After reuniting with the destroyers that came to meet them in the Atlantic Ocean, after half a month of sailing, the aircraft carrier fleet finally successfully arrived at the Natal Naval Base in Brazil on June 10, 1946.
In order to welcome Brazil's first aircraft carrier into the fleet, the Brazilian Navy organized a grand welcome ceremony.
Almost all the senior officials of the Admiralty came to Natal to watch the ceremony.
The most important person was undoubtedly the presence of Brazilian President Dutra.
The induction ceremony of the aircraft carrier was personally presided over by Defense Minister General Moraes, who named the aircraft carrier "Rio de Janeiro".
Naming this aircraft carrier after its capital shows that Brazil has great expectations for it.
At the same time, the First Fleet was directly renamed "Rio de Janeiro Aircraft Carrier Battle Group".
President Dutra personally awarded Fang Lang the rank of rear admiral at the ceremony.
And General Moraes, the Minister of Defense, appointed Fang Lang as the commander-in-chief of the "Rio de Janeiro Aircraft Carrier Battle Group" on the spot.
The ceremony reaches its climax at this moment.
The 22-year-old rear admiral directly broke the world record.
At this time, within the Brazilian army, even if some people had objections, they did not dare to raise objections in public.
After all, this powerful naval fleet was born in the hands of this young man who was only twenty-two years old.
Fang Lang did not expect that he would be directly promoted to rear admiral at this important moment.
This moment is destined to be the highlight moment in Fang Lang's life, with milestone significance.
Afterwards, Fang Lang learned that his military rank had actually been determined before he came back.
After the Brazilian government completed the statistics of the results of the European War, it held a grand awarding ceremony directly at the Ministry of Defense.
The rank of Marshal Morais, the Minister of Defense, was awarded to the rank of Marshal. All other officers who participated in the European War were promoted to some extent according to their military merit.
There are five major generals who have obtained the rank, including one in the navy, three in the army, and one in the air force. The one in the navy is naturally Fang Lang.
The major general of the Air Force is Air Force Minister Nairo Mora, which also means that Fang Lang's military rank is equivalent to that of the Air Force Minister.
In fact, the number of aircraft that Fang Lang can now command has reached 150, which is about half of the entire Brazilian Air Force.
Unlike the Brazilian Air Force, which only has fighter jets, Fang Lang's battle group has reconnaissance aircraft, fighter jets, bombers, torpedo attack aircraft, transport aircraft, etc., a complete combat system.
This made Air Force Major General Nairo Mora, who came to watch the ceremony, drool with envy.
He was already thinking about how to get involved with Fang Lang, because he had already heard that Fangyuan Group had established an aircraft modification factory in Sao Paulo.
Among them, there are a large number of aircraft designers from Germany. Obviously, this aircraft modification factory has great ambitions, and it will definitely be a matter of time to produce aircraft.
In the future, the Air Force can also directly entrust this company to design and produce new aircraft for itself!
The Secretary of the Navy was also officially served by General Crook, who was awarded the rank of Lieutenant General.
This appointment did not surprise Fang Lang.
After the ceremony, Fang Lang led a group of defense officials to board the aircraft carrier for a tour.
That night, a grand party was held on the deck of the aircraft carrier that had been cleared of aircraft.
As the top officer of the Natal Naval Base, the newly minted commander of the "Rio de Janeiro Aircraft Carrier Battle Group", the captain of the aircraft carrier, and the rear admiral.
Fang Lang was the well-deserved protagonist of the night. There was a lot of people drinking and drinking, and people kept coming up with wine glasses to clink with Fang Lang and congratulate him.
Fang Lang also politely expressed his thanks one by one. Fortunately, he was very restrained and only took a gentle sip every time he clinked glasses. Otherwise, he would have become extremely drunk.
If this is the case, his image in everyone's mind will be greatly affected.
The party lasted until ten o'clock in the evening before it ended. When Fang Lang sent everyone off the aircraft carrier one by one, a young man in a suit and leather shoes came to Fang Lang and whispered:
"Your Majesty General, Mr. President would like to have a chat with you alone."
Fang Lang felt a little different about this sudden invitation.
Because as President Dutra's position becomes more and more stable, he has less and less control over the work of the military. He did not expect that he would be suddenly invited today.
Fang Lang looked up at the sky and said doubtfully:
"now?"
The other party nodded, pointed to a car at the pier and said:
"Your Majesty General, please come this way!"
Fang Lang could only nod and follow the other person's footsteps.
Fang Lang didn't know where the president would live after arriving in Natal. After all, these were not arranged by him, and he only returned to Brazil today.
The vehicle stopped and stopped all the way and arrived at a manor on the outskirts of Natal.
Fang Lang was still wondering how the president could live in a manor in Natal. When he arrived at the door of the manor, he discovered that Natal Mayor Ewald Dursley was waiting at the door.
I suddenly realized that this was the home of Mayor Ewald Dursley.
After getting off the car, Mayor Ewald Dursley stepped forward to shake hands with Fang Lang and led Fang Lang into the room.
"Your Majesty General, please come this way. Mr. President is waiting for you."
Fang Lang was not polite to him either, and the two of them were not dealing with each other for a day or two.
