"Woo~~~"

The whistle of the river ship floated on the water. Zhou Hexuan leaned on the railing to smoke and said: "Sixth Commander, you said you have met Hitler. What kind of person is he?"

Zhang Xueliang recalled: "He is very good at speaking. Although I can't understand German, his cadence when speaking, combined with gestures and expressions, make people feel excited involuntarily. He is not very tall, but he is very powerful and polite. Polite and not neurotic as the European media says.”

"It seems that you have a very good impression of Hitler. No wonder you think fascism is a good thing." Zhou Hexuan said with a smile.

Zhang Xueliang said: "No matter what, Germany has indeed done a lot to help China. Hitler is a friend of the Chinese people."

"Maybe." Zhou Hexuan blew out a smoke ring.

In the mid-to-early 1930s, the diplomatic relations between China and Germany were very good. Chiang Kai-shek would send people to Germany for inspection and study every now and then. Von Sickert, the "father of the Wehrmacht" of Germany, even visited China in person. Germany not only helps China train officers, train troops, and introduce rifle production lines, but also helps China build an air defense system.

Sickert, the "Father of the Wehrmacht" of Germany, was hired as a military adviser by Chiang Kai-shek. Sickert wrote an "Army Reform Proposal" specifically for China. He said: "What China urgently needs is not a large army, but an all-out army." To build a high-quality force that is well-trained and fully equipped, we should first establish a model team and then gradually promote it to other units to complete the transformation of the national army."

This suggestion was humbly adopted by Chang Kaishen, and at the end of 1934, the "National Army Reorganization Plan of Sixty Divisions" was carried out. By the eve of the outbreak of the all-out Anti-Japanese War, the National Army had completed 35 adjustment divisions and 24 consolidation divisions, and had also adjusted 10 divisions of the Northeast Army, 10 divisions of the Guangdong Army, 26 divisions of the Sichuan and Kangxi Army, and 9 independent brigades. It can be said that it was the first in modern China. A major transformation of the military and political order system has greatly improved the combat and command level of the Chinese army.

However, this military reorganization also completely established Chang Kaishen's military dictatorship. He took the opportunity to take control of many miscellaneous armies and local armies that had not obeyed his command.

Just last year, Chang Kaishen purchased arms worth 15 million silver dollars from Germany. Next year he will buy arms worth 23 million marks, and the year after that he will buy arms worth 82 million marks, ensuring the arms demand in the early stage of the War of Resistance. Such a large amount of international arms sales cannot be provided by Britain, France, the United States and other countries for fear of causing protests from Japan.

Germany doesn't care about Japan's protests. Germany's economic system has fully shifted to the military industry. Before Germany officially invades other countries, it must find a big buyer to consume its remaining production capacity, and China is undoubtedly the most ideal arms customer in the world.

Even though Japan and Germany signed a secret agreement and formally formed the Axis alliance, Germany was still quietly selling weapons to China. For example, in 1938, a year after the all-out war of resistance began, Germany secretly sold to China 300,000 rifles, 50,000 pistols, 20,000 machine guns, 500 combat anti-aircraft guns, 800 mortars, 300 anti-aircraft machine guns, Several mines...and tens of millions of rounds of ammunition.

Without Germany's help, China would not be able to buy enough arms in the early stages of the War of Resistance, and the War of Resistance would inevitably become more difficult. Without orders from China, Germany would not be able to consume its excess weapons, and its government finances would inevitably be stretched thin.

This kind of tacit international cooperation cannot be replaced by any other country.

Just take what you need.

By the way, the arms sold by Germany to China were basically transported by the Guangdong-Han Line, so the Guangdong-Han Line was the lifeline of China's transportation in the early days of the Anti-Japanese War. When Japan occupied Guangdong, arms sales between China and Germany stopped, because it was difficult to ship them in again after buying them.

If transportation is still convenient, a strange phenomenon is likely to occur: Germany and Japan are allies of each other, but Germany has been secretly selling weapons to China, and it has been selling them forever.

Similarly, the United States denounces Japan on the surface, but it has been frantically selling countless strategic materials to Japan for several years to attack China.

International diplomacy is such nonsense, everything is based on the interests of one's own country.

Countless ships were passing by on the rolling river. There are small fishing boats, old sailing boats, and new-style ships... It seems to be an ancient and modern Chinese and foreign ship exposition.

Zhou Hexuan suddenly smiled and said: "Sixth Commander, I remembered a song."

"What song?" Zhang Xueliang asked.

Zhou Hexuan looked at the river and the boats and sang softly: "The waves of a big river are wide, and the wind blows the fragrance of rice flowers on both sides. My family lives on the bank, and I am used to hearing the boatman's call and seeing the white sails on the boat. This is our beautiful motherland, this is me Where it grows..."

After the song was sung, Miss Zhao Si next to her clapped her hands and praised: "Mr. Zhou's singing is sincere and sincere. I wonder what the song is called?"

"'My Motherland'." Zhou Hexuan said.

Zhang Xueliang stared at the river and murmured to himself: "Friends come with good wine, jackals come with shotguns, jackals come with shotguns... Alas, I don't know when I can fight back to the Northeast."

"One day." Zhou Hexuan affirmed.

Miss Zhao Si held Meng Xiaodong's arm and whispered with a smile: "Miss Meng, you, Mr. Zhou, sing very well. You two usually compete on singing skills at home, right?"

Meng Xiaodong smiled and said, "He rarely sings at home."

While the two women were whispering, a small boat approached.

Qian Changgan climbed onto the deck along the gangway, wiped his sweat and said: "Mr. Zhou, judging from the data I have measured these days, the construction of the Wuhan Yangtze River Bridge is very difficult. I don't know if it can be completed within two years."

"Money is not an issue. Don't delay the construction period just to save money." Zhou Hexuan said.

Zhang Xueliang asked curiously: "Mingcheng, what are you in such a hurry for?"

Zhou Hexuan worriedly said: "Two years will be enough for Japan to overthrow Henan and Anhui. If it continues to be delayed, repairing this bridge will be useless. Even if it is repaired, I will blow it up myself!"

Zhang Xueliang was silent, while Qian Changgan was extremely shocked. He did not expect that the war time estimated by Zhou Hexuan was so tight.

"Don't worry, Mr. Zhou, I will go all out," Qian Changgan said with a wry smile, "but we won't be able to start construction in the next two or three months, so we can only make some preliminary preparations."

"Why?" Zhou Hexuan asked.

Qian Changgan explained: "Wuhan's flood season is coming soon."

Zhou Hexuan suddenly had a headache because he remembered the great flood in Wuhan in 1935, when three cities in Wuhan were flooded for more than 90 days. It’s too late to fight floods and rescue people, and they still have to build the Yangtze River Bridge.

Everyone had no interest in visiting the Yangtze River anymore. Zhou Hexuan returned to Yangyuan depressed, hoping that the construction period of the Wuhan Yangtze River Bridge would not be delayed too long.

Zhang Xueliang received a telegram and said happily: "Mingcheng, if you want to recruit pilot students, you don't have to take the trouble to choose slowly. An air defense exhibition will be held in Nanjing soon, and the China Aviation Association will also participate. You can go Ask them for help.”

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