The red sun is rising, the white clouds are flying, and the prototype car numbered 001 has successively crossed a vertical obstacle half a meter high and a deep trench nearly one meter wide; Although there were cases of breaking down and stalling while passing through muddy ground and wading through water, the faces of everyone present were still full of happy smiles. For a test car that has just been built, it performs well enough. When Polscher and other technicians recorded in detail what they saw and how the crew reacted while driving, Polscher, as the chief designer, made a conservative but optimistic judgment: within this year, the tank would be able to eliminate all technical defects that affected its use.

As for the next shooting test, it is the stage for the performance of this prototype. Thanks to the excellent optical sighting equipment and the straight trajectory of the cannon, the gunner's shooting was quite accurate: for a target of one foot at a distance of 600 meters, the projectile hit rate was almost 100%. In the test of armor-piercing ability, the naval gun's 2.1kg standard projectile fired at an initial velocity of 656m/s pierced a 43mm steel plate set at a distance of 500 meters, which is 50% higher than the 37mm L45 gun that tank No. 3 is planned to equip at this moment. As for the power of the grenade, this 50mm naval gun is nearly 4 times more powerful than the latter, and its advantage is already greater!

In terms of armor, Volkswagen's tank also relied on its low hull and the huge bonus brought by the inclined armor, and completely crushed potential competitors with a tonnage one level larger than itself. The 30 mm large-angle armor on the bow of the hull is equivalent to 73 mm of vertical protection in the face of 76 mm shells, and even in the face of the T-34/76, it can ensure the safety of the head of the hull at a considerable distance. The front of the turret is 60 mm of vertical armor, which is also highly resistant to bullets. The hull and turret sides are 30 mm vertical, providing an effective defense against small-caliber shells fired at angles and direct attacks from anti-tank guns.

"The R&D project for tanks No. 3 and No. 4 can be stopped." After climbing into the sample car and experiencing it, Guderian made his own judgment with an awe-inspiring expression. The interior of this tank was not as cramped and cramped as he imagined. With the exception of the driver, who controls the car in a semi-recumbent position and struggles to change gears, all four members have effective space to complete their own work. In contrast, the No. 3 tank became a fundamentally unmentionable slag when it arrived, and there was no need to continue its development. As for the No. 4 tank, although the army was going to equip it with 75mm guns, it was a short-barreled cargo to support the infantry; From the point of view of weight and turret space, the current prototype can directly replace the 50mm L40 gun with the 75mm L24!

Looking at Fang Yan's radiant smiling face, Guderian couldn't help but feel a little unreal trance: the research and development project of the No. 3/4 main tank, which had been pinned on by the army, was cut off by another company that had just been in the early stages of a year and the bidders had not even manufactured prototypes. Even the No. 2 tank project, which has just been built as a prototype. It can also end with a miscarriage: Volkswagen's product is only 2 tons heavier than it, but there is a world of disparity in firepower and protection!

Before coming to the proving ground, Guderian did not think that Volkswagen's vehicle would perform very well; After all, the relationship between its weight and the artillery is so disproportionate, and its prototype appeared at least half a year earlier than its peers. However, now he realizes that there really is a miracle in this world that relies on technological innovation. Could it really be as the young man in front of him said, only the navy can really build this kind of land weapon that originally belonged to them? The Brom family's industry may not only be limited to meeting the needs of the navy, but also rely on the provision of sophisticated combat vehicles developed by them!

"Your Excellency, the Brom family has always looked forward to in-depth cooperation with the glorious army." See Guderian's slightly complicated gaze. Fang Yan smiled with a friendly face, "If we can establish close ties in weapons and equipment, then this will not only be beneficial to the development of both of us, but also promote the rapid growth of German power." I believe that we will have a bright and satisfying future between us. ”

The departing Guderian did not disappoint Fang Yan. Soon. The Army announced that Volkswagen's Bobcat tanks had been included in their procurement program and sent personnel to conduct a comprehensive survey of the hardware situation at the Volkswagen plant. Seeing that Rudolph, who was growing in Huafa, was getting busy again because of the development of this project, Fang Yan couldn't help but put forward the idea of recalling Freya, who was still running a shipyard in the Soviet Union at the moment, back to China. In addition to the reasons why I was able to help Rudolph in the family business. The safety of his eldest brother is also in danger.

