February 29th.

"President, Navy Commander Sa Zhenbing asks to see!" Cheng Baguio's voice came from the phone. Cheng Biyao has also been pregnant for several months, but her belly is not yet pregnant and she can continue to work, while Wang Yanan is almost seven months pregnant, and it is expected to give birth by the end of May and early June.

Xiao Zhenlei said: "Please invite him!" ”

"Good!"

Soon, the office door was knocked on and pushed open, Cheng Biyao pushed the door open and came in and stood aside, Sa Zhenbing owed to her and walked towards Xiao Zhenlei who was working, Cheng Biyao immediately exited the office and closed the door.

"Report to the President, Navy Commander Navy Commander Sa Zhenbing reports!" Sa Zhenbing stood in front of Xiao Zhenlei's desk and saluted.

Xiao Zhenlei really frowned at Wen Jiàn on the table at this time, and after hearing the voice, he looked up and saw that it was Sa Zhenbing and said, "Oh, General Sa is here, come on, please sit here!" With that, he got up and took Sa Zhenbing to the rest area of the office.

After both of them sat down, Xiao Zhenlei handed over the cigarette case, Sa Zhenbing hurriedly said that he would not smoke, Xiao Zhenlei did not force him, he lit a cigarette and took a few puffs and asked, "Is there anything important for General Sa to come over today?" ”

Sa Zhenbing sat up straight and reported: "Report to the president, I am here to report to you that the 'Sailfish-class' light cruisers Haichang and Haifeng, the 'Jinchang-class' Dongsheng and Sunset, and the 'Golden Gun-class' heavy cruisers Zhenjiang and Zhenhai have been equipped for sea trials. ”

"Really? Finished with sun-fitting and sea trials? Didn't find any problems? Xiao Zhenlei was overjoyed when he heard this, and stood up happily.

The six cruisers were built by the Jiangnan Shipyard, the China Merchants Steamship Bureau, and the Fuzhou Shipbuilding Bureau, and were finally completed after two years. And three months ago, it was successfully launched for a sea trial, and Xiao Zhenlei personally went to participate in the launching and sea trial ceremony. At that time, there were also many journalists and military personnel of the navies of the great powers.

The Sailfish-class Haichang and Haifeng were two light cruisers with a displacement of 3,200 tons and five triple 102mm guns. There are also two twin 47mm guns, one front and one rear, four 18-inch torpedo tubes, engine power of 23,000 horsepower, and a speed of up to 29 knots, which no light patrol of any major country has been able to achieve at present.

The Jinchang-class Dongsheng and Sunset have a displacement of 4,300 tons, a full load of nearly 5,000 tons, a power of 25,000 horsepower, a speed of 28.5 knots, and two twin 203-mm guns. Three triple 155-mm guns, two 75-mm guns, two 21-inch torpedo tubes. Among the cruisers of the same tonnage class in the world, these two are the fastest and also rank among the best in terms of firepower and protection. In fact, according to the caliber of artillery, these two cruisers should be counted as heavy cruisers, because it has two twin 203-mm guns.

The actual standard displacement of the Jingun-class heavy patrol Zhenjiang and Zhenhai has exceeded 6,000 tons, and the full load can reach 7,000 tons, and the armament is three triple 203 mm guns (9 guns). 2 twin 47-mm guns, 2 21-inch torpedo tubes, 30,000 horsepower, speed 28 knots. Whether it is speed, firepower, or armor thickness, it has far surpassed the heavy patrols of the current powers, and even the light patrols of the great powers are far inferior to them in speed.

Sa Zhenbing said: "After the first trial voyage, I did encounter some problems at sea. However, engineers and skilled workers from major shipyards are on the ship, and they are actively repairing problems when they occur. Positive revisions have been made to some irrational areas, and now there are no problems at all. There hasn't been a single problem in more than two months! ”

Xiao Zhenlei was overjoyed and said: "Okay, okay, now my country can finally build an all-steel warship by itself, and the displacement has reached 6,000 tons, although it took a long time, but after all, it was built, it was not bad in terms of performance, and it has surpassed other powers in technology, this is a leap!" ”

Sa Zhenbing also sighed: "Yes, President, to be honest, two years ago when you proposed to build your own battleships, I really couldn't believe that we would succeed, I didn't expect that the shipyard engineers and shipbuilding technicians would burst out with great passion and drive, I heard that in the past two years, the shipyards have encountered a lot of problems when building these six warships, but they have finally overcome some very critical shipbuilding technical difficulties with strong perseverance and unremitting research. During this period, many engineers were tired of their posts, even if they were admitted to the hospital, and when they were just a little better, they did not get better and put themselves into work again, and it was precisely because of their fighting spirit that we were able to build our own cruisers! ”

Xiao Zhenlei nodded, he also listened to the people below report these things, from these things can be seen, human potential is endless, in the history of another time and space, science and technology from nothing, blank, to create atomic bombs, hydrogen bombs such things have happened, what else can the Chinese not do?

