The splendid autumn has finally passed, and the snow once again covers the entire capital. On this cold day, in the Wenhua Palace, Lieutenant General Shen Honglie was sweating like being questioned by those old men in the Inspectorate the month before. The last time it was questioned, it could be said that it was a scandal for the Chinese Navy, a capital aircraft carrier was actually damaged and sunk by an old cruiser of the Italian Navy. Although it was in the narrow Gulf of Aden at that time, the two sides were caught off guard, but no amount of explanation could hide the fact that the aircraft carrier's armored firepower was both weak, and it was precisely for this reason that the proposal to build two super battleships with a displacement of more than 60,000 tons and a main gun caliber of more than 450mm would be discussed and prepared to pass by the Inspectorate, but this was not what he wanted to see.

In addition to the fact that this will once again cause an arms race with the United States, if such a huge battleship wants to follow the entire fleet, it must have a speed of more than 30 knots, and the output of its main engine must be at least 18 horsepower or more after 30 knots. Not to mention the crammed boiler in the cabin, the cost of this power system alone will exceed 150 million Chinese dollars. Two ships cost more than 300 million, which is almost the price of four aircraft carriers, and it is a pity to really use them to build battleships. But Shen Honglie had no way to convince the prime minister and the two governors in front of him, so he could only be in a hurry.

"That's what you think about the Inspectors, and I, as the prime minister, can't tell if one is good and the other is bad, but since they want to build it, let's build two." Facing General Xu Jingxi, Chief of General Staff, General Zhou Sixu, Chief of General Logistics, and Vice Admiral Shen Honglie of the Navy Office, Premier Mu Xiangyue said with some regret.

Of course, he is not lamenting not building aircraft carriers. What he lamented was that so much money had to be burned as military spending -- according to the results of a joint study conducted by the General Logistics Department and the Ministry of Households: for every additional billion yuan in military spending, the investment would be reduced by 292 million yuan. and forever reduce the income of 062 million Chinese dollars per year [Note 155]. As the planner and commander of pulling the national economy out of the depression, Mu Xiangyue really didn't want the economy to turn into wartime. Because this will not only stop the booming economic momentum, but also burn the trillions of wealth that the people of the country have worked hard to accumulate for more than 20 years.

"Prime Minister, there is naturally nothing to say about the strengthening of the navy's armament, and the ideas of the old men of the Inspectorate are not wrong," Zhou Sixu thought about the bastards of the Inspectorate Academy, but he smiled on his lips, "Build two large battleships, one to protect the Beijing Division, called 'Tianjin Guard', and the other to protect Jiangsu and Zhejiang." They don't know what they think, but they don't want to build big ships, but they only want to build 100 torpedo boats, probably to save money. All in all, that's a good idea! ”

Zhou Sixu laughed as he spoke, and only after he finished talking about the fools in the Inspectorate did he straighten up: "Prime Minister, if the navy increases military spending, the army and air force will not be less." Nothing else is mentioned. The army's guns are all from twenty years ago, and the new semi-automatic rifles are only equipped with the Marines, and the army doesn't even see a shadow, so they can't be allowed to go to war with the guns of twenty years ago, right? Semi-automatic rifles, submachine guns, light machine guns, general-purpose machine guns. These must be equipped at least in batches, and they must be distributed to the reserve bureaus in all counties across the country, so that soldiers can become familiar with firearms as early as possible......"

What Zhou Sixu said made sense. But the more Mu Xiangyue listened, the more uncomfortable his brain became, he took off his glasses and rubbed his eyebrows. After Zhou Sixu finished speaking, he said: "Say, how much will it cost to rearmament this time?" Give me a real number. ”

"The army's light weapons need about 200 million. This is basically enough to meet the guns of a hundred divisions. The armored division ......" Zhou Sixu took out a notebook, and his appearance made Xu Jingxi on the side laugh - he felt more and more that the Light Court was polished by the Suspicion Institute and became more and more like a businessman, and he was the best at bargaining.

