On August 4, 1933, a four-engine aircraft painted with the Hohenzollern Black Hawk and the German Iron Cross emblem arrived at Joachim Air Base in Limerick, the heir to the throne of the German Empire, Friedrich Wilhelm Victor August Ernst, also known as "Little Wilhelm". Since the 20s www.biquge.info the name has been associated with many international events, sometimes for his efforts to resolve conflicts between European countries, and for his efforts to resolve conflicts between European countries, and sometimes for taking a strong stance on political and diplomatic issues, and becoming a promoter of tensions. In the eyes of German nationalists, this is a leader with a distinctive personality and daring to act, and Germany will certainly be able to break through the strategic bottleneck of development and expansion under his leadership and become a world hegemon comparable to or even surpassing the British Empire......

Unlike his previous trips to Ireland, William Jr. only intended to spend a few hours on Irish soil, so his private meeting with his brother, King Joachim of Ireland, was arranged in a lounge at the air base.

After the meeting, Crown Prince William did not look around about it as usual, but simply went straight to the point: "Jochen, you know what? Long before the outbreak of war, I advocated that the position of commander of the Allied fleet should be held by the most capable naval commander, and whether it was Field Marshal Hipper, Admiral Beinck, or Field Marshal Schell, who could compare to the Hohenzollern genius who planned the Battle of Jutland and led the High Seas Fleet to a series of great victories? But everyone thinks that you are overkill and despise the allies when you are the commander of the fleet, and even my father holds this view, so ...... We finally appointed Admiral Beinke, hoping that he would perform well in the war, but unfortunately the situation turned out to be as I feared, the United States and Britain concentrated most of their capital ships into battle, Austria-Hungary and the Kingdom of Italy looked to the left and right, and luck was not on our side, so we are in this situation! ”

With such a tone of self-reproach, ordinary people will probably think that Crown Prince William is indeed unspeakable, but how well Natsuki knows him, he knows that this is just a high-sounding statement. William Jr. was narrow-minded not because he was jealous of the able, and he was trusted by such a distinguished and loyal officer as von Carson, but because he feared that someone would steal his limelight and even threaten his political position—the reason why he was extremely disgusted with the false talk of the union of Ireland with Germany was not that the six million Irish were pulling down the national quality of the German Empire, but that he did not want to see his brother, who had great military ability, politics, diplomacy, and so on, become his rival again.

Although Natsuki has no such intentions, there are some things that cannot be proven, and the only way is to be cautious and avoid suspicion everywhere. After listening to Crown Prince Wilhelm, he repeated the same old tune that he had asked von Carson to convey before: "I dreamed that one day I would return to the battlefield of naval warfare, command the fleet to defeat a strong enemy, and write a classic battle in naval history." When I received your invitation a few days ago, I felt that my heart was surging and my blood was boiling, but most of the cabinet members and army generals were resolutely opposed...... In fact, their fears are not unreasonable, the stability of Ireland depends on the stability of the political system, if their king is seriously wounded or even killed on the battlefield, and the legal prince is still a little girl who does not know the world, the country will inevitably be in turmoil in such a situation...... After all, the influence of religious antagonism and racial ideas has persisted over the years and has never really been eliminated. ”

Crown Prince Wilhelm expressed his understanding, and then spoke about the three conditions that Natsuki had listed for von Carson. The first is the entry of Austria-Hungary and the Kingdom of Italy into the war, and now the two countries have clearly put forward a plan to participate in the war, the premise of which is that the German government guarantees that the territory of the two countries will not be violated during the war, and bears all the military expenditures of the two countries during the war, in addition Italy also puts forward requirements for the oil fields in the Middle East, and in exchange, Italy is willing to increase its troops in the Middle East and cooperate with the allies against the United States and Britain, and its main fleet can also go to the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean to fight if necessary, Austria-Hungary, on the other hand, insisted on conducting combat operations only within the European and Mediterranean spheres.

The second is to ensure the neutrality of Soviet Russia, and at present German diplomats in Russia have been instructed to negotiate with the Soviet and Russian governments on the issue of concluding a non-aggression pact, and the attitude of the Russians is that it is okay to conclude a treaty, and Germany must return Belarus and Ukraine, which were ceded during the last war, withdraw its garrisons from Estonia, Lithuania, and Latvia, and set up an unarmed buffer zone in Poland. As the chief of the general staff of the German army, Crown Prince Wilhelm believed that instead of accepting the request of the Soviet Russian lion's big mouth, it was better to expand the scale of mobilization, prepare for war with the Soviet Russian army on the Eastern Front as soon as possible, and secretly transfer troops from the British battlefield to the Eastern Front if necessary.

