Hearing Qingying explain his views to himself and to himself, William sighed lightly and said, "The idea is very good. For the struggle for sea supremacy, armored cruisers were far inferior to battleships in terms of cost performance; It is for this reason that I rejected Alfred's 10,000-ton patrol development plan, and chose your decisive battle patrol based on the theory of 'proper amplification of the tonnage of battleships'. If we can build a batch of expensive but relatively backward fleets for Nikki's Far East Fleet, it will be even more effective for our German plan. However, in the days before 1901, Germany was unable to build capital ships for Russia. ”

Qingying was puzzled and said in amazement: "What is this for?" ”

Hearing this, William glanced at Qingying and snorted: "The reason why we will no longer be able to build capital ships for Russia in the next two years or so is because the production capacity of my German shipbuilding industry is limited, and there is no spare strength to produce toys for my cute little Nicky cousin." How can you inherit the legacy of my Hohenzollern family in the future, even if you can't react to something so obvious? Qingying was secretly embarrassed when she heard this, she had too many things a while ago, and she even ignored such an important factor as production capacity!

At present, although Germany is superior to Britain in the field of heavy industry, it is superior to each other in terms of quantity and quality; However, in the field of shipbuilding, which is related to maritime hegemony, there is still a big gap between Germany, a traditional land power country, and Britain, which has dominated the seas for 300 years. With the level of British shipbuilding, it can develop its fleet at a terrifying rate of 9 new capital ships per year; However, due to the limited number of workers and production capacity, Germany can only reach the construction rate of an average of 6 new capital ships per year, and the scale and tonnage are only 65% of that of the United Kingdom. In the next 3 years, Germany's domestic capital ship construction capacity has been fully covered by various orders! Four months ago, Germany made a huge sum of 3.6 million pounds out of Spain's pocket through the sale of old ships, and then suddenly increased the number of capital ships to five in previous years, and there is almost no redundancy this year. In the next two years, Germany will build 8 capital ships for Japan, plus 4 ships for its own use in its own planning, and the shipbuilding capacity will be fully arranged. Therefore, if Germany wants to build large armored cruisers for Maozi, it seems that it will indeed have to wait until 1901, when the capital ships are completed this year.

Qingying thought carefully, and suddenly said suspiciously: "The problem of production capacity is indeed my negligence, but we still seem to have a little shipbuilding power that has not been exhausted, right?" We have only started construction of 5 capital ships this year, and there is redundancy of 1; The tonnage of the eight capital ships to be built for Japan in the next two years is not large, and it can also save a lot of technical workers and engineering volume. With these squeezed shares, there is no problem in building 3 ships for loading in 3 years. As for the slipways, those used to build large cruise ships can be used directly! ”

William smiled slightly and said, "That's true. However, this part of the production capacity has already been mastered. Within a month of your departure, I went to visit Istanbul and went straight to Jerusalem, the pseudo-holy place of the Middle Eastern pagans, and donated a magnificent pagan pseudo-church to the guys. Although I was deeply concerned about this act of entering the Holy Land of the Heresy, and after returning home, I repented to the Lord all morning, but the harvest of my sacrifice was very rich. Not only did the Seljuks sign a whole bunch of treaties with Germany on deepening bilateral relations and trade, but they also ordered two capital ships with a displacement of 10,800 tons to counter the three 4,800-ton ironclads ordered by the Greek Navy in France. With the addition of this part of the Seljuks, there is no more of our shipbuilding capacity left. Qingying's eyes showed a look of surprise, he really didn't expect William to achieve such a big gain from this visit!

