"Minister..."

"Minister Sa..."

In the Admiralty, everyone who saw Sa Zhenbing respected the Dao.

As the only surviving veteran of the navy, Sa Zhenbing can be said to be the most famous naval admiral in China today. However, what is truly respectable is his personality and integrity, which is especially rare among the soldiers of this era...

Similarly, as an old man who lived to be in his 90s, his life also ran through the Manchu Qing, Beiyang, the Republic of China, and four dynasties, including New China.

Naturally, due to its historical performance, some people think that Sa Zhenbing is too inactive.

However, it is difficult for a good woman to cook without rice, to be honest, judging from the situation in China at that time, is there a way to pay back another person? At that time, the sinking of the Chinese Navy was determined by the national situation of the whole country, and it was not that it could be changed by changing one person, especially when the whole country attached importance to the army but had little interest in the navy...

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Nodding to his subordinates who greeted him, Sa Zhenbing walked towards his office.

Since the new office building of the Admiralty had not yet been built at this time, Sa Zhenbing and the generals of the Navy still remained in the original Admiralty.

When Sa Zhenbing walked into the office, looking at the new national flag hanging outside the window, his face couldn't help but sink.

After the establishment of the Republic of China, the first to adopt the five-color flag was actually the five-color flag, the iron-blooded eighteen-star flag existed as the army flag, and the blue sky and white sun were the navy flag.

After the establishment of the National Social Government, Yan Shaoli changed the five-color flag to the 'red dragon flag' used by the National Social Government. The people of the former National Social Army also agreed with it out of emotional factors, after all, this is the flag that has been adopted since the recovery of Anhui, and the five-color flag, the blue sky and the white sun, and the iron-blooded eighteen-star military flag have never been used. plus a bad relationship with the Kuomintang, so there is not the slightest feeling.

Although there was a lot of opposition from all walks of life, Yan Shao already had a decisive force at that time, and the Nationalist Government was not originally a place to emphasize democracy, so the new national flag replaced the five-color flag under Yan Shao's strong initiative.

This incident has caused a lot of discussion in society, and many people have expressed dissatisfaction with Yan Shao's autocracy, if it were not for the fact that Yan Shao had created a pretty good reputation in the past. I'm afraid that the dog who has been scolded by public opinion for a long time will be bloody.

However...

If it is said that the people of the former national government supported the change of the national flag out of emotional factors, Yan Shao is definitely not like what the outside world says. It's also because of the relationship.

There is only one reason why Yan Shao wants to change the national flag, and that is that the meaning of this flag is too narrow.

The five-color flag, red, yellow, blue, white and black respectively represent the republic of the five ethnic groups of Han, Manchu, Mongolian, Hui and Tibetan, and the five colors selected are the colors traditionally loved by the five ethnic groups.

If you look at it from here, it doesn't seem like a problem. But actually. Is there only five ethnic groups in China?

Of course, this is not the biggest problem, the biggest problem is if there are dozens more ethnic groups in China in the future......... What to do?

If China is still developing according to its past history, then the adoption of the five-color flag does not seem to be too much of a problem, but now that Yan Shao has returned, then the history and destiny of the country will inevitably change, and the biggest part of the change is ......... Territorial...

This is also the reason why Yan Shao must change the national flag for nothing, it is too narrow-minded. It may not be a problem now, but in a few years the flag will be clearly flawed. In this case, it is better to change things.

Of course, now Sa Zhenbing is standing in the office looking at this flag, his face is heavy, not because he has an opinion about this flag. Even from his point of view, this flag is very beautiful, and as a soldier who has served the Manchu Qing Dynasty almost all his life, it is impossible to say that he has no feelings for the Qing Dynasty, and this 'Red Bottom Dragon Flag' can just evoke a trace of nostalgia for the Qing Dynasty.

It wasn't the flag that really made his face heavy, it was the person who designed it...

