Berlin, Germany, July 2, 1898.

In the magnificent Imperial Palace in Berlin, the green trees are ringed together, the grass flowers are spread out, the palaces are scattered, and the palaces are stacked. Before Wilhelm I founded the German Empire, the Prussian royal palace was the most shabby and dilapidated royal palace in Europe; And with the development of the German Empire, the country no longer lacked the cost of building a royal palace, and the premier country on the European continent really began to build a royal palace for their Hohenzollern royal family. Today, although this German imperial palace is still far from Buckingham Palace, the Louvre and the Winter Palace in terms of magnificence and dignity, it has a more majestic and dignified bearing, which is also in line with Germany's solemn and tenacious image style in the eyes of the world.

A handsome young man with a long body is walking briskly on the bluestone road, it is Qingying. The afternoon sun was hot and blazing, scorching the earth with its own temperature without reservation, but Qingying did not choose to take shelter in the shade of the trees on the side of the road, but strode straight forward. When he stepped up the white jade steps and walked into the main entrance of the temple, a middle-aged man with a gray mustache appeared in front of him.

After two and a half months, William's face has not changed, but he has put on a set of clothes that Qingying has never seen before, which looks quite strange and unusual. In the 10 years since he ascended the throne, William's penchant for colorful things has not changed, especially the various styles of clothing, and it is said that his private wardrobe has collected more than 3,000 sets of various clothes; And he himself is also very powerful, with an average of 4 sets of clothes changed every day. It is for this reason that Wilhelm has the nickname "German Peacock"; But even so, he didn't make any changes, and he still went his own way.

Seeing Qingying appear, William's face showed a hint of joy; He put down the quill in his hand, pushed the bookcase away, got up and walked to Qingying. Looking at the second son in front of him, who was 6 feet tall and a little taller than himself, William pulled a smile at the corner of his mouth and said, "How is it, this trip to the Far East is quite smooth, right?" ”

Looking at William's happy and concerned face, Qingying couldn't help but feel warm in her heart, and said softly: "Holy Angel favor, Etel has not encountered any major obstacles on this trip. Since Germany itself was in an extremely advantageous position on the issue of Japan, I was able to complete the loan to Japan without any problems. Regardless of whether it was a one-cent interest rate or a restriction on foreign purchases, the Japanese side accepted the conditions put forward by the German Empire in its entirety. At the end of the day, Japan will still be grateful for the loan that our Germany has given them; Because this loan from Germany helped them to fill the budget gap for the remaining ships of the 66th Fleet, and the warships they ordered in Germany were far better than those of the British, which undoubtedly gave them a great impetus to resist Russia. ”

"To be precise, the navy in Japan's planning can no longer be called the 66th Fleet. They had wanted to order two 15,000-ton battleships, four 9,750-ton armored cruisers, and two 4,760-ton protective cruisers from the British, but after your visit, the Japanese have completely changed their plans. During the time you returned home, Japan and all the major shipyards of the Empire signed a staggering amount of shipbuilding contracts: they would order four 12,700-ton battleships and four 7,000-ton armored cruisers from the Empire in the next two years, greatly increasing the combat effectiveness of the fleet while maintaining the same total tonnage. In 4 years, the Japanese Navy would be a huge fleet with 8 battleships and 6 armored cruisers; At that time, I wonder how my little Nicky cousin will deal with the threat of these yellow-skinned monkeys in the Far East? ”

William chuckled, but there was an indescribable hint of jealousy and loss in his words. Because Germany's development has greatly crowded out the cheap raw materials and overseas trade markets that originally belonged to Britain, in order to stop pulling the hatred from Britain and ensure that the country has a good space for development, the German government has an annual income of more than 110 million pounds, but only expands its navy at the rate of building two new capital ships every year. Four years later, in 1902, the German Navy had only eight battleships and five armored cruisers, and on paper the Japanese were inferior to those of the Japanese, who had no heavy industrial background. Although William knew that this was a strategic compromise that must be made in the development of the country, and that he could start to fight with all his might after 8-10 years, this process of patience and waiting was really uncomfortable for a person of his character!

"The Russians will certainly impose their naval strength in the Far East as a countermeasure to the strengthening of the Japanese navy. Although the Japanese navy had grown considerably this time, their £12 million in revenue made it impossible to maintain a consistently high level of funding into the navy. Since Japan still needs to build an army strong enough to defeat Russia, a European steamroller, they will not be able to afford to add new capital warships to the navy for the next six years after completing the order for this batch of eight capital ships. The Russian government's annual income exceeds 50 million pounds, and its military expansion capacity is several times that of Japan; As long as they want to develop their fleet, they can expand their fleet at a rate of 3 capital ships per year, and in a few years, they will be able to build a Pacific Fleet that is larger than Japan's! In the eyes of my nicholas, Japan was nothing more than a pack of yellow-skinned wild monkeys; For the sake of his coveted Yellow Russia and ice-free ports, it is impossible to make any retreat on the Far Eastern question. Qingying analyzed confidently.

