"From the day I met you, I have made it my ambition not to be such a mountain king again." Tang Jing looked at his beloved wife fixedly and said, "I can't let you be wronged with me." ”

Mrs. Tang smiled happily and hugged him tighter.

"Is there any news from the ninth sister? How do I feel that she likes to stay in Yanjing more and more, and it seems that she doesn't plan to come back. Mrs. Tang said.

"You don't have to go around the bend to remind me, she likes Yang Hanzhi, I can see it a long time ago." Tang Jing smiled and said.

"So what are you going to do? Let the ninth sister make him small? Mrs. Tang asked with a smile, "Are you willing to let your own daughter be wronged like this?" ”

"A person like Yang Hanzhi will not let her be wronged." Tang Jing said calmly, "In this matter, let the ninth sister choose by herself, after all, this is a new era, young men and women should have their own choices, and they can't do everything by their parents." ”

Mrs. Tang made him laugh when he said "free love", "There is really a father and a daughter!" She looked at Tang Jing and seemed to hear what he said, "It's really rare to see an 'enlightened' father like you." ”

In this day and age, despite the culture of free love, traditional ideas still have a large market and are not as open as later generations. Parents still have a lot of decision-making power in the marriage of young men and women, but a completely hands-off father like Tang Jing can be said to be rare in today's society.

"Since Yang Hanzhi is going to step down from the position of border superintendent, what kind of arrangements do you think he will make for himself?" Mrs. Tang changed the subject and asked, "He won't be able to get any position, right?" ”

"He has always been very interested in the Navy, and even if he is not a border superintendent, he is still the acting chief of the Navy and the Maritime Patrol Envoy, and this time he is likely to become a full-fledged chief of the Navy." Tang Jing said, "Because without him, our Chinese navy would not be able to have the current scale." ”

"He's actually a shipbuilding expert." Mrs. Tang remembered the scene when Yang Shuoming built pocket submarines, and couldn't help but sigh with emotion, "It's really hard to believe that in just seven or eight years, he can make such a large naval fleet." ”

"So no matter what he does, I've always trusted his judgment." Tang Jing said, "Of course, he is not a saint, and it is inevitable that he will make mistakes, so we need to help him." ”

Tang Jing said, his eyes fell on the letter on the table.

Tokyo, Imperial Palace, Imperial Garden.

Today's weather is fine, the blue sky is cloudless, and Prince Hirohito, the regent's palace, sitting in the garden, is enjoying the fresh air outdoors while reading a special report on China that has just been delivered.

“…… Even before the war began, the propaganda system in China liked to exaggerate the tremendous role of Western aid in China, as some Chinese scholars who were hostile to the Western powers' policies toward China also wrote about it. For example, in Chen Shaoyu's book "The Wartime Economy of China during the European Wars", as a social beneze, he refers to China's important Western allies, the rice country, as "the capitalism of the rice country that developed by sucking the blood and sweat of the people during the First World War", and that the country "now stands at the forefront of the imperialist and [***] camps, and at the same time has become an advocate of imperialist aggression and expansion in various parts of the world." ”

"Some Chinese scholars have described in detail the economic support of Western countries for China, and in the book "A Short History of the European War" on the war in Europe, it is pointed out that "China actually received some weapons from the United States during the war, as well as some automobiles, equipment, and materials that were important for the production of the people, including steam locomotives, fuel, radio communication equipment, various non-ferrous metals, and various chemicals." One of the most important aids is the large number of cars provided by the United States and the United Kingdom. The impact of this aid was very significant, and it had a decisive impact on the course of the war in Europe after China's entry into the war. The authors then confirm that foreign aid accounted for 39 percent of the total production of artillery, 47 percent of tanks, 60 percent of combat aircraft, and that in 1918 imports accounted for 44 percent of the total number of vehicles in the Chinese army, and in 1920 59 percent. The total amount of allied aid accounted for more than 60 per cent of China's military production. In fact, in order to conceal the total production of certain types of weapons and technical equipment in China, the proportion of Western aid in China's military production is likely to be greatly depressed. ”

