Ten years ago, Kill Port, Germany.

In the early morning, heavy rain poured down, the sea breeze was strong, and the ups and downs could not shake the steel warships as huge as mountains, but they were enough to make the floating boats shaking. On the dock near the departure channel, a man in a waterproof cloak stood alone in the rain, looking up at the gloomy sky outside the breakwater.

Since its establishment in Versailles in 1871, the development of the Second German Empire can be described as "magical". In just over thirty years, its population has nearly doubled, and its coal and steel production has jumped to the top in Europe, and its electrical and chemical products rank first in the world, achieving a huge transformation from an agricultural country to a modern industrial country. The rise of a great power will inevitably be subject to doubts and resistance from neighboring countries. This historical law also fell on the emerging German Empire. In the first decade of its reunification, they were repeatedly passive in diplomacy and were almost controlled by the joint forces of various countries.

Fortunately, they had an outstanding politician and diplomat like Bismarck. After adapting to the change of role from a powerful Central and European power to a European power, the "Iron-Blooded Prime Minister" began to use his amazing insight, overall view and flexibility to improve the international situation of the German Empire, and promoted the German-Austrian alliance and the "Three Sovereign Alliance" and gained unprecedented dominance on the European political stage. Even Britain had to look at the Germans' expressions on major international issues, so Germany was able to carry out their industrial revolution in a safe and stable environment. In addition, Bismarck also made full use of Britain and France to compete for Egypt's interests and Britain and Russia entangled in the Black Sea Strait issue. In less than two years, it won more than one million square kilometers of overseas colonies for Germany (accounting for 90% of the total number of German pre-war colonies), and did not cause obvious resentment from other countries because of these colonies.

It is a pity that good times are always short. In 1888, the old German emperor William I died of throat cancer after his son Frederick III became emperor for only 99 days. He ascended the throne by later historians as "liking show-offs, being shallow, eager for quick success and instant benefits, and capricious". Although he admired Bismarck very much when he was young, after ascending the throne, the new emperor immediately had a fierce conflict with the iron-blooded prime minister and removed him from his post as prime minister in 1890, which also became a watershed in the development path of the Second German Empire.

In the winter of 1890, nine months after Bismarck left the political stage, William II's sixth son, Joachim von Prussia, came to the world. Over the past 14 years, Prince Joachim has grown day by day, and the industrial, economic and military strength of the Second German Empire has also been increasing day by day. Behind the glory of the prosperous times is the successive defeats of German political and diplomacy. Bismarck's successors have neither vision nor ability to control the complex international situation. They have forced Russia to embrace their old enemy France and forced themselves into a situation where they are enemies from both sides. They wishfully show goodwill to Britain, but they lose dignity and lose interests. They have turned themselves to Austro-Hungary

The empires were tied together, creating the strange phenomenon of "the weak dominate the strong". Germany's world policy was ruthlessly criticized, and Germany's strategic environment was becoming increasingly dangerous. With the conclusion of the French-Russian alliance and the British-French alliance, former friends and distant relatives stood opposite one by one. Germany, whose national strength was booming, had fallen into a bad situation of looking around with strong enemies. The greatest political diplomat in history, Bismarck, passed away for 6 years, and no one in this country has the ability to turn the tide. They had to go further and further in the vicious cycle of "expanding the army is not safe and expanding the army again", and finally invested in a huge military adventure, either Nirvana or being destroyed...

...

Judging from the figure of an adult, the back of the person in the rain is a little thin. But judging from that tender and immature face, he is still a growing boy, young, handsome and calm. He raised his head tiltedly and looked at the intersection of the sea and sky. At the end of the gray rain clouds, a fresh blue appeared faintly.

"Your Highness, the rain is about to stop!"

The middle-aged man who was talking came from the shelter of the rain. He struggled to hold a crutch-and-umbrella. His short beard was mixed with about one-quarter of the white, his skin was loose and lacked blood. The black tuxedo and white shirt were like a professional butler, but there was no pair of humble and delicate eyes behind the lenses of the round-frame glasses. They were simple and unpretentious, but there was a simple wisdom contained in it.

"Yes, the rain is about to stop!" The boy responded very peacefully. He turned his head, his eyes were neither childish nor pretentious, and his azure blue eyes were as clear as springs. Hearing the incomplete drum melody from the Inner Harbor Pier, the boy turned his body clockwise with his feet and turned around in a standard military posture.

