In the official residence of Ouyang Jian in Chongqing, a beautiful piece of music floated out of the radio, and then a female announcer reported in a somewhat loud voice: "Now broadcast major news, General Fu Zuoyi of the 2nd War Zone, led his troops to recover Baotou after 8 days of bloody battles. Campaign: 18,000 puppet soldiers were eliminated, and the remnants of the Japanese army fled to Zhangjiakou. According to the Ministry of National Defense, the 18th Route Army of the National Revolutionary Army is about to launch a major counteroffensive against the Japanese army in Shanxi??????。 ”

Ouyang Jian was arranging his clothes in front of the mirror, and seemed indifferent when he heard the report on the radio. He already knew the news of the capture of Baotou, so he naturally seemed calm. Mrs. Mei Fang muttered while helping him sort out his tie: "My little sister is too willful, if there are three long and two short, how can I explain to my parents." "I already take care of Deputy Commander Nie, you can rest assured!" "Bullets and shells don't have long eyes, how can you reassure me?" "Little sister took the initiative to ask to go to the front line, you can't meddle in this matter!"

"Report!" "Come in!" Gong Nan, the captain of the guard, pushed the door and walked in. "What's the matter?" "The director of Lao Jiang's guard room is calling, and Mrs. Jiang invites you to enjoy the flowers!" "I heard that Madame's garden is planted with a lot of precious flowers and plants, and now is the season of purple and red, and I have long wanted to visit it." Mei Fang said happily. Ouyang Jian said in the car: "Madam, do you think Lao Jiang is letting us go to enjoy the flowers!" He's going to ask the teacher for sin! ”

"What do you mean?" Mei Fang was surprised. Before the Battle of Baotou, military experts of the Ministry of Defense believed that the 18th Tank Brigade of the Japanese Army was in Baotou and it was unrealistic to conquer Baotou, and questioned Fu Zuoyi's battle plan. However, the tank unit of the Eighth Route Army was born out of thin air, and in one fell swoop it inflicted heavy damage on the 18th Tank Brigade of the Japanese Army, causing a sensation in the world. The battle itself did not have many highlights, and the fact that China, which was weak and poor, was able to produce such advanced tanks, was the focus of the sensation. ”

"You can imagine how funny it is that China can produce such advanced tanks on its own, and Lao Chiang actually knows nothing. I suspect that General Clark must have raised objections to Chiang Lao and considered him insincere. In order to save face, Lao Jiang did everything possible in front of the Americans. I estimate that the US side asked Lao Chiang to provide detailed information on the Cheetah 1 tank, do you think Lao Chiang can not be embarrassed? ”

Ouyang Jian continued: "Since the outbreak of the Pacific War, the Americans have gradually exerted their power and become an absolute reliance, and Lao Jiang's mind has also changed. In the past two years, he has strictly ordered all ministries not to act rashly, and the purpose is to preserve their strength. In particular, he asked Dai Li to send a large number of military commanders to infiltrate the troops, with the aim of effectively controlling the army. "Your analysis is reasonable, at the beginning of the year, our Second Division sent a deputy director, who is called to assist me in my work, but he is personally in charge of the internal intelligence of the army, and I don't know about some situations!"

It is not difficult to understand that the growing strength of the Eighth Route Army is Lao Jiang's biggest heart disease. At present, the Eighth Route Army can produce such advanced tanks, and he actually knows nothing. The Eighth Route Army had a powerful tank force, which was difficult for him to accept. Especially the balance of power, Lao Jiang's deep thoughts were once again clouded, and he naturally wanted to ask me about Xingshi, "Could it be that Lao Jiang wants to turn his back? "That's not it, but there will be verbal reproach. If I guessed correctly, he asked for a tour of the tank factory, asked for tanks. ”

The car entered the plum garden, and Lao Jiang and his wife, as always, greeted them with a spring breeze. Song Meiling took Mei Fang's hand and happily introduced the flowers she planted, and all kinds of flowers are blooming all over the garden. The love of flowers between the ladies naturally urged the man to follow in the footsteps of the lady and walk towards the garden. A fragrant fragrance came to the face, and sure enough, the small garden was full of flowers, competing for beauty. The two ladies joined hands and entered the flowers to admire the flowers, and the stamens seemed to reflect their smiling faces.