As the only remaining veteran of the Beiyang Navy. Sa Zhenbing's whole life has been used to revitalize the navy, and this time he will agree to serve as the Minister of the Navy of the Guoshe Government because he listened to the persuasion of Gu Chengzhou and Liu Guanxiong and others—————— at that time they persuaded Sa Zhenbing's lines and there is no need to repeat them, anyway, the general meaning is that Yan Shao is a local tyrant who is rare to see in a century, as long as he leaks out of his fingers, it is enough to rebuild ten Beiyang Navy, so Sa Zhenbing must not miss this opportunity...

If it's anything else, it doesn't matter, but this one is particularly attractive to Sa Zhenbing.

Historically, after the First Sino-Japanese War, the Manchu Qing Dynasty, the Beiyang Dynasty and the Nationalist Government failed to build a navy, and the government's incompetence was one thing, but the most important point was that there was no money.

Now that he has a rich president, Sa Zhenbing naturally wants to contribute to the revival of the navy.

At the beginning, due to the government's hasty creation and the need for a careful plan to revive the navy, Sa Zhenbing and the navy did not bother Yan Shao.

During this period, Yan Shao's loan of 100 million pounds from the national government also came out. 100 million pounds, as has been said in the past, is enough to buy more than forty of the latest super-dreadnoughts, and after hearing the news, Sa Zhenbing is also more confident in the revival of the navy.

Who knew that when Sa Zhenbing approached Yan Shao with a new naval revival plan, what he got was Yan Shao's shirk...

At that time, Sa Zhenbing thought that it was because the current government had too many places to use money, and he needed to wait a little, if this was the case, Sa Zhenbing could understand. And it is true that the '75 Project', which even Sa Zhenbing admired, has spent a lot of money on a series of problems in terms of the reorganization of the national army and the reform of finance.

The navy is a big money-eater, and the annual salary of an infantry division of more than 18,000 people is only enough to buy an ordinary cruiser of two or three thousand tons. Sa Zhenbing's original plan to purchase 10 3,000-ton cruisers required almost a year's salary for 10 infantry divisions. Not to mention the three 10,000-ton cruisers.

It's just that just when Sa Zhenbing thought he had understood Yan Shao, he heard another news...

The government invested nearly 50 million yuan to build a presidential palace outside Beijing...

That presidential palace, Sa Zhenbing, has also seen it from afar, and it is indeed magnificent. The price of 50 million is definitely worth it. But the problem is that if you have the money to build the presidential palace, don't you have the money to revive the navy?

Fifty million is enough to buy two of the latest super dreadnoughts from Europe and the United States, and even the naval revival plan proposed by Sa Zhenbing earlier is more than enough. Who would have thought that Yan Shao would actually use this money to build a house for himself, what is the difference between this in Sa Zhenbing's eyes and the Empress Dowager Cixi taking the navy's money to repair the garden?

So of course, because of this incident, Sa Zhenbing was dissatisfied with Yan Shao...

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"Is Minister Sa here?"

Striding into the Admiralty, after dragging one of them. Wu Qianqiu asked.

There's no way, the phone is basically the government's standard equipment in Anhui, but it's in Beiyang. Since he has been fighting, he is not equipped at all, so Wu Qianqiu has to run in person if he has anything.

Naturally, after the establishment of the national government, the government began to equip various departments with telephones. The problem is that the phones have been planned and installed in the departmental building under construction. These old buildings have little chance anymore...

"You're Adjutant Wu, aren't you?" The person who was dragged recognized this henchman by Yan Shao's side, so he hurriedly replied. "The office where he just returned, you can go there and find it..."

"Okay, thank you." Patting the man on the shoulder, Wu Qianqiu walked upstairs.

Just when Wu Qianqiu and Sa Zhenbing's secretary explained their intentions and asked him to help inform them, Sa Zhenbing was still talking in the office about how he had a boss who was similar to the Empress Dowager Cixi.

That's at this time. There was a knock at the door.

"Come in...", Sa Zhenbing raised his voice.

With permission from Sa Zhen Bing. Soon, Wu Qianqiu and Sa Zhenbing's secretaries walked in one after the other.