Looking in the direction he looked, the guards and military musicians participating in the Military Harbor Festival were rehearsing in the rain. The brightly colored "Prussian Blue" is the German Royal Guard. The royal soldiers who inherited the style of the Prussian Guards were burly and upright. They are famous for their cold and frosty expressions when on duty and the perseverance that insects cannot bite. The fresh and eye-catching "Water White" is a queue of German Navy soldiers. They wear flat cloth hats. Except for the hat walls, streamers, lapels and leather shoes, they are all white. Although they do not have the arrogance and majesty of the Royal Guard, their clothes look too simple. Even the rifles in their hands are not matched with majestic bayonets, their team is equally neat, their faces are equally tough, giving people a feeling of solidity and steadyness!

When the calm and calm band commander raised the stick in his hand, the sound of light drums sounded, the trumpeters raised their chests high and played a light and exciting rhythm with metal instruments. This is the "Marching of Hohunflidberg", the spiritual symbol and victory song of the Prussian army. The high-spirited melody set off the ships in the military port. The dock opposite the subjective ceremonial platform was docked by three Vechersbach-class battleships. This is the latest and best surface warships of the German Navy. Their honest hulls are like unbreakable steel fortresses, and the thick main guns show their strong military preparations...

Driven by the joint efforts of the rulers of the empire and the naval creators, the German high seas fleet was formed, the new Naval Law was promulgated, and Germany's long-suppressed ambitions found space for release. Hamburg, Bremen, Kiel, William, Danze, from the cold North Sea coast to the warm Baltic Sea, steel-armored warships slid off the ship platform and rushed into waves on the sea surface. Each warship was launched and served, and the Germans felt that they were one day closer to their dreams to be realized. Various battleships, cruisers and torpedo boats were covered with Germany's coast, and the German emperor's mark appeared in various oceans of the world...

Before we knew it, the rain was sparse and the wind was weak, and the water in the harbor gradually calmed down. The road from the Royal Palace to the dock was colorful, luxurious carriages, and novel cars carried honorable guests. Countless people and sailors also poured into the dock to see the increasingly powerful posture of the Imperial Navy.

The boy lifted his cloak, and his youthful and confident face appeared joyful. He turned around and blew a whistle. A group of white-clothed sailors rushed to the dock from shelter from the rain. This place is close to the departure channel, and there are no large ships docked beside the dock. Two wooden trests extending outward are moored by many white ships. They are clearly divided into two types, the large ones are like hairtails, the hull is particularly narrow and long, with two chimneys. The front and rear decks are equipped with semi-encircled gun mounts and small-caliber artillery. The torpedo launch tubes are placed on the front deck of the bridge and the rear deck of the chimney. The small length is only one-tenth of the former. At first glance, it looks like a private yacht sailing in a lake and an inland river. The body is long and narrow, the deck is low and there is no chimney. The low-shaped cockpit is located at the middle and rear of the hull. There is an embedded torpedo launch tube installed on the fore deck.

As one of the achievements of the early industrial revolution, steam ships of all sizes have appeared in every corner of the earth. Without exception, they have tall chimneys and increasingly mature steam turbines have high transmission efficiency. By the beginning of the 20th century, the maximum speed of traditional neat ships had exceeded 40 knots, and among the naval ships that were in service in batches, there were also the best ones with speeds of more than 36 knots.

For Europeans living in this period, speedboats without chimneys are rare, but they are by no means "flying immortals from the sky". Since the German Otto invented the internal combustion engine in 1876, the endless imagination of humans quickly loaded them on carriages and ships. Although the emerging internal combustion engines are limited in power, cars cannot beat horses, and motorboats cannot beat steamboats. Inventors and rich people who are passionate about new things are still happy to invest their energy in them. Many countries have already seen car and motorboat competitions, which has also become an important driving force for the development of internal combustion engine technology.

Some white-clothed sailors who arrived at the trestle quickly boarded the boat, while others untied the cables and loosened the ropes. Large steam-powered speedboats were equipped with twenty people per boat, and only seven or eight people stayed on the deck to operate artillery and torpedoes, and the rest worked in the cab and power chamber. The small speedboat powered by internal combustion engines had only one occupant, and the unique cockpit could provide the operator with a good view. After boarding the bridge, the boy walked straight to the side and painted with iron ten.

The small boat with the logo and "ss-01" mark, I saw him take off his cloak, revealing his rider-like short outfit, and drill into the cockpit with a slightly ugly appearance, put on a leather hat with a slightly ugly appearance, and tied up a cross-type seat belt. On the trestle, the young sailor with a lip moustache had helped him untie the cables on the boat. Everything was ready, and the boy skillfully turned the start button, and the engine placed in the front cabin immediately made a gurgling sound, but then he fell to his senses.
Chapter completed!