The Chinese people's "aircraft carrier dream" can be traced back to 1928! In this year, Zhang Xueliang changed his banner in the Northeast, and the National Government headed by Chiang Kai-shek achieved formal national unification.

一

The Chinese people’s “aircraft carrier dream” can be traced back to 1928!

In this year, Zhang Xueliang changed his banner in Northeast, and the National Government headed by Chiang Kai-shek achieved formal national unification.

At the end of that year, General Chen Shaokuan, commander of the Second Fleet of the Kuomintang Navy and director of the Naval Administration, sent a submission to the Nationalist Government, requesting the expansion of the navy.

In the report, General Chen Shaokuan proposed to spend 20 million yuan to build an aircraft carrier .

As a result, this proposal was rejected at the National Staffing Conference held in January 1929.

This result hit Chen Shaokuan so hard that he and the then commander of the First Fleet Chen Jiliang both resigned angrily.

In order to appease people's hearts, Chiang Kai-shek promised to build 600,000 tons of ships within 5 years, including 3 aircraft carriers, and then retained them.

Although Chen Shaokuan knew that Chiang Kai-shek might change his mind by then, in order to strengthen the Chinese navy, he finally chose to "believe".

Picture | General Chen Shaokuan

The time came to 1943. In November of this year, the National Government Naval Headquarters proposed a specific plan for naval construction.

In this plan, China's coast is planned to be divided into four naval zones, with each zone establishing a coastal defense fleet and possessing five aircraft carriers.

Calculated in this way, 20 aircraft carriers are needed along the country's coast. Based on the cost of each aircraft carrier being 1.8 billion yuan, 20 aircraft carriers will cost 36 billion yuan.

Obviously, this is simply impossible for China, which is in the midst of the Anti-Japanese War . So why does Chen Shaokuan make such a plan?

The reason is actually very simple. His purpose of doing this is just to emphasize the importance of aircraft carriers to Chiang Kai-shek again.

After the victory of the Anti-Japanese War, Chen Shaokuan reduced the plan of 20 aircraft carriers to 12, and planned to complete it within 30 years.

As a result, the Liberation War broke out, and Chen Shaokuan's "aircraft carrier dream" finally came to nothing!

二

In 1970, General Liu Huaqing, then deputy chief of staff of the Chinese People's Liberation Army Navy, organized a special discussion on aircraft carriers and submitted a project plan.

However, due to various subjective and objective reasons, my country's aircraft carrier construction has not been put on the agenda.

In May 1980, when General Liu Huaqing visited the United States, he visited the US military's "Kitty Hawk" class aircraft carrier .

Its scale and momentum, as well as its modern combat capabilities, left a very deep impression on him.

At that time, General Liu Huaqing wanted to take a closer look at the specific structural facilities of the aircraft carrier. However, the US military did not allow him to touch any facilities on the aircraft carrier on the grounds of confidentiality.

In order to see clearly, the old general stood on tiptoes, leaned his upper body forward, and stared intently at the structural facilities on the aircraft carrier...

This scene made many Chinese people cry!

Picture | General Liu Huaqing visited the US aircraft carrier

After returning from the United States, General Liu Huaqing vowed: No matter how difficult it is, the aircraft carrier must be built.

The old general even said: "If China does not build an aircraft carrier, I will not die in peace."

In August 1982, Liu Huaqing took office as the commander of the Navy. He devoted all his efforts to building a strong navy and put forward the naval combat policy and naval equipment development policy.

He once said: "To build an aircraft carrier, you cannot wait. If you don't have enough financial resources, you must demonstrate it early."

The old general's specific vision is: Start demonstration during the "Seventh Five-Year Plan", conduct research during the "Eighth Five-Year Plan", and conduct research on key issues of platforms and aircraft. Preliminary research will be conducted and models will be launched in 2000 depending on the situation.

But unfortunately, the old general passed away on January 14, 2011, without seeing with his own eyes the Chinese aircraft carrier he dreamed of!

However, in order to realize the Chinese people's "aircraft carrier dream", countless people of insight have never stopped, Xu Zengping is one of them.

