Autumn at Charlottenburg Palace is undoubtedly the most beautiful. {3. The sky blue without a single blemish seems to be a whole gem, and the garden under the gem is dyed yellow by a faint oil paint, revealing a kind of intoxicating depression. Autumn is solemn, but Prince Henry, or rather Albert. William. Prince Heinrich's mood was full of joy.

Originally, according to the itinerary, he was supposed to return to Germany in July, but because of the death of Emperor Meiji of Japan, he had to go to Japan to attend the funeral before returning to China. And the United States, which is friendly to China, thanks to the efforts of pro-British politicians, the cooperation between Bethlehem Steel and China was almost canceled......

These frictions have led the Beijing government to make significant adjustments to its foreign policy in just a few months. After attending the funeral, Yang Rui's personal representative rushed to Qingdao to meet the prince, this time Yang Jingcheng's attitude was very different from previous months, although he did not explicitly agree to an alliance with Germany, but the meaning of closeness was already obvious. You must know that the previous time his promise in Beijing was actually worthless, the war in Europe between China and Japan had long ended after four years of rest, and although the promise was worthless, it could at least indicate China's position, and this conversation, through Heinrich's repeated pondering, understood that there is only one premise for the Chinese to form an alliance with Germany, that is, the United States does not object. Or rather. After settling Japan, as long as the United States does not get involved in the war in Europe. Then China will fight alongside Germany.

The strong intervention of Britain, Japan and France in the ** Bei will actually achieve such an effect, which makes Heinrich only call God bless. In fact, judging from his capacity as a bystander. What China is doing now is nothing more than to make its own military industry meet the consumption of its own army, in Yang Rui's words, this is only to ensure that the ammunition is self-sufficient, and the army has not been expanded, but has been reduced from 45 divisions to 42 divisions. As for the all-event mobilization system that is being implemented, this is an armament method that every major European country is already practising, and there is nothing wrong with China borrowing from and implementing it.

Because of the difference in positions, Prince Heinrich began to think about all kinds of injustices imposed on China by Britain and France, and did not expect that Germany's previous arrogance had also brought more injustice to China. Heinrich thought so much about the Far East that he was unaware of it when he entered the Charlottenburg Palace. It was only when the adjutant beckoned him out of the car that he woke up from his excited thoughts. The Emperor is already in a hurry.

"Albert, you're finally back." The Emperor, dressed in the imposing uniform of a German naval marshal and smiling at his face, was already there waiting for his audience.

"Majesty!" Heinrich was a little flattered to see the emperor greet him in person, he knew that Wilhelm was a person who liked to put on a show, and now he was so kind, it must have been very satisfied with his trip.

"I've read your letters over and over again. Very good, your diplomatic skills have given us immeasurable strategic value. By the way, there are also small gifts from the Chinese, which the Navy and the 6th Army are very fond of. I love them too. The Emperor said with a smile. For a whole summer, the Haier Royal Air Conditioner in his room was on, and he even wanted to stay in the air-conditioned room 24 hours a day. Until the Chinese craftsman who was sent to take care of the maintenance, he could only enjoy air conditioning for a maximum of five hours a day, or he would get sick. He turned off the air conditioner stupidly.

The emperor's excitement left Heinrich speechless, and the success of diplomacy was not the result of his talents. Rather, the situation in the Far East has changed and China has made a new choice. "Your Majesty, China still has two things to take care of, before the war against Japan, they took care of Russia, and after the victory over Japan, they took care of the United States."

"Considering the ...... of the United States What do those hillbillies have to scruple about, are the Chinese bought by those 200 million dollars? The emperor said displeasedly. In fact, compared with the current Chinese emperor, he still prefers the Qing emperor, because the Qing emperor conquered China by force, and there were eight tribes controlling the state power, which is very similar to the situation in Germany, which is also composed of many principalities, and in his opinion, the Zhenghuang Banner is equivalent to Prussia.

"Yang Jingcheng's personal representative said that a war in Europe without the participation of the United States must be a victory for Germany, but if the United States entered the war, or if Germany did not completely blockade Britain and defeat France before the United States mobilized, then ......," Prince Heinrich said.

"But why did those Americans have to come to Europe to die? Just because they speak English? The Emperor's beard cocked unhappily. Although what the Chinese said was reasonable, how could the defeat of Germany make him acceptable.

