In view of the existing equipment and worker conditions of the repair plant, Xia Shu chose speedboats as the new main business, and these years also happened to be a period of rapid development of internal combustion engine technology, countries competed to hold water races, and some nobles and wealthy people also had a strong interest in relatively light and clean speedboats. Pen × fun × Pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 infoAfter winning several successive championships in the race for its speedboats, the Friedrichs Royal Shipyard became famous, with orders and profits pouring in. After winning the German Navy's contract for Thunderbolt boats, Natsuki had actually renovated the repair plant so that workers were able to build at least 20 speedboat hulls a month, and the only company in Germany that could provide high-powered gasoline engines that were also used in zeppelins was the only one that could build speedboats, which were not only strategically important, but also economically viable.

Under the monarchy of the Second German Reich, the imperial family not only controlled the country's military, political and diplomatic powers, but also had a considerable family wealth, and the Friedrich Royal Shipyard was only the tip of the iceberg of the imperial industry. According to tradition, princes and princesses were born with lands - usually castles, estates and lands belonging to the royal family, which they only had ownership of until they reached adulthood and could not officially take over these lands until they reached adulthood.

In addition, princes and princesses may receive other titles from the emperor when they reach adulthood or when they reach adulthood, and Wilhelm II is a generous father when it comes to treating his children. Crown Prince William, Prince Aiter, and Prince Adalbert have all received considerable gifts, and these gifts are not randomly selected from the list of royal possessions, but have a lot to do with the tasks assigned to them by the emperor on a daily basis and their performance. To put it simply, by the time Prince Joachim came of age, if the royal shipyard he was in charge of was in good condition, the emperor would probably have officially taken the shipyard under his name, and the shipyard would become the private property of Joachim and his descendants.

Since the topic of expanding the shipyard was initiated by the emperor, Xia Shu also cried down the river: "We are planning the expansion and upgrading of the shipyard, expanding the scale by 50%, introducing modern machinery and equipment, and striving to make it an internationally competitive shipbuilding and repair enterprise, the biggest problem at present is still capital - the shipyard has received many orders in the past two years, the overall profit is not bad, and the Admiralty has also paid the first installment of the Thunderbolt boat, but in addition to the necessary funds to maintain normal operation, the remaining money is far from enough to complete the upgrade." ”

This situation was obviously expected by the emperor, and he asked without blinking: "What is the overall estimate for the expansion of the shipyard?" ”

Money has always been a sensitive subject, especially on occasions like these, when a figure too large could provoke the displeasure of other princes, and too small to meet the requirements of their own interests. Natsuki used his negotiation skills: "The preliminary estimate is 48 million marks, and the shipyard has raised 20 million by itself, and is ready to borrow 12 million from Deutsche Bank. ”

In this simple calculation, the lack of 16 million marks should be provided by the shipyard shareholders, i.e. the German royal family, which is not a small amount of money, but the cost of the shipyard expansion requires only one-third of the royal patronage, and it is not excessive. At the dinner table, the facial expressions of the emperor and the crown prince did not change much, Aitel frowned, the smile on the corner of Osk's mouth was cold, the queen and the princess were in the mood of staying out, and Christian's surprise had no effect on the overall situation.

"Fred, what do you think?" The Emperor asked Crown Prince William for his opinion in a solicitative tone, which, of course, sounded plain, the kind of courtesy inquiry that had an idea in mind.

Before answering, the crown prince gave Natsuki a look full of meaning.

"I think it's in the interest of the royal family and the navy to make Friedrich's shipyard a top shipyard, especially since Jochen's performance has won the confidence of all of us."

The emperor nodded: "Indeed, the Friedrich shipyard has good congenital conditions, and I think it can not only become a leader in the field of light speedboats, but also make more efforts in the construction and maintenance of large and medium-sized ships." Jochen, you will live up to our expectations! ”

For the sake of the large amount of money invested, Xia Shu immediately stood up to greet and looked at the crown prince with gratitude: "I will definitely go all out." ”

Both the emperor and the crown prince laughed, and each laughed meaningfully.