Lao Jiang and Ouyang Jian looked at each other side by side, Lao Jiang retracted his gaze and smiled: "General Fu Zuoyi has conquered Baotou, and your tanks have played a key role. I knew that in order to prevent sabotage by the Japanese, secrecy was a top priority. It's understandable that I don't know, but the Americans are very dissatisfied and think that our development of advanced tanks without letting our allies know about it is a sign of insincerity. In order to clear up the misunderstanding, I decided to personally accompany General Clark on a tour of the tank factory! ”

Lao Jiang did not obviously show a reproachful tone because he did not know, but the dissatisfaction between the words was expressed, so he took the opportunity to make a request with sufficient reasons, so that the other party could not refuse. In fact, the tank unit of the Eighth Route Army was exposed, and the headquarters had already made a plan. "The principal was so understanding and the students were so grateful. There is no problem, you can visit the tank factory at any time. Lao Jiang didn't expect Ouyang Jian to agree so happily: "Can you introduce the performance of the Cheetah tank, I'm very interested!" ”

Early the next morning, a transport plane, escorted by four fighter planes, flew into the sky from Chongqing Airport. About 2 hours later, the plane landed at Xi'an Airport. Lao Jiang, General Clark, and Ouyang Jian stepped off the plane, and Zhang Xueliang and Yang Hucheng, the supreme administrators of Northwest China, personally greeted them at the airport. The convoy departed from the airport without entering the city, and went directly to the town of Yaodian, located in the north of Xi'an, the secret tank factory of the Eighth Route Army.

In front of the secret tank factory of the Eighth Route Army, hang the sign of the auto repair shop. After strict inspection, the convoy directly entered the factory. There is no need to repeat the visit, in the afternoon of the same day, Lao Jiang, Clark and Ouyang Jian accepted Zhang Xueliang's invitation to have a banquet in the most famous restaurant in Xi'an. After the banquet, Lao Jiang decided to stay in Tsinghua Pool. The convoy continued out of the city and headed for Qinghua Pond in Lintong. As soon as he arrived at Tsinghua Pool, Clark and his accompanying weapons experts conducted a feasibility study on a visit to the Cheetah tank.

At this time, Lao Jiang was in a good mood. In the living room, he said to Ouyang Jian: "It's unimaginable that the production equipment and technology of our tank factory are so advanced. General Ouyang, you have shocked me again. At present, the armored units of the Central Army are equipped with American-made light tanks, which are like toys compared to the Cheetah, especially the upcoming Cheetah 2 tank, which surprised me even more. General Ouyang, I don't dare to hope for the Cheetah 2, if the Cheetah 1 tank can equip a brigade, this request is not too much! ”

Ouyang Jian smiled: "Principal, it's not too much. However, at present, tank factories are limited by raw materials and cannot produce them on a large scale. An armoured brigade needs at least 150 tanks, and I promise to provide tanks for an armoured regiment by the end of the year, and if the conditions are met, all tanks by the middle of next year. "Lao Jiang was overjoyed to hear that he could provide a tank of an armored regiment without spending a penny, which was enough to satisfy him." How would you respond if General Clark asked for design drawings and other related techniques? ”

"Headmaster, we are allies with the United States nowadays, and we should meet their demands. However, we have spent a lot of manpower, material resources, and energy in developing tanks, and we must make the Americans soberly realize this. In fact, if the United States wants to build a Cheetah tank, with the United States' scientific research and manufacturing capabilities, one year is enough. I guess the Americans can't afford it, and they will give it in exchange! Old Jiang's eyes lit up again when he heard this.