"A hundred divisions?" Mu Xiangyue was startled, even if the flesh on her body was through the thick clothes, it could make people feel that it was shaking obviously. "How can we have a hundred divisions? The guns cost 200 million, so if you count the heavy weapons and armored divisions, wouldn't this cost 200 million?! Not so much money! Not so much money! Guangting, you are a lion's mouth! ”

Seeing Mu Xiangyue's reaction so big, Zhou Si was unmoved, and he said: "Prime Minister, in the sixteen years since the end of Europe, in addition to providing food and clothing, the country has even picked and picked out training ammunition, and each soldier has less than 100 rounds of bullets on target, and now it's time to make up for it." We don't have a hundred divisions, but we have reserves. Although each county does not reach the size of a regiment, there is always a battalion of more than 500 people, and more than 1,300 battalions are more than 100 divisions......

This time, what Zhou Sixu said was the truth: after the military reform, the troops were organized according to the region: the reserve quota of one township is one platoon, one town is one company, one county is one regiment, and four counties are one standard division. Most of the usual training is in the county, and even if it is training at or above the division level, it is only in a few neighboring counties. Before the war, the Theater Command will replenish artillery, communications troops, and other technical arms to keep them at full strength. Because the recruits are the children of large families and propertied families, the family affairs are clean, the military discipline is good, and the quality of the soldiers is much higher than that of those peasant soldiers who do not have enough to eat to serve as soldiers, and because they are of the same clan, the same township, the same village, and the villagers, the internal cohesion is high.

Although the armament has been depleted in the past ten years, each county still maintains more than one battalion of reserves, four to six counties (counties with small populations in remote areas need six counties and one standard division; Shaomin has no obligation to serve, but the poll tax is doubled) for one division, and there are indeed a hundred divisions when calculated. But it is too ...... to arm a hundred divisions at once

Thinking of this, Mu Xiangyue's head shook like a rattle, and he said, "Even if there are really a hundred divisions, there is no need to prepare guns at once." You can always use a firearm in the past. Besides, you need 200 million for light weapons, how much do you need for heavy weapons? How many more armored divisions will there be? Too much! Too much! Even if I agreed, would the adults in the Auditor's Court agree? ”

"Prime Minister, now there are many representatives of inland provinces who are dissatisfied with the construction of ships in the coastal provinces, and they can always replace the old guns of their soldiers if they have no ships to build." Xu Jingxi said. "Heavy weapons such as artillery, as well as a new generation of combat vehicles, have not yet been finalized, and the final type can be installed in the last two years, and now the light weapons are installed first, so that when the artillery and combat vehicles are installed in the next two years, it looks less expensive separately. It's easy to pass the Inspector's Court, and it's really more than a dozen or two billion together......"

Xu Jingxi said it tactfully. But at the mention of more than ten or two billion, Mu Xiangyue rubbed her eyebrows again. He glanced at Shen Honglie, who had just tried his best to declare that the battleship could not be built. Said: "Except for these two big battleships, the navy has nothing else to ask for money, right?" ”

"Report to the Prime Minister, not at the moment." Shen Honglie replied, and he emphasized again: "Prime Minister, I still have to say that spending more than 300 million to build two useless battleships is really a loss-making deal!" ”

"Okay, I know what you mean." Mu Xiangyue said. "But now the adults of the Inspectorate are afraid! They felt that there would be no security without battleships, and that with battleships, they would not be afraid of the American fleet coming. ”

"But why build battleships. Wouldn't it be nice to find some shallow water gunboats......" Shen Honglie still couldn't figure out what the old men of the Mystery Academy meant.

"Alright, Chengzhang!" Xu Jingxi's voice was not loud but he interrupted his words undoubtedly, "The adults of the Mystery Academy have the consideration of the adults of the Mystery Academy, since they are willing to build it, what are you bothering about!" ”

Xu Jingxi is Shen Honglie's direct boss, and he had to bow his head when he was said so. After interrupting Shen Honglie, Xu Jingxi said again: "Prime Minister, in addition to the military spending of the three armed forces, the defense of Taiwan, especially Tainan, must also keep up. And Iwo Jima in the Pacific Ocean has also been transferred from Japan to our jurisdiction, and the fortifications in these two places will cost about 300 million ......."

