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Protected by the U.S. Navy's armored cruiser USS New York, the Victorian-painted Atlantic cruise ship slowly sails into Chesapeake Bay, a huge natural bay that is a gift from God to the United States. Due to the unique environment, the Chesapeake Bay is home to half of the U.S. steel industry and 60% of the shipbuilding industry, and almost all the U.S. Navy's capital ships are located here. Even one of the large cruisers of the Anhai class is working intensively here.

From Virginia at the mouth of the bay to Baltimore at the depths of the bay, there are hundreds of large and small docks! Compared with the Republic of China, there are only 6 dry docks in Jiangnan Factory, 2 in Shanghai Qiuxin Factory, 7 in new and old Mawei, 3 in Qingdao, 2 in Qinzhou Bay, 2 in Guangzhou and Dalian, and 1 in Dagu, and half of them are only in the planning stage because of the lack of machinery and equipment and workers.

If he didn't take the opportunity of World War I to catch up, Yang Qiu didn't even have the confidence to continue to participate in future international competition.

The cruise ship slowly approached Newport Port, which is known as the heart of American shipbuilding, and Yang Qiu was slightly stunned by an unexpected beautiful figure just after getting off the ship. I saw Lu Bicheng wearing a white floral short-sleeved cheongsam, a wide-brimmed hat, and a small fan used by European noblewomen, standing beside Xia Kaifu, the ambassador to the United States, with a deep affection in her beautiful eyes. Before she could figure out how she came to the United States, Robert Lansing, the American state secretary who came to greet her, had already come over with a smile: "Welcome to your arrival, Your Excellency Vice President, I am afraid that the journey to the Atlantic at this time will be very hard. ”

Dressed in a straight suit and arrogant in his eyes, Lansing has a typical white sense of self-superiority, and the high bridge of his nose always gives the illusion of domineering. When he saw him, Yang Qiu thought of the famous "Lansing Ishii Agreement", which was not only a manifestation of Japan's appeasement policy, but also a true portrayal of the lack of power of the United States in the Far East. Now this agreement is no longer in place. Because it is impossible for the U.S. government to sign any agreement with a Japan that has been temporarily contained, and Japan's temporary powerlessness has finally freed up the United States to go all out to deal with the war in Europe. Don't worry about the mighty Combined Fleet every day, as you used to.

"It's a very bad season, and if it weren't for the protection of your country, I think I'd have had to wait a little longer before I can set foot on this fertile soil." Yang Qiu politely shook hands with Lan Xin, and his words were warm.

As an active main fighter, Lansing was very concerned about the recent Sino-German severance of diplomatic relations, and his eyebrows showed concern about China's intervention in Europe, saying: "I am very sorry that the attack happened, but was your country's decision too hasty? ”

Yang Qiu shook his head and said in a resolute tone: "Your Excellency, do you know what I saw in Europe?" Corpses, blood, morally degraded and struggling people! I can't put it into words. Suffice it to say it's time to put all your strength to an end! As the world's most populous and largest member of the free world, we politicians must shoulder our responsibilities. ”

American journalists quickly took note of his words, but Lansing did not continue the topic. A strange slight smile ended the brief and tasteless temptation. Instead, he was excited to take him on a tour of the Newport shipbuilding industry. Doesn't the United States care about China's involvement in the European war? It's impossible! Yang Qiu knows best. Even though President Wilson did not want to intervene in the European war, there was already a debate in the United States about whether to intervene in the war, although many people believe that the United States in the parallel world declared war because it was hijacked by the pressure of foreign debt. But this one has been proven to be a joke. The core is still that the United States is trying to seek greater international capital and discourse, because only by returning to this era can it be clearly felt that the world's largest economic and industrial power has too few things to do in international diplomacy.

Moreover, a world ruled by Germany and Austria is not at all in line with American values, so the United States, like itself, is just waiting for an opportunity. After thinking about this clearly, he is not in a hurry, anyway, his 600,000 army is really on the table, how can the United States reap political benefits when the war is declared at home?

It's Lu Bicheng, a woman. What did she come to the U.S. for?

"Did the Vice President forget?" Sitting in the car, Lu Bicheng looked white, and Yang Qiu's fingers quietly pinched from below. He said with a smile: "Several companies under the Rockefeller Corporation have all completed the cracking transformation, and you seem to have made a fortune." ”

Yang Qiu doesn't care if he gets rich or not, money is just a numbers game for him, but where this money should be used is the most important thing. It is impossible to donate to the country for free, Commander Yang is not so great, not to mention that the British and French aid has already supported the domestic industrial market, and he is now worried about how many years it will take for so many machines and equipment to be fully supported and reach the maximum output in China.

"You man! Forgot what you did? Najd (the previous text is wrong, Saudi Arabia should be Najd) two pieces of land still cost money. The money for drilling equipment, the construction of pipeline terminals after mining, and oil tankers is far from enough. Lu Bicheng frowned slightly, as if he was worried about whether it would be cost-effective for him to go to Najd to find oil, and said: "The person sent back said that there is all yellow sand over there, and only Kuwait has oil, are you sure?" I've run out of money. ”

After listening to her words, Yang Qiu was also secretly speechless, this woman is really amazing! Before the Najd oil field was found, it bought 20 drilling wells and a large amount of oil exploration and production equipment from the United States in one go, and also ordered the equipment of a medium-sized petroleum refinery and six 20,000-ton oil tankers to get the first batch of patent fees for cracking technology.

