Chapter 26: The Strange Person

November 20th, at the Puzhou Navy Shipyard, the subordinate Nanjiang Naval Ship Design Institute.

After He Pengfei entered, Bai Zhizhan finally got out of the car.

Yesterday, Gui Boyong completed his research and left Puzhou.

Before leaving, he left a bag of materials for Bai Zhizhan, claiming that he had obtained them from the archive of the Navy headquarters, and that He Yongxing had told him to take a good look at them.

After Gui Boyong had gone, Bai Zhizhan discovered that it was some intelligence related to naval development.

It was nothing secretive, merely involving the naval research, design, and construction of mother ships by enemy nations such as the Bulan Kingdom, Saiyi Imperial Kingdom, and the Newland Federation.

Specifically, the Bulan Kingdom was converting several large cruisers into mother ships, the Newland Federation was planning to convert a coal transport ship into a mother ship, and since the Saiyi Imperial Kingdom lacked suitable ships for conversion, it planned to build a mother ship specially designed to carry conventional take-off and landing aircraft.

He Yongxing had Gui Boyong bring these materials over so that Bai Zhizhan, who was educated in aerial reconnaissance, could review them.

According to the intelligence, even the aggressively developing Bulan Royal Navy only believed that conventional take-off and landing aircraft flew faster, higher, and farther, improving the efficiency of reconnaissance missions to more effectively assist the main fleet in seizing control of the sea.

The Newland Federation and Saiyi Imperial Kingdom were merely following suit without understanding the value of mother ships in naval warfare.

What did He Yongxing want Bai Zhizhan to do?

Gui Boyong didn't say, but Bai Zhizhan could guess.

Given the current situation, it was difficult for the Imperial Navy to keep up with the development trend yet it couldn't become complacent; it had to closely monitor the development trends of the navies of the Great Powers.

Only by identifying the correct development direction could they catch up once their vitality was restored.

If the direction was wrong, the efforts would be much less effective.

Indeed, there were precedents to learn from.

Over twenty years ago, when engineers in the Bulan Royal Navy were still exploring, engineers in the Imperial Navy had proposed, eliminating secondary main guns on battleships, using only a single caliber of Main Gun, powered by steam turbines, and even placing turret Main Guns along the centerline of the battleship.

Unfortunately, the Imperial Navy deemed the risks too great and the costs too high, and suppressed this design, which surpassed the "Dreadnought," for a full decade. By the time the Imperial Navy realized its mistake and decided to adopt it, the Bulan Royal Navy had already begun building the epoch-making "Dreadnought."

If the Imperial Navy hadn't delayed those ten years, it might not have been able to achieve everything at once, but it could have led the trend of the era.

From a longer-term perspective, being the first to start building new main battle ships would have allowed the Imperial Navy to manage the subsequent arms race more comfortably. If the Imperial Navy could have gained a decisive advantage in the race, perhaps the risk of a great war would not have emerged.

However, Bai Zhizhan had only studied aerial reconnaissance and hadn't worked in his field after joining the 21st Sub-fleet, nor had he had such an opportunity. Expecting Bai Zhizhan to judge the direction of naval development based on fragmentary intelligence was clearly asking too much of him.

Fortunately, Bai Zhizhan had a know-it-all by his side.

It was also during these few days that Bai Zhizhan learned He Pengfei was a local tyrant, thoroughly familiar with Puzhou and the shipyard; there was nothing he didn't know.

As a result, the two men came here.

In He Pengfei's words, there was someone here who could answer Bai Zhizhan's questions.

To reassure Bai Zhizhan, He Pengfei disclosed that this person was a descendant of Zhao Chengxun, one of the Eight Pillars and the founder of the Imperial Academy of Sciences and the Science Award.

He also bore the surname Zhao, named Zhao Yu, and was currently a senior engineer at the Nanjiang Naval Ship Design Institute.

When He Pengfei came out of the building, Bai Zhizhan approached him.

Without further ado, He Pengfei led Bai Zhizhan into the building.

Reaching the fifth floor, they stopped outside an office with its door wide open.

"Chief Engineer Zhao, Advisor Bai is here."

With a shout, He Pengfei nodded at Bai Zhizhan.

Over the past few days, to better introduce himself, Bai Zhizhan claimed to be an advisor, using the title he held in the 21st Sub-fleet.

Bai Zhizhan was a bit nervous, but he was already at the door; he couldn't just not go in.

On his way here, He Pengfei had been giving Bai Zhizhan a heads-up, telling him that the senior engineer named Zhao Yu had some mental issues, or at least that's what everyone thought. He was bad at communicating, had a fiery temper, and would even throw stools and slap people when provoked.

In terms of emotions, he was like a menopausal woman.

To be more accurate, the guy was actually a paranoid.

However, he was indeed a genius. Many of his inventions had been adopted by the Navy, and his great-grandfather, grandfather, and father had all been great inventors.

Right, he was indeed a descendant of the Great Country Maker, Zhao Chengxun, though not by blood as his great-grandfather was an adopted son of Zhao Chengxun. Since Zhao Chengxun had no biological children, a century later, the adopted son had inherited both the family and the hereditary title, which had continued to this day.

Strictly speaking, Zhao Yu was still a hereditary count of the Empire. According to the rites of the Empire, even when meeting the Emperor, Zhao Yu did not need to kneel.

Unfortunately, by the time it got down to Zhao Yu, only the title remained.

As for the family wealth, it had been squandered by earlier generations.

This was precisely why no one dared to provoke him, and few wanted to interact with him.

Regardless, even in tough times for the Empire, maintaining a senior engineer with a hereditary title and being a descendant of one of the nation's pillars was not a problem.

The room was small and incredibly messy.

In the middle, an office desk was piled high with various books and documents.

The Zhao Family was most famous for their scientists, yet Zhao Yu was an outlier.

He excelled in engineering design and wasn't that great in scientific theory.

Moreover, he was a genuine ship designer.

Part of the design for the "North River" class battlecruiser, which included solving several major challenges, was drawn up by him.

Circling to the side of the desk, Bai Zhizhan finally saw the person hidden behind a stack of books, smiling foolishly at him.

Had not He Pengfei signaled to him, Bai Zhizhan might have turned around and fled in fright.

It wasn't because of a weird outfit or slovenly dress, but the foolish, almost insane expression that made one feel like this guy had escaped from a psychiatric hospital.

Upon closer inspection, the man was quite presentable and very young.

Based on looks alone, he was just over thirty years old, perhaps not even thirty, not exactly handsome but definitely impressive, and his skin was so pale it almost looked like he had albinism.

Perhaps it was just because he rarely went out in the sun.

"You... hello, I am Bai Zhizhan, I..."

"Bai Zhizhan? Yes, that face, I know it, I will never forget it."

"Have we met?"

"Have you forgotten? On the last day of last month."

Bai Zhizhan immediately furrowed his eyebrows, thinking this guy needed medication because on October 31st, he was fighting in the Xu Sea and East Ocean.

"Ha ha... Scared you, didn't I?"

"I'm sorry, perhaps I've entered the wrong room."

"You didn't, this is the place, I am Zhao Yu, the person you're looking for. He Pengfei has already told me about you, if you don't want to regret it, have a proper talk with me."

Bai Zhizhan was speechless, but he had already realized that Zhao Yu had returned to normal, or perhaps he had just been joking initially.