At the birthday party, besides eating, drinking, and bragging, Xiang Xiaoqiang was quietly looking for Guderian. However, until the party ended and he left, he could not find Guderian among the swarming officers. At this time, although Guderian
His position is not high, but he is still a brigadier general. There are only a few generals at the dinner, and they can be counted on one hand. If he comes, he will definitely be introduced to Xiang Xiaoqiang. Therefore, the only explanation is: Guderian today
Wan didn't come at all.
Xiang Xiaoqiang thought about it in the car returning to the hotel, and the more he thought about it, the more guilty he became. Several generals that he and Hitler wanted to meet were all here tonight, including the most senior ones, Fritsch and Beck, but only Gu
Derrian did not come. Although Guderian was "Director of Armored Forces" and "Chief of Staff of Armored Forces", his title sounded very impressive, but at that time there was only one brigade of German armored forces.
Xiang Xiaoqiang began to mutter: Could it be that Hitler, an old and cunning person, has realized that the person I want to poach most is Guderian? That’s why I deliberately didn’t let him come tonight, just to tease me?... Speaking of it, this is indeed not very good.
It's hard to guess. Xiang Xiaoqiang knew that he was the commander of the People's Guard of the Ming Dynasty, and the People's Guard was famous for its strong armor force. He was so keen on using armored troops in the wars of the Ming and Qing Dynasties. Indeed, you can guess it with just your brain.
He tried hard to recall Guderian's situation in 1936. All the information said that Hitler watched a tank drill in 1933 and was fascinated by the "torrent of steel" feeling, saying, "This is what I want."
", then Guderian was greatly appreciated by Hitler and was appointed chief of staff of the Armored Forces Command and director of the Armored Forces. Later, he was asked to form three armored divisions.
Yes, Guderian was very much appreciated by Hitler at this time... However, there were many people who were "appreciated" by Hitler, and Hitler often "appreciated" many people at the same time. Hitler was like a willful emperor, who could be "appreciated" by Hitler because of a speculative conversation.
A good first impression, a successful exercise, a book... will greatly appreciate a person. At the same time, it is easy for him to stop "appreciating" a person because of a trivial matter, dismiss him from his post, and relegate him to the cold palace.
Guderian’s two ups and downs are the most representative.
Now that Guderian is appreciated by Hitler, it seems difficult for him to part with him. But the question is, to what extent is he appreciated? If warships are used as a bargaining chip, his status in Hitler's heart is not worth that of a light cruiser.
?Is it worth a heavy cruiser? Is it worth a battleship?…
After all, Guderian has not yet had a single military exploit, has not shown his extraordinary military talent, and has not used blitz warfare to create miracles again and again. He is not yet the "blitz hero" that he later became, nor can he even be called one.
The "Father of German Armored Forces". The whole reason why he is now admired by Hitler is nothing more than an impressive tank drill and the fact that his military ideas are more to Hitler's liking.
Thinking of this, Xiang Xiaoqiang was full of confidence again. He calculated the large number of chips in his hand and felt that it would not be a big problem to get a mere Guderian. An armored force director had been poached, and he could still "appreciate" him again.
A. If Ming Dynasty did not sell food, non-ferrous metal ores, and second-hand warships to Germany, Germany itself would not be able to produce them.
…
To be honest, throwing out the bait of "dealing with warships" is Xiang Xiaoqiang's own initiative.
The capital ships of today's major naval powers were all built before 1922. Because of the 1922 Washington Treaty on the Limitation of Naval Armament, several major naval powers, including the Ming Dynasty, have not built battleships or battlecruisers in the past 15 years.
Even when cruisers and aircraft carriers are built, there are many restrictions on tonnage and weapons, and they are called "treaty ships."
Originally, several signatories signed the Treaty on the Limitation and Reduction of Naval Arms in London in 1935, extending the treaty period to December 1942. However, because Japan did not participate this time, Ming Dynasty also did not participate due to its own safety.
In this way, for Britain, the United States, France, and Italy, it will not expire until the end of 42, but for Ming Dynasty and Japan, it will expire at the end of this year. Both countries have designed new warships early and are preparing to launch them as soon as the end of the year arrives.
Let's get back to work and start a new shipbuilding competition.
This put great financial pressure on Ming Dynasty. Unlike Japan, Ming Dynasty was not able to tighten its belts nationwide and save money to build warships. Secondly, Ming Dynasty had to spend huge sums of money to maintain the Yangtze River defense line, so it preferred to adopt a gradual upgrade method, that is, to
The outdated old warships are sold, and the money from the sales is invested in the budget of new warships. Rather than blindly pursuing quantity, the old and new warships are combined. That would cost too much and I cannot afford it.
