Yankel was woken up from his sleep in the middle of the night, and then rushed to Trieste Central Station in a car in a daze.

The dim light shone on the silent platform of the station, and a special train car was quietly parked, and some activity could be seen all around, and here he met Rear Admiral Mayer and Lieutenant Colonel Prince of the Marine Corps, who had been ordered to come to the station and did not know what was urgent. After a while, several cars drove up to the platform, and then stopped next to the carriage, and Lechelton got out of a Mercedes, and his adjutant, Lieutenant Colonel Cassić, soon appeared behind him.

The Commander-in-Chief of the Navy boarded the carriage, followed by some of the entourage who also boarded the door, and Kasić held a piece of paper in his hand and walked up to Yankel and the other three people, "General, and two lieutenant colonels, please get into the carriage of the Grand Duke." ”

So the two lieutenant colonels boarded the train car, and Major General Mayer boarded the car through another door in front of them, and a waiting orderly led them through the aisle next to a small kitchen, into what appeared to be a large drawing-room-dining room. It was a converted chariot from an ordinary sleeper car, half of which had been dismantled and renovated into a living room and kitchen, with two fixed dining tables and a few chairs and a circle of sofas on which sat several officers of the Navy Command whom they all knew, but who did not know very well.

The two greeted them and sat down at a table.

The orderlies came and poured them two cups of tea, and the carriage was pushed by a locomotive and began to glide slowly, then hung behind a passenger train parked at another platform. After a while, the train started, and there was a rhythmic clanging sound from under the carriages.

"Carol, where are we going?" Yankel asked his colleague confused.

"It was supposed to go to Bohemia, where the German emperor was invited by Archduke Ferdinand to sit at the estate, and according to the plan, Archduke Friedrich was to attend this meeting, and also to discuss with Admiral Tirpitz about holding joint naval exercises on the Bosnian coast." Carroll said that he was in the Naval Operations Division, so he had naturally been notified a long time ago.

"What's the matter with us here? We can just take care of the production of equipment. Yankel said.

"Maybe it's an impromptu decision." "It could be something else." ”

At this time, Kasić walked over, "Lawn, please come with me, the Admiral will ask you to come over." ”

Yankel followed Kasić through the corridors of several sleeper cars to the room of the Grand Duke of Istria, where the admiral was sitting on the couch chatting with Rear Admiral Mayer, and, somewhat strangely, Brigadier General Miller of the Dalmatian Coastal Garrison.

Yankel saluted the three generals.

"Sit down, sit down." The Grand Duke casually greeted him on the couch, "Want to have a drink?" ”

"No thanks!" Yankel sat down on a chair next to him.

"How's your chess going, How's your chess going? I've heard that you were in a big fight against Bora in Trieste. The Grand Duke said that he was referring to Go, an ancient oriental game that Yankel learned with the Japanese in the Far East, and which was later brought back to Europe by the officers and sailors of the Queen Elizabeth and Zanta.

This game is very popular with the officers and men of the Imperial Navy, after all, it is a great thing to spend boring time at sea.

"Thanks to you, Trieste, which we represent, won Bora, and Lieutenant General Negovan is angry." Vice Admiral Negovan is the commander of the Second Fleet of the Imperial Navy, which is stationed in Pola, Yankel said.

"Haha, Negowan still wants to have the upper hand in everything." The Grand Duke laughed, "In order to make a big show at the German Navy Festival, he is going to take the 'United Forces' and the 'Prince Eugen' in my hands to Kiel. ”

"I'd love to be on a capital ship like that, too." Yankel said.

"What, are you not satisfied with the work of the equipment department?" The Grand Duke raised his eyebrows and said.

"No, not really. I'm glad to be in the equipment planning department. Yankel said quickly.

"Being able to serve on a battleship is every navyman's dream, and sometimes I want to." The Grand Duke blinked and said, then he changed the subject, "Now you are in charge of the development of armored vehicles, I heard that you have some special ideas?" ”

"Yes, General." Yankel cleared his throat and began a formal conversation, which was important, "yes, my idea is to install rotating turrets for these armored vehicles, just like on warships. ”

"Well, that's good." The Grand Duke sat up, "Tell me what you think." ”

Yankel sketched his vision on several blank sheets of paper, to the eye of Heldon, whose design, though crude, was unsatisfactory. But at least it looks more like a tank than what the guys at the Linz tractor factory have concocted, and is very close to the Renault FT-17 light tank that the French will develop in a little more than a year.

In addition, Yankel envisioned a wheeled armored vehicle: the truck would be surrounded by armor plates and some firing holes would be made around it. Of course, these armor plates were vertical and outwardly looked more like a tank.

Major General Mayer was clearly interested in these things, and seemed to have been in contact with them before, and was also pointing and interjecting to say something about his own ideas, and finally Brigadier General Miller joined in.

"The advent of tanks will revolutionize army operations." Lechelton said he had made some changes to Yankel's blueprint and lengthened the barrel to make it look more like the tank in mind.

"'Water tank'?" Mayer said.

Realizing that he had slipped his mouth, Helton hurriedly picked up another of Yankel's blueprints, "Yes, this thing looks like a 'water tank', and we can imagine how frightened the enemy must be when faced with such a movable fortress, with rifles and machine guns in their hands helpless to hold it." ”

Several people discussed the issue of this "water tank" with great interest all night, until the train was approaching Bohemia. Lechelton gave Major General Mayer a warrant authorizing him to mobilize the engineers, materials, and equipment of the three automobile and tractor factories in Linz and Salzburg at will, and asked him to develop a prototype as much as possible. At the same time, the Israia Arsenal was ordered to provide the required artillery and machine guns to the research and development department led by Major General Mayer in a timely manner.

Yankel was transferred to this so-called armored vehicle development department, which was headed by Major General Mayer.

The train stopped, the carriage was unloaded next to the platform of a small station, and a convoy sent by Archduke Ferdinand took Lehairdon and his entourage to his Gorotis estate, which was about ten kilometers from the station. The next day, Kaiser Wilhelm II's special train also departed from Berlin, and the beautiful and idyllic Goropis Manor suddenly became lively.

Archduchess Sophie, as hostess, accompanied Archduchess Ferdinand with a smile on her face, greeting the visiting guests, and only here did she find the respect and confidence that she would never have received in the Imperial Palace in Vienna.

This was the fourth time that Wilhelm II and Ferdinand had met in a year, and the heads of state of Germany and Austria had moved too closely to make the big names in London and Paris nervous.

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