It's January, and the wind is blowing in Central Europe, and a cold snap from Northern Europe has swept down every part of the city. In a room in the palace, Chancellor Bernhard von Bilohua sat in a precarious suit, telling Kaiser Wilhelm behind his desk a few summaries of the previous year.

"Since the beginning of 1903, the German Empire, under the strong and wise and correct leadership of His Majesty and Frederick the Great, has firmly grasped the three historical opportunities of the great armored cruiser race between Britain and France, the eastward advance of Russia and the extension of the Ottoman Eastern Railway, and has made great strides and struggled; In the end, a good situation emerged in which the surrounding situation was stable, the national economy took off, and the imperial strength increased rapidly. ”

Kaiser Wilhelm changed into a set of clothes that he had never seen before, and the colors were concise, which set off his whole person noble and majestic. Hearing the Prime Minister's sycophant opening remarks, William's vanity was greatly satisfied, and the corners of his mouth also pulled up a smug smile; He smiled and waved his hand, signaling that Billo would stop here, and Billo understood and directly introduced the report to the main topic.

"Between January and December last year, the Empire's gross national income exceeded 45 billion marks, an increase of almost a quarter compared with three years ago; The continuous injection of large loans from the United States has really given Germany great confidence in the construction of various infrastructure and light industry projects. I now know at last the reason why the British were the first in Europe until 1900 in terms of national income and government revenue, and they both gave us a great deal of usury abroad to exploit the loan-taking countries, and they also vigorously developed light industry, which was very profitable; Combined, they certainly have an abundance of money in their pockets. Speaking of this, Bilow smiled slightly, with a hint of relief and comfort in his words, "Before, I had limited funds in Germany and had to secure heavy industry related to the war first, but now the situation has completely changed. It has been proven that by the time we have the energy to begin to focus on something other than war, the crown of the world of Britain will no longer be an unattainable relic! ”

"Not bad. For more than 100 years, Britain's world expansion has reached its peak, so that when people hear the name 'Britain', they can't help but feel fear, and from the bottom of their hearts there is an irresistible feeling of powerlessness. These philistines will only tremble under the obscenity of the British, and they have not thought about the core factor that the British can dominate the world. In fact, there are only two pillars of British hegemony in the world, industry and trade! At that time, because Britain took the lead in completing the industrial revolution, the country's strength increased dramatically, and it exported colonization to the whole world; In addition, their navy dominates the oceans and monopolizes the extremely lucrative maritime trade in the world, which has achieved the prestige of the empire on which the sun never sets. Thirty years ago, Britain was a shock to every country in the world, but now the situation has changed radically. ”

William smiled slightly, his face showing strong pride and confidence: "The light and heavy industrial energy that my Germany has burst out today has surpassed the British Empire, which has an unprecedented territory in human history, and the maritime trade is also growing at an extremely rapid rate. As long as our economic and industrial strength is always above Britain, the crown of the hegemon of the world will eventually fall on my Germany! ”

Bilo smiled, but he wiped a cold sweat in his heart for the pride of the emperor. Although Britain's industrial economy has fallen to the third place in the world, thanks to the influx of large amounts of diamonds and gold from the Boolean gold mines, the pound is still the strongest and most reliable currency in the world, and London is still the most prosperous financial center on the planet. Coupled with the more than 30 million square kilometers of colonies that spread all over the world, more than 400 million citizens of the British Commonwealth and the incomparably glorious Royal Navy, the sun over Britain is still shining brightly, and there is no sign of setting. The British Empire at such a peak was said by the emperor to be surviving, which really made Billlow feel a little unacceptable. However, he has been prime minister for almost 3 years, and he has already fully understood the character of the emperor; After a moment of echo, Billo coughed and continued:

"In areas such as coal, shipping and steel, Germany also made great strides in the year. The empire produced 130 million tonnes of coal last year, nearly 20 percent more than three years ago, while France, its long-cherished rival, produced less than 35 million tonnes. While sorting out the memories in his mind, Bilow said slowly, "In terms of steel production, the empire is far ahead of Europe with 9 million tons, and the combined steel output of Britain, France and Russia is only about 10% more than ours!" However, the shipping tonnage of the empire was slightly weaker, and the tonnage of the registered merchant ships in Germany as a whole reached 1.7 million tons, which was only a fraction of that of the British. ”

"There is no need to worry about the amount of coal produced and the tonnage of merchant ships. The British had a large number of overseas colonies and could plunder the resources there with impunity; And they have dominated the seas for hundreds of years, and have already accumulated an extremely large fleet of transport ships, which cannot be surpassed by our Germany in a short time. To Bilow's surprise, William did not feel displeased when he heard these data, but expressed his understanding quite reasonably; He glanced at the Prime Minister in front of him, and was about to ask for some other details, when he suddenly heard a familiar knock on the door.

