Upon his arrival in England, Frederick III was friendly enough to all the British public, expressing enough goodwill towards Britain in both public appearances and media interviews. He has accompanied Queen Victoria to attend celebrations in public many times, and his appearance of a filial son and grandson has made the British media affectionately call him "the son-in-law of the British".

Therefore, the Kaiser's family has reached full value in the eyes of the German public, but what the public does not know is that the diplomatic negotiations between British Prime Minister Salisbury and German Prime Minister Caprivy have not been so smooth.

Salisbury, the old fox, was well aware that the Kaiser's attitude was clearly aimed at getting Britain not to interfere with their seizure of the Philippines. Salisbury would not have believed the newspapers in praise of Frederick III by declaring that the Germans' actions in the Far East were really a solution to some "humanitarian catastrophe".

However, Salisbury had to admit that the Germans had played a good game, did enough to work public opinion and forced Spain to give in obediently, and did not use force to snatch their carefully disguised moral coat to be torn apart. Although he knew that the ambitions of the Germans did not stop there, and that the ultimate goal was to seize the entire Philippines, how to achieve the goal without the use of force Salisbury was very puzzled, was the Germans ready to tear through the camouflage and take it by force and slap themselves in the face?

However, no matter what the Germans are prepared to do, Britain's attitude is very important, and Salisbury, who understands this, has to sigh that these Germans will really seize the opportunity, if in peacetime, even if Britain does not care at all about such a big thing as Germany seizing the Spanish colony, it must let the Germans pay some blood to be the reward of the British Empire's "favor".

But now the Spaniards and Turks are at loggerheads, and the Boers in South Africa are dishonest. The British didn't have much energy to bargain with the Germans, and it was Caprivi who seized on this to entangle himself here.

After another day of arguing, Salisbury pinched the bridge of his nose and frowned. Chamberlain looked at the Prime Minister with a haggard look and persuaded: "Your Excellency Salisbury, why are you so distressed when the Germans have promised to support our country in the question of Crete and Dewathland? ”

"That's not what I'm worried about. It's just that the Germans are getting more and more difficult now, and even the same Bismarck used to be tough, and if it was necessary to consider the attitude of the British Empire, he would not dare to just write us a blank check. Even if the Germans did not support him, would he still be able to stop the British Empire's actions in Dewasland?

And you look at the present, they want to get the acquiescence of the British Empire to their actions with a single lip service, and we have to agree. After the Germans digested Austria, the continental balance began to become delicate. Salisbury said with a headache.

"Yes, the expansion of Russian power in the Balkans has made it increasingly difficult for the Empire to contain Russia, and now the Russians are still in the Far East. It is becoming increasingly difficult for the Empire to maintain the balance of power on the continent. Chamberlain agreed.

"And the Germans' annexation of Austria and compromise with the Russians on the Balkan issue brought German-Russian relations closer and closer, not only favoring Russia on the concession issue of Port Arthur, but also helping the Russians build a 12,000-ton supercruiser, although I don't think a cruiser can change anything, but this is a very bad sign.

That's why we can't be too tough on the Germans, so as not to push them over to the Russians. And now the Germans are showing a friendly picture. Those members of the public only knew about the heckling and did not know that the Germans had ulterior motives. We also have to take into account public opinion, which is really unpleasant. Salisbury said.

"Germany's strength after the annexation of Austria has become very important, and it is still beneficial for us to make friends with Germany to suppress France and block Russia." Chamberlain said.

"Of course, otherwise why would I still be sitting here in a senseless fight with the Germans?" Salisbury said unhappily.

At this time, the British Empire was in full swing, gloriously isolated, and served as a balancing hand on the European continent. Naturally, there is no thought at all about who to ally with. It has always been the British Empire that gives empty checks to others, and now that someone has written blank checks to the British Empire, Salisbury is naturally quite unhappy.

However, it was useless to be unhappy, and Salisbury still had to agree with Caprivi on the Philippines, Dewasland, and Crete. The British could expand their influence in South Africa with peace of mind, while the Germans could prepare to seize the Philippines with peace of mind.

June 26, 1897. Spithead Bay is home to 165 Royal Navy warships, which stretch for miles, and the airiness of the ships stretches to the end of the sea and sky.

The 21 battleships and 44 cruisers demonstrated the unrivaled naval power of the British Empire, and more importantly, none of these warships were drawn from any of the Empire's subfleets throughout the globe.

