In July 1947, when Fang Lang was besieging the Eddie brothers in Brazil, George Marshall, who had served as US Secretary of State for six months, gave a speech at Harvard University's graduation ceremony, calling on Europeans to unite and jointly plan their own plan to rebuild Europe.
This speech was not publicized, and many Americans did not know about it. But what is interesting is that the content of this speech was open to all European residents.
It caused a huge sensation throughout Europe.
Even Ante Bolman, who was recruiting outstanding talents for Fang Lang's airline company and missile industry in Europe, received the news and sent a telegram back to Fang Lang to consult him at this time.
After receiving Fang Lang's affirmative answer, he had to end his trip early and return home directly.
Fortunately, the missile expert Hermann Oberth, who was being sought as a priority, and the professional team that developed the missile had accepted Ante Bolman's invitation and started preliminary preparations at Fangyuan Aircraft Manufacturing Company.
Mercedes-Benz's engine team, which had experience in developing turbofan engines, was also invited to the power laboratory early on and began research work based on the turbofan engine solution provided by Fang Lang.
The reason why Ant Polman came back early was because George Marshall's speech made the European people see the dawn of economic recovery.
Many experts and scholars who previously had difficulty living in Europe have undergone subtle changes in their mentality and no longer want to escape from the chaos in Europe as before.
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This made Ante Polman's recruitment work more difficult, and he had to choose to return home to consolidate his results.
At the same time, Fang Lang's friend in the UK, Rianhart Henderson, sent a telegram to Fang Lang, inviting him to visit the UK when he is free.
This sudden invitation surprised Fang Lang.
However, considering his investment in the Aston Martin factory in the UK and his luxury mansion in London, Fang Lang still felt that it was necessary for him to go to the UK for a thorough inspection.
Of course, this has nothing to do with the ballet student in the London mansion.
Considering Reinhart Henderson's special status, Fang Lang explained the situation to Navy Secretary General Crook and Defense Secretary General Moraes, and applied for a business trip.
Because the invitation came from the son of Admiral Fit Henderson, Chief of Staff of the British Royal Navy, and the family provided some assistance to Brazil during the Brazilian Navy's participation in the Pacific War, the application was quickly approved by the Ministry of Defense and the Admiralty.
Fang Lang left Brazil on a business trip. In addition to his guards, Fang Lang was accompanied to the UK by a business inspection team sent by Fangyuan Group and Fang Lang's cousin Yang Kun.
The entire team took off from the Natal Naval Base in four special planes, refueled in Algeria, and flew to London, England. The entire voyage took nearly 48 hours on the road.
Of course, this has a lot to do with the fact that the plane needs to rest in Algeria.
When we arrived in London, it was already five in the afternoon. Reinhart Henderson personally led people to the London Airport to greet us and prepared a small welcoming ceremony at the airport.
Although Fang Lang came to the UK on a business trip from the Brazilian Navy, in fact, Fang Lang was not here on a business trip at all. Therefore, Reinhardt's welcome ceremony was also completely private.
In addition to Reinhardt, Fang Lang also saw Mrs. Henderson and a handsome middle-aged man with a smile on his face standing next to Mrs. Henderson.
Judging from his appearance, he should be Rianhart Henderson's father, General Fit Henderson, Chief of Staff of the British Royal Navy.
Of course, since everyone was in plain clothes, Fang Lang couldn't judge the other party's exact rank. But from the way the family was dressed in plain clothes, Fang Lang understood that they came to greet Fang Lang in a private capacity.
Apart from this family, Fang Lang didn't recognize anyone else. They all seemed to be Reinhart Henderson's family members.
"Haha... Reinhardt, long time no see!"
Fang Lang walked down the gangway laughing and gave Reinhardt Henderson a big hug.
The other party also strode forward with a smile on his face and gave Fang Lang a big hug.
"Fang, it's been a long time since we last met. If I don't invite you, are you going to come visit me, your old friend?"
"Hey! Don't mention it. I'm really busy right now. I received your invitation this time because I persuaded the Admiralty to apply for a business trip in the name of visiting the British shipbuilding industry!"
Fang Lang complained to Reinhardt with a helpless look on his face, and at the same time reminded him that he should arrange a tour for him to visit the shipbuilding industry during his visit to the UK, otherwise he would have trouble reporting back.
