"Distinguished guests, you are the first foreigners to board China's main warship. The battleship was called the Changbaishan. Formerly known as the Japanese battleship Kirishima, this warship was sunk by mines during the Sino-Japanese War, and was later repaired and entered the Chinese Navy. ”

Sa Shijun took the representatives of various countries to board the Changbai Mountain, and after boarding this huge battleship, they also sincerely felt small. Among these countries, Egypt, Iran, and Abyssinia do not have any decent navies, let alone ships of tens of thousands of tons, not even thousands of tons. And they can't afford to raise such warships, so letting them get on board is just to feel the strength of the Chinese Navy.

As for Argentina and Chile, they are traditional naval powers, although they do not have the ability to build ships, but because the countries are relatively wealthy and have the same culture as the Europeans, they have also built quite powerful warships by purchasing them.

Among them, the Chilean Navy also had contact with China, and Li Hongzhang was also interested in buying second-hand warships from Chile. But time passed, and nothing happened.

The progress of the navy is rapid, and countries like Chile and Argentina, which have no industrial manufacturing capacity, have been gradually thrown behind, but they still order large warships from Britain and the United States, and the naval tradition is longer than that of China.

The representatives of these two countries are knowledgeable people, so after they boarded the Changbaishan, they did not marvel at how thick the muzzle of the gun and how big the warship was. Their eyes fell on the places that no one else was paying attention to, and they wiped the door with their white gloves and looked under the railing.

Not a trace of dust! Seeing this, they all nodded secretly, from here at least it shows that the Chinese Navy has an excellent mental outlook and the ship is quite well maintained. The combat effectiveness of the Navy is reflected in it, and the Chinese Navy should not be underestimated.

"Captain Sa. This warship was captured by yours, I wonder if China has the ability to build battleships? Bachelet, the representative of Chile, couldn't help but ask.

Sa Shijun smiled slightly: "Mr. Bachelet, are you interested in battleships?" ”

"Of course, the Chilean Navy is old and needs to be updated, and I myself would like to have a battleship."

Sa Shijun smiled slightly: "I believe in our shipbuilding industry and can meet the requirements of any customer. ”

Bachelet also smiled and said, "Mr. Captain, it's good that you can be confident that we will launch a global bidding with all countries participating. I hope that the Chinese delegates will also participate in this, and that as long as it is of good quality and low price, they will definitely win. ”

The rear admiral of the Chilean Navy is not an idiot, if you want to get a big order, you have to show real skills. Sa Shijun also hurriedly wrote down the matter. I plan to contact the shipyard immediately after the visit. After the representatives of the countries left Lushun. It's time again to the Mukden Arsenal. Got to know China's weapons production line.

At the Mukden Arsenal, they saw a scene that stunned them, the Chinese production line was producing all kinds of weapon parts at a speed they had ever imagined, and they dared to swear to God, even with the European powers. Nor have we seen such efficiency.

Bachelet pointed to a freshly finished cylinder and couldn't help asking, "How much time does it take to process one?" ”

Xiong Mengyuan and Han Linchun, who were in charge, glanced at each other, and then Xiong Mengyuan smiled proudly: "Four minutes!" ”

"What?" The representative of Argentina, Mellor, almost fell to the ground. You must know that in American car companies, it takes 22 minutes to process a cylinder, and the Chinese can complete it in 4 minutes, this is not a joke!

Seeing their surprised looks, Xiong Mengyuan also showed a full smug expression on their faces, this is the power of automated production lines, and the efficiency can be multiplied!

The first automated production line on the Shijie started with automobiles, and it was Morris Motors in Coventry, England, that developed this thing. In 1924, the company began to use a line for the production of automobile cylinders. The 55-metre-long large-scale dedicated processing line consists of 53 machines that are produced continuously in a single cylinder every four minutes.

It was with this production line that Morris grew rapidly, and at one time became the third largest automobile giant on Shijie. Morris kept this secret until it was later visited by American engineers, and it was widely promoted in the United States, triggering a revolution in the field of automobile production.

Zhang Tinglan is not clear about this kind of delicate matter, but China is also developing rapidly in the field of automobile industry, especially the launch of many new models with novel and beautiful shapes, which are not only sold in China, but even in Europe and the United States.