In his memory, Abdul Hamil II, then Sultan of the Ottoman Empire, was an out-and-out anti-namiralist; The Ottoman navy remained stagnant until the Turkish Communists came to power, as the navy had no role in the Russo-Turkish war, and the Ottoman navy remained stagnant until the Turkish Al-Shabaab came to power. Historically, William also visited Istanbul during this time period, but he did not make any progress in the naval field, why did the Seljuks go so far this time, and ordered 2 capital ships of more than 10,000 tons at once? Qingying was puzzled in her heart, and couldn't help but ask: "Father, I heard that the Ottoman Emperor has always hated the navy, how did my Germany get an order for 20,000 tons of capital ships from him this time?" William said: "That's because I brought him a loan of 200 million marks." At present, his reign is not stable, and he urgently needs external funds to increase the weight of the stick and the sweetness of the carrot; I gave him 200 million marks, and the interest was still 4 cents very humane, and he naturally had to repay it in some places, and the order of warships from my Germany was one of them. ”

"200 million marks!" Qingying was taken aback. To be sure, although Germany lost this huge fortune of nearly £10 million in a short period of time, it pulled the Ottoman Empire into the arms of Germany; If the Turks were able to fall into the camp of the Allies early, it would play a crucial role in both the impact of the situation in the Mediterranean and the strategic blockade of Russia. Qingying did not feel sorry for the investment of this money, but secretly rejoiced that Germany could settle the Ottoman Empire in advance; What surprised him was the amount of the loan issued by William. William had told himself that the loan to the Ottoman Empire was only 100 million marks, and even then he felt extremely painful; Why did he suddenly double that number now, and look like he was a man who didn't have anything to do?

Seeing Qingying's eyes turning, his face full of surprise and surprise, William's heart moved, and he already knew the thoughts of the young man in front of him. The corners of his mouth hooked an arc, and he said hesitantly: "You should be wondering, why did a person like me, who has never liked foreign loans, double the loan amount all at once, right?" This is because the current Germany is not short of such a small amount of money at all! ”

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The electric bell jingled pleasantly, and after a short time, two glasses of chilled lemon juice were brought by the waiter.

William lowered his head and sipped, chewing fruit and swallowing ice, and only after the heat on his body had faded away did he breathe a sigh of relief. Turning his head, he saw that the water glass in front of Qingying was empty, and William immediately spoke: "Do you remember the incident when the American fleet attacked Mindanao in the southern Philippines one month ago?" Qingying nodded and said, "I remember." For this matter, I also sent a telegram to China, hoping that the center of the empire would be cautious and that it was better not to become enemies of the United States. What happened after that? ”

"I was prepared to use force directly, but Lornhoa and you advised me to think carefully, and I had to think carefully. After a whole day of discussions with high-level dignitaries from both military and political circles, the final conclusion was that neither the use of force nor the cheapening of the Americans would be forced, but that the Americans would be forced to make a compromise on the basis of force. ”

William's eyes narrowed slightly, as if he was recalling the scene of that day, and said softly: "Alfred sent troops to the Philippines without waiting for my order, although it was a little reckless to do so, but he bought me two days of extremely valuable reaction time. When the General Staff had drawn up a plan, his fleet arrived in Santa Ana, in the Philippines, and I telegraphed him to pull anchor and set sail as soon as he had completed his supplies, aiming at the U.S. landing site on Mindanao. Of course, excuses are inevitable, and since Germany was requested by Spain to help them exterminate the rebellious natives, the Empire claimed that there was a large number of barbarian forces in Mindanao, and that troops were urgently needed to suppress them. Alfred led the fleet from Santa Ana straight south at a speed of 15 knots, covering a distance of 700 nautical miles in less than two days, and appeared directly in front of the American landing site. Due to Alfred's early action, the Americans did not expect the Imperial fleet to come so quickly, and when they saw the three German battleships coming together, they were so frightened that their urine flowed out. On the day the fleet arrived, we intercepted an American transport ship loaded with men and war materiel at sea and took it to Santa Ana for temporary detention under the persuasion of artillery. The Americans are really treacherous and cunning to the extreme, and if it weren't for the early arrival of the Imperial fleet, they would have really caused the fact that large areas of land would have been occupied! ”