He learned about the news that the navy had decided to dispose of one battleship and two treaty cruisers before leaving the Ming Dynasty. In addition to protecting the capital and protecting the imperial power, the People's Guard's biggest responsibility is to supervise and monitor the national army and ensure that they obey the emperor.
Therefore, the People's Guard will always know all kinds of information from within the army and navy very quickly. They have the right to investigate openly, or they can send personnel secretly, like Dongchang did. Information from the navy will be summarized at the highest level in the autumn.
Qiu and Xiuxiu, two naval adjutants, are here and report to Xiang Xiaoqiang.
When Xiang Xiaoqiang returned to the hotel, Qiu Qiu greeted him obediently at the door of the room. After Xiang Xiaoqiang entered, Qiu Qiu gently leaned over, took off his coat, took his hat, and then quickly ran to the outer hall to soak him.
Hot tea. Xiang Xiaoqiang was surprised. He had planned to spend a lot of time coaxing Qiu Qiu to come, thinking that it would be good if the clouds in Qiu Qiu could turn sunny within three days. After all, this is nothing else, this is feelings.
Cheating.
But unexpectedly, Qiu Qiu took the initiative to please him. This made Xiang Xiaoqiang feel warm in his heart, and made him feel even more guilty.
If in later generations, this would be a family crisis. If the woman were more powerful, she would definitely not have a life-and-death struggle. But in today's Ming Dynasty, there is no such thing as "cheating" on the husband, and he can openly like other women and pursue other women.
Women even marry other women home. Only if a wife is more virtuous and more courteous to her husband can she keep her position. Even a pampered young lady like Qiu Qiu is well aware of this truth.
This is the woman from the Ming Dynasty. This is the kind of effect Xiang Xiaoqiang wanted before traveling through time. It can be said that Xiang Xiaoqiang really got his wish. But now, he does not feel proud, but feels sad.
"Ping pong... clatter..."
There was a sound of something falling over from outside, which was obviously the result of Qiu Qiu's clumsiness. Xiang Xiaoqiang sat on the sofa, shook his head, and shouted:
"Qiu Qiu, it's okay. Stop being busy and call the waiter."
Qiu Qiu's panicked voice came in:
"Oh, I'll be fine soon... I'm so stupid..."
I heard Qiu Qiu hurriedly cleaning up for a while. After a while, Qiu Qiu came in holding a tea tray with a smile on his face. There was a cup of steaming black tea on it and two sugar cubes next to it.
Xiang Xiaoqiang quickly took the tea tray and put it on the small tea table, and then wanted to take her into his arms to comfort her. Qiu Qiu suddenly saw that Xiang Xiaoqiang was still wearing leather boots. She said "Ah" and looked up.
He smiled "hehe" at Xiaoqiang, then trotted to the door, picked up his slippers and ran back, squatting down to take off his boots and change them.
"Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh..." Xiang Xiaoqiang dodged backwards, pulled Qiu Qiu up, let her sit on his lap, pinched her cheeks and shook her, "You stupid thing, I haven't seen you before.
You have served me well, what medicine did you take today? Why are you so flattering to me, ah? Why are you so flattering to me..."
Qiu Qiu chuckled, put her face into his arms, and muttered:
"I shouldn't have lost my temper with you this morning..."
Xiang Xiaoqiang grabbed her ears again and tried to pull her out, but Qiu Qiu smiled and hugged him, blowing on her and shouting with a smile:
"...I don't care, if you don't forgive me, Xiaoqiang, I won't come out..."
"Good day, good, good, good," Xiang Xiaoqiang was tickled and uncomfortable by her blowing, and he laughed, "I'm sorry, I'm sorry! Come out!"
Qiu Qiu raised her face, stopped smiling, and looked at Xiang Xiaoqiang tenderly, showing a submissive look.
Xiang Xiaoqiang lifted her chin, and Qiu Qiu closed her eyes obediently.
But Xiang Xiaoqiang did not kiss him, but sighed softly and said:
"Qiu Qiu, to be honest, it's me who should ask you to forgive me."
Qiu Qiu was startled and opened her eyes to look at him, unsure whether he was speaking sarcastically.
Xiang Xiaoqiang looked at Qiu Qiu's guilty look, kissed her on the lips, and said with a smile:
"Really, it was my fault first. I shouldn't... uh, I shouldn't..."
What shouldn't it be? Xiang Xiaoqiang was speechless for a moment...Shouldn't he fall in love with another woman? Or shouldn't he accept a letter from another woman? Or shouldn't he be friends with other women?
