Chapter 4: This is the best of times, this is the worst of times (II)

  End of October 1897, Kiel Fjord, Germany.

  On the dock of Kiel Naval Academy, forty-one naval cadets in uniform without insignia formed a square formation on the empty space of the dock.

  The white-haired Ernst von Reichenbach rarely wore his lieutenant general's uniform, buckled on his sword and looked serious and solemn. He slightly turned his body, took the lieutenant's shoulder badge from his deputy officer, and pinned it to Heidi Silem's shoulder at the end of the phalanx.

  "Xilem, I understand the enthusiasm of young people, but everything cannot be biased. Yesterday's speech was indeed brilliant, but also full of loopholes..." Taking advantage of the moment when Bie Shou Zhang was not paying attention, Lai Xi schoolmaster gave his disciple a final piece of advice and then patted him forcefully on the chest.

  The military band played the Imperial Anthem "Crown of the Victors" and the Imperial Navy March, while the colour guard raised the national flag and the naval ensign. Everyone faced the national flag, raised their right hands, and sang the march loudly.

  When the music ended, Principal Lai Cheh gave his final speech on the makeshift podium.

  "In the summer of 1894, you left your hometown and came to the Kiel Naval Academy alone. From basic military training to primary navigation training, from reserve officer training to ship practice, unknowingly, you have spent over a thousand days and nights in the military school and on the training vessel. In these three years, you have learned the knowledge necessary to become an excellent naval officer, and you have also put aside the differences between poverty and wealth, nobility and common people, and formed deep friendships with each other. Congratulations to you...". Principal Reiche took off his white gloves and stepped back, leaving the stage to the eager young people. "Children, you have graduated!"

  "Hurray!" The students couldn't wait to throw their military caps into the sky, wailing and howling on the empty dock. Wang Haitie was accidentally lifted up by her classmates and tossed around like an acrobat in mid-air. Auden and Radel stood far away, watching the commotion with interest.

  "Let me down, I'm acrophobic, save my life!" Wang Haitie was tossed high into the air once again, and on the dock, apart from the young people's recklessness, only the otaku's pleading voice remained.

  The dock was quiet again, the sunset shrouded the earth, the streetlights of Kiel had just come on, and the taverns in the city center were crowded with naval cadets who had graduated and got drunk.

  This is the last night for naval cadets at Kiel Naval Academy, tomorrow they will go to their respective posts, some will become navigators on warships, gunners, torpedo officers, and others will become staff officers of the fleet. Whether it's a final revelry or a farewell to the departed days, in any case, facing the long night, the naval cadets who couldn't sleep could only think of getting drunk once and for all.

  R?der sat cautiously in the corner, slowly savoring the superior white wine from Rheinland-Pfalz. Odie, who grew up on a vineyard, faced the succession of wine cups with equanimity, silently toasting the late Hermann as if he wanted to drink away the pub owner's entire stock. Wang Haitian wore a dog tag around his neck with four big characters: "Just one drunkenness", but he was already knocked out by the wine and lay on the ground, unable to get up.

  "Xilem, wake up, your girlfriend is looking for you..."

  It seems that someone was shouting at him, and Wang Haitian, who was drunk, vaguely heard something, struggled for half a day but couldn't get up, and mumbled: "Nonsense, my little girlfriend is still in the 21st century..."

  "Xilem, you've had too much to drink!" The sound of laughter and teasing came from beside him. Wang Haitian was still arguing when a pair of soft small hands wrapped around his waist, as if trying to pull him up from the hard floor.

  The girl's plump little chest pressed against Wang Haitian's, the soft tactile sensation making it hard for him to breathe. The girl's faint body scent seemed more alluring than the intoxicating aroma of wine, and the stifled otaku somehow found the strength to tightly hug her into his arms.

  "Forgive me, okay? I'll never play hide-and-seek again, I'll never fantasize about time-traveling again, I'll never wish to save the world again. Tomorrow we'll go to the civil affairs bureau to get our marriage certificate, have a child, and live a good life together as a family...” Wang Haitian whispered into the girl's ear, his voice getting smaller and smaller until even he himself couldn't hear it.

  The otaku fell asleep, leaning his head on the girl's shoulder, sleeping soundly. Catherine tucked her hair behind her ear and pointed to Radel, who was hiding in the corner drinking by himself, and whispered: "Can you help me out? I want to send him back to the inn to sleep..."

  ****

  Berlin, Germany, Charlottenburg Palace, heavily guarded and brightly lit.

  "What is referred to as asymmetric warfare refers to unconventional warfare, where the warring parties are asymmetrical in terms of time, space, strength, technical level, means of warfare, style of warfare and tactics. Asymmetric warfare includes two aspects: one is similar to the Battle of Cannae, where the weak defeat the strong, which is also the essence of asymmetric warfare; another is similar to the Crimean War, where a sharp knife kills a chicken, given the current state of the imperial navy's weakness, this aspect does not need to be considered."

  "On January 13, 1887, a Russian warship launched a torpedo at the Turkish communication ship Intibah, which was 60 meters away and sank it. This is the first successful use of torpedoes in naval warfare history; On February 17, 1864, the "Hunley" used an underwater mine to sink the Northern warship "Housatonic", creating a precedent for submarines sinking warships; In 1884, French officers Runaud and Krebs built a controllable airship called "La France"; On October 9, 1890, Frenchman Clément Ader made a flying machine that could take off. The Battle of Lissa in 1866 saw the Austrians defeat the Italians with a V-shaped formation, while underwater ramming and melee combat were key to their victory. In the Yellow Sea naval battle of 1893, the Qing navy adopted a similar V-shaped formation against Japan's line-of-battle tactics, fighting at a distance of 3000 yards; this time, the victors owed their success to line-of-battle tactics, fast cruisers and quick-firing guns. The Pacific War between Chile and Peru from 1879-1883 saw the Chilean navy adopt a blockade strategy while the Peruvian navy employed hit-and-run guerrilla warfare at sea, avoiding direct confrontation; although the Peruvians botched their performance, this tactic is worth emulating."

