Of course, the marriage issue of the traverser is still left to Tianjin to worry about, and Qin Zheng's main task is to meet with the German envoy. Pen % fun % Pavilion www.biquge.info

The day after the 1st and 5th Battalions left Qingdao, a German merchant ship, the Edith, arrived at the port of Qingdao, and the German envoy was on this merchant ship. Because the German envoy was secretly visiting Qingdao this time, the travelers did not carry out any welcome ceremony, Qin Zheng did not even show his face, and only asked the staff of the dock to take the German envoy to the Qingdao headquarters, that is, the original German Jiaoao Governor's Palace.

After the German envoys came to the Qingdao headquarters, they were first received by Ye Shike, the former governor of Germany, and arranged a room in the headquarters for the envoys to change their clothes, because the German envoys were dressed as ordinary businessmen, and when they arrived in Qingdao to have talks with the traversers, they naturally had to change into formal clothes.

When the German envoy changed his clothes and makeup, the envoy's name and identity documents were also sent to Qin Zheng first, which was also a routine procedure in foreign affairs. And Qin Zheng couldn't help but be startled when he saw the name and identity of the German envoy, it turned out that Germany sent two envoys this time, the envoy was Prince Albert Wilhelm Heinrich (Albert Wilhelm Heinrich), and the deputy envoy was the German Minister of the Navy, Alfred?? Feng?? Alfred von Tirpitz.

Both of these men are very famous in history, and in this era, it is Germany and the whole world that are very important.

Prince Heinrich was the younger brother of the German Emperor Wilhelm II and was deeply trusted by Wilhelm II, joining the German Navy at the age of 15, embarking on a three-year trip around the world at the age of 16, and visiting the United States as a member of the German royal family at the age of 20. Unlike his brother Wilhelm II, who was characteristically capricious, unscrupulous, and arrogant, Prince Heinrich was humble, cheerful, and socially skilled, making him warmly welcomed by the public wherever he went.

Moreover, this prince has a lot of ties with Qingdao, and this is the third time that Prince Heinrich has come to Qingdao, but the prince's first two visits to Qingdao are not a good thing.

The first time was in December 1897, Prince Heinrich came to Qingdao as the commander of the backup army for the German army to forcibly occupy Qingdao, this time Prince Heinrich stayed in China for more than a year, and participated in the negotiations between Germany and the Qing court, signed the "Jiaoao Concession Treaty", and personally presided over the start of a series of projects in Qingdao, such as the Navy Club (also known as the Sailor Hotel), Heinrich Street (Guangxi Road) and Ilena Street (Hunan Road) named after him and his wife, and led the German commander who invaded Qingdao, Feng Feng?? Monument to Dietrich. In May 1898, he was summoned by the Empress Dowager Cixi and the Guangxu Emperor, which was also the first time that the Qing court met with members of the imperial palace in Europe.

Prince Heinrich's second visit to Qingdao was in the autumn of 1899, and his main activity was to attend the groundbreaking ceremony of the Jiaoji Railway. In September of this year, the Prince Heinrich Hotel Qingdao, invested and built by the German Mandel company in Shanghai and named after the prince, was officially opened, becoming the most famous hotel in Qingdao.

Although another Tirpitz was a deputy envoy, his historical fame and status in the old time and space were much higher than Prince Heinrich, and he was the most important person in the early 20th century, leading the German naval strategy and construction, because Tirpitz advocated that Germany should develop a strong ocean-going navy, and Britain's strategy of competing for world hegemony was consistent with the idea of Kaiser Wilhelm II, who was deeply influenced by Mahan's strategy, so he was deeply trusted by the Kaiser, and was fully supported by the Kaiser, from 1897 Tirpitz became the German Minister of the Navy, until 1916, for 20 years, no matter how the German military and political personnel changed, Tirpitz has always been standing, so much so that it received such a title as "Tirpitz forever".

And it is precisely because of Tirpitz's tireless work and bold ambition that before the First World War of the old time, Germany established a powerful sea force that could compete with the British Royal Navy - the High Seas Fleet, so he is known as the father of the German High Seas Fleet.

However, this also led to a 10-year-long naval shipbuilding competition between Britain and Germany in the early 20th century, and in a sense, this naval shipbuilding competition was also one of the reasons for the outbreak of World War I. Tirpitz and then British Admiralty Fisher were the direct leaders of this naval shipbuilding race. The confrontation between the two also led the development of the navy in this era and left a strong mark in the history of the navy.

Qin Zheng is born in the navy, and he is naturally no stranger to this history, for him, Tirpitz and Fisher are both ancestors in the naval world, of course, at this time, Tirpitz has just taken the throne, and the naval strength of Germany is still very weak; and the other protagonist Fisher has not officially debuted, and the naval competition between Britain and Germany has not yet begun, Qin Zheng did not expect that Tirpitz would come to Qingdao as a member of the German envoy, so although Qin Zheng's calmness, he couldn't help but feel a little excited.

