Chen Shaokuan looked at Huang Ke with wide eyes, as if he was a little surprised and disbelieving. From his eyes, Huang Ke saw anticipation, doubt, and incomprehension, but these complicated emotions were quickly swept away, and soon turned to joy, because Huang Ke told him that he had built a submarine force in many places in Guangzhou.

"I'll take a look at Commander Chen's report, I heard what Commander Chen said just now, it seems that Commander Chen and I still have a lot of similarities in this regard."

As he spoke, Huang Ke took the report in his hand, then sat on the sofa next to him and crossed his legs, looking at it carefully.

The Military Staff Department is a subordinate unit of the Ministry of National Defense, ostensibly at the same level as the three service commands, but in fact it has more power than the three service commands, because they are in charge of the money bags for military spending.

Huang Ke knew that he did not have much in military affairs, and he never participated in the command and attack of specific battles, and in the past, he relied on the war thinking that led his troops to fight a war several decades ahead. As for the construction of the modern three armed forces, he does not have much in mind.

Huang Ke doesn't know anything about the construction of a modern navy, but as an excellent politician, he doesn't need to be thorough and personal, he just needs to know people and be good at their duties.

In naval construction and coastal defense, Chen Shaokuan is a rare talent, and he was able to go to Europe and the United States to inspect and come up with such forward-looking proposals for vigorously developing aircraft carriers and submarines.

It's just that there are not many people at the top of the national government to support Chen Shaokuan's proposal, and no matter how good the talent and suggestions are, they have become a pile of waste paper.

There is a reason why the top brass does not support it, on the one hand, they feel that the development cycle of the navy is too long, and it costs too much money, and the cost of a destroyer can be worth an infantry brigade, so it is better to invest money in the army; Second, those who want to develop the navy are also subject to various restrictions of industry and military, and the industrial base simply cannot meet the conditions for building huge ships of more than 10,000 tons. Moreover, a group of people who want to develop the navy are not optimistic about aircraft carriers, they want to develop battleships and cruisers with huge guns.

However, Chen Shaokuan never gave up, and he still insisted on the modernization of the navy. During his tenure in charge of the Central Navy, he eliminated a large number of old warships left over from the former Qing Dynasty and purchased and added a number of new warships.

In terms of talents, Chen Shaokuan reformed the Fuzhou Shipbuilding School, recruited high-quality young people from the society, and also cultivated a batch of seeds for the future of the navy, but these were as fragile as children in the face of the powerful opponent Japanese navy.

Huang Ke knows all of this, but he also knows that building a strong navy is not overnight, and if you don't build a navy, even if the army and air force are strong, they will be beaten after all.

Huang Ke still agrees with Chen Shaokuan's thinking and ideas, an excellent general should have foresight, if he has been stuck to the past thinking and combat mode, then he and his army will soon be eliminated.

The laws of nature on the battlefield are more simple and crude, survival of the fittest is an inevitable trend, and Huang Ke naturally understands these deeply.

"Commander Chen thought deeply, as far as the current naval war is concerned, it is an indisputable fact that aircraft carriers have replaced battleships to become the supremacy of the sea, and only a variety of mixed fleets is the inevitable development trend of future naval warfare. However, because of the lack of China's industrial base, the navy has been abandoned for many years, but it is facing maritime threats, so we must take a steady and fast shortcut. ”

"Oh?" Not to mention Jiang Xianyun and others, even Chen Shaokuan also felt that Huang Ke's words were a bit incredible, there is a shortcut in the navy, is it to hire foreign navies?

Looking at everyone's somewhat surprised eyes, Huang Ke smiled and said, "The shortcut I mean is the submarine, that is, those things hidden underwater. ”

Everyone suddenly realized that Chen Shaokuan, who was familiar with modern naval warfare, naturally knew the benefits of submarines, these things were highly concealed, and the speed of forming an army was faster than that of other arms of the armed forces, and a large number of submarines could strike at enemy warships and other targets, and for a country whose navy was not strong and urgently needed to develop coastal defense, the development of submarines was really a good choice.

"Since Commander Huang said this, he must have been prepared. Where are those submarines? How many are there now? ”

Chen Shaokuan was a little impatient when he heard this, although he had not been able to realize his grand idea of building a large number of aircraft carriers, but it was also a good choice to be able to build a submarine force.

Huang Ke showed a smile on his face, he took out a good Luzon cigar from his pocket, distributed it to several ministers around him, then cut off the cigarette butt and lit it, and said after a few puffs slowly: "When we finish smoking these, you will naturally know." ”

Except for Huang Ke, Jiang Zhongzheng and the others did not smoke, so when he was alone with a cigar in his mouth and tasted it, several other people also looked at him in unison.

"Commander Huang, if you have anything to say, don't sell it."

Jiang Xianyun is now the Minister of National Defense, and it stands to reason that he is one level higher than Huang Ke, but firstly, he was Huang Ke's subordinate, and secondly, Huang Ke actually has a lot of power control, so naturally he will not be held up in front of him, and he is also very respectful when he speaks.

"Xianyun, you misunderstood, I didn't mean to sell Commander Chen, I was just waiting for a telegram from the General Staff, and I couldn't give him a definite answer before that."

