The twin-linked 37mm anti-aircraft gun is actually the well-known "hand-pulled machine gun". This anti-aircraft gun has been criticized by German ship girls because of its extremely low rate of fire due to its loading method.

 "...For some despicable beings, the truth is only within the range of artillery, except for the 37 hand-pulled machine gun!" - Bismarck's speech at a Federal Armed Forces meeting.

 As the most diligent and conscientious of the German warship girls, Z23 was naturally one of the first to receive the air defense modification quota. It is worth mentioning that she was not only the first, but also the first warship girl to be modified in this first batch.

 After the ship stopped, a gangway was placed on the shore. Z23 walked out of the bridge, went down the gangway step by step, and came to the concrete ground beside the dock.

 At the dock, various personnel, including the Chinese ship girl, had already come to greet them. On the Chinese ship girl's side, the positions of the personnel were very delicate, with Zhaohe being placed between Yixian and Chongqing.

 The higher-ups did this to prevent Zhao He from getting mad at her in such situations, and to allow Chongqing and Yi Xian to physically restrain her at the fastest speed at any time.

 Although Zhaohe had promised many times before Z23 arrived that he would never be rude, but the promise of the naughty kid... emmmm, it would be better to believe in the Soviet-German Non-Aggression Pact than to believe in the promise of the naughty kid.

 If Zhao He could really do what he said, Chongqing wouldn't have punished him so many times in the past two years...

 After going through the various formalities of saluting, handshaking, and other polite greetings, Z23 began chatting with Zhenhai in her native language. "Ms. Zhenhai, how do you feel about being in China?"

 "Very good. The people here are very welcoming to me," Zhenhai replied with a polite smile. "Overall, China is a remarkable country. Although it still faces some difficult social issues, everyone has their own challenges. I believe that China will gradually resolve these conflicts as it develops."

 Z23 nodded in understanding and then asked, "Speaking of which, Senior Zhenhai, there shouldn't be much of the sewer system in Qingdao left behind by the Germans, right? There won't be any oil-paper-wrapped parts there, will there?"

 Zhenhai heard this and chuckled, "Hahaha~ Z23 is such a smart kid, I don't believe you'd believe these rumors."

 "I really don't believe it, I just want to confirm it finally." Z23 replied, "These people who don't trust their own country, what they say is not true from a scientific point of view.

 During the old imperial period, Qingdao was just a small city with a population of just over 50,000. How could the sewers built back then possibly meet the living and production water needs of millions of people today?

 I saw some online claims that Qingdao's lack of flooding during heavy rains was all thanks to German sewers. There were also claims that spare parts were kept within three meters of aging parts wrapped in oil-wrapped paper, and that these parts wouldn't rust for 100 years... This clearly doesn't match the level of German technology at the time.

 Z23 curled his lips in disdain and grumbled, "If Germany's civilian industry had such impressive technology back in the old Empire, let alone its military industry, I'm sure the Battle of Jutland would have resulted in the Royal Navy being completely crushed by their predecessors."

 Suddenly, Z23 remembered something and turned to look at Chongqing. Chongqing noticed Z23's look, guessed her thoughts, and said, "Don't worry, it's just a battle in the imperialist dog-eat-dog war. I don't care."

 Chongqing sincerely hoped that Britain would lose the First World War, because even if Britain had not turned red, it would most likely be a bourgeois democratic republic today, which is better than a constitutional monarchy.

 The road ahead is long and hard, but unfortunately history does not allow for assumptions. All Chongqing can do now is to pay attention to British political and social news, maintain contact with former comrades in the Royal Navy, and try to get as many as possible.

 "Since you, Sister Chongqing, don't care about Jutland, then do you care about Dunkirk...uh, just pretend I didn't say anything." Zhao He was halfway through his words when he saw the death stare Chongqing was giving him, and he shut up instantly.

 "Ah? Oh... Miss Chongqing, you can speak German?" Z23 was very surprised.

 Chongqing smiled and nodded. "It's always good to have many skills. A skilled person is a bold person. Learning another language makes you an international friend. Isn't that wonderful?"

 Z23 was very happy that Chongqing knew German. "Miss Chongqing is right. Language is a communication tool. The more you know, the better."

