Chapter 2: Nobles and Commoners (I)

  The environment of the Naval Academy in Kiel is quite good, it is close to the Kieler F?rde and you can see the beautiful Baltic Sea at a glance. A small pier was built near the coast of the academy, where several small sail training ships and a Friedrich Carl frigate with a displacement of over 7,000 tons and an age of over 20 years are moored.

  Reported to the naval instructor Alfresi, received bedding, tableware and several sets of epaulette-free naval cadet uniforms, the newly arrived Wang Haitian and Leder followed the direction of the staff and found that Gothic building with a brick-red exterior wall under the shade of the lush Bodhi tree.

  The accommodation at the Naval Academy in Kiel was so luxurious that there were two people to a room, which would have been unthinkable at the Army's junior officer school. Heide Kampe did not manage to get billeted with Raeder; his roommate was a Bavarian named Hermann.

  Wang Haitie wandered around the dark corridor of the forest for half a day before finding her own room, where she saw a note on the door with two names written on it: Heidi Seiler and Bernhard von Oden.

  Wang Haitie felt something was wrong, and he hastily pushed open the door to see two military beds placed on either side of the room, two desks and military chairs. The person bending down to gather personal belongings was none other than Oden, the "official second generation" Wang Haitie had met at the school gate.

  "Whoa, is that really you?"

  "Asshole! How is it you?"

  Wang Haitian was not a strong-willed person. Although he was annoyed by Bernhard von Oden's arrogance and disdain, he still wanted to get along with his roommate Oden. Wang Haitian shrugged, threw the bedding onto the bed, casually placed the dishes on the desk, and once again extended his right hand to Oden.

  "Let's get reacquainted, Heidi Westheim, Kiel native..."

  Auden turned up his nose, with pride written all over his face, showing no intention of shaking hands or exchanging pleasantries with Wang Haitian. Wang Haitian, having made a fool of himself, glared at Auden and gave him the finger, wondering if he should make a voodoo doll or cast a spell on him.

  "Boys, today is a glorious and great day. Previously, you were of different origins, perhaps the son of a Bavarian winegrower, perhaps the descendant of a Ritter von Reden, perhaps a student from Hanover, or perhaps a child from the poor quarter of Kiel. But after today, you will only have one origin: you are comrades to whom you can entrust your lives, soldiers who defend the empire's borders, guardians of the German nation and great sailors of the German Navy!"

  "The history of the Naval Academy in Kiel is not long, even if we add its predecessor, the Prussian Naval Academy, our tradition is only thirty years old. Nevertheless, we have trained generation after generation of naval officers who are now fighting at sea, working in shipyards, serving the Empire in East Africa and the Far East, teaching as naval instructors in other countries, and after retiring, continuing to make their mark in various industries across the Empire. It is the efforts of generations of naval personnel that have enabled the poor and weak German Navy to gain a foothold on the high seas. We have reason to believe that Germany's future will be even brighter, because the glory of tomorrow's Germany will be created by you, and I believe in you!"

  After a gloomy lunch, 42 new naval cadets gathered in the school's grand auditorium for the opening ceremony. Ernst von Reiche, the over-50-year-old principal of Kiel Naval Academy, with his temples streaked with gray hair, delivered a passionate speech that stirred the blood of the young people, whose average age was less than 18 years old, to a boil. The applause almost blew off the roof of the auditorium, which had been standing for over a decade.

  Wang Haitie was no exception, and the bloodthirsty him picked up his dying cross-sea ideal, yearning to command a large warship and giant guns in the vast and rich North Atlantic. At this time, Principal Lai ended his speech and handed the stage over to an officer around thirty years old, wearing a naval uniform with a cold gaze.

  "Stengel? Instructor?" Wang Haitian couldn't help but shrink his head, and even had the urge to run away with fear.

  In 1894, the entrance examination of Kiel Naval Academy was almost simultaneous with the Far Eastern War. Without mentioning the subjects of humanities, geometry and mathematics, and physical education, the military quality test questions that the military school attaches most importance to are just guessing the outcome of the Sino-Japanese naval battle in the Far East.

  Who is Wang Haiting? A child of the Celestial Empire, deeply influenced by the patriotic education of the Red Party, naturally has a clear understanding of the outcome of the First Sino-Japanese War. With a stroke of her pen, Wang Haiting wrote a 6,000-word report in less than two hours, from the slow training of the Beiyang Fleet to the outdated weapons and equipment, backward tactical thinking, and the value of quick-firing guns and fast cruisers, as well as the Japanese determination to fight to the end. Finally, she mentioned the Qing Empire's fondness for self-destruction, thoroughly scolding it from head to toe, and concluding with one sentence: My Celestial Empire will surely lose!

  At that time, the Beiyang Fleet was far superior to Japan in terms of total tonnage and number and quality of ironclad warships. Moreover, after the "Withdrawal Flag Incident", the training of the Beiyang Fleet was mainly conducted by German naval instructors. Based on this consideration, almost all the candidates failed to see the substance of the seemingly powerful Japanese Empire, and loudly placed their bets on the side of the Qing Dynasty. Even the most daring ones only speculated that China and Japan would suffer mutual damage, and even the questioner Stenzel did not look favorably upon little Japan.

