afterglow

Chapter 287 Hiring a Nanny and Giving Bodyguards;
The purpose of the crown prince's special trip to Japan is very simple. To put it bluntly, it is to show the world that the Dongying Islands will be an important part of the tributary circle. The Ming Dynasty is committed to maintaining an orderly, stable economic, political, and military circle with China as the core.

Like patrolling the territory and declaring sovereignty, the crown prince will first stay in Nagasaki Xuanweisi for two days to inspect the local situation, and then fly to Tokyo and stay there for three days.

Including the rest days in the middle, I will finally return to China and Beijing on July [-].

"Your Highness, the plane is descending, and your ears may be a little swollen."

Zhu Liqie took a nap during this period, and he turned his head to look out the window.

At this time, the plane has passed through the clouds, and the green land below is clearly visible.

Align the runway, slow down approach!
The propellers and tires rolled up the dust on the runway, and the plane slowly slowed down on the runway, and finally came to a steady stop.

In this way, unprecedentedly, Zhu Liqie, who simultaneously represented the will of the emperor and the determination of the court, set foot on the land of the Dongying Islands.

How important is this symbolic and historic day?The reporters present had been waiting for a long time, and cameras and video cameras were facing the only way to pass.

The image of the Crown Prince of Ming Dynasty walking off the plane through the gangway was frozen. Almost at the same time the first photo was taken, some newspaper staff started running out with the film.

The fastest, almost in no particular order, were those from the Los Angeles Times and Le Figaro, who sprinted into their newspapers' mobile fax vans and started developing film quickly.

This is a medium-sized van equipped with a darkroom for film development and machinery for scanning photographs.

After about half an hour of operation, the photos were developed, and the mobile fax car drove to the nearby cable telegraph pole. The operator connected the wires to the on-board equipment, and the scanner immediately began to scan the photos in circles.

The "Los Angeles Times" took the lead, and the photos were decomposed into image signals, and then transmitted to Los Angeles on the other side of the ocean through submarine cables laid on the seabed and across the entire Pacific Ocean.

There, the staff of the newspaper office quickly received the signal and restored it to an image—it was a passenger plane with a dragon pattern that symbolizes the royal family. At the cabin door, a well-proportioned figure was walking down the gangway steadily with his head held high.

Timeliness is what the newspaper office pursues most.

After racking their brains on the gimmicks of the text headlines but unable to gain an advantage, some newspapers began to find another way in an attempt to achieve cornering overtaking.

Like...photos.

It's also reporting an important news, your newspaper's front page headline only has text, but I have live photos, who will be more popular?
So a few years ago, this remote image transmission technology was officially put into use.

In this day and age, such a technology is a bit unbelievable no matter how you look at it, and it can be called science fiction.

When newspapers around the world were working tirelessly and overtime to print newspapers with the headline "Chinese Crown Prince Arrives in Japan", Zhou Changfeng and his family were having dinner happily.

It was getting late after signing the contract, and because the chat was speculative, Xia Xiaoshi asked Lin Xi to stay for dinner before leaving, and even wanted to keep her overnight.

"Sir, it's getting late. Instead of letting the little girl go to the inn alone, it's better to let her stay overnight. Anyway, the west wing of our house is empty."

There are two rooms in the west wing, the north and the south, one of which is a guest room, which is used to accommodate visiting guests.

"It's okay to eat, but not to stay overnight. Don't forget the rules." Zhou Changfeng directly refused.

In fact, Xia Xiaoshi didn't expect that he would flatly refuse at first, so she was taken aback for a moment before she realized what was wrong.

Well, it would be inappropriate for Lin Xi, a foreigner, to stay overnight at his home before the Foreign Police Department inspects her.

Dinner was relatively simple and unpretentious.

In addition to scrambled eggs with leeks and fried shredded pork with fungus, there is also a grass carp that Zhou Changfeng and Xia Bing caught in Mochou Lake last night, weighing two and a half catties, and stewed with tender white tofu. It is a fragrant grass carp stewed tofu.

