After introducing the direction of China's naval construction, He Rui was about to raise the second issue, which was the establishment of a China-Japan naval liaison group. Ishiwara Kanji spoke first: "He-kun, may we be permitted to take our leave first?"

Cheng Ruofan felt a bit unhappy immediately, but heard He Rui answer: "Good."

Ishiwara Kanji stood up, bowed slightly to He Rui, "He-kun, we have too many things to prepare and must leave first. Please excuse us."

Nagumo Chūichi and others also hurriedly stood up, bowed to He Rui, and then left quickly with their documents. Watching the backs of the Japanese generals, Cheng Ruofan walked to He Rui's side and commented somewhat unhappily, "Chairman, the Japanese haven't really improved much!"

He Rui smiled: "Don't underestimate the current Japan. At least they have enough courage to change Japan's national polity. On the level of national interest, it's not about good or bad, only about stance."

Cheng Ruofan thought of the messy affairs in the exchanges between the Chinese and Japanese armies and said helplessly: "Chairman, will there be a situation where Japan helps but only makes things busier?"

He Rui felt that Cheng Ruofan's judgment wasn't necessarily entirely due to prejudice. It was just that the National Defense Force was built according to the PLA model, especially regarding the political work of officer-soldier unity and equality between superiors and subordinates, which was executed very strictly. Therefore, the National Defense Force was fundamentally different from the strictly hierarchical military models of other countries in this era.

This era-transcending advantage seemed logical to He Rui, but other countries actually felt that the National Defense Force's political work was heresy. Facing a problem that couldn't be discussed, He Rui turned to ask Cheng Ruofan another question, "How is the new conscription standard for the troops progressing?"

Cheng Ruofan's expression was a bit complex. He wanted to answer that it was going very well, because it was indeed very well. Starting from 1931, the new conscription standards began to be applied across the board, where only junior high school graduates were eligible to enlist. Cheng Ruofan initially felt this standard was really a bit too high, but he didn't expect that after the service period was adjusted to two years and the troop size reduced to 1.5 million, the requirement that only junior high graduates were eligible was actually met.

But since the work had reached this step, Cheng Ruofan simply proposed the Ministry of Defense's suggestion, "Chairman, can we raise the conscription standard to high school graduates being eligible to enlist starting from 1937?"

He Rui was just about to answer when he saw Zhong Yifu and Hu Xiushan walking over, standing beside Cheng Ruofan waiting to hear He Rui's answer. He Rui decided not to answer directly; instead, he asked back: "Since you have this idea, why not talk about the basis for your thinking?"

Cheng Ruofan was naturally prepared. He immediately described the current situation. After completing unification in 1924, a national census began in 1925. From 1925, the number of newborns in China exceeded 13 million annually, and was gradually increasing. With the increase in education funding and the implementation of compulsory education where school-age children must attend school, newborns from 1925 would be graduating from junior high exactly in 1940. It is estimated that the number of fresh junior high graduates then will exceed ten million.

Letting 15-year-old children join the army is still a bit early. 18-year-old high school graduates and graduates of technical schools and vocational secondary schools with equivalent high school education are actually more suitable. According to population statistics and the enrollment numbers of high schools and equivalent schools, the number of fresh graduates at this level in 1936 should exceed 3 million. If the three-year conscription service is restored then, recruiting 400,000 annually won't affect the army's quantity.

A National Defense Force composed of young people where even ordinary soldiers have high school education—just thinking about it made Cheng Ruofan tremble a bit. The future Chinese army would not be the kind of troop where anyone carrying a gun counts as a soldier, but a mechanized, motorized, air-ground integrated army. This gestating National Defense Force needs every soldier to possess professional skills, unlike the current European and American armies where carrying a rifle makes one a soldier. Cheng Ruofan was convinced that the National Defense Force was already on the right path.

He Rui didn't nitpick, but simply asked: "How is the progress of our automobile factories, truck factories, and tractor factories now? Can they produce enough equipment for so many high schoolers starting from '36?"

Cheng Ruofan was stunned. This question indeed stumped him. In his discussions with the General Logistics Department, comrades felt that the government's lack of large-scale construction of arsenals led to insufficient production capacity. If it were the new-style army on paper, a squad should at least be equipped with a troop transport carrier. 6 million new-style Army troops would need at least 500,000 troop carriers, while others would drive tanks and self-propelled artillery. To allow such an army to reach the combat zone, fuel trucks, engineering vehicles, and equipment needed for various distribution points—compared to that, 500,000 troop carriers felt somewhat insignificant. Currently, let alone satisfying 6 million troops, military industrial capacity couldn't even satisfy 300,000.

In the multiple Military Commission meetings over these years, He Rui had explicitly stated that in the future, what would produce massive amounts of equipment for the army should be various domestic enterprises, with a large part being private enterprises. Cheng Ruofan knew that logically speaking, this was reasonable. But Cheng Ruofan still felt uncomfortable. It was just that he was unwilling to negate He Rui's decision. At this moment, he could only refrain from expressing his position.

He Rui knew that the comrades still couldn't accept it, but there was no way to explain it clearly right now. After all, China's current industrial development hadn't reached that level yet. Now, if the troops really gave an order, the equipment that industrial enterprises could immediately equip the troops with universally would probably be bicycles.

At this time, he couldn't dampen the comrades' enthusiasm either, so He Rui said: "Conscripting high schoolers for compulsory service—when the situation arrives, we will naturally do it. Next, everyone should prepare a bit. I estimate that before long, you will have to go on a business trip to Japan. By the way, regarding the number of people in the China-Japan Naval Liaison Group, I think it can be set at 4,000."

