Mediterranean hegemon

Of course, Dashuai Sun was actually a step slower. When he finally understood and started playing with scrap steel, the old marshals in Beijing had already started playing with train guns and cruisers. After Shen Honglie's repeated persuasion, and Zhang Xueliang's support, Dashuai Zhang became ruthless. I bought a Garibaldi class worth 3.6 million yuan. After all, the down payment was only 720,000. The president said that the subsequent payment can be directly deducted from the annual tax paid, so why not use it quickly? The two Yangtze River battles all relied on the navy. Otherwise, the troops of Marshal Wu and Marshal Sun would not be reliable.

So now the Northern Army and Navy have learned the lesson and started patrolling and cleaning up along the Yangtze River. They said it was a confrontation across the Yangtze River. In fact, the Southern Army did not dare to station on a large scale within 10 kilometers of the south bank of the Yangtze River because it was full of Northern Navy ships. In the area covered by artillery, if you go up there, you will be beaten. No matter how brave the Confederate army was, they were still afraid of naval guns that could not fight back.

Of course, the Northern Army will not send a large number of troops to the south bank. They are not opponents for the time being in land battles. They can only barely hold on to a few important salient points such as Wuchang, Nanjing, and Zhenjiang. Although Shanghai is all south of the Yangtze River, Shanghai There is also the protection of the main fleet of the Northern Army. Yang Yuting even moved 203mm train guns to the vicinity of Wuxi to stand by. Therefore, it is said to be the Yangtze River defense line. In fact, the easternmost section is bounded by Taihu Lake on both sides, and the lengths of Su, Xi, Chang, and Shanghai are All the prosperous areas in the south of the Yangtze River are in the hands of Sun Chuanfang, and Zhoushan Island in Zhejiang is also in the hands of the Northern Army.

However, the Northern Army is also very measured. If it loses the south, it will be lost. There is no need for the navy to harass Xiamen, Taizhou, Ningbo and other coastal areas. The Southern Army does not harass the suburbs of Shanghai in the direction of Jiashan. The two sides have formed a tacit understanding of the actual ceasefire control line. Now he is just using means to attack his opponents. What Marshal Sun is most proud of is spreading leaflets to make the southern army surrender anyway. Many of them are his former soldiers. However, he also objectively realized that his land combat skills were not good enough, and he humbly asked Contini for advice on how to train troops, and even asked if he could introduce Italian instructors.

This also stumped Contini, because the Italian Army was also in a mess, and he was relying on the help of German officers. However, he quickly came up with an idea. He could ask the oil guards to export part of it to the Far East, which was just in time. There is another excuse to expand the army. So the two hit it off, and Contini sent 1,200 joint guards to the Union Terminal, and set up the Blackwater Security Company in a grand manner. These guards were all listed under the Blackwater Security Company as security guards, not soldiers. Sun Chuanfang agreed to purchase consulting and services from a security company to help train troops, especially the technical arms that are scarce in the army.

Marshal Wu from Wuhan is still superstitious about his own training level and plans to train on his own, but he also likes scrap steel. Of course, he prefers Hanyang Arsenal, so he also signed a contract to introduce some Italian industrial equipment, but he only supplemented and added it sporadically. , the scale cannot be compared with the nearly rebuilt Sun Chuanfang. In fact, the main problem that restricts Wu Dashuai is money. Dashuai Zhang in Beijing has Beijing, Tianjin and the Northeast, and has a lot of financial resources. Dashuai Sun in the southeast has Shanghai and Jiangsu. He is also quite wealthy. In addition, he has a dock business with the United Group and has made a fortune. A small fortune; only Wu Dashuai, who is sitting in Hubei and Henan, can't make anything. Henan has been very poor since the White Wolf. Hubei was originally so-so, but it has been in continuous war since 1911 and was burned by Feng Guozhang for several days. It has become increasingly depleted. It can be seen that it is not even as good as when Zhang Zhidong was in charge of Hubei, so he can only make careful calculations.

Fortunately, Marshal Wu himself is more diligent and frugal, and unlike the other two who resorted to personal fraud, he was able to survive in all aspects. Now Marshal Wu is the one who is most in need of breathing time. Although his subordinates all boast about 150,000, in fact, they have 150,000. I know my own affairs well. There are only more than 20,000 basic troops that can be attacked. If the Northern Expeditionary Army is not afraid of sacrifices to fill in a few more regiments, Wuhan may be penetrated. Once Wuhan is penetrated, it will be all over. Therefore, Marshal Wu can only support war with war, using products from the two arsenals of Hanyang and Gongxian to maintain the survival of other troops.

To sum up, when Contini went to China, although he paid more than 25 million yuan on the surface, he actually gained a lot: a circle was drawn in the Shenzhen Special Economic Zone; land was taken along the Huangpu River; land was expanded in Tianjin city, which was greatly displayed. Italy's image as a great power was attractive to Mussolini. As for the 25 million yuan, at least a quarter was used to offset the old money, one-half was exported as scrap steel, and only a quarter of the real money was spent.

Among the scrap steel worth half the value, the Garibaldi class itself was planned to be retired in 1930. Faced with the vacancy of its withdrawal, Contini once again used the stick of intervention, requiring the Navy to increase the construction of 4 Zara classes, and He said that he would pay for it, but his opinions must be adopted to make adjustments. This statement shocked the Navy Ministry, but after considering it for a day, they agreed. The Navy Department's original construction policy for the Zara class was to have four ships, but the number suddenly doubled, which was simply surprising.

