The UK built six dreadnoughts at the same time at once, which made Germany feel pressured. At this time, the dreadnoughts designed by East China ** for Germany, two German-class battleships, the German and Hannover, have completed the launch and are being tested and are expected to be put into service in June and July; and the other two ships of the same class, the Pomeren and the Hulstein-Schleswig, have also started construction.

Tirpitz was originally very optimistic. Although the appearance of the Fearless made all the battleships obsolete overnight, with the help of East China, Germany actually started to build a Fearless battleship in advance. Although Germany had only built two of the four German-class battleships due to its own hesitation, and the progress was also very slow, and it was surpassed by the Fearless. However, the German Navy immediately owned two Fearless ships, and Germany started to build two more ships, undoubtedly one step ahead of the UK in the construction of the Fearless ships. Therefore, Tirpitz saw the curve and overtaking and caught up with the hope of Britain.

However, Britain will start building six dreadnoughts within two years, showing the confidence of the first naval power, and suddenly throwing Germany away. Moreover, the two newly built dreadnoughts in Britain are improved versions of the dreadnought, and their overall combat effectiveness is stronger than that of the German class. First of all, in terms of tonnage, the German class is 16,700 tons, while the Berlerofon class is 18,800 tons, and the Vincent class is 19,560 tons. Under the same technical level, the tonnage of the warship is proportional to the combat effectiveness; in terms of firepower, the German class has 8 305 mm cannons, all of which can be used for side firepower, while the Berlerofon class and Vincent class are 10 30 Although the firepower of the 5mm gun is only 8 on the side, which is the same as the German class, it can concentrate 6 main guns in the front and rear directions, while the German class can only use 4 main guns in the front and rear directions, so the German class is still slightly inferior in firepower; in addition, in terms of power, the German class still uses the old three-rise reciprocating steam engine, while the Berlerofen class and Vincent class use new steam turbines. Although the German class has a speed of half a dozen due to the optimization of ship type, the stability and durability of the steam turbine are better than the reciprocating steam engine. More importantly, the steam turbine represents the future development direction.

In this case, it is meaningless for Germany to continue to build the German-class. Instead, it is necessary to design a new type of dreadnought, which has stronger combat power and can match the Berlerofon class and Vincent class. In Germany, there are two propositions, one is to propose that Germany designs it by itself; the other is to believe that East China should be designed.

Tirpitz, the head of the German Navy, tended to ask East China ** to help Germany design a new type of battleship. What Tirpitz had to consider is the overall interests of the German navy, rather than the face of Germany's superior race. After 12 years in charge of the German Navy, Tirpitz knew that he had indeed estimated the foundation of the British Empire's century-old navy. The British navy was far superior to Germany in terms of strategic planning, tactical concepts, and design ideas. Germany only had certain advantages in manufacturing capabilities, and this advantage was not great. Therefore, if Germany wanted to catch up with Britain in naval construction, it would be closer to the gap with Britain. Tirpitz was also a little confused.

However, in recent years, the cooperation between East China and Germany in the naval field, by the East China defeating the expeditionary fleet dominated by the British navy, fully demonstrating the East China's understanding of the navy is not inferior to that of Britain, but is at least much stronger than Germany. This also gave Tirpitz another hope, not only to ask East China to help Germany design new battleships, but to carry out more in-depth cooperation with East China, including hiring East China personnel to serve as consultants of the German Navy, participating in the construction of the German Navy, and providing reference opinions.

William II did not object to this. The record of Bijing East China ** was there, almost completely wiped out the expeditionary fleet. This record made William II envious and jealous, and there was a mixed taste. However, there was one thing that William II had to admit that the East China ** was indeed better than Germany in terms of naval conditions, so it was not unacceptable to ask the East China ** for advice. It was not unacceptable to ask the East China *** consultant. It was because William II had decided to form a military alliance with the East China **, so it was normal for military cooperation.

The occurrence of these things also allowed Germany to make certain adjustments to the initial visit plan. The German mission must stay in Shanghai for a while, so that the mission fully understands the domestic ideas in order to complete the visit smoothly. In addition, the mission sailed at the sea for two and a half months, and the personnel were very tired and needed a rest to recover their energy.

