the world is at stake

Everyone's aircraft is still like a skeleton, and the shape of the fuselage and wings that conform to hydrodynamics has not yet been determined, let alone the mature design of the flaps, ailerons, and empennage for aircraft control.

Two '1910's performed a flight demonstration for about half an hour, and their performance impressed everyone on the scene.

The officers and soldiers of the National Defense Forces were naturally very happy, and diplomats from various countries directly asked Zhou Qingfeng about the performance of the Chinese reconnaissance plane...and the price.

price?

Do you want to buy it or not?

It was the military attache of the Austro-Hungarian Empire who spoke, followed by Italian and Tsarist Russian military attaches.They first asked about the aircraft's performance and wanted to see it up close.

Britain, the United States and Germany are the chosen ones to control the government, and they will certainly not want Chinese aircraft.The chosen ones from Tsarist Russia and France are also very powerful. Although there is no news about them yet, they will not bow their heads if they think about it.

But there are many other countries in this world.

Zhou Qingfeng glanced at the ministers from various countries who were invited to visit, and found that diplomatic personnel from Japan, France, Portugal, and even Brazil, Peru, and Mexico in South America were very interested.

Some are really interested, while others are afraid and eager to steal secrets.

With a big wave of his hand, Zhou Qingfeng grabbed the radio microphone on the inspection platform, and called to the air: "This is the ground inspection platform, call 'Investigation No. [-]' and 'Investigation No. [-]'. You can land now."

The radio station is placed on the table of the reviewing stand. It looks like a wooden box with many knobs.A reply with electric noise quickly came from the box, "No. [-] understands, No. [-] understands."

The journalists and foreign military attaches sitting together on the reviewing stand focused their attention on the sky, only now did they realize that this humble gadget could communicate wirelessly.

Japanese military officer Okayama Genkata made an uproar in surprise, approached eagerly, stared at the radio station in Zhou Qingfeng's hand with wide eyes, and asked as if seeing a priceless treasure: "Mr. Zhou, is the radio in your hand?"

"Yes."

"Can it talk to the plane?"

"What's so strange about this?"

This is of course strange!

The military officers present are all knowledgeable. Combining the aircraft and the radio station, real-time monitoring of time-sensitive targets on the ground can be achieved. This is not a simple reconnaissance aircraft, but a condescending artillery school reconnaissance aircraft.

Radio is not uncommon. In 1898, Marconi conducted a radio communication across the English Channel.Voice communication is not uncommon. In 1906, the Yankees had a radio station.

Electron tubes are not uncommon either, they were invented by the British in 1904.

However, the current radio stations are very large, and long-distance communication requires tens of meters or even hundreds of meters of transmitting wires. It is absolutely impossible to make them small enough to be installed on an airplane.

The above elements can be integrated and used, which means that the corresponding technological level has achieved leapfrog progress, and there has been a generation gap of more than ten years with the current mainstream level.

You must know that the Soviet Union could not provide radio stations to every tank during World War II, not to mention the time when World War I did not start.There are only a few chosen factions that can mass-produce short-wave radio stations in the world.

The two triplanes landed and were immediately surrounded by dozens of foreign military attaches and reporters.They circled and turned around the small reconnaissance plane, and asked the pilot to ask questions, wishing they could go up and experience the flight in person.

The '1910' triplane is still too primitive, and the current two can only be called verification aircraft.According to Mr. Yang, it was temporarily rushed out to practice hands, to prove the whole production process, to train workers and technicians, and to cultivate talents.

Subsequent optimization will only reduce the fuel consumption of the engine, and its ceiling and range will increase several times.The data released by Zhou Qingfeng is based on 'production type'.

The fastest speed is 150 kilometers per hour, the ceiling is 5000 meters, and the range radius is [-] kilometers. If necessary, two machine guns or bombs can be installed for air combat or ground attack.

At present, the aircraft designed by various countries are still in the experimental and competitive stage, and they are the product of a few people playing tickets.Otherwise, Germany would not have used clumsy and expensive airships on a large scale during World War I.

What Zhou Qingfeng showed was a practical aircraft. This data was at least at the level of fighter jets in the late period of World War I, which greatly exceeded the current cognition of various countries - there are lightweight, flexible and cheap aircraft, who still uses giant airships?

This is yet another piece of equipment that will change the rules of warfare.

The Japanese military attache quietly asked: "General Zhou, how many planes of this kind can you produce in a year?"

"One thousand a year." Zhou Qingfeng casually exploded the number.In his opinion, this aircraft has no technical content. Except for the engine, which requires a little effort, the whole airframe is not much more difficult than making furniture.

Even for engines, with the personnel and technical support of the 'Shengguang' team, more than a dozen engine factories across the country will enter a blowout period of rapid development.Product quality and quantity will be rapidly improved.