Cheng Ruofan was shocked. A working group of 4,000 people—if it were the Army, that would be almost the establishment of two regiments. And in the ordinary Army, the number of soldiers is far greater than officers. But for an organization like a liaison group, the number of officers vastly exceeds soldiers. Even if he supported He Rui, Cheng Ruofan couldn't help but ask: "Chairman, Japan will be scared by us. If it's a 4,000-person working group, Japan would have to put up at least 1,000 people. If they put up 1,000 people, it would be tantamount to hollowing out the Japanese Navy General Staff!"

He Rui wasn't surprised at all, instead he smiled, "Ruofan, if there aren't this many people, the Chinese and Japanese navies won't be able to truly unite within the next few years."

Cheng Ruofan looked at Zhong Yifu and Hu Xiushan, hoping the two of them could persuade He Rui, but saw these two actually remaining silent. Now Cheng Ruofan was unhappy too. Everyone stays silent, leaving Cheng Ruofan to take the responsibility? In a moment of displeasure, Cheng Ruofan simply answered crisply: "Chairman, I will propose this matter at the meeting!"

Just as He Rui expected, on the 10th day after Ishiwara Kanji and the others returned to their country, they sent a telegram inviting Chinese Ministry of Defense personnel to Japan to attend a meeting. The meeting content was the development strategy of the Japanese Navy.

In order to respond to China's candor, the Japanese Ministry of the Army prepared by working overtime. Seeing that there was only one day left before the meeting convened, Japan's Defense Ministry Director-General Nagumo Chūichi left his office with a stern face and went straight to the Navy General Staff under the Defense Ministry. Arriving at the General Staff, without asking for the Navy Commander, Nagumo Chūichi went straight to the Operations Section. He saw a group of officers all with dark circles under their eyes; some officers, facing large amounts of documents, had their heads drop sharply like chickens pecking at rice, then suddenly woke up, working almost numbly.

Seeing the Navy's Operations Section tired like this, Nagumo Chūichi immediately called over the Navy Operations Section Chief Mikami Isamu, whose eye circles already resembled a panda's. He slapped the table with a palm and questioned loudly: "Exactly how many people have you transferred from other departments? Are there enough people!"

Hearing this, Navy Operations Section Chief Major General Mikami Isamu suddenly roused his spirit. He hurriedly answered: "Many data involve secrets; we really have no way to temporarily transfer more personnel."

After speaking, Major General Mikami Isamu stood up straight, waiting for Lieutenant General Nagumo Chūichi's subsequent reprimand. Unexpectedly, Lieutenant General Nagumo didn't get angry, but thought with a stern face for a moment, then ordered: "Let these people rest first. You rest too. Meeting at 6 a.m. tomorrow morning. Show me the content you've prepared then."

Major General Mikami Isamu felt as if granted a great pardon, but was still a bit worried and probed: "Director-General, will it delay the work?"

"I will take responsibility for everything, you just execute the order," Nagumo Chūichi answered.

Soon, the hundreds of Operations Section personnel who heard the order to rest stood up unsteadily and walked towards the temporary rest dormitory. Falling onto the beds in various postures, without even taking off their uniforms, they entered dreamland. The Navy General Staff immediately became quiet. Nagumo walked calmly into the Navy Commander's office, picked up the completed content and began to read.

Just as Nagumo expected, the content to be discussed with the Chinese military had actually all been completed. What the Navy General Staff was struggling to complete now was the Defense Ministry's requirements, and this part of the requirements concerned Japan's arrangements for the next few years or even more than a decade—how could it be completed in ten days or so?

Nagumo finished reading the work progress record, then asked for the development outline and read it carefully. The Chinese side's naval development left a deep impression on Nagumo. Although that program was very radical, it was very solid. Every step of progress was built on a clear process and had extremely high operability. The gap between Japan and China lay in the fact that the strategy was not clear, so detailed arrangements couldn't be formulated. But Nagumo was actually very relaxed at this moment. Since China had clear strategic arrangements, what Japan had to do was to undertake the part within its capabilities based on the abilities Japan currently possessed.

For the next two days, Nagumo communicated frankly with the Chinese military in this manner, and the results were greater than Nagumo imagined. Japan possessed 500,000 tons of naval capital ship tonnage. Article 1 of the London Naval Treaty stipulated that between 1931 and 1936, Britain, the United States, and Japan all waive the right to replace capital ships in the Washington Naval Treaty, while France and Italy could still replace capital ships according to the Washington Naval Treaty.

Article 2 listed the capital ships that Britain, the United States, and Japan respectively needed to scrap, as well as the capital ships that could be converted into training ships.

China and Japan agreed that Japan's capital ships could undergo "scrapping disposal" according to needs—that is, be converted into training vessels. This kind of conversion meant installing the most advanced auxiliary devices such as electronic equipment onto the warships, allowing both Chinese and Japanese sides to fully familiarize themselves with the application of new equipment. And with the unused naval tonnage Japan still had, an 18,000-ton aircraft carrier could be built for the Chinese and Japanese navies to conduct training.

The modification of these "scrapped warships" would be completed in Chinese shipyards. Japan would introduce the block construction method from China and implement it in one of Japan's shipbuilding bases, while other shipyards would go all out to provide merchant ships for China.

After discussing these matters, as for what He Rui proposed, it would be established immediately.

Nagumo Chūichi said calmly: "Chairman He proposed establishing a China-Japan Naval Liaison Group. We on the Japanese side are prepared to provide 1,500 personnel. I wonder if China can agree?"

Cheng Ruofan was a bit stunned. He had thought Japan would probe on this issue, but didn't expect the Japanese side to be so forthright, and the number of personnel proposed was 500 more than the 1,000 people He Rui thought.