In the middle of summer, by the stream, gurgling water, green trees, and cool breeze. Pen "Fun" Pavilion www.biquge.info the busy Natsuki wears a loose and comfortable silk nightgown, and sits comfortably in a wheelchair, sometimes looking down to read the books in his hand, and sometimes looking up at the Oldenburg princesses.

Shocked by the crash, Natsuki broke her calf bone, and had to follow Empress Victoria's edict to recuperate in peace, Aisha's body and limbs were fine, and the wound on her head was well healed after stitching, because she was worried that the impact would leave her with physical and psychological sequelae, Natsuki invited the best brain specialists and rehabilitation doctors from Berlin and suggested that she recuperate here. Empress Victoria and the Grand Duke of Oldenburg readily agreed to Natsuki's suggestion, and Sophie naturally stayed behind to take care of her sister.

Because of this unexpected injury, Natsuki missed the opportunity to go to England for further study, regret to regret, and use this rare leisure time to study the British Navy textbooks and technical and tactical theory books obtained by the intelligence department, so as to understand the content of the education received by British naval officers, and find out the tactical thinking mode of British naval commanders, so that they can make reasonable and evidence-based judgments when they meet on the battlefield in the future - this is actually the same as going to England for further study, and by the way, it also saves Tirpitz all kinds of worries caused by this.

Hearing the laughter like a silver bell, Natsuki's gaze took off the information in his hand. Elsa in a white dress is a naughty and cute rabbit, she squats by the stream, picking up the clear water with her hands, Sophie laughs and runs in the opposite direction, her slender and slender waist is as graceful as a wicker, the full waves are surging and jumping with a seductive amplitude, and the face of the light makeup sketch also exudes the light of an angel in the sun.

Personality factors aside, Sophie is also a very iconic Western beauty, tall and plump figure can be called an "ideal hanger", with different clothing and makeup can show different styles - subtle, unrestrained, elegant, fresh......

In contrast, Aisha is just a budding little Lori, with a playful temperament somewhat similar to Charlotte a few years ago, and a spring heart is hidden under her shy and introverted appearance. The more she gets along, the more Natsuki can feel her admiration for herself, this admiration is not like love, it is simple and ignorant, and staying in a dream will be much better than walking into reality.

The princesses frolicked, and soon joined hands again. Realizing that Natsuki was looking at her, they whispered to each other, each with a malicious smile on their faces.

However, even if they have a heart, the phrase "love over time" will not be fulfilled here in Natsuki.

"His Royal Highness Joachim, Prince of Prussia, can we give you a small suggestion?" It was Aisha who spoke, and her voice was crisp. When I'm in a good mood, listening to her has a kind of pleasure in drinking chilled juice in summer.

Natsuki closed the page: "Of course. ”

"My sister and I think the scenery here is very beautiful, but it's a pity that you are usually busy with navy and shipyard affairs, and you don't have time to take care of it." Aisha grinned and said, "In that case, you can consider hiring us as your designer, and we'll definitely help you turn this place into a beautiful paradise." When it's spring or autumn, you can be generous in inviting people to come here. ”

Natsuki smiled slightly, he was indeed very busy on weekdays, but he was not so busy that he had no time to take care of his territory. The reason why it is allowed to maintain the old style is that Natsuki likes this kind of original thing, and secondly, it is to establish a good image of diligence and frugality, and by the way, use the limited funds where they are most needed. In addition, there is another important reason, and that is that he wants his warm home to be built by his future partner.

"Tranquility and beauty alone are certainly not enough to attract tourists." The light and sweet voice of honey water comes from Sophie, and it is a good cover for strangers, making people think that this must be a gentle and virtuous lady.

"The scenery here is different from the cold and rugged of the Alpine foothills and the warmth of the seaside, and after living in a big city or a big port, you can experience a different scenery here - old castles are full of mysterious legends, vast meadows are suitable for horseback riding, beautiful streams are suitable for couples to stroll hand in hand, dense woods can be used by hunters, and princes and government officials will find a sense of novelty here."

Sophie's tongue is nothing more than trying to prove that she is more intelligent than Aisha and more suitable for the role of virtuous helper, and her advice is not completely unrealistic. If Natsuki is a sociable member of the royal family, then having a unique territory is indeed a natural advantage for him to make friends with people from all walks of life, but Natsuki's goal at this stage is very targeted: to win the coming world war!

"The idea is a good idea." Natsuki euphemistically, "But it takes a lot of money to go from a plan to a reality." It takes a lot of money to keep the shipyard running, and that's why I can't even afford to renovate the castle now. ”

Aisha pursed her mouth in some disappointment, and Sophie said unhurriedly, "As long as Your Highness is willing, we can help you find a way in terms of funds." ”

Is this a flaunt of the Oldenburg family's economic might? Natsuki smiled.

"In that case, I'll probably have to sell the shipyard to pay it back!"