"So expensive!" Mu Xiangyue lost his voice, the navy is more than 300 million, the army is 200 million, and the air force is said to be 100 million, which is more than 600 million. Plus these 300 million, as well as supplementary military spending, a proper 1 billion. "France's Maginot Line. Although it is said to be 5 billion francs, it is only more than 400 million Chinese dollars! But people defend such a large area. You're just ...... these two islands."

"Prime Minister, France's Maginot Line didn't cost more than half a billion francs. In total, it cost 10 billion. Seeing Mu Xiangyue's comparison of Taiwan and Iwo Jima with France's Maginot Line, Zhou Si immediately corrected it. Xu Jingxi, who was next to him, cooperated with him tacitly, and after he finished speaking, he followed up and said: "Prime Minister, these two are secret projects, because of the secret, it will naturally take a lot of effort to build, and the main thing in Taiwan is that the highway that runs through the whole island is expensive, and there are mountain fortifications." ”

"What about Iwo Jima? It's not even our territory. Mu Xiangyue said.

"Prime Minister, if Iwo Jima is lost, then Shanghai and coastal cities, and even Wuhan will be within the bombing radius of the enemy's heavy bombers. Originally, we wanted to ask the Japanese for the two islands of Ogasawara, but the Japanese said that Ogasawara was in charge of them. Seo Kyung-hee explained the situation on Iwo Jima. Iwo Jima's small size does not allow it to generate electricity from stock fuel oil like the Marianas' Saipan, Tinian and Rota (once a chimney is found, US bombers can naturally destroy diesel engines).

The general believed that in order to defend the island, the only way to do this was to use geothermal power generation and build a three-layer fortification with a shallow layer of 10 meters, a middle layer of 50 meters, and a bottom layer of 90 meters. This would almost have hollowed out the entire island, and the fortifications at the ninety meters of the third layer were no longer on the island, but on the seabed on the outer side of the island. This put an end to the possibility of the US military engineers using cement and steel to pave every inch of the entire island's 20 square kilometers of land and block the exit of the tunnel. The cost of building fortifications in this way is naturally expensive, but Xu Jingxi continued: "The Japanese government will also allocate 600 million to 800 million yuan for the fortifications on the island to defend the Marianas......"

"The Japanese are notoriously stingy, they will throw money into the sea and not use it to build ships?" Hearing that the Japanese gave more money than herself, Mu Xiangyue was slightly comforted, so that she was in the mood to make fun of it.

"If we build one ship, the Americans will build two, and it is better not to build it. Of course, the Japanese Government understands this logic, and if we don't build ships, maybe the war won't be able to start. Xu Jingxi said, he said and emphasized: "Prime Minister, the fortifications of Taiwan and Iwo Jima are more important than the armaments of the three armed services, and if you don't hurry up to build them at this time, it will be too late in wartime. ”

"Okay, I got it." Mu Xiangyue nodded helplessly. This year is another election year for the Inspectorate of Doubts, and if it is not passed this year, the next vote of the Inspectorate will not start until the year after next, which is indeed too late. Thinking of this, Mu Xiangyue thought of Yang Rui again, it is best to discuss this kind of important matter with him, but he estimated that he had just arrived in Moscow at this time, and he would wait for the New Year to come back according to the itinerary.

Beijing is covered with snow, and Moscow is naturally icy and snowy. After spending half a month in Berlin, Yang Rui set off and headed north to St. Petersburg by sea. Then by rail to Moscow.

Molotov, a close confidant of Stalin, held a grand welcoming ceremony for him in Petersburg, equivalent to the head of state, and watched the city full of people waving the Great Chinese flag and Russian schoolchildren offering him flowers. He was a little nostalgic: when he was studying, the school came to the leader every time to do some inspection. The school basically behaves like this, and every time those foreign leaders take out a thick piece of manuscript paper and cough into the microphone, it is a sign that they will spend half a day on the playground under the sun ...... really evil bureaucracy!

