When the two warships returned to the vicinity of the Hamburg waterway, it was almost 7 o'clock, and they saw a red sun rising from the sea to the east, and the morning fog floating there on the sea surface also thinned a little stronger, and the clear blue sky was sparsely falling, and only a few places were lightly sprinkled with a few very thin clear clouds, some as white as freshly picked cotton, and some reddish as the drunken color of a beauty's face.

In the direction of the Hamburg waterway, the masts of several sailing ships appeared, heading towards the two warships.

Cowell, who was in the command, laughed, "Look, that's supposed to be the ship that came to our rescue." ”

Zhang Wei said: "The wind and waves last night were really strong, almost level 7 sea conditions." ”

Cowell nodded, and said: "It should be level 7, even if it is not too much, such a sudden weather change is rare, to be honest, if it is a warship of the same ton that we originally built, then yesterday's wind and waves are indeed very dangerous, but the seaworthiness of this warship is indeed too good, in my more than 40 years of sailing career, it is the first time I have seen the bow of the ship buried in the waves, it can be lifted out of the water so quickly, you have indeed built a very good warship." ”

Scheer also said: "Yes, as far as I know, even Britain does not have such a warship with excellent performance. ”

While everyone was talking, suddenly the lookout reported that a ship on the opposite side sent a flag to the ship, asking about the safety of the ship and whether it needed rescue help.

Cowell smiled, "Answer them, everything is fine, and thank them for their concern." ”

It turned out that the weather suddenly changed last night, and the person in charge of the Blom-Foss shipyard could not help but be shocked, because he knew that the two warships were on trial voyage at sea, and if an accident occurred, the consequences would be unimaginable. But the night is blind, and the wind and rain are heavy, and the rescue ship can not go to sea in the dark night to carry out the rescue, so although the heart is anxious, but can only be helpless, finally wait until the dawn of the Buddha, the weather improves, the wind and waves at sea are slightly flat, so they hurriedly sent 5 rescue boats, out to sea rescue. But he didn't expect to encounter the Qingzhou and Yizhou as soon as he got out of the waterway, and it seemed that there was no big problem.

The two warships were towed by tugboats and slowly sailed into the port of Hamburg, and at this time, thousands of people had gathered on the docks, and when the two warships entered the port in turn, there was a warm cheer on the shore to celebrate the safe return of the two warships in the storm last night.

After the warship was stabilized, the crew immediately stepped on the two warships for inspection, but except for some places on the deck, including a small number of shipboard weapons, which were damaged by the waves, the structural equipment in the cabin was basically not damaged, so there was no need for major repairs. And the person in charge of the Blom-Foss shipyard finally breathed a sigh of relief, and at the same time there was a burst of joy in his heart, although he was frightened all night last night, but the two warships returned safely, and it was fine, and last night reached the bad weather of level 7 sea conditions, the two warships are still safe and sound, although there are overseas Chinese design credit, but German manufacturing is also indispensable, to enhance the reputation of German manufacturing, of course, there is a positive effect.

At this time, the trial work of the warship had been completed, and the shipyard had to carry out a comprehensive overhaul of the warship before it could be officially delivered to the East China Government.

The German Admiralty also officially sent a delegation headed by Major Schell, a total of six officers, to set off with the warship to Qingdao to receive the drawings. On the one hand, they are responsible for the maintenance of accidents that occur on the way back to China, and on the other hand, after arriving in Qingdao, some of them will stay behind and be responsible for fulfilling the new shipbuilding contract, and guiding the Qingdao shipyard to build the next batch of warships to replace the first batch of staff, and the materials and equipment needed will also be immediately prepared for loading and departure.

The East China government's shipbuilding supervision team remained in Germany, and only Huang Zhe returned home with the warship, because he had to participate in the work of the two types of warships designed for Germany.

Zhang Wei demanded that in addition to providing the two warships with food, drinking water, boiler water, and coal, they should also bring enough ammunition and some training ammunition so that the personnel receiving the ships could train on the way back to China. Training on warships during the voyage is a common practice in the navies of various countries, on the one hand, to improve the professional quality of the army, and on the other hand, to give the soldiers something to do during the voyage, because a long sea voyage is very boring, and it is easy to have an accident if you do not find something to do.

After 12 days of preparation and maintenance, the two warships departed from the port of Hamburg on March 6, 1903, and embarked on their voyage back to Qingdao.

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"Dear Alfred, I have read the assessment reports of the shipyard and the Admiralty, and it seems that they are quite satisfied with the warships designed by our collaborators, and they all give them a high opinion. ”

Wilhelm II sat behind a huge mahogany desk, with an open copy of the Gallic Wars in front of him, a gold pen in his right hand, and a coffee on the table with his left hand, and behind him, there was a huge oil painting of the Battle of the Battle, and the left and right walls were covered with portraits of the outstanding kings of Germany, while Wilhelm II's eyes were always on Tirpitz who was sitting opposite him.

