After receiving assurances from the German side, the Irish Republican Brotherhood set an armed uprising in early November, and according to the results of the negotiations, the German navy would not only blockade Irish waters with submarines, but also send 4,000 naval infantry to land in Ireland. Pen "Fun" Pavilion www.biquge.info

The verbal promises received by the Irish were not the whole plan of the German Navy. In order to break the British blockade in the North Sea, the German High Seas Fleet was scheduled to dispatch all its capital ships in early November, coinciding with the Irish independence uprising. At the behest of Kaiser Wilhelm II, the General Staff of the Navy began preparations for this maritime expedition on an unprecedented scale. The 1st Marine Brigade, which is currently fighting on the front line in Paris, will be replaced by Army units and will return to Germany to recuperate so that it can be deployed in a new battlefield hundreds of kilometers from the German mainland in two to three weeks.

The secret Irish mission led by "Pierce" departed for Ireland, and Natsuki returned to the High Seas Fleet staff. On the Paris front, Crown Prince William's troops are getting closer and closer to the city of Paris, the troops on both wings are constantly compressing the French defensive space, the encirclement of Paris is forming, and the German long-range heavy artillery has also begun to bombard targets on the banks of the Seine......

Flensburg is a German seaport city on Jutland, just a few kilometres from the Danish border. On a rainy autumn day, Natsuki came here from Kiel, more than 70 kilometers away, accompanied by two entourage, walked into a café near the sea, asked for a cup of hot black coffee, opened Shakespeare's "King Lear", and sat by the window to read quietly.

Towards noon, a small cruiser sailed into the harbor, and Natsuki looked away from the pages of the book and quietly watched as it approached the dock not far away, where a small black car was already waiting. I saw a tall man in a black coat, accompanied by two men in German naval uniforms, leave the ship and board the car, which drove along the road and stopped in front of the café.

Natsuki closed the book in front of him and got up to straighten the collar and placket. As usual, he wore a general's style navy civilian clothes, carried no weapons and no belt, and wore a thin dark blue trench coat over his body as the weather became cooler. In wartime, such an outfit was not conspicuous, at least since he came in, not a single waiter or guest in the café has come forward to ask for autographs.

Led by a naval lieutenant, a man in a black coat soon approached Natsuki, his forehead and left eye wrapped in white gauze, slightly messy tan hair that had covered his ears, his face was haggard, his cheeks were sunken, and his lips were bloodless.

"General Hill!"

With a gentle expression, Natsuki stretched out his right hand, but the middle-aged man in front of him with a cold expression did not raise his right hand, but sat down at the coffee table without saying a word.

Unlike the surprise and anger of the entourage, Xia Shu's face was only slightly gloomy, and he nodded to the waitress in the café: "A cup of hot coffee, thank you!" ”

When their eyes met, the waitress suddenly realized that this young naval officer was the prince of Joachim, who was regarded as the genius god of war, and her astonishment was overflowing, and when she brought the coffee, she said to Natsuki with a shy red face: "Your Royal Highness, you are the idol of our whole family, can you sign me?" ”

Although this was not the occasion to ask for an autograph, Natsuki politely gave her a smile and signed her name on her little notepad with the pencil she handed over.

"Sorry......"

Before Natsuki could finish speaking, Robert Hill, Charlotte's father, the commander of the British battlecruiser "Invincible", interrupted him sourly: "I can see that you have become a great hero admired by everyone in Germany, a great hero!" ”

Natsuki breathed a sigh of relief: "I feel very sorry for you and your warship, in fact, we are not willing to be enemies of the British Navy, it is this war that has forced us to become mortal opponents on the battlefield." ”

With no added sugar or milk, General Hill picked up his coffee cup, took a few sips in succession, and then took a large sip as if he hadn't had coffee in a few days.

In the naval battle that broke out on 7 August, the "Invincible" went out with the Betty fleet and encountered the German reconnaissance fleet commanded by Hipper in the waters of Jutland. According to the international neutrality law, Denmark had the right to detain the belligerents it was sheltering until the end of the war, and under diplomatic pressure from Germany, Denmark did not compile a list of the detained British naval personnel, and did not allow the British to send medical personnel into the country, although it provided the most basic subsistence guarantee for the British naval personnel in the custody. For personal reasons, during his detention in Denmark, General Hill did not apply to the Danish authorities for treatment commensurate with the rank of general, so British intelligence officers never knew that he was still alive, and the Germans who were eyeing him did not notice his presence. It wasn't until Natsuki asked the German diplomatic and intelligence agencies in Denmark to investigate that it was discovered that Robert Hill was among the British officers and soldiers detained by Denmark.

