Any open secret, that's not a secret. It's just a matter of hoarding ordinary strategic materials and labeling them as aiding Russia, and big guys like warships can't keep secrets at all.

Find a hidden port, secret production is even more of a joke. Today, unlike in the past, the current battleships move by tens of thousands of tons, and a lot of manpower and material resources need to be mobilized.

Unless the HRE is closed to the country, otherwise once the normal flow of goods is on a scale, it will not be able to keep it secret at all.

Hidden and tucked, that's all a child's thoughts. In reality, it is simply not possible.

The era of free trade has accelerated the circulation of commodities and capital, and at the same time created conditions for spies to lurk.

Since the signing of the Russian-Austrian naval agreement, the major shipyards of the HRE have become the focus of spies.

It is naturally impossible to go inside and look inside. Such stupid spies have long been eliminated in the last century.

Now everyone has learned to look from the side, for example, by counting the number of workers entering and leaving the shipyard every day, the transport vehicles, the price fluctuations of the raw material market, and drawing conclusions.

Needless to say, the accuracy is not much higher than guessing riddles. The raw materials were brought in, but what they were used for is not known to the outside world.

Shipyards build not only warships, but also merchant ships. Even if it is to build a warship, it is also impossible to determine what size of warship to build.

Because of intelligence mistakes and misjudgments, Britain has not experienced it once or twice. Except for a few times it was a real mistake, more often it was a deliberate mistake by the Royal Navy.

Thinking back to the previous arms races, the Vienna government has an ambitious shipbuilding plan every time, and although there is no anticlimactic tail, the time to build ships will be extended by so many "100 million points."

The same shipbuilding plan to be completed in two or three years and more than ten years is a completely different concept.

Technology is constantly improving, and the later a warship is built, the better the performance.

At a certain time, the construction of warships in a heap seems to be very majestic, but in fact, it is to give up the opportunity to optimize the performance of warships.

Eat a trench, grow a wisdom.

The number of times it has been fooled, and the British government has learned its lesson. No matter how serious the Royal Navy says, the London government must investigate before deciding whether to follow up.

This time was no exception, after receiving the naval treaty signed by Russia and Austria, the British government immediately ordered - check.

……

Hamburg, an ancient port city that has become one of the shipbuilding centers of the HRE since the unification of the Holy Roman Empire.

In particular, after the formation of the North Sea Fleet by HRE, the importance of Hamburg was further increased, and it became the production and maintenance place of warships of the North Sea Fleet.

The strategic position has gone up, and the attention has increased. As a member of the Naval Intelligence Service, Kaba was stationed in the Free City of Hamburg to gather information on the construction of warships in the HRE Navy.

There is no doubt that compared with the vast majority of his peers, Kaba is responsible for collecting intelligence on the construction of warships, which is definitely a beautiful difference.

Unlike ordinary people, Kaba did not go directly to the shipyard, but chose to open a café in the wholesale steel market.

At the beginning, Kaba was still very careful to record the information and carefully study and analyze. As a result, because of a mistake in judgment and the distortion of the information submitted, he was criticized by his superiors.

After several successive failures, Kaba, who was hit, also became passive and slack. It is too risky to make a judgment in advance, so simply wait for the warship to be launched before reporting.

The message did lag a little bit, but it was 100 percent accurate. Besides, no matter how slow it is, it's faster than the London newspapers, isn't it?

Although he has not been praised, Kaba has not been criticized. After realizing that in the eyes of his superiors, no fault is merit, and Kaba's fighting spirit was completely gone.

Benefiting from the rapid development of the HRE economy, Kaba did not make much achievements in intelligence gathering, but instead ran a thriving café.

If it weren't for the fact that the Naval Intelligence Service still issued a subsidy and needed to report the news every once in a while, it is estimated that he would have forgotten that he was an intelligence officer.

Unfortunately, things always backfired, and when Kaba didn't want to work hard, the order from his superiors came.

Theoretically, if the Russian-Austrian naval treaty is true, in order to facilitate delivery, then the warships should most likely be built in the north.

As an intelligence officer stationed in Hamburg, Kaba received an order to find out whether several local shipyards were undertaking the construction of warships and the specifications of warships.

In short, the more detailed the information, the better. As for how to get the intelligence, it is the business of the intelligence personnel below, and the superiors do not care.

Closing the Bible and burning the translated note, Kaba was left with a bitter face.

After so many years in Hamburg, he has not been in vain. There is a natural development of the downline, but it has never been enabled.

To be exact, none of these downlines themselves knew when they became British intelligence officers. The connection with Kaba is just an ordinary friendship.

The only difference is that most of these people are shipyard workers, or people who are able to enter and leave the shipyard for various reasons.

Well, just to get a few more salaries. Those who do intelligence work are generally single-line contacts, and it is not clear how many people there are below.

You can't do it if you want to, because a check will lead to the disclosure of the identity of the hidden person. Those who are a little more flexible will receive a few more salaries.

Fake together cool, crematorium afterwards.

