*(Some content has been omitted due to content policy conflicts)*

This statement made Chen Houpu's heart burn with passion again, as he had just calmed down from his fervor.

He looked at Zhang Xueming, his lips moving as if he wanted to say something, but didn't know where to start.

He had seen plenty of people who talked big, but this was the first time he had met someone like Zhang Xueming, who, after listening to your "pipe dream" one moment, would immediately ask you to list things and prepare to get to work the next.

Was this Young Marshal serious?

Zhang Xueming saw his doubt and didn't offer any further explanation.

He looked around and said to the guard standing beside him.

"Go get me some straw paper and a pen."

The guard quickly brought the paper and pen.

In the reception room, Chen Houpu and his companions exchanged bewildered glances, not understanding what the Young Marshal intended to do.

Was he going to record it himself?

Zhang Xueming ignored their gazes. He picked up a piece of straw paper, spread it on the coffee table, picked up a pen, and leaned down, beginning to sketch on the paper.

His movements were swift, the pen scratching against the paper.

At first, Chen Houpu and the others watched with curiosity.

But gradually, their expressions changed.

From curiosity, it turned to surprise, and then to shock!

Because what appeared under Zhang Xueming's pen was the outline of a warship!

And as the lines were refined, the appearance of the warship became clearer and clearer.

Smooth hull lines, a towering bridge, a unique flat-deck design, and the perfectly compact layout of the gun turrets and torpedo tubes...

"This... this is..."

One of Chen Houpu's companions, a highly educated overseas student specializing in warship design, stared intently at the sketch, his breathing halting.

"This turret layout! It's a superimposed design! Two twin main guns, two forward and two aft... no, one forward and two aft! My god, it's too radical!"

"And the anti-aircraft firepower! On both sides of the bridge, around the funnels... he's drawn so many anti-aircraft gun positions!"

Chen Houpu also leaned closer, his eyes wide as saucers.

As an old hand who had been immersed in naval affairs for decades, he immediately recognized the advanced nature of this destroyer's design!

This ship was unlike any destroyer currently in service in Japan, White Bear Country, or even America and Britain!

It was simpler, more powerful, and more... deadly!

"This destroyer... did you design it?"

Chen Houpu's voice trembled almost imperceptibly.

Zhang Xueming stopped writing, blew away imaginary dust from the sketch, and casually said.

"Just doodling."

"I call it, Octopus One."

He pointed at the drawing and, in a tone as if he were introducing his own cabbage, rattled off a string of specifications.

"Full load displacement, two thousand five hundred tons."

"Maximum speed, thirty-seven knots."

"Main guns, three twin 130mm dual-purpose guns."

"Torpedoes, two quintuple 610mm torpedo tubes with reloads."

"Anti-aircraft, several small-caliber machine guns."

Boom!

As the last data point was announced, everyone in the reception room who understood ships felt as if a depth charge had exploded in their minds.

Two thousand five hundred tons?!

Thirty-seven knots?!

130mm dual-purpose guns?!

And those damned quintuple torpedo tubes with reloads?!

Was this still a destroyer?!

This was simply a cruiser disguised as a destroyer!

After all, Japan's most proud special-type destroyer, the Fubuki class, had a full load displacement of just over two thousand tons! Its firepower was already hailed as the world's best!

But compared to the "Octopus One" in the sketch before them, the Fubuki class was simply a little brother!

"Gulp."

A young man who had followed Chen Houpu, overwhelmed by shock, rolled his eyes, his legs went weak, and he directly collapsed onto the floor, muttering.

"Fake... it's all fake... this is impossible..."

Zhang Xueming ignored the distraught young man. He pushed the blueprint for "Octopus One" in front of Chen Houpu and picked up a fresh sheet of paper.

"Destroyers are a wolf pack, so there has to be a pack leader."

"Light cruisers are too small, their firepower support isn't strong enough."

"So, I've got this for you."

His pen danced across the paper once more.

This time, the silhouette of an even larger, more imposing warship appeared before everyone's eyes.

Three triple-mount main gun turrets, a classic front-two-rear-one layout.

A tall and majestic box-shaped bridge.

Dense arrays of secondary and anti-aircraft guns.

Chen Houpu's heart began to race uncontrollably again.

"This is... a heavy cruiser!"

"That's right."

Zhang Xueming nodded, his tone as nonchalant as ever.

"Octopus Two, a heavy cruiser."

"Full load displacement, nine thousand five hundred tons."

"Main armament, three triple-mount 203mm main guns."

"Speed, thirty-two knots."

This time, there were no gasps, no one fell over.

The entire reception room was silent.

Everyone seemed frozen, staring blankly at the blueprint, at the young man who carried himself with such ease.

If "Octopus One" was ahead of its time, then this "Octopus Two" was crushing it!

This was a heavy cruiser nearing ten thousand tons! It was the absolute limit of the Washington Naval Treaty!

A warship of this caliber was unequivocally a capital ship anywhere in the world!