The night sky is deep, the moon is clear, and a dark sky is dotted with shining stars.

In the garden of Charlottemberg Palace in Berlin, Emperor William of Germany sat quietly on a bench. The breeze blew through his somewhat messy gray hair and his face that looked gloomy and lost. The familiar footsteps came from the bluestone path, and William couldn't help but raise his brows slightly; however, after a moment, he lowered his eyes again, just staring at the hazy darkness in the distance in a daze.

"Tomorrow morning, Alexey will arrive at Kiel with the boat." Qingying walked slowly to William and spoke softly, "Kel is very close to Berlin, less than two hours away. Will my father want to meet him here to express the concern of my Hohenzollern family for Romanov's direct independence?"

William said slowly: "It should be so. The Nikki family was just killed by the Bolsheviks, and the young Alyosha was in a very helpless and vulnerable stage. At this time, whether we are for future Eastern political considerations or sympathy for this child, we should express our comfort and tolerance for him. You can arrange it and let him come to see me after getting off the boat tomorrow, and arrange for the doctor to conduct a comprehensive physical examination on him, so that he must ensure that his health is safe." Qingying should claim that it is.

William breathed a long sigh, and said with bitterness and anger: "I really didn't expect that these Bolsheviks could really make such a fierce move. Not only did they kill the Niki, but they even refused to let go of their children! If you hadn't been lurking in Russia, the direct bloodline of the Romanov family would have been completely cut off from now on! Etel, they are a group of real demons, we released this demon from Pandora's box. It was really a sinful mistake."

Qingying was silent after hearing this and did not say more about this issue. Although the relationship between William and Nicholas' cousins ​​was not very harmonious, both sides were monarchs of a world-class empire; now one person died and his country was killed, and his wife and daughter were all in it, which would undoubtedly make the other person feel sad. However, Qingying had no choice to do so: some Russian bourgeois parties that had established some foundations in the State Duma, and were never willing to make a truce for peace. Only the Bolsheviks who had been lurking underground would reach a truce for the sake of the regime!

It took a long time before the grief, resentment and anger on William's face slowly faded and returned to his usual calm. He looked up at the young man beside him and said, "Etel, how are you going to deal with Alyosha's arrival alone? According to our previous plan, we were to take the Nikki family to the Netherlands to live in order to avoid the public's disgusting sight. Now, Alyosha is the only one left in the Nikki family, so it is difficult for us to continue to implement the original plan. Now, the only one who can truly and effectively call on the power of Belarus is Alyosha's card: If we send him to the Netherlands again, I am worried that he will be assassinated by the Bolshevik agents who are unwilling to fail."

"My father was very worried that we must protect the remaining Alexei. Compared to this legal crown prince, Sanniya had a great deficiency in both gender and identity; and the empire's credibility was definitely safer than Amsterdam, where all forces were mixed." Qingying pondered for a moment, and his eyes also showed a sense of identity. "As for the German people's disgust towards the Tsar, it can be diluted by the atrocities of the Bolsheviks shooting the Tsar's family; we can completely severely criticize the Bolsheviks' inhumane act in newspapers and broadcasts. This will also portray Alexei as a victim who needs sympathy. For him, who was only ten years old, he was also a poor boy who suddenly lost all his family."

"Then let Alyosha stay in Berlin. Put him under our direct control and facilitate us to carry out ideological re-education on him. Let him always regard Hohenzollern as his rebirth benefactor and lifelong friend." William closed his eyes and said slowly. The night wind blew, and it was cool and cold. William suddenly felt an uncontrollable desolation in his heart: the old friend who had known him for forty years had withered and passed away, leaving only a single heir who was old enough to be his grandchildren and needed to take care of himself.

"Where do we promised to give the Dutch aid, do we still need to give it to them now?" William asked again after a moment of silence. According to the agreement signed by Germany with the Netherlands, as a reward for the extradition of the Tsar family in the Netherlands. Germany should help the Netherlands build a modern naval force to protect its colonial rule in the East India region of the Dutch. Now even the only remaining Alexey in the Tsar family is not destined to be with the originally planned Netherlands, so Germany undoubtedly has sufficient reason to refuse to fulfill this clause.