In just a few years, the value of the Friedrich shipyard has increased more than tenfold, and given its outstanding profitability, the market value should be an astronomical figure that is unimaginable to ordinary people. Of course, Sophie couldn't fail to hear what Natsuki meant, she snorted a little displeased, turned around and left Natsuki behind.

Natsuki turned her head to look at Elsa, and the little princess of Oldenburg was still staring at her.

"You must think I'm a boring person, right?" Natsuki said.

"Hmm...... You're a very special person, unlike anyone else I know. Well...... There is a strange feeling that you don't live in our world, but ...... It is a hero who came to the world from the divine realm. ”

After speaking the last sentence, Little Lori's immature face was shyly crimson.

"Yes, we are all heroes who fell from the divine realm to the human world, but we were not very successful when we landed." Natsuki struggled to move his plaster leg and deliberately made a strange appearance.

Little Lori burst out laughing.

In order to keep Elsa as little shadow as possible in her heart, Natsuki took the opportunity to explain: "There will be accidents in everything, ships may run aground, trains may derail, even well-trained horses may stumble, and it is normal for aircraft with unstable and mature technology to malfunction, which will never stop people's dreams of flying in the sky from becoming a reality." It won't be long before airplanes become one of the main means of travel, and at that point, my aero club may become the number one attraction for guests! ”

Little Lori nodded seriously.

Natsuki then extended back from the thought he had just had: "For those who like adventure and excitement, we can let him fly at high altitude in a solo plane; If you like romance, we can let him take his lover to shuttle between the clouds. How nice, isn't it? ”

"yes!" Aisha thought thoughtfully, "It's a pity that we didn't fly high enough that time, and we haven't caught the clouds yet!" ”

Natsuki said tentatively, "If you have the chance, do you dare to fly again?" ”

Aisha bit her lip: "If it's flying with you, I'll ...... Don't be afraid. ”

Natsuki didn't answer, but subconsciously scratched her head, Elsa lowered her head and was silent, her face red like a ripe apple. This situation reminds Natsuki of Princess Sissi - which may be what Elsa thinks - more than half a century ago, when the then 15-year-old Princess Sissi accompanied her 19-year-old sister Helena to a family party, and the parents' intention was to match Helena and Joseph, but Joseph fell in love with Princess Sissi at first sight, and thus achieved a world-famous romantic marriage.

If he could only choose one between Elsa and Sophie as his partner, Natsuki would inevitably choose the innocent Elsa, but this premise did not exist. Elsa is the kind of cute little Lori.,And Natsuki, a member of the Appearance Association, doesn't have a special Lori plot.,What's more, he already has a heart.。

Thinking of Charlotte on the other side, Natsuki couldn't help but be a little irritable. The day after his injuries were confirmed, he wrote to Charlotte about his injuries, but the long-awaited reply was delayed, and the telegram to London was lost. Because a similar situation happened once, the misunderstanding between the two almost brought the relationship to an end, so Natsuki paid special attention to Charlotte's letter intervals. In terms of style, Charlotte belongs to the kind of Mali decisive, she usually does not reply to letters more than the third day of receiving the letter, and the speed of mail delivery between England and Germany is also very good, the fastest time, the two can communicate completely once in five days.

In an age when wired telephones were not even commonplace, it was difficult to contact a person in real time. Natsuki ordered someone to go to Elizabeth Ladies College to inquire about the news, and after several twists and turns, he learned that Charlotte Hill had taken a leave of absence for some reason. Natsuki was so surprised that he wanted to leave for England immediately, but he was constrained by a leg injury and Queen Victoria's "eyeliner", Princess Sophie, and had no choice but to hope that the business intelligence officers who worked for the Friedrich shipyard would be able to complete this cross-disciplinary task.

Private matters are difficult to settle for a while, and official affairs also plague the "Hohenzollern genius" who does not have a genius heart. After accepting the appointment of the German Navy's shipbuilding director, Natsuki then took on the corresponding responsibilities, and the review of the shipbuilding budget plan was one of them. After the technical plan of the Kaiser-class, the first dreadnought of the German Navy, was decided, the ship-building work immediately entered the implementation stage. Unlike the competitive bidding for the construction of light ships, since the German Navy is not prepared to hand over strategically important dreadnoughts to foreign shipyards for construction, and there are only a handful of docks in domestic shipyards that can be used to build 20,000-ton warships, the German Navy Office determines the construction tasks according to the construction capacity of these large docks. In order to ensure that the construction of the five Caesar-class battleships began at the same time, the German Navy had arranged in advance for the expansion and upgrading of the corresponding dockyards at the Kilgermania shipyard and the Royal Wilhelm shipyard - for this strategic expansion and upgrading project, the state finances bear most of the costs.