The battleships are like the sea, the guns are like forests, and the battle flag of St. George is hunting. Such a spectacular spectacle not only frightened the enemy, but also fascinated the British themselves.

The bay was crowded with small boats of sightseers who came to catch such a spectacle, which shuttled between the huge battleships. Great power chauvinism pervaded Britain throughout the country, and a newspaper at the time wrote, "If any British taxpayer is indifferent to the sight of such a magnificent and exciting spectacle, he is clearly not a patriot, nor a true citizen." ”

Because Queen Victoria was 78 years old and the previous celebrations had made her very tired, the Queen stayed at Osborn Palace on the Isle of Wight and watched the parade through a telescope. Crown Prince Edward inspected the Royal Navy aboard the Royal Yacht Victoria and Albert (3rd generation).

Frederick III's family followed him aboard the Hohenzollern (2nd generation) as a foreign VIP ship, and looking at such a powerful Royal Navy fleet, Jochen could see envy and powerlessness in his father's eyes. Indeed, the Royal Navy at this time was indeed terrifying to everyone.

Even the pre-war parade in 1914 could not produce the decadent feeling that people cannot be hosted to. Even the 1914 parade was the most glorious display of the Royal Navy. But so what? At this time, the German High Seas Fleet, which was already the second largest in the world, already had the strength to compete with the British.

From 1889 to 1892, the Royal Navy built 7 Sovereign-class, 1 improved HMS Hood, a total of 8 first-class battleships, 2 Bafleur-class second-class battleships, 17 first-class cruisers, 21 second-class cruisers, and 4 third-class cruisers.

The Spencer Plan of 1893 called for the Royal Navy to build 42 battleships and 45 armored cruisers by 1904! An average of 7 ships are launched every year!

Eight of the nine Majestic-class first-class battleships that began construction in 1894 are now present at the parade. And now the British still have 6 old man-class and 3 Dreadnought-class battleships on the slipway.

On the other hand, the German Navy, 4 Brandenburg-class ships and 5 Caesars still under construction? A total of 8 pre-dreadnought battleships of the Frederick III class were like babies in front of the huge British Royal Navy.

Although Jochen knew that these mighty and majestic warships in front of him would be completely swept into the garbage heap by a brand new warship in less than 10 years, Germany would be able to start a shipbuilding race with Britain at the same starting line, and then it would be a competition of national strength and financial strength, and Germany was not afraid of this kind of local tyrant game at all.

But now Jochen can't tell his father that in the future we can have a shipbuilding competition with Britain on new warships, saying that this kind of rhetoric that promotes the antagonism between Britain and Germany is expected to be killed by his father.

So Jochen comforted: "Father, Britain is an island nation, and they can do everything they can to build a strong naval fleet, and we are a continental country that needs to maintain a strong army, so at least for now, we can't build such a fleet."

Unless we can maintain our army and have enough spare power to invest in the navy. However, now that the empire's national strength is strong enough, the previous 10-year naval plan has expired, and we can also appropriately increase the naval strength. ”

"You're right, Jochen, I was just momentarily fascinated by the spectacle. It is true that we do not need to build a navy as large as the one we have in front of us, but it is indeed more important to strengthen the navy appropriately, otherwise we will not have enough ships to send to the Philippines, as is the problem of the Far Eastern Fleet now......" Frederick III agreed.

Seeing his father come out of his loss, Jochen smiled and said, "Father, and although the Empire's naval power is not strong, we are ahead of Britain in technology, which is enough for us to be proud of.

For example, the Brandenburg, I have heard in the past few days that the British have been classified as second-class battleships because of the small caliber of their main guns, how can they know that although the main guns are smaller, the Brandenburg class can actually block the main gun shells of first-class battleships in actual combat, and completely sweep away the opponent's superstructure with an extremely high rate of fire. ”

Listening to his son's words, Frederick III set his sights on the Brandenburg, which was at the forefront of the foreign visiting warships.

As the flagship of the German Navy's Atlantic Fleet, the Brandenburg has a more beautiful bridge than its class, and the added compartments at the lower end of the columnar mast make the rear of the bridge two stories higher, making it look more imposing, and the three main turrets arranged along the central axis show her extraordinary firepower.

A second-class battleship is a second-class battleship, even if it is a second-class battleship, it is the strongest second-class battleship, so Frederick III thought.

If you can build the strongest second-class battleship now, then you can build the strongest first-class battleship in the future, and Frederick III, who knew that the 283-mm 45-diameter naval gun, which was being intensively developed under the auspices of his son, suddenly became brighter. (To be continued......)