Reinhardt laughed loudly upon hearing this:
"Isn't this a trivial matter? You are a major shareholder of Global Shipbuilding in the UK. What are you talking about? This should be an inspection, right?"
As they talked, they walked towards the Henderson couple who were standing nearby waiting.
After hearing Reinhardt's words, Fang Lang did not answer immediately, but took two quick steps forward and shook hands with Fit Henderson.
Because neither of them was wearing a military uniform, Fang Lang and Fit Henderson did not salute, but instead shook hands and greeted each other.
"Hello, Mr. Henderson, I'm Fang Lang, nice to meet you!"
Fit Henderson did not show the arrogance common among the British towards Fang Lang. After all, he was Reinhardt's friend and had saved Reinhardt's military life.
Like an ordinary friend or elder, he took the initiative to shake Fang Lang's hand with a cheerful face and said politely:
"Nice to meet you, Fang! I hope you don't mind meeting you so late at night."
Fang Lang understood what the other party meant. He smiled and shook the other party's hand nonchalantly, saying:
"Mr. Henderson, you are so polite! You are very busy with official duties. I am flattered to see you here today. How can I have any objection?
Besides, Reinhardt and I are acquainted with each other, and he is my only friend in the UK, so it is only natural for us to help each other."
Mrs. Henderson, who was standing by, also smiled and said after hearing Fang Lang's words:
"Since you and Reinhardt are good friends, stop calling him Mr. Henderson and just call him Uncle Henderson!"
Fang Lang was stunned by these words. However, he had no psychological barriers to calling an active Chief of the British Royal Navy's General Staff "uncle".
After all, according to seniority, he should have called Mr. Fit Henderson uncle.
Seeing that the other party had no other reaction after hearing his wife's words, Fang Lang said very naturally:
"Then my nephew is marrying above his station. Hello, Uncle Henderson! Hello, Auntie!"
Fang Lang didn't want to gain any benefits from this uncle, the Navy Chief of Staff, nor did he want to curry favor with him. The main reason was that Reinhardt was a very kind friend.
He must give the other party this face.
Mrs. Henderson was also very happy to hear Fang Lang calling her aunt, and she quickly said:
"Okay, okay, let's go, it's getting late, let's go home and eat first."
Fit Henderson on the side also had a smile on his face, and obviously accepted the title.
Fang Lang clearly felt that this time, Mrs. Henderson's attitude towards him was more friendly than before, but he didn't know if it was his illusion.
Hearing Mrs. Henderson's greeting, Fang Lang nodded, smiled and waved to Yang Kun who was following behind him:
"This is my cousin Yang Kun."
Then he introduced the Henderson couple and Rianhart Henderson to Yang Kun.
After exchanging greetings, the few of them walked towards the ten off-road vehicles parked not far from the plane.
It was not until this time that Fang Lang noticed this row of brand new off-road vehicles. He turned to look at Reinhardt Henderson in surprise and said:
"Aston Martin has successfully developed an off-road vehicle?"
Looking at Fang Lang's surprised face, Reinhardt laughed and said:
"Haha...Your own car company, don't you understand the situation yourself?"
Hearing this, Fang Lang touched his nose a little embarrassedly and laughed:
"I'm not really sure about this. I was directing a bandit suppression operation in the country at this time and didn't pay attention to the progress of the Aston Martin factory."
Upon hearing this, Reinhardt patted Fang Lang's shoulder and said indifferently:
"It seems that you have too many businesses and can't take care of them all.
You are right, this is the new generation of off-road vehicle developed by your Aston Martin factory based on the Willys Jeep.
But it’s still in the testing phase, and I borrowed it from the Aston Martin factory under the pretext of coming to greet you.
Let me make it clear first, after you finish using it in London, you must sell one of them to me."
Fang Lang did not rush to answer Reinhardt's question, but walked around the off-road vehicle.
He found that this off-road vehicle was obviously larger than the Willys Jeep, and the whole body of the vehicle was square. Although it did not get rid of the slightly rough appearance of a military vehicle, Fang Lang found the shadow of the Land Rover Defender, which was very famous in later generations, in this vehicle.
