"Anything else?" Frederick III went on to ask: "Is it enough to simply reform the structure of the Admiralty?" ”

"The reform of the Admiralty is the most important reform, and once the reform of the Admiralty is completed, then the Navy will have a pivotal position in the military system of the Empire, which is very important for the development of the Navy. As for the other reform, I believe that the conditions are not yet ripe for implementation, and therefore it is not yet ready to be proposed, and His Excellency Munz agrees with me. Jochen replied.

"Oh? What reforms? Let's start with that. ”

"With the current Atlantic Fleet as the core, a fleet with the decisive battle of the fleet as the main task is to concentrate most of the main forces of the Imperial Navy. However, I don't think this can be achieved without the opening of the Kiel Canal and the fact that the Imperial Navy is still stationed in the North Sea and the Baltic Sea.

Since we are unable to concentrate most of the combat forces of the Imperial Navy, and naturally we cannot talk about a decisive battle with the fleet, and the opening of the canal is expected to be after 1900, and the size of the Imperial Navy is not sufficient to support such a fleet, I and Your Excellency the Minister believe that the reorganization and construction of the fleet will be carried out after the end of the ten-year plan of the Navy in 1898.

In this way, after the reorganization of our fleet is completed, the Kiel Canal will be opened, the North Sea and Baltic fleets will be combined into a new fleet, and the new naval construction program can also be carried out around the new fleet at this time. Jochen replied.

This plan directly pushed back the formation time of the German Navy's Ocean Fleet by 4 years, but it was not without reason to do so, without the Kiel Canal, the Ocean Fleet would be completely in the past, and even if it was formed, it would become a fleet separated in the North Sea and the Baltic Sea, and it would not be able to meet the ratio of numbers that must be maintained to meet its offensiveness.

In recent years, the German Navy has been phasing out old ships, but the number of new warships built is not much stronger than in history, and the third place in total tonnage will not last long before it will be surpassed by the Russians. Coupled with the delay in the opening of the Kiel Canal, the Mediterranean Fleet had to be strengthened, so that the German navy was now divided into three areas, each of which was not too strong, and therefore seemed quite harmless.

So in 1898, after the end of the last ten-year naval shipbuilding program, Germany would have been less hampered by the parliament even if it had embarked on a larger shipbuilding program than in history.

It is not known how the British would react to this, but it should have been no more reactive than it had been when the first Naval Act was introduced, after all, even the British at the time considered the German Navy to maintain 19 battleships as justified by the 1898 Naval Act.

After all, as long as the Russians did not send their lives to the Far East, it made sense for the Germans to maintain a sufficiently strong fleet in the Baltic.

For good reason, the Minister of the Navy and the Chief of Staff of the Navy both believed that the time was not yet right, so Frederick III said that you should decide for yourself: "Then you and Alexander will submit it when you and Alexander think it is appropriate." ”

"Yes, father." Jochen bowed, then exited Frederick III's study.

Back at the Admiralty, Muntz hurriedly ran over and asked about the situation: "Your Highness, how is the situation, Your Majesty has agreed?" ”

"My father said that I would discuss it with His Excellency the Prime Minister, but I don't think it should be a big problem, and if my father did not object, then His Excellency the Prime Minister should not object either. There may be opposition within the Army, but His Excellency Schlieffen is a smart man, and he will suppress the ...... of those in the Army."

"That's great!" Muntz was excited: "Then our navy will no longer have to look at the face of the army." ”

"Then I'm going to call you, Your Excellency the Chief of the General Staff." Jochen said with a smile.

"Maybe then it's time for me to retire." Muntz laughed too.

"Your Excellency the Minister is now in good health, and has made a lot of contributions to the construction of the Navy over the years, and you can still work in this position for a short time, why do you retire lightly?" It was the first time Jochen had heard from Muntz that he had this idea.

"I'm old, my spirit is not good, I've been in the position of Secretary of the Navy for 7 years, and it's time to give others a chance. But rest assured, Your Highness, I'm not saying that I'm going to leave things right away, at least all the ships in the 10-year construction plan I proposed back then will start construction smoothly, and I can only start and finish well, right? Muntz said.

"Also, Your Highness, the person you originally intended to take over from me was Alfred, who served as commander of the Far East Fleet for three years, and when he came back and was promoted to vice admiral, he could also sit in the position of the Minister of the Admiralty. However, now that the Admiralty has been reorganized into the General Staff of the Navy, he cannot be the chief of the General Staff as a lieutenant general. Muntz reminded Jochen that after all he had been in this position for so many years, Jochen's little caution could be seen by the human Muntz.

"Your Excellency is right, I don't think about it." Jochen immediately thanked Muntz and asked, "Who do you think would be the second Chief of the Naval Staff?" ”

"Haha, Your Highness still doesn't worry about me, an old man." Muntz laughed.

