Episode 36 Shen Rongxuan's high chess

Since the middle of this month, the first batch of technology and equipment from Germany have been installed and debugged one after another, and the production lines of BF109A fighters and Stuka dive bombers, which Xiang Xiaoqiang is very concerned about, have also begun to be assembled. Soon, the first prototype in Daming will be available. Of course, a series of test flights and improvements are needed after that, but after all, the two best combat aircraft representing this era have settled in Daming. It's only a matter of time before it's mass-produced.

In the three months after the armistice, the Ming Army's army aviation increased its number of combat aircraft by more than 1,000, and the original four aviation divisions expanded to eight. Correspondingly, it is the expansion of college enrollment.

…… To be precise, it is the expansion of aviation schools.

The number of new students admitted to the Imperial Aviation School has tripled. At the same time, two new aviation schools are under construction. According to the tradition of the world's armed forces, a country's best pilots do not stay in the front-line troops, but in aviation schools. But Daming, like other countries in the period of rapid development of the air force, faces a problem, that is, the pilot base is too small.

It is possible to roll off the assembly line 500, 1,000, 5,000, or even 10,000 planes a month, but pilots cannot "bake" at this speed. Therefore, the problem of having more planes than pilots came early.

Therefore, 1,000 German pilots have become a treasure that everyone covets. They have a lot of flying hours, hard training, and superb skills, which has been written when Daming signed the contract with Germany, that is, Germany cannot take some rookies to make up the numbers. Before these German officers came, they were all checked and selected by the representatives of the Ming army, and they were determined to be "not rookies." But after watching their air show to Xiaoqiang, he immediately understood that they were not only not rookies, but also the best pilots you could find in the thirties.

Obviously, either the Führer was too generous, or the military expert group of the Ming was too capable. In short, Xiang Xiaoqiang can imagine what Goering has become like when he is angry.

The War Department wants, and so does the Army Aviation. The War Department is going to get these excellent pilots into the aviation school as instructors. Because the aviation school belongs to the training system and belongs to the Ministry of the Army. The Army Airlines wanted to bring them over because it wanted to form a German volunteer flight unit and directly form combat effectiveness. Because in this way they belong to the combat unit, they can be directly commanded by the General Staff of the Army and the Army Aviation.

In the past, when the Cabinet was in full control of the army, this problem would not have been a problem. With a stroke of the War Department's pen, most of the 1,000 pilots entered the aviation school, while the Army could only watch dryly, and if you wanted to share a little, you had to look at the face of the War Department. But now it was different, the army was directly under the control of the emperor and became an organization on a par with the cabinet government. That's a bit of a. And everyone knows that Xiang Xiaoqiang's influence on Her Majesty the Empress, and the German ** official group also talked back to Xiaoqiang. Therefore, Xiang Xiaoqiang's attitude is crucial.

For this matter, Xiang Xiaoqiang had a headache. In his heart, he is more willing to let these excellent pilots enter the aviation school and train more and better pilots for Daming. But the War Department belongs to the cabinet, and it can be said that it is from Shen Rongxuan's side. The army is on its own side, and the army is also on its own side.

Xiang Xiaoqiang brought in several of his think tanks—Fourteen Gege, Xiuxiu, Stomachache, Song Ruhai, Sun Jiye, and Wang Hexiang—and closed the door to discuss it. Xiang Xiaoqiang bluntly said that he hoped that the 1,000 pilots would enter the aviation school. But now we are faced with such a problem, what to do.

Although none of these people knew where it was better for pilots to go, they all agreed that this was a good opportunity to expand their influence to Xiaoqiang. If Xiang Xiaoqiang is smart, he should be a two-headed person in the middle. Of course, the War Department is the camp of the cabinet, and the Minister of War is also his own person nominated by Shen Rongxuan, even if Xiang Xiaoqiang gives them all 1,000 pilots this time, they will be limited in the future. But Xiang Xiaoqiang can take this opportunity to greatly win over the top of the army.

……

"Li Guoliang is already one of our people," said Fourteen Gege's eyes flickering, "and the marshals of General Staff Lu have not shown any displeasure, and have been acquiescing and even encouraging him to become our people." What does this mean? ”

Xiuxiu listened to Fourteen Gege's words, and kept looking at Xiang Xiaoqiang's eyes, nodding her head incessantly. It can be seen that what Fourteen Gege said is exactly what she wants to say.

Fourteen Gege continued:

"Li Guoliang is now our guest of honor. It would be too ...... if we could pass this incident and let Marshal Tang Yunsheng, chief of the General Staff of the Army, and even Marshal Zhang Zhaoxian, chief of the General Staff of the General Headquarters, also become our guests It's done. ”

Xiuxiu listened to Fourteen Gege again, then stared at Xiang Xiaoqiang's eyes and nodded vigorously. Xiang Xiaoqiang could see that Xiao Nizi's eyes flashed with power no less than fourteen grids**.

"What do you say?"

Xiang Xiaoqiang glanced at his henchmen. They all nodded in agreement.

Xiang Xiaoqiang thought about it for a while, looked up and said:

"In this case, I plan to arrange a table of wine and dinner, and invite the leading figures of the War Department and the Army General Staff. Now this situation is up to me. I gave them half a person, and they all had to be grateful to me. ”

He turned to Song Ruhai and said:

"I'm tired of Haigong running to the War Department to see who he can invite, the higher the rank, the better."

