In the heyday of the Beiyang Naval Division, there were more than 4,000 officers and men on the ships, and because of this, it was known as the first fleet in Asia, but after the defeat of the First Sino-Japanese War, the navy had almost no chance of revival, and the number of people was greatly reduced, and even the original Beiyang Naval Division was inferior to it after so many years. Now that so many warships have suddenly been added, it is obvious that the Navy is somewhat weak.

The officers and men of the ships who went to pick up the three battleships were barely scraped together by the navy after tearing down the east wall and making up the west wall, so the number of people was not enough. And this also made the navy pay a lot of price, that is, most of the ships originally owned by the navy were paralyzed on the dock COS ghost ship.

If it weren't for the fact that the Anhui navy, which was originally subordinate to the Guoshe government, was replenished by more than 1,000 people after the establishment of the Guoshe government, I am afraid that the navy would not even be able to move a single ship now.

Now that the shipyard has started construction of 12 warships again, the Navy, which has not received new warships for many years, is ecstatic when it learns this news, but in order to make up enough for the crew of the ship, it is eager to hit its head against the wall...

Naturally, these are all said behind closed doors, and the outside world doesn't know about the road, so although the world knows that the road navy has been down for a long time, they don't know that they can't even get together the people who drive the ship, in other words, the navy still has a little bit of face now.

Especially in the matter of the three battleships not long ago, the news that came out made the public have great expectations for the navy, and also made the navy have a little more face than before.

But if the navy itself publicized this matter, then he would really lose even a little face at the bottom of the list.

So on top of this. The navy is very hesitant, after all, people want to save face.

Whether the revival of the Navy is important or whether it is important to save one's own face is a difficult choice for many people in the Navy.

But for Sa Zhenbing, who has been paying for the Navy for many years. The fate of the Navy is undoubtedly more important than its own face. So since you can't have both, then...

"I'll choose the bear's paw of the navy..."

Just after a slight hesitation, Sa Zhenbing made up his mind.

Sa Zhenbing is not a person who has a bad face, to be exact, how many people in this world have a bad face? But when faced with the two choices of navy and face, he still decisively chose the navy.

Naturally, there must be a lot of pressure to do so, and it's not just from the outside world. There are also from within the Navy, not to mention ...

"But......... Can the government agree..."

Now that Sa Zhenbing agreed, Gu Chengzhou did not insist. He, as a minister, didn't care about his face, so why should Gu Chengzhou care for him? Anyway, even if there is something afterwards, it is he, as a minister, who attracts firepower in front.

However, if we want to make the real situation of the navy public, the first problem we face is not within the navy, but on the government's side.

Publicize the Navy's predicament. It's not just the Navy itself that has lost face. Even the Nationalist government, which had just been established for a short time, was afraid to lose face along with it.

We all know that politicians are generally very face-saving—————— at least when they are in front of people.

So for the sake of his own face, it is difficult to say whether the government will agree to Sa Zhenbing doing this. After all, the navy is the navy, and this is not the time of warlord scuffle, they always have to listen to the government.

If the government vetoed Sa Zhenbing's request for the sake of their own face, then, as soldiers, they can only choose to obey...

"This..."

After a little hesitation, even Sa Zhenbing himself didn't know if the government would agree to his proposal.

Although compared with the past, he already has a deep affection for Yan Shao. But after all, they didn't know much about each other, and he didn't dare to speculate on Yan Shao's thoughts.

"That's it—" he muttered for a moment. Sa Zhenbing said. "Tomorrow I will go to the president, explain the situation to him, see if I can get the president's support, as long as I have the president's support, there will be no problem in the future..."

At present, everyone in China knows that the government of the Daoist State is a standard autocratic government, and strict words in the government are more useful than anyone else. As long as it is something he agrees to, it is useless even if many people oppose it.

But on the other hand, this also means that the biggest problem that Sa Zhenbing has to face is also Yan Shao.

If Yan Shao can't be convinced, then everything will not be discussed.

"Anyway..."Seeing that Sa Zhenbing had already made up his mind, Gu Chengzhou was not dissuading. Junior, I wish you a smooth trip..."

"Hmm..."Nodding, thinking that it was too late, Sa Zhenbing stood up and tidied up his clothes, and then set off in a car towards Yan Shao's manor.

————————————————————

At this time, the presidential palace had not yet been completed, so Yan Shao's manor still served as the presidential palace. Therefore, officials from the national government can often be seen in the mansion, but there are not many things that Yan Shao really needs to deal with personally, and the traffic in this era is not as developed as in later generations, so Yan Shao does not have to run around, so Yan Shao has a lot of time to waste in the mansion.

Or to think about other things, like the car factory...

The saying that the customer is God has spread so widely in later generations that it can be said that almost everyone knows this saying. But whether this statement makes sense or not, it is difficult to say.

One thing is for sure, though, that if you want to be a successful businessman, you have to offer your customers the goods they want, or you make them feel like they want them.