"How dare I, isn't it because you need to be the minister to form a new body in order to make the formation work smoothly?" Jochen patted the horse a little.

After joking, Muntz thought about it carefully for a while, and said seriously: "If you want to say that you can take over my class, in terms of qualifications and ability, it should be more appropriate for Lieutenant Hans Vonxter to take over, he was promoted to lieutenant general in 1892, and it is no problem to be promoted to general in another year or two to take over my class." ”

Chester? Why does this name sound so familiar? Jochen always felt that the name should have played an important role in the history of the development of the German Navy.

Seeing that Yochen was lost in thought, Muntz only thought that His Royal Highness the Crown Prince was thinking about his own construction, and did not know that Jochen was just thinking about whether this person was famous in history.

After thinking about it for a long time, Jochen was a little impressed, and Muntz saw that Jochen had been thinking about it for so long whether he was dissatisfied with the person he proposed, so he asked, "Does Your Highness have any opinion of Lieutenant General Koster?" ”

When Jochen heard this, he understood that Muntz was thinking, and immediately explained: "No, it's just that I just thought of an idea that would help our navy gain political support." ”

Muntz immediately became interested: "Oh? Your Highness, tell me about it. ”

"This is just a very immature idea...... "It's okay, let's talk about it first, even if it's not perfect, His Highness's ideas can often make people's eyes shine, if it's not perfect, put it forward, let's improve it together."

In fact, Jochen's idea is to remember who this guy is here, Hans Vonxter, German naval marshal in 1905, but this is not the reason why Jochen has an impression of him, but because Field Marshal Koster served as the president of the German civil organization Naval League. He also sang a duet with Tirpitz, who was the state secretary of the navy, to promote the influence of the navy in the eyes of the German people as a whole.

"Yes, the empire is a country dominated by the army, and the people do not know much about the navy, and unlike the army, which is supported by the Junker aristocracy, the navy does not have a strong enough political group behind it. Therefore, I think the Navy can establish an external, non-governmental exchange organization that gathers the support of the Navy. Jochen said.

"First of all, we opened our doors to all strata and groups across the country to absorb members. Those who want to join can become a member of this group for a membership fee of 1 mark per year. By recruiting members, the main forces that can support the Navy will be brought together and they will be given the opportunity and platform to communicate.

Some senior naval officers who have retired or are no longer involved in the important work of the navy can be appointed as executive chairmen, and those high-ranking officials of the empire, such as kings, grand dukes, princes, etc., can serve as the chairmen of regional branches as long as they support the development and construction of the navy.

In addition, the owners of various industrial groups closely related to the navy can be recruited as sponsors of the group, so that the group has enough funds to hold various exchange activities. And they were able to get acquainted with the upper echelons of the empire through activities like guò to promote the development of the navy, which was a huge benefit to their business.

This group can have its own propaganda organization, and can run its own publications and brochures to promote the Navy to the public; The scholars recruited within the group can become the mouthpiece for external propaganda and introduction to promote the development of the navy.

In addition, through the guò group, member gatherings and consultation meetings are held, so that retired officers of the Navy can become docents and propagandists within the group, communicate with the members of the group, provide a sense of belonging and honor, and promote the importance of the Navy to the country while enhancing their patriotism.

The group can also obtain resources from the Navy, and we can hold activities such as Navy Day, Navy Visit Day, Navy Experience Day, Navy Publicity Week, etc., according to the requirements of the group, to strengthen the awareness and support of the Navy by the full name. ”

"Great idea!" Muntz looked excited after hearing this: "Your Highness, isn't your idea quite perfect?" In this way, our navy not only has the economic power of the industrial capitalists united by their interests, but also the support of the upper echelons of the empire, such as the nobility and officials, and the understanding and solidarity of the general public, so that the development of the navy will be much less resisted. And Your Highness, you said that having a retired senior naval officer as executive chairman is not exactly the right place for me to go after retirement? ”

Muntz is also a man who can draw inferences: "In this way, it would be better for this group to dissociate itself from the official navy, strengthen its civilian nature, and dilute its official background." He can even deliberately find fault with the navy, criticize some problems within the navy in front of the public, and criticize some behaviors such as bureaucratic style and political bargaining that affect the development of naval construction and the danger to the empire. This makes it more accessible to the people, and at the same time increases public attention to the navy. ”

"And with this group, we have a platform to show to the public some information that the navy thinks can be conveyed to the outside world, and if necessary, it can also be used to convey some information that we hope to confuse our enemies."

Such a non-governmental group is easy to enter, and there are a large number of high-level people in the group, so there will inevitably be people with ulterior motives to get in.

"Then Your Highness has come up with the name of this group?"

"What will happen to the Naval Alliance?"

With more than 700,000 members in history, covering the entire territory of the German Empire, a national mass organization that transcends parties, classes, beliefs, and nationalities will promote a naval fever in Germany in the next nearly 20 years! RS