 Zhenhai continued the previous topic about the sewers: "Regarding the sewer issue, there's a very ironic thing: every time Germany experiences a short period of heavy rainfall, its own cities also suffer from flooding.

 The flood two years ago killed 180 people and left 150 missing. If Germany's sewers were as bad as some claim, those precious lives wouldn't have been lost in vain.

 According to those public figures, Germany built a drainage system in Qingdao that prevented water from accumulating. The quality of infrastructure in the colony was better than that in the country, which was in line with the imperial

 Is it the practice and logic of imperialist colonialism? Definitely not. So that’s the contradiction.”

 Z23 wholeheartedly agrees with his predecessor's views, "Exactly, the bourgeoisie's promotion of colonialism is definitely not charity. Those who promote the German-made sewers in Qingdao are essentially trying to prove that colonization promoted the development of the colonized countries, thereby paving the way for whitewashing the reactionary nature of colonialism."

 As soon as these words came out, they immediately aroused cheers and applause from the ship girls and representatives present. "Good! Miss Narvik said it well! Quaq ...

 Nimi, a native Western European, can see things more clearly than a bunch of domestic mental colonists. This is really a very ridiculous phenomenon.

 "By the way, Z23, isn't this violating the rules? I mean the rules in your area." Jinan expressed concern about Z23's remarks, fearing that she would be influenced by the right and extreme right wings after returning.

 Z23 said calmly, "It's okay. German officials aren't sensitive to this right now. Besides, I just said that in Chinese. No one here understands Chinese except me and the people from your country, and there are no reporters either. There's no need to be afraid."

 After talking about some political issues on the Internet, the ship girls and representatives began to exchange non-confidential professional military content between the two countries, such as training exercises, military construction, ship girls' combat experiences, etc.

 At 10:00 am, Z23, led by the Chinese shipgirls, visited the People's Liberation Army Navy Museum. Z23 and other German military representatives were amazed at the Chinese Navy's humble beginnings and how strong it has become today.

 Especially Z23, when visiting the museum and listening to the explanations, she viewed it from the perspective of Marxism and communism, which made her empathize with the arduous development process of the People's Navy.

 At noon on Zhengyang Day, Z23, under the arrangement of the Chinese side, had lunch with the PLA Navy soldiers, officers and soldiers, and ship girls in the Guzhenkou military port.

 Z23 arrived at the food station, bent slightly to examine the array of delicious dishes before him, and praised, "It seems the Chinese military's food today is quite good. They are indeed a country of great food."

 Continuing to walk down, Z23 saw the familiar rye bread, potatoes, roast pork knuckle, frankfurter sausages, etc., as well as Tsingtao beer and a vegetable trough with knives and forks.

 Z23 smiled and said to the Chinese accompanying personnel and the ship girl, "Thank you everyone in China, you are very thoughtful. However, I have decided to do as the Romans do—eat Chinese food with chopsticks."

 As he spoke, Z23 picked up the plate and chopsticks, first scooped two large spoonfuls of rice, and then scooped up a bunch of famous Chinese home-cooked dishes, such as Kung Pao Chicken, Mapo Tofu, Sweet and Sour Pork, which are very famous Chinese dishes abroad.

 In the afternoon, Z23 returned to the hotel arranged by the Chinese side for a lunch break and talked with the representatives of her country about their experience of visiting China today. In the afternoon, the Chinese ship girl invited Z23 to participate in a friendly sports game.

 "Sports friendly match? Of course, what to compete in?" After receiving the invitation, Z23 gladly accepted the invitation from the Chinese ship girls.

 Jinan shouted, "Of course, we're going to the beach to play beach volleyball!"

 "Great! Let's go to the beach! Changchun is so happy!" Changchun was so happy that she wanted to change into her swimsuit and rush to the beach.

 "Beach volleyball? This is a two-on-two game, right? But I'm the only ship girl among our representatives. How can I play?" Z23 was dumbfounded.

 "Or..." Z23 suddenly remembered that he had a swimsuit, and the background theme of this swimsuit in the game seemed to be beach volleyball.

