Britain built 6 dreadnoughts at once, which put Germany under pressure. At this time, the two German-class battleships, the Deutschland and the Hanover, had been launched and outfitted and were being tested, and were expected to be commissioned in June and July, while the other two ships of the same class, the Pomerne and the Herstein-Schleswig, had also begun construction.

Originally, Tirpitz was still very optimistic, although the appearance of the Dreadnought made all the battleships obsolete overnight, but due to the presence of East China ** Although Germany had previously due to its own hesitation, only 2 of the 4 German-class battleships originally planned to be built, and the progress was also very slow, but it was surpassed by the Dreadnought, but after all, the German Navy immediately had 2 dreadnoughts, and Germany started to build two more ships, undoubtedly in the construction of dreadnoughts, has been one step ahead of Britain, so Tirpitz even saw the hope of overtaking in the corner and catching up with Britain.

However, Britain will start building 6 dreadnoughts within 2 years, showing the confidence of the first naval power, and suddenly throwing Germany away. Moreover, the two types of dreadnoughts newly built by Britain are both improved versions of the Dreadnought, and the 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 Bellerophon class is 18,800 tons, and the Vincent class is 19,560 tons. The Vincent class is 10 305mm guns, although the firepower on the side is only 8, which is the same as the German class, but the front and rear can concentrate 6 main guns, while the German class can only use 4 main guns in the front and rear directions, so in terms of firepower, the German class is still slightly inferior; Although the German class is optimized due to the ship type, the speed is half a catty, but the stability and durability of the steam turbine are superior to the reciprocating steam engine, and more importantly, the steam turbine represents the future development direction.

In this case, it no longer makes sense for Germany to continue to build the Deutsche class, but it needs to design a new type of dreadnought, which will be more combat-ready and able to compete with the Bellerophon class and Vincent. In Germany, there are two propositions, one is to advocate that Germany should design it itself, and the other is that it should be designed by East China.

Tirpitz, the head of the German Navy, is inclined to ask East China ** to help Germany design a new type of battleship, Bijing Tirpitz has to consider the overall interests of the German Navy, rather than the face of German racial superiority, and has been in charge of the German Navy for 12 years. In terms of tactical concepts and design ideas, they are far superior to Germany, and Germany only has a certain advantage in manufacturing capacity, and this advantage is not big, so if Germany wants to catch up with Britain in naval construction, it will even close the gap with Britain, and Tirpitz is also a little at a loss.

However, in the past few years, the cooperation between East China and Germany in the navy, from which East China defeated the expeditionary fleet dominated by the British Navy, fully shows that East China's understanding and technology of the navy are not below Britain, at least much stronger than Germany, which also makes Tirpitz see another hope, not only to ask East China to help Germany design a new type of battleship, but to carry out more in-depth cooperation with East China, including the hiring of East China personnel, who served as advisers to the German Navy, participated in the construction of the German Navy, provided reference opinions.

William II did not object to this, Bi Jing East China's ** record is there, almost all annihilated the expeditionary fleet, this record makes Wilhelm II also envious, jealous and hateful, mixed tastes, but one thing Wilhelm II also has to admit that East China ** is indeed stronger than Germany in terms of navy, so it is not unacceptable to ask East China ** for advice, and even ask East China ** advisers, it is not unacceptable, since it is Wilhelm II has decided to conclude a military alliance with East China**, then it is normal to cooperate in military affairs.

The occurrence of these events also made certain adjustments to the initial visit plan of Germany, so that the German mission had to stay in Shanghai for a period of time to let the mission fully understand the ideas of the country in order to successfully complete the visit. In addition, the mission sailed at sea for two and a half months, and the personnel were very tired and needed to rest for a while to recuperate.

Another point was suggested by the East China ** to Prince Heinrich, first of all, the lower-level officials in Shanghai and the members of the mission to communicate and cooperate in advance, understand the respective intentions, ideas, and goals of both sides, and conduct preliminary consultations, and at the same time jointly determine the itinerary of the visit and other matters to ensure the success of the visit.

