"With the strength of my German family alone, it is indeed difficult to defeat the British Navy. However, we have two allies who can help us to a large extent. Qingying said after glancing at William.

William snorted, "You're talking about the Austrians and Italians." These two countries can only be regarded as second-rate in Europe, and have no advantage over France and Russia. Austria-Hungary was probably in a better situation, after all, they were the second largest country in Europe, with a population second only to ours after Russia, and barely passable in terms of war potential. And this guy from Italy was originally brought together when we fought against the French, and now, I have begun to doubt the necessity of an alliance with Italy! ”

Speaking of this, William snorted, and his words were full of disdain and contempt: "As a white country and one of the seven great powers in the world, they can't even defeat the African natives of Ethiopia, but instead defeated Adwa, and paid 400,000 pounds of war reparations to this group of Africans!" An industrialized country has made peace with a group of natives in primitive times! In the 100 years since I colonized Europe, when has such an incredible thing happened? What's the use of asking for this kind of idiot ally who is more than a pig? ”

Hearing the undisguised contempt for Italy in William's words, Qingying's cheeks twitched. He originally thought that William, as the monarch of a country with a lot of first-hand information, would attach great importance to relations with Italy; But what he didn't expect was that this monarch would have such an attitude towards Italy, a member of the Triple Alliance! In the Qing Dynasty's plan to change the national glory of the German Empire, in addition to changing the strategy of the German Army and rebuilding the High Seas Fleet, Italy was the most crucial part of this plan!

When it comes to Italy, as long as you are a military enthusiast who has a little bit of knowledge of the military history of the world, you will have a playful smile on your lips. Because since the establishment of the Kingdom of Italy in 1861, its poor performance in foreign wars has been a laughing point after dinner. As a white nation, they were not only not victorious in the colonization of Ethiopia in 1896, but were defeated by the local natives; At the end of the day, Italy was forced to recognize Ethiopia's independence and pay 10 million lire (about 400,000 pounds) to the local natives, which made Belgium, Portugal and other third-rate European countries that successfully colonized Africa laugh. As a European power, in the 1899 forced lease of Sanmen Bay, it was categorically rejected by the Qing government, which had always been subservient and subservient, with an unprecedented tough attitude, and finally had to go home in a huff, creating the only miracle that the European powers ran into a wall in the face of the weak Mites. And in the two world wars, the performance of their army can be called a strange fighter: they have repeatedly made the other party miraculously defeat the weak and the strong, and they even beat their own marshal from the sky! Such a magical army, I'm afraid it's the only one in the world, and there is no semicolon, right?

However, despite the widespread criticism of the Italian army's combat effectiveness, and even the peculiar rumor that it would cost an additional 40 divisions to protect this ally, anyone who knows a little bit about military warfare will understand that this is just an after-dinner joke and nothing more. Among the world's great powers, Italy is also the number one industrialized country, with a large army; No matter how useless this ally is, one more ally is definitely better than one more enemy. What's more, Italy's laughing stock in the war was a good thing done by the army; And the performance of the Italian Navy has always been decent, and it has not lost face to the country like the Army.

Therefore, Qing Ying's attitude towards Italy was to tie them to the chariot of the Central Powers completely; And then use their powerful naval fleet to open up the situation for the Allies in the Mediterranean!

During World War I, although the main battlefield of the two camps was the shelling and trenching of the Western Front, the victory or defeat in the Mediterranean could directly affect the land occupation of the Central European continent by the two camps. For the Entente, taking control of the Mediterranean meant that they were already in an undefeated situation. Because after the Entente controlled the Mediterranean, then the goods from India, Malaysia and other Far Eastern colonies continued to enter the Mediterranean through the shortcut of the Suez Canal. At that time, these merchant ships laden with food and raw materials will either go north to England through the Strait of Gibraltar, or unload their goods directly at French ports in the Mediterranean; A large amount of raw materials were produced into various war materials by the arsenals of Britain and France, which would play an excellent role in promoting and lubricating the war machine of the Allies.