In the evening of the same day, General Clark, under the comments of weapons experts, believed that the combat performance of the Cheetah tank was close to that of the German Tiger medium tank, and in some cases it surpassed that of the Soviet medium tank. The key is the Cheetah-1 tank, which has a simple manufacturing process, simple operation, and a highly efficient fire control system. US weapons experts believe that with the current capabilities of the US side, there is no problem in developing the Cheetah-type tank, but it will take at least a year or even longer to complete the development, production, and equipping of the tank.

American experts believe that the Cheetah tank produced by the Chinese side is a lesson from the mature experience of the German and Soviet-style tanks, including those of Europe and the United States, and has been efficiently integrated. Although the United States can produce similar Cheetah tanks in a year, it is the most difficult to integrate the mature technologies of various countries, which will take time. Therefore, US weapons experts believe that the Chinese side will not provide design drawings and proposes to cooperate in the production of Cheetah-2 tanks. Naturally, Clark had no opinion, and that evening, Clark proposed his intention to the Chinese side, expressing his sincerity in cooperating in the production of tanks.

The next day, everyone took a transport plane back to Chongqing. In the afternoon of the same day, President Roosevelt sent a telegram in the name of the US Government agreeing to cooperate with China in the production of Cheetah-2 tanks. The key to Roosevelt's quick promise was the result of the Cheetah-1 tank competing with the Japanese Type 97 tank and achieving brilliant results.

In the afternoon of the same day, the two sides held talks on cooperation in the production of tanks in the conference hall of the Ministry of National Defense. General Clark was the first to stand up, this guy had a large nose, a stubble face but a tall and slightly burly build, especially a head with striking brown hair. He nodded to Lao Jiang first and said, "General Ouyang, President Roosevelt has called to reach an agreement on the cooperation between the two sides in the production of Cheetah 2 tanks as soon as possible, and requires simple procedures. Time is pressing, please ask General Ouyang to put forward conditions! ”

Ouyang Jian said in fluent English: "General Clark, China and the United States are allies, in order to put the Cheetah 2 tank into battle on the battlefield as soon as possible, please express your sincerity first." "An interpreter sat next to Lao Jiang and translated in time." General Ouyang, according to the proposal of our weapons experts, the main bottleneck of the Cheetah 2 tank is the shortage of raw materials, which restricts large-scale production. In view of the fact that the Chinese tank factories are fully equipped for mass production, we decided to supply special steel and raw materials for engines. ”

"In addition, in order to strengthen the combat performance of the Cheetah-2 tank, experts propose to add an anti-aircraft anti-aircraft machine gun, increase mapping systems such as periscopes. We asked the Cheetah 2 tank to first provide US troops and put them into the Pacific and European theaters to fight, and asked General Ouyang to put forward conditions! Ouyang Jian said with a smile: "General Clark is very sincere, I have no opinion on the Cheetah 2 tank to be equipped with US troops first." I welcome the upgrade of the Cheetah 2, but we paid a lot of money to develop the Cheetah tank. ”

Ouyang Jian paused slightly and continued: "But in order to speed up the process of the major counteroffensive, our side has decided to strengthen cooperation with the United States without reservation. My conditions: the US side will provide an additional 40 large transport aircraft, 10 B17 bombers, and 300 Wildcat bombers. Not hearing about the F6F fighter being offered, Clark let out a sigh of relief. But listening to Ouyang Jianshi's big mouth, Lao Jiang was extremely nervous. Lao Jiang didn't expect that General Clark agreed very happily.

In fact, Ouyang Jian's biggest purpose is the B17 bomber technology of the United States, and the B17 is the continuation of the B29, and even the B52 in the future, so the deal is too cost-effective. Ouyang Jian knew in his heart that in August, the first J-2 fighter of the Eighth Route Army's secret aircraft factory rolled off the assembly line, and the combat performance of this fighter was roughly the same as that of the new American F6F fighter. You must know that the advent of the American F6F fighter next year will be a nightmare for the Japanese Zero fighter.

When the Americans learned the truth about the J-2 fighter, they regretted it. The two sides soon signed a formal resolution. Lao Jiang's heart fell for a moment, "General Ouyang, you can't eat alone!" "Headmaster, you're satisfied with half of each!"