This arms sale to Spain undoubtedly provided Germany with an excellent opportunity to refurbish its warships.

According to the provisions of the current German naval law, only one battleship is to be started each year to replace the old ironclad ships; Even if Qingying shoehorned in a budget for a decisive battle in order to make up for the main lineup of the High Seas Fleet in the future, it still did not change the relatively slow development of the German Navy. Wilhelm II, who was so overjoyed, had long complained about this speed of development of the naval fleet; In his view, it is certainly an excellent strategy to improve the cost performance by giving the patrol the ability to fight a decisive battle, but this is the embodiment of a third-rate country with a poor navy and a clanging bag. As the leading power on the European continent, Germany is rich all over the world, and it even relies on this way to increase the size of its main fleet, which undoubtedly greatly damages the face of the empire among the naval powers in the world. In addition, in order to achieve high speed, the battle line capability of the decisive battle type is much inferior to that of real battleships; And at the moment, the battleship is the force that plays an arbitrating role in naval warfare!

Seeing that William had such a strong desire for battleships, Qingying no longer insisted on investing all the proceeds from the sale of ships into the construction of the decisive battle type cruiser, but obeyed William's wishes. As William's cheap second son, Qingying can disagree with the emperor, but when William makes up his mind, all he can do is give the emperor his full support. In many cases, it is much better to choose to unswervingly implement the middle policy than to repeatedly argue about the implementation of the best policy! For Qingying, it is also necessary for him to maintain his usual holy grace in front of William, so as to lay a better foundation for future actions.

However, the improved version of the decisive battle type proposed by Qingying also gave William an unprecedented great temptation. Based on the normal speed of the torpedo in the water at 26 knots, the distance of 3000 meters is only about 4 minutes; If the idea of a combat torpedo tower is successfully implemented, its 2-minute torpedo rate is sufficient to make up for the second torpedo and launch the second torpedo into a new course that the opposing ship is changing to avoid the first torpedo. Even if this idea ultimately fails, the remedy that Qingying attaches to it can still recover all the losses caused by the increase in tonnage!

In the face of this business that is sure to make money without losing money, Rao is William can't help but feel a little moved no matter how much he wants to build more battleships. After some trade-offs, William cut the original budget of three battleships by one and changed them to an improved version of the decisive battle. As a result, coupled with the German Navy's original annual plan, they were to start construction of three battleships and two for the final battle in 1898, which was the fastest in history. When the German government announced this year's budget in a government report, the whole venue erupted in cheers and cheers. The construction of naval warships has never been just a matter of shipyards, it also involves countless fields such as steel, coal, machinery, chemicals, artillery, etc.; Even the most ordinary small handicraft workshops can weave long ropes for hanging colored flags for warships! The construction of 1 capital ship can solve the employment problem of thousands of people during its construction period of several years, and bring considerable benefits to capitalists in various fields, not to mention that this year 5 new capital ships have started construction in one go?

With the tsunami of joy from the members of the Reichstag, a temporary amendment to the Advance Naval Act was quickly released, and the huge amount of 74 million marks plundered by the German government from the Spaniards was poured into the navy's coffers; And since the cost of equipment maintenance and personnel expenses has long been budgeted, all this money is used for the construction of new ships. The machinery roared, the molten steel tilted, and the first 3 battleships of 13850 tons were laid with keels at the same time at German shipyards; Looking at the old admiral's red face, Qingying suddenly wondered, if Tirpitz learned the news, would he regret running away to the Far East, thousands of miles away?

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Just when the German Admiralty urged its subordinate design bureau to complete the design work of the new type of renovation and decisive battle and cruise, and was ready to show its strength and start construction of the new ship again, the turbulent situation on the other side of the ocean was also in full swing. The explosion of the ironclad ship "Maine" has set off a surging torrent of public opinion in the United States.

Until then, the United States had never had the will to go to war against Spain. This is not only because more than 30 years have passed since the North-South Civil War, which killed millions of people, and the pain during this period has not yet subsided from the hearts of the American people, but also because the American people are satisfied with the current comfortable life of affluence and peace, and have no interest in overseas colonies at all. In the eyes of the American people, their country has no shortage of resources, no shortage of markets, and its productivity ranks first in the world, so there is no need to desperately open up overseas like those European countries the size of a palm. Based on this general will of the people, the United States is not very concerned about overseas affairs; My life is good enough, so why bother to engage in some kind of war that kills people and seize some colonies?

If the normal development trend is followed, the United States will not necessarily set its sights on overseas regions in the next decade, but the explosion of the Maine has undoubtedly changed the trajectory of this historical development.

Over the past month, the media and newspapers in the United States have continued to report on this incident like chicken blood, and the culprit of the incident has been directly targeted in Spain. The Americans' argument is very convincing, Havana belongs to the core of Spain's domination, and the surrounding rebels have been suppressed by the Spanish troops stationed here, in this case, only Spain has the ability to blast the American Maine! As for the reasons why the Spaniards did this, the American media also came up with all sorts of reasons for the potential enemies of their country. For a time, all kinds of mouthpieces in the American newspapers and radio burst out in unison, saying that the shameless brutality of the Spaniards was rare in hell and never in the world.

Ordinary people have a hard time getting an accurate understanding of things because they lack first-hand information, and even in the 21st century, when information is transmitted at a high speed, the authorities will be playing tricks around the authorities, let alone at the end of the 19th century, when there were few radios. What's more, even if a lie is told three times, it will become the truth, and this kind of strong argument that "fully qualified for crime" is even more popular in the United States. Angry Americans did not suspect him, and anti-Western sentiment soared, and later demonstrations condemning Spanish atrocities erupted every day in major American cities. In New York, an angry crowd gathered outside the Spanish embassy holding banners that read "Blood Debt Repays" and stormed the human wall of American police and riot squads. The interior of the Spanish Embassy, which used to be chic and fresh, has been completely covered with debris thrown by the American people. Several diplomats, including the Spanish ambassador, huddled in the high-walled compound all day long, like heavy tanks suppressed by bombings, and did not dare to show their heads at all; They trembled as they listened to the waves of denunciation outside, as if they were in a hellish nightmare.