"Is it Etter? It's cold outside, come in. William raised his voice a little and said aloud.

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The cold wind was blowing, the dust and leaves were flying, and a young man with a long body rushed in with a heavy coolness, so that William and Bilow, who were dressed in single clothes under the warmth of the fire, couldn't help but sneeze heavily. The door closed, the cold wind stopped, the young man took off his coat and hung it on the hanger, and took a few snorts at his slightly red hands; When he saw Biloh in the room, a smile of surprise appeared on his handsome and handsome face.

"Mr. Prime Minister, you are here too. It's so good that I don't have to go to you alone anymore. Qingying walked forward quickly, picked up the cup of hot coffee that had not been touched in front of William's eyes, and drank it unceremoniously; William glared at him and said angrily, "Damn Etter, go to the stove and help me pour a new glass at once, go now!" Also, what are you coming to me for? ”

Qingying pulled a stool and sat down, and said in a deep voice: "Father, the Russians have moved there." ”

"Huh?" William's eyes froze slightly, and he and Birch glanced at each other, and both read a look of surprise in each other's eyes. William turned his head and said to Qingying, "But Ettel, I have not received any news of any change in the Russians. In addition to the constant increase of troops in the Far East, do they have any strange moves? ”

Qingying coughed and said, "This news was brought to me by Sanya. It seems that Nikolai Shu Huang once again wanted to use me as a breakthrough, so he directly asked her to pass on to me a request about the Russian side first; As for the regular diplomatic channels, it is estimated that there should be news in the next two days. After receiving the request from the Russian side that she relayed, I felt that the matter was too big for me to agree to her directly, so I wanted to discuss it with my father and the prime minister first. ”

William snorted, a slight smile on his face, and said, "I really can't stand this little Nicky." As the monarch of the Russian Empire, it is truly incredible that he should do such a thing; I'm amazed that Ettel could say no to her request! Tell me, what does little Nicky want Deutsch to do for him? ”

Qingying said: "The underlying meaning of Nikolai Shu Huang is that the current situation in the Far East is bad, Japan is aggressive, and Russia lacks the necessary countermeasures, so we need to help them in Manchuria." At present, Russia has two Borodino-class battleships and two Bayan-class large armored cruisers under construction among the capital ships ordered by Germany, and Nikolai hopes that we will be able to step up the construction and deliver them to them within June this year. ”

Since he knew little about the navy, Prime Minister Bilo had a blank look, but William's face changed slightly, and he said, "What is little Nicky thinking?" It is true that these four warships have already been launched, but the fastest construction period will not be completed until the end of this year, and it is impossible to complete it within six months! Qingying nodded and said, "That's true." But it's not impossible. We can get the shipyard to raise wages and let the workers build in shifts, which in turn can shorten the outfitting period to meet Nikolai Shu's requirements. Of course, there must be a price to be paid for this, and I mean to make the Russians pay a certain amount of extra money for this, just like the previous two Borodino-class ships. ”

William sighed and said, "That's a solution." Previously, we had added £100,000 to each ship for labour, adding two new large torpedo boats to the navy; This time, little Nicky is going to urge him to boost the degree, but he can let him bleed again. Although this money is not much, it is good to weaken them. Speaking of this, William glanced at Qingying and said, "In addition to this, Little Nicky must have any other requirements, right?" Otherwise, you can just promise your little girlfriend and you don't have to come to me again. ”

Qingying said slowly: "In addition, Nikolai Shu also wants to hire my German troop carriers and corresponding sailors to help them send the troops from western Europe to the Far East by sea. ”

The clock is slightly ringing, ticking pleasantly; Hearing Qingying's words, both Barrow and William showed solemn expressions.