The sunset collapsed, and the Western sky was covered with a layer of brilliant golden and purple rays.

On a wide corridor in the Berlin Imperial Palace, Qingying was moving quickly towards the palace where William's study was; the dull and humid air squeezed from all directions, causing him to feel an inexplicable irritability.

As he climbed up the steps, the door of the room sounded, Qingying, dressed in a single-clothed dress, quickly walked into William's study. Seeing the thick back of the youth gradually fading, Qingying paused and then said, "Father, what happened when you call me here in such a hurry?"

William slowly turned around, and a complex color appeared on his familiar face, which seemed to be hatred, anger, pleasure, sadness, and regret; all kinds of expressions overlapped and surging on his face, and finally merged into a desolate sigh of time flying. His lips moved and he whispered: "Just three hours ago, my dear Uncle Edward's life came to an end. The British royal family has made the obituary public to the world and is scheduled to hold the final funeral ceremony for him on May 11."

"What, King Edward of England passed away?" Qingying's face changed, and his starry eyes were full of surprise and incredible expressions. He had mostly understood the history before World War I, characters and various events, and he did not pay attention to the birth and death date of Edward VII. Looking back at the dusty memories in his mind, the King of Britain, who created the encirclement of Germany, seemed to have kicked his legs to meet God in 1910; and after his death, his eldest son George V took over this huge empire with glory and irreversible let it slip to the second-rate world.

William pressed his hand slightly and signaled Qingying to sit down on the sofa next to him, and said, "I didn't expect it? It was only yesterday that Edward's uncle was hospitalized for resting in London. Today, he was suddenly summoned by the Lord; when I learned this news, I was shocked. Now, the authority of the three major powers of England, Germany and Russia has all fallen into the hands of our cousins."

"Among these three people, my father will undoubtedly be the leader. Whether it is age, qualifications, or talent, George and Nicholas are far from comparable to their father." Qingying looked at the sudden white hair on William's temples, and his words could not help but bring some heartfelt invitations. The light flies, and the years pass by. Fifteen years passed by. The prime emperor who had just passed by, the grand and young emperor he had just passed by has now quietly entered the last period of his life. For politicians and leaders, 51 years is undoubtedly an extremely golden age; but for the whole life, this is a sad and helpless old age. Even he is nearly thirty years old, how could William not grow old?

"You are quite good at vision." Faced with Qingying's compliment, William accepted it without blushing; now he has the full capital to stand proudly before Nicholas II and George V. In the 22 years he inherited the throne, the Central and European Empire has achieved a leap of development like a different world; Germany has now become the most shining star in Europe, completely covering up the light of the traditional powers Russia, France and even Britain!

William spoke softly, with a hint of teasing and sarcastic feeling in his words: "My uncle Edward has placed me on the number one blacklist that needs to be eliminated from the first day he ascended the throne. In order to curb the rise of Germany, we were handcuffed with heavy iron chains. Uncle Edward began his evil journey to surround Germany with a clear and vicious plot. He visited his niece-in-law, the Spanish king, and asked him to implement the decree of excluding Germany in Morocco under his control. He met with the French Tiger Clermontso, and built a sincere union that shocked the world. He incited the ground

The Al-Shabaab launched a revolution and overthrew the Hamid Sultan government, which had pursued a pro-German policy for 30 years. He also condescended the nobles to visit Revel in person to meet with the little Nicki who hated each other. He signed the British-Russian alliance that jointly surrounded my Germany. In just a few years, Uncle Edward compiled a grand encirclement net against my Germany. He attempted to cast a shadow between Germany and the sun with his plump body, so that I could no longer feel the light and heat and warm current of life. However, his crazy and desperate struggle against the current will eventually be completely destroyed by the rolling historical trend!"

Speaking of this, William's voice gradually became louder, and his face also showed a little arrogant expression, saying: "The rise of Berlin is the main theme of this century. It cannot be changed by the will of any single man. Facing this huge net that burst out, my German countermeasure is to use violence to tear it directly from the front! Whether it is land power or naval fleet, the energy of the empire has expanded to the extreme; those gentlemen and beasts who speak London accent all day can only tremble like a dog in the face of absolute power!"