China launched a fully enclosed sedan in '24, a change from the style of classic cars in the past, and it was very popular. American auto giants still look down on Chinese manufacturers, but Morris has taken the initiative to find China and hope to cooperate.

Just when the two sides sent engineers to each other to learn, Chinese engineers saw the automated production line for the first time. I realized the value of it, so I immediately started my research after returning to Japan.

For this kind of cross-era jishu, Zhang Tinglan of course gave the greatest attention, so he immediately organized dozens of engineers in the field of machinery, everyone jointly tackled key problems, and quickly made the first automatic cylinder production line belonging to China.

Compared with Morris's self-cherishing broom, the Chinese side will not do this, and the military industry has also quickly participated in it, upgrading the production line.

In the past two years, automated production lines have blossomed all over China, from automobile production, to machine tools, to aircraft, to home appliances, and so on.

Of course, due to the defects in China's materials and processes, some high-end engines still rely on skilled workers, otherwise China's Snow Leopard tanks and dive bombers would have been able to form a batch of rioters.

But it's not too late now, Zhang Tinglan is taking advantage of the big crisis that is not far away, copying the West, and making up for Zuihou's shortcomings, and then it will be the time when China's industry will soar.

The big industrial production itself is shocking, it is magical, and when these representatives see it, it is like magic. When various weapons were produced, they were quickly impressed and expressed their willingness to purchase them.

Zhang Tingshu, Tao Jiping, Han Linchun, Xiong Mengyuan, Wu Yulin and others gathered at the presidential palace to discuss the sales plan.

"Big President, these countries can be roughly divided into three categories, the first is Siam and Iran. They are neighbors of ours and have a certain amount of capital, so they want to purchase a full set of arms, including the navy, army, and air force, and there is a great demand. The second category is Chile and Argentina. Both countries, although they also have money, have traditionally procured Western weapons. They just want to procure something that the West does not have. Plus, they want to use us to drive down prices. The third category is Abyssinia and Egypt, both of which have little money and can only exchange some rags, which I think are dispensable. ”

Zhang Tinglan waved his hand: "Minister Tao, the economic interests are calculated in this way, but there is still a favor account. Egypt and Abyssinia though poor. But we also need to treat everyone equally, especially when it comes to providing weapons, as cheaply as possible, so that they can get the respect that Europe does not get. ”

Everything has to look at the long term. Egypt holds the Suez Canal and is currently one of the few independent countries in the Middle East, and the famous Battle of El Alamein took place in Egypt during World War II. In addition, Italy also invaded Abyssinia in 35 years, and if it could reach these two countries, it would be tantamount to laying cloth for World War II. It can even be said that Egypt will also be one of the main forces in the future war in the Middle East, and this traditional friendship may play an immeasurable role in the future.

Of course, Zhang Tinglan will not tell others about these considerations, and Tao Jiping and they can only implement them, since the president wants to give preferential treatment to the two countries, let them choose some cheaper.

Zhang Tingshu said with a smile: "Brother, the Siamese side has already talked about it, they are ready to purchase 200 Type 12 light tanks, 50 biplane trainers, 150 fighters, two light cruisers, 10 destroyers, 20 frigates, of which half of the new ships and half of the old ships, and the purchase of 76 guns and 500 guns, 122 guns and 200 guns, and 200,000 rifles, with a total price of 80 million, to be paid off in ten years, with taxes and rice export collateral. ”

Listening to Zhang Tingshu's introduction, several people present secretly swallowed their saliva, this Second Young Master Zhang is really good at it, the Type 12 light tank was originally designed for the Jiangnan water network area, but because the process of national unification was faster than expected, this kind of tank was not manufactured in large quantities and became a waste product, but I didn't expect Zhang Tingshu to sell it. Moreover, it has become the first large-scale export tank in China's history, which is really a bit laughable.

As for those biplanes, which are also about to be eliminated, China has already equipped a large number of monoplanes, and the other 122 howitzers were originally obtained by Zhang Tinglan from Russia's military purchases, which are baby bumps. However, in recent years, the 122 guns have been a little high or low, China has produced a large number of 105, 152 caliber guns, a batch of old 122 has been decommissioned, and now it has been thrown to Siam.

