The setting sun has gilded the western sky with a brilliant glow of gold and purple.

On a wide corridor in the Imperial Palace in Berlin, Qingying was moving quickly towards the palace where Wilhelm's study was located; The dreary, damp air squeezed in him from all directions, causing him an inexplicable irritability in his heart.

Walking up the stairs, the door slammed, and Qingying, dressed in a single dress, walked quickly into William's study. Seeing the fading but still calm and generous back, Qingying paused, and then spoke: "Father, what happened when you called me in such a hurry?" ”

William turned slowly, and a hint of complex color appeared on his familiar face with a sharp beard, like hatred, happiness, sadness, and regret; All kinds of expressions overlapped and swirled on his face, and finally merged into a desolate sigh of time flying. His lips twitched, and he said softly, "Just three hours ago, my dear Uncle Edward's life came to an end. The British royal family has made the obituary public to the world, and the funeral service for him is scheduled to be held on May 11. ”

"What, King Edward has died?" Qingying's face changed, and her eyes were full of surprise and disbelief. My knowledge of history before World War I was mostly about characters and various events, and I didn't pay attention to the date of Edward VII's birth and death. Turning over the dusty memories in his mind, it seems that the king of Britain, who single-handedly created a siege network against Germany, did kick his legs to see God in 1910; After his death, the eldest son, George V, took over the glorious empire and irretrievably let it slip to the second rate of the world.

William pressed his hand slightly and motioned for Qingying to sit down on the sofa next to him. Heran said: "I didn't expect it, right? It was only yesterday that news broke out in London that Uncle Edward had been hospitalized for a pneumonia attack. Today, I was suddenly called by the grace of the Lord; When I got the news. It was also a big surprise. Now the power of the three great powers, England, Germany, and Russia, is in the hands of our cousins. ”

Of the three, my father will undoubtedly lead the way. Whether it is age or talent, George and Nikolai are far from being compared with their fathers. Qingying looked at the sudden white hair growing on William's sideburns, and couldn't help but bring some heartfelt sentiment in her words. The streamer flies, the years go by, and fifteen years pass in a hurry; The prime-age emperor he saw when he just crossed over. Now he has quietly entered the last period of his life. For politicians and leaders, 51 is undoubtedly an extremely golden age; And for the whole life, this is a sad and helpless twilight old age. Even he is nearly thirty years old, how can William not be old?

"You're still more discerning." In the face of Qingying's compliment, William accepted it without blushing; Today, he has the capital to stand proudly ahead of Nicholas II and George V. In the 22 years since he succeeded to the throne, the Central European empire has made a sky-changing leap forward; Today's Germany has become the brightest rising star in the whole of Europe, completely obscuring the light of the traditional powers of Russia, France and even Britain!

William spoke softly, with a hint of mockery and indignation in his words: "This Uncle Edward of mine. From the first day I ascended the throne, I was put on the number one blacklist to be eliminated. In order to contain the rise of Germany, we were handcuffed with heavy chains. Uncle Edward's vicious conspiracy was clearly unmistakable, and he embarked on his criminal quest to encircle Germany. He visited his niece-in-law, the King of Spain, and asked him to enforce a decree of exclusion of Germany in Morocco; He met with Clemenceau, the Tiger of France, and formed a sincere alliance that amazed the world. He instigated the Turkish Al-Shabaab to launch a revolution to overthrow the Hamid Sultanate, who had pursued a pro-German policy for thirty years; He also condescended to visit Revell in person, to meet with little Nicky, who hated each other, and signed an Anglo-Russian alliance to encircle our Germany. In just a few years, Uncle Edward has compiled a grand encirclement network against my Germany, and tried to cast a shadow between Germany and the sun with his fat body, so that my Germany can no longer feel the light, heat and warmth of life. However, his crazy dying struggle against the current will eventually be completely washed away by the rolling tide of history! ”

Speaking of this, Wilhelm's voice gradually turned high-pitched, and his face also showed a little proud look, and said: "The rise of Berlin is the main theme of this century, not changed by the will of any single man, in the face of this monstrous net, my German countermeasure is to use violence to tear it directly from the front!" Whether it is the strength of the land or the naval fleet, the energy of the empire has swelled to the extreme; Those gentlemen and beasts who speak in a London accent all day long can only tremble like a dog in the face of absolute strength! ”

Seeing William's confident face, Qingying couldn't help but feel a little touched in her heart. Without its own great advance of German national strength in the past 15 years, the German Army would not have been able to have a strong foundation against France and Russia; In the naval field, the High Seas Fleet is even more unlikely to be ahead of the curve, and has a formidable strength that currently makes the entire Royal Navy fearful.

