Chapter 7: The Root of Contradiction

  In the history familiar to Feng Congqian, opinions about Crown Prince William, or later Wilhelm II, are divided.

  Carrying on the legacy of the two previous emperors, in the era of Wilhelm II, the German Second Empire reached its peak, not only becoming the number one power on the European continent but also building the world's second-largest navy. In terms of comprehensive national strength, it far surpassed Britain, while the United States across the Atlantic was still adhering to a policy of "glorious isolation" and was indifferent to European affairs. Before the outbreak of World War I, the German Second Empire was only half a step away from becoming a "world empire." In the eyes of some historians, if there had been no World War I, around 1920, the German Second Empire would have been able to conquer others without firing a shot through an exhausting and costly naval arms race, dragging down the British Empire. Unfortunately, the war broke out, shattering the beautiful dream of the German Second Empire. When the smoke cleared, the German Second Empire had become history.

  Wilhelm II built a powerful navy for the Second German Empire but antagonized Britain prematurely.

  Although Feng Chengqian knew that after he came to this era, history had changed, such as Frederick III not dying ninety-nine days after his accession, and Crown Prince William would not become the emperor of the empire this year, but some things did not change, such as Crown Prince William's love for the navy.

  As far as Feng Chengqian knew, Wilhelm had been particularly interested in the navy before he became emperor.

  The root cause was that his grandmother owned the most powerful fleet in the world and relied on this fleet to conquer the vastest colonies, making the British Empire a true empire where the sun never sets. In addition, William had always been at odds with his uncle, Prince Edward of Wales, later King Edward VII, and they had many verbal conflicts, which further fueled William's desire for a powerful navy.

  All these things happened before Feng Chengqian came, so they were not affected.

  "The Earl cured Father Emperor's illness, I should have visited in person, only..."

  "Your Highness is too kind, serving Your Majesty is but a humble duty for me."

  William smiled and Feng Chengqian also smiled, both of them sizing each other up.

  Although William had long known that there was a mysterious Oriental man beside his father, and it was this man who cured his father, he only saw Feng Chengqian today, and couldn't help but feel a little curious. Feng Chengqian was also a bit curious, because William looked more spirited than the photos in history books.

  "According to Father Emperor, the Earl is only in charge of Imperial Navy affairs?"

  "Your humble servant is without virtue and ability, being able to share your worries is already a great fortune, how dare I ask for more?"

  "The earl is open-minded, which is indeed rare."

  Feng Chengqian did not speak up, after all he was still not very familiar with the crown prince in front of him.

  "No matter what, this is a start anyway." William sighed and changed the subject, "Does the Earl think that the Empire needs a navy?"

  "Of course it is needed, and it must be."

  "Must?"

  "A person needs two legs to walk, a powerful empire requires both an army and a navy; having only a strong army is no different from walking on one leg."

  William's eyebrows jumped a few times, and he couldn't help but take a closer look at Feng Chengqian.

  "But, the bread of tomorrow, we can't wait until tomorrow to plant the wheat." Feng Chengqian sighed and said, "The imperial family worries about the country and the people, but these annoying things are still..."

  "The earl has seen through it, I came specifically to see the earl today, just wanting to lend a helping hand."

  "Crown Prince..."

  "The Earl shares his father's worries and as a son, he is naturally grateful. If there is anything I can help with, please don't hesitate to ask, Your Excellency."

  "It's an honor for me to have the support of the Crown Prince. However, nothing has started yet, so..."

  "It will be the same from now on."

  Feng Chengqian smiled and nodded, indicating he understood the Crown Prince's meaning.

  "I still have to go see the Emperor, so I won't chat with you, Earl. If you're free, please come over and we'll catch up, I'm sure we'll have a lot to talk about."

  "The Crown Prince invites, I will definitely come at once."

  After bidding farewell to Crown Prince Wilhelm, Feng Chongqian did not dare to linger in the palace and took Schmidt back to the earl's residence.

  It is clear that the Crown Prince Wilhelm, who was well known to Admiral von Tirpitz, was as enthusiastic about the navy as his father had been and would be its greatest supporter in the future.

  With the Crown Prince speaking on his behalf, many things no longer required Feng Chengqian to show up.

  However, as for how to build the Imperial Navy, Feng Chengqian still had no bottom line in his heart.

  As the saying goes, it's hard to get started. Feng Chengqian was at a loss as to how to build a powerful navy from scratch.

  In the planning book submitted to the emperor, Feng Chengqian did not mention a detailed plan, nor did he have one.

  It's just two days, and it's already quite good to come up with a rough plan.

  Back at the earl's mansion, Feng Chengqian forced himself to calm down and reconsider the construction work of the Imperial Navy from scratch.

  In this world, Feng Chengqian has no relatives, nor friends, only putting his energy into work will he not feel empty and lonely.

  For Feng Chongqi, being the Imperial War Minister was just a job.

  Fortunately, Feng Chengqian was already accustomed to living alone. In his time, the vast majority of people lived alone from birth.

