Nanyang 1931: From piglets to giants

Chapter 121 Open the Door to Welcome the Thief

Time is like the fullness of a young girl. In a blink of an eye, more than two years have passed and it is the beginning of 1936.

In more than two years, Penang has been built up into quite a decent shape. The Penang Development Group established by Zheng Yi has basically squandered the more than 20 million US dollars he brought back from the Middle East, and there is not much left.

Fortunately, the money was not wasted after all. In more than two years, with an investment of more than 20 million US dollars, Penang has been completely transformed. It is now completely different from the past. Because it has developed so fast, it is almost two different cities compared to the Penang two years ago.

On the south side of Penang, about 40 kilometers away, is an international airport built by Zheng Yi at a huge expense.
However, it has not been fully repaired yet and is not available for civilian use. For the time being, it can only be used by tycoons and government officials during their official visits. It will probably take at least half a year before the hardware can be put into use.

The software aspect is even more difficult. We mainly have to negotiate routes with airlines from various countries, and the Colonial Bureau wants to control them in this regard. Various card procedures make things particularly troublesome.

He didn't know the specific situation. Matters involving too many foreigners were handed over to Li Xiaoshi. Zheng Yi was now delegating more and more power, and was actually involved in fewer and fewer things.

He even gave up the position of mayor. A year ago, when Penang was electing a mayor, Zheng Yi withdrew from the election, which eventually allowed Mr. Tan Kah Kee to become the real mayor of Penang.

In name, Zheng Yi's official identity in Penang was only "Kapitan", which was an identity in the Colonial Office. Apart from paying taxes to the Colonial Office every year, he did not enjoy any real power.

However, the deputy mayor was Qian Qiwen, who was very busy every day, and sometimes Zheng Yi didn't see her for several days.

He really doesn't do ordinary things anymore. Now, in addition to doing scientific research, he has gradually moved towards the direction of a spiritual leader.
The symbolic significance is greater than the actual significance. At most, it can occasionally teach and answer questions for the members of the parliamentary team and guide them on some major strategic directions.

He still hopes to spend more time and energy on his job as a scientist.

However, the guest who is coming to Penang today is of too great an identity and is extremely important to the future development of Penang.

The most important thing is that Zheng Yi knows very well what kind of character this guy has and what kind of behavior he has. If he doesn't come to receive him in person, he is afraid that he will make trouble.

So he had to go to the airport in person to pick him up, and planned to accompany him throughout the whole process. He even asked reporters to take pictures and record the whole process with cameras.

He arrived half an hour early, but the visitor's plane was more than half an hour late than the agreed time. More than an hour of everyone's precious time was wasted by him. However, Zheng Yi, who knew his behavior, did not react at all. It was just that he liked to show off.

After a while, a military plane flew in from a distance and landed. The man with a pipe in his mouth and wearing a large windbreaker slowly walked down the stairs and waved to the reporters and cameras very gracefully.

Zheng Yi didn't know why he was in Nanyang, a place with a temperature above 30 degrees Celsius all year round. Zheng Yi couldn't help sweating even in a suit in any formal occasion, but this guy actually had to wear a big windbreaker.

Still leather.

He was the first to step forward, shaking hands with him, and said, "I am truly honored that Marshal Mai has personally visited Penang for an inspection. The entire Penang is deeply honored."

Marshal Mai shook his hand vigorously and flattered him, "I've heard that Mr. Zheng is currently the world's number one applied scientist. This general has also heard of this for a long time."

Zheng Yi: "I don't deserve it. It's just an empty title. Marshal, please."

Marshal Mai: “Wait a moment.”

"what?"

"When I got off the plane just now, I seemed to be not very graceful. So, I will walk again, and you will meet me again, slightly to the left, and sideways. Let's do it again.
Ask the cameraman to shoot from a lower angle. I can tell he shot it from a high angle, which makes me look shorter."

"Ah...Okay, okay, I understand. Cameraman, how are you filming? Can't you squat down a little?"

Cameraman: “…………”

There is currently no video media in Penang. This person knows Marshal Mai's character, so Zheng Yi specially borrowed it from a film company in Shanghai using a private jet.

As a filmmaker, he had never filmed such a politician, so his performance was naturally a little worse. In this way, Zheng Yi and Marshal Mai shook hands three times on the plane.

Marshal Mai felt that he had performed well, so he got into a Buick sedan with satisfaction along with Zheng Yi.

He really deserves to be called the world's number one pretentious person. His skills are all in taking photos, filming, and giving speeches. He is an Asian five-star general who can do everything except fighting. After just ten minutes, Zheng Yi couldn't stand him anymore and wanted to punch him twice.

"Marshal Mai, please, I'm very happy that you can come to Penang in person to inspect it. I'm honored to be able to introduce to you some of the insignificant achievements that Penang has made since its self-government."

"Hmm~"

Marshal Mai nodded, and then he couldn't help but look around curiously.

He could see that the current airport was probably a half-built civil airport that had not yet been completed, but just looking at the plan of the already completed part gave him a refreshing feeling.

And the scale seems to be quite large.

"I heard that three years ago, Penang was just an ordinary small town with a population of only 300,000 or 400,000. After Professor Zheng came here, it has been completely transformed. Even in the United States, there are very few cities that can compare to it."

Upon hearing this, Zheng Yi quickly said modestly, "No, no, it can't be compared with the big cities in the United States."