Seeing this scene, Theodore Roosevelt's heart was overjoyed and he smiled. Because he had long wanted to seize Cuba and go to war with Spain; For this far-sighted and ambitious fellow, the explosion of the Maine was simply the best opportunity God had given him. Now the warship has been blown in two in Havana, and there is no proof of death; The Spaniards, who are landlords, are yellow mud and lose their crotch, not shi but also shi. In the month since the explosion, the young politician has become the head of a charity; In his powerful speeches, he was overwhelmed with grief about the misfortunes of hundreds of fallen officers and soldiers, and in his righteous accusations of the atrocities committed by the Spaniards.

In the face of the awe-inspiring questioning of justice by the United States, Spain naturally denied it and insisted that it was not their doing. The Spaniards are not fools, they clearly understand the difference in national power between themselves and the United States; Despite the fact that they bought 3 ironclads from Germany at a large price, the navy was almost twice as strong on paper as it was in history; However, this force can only ensure that part of the sea control in the Caribbean is not controlled by the Americans, so that their troops on Cuba can be resupplied smoothly, but they cannot face the main American fleet head-on. What's more, these 3 battleships bought from Germany were not immediately able to form combat effectiveness! From completion to service, the warship must go through at least half a year of personnel run-in and equipment commissioning; Even if these 3 warships are all active ships of the Germans, there must be no problem with normal use, but the run-in of personnel is a necessary thing. In order to buy these warships, Spain was slaughtered by the Germans at twice the price, so each battleship was incomparably precious; If you don't go through months of personnel training to improve your combat effectiveness, and let a group of novices just drive the battleship out to sea, isn't it going to deliver meat? Putting untrained recruits on the battlefield is a big no-no in the army, let alone a navy with huge investment and slow results!

After 10 months, seeing that the tone of the United States did not weaken in the slightest, but became more and more tough, Spain proposed that the two countries form a joint investigation mission to investigate the real cause of the explosion of the Maine. The Spaniards were not afraid of ghosts knocking on the door, so they wanted to use such an idea to prove their innocence, but they obviously miscalculated. Whether it is to protect the $50 million plantations invested by domestic capitalists in Cuba to continue to be their cash cow, or to embezzle Cuba as a first step into the ocean, the US government cannot stop the pace of war. What is the danger of adding to the sin? Don't say that the Maine exploded in Havana, even if the battleship exploded on the American mainland, the United States would insist that the Spaniards did it in order to find an excuse to go to war with Spain! On 27 March, the U.S. ambassador to Spain formally presented Spain with a solemn statement by the United States, demanding that the Spanish side immediately cease fire with the rebels in Cuba, abolish the concentration camp law, and restore the normal operation of plantations invested by American capitalists. Although Spain was aware of the ultimate ambitions of the United States, they declared an armistice in Cuba on 9 April, holding on to the hope of one in 10,000 that the American conscience had found.

However, the United States, which had already started the war machine, no longer wanted to be entangled with the Spaniards over the explosion of the Maine. At the behest of Theodore Roosevelt, the officers and men of the U.S. Navy refused to allow the Spanish survey team to approach the wreckage of the Maine, and then took advantage of the dark and windy night to tow the wreckage to the open sea by boat, and then sank into the ocean, completely destroying the corpse. At the same time, the propaganda machine in the United States was once again at full speed, saying that this was a good thing done by the Spaniards while the United States was not paying attention, in an attempt to bury their sins in the soil forever. With regard to Spain's strong protest against the United States' unilateral destruction of evidence, the US Government calmly stated that this was entirely aimed at soothing the wounded hearts of US Navy officers and men.

On 22 April, the U.S. Pacific Fleet went out en masse to block Cuba's shipping lanes to the outside world, and a Spanish transport ship full of supplies was captured by the United States. Seeing that the Americans had shown their weapons and had already stabbed themselves, the Spanish government suddenly knew that there was no room for return. Two days later, Spain declared war on the United States, and the United States government, which had been impatient for a long time, immediately responded with a declaration of war, and history entered a new era.

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The birds are crying, the breeze is warm, and the morning Berlin is bathed in dazzling sunlight, and in the grandeur and grandeur of the order, it is full of spring greenery.

Qingying strode on the stone avenue, and then took three steps and two steps, and walked directly into William's office. His collar was embroidered with gold and jade belts, and the slim and straight blue-black dress highlighted his long and straight young body vividly. Looking at the second son in front of him, who could hardly find a second person in the whole of Europe who could match him in terms of appearance, William's eyes flashed with pride; The corners of his mouth vaguely hooked a trace of arc, and said lightly: "Are you ready?" ”

Qingying said in a low voice: "All the items are ready, and they have been transported in front of the palace. I have come to bid farewell to my father today. ”

William nodded, and said slowly: "You are going to the Far East, visiting that dwarf country, traveling thousands of miles all the way, and you must learn to take care of yourself." If you encounter something uncertain, you must report the news to the country first, and wait for my reply after consultation with the ministers, and do not act alone. ”

Qingying nodded and said, "I wrote it down." If I go to Japan, I will definitely not disappoint my father. ”

A smile appeared on William's face, as if relieved and relieved; He patted Qingying on the shoulder and said, "Don't forget what you promised me." For the sake of this empire, for the sake of your mother and me, and for the sake of little Nicky's little cousin, when the time comes to return home, I want to see you standing in front of me completely! ”

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