Chapter Fifty-Four: Preparing to Buy a Boat

  Gaoyang also understood that to become a strong nation, a powerful navy was indispensable. Gaoyang's original plan was to complete the construction of main highways in Anhui and Jiangsu provinces before sending troops to occupy Shanghai, and then start purchasing warships after having a large port.

  However, after Lu Dajun was assassinated, Gao Yang decided to advance all plans. Lu Xiaoja is good at eating, drinking, whoring and gambling, but he doesn't have the ability to take over as Zhejiang governor and do his father's job. The military leaders under his father won't obey him either! The Zhejiang army will soon disintegrate.

  After the internal strife of the Zhejiang army, what Gao Yang wants to do becomes simpler. Under the same Anhui clique, with strong forces as a backing, he will swallow up the legacy left by Lu Da. Simply put, it's like picking peaches. When the time comes, just give them some more money, and Gao Yang is least lacking in money.

  This plan will take about two months. If the ship purchase plan is advanced, by the time Mado is occupied, the negotiations for purchasing warships should have been completed, and at that time, it would be fine to just bring the purchased warships directly to Mado.

  After making up his mind, Gao Yang lightly rubbed his eyebrows and wrote on the application form: "Tentatively agreed. The Yangtze River Fleet will dispatch a key member to discuss the purchase of ships with the British. The total procurement amount is temporarily set at......" Gao Yang stopped his pen here and thought again, "How many ships should we buy?"

  It's definitely not too much, after all, relying on buying ships can't buy a strong navy, it can only be used for temporary emergency and training officers and soldiers. In terms of scale, at least make the Japanese feel threatened, better yet, force them to increase military spending so that they will suffer more in the subsequent economic crisis.

  "Origin, can you go online now?"

  "If you can find me a network port in this era, I'll be able to get online!"

  "Oh, let's go back and I want to check some information."

  "No need for so much trouble, I downloaded a lot of materials from the internet when I was in modern times. What do you want to know? See if I have stored it."

  "Help me look up the current situation and outcome of the British Royal Navy's warships."

  After consulting with the original point, Kao Yang shifted his main target to the British Royal Navy's King George V-class battleships. According to the original information, due to the restrictions of the Washington Naval Treaty, the British Royal Navy planned to scrap all three existing King George V-class battleships next year to make way for the upcoming Nelson-class battleships. If they were to buy these three warships at this time, it would be a godsend for the British Royal Navy, and a win-win choice.

  Kawachi's selection of the George V class was for a reason, first, the British Navy intended to scrap them, and Kawachi's purchase at this time was a win-win situation for both parties. Then, these battleships had been in service for over a decade, and their performance and technical parameters were already outdated, which greatly reduced the resistance to purchasing. Finally, more than a decade ago, their average construction cost was ￡19.4 million, but now that Britain has restored the gold standard, Kawachi's purchase would definitely be cheaper, at most half price, and the remaining budget could still buy some auxiliary ships. It is worth noting that in 1920, when Britain sold the Canada-class battleship to Chile, it cost only ￡10 million.

  The George V class was already an obsolete warship ready to be scrapped for the British Navy, but for the Chinese Navy it was a national treasure that would make them drool in their dreams!

  The standard displacement of the George V-class battleship was 23,300 tons, and it reached 25,700 tons when fully loaded. The ship was 169 meters long, 27 meters wide, and had a draft depth of 9 meters. It had 18 coal-fired boilers, four steam turbines with a total output power of 27,000 shaft horsepower, reaching a maximum speed of 21 knots, and a range of 6,730 nautical miles at 10 knots. The ship was equipped with five twin-mounted MK5-type 45-caliber 343mm main guns, 16 102mm 50-caliber secondary guns on both sides, and three 533mm underwater torpedo tubes. The thickness of the main armor belt was 305-203mm, and the armor thickness of the bridge was 280mm.

  Such performance data is definitely not comparable to the Long Gate, but Gao Yang's main purpose is to make Japan feel threatened, enhance its reputation, train naval officers and soldiers, and boost national confidence. In the future, there will definitely be better warships.

  After a moment's thought, Kao wrote "$20 million and under." Britain, which had just signed the Washington Naval Treaty and was looking to cut its massive military expenditures by getting rid of many types of warships, needed a large influx of funds. Earlier in May, British Chancellor Winston Churchill had restored the pound sterling to the gold standard, making it an excellent time for China to buy old ships from Britain.

  Kao-yang's deposits in the Bank of America are mostly in US dollars. At the current exchange rate of 1 pound to 4.86 US dollars, this naval purchase exceeds 40 million pounds! Passing on this bill to the British can ease the chilly relations between them. Because Kao-yang has a hot trade with the US but little with Britain, the British have been dissatisfied with Kao-yang for some time now, after all, at this point in time, the British are still the world's top power.

