The sky is blue, the clouds are surging, and a silver-white jade belt winds and winds, lingering from north to south, passing through thousands of miles of green fields. Above the river, dozens of large and small boats are divided into two columns, slowly moving along their respective channels. The microwave flashes, the waves sway gently, and against the backdrop of the surrounding prosperity and fertile fields, it is more elegant and graceful, and it is natural.

On a tower outside the port of Kiel, Tirpitz stands on a railing; The warm spring breeze whistled and ruffled the two parted grape beards under his chin. Looking at the vibrant and spectacular scenery in front of him, there was a complicated look in his eyes, relieved, happy, and a little inexplicable resentment and sigh. After a while, he slowly spoke: "After seven years of development, the Kaiser Wilhelm Canal has finally been put into operation again. Your Highness, do you know that I have waited too long for this day, and my beard has turned white. ”

"On the day the Kaiser Wilhelm Canal was restarted, I was only a 12-and-a-half-year-old child; However, to this day, I can receive the blessing of the priest with Sanya. If you've waited too long, why not General Alfred? At some point, a tall young man appeared beside Tirpitz. 2 years have passed, and his white and handsome face is still handsome, but it is a little less immature and young, and more stable and mature. The collar epaulette belt and embroidered gold clothes made his already handsome and elegant appearance even more charming. He looked at the vibrant scene of thousands of sails passing by in the distance, stretched out his finger, and smiled: "The general has seen these ships, right?" They waited for the opening of the canal that ran through the North Sea and the Baltic Sea, and they were also eager to see through; Therefore, when the canal was just opened, they all rushed in and took this shortcut that can save 2 days. ”

Tirpitz snorted and said, "This group of merchant ships is satisfied, but who knows how much our navy has paid for this canal?" After 7 years of construction and 240 million marks, the secondary expansion project of the canal is all funded by our navy alone! Thanks to the canal, for a full six years from 1896 onwards, the Navy ordered only six battleships and nine armored cruisers from the shipyards, an expansion that was only 30% of that of Britain and 80% of that of France. At the moment, the gap between us and the British Navy is simply sky-high, and this old fellow Chillings Pfister will remember him for the rest of my life! ”

Qingying smiled and said: "Chillingsfister has long been honored, Bernhard von Bülow has taken over as German Chancellor for more than 1 year, why do you still remember this old story?" Moreover, the situation facing our German Navy at present is not as dire as you think, Admiral; On the contrary, I think it's a good situation and it's the perfect time for us to start working. ”

Tirpitz's eyes flashed with confusion, and he said, "What is this for?" ”

"General Tirpitz, whether the situation of the German Navy is good or bad, we should not only look at the situation of our German family, but also the situation of other countries. It is true that due to the construction of the Kiel Canal, the fleet construction of the Imperial Navy has been greatly delayed, but is the pace of our shipbuilding really slow? In six years, we have built a total of 15 capital ships, which is a far cry from the size of the United Kingdom, but it is also a very rapid development compared to other countries. Needless to say, the United States, the United States, which has the largest industrial and financial resources in the world, has only started construction of eight battleships, while even Russia and Japan, which are extremely militaristic, have only added 11 and 12 capital ships respectively during this period. Since the vast majority of the Russian fleet had to be engaged in operations in the Far East, and most of the ships built by the French were ocean-going cruisers that fought naval assaults with the British, there was no threat to our Germany; As a result, the situation of the Navy now is much better than it was six years ago. When Qingying heard this, she couldn't help but complain in her heart: In the pre-dreadnought era, building so many ships without fighting was a waste of resources, what is it? If it weren't for the introduction of the decisive battle type of patrol yourself, I don't know how much of the budget of the road would have been squandered by you, a naval madman!

Qingying paused and continued: "As for the quality of the warships, the warships built by my Germany far exceed those of any country except Italy. Needless to say, the Wicchersbach-class battleship, with its formidable combat power and the cost of 21 million marks, is simply a work of art that achieves perfect value for money; The 12,300-ton Prince Heinrich class, the 13,700-ton Adalport-class and the 15,000-ton Bismarck-class Armagnak-class armored cruisers are the original creations of our German Navy. The frontal combat strength of these 15 capital ships is definitely comparable to the 20 battleships that Britain started working at the same time! (Actually, it was not a big deal to build a 15,000-ton patrol in 1900, and the British started construction in 1894 with two Qiangsheng-class cruisers with a standing displacement of 14,200 tons, and they were also protective cruisers without vertical armor.)