Seeing William's confident face, Qingying couldn't help but feel a little touched. Without his significant advancement of Germany's national strength over the past fifteen years, the German Army would not have the strong confidence to France and Russia; and in the naval field, the high seas fleet would not be able to take the lead in advance, and it has the strong strength that the entire Royal Navy is afraid of.

By the end of 1909, the German Navy had started construction of 17 dreadnoughts and 6 battlecruisers; and even if the Royal Navy on the other side had put all his strength in the strait, it had only built 20 dreadnoughts and 7 battlecruisers. If we included the four small Bismarck-class dreadnoughts transformed from the decisive battle armored patrol, the number gap between the two sides was smoothed out in one go. Such a powerful and grand lineup far exceeded the required force of the main battleships proposed by Tirpitz to reach 70% of the UK's risk fleet, which was enough to make Britain directly scare in the battle against Germany; as the absolute pillar supporting Britain's world hegemony, the Royal Navy's huge losses like a bone-like injury are simply unbearable by Britain!

William glanced at Qingying and said, "By the way, are the battleships we built too conservative in tonnage and firepower? The battleships that the British started to build this year increased the displacement to 23,000 tons while retaining 10 343mm main guns; and the two Hanoi-class ships ordered by the Japanese at the Imperial Shipyard have a weight of 25,000 tons and a powerful firepower of 10 356mm! In contrast, the Caesar-class battleships we set up the previous year cannot show the national strength and military power of the German Empire in terms of firepower and tonnage. I think we should also build a batch of battleships equipped with 10 350mm this year to increase the tonnage to a relatively considerable scale. I remember you advocated the large-scale warships at the time, right?"

Qingying shook his head helplessly and said, "Father, the main battleship is a war weapon used to defeat the enemy, not a private toy in your study. What does it matter if you are objectively needed? The Caesar class with a standard displacement of 20,350 tons has achieved a perfect balance in three elements and cost, and has been proven to be the standard battleship with the best cost performance at present. Although the number of main guns is 2 less than that of the British, it is enough to defeat the British Orion class in naval battles! As for the large-scale main battleship, the battleship we started construction last year also has a standard displacement of 24,300 tons? If you like large tonnage, we will start construction of another one this year."

Hearing Qingying's words, William, who was holding a sip of coffee in his mouth, couldn't help but cough violently; his face was gloomy and calm, and finally gave up his verbal resistance while rolling his eyes.

"With the Caesar-class finalization, the key factor that determines the tonnage of battleships is no longer the subjective will of the warship designers, but the research and development technology of Krupp's military artillery specialists. Only when they continuously develop more powerful naval guns can the tonnage of the German battleships move forward in a benign manner; after all, compared with the firepower configuration of 10 350mm main guns, 8 380mm heavy artillery will obviously achieve better results in actual combat, and the latter's requirements for the tonnage of warships are lower than the former!" Qingying once again emphasized to William the Bavarian-class design concept in history, and showed the standard template for the highest cost-effective battleship during World War I. As long as the development progress of artillery cannot keep up with the objective naval needs, the four-seat double-unit should always be implemented as the best cost-effective main gun layout during World War I.

William gradually frowned and said, "At present, the 350mm L42 naval guns of Krupp's military industry are still in the development stage. If the caliber is increased to 380mm, it will obviously be a big challenge for the industry. And you have to know that if the guys from Krupp are unable to develop heavy naval guns of this caliber, wouldn't that mean that I, German, can only build such a small battleship of just over 20,000 tons forever? Although our defense is superior to the British, the firepower disadvantage of the two main guns cannot be ignored!"

"Father, we might as well start another batch of Caesar-class this year and build another powerful battleship equipped with 8 380mm next year. After all, Krupp is no longer fighting alone, and Austro-Hungarian Skoda can provide them with constructive help in many places; with the addition of Skoda, I believe we can fully have the technical strength to build a 380mm main gun battleship next year." Qingying said his thoughts.
Chapter completed!