Picture | General Liu Huaqing (Admiral)

三

Speaking of 'Xu Zengping', many people may not be familiar with him, but when it comes to China's first aircraft carrier "Liaoning Ship", then everyone knows it. I don’t know anymore.

And the predecessor of the "Liaoning Ship" "Varyag" was purchased by Xu Zengping from Ukraine at that time!

So, what is going on?

Picture | Xu Zengping

The "Varyag" is a third-generation aircraft carrier built by the Soviet Union to compete with the United States on the ocean.

Prior to this, although the Soviet Union had designed and built two types of aircraft carriers, the "Moscow" class and the "Kiev" class, a large amount of its deck space was used to carry anti-ship, air defense and cruise missiles, so it could only be regarded as an aircraft carrier and cruiser. The mashup version of is not an aircraft carrier in the true sense.

The "Varyag" was designed and built under this background.

At the end of 1985, the construction of the "Varyag" officially started. Because of its huge scale, the hull alone took three years to build.

In 1988, the hull was finally built successfully and launched on November 25 of the same year!

Initially, it was named "Riga". In July 1990, it was renamed "Varyag" to commemorate the "Varyag" cruiser that sank in the 1904-1905 -Russian War .

As of November 1991, 68% of the "Varyag" had been completed. Its ship is 304 meters long, has a flight deck 300 meters long and 70 meters wide, has a standard displacement of 55,000 tons, and a full load displacement of 67,000 tons.

At that time, the scale of the "Varyag" aircraft carrier had reached or even surpassed several generations of conventionally powered aircraft carriers developed by the United States after World War II . Its captain was almost the same as the American "Nimitz" class aircraft carrier. .

However, the good times did not last long. I thought that the "Varyag" would continue to be built and complete the remaining 32%. However, just one month later, the Soviet Union declared its disintegration!

After the disintegration of the Soviet Union, the 15 union republics were busy dividing up the family business. "Varyag" and Black Sea Shipyard were owned by Ukraine.

For Ukraine at that time, they did not have the need to equip an aircraft carrier, so they could only place their hope on Russia, hoping that Russia could fund the construction.

Prior to this, the Soviet government had paid 70% of the construction cost of the "Varyag". Russia originally thought that it would only need to pay the remaining 30%. Unexpectedly, the Ukrainian brothers openly settled the accounts and asked Russia to Party paid the entire construction cost of US$2 billion.

Obviously, Ukraine just wants to sell it to Russia for the price of a complete warship.

Russia, which had just divided its family, was simply unable to pay this huge fee, but it did not want to give up halfway. The two sides had great differences.

In the end, Russia chose to give up, and the Ukrainian government could only announce the suspension of construction of the "Varyag".

The time came in 1995, when Kuchma , the president of Ukraine, decided to leave the fate of the "Varyag" to the Black Sea Shipyard.

However, the original buyers of the "Varyag" were not very reliable. They either wanted to transform it into a luxurious "sea airport hotel" or an "armored prison", but in the end they did not buy it.

四

In the eyes of Ukrainians , the "Varyag" is just a piece of chicken ribs, but in the eyes of General He Pengfei, the son of Marshal He Long and the then deputy commander of the Chinese Navy, it is a coveted - priceless treasure.

General He Pengfei has a strong "aircraft carrier dream."

At that time, the aircraft carrier had not yet been included in the national plan, but General He Pengfei and several senior navy generals believed that abandoning the "Varyag" would be a huge loss for the Chinese Navy.

To this end, they sent a delegation to Ukraine to inspect the "Varyag" in 1992, hoping to introduce this aircraft carrier, but no results were achieved due to various reasons.

However, despite this, General He Pengfei still did not give up the introduction of the "Varyag".

In 1996, General He, who was "impatient", decided to use private power to purchase the "Varyag".

To this end, they found three businessmen in Hong Kong, and finally decided that Xu Zengping, who had a military background, would come forward to purchase it.

Picture | General He Pengfei

Why is General He Pengfei so obsessed with buying the "Varyag"?

Because this aircraft carrier was built according to the most advanced standards in the world at that time, China was not yet capable of producing a lot of steel used on the ship.

If we want to achieve that level of technology and structure, it will not only take decades, but also huge amounts of scientific research funds.

