After deciding to speed up war preparations, the Beiyang government prepared to move the base of the Nanyang Fleet from Fuzhou to Qinzhou in Guangxi Province in accordance with the establishment of the German-Austrian Military Advisory Group, and at the same time, the Fuzhou Naval Shipyard and the Naval School were also preparing to move here.

Qinzhou Bay is located in the southern part of Guangxi Province. It is bounded by the southern boundary of the Rhino Foot Peninsula to the south, and the line between the Paradise Point of the Qisha Peninsula to the west, with a water area of about 400 square kilometers. The coastline in the bay is tortuous, the islands are scattered, and there are many harbors. It is backed by the hinterland of southwest China and faces the Beibu Gulf, and its geographical location is very advantageous. It is a natural deep-water harbor on the southwest coast of China, the almost closed bay waters are wide, the natural water depth of the deep trough in the inner bay is generally -18--25 meters, the deepest depth is -32 meters, the wind and waves in the bay are small, the amount of sand is small, the shore beach is stable, and it has the favorable conditions for the construction of deep-water berths.

Vice Admiral Chen Zhaoqiang, director of the Navy's shipbuilding bureau, director of the Fuzhou Shipbuilding Bureau, and president of the Fuzhou Naval School, personally rushed to Qinzhou to supervise and supervise the relocation of the naval base and the naval school. On Huweiling Mountain outside Longmen Town, Ye Qizai, chief of staff of the Gui Army, accompanied Chen Zhaoqiang and looked down on the busy shipyard site at the foot of the mountain.

"Boom!"

In the distance, the sound of guns and the roar of large machinery engines were heard from the coast, and more than a dozen large excavators, dozens of bulldozers, road rollers, tampers and other heavy machinery were mobilized throughout the construction site, as well as more than 100 self-reliant trucks. Such a large-scale modern mechanical construction not only saves a lot of manpower, but also greatly speeds up the construction speed. Most of these construction machinery came from the aid of Germany and Austria, and some of them were imitations of the Wuhan Heavy Machinery Factory and the Fuzhou Mawei Naval Shipyard.

"Brother Cuiwei, you see, in the past, such a large dock with a length of 300 meters and a width of 50 meters was excavated by manpower. It took thousands of laborers nearly four months to complete. And now, only a dozen excavators and more than 40 cars have been used, and it has only taken half a month. The earthworks of the foundation excavation are completed, and this is the power of machinery! Chen Zhaoqiang pointed to the noisy construction site at the bottom of the mountain and said proudly. Perhaps it will take only three years for the entire shipyard relocation project to be completed. ”

"Three years? And the fleet will be stationed here, too? Ye Qi really looked frightened, in fact, more Gui generals were more worried about whether the arrival of the navy would damage their interests, this is close to Nanning, the hometown of the Gui army, and the navy has also had a precedent of encroaching on other people's territory and separating Fujian and Shandong Peninsula.

Ma Xiaojun, commander-in-chief of the Gui Army, overrode public opinion and strongly advocated the admission of the navy into Guangxi, believing that the arrival of the navy would be beneficial to the development of Guangxi. As the current highest military and political commander of the Gui Army. Ma Xiaojun at least returned to Chang ostensibly obeyed the orders of the central government, and his earliest return to Guangxi was arranged by Xu Shuzheng, and with the help of the strength of the two Central Army divisions of Ye Quan and Bai Chongxi, Ma Xiaojun relied on the strength of the Baoding officers in the Gui army, and successively defeated Lu Tingrong, Tan Keming, Chen Changtai and Shen Hongying in the melee with the warlords of the old Gui family, and finally unified Guangxi.

The relocation of the navy to Guangxi was discussed by Xu Shuzheng and Jiang Zuobin with Ma Xiaojun in advance, but the local faction was still worried that the arrival of the navy would weaken their control of Guangxi, so they sent Ye Qi to lead a division into Qinzhou. Nominally, it was to defend the construction of a naval base, but in addition, it was not intended to be monitored.

However, the scene in front of him did shock Ye Qi. The power of machinery is by no means comparable to that of human beings.

"Mr. Kengchen, I heard that the Harbour Master Bureau has copied tanks and armored vehicles, can you let the junior brother see it?" Ye Qi said that the Central Army is also equipped with two armored divisions, and he knows about the history of the armored forces from Ye Quan and others who returned from Europe, but he has never seen it, so he wants to take this opportunity to see if he can get some light.

"This ...... I can't be the master, the Harbour Master has copied the tanks according to the technology and drawings provided by Austria, but the annual production is very small. There are only more than 120 of them, but these things are all designated for production by the War Department. And Xiao Xu has a very strict control over it. Can you apply to the War Department? ”

"Yes, but how can it be our turn to be the provincial army. The CSKA side has no equipment, I have only seen a dozen tanks they use for training in Ye Quan, and they are all like treasures. Ye Qi complained that the provincial armies are self-funded, and the central government only gives each division a subsidy of several hundred thousand yuan every year, which is not enough to pay military salaries, let alone buy equipment.

"There's no way around it, there is a special allocation for every tank in Beijing, I can build it, but I also have to have money."

"How much does that thing cost?"

"It costs more than 50,000 yuan, and domestic raw materials are also expensive, and some accessories have to be imported."

"So expensive?" Ye Qi was taken aback, but he was a little relieved when he thought that there was an artillery gun installed on the tank, and a five-point seven-point anti-aircraft fire would cost more than 10,000 yuan, and the tank gun must be much more complicated than the army gun, "If we can get some funds, can you make some for us?" ”

"If the new factory is built and the production is expanded, it should be okay. However, not at present, the orders of the War Department in Fuzhou cannot be completed, and there is no time for processing outside. ”

"When will the new factory be good?"

"The plant will be almost ready for construction by the end of the year, and it will take about a year and a half to put it into production with the installation and commissioning of the machine. However, you also have advantages, the navy plans to build several large combat oil storage depots in the mountainous areas of Guangxi, and then we can give you some. ”

"This is a foregone conclusion, and the tanks built in the new factory will have to be provided to us first." Ye Qi said.

"There should be no problem, Beijing is also considering how to enhance the strength of the two Guangzhou, after all, if there is a war, the coast of the two sides is long, and the pressure on defense is also very great."

"Can this war really be fought?" Ye Qi said.

"It's hard to say, the central government wants to delay as much as possible, but since the three northeastern provinces were occupied by the Japanese, the domestic public sentiment is surging, and it is reasonable to be reasonable, Beijing has no way to retreat, and if the Japanese army provokes again, then it is likely to cause a big war." Chen Zhaoqiang said that many people in the navy had opinions on moving the Fuzhou Maritime Academy out of Fujian, but only after Sa Zhenbing's persuasion and suppression, they reluctantly agreed to move the naval academy and shipyard to Guangxi. However, there are also conditions, that is, the naval base must be controlled in the hands of the Fujian navy, and the Gui army will never be allowed to get involved.

"Well, the rise and fall of the country is the responsibility of the husband, if it is an anti-Japanese matter, we resolutely support it, and in this regard, we will never drag the government back. I went back and reported to Yi Gong, if there is any difficulty on the part of the navy, we will try to support it. Ye Qi said that Ma Xiaojun had asked the Navy to build a base in Guangxi at the Guijun Conference to prepare for the War of Resistance in advance, and some people did not believe it. But this time, he saw with his own eyes that something did change. (To be continued) R466