Romanian Eagle

The next day, Edel and his party came to the Port of Constanta and watched the work being done to dredge the port. Standard Oil's engineering expert, Millard Weiss, was instructing the work of the workers. For Miller Dewis of the terminal, there are not too many problems with the expansion of the Port of Constanta. But for now Romania, the Port of Constanta is the largest port in the entire kingdom, carrying 90% of Romania's shipping. Especially in the steel mills now, most of the raw materials need to be imported from the port.

"Hello, Your Highness," Miledwiss greeted Eder in a very American way when he saw Eder and his party. Eder didn't care about this and asked the engineering expert directly. "How is the progress now?" "His Royal Highness now that the main channel has been dredged, and 30,000-ton cargo ships can enter and leave. Now the main task is to install cranes and rails, and the construction of the cargo yard is about to be completed. It is expected that the port will be fully operational in three months. Yes." Miledwiss replied to Eder, and Eder was still very satisfied with Miledwiss's answer.

"His Royal Highness is mainly the navy's opinion on not expanding the military dock." Miledwiss said his opinion on the navy, and Edel knew about this. For the reorganization of the army, the navy's eyes are red, and more than once it is proposed to strengthen the weak Romanian navy. But now the government's financial support for the reorganization of the army has been very difficult, and the request for the navy has not been agreed.

Eder also tried his best to avoid conflict with the navy, so he pushed the matter to the government. However, the Romanian Navy does have too few ships. Now the largest warship is the unprotected armored cruiser Elizabeth. This cruiser was a training ship built by Armstrong Shipyard for Romania in 1880. It is 73.4 meters long, 10.3 meters wide, 1351 tons, The speed of 18 knots is equipped with 4 5.9-inch main guns, as well as 4 104-ton gunboats, 4 47-ton torpedo boats, and other ships. In total, the tonnage of naval ships is less than 6,000 tons, and there is no tonnage as high as a large armored cruiser. Seeing these Edels are suspicious of the Romanian Navy, is it deliberately built to avoid the Russian Black Sea Fleet? Sailing on the Danube.

After inspecting the expanded port, Edel came to the Romanian naval base, which is the naval pier on the left side of the port, and saw the fleet commander, Rear Admiral Lomodan, surrounded by naval officers in blue military uniforms, at the naval base. The crown prince and his party were greeted at the door. Before the crown prince came, Major Midraphael, the captain of the gunboat Bratianu, was chatting quietly with Captain Balbic, the torpedo boat of the Bogdan.

"Do you think it is possible for the major general to get the crown prince to agree to increase the navy funding?" Captain Erbic asked his friend, "I hope the major general can succeed. You must know that I have not gone to sea for two months. If I don't go to sea again, I am afraid of the crew. You'll be seasick." Major Midrafeel was clearly resentful for not increasing the Navy's funding.

"You are crazy, His Royal Highness is coming soon. If you complain like this, you will be punished." Captain Erbic said in a low voice, his eyes still looking at the crowd around him, obviously he was fighting for his friend. cover. Major Midraphael also realized that he had made a blunder. He stopped talking immediately, and blinked gratefully at his friend. At this time, I don't know who shouted, "The crown prince is here." Midraphael and Elbic hurriedly arranged their clothes like other officers and stood at the entrance of the base to welcome the arrival of Crown Prince Eder.

Edel saw the group of officers who were welcoming him from a distance. The crown prince knew of their intentions. This time, it seemed that they needed to increase their military spending a little.

"His Royal Highness welcomes you." Rear Admiral Lomodan, the fleet commander, greeted Edel when he saw Edel approaching. "I came here mainly to see the expansion of the port, and by the way to see our Romanian naval fleet." Eder replied,

The underlying meaning is that you don't want to open your mouth. Major General Lomodan did not expect the crown prince to be so stunned for a moment, and the chief of staff next to him hurriedly stepped forward to remedy it. "This is also the crown prince's concern for the navy, and our colleagues in the navy are all looking forward to His Royal Highness's arrival."

Major General Lomodan came back to his senses and said. "That's our Navy's expectation."

Edel nodded in response. "Thanks to the Navy for expecting so much from me."

Eder followed these two tacit fellows into the naval base to visit. In fact, the Romanian Navy now has only two or three kittens, and you can see this small fleet from the dock. Eder still acted with interest, listening to Rear Admiral Lomodan explaining the situation of Romanian naval ships to himself. In fact, there was nothing to talk about, so Rear Admiral Lomodan finished in less than half an hour.

"His Royal Highness, please come to my office and have a seat." Major General Lomodan sent an invitation, and the crown prince knew that the meat scene was coming. "Then I also heard that Your Excellency the Commander's coffee is unique, and I want to try one or two."

The two quickly arrived at the office of Major General Lomodan. Eder looked at the unpretentious office, with the chart of the Black Sea hanging on the wall, and the bookshelves against the wall were neatly stacked with various professional books of the Navy. In the next book, I saw that various notes were marked in the book. It seems that the owner here has not read these books less.

"Your highness, your coffee." Major General Lomodan handed a cup of coffee to Edel, and the Crown Prince said bluntly after stirring it up and tasting it. "I know what you think, Major General Lomodan, but there is only so much military spending. I understand your idea of ​​increasing naval funding. But you need to note that now the biggest threat to the kingdom is Russia, and the land pressure is very high. We must guarantee the land. safety."

In the face of Crown Prince Eder's blunt remarks, Major General Lomodan nodded. As a senior military officer, he is still very clear about the pressure on Romania now. But as a man who has served in the Navy for 20 years, Major General Lomodan is still obliged to fight for funding for his own service.

"His Royal Highness, we are also very supportive of the reorganization of the army, but the navy's annual funding is too small, and it can no longer do daily patrols and training. I hope the crown prince can also understand the suffering of our navy." Major General Lomodan began to complain.

"Why can't you even do patrols and training? Wasn't it good before?" Edel also asked Major General Lomodan in confusion. "Recently, the government said that the financial turnover is not enough, so the funds are often in arrears. Now we can only guarantee the salaries of personnel and equipment maintenance. We cannot temporarily stop training and patrols." Major General Lomodan also complained.

"When I go back, I will ask the government to pay you the full amount of the arrears." Edel saw that this was not a solution, and could only agree to say that he knew that the government had recently collected a tax that could pay for the completion of various factories. to the Navy. When Major General Lomodan saw that the Crown Prince was good at talking, he also followed the snake. "His Royal Highness, you see that Russia has also announced a large-scale shipbuilding plan recently. Our navy is under great pressure. Can we increase the strength of our fleet with an additional fund?"

Eder understands that Admiral Lomodan is too weak for the navy, but now Romania has no national strength to expand its naval ships, so he can only apologize to Admiral Lomodan. "Major General Lomodan, you need to know that even if we increase the navy funding, you can't protect the safety of the Romanian coastline. Now we can only give priority to supplying the army. I'm sorry that I can't help you."

Edel talked for two hours in the office of Rear Admiral Lomodan, and finally agreed to add a cruiser to the Navy in five years. This made the officers outside cheered, and Edel felt a little uncomfortable. The navy was still too weak, and a little increase would make them happy for a long time.