Zhou Qingfeng dare not say that he is better than other opponents. After all, the industrial strength of Britain and the United States is too strong, which is more than a hundred times that of China.But this toy-like junior triplane shouldn't be a problem.

A thousand a year?

Gangshan Yuanfang expressed 100% doubts about this figure. He absolutely did not believe it, absolutely did not accept it, and absolutely did not recognize it—how could China have such a strong production capacity?

The Japanese Empire is not that strong!

Chapter 26 Stupid!

When the diplomatic attachés stationed in the imperial capital were watching the National Defense Forces mobilization meeting in Nanyuan, the British Minister Zhu Erdian appeared at the Tongzhou Canal Wharf to the east of the imperial capital, spying on the second regiment-level combat team of the National Defense Forces to quell the chaos.

For this transportation, the engineers of the National Defense Forces simply built new roads and trestles at Shiba Wharf in Tongzhou, and specially installed steam cranes for the loading and boarding of heavy equipment for the army.

The Ministry of National Defense recruited more than 200 passenger and cargo ships including China Merchants, plus [-] boatmen and migrant workers.These men receive a week of disciplined training to provide logistical support for troops along the route.

Zhu Erdian took several British officers and tried to approach the pier, but was ordered by the military police of the National Defense Forces to retreat, even if he revealed his identity as a British.The health of Charles I was greeted in a fluent Cockney accent by an officer leading the regiment.

Facing the gleaming bayonet in the hands of the military police, Zhu Erdian was extremely annoyed.

In the past, the Chinese army and officials were not like this, not to mention greeting the king of England face to face, even if he was slightly neglected, he would be extremely panicked, for fear of 'surprises from allies'.

But the current Chinese central government is "aggressive", and various measures to take back sovereignty continue one after another.Foreigners who have been rampant in China for decades are not used to it, as if encountering a slave rebellion, their interests have been violated.

Japanese Minister Hikokichi Ijiin was also near the pier. He saw Zhu Erdian, greeted him after approaching, and said in a low voice, "Your Excellency, do you feel that this Chinese army is very different from the past?"

"It's really different. It's like a dog that dares to show its claws to a lion. It's sad and ridiculous." With the arrogance of the British, Zhu Erdian gave the Japanese envoy a disdainful look. "What did you find?"

Hikoichi Yijiyuan had a thick skin, ignored the pun of the British guy, and said in a deep voice: "The mobilization speed of the Chinese army is too fast. They have already prepared."

The combat effectiveness of an army does not simply depend on how many aircraft and artillery it is equipped with, but also depends on the speed of normal training and mobilization.Violent institutions put more emphasis on management level than enterprises, and the poor level will kill people.

Two regiment-level combat teams of 3000 people rushed out of the barracks with a lot of luggage and heavy equipment, boarded the ship at the pier, and boarded the ship very quickly by making the most efficient use of the traffic capacity of the road and trestle.

This flow-like maneuver is pleasing to the eye. It requires good communication and organization, so that the personnel and equipment of each company can be coordinated, and there will be no traffic jams.

Plenty of civil engineering dogs are the best at this kind of thing.After all, a large-scale construction site is a reciprocating flow of personnel and materials every day and night, and the poured cement will not stop to slow down the solidification speed.

A slight error in organization and management can cause a delay in the construction period, or cause major hidden dangers in the project or even overthrow the project and start over.This not only affects the quality of the project, but also deducts fees, and even goes to jail.

In addition to discovering the smooth transportation of personnel, Ijuin Hikokichi also saw many military vehicles covered in tarpaulins.After all, the technology of trucks is very bad now, and if they run more than 1000 kilometers on bad roads in a row, a large proportion of them must break down.

At present, there are no machine repair points everywhere in China, and there is also a lack of maintenance parts and repairmen. The transportation of vehicles by ship not only saves fuel but also saves trouble.

Ke Yijuin Yankichi looked around the pier for a long time, and was shocked to find that all the artillery he saw were towed by trucks instead.The Department of Defense patched together more than 100 vehicles for Team Combat Teams.

"Your Excellency, haven't you noticed that these Chinese don't have war horses?"

"What's so strange about this is that although China is backward, it can still import vehicles from abroad. Besides, they also have their own car factories, although the output is pitifully small."

Zhu Erdian is a diplomat and is not too sensitive to changes in the military.Although he also felt that in a country like China, it seemed very unreasonable for the army to eliminate horses.

Due to the immaturity of the current truck technology, artillery from all over the world is still towed by horse-drawn carts.

But the number of horses in the Chinese army has been greatly reduced, and even the prepared forage has also been reduced, and even the number of artillery companies has also been reduced.

The strength of a normal six-door light artillery company should be around 150 to 180, and nearly half of them are dedicated to taking care of military horses.

