: : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : :

The CP112 series and its improved electronic tube computers have been produced in China, mainly used in scientific and technological research, military and financial departments' statistical work, and have a great effect on scientific and technological research. The new generation of CP10 is under development. With the continuous accumulation of technology and manufacturing processes, especially the rapid progress of "single crystal" technology, CP10 will likely become the world's first general-purpose electronic tube computer with 100,000 computing power per second, with a larger magnetic core memory and more mature program system programming.

If the CP10 can be successfully developed successfully, on this basis, the Central Computer Research Institute will continue to develop a super-large electronic tube computer dedicated to cutting-edge scientific research, and strive to increase the number of operations ten times, and the number of electronic tubes required will reach 1 billion.

It can be said that the empire was basically ahead of Germany and the United States in the development of some cutting-edge technologies, which was 5 to 10 years ahead of Germany and the United States. In the early stages of World War II, the Chinese Empire also made preparations for the new World War. Now the biggest problem for the empire is not the domestic or the diplomatic differentiation and division of the Soviet Union, Germany and Japan, but the weaker France in the Sino-French alliance.

If France declared defeat as soon as the war began in World War II and became a vassal of Germany, it would be the most unfavorable situation for China. In any case, France must persist and firmly restrain the main force of the German army on the European battlefield on the Western Front.

Even if the Soviet Union and Germany ultimately choose to form an alliance, as long as France firmly restrains the German army, China will have enough space and strength to defeat the Soviet Union and realize the grand plan of a joint attack on Germany between the east and the west. Even if there is a Japan behind China, what can it do?

Although Japan at this time had a navy that surpassed France and Italy, and the army might not be weak to France and Italy, Japan is not a very worthy opponent in terms of overall strength, especially for today's China.

What is really worthy of China's concern is the Soviet-German issue.

After leaving the Northwest National Defense Industry Research Institute in Yinchuan, Song Biao took a special plane to Beijing, where he prepared to welcome the French delegation headed by Admiral Maxim Wigan who would visit in China.

During the 22 years of the Sino-French alliance, as China becomes increasingly stronger, the dominant players within the Sino-French alliance have gradually changed from France to China. France is still a world power and is still one of the two leading players in Europe. However, in the economic field, France has clearly relied too much on China.

On the second day after Song Biao returned to Beijing, General Maxim Wigan arrived in China as Vice Chairman of the French Committee, Army Director and Special Envoy of the French President. He came to China this time to prepare for the global visit of Emperor Song Biao. Starting from October of this year, Song Biao will conduct a global visit, fly to Central Asia to visit Afghanistan and Iran, and then visit Europe. The first stop is France. After the European visit, Song Biao will take a boat to New York in Lisbon, Portugal, visit Canada, the United States, Brazil and other countries in the Americas, and finally visit Australia and Thailand. He will end all visits and return to China in July 1934 to convene the Lushan Summer Palace Conference.

After General Wigan arrived at the Capital International Airport, Song Biao sent General Chen Qicai to greet Wigan and met General Wigan at the Welcome Room of Xuanzheng Garden in the Central Palace.

For a middle-aged man, every morning is a quiet time worth cherishing.

Before General Wigan arrived at Xuanzheng Park, Song Biao seized the time to review the revised draft of "Modern Military Studies". The military meeting held in the summer of 1928 seemed to be as fresh as yesterday. Inadvertently, even Huang Botao was transferred to the inner court to serve as the first-class eunuch.

What a quick time.

Song Biao was accustomed to transferring some of the best young and middle-aged officers to the inner court to serve for a period of time. There are three benefits to doing this. First, let him observe these officers up close and see their personalities and strengths and weaknesses; second, give these officers a better platform to contact more people, contact with higher-level military commanders and political leaders, and be responsible for some more complex tasks that are different from the past; third, he can communicate with each other and enhance their qualities and loyalty.

