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The sea breeze is howling, the waves are dancing, and on the vast blue Baltic Sea, an unprecedentedly fierce sea and air exercise has begun. Unlike any previous exercise of the German Navy, there was only one fleet as far as the eye could see on the sea, and these warships were rushing at their highest speeds, just to avoid the dive of more than 100 attack planes circling and diving in the air!

Fighter planes in the air flew and shuttled, like goshawks; The anti-aircraft shells dragging the streamer burst out densely from the battleships on the sea, like a storm and continuously swept away into the sky. Because the German naval warships were heavily equipped with anti-aircraft guns, there were so many small-caliber shells flying in the air that it was impossible to tell whether they were fired from the warship. However, to the bitterness of all the artillery giants, the fact that because the speed of the fighters was too high and it was difficult to control them at long and short ranges, a large number of anti-aircraft firepower missed the target due to the difference in advance amount, and only a very small number of the planes were "crashed" by empty packets of dyed bombs. Most of the attack aircraft avoided the roaring attack of the rain of anti-aircraft projectiles and approached the target ship maneuvering at high speed on the sea surface; They either dropped their belly-mounted aerial torpedoes, or they plunged straight down from thousands of meters in near-vertical angles, launching a deadly dive to the terrible screech of the whistle!

"I really didn't expect that the naval battle would evolve into today's situation." On a destroyer not far from the battlefield, the commander of the German Navy, Admiral Schell, lowered the telescope in his hand. Said with emotion. Before that. He also had a hint of doubts about the aviation under his command. It is believed that a slow aircraft cannot snatch the supremacy of the battleships at sea in the face of massive anti-aircraft firepower; However, with the arrival of new all-metal carrier-based aircraft, this situation has changed radically. Anti-aircraft artillery could no longer deal an effective blow to a goshawk flying in the air, and neither the bombs dropped from a high dive nor the torpedoes fired close to the sea level were more threatening than the strikes of traditional naval guns against warships. More importantly, the carrying of carrier-based aircraft increased the distance between navies by more than ten times compared with conventional giant artillery duels; It is conceivable that the main guns of those battleships that have invested a lot of money to build. In future naval battles, it will be difficult to have a chance to exert its power.

"General, this is the new change brought about by scientific and technological innovation. Twenty-five years ago, weren't we exclaiming disbelief that the artillery battle between dreadnoughts had increased to more than 10 kilometers? Qingying, who was standing next to Scheer, smiled and spoke, and her words were full of vicissitudes based on the precipitation of the years. Since his youngest son Sprint also completed his wedding to Sophie, the princess of the Kingdom of Bavaria, in Charlottenburg Palace, Qingying has felt more and more the changes and helplessness brought about by the passage of time, but he feels comforted that the cause he has fought for all his life is rushing to the final end at an exciting speed.

"In the next war, the Imperial Navy will turn the North Sea and the North Atlantic into our territorial waters with absolute strength. If the Americans dare to meddle in Europe, we will send their fleets to the bottom of the sea just as well! "Looking at the ships in the distance that were sprayed with dye under the attack of carrier-based aircraft. Qingying's words were full of confidence. In 1890, the toddler U.S. Navy was humiliated by its Chilean counterparts. The Chilean Navy, which had bought a few warships from the British, mercilessly issued undisguised threats of force against the Americans who wanted to play peacemaker. Time has passed, and today, when the US Navy has become a pole in the world, the German Navy in Central Europe also has the confidence to release this bold statement. At present, the five Zeppelin-class fleet armored aircraft carriers have all been put into service, and the 520 carrier-based aircraft they carry and twice the number of reserve crews are the most important sticks and hammers in the hands of the German Navy today!

At the beginning of 1931, the political situation in France was violently turbulent, and the hardships caused by the long-term economic downturn brought about the French people's dissatisfaction with the government reached a high point. In the new round of parliamentary elections, a large number of unemployed poor people voted for the "French People's Alliance" led by Charles de Gaulle, making it the party with the largest number of seats in the parliament with 47% of the vote; Under these circumstances, French President Le Brun appointed Charles de Gaulle as prime minister and formed a new cabinet. Nationalist forces, as they had before the Great War in Europe, have been resurrected twenty years later. In his first speech as Prime Minister, de Gaulle promised to completely change the status quo in France and regain "the glory that this glorious nation deserves".

The cabinet reshuffle of the French government caused a strong vigilance in Qingying. Although the prime ministers of this country change frequently, and those who can serve for two years are already considered evergreen in the political arena, but the ascension of Charles de Gaulle this time is to break the basic national policy of the French government in the previous ten years. Once in power, it will inevitably gradually implement the many guarantees promised during the election period, which is undoubtedly contrary to Germany's strategy.

