After two days of hunting, Xia Shu returned to the quaint and magnificent Windsor Castle. According to the itinerary agreed between the two sides, he would stay in the UK for two days to participate in some activities of the British upper aristocracy. Before the outbreak of the war, Britain was at its peak of extremely strong, with its political and diplomatic influence superior to Europe. The British royal family had become the leader of the entire European royal family. It was particularly important to be recognized by the British royal family. Although the result of the war caused Britain's prestige to plummet, the influence of the British royal family in the traditional field did not decline to the extent of being replaced by Hohenzollern or Habsburg. Now the British royal family treats candidates for the Irish throne with the due standards, which is undoubtedly a recognition of his rule over Ireland. This may be insignificant to ordinary people, but it is a prominent weather vane in the European upper class.

Later, the German intelligence officer Buchlingen, who served for Ireland, brought news to Xia Shu about the German-Japanese armistice treaty. This matter has little to do with Ireland at present, but if it is intelligence that concerns Xia Shu's safety, it may cause significant consequences if it is delivered later. Before Xia Shu became a candidate for the Irish throne and officially left the German Navy, the intelligence work of the German Navy had made rapid progress under his promotion. The German high seas fleet won consecutive battles, which greatly benefited from the results of the British intelligence front. Even without today's alert, Xia Shu would definitely increase its investment in the Irish intelligence department in the next step.

However, many jobs start from scratch, and don’t mention funds everywhere. Reliable things must be handed over to reliable people. The demand for various professional talents is by no means possible by hiring them at high salaries. In Xia Shu’s eyes, Buchlingen, a senior who also graduated from the Kiel Naval Academy, has the intelligence and talent to become a powerful force in the intelligence community and is willing to serve himself, but he is still an orthodox German at heart. He not only will he not do things that harm Germany’s interests, but may also make backlashes, which makes Xia Shu only dominate this person in a very limited range.

Buchlingen brought detailed inside information about the armistice treaty, including the main terms reached by both sides. The British probably had obtained these contents through their intelligence channels, and British Prime Minister Bona Lau deliberately pretended to be only aware of the skin, thinking that he was trying to make some words from Natsuki. Besides, there was no need for them to take out the information they had obtained painstakingly and share it with such a person who was both enemies and friends.

The most important content of the upcoming German-Japanese armistice treaty is that Japan returns all the German colonial territories occupied during the war to Germany. The two sides used this to define their respective spheres of influence in the Asia-Pacific region. Japan's military expansion was limited to East Asia, Northeast Asia, Central Pacific and North Pacific. There is another clause that cannot be ignored after that, that is, to allow Japan to participate in the development of oil resources in the Persian Gulf region economically, which is a generous condition that Japan and Britain have never obtained during the honeymoon period when forming military alliances.

In addition to the German-Japanese armistice, Buchlingen also gave a simple oral report to Natsuki, the big and small events that happened in European countries in the past two days. The most eye-catching thing is the war situation in Eastern Europe. After the German army paid a great price to capture the Gulf of Riga, the Russian front continued to retreat step by step. It is rumored that the Russian government has made suggestions to the Tsar to cede Lithuania and Ukraine in exchange for the armistice between the allies, but the army commander Nikolai strongly opposed it. He believed that the Allies led by Germany was no longer led by France more than a hundred years ago.

The coalition forces attacked Russia were strong. As long as the war was dragged to winter, the enemy troops entering the Russian territory would suffer a crushing defeat in 1812. At that time, Russia not only did not need to ced out an inch of land, but could also counterattack Germany and Austria in one fell swoop, forcing the allies to cede land and pay compensation. Since the British government secretly supported the pro-war faction within Russia and hoped to consume Germany's strength with the Eastern European front, Nicholas II, who was depressed, continued to remain silent. From this point of view, the war between Russia and the allies would continue in the near future.

The Russian people are in dire straits, and with the continuous advancement of the Eastern European front, most Europeans have already felt that they are getting further and further away from the war. Especially in Germany, the first batch of demobilized soldiers of the army have returned to their hometowns with full honors, and the domestic social order has basically returned to the pre-war state. Major military-industrial enterprises and factories specializing in scrap iron recycling are busy, which has led to the unemployment rate remain at a low level. Industrial and financial giants have sent delegations or inspection teams to follow military and political personnel to receive the new colonies. As various good news has been passed back one after another, all walks of life in Germany are full of positive and optimistic sentiments, and the reputation of William II and Hohenzollern royal family has also risen.

