In early October, the Minister of Commerce of the Four Countries officially confirmed the start of the board of directors and the first candidates for the Executive Committee, and also signed the Shanghai Asia Trade Center Building plan.

The Shanghai Asia Trade Center Building is expected to be invested by International Bank of China for US$11 million and is planned to be built into a large building with three underground floors and twenty-two floors above the ground. The estimated construction period is 14 months, and all designs are completed by Chinese engineers. However, considering the technical issues of building high-rise buildings, foreign engineering teams may also be required to be hired in construction.

After completion, the Asia Trade Center will be the most modern building in Asia and even the world. None of them will be a model for high-rise buildings in the new era.

The reason why we spent so much money to build a building was not because China or other countries were vain. If Wu Shaoting would rather put the Grand Consort’s office in a small side yard four years ago, and would not be willing to waste money to build a new office building, it was because the environment at that time had to be so extravagant.

But now that the Sino-Japanese War has ended, China has determined the identity and status of the emerging Asian hegemony, and now it is to show its strong side in some non-positive things. The establishment of the Asian Trade Center marks the rapid transition of the Republic of China from a weak agricultural country to a major industrial country. Its significance is such a signal!

Just as the Asian Trade Center was in full swing, Cheng Biguang, the naval adjutant of the Nanjing Presidential Office, was ordered to come from Nanjing to Kunming and attended the National Defense Affairs Meeting of the Kunming Head of State on October 3.

The reason why this National Defense Affairs Conference had to invite Cheng Biguang on the spot was to discuss the service establishment of the Longji air battleship and the acquisition of ten cruisers from Japan.

In the eyes of many outsiders, this matter is not in a hurry. China has been paying attention to the development of the army and the air force in recent years. Although it has many expectations for the navy, it is unable to achieve it due to the difficulties of the actual conditions. Just last year, in order to prepare for the establishment of the Liaohai Detachment, the Chinese Navy invested almost all the elite manpower and excellent resources. However, the facts have proved that even the most elite Liaohai Detachment is so fragile in the face of the powerful Japanese Navy and the British Navy.

At the beginning of the meeting, Cheng Biguang's adjutant introduced the current situation of idle warships of the Chinese Navy to the officials of the head of state. These warships were divided into two batches. The first phase was the Second Japanese Navy Fleet captured by the Qingdao War. Although several of them were activated during the establishment of the Liaohai Detachment, there were still two battleships and two cruisers at the sprint.

The second batch is the ten cruisers that offset the war reparations after the end of the Sino-Japanese War. After a month, China has dragged back four of the warships from Japan, and the other six are still being cleaned up. It is expected that all of them will be in place before the end of next month.

The situation of the Chinese Navy today is that it has advanced and numerous warships, but it has a serious lack of talents to operate these large and medium-sized warships, as well as a complete and skilled logistics maintenance system. Even the several medium-sized warships in service in the Liaohai Fleet rely on the German naval base in Qingdao to assist in maintenance.

After listening to this naval overview report, Wu Shaoting asked: "What is the current situation of the other two battleships captured in the Qingdao war, the Danou and the Shijian?"

Cheng Biguang replied: "There was a message from the ponytail three months ago that all these two battleships have been repaired, but several secondary guns that do not match our Chinese artillery shell system have been replaced."

Wu Shaoting sighed secretly. The repair was only three months ago. In other words, it took more than a year to repair these two battleships. This time, he was almost able to build a brand new battleship. Of course, he was not dissatisfied with the efficiency of the Mawei Shipyard, but was disappointed with China's current industrial progress. It has to be admitted that China is very lacking in technology in large warships, not only equipment, but also the personal qualities of personnel.

After being silent for a long time, he slowly asked: "Adminton Cheng, how helpful do your Navy Department thinks these two battleships will be to China's coastal defense cause?"

Cheng Biguang hesitated for a moment, and then said: "If we only look at the current military perspective, these two battleships have great significance. But from the perspective of the actual needs of the navy, these two battleships are actually dispensable."

His words were very powerful, not because he was confident, but because he had great courage.

For any Chinese navy, they always want to restore their naval status before the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895. Since the Sino-Japanese War of 1895, China has not had battleships for a full twenty years. Faced with the rapid development of Western countries, the naval tonnage has risen rapidly. If there are no heavy warships in the sea, this loophole will only become bigger and bigger.

Therefore, if it were other naval officers, when answering Wu Shaoting's question, they would definitely insist on the importance of battleships to China's coastal defense, rather than splitting the words into two parts.

In other words, Cheng Biguang's words had already violated the long-awaited wish of the Chinese Navy. It required great courage and courage to make such a judgment. Cheng Biguang was extremely enthusiastic about the Navy, and it was precisely because of this that he did not want to affect the "actual" situation because of the "wish" craze.

Wu Shaoting just glanced at Cheng Biguang and still didn't say anything.

At this time, He Fuguang sighed slightly and said, "The cost of these two battleships is too high, and the current international naval tactics are too rigid. Once the second-generation fighter can take off through the warship, such bulky large warships will be unsustainable. Unless there is a very sound formation, such arrangements will lead to greater funding pressure."

A brief discussion arose in the venue. Some people think that battleships are an important symbol of naval development, while others support Cheng Biguang's viewpoint, without a clear opinion for a while. In fact, whether the battleships are activated at this time is indeed in a very embarrassing situation. There must be roles and benefits, and there must be burdens and burdens. The final decision-making power depends on how the head of state plans.

After pondering for a long time, Wu Shaoting finally made a decision. He said with a very firm expression and tone: "Sell both battleships. Argentina, Austro-Hungarian Empire, and Turkey can do it, and sell it to whoever you want."

Hearing this, there was no discussion at the venue, but many people felt that Wu Shaoting was a bit too casual when he said this, just as if these two battleships were a hot potato and they wanted to throw it out as soon as possible.

However, Wu Shaoting had already made up his mind. The reason why he was hesitant before was because he considered that it was 1916, the golden period for battleships to be put into use, and this golden period would last at least more than ten years. However, he developed aviation battleships in advance with an advanced consciousness, and the purpose was to leap the battleships period and directly enter the era of naval aviation troops. Since he had such an awareness, he had to unswervingly implement them to the end.

What's more, even if the naval aviation corps cannot be verified in actual combat for a period of time, Western military technicians will never be all idiots. As long as China conducts a little military exercise and pushes the aviation battleships out for a walk, it will inevitably cause a lot of sensation and will make the whole world realize that the new naval combat mode is born.

He didn't care whether this move could completely shake the status of battleships. Just like during World War II, the Japanese Navy resolutely built two Yamato-class warships for battleships and aircraft carriers. It was not until the naval battles evolved too quickly that those who were loyal to the naval model of battleships were shocked. This is also the reason why the Yamato-class third ship Shinno was suddenly changed to an aircraft carrier halfway through the construction.

The Chinese Navy was originally far behind the world. Now it is not the time to care about the size of the navy, but consider the naval model. Since it is behind the software, it is bound to pursue leaps and turns. When countries around the world are busy developing and training for dreadnoughts and super battleships, China directly began to use and explore aviation battleships.

It won't take long to complete ahead of schedule, restore and consolidate its naval status to a "quality" level.
Chapter completed!