afterglow

Chapter 228 The first day out of prison; one of the war plans
"The sky is clear and the air is clear, hoo...it feels so good to be free!"

In the morning, at the gate of Qixia Prison, a relaxed Zhou Changfeng couldn't help sighing.

"Fight for the freedom of others, but end up losing your own freedom, so you'll be happy." Xia Xiaoshi, who came to pick him up, complained.

Zhou Changfeng was in prison before, and it would be too embarrassing to say such things during visits, but now that he is out, he no longer has such worries.

"I'm very satisfied. I'll be punished both in reason and in the law." Zhou Changfeng shrugged and said nonchalantly, "Besides, the last few days are rather boring. Before, I always felt as leisurely as a vacation."

"Tough mouth!" Xia Xiaoshi, who was wearing a light blue shirt and skirt, flicked her sleeves and said, "If I meet such a student at school, I usually greet him with a ruler."

"Oh, then you can whip me with a ruler in the future." Zhou Changfeng looked indifferent.

Xia Xiaoshi:? ? ?

This is the first day back to normal life, so there must be a small celebration.

With whom?Naturally, it's with my fiancée. Anyway, it's been so long since I've been back to the First Marine Regiment, and it's the same if it's one more day late.

Even though Qixia Mountain is a famous scenic spot, it is located in a remote place after all, and the two waited for a long time before boarding the bus.

While in the car, looking at Xia Xiaoshi's side face beside him, Zhou Changfeng's thoughts were pulled away in an instant, and he immediately thought of marriage.

I didn't expect to be able to commute my sentence before and get out of prison early, but now it's different, so let's settle this matter early!
The bus arrived at the terminus at Tongji Gate, which is regarded as entering the urban area, but how can the North District be compared with the bustling South District?

While waiting for the bus to transfer, Zhou Chang, who had organized his speech, asked in a cold and uninspired way: "I have thought about it, let's get married in the twelfth lunar month of this year or the first month of next year, and choose a good day then."

"Ah?" The surprise came too quickly and abruptly, Xia Xiaoshi was stunned for a few seconds, then blinked, and nodded shyly in agreement.

"Everyone takes a bath around the end of the year, so it's relatively free. Otherwise, if it's normal, if you want to attend the wedding, you have to ask for leave."

"Well, that makes sense."

About half an hour later, the bus stopped steadily at Taiping Road in Nancheng District.

The streets and alleys on both sides of the Qinhuai River have been extremely prosperous since ancient times, and it is still the same today. Nancheng District is the largest financial and commercial area in the capital of Ming Dynasty.

The most striking thing here are the few skyscrapers. You only need to look up a little to see a skyscraper under construction and a completed one.

They are the product of following the skyscraper trend in the world in the past ten years. The two completed ones are 303m and 320m high respectively, and the one under construction was originally planned to reach an unprecedented 400m, but it was cut to 385m due to technical limitations.

Now the world's number one throne is the 381m of the Empire State Building in New York. Today Xinjian is ambitious and hopes to win this crown.

The name of this skyscraper under construction is also simple and direct. It is called "Daming Building". It's coming there.

Yangming Group is one of the largest industrial companies in Daming today, with a distinctive feature—focusing on people's livelihood.

Its main business is light industry, import and export trade, scientific and technological research, textile, paper, food, home appliances, hardware, etc.; heavy industry is currently limited to cement, chemical fertilizers, and pesticides.

The predecessor of this group was the "Xinjian Ash Factory" decades ago. The ash factory was a cement factory. Renamed to "Yang Ming Group".

This is typical bureaucratic capital, or...state capital.

These two are not rigorous economic concepts, but generally refer to business models that rely on power and nepotism.

One neutral and one derogatory, when a business group can still represent and safeguard the interests of its own citizens, it can be called national capital; otherwise, it is bureaucratic capital.

It is often said that it is a woman's nature to love shopping, and Xia Xiaoshi is completely in line with this.

What frightened Zhou Changfeng was that she still had a lot of energy left after shopping for a long time, as if she automatically obtained a buff of -90% physical energy consumption while shopping.

In a large department store with three floors, Xia Xiaoshi, who is always happy, is full of interest in each store, and while shopping, she calculates the appearance and cost performance of various furniture.

"This phonograph looks good, tsk... 29 yuan. Hey, the main reason is that the record costs extra."

"Miss, if you buy more records, the price will be reduced, [-]% off for ten, and [-]% off for twenty."