And if the Mediterranean becomes the inner lake of the Allies, everything will change radically. Merchant ships from the Far East and Australia could no longer borrow the Suez Canal, so they had to make a detour to the Cape of Good Hope, the southernmost tip of Africa; And this long-distance detour will increase the range by 8,000 to 10,000 kilometers! A large number of raw materials, food, and soldiers from India, Southeast Asia, and Australia had to travel halfway around the world to reach their destination; This mode of transportation was extremely time-consuming and labor-intensive, and was bound to greatly affect the war potential of the Entente powers. The most important thing is that the Allies can also unscrupulously project troops into the African continent, which is almost entirely colonized by Britain and France! On these colonies, Britain and France had very little military power; As soon as the Austro-Hungarian and even Turkish armies arrived, they would be able to sweep away all the British and French colonies in East and Central Africa with a thunderous force. Without the blood transfusion of these colonies, it would have been fatal for Britain and France!

So how could the Allies take control of the Mediterranean? During World War I, there were no fortified islands in the Mediterranean like Malta in World War II; Whoever seizes the control of the Mediterranean Sea controls this 2.5 million square kilometers of land. Since the second half of the 19th century, almost all warships sailing in the Mediterranean Sea have flown the naval battle flags of Britain, France, Italy, and Austria-Hungary on their masts; And in order to form a maritime advantage over the Entente in the Mediterranean, Italy is a force that must not be ignored!

On the eve of World War I, because the British transferred all the elite to the mainland to deal with the Germans, only some former fearlessness remained in the Mediterranean; In the absence of tigers in the mountains, France, Italy and Austria have become the core of the Mediterranean power. At the outbreak of World War I, the four Kolbe-class dreadnoughts with a standard displacement of 22,189 tons owned by France were all in service in the Mediterranean, plus a large number of former dreadnoughts, which was the premier fleet in the Mediterranean; Italy, on the other hand, has 1 19,552-ton Dante-class and two 23,000-ton Count Cavour-class dreadnoughts, a total of 3 dreadnoughts, and its comprehensive combat power is closely behind France. Although the strength of the Austro-Hungarian Navy is not as good as that of France and Italy, it also has three 20,000-ton joint force heavyweight dreadnoughts to support the façade, which is completely a fight on the capital ship.

Among these three countries, France and Austria belong to the two camps of the Entente Alliance, and they are naturally undying enemies with each other. Although Italy was a signatory to the three-way alliance, because they signed only a treaty of defense alliance with Germany and Austria; This meant that Italy would only join the camp of the Allies to make enemies of Britain, France and Russia after Germany and Austria were actively attacked by Britain, France and Russia. Since it was Austria-Hungary that took the initiative to invade Serbia and triggered the Great War, Italy did not declare war on the Entente in the first place, but declared neutrality. After that, due to the change of government, the old feud between Italy and Austria, and the defeat of the Central Powers on the land battlefield, Italy was no longer willing to join the German-Austrian side in the war; At this time, the Entente countries saw the hearts of the Italians and vigorously wooed them and promised them heavy benefits. Due to a combination of factors, Italy eventually turned its back on the Triple Alliance and joined the side of the Entente, making Germany and Austria hostile.

When Italy joined the Entente side, although it did not help the Entente on land, their navy played a crucial role. The combined forces of the French and Italian navies formed an absolute superiority over the Austro-Hungarian navy, completely locking it in the narrow Adriatic Sea; And the Turkish Goeben was damaged and was unable to repair it, and it couldn't make any trouble. Since then, the Entente have completely controlled the sea control of the Mediterranean, and a large amount of fresh blood from the colonies has been continuously imported into the bodies of Britain and France, laying a solid material foundation for the final defeat of Germany and Austria.

And if Germany could significantly strengthen its relations with Italy, and make Austria-Hungary and Italy come to an understanding that they would be completely tied to the chariot of the Central Powers; In the Mediterranean, then, it's a different story entirely! After Italy fell to the Central Powers, the Austro-Hungarian fleet, whose strength should not be underestimated, was able to break out of the narrow Adriatic Sea; galloping across the oceans with the Italian fleet; Coupled with the purchased ships in the Turkish fleet, it formed an absolute superiority over the French Navy at the time of boarding!

