At the Rio de Janeiro radio station, General Dutra's confidant sent Fang Lang a recording of General Dutra's speech. After listening to it, Fang Lang smiled with satisfaction.
Immediately afterwards, the Voice of Rio radio station began to broadcast to the entire Brazilian people the vicious incident that occurred in the Presidential Palace last night, and repeatedly played the recording of General Dutra's speech.
In his speech, General Dutra announced to all the people that the Japanese mob's heinous act of occupying the presidential palace last night will be severely held accountable. He demanded that the governments of all Brazilian states arrest the Japanese mob on a large scale and impose the death penalty on them.
At the same time, because the Japanese mob caused a large number of casualties among government officials and congressmen in the process of occupying the Presidential Palace and Congress, the President was injured and needed to rest.
Brazil will temporarily enter a state of martial law, and presidential elections will be resumed in December. Martial law will be lifted after the new president is sworn in.
Once the news was announced, newspapers and radio stations began to reprint it, causing an uproar in public opinion.
For a time, everyone in Brazil wanted to kill the Japanese, and the Japanese communities in Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo were smashed and looted by the Brazilian people.
Japanese people in other states were expelled by all Brazilians. Of course, during the expulsion process, the poorly educated Brazilians often looted Japanese property.
Brazilian police were dispatched frequently, arresting and interrogating any Japanese they saw. Even if the person who called the police was of Japanese descent, they would arrest the person first and interrogate them together.
...
...
The Japanese living in Brazil found themselves without a place to live overnight, and the factories run by the Japanese were smashed, looted and burned by the Brazilian people.
For a while, social order became chaotic. Fortunately, under martial law, the army patrolled the streets in time to suppress this trend.
Unfortunately, the Japanese businessmen who suffered losses and the members of the loser group of the Shindo Alliance were also implicated, and their life in Brazil began to become difficult.
Although the government has not yet declared Japanese people as an undesirable group, the Brazilian people as a whole in Brazilian society have already listed Japanese people as an undesirable group.
Chinese people as far away as São Paulo were almost affected. Fortunately, Mr. Hodges, the São Paulo Police Chief, promptly dispatched police to protect the Chinatown and explained to the public the differences between Chinese and Japanese.
The instigator of all this is now in the director's office of Voice of Rio, drinking coffee, singing, smoking cigars and eating hotpot.
Redondo, the manager of Global Trade's Brazilian branch, who was sitting opposite Fang Lang, was giving Fang Lang a thumbs-up.
He never imagined that the inexplicable news that Fang Lang asked him to spread would produce such a wonderful effect.
"Mr. Fang, you are really amazing!"
"Okay, don't let anyone know about this, understand?"
"Understood. I promise you'll keep it rotten in my stomach."
"Come, eat your food. I am very satisfied with your performance! This time I will give you another task."
"Please give me your orders!"
"See that TV over there? I'm going to build a TV factory and radio station in Brazil. Use Global Trade's channels in Europe and America to find the most advanced technology and equipment and ship them back."
"Mr. Fang, please rest assured! I will arrange it right away."
"From now on my focus will be on Brazil, so your work will start to become busy.
If the number of people is insufficient, we can entrust Global Trade’s branches in Europe and the United States to recruit some outstanding talents.
The next five years will be a time for the group to rise rapidly in Brazil, and we must seize the opportunity to rapidly expand our strength.”
After finishing his conversation with Redondo, Fang Lang received a call from General Dutra, asking him to go to the Brazilian Ministry of Defense to attend a meeting.
The content of the meeting was mainly to arrange the first persons in charge of each military government. Fang Lang was directly appointed as the head of the interim military government of Rio Grande do Norte State Government.
Rio Grande do Norte is the state where Natal, the base of the First Fleet, is located, and Natal is the capital of Rio Grande do Norte.
Fang Lang obviously did not expect that as a naval colonel, he would become the head of a state's temporary military government.
Fang Lang didn't know much about the situation in Rio Grande do Norte, but he would certainly not refuse the opportunity to become the head of a state government.
After the meeting, Fang Lang was left to have dinner with General Dutra.
"Fang, thank you for coming all the way to support me. I wonder if you would like to work in the Navy Department after the new government is established!"
When Fang Lang heard what General Dutra said, he understood it very well. This was telling Fang Lang whether he was willing to be promoted when the time came for rewards based on merit.
Entering the Navy Department as a civilian executive is obviously not Fang Lang's goal. Fang Lang is very clear about the situation in Brazil in the next few years. Those who do not have military power will not be able to hold on to their position.
"General, I actually prefer to continue to serve in my current position, but after this incident, I also discovered the shortcomings of my First Fleet."
"Oh! Tell me about it!"