The business model of these German shipyards, which received orders to build ships, has not changed, regardless of whether they are state-controlled or not. As a result, the shipyards quickly submitted their respective budgets in accordance with the Navy's shipbuilding plan. Since the main raw materials and equipment such as weapons, armor, power, and electrical are all purchased in Germany, the final total budget of each shipyard is not much different. When the plan was sent to Natsuki for approval, the cost budget for the Caesar-class was basically set at 4,600 marks, equivalent to about 2.25 million pounds, which was basically the same as the Helgoland-class battleships under construction. In a longitudinal comparison, the actual cost of the four Nassau-class ships was an average of 38.35 million marks each, considering that they had a displacement of 20,000 tons, using a technically mature and high-volume Krupp 11-inch 45-diameter naval gun, while the Caesar-class had a design displacement of 2. 60,000 tons, using the 12-inch 50-diameter naval gun specially developed by Krupp, the cost increase by one-fifth is completely acceptable. However, in horizontal comparison, the British have gradually increased their tonnage and firepower from the Palerophon, St. Vincent to the latest Giant, but the cost has not increased significantly.

At any given time, the cost of building naval vessels was an important secret comparable to the technical performance, and Natsuki was able to make a clear comparison of the cost of the capital ships of the two countries, on the one hand, because of his status as a military model enthusiast in his previous life, and on the other hand, the commercial intelligence officers of the Friedrich shipyard stationed in Britain also gathered some information through various sources. Based on this information, Natsuki came to a very tangled inference: with the scale and technical advantages of the shipbuilding industry, the cost of British battleships of the same tonnage was 20% lower than that of German battleships, that is, with the funds of the Germans to build four dreadnoughts, the British could build five dreadnoughts of the same class!

Not only that, in order to meet the needs of building and using dreadnoughts, the German government also needs to invest a lot of additional funds to carry out large-scale reconstruction of infrastructure such as canals, ports, and docks. In contrast, Britain, which had a very developed shipbuilding and shipping industry, spent less in this area, but the problem was the same - as the battleships and battlecruisers were built bigger and longer, even if the slipways were free, it would be useless to fail the other conditions. For example, in 1914, when the battlecruiser Counterattack was changed from a battleship, the main reason was that the original Palmes shipyard, as the original builder, could not provide outfitting berths for the 242-meter-long warship, so it had to be moved to John. Brown shipyard, and the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, which had built the Queen Elizabeth-class super-dreadnoughts earlier, was unable to build the Lion-class battlecruiser because the slipway was not long enough. By 1914, there were no shipyards in the Tyne and Clyde river basins in Britain capable of building super-dreadnoughts. According to statistics, in 1906, there were 11 shipyards in Britain that could build dreadnoughts, but in 1916 only 5 were left to build the latest super-dreadnoughts, and the cost of expanding shipyards and slipways, dredging rivers and widening the launching space was far greater than the cost of a dreadnought.

Since the beginning of the 20th century, although Germany's economic and industrial growth rate is higher than that of Britain, but the total economic volume is not as good as the British Empire, which has colonies all over the world and is extremely prosperous in overseas trade, the shipbuilding race has put the British government under huge financial pressure, and the German government's deficit is more serious, and it can only rely on the issuance of additional national bonds to maintain Tirpitz's naval supplement bill, coupled with the rising cost of building ships, no matter when Britain and Germany go to war, the German Navy cannot surpass its opponents in fleet strength, and if the shipbuilding race drags on for eight or even ten years, Germany's government finances would collapse, and the German navy would be out of the race because of a lack of funds – which is why Natsuki told Tirpitz that the German navy would not be able to defeat the British navy in three or eight years.

Delving into the reasons for the high cost of German dreadnoughts, Natsuki feels that this should not be the result of German shipbuilding companies inflating costs and seeking huge profits, on the one hand, it is due to the inherent disadvantages of the German shipbuilding industry, and on the other hand, it is a common problem of German weapons manufacturing: excessive pursuit of performance indicators and neglect of cost performance!

Judging from the historical Battle of Jutland, the German fleet was bombarded by the enemy's superior firepower, but in the end it only lost one dreadnought and several light ships, and the lost dreadnoughts were still sunk by torpedoes, which obviously benefited from their heavy armor defense and sophisticated internal structure, in a way, it was a higher cost to make it better survivable, and the increased survivability protected the trained officers and sailors to the greatest extent. However, since many of the capital ships were almost scrapped, the Germans had to call in a large amount of steel to repair them in the face of increasing resource constraints, and after that, the construction of ships under construction slowed down considerably, and the last two Bavaria-class and all Mackensen-class battlecruisers were not completed until the end of the war, but they appeared on the Entente's extradition list - the opponents thought they were already completed and put into service!

In addition to the high cost, the construction cycle of German battleships was also a problem of synchronization. The average construction period from the British Palerophon class to service is 27 months, and the average construction period of the German Nassau class is 30 months; The British St. Vincent class takes only 9 months from laying the keel to launching the hull, while the German Helgoland class basically takes 11 to 12 months; This time, the five German shipyards with experience in the construction of dreadnoughts have scheduled a construction period of 32 to 35 months, which is 5 to 6 months longer than the Orion class of the British Navy.

(End of chapter)