"Minister, Secretary Wu has something to look for you..."

"Looking for me?" Sa Zhenbing was slightly stunned and looked back at Wu Qianqiu. "What's the matter with the president looking for me?"

"The president just said that there is something for you to go to his side, and he didn't say anything else to the lowly position..."After speaking, Wu Qianqiu smiled and said to Sa Zhenbing. Minister Sa, let's leave early, don't let the president wait for a long time..."

In fact, how could Wu Qianqiu not know what was going on in Lu Dao, but Yan Shao said that he wanted to surprise Sa Zhenbing, and he naturally didn't want to spoil Yan Shao's bad taste.

Sa Zhenbing, who was full of resentment towards Yan Shao, really wanted Yan Shao to wait a little longer, but he was also worried that there was something important, and if it was delayed, it would be troublesome, so after hesitating, Sa Zhenbing put on his coat and walked out of the office with Wu Qianqiu.

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Riding in the car, Sa Zhenbing and the others soon came to Yan Shao's manor, but looking at this extremely luxurious manor, Sa Zhenbing's heart rose a little dissatisfied again.

About a few minutes later, the car stopped in front of the steps of the official residence, got down from the co-pilot's seat and opened the car door for Sa Zhenbing, Wu Qianqiu said to him with a smile. "Please, Minister Sa, don't let the president wait..."

Although he felt very uncomfortable, Sa Zhenbing was not a person who would harm the pond fish after all, so he nodded and followed Wu Qianqiu to the manor.

In the end, Wu Qianqiu took Sa Zhenbing to a room where Yan Shao usually worked, and Yan Shao had been waiting in the room for a long time.

"Sa Lao, you're finally here..."Standing up from the chair, Yan Shao had a bright smile on his face.

"I don't know what happened to President Lu Dao calling me..."Sa Zhenbing said in a stiff tone, fully showing his dissatisfaction with Yan Shao.

"Of course it's important...", not noticing Sa Zhenbing's somewhat stiff tone, Yan Shao smiled and took out three documents from the desk. The main purpose of this visit is to hope that Sharao will select 4,000 qualified officers and sailors from the navy, and then go to the United States and Brazil to receive warships..."

"What?" Sa Zhenbing, who had been playing 'Violence Without Resistance', couldn't react for a while, but at this time, Wu Qianqiu had already come to his side and chuckled. "The president is saying, let you pick 4,000 qualified sailors. to Brazil and the United States to receive warships ...

With Wu Qianqiu's repetition, Sa Zhenbing finally understood this time.

It's just that after listening to it, he was a little confused.

"What warships to receive?"

As the Minister of the Navy. He had never heard of any warships ordered by his country outside, but standing in front of him at this time, Yan Shao explained with a smile on his face while handing the three documents in his hand to Sa Zhenbing.

"That's right, some time ago I let my steps go to Brazil and Argentina to buy two dreadnoughts from the Brazilians, and another dreadnought from the Argentines that has been launched and is now undergoing sea trials, and now we just have to send someone over to send the money to these three ships..."

Hearing Yan Shao say this, Sa Zhenbing was stunned first. Immediately after that, with some excitement and disbelief, Yan Shao took the three pieces of information in his hand and looked through them carefully, and after a long time, Sa Zhenbing's gaze shifted from the information to Yan Shao's face. It's just that his lips opened, but he didn't know what to say, and it wasn't until this time that he realized that he had misunderstood Yan Shao.

But before he could open his mouth to apologize, Yan Shao had already taken the initiative to pat Sa Zhenbing on the shoulder and said.

"Sa Lao. Please trust me Yan someone. As long as the navy can be revived, let alone ten cruisers, even if it is ten battleships, I am willing to pay..."After speaking, Yan Shao paused and continued. "Later, I will ask you to select 4,000 qualified sailors, and then I will ask people to withdraw some money from the bank, as long as the people arrive, the money will also arrive, and these three battleships will be ours!"

