afterglow

Chapter 180 Routines are all routines

The crown prince's so-called "little plan" awakened many people at once. Although this casual trick cannot be called a clever and unsolvable conspiracy, it should be enough.

Give the Americans a trick, just do it!
The two Youyun-[-] passenger planes carrying the Ming military expedition team went up and down during the long voyage, and made continuous transitions. When they landed in Constantinople...no, when Istanbul Airport was refueling, all the people in Nanjing city Military attaches at foreign embassies were invited.

Daming has just sent a military observation team to the Iberian Peninsula where the battle is in full swing, and now they invite everyone to come to the party?

It's not a traditional festival these days. Could it be that there is some important information that you want to take the opportunity to reveal quietly?

Therefore, none of the more than a dozen military attaches from the embassies of Britain, France, the United States, Germany, and Russia were absent, and all of them arrived on time.

The venue for the evening banquet was chosen at the Tonghui Hotel, and there were cars parked on the west side of Tongjimen Avenue.

For a while, there was European classical music coming from the phonograph, and for a while, there was the melodious sound of the guzheng in the corner of the hall.

However, to a certain extent, this is all just pretending, because the military attache of the embassy is actually an intelligence officer with official status, which is the default of all countries in the world.

Although it is common impression that intelligence gathering should be carried out in secret, the fact is that many times intelligence gathering work is aboveboard and also very effective.

Major General Anderson, the chief military officer of the United States in Daming, was unable to attend due to the cold, but there were two other military officers at the banquet—Colonel Lane and Lieutenant Colonel Grayton.

"...Hundreds of ceremonies, no wine is impossible. I said that you in the United States are also strange. It's inexplicable to ban alcohol in such a good way!"

At the same table as the two military attaches were a colonel of the Ming Army and a civilian colonel of the Air Force. The colonel spoke Cantonese and complained about his encounters in Washington a few years ago.

It's so damned, I couldn't drink freely in those years, and buying alcohol was very troublesome.

Colonel Lane held a cigar and said with a smile: "It's a pity, Xu. If you were in California, you could buy a few grape bricks, so you would have enough wine to drink."

"Grapes? Bricks?"

"Yes, that's right, it's called 'policy at the top and countermeasures at the bottom'. The winery dehydrates the grapes and presses them into cubes, and the merchants print on the packaging "It is forbidden to put it in a gallon of warm water." 21 days or it will turn into wine". "

The expression on the face of the colonel surnamed Xu was first surprised and then regretful, and finally he patted the table lightly, "Oh! Sure enough, the common people always have infinite wisdom in this regard!"

"Hahaha--"

In this way, the two sides chatted very happily, and gradually became a little drunk.

Colonel Xu, who drank half a glass of Mianzhu Daqu and two small glasses of whiskey successively, flushed and looked half drunk.

After the air force civilian colonel on the side deliberately or unintentionally brought the topic to the plane, the conversation between the two sides suddenly became a little more gunpowder.

"The Douglas DC-3 will surely be the most successful airliner, and none of its competitors can beat it."

"Old Ryan, it's too early to make a conclusion? The aircraft itself is one aspect, and more importantly, its source of power. Maybe the British can use better engines to build better airliners."

"Impossible! Pratt & Whitney's 'Double Hornet' is amazing, Xu, I can only describe it as perfect..."

Colonel Xu, who seemed to be using alcohol to speak out, immediately waved his hand, "The engines made by our country today are no worse than yours, twelve cylinders, [-] horsepower, but the fuel consumption is a bit higher, and they are installed on bombers. utility……"

This is, the civilian colonel of the Air Force stretched out his hand and tugged his sleeve with a serious face, so that he stopped talking.

Colonel Lane and Lieutenant Colonel Grayton naturally noticed the whole process.

Did you just slip up?

Although they continued to talk and laugh happily, the two of them kept thinking about the previous sentence in their hearts.

The amount of information is not small.

After the banquet, the two discussed it in the car before returning to the embassy.

"12 cylinders, 1300 horsepower, high fuel consumption, bomber", although the key data such as displacement, cylinder bore, piston stroke, and working life are not yet known, it seems that a lot of information can be guessed.

Grayton said puzzledly: "Their latest 800-type destroyer uses an 860-horsepower engine, and the bomber has an 1300-horsepower engine, but now they have experimented with a [-]-horsepower engine?"

"This is a big improvement." Ryan pondered for a few seconds, "From his words, we can see that this type of engine still has shortcomings, but it won't take long to improve."

Although both Graydon and Ryan were a little surprised at the sudden development of Daming's aero-engine, but the previous actions and expressions of the two did not seem to be fake.

After returning to the embassy, ​​they discussed this for a while, and decided to wait and see for a while to see if they could collect other evidence that could support this information.

This wait is several days.

During the period, they asked around the city that Colonel Xu had been to some time ago, so as to determine the test location of the unknown new bomber.

In this way, after unremitting efforts, they learned that a twin-engine bomber with an orange-red primer used in the experiment of the Ming Air Force had indeed appeared at an airport in the suburbs of Zhaoqing, and managed to get a few blurred photos.

In the photo, a large aircraft can be vaguely seen parked beside the runway of the airport. Although it is somewhat blurred, it can still be distinguished from the active bombers of the Ming army.

"Look at the big vertical tail at the rear, this is definitely not a Type [-] bomber."

"It's unbelievable. If this is the so-called bomber with a 1300-horsepower engine, then..."

In the American legation, several experienced military attaches looked at each other in blank dismay, unable to understand what they thought.

The Ming army only installed the Type 860 light bomber last year, with two small vertical tail fins, two 1000 horsepower engines, and a bomb load of [-] kg. The overall performance is quite good. Why did another bomber with a different design suddenly appear? coming?
"Maybe it's just an experimental machine?" Lieutenant Colonel Grayton felt that it was unlikely to be a model in secret service, at most it was being tested secretly.

"The key is the engine. According to the Chinese style, it is impossible for them to develop a high-power engine by leaps and bounds. They have a word called 'so ambitious', so it is obvious that someone has provided them with technical support." Colonel Lane shrugged.

"You mean, the French?"

"They? Their new bomber, which flew for the first time last month, only uses Hispano-Suiza's 1000-horsepower engine."

Everyone excluded the British by default, so the only possibility in the end pointed to...

Grayton frowned: "The Germans are breaking common sense. They dare to trade with the latest technology."

Colonel Lane, who claims to be a "China hand", thought of an idiom to describe this situation - lest the world will not be chaotic.

(End of this chapter)