Although he thought so, Yang Rui smiled on his face and appropriately praised the achievements of the Bolsheviks in socialist construction under the leadership of Stalin, which made the Bolshevik officials who received him smile—according to the previous Pravda article, they knew that the person who came was a well-known bourgeois idealist philosopher, and he completely reneged on the promise he had made to the great mentor Comrade Lenin to "liberate the oppressed peoples of the colonies". and the capitalist countries are in a hot fight. It is fortunate that this person is not hostile to the great Soviet Union, otherwise they really do not know how to unify the reception caliber.

It was not too far from Petersburg to Moscow, and Yang Rui arrived in Moscow on the fourth day after disembarking from Petersburg, and after another warm welcome at the railway station, he met Stalin in the Kremlin Palace.

At this time, Stalin, dressed in a beige military uniform, was smiling and holding a pipe in his left hand. As Yang Rui imagined before, he smiled politely. The eyebrows are still solemn and serious, and the not bright eyes have a coldness and persistence that ordinary people do not have, this is a steel strongman, but if you take a few steps back. From his face to his whole body, you can feel from his slightly hunched back and deliberately shortened but unconcealed white sideburns: this is a man who is carrying heavy burdens, a man who is not living happily.

Yang Rui looked at Stalin, and Stalin also looked at Yang Rui. This Chinese who has always wanted to see but has never seen. Taller than all the Chinese he had ever seen, dressed in Chinese attire. It's weird, but it's not twisty. What surprised Stalin the most was the look on his face - the London naval negotiations had failed two months earlier. Relations between China and the United States have suddenly become tense. Judging from Roosevelt's personal envoy's visit to the Soviet Union, the diplomatic posture between the Soviet Union and China is reversing: in the past, the Soviet Union begged China, and then China should seek the Soviet Union. When visiting the Soviet Union in such a situation, there was not the slightest hint of flattery in his expression, so he was really worried about fighting on two fronts?

"It's finally time to see the above! General Secretary Stalin. Yang Rui smiled. Although he would have liked to shake hands with Comrade Steel, this was really not the time to shake hands - a handshake could well have been considered a gesture of goodwill, which was basically tantamount to a show of weakness, and for the Bolsheviks, it could never be a gesture of weakness!

"Hello, Mr. Yang Jingcheng!" Stalin's voice was not loud, but he was very clear.

Because the Bolsheviks, whom Yang Rui was familiar with, were all being purged or in the process of purging, only Stalin and Molotov were met this time, and Yang Rui was accompanied by Yang Du and Wu Chaoshu, the ambassador to the Soviet Union. This is Yang Du's second visit to Russia, and Yang Rui asked him to come mainly because he was worried that he and Stalin would be too cold.

After greeting each other, the two sides stood together and asked the reporter to take pictures, at this time, Yang Rui realized that Stalin was not short, but why is this?

"You may be seated, Mr. Yang Jingcheng." Stalin, as the master, greeted. The reception room was very simple, with a row of varnished chairs leaning against the wall, with small tables in between, and the Chinese and Soviet personnel sat on either side with the statue of Marne and Li Ning on the wall as the center. When everyone was seated, Stalin lit his pipe and said, "Have you had a good journey, Mr. Yang Jingcheng?" ”

"Very good." Yang Rui also lit a cigarette, "Comrade your country is very enthusiastic and at home. ”

"As a friend of your country, I have noticed that there have been rumors of war between China and the United States since the London Conference on Disarmament...... "Stalin did not give a cold spot as Yang Rui had estimated, but took the initiative to talk about the international situation.