Song Ruhai nodded and smiled, indicating that he understood. Song Ruhai used to be the military attache of the Ming Army in Germany, and he was subordinate to the War Department rather than the Army General Staff, and he was a member of the War Department. It was up to him to come forward and speak better in the War Department. And now that he is in charge of the political work team, foreign relations is his job.

Of course, Wang Hexiang was previously the deputy director of the General Administration of Military Industry, and he was also under the jurisdiction of the War Department. But compared to the former diplomats stationed in major European countries, the status of a former deputy director of the General Administration of Military Industry is a bit low. The War Department men don't necessarily look down on him.

Xiang Xiaoqiang turned to the fourteenth grid again and said:

"Her Royal Highness the princess is tired of running the General Staff and the Command Department of the Army, and it is the same, how many officials can be invited. It would be best to invite Mr. Zhang Zhaoxian to come. ”

Everyone laughed. Marshal Zhang Zhaoxian is the chief of staff of the Supreme Command, which is equivalent to the commander-in-chief of the three armies, the highest position in the Ming army, and the person who actually holds the greatest military power. The nominal commander-in-chief of the army and navy is Zhu Yourong, but in fact it is him. After the coup d'état, the status of the army was on par with the cabinet, and his status was also faintly on par with that of the first and auxiliary ministers, and he became the two supreme governors of the empire, civil and military.

Fourteen Gege also nodded with a smile and said that he had taken it. Xiang Xiaoqiang understands that Fourteen Gege has the ability to invite Old Man Zhang here, as long as Old Man Zhang happens to be in a good mood.

During Xiang Xiaoqiang's mission to Europe, Fourteen Gege acted as the commander of the People's Guard, and he dealt with the leaders of the army. And the generals have a good impression of the fourteen grids, and they are not as prejudiced against this former Manchu as those civil officials. In addition, as a princess, Fourteen Gege has a noble status, and it is a matter of great face for the other party to visit any general in person.

"My lord," Xiuxiu looked at Xiang Xiaoqiang and said with some concern, "You...... Ready to arrange it at home? ”

"Of course, what's wrong? By the way, this banquet is in your hands, and they must make it look beautiful. ”

Xiuxiu hesitated and said softly:

"My lord, this ...... It's not good at home. ”

"Yes," Fourteen Gege agreed, tapping his pen on the table, "Xiuxiu is right, this kind of banquet is not suitable for a home. It's better to go outside. ”

"Why? Ah......h

Xiang Xiaoqiang reacted as soon as he finished asking. The characters invited this time are too big, and Xiang Xiaoqiang appears as a mediator again. If it is to mediate with Xiaoqiang's territory, it is as if Xiang Xiaoqiang called the two parties together and condescendingly arranged for them. That Xiang Xiaoqiang obviously doesn't have this qualification now. But if it's in a restaurant outside, it's different. It doesn't matter whose territory it is, it's just that everyone gets together for a meal and talks about it.

"Alas, anyway, this is a good thing," Xiang Xiaoqiang said with a smile, "Everyone can fight for these thousand pilots, which also shows that both the military and government of the Ming Dynasty attach great importance to air power." If there is such a group of flying masters in the Northern Qing Dynasty who want to enter the aviation school as instructors, I am afraid that they will not be able to enter without giving the money to be an official in the aviation school. ”

……

At noon the next day, Song Ruhai hurried back from the War Department, his face was ugly. He went directly into Xiaoqiang's office to ask for a meeting, then closed the door and said:

"My lord, I just returned from the War Department. You know what? ”

After speaking, he sat down in a chair opposite Xiang Xiaoqiang, took out a cigarette and put it in his mouth, and said again angrily:

"You can't even guess."

Xiang Xiaoqiang was a little sweaty, when did this old gentleman learn to have a stomachache. But he still smiled and picked up the lighter and handed it over across the table. Song Ruhai reacted at this time, and even called him "Lord Bulao", but he still leaned over and lit a cigarette on Xiang Xiaoqiang's lighter.

He puffed out a puff of smoke and sighed:

"My lord, we have calculated everything, but we still let Shen Ge Lao take the lead."

"How?"

At the mention of Shen Rongxuan, Xiang Xiaoqiang suddenly had an ominous premonition.

Song Ruhai sneered:

"When I saw the Minister of War, his face was very ugly, as if he had just eaten gunpowder, he bothered with me and said lukewarmly, they already planned to take the initiative to give up all these 1,000 pilots to the Army Airlines, and not one of them would be kept, so we should be satisfied, and they will not eat this meal."

"Oh?!"

Xiang Xiaoqiang was very surprised. The War Department actually took the initiative to give these 1,000 pilots to the Army? They were fighting to the death before, how can they now say no and don't want all of them?

Song Ruhai looked at him and said:

"Your Excellency, don't you understand? Obviously, it was Shen Ge Lao who intervened. Obviously, he doesn't want you to be in the upper echelons of the Army. For this, he would rather have the War Department abandon the 1,000 flight instructors. ”

"Ahh

Xiang Xiaoqiang understood. Shen Rongxuan, Shen Rongxuan, he really took a step forward! The result of getting together with the top brass of the army, and the result of losing 1,000 flight instructors, Shen Rongxuan can certainly tell which is more important!

Don't say 1,000 instructors, it's 10,000 instructors, as long as they can block the way for themselves to continue to seize power, Shen Rongxuan also said that he can give it up!

Xiang Xiaoqiang's face turned pale, staring blankly at the desktop.

…… Damn, in this case, I can't do anything about it.