After the Hamburg Conference, the Irish officials returned home, and Natsuki visited Brandenburg alone, where he met Oscar, who was about to become King of Iceland. Pen @ fun @ pavilion wWw. ｂｉｑUｇE。 He was the fifth son of Kaiser Wilhelm II and his youngest brother, having previously served in the German Army. The German prince was not a general, but a sociable and well-liked character, who married Alice, Countess of Basetvitz, in 1914 and had three sons and a daughter, both personally and in a family's circumstances.

Rather be a phoenix tail for the head of the chicken, the reason is good, but the "chicken" is big and small, strong and weak. Iceland is a country with an area of more than 100,000 square kilometers and a population of only 120,000, not to mention industry, even the living environment is very difficult, and fishing is almost the only economic pillar, so when talking to Oscar alone, Natsuki felt deep dissatisfaction and frustration from his words. "Cold prisons," Oscar described as the country he was about to run, where the population was so sparse that "it only took a small police squad to keep the law and order", and as for the defense industry, "it didn't even have the ability to build a torpedo, a torpedo boat", and "ten months of the year were cold winters".

If you go to Iceland with a desire for hegemony, you will be very disappointed with the conditions there. Iceland's largest city, Reykjavík, is less than some of the average ports in northern Germany, and with few tourists, there are not even a decent hotel, let alone a palace for the new king. The German government has decided to invest at least 500 million marks in 10 years to build Reykjavík into a large fortress city, and the German royal family will also allocate special funds for the construction of the royal palace in Iceland, but these are things to come. Today, Reykjavík's largest church can only accommodate a few hundred people, and the number of German princes, nobles, and military officials who should be present at the ceremonial ceremony is far more than that, and how many people are willing to brave the cold to go to such a barren place to attend the ridiculous coronation?

When Natsuki took over Ireland, although the country was poor and white, there were at least more than 4 million Irish people of a single nationality and millions of Irish immigrants scattered around the world, so with Germany's strong economic and military assistance, Ireland has achieved remarkable development achievements, the scale of the economy has increased dozens of times, and its military strength is second only to that of the traditional powers. Even if Prince Oscar was ten times more talented than the "Hohenzollern genius", and every Icelander was a model of hard work, and Germany did everything it could to help Iceland, so that Iceland's economy and military growth could be hundredfold or thousandfold?

Putting himself in Oscar's shoes, Natsuki felt that it was indeed not as comfortable as being a powerless prince in a royal fiefdom in Germany. I don't know if Oscar himself was consulted when the German top brass made this consideration. If Oscar accepted the suggestion and chose the most challenging throne in the world without much consideration, he would only be blamed for being too rash. As a younger brother, Natsuki was able to give Oscar the comfort that Iceland has the richest natural fishing grounds in Europe - fishing is a long-term sustainable industry, which can allow Icelanders to live a worry-free life at any time.

Oscar is by no means the kind of person who doesn't know how to sit back and wait, Natsuki doesn't need to worry too much about him, and judging from the trend of historical development, Iceland will be a stable and prosperous place to live in a few decades.

At the Imperial Palace in Brandenburg, Natsuki stayed for a few days, chatting with the Kaiser, playing cards, and chatting and walking with the Empress. Louise, the youngest princess of the royal family, became Madame Inmaiman as she wished, and gave birth to a son and a daughter. Although the children could not enjoy the rights of the German royal family, they were still loved by the emperor and empress and their uncles, and there was no need to worry about their future life. As Christmas approaches, Louise returns to Brandenburg with her children, and Natsuki is able to reunite with her and reminisce about the happy old days.

Afterwards, Natsuki travels to Koschen, north of Brandenburg, to visit Tirpitz, who has long since retired. The founder of the German Navy, now 79 years old, was given a manor in his hometown by the German royal family in recognition of his exploits. After retiring from the army, Tirpitz did not completely leave the public eye, first serving as honorary dean of the Royal Naval College in Kiel, often publishing articles in the Navy's internal journal under a pseudonym, as well as publishing a personal autobiography and war memoirs. In the last two years, his health has deteriorated, and he has reduced his outings and spent most of his time in the countryside.

Tirpitz was very happy about Natsuki's arrival, he looked in good spirits, his bald head was shiny, and his two signature beards were still luxuriant.

Talking about the current situation, the retired naval marshal is still clear and far-sighted, and he believes that the future of the world will be determined in the next war, and it is likely to be a brutal war with global repercussions, with a degree of tragedy and casualties far greater than the previous one.