"It's the interest, Your Majesty." Heinrich said: "Germany's geopolitical environment makes us only have a narrow North Sea, once the sea is blocked by Britain, then the United States' trade with Britain and France and trade with us will form a huge contrast, when the United States and Britain and France trade to a certain amount, then the United States may enter the war to protect its own vested interests......"

"Your Highness, we only need a few weeks to destroy the French army, the Chinese trucks are useful. Before the Americans could mobilize, France was defeated. ”

As the emperor entered the inner court, Heinrich appeared, and there were many people who 'greeted' him this time, including the chancellor Batemann. Holwig, Admiral Tirpitz, Vice Admiral Augusta. Feng. Heilingen, Cabinet Minister of the Navy von Illingen. Müller, as well as the Chief of the General Staff, von Murray. Moltke, and Marshal of the 6th Army, von Moltke. Morality. Goretz.

It was the Chief of the General Staff who said that the war against France would only last six weeks. Admiral Moltke. He was revising the huge plan left by Schlieffen to ensure that the logistics could keep up with the supply of the army. At this time, the Chinese sent tanks and trucks, the former increased the offensive firepower of the troops, not to mention, the latter solved the logistical problem on a large distance, just a few days ago, he had built yì Kaiser began to stock up a large amount of diesel, and at the same time buy bulk Chinese-made diesel engines to make a large number of trucks; As for the tanks, given the diesel reserves and the limited steel in wartime, he only wanted to make a few in small quantities for infantry combat.

"Your Highness. The Royal Navy could also defeat the British Navy in naval battles to disrupt the enemy blockade. The Chinese only need to match the 6th Army to contain the Russians. "Admiral Tirpiz saw that Moltke Jr. showed the might of the 6th Army, and he had to stand up and speak. The military spending of the German Navy has risen extremely rapidly in recent years. But the role of the navy was doubted within the Empire, especially by the 6th Army, especially after the British announced their own shipbuilding plans.

"All right, my generals." The emperor looked at the confident imperial generals happily and said very kindly: "Albert not only brought us new weapons for the Chinese this time, but also brought them precious friendship. This was invaluable to besieged Germany. Generals, what we want now is not to argue, but to effectively talk about the upcoming war, such as how to borrow the power of the Chinese. And thus win this great war? Albert, you better start first. What has become of the ridiculous country that we used to be, and does their emperor still have braids like women? ”

As soon as the emperor talked about braids, several German generals burst out laughing, even the strictest von. Marshal Gore couldn't help laughing, though he had known from his students that the new country, though many of them had long hair, no longer had that ridiculous and filthy braid.

"Your Majesty, the emperor of China is very young. At only seventeen years old, he traveled the world and is said to have been to Berlin a few years earlier. He was a wise emperor, and this should be attributed to the fact that he received a complete Western education from an early age. And he was modest, handing over most of the government affairs to Yang Jingcheng, the prime minister of the empire. And the prime minister, Yang Jingcheng, was very loyal to the emperor, and it is said that when his troops had just occupied Beijing. There was a subordinate who established himself as emperor, but he vetoed it. and also severely punished those who proposed this kind of construction, and drove them away. ”

China's form of government has always been taboo by the imperial state. The emperor who had no power was also disliked by the other emperors, so when discussing the emperor of China, the ministers of various countries faced their own emperors, not only to describe China as an empire, but also to repeat the nonsensical things several times. Sure enough, after Prince Heinrich said these words, the emperor's originally standing eyebrows quietly relaxed.

"The power of the empire was firmly in the hands of Yang Jingcheng, which was an organization called peasant associations, which spread to every village, and in order to curry favor with them, Yang Jingcheng passed the land rent reduction bill, the tax removal bill, and so on, so that the peasants who were too poor to eat could become richer. The landlords, although they suffered as a result, did not confiscate all the land, and the government would encourage them to start factories as long as they wanted to, and now the Chinese government is planning to use a loan of 300 million marks to support domestic industry.

The government's control over the state was tight, and in the past officials of the empire were only appointed to the prefectures, but now the officials of the empire have been appointed to every village. Last year, in the budget of the Qing Empire, the country's tax revenue was only more than 800 million marks, and a large part of these taxes remained in the provinces, but under the new tax system, the empire's tax revenues were all handed over to the Beijing government for allocation except for individual provinces, because the previous greedy tax collectors were removed, and new taxes were introduced, and the amount of imperial taxes was estimated to exceed 1.5 billion marks this year, and it is conceivable that the empire would be completely stabilized in a few years, then the tax revenue may exceed two billion marks.