"My biggest feeling during this time in the Pacific battlefield is that the air force is the future. A navy without an aircraft carrier is just a target and can only passively take a beating!
This time, supporting your Excellency, allowed me to experience once again the role of the Air Force in force projection. Therefore, I am determined to build an aircraft carrier fleet of our own in Brazil.
Now that we don’t have an aircraft carrier, I will also focus on building our naval aviation.”
Fang Lang's words made General Dutra fall into deep thought. After all, General Dutra was born in the army and was not familiar with the navy and air force.
However, General Dutra, who participated in the European war as a member of the Brazilian Expeditionary Force, was well aware of the shock brought to him by the overwhelming air bombing on the European battlefield.
General Dutra was also shocked by the paratrooper tactics that allowed them to appear anywhere at any time.
"What you said makes a lot of sense. I have also seen how powerful the American naval aviation is. However, aviation alone is not enough. Your Marine Corps is too small.
Let's put it this way! After returning to Natal, expand your Marine Corps to a regiment. As for the naval aviation, I will bring it up at the Ministry of Defense meeting to discuss how to deal with it after the new government is established.
We will strive to enable our Brazilian Navy to have its own strong naval aviation force.”
General Dutra's statement was tailor-made for Fang Lang. What was there to be dissatisfied about?
He quickly stated:
"Please rest assured, General. The First Fleet will be the sharpest knife in your hands."
Hearing Fang Lang's words, General Dutra smiled with great satisfaction. Everyone got what they needed.
"By the way, I heard that you flew directly from Natal this time using our own transport plane, but my impression is that we don't seem to have any transport planes! What's going on?"
Fang Lang, who had no idea how to get reimbursed for the cost of the machine, was overjoyed when he heard this. Isn't it like someone sent him a pillow just when he was about to fall asleep?
"I bought this urgently from an American arms dealer. It cost me $300,000! They are all C46 transport planes currently in service with the US military."
"Oh! You still have such a channel for arms procurement? Three hundred thousand dollars for ten C46s is a very favorable price!"
"Hey! What's the discount? They're all second-hand."
"Are there any other equipment that can be purchased besides the airplane?"
"As long as you have money, you can probably buy anything except a big killer like the fat boy's!"
"are you serious?"
"Can I use this channel of yours to purchase some equipment for the military in the future?"
Fang Lang originally just wanted to get reimbursed for the cost of purchasing the plane, but he didn't expect that he would have the opportunity to become a middleman and make a profit from the difference.
"Of course, no problem, but I think it would be best if we could have our own military industry, otherwise we can't buy strength just by purchasing."
"What you said makes a lot of sense. Unfortunately, our country has always been poor. It is difficult to develop rapidly relying on agriculture. Industrialization is the future of a country!"
"Yes, General, your wise vision will surely lead Brazil to become stronger. Speaking of the military industry, I remembered something that I need to report to you."
"Oh! Please!"
"During my time stationed in Japan, a US military friend of mine told me that there was a complete artillery production line.
They asked me if I was interested in purchasing it. At that time, I was so excited that I directly purchased this production line through Fangyuan Group.
However, I am not sure if the government will be willing to take it over, if not we will have to resell the equipment separately.”
Fang Lang's news immediately made General Dutra jump up from his chair.
"Are you serious? Where is the equipment now?"
"According to the itinerary, it should arrive in Sao Paulo in a week."
General Dutra was obviously very concerned about being able to produce artillery independently. After pacing back and forth in the room twice, he sat down opposite Fang Lang again.
"Fang, you really gave me a big surprise. As far as I know, Fangyuan Group is your family business, right?"
"Yes, General."
"If the government cannot afford to purchase this production line, would your group be willing to set up a cannon factory?"
Fang Lang didn't expect that General Dutra would actually want to entrust the manufacture of arms to private enterprises.
Fang Lang had actually thought about setting up a cannon factory, otherwise he would not have taken over this production line in the first place.
However, considering that if an artillery factory is established directly, the size of the Brazilian Army is not enough to keep the factory alive.
This made Fang Lang very conflicted.
If artillery is exported, Fang Lang is worried that with Japan's artillery technology, it may not be able to obtain orders in the face of superior equipment from European and American powers.
"General, the group actually has no plans to enter the military industry. Given the size of the Brazilian military, it is difficult to support a large-scale military enterprise.
The reason why Fangyuan Group purchased this production line was actually because it contained many advanced industrial machine tools and equipment.”
"Fang, you just said it yourself, Brazil needs to have its own military manufacturing capabilities. Now that we have the equipment, why don't you try to convince the family?
Don't worry, as long as this factory can be built, I will fully support your family business.
If the artillery factory cannot make a profit, we can protect it through tax exemptions for Fangyuan Group.
I believe this proposal will receive full support from the military.”
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