In the eyes of ordinary people, the Royal Palace has countless rare treasures, magnificent buildings, unique gardens and various artworks for decoration are treasures in this world. If you have the opportunity to feast your eyes and keep going for a few months, you will probably not get tired of it. However, for the princes and princesses who have grown up in royal families since childhood, everything here is no new. This time, Xia Shu and Christian have asked the Naval Academy for three days off. The matter was unexpectedly smooth. There were no academic exams recently, so the two decided to use the remaining two days to relax. It was rare to get together with Princess Louise, but staying in Berlin was not too much fun. Xia Shu suggested that the three of them go to Danze together, where they can enjoy the beautiful scenery of the seaside, enjoy seafood, and take time to cook the Royal Shipbuilding and Repair Factory affairs, which can be said to be a win-win situation.

Xia Shu's style of conduct is always mature and steady. With him accompanying Louise throughout the journey, the queen was not worried. Without much preparation, the three of them boarded the train and arrived at Danze Port less than 100 kilometers away from Berlin with joy and laughter.

As the largest port on the southern coast of the Baltic Sea, Danze’s history can be traced back to more than a thousand years ago. It has successively been ruled by the Kingdom of Poland, the Teutonic Knights, the Polish Empire and the Prussian Kingdom. Now it is an important commercial port and military base of the Second German Empire. At the heyday of Danze’s shipbuilding industry, there were dozens of shipyards of all sizes on the banks of Danze Bay. The sailing ships sailed from here not only spread across the Baltic Sea, but also sailed far to the other end of the ocean.

The rise of the Industrial Revolution had a huge impact on the traditional shipbuilding industry. Many small and medium-sized shipyards were gradually merged by large shipyards with strong financial and technical strength. The booming German shipbuilding industry also appeared a group of top shipbuilding companies represented by Kiel's Naval Shipyard, Germanic Shipyard, William's Royal Shipyard, Bremen's Wiss Shipyard, Hamburg's Vulken Shipyard and Blom-Fus Shipyard, and Danze's Shuoxie Shipyard. In Danze's Port, which has a population of less than 150,000, about half of the labor force is engaged in the shipbuilding industry, and half of these people are employed by Shuoxie Shipyard, which is good at building ocean-going shipbuilding.

Walking on the streets of Danze, you can see busy figures everywhere. It seems that except for children and the elderly, everyone here is working hard, so it makes people feel that this is an extremely vital port. The Friedrich Royal Shipbuilding Factory is located on the left bank of the Vistula River and is far away from the Shuoxia Shipyard. Both shipyards have a history of more than a hundred years. They were originally Prussian royal industries. Later, Shuoxia Shipyard was resold and has reached its current scale after two large-scale expansions. Although Friedrich Shipyard has also been expanded twice, its business philosophy has obviously failed to keep up with the historical development trend. To this day, it is still a medium-sized shipyard with more than 300 workers.

Before leaving, Natsuki shot a short telegram to Nicolas Weizel. When he arrived at Danze, the ship machinery expert and agent Ceo had already arranged the itinerary. Knowing that Natsuki didn't like to play pomp, the uncle did not organize workers to greet him, but the clean and tidy environment and orderly atmosphere of the shipyard obviously left a very good impression on the VIPs.

"I bring good news this time: the emperor and the crown prince agree with our expansion plan. The royal family will take out 16 million marks of funds, and we will borrow from Deutsche Bank for the shortage." Xia Shu spoke to Uncle Weizel in the tone of an old partner.

"Oh, yes, that's great. Winter is the ideal season for expanding the shipyard. It will rain endlessly in spring." Uncle Weizel said while leading VIPs to visit the shipyard. The 12 small shipyards, 4 medium shipyards and the only large repair dock of 5,000 tons are all wealth left by the expansion of the founding emperor William I of the Second Empire. For more than ten years, the shipyard has only introduced new riveting and welding equipment one after another. The cranes and casting and cutting machines are more than a round older than Xia Shu. Fortunately, the speedboats designed by Xia Shu are all made of steel-corched hulls, and the old machines are also capable of existing construction and maintenance work, but the next expansion will inevitably introduce complete sets of modern shipbuilding facilities.