 Z23, who appreciated Jinan's playful meme, shrugged and internally grumbled, "I thought Chinese shipgirls would be more reserved, but it seems not all of them are..."

 Regarding Z23's concern about not having enough men on his team, Zhenhai raised his hand and volunteered, "Since we're from the same hometown, I'll team up with Z23. Otherwise, it really wouldn't be fair to go two against one."

 In this way, a group of beautiful shipgirls brought volleyballs to Qingdao No. 1 Bathing Beach, changed into swimsuits, and found an empty beach to play volleyball.

 The Z23 and Zhenhai team will first face the Pinghai and Jinan team, followed by Haitian and Chongqing, then Anshan/Fushun and Changchun/Taiyuan, and finally Fenyang and Xiaoyue...

 The sun, the beach, the waves, and the beautiful girls/lady in swimsuits all come together to form a beautiful picture at this moment. Some people on the beach took photos or recorded the picture and posted it online, attracting all the ship game players in Qingdao to a climax of excitement.

 Not to mention those with flat chests, the big-breasted/huge-breasted ship girls like Changchun, Anshan, Zhenhai, Ding'an, Huajia, etc., when they exercise, those two big white balls slide up and down, retract and release, back and forth, which is dazzling. It is really not easy.

 Some who have the conditions and time are willing to take their cameras and rush to Qingdao's No. 1 bathing beach just to see the real appearance of Z23 offline.

 By the evening, every KanColle was sweating profusely. Of course, this sweat was simulated, not real. Everyone won and lost, and had a lot of fun.

 As the sun set and the clouds rose, the Chinese warships and Z23 returned to the Guzhenkou naval port. They enjoyed a delicious dinner together, arranged by their superiors.

 Chapter 330 Z23's China Tour (2)

 After dinner, Z23 went to Anshan and wanted to ask her

 Learn more about the situation in the Soviet Union. Seeing Anshan's back after finishing his meal, Z23 gently stepped forward and said hello:

 "Hello, Comrade Anshan, have you eaten?"

 "Are you full...?" Anshan subconsciously answered that she had eaten and drunk enough, but suddenly she felt something was wrong. After she realized what was happening, she quickly turned her head in surprise and looked behind her.

 "Ms. Z23, can you speak Russian?"

 "Well, I've specifically studied the official languages ​​of the five permanent members of the UN Security Council, so I know them all." Z23 confirmed.

 Anshan was very impressed and exclaimed, "You are indeed a top student. Amazing! I was just wondering who it was. I felt that the voice sounded like you, but your Russian was so standard... I turned around and looked, and I didn't expect it to be you."

 "6! Shouldn't we quickly take it to Shanghai and hand it over to Manjiu to add dubbing in other languages ​​for the corresponding game characters? Just like what you, Anshan sister, did to Huanmeng before." Fushun came over and shouted.

 Anshan pushed Fushun's shoulder away, feeling speechless and a bit amused. "Go away, Fushun, get out of the way. Z23 and I need to discuss serious matters. Honestly, this needs Z23's approval, right?"

 "Actually, Shanghai is on my itinerary plan. I'm leaving tomorrow morning. A pilgrimage to the holy land or something like that is not out of the question." Z23 scratched his cheek with his index finger, but did not deny Fushun's statement.

 As soon as Z23 said she was going to Shanghai, Fushun immediately became excited, "That's perfect, let's go quickly..."

 "Fushun!" Anshan's voice rose eight octaves.

 "Tsk... liven up the atmosphere, sister, why do you have to do that?" Fushun had no choice but to step aside and let Anshan and Z23 talk.

 Anshan apologized to Z23, "I'm sorry for not being strict with my sister. ... Comrade Z23, what do you want to talk to me about?"

 "Nothing." Z23 didn't take Fushun's abruptness to heart, and then told Anshan the purpose of his visit: "I want to learn about the situation in Soviet Russia. I wonder if Comrade Anshan knows about the situation in his hometown?"

 Anshan thought it would be better for Changchun to speak, so he replied, "I haven't been back to Soviet Russia in almost 70 years. Although I still keep in touch with old comrades from my hometown, since Changchun has been back for a while, I think it would be better for you to ask her."