The eunuchs in the inner court were often assigned from first to third grade. There were about 75 officers entering and leaving every year. The first and second grade eunuchs had the most changes, while the third grade eunuchs were mostly civil servants and guards. Because of the complete military service and the numerous responsible tasks, they were also nicknamed "small military headquarters".

After reading the revised manuscript for a while, Song Biao called Huang Botao over.

Less than two minutes later, Huang Botao, wearing a brown-green colonel officer uniform, hurried into the office, saluted Song Biao, and said, "I have met Your Majesty."

Song Biao continued to look at the revised manuscript in his hand, without raising his head, and casually pointed to the position in front of the desk and ordered: "Sit down, I have something to ask you!"

"yes!"

Huang Botao answered hard, took off his military cap and held it in his hand, walked to Song Biao to sit down, and his body was straight. Although it had been three months since he was transferred to the inner court, he still did not dare to neglect any of it. Unlike Chen Jiayou, the first-class eunuch in the inner court who was born as an intelligence officer, he would always stay in the inner court for a long time. He knew that he was only gilded here. If he performed well, he would soon be re-transferred to the military headquarters as a disciple of the emperor and be promoted to the first level of brigade general in his military rank.

If you are really lucky, you may be promoted to brigade general in the inner court and transferred to the army with the rank of major general. This is more common in the Air Force and Navy. Because there are more senior generals in the army, it is still rare.

In short, if you have the opportunity to join the inner court for about a year, and to enter the general level, it is equivalent to having a privileged background. This is also a rare honor for officers such as Huang Botao who were transferred to the inner court by the emperor. It basically means that you have superior talents, and it must also be widely praised by the military headquarters and lower-level non-commissioned officers.

Huang Botao, who is at the most aggressive stage in his life, certainly cherishes the current good opportunities.

Because there was still plenty of time, Song Biao was not in a hurry to ask Huang Botao. After reading these two chapters of the conventional tactical explanation of position warfare in the revised draft of Modern Military Science, he put the revised draft aside and asked Huang Botao: "I heard that when you were studying at St. Sill Military Academy, you were awarded by General Wigan and invited to eat at home. Is it true?"

Huang Botao replied cautiously: "It is indeed like this, but there were four officers and cadets from our army who were invited together at that time, and basically all those who studied at St. Cyr Military Academy."

Song Biao nodded slightly, lit a Yuxi cigar and asked, "What kind of person do you think General Wigan is?"

Huang Botao thought for a while and replied, "Because I have only seen it once, I can't say any objective evaluation. But I feel that I am a very easy-going person, and I am very friendly to us and our country. I like our oriental culture very much. My family has collected several porcelain and bronzes. When I invited us to visit our home, I took them out for us to appreciate. However, I heard from Qiu Qingquan, who was visiting with me, that at least two of the bronzes were fakes, and the traces of the old were obvious, so I could only deceive foreigners."

Song Biao said oh, and he was also interested in this little thing.

After a little thought, he continued to ask Huang Botao: "You studied at Saint-Sill Military Academy for half a year and worked as an intern lieutenant in the French Army for half a year. Based on your understanding of the French army, what kind of military armament do you think the French army is, its combat effectiveness, and its current military thinking? What is the difference between you and us?"

Huang Botao graduated from the Mechanical Infantry Class of the Central Military Academy and worked as a second lieutenant in China for one year, and then went to Saint-Sill Military Academy to study. That was a long time ago, but in the years since then, because he was familiar with the French army and French, Huang Botao also visited France twice and had a deep understanding of the French army.

Huang Botao thought carefully for a while and replied: "Report to Your Majesty, my subordinates think that although France is a traditional army and naval power, it is a bit of a sense of disagreement. Our army needs to train a second lieutenant from a young military academy to a military academy, the three poles of the military academy, and nine years of professional military education in the first and last, while France only needs three years. Saint-Sille military academy is a three-year system, and some other military academy in France, especially infantry and cavalry military academy only need two years. My subordinates feel that the French officials are free and casual, and they are not professional and competitive, and lack the spirit of our army's positive attitude, and everyone is the first. It feels like they are a bit just by hand and have a good time. There is a situation of drinking and drunkenness today. We have exchanged many times on the issue of mechanization, and have advocated many new suggestions. In the end, there are very few actions to implement them in France. In terms of professional qualities, the level of French sergeants is insufficient, which is worse than our military academy students.