Tirpitz sat down in his chair, bowed slightly, and said, "Yes, Your Majesty." Now the lads of the Navy are already eagerly waiting for the Samoa-class protective cruiser to be built. ”

Wilhelm II nodded and said with a smile: "Of course, the boys want to set up the best warships, and we are also obliged to provide them with the best warships, it seems that the construction of a Samoa-class protective cruiser is indeed a correct choice, to be honest, even I have some impatience." ”

Tirpitz said: "Of course, but before leaving, the overseas Chinese also expressed their gratitude to us, because only German construction technology can turn their excellent designs into reality." ”

Wilhelm II lowered his head and said something on the [Gallic Wars] while laughing: "This is really an interesting group of people. ”

Tirpitz added, "So they asked me to send a gift to His Majesty." ”

Wilhelm II stopped his pen, looked up, and said, "Gifts?"

Tirpitz smiled slightly, beckoned, and saw two glass boxes carried up by the four guards, each of which contained a model of a warship. Wilhelm II hesitated slightly, but got up from his chair and walked over to the two boxes to look at them in detail, while Tirpitz got up beside him and introduced the two models of warships.

It turned out that these two warship models were the models of the two types of armored cruisers commissioned by the East China government to build by Germany, of which the 7,000-ton armored cruiser and the Samoa-class protective cruiser built by Germany had the same ship type and onboard weapons, while Tirpitz focused on introducing the 10,000-ton armored cruiser to Wilhelm II, as well as the design ideas of full firepower, integrated fire control system, and integrated type 2 proposed by the traverser.

After Wilhelm II succeeded to the throne, Ti Chang vigorously developed the navy, which has his great joyful side, but also does have the side of increasing Germany's maritime competitiveness, so Wilhelm II did some research on naval technology, tactics, strategy, etc., although some studies are not in place, and even completely wrong, such as Mahan's understanding of [sea power] is completely wrong, but he is not a layman to the navy. Therefore, the time-traveler introduced by Tirpitz proposed the technical ideas of the navy, and Wilhelm II was able to understand it.

After Tirpitz finished speaking, Wilhelm II pointed to the model of the 10,000-ton armored cruiser and said: "In other words, the Scharnhorst-class armored cruiser and the German-class battleship designed by the overseas Chinese for us are based on this warship?"

Tirpitz nodded and said, " According to the assessment of the Admiralty, the displacement of this warship is about 10,000 tons, but the actual combat effectiveness has been stronger than that of the Scharnhorst-class armored cruisers we designed earlier, and the Scharnhorst-class armored cruisers we designed earlier were 12,000 tons; and the overseas Chinese will also design another type of battleship on the hull of this warship, and the combat effectiveness will be stronger than the German-class battleships we designed。 After a pause, he added, "It's just a year or two." ”

Wilhelm II was silent for a long time before he said, "Well, since we are obliged to provide the best warships for the lads of the German Navy, then we should also have this patience! Alfred, I am very glad to receive this gift." ”

Tirpitz was relieved to hear this, and it seemed that the emperor could wait patiently, and it was not in vain that he had spent so much pain, so he said goodbye to Wilhelm II and left the palace.

After Tirpitz left, Wilhelm II's gaze went beyond the model of the warship still in the room, and fell on a hanging oil painting hanging on the wall behind Tirpitz's seat just now, in the center of the picture is St. Michael, the archangel standing on a cliff, holding a holy sword, with a serious and holy expression, and on his left there are seven angels holding spears and shields, with a large cross on the background; There are faint mountains and rivers in the city, and a strange dark cloud hangs in the air, and in the center of the dark cloud flashes a seated statue of the Buddha in a flame, riding on a Chinese-style dragon. In the lower right corner of the picture, there is a line that reads, "All the nations of Europe unite!

The painting, titled [*], is an engraving created in 1895 by the German court painter Hermann Knackfuß based on the imagination of Wilhelm II. The eight angels in the picture symbolize the European countries, while the Buddha and the dragon symbolize the yellow race of Oriental Asia, of course, mainly Japan, which had just fought the Sino-Japanese War. The inscription is in the handwriting of Wilhelm II.

Now the painting is a copy, and the original Wilhelm II was given as a gift to Tsar Nicholas II of Russia, in effect to encourage the Tsar's expansion in Asia. But now when Wilhelm II sees this painting again, he is thinking in his heart, I don't know what kind of surprise overseas Chinese can bring to himself.