William's eyes showed a look of approval, and he said, "I didn't expect you to know little Nicky quite well." This cousin of mine has been a smooth sail since he was born: a noble birth. Although the former Tsar Alexander did not like him very much, he was still the unshakable number one heir to the Russian Empire. Since he ascended to the throne at the age of 26, the pride in his heart has become extremely inflated and empty-eyed, and if it weren't for my cousin's political achievements, he wouldn't even take me seriously! For those Japanese, little Nicky will make concessions, and that's hell! I'm sure that little Nicky, upon hearing this, was going to curse my cousin countless times, and then began to push his plan for the expansion of the Pacific Fleet even more vigorously. Since our German strength in the Baltic Sea is still very weak, the dilapidated ships of the Ottoman Empire are completely unable to hinder their dominance over the Black Sea; In this case, Nicky Jr. would certainly have his navy devote the vast majority of rubles to the construction of the Far Eastern Fleet, plowing the lands of the Far East for his empire with a sword. And that's exactly what I'd like to see in Germany. ”

Qingying's mind turned, and she said unhurriedly: "If this is the case, it seems that I, Germany, can give Nikolai Shu some more help on this issue." Three years ago, Germany undertook to build a large armored cruiser for Russia, and now that the battleship has been completed, they should also learn the superior performance of our German battleship. If we open the door to the Russians to build warships again, the Russians will not refuse, so that they can invest more money in the construction of the navy in the Far East. Yes, God, although our lending to Japan was a great harm to Russia's interests in the Far East, Germany did so in order to balance the adverse effects of the Ottoman visit on Anglo-German relations, not to become a-for-tat enemy with Russia. Moreover, it was the Japanese themselves who were reckless in their military force, and wanted to devote the vast majority of these 300 million marks to the expansion of the navy, and we Germany had no responsibility in this, and it was the Japanese who Nikolai Shu Wei resented. For the Russians, they need our advanced warships, and we need them to throw money into the bottomless pit of the Far Eastern Navy to relieve the pressure on us on the Eastern Front. As long as this key point remains unchanged, then this thing will definitely be realized. ”

On the way back to China, Qingying has been thinking about a problem. For Germany, a Russia that was defeated and severely weakened in the Far East was what Germany wanted to see, because it would ensure Germany's absolute dominance in the European theater; However, Qingying himself did not hope that Japan would win a complete victory in the Russo-Japanese War, but hoped that the two sides would fight to the death, and finally Japan would defeat Russia at a very painful price. Due to the uncertainty of the war, it was a paradox that was difficult to reconcile, but after carefully recalling the course of the Russo-Japanese War in history, he had a seemingly feasible plan in mind.

Although the main battlefield of the Russo-Japanese War was on land, the key point that determined the success or failure of the war was the sea. The reason is very simple: if Japan has mastered the sea supremacy, then the war can be fought and won; And if Russia controls the sea, Japan will completely lose the capital to resist, and the front-line army, which cannot be supplied from its own territory, will collapse in a very short time!

Historically, before the Russo-Japanese War, the Russian Far East Fleet was divided into two groups: one was the main fleet stationed in Arthur, with 5 battleships; The second is the Essen flotilla stationed in Vladivostok with 3 armored cruisers. Due to the undeclared torpedo attack by Japan, the main Russian fleet was besieged in Arthur; Although Essen's patrol fleet attacked in the early stage of the war, Maozi's self-made patrol was too bad, and the number was at a disadvantage, so it never dared to come out after being beaten by Japan. As a result, Japan's supplies and soldiers were able to be transported to the front line without any interference, which enabled Oyama to make a name for himself on land.

Qing Ying thought about it and finally decided that it would be a good idea to strengthen the patrol fleet in Essen. After the Essen fleet was strengthened, it would be able to launch large-scale attacks and attacks on Japanese transport ships, which could directly affect the situation of land warfare; Because once the naval transport ship is sunk, the supply of supplies and soldiers for the front-line army will be affected, and the pressure on Japan will be heavier, and its consumption will become even higher. And since the patrol is not a branch of the army that can play a decisive role in the struggle for sea power, building a few ships for Mao Zi in the past will not help him regain sea power and let them turn defeat into victory in the war. As long as Mao Zi is not given too many ships and does not strangle Japan's sea transportation lines directly at once, it will not hinder the bloody defeat of Russia in the Far East that Germany wants to see.

And the current Japanese Navy just gave Qingying a chance to do so. Due to the lessons learned in the Battle of Daidonggou, the Japanese Navy believed that battleships were the royal orthodoxy in the development of the Navy; Therefore, in the revised fleet planning, the strength of its battleships has been greatly improved, and the patrol only retains the original combat effectiveness. If the patrol under the command of Essen can be strengthened, then the Far Eastern battlefield will not be a lose-lose situation? What's more, the cost of loading patrols is not weaker than that of battleships, and building armor patrols for Maozi is also beneficial to Germany!