afterglow

Chapter 243 Chapter [-] Sudden motion;
Unlike the north, the amount of dishes for the state banquet is relatively small.

The people who can be invited to the festive banquet are mainly divided into three categories, one is officials in Beijing of the fourth rank and above; the other is people who have made outstanding achievements recently; the third is diplomats from foreign embassies.

Undoubtedly, the number of people in the first category is the largest, and their average age is almost approaching the age of knowing their destiny. Compared with the lively young people, their appetites are naturally smaller.

As a result, for the first time in ten years at the Ming Dynasty State Banquet, someone asked for extra food. The last time such a thing happened was more than ten years ago.

Given that it was not excessive, the request was quickly granted.

"Except for the bad honey rice, everything else is very good. This meal is not bad. But, I probably won't go there again in the future." Someone Zhou commented sharply after returning to the station.

Two days later.

The weather seems to be a bit weird. After the winter solstice this year, the temperature has warmed up a little, but it has dropped back soon.

There are a few floating clouds in the blue sky, and because the sun's altitude angle is too low, even though that round of daylight is in the right sky, there is not much energy radiating to the world.

In the Advisory Council, the regular meeting in the second half of the year finally came to an end. After more than a month, members of various factions went through six rounds of debates, and the main regulations of the budget for the next year, that is, the 38th year of Zhichang, have already been discussed. was modified later.

The voting session of the budget meeting also passed smoothly. Because the previous rounds of debates and repeated fine-tuning and revisions have generally satisfied all parties, there are only a few dozen negative votes in total.

In fact, at this stage, according to the "Ming Constitution", the budget is already in a state of pending entry into force, and then it only needs to be signed and stamped by the prime minister on behalf of the imperial court to take effect.

Conversely, if the court (government) is dissatisfied and does not approve, there is still a chance to ask the Advisory Council to make another adjustment, but regardless of whether the result changes, the budget will take effect immediately.

But what's interesting is that if there is a need to increase taxes in the budget, it will be split separately and submitted to the imperial court, and the emperor will stamp his approval.

Seeing that this year's regular meeting was about to end, a member of the Constitutional Council suddenly submitted a motion and applied to the Advisory Council to hold an interim meeting.

"Cut a part of the distribution of education and medical care, and then issue national bonds separately, and collect [-] million yuan to be used for the redemption of land and acres? This amount is a bit too much."

Zhu Lingjing, who was enjoying the comfort of a winter home in the mansion, learned of the news immediately.

"This happened so suddenly, why the need to be in such a hurry?" Fang Shujun paused, and said, "In previous years, the number was always two or three, never higher than fifty million."

"What does the Constitutional Council think?" Zhu Lingjing knew intuitively that something was wrong, so she directly asked the key point, "What is the background of this person?"

"This congressman was unknown in the past, and I have asked someone to investigate."

"it is good."

Thoughtful, Fang Shujun cupped his hands, and said in a deep thought: "But then again, the crown prince and the Constitutional Council have already planned this, and it's not...not a surprise."

Zhu Lingjing said indifferently: "It's okay to issue bonds, but it's really unwise to cut the existing budget on the day of preparing for the war."

This can be regarded as a wave of ups and downs. The actions of radicals and the turmoil caused by suppressing them have already had an obvious impact, and budget cuts are bound to cause dissatisfaction.

Today we can put forward an interim bill to cut the education and medical budgets, but will we propose another one to cut the defense budget tomorrow?
It's hard not to make people think about it, and the redemption of land and acres has always been hated by conservatives of all factions, and the majority of landowners are also dissatisfied.

Although it is theoretically normal for the government to spend money to force landlords to buy land—even though it is coercive—it paid for it after all, and the price was higher than the market value.

But it is well known that at least any policy of Ming Dynasty will deviate from the original idea in actual implementation, and the local officials will not let go of any opportunity to make money.

Fields can be divided into upper, middle and lower grades according to factors such as fertility and location. The redemption prices of different grades are also different, and the grades of fields can be classified by the government, which has ample room for manipulation.

Against such a background, Zhu Lingjing thought that one thing more is worse than one thing less for the time being, but the Constitutional Council abruptly proposed this proposal.

Even if the original intention is good, it will only intensify the unresolved contradictions.

So she said casually: "This party does not support it, or rather, I do not agree."

Although Zhu Lingjing is a special advisor to the executive committee, she cannot fully represent the entire Chinese Party.

However, in view of the identity and influence here, the right to speak is still not small.

