In June in Nanjing, the climate is not hot, and the sun is mild. The plane trees on both sides of the street stand in upright rows, covered with thick shade. The buildings dotted in the middle are like stars into the light, solemn and splendid in the victory of the forest spring scenery. Walking among them, it is impossible to distinguish where is the scenery and where is the city; The breeze is blowing, and I don't know if it's a dream or a reality.

Xu Ming already knew on the road that it was Chiang and Kai-shek who were going to meet him, but he was not surprised, which was what he expected. But in any case, the first time I saw the then head of state, a celebrity in later generations, I was inevitably a little apprehensive.

The entourage who greeted Xu Ming saw that Xu Ming was a little worried, and said with a smile: "Mr. Xu, there won't be much of a problem in visiting the leader this time, and the chairman of the committee is still very kind." ”

Of course, Xu Ming knew that Lao Jiang would be kind to him this time, and gave 2 big gifts in succession, so it was strange that Jiang was not kind. He was worried that his forthcoming proposal would not be adopted, and although he had reasoned and prepared for a long time, he felt that the odds of victory were quite good, but the hearts of the people could not be predicted, let alone the hearts of politicians.

To Xu Ming's surprise, the place where Chiang and Kai-shek met him was not the presidential palace, but the hot spring villa in Tangshan.

The hot spring villa is a typical garden building, with scattered pavilions and evergreen flowers and trees. Like a leisure place, not like an administrative place, Xu Ming guessed that Jiang and Kai-shek chose to live and work here, which should be as later generations said, in order to please Song Meiling.

The attendant took him downstairs and said with a smile: "Mr. Xu, you wait for a while, and I'll go and tell you." ”

Xu Ming motioned to him casually, and after a while, the man came down, made a gesture of please, and said, "Please take a seat, please go up." ”

Xu Ming walked upstairs and found that it was a large living room, the door was half-hidden, and the entourage pushed the door open, and Xu Ming walked into the house.

Jiang and Kai-shek were reviewing the documents, and when they saw Xu Ming coming in, they let go of the pen in their hands, "It's a thousand miles, come, sit," motioned for Xu Ming to sit on the single sofa next to him.

Xu Ming then looked at the layout and furnishings here, facing the door is the desk of Chiang Kai-shek and Kai-shek, behind which there are large portraits of Mr. Sun and Yat-sen, two couplets "The revolution has not yet succeeded, comrades still have to work hard" is impressive, next to the desk is three sofas one mile and two away, plus a coffee table. Other than that, the room is like no other.

Xu Ming just sat down, and a person next to him brought a cup of hot tea, Xu Ming was about to turn around to pick it up, but when he saw it, he almost didn't catch it steadily, and it was Song Meiling who handed the tea.

I rely on it, you can enjoy it if you spend money, and $5 million really works!

Xu Ming was at a loss for a moment, "Mrs. Song, oh no, Mrs. Jiang, you are busy, I will come by myself." ”

Jiang and Kai-shek looked at him restrained, and he smiled, who had always looked strict, and said, "This is not Mrs. Jiang, it's Secretary General Song."

Only then did Xu Ming understand that Song Meiling was the secretary general of the Aviation Committee of the National Government. Since his $5 million was donated to the Air Force, it is likely that today's main owner is not Lao Jiang, but the royal sister in front of him.

Lao Jiang began by praising Xu Ming: "I have heard all about you, and you have done a very good job." What is the most important thing for young people? It's not impetuous and romantic all day long! It is to do things calmly. ”

Xu Ming's little face was flushed, and he hurriedly said modestly: "Where, where, I have never dared to forget Mr. Zhongshan's teachings." ”

Sure enough, Jiang and Kai-shek were very satisfied with Xu Ming's performance and said, "I heard that you also made a few suggestions for aviation. Speaking of this, Jiang and Kai-shek smiled and continued: "Well, let's listen to the Secretary-General's suggestions." ”

Xu Ming turned his head and looked at Song Meiling a little. The hostess in front of her has slightly parted hair on her forehead, combed in a small bun behind her, wearing a dark close-fitting cheongsam and high heels, showing the perfect combination of classical Chinese moral cultivation and Western civilization. Her words were tactful and moderate, and her tone was soft: "Qianli, your first suggestion is that you want the fighter plane you want to buy will be flown by the best pilots in China, and there is no problem with this." ”

Xu Ming's first one doesn't need advice at all, the Hawker-75 is much more expensive than the Hawker 3, and it is much more advanced than the other Hawker 2 and Fiat 32. Even if Xu Ming doesn't say it, the Hawker-75 will be flown by the best pilots in China.