  Not everyone guessed the ending, at least R?dell's roommate Hermann chose the Qing Empire. Hermann's support for Japan did not mean he was a Japanophile, but rather that he wanted to use a shocking perspective to attract attention and impress the examiners. During the interview session, Hermann was quickly exposed by Stenzel. Stenzel was a pragmatic military man who disliked flashy but useless things, and he believed in calling a spade a spade. Hermann accidentally put his foot in it, which also made Wang Haitang look bad in Stenzel's eyes. Wang Haitang spoke loudly and eloquently during the interview, but Stenzel was somewhat unimpressed. If it weren't for the news of the Battle of Tsushima and the insistence of Ernst von Reischach, the head of the Kiel Naval Academy, Stenzel would have sent Wang Haitang packing.

  Wang Haitie still entered the Kiel Military Academy as the second place overall, but would Stenzel, who had lost face, be able to let him off easily without taking any revenge? Whether others believed it or not, Wang Haitie did not believe it.

  "Comrades, I am Alfred Stenzel, your instructor for basic military training on land. Your military training is my responsibility." Stenzel's sharp gaze swept across the room, grasping a thick stack of regulations in his hand, with a hint of a smile and an air of menace: "Since you've joined the Navy, you're soldiers now. Soldiers have obedience to orders as their duty. The army can't tolerate any democracy. Without discipline, there's no square or circle. Now, I'll read out the school rules of the Kiel Naval Academy and the military regulations of the Imperial Navy!"

  Wang Haitian listened to Stenzel's keynote speech with a muddled and uneasy mind, following the crowd out of the grand auditorium. He thought of Bernhard von Oden's arrogance and Alfred Stenzel's overt and covert attacks. The freshness of Wang Haitian's new life in the naval academy had quickly dissipated, leaving him feeling that his military career was bleak.

  "Radel, do you know the dropout procedure of Kiel Military Academy?"

  The training of naval officers is a long process, and before becoming a qualified naval commander, naval cadets must undergo four stages of training lasting several years, including military basic training, navigation basic training, reserve officer training, and fleet practice.

  Military basic training is an indispensable part of officer training, with the aim of allowing these young people who have just put on military uniforms to quickly enter the rhythm, familiarize themselves with the military environment, and temper their military qualities. The military basic training lasts for about seven weeks, mainly including naval and land education, team training, light weapons and shooting training, combat training, as well as sports training and shipboard duty training.

  Alfreds, the naval instructor in charge of small arms shooting and gun maintenance training, gave the order to fire. Oden, full of provocation, glanced at Wang Heiti with a look like a swift leopard pouncing on the shooting point, concentrated and calmly adjusted the rifle's sight, held the Mauser rifle's stock with his left hand, placed the butt against his right shoulder, three points in a line, unhurriedly fired ten rounds.

  "Ten shots all hit, excellent!" The scorer on the other side of the shooting range shouted out Auden's score, drawing a burst of admiration from the crowd.

  In front of Erich Redel's nine out of ten, behind Bernhard von Oden's ten out of ten, the students' outstanding performance made Lieutenant Alfredsi laugh with joy. Alfredsi recorded Oden's score on the thick teaching log and heavily marked a mark next to Redel and Oden's names.

  "Next is..." Lieutenant Alfresci bit the tip of his pen and flipped through the roster in his hand, the words "Heidi-Sylem" entered his eyes. Thinking of the owner of the name, that clumsy, slow-reacting military moron, Alfresci's good mood was instantly swept away, furrowing his brow as he read out the name that made him grit his teeth: "It's Heidi-Sylem!"

  Wang Haitian, who was already lagging behind, stumbled out of the neatly arranged team lineup and struggled for half a day before reluctantly crawling onto the shooting platform. Wang Haitian hesitated for half a day like an 80-year-old woman, then bent down and crawled forward, staring at the target 150 meters away, her two hands shaking like a sieve as she grasped the rifle and aimed for half a day but dared not fire.

  Wang Haitian's shooting level was appalling. In the first light weapon shooting training, Auden scored 8 out of 10 and Riddell scored 7 out of 10, while Wang Haitian, who had only played CS and Call of Duty, fell to the ground with a loud cry after firing the first shot, clutching his right shoulder in pain. Alfred forced Wang Haitian to complete the shooting task, but Wang Haitian swept the air wildly, causing the target staff to scurry for cover, finally scoring 1 out of 10 and barely preserving the last bit of dignity for Kiel Naval Academy.

  "Hey, Slaim, wanna make a bet..." Hermann, Oden's good friend and Dreyer's roommate, a Bavarian nobleman, shouted from the floor, "If you can hit five out of ten, I'll take care of all your dirty socks for this month."

  Many students jeered from below, and various cold jokes made Wang Haiting's heart float and anxious. Wang Haiting bit his teeth, pulled the trigger, closed his eyes tightly, estimated the direction, and fired randomly until all the bullets were shot out, and the gunpowder smoke dissipated before he dared to open his eyes.

  "Two out of ten, not passing!" The scorer stood far away until Wang Haiting finished shooting, then approached the target, carefully checked the target paper, and shouted.

  Wang Haitie dropped the Mauser rifle, looking disheveled and embarrassed. Alfrezi had a look of utter despair on his face, waved his hand to let Wang Haitie return to formation, finished recording her performance, then took out a pen and heavily crossed out Heidi-Selene's name.

  "Rader, why do they always target me?!"

  Wang Haitian is not as overbearing as Chun Ge, and most of the time, he presents himself with a cautious and reserved demeanor. Wang Haitian does not know where the hostility from Auden and Herman comes from.

  Raidel put his arm around Wang Haitian's shoulder and said in a low voice, "The reason is simple, they are nobles while we are commoners..."

  Note

  I won't translate it specifically, afraid of being river crabbed.