Qingying nodded slightly and said in a affirmative tone: "Although we do not need to use the Dutch to receive the sensitive Uncle Nicholas, they have made a friendly decision to comply with the will of Berlin before. For this force willing to cooperate with Germany, we should give them the reward they deserve. The most important thing is that the strategic position of the Netherlands is worth our efforts. If the Empire can establish an aviation base here, then our bombers can fly directly to London and drop bombs, and after controlling this lowland country, they can also form direct oppression and deterrence against its approaching France."

"However, in order to balance the restraints formed by the Dutch development fleet on the Japanese Navy in Southeast Asia, we should also reduce the level of assistance to them. We only offer them preferential conditions for paying at a cost when ordering ships at the German shipyard, and help them train seafarers; as for introducing various equipment production lines for daily maintenance, they all return to normal paths." Qingying's thoughts turned, and he had already considered all factors in his mind. "With the financial and execution of the Dutch government, it is already the limit to be able to build and maintain an 80,000-ton balanced fleet, and it is difficult to become a threat to the Japanese Navy in the Pacific."

William gently pinched the goatee beard under his jaw and said, "Since that's the case, then sell the cost-effective large cruiser plan to the Dutch when necessary. This kind of ship that is almost the same as the main ship but cannot compete with the main ship is the most willing to see in the Empire's Far East strategy. We cannot let the Dutch have too strong power in the Far East, so as to ensure that the United States will be successfully pulled into the quagmire of the Pacific game by the expansion of Japan."

"The wisdom is nothing more than Caesar." Qingying smiled and complimented from the bottom of his heart. After twenty years, William's attainment in the field of warships became increasingly profound. Before he could show any whims, he had already put his ideal strategy in front of him. On the eve of World War II in history, in order to cope with Japan's expansion in the Far East, the Netherlands planned to build a Orthodox front patrol equipped with 9 11-inch main guns and a speed of 34 knots to deploy to the Far East.

Although this plan was declared abortion with the outbreak of the war, its cost performance is unquestionable: its cost is rushing all the way because of the power of up to 180,000 horsepower. Instead of building such thin skin that cannot be on the battle line, it is better to add some money to buy regular battleships like Richelieu and Venetto. The former can steadily drive it out with a King Kong, while the latter cannot effectively deal with it without Nagato or even Yamato!

"By the way, how is the connection between us and Siberia going? Does Kolchak really have more than 500 tons of gold urgently transferred from Kazan?" When talking about the power layout in the Far East, William suddenly thought of another important matter and couldn't help but ask. In the current era of gold standard, the importance of gold as the premise of currency issuance for a country's economic activities is self-evident: because of this, Britain at that time fought a tragic battle with the other party for three years in order to obtain gold mines and diamonds.

Qingying's thoughts flew around and nodded, "The information on Kolchak holding a large amount of gold is confirmed. In October last year, in order to avoid the loss of the gold reserves stored in St. Petersburg due to the fall of the capital, the Russian government urgently transferred most of them to Kazan, a major city in depth. When the Bolsheviks launched a revolution to overthrow the provisional government, Lieutenant General Kolchak, who was recuperating in Kazan, pulled up an army and plundered all of these golds east of the Ural Mountains. Although we cannot determine the specific location of this batch of gold, it is certain that they must be still in the hands of Kolchak."

Looking at William's sudden lit eyes, Qingying smiled bitterly: "However, it will take a lot of effort to obtain these 500 tons of gold. Due to the feud between Siberia and the Red Soviet Union, the transportation road from Europe to Germany has been completely blocked; this time, our people can join the line with them, and after crossing the Caspian Sea, they all went through the Arash Autonomous Republic to reach its administrative center Omsk. Even the Siberian Railway, which directly connects Vladivostok, has become unreliable now: a local force commanded by Semenov is entrenched in Chita, and has strangled the throat of the railway from the middle. Whether it is our ammunition transport vehicle or the White Army's gold escort, they may be intercepted by this group of robbers when passing through the Lake Baikal area." (To be continued)

PS: Thanks to book friends Hill2, Lao Wen readers, Iger, Cllyf for their monthly ticket support, Hete Takayoshi, Zhouyu1976 for their rewards~~~

...
Chapter completed!