If it were just France, the Qing and Britain would not have too many worries, because the strength of Germany today is already different from what it used to be, and the national income and total industrial output have more than doubled compared with before the outbreak of the European war; No matter how hard it fights, Germany, which has gathered the strength of Austria-Hungary, can easily defeat France. However, just after Charles de Gaulle was sworn in as prime minister, Britain and the United States also successively changed the results that surprised Qing Ying under the brewing of the financial crisis: in May 1931, Churchill, who had been wiped out in the European war due to the destruction of the Royal Navy, once again became the foreign minister in the government, second only to the prime minister and the economic secretary, and reappeared in the eyes of the British public. And the German threat he continued to advocate after the war finally found a market in Britain in the midst of economic crisis, and became a topic of constant discussion on the streets!

Similar to the situation in France, Britain in this dimension also did not suffer the tragedy of the war in which 900,000 native youths died in history, and the national economy was far more powerful than the historical period that had been consumed in the European war for more than four years. If they do not experience the pain of war, they are undoubtedly more likely to be aroused by the enthusiasm for war. The current economic crisis has given people with ulterior motives the best opportunity to pass on domestic contradictions and achieve their own goals. With the passage of time and the gradual expiration of the Washington Naval Treaty, the British people began to be more and more dissatisfied with the world pattern established after the European war: if Egypt, the Transvaal, Nigeria, Kuwait and other anointed colonies were still in British hands, if Germany had not dared to raise tariffs arbitrarily because of its dominance in Europe, its own life would never be as depressed and difficult as it is today!

While stirring up domestic public opinion, Churchill was also making many diplomatic efforts. Since Britain was also unable to resist the German-led alliance in Central Europe, Churchill began to look for allies who could resist the other: in addition to frequent crossings of the Channel to Paris to visit Wèn, Churchill also sailed to the United States in late 1931 to meet with the White House's top brass on a joint solution to economic problems. With President Hoover, who had failed to respond to the economic crisis, no longer had any chance of being re-elected, Churchill paid a special visit to Roosevelt Jr., the Democratic nominee for the presidency and with whom he had a close personal relationship. At the meeting, he said that the only thing that can curb Germany's expansionist ambitions is the United States, as the leader of a democratic country. When Britain and France were attacked by Germany, the United States, whether out of its own interests or in order to defend civilization and justice, should give direct help to Britain and France by directly participating in the war.

In the United States, too, the attitude of the people has taken a disturbing turn from the historical isolation. As a result of the early arrival of this economic crisis, the American people suffered from the crisis for a longer period of time, and the isolation of their minds began to quietly change when their economic lives fell into a catastrophic trough. As long as the current situation can be changed, it is perfectly acceptable for the federal government to get involved in matters other than the United States; In any case, overseas markets must be opened to alleviate the current economic situation, and it is time to change the patriarchal law set by Washington for more than 100 years!

In the face of the obvious change in the national consciousness of the United States and Britain after the impact of the economic crisis, Qingying must treat it with the utmost solemnity. Britain has nothing to fear, and the United States is the real enemy of Germany at present; And in the event of a war between Germany and the United States, the most crucial thing for these two great powers on one continent is the naval showdown. In order to prevent Britain and France from being used by the United States as a bridgehead to attack the German mainland, Germany not only needed to quickly wipe out France on land, but also needed to lay the pattern of the North Atlantic in World War I on the sea and completely cut off its tentacles reaching out to Europe. As for whether to rule across the ocean with the United States in the future, or to further destroy the opponent, it all depends on the direction of the war.

"The twenty-year naval holiday is coming to an end, and we should be ready for a new round of naval competition. It is worth noting that in order to get rid of the impact of the economic crisis on unemployment, the United States and Britain will not miss the opportunity for this treaty to lapse, and they will certainly build a number of new ships to fight against us. Qingying looked at the naval commander beside him and said, "General, we should also have our own ship-building plan, right?" ”

Hearing Qingying's inquiry, Scheer, who was nearly seventy years old, straightened his chest slightly, and said loudly: "Please rest assured, Caesar." Today's Imperial Navy is no longer the toddler that needs your support everywhere to walk. We are confident enough to take on a new challenge, and the Black Vulture Iron Cross is about to dominate the North Atlantic. (The novel "Reborn Second Empire" will have more fresh content on the official WeChat platform, and there will also be a 100% lucky draw gift for everyone!) Open WeChat now, click on the "+" sign in the upper right corner to "add friends", search for the official account "qdread" and follow, hurry up! (To be continued......)

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