Expanding the scale and improving the facilities was only one step in Natsuki's development of the Friedrich Royal Shipyard, and given the limited potential of high-speed torpedo boats and the high technical and time requirements of large capital ships, he had set his sights on the more strategic inventions of the airplane and submarine. The Wright brothers' aircraft staggered into the blue sky, the French Navy's double-hulled submarines had already cruised the Mediterranean, but the German top brass had not yet fully realized their enormous value, the military had their eyes on zeppelins and Krupp cannons, gliders were still a civilian sport in Germany, the first submarine of the German Navy was still being built on the slipway of the Kirgermania shipyard, and in the 1905-1906 naval plan, submarines were only the last to accompany them. Now that Natsuki had the rare opportunity to promote the development of new technologies in Germany by changing the minds of the rulers, he mysteriously talked about the shipyard's plan to transform the old sailing dock into a modern 500-ton dock in order to develop and build a new weapon with great potential.

"A large torpedo boat with high speed and heavy equipment?" The emperor speculated.

Natsuki shook his head with a smile and prompted: "The French Navy has already built this type of boat and achieved unexpected results during the exercises, the British Navy has also shown great interest in this new type of boat, it is said that the samples they made have been put to the test, and our Navy has also ordered a ......"

The emperor still didn't guess, but the crown prince Wilhelm hit the bull's-eye without hurrying: "Our little prince is talking about submarines!" They are quite similar in size to our large torpedo boats, the biggest difference being that they can fully submerge and launch torpedoes at target ships in a covert situation. ”

The crown prince's description indicated that he had indeed noticed the new type of ship, and Natsuki couldn't help but be impressed by his brother, who didn't seem to be so knowledgeable.

"Oh, submarines, they are said to be incredibly slow in their diving state, and they don't dive very long, and they are only suitable for ambushing targets in limited waters, and they are very expensive." Judging from the tone and content, the emperor did not have a high opinion of this new weapon, and apparently felt that his own high-speed torpedo boats had a more ideal role as an ambush near the sea.

"When a weapon is still in its infancy, it gives people the intuitive impression that it is indeed clumsy, inferior, or even completely impractical, and the same is true of the speedboat that was just fitted with an internal combustion engine more than ten years ago?" Natsuki retorted in a tactful manner.

The emperor thought for a moment, but his attitude was calm: "Since our design genius is optimistic about this weapon, let's put it into practice according to your vision!" If they prove to be ideal combat weapons, like Thunderbolt speedboats, the Navy will never refuse to procure them because they are new. ”

Natsuki hurriedly thanked him, and the crown prince immediately said to him in a gesture of kind reminder: "As far as I know, the French Navy has invested tens of millions of francs in the submarine project, and the situation of the British is not very clear, and it is estimated that it will cost a lot, and we are obviously in good step in this regard - the Germania shipyard has accumulated early experience by building submarines for Brazil and Russia, and we can not only economically place an order at this time, but also obtain submarines with more mature and stable technology." After the arrival of the goods, our navy can objectively evaluate its combat value in use, so as to help the Admiralty make a correct judgment on this new weapon. With the current strength of the Friedrich shipyard, there is a lot of financial pressure to develop submarines alone, and perhaps we can first draw up a development plan, wait until the navy has comprehensive technical data, and then decide whether to cooperate with the Germania shipyard, if the submarine construction can be included in the navy's plan for 1906-1907, we can also get relatively sufficient financial support. ”

Regarding the crown prince's proposal, Natsuki actively responded to it on the surface, and he already had his own calculations in his heart. Historically, although the technical and battlefield performance of German submarines was far superior to that of other countries, they did not change the outcome of the war, and one of the important reasons was that their quality and scale always increased explosively in the middle and late stages of the war. If a powerful submarine force had been possessed at the beginning of the war, it would not be impossible for the strategic situation to change the strategic situation with a tactical victory -- in order to make this possibility a reality, it is necessary to put aside the mentality of seeking stability excessively and invest decisively with an accurate vision.

(End of chapter)