My German Empire - Chapter 53:

“Your Excellency Wilhelm, long time no see.” Tukhachevsky enthusiastically held Wilhelm’s hand and shook it vigorously but Wilhelm groaned secretly in pain. This guy’s hands are like pliers, it’s as if he wants to crush my bones.

Although cursing in his heart, there was a warm smile on his face. “Your Excellency General Tukhachevsky, it’s been a long time since I last saw you. How was the song I gave you last time?”

Last time he accidentally heard that the term of the Soviet ambassador to Germany had expired and he was returning back to the Soviet Union. He took a moment to copy the first “Katyusha” song and asked the ambassador to pass it on to Tukhachevsky. In the original time and space these songs inspired countless soldiers of the Red Army, but this time they were “created” by his capitalist royal family. He didn’t believe that the Soviet Red Army would still use this song which came from a capitalist country after the war broke out.

“Of course, His Excellency Wilhelm’s musical attainments will always be beyond my reach. In my opinion, His Excellency Wilhelm is already a world-class song writer.”

After everyone was seated, Tukhachevsky spoke. “Just like your Excellency Wilhelm said when he came to the Soviet Union last time, I also came with the sincerity of mutual benefit this time. On my way, I also saw that Germany is not very prosperous right now.

Wilhelm sighed helplessly. “But the Soviet Union has not been affected by this economic storm, right?.”

The great depression of the original space-time in 1929 not only did not cause adverse effects on the Soviet Union, it can even be said that it became a good opportunity for the rise of the Soviet power. As the only country in the world to implement a planned economy at that time, the Soviet Union greatly improved production efficiency and risk control.

Compared with the Soviet Union, where the economy is booming, the productivity of Western countries caused by the Great Depression has repeatedly declined. Compared with 1928, the industrial production in the United States fell by 44% in 1933, 45% in Germany, 25% in France, and 20% in Britain. From the perspective of steel production, an important indicator of a country’s industrial strength at that time, the output of pig iron in the Soviet Union increased from 3.3 million tons in 1928 to 6.2 million tons in 1932, and the output of steel increased from 4.3 million tons to 5.9 million tons. The level of machine manufacturing has also reached second place in the world.

“That’s why the Soviet economic system is the best. You should also…” At this point, Tukhachevsky suddenly closed his mouth, perhaps considering Wilhelm’s identity and how they killed the Tsar family, so he changed the subject awkwardly. “I did come with great sincerity this time. I brought three cooperation agreements: the first one belongs to our army, and I want to purchase drawings of your armored reconnaissance vehicles, tanks, trucks, etc. .”

Are you trying to brainwash me by talking about the superiority of the communist system in front of me, a capitalist royal family prince?

Thinking of this, Wilhelm nodded slightly. For tanks or something, he can give them the outdated version of the design drawings of the No. 1 and No. 2 tanks. Of course, the designs of armored vehicles, trucks, etc. will also be outdated versions.

Seeing Wilhelm agree so fast, Tukhachevsky continued. “The second one is about industry. I think your country’s precision processing equipment has been updated recently, right? We want to continue to exchange oil or anything else for your country’s precision equipment.”

Wilhelm didn’t immediately agree, thought for a moment, and shook his head slowly. “Your Excellency General Tukhachevsky, this is probably a bit difficult. But your country can ship the ore to our German factory, where we can process it into finished products, and then ship it back.

Tukhachevsky couldn’t help but wonder. “Why?” Isn’t this superfluous?

Wilhelm sighed and smiled helplessly. “If it was like 1928, I would agree without blinking an eye. But now you know the situation in Germany. The unemployment rate in Germany is about to exceed 35%. A large number of people cannot find a job. I have to find a way to create jobs for them. Otherwise, why would they support the royal family that can’t even provide for their food and clothing? Besides, this is more beneficial to your country, because even with the same precision equipment, I dare to say that the quality of goods processed by our German workers will be much higher than others.”

Increasing employment opportunities is still secondary. After all, he will soon be able to create an economic miracle like Hitler’s zero unemployment scheme. The most important thing is that the various ores imported from the Soviet Union will definitely be far higher than the exported finished products. For example, if 1,000 tons of rare ores are imported, the finished product returned to the Soviet Union only needs 800 tons or even 700 tons of ore, and the rest can be stored as a strategic reserve!

Tukhachevsky thought for a while, and Wilhelm’s statement seemed to be excusable and reasonable, and he also recognized that the German workers’ skill and rigor were indeed higher than those of the Soviet workers. “Then let’s leave this aside for now, the last one is the naval cooperation agreement. We all know that your country’s submarine forces performed very well in the last war, and we in the Soviet Union also eagerly hope to have an underwater force that can deter the enemy. Like the secret training of tankers and pilots, we can also help you secretly train submarine drivers and even secretly produce submarines. The condition is that your submarine manufacturing experts will have to assist us in producing Soviet submarines.”