Seeing Huang Ke say this, everyone was a little amazed, he had already arranged these things, and he dared to love Huang Ke who had not been idle in the past few years when he went to the field to engage in industry, but he had freed up his hands to establish his own elite lineage of the navy, land and air force.

Jiang Zhongzheng secretly sighed that Huang Ke was extraordinary, just as Liu Bang said in the face of King Qin's honor guard convoy, the eldest husband should be the same.

Sure enough, as Huang Ke expected, when the cigar was about to burn out, the special line phone in the conference room rang, and the young staff officer on duty walked over to answer it, and after saying a few words, he covered the microphone with his hand and said, "Minister Jiang, the staff said that there is a piece of information to be submitted." ”

"Let it in." Jiang Xianyun waved his hand, and the staff officer on duty picked up the microphone again to convey the order. A short time later, a newly copied telegraph arrived.

After Huang Ke took the telegram and read it, he handed the paper in his hand to Chen Shaokuan next to him. Chen Shaokuan's face showed joy after seeing it.

"These are made by our submarines?"

Huang Ke nodded: "These are just a few of them, in less than ten years, we will build a powerful submarine force, they will be like a wolf pack on the bottom of the sea, tearing any enemy who dares to attack." ”

At dawn hours before Huang Ke said these words, in the southernmost stretch of the South China Sea, almost on the same longitude line as him, unusual weather changes signaled an impending storm.

A tropical pressure is slowly forming, the sea is choppy, the waves are several meters high, and the chirping seagulls are flying slightly low, which experienced sailors know is the prelude to a storm.

At this time, most ships will choose to return to the port to avoid the wind, and there is no sail on the sea, after all, in the face of the vast nature, human beings are small after all.

But the sea was not so calm, a convoy of destroyers and frigates was riding the wind and waves, the sun flag flying on the bow indicated the nationality of the fleet, and the large oil tankers following it indicated that it was an escort formation.

Two weeks ago, Japan had purchased a large amount of crude oil from the South Seas and shipped it back to China, and the Imperial Navy had specially arranged an escort formation to protect this lifeline.

Obviously, the Imperial Navy did not consider it unsafe to travel from the South Seas to the Japanese mainland, as they had only sent less than ten ships to escort them. It's no wonder that in this sea lane, there are hardly any countries that can threaten the world's third-largest imperial navy, and who would be dumbfounded to provoke them?

The commander of the fleet, Vice Admiral Otkaku Censheng, was sitting in the command room of the flagship destroyer "Himaru" at this time, casually flipping through the books in his hand. Vice Admiral Okaku Tsumi was the commander of the Yokosuka Town Guard, and as a high-ranking officer, he did not need to personally handle such a small errand, but Vice Admiral Okaku Tsumi thought that as a navy in the future, he must stay with the sea, so he participated in this escort operation.

The seagulls in front of him chirped, and soon they were drowned in the waves, and when it was white in the east, his staff officer came in and brought Commander Bighorn rice balls and other breakfast.

The staff officer was worried when he saw that the weather outside had changed somewhat, and he tried to persuade Commander Bighorn to order the fleet to enter the harbor for shelter. But Dajiao Cen Sheng shook his head and didn't think specifically.

He shook his head and smiled: "Kojima-kun, although human beings are not small enough to fight against nature, there are also some warriors who are constantly seeking to adapt and explore in the harsh environment, and the warriors of the Imperial Navy should be even more so, thinking that war does not choose the weather. ”

"Hayi!" Kojima bowed his head and stood upright.

Bighorn Cen Sheng was not blind, he knew that this storm was coming, but it was not a mortal threat to them, which is why he acted so boldly.

But what Dajiao Cen Sheng didn't expect was that at this time, under this deep sea, three pitch-black objects were slowly moving forward, which were not whales in the South China Sea, but three U-shaped submarines newly purchased by the Guangzhou Navy.

At dawn in the east, on the horizon where the sea and the sky meet, suddenly a submarine jumped out of the water, and its round bow smashed into the sea like a heavy fist, splashing bursts of jubilant waves.

The observer standing on the watchtower saw it and loudly passed the news below, but he didn't need to pass it on, the ship's control tower had already seen the submarines not far away.

"Yaga! Get ready for battle! ”

All the warships conveyed the order to prepare for battle, the sailors who were still in the hammocks hurriedly but orderly ran to their positions, and the main guns in front of the destroyer also began to shake the turret, aiming at the submarine not far away.

But the submarine did not leave, and after a while, on the east and west sides of the fleet, two more submarines surfaced one after another, and the three submarines sailed in three directions like escorts, maintaining a constant speed with the entire fleet.

Before the Japanese could figure out what was going on, a cyan military flag was slowly raised on the command tower of the most current submarine, and through the binoculars, Otkaku Cen Sheng saw that it was a Chinese military flag.

(I'm sorry, I had something a few days ago, I couldn't sleep more than five hours a day, I can't update, sorry readers.) Again, I am not a German fan, and I hate dictators like Hitler. The reason why so many German weapons and technologies appeared was because of the national conditions of that era)