In the southwest of Berlin, near Potsdamer Platz, the renovation of an old racecourse is nearing completion, with a new façade reminiscent of the Colosseum of ancient Rome, but without the majesty and solemnity of the Colosseum. www.biquge.info In the past six months, Berlin residents living south of the city center have heard of the new stadium being renovated by a member of the royal family, and on the day of its grand opening, a football tournament with no restrictions on participation conditions, a knockout format and a large prize money will be created.

Modern football originated in England, and the athleticly talented Germans were the first group to introduce the concept of football on the European continent, and their first football club, Munich 1860, was founded only five years later than the original Sheffield club in England. After the reunification of Germany, football in Germany developed as fast as the country participated in the second industrial revolution, and many cities saw club and local competitions, which basically did not require much space and equipment, and this sport was suitable for all groups of people, including workers, citizens, and students. By 1904, when FIFA officially admitted Germany as a member, football had become part of the daily lives of many Germans.

Walking on the verdant grass of the new stadium, Natsuki imagined the players indulging in galloping and wonderful confrontations here, imagining the crowds in the surrounding stands, and felt more and more that there were many commonalities between time and space separated by a hundred years.

"Your Highness, the turf here has been carefully selected and carefully cultivated according to your instructions, and walking on it with your eyes closed feels like stepping on a Turkish wool carpet." In the past few months, the construction engineer has built a 6,000-seat grandstand and a 101-metre-long and 69-metre-wide playing field within a total budget of 600,000 marks. In the eyes of future generations, this humble stadium was not good enough to qualify for the top league, but in 1905, there were few pure football stadiums in the world, and its specifications were quite impressive.

Natsuki poked down obliquely with the tip of his leather shoe, the turf was quite tight, so that he could not pick up a large piece with a shovel, but after all, this was the beginning of the era of football, the rules of the game in various countries and regions were not completely uniform, and the team styles and player skills were varied. Immediately afterwards, Natsuki walked to the edge of the meadow to inspect the drainage system, and it must be said that the German's rigorous and pragmatic character is very competent for engineering design and construction tasks. The stadium was inside and out, up and down, and he didn't pick out a single glaring flaw.

"Mr. Rich, I am very satisfied with your work, as stated in the contract, as long as it can be put into operation smoothly by the weekend, you will get that reward."

The middle-aged man bent down and nodded: "Your Highness, as you wish, this stadium will definitely be completed this week." In fact, we're just waiting for the custom sculpture to arrive and be installed, and all that's left is some finishing touches. ”

After inspecting the construction of the stadium on the spot, Natsuki has nothing to worry about it, except that the weather is a little gloomy, and there may be one or several rains next, and this open-air stadium is obviously not suitable for watching football on rainy days.

After leaving the court, Natsuki drove his open-top Opel car through the city. When they arrived at the Imperial Navy offices, it was tea time, and the officers walked out of the office building in groups and went to the surrounding cafes or restaurants to relax some tense nerves. Unlike the German royal family, which has recently been busy preparing for the wedding celebration of Crown Prince Wilhelm, Germany's military and political officials are grieving another headache: the "first Moroccan crisis" triggered by Kaiser Wilhelm II's visit to the Moroccan city of Tangier.

Morocco is located in northwest Africa, bordering the Mediterranean Sea in the north and the Atlantic Ocean in the west, and its important port Tangier, the gateway to the Mediterranean Sea from the Atlantic Ocean, has an important strategic position and has become an important place for European powers to compete. Since the beginning of the 20th century, France has rapidly expanded its influence in Morocco, carried out economic infiltration, controlled Moroccan finances, and divided its sphere of influence in Morocco with Spain. German strategic decision-makers were also aware of the importance of Morocco, actively encouraging their businessmen to invest in Morocco and covertly supporting Moroccan independence.