He shook hands with him, nodded and said:
"Thank you! Mr. Mayor."
After the two exchanged pleasantries, Fang Lang was directed to a small living room. The living room was decorated in a Brazilian style. On the wall behind the sofa, an Indian feather crest looked very eye-catching.
President Dutra got up and walked towards the door when he heard the noise.
Fang Lang stood at attention at the door and saluted:
"Good evening, Mr. President!"
President Dutra took the initiative to extend his right hand to Fang Lang, and Fang Lang quickly extended his right hand to join him tightly.
Then the president hugged Fang Lang and said:
"Good evening, Major General Fang."
After the two hugged, President Dutra pointed to the sofa and motioned for the two to sit down and chat.
Fang Lang was not polite and found a sofa to sit down on.
A servant brought two cups of hot coffee and placed them in front of the two of them.
Mayor Ewald Dursley waited for the servant to leave and said:
"Mr. President and His Excellency the General are chatting slowly. I'm right outside. Call me at any time if you need anything."
Fang Lang nodded to him, and after seeing him close the door, he turned back to look at President Dutra.
President Dutra said with a smile on his face:
“Fang, I was surprised when I arrived in Natal this time.
The changes are so great.
This is completely different from what I saw when I came here during the war. The streets were paved with cement and looked very neat.
Even the slums have been demolished and there are not even homeless people on the road, which is really unexpected.
I heard Mayor Ewald Dursley say it was all your fault.
The plan was made during the martial law period, right? "
Fang Lang was stunned. He didn't expect that this guy Ewald Dursley would give this credit to himself.
This was beyond Fang Lang's expectation.
However, Fang Lang's character is still relatively modest, so he smiled and said:
"I just provided some suggestions, and the specific operations are all done by Mayor Ewald Dursley and government staff.
I dare not take credit.
You know, after the war I was traveling around Europe and the United States and spent very little time in Brazil.
There is no time for city planning in Natal. "
After hearing Fang Lang's words, President Dutra smiled and said:
"Okay! I understand, this is the result of your joint efforts.
Unexpectedly, you not only have superb military command skills,
He actually has such advanced ideas in building local economy.
I wonder if you are interested in working on my staff team? "
Fang Lang's hand reaching for the coffee cup stopped in mid-air, looking at President Dutra in disbelief.
Seeing Fang Lang's expression, President Dutra burst into laughter.
"Haha. General Fang, this is just a suggestion, not a requirement. You don't need to be nervous.
I know that you have just become a general and will not be willing to come and serve as my staff.
However, I appreciate your forward thinking on economic construction, and I hope you will not limit your thinking to the military field.
Can you provide some more suggestions for Brazil’s economic development and construction? "
After hearing President Dutra's words, Fang Lang breathed a sigh of relief and said:
"Thank you, Mr. President. If you don't mind that my ideas are vulgar, I will tell you everything I know."
The person opposite is the President of Brazil, and any words he says cannot be without purpose.
It's just a suggestion, but maybe I really have such an idea.
But maybe he saw what he was thinking, so he laughed it off.
But Fang Lang knew very well the national conditions of Brazil and would never follow President Dutra's example and leave the military to enter politics.
What good will come of even becoming the president of Brazil!
President Dutra was pretty good, and his four-year term went smoothly.
His previous president Vargas was overthrown by a coup and almost died.
In the next presidential election, Vargas will continue to run and be successfully elected, but what will be the result?
Within two years, he was forced to commit suicide by shooting himself.
After leaving office, more people were prosecuted for corruption and bribery, imprisoned, and their reputations were ruined.
Given Brazil's national conditions, there are no officials who are not corrupt.
Everyone is corrupt, and you, Mr. President, are noble, who would be willing to be your confidant?
I'm afraid everyone is worried about whether you will be sent to prison!
Is a president still a president if he doesn’t even have confidants?
If you choose to go along with the light, be prepared to be sent to jail by your political opponents.
No matter from which aspect you look at it, the Brazilian president is a bad guy.
Whoever wants to sit can sit there, but Fang Lang is not interested anyway.
It feels so good to be a big warlord with military power. No matter who is the president, he can only win over himself and not dare to make irresponsible remarks on himself.
Although the president is the nominal supreme commander of the military, that is just a name.
The real military power has always been in the hands of the powerful faction below, and Fang Lang can now be considered a real powerful faction.
Especially after his military rank was officially promoted to major general, he can also be regarded as the decision-maker of the Brazilian army.
You can express your opinions on many issues.
Considering the great strength he has at his disposal, everyone has to seriously consider his ideas.
"Okay, if General Fang has any ideas or suggestions, you must tell me.
In Congress a few days ago, representatives of the National League submitted a policy bill on relaxing Chinese immigrants' ability to obtain legal status in Brazil.
After a vote by the Legislative Council, it was successfully passed with 65% of the votes in favor.
I also voted in favor of this bill.
After all, I saw a lot of excellent Chinese character from General Fang.
You are brave and courageous, hard-working, studious, pragmatic and law-abiding. This is exactly what we in Brazil need. "
President Dutra was sincere and looked at Fang Langdao with a serious expression.
After hearing what the other party said, Fang Lang instantly understood the reason for the late-night summons by the President today.
(End of chapter)
