Berlin, Reichstag Building. Pen ~ fun ~ pavilion www.biquge.info

Molke, the minister in charge of the economy and finance, had almost worn out three pairs of cowhide shoes and was finally received by Wilhelm II.

"Your Majesty, please put a pause in the ghost project! The imperial finances really can't support it! ”

Molk pleaded bitterly.

Wilhelm II felt very unhappy, and what he hated most was that his ministers cried with him.

"Didn't we have 40 million marks on the books last month? How can you say that there is no money? ”

Mork was speechless and said: "Your Majesty, what you are looking at is indeed last month's financial income, but that is last year's financial accounts!" Now that we have entered the new year, last year's budget and expenditure ended up with a deficit of 86 million marks, and this year's budget needs to pay off last year's overdraft, and last year's fiscal revenue was only 160 million marks, but this year's budget is as high as 230 million marks, and we will not only be unable to pay last year's bills, but also have to add 70 million to the deficit, which is not possible, and the finances will collapse. ”

Wilhelm II patted himself on the head, this time remembering that it was now 1902, and he was looking at the 40 million surplus for the previous month, that is, last December. Entering the new year, it is necessary to repay last year's national debt, so the 40 million financial deposits will all be repaid on the second day of the new year.

"Don't panic! The Ghost Project can't be stopped! You have to be clear about that! ”

"Your Majesty, if we don't stop the ghost project, our debt will get higher and higher. The top priority now is to revitalize the national economy, and there can be no more arms race with the Chinese Empire, otherwise the Empire will collapse. ”

Molk tried hard to persuade him, but he didn't care about the face of Hitra next to him.

Hitra was glad in his heart, this was the result he wanted to see, and only when Wilhelm II became more and more unpopular could he take his place.

True, Hitla's ambitions were inflating and he had long since begun to calculate Wilhelm II. From the day Wilhelm II wanted to kill Hitra a few years ago, Hitra was ready for revenge.

A ghost plan is indeed for the living space of the German Empire, but it is also Hitra who took the opportunity to accumulate wealth, accumulate a small personal treasury, and by the way, push Wilhelm II onto the road of reckless military force, digging a pit for him to jump into.

Wilhelm II now attaches great importance to Hitler, is full of confidence in the ghost plan, and is bent on defeating the Chinese Empire, and the ghost plan presided over by Hitler, at least in the matter of the Seawolf submarine, gave the German Empire a long face, so that Wilhelm II saw hope.

Therefore, knowing that the Seawolf submarine was expensive, William II finally chose to build Duoduo, because Hitra gave William II a bad idea, that is, he could use the Seawolf submarine to launch an unlimited submarine war against the Chinese Empire.

Unrestricted submarine warfare, during the First World War and the Second World War, was the main naval tactic of the German Navy, and achieved brilliant results.

However, in this world, the Imperial German Navy did not take unrestricted submarine warfare to the extreme.

This is closely related to the international pattern, in this world war, the strength of the German Empire is strong, and its own high seas fleet can match the British Royal Navy, so there is no need to launch large-scale unrestricted submarine warfare. At the same time, the Chinese Empire was an ally of the German Empire during the World War, and if the Chinese Empire contained the United States and prevented it from supporting Britain and France, there were no objective conditions for the German Navy to launch an unrestricted submarine war.

But now, after the end of the world war, the international landscape has changed again, and the Chinese Empire has become the biggest and most threatening enemy of the German Empire.

The Chinese Empire stationed troops in Europe to encircle and blockade the German Empire politically, economically, and militarily, but the strength of the German Empire's High Seas Fleet could not match the strength of the Chinese Imperial Navy.

As a result, the Imperial German Navy became a weak man in front of the Imperial Chinese Navy.

So the coping strategy of the weak, the first priority to consider is submarine tactics, after all, compared to expensive super battleships, submarines are still very cost-effective.

As of the beginning of 1902, the total tonnage of ships built by the Chinese Empire last year was as high as 4.72 million tons, an increase of more and more large, from more than 7,000 tons of ships per year in 1866 to 4.72 million tons of ships per year today, more than 500 times the terrifying figures, crushing the countries of the world.