"In addition to this, the maneuverability of the Imperial Navy has been greatly strengthened. The re-widened Kiel Canal is twice as wide as before, and the water depth has been increased to 11 meters, which can theoretically accommodate super ships with a displacement of more than 90,000 tons. At this point, Wilhelmshaven and Kiel were connected, and the fleets could reinforce each other between the North Sea and the Baltic Sea in just a few hours; Compared to the previous detour to the Danish peninsula, it is now at least 10 times more efficient. Qingying looked at the 100-meter-wide canal in the distance and said, "General Alfred, what are you not satisfied with?" ”

Hearing Qingying's words, Tirpitz slowly shook his head and said, "I understand what you said, Your Highness, but these are not enough, far from enough. If we were to build a regional navy, we would be able to do it with little effort; However, Germany is no longer the country that is satisfied with a small corner of Central Europe! Our goods are sold on six continents, our fleets sail across the three oceans, and in order to defend the rights and interests that we have acquired from Germany, we must build a sufficiently powerful ocean-going navy. This is the strategic necessity of the entire empire, and not the result of my fanatical attachment to the navy alone; And this little background of the current German Navy alone is still not enough to meet this condition! ”

"Then according to your ideas, General, what is I going to do in Germany?" Qingying asked.

"It's very simple, since the size of the navy is far from enough, then we can continue to expand; For our military expansion, there are currently excellent domestic conditions. Now that the canal has been completed, the navy's funding will return to normal, the budget will no longer be as tight as it was in the previous six years, and the Empire's revenues will be far greater than ever! Loans from the United States and the Qing market have helped our economy to take off very quickly, and as long as the budget is tilted slightly in my favor from now on, we will be able to get a lot of money for the construction of ships with this extremely terrifying total revenue! Tirpitz's face flushed slightly, and his tone became a little agitated, and he said loudly.

Qingying nodded slightly when he heard this, he still agreed with Tirpitz's words. Since 1898, when the first loan from the United States was injected into the German treasury and all of it went into the interior sphere, the country's economic development has been completely unexpected, even by a traveler; Especially in 1900, after a large number of newly started factory projects were completed and put into operation, a fierce casting curtain was opened in Germany. In 1901, the German government's revenue exceeded the mark of 3.3 billion marks, which is equivalent to 161 million pounds, while the historical income of Britain in 1908 was only 152 million pounds! At this rate, it will not take eight years for Germany's per capita industrial economy to catch up with and surpass Britain's. Then, with a population base of nearly 50% more than that of Britain, its war explosiveness will surely get a new leap, far better than historical facts. Historically, the German navy spent only 40% of Britain's military spending, but it built a second fleet with two-thirds of the number of capital ships in the United Kingdom; And if Germany is greatly strengthened in this plane, what will become of the High Seas Fleet? (Historically, Germany's DP in 1900 was 36.5 billion marks, so the degree of strengthening is still within a reasonable range)

"General Alfred, have we broken through the bottleneck in the power system? Rather than the current 18 knots, I would prefer the Empire's new battleships to reach a speed of 20 knots; In order to increase the speed of these 2 knots, the output power of the power system needs to be increased by another third, and with our current technology, I am afraid that it is still difficult to achieve it on a battleship. Qingying said with some concern. Although Qingying is not a high-speed party, he advocates the heavy artillery iron turtle that focuses on offense and defense, but the actual situation is far from his preferences. If the speed does not reach 20 knots, then after entering the era of dreadnoughts, these battleships will quickly become second-tier products, which Qingying absolutely does not want to see!

Tirpitz shrugged helplessly and said, "Your Highness, I still don't understand why you have to make the new battleship have a speed of no less than 20 knots; You know, the price to pay for doing so is really not small! If it weren't for the fact that power is the most critical area in the design of warships, and the innovation of its technology is also within the plan of our navy, I will never agree with your idea, Your Highness. Thankfully, after so many years of tackling key problems, we have finally made a breakthrough in this field; Your Highness, your beloved 20-knot speed battleship will soon become a reality! ”