Xiao Zhenlei said: "They are a group of amazing people! It is precisely because of their selflessness and perseverance that we have broken through the status quo of zero in the field of large warships, and they are heroes! I want to thank them personally, without them, we would not have the navy we have today, and I will go to see the navy sailors on the battleship, you go and discuss with the president's office to make arrangements, and set a date as much as possible."

Sa Zhenbing agreed: "Okay, I'll discuss it with the president's office right away!" ”

In the next few days, because the Allied and Entente countries sent minister-level diplomats to contact Xiao Zhenlei, trying to persuade Xiao Zhenlei to join their respective camps, and both sides showed some sincerity, such as Japan and Germany also said that they would return the concession, so Xiao Zhenlei began to send people to conduct secret negotiations with the two sides.

The diplomatic aspect is handed over to a special person to discuss, Xiao Zhenlei is also a lot easier, and the government affairs are handled by the cabinet headed by Song Shijie, although Xiao Zhenlei needs to worry about not as good as the emperor, but there are a lot, during this time he is going to go to various places to take a walk, inspect the army construction of the national defense force, and go to the army, navy and air force respectively.

In the half-month period from early March to mid-March, Xiao Zhenlei visited six provinces and inspected three army divisions, two air bases, and two naval ports.

Up to now, the comprehensive reorganization of the national defense forces has not yet been completed, and only the reorganization of more than 30 divisions has been completed before, and it was only some time ago that it was truly unified, and now those provinces that have just been brought under the jurisdiction of the center are carrying out the army front, and according to the plan, the army plan of 60 divisions will be reorganized, and the total strength of the army will be 1.5 million, all of which will be regular troops, and the equipment will be uniform, and more than 20 divisions will still be needed.

And the Air Force has now developed and manufactured second-generation aircraft, fighters, bombers and torpedo machines! Up to now, the Air Force has 12 air bases, 26 airfields, and 68 runways across the country. There are already one and thirty first-generation fighters. The second-generation aircraft have 200 fighters, 160 fighters, and 100 torpedo planes, and more than 1,000 pilots have been trained.

The speed of the second-generation fighter produced by the aircraft manufacturing company has reached 320 kilometers per hour, and the maximum range has reached 1,300 kilometers. The bomber can reach a maximum range of 1,500 kilometers and can carry 500 kg of bombs, while a torpedo machine can carry a 21-inch torpedo.

When Xiao Zhenlei inspected the air base, he felt that there were still too few planes and that more aircraft factories must be built.

Xiao Zhenlei said that since there is a shortage of workers, we should recruit more workers, and we can recruit from university or middle school graduates, and those students who have just graduated are educated, have instructions, and have vitality and unlimited youth, and after they are trained and matured, they can train the next batch of workers, build more aircraft factories, and train more pilots.

After visiting the workers of several major shipyards, Xiao Zhenlei inspected the naval base and visited the officers and men of the navy; now the Naval Academy and the Naval Command College are still recruiting students, and every month sailors and naval officers graduate from the schools and enter the navy.

During this period, Sa Zhenbing handed over a shipbuilding plan for the construction of six light cruisers, four heavy cruisers and two battleships, and applied for military expenses for building ships, Xiao Zhenlei saw these two application reports and found Sa Zhenbing, allowing the construction of six light cruisers and four heavy cruisers, but not allowing the construction of battleships, he instructed to change the plan for building battleships to build aircraft carriers, and the requirements for aircraft carriers are that an aircraft carrier must be able to carry at least 50 fighters and have a displacement of more than 20,000 tons. It is necessary to develop a technology that allows fighters to take off and land freely, so that they do not fall into the sea during take-off and landing.

After hearing Xiao Zhenlei's plan, Sa Zhenbing quickly thought of the huge deterrent power of aircraft on ships, he had seen fighter planes conduct combat, bomber and torpedo exercises, if such a ship could be built that could allow fighters to take off and land freely, then the era of artillery and giant ships at this stage would be coming to an end, and a new chapter would be opened in the naval era. So he immediately went back to discuss with the design and development personnel, but Xiao Zhenlei stopped him and said that the two battleships and two battle cruisers ordered in the United States would be completed in another month, and the navy needed to make preparations for receiving them.

At this time, Cheng Baguio came in and told Xiao Zhenlei that the U.S. Minister to China Nunsch had sent an invitation from U.S. President Wilson again, which was a telegram inviting him to the United States for a state visit, and such a telegram had been sent twice, even this time was the third time, Xiao Zhenlei felt that the Americans were so enthusiastic, and it would be too much if he didn't agree, and he himself also intended to visit the United States to strengthen cooperation with the United States, so after some consideration, his trip to the United States was decided. When the time comes, it will be possible to return with four battleships ordered from the United States. (To be continued......) R1292