As soon as he thought of this, Qing Ying immediately spoke: "It may be true that the Italian army is not suitable for war, but their navy is a trustworthy force; And we are going to use their navy to help our Germany achieve this goal! At the moment, the strength of the Italian navy is not much less than that of France; If they can firmly unite with us, then together with our Austro-Hungarian allies, they will form an extremely strong force in the Mediterranean. And the Mediterranean is something that Britain cannot afford to lose! In this way, the British will inevitably throw more troops into the Mediterranean, and our Germans will have much fewer British warships to deal with, and this is the role of the Italians for us. And if Italy falls to our opposite, then they alone can completely lock the Austro-Hungarian navy in the Adriatic; The British have no worries, and the pressure we have to face in the North Sea is even greater! ”

Hearing this, a gleam flashed in William's eyes. He was silent for a moment, and then slowly spoke, "Not bad. Due to its geographical location, the coastal areas of the Austro-Hungarian Empire were far from the core of the Mediterranean, and in order for them to participate in the Mediterranean, they had to pass through the heel of the Italian boot. Although we do not yet know if the Italian navy is as incomprehensible as their army, its size is there; In the event of a war with the British, the combined fleet of Italy and Austria would be able to contain a large number of British ships in the Mediterranean, thus creating a favorable situation for us to challenge the British home fleet. ”

"In addition to this, we should also significantly strengthen relations with the Ottoman Empire. Although the sick man of Europe is in decay, their financial income is still barely qualified; If they really want to build a navy, they can still afford to buy warships! If Germany can co-opt them as well, it will not only lock the Russian Black Sea Fleet in that pond once and for all, but also add a significant weight to our naval strength in the Mediterranean. Qingying reminded him. The historical Ottoman Empire profoundly explained what it means to be a skinny camel bigger than a horse; After being severely beaten by the Greek Navy with 1 Italian 10,000-ton loadout, it immediately passed a huge naval expansion budget and was ready to purchase three first-class battleships from abroad in one fell swoop. Of the two ships that were seized by the British, the "Ireland" was purchased for 2.5 million pounds, and the relic, the "Agincourt", cost the Turks 2.725 million pounds! It can be seen that although the Turks are not rich, their pockets are like toothpaste, as long as they squeeze hard, they can definitely squeeze out the money!

"I don't need you to teach me this. The Ottoman Empire, located in the Middle East, has always been the target of our German courtship, and I know what to do. William gave him a blank look and said, "Remember what I just said, I don't want to see you upgrade my backup again before you turn 16!" Qingying was slightly surprised when she heard this, and was about to nod her head to say yes, but suddenly there was a crisp footstep at the mouth of the spiral staircase. Turning his head to look, he saw a beautiful blonde girl walking up the stairs, it was not Sanya, but who it was.

"Stupid, shall we go back and continue?" With a delicate and touching voice, Sanya threw herself into Qingying's arms like a gust of wind. Feeling that the young man in front of her did not have an unexpected response, the girl was puzzled; She raised her head and followed Qingying's gaze, and when he saw William who was just a few feet away, he let out a scream of "ah" and bounced out of Qingying's arms like an electric shock.

Table ...... Uncle...... Your Majesty the Kaiser," said Sonia in a whisper, standing with her head bowed, her fingers twisted, "I want him to accompany me to the dinner...... Dinner, well......"

William closed his eyes, his steel teeth clenched, and there was a faint beating of green tendons on his forehead; The sound right hand was clenched into a fist, and even the soft crunch of the joints on it could be heard. After a while, he let out a long breath as if he had given up, and then slowly turned around and looked up at the distant sky. The footsteps are soft, from near to far; An evening breeze blew, brushing William's clothes and the discarded plackets of the two.

Recently, the collection has increased dismal authors, as office workers, it is not easy to update a chapter every night; Although he will not give up easily, the author also hopes that his efforts will be recognized in terms of achievements.

This chapter is more than 4,100 words, and the author also sent it up. Ask for some collections