The third was to ensure that the Commander of the Allied fleet had the absolute authority to mobilize and direct the ships of the Allied Navy, and to make the Luftwaffe cooperate with him to the greatest extent possible. Although Crown Prince Wilhelm patted his chest on this issue, the conditions for Austria-Hungary and Italy to enter the war were there, and it was not easy to make their fleet subordinate to unified command, and the Germans had to make up their minds to spend some effort and cost.

For Crown Prince William's explanation, Natsuki listened carefully, pondered carefully, and felt that the other party's sincerity was there, but it had not yet reached the level he imagined, so he still did not let go, which made William a little annoyed by the impatience of the child, he said frankly: "If we completely lose the Atlantic naval battle and have to rely on the Atlantic barrier to resist the enemy's attack, then many port cities in Western Europe will be destroyed by the war, no matter how good the Irish army is, it is difficult to ensure that it is not violated." In fact, we believe that the enemy will look for a breakthrough from the north, that is, Iceland and Ireland may well become the main battlegrounds for the next stage. ”

Isn't this the reason for the recent anxiety of King Oscar I of Iceland?

After a short period of thought, Xia Shu said: "If I accept the appointment, I will devote my life to the battle, and I will never retreat because of cowardice, in the event of misfortune, can Your Highness guarantee the absolute sovereignty and independence of Ireland, the absolute safety of the members of the Irish royal family, and the interests of the Kingdom of Ireland will not become victims of war?" ”

"Why not?" William Jr. replied in the affirmative in the form of a rhetorical question, but such an affirmation was obviously not as resolute as a direct answer.

Natsuki shook his head helplessly: "The political situation in Ireland is stable on the surface, but in fact there are deep hidden dangers, if there is a coup d'état by extreme nationalists, German officials and pro-German forces are expelled, how should Your Highness decide?" ”

William Jr. thought for a moment and did not answer directly: "As far as I know, the Irish army is absolutely loyal to you and the Irish royal family. ”

"The Irish army is undoubtedly loyal to me, but to the royal family, or rather to the queen of English aristocracy, they do not love her as much as I do, and my daughters are too young to have a significant impact on the situation in the country." Natsuki said.

William Jr. frowned, and threw out a sentence lightly: "Then let the German garrison solve the problem!" ”

Natsuki replied, "In that case, I will probably end up in a miserable end. ”

Little William was a little upset by this roundabout topic, and as usual, he would walk away nine times out of ten, but now he has a request for others, so he has to ask patiently: "What should I do according to you?" ”

Natsuki said unhurriedly: "These are the three guarantees I just talked about, which sound simple, but in fact they are quite complicated, and only a politician who is steady, wise and reputable enough can handle them. ”

Objectively evaluated, the qualifications of the German crown prince in the political field are relatively mediocre, but after all, he was born in the court, and he has been exposed to various power struggles since he was a child, and his understanding is better than that of ordinary people. After a little thought, he picked up Natsuki's train of thought: "Are you talking about your current prime minister, Patrick Pearce?" ”

Natsuki replied: "Yes, I believe that Prime Minister Pierce has the ability to stabilize the situation in Ireland at any time, provided that his decisions are made with the unconditional trust and support of the allies." ”

In the old historical time and space, Patrick Pierce was one of the leaders of the Irish Easter Uprising, unfortunately died after the failure of the uprising, and in this time and space, he was not only one of the early leaders of the Irish Rebel Army, but also got the opportunity to display his political talents after the independence of Ireland, successively served as the Minister of Justice, Economy, and Foreign Affairs of Ireland, and became the Prime Minister of the Irish Cabinet in 1929, becoming the first local Prime Minister of pure Irish blood since the establishment of the Kingdom of Ireland. And with a moderate and open policy of governance, it has won the welcome and support of the people. However, despite his high prestige at home, Pierce did not reach the description of "steady and wise enough" at this time, nor did he necessarily have the courage and determination to save the country in times of crisis, Natsuki did not intend to praise it, but asked Prince William to give a guarantee to avoid the Germans relying on military superiority to forcibly interfere in the internal affairs of Ireland in the event of an accident of his own.

"Actually, as long as it is your request, even if there is no such thing as leading the fleet to fight, I should fully support it, and what I said today, let me give a clear answer after reporting to His Majesty Father." Crown Prince William said, "One last thing needs to be made to you...... If he became the commander of the Allied fleet, how sure was he that he would defeat the American and British fleets? ”

Natsuki shrugged his shoulders and said, "All I can guarantee is to go into battle without distractions and do my best to win." ”

(End of chapter)