Marshal Mai was here to conduct an inspection. Back when Zheng Yi had just taken over Penang, he had secured some US military equipment maintenance business for Taiyou Machinery. However, the maintenance work was mostly naval, which Zheng Yi had little interest in.

The island is so small and there is no need for expansion, so there is no reason for him to develop the navy.

What Zheng Yi values ​​more is the US Air Force base in Manila. He hopes to have the opportunity to produce consumable parts for the US Air Force, but he has never been able to do so.

More than two years have passed, and Penang is now a completely different place. Many large American companies were lured by Zheng Yi to Penang during the economic crisis to set up factories and avoid taxes and launder money.

Britain originally had a naval base in Penang. Initially, there were two warships. After Zheng Yi chartered Penang, the number increased to four. Now, he has brought in ten warships of various sizes, making Penang the largest naval base of Britain in the Far East except for Singapore.

In fact, Penang does not have such a huge demand for navy. It is mainly a place for people to stop and rest when coming from India to the Far East. Before Zheng Yibao took over Penang, this place also relied on this to develop.

Today, the tiny naval base has twelve ships, and it is said that there are plans to expand the naval base further. After the expansion, more warships will be added, and it is even very likely that an aircraft carrier will be brought here.

In fact, there are not so many military needs. At the time of the Washington Naval Treaty, the military strength of the Singapore naval base had been greatly weakened in order to build this naval base in Penang.

By the way, I don’t know whether the “Maritime Maginot Line” that Britain agreed to build in Singapore is still being built. They said that it was to avoid further provoking Japan, so the progress is as slow as a turtle.

Zheng Yi also knew that they probably didn't have military funds or something like that, and originally thought that he could help as much as possible, either by providing an engineering team or money. After all, in history, the Singapore Fortress was actually under construction for twenty years and remained unfinished until the Japanese attacked. Otherwise, it might not have been taken down in one wave.

Now?

Build a fart!
Then project B will definitely fail.

Rubbish British Navy.

The reason why they did not hesitate to weaken the construction of Singapore’s naval base was to move precious warship resources to Penang.

Apart from the fact that construction on the Singapore side is probably no longer possible, a bigger reason is probably to declare sovereignty.

Zheng Yi has taken over Penang for less than three years, but the changes in Penang in these three years are really huge. Too many British and American factories have come here to invest. And to a certain extent, Zheng Yi is indeed becoming more and more powerful, and his military strength is getting stronger and stronger.

I don't know whether sending a bunch of warships here was to scare him or to disgust him, but it was indeed a constant reminder to Zheng Yi, the people of Penang, and other international powers that Penang still belonged to them, the British, not Zheng Yi.

Zheng Yi had no choice but to do so. In this way, the British military force in Penang would naturally become a little too strong. Not only Zheng Yi was unhappy, but the Americans were naturally unhappy too.

It is impossible for the United States to send a bunch of warships here. So Zheng Yi plans to invite the United States to build an air force base here to hedge against the United Kingdom and create a balance.

Anyway, the Air Force is not restricted by the Washington Naval Treaty.

Two major world powers serve him together. Don’t you think this is a small blessing?

This matter has been vigorously promoted by American multinational companies with a presence in Penang. Zheng Yi also expressed his warm welcome to them. Although the British are particularly dissatisfied, they actually have no better solution.

Moreover, Zheng Yi now wants to build an international airport and international routes. What's wrong with having some air force to protect himself?

The matter itself is going through the process, but Marshal Mai has a lot of decision-making power in this matter. Marshal Mai said that he wanted to come to Penang for an on-site visit and inspection before judging whether it is necessary for them to open a new air force base in Penang.

Then, that was it.

Marshal Mai got into the car and continued, "Generally speaking, don't politicians dislike other countries' armies stationing troops on their territory? You know, the United States has always been very cautious about overseas military deployments and has no intention of interfering too much in global governance. If it weren't for your strong request, this matter wouldn't even be worth discussing in Congress. Why did you take the initiative to request a foreign military presence?"

Zheng Yi was very practical. He said, "Penang itself is special. The foundation for this city's internationalization is the balance between Britain and the United States. I need you Americans to check and balance the British. As for the sovereignty you mentioned, we have never had that. This place is still nominally a British colony."

Of course, what is more important to Zheng Yi is to fight in World War II.

Historically, Singapore's navy used 12 British troops to garrison Singapore, known as the Maginot Line on the sea. However, they were wiped out by 6 British troops in less than 72 hours.

The Manila Air Force, when General MacArthur received clear military information telling him that Japan had attacked Pearl Harbor and asked him to strengthen defense, he did nothing, indicating that he did not believe that Japan had such ability and did not take it seriously at all.

What's even more outrageous is that after the US military radar discovered that Japanese planes were coming to bomb him and reported this key intelligence to General MacArthur, General MacArthur neglected his duties and completely failed to see this key military intelligence, resulting in more than 200 Manila fighter jets being destroyed at the airport before they could even take off.

This pair of crouching dragon and phoenix cub, with their own stupidity, destroyed almost all the military forces of Britain and the United States in the Far East at an incredible speed.

Rather than letting the warships stage a shameful act for Britain in Singapore, it would be better to send them to Penang to scare him.

This is even more true for airplanes. Instead of getting wiped out in Manila, it's better to come to me.

No matter how badly I do, it's unlikely that I'll be worse than these two, right?
It wouldn't be easy for him to do worse.

(End of this chapter)