cicada

Chapter 1188 Port Investigation

A few days later, Zuo Chong, wearing green suit pants, a Hawaiian floral shirt, and a Hawaiian hat with feathers on his head, got in a taxi and drove around Oahu in the name of sightseeing.

The taxi driver was a talkative middle-aged white man with a standard southern American accent. His huge belly was squeezed under the steering wheel, and he looked very happy.

"Friend, are you Japanese? It's your first time in Honolulu?"

The driver said as he drove the vehicle to Nuuanu Street. On the right side of the road is the endless sugar cane plantation, on the left is the Hickam Air Base, and further on is Pearl Harbor.

Hickam Air Base is one of the U.S. military's most important air bases in the Pacific and a target that the Japanese attach most importance to.

Zuo Zhong heard the driver's question and nodded: "Yes, I have been here for a while, but I have been busy with business and haven't had time to visit this beautiful island."

After speaking, he pretended to be curious and looked to the left of the car window. When he saw the bomber on the tarmac behind the barbed wire fence, he asked casually.

"Hey, what a big plane. Is that a giant passenger airship?"

The driver glanced outside and said with a smile: "No, that's a B17, a four-engine bomber that just came from China recently. The dome-shaped building at the end of the runway is the hangar of these big guys.

The giant passenger airships were seaplanes that landed at the sea airfield near Pearl Harbor. I can take you to see them later if you like. "

The driver seemed to be proud of his familiarity with Pearl Harbor and introduced each military installation to the left.

Such as oil depots, pilot dormitories, air defense force stations, arsenals, etc.

He can tell a little story about every place, such as a drunk pilot who crashed his car into a sugar cane field, or a sailor who lost all his money and stole equipment and sold it to the gang.

It seems that no matter which country they come from, taxi drivers are the most well-informed people. From national affairs to family affairs, there is nothing they don't know, Zuo Chong thought with a smile.

At the same time, he kept this valuable information in mind and prepared to go back and draw it into a map for further verification and expansion in the future.

Then the car moved forward for a while, and nearly a month after arriving in Hawaii, Zuo Zhong finally saw the legendary Pacific Fleet homeport.

In Shanghai and on the transoceanic cruise, he studied the map of Oahu carefully almost every day, and now he could finally see the real scene.

On the blue sea, three P40 Tomahawk fighter jets took off from Ford Island in the center of Pearl Harbor Bay, quickly climbed into the clouds after forming an aerial formation.

This is a single-seat, single-engine, straight-wing piston fighter developed by the American Curtiss Company based on the P-36 "Eagle" fighter. It has strong firepower and is cheap.

Although the arrogant U.S. navy and army believe that they can defeat any enemy with the P40, it is really not good enough compared with the Japanese "Zero" fighter. In the future, Americans will suffer a lot from this.

Numerous thoughts flashed through Zuo Zhong's mind, and he glanced at his watch covertly. These three planes should be performing combat readiness patrol missions, and their takeoff and landing times were also important information.

Even if for reasons of confidentiality, the air force combat readiness patrol schedules of all countries are changed regularly, they still have a certain reference value.

After recording, his eyes fell on the pier on the shore. Several aircraft carriers, heavy cruisers, and battleships were neatly lined up on one side of the T-shaped pier.

On the other side of the pier, there are hundreds of light ships of different sizes moored together. Hundreds of thousands of tons of steel are floating on the sea. The scene is very spectacular.

In the factory area close to the shore, the bright light of electric welding flashed and white smoke emitted from time to time. It was workers repairing ships, and the entire Pearl Harbor presented a lively scene.

Surprisingly, after entering the port area, the taxi driver changed his chatty attitude and not only remained silent but also accelerated the speed.

Zuo Zhong looked surprised: "There are so many boats here. Mr. driver, can you slow down so I can take a good look?"

The driver shook his head quickly: "Sorry sir, this area is a warning zone, no staying is allowed, and vehicles are not allowed to drive slowly.

You see, those passers-by are plainclothes military policemen of the Navy who will arrest any suspicious persons who try to peek into the military base. "

Zuo Zhong saw a plainclothes white man on the side of the road looking at him, and said with suspicion in his mouth: "Really?"

The driver was afraid that he would not believe it, so he specifically gave an example: "A few days ago, a Japanese tourist was stopped by the military police just for raising his camera in the car. No one knows where he went afterwards.

Anyway, here is nopen! (Not allowed to remember), nocameras! (No photography is allowed), anyone who violates the rules will disappear mysteriously, sir, please remember my advice. "

After warning Zuo Zhong, the driver shrugged his shoulders and started to turn. The taxi drove along the winding road and up a hill. The level of security here was higher, and there were machine gun checkpoints at the intersection.

Zuo Zhong combined the map and early reconnaissance and knew that this was Hongshan, the strategic oil depot of the Pacific Fleet mentioned by the owner of the fishing tackle shop.