"International relations are a troublesome affair. In order to take into account the repercussions, on the day the fleet arrived and seized the American transport, Germany sent an invitation to the United States to negotiate and agreed to resolve the issue through negotiations, which finally eliminated some of the adverse effects of this action. And since it was a negotiation between the two sides, it was inevitable that there would be a tragic struggle: the Americans stood on the moral high ground and stalled for time, waiting for the departure of the Imperial fleet; And we threaten them with force at all times, reminding them that they are threatened with annihilation at any time. After a final closed-door meeting, we and the Americans finally reached a consensus on the Philippines. With the central Philippines as the boundary, Germany will no longer have territorial claims on Cebu, Bohol, Leyte, Mindanao, and other 84,000 square kilometers of land; in return, the United States will provide Germany with a large loan of $1.5 billion in the next five years, of which the first $50 million will be interest-free, and the interest on the remaining part will be 2.5 percent. As a result, our German finances are now so surplus that there is no problem at all with a little money to lend money to the Turks. William said lightly.

Qingying's pupils shrank slightly, and his heart suddenly frightened, he never thought that this matter could evolve into such an ending: Germany obtained a loan of $1.5 billion from the Americans at the cost of giving up one-third of the territory of the Philippines! At first glance, it seems that Germany has suffered a big loss, and the Americans have gained both territory and money, but Qingying, who is familiar with history, does not think so at all. This kind of borrowing from chickens to lay eggs can certainly turn worthless grass into nutritious eggs, but in doing so, it will also fatten the hens that lay eggs, and this is the biggest benefit for Germany. It is precisely for this reason that the German government has been tightening its purse and implementing an economic policy of not flowing into the fields of outsiders!

Qing Ying's eyes flashed, and he said carefully: "With these 1.2 billion US dollars, the empire can do too many things." Previously, more than 40% of the empire's revenue was used for military spending, and light industry and agriculture were too far from the achievements of heavy industry; The empire was only 80 percent industrialized per capita in Britain and 70 percent in the United States, a large number of workshops were still using artisanal work, and black bread was still the staple food of most German citizens in terms of agricultural products. We can take this opportunity to strengthen these weak areas of the empire. Now France is fighting with Britain in the African colonies, and Russia's eyes have been fixed on the Far East that can be colonized by Yellow Russia; Austria-Hungary and Italy are our allies, and Germany is in a golden period of development without any threat. Therefore, father, please don't invest this money in the army, and use it all for economic development. As long as Germany can be greatly developed, so that our per capita economic and industrial level will surpass that of Britain in an all-round way; At that time, without the need for Britain to recognize, Germany's position as the hegemon of Europe will naturally be well deserved! ”

"It's a bit of a surprise to me that you can think of this layer on your own. But I don't need you to be reminded of this problem, I have asked Lornhohe to draw up a plan to make use of the abundant funds amounting to 6.2 billion marks. William gently shook the crystal clear water glass in his hand, watched it scatter sunlight into colorful colors, and said softly, "Ettel, do you know what I thought?" ”

Qingying shook her head and said, "Father is wise and wise, and he has far-reaching plans, I can't guess it." ”

William said slowly: "I think of that person, the morning I met him on the 80th birthday of the Holy Emperor. On that day, I was made the grandson of the Emperor, and he asked me how Germany could dominate the continent and replace the British Empire as the only overlord on the planet. ”

Qingying looked at William's face, which was no longer young, and asked softly, "Then how did my father answer that person?" ”

I replied to him that if Germany was to replace Britain in its hegemony, the most important thing was to have an army of great strength and a navy strong enough to defeat the British fleet; However, he said that the economy, science and technology, and industrial national strength are the most fundamental core. The role of the army was only to defend the civilization created by Germany, and the conquest of other countries by force was a last resort. At that time, I also used the Franco-Prussian War as an example, laughing at him as an old stubborn who did not know what to do; Now it seems that he was far more correct than I am. William said quietly, with a trace of sadness in his words that could not be concealed, "Twenty years have passed in a hurry, the Holy Emperor and the First Emperor have passed one after another, and now, he is about to return to the arms of God. This feeling is really unpleasant...... ......"

William's voice grew hoarse and he didn't speak.