Contini's suggestion was simple: the overall shape of the Zara-class ship should remain unchanged, the torpedo tubes should be removed, and some facilities should be replaced with electric welding to reduce weight. However, in fact, the president did not want to reduce the tonnage, because he hinted that the Zara-class would still need more To add a little more horizontal defense and consider an overweight of 2,000-2,500 tons on the basis of 10,000 tons (actually the Zara class is 1,500 tons overweight), the Navy did not think about it for a moment, gritted its teeth and agreed. There is always a way to solve the overweight issue.

In addition, Contini also added two Trent-class orders, but this time the requirements were even more strange. The speed was to reach 36 knots, but the ship's guns were reduced from 203mm to 128mm dual-purpose anti-aircraft guns. Just when people thought the president was going to strengthen the defense, Contini threw out a shocking theory: a little strengthening, but more importantly, piling up firepower. After hearing this, the designers felt scalp trouble, because the president planned 12 twin-mounted 128mm electric dual-purpose anti-aircraft guns on the warship, and there were also densely packed 7 anti-aircraft guns. When asked what this ship was used for, the president explained it with a witty remark: "This... I'm afraid of death, so I prepared two special guard ships for the special cruise ship Aida."

Being afraid of death was of course a joke. The president's direction was very clear, that is, to prepare a professional anti-aircraft cruiser. However, Italy did not have a caliber of 128mm at this time, let alone a 128mm dual-purpose electric gun. Contini smiled and said, "It doesn't matter. I commissioned Rheinmetall to develop it. You can build the Zara class first, and then this kind of guard ship in a few years. Anyway, I will pay for it. If you think this 128mm gun is easy to use, all new destroyers in the future can be replaced with this dual-purpose gun."

As for whether the threat of aircraft will be so great, everyone has doubts in their hearts, but they dare not ask, because the president said that he is the boss who pays the money, so you should do whatever you are told to do. Why do you keep complaining? Therefore, starting in 1928, designers have been considering the design task of the president-class or bodyguard-class special cruiser. Fortunately, there is no rush for this matter. We can wait until the eight Zara-class ships are completed before we take our time. As for what to do with the old Zara-class ships after they are put into service, we are not worried, because these presidents will be recycled. He has found a good place in China, so he is not afraid that no one will want them. If the north doesn’t work, there is still the south!

On February 6, 1928, after Contini attended the celebration ceremony for the first anniversary of Zhang Dashuai’s inauguration as the Supreme Ruler and signed the concession expansion contract on behalf of the Kingdom of Italy, he left Tianjin Port. Zhang Dashuai personally went to the dock to see him off. In order to show his affection, he also asked his son and Huang Xinguo to become brothers. This was of course very intentional, because Zhang Xueliang was older than the president and Huang Xinguo. If he became sworn brothers with Contini directly, then Zhang Dashuai would become his uncle. This was too much of a bargain, but it was a bit discordant for Zhang Dashuai to become sworn brothers with a foreigner younger than his son.

Later, Yuan Jinkai came up with an idea: Huang Xinguo treated the president with respect as a teacher, and he was a descendant of the Huang family in Yuyao, and he was only 3 years younger than the son of the Marshal. It was feasible to become sworn brothers, and it was not an insult! After the sworn brotherhood, the president would be Xiao Liuzi's teacher, and he could be on an equal footing with the old Marshal. Zhang Zuolin was overjoyed and applauded, which solved his problem.

So Huang Xinguo suddenly became popular in both the north and the south: Mrs. Chang in the south recognized him as her brother, although there was indeed a bit of a roundabout relationship, and Marshal Chang was his brother-in-law; Mr. Zhang in the north recognized him as his brother, and Marshal Zhang was his uncle. This relationship was applicable to both the north and the south, and everything could be done smoothly. Of course, he was very clear-headed. People made friends with him not because he was the son of the Huang family in Yuyao, but because the president stood behind him, so he was more convinced and determined to help Contini handle everything.

Contini, deputy director of the Special Zone Management Committee, will recruit new people from Italy, but Huang Xinguo will definitely be the assistant in the early stage. The reason why Huang Xinguo is not allowed to take the position is very simple. He is Chinese. If he represents the Italians, he will not be able to deal with them or complete the task, or be called a traitor by the Chinese. If the Italians come to compete for him to mediate, this role and status will be important, so he understands it.

After replenishing fuel and supplies in Tianjin Port, Contini's fleet set sail again. After sailing for 4 days and 3 nights, it arrived in Tokyo, Japan at 10 am on February 10. After entering the Japanese waters, the United Fleet, which had been waiting here, sent 2 Kongo-class ships and other fleets to escort, showing respect for the Italian envoy while not forgetting to show off its military power. However, Japan is still low-key now. It did not pull out the Nagato, but only used the Kongo-class.

Contini knew it well and did not care.

When arriving at Tokyo Port, since Prime Minister Tanaka Giichi was also the Foreign Minister, there were only other officials from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, but Contini soon found other more prominent targets: the naval officer standing behind the crowd, the captain of the Mutsu, which was anchored in Tokyo Port, Captain Hori Teikichi.

"Hori-kun, we meet again after parting in Geneva..."