Handsome autumn season. The grass and trees are withered and yellow, and the earth is bleak. Everything is withering, and it will be a few days away.

This is Xishan, located in the north of Beijing, because of the beautiful scenery, it has become a very good place to visit, in summer it is a summer resort, and in winter it will become a good place to enjoy the "clear snow of Xishan".

Although it hasn't snowed yet, the temperature is already Xianqi, and the altitude of the West Mountain is higher than that of the plains, and the temperature is lower, so when going up the mountain, this feeling is more obvious.

Sitting in the car that was going up the mountain, Tang Xiangming had to wrap the military coat on his body more tightly, and at the same time he was thinking about how to mention the plan of the Admiralty after meeting the president.

Now, the Second Republic of Lanfang on the Nanyang side has officially completed the delivery procedures of the leased land, just waiting for the Chinese side to officially send personnel to take over, because the leased land has a large naval base, so the reception of the leased land is actually led by the Admiralty, the Ministry of the Army, the Air Force Department assists the Admiralty in handling it, and even the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is also the role of running errands for the Admiralty, this is the center's trust in the Admiralty.

In the past, the central arrangement was that the first governor of the leased land of Bangka Island in Nanyang was served by Admiral Cheng Biguang, and now, Cheng Biguang has been working on Bangka Island for a while, some time ago, Cheng Biguang was in Nanyang to negotiate and coordinate with Lan Fangcai, and the cooperation between the two sides was also very good, even the Nanyang Alliance also praised Cheng Biguang, it is said that Cheng Biguang should be a matter of course when he took office, but unexpectedly killed Cheng Cheng halfway, and the Japanese government submitted a diplomatic memorandum to the Chinese government, He demanded that the governor of the leased area of Bangka Island be replaced, because the Japanese government believed that Cheng Biguang had commanded a Chinese task force to attack the Japanese merchant fleet. The Japanese government "emotionally" found it difficult to accept the fact that Cheng Biguang was the governor of the leased territory of Bangka Island, after all, Japan also had "special interests" in the South Seas

Although Japan's request seems a bit excessive. However, in view of the current delicate situation in the South Seas and the Far East as a whole, the central government, after careful consideration, decided to replace the governor of Bangka Island. Let the Admiralty select a suitable person to replace Cheng Biguang, and Cheng Biguang will be transferred to the post of Vice Minister of the Admiralty and Commander of the Bohai Fleet, this appointment has not wronged him, and the central face has not been lost, which is the safest way.

Originally, this was nothing, Cheng Biguang was not the governor, and the Admiralty could also let other people serve as the governor, but the problem was that there were serious disagreements within the Admiralty on the issue of who to send to replace Cheng Biguang, Tang Xiangming originally planned to promote his cronies to Nanyang for training, but his decision was opposed by many naval veterans, who strongly recommended Sa Zhenbing, a senior adviser of the Admiralty, to go to Nanyang to serve as the first governor of the leased land of Bangka Island, and their reasons were also very good. Because Sa Zhenbing is the most famous veteran of China's modern naval generals, he knows many powerful friends in the naval circles of various countries, and with him as the governor, he can maintain balance in the complicated South China Sea region and reduce the hostility of the great powers.

In Tang Xiangming's view, the group of navy veterans is deliberately against him, Sa Zhenbing has not held a position with real power since the republic, at best he is just an idol erected by the president in the Admiralty, used to win over those navy veterans and stabilize the navy, but now, those navy veterans are beginning to put their noses on their noses, and they are actually blatantly opposing the chief of the navy, which is simply unsightly.

However, Tang Xiangming quickly calmed down, he understood that now is not the time to be angry with these naval veterans, anyway, now the center has a plan to reorganize the Admiralty, and then settle the general account, but he did not agree to the recommendation of the naval elders, but deliberately delayed time, until the center became impatient and asked the Air Force Department to recommend the candidate for governor, and the dispute over the governor of the Gbangka Island lease land was over.

Seeing that the boiled duck in the hands of the Admiralty flew into the hands of the Air Department, the veterans of the Admiralty suddenly jumped for a while, accusing Tang Xiangming of dereliction of duty and asking him to explain this, Tang Xiangming simply promised the Navy veterans that he could go and make a proposal to the president, asking the president to give the Admiralty some necessary "compensation" on the issue of the appointment of the governor of the ancestral land of Bangka Island, and this "compensation" is to add some additional funds for the Admiralty to build ships, if the president feels embarrassed, The Admiralty could even hand over the military command of the Gbarnga Island lease to the Air Force as well in exchange for a generous appropriation from the president.

Although this request seems to be a bit excessive, there is a suspicion of blackmailing the center, but the Admiralty and Tang Xiangming also think that the current central government has money in its pocket, yes, the Ministry of Finance's finances are tight, but that refers to the budget plan, and outside the budget plan, the center still has some private money.

More importantly, Tang Xiangming also heard about one thing, not long ago, the Tsarist Russian government secretly transferred all the gold reserves in its treasury to China under the pretext of its domestic political instability, and put it into the secret treasury of the Ministry of Finance for preservation. After all, the current Tsarist Russia is completely dependent on China's support, and without China's support, the Soviet Russian Red Army can quickly wipe out the Tsarist government. It is for the future of the politicians in the Tsarist government to pave the way, especially the regent of the Tsarist government, everyone knows that Rasputin's biggest hobbies are two "one is women, and the other is money."