But now the army horses are gone, the grooms are gone, and the vehicles for transporting fodder are gone.The number of people in the entire artillery company has been cut by nearly half, and the carrying and mobility have been increased instead, making it very flexible.

Hikokichi Ijuin personally counted the vehicles transporting the artillery, and dozens of trucks swished past in front of his eyes, were loaded onto the ship by the steam crane at the dock, and drove away in a chug.

Although most infantry still marched on foot on two legs, heavy equipment was enhanced for this purpose.The British military officer following Zhu Erdian also frowned at this, and whispered to the minister.

"China lacks high-quality horses, and the Yunnan and Mongolian horses it raises are generally short and thin, which cannot bear the heavy responsibility of military draft horses. So they seem to be carrying out some very bold military reforms."

Zhu Erdian immediately asked the military officer behind him, "What impact will this reform have?"

"Steam trucks are more practical now, but the Chinese have chosen lighter internal combustion engines as truck power. It has a high failure rate and low reliability. Once a large number of steam trucks break down on the battlefield, it is better to use a horse-drawn cart."

The British military attache gave a negative answer.However, Britain is not conservative in terms of technological revolution, and the military attache added: "We happened to observe this war, which may provide direction for future military reforms."

But Zhu Erdian became more and more irritable. He didn't care about military reforms, what he cared about was whether this shit mess would succeed.

The Japanese minister talked about the speed of mobilization of the Wehrmacht and the use of trucks. If the Chinese government gained a huge advantage in combat power, it would not be good for Britain.

Zhu Erdian suddenly said to Hikokichi Ijuin: "Is the Japanese side willing to contribute to maintaining order in China?"

Hearing that the other party wanted something from himself, Ijiin Hikokichi changed his posture of bowing his waist and bowing his head, and instead raised his head and asked, "What is the British side's position on the current situation?"

Zhu Erdian didn't speak, but a military officer behind him replied: "Zhang Xun's army can hardly withstand the attack of the regular Chinese army, maybe the Japanese side can help."

Ijuin Hikokichi was noncommittal, and replied slickly: "We can think about it."

Subsequently, British Lieutenant Colonel Wei Lepei, who was preparing for the Volunteer Team in Nanjing, received a briefing from the imperial capital.

The first is the very rapid mobilization of the Chinese National Defense Forces, with at least two infantry regiments armed with large numbers of artillery and trucks arriving in Nanking in mid-February.

The second is that Japan is willing to summon Japanese ronin near Shanghai to join the volunteer team organized by the British.This batch of ronin has a complex composition, most of them are Japanese soldiers who can't find a way to survive after being discharged from the army, so they can just be used.

Wei Lepei was also very surprised by the reaction speed of the Chinese National Defense Forces.He replied to Zhu Erdian, saying that with the help of Jardine Matheson, he had purchased [-] rifles, dozens of artillery pieces, and a large amount of luggage from Shanghai.

In addition, he hired more than 1000 mercenaries from the concession in Shanghai, including [-] Indian soldiers under the command of British officers, and some Chinese.

These personnel and equipment are coming to Nanjing by railway, and they are nominally under Zhang Xun's command.If the Japanese can join, it will undoubtedly greatly improve the strength of Wei Lepei's volunteer team.

"But the time of less than half a month is too short, too short for the mercenaries to run in." Wei Lepei originally thought that the war would not break out until March or April, but now it is much earlier.

But the next day, worse news came - the Chinese National Defense Force has high-performance aircraft that can carry out aerial reconnaissance and even strikes within a radius of 'two hundred kilometers'.

What's more terrible is that this kind of aircraft is equipped with very advanced radio equipment, which can report the situation detected in the air to the ground in time.

This means that the various ground units of the Wehrmacht will also have light and smart wireless communication.

As a diplomat, Zhu Erdian is sensitive to the progress of communication technology.He quickly reported to London, and the news he got was good and bad.

London called back to say that Britain had also made many recent advances in science and technology, high-performance planes, trucks and radios being just one of them.

These technologies will greatly improve the combat effectiveness of the army.But the British Empire still has the advantage of national power that is the world's leading, there is no doubt about it.

The bad news is that these advantages will not be able to benefit the British forces in the Far East for a while, and China's equal advantages are at best expected by the King of England.

Charles I personally returned a call to comfort Zhu Erdian in China, and authorized him to use all possible means to contain China, especially to contain the expansion of its central government's power.

A series of telegrams were collected by Lieutenant Colonel Wei Lepei, and the British military attache suddenly felt a lot of pressure.

The news of his formation of the Volunteer Team is spreading everywhere in the Shanghai Concession, including "Ta Kung Pao", "Zi Lin Xi Bao" and other Chinese and foreign newspapers are publishing related news.