 Before Z23 could say anything, Changchun heard her sister mention her and came over. "What's wrong, Anshan? Are you telling Z23 about me?"

 "Hello, Comrade Changchun. It's like this. I would like to ask you about the situation in the new Soviet Russia." Z23 asked Changchun politely.

 "Then you've asked the right person." Changchun smiled and prepared to explain, asking, "What aspects of the Soviet Union do you want to know about, Nimi-chan?"

 Z23 said, "Regarding the new Soviet Russia, I'm more concerned about its diplomacy. Especially Aurora. Is she really as sincere in diplomacy as some people say?"

 "That's true. I've met Senior Aurora and even talked with her," Changchun honestly told Z23 her opinion of Aurora. "She always emphasized opposing great power chauvinism and Great Russianism.

 In particular, she stressed the need to discard and criticize the "Big Brother mentality" of the former Soviet Union, which often used itself as a yardstick to measure others and regarded itself as the center of socialism and the international communist movement.

 Z23 then asked, "What do your other sisters and seniors think?"

 Changchun said, "As for the four of us sisters, we definitely all strongly support Aurora. As for the other sisters from our hometown, such as Sister Leiming and Sister Shensu, they're fine. It's mainly because some of the ships can't accept it..."

 Changchun's words caught Z23's attention, and she continued to ask, "Oh? Why is it so hard to accept?"

 "We all know that in terms of comprehensive national strength, China has long surpassed the Soviet Union. The Soviet Union only has advantages over China in certain areas, such as aerospace, mathematics and physics.

 But judging by China's continued development speed, it would certainly completely surpass the Soviet Union in less than a decade. Therefore, in terms of economy, technology, and conventional military strength, some of my fellow countrymen clearly realized that the Soviet Union was already lagging behind China in all aspects.

 On the other hand, while they believe their productivity levels are inferior to China's, they nonetheless maintain a certain superiority over China in terms of production relations. They believe the Soviet Union is still the "Big Brother" in terms of production relations. Changchun finished his speech and sighed.

 "Is that so? What's the reason for their self-perception?" Z23 continued to ask.

 Changchun continued, “They believe that China has sacrificed too much for its rapid economic development, with class division and the gap between the rich and the poor being a major manifestation.

 In 2016, Russia's Gini coefficient was 0.417, while China's was 0.465. They believe that China's wealth gap is even wider than Russia's during the era of oligarchic capitalism. After the Soviet Union's restoration, under the influence of Soviet rule, the Gini coefficient will undoubtedly decline further, but the same cannot be said for China.

 They also believe that the Soviet Union is more qualified than China to be called a socialist market economy because the private economy is the largest part of China's private economy, while the collective economy will be the largest part of the Soviet Union's private economy in the near future.

 So this is why some people in my hometown believe that when it comes to production relations and social equality, the Soviet Union is still the undisputed Big Brother. Unless China learns from the Soviet Union in terms of production relations, China's per capita happiness will definitely not be able to compare with the Soviet Union, and it will still have to call the Soviet Union Big Brother.

 Changchun

 This caused Z23 to think. Although some Soviet ship girls said that these situations in China were facts, such a simple comparison was somewhat one-sided, and this was not a reason to "discuss seniority" among socialist countries.

 Z23 believes that addressing each other as "big brother," "little brother," or "father and son" among socialist countries is inherently reactionary. Socialist countries are characterized by comradeship and friendship, not by fraternal or father-son relationships. This vulgarizes the relationship between socialist countries.

 After thinking for a moment, Z23 decided to listen more and wait for more information before making a decision. He then asked, "So, what is Comrade Aurora's opinion on this situation?"

 Changchun said: "Aurora is critical of the views of some comrades. She said that even if these shortcomings of China are true, it is not a reason to distinguish itself from other socialist countries as big brothers and little brothers.

 Aurora believes that this term itself categorizes socialist countries into different levels. What is the highest program of the Communists? It is to liberate all humanity and realize the free and all-round development of every individual.

 Is calling other socialist countries "little brothers" consistent with the words and deeds of a Communist? Is this consistent with the lofty ideal of liberating all mankind and promoting the free and all-round development of human beings?

