The morning sun shines brightly on every part of Central Europe. Around the Germania shipyard near Hamburg, it was already crowded with people and flags. The once wide and towering wooden shed has been removed, and the giant ship on the slipway has finally revealed its true face: the dark gray steel body is as tall and majestic as a mountain, and the smooth and elegant shape of the ship makes it a perfect blend of war power and aesthetics; Most notably, it has five hollow seats on its deck that are 8 meters in diameter, which is as numerous and large as the Dreadnought battleship that caused a sensation last month.

Since the beginning of the 20th century, with the rapid development of German power and Tirpitz's unsparing hype, the German people's awareness of the sea has gradually awakened, and most of them have realized the importance of the ocean. If Germany wants to become a world empire with a booming economy, a booming industry, and a prosperous culture, it must have a large merchant fleet to push the elements belonging to Germany to the world through capital trade; To protect the security of the fleet, a strong navy is inevitably needed as a military backup. In addition, the development of the navy can also eliminate the problem of overproduction, which was extremely harmful to the country in the era of the gold standard, and at the same time, it can also use such a visual and sensory impact as a giant ship to unite the people's national pride and enterprising spirit. As a result, the naval craze in Germany exploded in just a decade, and the civilian naval group founded by Tirpitz swelled dramatically, with hundreds of thousands of paying members meeting monthly in major cities to present their ideas for the future to the Admiralty.

Since the launch of the first two ships of the same class in the German class was carried out in extreme secrecy, no disclosure was made to the outside world. The German people, who are already obsessed with the sea, have long been thirsty. It's itchy and hard to scratch. They were eager to see what the four new battleships would look like. Under the triple pressure of William, Tirpitz, and the people, Qingying had to abandon the initial strategy of covering up, and publicized it to the world under the condition of keeping the thickness of the armor and the speed of the ship secret. Although Qingying is very dismissive of the mentality of "wanting to make a big news all the time" in the whole of Germany, after all, it is definitely not a good thing to overstimulate his potential enemies, but considering the current situation that Germany's national strength is already extremely strong, it has actually become irreproachable. Germany is no longer what it used to be 10 years ago, and it is well positioned to put forward its needs for the seas head-on. If you provoke a dreadnought race with Britain on this, then you will directly face it head-on. Fight with the British! As long as the Qing British can make the German navy not be preempted by Britain as in history, then Germany will not have the slightest cowardice in the arms race.

It was March, and the German people who came to take part in the launching and see the new battleships of the Reich reached its highest level in the warm morning light and the warm breeze that revived all things. Although the launching ceremony had not yet begun, the scene was already full of sound, and the people pointed at the big guy with colorful flags and streamers in the center of the slipway, and their faces were full of hope and happiness for the future.

Qingying stood on the viewing platform, quietly looking at the behemoth in front of him that had poured a lot of his heart and soul, and his heart was stirring. It's been a long time. Before that, he had a full glimpse of every detail of the battleship through drawings and models. However, when he saw the real thing, he was still completely impressed by the majestic charm displayed by this behemoth artwork that integrates the electrical industry in Dacheng. The flat deck was empty, leaving a few holes such as turret seats and flue tuyeres, but as soon as you glanced at the blueprint prospect when it was fully completed, an irrepressible surge of blood rushed and stirred in the chest, and it was about to turn into a rolling wind and thunder, spewing thin and long!

"A month ago, at that launching ceremony at the Portsmouth shipyard, Fisher's old fellow jumped up and down in front of journalists and military observers from all over the world, boasting to them that 'the Royal Navy's unrivalled new giant ship will shock everyone's eye' and that 'any warship is fragile butter in front of it', which is as ridiculous as a clown. Didn't he know that when he spoke big words in the cold wind of February, his tongue would be flashed? ”

On the seat next to him, Tirpitz gently stroked the long hair that parted the middle of his jaw, and his well-defined face had a faint smile on it, as if the situation was under control. He squinted his eyes at the behemoth ship in front of him, and said leisurely in a tone full of ridicule: "Although the construction progress of this ship by the British is very fast, after all, they only started to build this new battleship with full heavy guns in October last year, and only built one as a test. Germany, on the other hand, began laying the central keel of a new type of battleship two years earlier, and in the first three years built four warships of the same class. With that lone dreadnought, did he Fisher think he could dominate the seas? Today, I, Germany, want to let him open his eyes and take a good look at who led this epoch-making change of all-heavy artillery warships! When he was smug with the big toy in his hand that had not yet been built, he turned his head to look at it, and suddenly found that I had four battleships with full heavy guns in Germany; This huge difference of 1 to 4 is probably going to scare the eyes of the old guy in Fisher, right? ”

Qingying turned around and said with a smile: "General Alfred, the gap between the two sides does not stop there, we also started construction of three all-heavy gun battle cruisers with a standard displacement of 18,250 tons in 1904 and 1905, and the solid protection they have can completely allow them to join the battle line." So the ratio of the British to the number of our new capital ships under construction is actually 1 to 7. In two months' time, our first 25-knot battlecruiser would be launched; By that time, it is expected that the gentlemen of London, who had followed the law of the jungle, would be able to sit down calmly and listen to the sound of the sea from Germany. ”

Tirpitz snorted, and then his tone gradually turned solemn, and he said slowly: "The heads of state of Britain and France met secretly in Paris before. It seems that a dirty pact of joint defense of my Germany was reached. It is highly likely that the empire will face the threat of being attacked by Britain in a future European war. And to avoid this from happening. We must have a powerful fleet that Britain cannot easily defeat in a frontal battle, or else it will deprive them of naval superiority. Blind concessions and compromises will not lead to any results, and only by taking toughness for toughness, and showing our shining weapons where Britain's vital interests are most concerned, can Britain carefully consider the relationship between them and Germany. As long as the German Navy can succeed in becoming an opponent that Britain will be difficult to overwhelm in all respects, then Britain can only choose not to be an enemy of Germany in order to ensure their maritime superiority. And without the help of England, the French alone could not be our opponent, so they could only bow to our German reconciliation. It is also the only way to find peace in Europe. ”