The problem now is to buy as early as possible, because Xu Ming knows that there is not much time left for China, and if it can negotiate with the United States now, it will not be delivered until the end of the year at the earliest, plus the transportation, commissioning and pilots' familiarization operations, by August 1937, the time is already very short. This is the second suggestion put forward by Xu Ming: use the fastest action to procure.

He also planned to have Mr. Swindon, who had a great influence in the American business community, help introduce the coordination. On this point, Song Meiling, the commander-in-chief of the Chinese Air Force, naturally has no opinion.

"Qianli, don't worry, we will arrange competent people to do this, yesterday I discussed with Commander-in-Chief Zhou (Zhou Zhirou), buy a few prototypes first, let the pilots prepare first, so that once the plane comes back, our air force can form a combat force as soon as possible." Although Song Meiling did not understand the deadline for Xu Ming to form combat effectiveness by August next year, there was no problem for others to spend money for themselves.

In addition, Xu Ming also suggested purchasing more parts, which could be effectively replenished once the war between China and Japan began, and Song Zhangmen thought so.

As he talked, Xu Ming began to talk about the most critical and core issue: the management and command of the Chinese Air Force. Xu Ming strongly suggested that China's scattered and independent systems should be integrated into a single system, with a command structure to command. How Song Meiling disapproves of this. It is not so much Xu Ming's suggestion as Chiang Kai-shek's expectations and requirements. Xu Ming said: "As far as I know, some of the training and assessment of our air force are Americans, some are British, and some are Italians. “

Song Meiling's face smiled like a flower, and said, "It seems that Qianli has a lot of insights into the Air Force, which country do you think is suitable." “

The most critical topic came, Xu Ming cleared his throat and said: "As far as I know, first of all, Britain has a characteristic of selling weapons, it will not sell the most advanced weapons, so we should not purchase aircraft from Britain. Moreover, since 918, Britain has maintained a policy of appeasement against Japanese aggression, so I advocate the exclusion of British advisers first. “

Song Meiling saw that Xu Ming didn't like Britain, and she also felt the same way, in fact, Chiang and Kai-shek have never had a good impression of Britain. Song Meiling refused to visit Britain in the later stages of the Anti-Japanese War, while Lao Chiang called Britain the most typical empire and ism!

Xu Ming continued: "Second, I exclude Italian instructors, although Italy is the first country to develop the air force, but the Italians are romantic, slack in work, and loose in teaching. Moreover, Italy and Japan coexist, and Italy is the most supportive country in the West for Japan! “

There is another point that Xu Ming did not say, Italy's performance in World War II is really bad. In the North African campaign, 500,000 Italian troops faced 50,000 British troops, and the Italian army was defeated. The result of the British army was: "We can no longer describe the number of Italian prisoners, only the area, we have captured 5 acres of officers and 200 acres of soldiers!" ”

Even Italy teaches for free, and we don't dare to learn it, don't bring the Chinese badly.

"Thirdly, we cannot choose Germany, since the Treaty of Versailles, the League of Nations has been extremely restrictive of German aircraft, and Germany has only recently begun to develop its air force."

