The weather has become cooler recently, and the air quality is sometimes good and sometimes bad. Everyone must pay attention to their health and exercise more often!

*******

Back to the familiar Danze Port, Xia Shu was particularly happy. In addition to handling business, he drove around the port area on his own, went to the Friedrich Royal Shipbuilding Factory belonging to the German Empire, went to the former Hubert Aircraft Company, which had been renamed the German Aircraft Company, and went to the Bromberg Territory, which was reclaimed by the Hohenzollern Royal Family. Although these had nothing to do with him, they had countless memories left behind, either looking back on the past, feeling emotion, or seeing things and thinking of others.

In Danze, Xia Shu met many familiar faces, old subordinates and old friends. The victory of the war brought them an optimistic and positive, peaceful and prosperous life, and only a few were still immersed in the sorrow of the war. Von Ingnoll may be an exception to both. After resigning from the commander-in-chief of the fleet, he once had the idea of ​​retirement early, but after a long holiday, he decided to continue to serve the German Empire Navy. After all, he was born in 1857, but he was only 60 years old in 1917, and he was still very immature than the veterans of the army who were nearly 70 years old who were still fighting on the front line.

Marshal Von Ingnore, currently a member of the Naval Budget Committee and the Danzer Naval Base, politely received the King of Ireland who had come from afar.

Now, Britain has retreated, France has fallen, Tsarist Russia is dormant, and the three-country agreements surrounding Germany no longer exist. The European structure is under the control of the Allies. Germany is no longer safe. The significance of the existence of the Naval Base seems to be that the shipbuilding industry in the harbor, Danze is one of the four major shipbuilding centers of the German Empire. The powerful and powerful shipyard and the Friedrich Royal Shipbuilding Factory are the best among Danze dozens of shipyards.

In this German Navy Marshal who had experienced great ups and downs, Natsuki could not see any resentment. He seemed to have only deep awe of himself. When facing the fierce war with the commander of the High Seas Fleet, Ingnor was cautious and conservative, so he was criticized as cowardly by many people. Now that he has removed his heavy responsibilities, he looks much more relaxed, and seems to be several years younger than when the war broke out. Putting aside his former subjective view, Ingnor saw that he had a gentle and peaceful temperament, which was completely opposite to the famous German naval generals such as Scher, Hippel, and Spe.

Perhaps in order to avoid the embarrassment of being alone, when arranging a dinner with Xia Shu, Ingnol specially invited several senior officers from the naval base, except for one, all of whom were never dealt with or even had no reputation at all. However, fame does not mean ability, and ability may not have the chance to be corrected. Even though Xia Shu had extensive attention to military talents during the German Navy, under the traditional military commendation and information feedback system, the probability of strong people hiding in ordinary positions is still quite high.

Because of this, he never underestimates anyone who is unpretentious and has nowhere to go.

On the dining table, what naval officers talked about the most was the evolution of ship technology and naval strategy. The professional technical team brought by Xia Shu had surveyed and calculated the No. 1 ship dock of Shuoxia Shipyard. If nothing unexpected happens, the first Markensen-class will soon be settled here.

As for various design performance indicators, the Markensen-class after completion can outperform the British Queen Elizabeth level. Even Ingnoll, who has always been conservative, has no objection to this. However, there have been rumors that the new battle tour that the UK has entrusted to the United States to build has been secretly started. Its firepower, speed and protection have been improved by one level on the basis of the "Tiger" battle tour, and it integrates the essence of modern shipbuilding technology in the United States and Britain. Three or five years later, the Markensen-class opponent will inevitably be this new battle tour rather than Queen Elizabeth.

Faced with a German naval major's inquiry about the new British warship, Natsuki answered irresponsible: "The advantages and disadvantages of weapons are only one of the factors that determine the outcome of the war. They cannot be ignored or taken seriously. Now the British Navy is not only focusing on building the main warships, but their cruisers, destroyers and submarines are also quietly renewing. Their aircraft carriers have started construction. These are the first things we must pay attention to and be vigilant."

Hearing that Natsuki had a good comment on the current situation of the British Navy, a naval lieutenant colonel with the title of aristocratic yelled disdainfully: "Since the end of the war, the trade volume of Britain's mainland has shrunk by more than 40%. Even the Times is very pessimistic about the economic situation in Britain. Our annual economic growth rate is close to 30%. The gap between the two countries' total economic volumes is constantly widening. I really don't understand why the British are engaged in a shipbuilding competition with us. Don't they understand that even if they can win a Trafaltgart victory at sea, we can set out from France, cross the English Channel, and use chariots and cannons to level Buckingham Palace?"

There is no need to bother with the answer to this question at all. Von Ingnoll snorted: "This is the difference between old capitalists and new capitalists."

The title of capitalist comes from "Das Kapital". This ideological masterpiece was not only regarded by later generations as the foundation stone of the theory, but after it was published in 1867, it was also named a classic by capitalist society, and even became a "reference book" for some capitalist countries to eliminate their shortcomings and transform themselves. It was not until the rise of the Red Soviet Union that it was gradually demonized in Western society and was listed on the list of many countries for a long time.

