Chang Ruiqing's convoy drove about ten kilometers west, passing several heavily guarded checkpoints and passing through several construction sites that had just been leveled. Only then did he reach the entrance of the Tangshan Villa, which was at the core of this military restricted area. I saw General Lu Yixuan, the deputy chief of staff who had just returned from the northeast, standing there in uniform, waiting for Chang Ruiqing's motorcade. The car stopped, and Lu Yixuan saw Chang Ruiqing sitting in the third car through the window, so he stepped forward and pulled the car door: "Brother Yaoru, it's smooth along the way, right?" ”

Chang Ruiqing stepped out of the car door and smiled at Lu Yixuan: "Thanks to you, the road is quite smooth, the situation in Shanghai is better than expected, the whole city is prosperous, there are construction sites everywhere, and there are some signs of economic take-off." ”

It turned out that Chang Ruiqing went to Shanghai to inspect a circle in the past two days, looked at the factories of the China ** Industrial Group, and also visited the Jiangnan Shipyard and the British Yesson Shipyard, and met with the rich people of the Jiangsu and Zhejiang consortium in the German General Association, and introduced the economic policy of national socialism to them.

However, Lu Yixuan didn't care about these things, the actual chief of staff of the National Defense Forces greeted Jin Yongyan with a smile, and walked side by side with Chang Ruiqing to the Tangshan villa, and asked as he walked: "How about those Renault FT-17 tanks?" When can it be shipped to Tangshan? I, the acting principal of the Armored Forces School, can't wait. ”

Chang Ruiqing smiled and patted him on the shoulder: "What's the hurry?" The next war is at least fifteen to twenty years away! The armored corps has time to grow up slowly, these Renault FT-17s are just for training, and in the future, we will build more and more advanced combat vehicles by ourselves! As they spoke, they walked into the building where the conference room of the Central Military Commission was located, and saw Lan Tianwei, chief of the General Staff, Cheng Biguang, chief of the Navy, Wu Shi, director of army education, Ma Junwu, minister of armaments, Kong Xiangxi, minister of heavy industry, Yan Xishan, chairman of the State Development Planning Commission, and Yang Xianyi, chief of the Air Force. There are also several senior staff officers, all of whom are already waiting there. It seems that some important meeting is taking place here today.

Seeing that all the personnel had arrived, Chang Ruiqing beckoned everyone into a conference room with a huge round table. And they sat down around the round table, and they seemed equal. Chang Ruiqing smiled and glanced around everyone, seeing that everyone had already sat down. Cai smiled and said: "Today's meeting is mainly about armaments. Including the upgrading of military equipment of the National Defense Force, as well as the construction of our equipment industry. All this will be implemented slowly over the next 15 to 20 years, and our meeting today will only discuss the general principles and general directions...... Such meetings are expected to be held many more times, and everyone can put forward any suggestions. All right. Who will speak first? ”

Navy Chief Cheng Biguang is the oldest qualified one here, and during the First Sino-Japanese War, he was already the pipe band of the "Guangbing". On the day of February 12, 1895, he also submitted the instrument of surrender to the Combined Fleet on behalf of the Beiyang Fleet, and it is probably because of this that he has been haunted by the thought of a shame in his heart. Now I see that the shape of the country has become better. This thought became stronger and stronger. And this mind is not his alone, but the entire Republic of China Navy. For today's armaments meeting, the Admiralty has done a lot of preparatory work. So hearing Chang Ruiqing's question, Cheng Biguang was the first to stand up, took out a stack of mimeographed papers from his briefcase and distributed them to everyone in the conference room, and then read them aloud.

Everyone at the meeting listened attentively - only Chang Ruiqing frowned and was thinking about his thoughts, the text distributed by Cheng Biguang was similar to the one that Jin Yongyan had handed over to him before, and he already knew the main content. It was just an analysis of the current security situation of China before the naval armament program.