"As for the plan you proposed earlier, please don't mind. I'm definitely not stingy with that money, but there is a deeper reason in it..."

Yan Shao couldn't tell them about the First World War after all. That's why I had to say so.

Sa Zhenbing nodded excitedly, not knowing what to say for a while. These three battleships were even more ambitious than the revival plan he had originally proposed, which also made him ashamed of his previous questioning of Yan Shao.

It's just that he's not a good talker, so he doesn't know what to say for a while with those three documents...

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Seeing that Sa Zhenbing looked speechless, Yan Shao smiled, there was a special affairs bureau in him, of course he knew that because of the previous incident, Sa Zhenbing was already dissatisfied with himself. So as soon as Bu Zigao passed the news, he asked Wu Qianqiu to go to the Admiralty to pick up Sa Zhenbing in person, and use this incident to appease him, after all, Sa Zhenbing is the most prestigious general in the navy, and many admirals are his subordinates and protégés, as long as he can be fiddled with well, the affairs of the navy will be inseparable.

Now it seems that the results are as good as expected...

"That's right..."As if remembering something, Yan Shao hurriedly added. The Argentine one is still on the U.S. side, so this time we need to divide the people into two groups, one to go to Brazil and Argentina to deliver the money, and then drive the two Brazilian ones back, and the other to go to the United States and drive back the one that is on sea trials..."

Hearing Yan Shao say this, Sa Zhenbing, who was still excited, was slightly stunned, and he couldn't understand it.

"It's still going on sea trials, so wouldn't it be better to stay in the United States and continue to improve?"

Sea trials can be said to be an extremely important project before the warship is put into service, and only after this project can problems be solved in a timely manner, so it is natural that the ship should be left in the country where it was built to deal with it.

However, Yan Shao has his own concerns after all, so he can only say. "I naturally have my own reasons, if I return to China for the sea trial, I can continue, and I ask Sa Lao to do the same..."

I really couldn't understand Yan Shao's thoughts, but looking at the three battleship materials in his hand, this strangeness finally disappeared.

After a lifetime of struggle, I finally saw the hope of the revival of the navy, and I can imagine how excited Sa Zhenbing was, and even with full confidence in Yan Shao and the Guoshe government. So despite his confusion, Sa Zhenbing still obeyed the order like a professional soldier...

In order to make the revival of these three navies hope to return to China as soon as possible, Sa Zhenbing began to select qualified sailors almost on the same day, but at this time, the navy was already down, and even 4,000 qualified sailors could not be selected.

Considering the current situation of the navy, it was indeed difficult to get 4,000 people out like this, so after thinking about it, Yan Shao nodded his head and agreed. So soon Sa Zhenbing withdrew people from the 10 gunboats of the original Anhui Navy and some other ships, but even so, Sa Zhenbing only made up more than 2,000 people, and there was still a gap of more than 1,000 people.

In the end, there was no choice, Yan Shao could only send a telegram to Liu Shixun, asking the Brazilian government to send some people to fill the vacant position...

Naturally, Yan Shao also paid a little price for this, such as a commission of 100,000 pounds...

On the other hand, such a big move has also attracted the attention of many people, but because Yan Shao specially instructed Sa Zhenbing not to make a noise, so as not to cause extraneous problems, the outside world does not know what is happening at all, and the Japanese, who are most concerned about China's trends, are even more confused.

It is not surprising that although the Japanese intelligence is good, it is only limited to the direction of China and Mongolia, for example, in the direction of Manchuria, and in South America, especially Brazil and Argentina, there is no power at all, and Yan Shao has signed a secret agreement with the governments of Brazil and Argentina, so it is naturally impossible to know what he is saying...

In this way, after some preparations, more than 2,000 naval soldiers who had finally gathered together set off on a passenger ship to the distant American continent under the incomprehensible gaze of many people...

According to the plan, they will be informed of the mission the moment they arrive, and they will also train at the destination for a certain amount of time until they can operate these sea beasts back home... (To be continued......)