Koster understood that His Royal Highness the Crown Prince meant that the German Navy should begin to develop a combat plan against the Royal Navy. From now on, there will be a series of more battle plans in the classified filing cabinets of the German Navy General Staff.

Although the battle plan for the Royal Navy had to be drawn up from scratch, and the strength of the Ocean Fleet was not worth mentioning at the moment, in fact, the Navy General Staff really did not have a clue at all. A large number of young staff officers who graduated from the Kiel Naval Academy were exposed to the risk fleet theory, asymmetric engagement, and system confrontation ideas developed by His Royal Highness the Crown Prince when he was still a cadet.

In accordance with the shipbuilding plan implemented in accordance with the "Navy Law", the continuous construction of new warships also gives these theoretical ideas a basis for implementation, as the German Navy gets bigger and bigger, the specific plan will definitely be constantly changed, but the core ideas must be those theories put forward by His Royal Highness the Crown Prince.

This made Köster a little excited and a little afraid, excited that the German Navy could finally one day have the power to challenge sea power, and afraid that His Royal Highness the Crown Prince could meet this qiē so early, that sentence should not have any unrealistic thoughts, probably a warning to the entire German Navy.

Although the German Navy General Staff began to quietly develop a battle plan to deal with the threat of the British Royal Navy, it still agreed to the request of the British Royal Navy to send an inspection mission to the German shipyards.

Not only that, but the Germans were responsive to the British, taking LinkedIn delegations to visit shipyards on the Mediterranean coast, in addition to shipyards on the Atlantic and Baltic coasts. The British found that the German shipyards that could build large ships were no worse in terms of technology and construction efficiency than the established British shipyards.

The four new battleships that started construction in the middle of last year have completed the general structure of the hull in just over half a year, which is a bit beyond the imagination of the British, but the British have also got what they want, and these solid evidence can be taken back to China for good publicity.

But that's not enough. The Earl of Selborn decided to continue to add some material to the report. Therefore, the delegation also paid a special visit to the British Ambassador to Germany, Lancels, and brought with them a questionnaire carefully prepared by the Earl of Selborn, which contained four questions:

1. When building the British Royal Navy, it only aimed at France and Russia without considering whether Germany was safe?

2. Is Germany's development of the navy directly aimed at Britain?

3. What will be the attitude of the German government and citizens when Britain is involved in the war with France and Russia?

4. What was Germany's policy towards the Netherlands and the Dutch Navy?

And Ambassador Lancels gave a clear answer to 1, 3, and 4 of them:

1. The strength of the British Royal Navy should be at least greater than that of the next two naval powers combined, regardless of whether Germany is included in these two powers.

3. In the event of a war between Britain and France and Russia, Germany will wait and see. They would like to see a lose-lose situation, but they would not tolerate France and Russia gaining the upper hand or even winning.

4. Although a considerable part of Germany wanted to annex the Netherlands and its colonies, the independence of the Netherlands could be guaranteed.

It stands to reason that such an answer is enough to prove that the threat to Germany is not great, and there is no need for the British Royal Navy to deliberately target Germany, especially when Germany has not yet become the second or third naval power in the world.

However, Ambassador Lancels gave a diametrically opposed and contradictory answer to the second crucial question: in the body of the answer, Lancels declared that the construction of the German navy was not directed against Britain. However, in a later annex, he stated that, after talking to the British naval officers of the expedition, he believed that "Germany considers itself to be the most powerful maritime power in the German navy, us." ”

After this series of ways and channels have been answered. Selborn asked the Royal Admiralty to "analyse" the answers to arrive at a "fit" conclusion.

However, although the British got the answers they wanted, not all the news obtained from the German expedition made the British happy.

After the Marquis of Salisbury stepped down for health reasons, his nephew Arthur? James? Balfour became the new Prime Minister of Great Britain as his political successor, and as soon as he took office, the Royal Navy's report on the naval power of the Germans was not good news.

"Your Excellency Prime Minister, this time we visited 11 of their shipyards in Germany that have built large warships, including 4 shipyards in China and 7 private shipyards. Each of them has the capacity to start construction of 2 first-class battleships at the same time. And these shipyards are quite technically proficient, with first-class workers and equipment.