From November 1934, Joseph Stalin, the supreme leader of the Soviet Union, used the assassination of Kirov as a pretext to target any party member who was not conducive to establishing absolute rule like that of an emperor. An unprecedented purge was launched. Tens of thousands of people were slaughtered and executed by the Soviet Ministry of Internal Affairs in the name of "imperialist lackeys" and "enemies of the reactionary class", and a large number of execution orders were issued daily from the dictators of the Kremlin. Although the Union shipyard was sheltered by the German Legation in Leningrad, there was still no guarantee that the greedy and wolf-like internal affairs police would forever stop at this "nest of capital bandits" that was close at hand!

According to Fang Yan's wishes, he was ready to completely withdraw this branch of his family in the Soviet Union. Today, the Union shipyard has fulfilled its historic mission: it not only maintained and even strengthened its family's economic power during the Great Depression, but also successfully played the role of a guide, shifting the focus of the Soviet armed forces from land to sea. Compared with the lineup of the same period in history, the Red Navy at this time had 3 more battleships and 6 heavy cruisers; This makes its line-up even more than Italy on paper as the fifth-ranked maritime powerhouse. In the shipbuilding industry, the Soviet Union has also made great progress compared to the historical plane. Thanks to the paid export of technology from the Union shipyards, the Soviet state-owned shipbuilding enterprises at this time already had the ability to independently build 14,000-ton heavy cruisers, which was a matter of building large battleships, that is, increasing the width and depth of the ships.

Under such circumstances, even if the Union shipyards, which were pioneers, withdrew, the dictator who had achieved great success would certainly not stop dreaming of wading into the sea. And the kryptonite construction of the navy will inevitably mean the pain and embarrassment of the army. In the seven years since the construction of these nine large warships totaling 185,000 tons, the Soviet Union has missed out on more than $1 billion in defense spending with the army, and the maintenance of these warships and the continued construction of new warships will also consume a large amount of state funds in the coming years, further weakening the number of troops and weapons and equipment of the Soviet army. As soon as the German-Soviet War broke out, what did the Soviet Army, which was extremely inferior in terms of weaponry and personnel quality, and whose attributes were almost no different from the imperial Russian troops in the past, resist the earth-shattering thunderous attack of the German Army?

As for the economic losses caused by the family, Fang Yan also thought about it carefully. With Hitler's coming to power, the living conditions of the Union shipyards have changed radically from a decade ago: Hitler's anti-communist stance was so resolute that only Churchill in England seemed to be comparable to it in the whole of Europe, which made the ideological antagonism between Germany and the Soviet Union more acute than ever, and this inevitably affected the order income of the Union shipyards.

In addition, with the signing of the Anglo-German Naval Agreement, the military restrictions that had been suppressed on Germany were completely destroyed, which made it unnecessary for Germany to develop weapons on Soviet soil, which further widened the rift between the new Germany and the Soviet Union. The entry into force of the "Franco-Soviet Treaty of Friendship and Mutual Assistance" this year means the formal end of German-Soviet friendly relations. Even if the Union shipyard remained in Leningrad, it would be difficult for the Soviet Navy to entrust its national weapons to the hands of this German company, and the former would not be profitable.

Under Fang Yan's persuasion, Rudolph, who realized that the international situation had changed, also agreed with his young son's opinion after some contemplation. He immediately sent a telegram to his eldest son, who was far away in Leningrad, telling him to prepare to withdraw all his men and equipment to the country. If the Soviet Navy was not willing to empty the shipyard itself, then the shipyard was sold to the Soviet Navy. Fang Yan suddenly found that Rudolph's strategy of selling the shipyard to the Soviets was the best situation, because he could not only take advantage of the centralized corruption of Soviet officialdom to make a lot of money in this deal, but also leave the other party a strong shipbuilding foundation, so that the Soviet Union could continue to advance along the road of a large navy.

What Fang Yan didn't expect was that his family's normal industrial contraction this time would pull out many core technicians of the Soviet Union. Since the Union shipyard has been rooted in the Soviet Union for more than ten years, almost all the Soviet engineers working in the factory have formed close ties with the German personnel, especially the backbone of shipbuilding and aviation. Now seeing that their German counterparts were preparing to return home and retreat, the Soviet engineers were immediately frightened: if the Germans left, would they still have a way to survive under the forced confession of the Ministry of Internal Affairs?

Rao did not have the slightest idea of treason among these Soviet backbones, but under the terrifying threat that they and their families would be branded as German spies and eventually die, they also had to grit their teeth and make a choice between the lesser of two evils. Even if you leave your hometown and become a black household in a foreign country, it is far better than falling into the hands of the internal police! (To be continued.) )