Considering the situation in our country at that time, purchasing the "Varyag" was much more efficient than building it independently.

You must know that at that time, our country was completely blank in the field of aircraft carrier construction. If we could purchase the "Varyag", we could analyze, imitate and improve it. This would be of great significance to the development of our People's Navy. So big.

At the end of 1996, Xu Zengping was invited to visit General He Pengfei in Beijing. During this period, General He said to him:

"No one has sold it to us before, and there will never be one in the future. This is the only opportunity. If I miss it, I can't even forgive myself."

So it can be seen that General He Pengfei How eagerly I hope to purchase the "Varyag" aircraft carrier!

When leaving, General He held Xu Zengping's hand tightly and said: "For the country and the army, I beg you to get it back!"

At this time, although Xu Zengping had retired from the army and started business, he always He has never forgotten his former military status.

As he said: "Even if you only serve as a soldier for a day, you will always be a soldier."

As a soldier, you should take the initiative to assume the great responsibility of strengthening the army and the country. As long as the country needs it, even if you give it your all, It must be done.

But the possibility of Xu Zengping wanting to purchase an aircraft carrier from a country in his own name is almost zero. Moreover, Ukraine has also set four extremely harsh conditions:

. The buyer must have a deposit of more than 50 million US dollars in the bank;

2. Guaranteed not to be used for military purposes;

3. The project must obtain national approval;

4. It is necessary to obtain an import license issued by the country where the destination port is located. ;

Among them, except for the first one which is relatively easy to obtain, the other three are very difficult. It was so big that Xu Zengping once felt very embarrassed.

五

In desperation, Xu Zengping decided to give it a try!

Through various connections, he registered and established the "Macau Chuanglu Tourism and Entertainment Company" in Macau, and proved that the purpose of purchasing the "Varyag" was to transform it into a luxury gambling ship at sea and would never be used for military purposes.

In order to go through various procedures, Xu Zengping spent more than 6 million yuan!

But this is just the beginning!

On the morning of New Year's Day in 1998, when all Chinese people were immersed in the joy of the New Year, Xu Zengping and his assistants flew to Kiev, the capital of Ukraine, with 2 million US dollars and 5 boxes of 62-degree Erguotou .

Arriving at the Black Sea Shipyard, Xu Zengping saw the rusty "Varyag" and the old factory director Makarov.

However, Ukraine's asking price is very high, which greatly exceeds Xu Zengping's budget. The discount of just four engines costs more than 80 million US dollars.

At that time, Xu Zengping deliberately joked: "Then just dismantle the engine. Anyway, I won't be able to use it if I change it to an entertainment city."

But the old factory director Makarov said in a dilemma: "It can't be dismantled, these 4 The engines are intact and are embedded in the hull. "

In fact, this is exactly what Xu Zengping wants. If all four aircraft carrier engines can be packed away, it will be very beneficial to the development of our country's navy. , played a great promoting role.

But Uzbekistan’s asking price was too high. Xu Zengping couldn’t afford so much money at once, so he could only try to negotiate the price first.

Xu Zengping said: "It's okay if it can't be dismantled, but discounting is impossible. So, just sell it to us as scrap steel!"

During that time, Xu Zengping only did two things: bargaining for ,drink wine!

Due to the language barrier, drinking has become an important way of communication between the two parties. Xu Zengping tried to win the aircraft carrier for China at the wine table.

According to Xu Zengping's later recollection: In order to capture the aircraft carrier, he drank 6 kilograms of liquor in more than 10 minutes.

Many people may think this is a bit exaggerated. How can a normal person have such a large drinking capacity.

But Wen Shijun believed that Xu Zengping must have "exploded" for the benefit of the motherland, and his drinking was completely "forced".

In the end, the Ukrainians were moved by Xu Zengping's sincerity, and they decided to package the "Varyag" and the drawings to Xu Zengping for US$20 million.

But things are far from that simple!

At the same time that Xu Zengping went to Ukraine to purchase the "Varyag", several countries, including the United States, India, Japan, Vietnam and other countries, questioned China's purchase of the aircraft carrier and unanimously requested that it be made public. auction.