On the other hand, Qin Zheng once calculated that the heavier the weight of the German envoy this time, the more it shows the importance that the German country attaches to this visit to Qingdao, and whether it is Prince Heinrich or Tirpitz, they are both pivotal figures in the German country, and they are the right-hand men of Kaiser Wilhelm II. This also shows that Germany attaches great importance to this visit to Qingdao, which is far higher than the estimation of the traverser.

In fact, the traverser was in the game, completely underestimating the importance that Germany attached to the three types of British warship drawings provided by the traverser, after the results of the last drawing appraisal were transmitted to Germany, Kaiser Wilhelm II and Tirpitz both realized that a golden opportunity was placed in front of Germany, because Britain was the warship design of this era. The country with the highest level of construction is generally believed to be 5-10 years ahead of other countries, and Germany's naval construction is aimed at the United Kingdom, so if the drawings of these three types of British warships can be obtained, it is of great significance to improve the design and construction level of German warships, and at the same time, it can also make targeted designs for the advantages and disadvantages of British warships, and in the future Anglo-German competition, Germany will undoubtedly occupy a very advantageous position.

However, although Tirpitz has courage and ambition, he is also a cautious person, he does not believe in the results of the drawing appraisal, after all, the people who identify the drawings are the elite of the German naval circles, but he has not seen the drawings with his own eyes, and he is always not at ease, and Tirpitz also knows that these three drawings are not given in vain, and Germany needs to pay a considerable price, at least never want to have Qingdao again.

Of course, Tirpitz knew the importance of Qingdao to Germany's expansion of power in the Far East, in fact, the German occupation of Qingdao, Tirpitz played a considerable role in it, and Wilhelm II only wanted to occupy a foothold in China, and Qingdao was the place handpicked by Tirpitz himself. Although Germany does not have the strength to retake Qingdao now, it still has a slight chance by relying on the strength of the Eight-Nation Alliance. Therefore, after weighing the pros and cons, Tirpitz proposed to Wilhelm II that he hoped that he could personally go to Qingdao to conduct another appraisal of these three sets of drawings.

Since the overseas Chinese were able to get the drawings of these three types of warships from Britain, it shows that the overseas Chinese have a fairly strong intelligence detection and collection capability in Britain, and the overseas Chinese can defeat the German Far East Fleet, which shows that the overseas Chinese have their own advantages in naval construction, at least stronger than Germany, and the possibility of recovering Qingdao is not great at present, so if a cooperative relationship is established with the overseas Chinese, for Germany, the losses can be minimized, and at least three sets of drawings of British warships can be obtained, which is also a big gain。

Although Wilhelm II absolutely trusts Tirpitz, he also knows that Tirpitz is a soldier after all, not a diplomat, and it is too difficult for him to negotiate, and to maximize the interests of Germany, diplomatic means are needed to complete, and although Prince Heinrich is also a soldier, he has visited Germany several times and completed the task very successfully, proving that he also has considerable ability in diplomacy, plus Prince Heinrich is the younger brother of Wilhelm II after all, knows what Wilhelm II needs, and can make decisions when negotiating。 So Wilhelm II made a decision to let Prince Heinrich be the chief envoy and Tirpitz be the deputy envoy, and they would visit Qingdao together.

After this arrangement, Tilpitz and Prince Heinrich disguised themselves as businessmen and left Germany for Qingdao.

About an hour later, Prince Heinrich and Tirpitz changed their costumes and were accompanied by Yesek to the reception room. At this time, Qin Zheng was waiting for them in the reception room, and came to the door of the reception room to greet the two German envoys.

Prince Heinrich and Tilpitz both wore military uniforms, but in comparison, Prince Heinrich was tall and slightly thin, with dark brown eyes, a steady gaze, and a short beard under his chin, and his skin had a healthy tan due to his long time at sea and being bathed in the sun. And the long-term royal education has given the prince a noble and elegant temperament.

Tirpitz's figure is fatter, although he wears a navy top hat, he can still be seen to be bald, his eyes are bright, he seems determined and courageous, and his iconic two horn beards, which hang down to his chest, add a bit of majesty to him, like the legendary sea god Poseidon, but compared with Prince Heinrich, Tirpitz is more military.

If Qin Zheng had been a little restrained before the crossing, but after nearly half a year, Qin Zheng had also jumped from a detachment commander to the supreme leader, both in terms of mentality and words and deeds. At this time, he also took two steps forward and said with a smile: "Welcome to Qingdao." ”