Against this backdrop, the Imperial Navy father Tirpitz returned to a prominent position. The plan he led would be implemented in the form of the Fourth Naval Expansion Act. Although the content of the plan is still in the brewing stage, various speculations are flying all over the sky, some are close to reality, and some are outrageous, but in any case, it is imperative for Germany to launch a new round of naval expansion in response to US-UK military cooperation. In this way, compensation ships received from the UK are even less likely to be reused.

During the war, the rich family of the British Royal Navy was smashed by the German Navy. During the armistice, only 7 large ships built in the 20th century survived, including the Tiger battlecruiser and the Collingwood dreadnought, which were withdrawn in a slump from the Battle of the Faroe Islands. When German military inspectors boarded the British mainland, the restoration of the Tiger had been completed by 90%, and the Collingwood also carried out 75%, but they no longer had the opportunity to fly the St. George's flag across the battlefield. According to the provisions of the London Armistice Treaty, British ships with less than ten years of age were all divided by the Allied countries as trophys. Germany grabbed more than 40 ships including the Tiger. The initial plan was to repair and renovate the ships with complete hull structure and supplement them to the German sea.

In the combat sequence of the army, since Germany actively supports the new round of expansion of the navy, the newly designed and built main ships will be put into service in the next few years. The German Navy does not need to spend a lot of effort to repair and adapt British ships with weak defenses. Even super warships like the Tiger may be directly used as target ships. Even Xia Shu, who is temporarily in power as the heir to the Irish throne, even if he is coveted by these ships, due to the explicit provisions of the London Armistice Treaty, Germany shall not directly or indirectly transfer more than 15,000 tons of main warships to Ireland, including ships that are not in service but have the conditions for re-service, and cannot take them into his arms. However, the treaty does not restrict Ireland from obtaining parts of these ships.

When he visited Germany the last time, Natsuki made a request to the German Emperor and the senior naval leaders, hoping to obtain large-caliber naval guns on British ships and ammunition stored on the ships, which were nominally used to strengthen Ireland's coastal defense. In fact, there is a deeper intention, that is, to make strategic reserves for the strong defense line of Belfast. According to the kinetic energy of the shell, a high-explosive bomb fired by a 50-fold 12-inch naval gun is equivalent to 150 ordinary bombs fired by a 3-inch field gun. If the rate of fire is taken into account, the deterrence of a 12-inch naval gun on the battlefield can be at least 30 3-inch field guns. Moreover, large-caliber artillery shells can destroy the powerless fortifications of field guns, and can cause a huge psychological shock to the defenders, and the tactical and even strategic value is self-evident.

The larger the caliber of the gun, the stronger the power. This is a well-known truth, but their relationship between cost and technical requirements is a way that experts see. A 50-fold 12-inch naval gun weighs more than 50 tons. Making such a gun requires many large and super-large equipment, and it has very high requirements for metal smelting and forging processes. People need to pour metal raw materials into steel ingots, then forged and molded, cut and milled, and finally carved out the rifle. The middle must be repeatedly annealed. Each process must be carried out very carefully to ensure that there are no cracks inside and outside the barrel.

The manufacturing of gun barrels and gun bodies is time-consuming and labor-intensive, and the ammunition of large-caliber artillery also has extremely high requirements for technical conditions and process level. With Ireland's poor industrial foundation, even if it is fully supported by Germany, it is impossible to climb the science and technology tree by copying and copying. It is impossible to achieve first-class standards in a certain field of military technology without three or five years. Acquisition of spot stock is a practical and affordable method.

Saying Buchlingen away, Xia Shu opened the window and lit a cigarette in the bright moonlight and the refreshing breeze, thinking quietly about various complex issues. It is true that the Irish throne, which is waiting for in vain, is the greatest driving force for his current struggle, but the dispute in the Belfast region cannot be resolved by a cost-effective military operation. Whether the relationship before, during and after can be handled well is not only a key test for whether he can be competent for the Irish kingdom, but also determines where the new Irish kingdom will go in the future.

As soon as the cigarette was finished, the door was knocked gently. Xia Shu looked at the watch. It seemed that visitors should not have come to this point. With a little caution, he walked to the side of the door: "Who is outside?"

A light voice came from outside: "It's me, Alexandra Alice Mary, Your Highness."

Xia Shu opened the door, and there was only one young girl who was 18 years old outside the door.

Seeing the other party looking at the charming look of smoke, spring heart was moving, and wearing a thin long gauze skirt, Xia Shu sighed in her heart: Well, the pearl in the palm of King George V of England, Princess Mary, where is your national hatred and family hatred? Where is your lady reserved?
Chapter completed!