The next morning, Italy was still ruled by the cold winter in March. Fang Lang and First Mate De La Torre drove a Willys Jeep to the Brazilian Expeditionary Force Headquarters early. The headquarters was heavily guarded, and the two were arranged to wait in a reception room.
De La Torre saw the captain rank on Fang Lang's collar badge and congratulated him from the bottom of his heart:
"Congratulations, sir. I never thought you would become a captain so soon."
Seeing De La Torre's envious expression, Fang Lang smiled and said:
"Old Lei, don't be envious, you will become a captain soon!"
"What, sir, are you serious? You know why we're here this time, right?"
Fang Lang's words made De La Torre very happy. He knew that his young commander had many connections among the Brazilian Expeditionary Force and the US Army, so he was not surprised at all that he received the notice in advance.
"Don't be too happy too soon. This may not be a good thing for us!"
Seeing De La Torre's face full of uncontrollable excitement, Fang Lang couldn't help but shake his head and pour a basin of cold water on him.
...
...
"Sir, what's wrong!"
Fang Lang didn't want to affect his good mood. He thought about it and didn't say anything. He just shook his head and didn't say anything. His attitude made De La Torre a little confused. But since Fang Lang didn't explain, he couldn't ask any more questions. He could only control his excitement a little, his shaking hands, and wait quietly!
Soon a soldier came to inform the two to go to the conference room to attend the awarding meeting, which would be chaired by General Moraes, commander of the expeditionary force.
When De La Torre heard that the awarding ceremony would be presided over by General Moraes himself, his mood, which had just calmed down, became excited again. After all, this was the Marshal of Brazil, and not everyone had the opportunity to see him.
There were five other officers participating in the awarding ceremony. From the armbands on their uniforms, it could be seen that some were from the Army and Air Force. Only Fang Lang and De La Torre were from the Navy. Looking at everyone's excited expressions, Fang Lang felt a little bored. It's not that he wasn't excited about being awarded the rank of major, but the thought of being used to obtain warships from the United States made him feel very unhappy.
Apparently he hasn't realized that being able to be exploited means he has value to be exploited, and there are many people who want to be exploited, but no one is willing to use him!
However, Fang Lang also understood that he did not have enough strength now. As long as he had the ability to protect himself in the Brazilian army, no one would dare to use him like this, and it would be more likely that everyone would beg him for help in the future.
The wartime inauguration ceremony was grand and concise, and not much time was wasted. The highest leaders of the three services of the Brazilian Expeditionary Force were all present, and the navy was in the most awkward position.
Because the reason for the awarding of ranks to the army and air force was because of their heroic fighting and outstanding merits. In other words, they were awarded for their military merits. Only Fang Lang and De La Torre, two navy officers, were awarded for capturing two Japanese spies in Brazil. This made Fang Lang feel very embarrassed for a while!
After all, in Fang Lang's mind, as a soldier, the meritorious service and awards should come from military exploits, not other things. If he was an agent of the Military Intelligence Bureau, it would be natural for him to be awarded for capturing two spies. But it seemed out of place for a navy officer like him to be awarded the rank of major for catching spies.
Therefore, Fang Lang had a serious face throughout the ceremony, and was not as excited as his other comrades. Although Fang Lang had a serious face, he wanted to escape from the ceremony as soon as possible.
Unfortunately, things did not go as planned. At the end of the meeting, Navy Captain Parisi stopped Fang Lang and took him to a large office to sit down without saying anything to him.
The two waited quietly for a while, and General Morais strode in. The two stood up quickly.
"Good morning, General!"
General Morais walked to the desk without stopping, pointed to the seats where the two had been sitting, and said:
"Both of you sit down! I called you two here this time mainly because I want to talk to you about how to build the personnel, how to carry out the training, and how to rely on this warship to develop our own new navy in the future after receiving a new destroyer from the US Navy. I would like to hear your opinions first."