The situation in Germany on the Western Front is very good, in this case, the Danish government is more and more afraid to offend the Germans, Natsuki did not make much effort to get General Hill out of the Danish detention camp, and in the process, Hill himself did not show any resistance, Natsuki did not expect him to say thank you to himself, nor did he expect him to make a 180-degree turn on Charlotte's marriage, the reason why he did this was just to want Charlotte to no longer worry about the safety of his relatives and be tortured.

"I vaguely heard it...... You planned that naval battle? ”

From "you" to "you", the different titles are very meaningful.

Natsuki hesitated, "If I said yes, would you kill me with this coffee cup?" ”

General Hill didn't find such an answer humorous, and there was a cold look in his eyes: "What? The great hero of Germany was afraid of me, a man who was missing an eye and was languishing? ”

Natsuki shook his head: "Sometimes when I think of the soldiers who died in the war, and when I think of their grief-stricken families, I feel a sense of guilt that I can't help myself. Instead of preventing the killing, I used my own wits to plan a military operation, how is that different from an arsonist? ”

General Hill snorted, "The real arsonists are those who deliberately start wars for their own benefit, and those who have the ability to stop wars but fail to stop them. As soldiers, you and I have no choice but to obey the will of the ruler. ”

Natsuki painstakingly went around in circles, waiting for Robert Hill's expression of "military innocence".

"I'm glad you understand that. If you wish, I can arrange for you to return to the UK as soon as possible, and all the family members are praying for you day and night while you have not been heard from. ”

"If it's really for my sake and my family's sake, you should send me back to Denmark or give me a decent finish." The implication of General Hill's words could not be clearer: what would people think when a general who had been captured by a neutral country was actually rescued by an enemy country? This is not only a matter of his personal reputation, but the honor of the entire family will be irreparably damaged, and it is really not as happy as dying in a glorious battle!

Natsuki did not answer directly, but asked rhetorically, "I don't know how long this battle will last, and even if you are willing to stay in Denmark until the end of the war, how long will your family endure?" In addition, Denmark cannot guarantee your health, and if you collapse, you will no longer be able to fulfill your responsibility to protect your family in the future. ”

General Hill was speechless, with a sigh on his face.

Natsuki knew his concerns, so he made several preparations at the same time: "I can arrange for you to return to England through Sweden, and the Swedes will claim that they have rescued you from the Danish internment camp by special means, or arrange for you to stay in Germany until the end of the war, and then arrange for you to be repatriated to England with other prisoners of war at that time, what do you think?" ”

General Hill thought about it carefully, "It's good intentions, but you really shouldn't have brought me here. ”

Natsuki shrugged: "I'm also entrusted by someone. ”

"Charlotte?" General Hill shook his head helplessly, and stopped talking.

"In any case, the war will come to an end, and Germany and Britain cannot always be enemies." Natsuki said.

General Hill looked at the coffee cup on the table with his only remaining eye, and there was deep sadness in his eyes: "But this war has planted the seeds of hatred between our two countries, and there may never be a return to the tolerant and friendly relations that used to be." Why torture two people or even two families for the sake of so-called love? ”

Xia Shu didn't know this truth, he was entangled for a long time, and he was melancholy for a long time, but all his determination was like drawing a knife to cut off water, and his sorrow and worry did not diminish at all. Now, Germany is sending troops to Ireland to help the Irish become independent from the British Empire. This is certainly in line with the wishes of most Irish people, but for the British, Germany's move is a deliberate dismemberment and division of Britain, and as a soldier, the first duty is to defend the country's sovereignty and integrity, and when the Irish celebrate independence, Natsuki really doesn't know what kind of eyes the Hill family will look at themselves.

General Hill glanced at the book in Natsuki's hand and said, "Most people's lives are a tragedy, and sometimes no matter how hard you try, you can't change the tragic ending. ”

"King Lear" is one of Shakespeare's four great tragedies, during the war, Natsuki did not bury himself in military books, firstly, because military literacy mainly relies on the accumulation of peacetime and personal understanding, and secondly, these famous works that seem to have no direct relationship with war often contain very profound philosophies, and good thinkers can naturally get useful inspiration from them.

(End of chapter)