The Admiralty considered - of course in complete secrecy - that none of the discussions at the military meetings could be made public. Otherwise, it will certainly cause an uproar -- since China wants to build up armaments on a large scale, it must have an imaginary enemy, and there are many such enemies, but the only ones that are the biggest and most threatening are Soviet Russia and Rìben! Given the hostility between the two countries, China should be able to unite one against the other. And the Admiralty is a United Russia anti-rì. The reason is that Soviet Russia is, after all, a European country. Their focus could not have been on Asia, so the direction of Soviet Russia's development did not overlap with China's. On the contrary, China is now one of the two most advanced countries in Asia, and one of the two great powers that may lead Asia in the future – there can only be one leader in Asia in the future. It's either China or Rìben. So there will inevitably be a conflict between China and China for the leadership of Asia. And in the foreseeable future, when Soviet Russia clashed with British and French imperialism in Europe. The control of Britain and France over the South Seas colonies will inevitably weaken, and China will become the candidate masters of this rich land, and the two countries will also fight for the South Seas! At that time, China will need a powerful fleet sufficient to defeat the Rìben Navy. That's the key to winning.

Cheng Biguang also proposed a possible period for the outbreak of the Chinese war, and the approximate number of capital ships that the navy needed to defeat the rì Ben, which was several times more than the tonnage of the capital ships mentioned in the document distributed to everyone! Cheng Biguang finally explained that the navy needs to build a large fleet in three phases over a period of about 15 to 20 years. With that, he sat down. Chang Ruiqing looked at him with a smile, and then turned his gaze to Yan Xishan, Kong Xiangxi, and Ma Junwu.

"Let's talk about it first." Yan Laoxi touched his bare head, and said with a wry smile: "Your heavy industry has still started, and now is the time to decide the direction of development." If the navy is to be run on a large scale, then the investment and layout of heavy industry must revolve around shipbuilding and super-large caliber artillery. ”

Kong Xiangxi, the new minister of heavy industry, interjected: "The investment required in this area is very staggering, and it also involves the development of almost all categories of heavy industry, so we must be cautious." ”

Ma Junwu, Minister of Armaments, also said: "The technical difficulty of building capital ships is too high, and the key technologies such as super-large caliber artillery, armor steel, and high-power marine power systems are in the hands of a few countries, and they cannot be obtained lightly." If we want to rely on ourselves to develop, I am afraid that we will not be able to catch up with this in 50 years. ”

Cheng Biguang thought for a while and said, "Isn't the relationship between Britain and France and us very good now?" The United States wants to win us over to contain it. ”

"But they all want them to focus on the Army." Yan Xishan took over the topic and said.

Minister of Armaments Ma Junwu also chimed in: "The United States and France have transferred to us a lot of technology for the production of army artillery and firearms, and have also allowed us to buy aircraft factories and technology from Germany. But they refused to sell us the drawings of more than 10,000 tons of naval ships, not to mention the more critical shipbuilding technology! ”

Cheng Biguang knocked lightly on the table and said loudly: "Then we can start with a 10,000-ton armored cruiser first!" In addition, we can also turn to Soviet Russia for technical support, and recently the Naval Engineering Bureau has invited several high-level Belarusian shipbuilding experts who have participated in the design and construction of Gangut-class battleships. ”

Kong Xiangxi shook his head: "Old Yu." The construction of battleships is not just a matter of a few shipbuilding specialists. There are too many industrial sectors involved, and even the entire heavy industry layout. We have only a small amount of financial resources, and it is impossible to develop a heavy industry that can meet the needs of both the navy and the army! ”

Hahakong's words are to the point. The Navy is a money-burning service! China is a continental country, and with strong neighbors like Soviet Russia in the north, it is bound to maintain a large army. At present, China's national strength can only choose between the Continental Army and the Navy.

