My Italian Chapter 515

Remember [New] for a second,! Several monarchs had a happy gathering to relax, but the military and political officials of the Three Kingdoms were not as leisurely as their own monarchs.

In a large conference room of Sanssouci Palace, a meeting about the three countries was also going on.

"Your Excellency Bilo, your country's request to revise the alliance treaty requires a high price for our country. Has your country considered our country's actual needs?"

The speaker is Antonio, who, as the Italian Prime Minister, also needs to safeguard Italy's interests. And this time the three countries negotiated to renew the alliance treaty. In his opinion, this new treaty is detrimental to the interests of Italy.

Because the original tripartite alliance treaty was mainly aimed at Russia and France, but when the alliance was about to be extended this time, Italy was surprised to find that the Germans actually added the British Empire to the target.

Faced with such a situation, it is currently unwilling to see the Italian side. The reason is very simple. Although the relationship between Italy and the British Empire is no longer harmonious, Italy is not willing to add the British Empire to the enemy sequence. Because of the long coastline of Italy, in the event of a war with the British Empire, the Italian navy has no confidence in ensuring the safety of the coastline.

And this sudden move to target the British is the most detrimental to Italy and should be stopped. That's why Prime Minister Antonio showed the attitude of the Italian side at the beginning of the meeting.

In the face of Antonio's reaction, Prime Minister Billo, who is on the German side of the host, is not surprised. I saw him answer. "Your Excellency Antonio, I think this is a misunderstanding on your side. Our country did not intend to target the United Kingdom, but only as a possible preventive measure, so it was added to the treaty."

The words of the German Prime Minister made Admiral Yagier, who is the representative of the Italian side, intolerable. "Does your country know the threat to our country of targeting the United Kingdom? At present, the British navy has a total tonnage of 2.1 million tons of warships, while our country currently has only 480,000 tons, and your country is only 810,000 tons. Our two countries add up less than two-thirds of the other.

Is there any good solution for your country to solve such a disparity in naval strength? And it is possible to add the 1 million-ton navy of France and Russia.

Besides, if there is a war with Britain and your navy does not go to war, it is not that all the pressure on the sea is given to our country. This is simply an unacceptable treaty. "

In the face of Admiral Yagier's accusation, the German side turned its attention to Marshal Tirpitz at this time, obviously hoping that he could stand up and persuade the other side. However, Tirpitz's eyes were evasive in the face of everyone's expectations, and because he was also a navy, of course he knew it was difficult to answer.

After all, in the navy, the combined tonnage of the two countries is only two-thirds of that of the United Kingdom. This apparent strength gap, can it be changed with just two or three words from him?

However, in the face of the intimidating eyes of everyone, Tirpitz, who felt that he could not say a few words, opened his mouth. "Your Excellency Yagier, our country recognizes the current gap with the British, but this gap will not increase. The dreadnoughts developed by your country have brought naval warships into a new era, and at the same time gave us a chance to catch up. Only We need the three countries to invest sufficient funds, then we can turn the situation around in one fell swoop with the advantages of the new warships."

Although Tirpitz spoke so impassively that he could not even draw praise from other officials of the Navy, in Admiral Yagier's eyes, what Tirpitz said were empty words and useless at all.

Because Tirpitz avoided one of the most important issues, that of government funding for the Navy.

As a technical service, the Navy is the most dependent on funding. Shipbuilding requires money, training requires money, and research and development of new technologies and equipment also requires money, all of which basically depend on government funding. Therefore, the Tirpitz Marshal did not talk about the amount of military spending, and what to use to compete with the British Navy.

If the other party doesn't talk about it, don't blame him, Admiral Yagier, for making it clear. "Your Excellency Tirpitz, as far as I know, the cost of your country's naval shipbuilding last year was 118 million marks, which is even lower than that of our country (Italy's shipbuilding cost in 1906 was 160 million lire ≈ 128 million marks), And the British ship cost 18 million pounds (360 million marks). I don't think I need to say more."

Admiral Yagier directly pointed out the problem. How could the German shipbuilding costs be so low that Italy could believe that the other party had the strength to compete with the British Imperial Navy.

In the face of Admiral Yagier's questioning, Tirpitz did not deny it.

"Your Excellency is right. At present, the cost of shipbuilding in our country is indeed low, but this is only temporary. The main reason is that the Navy Act passed before, and there is no expectation of the soaring price of shipbuilding. The Shipbuilding Act will greatly increase my country's shipbuilding costs, and it needs to reach at least half the level of the United Kingdom. In order to ensure that my country can obtain 60% of the strength of the British navy."

Hearing Tirpitz mention this 60% statement again, Yagier felt blue veins popping up. "It's ridiculous that your Excellency wants to drag the other party with 60% of the strength of the British navy."

Yagier continued without giving the other party a chance to speak. "Your remarks have already exposed the practice of your navy. If your country only wants to preserve its naval strength and wait for our country to take grain from the fire for you~www.mtlnovel.com~ then your country thinks too much, our country will not Accept such allies and alliance treaties."

"Your Excellency Yagier, our country does not have such an idea..."

The war of words between the naval ministers of the two countries was witnessed by everyone present. For Bilo, one of the decision-makers who proposed to amend the alliance treaty, the Italian navy's fierce rebuttal represented Italy's fear of adding Britain to one of its goals.

For Italy, an ally, Bilo still values ​​it. Because this not only means adding more defensive pressure to the old rival French, but also allowing Germany to use Italy to extend its power to the Mediterranean.

In addition, the valiant and proficient Italian naval force that is expanding greatly is also a great help for Germany. According to the estimates of the German Navy, if the expansion of the Italian Navy is completed, it will have 16 battleships, 6 cruise ships and hundreds of small and medium-sized warships that can control the powerful naval power in the Mediterranean.

If this force can be used well, then at least one third of the energy of the old enemy France can be contained. This is equivalent to reducing the French investment on land in disguise, which is more conducive to the implementation of the Schlieffen plan. In addition, it can help Germany to share the pressure from the British, why not?

But it is not easy at all to get the Italians to agree.

Chapter end