In addition, France's military system and military system also have problems. Their military system still lacks the basis for large-scale combat, the army structure is too scattered, the training and framework for large-scale combat, and the plans for this aspect are also lacking. If a large-scale war is encountered, it is probably a temporary group of large troops to fight, which is fatal. In terms of military system, France is a recruiting system during the non-war period, and the treatment of soldiers is still very generous. However, from lieutenant to soldiers, the training level is indeed relatively average, and it is basically still before World War I, or even during the French-Prussian War. During the war period, they will temporarily adopt the service system according to the law, which is very strange. However, when they are not fighting, they pay generous salary, and when they do not pay wages during the war, this is too idealistic. On the surface, it can solve the problem, but it is actually very bad. Not only does the newly added service soldiers not want to fight, I think even the previous professional soldiers are not willing to fight, right?"

Although Song Biao also had some understanding of various issues of the French army, Chen Qicai had conducted a survey on the issues of the French army. After hearing these words, Song Biao still had to sigh.

Bystanders are clear.

Military exchanges between China and France have been very frequent in recent years, but in the eyes of the Central Military Department, the French army seems to like being a teacher and is very good at being a teacher. They are always very dedicated to reminding others, and they do not take the opinions given to them seriously.

The French army made many suggestions to the Chinese team, especially in the naval field. However, the French army had basically not adopted some suggestions put forward by the Chinese team. Even if they were adopted, the effect of implementation was very limited.

After so many years, the Sino-French Alliance has always been a bit dramatic in military affairs.

The French army was unreliable, really unreliable. The worst thing is that the French army felt very good about itself, and there were various strange arguments about the mechanization ideas actively promoted by the empire. However, the visiting General Wigan is the main promoter of the mechanization of the French Army. It can be said that he actively promoted the formation of several mechanical brigades and reorganized the 4th Cavalry Division of the French Army into a mechanized armored division.

General Wigan worked very hard. After all, Marshal Xiafei had been promoting mechanization for so long, but he only adapted two cavalry brigades into mechanical brigades.

Like the empire, the upper armies and within the country were reluctant to give up the cavalry. The cabinet leaders also thought that the expenses of mechanized troops were too high and the expenses were not worth it. It would be better to spend all the funds on building the Maginot Line of Defense.

The alliance between China and France has great benefits in all aspects, but it is a mess in the military field.

Song Biao also scratched his head helplessly and sighed to Huang Botao: "France is a strange country, and the French army is even more strange, but what can we do? The Sino-French alliance is also a long-standing alliance relationship. If France had not shared the pressure from Britain around the world, would you think China could develop so smoothly? Without the full opening of the French colonial market to our country, the Chinese economy might not have been able to survive the world depression so easily. Therefore, everything has its pros and cons, but it is weird, and there are always great benefits among strange things!"

Huang Botao asked: "Is the emperor talking about the Sino-French joint fleet?"

Song Biao dusted the ashes and sighed: "That's all I can say!"

France is indeed very strange. It has so many interests around the world, but the government does not pursue the strengthening of the navy. The navy is also negative about this. During the Washington Treaty negotiations, if it were not for China's strong claims, France even planned to accept the conditions of oppression from Britain and the United States and reduce the size of the navy to the level of Britain's 30.

Although there has been enough room for development now, France has not really attached importance to naval construction. So far, the total tonnage of the main naval battleship is still only 30 for the UK, which is twice as bad as the Japanese army. There is only one aircraft carrier Beyan, which was modified from the Normandy-class battleships that were put into service in 1923. The three newly built Dunkirk-class battleships are not as good as Britain, Japan and the United States in terms of class, or even China.