Thanks to the excellent performance of high-speed speed boats, the small docks of the shipyard are all full of construction tasks. Half are lightning torpedo boats built for the German Navy, and half are unarmed speedboats for racing and private purposes. The medium dock has an old sailboat and three craft sailboats for repairing and maintenance. At first glance, it looks full, but using a thousand-ton dock to repair two or three hundred-ton sailboats is obviously an unreasonable resource configuration, while the 5,000-ton repair dock is as empty as usual.

After a walk, the president of Xia Shu, the shipyard, told his loyal executor: "Before the royal funds are in place, we will start to renovate two medium-sized docks. The new docks must be able to accommodate 2,500-ton ships, and pay attention to reserve enough lengths to deal with possible slender ships in the future; build two new small and medium-sized docks, which must be able to accommodate 1,500-ton ships, with a length of 50% higher than the previous specifications; renovate our large docks and introduce the machinery and equipment needed to build cruisers."

Wizel listened attentively, and when Natsuki finished speaking, he said, "Your Highness, our existing funds can only meet two of your three requirements at most, and even if it is only two, it will cause financial difficulties until the Admiralty pays the second batch of orders."

Xia Shu thought briefly: "Small and medium-sized docks start construction as soon as possible, and the reconstruction of medium-sized docks should also be carried out. The large dock renovation can first determine the procurement of equipment and pay the deposit. I will find a way to solve the remaining funds."

Although the boy in front of him was less than one-third of his age, Uncle Weizel had no doubt about his words at all, and he agreed one by one seriously.

After arranging the shipyard expansion, Xia Shu continued to ask: "We sent people to Spain and the United States to contact submarine engineers. Is there any new news during this period?"

Wizel replied: "Not yet."

After receiving a negative reply, Xia Shu did not look unhappy on her face. He said as he walked: "This matter is too urgent, so he can only wait patiently and watch it. If it really doesn't work, I will find a way to negotiate with the German shipyard to provide personnel and technical assistance. The Spanish engineers they hire are said to be very talented and have a serious work attitude. At present, except for France and the United Kingdom, the best submarine technology belongs to Spain. Although the Americans started early, there have been no new achievements in recent years."

"But the price of German shipyards is definitely not low." Weizel said with some concern. Although the Friedrich shipyard is now in the title of royal, it can only be considered a medium-sized enterprise in the German shipbuilding industry. The key to the success of the high-speed torpedo boat project is that they have a genius designer from the royal family. With the current strength of the shipyard, it is already very difficult to expand the scale and introduce equipment. According to the current market conditions, it will cost a considerable price to introduce submarine technology from a large shipyard, even if it is only authorized to produce.

"That's a last resort. We'd better form our own submarine technical team now." Xia Shu said, "Don't look at the torpedo boats and submarines on the water and the other underwater. Weapons and power systems actually have some commonalities. This is our innate advantage."

Passing through the shipbuilding area, a group of four arrived at the shipyard dock. There were several latest "thunder and lightning" parked beside the trestle bridge. These high-speed torpedo boats built with standardized technology have smooth lines and simple appearance. They are paired with snow-white paint, giving people a pleasing feeling. Against their backdrop, the slightly larger and light gray speedboat is like a gray duck mixed in this group of white geese. Its hull is nearly three meters longer than lightning, and the boat width has also increased slightly. The biggest difference is that its pod-shaped double cockpit and arc-shaped glass hatch provide the operator with a very ideal vision.

The uncle introduced: "Our Thunder test boat has been tested more than half. Judging from the existing results, it has basically achieved design performance. It can be completed further after the new Daimler engine arrives."

When Xia Shu led the high-speed torpedo boat test brigade to shine at the Kiel Military Harbor Festival, the two-person high-speed torpedo boat was still on the design drawings. The test craft had been completed in just four months, which shows the technical strength of Friedrich Royal Shipbuilding Factory in the field of speedboats. It is precisely because of the importance of technical reserves that Xia Shu was so eager to introduce the submarine project. When the shipyard completes this transformation, the aircraft will be the next strategic project.

