"Mr. Zhou, don't get your hopes up. Chief Huang mentioned it to the Soviets before, but they rejected it outright."
Wang Zhu shook his head directly after hearing this.
"The I-15 is not an advanced fighter. They have a better I-16. Why are they unwilling to provide the manufacturing technology of the I-15?" Lao Zhou frowned slightly, not understanding.
"Mr. Zhou, in our opinion, the I-15 is not as good as the I-16, but it is also the main fighter of the Soviets. They provide us with assistance not because they really want to help us, but to prevent us from being captured by the Japanese.
To put it more clearly, providing aid to us is just using us as a tool to contain the Japanese. "Wang Zhu couldn't help but laugh at himself as he spoke.
"Sir, there may be a little more. The chips we paid are not enough to make Lao Maozi tempted enough to provide us with aircraft manufacturing technology." Li Hang added next to him.
"Not enough chips? We have given enough now, even..." When Lao Zhou said this, he suddenly shut up. There are some things that ordinary people cannot know.
As a senior official, he naturally knew that Soviet aid was not free.
Although it is in the form of a loan, the payment is not just money and materials.
Of course, at this time, the Soviet Union was pretty good. At least it was willing to provide assistance, and the weapons it provided were also very advanced. They were all advanced weapons used by the Soviet Union itself.
As for Laos and the United States, they have not yet begun to provide assistance.
In the original time and space, the interest rates for several loans from 38 to 41 were not low, and most of them had collateral. It was only after the outbreak of the Pacific War that the United States relaxed loan restrictions.
In terms of weapons assistance, in the early stage, all aid was given to Britain and the Soviet Union, which were more important to them, and very little aid was given to China. Most of the so-called 7.8 billion U.S. dollars of military supplies aided through the Lend-Lease Act were only delivered in the last year. At that time, the European battlefields entered a counter-offensive. Naturally, the United States could allocate more supplies to assist China.
Moreover, there is corruption represented by the Song family in these aids. There are not many materials, but there are much less ones that are actually used.
What to say about German, Soviet and American aid.
Germany's assistance before the Anti-Japanese War can be said to be cooperation, which helped lay some foundations for the National Government at that time, although this foundation was not solid;
Lao Maozi's assistance was a timely help, especially military assistance. Those loans were used to purchase relatively cheap military supplies, helping the government survive the first three years of the Anti-Japanese War.
The assistance from Laos and the United States was reflected in the financial support, moral support and partial military support in the middle period of the Anti-Japanese War. Financial support was mainly important, but it was also messed up due to various corruption problems in the national government.
"Sir Wang, I also have an aircraft design drawing here, which I plan to use as a counterweight to Japan's new main destroyer aircraft."
Without waiting for Wang Zhu's reaction, Li Hang hurried back to the dormitory, and then took a bag from the dormitory, which contained the blueprints of the new fighter jet he just mentioned.
The process only takes a few minutes.
When Wang Zhu saw the design drawings of the aircraft, his eyes suddenly lit up, but he frowned slightly, "With a maximum speed of 450 kilometers per hour, the body or the wooden structure? Do you want to avoid the disadvantage of lack of metal materials?"
Li Hang nodded, "Our country's current industrial strength is very poor. If the aircraft can use wooden structures, we don't have to worry about material problems. My next idea is to reach a design speed of 450 kilometers per hour. If possible, we can continue to improve it to 500 kilometers per hour." Kilometers, six hundred kilometers..."
"That's the truth. But if you really dare to think about a speed of five or six hundred kilometers per hour, it's not just a matter of materials, but also a big problem with the engine.
However, the aircraft you designed is very interesting. If the structural problems of the airframe can be solved, it might be possible. Commander Zhou, why don't you give him to me, I can guarantee to get you a good aircraft. "Wang Zhu's interest suddenly rose.
"If Counselor Wang is willing to help build a new aircraft, it will be no problem, but Li Hang definitely can't go to your side." Lao Zhou was quite surprised by Wang Zhu's suggestion, but he refused without thinking.
"We may not have time to build aircraft in the short term. After a while, we will have to go to the Soviet Union to negotiate a new round of loans to purchase weapons..."
Just when Wang Zhu was chatting enthusiastically, he saw Mao Bangchu running over in a hurry.
"Commander-in-Chief."
"What's wrong, Deputy Commander Mao?" Lao Zhou looked at the deputy with some confusion.
Mao Bangchu immediately whispered something in Lao Zhou's ear, and the latter's face changed slightly, "Why is it so sudden?"
"The decision the principal just made should be related to the tense situation on the front line."
"Okay, let the Fourth Brigade prepare quickly. It should be enough in an hour." After hearing this, Lao Zhou naturally ordered to cooperate.
Mao Bangchu immediately ran to arrange for the Fourth Brigade to carry out the mission, while Lao Zhou looked at Li Hang and said, "Li Hang, get your people ready to carry out the escort mission to Xuzhou later."
When Li Hang heard this, he immediately understood something, "Yes, sir. What about this?"
Lao Zhou suddenly had a straight face, "You have to prioritize things, and the escort mission is more important. Do you understand? As for Counselor Wang, you should wait here, he is coming."
Wang Zhu nodded, but did not refuse.
He believed that he was temporarily staying at the airport to ensure that the secret was not leaked. After all, the whereabouts of that person were confidential. There was nothing he couldn't accept. He just took this opportunity to take a look at the aircraft in front of him. Although the workmanship was rough, the design was quite interesting. Why didn't he think of such a design in the first place?
. . . . . .
An hour later, the alert level at Hankou Airport increased by several levels.
The familiar JU-52 passenger plane is also ready for maintenance and refueling, which are indispensable.
The escort aircraft were still ten, still six from the 21st Squadron and four from the 23rd Squadron, but this time the number of people was changed.
On Li Hang's side, the two Zhou Zhikai who were together last time stayed, because the plane was broken and was still being repaired, so it couldn't be done so quickly; a group of people also changed on the 21st Squadron, and the leader became Dong Mingde.
As for Mao Yingchu, he was asked to stay at Hankou Airport because he couldn't all go.
In fact, the reason is also obvious. If Li Hang and Liang Tiancheng are the escorts, the passenger plane will be very safe. Others are just accompanying it to increase the probability of safety.
As the motorcade arrived, Wang Zhu was naturally spotted among the welcoming crowd.
When he learned that he was here to see a newly built wooden aircraft at the airport, the micromanipulator was also surprised, but he had more important things to do, so he naturally didn't ask too much.
At this time, Wang Zhu realized another reason why Lao Zhou asked him to stay.
To put it bluntly, when it comes to building airplanes, the people above don’t support it, and it’s useless for Lao Zhou to insist on it alone.
This time I just mentioned it in passing to deepen my impression and create opportunities next time.