Fortunately, he could still remember some basic information about the Middle East oil fields, and immediately said the approximate location of the Garhwal oil field and the Safania oil field. The latter is an offshore oil field, and it is difficult to exploit it technically, but it can be obtained first. As for the world's second largest oil field in Kuwait's Great Burgan, he didn't have a decision, it was too sensitive to go there. In addition to taking care that the exploitation rights should last as long as possible, and that the Ibn Saud family could be persuaded by offering some assistance if necessary, it was also necessary to demand that the scale and production should not be immediately large, lest they be coveted by Europe.

After discussing the oil field with Lu Bicheng, the convoy stopped in front of the Portland shipyard. This is the largest and most technologically advanced shipbuilding in the Chesapeake Bay, where the Anhai-class No. 2 ship was built. After entering the factory, Yang Qiu and his entourage can finally intuitively feel how powerful the United States is! According to the shipyard manager, the 12 Paulding-class destroyers currently refitted here in accordance with the requirements of the Republic of China can reach a speed of 7 days, which is a bit terrifying! In addition to the installation of depth charge rails and four 37mm rapid-fire guns, the modification also required the removal of the original three 18-inch torpedo tubes on the lower bow and the replacement of two 600mm tubes for firing the latest Type 15 Storm thermodynamic torpedoes. Therefore, this speed stunned the lieutenant officers and experts who visited the shipyard with the delegation.

Yang Qiu was also secretly frightened, and his heart became more and more determined, and it was best to keep the United States out of sending troops directly! He knows that only if the United States does not send troops to directly participate in the war, China will gain the greatest benefits! Because the industrial capacity of the United States is too strong and terrible, once they declare their entry into the war, then Britain and France will inevitably reduce the need for China. However, this matter can no longer be resolved politically, and it must be seen what kind of height Yue Peng can reach, and only victory can make Britain and France reduce their expectations for the United States to send troops to the war.

When Yang Qiu and Robert Lansing walked into the dock, the bow of the Anhai-class No. 2 ship Zhenhai hung a huge ball of flowers, and a bottle of champagne was tied with a ribbon in front of the ribbon-cutting table, and although the warship that completed the 18-month slipway construction has not yet been equipped with an outfitting weapon system, anyone standing in front of 27,000 tons of steel will feel small.

"Vice President, you're going to have to smash the bottle as hard as you can." Zhou Houkun was wearing the badge of the YMCA, worried that Yang Qiu didn't understand the rules and explained why he smashed the wine bottle hard, and saw Lu Bicheng covering his mouth and chuckling beside him.

He was one of the students studying in the United States in Gengzi year, and thanks to Yang Qiu's insistence that some students in the Anhai construction team must be given internship opportunities to study shipbuilding and machinery, he became one of the intern designers in the Anhai plan, and decided to join the National Youth Association. At this moment, his performance made people feel a little funny, but Yang Qiu did not stop this painstaking effort, because from the eyes of this well-known young man, what he saw was his dedication to work and the expectation of a strong country, so he could not tolerate the slightest mistake in his work. "I heard that you studied not only mechanics, but also shipbuilding and aeronautical design?" Before the ribbon cutting began, Yang Qiu and he chatted.

Zhou Houkun didn't expect Yang Qiu to pay attention to his learning experience in his busy schedule, and smiled shyly: "Let the vice president smile." It's a lot of talk, but it's not as specialized, in fact, my level is not as good as Song Jiandong, Wang Zhu and Ba Yuzao. Another task of Yang Qiu's visit to the United States is to take these students back. Not to mention others, just him, Wang Zhu, Ba Yuzao and others have already made the country covetous. Due to the weak foundation, the local talents of domestic mechanical, ship and aviation design are basically blank, and they have to rely on those designers recruited from abroad, but because there are no high-level experts in the field, the introduction of talents will inevitably be uneven and indiscriminate. With the Republic of China declaring war on the Alliance, the stability of a large number of German and Austrian designers and technicians is also plaguing the country, at least some of them will definitely be unusable until the end of the war, so Yang Qiu now urgently needs these young people who have achieved academic success to go back to support.

Gu Weijun has been listening to the conversation between the two, he is clear about Yang Qiu's attention to talents, especially domestic talents, and said: "Vice President rest assured, except for a few students who died of illness, the rest have been assembled and ready to return to China, and we have also recruited more than 100 outstanding overseas Chinese children in the United States and South America to return to China. ”

Yang Qiu nodded, no matter how anxious he was, he couldn't interrupt this rare internship experience, and it was good to stay in the powerful American industrial system for one more day, so before cutting the ribbon, he smiled and encouraged Zhou Houkun: "Study hard, the country is not strong now, and you young people are needed to stand up and take the lead, I can count on you to design better planes and warships!" ”

Zhou Houkun nodded vigorously, Yang Qiu and Lan Xin walked up to the ribbon-cutting table together, and when the red silk was untied and smashed the champagne out, the flash was dazzling, and the bottle of broken wine overflowed...... ()