Another point is that the East China ** suggested to Prince Heinrich. First, lower-level officials communicated and collaborated in advance with the members of the mission in Shanghai, understood the intentions, ideas and goals of both parties, and conducted preliminary negotiations. At the same time, they also jointly determined the itinerary of the visit and other matters to ensure the success of the visit.

In fact, this approach is very common in the old time and space. Before a major state visit, the two countries involved will first communicate with the officials at the bottom level to test each other's goals and intentions. In this way, during the official visit, the main issues of both sides have been basically determined, which can save both sides a lot of time and energy and avoid misjudgment.

In this era, firstly, diplomacy between countries is not mature; secondly, the distance between countries is also a major obstacle, so communication and understanding before the visit are not satisfactory. Diplomacy between European countries is better because the distance between countries is close and the countries also understand each other. There are many people who can act as intercourse. Once European countries are out of the country, because the distance is too far and the collusion is not updated, they can generally only use telegrams to communicate their intentions by ambassadors. However, ambassadors are not in China, and telegrams also have many inconveniences. Because of the current era of wired telegrams, the content of telegrams is easily leaked.

This visit to the German delegation was the first official state visit of East China. Moreover, under the current international situation, it is an important state visit to Germany and East China. Although Germany needs to form an alliance with East China to resolve the strategic pressure of the British-French Agreement and the most likely strategic pressure of the British-French Agreement in the future. After winning the Far East War, East China should develop its economy and develop industrialization, and also need to carry out deeper cooperation with Germany. Germany is the country with the highest industrial level and the strongest technology in this era.

Then before the official visit, it is of course very necessary for both parties to communicate, communicate with each other, and understand each other's attitudes and positions. Prince Heinrich agrees with this arrangement very much.

He expected the German mission to stay in Shanghai for 8-10 days. The first two days were the mission's recovery and internal communication, and the next three days were the communication with the country, and the final determination of the target and task of this visit, and then 2-3 days were the communication with East China ** in advance, and the results of the previous communication were reported to the country. This process took about 1-2 days.

So Prince Heinrich came to Shanghai from Qingdao. Three days later, the German mission finally arrived in Shanghai and met with the prince. Of course, the prince's princess Eleni, and two sons Vadmar and Sijsmond were also reunited with the prince in Shanghai.

The husband and wife have been separated for almost a year, and now they are finally reunited. Although they are in a foreign country, they are still very excited. However, Prince Heinrich is a very controllable person. After hugging his wife and son and greeting each other, he immediately met with other members of the mission.

The mission had two deputy envoys, namely Foreign Minister Ditrick von Storten, Business Deputy Secretary Carl von Beckrison, Navy Reinhardt Von Scher, Army Representative Erich von Rudendolph.

The representative of East China who greeted the German mission at the dock with Prince Heinrich was Shanghai Mayor Li Songchen. Because he knew that the prince's wife was coming with the mission, he specially arranged a female veteran, Gao Jun, director of the Shanghai Civil Affairs Department and director of the Women, to be responsible for reception and accompanying the prince's wife.

Since it was only a temporary stay in Shanghai, not an official visit, Shanghai did not organize a grand welcome ceremony. Except for Li Songchen and Gao Jun, there were no other officials. Prince Heinrich also expressed his understanding and was very satisfied with the detailed arrangements of Shanghai.

Under the introduction of Prince Heinrich, Li Songchen met with the members of the mission one by one, and exchanged greetings with each other, wished the German mission a successful visit, and then arranged a vehicle to send the members of the mission to the hotel where they were staying for a rest.

The vehicles that pick up and drop off the delegation members were of course the self-produced cars from East China. There were 8 cars and 4 passenger cars, but the bus was not big, and there were only 12 people. In addition, cavalry escorts were arranged.

The prince's wife, Stolten, Beckerisson and others also knew about cars, and they had tried them. However, the cars produced in East China are still very different from those produced in Germany. On the one hand, the structure is more reasonable and the ride is more comfortable; on the other hand, the roads traveling by cars are obviously carefully designed, with pedestrians, carriages, and riders all in their own ways and have nothing to do with each other. At traffic intersections, there are dedicated people responsible for commanding, which seems very orderly, which also makes the Germans quite interested. In today's Germany, there is no real traffic highway in the modern sense. The Germans have always attached importance to discipline, so they appreciate the road design and traffic order in Shanghai.
Chapter completed!