Now Kaba has a bit of a feeling of rushing to the "crematorium", perhaps because his usual performance is so good that his superiors overestimated his ability and gave this order to be completed almost impossible.

Did the shipyard in Hamburg undertake the task of building warships?

Don't think about it, Kaba can answer - yes. Every year there will be orders for warships, the difference is only in the size of the order.

It is not even difficult to figure out the number of warships to be built, and there will always be clues to be revealed from the periphery.

The trouble is figuring out the specifications of the warship, and you can't figure it out. It is estimated that before the parameters are inquired, the police will come to the door first.

Mo said that it was outside, even the workers of the shipyard did not know the specific parameters of the warship. Before the warship was launched, the insiders were in the single digits, and they knew where to start if they wanted to buy it.

No matter how difficult it is, Kaba must also investigate, this is a dead order.

After so many years of receiving the Navy's military intelligence service, how could he be allowed to retreat now when it was time to throw his head and shed his blood for Britain.

Looking at his sleeping wife and children, Kaba sighed helplessly. I can't hide it, and I won't be soft on any organization when it comes to traitors.

Sleepless nights.

The next day, Kabaqiang picked up his old business, which had been abandoned, and began to keep an eye on the entry and exit of vehicles.

Unfortunately, with the vigorous development of the maritime industry, the shipbuilding industry has also risen.

The most prominent is the demand for steel, which is the Hamburg wholesale steel center, where thousands of tons of steel come in and out every day, most of which goes to shipyards.

Nowadays, civilian merchant ships are also using a large amount of steel, and it has long been outdated to judge whether to build warships purely from the amount of steel consumed.

The most taboo in intelligence work is impetuousness, but in the end it is professionally trained, and Kaba's mentality is still very peaceful.

……

Holding his youngest son and teasing him for a while, Kaba pretended to be calm and said, "My dear, I have a drinking party in the evening, I need to entertain, so I don't need to leave food." ”

Usually, he brought his wife with him for this kind of social gathering. But not now, he is back to his old business, and Kaba doesn't want to involve his family.

Although there were some doubts, but after looking at the child, the wife didn't say anything, but just instructed: "Come back early, don't drink too much." ”

"Got it."

Kaba replied.

The relationship between middle-aged couples is often so unpretentious. A few simple sentences of dialogue, in fact, are full of endless care.

Driving out of his car slowly, Kaba's heart was not calm. Although Hamburg is a free city, it does not mean that Shinra's counter-espionage capabilities are weak.

Everyone knows that now is a critical moment for the HRE and Britannica to clash with each other. If you win, everyone will enjoy the bonus together, and if you lose, you will have to live a hard life together.

In a sense, it was also the time when the Holy Roman Empire was at its most united, with all levels of society waiting to receive Britain's legacy.

Free City is no exception, and many people who missed the great development of the HRE are grinding their fists and preparing to make a big difference in this last wave.

Against this backdrop, spies naturally have a hard time. Once the clues are revealed, they may be exchanged for credit at any time.

You must know that in the Holy Roman Empire merit can be accumulated, and there is absolutely no one who will have too much of this thing.

No matter how good a friend is, he can't withstand the temptation of interests, especially when it involves the interests of the country and the nation, let alone that.

As night fell, the reception also kicked off. The absent-minded Kaba held the wine glass motionless, as if he was in a daze.

"Bang".

The sound of wine glasses colliding pulls the Kabbalah back into the real world. A familiar voice was already ringing in my ears.

"What's wrong, my friend. Your mental state today is very wrong, could it be that you are in trouble? ”

After looking at the visitor, Kaba replied calmly: "It's okay, I just didn't sleep well last night, and I'm not in a good state today."

It's not as good as before, people are getting older, and they don't have the energy to do anything.

I think that I was able to cheer up after staying up for three days and three nights, but now I can't stand it for a night.

That's right, White. What have you been busy with lately, I haven't seen you in a long time. ”

After such a mess, White was embarrassed to get to the bottom of it: "Then you have to take care of your body, we can't afford to toss when we reach middle age."

Look at me, no matter how busy I am, I don't forget to take a vacation. Recently, the tasks of the shipyard are more urgent than the other, and I still take the time to come out and relax. ”

The speaker is unintentional, but the listener is intentional.

The sentence "the shipyard has a heavy task" reminds Kaba a lot. It's just that he knows that this seemingly arrogant friend, once it comes to the confidentiality clause, the tone is absolutely tight.

In order not to arouse suspicion, Kaba pretended to be a layman's temptation: "Don't worry, I know how to pay attention to my body." If it weren't for the kids making noise in the middle of the night, I wouldn't have lost sleep.

On the contrary, it is you, the work is heavy, so give more to the apprentices.

Just when young people need the opportunity to exercise, give them more opportunities and you can be more relaxed.

Don't get so nervous that you don't even participate in your daily activities. ”

Divide the work among the apprentices, and White wants to do the same. Everyone wants to be the shopkeeper, but unfortunately the reality is cruel.