The Moroccan crisis began as a diplomatic war of words between Germany, France, and Great Britain, but over the past few months, thanks to the tireless efforts of French Foreign Minister Delcasse and the encouragement of the British government, the crisis has gradually evolved from a diplomatic friction into an international dispute that could become a military conflict, with the German Emperor considering a short-term war to force the French to compromise, and his idea was enthusiastically echoed by the German army generals. In the Franco-Prussian War 34 years ago, the Germans not only stepped on the French to achieve unification, but also received a huge indemnity of 5 billion francs and the Alsace and Lorraine regions with rich iron ores, which provided them with huge funds and rich mineral resources for their industrial development, while the French government was burdened with heavy war reparations. At the beginning of the 20th century, the French army was inferior in size, equipment and morale, and their ally, the Russian Empire, was dragged down by the Russo-Japanese War, and most of its troops had been transferred to the Far East. Once war broke out between Germany and France at this time, the Russian army could hardly pose a real threat to Germany, and the German army, which was free from worries, only had to deal with the French army and the few British expeditionary forces, and it was not difficult to reach Paris again. At that time, the French government, in order to avoid greater humiliation and loss, will obediently give up all their interests in Morocco.

While the German Army Staff was eager to wage a war against France that would bring another thirty years of peace, the German Navy was in an awkward position. Since Britain has repeatedly expressed its support for France in this crisis, it is very likely that Britain will enter the war if war breaks out between Germany and France. With the present strength of the German High Seas Fleet, it would be a pebble to challenge the British Home Fleet, and then it would be uncomfortable for anyone to have to huddle pitifully in their own harbor and watch British warships hunt down German merchant ships across the oceans.

In the office of the Minister of the Admiralty, Tirpitz seemed to greet the Prussian prince, who was still a naval cadet, but after shaking hands, his first words did not sound pleasant: "In this discussion of the design of the new battleship, His Majesty the Emperor has expressly requested you, the 'genius designer of the Hohenzollern family,' to participate as a representative of the Imperial Family." I've been wondering for the past few days if our Royal Highness the Prince will come up with a surprising master design as he did last time, maybe ...... You brought more than one class of battleship designs? ”

The embarrassment of the Moroccan crisis aside, the shocking results of the Russo-Japanese Battle of Tsushima made the German Navy's top brass more and more aware of the crisis -- the Russian fleet, with 8 battleships and 45 other ships, suffered a crushing defeat in just a few hours to the Japanese fleet with 4 battleships and 8 armored cruisers as the main force, and the Japanese only sank 21 Russian warships and captured 9 with insignificant losses, and the Tsarist Navy lost 270,000 tons of ships in one day, falling from third to sixth in the world...... Until the news is repeatedly confirmed, many people will not believe the words on the telegram, or speculate that the despicable British secretly sent ships to participate in the naval battle. It was not until the surviving Russian sailors described the battle situation from the first perspective that people knew that it was a good show directed by the Japanese Navy with their ingenious strategy, and the tactics they adopted were also enthusiastically studied and studied by their counterparts in various countries, and the British and German navies, who regarded each other as their number one rivals, did not want to find a way to suppress their opponents. According to various sources, the British Parliament has approved the budget for its new warships, and its cost is much higher than that of the existing battleships, and its strength will be increased exponentially. Now the German Navy's newest Deutschland-class battleships have already started construction of the first four, the first ship has been launched, and the fifth is scheduled to start construction in two months. According to the 1905-1906 shipbuilding plan under the Navy Act of 1900, the German Navy was ready to invest in the construction of a new class of battleships in 1906, which would be an enlargement and enhancement of the German class, but even if it could achieve a 30% increase in performance, it would no longer be enough to meet the current situation. It was against this background that Tirpitz summoned key personnel from the Navy's ship design department to Berlin to discuss the next steps to deal with and report back to the Emperor. William II agreed in principle, but asked that Prince Joachim participate in the discussion on behalf of the royal family and give constructive comments during the discussion.

The curtain of the era of dreadnoughts is slowly opening, and Natsuki is well aware that Germany's next class of battleships will also enter the threshold of dreadnoughts, but the historical Nassau class is not a success, it only further establishes the design idea of German battleships with heavy armor, light firepower, and subdivided compartments. With the high-speed torpedo boats and the Scharnhorst-class armored cruisers, Natsuki was planning to exert more influence in the field of shipbuilding, but he also knew that the naval minister, who had a strong sense of opinion and a desire to control, did not want the royal family to interfere too much in the internal affairs of the navy. After the last friction over the design of the Scharnhorst-class armored cruiser, he chose a more secure approach to intervention:

"I don't want to tell you that I feel very confused about the current situation, as if I am standing at a strange intersection, with roads in all directions, but I don't know which way to go...... I hope to get valuable tips from the teacher. ”

(End of chapter)