If the German Empire wanted to launch unlimited submarine warfare, the first prerequisite was that the opponent had a large tonnage of maritime trade. If the adversary only trades tens of thousands of tons of goods every year, and the tonnage of the trading fleet is only a few tens of tons, then unlimited submarine warfare is useless, and spending huge energy to sink the opponent's merchant ships of tens of thousands of tons may not be enough to pay for fish and radium.

But the Chinese Empire, now the richest empire in the world, has a very large scale of maritime trade, almost more than the rest of the world combined.

In 1900, for example, the total registered tonnage of merchant ships in the maritime trade of the Chinese Empire was 63 million tons, and the trade value was 5.8 billion yuan. In that year, the total registered tonnage of merchant ships in the German Empire was only 7 million tons, and the value of maritime trade was less than 20 million yuan, a gap that almost drove Wilhelm II maddened.

However, it was at this time that Hitler proposed the plan of unlimited submarine warfare, instigating Wilhelm II to allocate more funds to the Phantom project for the construction of more Seawolf-class submarines, so that at the beginning of the war, unrestricted submarine warfare could be launched immediately.

Unleashing an unrestricted submarine war against the Chinese Empire, this account was quickly understood by Wilhelm II, and it was definitely a clever tactic. Only 200 Seawolf-class submarines need to be invested, and half of the maritime trading merchant ships of the Chinese Empire can be destroyed within half a year, causing huge losses of tens of billions of yuan to the Chinese Empire.

In comparison, the German Imperial Navy only needs to invest 500 million yuan to build 200 Seawolf-class submarines.

This is a bargain deal, but what Wilhelm II is trying to do is that it is difficult for him to come up with even 500 million yuan.

500 million yuan, calculated at parity terms, is equivalent to 5 billion marks of the current German Empire, which is still the price comparison of the German Empire after the economic reform and monetary reform, if it is the previous German Mark, it will be at least 20 billion marks, and the total financial income of the German Empire last year was only 160 million marks.

A penny is hard for a hero, and Wilhelm II finally knows what poverty is.

Molk demanded that the ghost project be stopped and then go all out to develop the German economy.

In his heart, Wilhelm II was well aware of Morke's painstaking efforts, and he himself knew that he was now a reckless soldier, and the slightest misconduct would bring down the entire German Empire.

Wilhelm II, however, could not help but do so, because he knew too well how the Chinese Empire behaved.

Now the German Empire is like playing stud on the gambling table, and the friends of Britain, France, the United States, Russia and other friends who play together are not bidding, leaving only the Chinese Empire and the German Empire bidding. The Chinese Empire is rich and constantly increases, while the German Empire is poor and does not have much capital, and the only way to win is "ALLIN".

So Wilhelm II said: "Morke, you must understand that if there is no national defense, no matter how good your economic development is, it will be useless, and you will become a fat sheep in the eyes of other countries, and you will be slaughtered by others." The situation is now such that the empire faces an unprecedented military threat from the Chinese Empire, and if we relax a little, it will lead to a crushing defeat. ”

"But you have not thought that your Majesty will continue to make the empire's finances more and more difficult, the deficit will become higher and higher, the debts will be high, and the people will live in misery, and the result will inevitably be the result of the January Revolution in Russia." ”

Molke's mention of the January Revolution in Russia instantly irritated Wilhelm II's nerves and reminded him of the tragic end of Nicholas II.

Hitra next to him glanced at Mork in surprise, and secretly said that the other party is so smart, if it is just a simple explanation of economic difficulties, the people's life is difficult, I am afraid it will not touch the nerves of Wilhelm II, but if the Russian January Revolution is put in, the result will be very different.

Sure enough, Wilhelm II was still very jealous of the Russian Red Revolution, and he was worried that the flames of the Red Revolution would burn to the German Empire, and then his Wilhelm II's rights and glory would be gone.

When it comes to personal interests, ordinary people will no longer be calm.

Wilhelm II was silent, and Hitra hurriedly stood up to persuade him.