Qing Ying secretly smiled bitterly when she heard this. Tirpitz's theory of the risk fleet, which evolved and developed on the basis of Mahan's theory of sea power, is not wrong. But he clearly underestimated the number of Churchills in Britain who were extremely hostile to Germany. Under the manipulation of these people, Britain would rather lose its 350-year-old maritime supremacy than first defeat Germany, which dared to touch the sea. And this conclusion, which is based on the conclusions of later generations and has no arguments at present, is beyond the reach of the current Qing Ying, and all he can do at present is to make the German Navy have a greater strength than in history when the Great War breaks out!

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Just as he was feeling a little helpless, the crowd below suddenly erupted in earth-shattering cheers; Qingying's eyes were fixed, and he saw that Wilhelm II's luxury car was slowly driving towards the viewing platform surrounded by a large number of brightly dressed guards, and the emperor smiled and waved, and the people thundered with joy and went straight to the sky. As the third emperor of the German Empire. In the past 20 years, Wilhelm has fully inherited and carried forward the glorious inheritance passed on to him by his grandfather and two generations of kings, and has truly brought Germany to the pinnacle of Europe.

In the eyes of the German population. Wilhelm was regarded as a benevolent emperor because he had established a social security system in Germany that was completely alien to the current era of workers being treated as "lemons that had been drained and thrown away", and had legislated to make child labor disappear from the toiling front-line construction sites. Wilhelm was regarded as an enlightened emperor, and it was he who, despite Bismarck's strong opposition, was given the opportunity to the Social Democrats, whom he often babbled about cutting off their heads, to pacify their candidacy and even control of the Reichstag, making them think that it was more advantageous to seize power by vote than to a military coup. Wilhelm is regarded as a great emperor, and during his nearly 20 years of reign, Germany's economic aggregate and major industrial output grew by leaps and bounds, and at the turn of the century, it surpassed the seemingly invincible United Kingdom to become the second largest in the world and the first in Europe. Compared to his Russian cousin, known as "Nicholas the Cruel", William's popularity among his own people was unrivaled, even by his uncle Edward, who was beloved by the British people for his social speeches. If it weren't for the unexpected outbreak of World War I, William could have become a peerless monarch who surpassed his father and even his grandfather!

With the appearance of William, the military and political officials who were originally talking and laughing on the viewing platform stood up to welcome the arrival of the emperor, Qingying and Tirpitz, who was wearing a military uniform, also gathered their minds and watched with solemn faces as William walked down the stairs from the ground to the stage, and then appeared in front of the microphone in the center of the viewing platform. William, dressed in the uniform of a commander-in-chief, looked with satisfaction at the fanatical people below him who were screaming at him, and slowly raised his hand with impeccable aristocratic etiquette and made a quiet gesture; Moments later, a stirring speech was heard through the loudspeakers of the Hirofu shipyard in every corner of the world. Qingying listened to it in her ears, and suddenly found that William's oratory skills were quite profound, although it could not achieve the incitement effect of the Führer, but it was enough to crush the dry speeches of the vast majority of national leaders in later generations. After the speech ended, the audience listened to the enthusiastic applause of the people, and the praise and cheers shook the sky.

The ribbon cutting ribbon, champagne flying, accompanied by the crisp sound of glass breaking, the warm atmosphere of the scene suddenly reached a peak; A wooden board sprayed with the word "Silesia" rolled up in the bow of the ship, proudly showing its own unique style to the world. In a few moments, the massive hull began to slide forward, and the sharp bow crushed the large blue waves, splashing white water around the hull. The battleship will then be outfitted for one to one and a half years, and the workers will install her with weapons, armor, some machinery, and a bridge conning tower; After the overall completion of the battleship, the battleship will have to undergo about half a year of mechanical run-in and personnel training before this behemoth, which costs nearly 1.6 million pounds, can play its due role.

After the battleship slid from the slipway into the water, William also left the much-anticipated viewing platform and walked to the center seat next to Qingying. His eyes were smiling, the corners of his mouth were hooked, and the two straight gray beards on his lips were pointing straight to the sky like swords, obviously in a good mood. As his eyes turned, William seemed to have thought of something, turned to Tirpitz and asked, "Alfred, the first giant cruiser we built the year before last should be about to be launched, right?" ”

Tirpitz shook his head slightly and said, "Your Majesty, if the normal progress continues, the warship of that class, which His Highness called the combat cruiser, is also ready to be launched." However, in order to pursue low mechanical loss at high speeds, they introduced Curtis-type steam turbines under development in the United States as the main engine; However, the Americans have delayed some construction due to technical obstacles, and the delivery time is expected to be four months later. Compared to its performance, this delay is also completely acceptable. ”

William pursed his lips when he heard this, and seemed to be a little unhappy with the delay in the construction period, but as Tirpitz said, the huge advantage of steam turbines over reciprocating steam engines in the field of high speed made it necessary for this high-speed capital ship to use steam turbines as the main power. Only in this way can its speed be maintained stably at the designed 25 knots for a long time, and will not cause serious speed loss after two years of driving. Thinking of this, the displeasure in William's heart gradually faded, and was replaced by an irrepressible excitement; As long as this battleship can be built, then Germany will turn against the enemy in the field of fast fleets and completely trample the traditional patrol under its feet! (To be continued......)