Standing at the door of the shop, Zhou Changfeng glanced at it. It was a vertical phonograph made of ebony wood engraved with patterns of clouds, thunder and phoenix birds. The upper part was a phonograph, and the lower part was a cabinet for storing records.

Yo, it's quite bourgeoisie.

He couldn't help but tease, "Exquisite life, you are quite good at living."

Xia Xiaoshi asked after hearing the words: "Do you think it's too expensive, sir?"

"No, I just said it casually."

"Father has taught me since I was a child that I can live a life with whatever status I have, and my duty is to feel at ease. It is inappropriate to pretend to be poor and complain about suffering, or to slap a swollen face to pretend to be fat."

Zhou Changfeng: "..."

She asked solemnly: "My salary is not high, does your husband disagree?"

Under Xia Xiaoshi's counterattack, Zhou Changfeng was really powerless to refute, so he could only smile embarrassingly.

Hey, I've got a wife who speaks eloquently. I'm afraid life after marriage will be bad...

He paced outside the shop and reached the corner of this floor.

Because this shopping mall is built in the Yazi fork road, its plane shape is approximately like an isosceles triangle, and the place where Zhou Changfeng walks is the sharp corner.

The windows here are very tall, and the view from the outside is also excellent, and you can see the entire intersection of busy streets.

He looked up, down, left, and right, and said to himself: "It's a good place...it's a pity."

"Since it's a good place, what's the pity?" Xia Xiaoshi's voice suddenly came from behind.

Zhou Changfeng said "Oh", pointed down casually, and replied: "The view here is very good. If a heavy machine gun is placed here and on the third floor of the restaurant diagonally opposite, it can effectively block the entire street."

???

Outrageous, this guy has never been puzzled by style before, is he deliberately joking this time?
Xia Xiaoshi, who didn't know why, subconsciously asked: "What's the pity?"

"Because this building is a brick-concrete structure, not a frame structure, it should not be used as a strong support point."

"Why? Isn't it all reinforced concrete?"

"The outer wall of the brick-concrete structure also bears load. If it is damaged, the integrity will fail. In actual combat, it may collapse in half after being hit by a few shells." Zhou Changfeng turned around and raised his finger to a longitudinal beam above. "But the frame structure only uses beams and columns to bear the load, and the outer walls only play the role of enclosure, so it's okay to remove them all."

Xia Xiaoshi doesn't know what to do - she doesn't understand, but she thinks it makes sense.

"Excellent, sir, how do you even know this?"

Seeing her star-eyed expression, Zhou Changfeng coughed dryly: "It's not worth mentioning, it's just the basic cultivation of a qualified military officer."

"Well, let's go, this is the capital, no one can get in."

"It's not the same thing."

Although they were released from prison early in the morning, because it took too long to travel from Qixia Mountain to Nancheng District, it was already noon after the two of them walked around for a long time.

When the two of them were aimlessly looking for a favorite restaurant on the street, the cabinet ministers and senior generals who came from all over the capital and even from other places were entering the Wenhua Palace one after another.

After staying in the rest room for a while, they were led to the largest chamber No. [-].

The huge square table was a full two meters wide, and its length allowed ten chairs to be placed face to face. Now teacups and sealed documents were neatly arranged in front of every position on it.

Under the arrangement of the attendants, all the big shots took their seats one after another.

Looking at the document sealed with red "Top Secret" on kraft paper in front of him, someone turned his head and asked, "Can it be opened now?"

"You please."

Amidst the sound of "hissing" one after another, the documents were torn apart, and the inquiring eyes quickly scanned the words on them.

At this time, Lin Xi stepped over the threshold and walked in with a thin, middle-aged man who was looking radiant.

Seeing this, more than a dozen people in the meeting hall all looked over at the same time.

Someone happily said: "I haven't seen Duke Wei for two months since the middle of the year. How is your health?"

Minister of Finance Li Guangyuan smiled and said: "Look at his complexion, isn't it clear? I just gave away several boxes of old wild ginseng that has been around for decades, so it is naturally very good."

As the top leader of the Metropolitan Governor's Mansion, Wu Weihuan, Duke of the State of Wei, also served as the commander of the garrison commander, but the latter was actually only a name.

Hearing this, he couldn't help laughing and said: "Well, Li Mingyin, how can those old ginseng you gave me be eaten and supplemented indiscriminately?"

What is lacking and supplemented, random supplements will cause trouble, especially ginseng, which is a great supplement.

At the beginning of this year, due to sudden acute pancreatitis, Wu Weihuan walked around the gate of hell. Fortunately, he was snatched back and has been recuperating for half a year.