In the case of land reform, the main factions in Ming Dynasty did not oppose it in principle, but the differences in specific implementation were very different.

Fang Shujun nodded, "I think so, this matter... at least the party is hard to agree with, but it's hard to say what the final result will be. The Constitutional Council is relatively powerful, and it depends on how the other factions decide."

"Let's keep an eye on it for now."

"Yes."

There are many examples of great Ming nobles participating in politics, and most of them choose between the Constitutional Council and the Chinese Party.

Although the total number of royal families participating in politics is quite large, if you don’t count those distant branches who have issued three, four, and five uniforms, there are very few royal families who are close relatives of the current emperor. Zhu Lingjing who participated in the Chinese Party can be said to be the only one. .

Generally speaking, it is similar to the position of the Ming Constitutional Council, the difference is that it supports chauvinism and trade protectionism, so it has become more and more popular in the past ten years.

Advocating the superiority of the Han nationality, not opposing foreign expansion, and supporting high tariffs and import quotas to protect Ming's industries, it is obvious that it is particularly in line with the appetite of young soldiers and small and medium-sized business owners.

In addition to a little maverick temperament, Zhu Lingjing's joining the Chinese Party is not lacking in deliberation. It can be said that she guessed the emperor's mind very accurately.

Zhu Liqie, who is highly sought after by the Constitutional Council, is too stubborn in his behavior and lacks the smoothness necessary for an excellent politician. The royal family may indeed need a person to play a mediating role-not too much, just a little.

On the first day of December, in the morning, the sky was dawning.

In the chief officer's room, Zhou Changfeng was listening to the radio while eating steaming porridge with preserved egg and lean meat, while the two voices of men and women with correct accents were broadcasting the morning news.

At first, he was not used to the incoming sound of "Daming Putonghua". Whether it was listening or speaking, he felt a little strange, but fortunately he got used to it quickly.

"...The Yellow River Bridge in Jinan Prefecture will be completed in a few days, and it is planned to open to traffic at the end of this month."

At this time, Xiao Li knocked on the door and came in with a letter.

"This is……"

"It's from the Criminal Office of the Shanghai Government, it seems to be a commendation."

"Corruption Hall? It shouldn't be that."

Based on his intuition, he guessed that it was probably the incident at the cafe next to Chaoxi Avenue, and when he opened the envelope, it was true.

The words and sentences described on the letter paper continued the consistent style of the Ming government, and were a bit lengthy, "...to protect the safety of the people around you from the disaster of robbery, it is extremely brave."

The actual content was to praise Mr. Zhou for drawing his gun and fighting back, and to reward him with a check of [-] yuan.

He picked up the check, looked at it, and sighed: "It's a windfall, it gave me three months' salary all at once."

The Military Judiciary not only sentenced him to imprisonment, but also fined him a salary, so he couldn't get a penny of salary in the past few months.

At that time, it was absolutely inevitable to fight back. To put it bluntly, even if you were charged with excessive crimes, it was impossible to obediently give money to the robbers.

The only possible disagreement is that he even chased out and continued to shoot at the robbers who were already fleeing.

But the government seems to ignore this point, maybe because he really thinks it is harmless, or because he doesn't want to be troublesome because of his status.

In ancient times, there were both rewards and punishments for brave actions. There were rewards for being brave and punishment for turning a blind eye.

This has been the case since the Qin and Han Dynasties. For example, in the "Law of the Ming Dynasty", there is a rich reward that "every ordinary person captures one robber and two thieves, each rewards 20 taels of silver, five or more robbers, and more than ten thieves."

At the same time, there is also a law that "if a robber robs, if the neighbor knows and does not cooperate to take it, the stick will be eighty."

What is very interesting about Da Ming now is that in this situation, dealing with robbers and thieves is calculated according to the number, and it is far from killing a robber and a group of robbers.

"A reward of [-] yen will be rewarded for capturing a robber and a robber; half the reward for killing or injuring one."

Three of the four bandits were knocked down by him, and all of them died of serious injuries, so they were rewarded with half of [-] yuan.

This made him wonder whether there would be bounty hunters—organized hunts and arrests of those bandits, and then went to the government to collect rewards.

To his question, Xie Wancheng replied without hesitation: "Yes, there really were in the past. In our ancestors' time, banditry was rampant in the world, and the imperial court vigorously suppressed bandits, so there were people who specialized in doing this, but it was too dangerous. Ordinary people didn't have the guts to do it." .”

"Too."

