Admiral Yankel, commander of the Austro-Hungarian Far East Fleet, had left for about two hours before returning to the conference room, followed by several naval officers, most of whom had previously spent time in China.

"I've kept you waiting, I've been waiting for a reply from the country." The admiral said slightly apologetically.

"How's it going?" Chen Shaokuan asked.

"I also have a general understanding of the situation of your battleships, our technicians have reported their situation to me, in general, these warships need to be overhauled, and their power systems also need to be replaced, and these battleships also need to be retrofitted and replaced with more anti-aircraft guns." "I'm going to Europe for a major makeover, so that they can adapt to the requirements of modern warfare," Yankel said. ”

"How long will it take?" Chen Shaokuan asked, "We have a new battle plan. ”

"At least half a year." Yankel replied, then he tilted his head, "Do you want to attack the Japanese transport ships that are in the East Indies and the Malay Peninsula?" ”

"That's right, we need to boost our morale." Chen Shaokuan said.

"That's not a good idea." "This will make the Japanese make an early decision to attack the southern coastal areas of Canton and Guangxi, and I advise you to be patient for a while until a complete air defense ring is established in the Gulf of Tonkin." You need to build dozens of airfields on the Leizhou Peninsula and Hainan Island before you can effectively resist the Japanese attack. While the Japanese are concentrating their main energies on the north and the Yangtze River valley, it is better to strengthen their own forces first. If they start attacking now, we can't help you now, and you could lose the aid route along the southern coast. ”

"Okay, we'll negotiate with the General Staff, thank you for your advice."

"Since our presence in Annam is absolutely important to China's ongoing war of resistance. It is not appropriate for us to openly undermine neutrality, so we can only provide you with short-term repairs, and the shipyards in the country will not be able to help you for the time being. Yankel saw a disappointed look on Chen Shaokuan's face. So he smiled and said, "Of course." His Majesty the Emperor has thought of a solution for you, and our diplomats are currently negotiating with the Italians, who have tentatively agreed to carry out the conversion of the battleships and the outfitting of the two aircraft carriers for you.

"That's nice too, but will the Italians say yes?" Chen Shaokuan asked.

"His Majesty the Emperor has spoken to Prime Minister Mussolini on the phone, and His Excellency the Prime Minister has agreed, and the Italians, unlike us and the Germans, have important interests in the Far East, so they can ignore the Japanese in the slightest." Yankel said. "Please wait at the mouth of the river for two days, our Ministry of Foreign Affairs will soon negotiate the details of the agreement with the Italians, do you want to visit our warship first, it just so happens that there is a training plan for these two days."

"That's good, we're going to bother you here for a few more days." Chen Shaokuan said that there is nothing to be done in a hurry, at least Austria-Hungary is helping itself to find a way.

After receiving Yankel's telegram, Lechelton thought of such a compromise solution, and sure enough, the showy fascist leaders were interested in this construction that showed the value of Italy in the Far East. Without much thought, he agreed, so Helton sent an envoy to Rome on the same day to consult with the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs on the details of naval assistance for China.

For the victory over their own Austro-Hungarian Empire. Italians have mixed feelings. During the European War, all of Italy was occupied by Austria-Hungary, but after the war, instead of regaining its former rule over Lombardy and Greater Veneto, Austria-Hungary chose to withdraw its troops. Italy was not ceded land, but war reparations cost the Italians 7.5 billion lira. Due to the economic burden, the domestic political situation has been unstable, and indirectly prompted Mussolini to come to power. As soon as the fascist leaders came to power, they changed course. Italy turned to the German-Austrian alliance in diplomacy, and eventually the Italians signed the "Entente of the League" with the German-Austrian and other Entente countries. Became a member of the Entente group.

With the efficiency of the Italians, I am afraid that this will take several days to complete. Therefore, Chen Shaokuan and the others could only wait patiently for news from Rome.

Muller, Pranic and others were given new tasks to reassess the damage to the two Chinese battleships, as well as to sort out new refit plans, as well as to make new plans for the outfitting of the two Chinese aircraft carriers, which needed to be completed before the Italians could reply.

So the two left the estuary that night with a team of shipbuilding engineers and headed for Qinzhou Bay on the destroyer "Kocula Island".

Mueller and his entourage were accommodated in a naval guest house not far from the naval shipyard in Qinzhou Port, where senior naval officers of the Chinese fleet also lived. The port of Qinzhou has begun to take shape, a large naval shipyard and more than a dozen affiliated factories have risen from the ground, although the chaos is still a large construction site, but it is clear that the plan here seems to be some shadow of the Trieste Isleya shipyard.

It seems that the Chinese are intent on building this place into the Trieste of the East, which makes Müller very excited.

Rear Admiral Lin Xianxi, director of the Ordnance Bureau of the Admiralty, personally greeted Muller and others at the docks, accompanied by Colonel Zigri of the Austro-Hungarian Navy, who is now a technical adviser to the Qinzhou Shipyard, and Lieutenant Colonel Lin Xueqian and Lieutenant Colonel Chen Changqi, engineers of the Qinzhou Shipyard. The first mate of the battleship "Zhenhae", Colonel Sa Shijun, served as their main accompanying officer, and there were two other naval captains who served as interpreters. Colonel Sa Shijun had been serving as an "observer" on the "Radetzky" as a student officer of the Chinese Navy during the European War, and was awarded the "Knight Order of the Second Class" and the "Iron Cross of the Third Class" by the Imperial Navy, which was the envy of Müller and others.

Colonel Sa spent nearly seven years in Austria-Hungary and Germany, was fluent in German, and soon became good friends with Müller and others.

General Lin held a small welcome banquet for Muller and his entourage at the Navy Guest House, during which everyone chatted about the current war situation in China. It can be seen that the Chinese naval officers are very dissatisfied with the current situation, and their desire for war is very high, but the current strength is very different from that of the Japanese, which forms a huge contrast.

The banquet lasted until late at night, during which he drank a lot of liquor, and then Müller was so dazed that he didn't know how he got back to his room. (To be continued) R466