Then the rest of the matter is much simpler, although the current momentum is still very weak, Yan Shao still decided to pay attention to this issue in order to maintain his car kingdom...

After all, all the income of Yushi Group now depends on the automobile factory, and if there is a little problem in the automobile factory, it will affect the entire group.

For such a long time, in addition to the office, Yan Shao has been thinking about how to solve this problem.

Redesign a new model? To meet the needs of another group of people?

This is probably the simplest solution, but Yan Shao always feels that there are other options.

And the most rear. and finally let him find a way. It is precisely because he found the answer to the solution that Yan Shao's mood is not bad.

But just when his heart was more happy, the phone on the desktop suddenly rang. Yan Shao was taken aback.

"What's the matter?" Picking up the phone, Yan Shao calmed down and asked. "Who? He, let him in..."

After speaking, Yan Shao hung up the phone back, and at the same time reached out to straighten out his clothes and messy hair.

About three to five minutes later, Sa Zhenbing walked into the room.

"The Great President..."

"Sa Lao..." stood up from the chair, Yan Shao pointed to the position in front of him and smiled. Come on, please take a seat..."

Seeing Yan Shao talk so well. Sa Zhenbing's heart was relieved, and he could see that Yan Shao seemed to be in a good mood now. If that's the case, then the purpose of his visit...

"I don't know the purpose of Lao Daosa's visit this time? If I'm not mistaken, it seems like you haven't been here for a long time..."Putting his arm on the table, Yan Shao asked with a smile.

"That's the case..."Yan Shao got to the point so directly. Sa Zhenbing was somewhat caught off guard. But since Yan Shao asked. Naturally, he won't hide it. "At the moment, the Navy has encountered difficulties, although we have communicated with some local companies, but most of them have resisted this recruitment activity, so far we have only recruited more than 300 people, which is too far from the number required by the Navy, and if you train from scratch, it will take too long, so I thought about it. I felt that it was best to directly publish a conscription notice for the time being, and to tell the current situation and conditions of the navy. Maybe it would work better..."

Of course, it is also possible not to publish the current situation, but Sa Zhenbing doesn't think that the uncrowned kings outside will not conduct an investigation into the current situation of the navy after this, if it is really the most embarrassing to let those people outside announce the situation for the navy, it will be really embarrassing, so it is better to be more direct and straightforward, and explain the matter by yourself...

"Conscription in the Navy......... Didn't it go well? Hearing Sa Zhenbing's words, Yan Shao frowned slightly.

Although China needs a strong army most at the moment, it also needs a strong navy. Therefore, the status of the navy in Yan Shao's heart is not necessarily worse than that of the army, but he has been busy with the car recently, so Yan Shao didn't pay attention to it after handing over the matter to Sa Zhenbing.

Now it seems...

It doesn't seem to be good...

"It's not going well..."With a wry smile, Sa Zhenbing replied directly.

A nationwide call-up turned out to be just over 300 people over such a long period of time.

More than 300 people, at most enough for the number of three destroyers, and even less than a third of the number of a battleship, in the face of this result, Sa Zhenbing was really a little disheartened, which was also one of the reasons why he would break the jar.

"Then do as you say..."

Knowing that after such a long time, more than 300 qualified sailors were recruited nationwide, and Yan Shao immediately chose Sa Zhenbing's suggestion.

However, his immediate-point attitude made Sa Zhenbing hesitate, seeing that Yan Shao was so decisive, Sa Zhenbing thought that he didn't take into account the impact on the government's prestige, so he hesitated, he still chose to say this concern, after all, Yan Shao has always attached great importance to him, and he can't fool Yan Shao in this matter, which is also inconsistent with his personality. “……… But, President, if you do this, it will be good for the Navy and the reputation of the government..."

"I also know this..."Yan Shao shook his head. However, the most important thing at the moment is the development of the navy, as for the face of the government......... Compared to this, it can only be regarded as secondary..."

Don't think that Yan Shao doesn't know what happened outside the road if he stays in the manor, these days the Special Affairs Bureau has been collecting information from the outside world, and the newspapers of some newspapers in Beijing, Yan Shao also subscribes every day (to pass the time), so he still knows more about the news from the outside world.

Some time ago, the newspapers of various countries did not forget to ridicule the government of the national society while admiring the purchase of three battleships from South America, because they believed that with the capabilities of the Chinese Navy, they were not worthy of these three battleships at all.

Especially after the news broke that the national government could not even make up the crews needed for the three battleships, and finally had to hire the Brazilian Navy to help share the pressure, it was not only abroad. Even domestic newspapers have satirized the government.

Some newspapers even believe that when the national economy is still very poor, the government should not spend huge sums of money to buy things that the people do not need at all, but should invest the money in public welfare undertakings or infrastructure construction. If President Yan Da really has so much money that he doesn't know where to spend it, can't he spend it on things related to people's livelihood instead of defending his powerful armaments?!" ’…

————————————————————

There is no way, there are too many people to offend.