Students who have just graduated from school, have no work experience, and have important work tasks, so White is not at ease to hand them over to these fledgling boys.

Rolling his eyes, White made a helpless expression: "You mean making coffee, you can do it alone."

My job is shipbuilding, building the most advanced ships in the world. Every technology and every solution used is finally determined after many verifications and scrutiny.

Don't say it's those kids, even I, an old engineer, can only follow the soy sauce and be responsible for some simple processes many times.

……”

Before White could finish speaking, Kaba interrupted: "Don't talk about it, there is no point in talking to me about these professional things."

With all this in mind, we might as well look into it......"

ended the topic early, it was the news that could be inquired about, and now that we all knew it, there was something deeper that White wouldn't say at all.

Rather than risk being exposed, it is better to take it as soon as it is good and continue to play his role as a café owner.

As for the task, a thorough interpretation of the conversation just now is enough to write a report.

After making friends for so many years, Kaba still knows a little about White's position in the shipyard.

Although he is not one of the best people, he is also an absolute core engineer. For the vast majority of ships, White was built independently.

If he, the core engineer, wants to start, there is only one situation - to build a warship, and it is not an ordinary warship.

The location of a super-battleship was determined, and this information was enough to deal with it for a while. As for the specific parameters, it can be inferred that "it has not yet been determined".

No kidding, at the beginning of the construction of many warships, the parametric performance is known only to the designers and the top of the Admiralty, and the engineers of the shipyard at most make a rough judgment based on experience.

Experience this thing is undoubtedly unreliable. Shipbuilding technology is advancing, and the displacement of the same warship is often very different.

When it comes to tonnage utilization, even if it is only an increase of a few percentage points, in the end, the parameters of warships are very different.

Kaba can responsibly say that if he finds a professional to analyze and judge, the accuracy will not be much higher than that of his second knife.

After returning home and pondering deeply, Kaba wrote on a piece of paper that the Klut Shipyard was suspected of receiving an order for a super battleship with a displacement of about "25,000 tons ~ 28,000 tons".

After a moment's pause, Kaba crossed out the displacement judgment again, leaving only one suspected super battleship.

I can't submit all the information at once. Only by a long stream of water can they let their superiors know their hardships on the front line.

Not asking for much bonus, Kaba is just looking forward to taking on a few fewer tasks and reducing the risk of his exposure so that he can retire safely.

As for the "intelligence elite" who are often commended internally, it seems that they are indeed glorious, promising, but Kaba knows that these intelligence stars will be replaced every once in a while.

Although there is no explanation given above, Kaba also knows what is going on, it is nothing more than working too hard at work, and he was exposed in the process of collecting intelligence.

As an invisible organization, once an intelligence officer's identity is revealed, it not only means the failure of the mission, but also the end of life.

If it is a small country or a weak country, it may be fished out by virtue of the name of Britain.

If it falls into the hands of a big power, unless it is a boss with a conscience, and perhaps there is a possibility that he will return to China during the exchange of intelligence officers, it is a question of when he will step into the gates of hell.

In his years of intelligence career, Kaba has seen too much cruelty in the world and does not want to leave his fate to others.

……

There are salted fish intelligence officers, and there are also struggling intelligence officers. With the order of the London government, several major intelligence organizations in Britain became active.

Specifically, in the recent period, the number of spies arrested by the HRE police has reached new highs.

Facts have once again proved the truth of "doing more wrong, not doing good".

Not to mention that it was at the beginning of the 20th century, even in the 21st century, it is very easy for spies to lurk.

It can be said that as long as you don't do things, there is no way to identify who is a spy. There is often only one reason for exposure, and that is "moving".

If you pay for it, you will be rewarded, although the intelligence officers have exposed a lot, but compared to the information sent back, it is still worth it.

Downing Street, in the Prime Minister's residence.

Looking at the information gathered from all over the place, Prime Minister Campbell's face became more and more ugly.

The most feared situation still happened, and the HRE did start a frenzy of building ships, but the number of ships built was not 8 super battleships on the surface, but 13.

There is no way to verify the authenticity of this figure for a while. But whether it is 8 or 13, once so many super battleships are commissioned, they will break Britain's sea power advantage.

The HRE is different from Britain, as a land power, as long as there is a five-point certainty, the Vienna government dares to play stud on the sea.

If you win the bet on world hegemony, if you lose the bet, it's a big deal to stay in the Mediterranean for five years and then come to the second decisive battle.

This is something that Britain can't do, not to mention the defeat of the Royal Navy, even if it is just a defeat for both, Britain will fall from heaven to hell.

After it was determined that the HRE began to blow up warships, there was only one way left for the British government - to follow up.

Not only to keep up, but also to build more warships to protect the Royal Navy's dominant position.

As for the Russian-Austrian naval agreement, Campbell directly regarded it as a fart. Even if the agreement is genuine, the Vienna government will follow suit.

But once the hegemonic war breaks out, the HRE Navy can also be requisitioned first, and then handed over to the Russians after the war is over, can the tsarist government still say "no"?