There is really no way to say that France has lost confidence in the Atlantic Ocean and only wants to compete with Italy for an advantageous position in the Mediterranean. Even so, the French Navy has no advantage over the Italian Navy.

However, within the Treaty of Washington, the French Navy still retained a displacement limit of about 200,000 British tons of main ships, and was idle. After two years of negotiations, the two sides have decided to establish two joint naval fleets in Brunei and Djibouti. The Sino-French joint fleet in Brunei was dispatched by the commander of the Far East Fleet, and the commander of the Djibouti's joint North African fleet was dispatched by the commander of France.

Simply put, in order to safeguard the common interests of both sides, France gave up the limits within the treaty, China was responsible for building ships together, and daily military expenditure was shared equally between the two countries, and using this special cooperation to compete with the British-Japanese alliance. However, during almost the same period, the British-Japanese alliance was not stable.

The British-Japanese alliance was about to expire at the end of 1933, and neither side seemed very active in renewing the contract. With the spread of the Great Depression, Britain had adopted stricter tariff protection to curb the trade deficit, attempting to maintain the status of the British pound and avoid further depreciation. Japan's foreign trade with the British colonial market became more difficult, and the original special terms were basically useless.

In the Dutch Indonesia incident, Britain's containment of Japan also forced the Japanese military to rebel, making the Japanese military even more hated Britain, and the two sides had long turned against each other.

The situation is very unfavorable to Japan. In this vast and boundless Pacific waters, Japan faces the circular encirclement of the navies of China, Britain and the United States at the same time. Navy expansionism has basically been declared bankrupt, and the army expansion faces the Chinese Empire that cannot be provoked at all, which has made Japan lose its sense of direction.

The Japanese cabinet government has long failed. Unlike the military headquarters, the Japanese cabinet government has always hoped to reach a trade and trade treaty with China, Britain and the United States that is beneficial to Japan, so that Japan can import resources and raw materials from foreign countries, and then export industrial products to these countries and their colonies, protectors and Southeast Asia, and maintain the steady development of the national economy.

In addition to the fact that the results of Sino-Japanese trade negotiations have not been beneficial to Japan, the Japanese cabinet has tried its best to win a favorable situation for Japan in its negotiations with Britain and the United States. As a result, such favorable clauses were destroyed in the Great Depression, causing the Japanese economy to fall into unprecedented difficulties. The Japanese military and the country have a more unified understanding that Japan must have its own colonial market and provide raw materials and sales markets, and cannot rely on Britain and the United States, they are simply unreliable.

The idea is very good, the question is who will Japan go to war with?

Looking around, China, Britain and the United States are in a circle, including the Dutch Indonesia, under the protection of China, who can Japan go to war with?

Song Biao and Huang Botao talked about the French army for more than an hour before General Wigan arrived at the Central Palace accompanied by Chen Qicai and Jiang Fangzhen, the Chief of Staff of the Central Military Department.

At this time, the Central Military Department had already held a welcome ceremony for General Wigan at the headquarters, and Song Biao arranged for the official reception of General Wigan at 9:35. After he arrived at the welcoming room, General Wigan, who was notified, entered the welcoming room to meet with Chen Qicai, the deputy chief of staff of the Central Military Department, and Shu Fangde, the head of the inner court.

When he entered the hall to see His Majesty Emperor Song, General Maxim Wigan was also very excited. He couldn't wait to step forward and bow according to the Chinese etiquette standards. When Emperor Song reached out, he shook hands with the emperor again and exclaimed: "The supreme Emperor Hua, I always regret that I have never seen His Majesty Napoleon with my own eyes, but I feel great glory and luck to see you, who we respectfully call Napoleon of the East."

Song Biao nodded slightly, accepted General Wigan's praise, and replied: "I am very happy to see you here, please sit down."

With this, he invited the Vice Chairman of the Legal Affairs Committee and the Army Director to sit down, and a second-class eunuch personally brought them tea.

Song Biao continued to invite General Wigan to have tea and said, "I still remember when Marshal Xiafei visited China, I invited him to have tea here. At that time, we drank this kind of Dianhong produced in Xishuangbanna. You are welcome to taste it."

