After Lomodan and Nestaku left the palace, they rushed to the German Embassy.
"Your Excellency the Ambassador, Rear Admiral Lomodan of the Romanian Navy, and Fleet Commander Nestacu are here to visit." The secretary opened the door and told Ambassador Baslob who was checking information in the office.
After hearing his secretary's report, Baslob put the note in his hand into the drawer and said, "Please invite the two generals in."
Lomodan and Nestaku walked into the office under the guidance of their secretary. Ambassador Baslob, who saw the two coming in, smiled as if he had met a long-time friend and said, "It's been a long time since I saw you two generals."
, did you come here to catch up with me today, or is there something else?"
"You are the one looking for a ghost to reminisce about old times." Both of them cursed in their minds, but they also had smiles on their faces. One of them, Lomodan, stepped forward and said, "I came here hoping to buy a warship."
When the German ambassador heard Lomodan's words, he knew that it must not be a small boat, otherwise the two leaders of the Romanian navy would not have come together.
After taking over the conversation, Baslob said, "The Romanian Navy is indeed too weak and needs to strengthen itself. I wonder how big a warship you plan to buy?"
Facing the ambassador's inquiry, Lomodan still answered. "If your country can provide part of the loan, we plan to purchase a Königsberg-class cruiser."
"How much money do you have?" Baslob asked the key question.
Nestaku answered the ambassador's question. "We now have funds of 3.26 million gold marks."
After hearing Nestaku's answer, Baslob made a mental calculation based on his own understanding. The difference was not too big, almost 1.7 million gold marks.
"I have nothing to do about this matter now, but I will report it to the country. You two need to wait patiently." Baslob said to the two of them.
"no problem."
Originally, they did not expect the German ambassador to agree immediately. They came here just to see Germany's attitude first. After all, everyone likes good ships. If they can buy a warship with good performance, who will look at a bad one.
After sending the two men away, Baslob sent a telegram to the country to report the incident and waited for a reply from the government.
After Lomodan and Nestaku left the German Embassy, they returned to the Admiralty. This was an old-fashioned two-story building. Compared to the Army Ministry and the General Staff, it could be said to be much shabby. Who made them have insufficient funds?
They could only make do with it. After they came back and explained the conditions that the Crown Prince agreed to give this time, everyone in the Navy Department was extremely happy. For the Navy officers and soldiers, they finally changed from picked-up children to adopted children.
, this can be regarded as progress of the navy.
There are still some people in the Navy who are not satisfied with this plan, and Lieutenant Colonel Midrafael is expressing his opinions to his friend Captain Bierke. Now, because Midrafael serves as the captain of the gunboat formation, he usually leads the gunboats in daily training.
So he was promoted one level to the rank of lieutenant colonel.
"Does General Romodan only have eyes for this cruiser?"
"Midrafel, why can't you control your mouth? Sooner or later you will be killed by it." Bierke had no choice about his friend's virtue.
"Bilke, can't people still speak their minds?" Midrafael began to complain about his friend.
"Okay, tell me your plan." Bierke also wanted to hear his friend's opinion.
"I think this cruiser should be scrapped and funds should be used to strengthen the construction of torpedo ships and forts, especially the fort in Constanta. The navy must make its own changes in response to the needs of the country. We must not do what others do.
What to do."
Bierke heard what his friend meant, because Romania's main imaginary enemy is Russia. Facing the Russian Black Sea Fleet, the Romanian Navy has no chance. Now Constanta is becoming more and more important, and now the caliber of warships is getting larger and larger. The previously built
Most of the forts are old-fashioned, and the construction of large-caliber forts has become urgent.
Bilke knew that what his friend was talking about was an urgent need, so he could only say, "It's a pity that you are not the head of the Romanian Navy. Midrafael, you are only a middle-level officer now. If you really have ideas, you should hide them."
In your heart, wait until you sit in that position to realize your dream."
"Okay Birk, I will work hard to achieve it." Midrafael said to his friend seriously.
When the Romanian naval officers expressed their opinions, Ambassador Baslob's telegram was also placed on Prime Minister Herweg's desk. For him, who only took office last year, he was no different from the previous prime ministers. They were all puppets of the Kaiser.
.This telegram, like other contents that needed to be reported to the Kaiser, was brought to Wilhelm II by the Prime Minister. The recent fierce naval competition between Germany and Britain distracted a lot of the Kaiser's attention.
"Hellweg picks up what's important."
"Okay, Your Majesty."
Helweger took out the first document, which was Ambassador Baslob's report.
"Your Highness, this is a report for Romania to purchase a cruiser."
William II has recently become more sensitive to warships, and this report immediately aroused his interest.
"Bring it here, let me take a look."
The Prime Minister handed him the report. William II saw that it was a report that the Romanian Navy wanted to purchase a Königsberg-class cruiser, but it needed to apply for a loan for payment. After reading it, William II
Finally, he said to Prime Minister Helweg with a smile.
"These Romanians always like to take out loans. Do they have no money?"
The Prime Minister also checked the information and replied, "Your Highness estimates that they really don't have any. This amount of money was obtained by issuing national bonds. I heard that in Romania, the Prime Minister even had a quarrel with the Chief of General Staff because he defaulted on payment to the Army."
"I have a great impression of the Chief of General Staff named Pleshan, he is a very capable person." After William II evaluated Plesan, he continued. "As for this loan, it can be counted as a Romanian loan."
Within the loan, the more they take, the harder it will be to get rid of us. Tell them that we can provide a loan and let them buy the latest Kolburg-class cruiser."
After sending away Prime Minister Herweg, William II was increasingly dissatisfied with Austria-Hungary. If he hadn't wanted to win over Romania, would he have done this? Originally, Romania's approach on the Bosnia-Herzegovina issue satisfied him. As a result
In the Transylvania region, the Hungarians began to bully the local Romanians again, causing the relationship between the two countries to plummet. The Kaiser also had a headache. This loan from the Romanian Navy gave him an opportunity to improve.
Lomodan and Nestaku were overjoyed by the German government's reply, and they immediately reported the German news to the crown prince.
In the palace, Edel looked at Romodan and Nestaku who were at the desk, their eyes wide and eager. Although he knew the Kaiser's intention, he wanted to ease the relationship between Austria-Hungary and them, and pulled them into the chariot.
Fight for Germany. But Edel couldn't refuse. This was a request from a military branch, so he could only agree.
"I agree to this condition. You can talk to the German side."
After seven days of negotiations, both sides finally achieved results that were satisfactory to both parties, and it was announced that Romania would purchase the latest Kolburg-class cruiser from Germany. The ship will be built by the Kiel Shipyard. Construction will begin at the end of September and is expected to be
Sea trials began in April of the following year and will be delivered to the Romanian Navy in June. In order to better adapt to Romania's needs, the main gun of the ship was changed to eight 150-caliber single guns, and the rest remained unchanged.
