Hearing Tirpitz's last sentence, Qingying frowned slightly, and a trace of doubt quietly rose in his heart.

In Qingying's impression, Wilhelm II has always been overjoyed and ambitious, dreaming of snatching the Trident of the Sea God from the British, and letting the black vulture cross flag of the German Navy fly in the four oceans. If this were not the case, he would not have parted ways with the moderate Bismarck and let the decorated old prime minister step down. The emperor's thirst for the sea is evident in the German Navy's construction of ships: as soon as he came to power, he ordered the Reich Shipyards to build four Brandenburg-class battleships with a displacement of more than 10,000 tons, and before that, the German Navy had not started construction of capital ships for 10 years!

This time, Tirpitz proposed a naval bill to build 13 battleships in 7 years, which should reasonably fit the appetite of this monarch who had a soft spot for the navy; According to his usual temperament, adding another 50% to this amount is his style. But what is amazing is that William not only did not fight the snake with the stick, but agreed to the Prime Minister's request for a reduction in the navy's military spending, which is simply unbelievable! It's like a Lori taking the initiative to give Shu Huang a hug, and Shu Huang also pushed Lori away with righteousness! Qingying was puzzled, and suddenly her heart moved, could it be because of the butterfly effect caused by what she said to William on the day of her return?

A few months ago, on the day Qingying had just returned to Berlin from Mao, because of William's topic, he told his cheap father about the basic great power pattern of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. He mentioned to Wilhelm that the contradiction between Britain and Germany was far greater than the rift between Britain and France and between Britain and Russia, so Britain and Germany would inevitably become direct enemies in the future. In the present situation that Germany is not as strong as Britain, it is necessary to avoid a direct conflict with Britain, but to continue to make a false deal with it, and to develop its own power with the help of this future enemy. At the beginning, Qingying's purpose in saying this was to let his cheap father get a preventive shot in advance, so that he could be cautious in dealing with British-related issues and avoid strange words and deeds similar to the "Kruger Telegram". And now it seems that his words did have an impact on William; If this were not the case, how could he have passed Hillingst's proposal to embezzle naval military spending, knowing that the Treasury still had the capacity to spare?

Historically, the time period when the German government widened the canal was the heyday of the vigorous naval competition between Britain and Germany. In this case, the Ministry of Finance allocated 242 million marks for the widening of the canal, which undoubtedly dragged down the violent forces on the naval side. Now that the canal was opened up in the pre-dreadnought era, the amount of money that the German Navy could use to build ships in the dreadnought era will be further increased; And if this money flows into the navy, it will be of great benefit to the arms race.

As soon as she thought of this, Qingying was in a good mood, and couldn't help but say: "Mr. Alfred, don't complain anymore, although the prime minister's approach is a little biased, it is not unreasonable. The Kaiser Wilhelm Canal was built for 7 years and was not officially opened until this year, and the Prime Minister was counting on this canal to pull shipping along the Baltic Sea coast to boost the economy; Now the navy wants to close and widen the canal that has just been opened to navigation again for its own needs, and it is reasonable that the prime minister is unwilling to pay for this project. In the past few years, the Navy's military expenditure has also risen with the increase in fiscal revenues, and the annual budget of the Navy five years ago was only 94 million marks, but this year it has reached 120 million marks. Isn't it just the appropriation of 35 million marks a year to expand the canal? Build a few fewer ships, recruit fewer officers and men, and the past few years have passed. ”

Tirpitz glanced at Qingying with some displeasure and said, "Isn't it 35 million marks a year?" My Royal Highness the Crown Prince, this money is not from you, of course you can say this sentence so easily. 35 million marks a year, 250 million marks in 7 years, do you know how much you can do with this money? The annual allocation of military expenditure of our navy is generally 30% for personnel expenses, more than 30% for the maintenance of existing warships and various equipment, and nearly 40% for the construction of new guys. The maintenance of the original warships, the maintenance of various equipment, and the salaries of naval officers and men are thunderous every year; No matter how much the Navy spends, this money will have to be paid! That is to say, now that this money has been deducted, the costs of maintaining the normal operation of the Navy must also be maintained; Of the 250 million marks deducted, the vast majority is the future share of the German Navy's shipbuilding! ”