"oh!"

Admiral Wigan was honored to raise his glass and sipped it slightly, then exclaimed: "Martyr Xiafei always said that China is the best country in the world and the kingdom of tea. Now I think this is true. Thank you very much for your invitation, my noble Emperor Hua!"

Although it was the first time to meet and it was a formal diplomatic occasion, Song Biao knew that the general had a hobby of smoking cigars, so he asked Huang Botao, who was accompanying him, to bring a box of his royal special Yuxi cigars and invite General Wigan to enjoy it.

Both of them actually have a special love for cigars. Since Emperor Hua is not particularly particular, General Maxim Wigan was also very happy to accept the emperor's gift and smoke a cigar and enjoy it for a while.

Men are always a little lost in their hearts while swallowing clouds and spitting mists.

Even two old military brigades.

France and the colonies lack first-class cigar production sites. The sales of the empire's Yunnan cigars in France have always been very good. Admiral Maxim Wigan is not unfamiliar with this Yuxi cigar. Just looking at the exquisite packaging and mellow fragrance, you can tell that it is the most luxurious grade.

After tasting the Dianhong and Yuxi cigars, Admiral Wigan couldn't help but praise: "The Empire is really an ancient and magical country. From south to north, from east to west, it occupies 45 of Asia and 1/7 of the entire world's land. From the peak of the British Empire, no other empire in human history has ever had such a glorious level. It's amazing. On this vast land, everything can be produced and the rich resources make any country admire it.

And despair. Emperor Napoleon once said that China is a sleepy lion. Once it wakes up, it will shake the whole world. Now it seems that it is true. It is our luck that our country can maintain such friendship and alliance relations behind us for a long time. my country and France span on both sides of the Eurasian continent and support each other is the charm of the Sino-French alliance. There is absolutely no conflict of interest between them, only perfect cooperation. I think the Chinese and French people are extremely happy about this."

Song Biao raised his legs and drank tea calmly. After thinking for a moment, he replied: "You are right. China and France are natural allies, but we must be careful of Germany and the Soviet Union. If the Soviet-German alliance forms an alliance and divide the Sino-French alliance on both ends of the Eurasian continent, this is our worst situation, so we cannot force the Soviet-German together in any case. But our ideals are always beautiful, but the facts are extremely cruel. According to the situation found by our intelligence agencies, the Soviet-German has been conducting a lot of secret cooperation in military industry and technology to jointly develop weapons. Due to France's requirements, our country has interrupted all military and technological exchanges with Germany. Therefore, we currently have limited knowledge of the intelligence field of Germany's military technology, but according to some intelligence officers hidden in German commercial institutions, Germany is stepping up the development of some secret and special weapons, while the weapons jointly developed by the Soviet-German government are mainly tanks and armored vehicles."

Admiral Wigan seemed dissatisfied and said: "Germany is obviously the most intense and excited country in the anti-Soviet Republic. Please rest assured."

Song Biao was silent for a while and replied: "It is obvious that it is impossible to rest assured that the rise of fascism spread from Italy to Germany. I heard that even you have expressed support for this. This is a very terrible thing. If we study it in depth, we will find that whether it is fascism or Stalin's Sovietism, behind it is one-party politics. The head of state is supreme, actively expands externally, and strictly controls internally. This is a terrifying country. We don't know whether they will go to war internally or unite to conquer the free world. In short, this is a severe product of the Great Depression of the world. We must be vigilant about it. It is impossible to solve any problems. It will only bring about a new world war. I believe that no matter it is

I am still you, whether it is China or France, if it is deeply involved in a new world war, it will be a complete disaster. Marshal Foch once said that the Versailles contract is just a twenty-year armistice agreement, and Marshal Xiafei and I strongly agree. Germany is undergoing drastic changes. Europe in the future will be very dangerous, and France must be prepared. China and France are the most natural ally in the world. The key is that China and France are located at both ends of the Eurasian continent. There is only cooperation and no conflict between each other. The terrible fatal flaw is also here. If a war breaks out in Europe and France fights Germany again, it will be very difficult for China to send military armed forces to support France. Therefore, France needs to be more cautious about all this."