Tang Xiangming wanted to borrow these Tsarist gold, but he refused to lend it to him. The number is unknown, so. Sitting in Che Ming's military coat and thinking about this is this question, how to mention this batch of gold to the president? If the president asks about his sources, shouldn't he sell Chief Xiong?

Just as Tang Xiangming was pondering, the Admiralty's car had already stopped, and the adjutant sitting next to Tang Xiangming whispered to Tang Xiangming.

"Chief, it's time to get out of the car?"

Tang Xiangming looked out the car window, nodded, and without waiting for the adjutant to open the car door for him, he reached out and pulled the door open on his side, then got out of the car, stood up straight, and looked left and right for a moment.

This is the famous "Xishan Manor", here was originally a Chinese comprador built a villa on the mountainside, and then the comprador speculated on the land and broke the property, and could only transfer the villa, at that time there were quite a few people who wanted to take over, all of them were celebrities in the industrial and commercial circles, and the Ministry of Finance was also very interested in this villa with quite good scenery, originally, according to the appropriation of the Ministry of Finance, it was impossible to buy this villa, but later those business celebrities heard that the Ministry of Finance was actually buying a villa for the presidential palace. It was used to entertain the distinguished guests of the presidential palace, this was a good opportunity to curry favor with the president, and the merchants scattered with a bang, so the Ministry of Finance easily bought the villa, and then allocated the necessary renovations for it, and expanded the area of the villa, and even used engineering troops for this purpose, and blew up a flat area on the mountainside.

Now, Tang Xiangming is standing on this flat land that was blown out by the sappers, which has been converted into a parking lot, and there are more than 20 cars parked here, among them, the president's motorcar is parked in front of the entrance, and near the convoy, there are also those guards of the presidential palace.

What is different from before is that now these guards of the presidential palace are not wearing military uniforms, but suits and leather shoes, and their pistols are no longer carried on their backs, but in their pockets, but they still carry suitcases in their hands, most of which are not loaded with documents, but are equipped with a steel plate to block bullets.

Seeing this posture, Tang Xiangming knew that the president had finally accepted the proposal of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. began to gradually reduce the number of "uniformed personnel" around him. Because the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has always believed that the dignified president of the Republic of China is always surrounded by a group of soldiers, which is a little too eye-catching, or the president of the United States, the guard is more "civilized", so the Ministry of Foreign Affairs suggested that the military uniforms of the presidential guard should be changed first, and then all in civilian clothes, especially when receiving foreign guests.

Today, Zhao Bei, the president of the Republic of China, met with a group of foreign guests in this Xishan Manor, in fact, they are the envoys of various countries in China, and the president invited everyone to come here to gather, in fact, such gatherings are often held, the purpose is not only to enhance the personal friendship between the president and the envoys of various countries, but also usually to use this kind of relaxed gathering to resolve some contradictions.

It is said that Tang Xiangming would not attend such a diplomatic gathering, but he must come here today, because the British and French ambassadors to China both hope to meet with the Chinese naval chief. Hustle, in this way, Tang Xiangming was invited, so he rushed from the Admiralty to Xizhi Manor this morning, and when he arrived at the manor, there was still about half an hour before the official start of the party.

The envoys of various countries in China had not yet arrived, and Tang Xiangming really had no interest in getting close to these foreigners, so he took advantage of the time before the meeting to meet the president.

When Tang Xiangming saw Zhao Bei, Zhao Bei was talking quietly with a staff member of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in the lounge, and when he saw Tang Xiangming walking into the lounge, the staff member of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs left quickly, except for Qin Sihu, the captain of the guard, there were only Zhao Bei and Tang Xiangming in the room, and it was more convenient to talk.

After Tang Xiangming sat down in the sand, he decided to get straight to the point.

"Now that the governor of the leased land on Bangka Island has been decided, he is a member of the Air Force, and the Navy has complained about this, although I have suppressed it in many ways, but after all, it is difficult to calm the anger of the people, and many admirals complain that the Air Force Department does not know how to do things, and it is difficult for the Navy everywhere."

"Hah! I'm afraid that your Admiralty is really complaining about the Central Government, right? I can guess your thoughts, you must have come here today to make conditions with me, right?

Zhao Bei smiled faintly, to tell the truth, there are not only veterans in the Admiralty who rely on the old and sell the old, but also young generals who are loyal to the president, Tang Xiangming When they discussed how to make a deal with the center, the news had already leaked, and Zhao Bei even knew. The Admiralty gang is going to ask the center for how much more money to build ships.

"President Junjian! At present, Britain, France, the United States, and Japan are all building warships on a large scale, preparing to carry out a shipbuilding competition in the Far East and the Pacific region; as a big country in the Far East, our navy cannot just stay at home all day long, and we must build an ocean-going navy with a certain strength. Now, though, we have a couple of large warships. However, they are all old-fashioned designs, and the design of the warships of Europe, the United States and Japan has been greatly improved after the end of the European war, and the structure and firepower have advanced by leaps and bounds. ”

According to the information he has obtained, the Japanese Government has now officially decided to further intensify naval construction and strive to become the number one naval power in the Pacific Ocean, on an equal footing with the United States, and according to the speculation of the Admiralty, the Japanese Navy is likely to have begun research on the construction of 40,000-ton battleships, and Japan has been catching up with the British Navy in this regard.