After some discussion, Tirpitz suddenly asked very seriously: "Has Your Majesty ever thought that everything must have cause and effect, and in the past ten years, Ireland has made great progress with the help of Germany, and one day when war breaks out, it may pay off its debts with countless casualties." ”

Natsuki thought about it for a moment and replied steadily, "I have thought about it." Since I am a member of this big family, I enjoy the protection of the family, and I must bear the corresponding responsibilities. ”

Tirpitz nodded with a serious expression: "Then Your Majesty should prepare in advance for this war that could destroy everything." ”

Although he was not worried that Tirpitz would divulge what he had said, Natsuki did not elaborate on his preparations for war, either overtly or covertly, because in his opinion, Tirpitz's brilliance lay in his strategic vision, his extraordinary courage and iron fist. Except for the last decade of his career, he never lost to a rival, and without a title of nobility or illustrious background, he rose from a cadet at the Royal Naval Academy in Kiel to the head of the Imperial Navy, and developed the German Navy from a coastal defense force on a Danish par to a first-class ocean-going fleet. In the German emperor, he was the only one who received the title prefix "forever", which shows how brilliant his peak was.

In the early years, Natsuki had hoped that Ireland would maintain limited neutrality at certain stages when the next war came, so as to avoid the devastating destruction of industrial facilities centered on Limerick, but after the conflict in the Azores, he completely abandoned this unrealistic illusion and concentrated on preparing for war. If the situation at the outbreak of war had been favorable to the Allies, and Germany had relied on the Azores to contain the U.S. Navy, concentrate its superior forces to defeat the British Home Fleet, and cross the English Channel to land in Britain, then Ireland itself would still have a chance to avoid the ravages of war and preserve most of the gains made in the previous decade or so of painstaking economic development. If the United States seized the Azores and the German navy failed to destroy the British fleet, the first springboard for the United States and Britain in Europe would probably be Ireland, and the German-Irish forces deployed in Ireland would have to face several times the size of the American and British forces, and the 70,000-square-kilometer island of Ireland would be a battlefield lacking strategic depth, and defeat would mean the end of the kingdom. Therefore, Natsuki and Ireland's war preparations were based on the worst-case scenario, to find a way to win a land battle in which the enemy was strong and weak, thwart the strong enemy's attempt to occupy Ireland, and create an opportunity for the Allied army to counterattack.

Before leaving, Natsuki asked Tirpitz meaningfully: "If the American and British troops besiege Ireland, does Your Excellency the Marshal think Ireland will be destroyed?" ”

Tirpitz hesitated for a moment, then looked at Natsuki with confidence: "One will probably see an unimaginable military miracle, even more amazing than the high seas fleet's defeat of the British Navy in 1914. ”

Natsuki shook his hand gratefully, but Tirpitz gave him a big hug.

A dozen days later, the 1928 New Year arrived as scheduled. The first big international event was the accession of Germany's Prince Oscar to the throne of Iceland, and most Europeans are familiar with Iceland, but outside of Europe, the first reaction of many people to the news is to look for the country's location on a globe. In fact, the temperature in Iceland is not as cold as its name sounds, due to the influence of the Mexican warm current, its winter temperature is around freezing, but the weather is changeable, often there are violent storms or thick sea fog, affecting traffic and people's normal life.

Reykjavík, the capital of Iceland, is surrounded by mountains to the north and east, with magnificent natural landscapes and abundant geothermal resources. This time, the guests invited to the coronation ceremony of the King of Iceland were fortunate enough to experience the beautiful scenery of Reykjavík by experiencing some fine weather in winter.

Upon the king's accession to the throne, Iceland quickly signed a military alliance with Germany, thus becoming a new member of the Allied powers. Iceland has built up its own police and army, but the country's defense is largely in the hands of the German army, and the German government will fund the expansion of Reykjavík's port facilities and the construction of a coastal defense fortress, as well as a large dual-use airport.

Ireland is the closest ally to Iceland, and Natsuki and his family traveled to Reykjavík to attend the coronation of the Oscars, and brought a special gift to his brother: a complete set of machinery and equipment for the construction of torpedo boats and the production of torpedoes. Irish technicians will help the Icelandic royal family to set up their own arsenal and shipyard free of charge, although small in scale, but can make more advanced torpedoes and offshore torpedo boats, even if Iceland does not have a near-non-existent defense industry in future wars, this small cornerstone will bring some comfort to the frustrated Icelandic king.

(End of chapter)