Fang Lang noticed that Colonel Parisi was stunned. He obviously had not received the news that the Brazilian Navy would receive a destroyer from the US Navy. This situation obviously made Fang Lang start to have some profound thoughts. It seems that Colonel Parisi is not General Morais's confidant!
Lieutenant Colonel Graham knew everything, but Colonel Parisi, the nominal top leader of the Brazilian Expeditionary Force, knew nothing about it. This made Fang Lang cautious. It seemed that the Brazilian Expeditionary Force was not as simple as it seemed on the surface. There were also many factions inside!
However, Fang Lang also had a rough guess in his mind. As the commander of the expeditionary force, General Morais must represent the interests of one side, and Colonel Parisi is obviously President Vargas's man. It was unexpected that the Brazilian expeditionary force that President Vargas had finally established was not in line with him. It was no wonder that he was driven out of office by the military coup.
These are obviously all Vargas' own fault. As a dictatorial leader, he actually believed in his political influence, tried to promote democracy in Brazil, and even formed his own political party and gave up military power. Obviously, he has not seriously studied the great man's theory that power comes from the barrel of a gun.
Parisi didn't look at Fang Lang. He knew Fang Lang had an American backer, so maybe he knew the news. But how could he comment on something he didn't know at all? But the general was asking questions, and he couldn't let the conversation go cold, so he started to express his opinions on how to build a team of people that he knew best.
It would be unreasonable if we didn't arrange our own people to board this new type of destroyer. And General Morais also said that we would rely on this warship to develop our own new navy. If there were no personnel of our own on this warship, wouldn't it mean that the Brazilian Navy would have nothing to do with us in the future?
So Colonel Parisi began to recommend the candidates he thought were suitable for each position on the destroyer, and General Morais did not object. Instead, he waited until he finished speaking, then looked at Fang Lang and said:
"Major Fang, as the incoming captain of a new destroyer, what do you think?"
Colonel Parisi's expression froze again at General Morais' words, and he turned to look at Fang Lang, who had a serious face. He never thought that after talking for so long and recommending candidates for various positions, the real candidates had already been decided. He felt embarrassed, and didn't expect to make such a big fool of himself in front of his subordinates.
It seems that his days in the Brazilian Expeditionary Force will become more and more difficult! At this time, he also realized that the reason why General Morais kept him and Fang Lang together was to plant a thorn between him and Fang Lang. And after being sold, he foolishly helped count the money.
Fang Lang didn't know what to say about the current situation. After all, he didn't have much experience in participating in such political struggles. But he knew in his heart that no matter how much he said, it would be useless. General Morais couldn't decide everything. The Americans were the ones who could really make the decision.
Whether it is staffing or training, it must be assessed by Americans. If Americans say that you have failed the assessment and are not suitable for this position, then no matter how well you perform, it will be useless. And vice versa. So Fang Lang said directly:
"General, I have no experience in this area. I will follow your instructions!"
Hearing Fang Lang not commenting, General Morais was also stunned. Didn't this guy understand what he meant? He spoke again to confirm:
"Oh! You don't have any requirements for personnel?"
Fang Lang heard General Morais' words, which were obviously telling him that he could arrange for some of his own people to join the new destroyer. This made Fang Lang's mind active again. After all, there were 300 to 400 crew members on a destroyer. If there were no one of his own, it would be easy to be sidelined, which was definitely not acceptable.
He quickly said, "If I were to be the captain, I would like to be able to select some suitable personnel from my original transport ship."
General Morais nodded and said, "Okay, let's do it according to your idea! You can discuss the specific candidates with Colonel Parisi. I hope to see our new destroyer become combat-ready as soon as possible."
After saying that, he signaled the two of them to leave.
When Fang Lang walked out of the general's office in a daze, he was still confused. What was going on? He didn't even make it clear! He threw out a topic and ended it without explaining it clearly. He also executed it according to my idea.
How can she execute this? Yesterday, I didn't seem to agree to Lieutenant Colonel Graham being the captain of the new destroyer! Now he has become the captain of the new destroyer without knowing it.
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