Now the prime minister and his officials are using increased taxes and loans to advocate education, reward industry, and improve armaments, these measures are generally approved by the people, only the royal family and officials of the former Qing Empire, and those landlords who are forced to lower their land rents and cannot afford to start industries, hate the current government very much, and they want to meet with me in Qingdao, but I refuse.

Like the trust of His Majesty the Emperor and the support of the peasant association, the generals of the army fully supported the prime minister Yang Jingcheng. These men had been his pupils ten years earlier, and had been known to Duke William, and they had entered the military academy in South Africa, and had fought in the Russo-Japanese War under Duke William, where they had annihilated the reserve of a Japanese brigade, although Japan did not recognize this until now; In last year's Northeast War, they also surrounded and annihilated Japanese divisions, but they also did not admit it. ”

Prince Heinrich's social skills were undoubtedly outstanding, and as he spoke of the army, the attention of the generals present grew. Hearing him say in a row that the Japanese two would not admit it, they laughed again. War is inherently results-oriented. If you lose, you lose, and the Japanese cover it up in every possible way. Only let the generals and marshals present look down on it.

"Fearing that there would be no qualified senior generals, their Sixth Army was one-third smaller than the German divisions, with only more than 12,000 men per division. They had highly trained officers and soldiers, most of whom had experienced actual combat, and a small number of them fought from the Russo-Japanese War to the War of Unification, and among these generals, three of them were the best, one was Lei who occupied Beijing, and the other was Lin in Zhejiang. One is Qi, who once defeated the Japanese. At present, China has 43 integrated divisions with a total strength of 500,000 troops, and these are only active troops, and the existing peasant associations in the empire are still implementing the peasant soldier system......"

Speaking of this, Prince Heinrich suddenly had a long pause, and he sighed: "Your Majesty, this is an empire with a population of more than 400 million, even if the central government does not want to expand the scope of peasant soldiers, but according to the current conscription standards, they also have more than 10 million peasant soldiers who can join any war. ”

"Oh! Oh, God. The Emperor sighed. And with some excitement from this, he waved his scepter, "I said it! That's what I said! That's a terrible country, as long as they want to. It is possible to arm an army of 40 million or more. I used to be wary of the Japanese annexing her, but now she herself has begun to rise, and the Chinese army will drive their tanks. It will sweep the whole world like a dark cloud, just like the Mongols. Oh. Oh, God! Thankfully, they're on our side! …… No! No! I should come to an agreement with the Chinese that what is Asian will be Asian. What is European to Europe, that's it! That's it! ”

The emperor's inopportune words moved the generals present slightly, not to mention weapons, but they were very uneasy when they heard that there were 40 million troops, and the population of Germany was only 65 million, and if 40 million troops swept in, then the whole of Europe would have to surrender.

"Yes. Most of the Chinese are Han Chinese, not Mongols. In terms of spheres of influence, they have no interest in territories outside Asia, or even in the Far East. Prime Minister Yang actually told me that the Chinese have a tradition of worshipping their ancestors, and even if they are asked to emigrate from Shandong to the northeast, many people are unwilling, and if they want to leave their hometown, they can only use some mild coercive measures. Heinrich understood the Kaiser's concerns, but in his opinion, China was still an extremely backward country, and he didn't know how to produce weapons for 10 million troops, let alone 40 million. After he finished speaking, seeing that the emperor had calmed down, he began to pick up the unfinished words before.

"The combat effectiveness of the Chinese 6th Army is not inferior to the German army, what they lack is only large-caliber artillery, in the contract signed a few months ago, to help China improve its armament is one of the most important contents, they are the same as the troops of the former Qing Dynasty, in each division is equipped with fifty-four 75mm caliber field guns or mountain artillery, they also attach great importance to machine guns, each division is equipped with about forty-five Makqin machine guns, the training and equipment of the soldiers are also excellent, the only shortcoming is that those soldiers are slightly weak because of the relationship between race and nutrition.

The weapons of the squadron are estimated to be the most of the 6 armies in the world. In addition to rifles and cannons, they are also equipped with grenades, shotguns, mortars, grenadiers, that kind of grenadier is very impressive to me, it is so small that one person can carry the shot, although the range is very short, only more than 100 meters or even tens of meters, but its effect is very large, when the two armies are in the trenches, this kind of weapon that can be taken out of the pocket and shoot small shells into the enemy's head can achieve unexpected results; And the same is true of mortars, which were developed by the chancellor and Count Schroeder, and in trenches, mountainous terrain, this weapon is very useful, and I built a German 6th Army to equip this weapon on a large scale.

