The next day, Eder and his entourage arrived at the port of Constanta, watching the work being carried out on the port, and Milladewes, an engineering expert from Standard Oil, was guiding the workers. But for what is now Romania, the port of Constanta is the largest port in the entire kingdom, responsible for 90% of the country's shipping. Especially now in steel mills, most of the raw materials need to be imported from the port.

"Hello, Your Highness" Millard Dewis greeted Eder and his party in a very American manner, Eder didn't care about this, and asked the engineering expert directly. "How's it going?" "Your Highness, now that the main channel has been dredged, you can enter and exit 30,000-ton cargo ships, and now the main thing is to install cranes and tracks, and the freight yard is about to be completed. It is expected that the port will be fully operational in another 3 months. Milladewis replied to Eder, and Eder was still very satisfied with Milladewes's answer.

"Your Highness is now mainly the Navy, and there is an opinion on whether there is an expansion of the military dock." Millard Dewis said what he thought about the Navy, and Edel knew about it. For the reorganization of the army, the eyes of the navy were red, and more than once it was proposed to strengthen the weak navy of Romania. However, it is already difficult for the government to financially support the reorganization of the army, and the request for the navy has not been agreed.

Eder also tried his best to avoid conflict with the navy, so he blamed the matter on the government. However, the Romanian Navy did have too few ships, and now the largest warship is the unprotected armored cruiser Elisabeth, which is a training ship built for Romania by the Armstrong shipyard in 1880, with a length of 73.4 meters, a width of 10.3 meters, a speed of 1,351 tons, and a speed of 18 knots, equipped with 4 main guns of 5.9 inches, as well as 4 104-ton gunboats, 4 47-ton torpedo boats, and other ships. In total, the tonnage of naval ships is less than 6,000 tons, which is not as high as the tonnage of a large armored cruiser, and seeing these Eder are wondering if the Romanian Navy was deliberately built to avoid the Russian Black Sea Fleet, because it can sail in the Danube.

After inspecting the expanded port, Eder went to the Romanian naval base, that is, the naval pier on the left side of the port, and saw Rear Admiral Lomodan, the commander of the fleet, who was surrounded by naval officers in blue military uniforms, greeting the crown prince and his party at the gate of the naval base. Before the crown prince arrived, Major Midraphael, the captain of the gunboat Bratianu, was chatting quietly with Captain Balbik, the torpedo boat of the Bogdan.

"Do you think it's possible for the Rear Admiral to get the crown prince to agree to an increase in naval spending?" Captain Erbik asked his friend, "I hope the Rear Admiral will succeed, you must know that I have not been at sea for two months, and if I do not go to sea again, I am afraid that the crew will be seasick." "Major Midrafael is clearly resentful of the lack of funding for the Navy.

"You're crazy, His Royal Highness the Crown Prince is coming soon, and if you complain like this, you will be punished." Captain Erbik said in a low voice, his eyes still looking at the crowd around him, obviously he was covering for his friend. Major Midrafael also realized that he had lost his words. He immediately stopped talking, and winked gratefully at his friend. At this time, I don't know who shouted, "The crown prince is here." Midrafael and Erbik hurriedly tidied up their clothes like the other officers, and stood at the gate of the base to welcome the arrival of Crown Prince Eder.

Edel had seen the group of officers who had greeted him in the distance, and the crown prince knew about their intentions, and it seemed that he needed to give them some more military expenses this time.

"Your Royal Highness the Crown Prince welcomes you." Rear Admiral Lomodan, the commander of the fleet, stepped forward to greet Eder when he saw him approaching. "I'm here mainly to see the expansion of the port, and by the way, to see our Romanian naval fleet." Edel replied, the underlying meaning is that you don't want to open your mouth. Major General Lomodan didn't expect the crown prince to be so directly stunned for a moment, and the chief of staff next to him hurriedly stepped forward to remedy. "This is also the crown prince's concern for the navy, and our naval colleagues are looking forward to the arrival of His Royal Highness."

Major General Lomodan came back to his senses and said. "This is what our Navy expects."

Edel nodded in response. "Thank you to the Navy for expecting so much from me."

Eder followed these two guys who cooperated well into the naval base to visit, in fact, now the Romanian Navy is just two or three kittens, standing on the dock can see this small fleet. Eder still made a look of relish, listening to Rear Admiral Lomodan explain to himself the situation of Romanian naval ships, in fact, there was nothing to say, so in less than half an hour Rear Admiral Lomodan finished speaking.

"Your Highness, how about you come and sit in my office?" Major General Lomodan sent out an invitation, and the crown prince knew that the meat show was coming. "Then I also heard that His Excellency the Commander's coffee is unique, and I want to taste one or two too."

The two soon arrived at Rear Admiral Lomodan's office, Eder looked at the unpretentious office, with charts of the Black Sea hanging on the wall, and neatly stacked various professional books of the Navy on the shelves against the wall.

"Your Highness, your coffee." Major General Lomodan handed Eder a cup of coffee, and the crown prince stirred it up and took a sip before speaking bluntly. "Rear Admiral Lomodan I know what you think, but there is only so much military spending, and I understand your desire to increase the funding of the navy. But you need to note that the biggest threat to the kingdom is Russia right now, and the land pressure is very high, and we must ensure the security of the homeland. ”

In the face of Crown Prince Eder's blunt rhetoric, Major General Lomodan nodded, as a senior military officer, he was still very clear about the pressure on Romania now. But as a man who has served in the Navy for 20 years, it is incumbent on Rear Admiral Lomodan to fight for funding for his service.

"Your Highness, we are also very supportive of the reorganization of the army, but the navy's annual funds are too small to do daily patrols and training, and I hope the crown prince can also understand the suffering of our navy." Major General Lomodan began to play the bitter card.

"Why can't we even do patrols and training? Wasn't it good before? Eder also asked Major General Lomodan in confusion. Recently, the government has said that the financial turnover is not enough, so the funds are often in arrears, and we can only ensure the salaries of personnel and the maintenance of equipment first, and we cannot temporarily stop training and patrolling. Major General Lomodan also said bitterly.

"Go back and ask the government to pay you the arrears in full." Edel saw that this was not a solution, and could only agree that he knew that the government had recently collected a tax to pay the navy because of the completion of the construction of various factories. Rear Admiral Lomodan saw that the crown prince was good at talking, and he also beat the snake with a stick, "Your Highness, you see that Russia has recently announced a large-scale shipbuilding plan, and our navy is under great pressure, can you increase a sum of funds to enhance the strength of our fleet." ”

Eder understood that Rear Admiral Lomodan was too weak for the Navy, but now Romania did not have the national strength to expand the navy, so he could only say sorry to Rear Admiral Lomodan. "Rear Admiral Lomodan, you must know that even if we increase the funding of the navy now, you will not be able to protect the security of the Romanian coastline. Right now, I can only give priority to replenishing the army, which I'm sorry I can't help you. ”

Eder talked for 2 hours in Rear Admiral Lomodan's office, and finally promised to add a cruiser to the Navy in five years. This made the officers outside thunderous, and Eder felt a little uncomfortable, the navy was still too weak, and a little increase could make them happy for a long time.