 At this stage, every country has its own strengths and weaknesses. We should help each other and learn from each other's strengths to overcome our weaknesses, rather than making fun of each other. If you laugh at others' shortcomings, they can laugh at yours in return; I laugh at you, you laugh at me, he laughs at you and me, you and I laugh at him...won't this be endless? Is this what international proletarian solidarity should look like?

 "Indeed, this kind of chauvinistic thinking should be criticized." Z23 strongly agreed with Aurora's attitude as reported by Changchun.

 After hearing Changchun say that Aurora's views were similar to his own, Z23 decided to express his own opinion. "Since Comrade Aurora has said so, I won't discuss this aspect, as my views are similar to hers. I want to talk about the comparison we just made. That comparison is a bit one-sided."

 Z23 paused for a moment, then continued:

 “It is true that China has a larger gap between rich and poor than Russia. This is a fact. However, in the process of socialist revolution and construction, due to the differences in basic national conditions, history and culture of each country, the forms of socialist construction are also different.

 Only by analyzing their history and national conditions can we understand why they have embarked on the path they are on today. It's not that because I have more publicly owned production relations, I am truly socialist. That would be oversimplifying a complex issue.

 The foundation of a production relationship is to liberate and develop productivity, while socialist production relations have two more elements: eliminating exploitation and eliminating polarization.

 However, the fundamental prerequisite for eliminating exploitation and polarization is to liberate and develop productivity. If you eliminate exploitation and polarization without developing productivity, you will only end up with widespread poverty.

 Marx said that the development of productive forces is an absolutely necessary practical prerequisite because, without this development, there would only be generalized poverty, and in cases of extreme poverty, the struggle for necessities would have to begin again, that is, all the old things would have to revive.

 In addition, due to the domestic and international situation that China faces, in order to pursue the fastest possible development, capitalist production relations have been used more, resulting in a large gap between the rich and the poor in China.

 As a socialist country that emerged from the ruins of a semi-colonial, semi-feudal society, it is understandable that it appropriately adopted capitalist production relations to develop productivity in its early stages. After all, not every country has retained the early public ownership (rural communes) that allowed it to cross the capitalist Caucasus Gorge, as Russia did.

 Given the existence of capitalist production relations, the gap between the rich and the poor is inevitable. The dictatorship of the proletariat, however powerful, can only limit the gap between the rich and the poor within certain limits without fundamentally altering production relations.

 Moreover, there is no unified calculation and statistical standard for the Gini coefficient worldwide, which often leads to very different results calculated by different people or groups.

 I can’t say whether Russia’s 0.417 and China’s 0.465 are based on the same statistical and calculation standards; I will just assume here that these two results are calculated using the same standard.

 Even so, China and Russia have vastly different national conditions in terms of resources and population. It would still be biased to ignore other factors and only focus on the Gini coefficient to judge a country's success.

 It would be better to ask how Russia, a country with a population only one-tenth of China's and per capita resource possession ranking among the highest in the world, has achieved a Gini coefficient only 0.048 lower than China's.

 Judging from China's historical starting point and national conditions of population and per capita resources, if China had not taken the socialist path, China would probably be a larger India today, or even worse than India.

 那么印度的基尼系数是多少呢?根据瑞士信贷集团于2021年6月公布的全球财富报告显示,印度的基尼系数从2000年的0.747一路飙升,2020年达到了0.823。

 Let's get back to Russia. What if Russia had a population as large as China's? Would someone have the courage to ensure that Russia's Gini coefficient was lower than China's?

 Besides,

 Using the gap between rich and poor to determine the nature of a society is an inadequate criterion. If the smaller the gap between rich and poor, the more socialist it is, then the only conclusion that can be drawn is that the Nordic countries are truly socialist, which is a completely absurd conclusion in theoretical circles.

 Therefore, it is meaningless to argue about who is truly socialist just by looking at the composition of production relations and using the Gini coefficient for horizontal comparison. This will only undermine class friendship among socialist countries.

 As long as a socialist country can maintain public ownership as its primary form, eliminate exploitation, eliminate polarization, and ultimately move toward communism, then even if it has previously used capitalism to develop its economy, that is understandable. The ability to achieve these things demonstrates that the socialist country has withstood the test.

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