Xiang Xiaoqiang discovered that, measured by Ming's moral standards at this time, he really did not do anything wrong at all, and all his faults were Qiu Qiu. - Qiu Qiu should not be jealous of her husband. She should not get angry with her husband because of jealousy.
Temper, make small nature.
Xiang Xiaoqiang told him not to cause trouble. The result was already ideal. He smiled and said:
"Today is my birthday. I shouldn't have left you alone in the hotel and gone to drink with those officers... We really should have had a warm dinner."
Qiu Qiu breathed a sigh of relief, put her chin on his shoulder, and smiled softly in his ear:
"'Going to drink with those officers,' it depends on what you mean... People don't know, they think you really went to the barracks tavern to make trouble all night... I know, you took me with you
I came out because of a national event... The German general is hosting a birthday party for you tonight. This is a national event... We can do whatever we want with our own affairs."
Xiang Xiaoqiang was very pleased that Qiu Qiu was so sensible, so he held her in his arms and hugged her tightly.
…
The two lingered for a while, and Xiang Xiaoqiang began to ask Qiuqiu about the Ming Dynasty fleet. Qiuqiu confirmed the news again. And this time she went into more detail: it was basically certain that the main ship to be dealt with was the Gonggong, and the other one was Gonggong.
The two treaty-type heavy cruisers are both Hanxin-class, one is Hanxian and the other is Xiangyu.
The construction of the Gonggong started in 1920. By the time of the Washington Conference in 2022, it had already been launched and installed and was almost completed, so it was saved at the meeting. The Gonggong is the sister ship of the Zhurong and belongs to the Zhurong class. The Zhurong class is because
It was built late, so its performance is still good. The only shortcoming is that the caliber of the main gun is a bit small, making it difficult to compete head-on with the mainstream battleships at that time.
Not long ago, the Navy just upgraded the Zhurong and installed larger artillery. However, it is very troublesome to replace the main gun of the warship. There are many things that need to be changed, which involves a series of problems. In the end, the modification was completed and the performance was improved.
But it was found that the gain was not worth the loss, so it was better to spend more money to build a new one. Therefore, when dealing with warships this time, the other unmodified Gonggong was given priority.
The other two heavy cruisers are also a problem. Their firepower is a bit weak, but their armor and speed are pretty good. When the Ming Dynasty is used as a escort ship or placed in a large formation to fight, the shortcoming of insufficient firepower becomes obvious. But as an ocean attack
The ship is very suitable.
Xiang Xiaoqiang and Qiuqiu both know that this style of warship is most suitable for Germany. The characteristics of German ships are generally thick armor, high speed, and relatively weak firepower. Their design idea is to use one against many. When a single ship faces the enemy
When there are multiple ships, one more cannon may not necessarily be able to hit the enemy, but an inch thicker armor can render ineffective the shells fired by several parties. In addition, the more important thing is high speed, so that you can hit if you can get through, and run away if you can't.
, survivability is very high.
As for the weak firepower, the German warships were mainly used as ocean raiders, not for decisive battles with the British fleet. The relatively small artillery was enough to bully the merchant fleets with weak escort forces.
After this exchange with Qiu Qiu, Xiang Xiaoqiang felt that the appeal of these three decoys to Germany was beyond words.
Now Germany has no battleships that can be used at all. There are only two pocket battleships that can barely be seen: Deutschland and Admiral Scheer. The third Graf-Graf Spee, the famous raider that scuttled in South America.
The ship is not finished yet.
Xiang Xiaoqiang immediately asked Qiu Qiu to send a telegram to China. The telegram was sent to Zhu Yourong, asking for instructions to treat the three warships for sale as bargaining chips with Germany. If Germany is willing to make concessions on other conditions, Daming can sell them cheaper.
Give it to them. In addition, if you agree, please quickly estimate the value of the three warships.
The telegram was sent. Qiu Qiu suddenly asked:
"Xiaoqiang, tell me, if we suddenly sell a battleship and two heavy cruisers to Germany, will it irritate the United Kingdom?"
Xiang Xiaoqiang lowered his head and thought for a moment, then said hesitantly:
"I don't think so. The Anglo-German naval agreement has been signed, and Britain voluntarily allows Germany to expand its fleet to 35% of its own. Even if we sell German warships, they will still be included in the 35%. As long as Germany complies with
Agreement, even if 35% of the warships are purchased from others, what difference will it make to the UK? Besides, if Germany builds its own warships, although it will be slower, it will only be better."
Qiu Qiu nodded:
"Yeah, that's true."
"Besides," Xiang Xiaoqiang said, "we took Sumatra, what could be more irritating to Britain? Then we got closer to Germany and signed a lot of mutual aid agreements... Anyway, we had already irritated Britain, so we simply