By the end of 1909, the German Navy had begun construction of 17 dreadnoughts and 6 battle cruisers; And the Royal Navy on the other side of the Channel, even if it held its full strength, only built 20 dreadnoughts and 7 battle cruisers. If you count the four Marquis Bismarck-class small dreadnoughts that were transformed from the decisive battle patrol, the numerical gap between the two sides has been magnificently smoothed out in one fell swoop. Such a strong line-up far exceeded Tirpitz's proposal for a fleet of 70% of Britain's risk fleet with 70% of the number of capital ships, and was enough to make Britain directly frightened in the war against Germany; As the absolute pillar that supports the hegemony of the British world, the huge losses of the Royal Navy are simply unbearable for the British!

William glanced at Qingying and said, "By the way, the battleships we built are not too conservative in terms of tonnage and firepower?" The battleships that the British started this year increased their displacement to 23,000 tons while retaining 10 343-mm guns, while the two Hanoi-class ships ordered by the Japanese at the Imperial Shipyard had a weight of 25,000 tons and 10 356-mm guns! In contrast, the Caesar-class battleships that we finalized the year before last could not demonstrate the national strength and military might of our German Empire in terms of firepower or tonnage. I think we should also build a batch of 10 350 mm battleships this year to increase the tonnage to a relatively considerable scale, I remember you also advocated the large-scale battleships, right? ”

Qingying shook her head a little helplessly, and said, "Father, the capital ship is a weapon of war used to defeat the enemy, not a personal toy in your study; What does it matter if you are smaller? At present, the Caesar class with a standard displacement of 20,350 tons has achieved a perfect balance in terms of three elements and cost, and has been proven to be the standard battleship with the best cost performance. Although the number of main guns is 2 less than that of the British, it is enough to defeat the Orion class of the British in naval battles! As for the large-scale capital ships, didn't the battle cruiser we started construction last year also have a standard displacement of 24,300 tons? If you like big tonnage, we'll start another one this year. ”

Hearing Qingying's words, William, who was taking a sip of coffee in his mouth, couldn't help coughing violently; His face was cloudy, and he finally gave up his verbal resistance in the rolling white eyes.

"With the finalization of the Caesar class, the key factor determining the tonnage of battleships is no longer the subjective will of the battleship designers, but the research and development technology of Krupp's military artillery specialists. Only when they continued to develop more powerful naval guns could the tonnage of German battleships move forward in a benign manner; After all, compared with the firepower configuration of 10 350mm guns, 8 380mm heavy guns will obviously achieve better results in actual combat, and the latter's requirements for the tonnage of battleships are lower than the former! Qingying once again emphasized to Wilhelm the design concept of the historical Bavaria-class, and showed the standard template of the most cost-effective battleship of the First World War. As long as the research and development progress of artillery is really unable to keep up with the objective needs of the navy, the four-seat twin should always be implemented as the most cost-effective main gun layout in World War I.

William's brows gradually furrowed, and he said: "At present, the 350 mm L42 naval guns of the Krupp military industry are still in the development stage, and if the caliber is increased to 380 mm, it will obviously be a big challenge for the industry." And you have to know that if the Krupp guys can't develop a heavy naval gun of this caliber for a long time, doesn't that mean that our Germany can only build this kind of small capital ship of more than 20,000 tons forever? Although our defense was superior to that of the British, the firepower disadvantage of 2 main guns could not be ignored! ”

"Father, we might as well start another batch of Caesar-class ships this year, and wait until next year to build another powerful battleship equipped with 8 380 mm ships. After all, Krupp is no longer fighting alone, and Austro-Hungarian Skoda can give them constructive help in many places; With the addition of Skoda, I believe that we will be able to build a 380-mm battleship with 380 mm main guns next year. Qingying said what was in her heart.

William waved his hand and said, "We can talk to Alfred about this slowly." Now, I have to prepare to go to London to visit my British relatives. (To be continued......)