  "In the past few decades, new technologies have emerged one after another, and technological advancements have been rapid. Courage and strength are no longer sufficient to guarantee victory, and the rational use of new technologies has become a key factor in determining the outcome of naval battles. This also means that the weaker side in a war can defeat a powerful enemy through asymmetric warfare."

  "In the rich North Atlantic, Italy, Austria, Spain and the Netherlands are not to be worried about, our opponents are only Britain, France and the United States. Britain and France have strong naval power, and our total naval tonnage is even less than their spare change. To challenge Britain and France, which are such massive entities, by pouring all national resources into developing the navy and then adopting the medieval European knightly duel method of warfare to knock them off the throne is not only unwise but also impossible. However, if we adopt an asymmetric warfare approach, perhaps we will gain unexpected surprises.

  Imagine that we have a small fleet that is not large in scale but has high quality, with the help of airships and aircraft can detect the enemy's main fleet in advance without having to search for their tracks on the vast ocean; We have advanced artillery and fire control systems that can open fire beyond the range of British warships and accurately hit them; We have high-strength defensive armor and sealed compartment designs, even if we are hit by enemy firepower, it will not sink us; We can use high-speed cruisers to attack Britain's sea transportation lines, cutting off the connection between the British Isles and its colonies, as long as these cruisers can beat the unprotected British cruisers and outrun the heavily armed battleships; We use a large number of submarines and torpedo boats, mines in the Heligoland Bight ambush the British fleet, like a wolf pack launching a group attack, using cheap torpedoes and mines to destroy the main fleet; Perhaps one day our aircraft can carry 500 kilograms of bombs for over-the-horizon attacks on Britain's Portsmouth harbor, Portland Bay and Orkney Islands. Maybe one day our ships can carry these aircraft, giving them even greater range, even crossing oceans, directly attacking the American continent!"

  "Who wrote this paper?" Emperor Wilhelm II, sitting on the sofa, breathed heavily, tightly grasping the document marked "Top Secret", exclaimed with joy.

  The 1890s was the decade of great naval expansion and explosion, Mahan's "Influence of Sea Power upon History" sparked the ambition of the powers towards the ocean. The world hegemon Britain hastily declared the "Two-Power Standard", with Americans, Frenchmen and Russians closely following suit, even the weak little Japan was waiting for an opportunity to rise up by tightening its belt.

  This silent naval arms race benefited to some extent from the development of technology, including smokeless powder and high-explosive shells, new-style breech-loading and recoil mechanisms, all-steel armor and enclosed rotating turrets, water-tube boilers and triple-expansion engines, steam turbines, optical rangefinders and electronic communication. The rapid progress of technology left everyone breathless, and although naval designers were eager to apply new technologies to warships, no one was sure what the future held, and everyone was feeling their way across the river by touching stones.

  And who is Wang Haitian? As a traverser, he has a clear direction for the future development of the navy. In his paper, Wang Haitian boldly pointed out that the Invincible-class battleship, which appeared in 1906, the battlecruiser, which emerged in 1907, and the aircraft carrier, which was introduced in 1918, as well as the wolf pack tactics widely used during World War II.

  If it were in the 21st century, when knowledge is exploding, to talk about these views, people would certainly look down on you with disdain. But to put forward these data indicators at dawn in 1897, that's no different from being the voice of God. No wonder Wilhelm, who was determined to build a high seas fleet and replace the glory of the British Empire, would be so out of control.

  "Heidi von Schlieffen, a graduate of the Kiel Naval Academy." Tirpitz replied indifferently from the shadows of the lanterns.

  "Heidi-Sylem... What a talent!" Wilhelm II, dressed in his marshal's uniform, with a sword at his waist and white gloves on his hands, bowed his head and muttered to himself, as if trying to commit the name to memory.

  "Tirpitz, what is your view?" The Emperor calmed down, threw the file aside and turned to his Minister of the Navy.

  "Torpedoes, submarines, and airships have indeed appeared, but the technology is far from mature. As for the flying machine made by the French mentioned in the paper, I'm afraid I've never heard of it, Your Majesty. And as for the perfect battleship that can attack and defend at will, underwater wolf pack tactics, and ships equipped with aircraft that can carry machine guns, bombs, and torpedoes, all this seems to me like Jules Verne's science fiction - colorful but full of errors..." Tirpitz snorted in disdain, unwilling to say another word.

  Although Kaiser Wilhelm II had a big mouth and was prone to making gaffes, he was not lacking in political wisdom. In comparison with the secrecy surrounding "On the Theory of Warship Era Asymmetric Warfare" and Tirpitz's endless complaints, it wasn't difficult for the Emperor to see through his Naval Minister's true intentions.

  "Alright, let's not mention this science fiction." Kaiser Wilhelm locked the manuscript in his drawer and pointed to a calendar hanging on the wall: "Alfred, I want to know if you are prepared for the parliamentary hearing of the Navy Expansion Bill..."

  Liberals in Congress took a dim view of the Naval Expansion Act, which provided for a seven-year naval budget that would prevent Congress from exercising any form of oversight over expenditures.

  "Your Majesty, everything is under control..."

  Note

  1. German Navy Military Song: Can't find it indeed, if anyone knows, leave a message or something, I'd be very grateful...

  2. Grand Fleet, usually refers to Britain's Home Fleet.