Cheng Biguang turned his head. looked at Chang Ruiqing with burning eyes: "Yaoru." You are the head of our national defense force, and the general direction should naturally be in your hands. Whether we should unite Russia or unite rì, you can get an idea. If you follow the path of Lianrì, then the navy is a window dressing. There is no need to develop any ship-building industry, just purchase directly from Rìben. If it is against Russia, then the money for the development of the navy cannot be saved in any case! ”

Chang Ruiqing's eyebrows were twisted, and he didn't answer with a calm face, I don't know if he hasn't made up his mind yet?

Lan Tianwei, chief of the army general staff, looked at Chang Ruiqing's appearance. I know I have to speak up for the Army! He first glanced at Wu Shi, the director of education of the army, and then quickly stood up and spoke loudly: "The opinion of the army staff is: In the future, whether China is united with Russia or united, it must maintain a strong army!" Because in the case of the United Russia, the main operational directions of the Wehrmacht will be the Korean Peninsula, the Far Eastern states and the Indochina Peninsula, so the Wehrmacht needs a strong army! ”

Wu Shi also followed his words and said: "After all, China is a mainland country, and a strong army is the foundation of national defense!" Just imagine, instead of spending huge sums of money to build the Beiyang Navy, the Manchu Qing Dynasty used the funds for the development of the navy to build a powerful new army. Is it still possible to win the Sino-Japanese War? And a strong navy can only be used against rìben. A strong army can be used against both Russia and Russia at the same time. Therefore, a strong army is what we need in China! ”

Seeing that the leaders of the navy and the army had already expressed their opinions, Chang Ruiqing smiled, and then turned his attention to Yang Xianyi, the chief of the Air Force Corps, who had not spoken since the beginning of the meeting, and said with a smile: "Xuehua." The Navy and the Army have expressed their opinions, and now it's time for your Air Force to speak. ”

Yang Xianyi frowned, now China does not have an air force, and his air force corps is under the jurisdiction of the army. And his status in the army is not high, and he, the chief captain, is only with the rank of major general. It's almost the same level as an army division commander. Today's meeting, which decided the focus of the development of the army and navy, should not have been attended by him, let alone proposed a proposal. However, since Chang Ruiqing named the "Air Force", he can only say two sentences. Yang Xianyi looked at Cheng Biguang with a little apologetic eyes - that was the patriarch of their Cantonese system, and Yang Xianyi should have helped him speak, but now that the Air Force Corps is under the control of the army, Yang Xianyi can only speak from the position of the army.

"Yao Shuai, the department agrees with Chief of Staff Lan and Director Wu that the army is the foundation of national defense and should be developed in a key way. Navy ......"

Chang Ruiqing waved his hand and interrupted: "What about the Air Force?" Does the Air Corps have an Air Force Development Plan? Some time ago, your Major Luo Yaoguo submitted to me a plan for vigorously developing the Air Force. ”

Yang Xianyi was stunned, and immediately remembered the ace pilot Luo Yaoguo, who didn't know the height of the sky. Although this kid's flying skills are a must, he is still a little weird, and he always proposes some unbounded ideas to himself, and I heard that he is still studying theoretical physics recently...... And the big air force plan itself has been received, and it is full of some fantasies.

He advocated that aviation should be regarded as the focus of China's national defense development in the next 20 years, and that aviation should be divided into three major sections: tactical air force, strategic air force, and naval air force. Among them, the combat mission of the tactical air force is to cooperate with the offensive of the ground forces of the army, seize air supremacy on the battlefield, and provide air fire support for the ground forces.

The task of the Strategic Air Force was to launch air strikes on cities in the enemy's rear, bombing through guò to destroy the industrial production and national morale of the enemy country.

But the most nonsense probably belongs to the assumptions of naval aviation. This person proposed that the focus of the future development of the navy should also be air power, and in the future struggle for sea supremacy, it will also play a decisive role in air supremacy, as long as the air supremacy in the combat sea area is mastered, the naval aviation can destroy the enemy fleet through bombing! So the Wehrmacht Navy should simply no longer build battleships, battle cruisers and heavy cruisers as capital ships for fleet artillery battles. Instead, the focus of ship building should shift to new types of ships such as aircraft carriers, submarines and air defense cruisers. Build a new-type navy that relies on naval aviation to seize sea supremacy......