  Time flies when you're deeply absorbed in work.

  On April 8, Feng Chengqian received the imperial edict. As the Minister of War and Navy, he accompanied Emperor Frederick III, Empress Victoria, and Princess Victoria on a visit to Britain. Crown Prince William stayed in Berlin as acting regent, assisting the prime minister with state affairs.

  The next day, Feng Chengqian boarded the royal train bound for Wilhelmshaven.

  According to plan, the visiting group will take the royal yacht to Portsmouth and then board the British Royal Train to London, where they will attend a banquet hosted by the Queen at Buckingham Palace.

  As for the subsequent arrangements, Feng Chengqian didn't care to ask.

  For this trip, Frederick III specifically instructed Gustav to have a suit of clothes made for Feng Shengqian and arranged for him to have a female companion.

  Frederick III originally meant well but did badly because he arranged Sophia Princess.

  This put Feng Chengqian in a very difficult position.

  In the history known to Feng Chengqian, in a few years, Princess Sophie will marry King Constantine I of Greece and become Queen of Greece.

  According to Frederick III's arrangement, it was clear that he wanted Feng Chengqian to become a member of the royal family.

  Feng Chengqian only wanted to change history and alter the fate of the Second German Empire, but he never thought that this would also change the fate of the Imperial Princess.

  Fortunately, Princess Sophie had received a good education and was almost eighteen years old, so she wasn't difficult to deal with.

  The train headed east all the way, Feng Chengqian was always buried in his documents, and didn't even have the mood to appreciate the scenery outside, let alone flirt with the princess.

  These documents were brought by the Crown Prince Wilhelm's entourage, including some materials related to the imperial economy.

  It is clear that Crown Prince Wilhelm was a man of resolute and decisive action. However, this differs greatly from Feng Zhiqiang's impression of him as an indecisive ruler. Perhaps the current Wilhelm differs greatly from the Wilhelm of several decades later.

  In the morning, everything was peaceful and nothing out of the ordinary happened.

  According to materials provided by Crown Prince William, the empire's economic situation is relatively good, only with serious trade problems, which are also within Feng Chengqian's expectations.

  As a rising industrial power, the German Empire of the second Reich lacked a matching overseas market and trade was certainly a major problem.

  The key is not that the industrial products of the empire lack competitiveness, but that the empire does not have enough colonies, and therefore cannot obtain cheap resources and monopolize markets.

  Trade has become the empire's biggest economic problem.

  How serious is this problem?

  The empire and Russia drifted apart, the problem lies in trade, that is, in order to protect domestic agriculture, the empire imposed high tariffs on imported agricultural products, while Russia was a major exporter of agricultural products. The empire's trade protection policy was equivalent to blocking Russia's export channels.

  Of course, the trade disputes between the empire and Russia are just the tip of the iceberg.

  In the field of exports, the empire provided huge trade subsidies for export enterprises, greatly stimulating exports and competing with enterprises in other countries around the world.

  In almost every field, the empire had conflicts with other powers. For example, when the Qing purchased warships, the empire's shipyards took away orders that originally belonged to Britain.

  In the industrial age, the contradictions between nations are mainly concentrated in the economic field, with trade as the main aspect.

  Even without other contradictions, the economic rise of an empire would pose a threat to established powers and create irreconcilable contradictions.

  When this contradiction reaches a certain level, it will evolve into war.

  In a sense, this is the fundamental contradiction between the empire and France, Russia and Britain.

  The question is, can the empire stop in its tracks?

  The answer is obviously no. Even if the emperor of the empire is incompetent, the interest groups that control various economic fields will not let the empire stagnate.

  A unified German Empire will certainly grow and prosper, and will inevitably become a formidable rival to the old imperial powers.

  Recognizing this point reveals that there must be a life-and-death struggle between the new empire and the old empire, and it is the first world war of the industrial era.

  War is inevitable; we can only try our best to create opportunities for victory.

  Feng Chengqian was very clear, but there was no one else like him who could have such a clear understanding.

  After lunch, Feng Chengqian locked himself in the compartment again.

  It was unclear how much time had passed when the noisy commotion from outside disturbed Feng Chengqian.

  "Go take a look."

  Schmidt nodded and immediately went out to observe, and soon rushed back.

  "What happened?"

  "It is Princess Sophie and Princess Margaret."

  Feng Chengqian furrowed his brow, Frederick III did not bring the crown prince, but brought four princesses. To be precise, it was three princesses. The eldest princess Charlotte had married Duke Bernhard III of Saxe-Meiningen and was now a duchess, she just lived in her maiden home for a long time.

  "Earl, tell me..."

  "It's fine, let's just pretend they don't exist." Feng Chengqian sighed. As the father of four sons and four daughters, it was clearly not an easy thing.

  "Earl, the train is about to arrive."

  "Are we close to Port William?"

  Schmidt pointed out of the window and Wilhelmshaven could already be seen.

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