Natsuki had a little understanding of this history, so when the word "capitalist" popped out of Ingnoll's mouth, he just looked up at the admiral with a little curiosity.

Ingnoll cut the delicious food on the plate disapprovingly, and the lieutenant colonel who asked just now was obviously satisfied with this answer.

Just as Ingnoll left the commander of the High Seas Fleet and removed the psychological burden he had to bear. Natsuki was no longer a subject of the German Empire, and his words and deeds were no longer restricted by the past. When facing his former colleagues, he became more free and easy. After Ingnoll finished speaking, he analyzed: "Any country will definitely find ways to revive its national strength after suffering a defeat in the war. The British Empire has been rampant for more than 300 years and has obtained countless wealth through trade plunder and colonial rule. They are not like the Spaniards who devoutly sent most of their wealth to the monastery, but used to develop industry and promote armament. This cycle goes on. The exquisite Victorian buildings and countless treasures are actually just by-products. Britain's most precious savings are their industrial and military level that always leads the world."

The former naval colonel said: "I heard from your Majesty that, my doubts answered. In order to regain industrial and military leadership, the British did not hesitate to empty the national treasury, and even took out the precious collections in the British Empire Museum for auction. Of course, Americans are willing to use the British money to maintain the full speed of their shipbuilding industry. The two hit it off and reached a strategic cooperation agreement ignoring our opposition."

After saying that, the Navy Colonel faced Nakaki directly, looking like he wanted to get the praise of the legendary figure.

With the logic in place and the insight is mediocre, Xia Shu only gave the other party a smile of approval, and then changed the subject and said to Ingnoll in a tone of advice: "I heard that the Empire is planning to build a naval base in three places in the Azores, Madeira and Cape Verde Islands?"

After the Battle of Jutland, Ingnor resigned from his position as commander of the High Seas Fleet on the grounds of his health. However, rumors that he was excluded by the Fleet Chief of Staff due to his lack of ability still caused great damage to his reputation within the navy. William II's personal likes and dislikes and Tirpitz's political stance also made Ingnor unable to enter the core decision-making level of the German Navy after being promoted to Navy Marshal, which has to be said to be a great regret of his naval career.

As a member of the Budget Committee, he only learned the confidential information earlier than ordinary naval officials.

Ingnoll looked at Xia Shu meaningfully and responded in a gentle tone: "The Kingdom of Ireland is the closest ally of the German Empire. If Germany had determined the plan in this regard, His Majesty would have been informed by the German government long ago!"

Natsuki shrugged, "It seems that this is just an intention and has not become a certain plan, so I did not receive any official notification, but just got some news from other channels."

"To talk about intentions, as early as the naval meeting held in early winter of 1914, Boer and Mull proposed to establish a secret submarine base in the Azores and asked the Navy General Office to discuss feasibility with the Navy Staff. We all attended the meeting at that time. Your Majesty should still remember it?" Ingnoll said this slowly and asked with the situation: "At that time, His Majesty seemed to think that the intention was unrealistic, and still feel so?"

After Ingnore reminded, Xia Shu quickly remembered that there was indeed such a thing at the beginning, but the strategic situation at that time was different from now. At that time, the British Navy suffered heavy blows from Jutland and two Flanders naval battles, but had not lost its last hope in the Faroe Islands. Various war resources, including the Commonwealth army, were still transported to Britain through the Atlantic route. The German Navy's main fleet had not yet broken through the North Sea blockade. The "Blüchel" temporarily escaped due to injury after a brilliant performance in the killing of all directions.

The mission of attacking British routes in the Atlantic waters was mainly undertaken by submarine forces. At that time, the German Army had not occupied the coast of the Bay of Biscay, and the situation of the Ireland War of Independence was at a low tide. German submarines operating in the Atlantic either rely on the supply ships to replenish the supply ships in the middle or travel to and from Germany. The attendance efficiency was low, and coupled with combat losses, the maritime blockade of Britain was difficult to achieve the expected results. Therefore, the German Navy was eager to find a stronghold on the Atlantic Ocean, which could at least allow the submarine forces to expand the combat radius and extend the combat time.

Natsuki replied: "It is not that it is unrealistic, but that it should be listed as a long-term plan and there is no condition to be implemented in a short period of time."

"What about now?" Ingnoll asked.

Xia Shu hesitated for a moment and replied, "It's still the same."

To his surprise, Ingnoll not only took a positive attitude, but also made an interesting and appropriate metaphor: "Indeed, forcing the Portuguese colonies such as Azores is like filling your stomach with raw bread. Eating it seems to fill your stomach. The resulting stomachache and diarrhea are worse than not eating. The wise approach should be to bake the raw bread before eating, or go directly to find cooked bread without any effort."
Chapter completed!