The roadside is heavily guarded behind a dense barbed wire fence. A huge steel gate on the mountain can be seen among the green trees. Sentinels with loaded guns pass by from time to time. "Sir, there are secret agents of the Naval Intelligence Agency here. They are more annoying than plainclothes military police. Even if they stop for a while on the roadside, they will be immediately driven away or even interrogated."

The driver spoke again, expressing dissatisfaction with the secret agent's tyranny. After complaining, he comforted Zuo Zhong.

"But the United States is a free country after all, and agents can't do whatever they want. When passing through this area, just keep your eyes straight and drive forward."

Zuo Zhongqian laughed twice. It had nothing to do with him whether he was free or not, but in this case, how could he complete the mission sent by the Japanese?

The barbed wire fences, trees and buildings along the way obstructed his view, and it was difficult for him to distinguish the name and hull number of the ship at a glance.

You know, the U.S. Navy has many sister ships. If you don't know the names of the ships, it is difficult to judge the dynamics of the fleet. Although you can infer from the slight gap at the mast, that is indirect information after all.

Half an hour later, the driver took Zuo Zhong around Pearl Harbor, ended the tour and turned back along the way he came.

When the car was halfway through, the other party suddenly turned right and drove into a small road. The brave Zuo Zhong chose to wait and see what happened. If it was really a rogue driver, he would definitely teach the other party a profound lesson today.

Fortunately, the driver didn't want to take a detour or play a trick on me. After turning left for a long time, the car actually reached the commanding heights near Pearl Harbor.

Here you can see aircraft carriers, heavy cruisers, and battleships berthed, and you can even see sailors loading fresh vegetables and food into small motorboats on the pier.

Due to his commanding position, he had a clear view of important targets such as the shipyard. Zuo Zhong was pleasantly surprised and a little confused as to why he didn't see any American sentries around him. What was going on.

Where are the ONI agents?

Where are the plainclothes gendarmes?

Shouldn't such a military aircraft hub be strictly guarded? Why can a taxi drive here unimpeded? Could it be an American trap?

At this time, the taxi slowly stopped. Not far away, in an open space near the cliff, there was a simple teahouse selling Coke and candies.

Zuo Zhong, who didn't know what was going on, sat in the car and watched carefully, but saw the driver nonchalantly jump out of the car and walk to the front of the store to say hello to the people inside.

"Old man Allen, I brought you a new guest. He is a tourist. Give me a bottle of soda. This damn weather is so hot."

The driver wiped the sweat from his neck and waved to the left as he spoke. His movements were very skillful. It was obviously not the first time he had done this kind of thing.

Sorry, this is forced consumption.

Zuo Zhong got out of the car with a dark face, and was surprised to find that the teahouse owner was an Asian, a Japanese to be precise, because he was wearing a kimono.

"This is our first meeting, please take care of me."

Zuo Zhong said hello to the shop owner, who was about sixty years old, in Japanese. He glanced around and saw only a few taxis and a small number of tourists who also came here to rest. No abnormality was found.

Among them was a white tourist, standing on the edge of the cliff and taking pictures wildly at Pearl Harbor. I don’t know if he was a German Abwehr, a British Secret Intelligence Service, or a colleague of the Red Russian NK┴VD.

When he heard the local accent, the white-haired shop owner was not excited. He nodded lightly and asked Zuo Zhong what he wanted in English. He didn't look like a fellow villager with tears in his eyes when he saw a fellow villager.

Also, there are more Japanese immigrants making a living in Hawaii than there are rats in the sugar cane fields. Japanese has almost become the second common language, so it is not surprising to see Japanese people.

Zuo Zhong didn't mind. He generously ordered two bottles of Coke and two ice creams, and invited the taxi driver to enjoy them with him.

In this teahouse far away from the city, the price of ice cream is much higher than elsewhere. His bold gesture successfully attracted the attention of the "fellow villager", and the smile on his face became much more sincere.

"Looking at the accent, sir, is he from Osaka?"

The shop owner handed the ice cream to Zuo Zhong and asked casually, purely for the sake of the ice cream.

Zuo Zhong paused with a smile, put the money and tip on the counter, looked around and took the opportunity to ask: "Isn't this a 'no entry' area?"

The shop owner's eyes lit up and he quickly took back the banknotes and explained without raising his head: "No, no, it's more relaxed here and people often come to play."

Zuo Zhong understood that Americans were just assholes with a smooth surface. Pearl Harbor looked heavily guarded, but in fact it was full of loopholes.

Even the Central Commander-in-Chief could not do this if he left such a big blind spot for anyone to come in and out. The slackness of the Americans once again refreshed his understanding.

After taking a bite of ice cream, Zuo Chong looked at the Pacific Fleet in the distance and decided to come here a few more times to get a rough idea of ​​the situation before trying to find a way to sneak into the base.

Looking back on today's experience, he was fully confident that he could deceive the port guards and mistook the Americans for Xu Enzeng.