With the presence of two key figures, this meeting began.

After browsing through the documents in their hands, everyone present quickly understood the purpose—oh?Is the emperor really thinking about the Wa country?

Lin Xi glanced around, and slowly introduced: "Have you all seen it? This 'A Zi/[-]/[-] Number/Change [-]' plan can be traced back to the sixth year of Zhichang at the earliest, and it has been successively developed since then. It has been revised five times."

Minister of Foreign Affairs Yu Shenhua said with some surprise: "You have already made up your mind so early?"

"Actually, there was a strategy for conquering the Japanese 200 years ago." Lin Xi smiled and replied logically: "Basic preparations are necessary. This is just one of more than a hundred war plans. It is also a strategy. Wa country has several plans to deal with different situations."

The numbering of war plans by the Ming army was also very standardized—"A character" means that this is an offensive plan; "[-]" is a number with no actual meaning; "No. [-]" refers to one of the situations; It is the first revision.

Number one represents a war situation without foreign intervention, in addition to number two considering British intervention, number three considering American intervention, and so on.

"The matter of conquest of the Japanese kingdom is brought up every now and then. Is the emperor interested this time?" Someone laughed with great interest.

"Naturally, it has nothing to do with preferences. It's just that I think the timing is right." The prime minister Zou Zhuoyun, who has been silent since the beginning, took a sip from his teacup and said lightly, "Let's talk about it first."

The meeting hall was so quiet that there were only the sound of breathing and the sound of teacups colliding with lids. More than a dozen cabinet ministers and senior generals were in the midst of a brainstorm.

Suddenly, a lieutenant general broke the silence first.

"In the first wave, four army divisions and two air force detachments were deployed to Shikoku Island, and in the second wave, three divisions and two air force detachments were deployed to the Yamaguchi area in the west of Honshu Island... IMHO, this has the effect of adding oil one by one. I think it's too dumb, and lacks the sharpness to control the enemy with one move."

"It's an exaggeration, I can only say that this plan is relatively safe." Another lieutenant general retorted: "The theory of one move to control the enemy is too empty. Although the Wa Kingdom is now independent, the Wa King's jurisdiction is limited, and no one can order all parties. , but it is unrealistic to expect that after defeating a few feudal towns, other feudal towns will obediently surrender?

"In terms of military affairs, I don't think there is anything to worry about. It's a tiny place, and it's divided into separate domains, so there's no difficulty at all." Yu Shenhua pondered, "The key point is still the reaction of Britain and the United States."

"The situation in Europe is also not optimistic. The British will only interfere if they lose their minds. It is obvious that they will only protest verbally."

"I agree. So, it's probably the U.S. that has more to worry about."

"The United States also has no possibility of interfering. Taking a step back, if they do their calculations mentally or unintentionally, by the time they finish by the way, the Sun and Moon flags will have been planted all over the Eastern Islands."

The generals have similar opinions, and they naturally don't want to miss the opportunity to make contributions.

Seeing that they had the same opinion, Li Guangyuan said: "What we need to consider more is the import and export trade. The conquest against Japan is too tough. Britain and the Netherlands are likely to counter it economically, and the United States will counter it." less likely."

"This view is too pessimistic and inappropriate." Lin Xi shook his head slightly, "The British politicians are equally shrewd. We can try to communicate in advance on this matter and temporarily maintain and protect their vested interests in Japan. Negotiate terms Well, not shabby."

"Xiangguo, what do you think?" Yu Shenhua looked at Zou Zhuoyun, who was seated at the top.

The latter with a calm expression replied:
"Maybe consider one or two in another way. From the perspective of Britain, the United States, and the Netherlands, only the resource-rich Nanyang Islands have enough value to be defended. First, they can seize resources, and second, they can be used as frontier positions."

"As for the country of Wa, which is far away in the sky, it is barren and has few resources at all. It is a pity that there is no food to eat and give up. If Daming can allow them to withdraw decently, I think the British will definitely consider it seriously."

"This is one important thing. The other is that it can be said to be beneficial and harmless as a tactic to slow down the army. The cost is very small. Now that the situation is getting more and more anxious, the British will inevitably sign a contract to ensure complementary offenses. Well, I discussed this with Your Majesty. He thinks that after two years It's worth a try."

After a brief silence, there was a burst of approval in the chamber.

Thoughtful Li Guangyuan nodded and said: "In this case, it's better to do it as soon as possible. Negotiations take a lot of time, so we shouldn't procrastinate."

(End of this chapter)