Let's not say whether this theory is right or wrong, but let's just say that it "belittles" the role of the navy and army and elevates the attitude of the air force, and the air force does not dare to openly put it forward! So Yang Xianyi didn't dare to send this book up. I didn't expect this Luo Yaoguo to submit it directly to Chang Ruiqing! This can be regarded as stabbing Lou Zi bigger.

Yang Xianyi frowned and said: "Yaoshuai, there are also some military theorists in the world who believe that the air force may become a key factor in determining the outcome of a war in the future. However, this is only a theory, and it remains to be seen whether it will become a reality. At least in this war against Russia, air power did not play much of a role. Moreover, the Ministry believes that at present the Wehrmacht has paid enough attention to aviation power......"

He said it all from the heart. When Chen Duxiu visited Europe and the United States, the representatives of the Central Reserve Department who accompanied him bought back the entire engine factory and two state-of-the-art woodworking production lines from the German company BFW. At the same time, it also hired dozens of engineers and technicians from the original BFW Company and Fokker Company, and also recruited a large number of Belarusian engineers and mechanics who were exiled to China, which has some intention of vigorously developing the Air Force. For this reason, there are already some different opinions in the army and navy, and they all believe that the aviation force is just a fancy thing that wastes money and cannot be developed as a top priority! It is even more important to pin hopes of winning future wars on the aviation.

Chang Ruiqing said lightly: "Well, I already know the opinion of the Air Force Corps, and since the army, navy, and air force have already expressed their opinions, then this is the end of today's meeting...... Adjourn the meeting. ”

I heard Chang Ruiqing say that the meeting was dismissed. The generals present all stood up and saluted Chang Ruiqing, preparing to retire. Chang Ruiqing also nodded at everyone, what needs to be decided now is the focus of China's national defense construction in the next 20 years, and of course it is impossible to make a decision in a single meeting. After soliciting the military's opinions, Chang Ruiqing should also communicate with the leaders of the Government Council and the Kuomintang and the G-T Party...... It may not necessarily be true that you will listen to them, but there is always something to be done on the surface.

And just as everyone left the conference room one by one. Chang Ruiqing suddenly said again: "Yang Xuehua stays, and Mr. Ma Junwu also asks." ”

The two people who were named looked at Chang Ruiqing, and saw that the committee member was waving at them with a smile. The two looked at each other and hurriedly sat down across from him. Chang Ruiqing smiled: "Mr. Junwu." Brother Xuehua, there is one more thing I want to discuss with the two of you......" Yang Xianyi asked cautiously, "Yaoshuai." What are you discussing? ”

Chang Ruiqing said: "It's about building an aircraft factory. Now the equipment has been shipped to Shanghai, and the German engineers hired from outside have also arrived. It's time for our aircraft factory to open, do you have any good candidates for the director of the aircraft factory? ”

Ma Junwu looked at Yang Xianyi and said in a low voice: "I think Xuehua can be concurrently served, and the deputy director can be Wang Zhu, who is now the Navy's Mawei Aircraft Engineering Department, who used to be the chief engineer of an aircraft manufacturing company in the United States, is enough to be responsible for the permanent operation of the factory." ”

Chang Ruiqing shook his head slightly, with a hesitant look on his face: "The Air Force Corps will soon be expanded into the Air Force General Headquarters, and Brother Xuehua may not be able to take care of it...... Wang Zhu is a good candidate, and it is possible to be a deputy factory director and chief engineer. As for the factory director, I want Major Luo Yaoguo of the Air Force Corps to be the director, what do you think? ”

Hearing this name, Yang Xianyi and Ma Junwu were stunned at the same time. As soon as he wanted to raise any objections, Chang Ruiqing frowned and smiled: "I also know that this construction sounds a little incredible, but I'm sure that this person can manage this aircraft factory well." ”

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