Wilhelm nodded without hesitation, after all, this was what he needed. “This is not a big problem, but the submarine is a high-tech weapon. We have to prepare the docks and ports in the Soviet Union in advance. Our German workers must account for at least half of the labour force in these construction projects, and all the food, lodging and wages will be provided by your country.”

“No problem.” Tukhachevsky agreed happily.

“As for the tonnage of the submarine, we can design 250-ton, 500-ton, 760-ton, and 1,000-ton submarines. By the way, do you want a battleship?” Speaking of battleships, Wilhelm suddenly remembered Japan’s “super battleship” of World War II and an imperceptible smirk appeared on his face.

Tukhachevsky’s face was puzzled. “Battleship? Was the ‘Treaty of Versailles’ changed again? When did it happen?” He had already read the content of the “New Versailles Treaty”. Knowing that Britain and France allowed Germany to build destroyers, but that was all, they were not allowed to build battleships.

Wilhelm shrugged disapprovingly. “No, the treaty has not changed, but there is no rule stating that we are not allowed to build battleships for other countries, right?”

Tukhachevsky nodded suddenly. “Can you tell me about the specific data of this battleship?”

You want to know the data? Of course no problem, after all, they are all ready-made. “The length of the ship is 263m (the length of the waterline is 256m), the width of the ship is 38.9m, and the draft is 10.4m; the standard displacement is 64,000 tons, and the full load displacement is 72,810 tons.

The power system is 12 boilers, 4 steam turbines, 4 shafts, and the output power of the main engine is 153,000 horsepower. It can reach a speed of 27 knots, an endurance of 7,200 nautical miles/16 knots, and a fuel storage capacity of 6,400 tons.

The weapon is equipped with 9 460mm/45 double caliber guns, 3 guns in 3 mounts; 6 155mm guns, 2 guns in 3 mounts; 24 127mm guns, 12 double mounts; 156 25mm guns, 45 in 3 mounts Seat, 21 single-mounted, 4 13.2mm machine guns, 2 double-mounted.

Main armor belt, 410mm below the middle deck (hardened layer 135mm), camber angle 20°; deck, upper deck 35~55mm, middle deck 200mm;

Turret, front 650mm, side 250mm, top 270mm, gun mount 560mm, bottom 250mm; ammunition bulkhead, top 270mm, bottom 50~80mm, angle of inclination 25° Engine room, boiler room, top 200mm, to bottom of ship 75~90mm, angle of 14 °. ”

Tukhachevsky was a little dumbfounded as he listened to a series of breathtaking data from Wilhelm. Although he is not from the navy, he can fully feel the strength of this battleship from these data.

Seeing Tukhachevsky’s surprised expression, Wilhelm couldn’t help but secretly smile. That arrogant Stalin, seeing the data of this battleship, he would definitely be excited to a high point, right? Don’t be stingy, you must build more ships. It is best to devote your limited resources to this kind of giant ship so that there will be one less of those tanks, airplanes, and anti-aircraft guns.

Although he was secretly planning to deceive the Soviets in his mind , his face showed an extremely sincere expression. “This is our ‘super battleship’ plan. As long as this ship is built, it will not be a problem to overturn the century-old navy of the British Empire. It will be the true maritime hegemon, and no country will be able to match it. If it weren’t for the current situation in Germany, I would have never taken it out. After all, building such a warship can create jobs for many people, right?”

Tukhachevsky was deeply impressed by Wilhelm’s words. If this warship is built, nothing in the world can match it. It seems that Lord Wilhelm is very distressed about the unemployment rate in Germany, and he even took out this super weapon. “The price of this super battleship must be very expensive?”

“Cheap goods are not excellent, excellent goods are not cheap. But I know that your country’s foreign exchange reserves are not very abundant. For the sake of our friendship, you can pay us with grains.”

Now that there is a steady flow of oil from China, Wilhelm is not very interested in Soviet oil, he is more interested in grains.

He wants Stalin to transfer all the food from Ukraine and Belarus. At that time, the more people in Ukraine suffer, the more they will hate the Russians, and support Germany during war.

He won’t make the same mistake like Hitler. As long as he shows a little kindness in Ukraine, Belarus and other places, there will be at least hundreds of thousands or even millions of militiamen wanting to chop Stalin into meat sauce. “Or it can be converted into ore, oil, wood, etc. But the priority is still grain and ore. We will not pay high prices for petroleum and wood.”