Admiral Wigan didn't care much and said, "Your Majesty, thank you for your thoughts on French security, but you must have been over-considered. Our country's Maginot Line is about to be completed. As long as we have this line of defense, just like China's Great Wall, it will be the greatest deterrent to Germany. They will definitely not forget Verdun's lesson."

"Yeah?"

Song Biao was deeply suspicious and said, "Then you should pay attention to the eastern defense line on the junction with Germany. I have seen your defense line layout map. It is too lax in the Salborough front area. If the German mechanical troops attack from there, it will only take about ten days to attack Paris, and your main force is concentrated in the entire Maginot line and cannot shrink, the final outcome will be very tragic. In my opinion, any defense line can be bypassed. As long as the speed is fast enough, the best defense line is the steel team, not the cement line, because our steel team can be mobilized at any time, and the cement line is limited to the invariable."

General Wigan did not dare to doubt the view of the famous military commander as Emperor Song. He thought carefully for a moment and asked half-believingly: "Are you sure that raiding from the mountain is a reasonable choice?"

Song Biao asked him, "Why is it unreasonable? Why do you have to rush to the storm with strong defense? Are the Germans so stupid as you expected, or do you want the Germans to be as stupid as you planned? As long as you have a little military knowledge, he will understand a simple truth. If going to the mountains and earth in the southeast is considered an adventure and many problems need to be solved, ignorance and self-destruction will be called ignorance and death. In my opinion, in my opinion, the area where you border with Germany is not considered a mountainous land at all. If you visit and inspect the territory of China, you will understand this truth more. In our eyes, your terrain can only be considered

It's hills, and with the new tanks and mechanized forces we have set up before, I don't believe that German armored vehicles and mechanized transport troops will be much worse than us. It's obviously impossible. This is simply what they are best at. If we consider the supply capacity of air force transport aircraft and horse recruitment, and the railway, I think the German army can concentrate one million main forces in the southern part of France and Germany to break through. So, I'm not disagreeing with France's negative defense, but if we have to defend, don't leave any fatal flaws in the past, and be sure to build another layer of defense line outside Paris that cannot be avoided at all."

General Wigan sighed: "His Majesty, my poor French Republic, even the construction of the Macino Line was difficult to apply for it from Congress."

Song Biao said: "The most hated thing in the world is the parliament that does nothing but opposes it. If necessary, the Central Military Department can provide the French army with a special loan for the construction of fortifications in France and the joint development of new weapons and equipment between China and France. It is roughly like this. Find some reasons first and build and improve the defense line no matter what. General Wigan, this is a new era of large mechanized army, so there are two things that are the most terrifying in military affairs. One is the army without large mechanized, and the other is the plain without any terrain blocking. We call it a horse flat. No matter how vast the terrain is, it is just a land that can be slaughtered in front of the enemy."

Admiral Wigan replied deeply: "Yes, Your Majesty, Your Majesty Hua, you are worthy of being Napoleon of the East. Such a simple sentence reveals the two most cruel points in the nature of modern warfare. What makes me regret is that France has neither inherently advantageous geography nor sufficient mechanized armed forces now. Although France has been discussing the arrival of the mechanized armed forces on a large scale since the Marshal Xiafei's time, we still cannot complete such a great change until today. In contrast, when I learned that China had completed the mechanization of thirty divisions, I really envied the military generals of your country. It is a blessing for the Chinese to have a national commander like you, just as we once had His Majesty Napoleon in that era."

Song Biao could only sigh in his heart.

The comparison between France and Japan may be able to show the difference between the two ethnic groups. France has such superior conditions and its national economy is now at roughly the same level as Japan. In terms of fiscal revenue, France's taxes are not low, but military expenditures can only be equivalent to half of Japan's.
To be continued...