"The reason for depressing the role of Western aid in China's wartime conditions is, first of all, to confirm the myth of the 'national economic victory' of China in the war against the imperialist [***] army, and to prove that China's military economy is superior to that of the old capitalist countries, not only Germany, but also the economies of Great Britain and the United States. It was only after 1921 that a more accurate assessment of Allied aid began to appear in the public press of China. For example, General Vung Ki-son later said in a conversation with an American priest, Father Luo Wenfang: "If we talk about our readiness for war from an economic point of view, we cannot hide the factor of receiving assistance from the side of the allies. Of course, the first thing to mention is the assistance received from our friends in the United States, because in this respect the help of our British friends is relatively limited. This cannot be left out of account when analyzing all aspects of the war. Without the ammunition provided by the United States, we would be in a very difficult situation, and we would not have been able to produce as much ammunition as we needed for the war. Without the trucks of the Mi people, we would not be able to transport our artillery. They really guarantee our front-line transportation to a considerable extent. The special steel, which was needed in all aspects of the war, was also provided by friends in the United States. At the same time, General Feng Jishan also emphatically pointed out, "When we began to enter the war, we were still very backward in industry compared to myself. The reliable surname of these conversations between Luo Wenfang and Feng Jishan from 1915 to 1918 is confirmed by Feng Jishan's later statement, which was intercepted and recorded by our intelligence services in 1921: 'It is now always said that the Western Allies never helped us in the war...... But you must know that it cannot be denied that the people of the United States have quickly produced and supplied us with a lot of materials, without which it is impossible for us to form our reserve forces, nor to continue the war. We don't have explosives and gunpowder. Without these things, the rifle would have no bullets. The people of the United States sincerely provided us with gunpowder and explosives, and they also gave us how much steel they produced and provided us with quickly! Without the steel provided by the Chinese people, would we be able to produce so many warships and tanks very quickly? Now, of course, the situation is different. We already have enough supplies and equipment for ourselves. ’”

In contrast to the vagueness of the Chinese people, the scholars of the United States have always regarded the role of aiding China as a decisive factor in China's ability to continue the war. In a monograph published this year, Adams, a scholar of the United States, discusses the vital military and economic role of the United States aid in China. However, in the absence of relevant information on the production of China, he was unable to indicate the weight of the assistance provided by the United States and the United Kingdom in the individual vital production of China, although he was able to draw up a detailed list of supplies under a number of informal and civil agreements. The British scholar Hudson also discussed for the first time in his monograph the significance of the supplies provided by the United States, Britain and Canada to China for the military economy of China from the perspective of equilibrium surname. However, the list of products he enumerated in his study was much smaller than that of Adams, and was heavily influenced by the theory of the balance of the national economy, Hudson mainly counted the quantities of weapons and combat equipment, and at the same time, as is generally done, there was no item-by-item, specific list of products (there was a total amount of petroleum products, but no specific types of fuel; There is only a total amount of steel, and there is no classification. The same is true of others), which makes the situation more favorable to the Chinese economy, much better than it actually is. Our experts and scholars are trying to calculate the share of Western aid in the production of certain strategic goods in China. At the same time, we are making use not only of some of the information that has recently been made public, but also of what we have gathered ourselves. ”

"Before the war, the weakest point of the Chinese economy was the production of gasoline, especially the lack of high-quality gasoline for tanks. However, during the years of the war, the United States transported a large amount of gasoline to China according to the relevant agreements, and many of it was also diverted to other regions. Obviously, without Western assistance in terms of fuel, it would have been impossible for the Chinese air force and tank forces to maintain their forces at a minimum size. It should be noted that due to the import of cheap gasoline from the West, its role in securing the oil used by the army in China is actually much greater - and its role is underestimated if it is calculated purely by weight. Although there is a large import of gasoline from the United States, it actually plays a much smaller role. Because China could not meet its own needs in terms of this fuel, the shortage of gasoline for the cars of the China Army continued until the end of the war. For example, at the end of 1921, in the report submitted by the Committee of the General Staff of the Chinese Army, the Rear Command and the General Directorate of Motor Transport, referring to the inspection of the correct use of vehicles in the armies, it was pointed out that in the First Mongolian Army, "the further increase in the number of vehicle transports in the armies was not synchronized with the amount of fuel allocated". This situation also existed in the Second Army of the South. Obviously, the reason for this situation is partly due to the irrational structure of the materials that the Chinese side has applied for transportation under the agreement, and the more reasonable structure of the materials should be less cars and more gasoline. ”

"The total number of cars in the Chinese army is also largely guaranteed by Western aid. Before the end of the war, 72.8% of the total number of vehicles of the Chinese army were transported according to wartime agreements (the remaining 15.1% were cars of China's own production, and the rest were captured by the enemy). Considering that the tonnage of the cars in the United States is relatively large and the surname can be relatively good, they play a greater role (a large number of trucks are used as tractors for cannons). The total number of vehicles of the Chinese army before the war (both existing and requisitioned from the civilian population after the start of the war) was badly damaged. Due to the severity of the losses (45 per cent of light vehicles belonging to categories 1 and 2, i.e., those that did not require immediate repair, while trucks and special vehicles accounted for 68 per cent), only a small number of cars were actually requisitioned from the civilian population in the first months of the war, and after the start of the war, the losses of the vehicles of the Chinese army were already very staggering. Obviously, without Western assistance, the combat effectiveness of the Chinese army would have been greatly affected at least after 1919, and until the end of the war, the utilization of the Chinese army's vehicles was affected by the lack of gasoline. ”