However, the person in charge of the Uzbek side also told Xu Zengping:

"We must respect the requirements of other countries and take into account the results of our negotiations, so we decided to conduct a public auction in three days."

These words undoubtedly shocked Xu Zengping. A reassurance.

Because in such a short period of time, buyers from other countries had no time to consider and prepare, so only Xu Zengping was able to win the bid.

Unfortunately, although Xu Zengping successfully bought the "Varyag" in the end, under the pressure of the Americans, the shipboard weapons and equipment, wiring, power systems, etc. on the "Varyag" were all dismantled.

Except for retaining the superstructure, the entire aircraft carrier has almost become an empty shell!

But fortunately, the construction drawings weighing nearly 40 tons were also delivered with the "Varyag".

Therefore, although our country only spent 20 million US dollars to buy an empty shell, if you include this pile of drawings, the price is still very cost-effective.

However, for Xu Zengping, the US$20 million is just the purchase fee. If you want to transport this aircraft carrier back to the country, you will have to spend high transportation fees, labor costs, modification fees, etc., which will cost at least 100 million. Dollar.

In order to raise this money, Xu Zengping spent all his wealth!

He used seaside land on Pingzhou Island in Hong Kong and 7 high-quality properties as collateral to get a bank loan. He also looked for people to raise funds, and finally got enough money.

六

On June 14, 1999, the fleet composed of the "Varyag" and the tugboat officially embarked on the long journey home.

As a result, when preparing to pass the Bosporus Strait controlled by Turkey, under pressure from the United States and other NATO countries, Turkey accused "that the hull is too large and affects the normal operation of other ships in the Bosporus Strait. On the grounds of "navigation" , the "Varyag" was refused passage.

The "Varyag" drifted in the Black Sea for a while before returning to its original port.

During this period, Xu Zengping's Chuanglu Company had to pay US$8,500 to the tugboat company every day, and it also had to pay US$17,000 in berthing fees to the Ukrainian Port Authority every month.

Not only that, Macau Chuanglu Company also paid huge sums for late payment penalty interest, contract disputes, debts and other items, which brought the actual total transaction cost of the "Varyag" to as much as 100 million US dollars. .

During that time, Xu Zengping was anxious every day, and even his hair turned gray! Whenever he recalled this past event, he always said:

"That period was the hardest time for me. It can be said that I was so worried... I had already lost everything at that time..."

In desperation, Xu Zengping had no choice but to He asked his friends to borrow money again, but everyone was only willing to lend him 100,000 yuan or 200,000 yuan, and said to him: "Old Xu, I borrowed this money purely because I admire you, so you don't have to pay it back!" "

But Xu Zengping, who was in internal and external difficulties, did not choose to give up. At this time, he had already made the worst plan: "In case the aircraft carrier really cannot be dragged back, I would rather sink it to the bottom of the sea than fall into the hands of another country. .”

This is Xu Zengping’s determination!

On March 28, 2001, General He Pengfei, deputy commander of the Navy, died of illness at the age of 55.

After Xu Zengping heard the news, he was extremely sad. He secretly vowed: Even if he risked his life, he would fulfill General He's last wish.

Just when Xu Zengping was feeling extremely anxious about this, the country finally took action!

In July 2001, after more than a year of official negotiations, the Turkish government finally agreed to release the "Varyag".

However, Türkiye also proposed 20 security conditions to China.

These include: China needs to pay a " risk deposit " of US$1 billion; Chinese officials provide a written guarantee; it must be guaranteed by an internationally recognized insurance company; during passage, relevant navigation safety, equipment, technology and personnel dispatch and command must be Follow the Turkish command and so on.

In a very short period of time, China prepared a number of safety measures required by the Turkish authorities, rented the world's most powerful Greek tugboat, and agreed to give a "state guarantee" to avoid a "risk of US$1 billion" Security Deposit".

七

On November 1, 2001, the "Varyag", a huge warship that had lost any power, slowly moved forward surrounded by 11 tugboats and 12 rescue ships.

At this point, the "Varyag" finally left the Black Sea, ending its more than a year-long "imprisonment" life.

However, something unexpected happened. On the night of the 3rd, the fleet encountered a strong storm in the international waters near Skyros Island, and the steel cable between the tugboat and the "Varyag" broke.