The Germans already produced more than 3 times as much steel last year as our country. More than our country, France and Russia combined, the index of production in all industrial sectors in Germany increased by more than 60% in 1900-1901, and last year the Germans' fiscal revenues reached 2.82 billion marks, equivalent to 141 million pounds, which has already exceeded our fiscal revenues last year!

Of course, the Germans have a large army to maintain, but our current army is not small. The total number of our navy and army is as high as 624,000, while the total number of German troops is only 720,000, and their navy is much smaller than ours.

Because of the lessons of the Boer War, we also need a large army to sustain the empire's colonies around the world, so we also have to spend a lot of money on the army every year. And the Germans have higher revenues than we do and are still rising year by year. It is not impossible for them to come up with 60 per cent of the cost of our navy to build warships as long as they are willing.

Therefore, if the Germans really go all out to build warships against our country, since there is no need to build a large number of small and medium-sized ships to maintain a large number of colonies, then it is not impossible for the Germans to start an average of 5 battleships a year, and it only takes 10 years for the Germans to catch up with the Royal Navy in terms of the number of capital ships. The Earl of Selborne made a generous statement to Balfour.

"So we should be glad that the Germans are now building 2 battleships per year? Your Excellency the Earl of Selborn, what is your Jianyì? What does the Royal Navy need to do to deal with this threat? Belfort asked.

"Your Excellency Prime Minister, I hope that from next year, there will be an additional £3 million per year for four consecutive financial years to maintain the pace of construction of 3 battleships and 4 armored cruisers per year to ensure our absolute superiority at sea!" The Earl of Selburn proposes a completely impractical construction.

"Last year we had already approved the Royal Navy to build eight first-class battleships by 1904, and you would like to expect an additional £3 million a year? Have you ever thought that the Empire's finances are already under great pressure? It is impossible to approve. Balfour vetoed.

"But if this is not done, the Royal Navy will not be able to cope with the threats it may face, and I hope that you will support the Admiralty in submitting this proposal to Parliament, and that we will submit a conclusion on our visit to Germany to Parliament, which I believe will make Parliament aware of the necessity of our proposal." The Earl of Selborne said confidently.

Faced with such a sure look from the Secretary of the Admiralty, Balfour finally reluctantly agreed to speak for the Admiralty in Parliament, and as for whether the Council would approve it, it was a matter for the Council.

With this guarantee from Balfour, the Earl of Selburn was satisfied.

However, if Jochen knew about this, he would also be satisfied, the British continued to waste money on building obsolete dreadnoughts, which was of course a good thing for Germany, and these ex-dreadnoughts at the peak of their development were not necessarily much cheaper than dreadnoughts.

And in addition to the rise in the cost of construction and use of battleships, the consequent rapid increase in the personnel of the Royal Navy would also bring financial strains to the British.

The Royal Navy's service was only 65,400 in 1890, but in 1897 it rose to 93,750, and by 1905 that number would soar to more than 130,000 in 10 years, according to the now established shipbuilding plan.

The personnel expenditure also rose from 6.23 million pounds that year to 11.89 million pounds, and the total military expenditure of the navy also increased from 15.5885 pounds to 41.062 million pounds that year, and the proportion of the empire's financial expenditure also rose from 16.7% to 27.9%. Now the continued increase in the program for the construction of former dreadnoughts and large armored cruisers means that the situation continues to deteriorate.

More importantly, the British government began to pay off the huge war debts of the Boer War, and the Royal Navy's military spending would be greatly reduced, and this situation would reach its peak around 1910, which would be the height of the naval race, which would be a golden opportunity for the Germans.

Of course, the Earl of Selborne did not know this, and he was complacent that he had accomplished his goal of inciting Britain to hostility against Germany, and at the same time had obtained the opportunity to secure more naval funds on the grounds of the German threat.

Soon, although the Admiralty's "conclusion" had not yet been released, a new round of German threat theories in the British newspapers was already raging, such as "all the new battleships of the German Navy are now deployed in the North Sea, and the new battleships under construction will also be deployed in the North Sea, which is obviously the German Navy taking the British Royal Navy as an imaginary enemy", "The German shipyards are covered with the keels of the newly started warships, and the scale of the Germans' shipbuilding far exceeds their national defense needs, It is clear that the Germans' shipbuilding program was aimed at the British" and other reports are everywhere. (To be continued......)