Because he has basically been running around the country for more than a year, Chen Shaokuan suddenly found that Duan Qirui, who had passed the age of antiquity, was already old, and he looked relatively peaceful on the outside, and he could hardly see the aggressive momentum of the "Tiger of the Beiyang" back then.

After the State Council moved to Xi'an, Duan Qirui preferred to hand over all the power in his hands and hand over the administrative power to the State Council, rather than stubbornly stay in Beijing and express to the people the determination of the central government to fight to the death. As a result of the KMT's victory in the pre-war elections, Lee Ying-chun, the leader of the KMT's Department of Political Sciences, became prime minister. However, after the outbreak of the war, the various political factions in the country abandoned their political views and united as never before.

"We are fighting now for the future of the whole nation. At present, although we are experiencing difficulties, all contacts with the Central Powers have been severed. However, according to the information reported by Austria, the Austro-Hungarian fleet and our naval fleet have opened the Suez Canal and entered the Indian Ocean. I believe that it will not be long before we will be able to connect with Europe again. Duan Qirui said, "This Japanese is like a vicious dog, the more you show weakness, the more he will open his mouth to bite you, but if you beat it painfully and subdued, he will wag his tail and beg for mercy when he sees you again." ”

Duan Qirui rarely told some jokes, which made the atmosphere of the venue relaxed.

Jiang Zuobin, member of the National Defense Committee of the base camp and chief of the General Staff of the Army, made a report on the army's operation, training, military production, and equipment in 1940 after Duan Qirui: "...... In order to ensure that we have a strong national defense force, according to the resolution of the National Defense Committee, the domestic army will be reorganized into 43 army groups in accordance with the establishment of the German and Austrian armies, each of which will have six army divisions under its jurisdiction. Among them, the North China-level Northeast Theater was organized into 12 group armies and one marine division, and the enemy-occupied East China Theater was organized into four group armies to conduct guerrilla warfare behind enemy lines. The Central China Occupation Region was organized into 8 group armies, and the South China Theater was organized into 6 group armies and 1 marine division. The Northwest Theater was organized into 5 army groups to prevent Soviet Russia. The Southwest Theater was organized into eight group armies and prepared to fight in Burma. At the same time, each theater will train 6 to 12 reserve divisions. In the military industry, we will strive to equip each theater with three army aviation divisions by 1940, six army aviation divisions in the North and Northeast China theaters, four in Central China, and four in South China, and at the same time, two armored divisions for each theater as much as possible. After the reorganization is completed, each theater will have 2-4 armored divisions and more than 3 army aviation divisions, and in order to ensure transportation, this year, expanding the production of aircraft, tanks, and automobiles is the top priority. ”

"What does the base camp of the Navy's equipment plan think?" Chen Shaokuan asked.

"The government has agreed in principle to the Admiralty's plan to acquire the Qingdao shipyard, however, according to the German-Austrian military advisory group, in next year's naval construction plan, submarines will be the mainstay, and the construction of surface ships will be mainly light ships. Due to our blockade, the domestic industrial capacity is not yet able to guarantee the supply of materials for large surface ships of more than 10,000 tons, and the construction of large warships should be implemented after the technical problems are solved. Xu Shuzheng said that now the Austrian-Chinese fleet is active on the African coast, and it will take a long time to open up the sea transportation line, and before that, the navy will certainly not be able to build large surface ships. However, with the funds raised in Europe, the Chinese side has already ordered six aircraft carriers and four cruisers for the navy in Europe, and the Chinese navy will not be able to defeat the Japanese navy in one fell swoop.

"The production of aircraft and tanks is the most important priority! The production of aircraft is currently barely able to maintain consumption on the battlefield, but the production of tanks is far from enough. The results of the Battle of Xuzhou and the Battle of Tongling have already shown that our armored forces are capable of repelling the Japanese offensive and are the main force of strategic defense. The Ordnance Industry Administration was a little too slow, and could only produce 60 vehicles per month, which was far from meeting the needs of the front. Deputy Chief of General Staff Jiang Fangzhen said.

"The main reason is that the tanks we produce are introduced in accordance with the German and Austrian technology, some beyond the existing industrial processing and technical capabilities, and the current power, armor, artillery and other performance have reached the technical requirements, but the process of the bearing and transmission system is not up to par, mainly because the material strength is not enough." Yu Dawei, director of the Ordnance Industry Administration, said, "At present, we are forming experts to overcome the technical problems of bearing materials in Taiyuan Iron and Steel Plant. ”

"In the war against Britain and Japan, the navy is the top priority, and if we can't defeat them at sea, we can't achieve a final victory." "So we have to speed up the construction of the navy." ”

Xu Shuzheng frowned, naval equipment is simply burning money, just the cost of a torpedo can top a fighter, but he didn't say anything, the navy naturally needs to develop, which will undoubtedly squeeze out the army's equipment funds.

"How's the progress of our submarine development?" Jiang Zuobin asked.

"We should have mastered the production technology and technology of Germany and Austria, Taiyuan Iron and Steel Plant has trial-produced a pressure-resistant steel plate suitable for the construction of submarines, we will try to produce two first, if the performance meets the requirements, large-scale construction will begin at the end of the year." Chen Shaokuan said that submarine construction requires high-quality marine structural steel, but it needs to have better ductility, which requires the addition of a part of nickel-chromium alloy, which comes from Germany, and only three steel plants in Taiyuan, Xinyu and Wuchang can produce, and the output is not large.

China's submarine technology is imported from the Austro-Hungarian Navy's SMUB35 submarine, which has a length of 63 meters, a water displacement of 710 tons, an underwater displacement of 816 tons, a surface speed of 18.6 knots, a maximum underwater speed of 8 knots, a cruising range of 8,200 nautical miles/10 knots, and a designed maximum diving depth of 180 meters. The submarine is armed with 5 torpedo tubes (4 in the bow and 1 in the stern), carrying a total of 12 torpedoes, and can also carry 28 mines for use as minelayers, in addition to a 75 mm deck gun and one 20 mm anti-aircraft gun.

The SMUB35 submarine is not very displaced, suitable for activities in shallow sea areas with small depths such as the Bohai Sea, the Yellow Sea, and the South China Sea, and is not the most advanced and outstanding submarine of the Austro-Hungarian Navy, but it is very suitable for the current industrial level of China to build.

In 1940, China was still actively defensive, with a large-scale reorganization of the armed forces and an increase in naval strength. All in all, it is to accumulate strength and make full preparations for a counteroffensive in two or three years. R1152