This may have something to do with Fang Lang's communication with designers at the Aston Martin factory.
What surprised Fang Lang the most was that the vehicle's tires were obviously larger than most current vehicles. Although this would increase the vehicle's fuel consumption, it would also bring better braking performance and better grip.
The tire pattern also has strong off-road properties.
At just one glance, Fang Lang fell in love with this new model. Fang Lang, who had long been tired of the Willys Jeep, decided immediately that as long as the off-road performance of this car met his requirements, he would replace all of his fleet with this model.
And in Brazil, he was included in the procurement catalog of military jeeps.
"Since this is a test model, what are the results of your test?"
Fang Lang opened the car door without even raising his head and asked Reinhardt beside him.
The interior of today’s vehicles still looks a bit simple, but I don’t know if it’s due to the nature of the British or because Aston Martin is an inherently luxury car.
The car's exquisite leather seats and the walnut wood trim that runs through the dashboard all reflect the unique British luxury.
But this will obviously increase the production cost of the vehicle. If you want to get military orders in the future, these will obviously be forced to cancel, because military jeeps are not about luxury at all.
Reinhardt is a loyal fan of Aston Martin. As a soldier, he has no resistance to this kind of vehicle with strong military attributes.
After hearing Fang Lang's question, he praised loudly without hesitation:
“Of course it’s excellent, otherwise I wouldn’t wait until the official mass production to take action on your test vehicle!
This car has more horsepower than Willys and stronger off-road performance.
All in all, I love it very much! ”
Fang Lang still believed Reinhardt's evaluation. After all, this guy really knew about cars.
The Henderson couple, who came with everyone else, smiled knowingly when they saw the actions of Fang Lang and Reinhardt. They did not disturb the two and directly arranged for the people who followed Fang Lang to board other vehicles.
Reinhardt, who originally wanted to drive himself, saw that Fang Lang had already started to close the car door, so he walked to the passenger seat without hesitation, opened the door and got in.
Seeing Reinhardt get in the car, Fang Lang did not hesitate, directly shifted gears and started, slowly driving the car out of the parking area.
Of course the guards didn't dare to get in Fang Lang's car. They hurriedly looked for a new car parked on the side, pulled the driver who came with the car out of the car, and drove themselves to follow Fang Lang's footsteps.
There was chaos in the parking lot for a while.
Fortunately, Fang Lang did not drive away. Instead, he circled his private plane on the tarmac at the airport for a few times, and even drove the car off the runway and had fun on the grass nearby.
Unfortunately, the road conditions here are too smooth, and the off-road vehicle cannot fully bring out its performance. In the end, Fang Lang had no choice but to give up.
Reinhardt, who was sitting next to him, seemed to see that Fang Lang was still unsatisfied, and said with a chuckle:
"I'll take you to our country estate tomorrow so you can have a thorough test. What do you think?"
Fang Lang turned around and glanced at the other party, realizing that the other party also wanted to drive the car to the wild to test it. He smiled and did not expose him.
"No problem. Let's find a wild environment tomorrow to test the performance of this car."
After saying that, he turned the car around and drove back to the Henderson couple's car, smiled a little embarrassedly and said:
"Uncle Henderson, I'm so sorry to have you take effect!"
Fate Henderson, who was sitting in the back seat of a similar SUV, laughed and said:
"Haha...it's okay! We are young people! It's normal. If I were a few years younger, I would also like to go out for a drive like you guys.
Moreover, this car is really very good. When I came here today, I also experienced it myself.
If it can be officially mass-produced, I would like to persuade the Navy Department to purchase a batch as a military vehicle!"
Upon hearing this, Fang Lang's expression changed. If this was true, it would be great news for his Aston Martin company!
"Really? Thank you very much, Uncle Henderson."
Mrs. Henderson, who was standing by, saw a few people sitting in the car and chatting through the window, and said with some dissatisfaction:
"Fang has come here on a long flight and is already exhausted. Let's not chat here. Let's take Fang home to eat and rest first."
Seeing this, Fit Henderson could only shrug at Fang Lang, indicating that since his wife had spoken, he had no choice but to obey.
Fang Lang laughed and said to Mrs. Henderson:
"Auntie is right! Let's get home first!"
Then he winked at Reinhardt, signaling him to show the way.
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