Another important weapon of the Chinese 6th Army is the tank, which is really a great military master! Heinrich's tone suddenly became high, he had seen the effect of this weapon in the secret camp in Tonghua, and felt that it was designed for Germany at all. Your Majesty, the army had been thinking about how to effectively break through the enemy's hated trenches, and it was for this reason that this weapon was born, and with a thousand such tanks, in three days our soldiers would be able to occupy Paris. ”

"Acapet, I have begun to allocate special funds for the stockpiling of diesel fuel and the purchase or production of this weapon, in accordance with Helmut's plan, but its artillery is too small, and the thickness of the steel plates is not enough to withstand the bombardment of enemy artillery, and we are improving it to make it more suitable for fighting in the European theater." Tanks are what will be talked about today, and the Emperor actually liked this weapon made entirely of steel, but it was still weak because of technical limitations.

Yang Rui provided the Germans with only a tank similar to the French Renault FT-17 in World War I, which only had a 37mm short-barreled tank gun. In addition, most of the special steel parts and important parts of the above accessories are imported from Germany, in the final analysis, this is completely an assembly goods. Only the diesel engine, tracks, and body are domestic. But even so, this weapon moved all Prince De Heinrich who had seen the actual combat effect.

"Your Highness, Europe is not East Asia, we cannot use tanks like the Chinese. Even if the tank could reach Paris in three days, our infantry and artillery would have to be able to keep up with it, the tank was nothing more than a heavily armored cavalry, and it had to be used in conjunction with the artillery and infantry to be effective. After the Emperor spoke, Moltke Jr. added.

"No, we can get the infantry on the trucks as well and then rush forward with the tank troops." Prince Heinrich corrected that the combat mentality he had been instilled in the Northeast was not like this.

"Then may I ask Your Highness, how does the heavy artillery unit follow the tanks?" Moltke pointed out the flaw in the prince's idea, in fact, this is also the part that Yang Rui deliberately omitted, that is, he did not give the aircraft technology. In the Blitzkrieg of World War II, heavy artillery was replaced by dive bombers, and now that the Germans do not have airplanes, the result is to choose the traditional use of tanks in World War I - to become infantry tanks to support infantry operations. "There aren't so many fortresses in East Asia that need to be bombarded and smashed by heavy artillery, but in Europe, the French will have strong concrete fortifications on the border, and without heavy artillery, even tanks will not be able to move an inch. Trucks are more important than tanks, they can support our logistics, and as long as there is enough diesel, they can wield the role of a train. ”

Hearing that the tank he valued the most was not of great use in Europe, Prince Heinrich was a little disappointed, and he looked at Admiral Tirpitz, "What about torpedoes?" If long-snouted torpedoes are used, then even if there are few of them, we can change the outcome of the naval battle on some kind of course, right? ”

"Yes. That torpedo was useful, but it was too small in number and too short in range. Tirpitz said. The Chinese are absolutely right when they say that this weapon is suitable only for submarines. ”

"Then we can also mass-produce submarines like the Chinese." Prince Heinrich stayed in the Far East for a long time and was completely brainwashed by Yang Rui, and fell into Yang Rui's theory of war, so that he was quite different from the emperor and the marshals.

"Your Highness, submarines cannot be used in naval battles between capital ships and capital ships. Its voyage could not keep up with the fleet, and this second-class weapon was only a museum of experimental goods, which could only be used in insignificant small local wars. Tirpitz has no liking for submarines, and even hates the name of such a garbage thing, "We can't trust the theory of someone who has never experienced a naval battle, even if he is considered by many to be the miracle of the East, that only a decisive battle at sea can achieve sea supremacy, and that the only way to win a decisive battle is to build capital ships." Let the Chinese build submarines, all they want is offshore sea supremacy. ”

"Albert, do not be discouraged, one or two weapons will not change the outcome of the war. The most important thing is how will the Chinese fight with us, and how can we make them fight with us? The emperor looked at his younger brother's affection and suddenly did not rise, so he had to comfort him. He liked the weapons, but he cared more about the promises of the Chinese. (To be continued!)

Tips: The new domain name "biquge.info" has been launched by Biquge, and the original domain name is about to be discontinued. Please tell each other, thank you!