality is not overshadowed by the rigidity of words. Such a single, unmarried diamond prince has naturally become the dream lover of countless people of the opposite sex, and because the black-and-white illustrations in the newspapers can only make people vaguely recognizable his physical appearance, the Germans, who were not very popular in the past, have become the most sought-after objects in New York social scenes, and if they can produce a picture of Prince Joachim, they will continue to receive visitors even after the banquet......

On the other side of the Atlantic, it took Natsuki some time to learn that he had become a household icon in the United States. In the past, he had to worry about the thoughts of Prince William, and he could be low-key, but now the situation is different, but he is still unwilling to show himself in an overly flamboyant manner, not to mention that at this time he did not sit on the throne of Ireland steadily, but continued to hold the special title of candidate for the throne. For no other reason, in the London Armistice Treaty signed between the Commonwealth and the Allied powers, Britain recognized the independence of Ireland, but was able to retain an enclave in the Ragan River valley in northeastern Ireland - with the Port of Belfast as the center, an area of about 4,000 square kilometers of land within British territory. As a member of the Hohenzollern family, Natsuki was powerless to blame for such a result, and the real responsibility did not lie with the Kaiser and his ministers, but only on the cunning of the British, who seized the golden rule of putting national interests first. Even if Natsuki were to sit in the Kaiser's place, he would have made the same choice in the face of the Lend-Lease of Hong Kong, a jewel that the British had offered in exchange for a corner of Ireland.

At this time, Hong Kong was already an important entrepot for trade in South China, with a population of 500,000, and its economic and military strategic position far surpassed that of Qingdao, which was an excellent stepping stone for German power to return to the Far East. In previous negotiations, Britain was only willing to cede its colonies in Africa and the South Pacific, provide war reparations, and limit the size of its navy, which was really coveted by the Germans. After the armistice was signed, Germany and its allies appeared to have received rich war rewards, but in fact they failed to maximize their military superiority, and the British were the opposite, as the defeated side made full use of political and diplomatic means to protect their core interests.

Homeland security is the absolute core of a country, and as long as it controls the predominantly Protestant northeast of Ireland, Britain can easily restrain Ireland from a passive position in a possible future conflict between the two countries, even without considering the agreement between the Irish parliament and the candidates for the throne.

Ireland could not do anything to get the Germans to abandon Hong Kong and preserve Ireland's territorial integrity, not even the father-son relationship between Prince Joachim and Kaiser Wilhelm II. Realizing this, Natsuki gave up his useless struggle and instead demanded compensation from the German government for "breach of contract". Before the armistice was signed, the Kingdom of Ireland and the German Empire signed a secret treaty outside of the original agreement. Under this secret treaty, the Irish Navy would receive the battlecruiser von der Tann and the light cruiser Breslau, nominally belonging to the Ottoman Turks, and the German government would compensate the Turks with two new warships, a clever exchange that would circumvent the terms of the agreement that the British had exchanged for the entire Malvinas Islands in which Germany would not sell active capital ships to Ireland, and the Germans promised in the secret treaty that ten years after the war, "von de Tann" and "Scharnhorst" and "Gneisenau" The German government will cover the maintenance costs.

In addition to the confrontation on the Eastern Front, peace was finally restored in the areas where the war was most intense, and the belligerents sent prisoners to each other, demarcated the border and erected posts in accordance with the contents of the treaty, adjusted their deployments, and reduced their troops. Under the auspices of the armistice, the new Kingdom of Ireland did not have to worry about British military intervention in the short term, and party leaders and cadres with little experience in domestic affairs were able to find ways to govern the country in a relatively relaxed environment, and the arrival of a large number of German advisers and retired officials also eased their pressure to a large extent.

Based on the alliance between Ireland and Germany, Natsuki relied on tens of thousands of elite German troops deployed in Ireland to break up and reorganize the Irish Volunteer Army, the Irish Free Army, and the Irish Revolutionary Army, which were separate armed forces, and then screened the reorganized troops, and finally retained only 68,000 officers and soldiers. In terms of military system, the Irish Army is basically modeled after the German Army, each infantry division has jurisdiction over 2 infantry brigades, 1 artillery regiment and directly subordinate cavalry companies, engineer companies, independent baggage units, etc., each infantry brigade includes 2 infantry regiments, each infantry regiment includes 3 infantry battalions, each infantry battalion includes 4 infantry companies and 1 machine gun company, and the standard of weapons and equipment has basically reached the level of the German front-line troops, but this does not mean that more than 60,000 Irish soldiers can give full play to the combat effectiveness of the same number of German troops. The Military Academy, which trained officers and non-commissioned officers, was soon formally established with the help of the Germans, and literacy courses were moved directly into the junior battalions and companies of the Irish Army.

The Irish navy and air force were built up in close tandem with the Army, and the two Scharnhorst-class armoured ships, which were excluded from the German Navy's capital ship category, became the cornerstone of the Irish Navy by way of transfer, along with 2 light cruisers, 12 large torpedo boats, 12 submarines, 40 patrol gunboats, 40 high-speed torpedo boats, and 30 seaplanes. Judging from the data on paper, the Irish Navy has grown from scratch and suddenly crossed the ranks of the third-rate navy, and its strength is close to or even reached some second-rate naval powers, and the Irish Air Force, which has all kinds of reconnaissance aircraft, fighters, and bombers, has a powerful configuration that is proud of most countries. Although neither Germany nor Ireland has released the inside story of the deal in these weapons and equipment, anyone with a discerning eye knows that it has a lot to do with the German royal family as a candidate for the Irish throne, and it is not an exaggeration to call it a "political dowry".

National defense is only possible with the army, and national defense cannot rely on the army alone. After raising the scepter of the candidate for the throne, Natsuki quickly fulfilled his original promise, and a large number of daily necessities and machinery and equipment were shipped from Germany, some of which were free aid agreed between the two countries, and some of which Natsuki bought in exchange for his own private property in Germany, so that he could justifiably carry out the strategic layout at the national level according to his wishes. The original capital of Ireland, Dublin, was located on the east coast, only a hundred kilometers away from the nearest Welsh coast, which was conducive to trade with the British, and also contributed to Dublin's unique size and status in Ireland, but after Ireland became an independent country, such a geographical location was equivalent to putting the capital under the guns of the opponent, and was always held hostage by the other party. During the Irish War of Independence, Dublin was repeatedly reduced to a battlefield, with most of the buildings and urban facilities in ruins, and more than eighty percent of the citizens scattered and left the city. In the midst of heated debate, Natsuki made a firm decision: to set up the new capital of the Kingdom of Ireland in Limerick, with its back to Britain and facing the Atlantic.

(End of chapter)