Suddenly, the "Varyag" drifted towards Evia Island like a wild horse, and was once less than 80 kilometers away from the island.

After fighting the storm for 12 hours, the tugboat and the "Varyag" were reconnected. However, a Norwegian sailor of the tugboat was killed by the heavy steel cable because he missed it!

After escaping from the storm, the fleet tried to continue moving forward through the Suez Canal , but was blocked by the Egyptian government.

In the end, the "Varyag" could only cross the Mediterranean Sea , pass the Strait of Gibraltar , enter the Atlantic Ocean, and bypass the Cape of Good Hope and enter the Indian Ocean.

On February 5, 2002, the "Varyag" passed through the Malacca Strait and successfully entered China's territorial waters on the 20th.

On March 3 of the same year, the "Varyag", which had gone through many difficulties and dangers, finally successfully arrived at Dalian Port.

Picture | "Varyag" docked at Dalian Port

At 5 a.m., the "Varyag" was towed by six tugboats and sailed towards the inner port. At about 9 a.m., it officially arrived at the inner port.

At 12:00 noon, the "Varyag" safely berthed at the No. 4 Bulk Cargo Terminal in the West District of Dalian Inner Port, ending a difficult voyage of 15,200 nautical miles and more than four months.

On the same day, the gaming business license of Macau Chuanglu Company was revoked by the Macau SAR Government .

At this time, the Chinese government has become the new owner of the "Varyag".

On April 26, 2005, the "Varyag" was towed into the dry dock of Dalian Shipyard and began construction improvements.

After 7 years of hard work, on September 25, 2012, the "Varyag" was officially renamed "Liaoning" and delivered to the Chinese Navy.

At this point, China's first aircraft carrier, the "Liaoning Ship", was born!

It is like a magic needle that anchors the sea. It dominates the sea and supports the Chinese Navy's confidence in guarding the territorial waters of the motherland!

After that, the "Shandong Ship" and "Fujian Ship" came out one after another, which greatly enhanced the hard power of our People's Navy.

However, after buying the "Varyag" for his motherland, Xu Zengping was already in debt and had to declare the company bankrupt.

But he said that he never regretted buying the "Varyag", because in his opinion, he took this small step with difficulty, but it made the country take a big step!

八

After more than ten years of hard work, Xu Zengping not only made a comeback, but also paid off all his debts.

Among his debts, the largest was the 230 million Hong Kong dollars lent to him by a friend. This money was repaid with interest for 18 years.

When the money was paid off, Xu Zengping's friend was already over 80 years old.

Xu Zengping had promised to repay the money in his lifetime. Xu Zengping did not break his promise!

In order to thank this friend for trusting him, Xu Zengping specially sent a letter of thanks, and the other party replied: "It was your sincerity that touched me!"

After paying off the huge debt, his career was back on track. Xu Zengping still has not forgotten his dedication to the motherland.

In 2011, Xu Zengping donated 200 million yuan to the School of Physics of Tsinghua University for scientific research closely related to military construction.

Later, Xu Zengping was also elected as a member of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference . He participated in the formulation of the "Anti-Secession Law" and vigorously promoted it in Hong Kong.

Today, Xu Zengping has founded a new energy company. He is also planning to use the clean energy fuel developed by the company in armored vehicles , ships, aircraft and other equipment.

In May 2022, Mr. Xu Zengping also served as the honorary president of the Guangdong National Defense Science and Technology Industry Promotion Association.

九

In "Zuo Zhuan·Zhao Gong·Year of Zhao Gong", there is such a sentence:

"Not forgetting the country in the face of adversity is loyalty. Not overstepping one's official position when thinking about difficulties is loyalty. To forget death for the sake of the country is chastity."

Facing the country is also loyalty." Not forgetting the country when disaster strikes is a sign of loyalty; thinking of danger and not leaving one's post without permission is a sign of trust; putting one's life and death aside for the benefit of the country is a sign of steadfastness.

And Xu Zengping is such a person!

He takes the world as his own responsibility and always thinks about the motherland and the people. Such a hero deserves to be admired and learned by each of us. At the end of the

article, let us pay high respect to Mr. Xu Zengping!