  After writing down his thoughts, Gao Yang put down his pen and rubbed his sore neck, stretched out a lazy waist with a slightly self-mocking smile "How long has it been since I studied so seriously after the college entrance exam?"

  Look up at the clock on the wall, and several hours have passed unknowingly. Quickly tidy up the documents and lock them in the safe, waiting for tomorrow to find time to distribute them to various departments for execution.

  After returning to the modern time and space, Gao Yang wanted to call Zheng Xiujing before taking a bath. "I wonder if Little Crystal has announced the end?" Gao Yang thought for a moment and took out his phone to dial. The call went through, but no one answered. It seemed that the announcement was still in progress.

  "It's really tiring." Gaoyang shook his head, everyone has their own choices, and Gaoyang didn't have the idea of interfering with Zheng Xiujing's life. He took out a change of clothes and went to the bathroom to take a bath. When he came back, he had already received a reply from Zheng Xiujing on his phone: "OPPA, I'm recording a show right now, it'll be over soon, wait for me." With a faint smile, Gaoyang put away his phone and went downstairs to the living room.

  The governor was already waiting for him. "Have all the targets been cleared?" Gao Yang walked over to the wine cabinet and poured himself a glass of whiskey.

  "Yes." A low, mechanical voice sounded. Holding a wine glass, he walked to the side of Governor Mr., who was even taller than Gao Yang and had a cold face. Gao Yang raised an eyebrow and said "Want one?" Governor Mr. did not respond, turned his head to look at Gao Yang, suddenly stretched out his hand to grab the wine glass and took a sip.

  "Drinking is no problem, but the robots that came first are not as fragile as those electronic products made by you humans." The original voice sounded.

  "Oh, really? Actually......" Gao Yang's face was unsatisfied and he was about to say something when his phone rang. It was Zheng Xiujing. After answering the call, Zheng Xiujing's cheerful voice came on "Oppa, have you been thinking of your prettiest little water crystal?" Her words were filled with irrepressible joy.

  "Every day I'm thinking of you." Listening to Zheng Xiujing's cheerful voice, Haoyang raised his eyebrows and said softly.

  "Oppa, since you miss me, when are you coming to see me?" Zheng Xiujing said with a hint of playfulness.

  "I really want to be with you right now, I'll go to Korea to see you before your debut anniversary day, wait for me. How does it feel to attend a schedule after resting for so long? Take care of your body." Gaoyang reminded softly.

  "Alright, I will." Zheng Xiujing replied softly. The two of them chatted sweetly for nearly an hour until the time passed midnight before hanging up the phone.

  Rubbing his slightly hot phone, Gao Yang leaned on the sofa and thought silently to himself, "It's not okay to be apart for such a long time."

  The next morning, after washing up, Gao Yang called the general manager of the mining area and instructed him to speed up the completion of the follow-up rectification work in the mining area. He emphasized that the mining area should strengthen its preventive measures and resolutely crack down on anyone with ulterior motives.

  Drive to Libreville and take a plane to Bern to see parents. That night, Gaoyang returned to his villa in Bern.

  As soon as he entered the living room, Gao Yang threw his coat, phone and wallet on the coffee table and fell onto the sofa, exaggeratingly shouting "Ah----- I'm exhausted! I've been rushing since morning, my legs are broken." His mother came over to him and patted him on the back "Get up quickly, how old are you now? Still acting like a child, go wash your hands and get ready for dinner."

  "Oh." Gaoyang obediently responded and got up from the sofa to wash up before dinner.

  After dinner, the whole family sat around the TV watching domestic satellite TV. Gaoyang was not very interested in TV and left the living room after a while to find Stock, the butler.

  "What about what we discussed on the phone last time?" Gaoyang asked directly after seeing Stock.

  "Sir, I have placed an order on your behalf with Gulfstream Aerospace for one brand new Gulfstream G650ER. The price quoted by Gulfstream is $65 million."

  "Money is no problem, I'll leave a check for you tomorrow, how long will it take to deliver?" Gaoyang continued to ask.

  "Gulfstream expressed the hope that they could consult with you on matters such as interior decoration, and also expressed the hope to invite you to visit Gulfstream." Stock said with a slight bow.

  "Just follow their standard configuration for the interior decoration, I won't go, you can represent me if you have time. And I just asked how long it will take to deliver?" High Yang's tone had a hint of impatience.

  "Sorry, sir," Stock said with a slight bow. "Gulfstream says it will take a year if we want a brand new customized plane. However, Gulfstream has some inventory of basic production planes that can be delivered in just three months if the client is willing to pay an additional $1.9 million in engineering fees."

  "Alright, get this thing done as soon as possible, I hope to see my plane in three months." Gaoyang relaxed his eyebrows, and this news made him feel much better. The various annoyances of taking commercial flights these days had led Gaoyang to decide to buy a private plane of his own.

  "By the way, there's something else I wanted to ask you. If I want to buy a yacht, which company's products are the best?" Gao Yang suddenly remembered and asked aloud.