"Without the assistance of Western countries, the transportation of the China Railway would not have been able to function. The production of the China Railway Tracks (including narrow gauges) has been in a low state. However, according to the wartime agreement, the United States supplied China with a large amount of railroad tracks, which accounted for about 76.5% of the total railway production in China from mid-1916 to the end of 1920. If we subtract the production of narrow gauge from this statistic – according to the relevant law, Western countries do not provide narrow gauge to China – then the amount provided by the United States accounts for 83.3% of the total production of China. If we subtract the production in the second half of 1920 from this result, we can see it as at least half of the annual production (in fact, the production in the second half of 1920 was less than half of the annual production of the previous rails, because the scale of its use for rail production was reduced), then the Western countries provided 92.2% of the total production of railways in China, so that almost half of the rails used on the wartime railways in China were supplied by the United States. By drastically reducing the production of industrial railroad tracks, China was able to devote additional production equipment and steel reserves to weapons production. ”

"One of the more obvious effects of the aid provided by Western countries is to ensure that the total production of locomotives and wagons in China is maintained at a minimum level. During the war, Britain and Mi supplied a total of 440 steam locomotives to China. They supplied 2.4 times the total number of steam locomotives produced in China, which produced very few wagons of its own between 1916 and 1920. There are no exact statistics on the carriages supplied by Yingmi, but it is estimated that it should be more than 10 times the number of carriages produced in China between 1917 and 1921. It is well known that during the war in Europe, the transportation crisis that occurred in Russia between 1916 and 1917 on the border triggered in many ways the revolution that swept the country in 1917, in fact, the crisis of 1917 was caused by the insufficient production of railroad tracks, steam locomotives and carriages, since the reserves of industrial production equipment and rolled steel were used for the production of weapons. But throughout the war, the supplies supplied by Western countries to China prevented China's railway traffic from being paralyzed in a state similar to that of Russia. ”

"In addition to this, gunpowder and other explosives supplied by Western countries also played an important role. From mid-1917 to mid-1921, the West supplied more than 63 per cent of China's total production of explosives......"

"The non-ferrous metals supplied by Western countries to China also played a crucial role in ensuring the operation of its wartime economy. The figures for the production of the main non-ferrous metals in China between 1917 and 1920 remain kept secret. So, here we no longer rely on official figures, but on estimates. As a result, the copper supplied by the United States to China actually accounted for 82.5% of China's total wartime copper production, which alleviated the shortage of copper in China in many ways. In addition, it is also due to the large number of advanced radio communication equipment provided by the United States to China. In addition, China has received a large number of field telephone lines and submarine cables, which meet the main needs of the Chinese army. The United States also supplied a large number of motorcycles, accounting for 1.2 times the total motorcycle production in China between 1918 and 1921. ”

"In 1920, the German intelligence agencies recorded the fact that Shina consciously distorted the statistics. During the war years, punishment anyway did not sort out the financial statements and expand the production of weapons and equipment, and most likely it would only make management more chaotic, which would only reduce production, not increase it. ”

"Based on the fact that the labor consumption of various weapons and equipment units of the Chinese army has begun to decrease over the years, we estimate that the amount of weapons and equipment provided by Western countries is about twice as high as generally believed. The United States provided 857 tanks to China, while Britain and Canada provided 248 with assistance. The United States provided 781 aircraft and the United Kingdom provided 384. Most of them are combat aircraft. Considering the exaggerated factor in China's production figures, the proportion of combat aircraft provided by the West in China's total wartime production is no longer 35% as the traditional view believes, but has risen to about 60%. The share of tanks and artillery supplied by the West has also risen from the traditional 42 percent to 54 percent. As for artillery, the main aid provided by the United States is heavy artillery. Historians of China often associate the number of aid provided by the United States with the number of cannons and light artillery produced in China, so that the number of artillery supplied by the United States accounts for only a small share of the total artillery production in China. However, here we should compare them only with the total production of the Chinese artillery. You must know that the most scarce thing in the Chinese army is heavy artillery, so the share of the number of artillery aided by the United States will be greatly increased (unfortunately, due to the lack of data on the production of artillery in China, we cannot list accurate calculations for the time being). ”

(To be continued)