"In capitalist countries, the economy determines war." Yang Rui replied after listening to the relay. "There are only three countries in the world that want to wage war to the outside world and transfer their internal contradictions. Your two countries, together with other peace-loving countries, have already eliminated one of them in East Africa, and I believe that the other two will learn a lot from this. ”

"Haha......" Stalin wanted to test Yang Rui's reaction to the hostility between China and the United States, but he didn't want to be pulled together by him and recall the incident of joining forces to kill Mussolini in Italy. He smiled and asked, "Do you think the League of Nations can eliminate the threat of war?" ”

"The League of Nations is really ourselves, and if we don't stop the war, the world will evolve into a terrible situation. At that time, there were only two ********, one was communism with Max and Li Ningism as the core, and the other was ......, and there were two possibilities, one was Italian-German Nazism, and the other was modified capitalism. Yang Rui smiled, "If it really comes to that point, then no matter which latter one is, it will be a black and white world, and it will be a disaster for you and me." ”

"Revised capitalism?" Stalin chewed on the word. "What is this?" He asked.

"It's Roosevelt's New Deal that the United States is now implementing." Yang Rui said, "Use taxes and national bonds to partially confiscate the assets of the propertied to relieve the poor; Learn from your country's five-year plan to intervene and plan for a liberal economy as a whole and limit part of the profits of enterprises; In addition, some key workers should be allowed to hold shares, so as to blur the line between capitalists and workers, and so on......"

"It's so deceptive." Before Stalin could speak, Molotov said angrily.

"The deception is not the most terrible, the terrible thing is that they will integrate the resources of the whole of Europe, and indeed the whole world." Yang Rui said, "To tell the truth, both of us and China are regarded as outliers by them, and if the rest of the whole world is integrated, it will be extremely detrimental to us, and we will be able to achieve better development by maintaining the current chaotic and fragmented situation." ”

"Do you think the other ...... will the Nazis win, or will the revised capitalism win?" Stalin wanted to broadcast sentence by sentence like an old operator, but there was a lot of suspicion on his face.

"It's unpredictable." Yang Rui said bluntly. "There's so much variable. There are opportunities for both sides, so maintaining the status quo, that is, maintaining the current world peace, is the first priority, and we all need time. ”

Yang Rui's final sentence 'we all need time' made Stalin's eyes chill. Time is needed to say that there is not enough time - the Second Five-Year Plan, which has just ended this year, has made significant achievements, but because most of the projects have been aided by technicians from other countries, only civilian industries have been built. The Third Five-Year Plan, which will begin next year, will focus on the military industry, that is, the civilian factories built in the early stage will gradually be converted to military use, and Yang Rui said, "We all need time", is it to know the real purpose of the Soviet Union's Third Five-Year Plan - to deal with the war?

Yang Rui didn't see the changes in Stalin, but he was seen by Molotov, he immediately smiled to divert his attention, and said, "Your Excellency, if your country and the United States go to war, who will win?" ”

"You can't win or win, and you can't lose if you lose." Yang Rui replied in a deep voice, "This kind of war will not be won. ”

"However, the United States has the most powerful industry in the world, and China and Japan together do not have as many machine tools as the United States, and the number of weapons produced will be far inferior to that of the United States." Molotov continued to pressurize - revealing the other party's scars or hidden pain makes the other party anxious, and if he is not careful, he will reveal his true reaction. Molotov was well aware of this, but for the sake of Sino-Soviet friendship, he finally added to the problem: "I beg your pardon for my blunt remarks, I only say this out of concern for your country. ”

"Don't be sorry." Yang Rui smiled. "Judging the outcome of a war by the number of machine tools should be suitable for land standing and not for naval battles. It is well known that the combat power of the Navy is derived from warships, and battleships are not made by machine tool factories, but by shipyards. If today your country allocates a billion rubles to expand the Red Navy, it will definitely be two years before the launch of battleships, plus training, and in less than two and a half years, it will be difficult for the fleet to form combat effectiveness. If it were an army, the war would have ended long ago in two and a half years, so the number of machine tools would not determine the outcome of the naval battle......" (To be continued. )

PS: Note 155: The book is denominated in US dollars. "A Concise Table of the Current Common Financial Standards and Regulations of the Chinese People's Liberation Army" Author: He Zhenhua, editor-in-chief, p261