"Your Majesty need not be afraid, the situation of the Russian Revolution is completely impossible to appear in the German Empire, because the national conditions are different, the reason why the Russian Revolution was able to succeed is completely caused by the corruption of the former Tsarist Empire from above, Tsar Nicholas II was greedy, the Tsarist officials were even more greedy, and the Russian people, who were already living in poverty, were simply overwhelmed, which gave Lenin and the Red Army a chance. But there is no need to worry at all in the German Empire, Your Majesty is wise and powerful, the officials at all levels are fair and honest, and the hardships of the German people are only temporary, and when the Empire has sufficient military strength to stop the military invasion of the Chinese Empire, then the German Empire can let go of economic development and solve the problem of people's hardships. ”

"I'm afraid that if we don't wait until we complete the national defense construction, the people will not be able to stand the hardships and live in rebellion!"

Mork snorted coldly, glaring angrily at Hitla, with the intention of arguing.

Wilhelm II did hesitate, but he always had hopes and illusions that the defense of the German Empire would be completed soon, and that there should be no major events at home.

"The ghost plan cannot be terminated, you go back immediately and notify the relevant departments, don't just think about spitting bitterness, share worries for the country, strive to get more financial revenue, and if necessary, you can raise taxes!"

Molk was instantly dumbfounded, and scolded in his heart: Nima is already a reckless military force if he does not cut military spending, and he even needs to increase taxes, this is for fear that the German people will not make trouble!

Mork wanted to continue to dissuade, but Wilhelm II got impatient and blasted him out.

Hitra saw it in his eyes and was happy in his heart, and he knew that as long as Wilhelm II continued like this, sooner or later he would lose the hearts of the people.

Wilhelm II suddenly asked, "By the way, has there been any recent movement in the Chinese Imperial military?" We sank their merchant ships and warships, and there is no reason for them to be so quiet! ”

Hitra replied: "According to the Ministry of War, the Imperial Chinese military believed that pirates from the Caribbean Sea had wandered into the North Atlantic and attacked their merchant ships and warships. At present, the Imperial Chinese Navy seems to be preparing a major operation to completely eliminate the pirate organizations in the Atlantic. ”

Wilhelm II glanced at Hitra and asked, "Do you think the Chinese Empire has doubted us?" ”

Hitra thought for a moment and replied, "Even if we suspect that we did it, unfortunately there is no evidence. If they start a war against us, no matter how powerful the Chinese Empire is, if they want to defeat our German Empire, the losses will be very huge, and even unbearable for them. ”

Wilhelm II nodded and said, "Thanks to you, if it weren't for your help in the development of advanced weapons and equipment for the Empire's navy, land and air forces, I'm afraid that our German Empire would be in a more difficult situation now, and even the Chinese Empire would immediately start a war against us." ”

This is the truth, from the sincerity of Wilhelm II, if it were not for Hitler to preside over the aircraft carrier program, the Imperial Chinese Navy would probably dare to go to the door of the German Empire to block the door and fight.

At that time, the aircraft carrier battle group of the German Empire was just a paper tiger and did not have much combat effectiveness, but it successfully deterred the Chinese Empire, so that it did not dare to act rashly, and bought the German Empire a few years of respite.

"Thank you, Your Majesty! This is what I should do! Hitra thanked him, and then said: "However, there is recent news that most of the steel factories in the Chinese Empire have begun to switch to high-specification Chinese special steel, which means that the Chinese Imperial Military has started a new round of high-end equipment procurement, otherwise it would not be possible to use such a huge amount of high-grade steel." ”

Wilhelm II frowned suddenly, he also understood what it meant for the Chinese Empire to suddenly increase the production of high-grade special steel, obviously to build warships, artillery, tanks and other weapons and equipment.

"I have a sense of foreboding, I'm afraid that our war with the Chinese Empire is not far off!"

Seeing Wilhelm II so worried, Hitra laughed in his heart, but he thought that it was impossible for the Chinese Empire to go to war against the German Empire in a short time.

However, Hitra forgets that the history he knows is also changing dramatically, and his advantage is gradually diminishing.

Just then, Wilhelm II's phone rang.

Hitla, as usual, took the place of Wilhelm II's secretary and picked up the phone.

However, he was soon stunned, and his expression was very ugly.

"What's going on?"

When Wilhelm II saw Hitla's expression, he also had a premonition.

"Something happened to Seawolf One!"

After a long time, Hitra replied embarrassedly.

This news, for Wilhelm II, was like a lightning strike.