"Huh?" Hearing Tirpitz say these words full of grief and indignation, Qingying couldn't help but be stunned. He originally thought that the renovation of the canal would cost the Navy about 100 million marks in the construction of new ships at most; But I didn't expect that the embezzled money almost didn't include the share of daily maintenance and personnel expenses! It took him a long time to recover from the shock, and he stammered a little, "That'...... So what to do? As a result, at least 180 million marks of the budget for new ships will be lost, and will your naval law continue? ”

"Although that old fellow of Chillingsfest is the most evil, he still has a conscience, and he has not done it to the point of not giving people a way to live. After all, he adopted my idea of a naval law a little more than a month ago, and I have already listed in it the detailed amount of money required to develop the navy. The amount listed in that is much higher than the annual budget of recent years. Therefore, this incident has only greatly reduced my planned plan, and the Navy Law can still be implemented. Speaking of this, Tirpitz snorted heavily, and said, "If he really dares to make his ferocity and viciousness to the extreme, I will never care if he is the prime minister or the elder; I haven't tasted beating with my fists since 20 years ago! ”

Looking at Tirpitz's muscular arms, and thinking of the 76-year-old Prime Minister Chillingsfest's body that was so thin that there were only a handful of ribs left, Qingying couldn't help but shudder. He chuckled dryly and said, "Mr. Alfred, let's talk about naval law." Now that you have lost nearly 200 million marks in the cost of building a ship, I wonder what your current plan is? ”

Tirpitz sighed and said, "Originally, I was counting on the construction of 13 battleships to replace all the old ships; And now, it's a completely impossible dream. According to my estimates, in the next seven years, the cost of building ships will barely reach 320 million marks, and this money also includes the construction of small cruisers and torpedo boats. Now, I don't know how to choose between Lu Dao for a while, I don't know if Your Highness Lu Dao has any good plans? ”

360 million marks! Although Qingying already knew that the financial budget of the German Navy would be greatly reduced compared with historical facts, he was still a little surprised after hearing this data. Historically, the German Navy spent 454 million marks on the construction of battleships and capital cruisers alone in the period from 1896 to 1902, not counting the share of the 10 Gazelle-class and 3 Bremen-class small cruisers that burned money for speed. He walked to the desk and sat down, took out paper and pen from the drawer, looked at the white pages in front of him, and suddenly had the feeling that a mouse and a turtle could not start.

360 million marks in 7 years, only a little more than 50 million marks a year, what should I do? Qingying put her hand on her forehead, bit the pen, and muttered for a while, and her chaotic thoughts finally began to become clear.

First of all, small cruisers can be used for big cuts. It's not that the small cruiser class is useless, but that if you build this kind of guy at the moment, its cost performance is too low. Historically, the 10 Gazelle-class fourth-class cruisers that Germany started construction had a speed of only a little more than 20 knots; And 10 years after its completion, battleships with a tonnage 10 times larger will be able to easily reach this speed! This kind of fourth-class cruiser, which only ran more than 20 knots, no longer had any meaning after entering the era of dreadnoughts; At that time, only naval countries of the level of Greece, Serbia, and Uruguay will be able to maintain the demand for such warships. And since the power technology of 1895 was not yet developed, it would have cost too much to increase the speed on the cruiser.

In view of this, Qing Ying decided to build only 4 small cruisers during this period; In this way, the total cost will not exceed 15 million marks. As for the cannon fodder torpedo boat, the "Sea Dragon" class built by Germany in 1887 for Mites Qing in history is the best mass product: this guy has a displacement of 234 tons, a unit price of 500,000 marks, is equipped with 2 torpedo tubes, and the speed can reach 32 knots, and its cost performance is absolutely world-class.

And on the capital ship, Qingying also has his own plans. Since the Armoured Cruiser can reach a speed of 20 knots, it can follow the main force of the High Seas Fleet in the future and share the firepower of the main fleet, which is not possible for the former Dreadnought with a speed of 18 knots. Therefore, the number of new types of installations must be guaranteed. However, the role of the pre-dreadnought at this stage cannot be ignored, and the German dreadnought, which is equipped with 6 main guns, already has a trace of dreadnought connotation. Qingying thought about it for a long time and decided to build one pre-dreadnought and one decisive battle patrol ship each year in the next 7 years; This adds up to the final total of 360 million marks!

"7 former dreadnoughts, 7 decisive battle cruisers, and 4 small cruisers, compared with the number of starts, there is really a gap between the number of operations and history......" Qingying said to himself after leaving the last stroke on the paper.

There's one more chapter tonight