Others, such as the Makqin machine gun and the 82 mortar, are not good things, but Zhang Tingshu sold them at a good price, and everyone was ecstatic.

Only Zhang Tinglan's face was a little grim: "Wei Jiu, business is doing well, but selling things like you is easy for people to label Chinese weapons as cheap, which is not a good thing, we want everyone to know that Chinese goods are high-end and high-grade." Well, you go and talk to that Songkan that China is going to produce a batch of escort carriers, and if they are interested, they can participate in the investment, and within three years they can have an aircraft carrier battle group in Siam. ”

"I have no objection to selling aircraft carriers, but I'm worried that Siam won't be able to pay for it." Zhang Tingshu said worriedly.

"Haha, I'm not afraid that they owe money, and I hope they owe money." Zhang Tinglan daxiao said: "If you don't pay the money, you can use the land to pay off the debt, and you can use the grain to pay off the debt, and the big deal is to send the princess over, can this account still be yellow?" ”

Zhang Tinglan actually expected that when the Great Depression came in 29, Siam would definitely not be able to repay the money as scheduled, so it was just the opportunity for China to intervene in Siam, and it couldn't let this account be yellow, 80 million debts, plus an aircraft carrier, was Zhang Tinglan's bargaining chip at the mercy of Siam!

Zhang Tingshu also nodded hurriedly, he didn't care much about anything else, but when he heard that Zhang Tinglan planned to let the princess pay off the debt, he had some small calculations in his heart, his eldest brother was still not honest!

After talking about Siam, everyone mentioned Iran again, and the Shah of Iran at this time was none other than the old Pahlavi, the father of the officially known Pahlavi Shah and the founder of the dynasty. In 1925, the elder Pahlavi, with the support of the British, staged a coup d'état and seized power.

Iran has always been sandwiched between the two major empires of Britain and Russia, and its internal and external troubles are quite serious. When Pahlavi came to power, he took two main steps: secularization at home, weakening religious control, and severely limiting the power of religious courts.

Externally, the Pahlavi tried his best to get rid of British control and fight for the freedom of the country, so Pahlavi and Germany were quite close. In World War II, he almost threw himself into the arms of the Axis powers.

However, there is also a big problem with getting close to Germany, that is, because of Germany's defeat in World War I, the help it can provide to Iran is limited, and Pahlavi feels that the strength is not enough. And with China's victory in Central Asia, it has taken the land of southern Central Asia and has become another great power on the border with Iran.

Therefore, when Iran became aware of this situation, it immediately sent people to China, hoping to understand the dynamics of this new neighbor, and if it is easy to get along, it is better to bring in China Liliang to balance the UK, and if it fails, it is necessary to plan carefully.

Zhang Tinglan listened to everyone's introductions, and then said: "Iran is very important, this is the best springboard for us to intervene in the Middle East, and I can tell you that the Middle East, especially the Persian Gulf, has a lot of oil. ”

As soon as oil was mentioned, everyone came to the spirit, and Wu Yulin couldn't help but ask, "How many will there be?" ”

"At least more than half of the shijie, the Middle East will become the new oil center after the United States."

Hearing this, several people present were all boiling, oil is the blood of industry, although China's current use is not large, but in the future, oil will definitely have explosive growth, but China itself does not produce much oil, if there is really so much oil in the Middle East, it is worth paying how much it costs!

"President, why don't we send troops directly to the Middle East, grab this place, and the oil will be solved?"

"Don't dream about it yet, do we have the ability to run thousands of kilometers away to fight, things in the Middle East can only be boiled in warm water, Pahlavi is the most haode entry point, we must carry out comprehensive cooperation with him, provide arms support, and make Iran a pawn for us to interfere in the Middle East."

"President, Chile has offered to purchase a battleship, but it is going to be tendered globally, and they want China to participate in it, and I am worried that they will not be able to compete with Western companies, and I don't know whether to go or not."

"Of course I'm going, it's a good thing to advertise, even if I lose, what, I'll have the strength to fight. The cost of a battleship is at least fifty or sixty million yuan, no matter what, you have to fight for it! (To be continued......)