The whole of East Asia is watching this war that may determine the direction of the region.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the imperial capital has submitted a protest to the British embassy, ​​strongly opposing the British side's move to interfere in China's internal affairs, and has mobilized all propaganda machines to expose the ugly face of Western powers to the whole country.

Zhu Erdian said that Britain was neutral, and what happened in Nanjing belonged to Zhang Xun's personal employment.But such deceptive words can fool no one.

At the time of internal and external troubles, the provinces at the two ends of the snake and mouse had to stand up and support the central government.At any rate, most intellectuals had to save face, knowing that they stood up against British intervention, scolded Zhang Xun for betraying the country, and resolutely safeguarded the unity of the country.

Feng Guozhang had already arrived in Shanghai with his troops at this moment. Seeing the continuous news in the newspaper, he could only lament: "Is Zhang Shaoxuan stupid? He brought the British in, and the whole country is an enemy. Who dares to help him?"

Duan Qirui scolded after reading the newspaper, "The commander-in-chief is also confused. How could Zhang Xun be allowed to mess around with such a big matter? President Xiao's position was originally unstable, but now it is as solid as gold."

Even the Southern Revolutionary Party felt disappointed about this. Except for a small number of brain-dead supporters of foreign interference, most members of the Tongmenghui only knew nothing about it, and neither agreed nor opposed it.

Sun Dapao sought the support of Britain when he made a revolution in his early years, but now he heard the news in Honolulu, and he sighed, "Did Britain still think that this is the period of the 'Taiping Heavenly Kingdom', or do you want to have another 'Eight-Power Allied Forces'?

The British are used to arrogance, and Zhu Erdian can come here as he wants, but he doesn't know that China today has changed.Now that the wisdom of the people is gradually enlightened, how can we tolerate the interference of foreign powers?

It was clearly an internal struggle, but it turned into a national war.The victory of the central government is naturally celebrated by the whole country.Xiao Jinlang's dictatorship has become more consolidated, and our road to revolution has become more difficult. "

At this moment, Zhang Xun was the only one who had no self-knowledge, but was delighted by the speed of British assistance.He was busy announcing the good news to Yuan Shikai, boasting that he had won the support of the great powers, and that the battle was victorious and undefeated.

Yuan Shikai was so angry when he received the telegram that he replied with one word - stupid!

27 Quick response

On February 1910, 2, as a temporary major general, Wang Xin led a regiment-level advance team of 8 people down the south along the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal, and arrived in Yangzhou on the 2000th.

Before the 15th, the action team led by Kajia was divided into three groups, scattered in Nanjing, Shanghai and Zhenjiang.

A two-person intelligence team was deployed at the intersection of the Jiajiang River and the Yangtze River in Yangzhou, holding high-powered binoculars to count the military ships sailing on the river.

"A cruiser with the Mi Zi flag, the model cannot be determined, about [-] tons, equipped with medium-caliber naval guns and torpedoes. Four thousand-ton torpedo destroyers may be the Bold class or the Banshee class.

Two British cruisers tried to block Jiajiang, and their destroyers were still moving upstream, possibly to block the Beijing-Hangzhou Canal.There are also a dozen Japanese patrol boats flying plaster flags following the British guy. "

During the counting process, an intelligence officer suddenly put down his binoculars and cursed 'fuck' towards the river.

There is a cold wind blowing between the gloomy sky and the earth, and there are not only the warships of the great powers on the river, but also a large number of Chinese fishing boats that have been fishing here for generations.

These small boats with hard sails and fishing nets look very small in front of the strong ships and guns of foreigners, and they have also become the targets of being played and ravaged.

On the river less than two kilometers away from the intelligence team, the British destroyer knocked over two Chinese sailing boats fishing, and also used the waves caused by its high-speed sailing to capsize more than a dozen small fishing boats.

Through the binoculars, you can clearly see the laughing faces of the British sailors on the side of the ship, and the embarrassment and urgency of the fishermen who fell into the water, their lives hanging by a thread, desperately calling for help.

The eyes of the two intelligence agents were tearing apart with hatred, and they clenched their fists while sending a warning to Wang Xin who had already arrived in Yangzhou.They had no choice but to comfort each other, and they came to this world to end such a humiliating and sad scene.

The Yangtze River has always been a natural moat that is difficult to cross between the north and the south of China.Especially when the British intervened nakedly and brought Japan in, how to cross the river became a difficult problem for the National Defense Forces.

After the Republic of China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs protested to Zhu Erdian, the British envoy simply tore his face and asked the British Navy's China Squadron to send warships to prevent the Chinese National Defense Forces from crossing the river and provide time to support Zhang Xun.

The minister wanted to retain official relations with China, but also tried to retain all the interests that Britain had gained in China, completely treating China as a colony.