Prince Charles Theodor was more active than anyone else in the selection of Albert as crown prince, and almost on the third day of Albert's return, he publicly issued a statement in support of Albert as crown prince, which also caught the nobles who still had a trace of illusion about Prince Charles Theodor off guard.

The two people who have the most say in the future of the Belgian royal family have agreed, and the nobles can't afford to make any trouble, after all, even if they want to follow the example of the British and play a bloodless coup d'état glorious revolution, they have to find an agent who speaks with enough weight.

Soon Albert was appointed as the new crown prince, but after Albert became the crown prince, he did not drastically remove the privileges of the old nobles, but let them do what they wanted, which also made the nobles grateful to Albert for his magnanimity.

But what the young crown prince was thinking in his heart, I'm afraid even his father could not fathom it.

Because Leopold III had recently declared that he was ill and had handed over the overall situation to Albert and Charles Theodore, the first thing Albert did when he returned home was to convene a meeting of the three armed forces on land, sea and air to reveal to them the news of the lighthouse's first aid.

"You mean that the Americans are sending us their active equipment again?" The Chief of Staff of the Army said with a hint of irrepressible excitement, although Belgium has an excellent light weapons company like FN Company, but it is not that Belgium's industrial base is weak, but that the Belgian army has only maintained itself at the level of self-defense due to the idea of peace and neutrality for many years.

At this time, His Highness Albert's words were tantamount to telling himself that Belgium was preparing to expand its army.

"Yes." Prince Charles Theodor gave the three chiefs of staff a list of military aid, "These are the takeaways from this trip to the United States by His Royal Highness Albert. Charlie also made a point of emphasizing Albert's credit.

"Pershing and Xia Fei, yes, yes, we have heavy tanks in Belgium too." The Chief of the General Staff of the Army almost smiled from ear to ear when he saw the heavy Pershing, the Belgian Army was actually hard enough, they were only equipped with 42 T15 light tanks and 25 ACG-1 light tanks, originally in history, the Belgian Army ordered 25 ACG-1 from Renault and finally only 12 were delivered due to the war, but here it is 25 complete.

In fact, the most exciting is the navy and air force, although Belgium is one of the first countries to separate the air force from the army to become an independent service, but also limited by the king's policy of peaceful independence, over the years Belgian aircraft is still the piston fighter in the early stage of World War II, and at this time the new introduction of the F84 Thunderjet fighter is enough to make the Belgian Air Force stand out from the small countries in Europe.

As for the navy that has obtained the Keeling-class destroyers, it can be described as grateful, for so many years, the Belgian Navy has not been able to raise its head from the countries of Western Europe, the reason is the relationship between the crossroads of Western Europe, Germany, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, and France will try their best to keep Belgium neutral, and the best way to maintain neutrality is to let them maintain a low level of armaments, and even more ruthlessly, let him directly become a free market.

"I can tell all of you here that the Belgian army is no longer the little team that the Netherlands, France, England, and Germany look down on. Only a high-intensity and high-level army can guarantee the development of Belgian interests. Albert patted his chest with an oath.

"Forgive me for saying more, Your Highness." The Chief of the General Staff of the Navy asked, "Belgium is tantamount to irritating the surrounding countries by doing this, and I would like to know what to do to gag their mouths?" ”

Albert pointed to North America on the map, "We don't have to do it ourselves, the Americans will teach them how to behave." ”

"Americans? Could it be that Belgium made some deal with the Americans? Hearing the crown prince say this, the heart of the Air Force General Staff was suddenly tightened, he didn't want Belgium to just get out of the situation of being suppressed by European countries and fall into the palm of another superpower.

"Don't worry, I don't have the best interests in the future, but I just used this incident to blackmail the United States a little. Anyway, the United States is also carrying out large-scale disarmament, and these brand-new equipment are just used to push the boat down the river as a favor to us. Belgium's choice of the United States as a partner to some extent is tantamount to a wake-up call to the countries of Western Europe that those who want to blackmail us have to weigh their own weight, and at this time the interests of Britain and the United States are almost tied together, and there is no time to pay attention to us. France is busy saving itself, not to mention the Netherlands and Germany, now is the moment when Belgium's external environment is the most relaxed, and when will it not rise at this time? ”

"But didn't Your Highness say before that our biggest opponent is the Americans?" The Chief of Staff of the War Department asked.

"There are only eternal interests between nations, there are no friends to have, and there are no eternal enemies. I am not afraid to say a word while there are not many outsiders, Belgium will rise, but the rise of a person alone is better than to obtain capital with the help of a country that has the right to speak. ”

"Prince Charlie will be in charge of telling you about the next matter of arms procurement." Albert made a gesture of please to Charles Theodore.

Charles Theodore, who served as regent during Leopold III's ill health, cleared his throat and said, "First of all, on the Air Force, we intend to support the domestic heavy military industry, especially the CMI Energy Company and the Solvay Group, both of which have defense companies dedicated to weapons development. ”

Founded in the 19th century, CMI Energy Co., Ltd. of Belgium was initially mainly engaged in the steel industry, and then gradually evolved into a comprehensive group company, with business covering energy, machinery, national defense, equipment after-sales service and other aspects, of which the energy industry is one of the main businesses. By the way, the founder of Solvay Group, Belgian chemist Ernest Solvay, is the inventor of soda.

Albert had been in private contact with the two companies, and he gave them free blueprints for the F4 Phantom, Hercules transport planes, and a modified version of the AC130 gunboat, and promised them that the government would reimburse them for all the costs they had lost if they could not be developed according to the requirements of the drawings.

In 1945, the American Bell Company had developed the Bell 47 and early helicopters like the Sioux, and Albert's idea was to let the two defense companies copy a helicopter that could carry a heavy machine gun weapon system on the basis of these light helicopters, as a substitute for the real gunship before the emergence of the helicopter.

Such a non-loss-making transaction was naturally accepted by the two companies.

"CMI Energy and Solvay have promised to come up with designs for the Air Force to choose from within three years at the latest, mainly focusing on fighter jets, and we have already found Boeing to purchase Stratofortresses, so your Air Force will not have to sell cheaply." Albert looked at the unconcealed smile of the Chief of Staff of the Air Force and said helplessly.

Albert also contacted the domestic royal dockyard to see if he could copy the Keeling-class destroyers, although Albert was also quite optimistic about the French Fantasy-class destroyers, but Belgium did not dare to compliment the naval shipbuilding. And missile destroyers began to develop at the end of the fifties, and Albert now has to think about the Navy in ten years.

However, the Navy has a destroyer, and it has finally blocked the chatter of this group of people, but this is also a small step for the Navy, a big step for Belgium, the Keeling-class destroyer brought back from the United States is parked at the largest naval base in Zeebrug, if it were not for the Navy's headquarters in Brussels, maybe a group of people from the Admiralty would go to watch every day.

Albert also wanted to cheer up the Belgian Navy in a short period of time, rather than playing in a pool like the Mongolian Navy...... Please allow them to make a sad face for their dream of the stars and the sea......

"Your Highness Albert, if the army wants to increase its funding, I am afraid that the Congress will hold on to it." The Chief of the Army General Staff was also quite worried.

"It's okay." Albert smiled, "Prince Charlie will take care of this, right, uncle?" ”

Charlie Theodore was also quite helpless about Albert's rogue behavior of kicking the ball, so he had to promise first, "Yes, I will solve it." ”