The enthusiastic Zhou Changfeng immediately wrote a letter to Xia Xiaoshi, boasting to her about his little achievements.

Different from the huge sum of money that Zhu Lingjing gave, this windfall was reasonable and safe to use.

This day was undoubtedly a joy for him, and in the distant suburbs of Guangzhou, the same joy filled the faces of everyone in the air force base.

Today is the day when the trial production of the Sanqi-type shore-based torpedo bomber received its first evaluation. The design and development team of Guangzhou Anteng Aircraft Company and some officers of the Navy observed the whole process.

Aircraft that can mount torpedoes or aerial bombs to attack sea targets have always been valued by the Ming Navy, and they have always been recognized as a sharp weapon that can influence the battle situation.

The shore-based torpedo bomber currently equipped by the Ming army is the Type [-] that was finalized two years ago. It is the first mass-produced single-wing twin-engine torpedo bomber. However, because it is the first time, its design is extremely conservative.

Although it is an epoch-making progress from biplane to monoplane, the inherently conservative design makes its performance extremely unsatisfactory to the Navy, and it is doomed to lack the potential for improvement.

Therefore, after an order for 160 aircraft was placed that year, an instruction to immediately develop the next-generation model was issued from the Navy.

There were not many companies interested in participating in the bidding, three companies refused to participate, and two companies voluntarily gave up at the initial stage, so in the end only Hangzhou Zhongsheng Aircraft Company and Guangzhou Itanium Aircraft Company competed.

The Type [-] torpedo aircraft is the work of Zhongsheng Company, and they undoubtedly have an inherent advantage.

For the defeated Itanium company, they naturally have some contempt in their subconscious - we not only have experience, but also made a lot of money because we have received more than 100 orders, and have rich research and development funds. What do you compare it to?

For the development of the new shore-based torpedo bomber, the Navy’s responsible person has repeatedly asked: “It is not recommended to abandon the superior ease of maneuverability of the Type [-] Thunderbolt. In future wars, the rapid expansion of the army, so that new pilots can quickly adapt to the fighter is extremely important. .And this can save a lot of trouble in daily practice, often accidents are easy to be criticized."

All in all, the navy's requirements are a bit tricky - it must retain good maneuverability and be easy to drive, but its performance and improvement potential should be stronger and greater.

Maneuverability and performance are sometimes contradictory in design, which can be said to test the designer's level.

Itanium, which failed in the bidding last time, learned from the painful experience and is determined to take the crown this time.

In terms of design, the trial-produced Sanqi torpedo aircraft boldly abandoned the golden mean, and switched to the design of the main wing and flaps with high wing loads that performed well in previous wind tunnel experiments. The shape, area, cross-section, area, etc. were carefully designed fine-tuning.

The design of the fuselage is also drastic. Drawing on the lessons learned from the failed development of the previous bidding, the structure of the fuselage has been simplified and reduced, and the wind resistance has been reduced as much as possible while ensuring that the width is sufficient to accommodate weapons and equipment.

Viewed from the front, its cross-sectional projected area is larger and its appearance is thicker, so it can accommodate more airborne equipment and weapons.

The main wing of the trial-produced Type [-] torpedo machine is completely made of new aluminum alloy skin, and there is no need for a little "backward" corrugated plate, which is very smooth.

The crew is four people, including: pilot, co-pilot, navigator and mechanic, radio operator.The dual-mounted 12.8mm self-defense machine guns on the back of the machine are concurrently served by radio operators.

The weapons it can mount are extremely powerful in this era. The pylon on the belly can mount a standard 448mm light aviation torpedo or an aerial bomb with a total weight of 1000kg.

The rest of the airborne equipment is also very rich and complete, two radio stations, a radio compass, and a new type of autopilot. All the equipment is the most advanced in Ming Dynasty, and details such as ventilation, heating, and toilets are also carefully designed.

Driven by two 900-horsepower air-cooled radial engines, the test machine under standard loading conditions flew at a low altitude of 372㎞/h, which directly broke the record.

Even though the design of the higher wing load makes the take-off and landing of the trial-produced [-]-type torpedo bomber feel bad, the experienced test pilots complained again and again, but because of the excellent performance, the navy selectively ignored what they emphasized at the beginning Requirements - ease of operation should be excellent.

The so-called arrogant soldiers must be defeated. After two years of confrontation, Itanium, which took the lead, really won. This type of aircraft is destined to leave a strong mark in the history of aviation and warfare in Ming Dynasty.

(End of this chapter)