Unlike the design and construction process of "Thunder" project, Xia Shu was already studying at the Naval Academy when the "Thunder" project was put into effect. Most of his energy was devoted to his studies and could not personally lead the design and construction work as before. Instead, he reviewed the design plan and put forward modification opinions like the bricksmen of the Royal Navy Technical Committee, and conducted on-site supervision very occasionally during the construction process. It turned out that the design team led by the bald uncle Dr. Carls had enough ability to complete this task, and the entire shipyard was also operating efficiently under the organization of Uncle Weizel.

The high-speed speed boats designed and built by Xia Shu were all single models. Louise could only applaud on the side. This time he finally had a double speed boat. He bent down and stretched out and said, "Are you lucky enough to invite our beautiful and charming princess to board the boat and try the feeling of flying on the sea?"

The court etiquette became a naughty game on such occasions, and Louise smiled so hard that her eyebrows were flying. Although she was wearing a beautiful but somewhat cumbersome long skirt, she still placed her left hand on the right palm of Xia Shu: "Honor is so honor!"

In Christian's envious eyes, Xia Shu led Louise to the speedboat, helped her put on a brown ear-padded hat and an orange lifeguard. These safety equipment turned the dignified and generous lady into a clumsy duck. Louise looked at Xia Shu, who was in the same outfit, looked down at herself, and smiled mischievously. When she stepped into the cabin, she held Xia Shu's hand tightly again. The tender and soft touch made Xia Shu have a very wonderful reverie. In the past, he was the only son of the family. He had never imagined or felt that there was a completely different feeling from his lover between men and women, and it would become more and more intense as time settled.

The brother and sister who had a tacit understanding got on the boat, and Christian was still watching from the side. Thinking of this poor brother, Natsuki turned his head and shrugged at him, signaling him to drive a lightning boat to serve as a flower guard from the side.

Thunder followed the more successful driving system of Thunder, and Xia Shu was working effortlessly. When the speedboat sailed out of the river and entered the open water, he accelerated step by step, and the high-speed engine began to make the roar that made every wind-chasing boy rush. According to the design expectations, Daimler's new gasoline engine will make the Thunder's maximum output power one quarter higher than that of Thunder. Even if one occupant is added, the cockpit protection capability is enhanced, as a whole

The weight is 1.5 tons more than thunder, and the high-speed performance is only increased and not decreased. However, the new engine has not arrived yet. It has to use a gasoline engine of the same model as thunder. The actual acceleration and extreme speed capabilities are a little worse than thunder, but this does not prevent Natsuki from taking Princess Louise to enjoy the feeling of flying on the sea. When the pointer on the speedometer exceeds 35, Natsuki heard Louise in the back seat say in a surprise voice: "Hey, Johen, we are flying! We are flying!"

Accustomed to stable carriages and royal yachts, they do feel like flying on speedboats that are galloping at 18 meters per second. And as the speedometer's pointer continues to rotate towards larger values, the speedboat jumps on the sea surface more and more, and the white waves stirred up by the stern of the boat are like the white wings of an angel, holy and gorgeous. At this time, as long as the steering wheel is lightly turned, the speedboat will obviously roll in the steering process. The passengers facing the stern can not only experience the strange feeling brought by centrifugal force, but also see the wonderful scenery of the world.

Humans conquered the horses and enjoyed the joy of the wind in galloping; humans built ships and felt the freedom of fish in sailing; humans invented hot air balloons and experienced the elegance of white clouds in floating; and now on this speedboat that is fast sailing, youthful people have left the wind and waves behind and found the pleasure of flying on the sea. When the thunder reached its ultimate speed, Louise's surprise and joy also rose to an excited state, and the pleasant singing penetrated the noisy roar of the engine: "Summer tree, summer tree, summer tree standing proudly in the wind, you have a steep body, you have a tenacious will, you are not afraid of the scorching heat, you are not afraid of the heavy rain, you are a mighty man, you are a great hero who will never fall..."

Hearing Louise sing the song he made up again, the summer tree smiled, and there were many more happiness belonging to the two. Listening to the light and beautiful singing, he hummed and said, "Hey, Louise, the beautiful and clever Louise, you are the drizzle of spring, the breeze of summer, the sunshine of autumn, the snow of winter. Who do you love and who love you, you have been together for thousands of years, and will continue to be forever..."
Chapter completed!