In fact, this practice was very common in the old time and space, because before a major state visit, the two countries concerned would first communicate with low-level officials in the early stage, and test each other to have a full understanding of the goals and intentions of the visit, so that during the official visit, the main topics of the two sides have been basically determined, which can save both sides a lot of time and energy, and also avoid miscalculations.

In this era, firstly, the diplomacy between countries is not yet mature, and secondly, the distance between countries is also a major obstacle. The diplomacy between European countries is better, because the distance between countries is close, and countries also understand each other, and there are many people who can act as intermediaries, and once out of European countries, because the distance is too far, the collusion is not more, generally can only be telegraphed, relying on the ambassador to convey their respective intentions, but the ambassador Bi Jing is not in the country, and the telegraph collusion also has a lot of inconvenience, because it is still in the era of cable telegraph, the content of the telegram is easy to be leaked out.

The visit of the German mission is the first official state visit to East China, and in the current international situation, it is an important state visit to Germany and East China. After winning the Far Eastern War, in order to develop the economy and develop industrialization, it is also necessary to carry out deeper cooperation with Germany, which 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 the two sides to communicate with each other, find out the bottom of each other, and understand each other's attitudes and positions. Prince Heinrich was very much in favor of this arrangement,

He expects that the German mission will stay in Shanghai for 8-10 days, the first 2 days will be the resumption of the mission and internal communication, and the last 3 days will be to communicate with the country, and finally determine the objectives and tasks of the visit, and then use 2-3 days to communicate in the early stage of East China, and report the results of the preliminary communication to China, this process will take about 1-2 days.

Prince Heinrich came to Shanghai from Tsingtao, and three days later the German mission finally arrived in Shanghai to join the Prince, and of course the Prince's princess, Princess Eleni, and his two sons, Wadmar and Sigersmond, were also reunited with the Prince in Shanghai.

The husband and wife have been separated for almost one year, and now they are finally reunited, although they are in a foreign country, but they are still very excited. However, Prince Heinrich Bi Jing was a very controlling man, and after hugging and greeting his wife and son, he immediately met the other members of the mission.

The mission consisted of two deputies: Foreign Minister Dietric von Stolten, Undersecretary for Commerce Karl von Beklisson, Navy Representative Reinhajn von Schell, and Army Representative Erich von Ludendorff.

The representative of East China who accompanied Prince Heinrich to greet the German mission at the dock was Li Songchen, the mayor of Shanghai, because he knew that the prince's wife had arrived with the mission, so he also specially arranged a female veteran, Gao Jun, director of the Shanghai Ministry of Civil Affairs and director of women's affairs, to be specially responsible for receiving and accompanying the prince's wife.

Since it was only a temporary stay in Shanghai and not an official visit, the Shanghai side did not organize a grand welcoming ceremony, and there were no other officials except Li Songchen and Gao Jun, and Prince Heinrich also expressed his understanding and was very satisfied with the meticulous arrangements made by the Shanghai side.

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

Of course, the vehicle that picks up and drops off the members of the mission is a self-produced car in East China, with a total of 8 cars and 4 buses, but the buses are not big, and can only take 12 people. Cavalry escort was additionally arranged.

The Prince's Wife, Stolten, Beckrisson and others of course also know about the car, and they have all tried to ride, but the car produced in East China is still very different from the car produced in Germany, on the one hand, the structure is more reasonable, and the ride is more comfortable; The rides are all in their own way, irrelevant to each other, at the traffic intersection, there is a special person responsible for commanding, it seems very orderly, which also makes the Germans quite interested, Bi Jing is now in Germany, there is no real modern sense of the traffic road. The Germans have always valued discipline, so they are quite appreciative of Shanghai's road design and traffic order.

About 30 minutes later, the team arrived at the hotel located in the original Shanghai New District, because today is the first day of the mission to Shanghai, the members of the mission are also very tired, so there is no activity on this day, let everyone have a good rest, Li Songchen arranged everyone's room, before bidding farewell to Prince Heinrich and leaving.