Xu Ming used the method of elimination, and finally he said: "I suggest using American instructors and American advisers, not only because most of our planes are purchased from the United States, but also because among the world powers, the United States is a country that has not invaded Chinese territory so far, and it is also sympathetic to China's war of resistance." In the end, our country will most likely rely on US aid. In addition, the Air Force of the United States is very developed. In addition, I know of an American general, extremely capable, named Chennault. ”

Song Meiling was a little surprised: "Are you talking about Claire. Mr. Chennault, a friend of his, who works as an advisor to the Central Trust Board, recommended him to us. ”

Xu Ming was too familiar with the Flying Tigers of later generations, and the main purpose of today is to have Chennault, who is rigorous in teaching, to teach the Chinese Air Force. He quickly took over the topic of Song Meiling and praised him vigorously: "The technical level of our air force is definitely not bad, but when it comes to strategic thinking, I'm afraid it can't, General Chennault is extremely talented in the construction and tactical command of the air force, as far as I know, he is not tolerated because he is too good and has an arrogant personality, I hope you can take the time to talk with him." “

Hey, I have to complain about Xu Ming's bad memory, Chennault was not a general at all, he was just a captain at the time! Chennault was so miserable in the United States that he was not promoted to major until he retired in 1937. He was only appointed colonel after he came to China, but this was not recognized by the US side. It was not recognized until after the outbreak of the Pacific War. And Chennault was promoted to major general, and it was in 1943 that he could be called a general!

Of course, this time and space, it's hard to say. Because of some irresponsible big butterfly in the East, Chennault's future has been changed!

Xu Ming was unaware, and Soong Meiling did not correct his mistake, Xu Ming added: "If it is possible, can you and the chairman of the committee personally write a letter and invite the ambassador to the United States, Chennault should be grateful for the kindness of knowing him......

Speaking of Lao Jiang, Xu Ming realized that he was chatting with Ms. Meiling, Secretary General Song, just now, and actually forgot about the chairman of the committee next to him and the ultimate boss of the national government! At this moment, this old man is drinking tea, and he is indeed an extraordinary person, a cup of tea can be drunk for more than an hour!

Xu Ming was embarrassed. Hurry up and talk about some topics that Lao Jiang is interested in. "Chairman of the Committee, in addition to the purchase of aircraft, I plan to spend $3 million to build a cement plant in Jiujiang to provide materials for the construction of steel reinforced cement fortifications on both sides of the Yangtze River; the construction of a gas mask factory to protect against all kinds of poison gases produced in Japan, especially erosive poison gases; It is also prepared to sponsor the government to build a mine manufacturing plant, which is a weapon for poor countries. ”

Sure enough, Lao Jiang's strength came up. "Very good, very good, this can be done right away." But he felt that his attitude was too obvious, and asked: "With so much money, is it okay for Yuming to operate normally?" ”

Xu Ming replied: "There is no problem, our company's profit last year was 5 million US dollars, and today's first quarter is 3 million, not surprisingly, this year's sales are about 70 million, and the total profit is about 15 million US dollars." “

Chiang and Kai-shek were shocked that China's largest export was tung oil, with an annual export of about 30 million US dollars. And Xu Ming's company's sales are more than twice that of tung oil!

Xu Ming then gave a third gift, and this year's profit of $12 million could be remitted to the Nationalist government on a quarterly basis to purchase much-needed weapons.

"If the profits are siphoned off, will it have an impact on the company's development?" Chiang and Kai-shek had to care about this issue. As the head of state, you can't always kill the eggs of private enterprises.

How can there be no impact, this profit is very important to the development of Yuming Group, but no matter how important the company is, it cannot compare to the fate of the country.

Xu Ming replied without hesitation: "It has been calculated, there is no problem with normal operation, not to mention that if you can't turn around for a while, you can find a way to borrow it first." “

"In this way, this money is a loan from the government, and the principal and interest will be repaid together in the future." Lao Jiang was embarrassed to ask for this money in vain, but he could only promise a blank check first.

"Xu Ming, why don't you serve in the Economic Committee?" Jiang and Kai-shek already had the idea of using Xu Ming at this time. It should be said that this is a rather tempting position, and it can also give full play to Xu Ming's ability.

Xu Ming thought about it, but still declined, he has his own ideas, and the most important thing for China now is not to develop the economy, because it is too late, he has more important goals.