The Nationalist Government pursued 'nationalism', which originally had a certain degree of centralization, and Yan Shao turned centralization into autocracy. At present, although there is a parliament in the government, there are also parliaments and members of parliament at the local level. But these people have almost no rights, they are like vases, and the control of speech by the national government is not very strict. There are many people who support the government, but there are definitely many who criticize the government.

Moreover, there are still many people in society who believe that the country has been reunified, and there is no need to continue to maintain a huge armament, completely ignoring external threats. I have forgotten how the countless treaties of humiliation were signed. In addition, throughout the ages, there have never been fewer people in society who take pleasure in criticizing the government, and even if the government only commits a little mistake, it will definitely be caught by these people and sprayed for a long time.

At this time, if such a big oolong comes out, Yan Shao can think of what those people will spray the government even with his knees.

As for the control of public opinion? Let's not talk about other reasons, just a little bit...

Most of the newspapers in this era were in the concessions, and unless Yan Shao could take back all the concessions, it would be almost impossible to control public opinion, so the current criticism could only be endured.

Fortunately, since the establishment of the national government, it has done a pretty good job, so on the whole, public opinion is still more inclined to the government. Otherwise, it would be a real headache...

Yan Shao is very aware of the public opinion in the outside world today, and he also knows very well what it will look like if this news is spread and will be criticized by newspapers in the outside world. For example, if you can't even get people together and spend money on warships, it's just a waste of money or something...

But for Yan Shao, the development of the navy is obviously more important than these.

At present, the navy is really weak and excessive, and he must seize every opportunity to develop the navy, so that the navy can be fully developed in the shortest possible time. In comparison, the little thing in public opinion is not worth mentioning...

So...

"You just hurry up and do it, don't worry about anything else, isn't it just a few scoldings, you can't die..."

Seeing that Yan Shaohun didn't care about supporting himself, Sa Zhenbing stood up from the chair and said with a slight emotion. "Yes!"

————————————————————

After Yan Shao left, Sa Zhenbing quickly got busy with recruiting troops.

Within a few days, the navy's recruitment notices were plastered all over the streets. It is also clearly written on the notice that the navy is in urgent need of experienced sailors, so it is willing to offer higher salaries for recruitment...

As soon as the news broke, the average sailor was paid much better in the Navy than in a factory or company. So almost in the blink of an eye, a large number of sailors ran to the navy's recruiting office, hoping to be conscripted.

On the first day alone, the Navy called up more than 500 experienced sailors.

Although these sailors are basically undisciplined, as long as they go through a series of rigorous training, it is believed that they can still become the cornerstone of the navy.

But compared to the enthusiasm of these sailors, the shipping company is out of luck...

The number of soldiers recruited by the Navy this time is very large, as many as 20,000, and this does not include logistics personnel.

More than 20,000 people, which is certainly an insignificant number compared to the great powers, but it is several times more than the Chinese navy in the past.

Of course, such a large number of people is certainly not something that the navy can absorb at this stage, after all, the current navy only has three battleships (which have not yet been returned), and there are 10 rebuilt destroyers, two new cruisers, as well as some ships inherited from the pre-Qing period and gunboats from the Anhui period.

But Yan Shao has made it very clear to Sa Zhenbing that the next period will be a period of great development of the navy. Although cruisers, battle cruisers and battleships of tens of thousands of tons could not be built in a short period of time, the number of cruisers and destroyers of the second class would never be less...

For example, in the Fuzhou Shipbuilding Bureau, the destroyer Shanfeng had just been launched, and the slipway that originally belonged to him had already begun to build the eleventh ship of the Shanfeng class.

There are more than 20,000 people, and it is estimated that the effort in three or two years is about the same.

And for Yan Shao, he would rather wait for people and equipment than equipment and wait for people...

What's more, the navy is still in its infancy, and the officers and men of the navy can take turns using those warships to train themselves...

Overall, the whole recruitment process went smoothly. But things were just as Yan Shao expected, when the navy's current predicament was announced, it immediately caused an uproar in society.

Needless to say, the cynicism of the media in various countries has not been mentioned, and even domestic newspapers have criticized the government, arguing that since there are not so many people in the navy, it should not build so many ships, but should invest the unused funds in education and other places related to people's livelihood.

There are also local councils and even parliaments that have taken the opportunity to demand 'supervision' over military spending to prevent the misuse of military spending...

However, for these people, Yan Shao simply ignored them.

Anyway, he can still stand this voice, and as long as everything goes well, then even if there are some doubts in the society now, it will be completely reversed in the future...

The dilemma between fish and bear's paw, like Sa Zhenbing, Yan Shao chose the bear's paw of the navy...

————————————————————

Ahem, I just wanted to spoof the Yukikaze...

Saying...

It's a good idea to lease the Yukikaze to the UK or something ^-^! (To be continued......)