"How, are you used to eating?" Xia Xiaoshi asked with a smile: "Your food is far from ours, right?"

That's natural, Hakka cuisine is quite different from the cuisines of the Central Plains and Jiangnan regions.

"Well, the dishes cooked by Madam are all good."

Zhou Changfeng has been observing Lin Xi intentionally or unintentionally, and he is a little surprised by the neatness of this little girl's gestures.

Just... the behavior of ordinary people is generally more casual, even if the family education is very strict, the movements are only more regular and elegant.Unless it is from a martial arts family, how could it be so neat?

So he asked: "Xiaoxi, have you ever practiced martial arts? I think your demeanor is quite crisp and neat."

Lin Xi, who was about to pick up food, subconsciously withdrew his chopsticks when he heard the words, then shook his head and replied, "No, I was only trained as a non-commissioned officer."

Well, forgot about this.

Only then did Zhou Changfeng remember this matter.

Lanfang’s education system is very similar to that of the United States. There are four years in high school from ninth grade to 12th grade. When the 11th grade enters, students can voluntarily sign up for the national defense student candidate non-commissioned officer training. In the next two years, they will participate in 40 training sessions, with a total of 960 hours. Finally, they will be awarded the rank of reserve corporal or sergeant based on the evaluation results.

"Why did you think of signing up for this? Could it be mandatory?" Xia Xiaoshi was a little curious.

"Hmm..." Lin Xi hesitated: "Because I can learn some skills without spending money, and my father said that with this (reserve non-commissioned officer status), if I have nowhere to go in the future, I can go to the army to ask for an errand."

Zhou Changfeng, secretly happy in his heart, asked, "What non-commissioned officer did you report?"

"Communication."

Because of the background of the times, the wired and wireless communication technologies in the 30s and [-]s developed rapidly and were no longer high-end.Telephones have entered the homes of ordinary people, and faxes and telegrams are no longer out of reach, gradually becoming common people.

In view of the good market prospects, Lin Xi's father asked her to sign up for the popular communications sergeant training. For this reason, she even stuffed red envelopes to make connections before applying.

In this way, after finishing high school, you can learn skills for free and have the status of a reserve sergeant, which is simply wonderful.

But after working in the telecommunications office of Dongwanlu National Library No. [-] for a year, Lin Xi felt that such a life was too boring, so he resigned without authorization.

"Do you know how to use a gun?" Zhou Changfeng asked.

The little girl is thin and thin, and her training in combat is useless.

"In a little while, we have self-defense weapons class."

"How much is one point? How many rings is a ten-meter target?"

"Seven shots (PPK), more than 50 rings... I remember 52 rings."

This result is not bad, not ideal for a male combatant, but Lin Xi is a female non-combatant, which is not bad.

Hiring a nanny who cooks, does laundry, and cleans with the bonus of a bodyguard?Simply not too cost-effective!

After dinner, Lin Xi bid farewell to Zhou and Xia and left, found a nearby inn to stay in, and then went to the foreign police factory early the next morning to apply for a review.

This matter was originally very small, just an insignificant matter among the countless large and small matters handled by the outside factory every day, but because a high-ranking naval officer was involved, the staff who handled the matter reported it according to the regulations.

After registering and reviewing according to the standard procedure, one of the principals casually told Shen Yu while chatting—because he remembered that Shen Yu seemed to know this "famous" Zhou.

"...Don't say it, it's really good. I'm much more energetic. I wonder why you all drink tea and coffee, but I'm just the opposite?"

"Then who knows, anyway, I'm not going to be able to drink that bitter thing, and I should be sleepy or sleepy, so it's better to drink tea."

During lunch, several officials from the outside factory were chatting. At this time, someone said to Shen Yu who was slurping soup, "Zihao, let me tell you, something happened to my subordinates this morning. A woman from Lanfang came to be investigated on her own initiative in order to work as a maid in someone else's house."

Feeling baffled, Shen Yu glanced at him, and complained: "And then? There's no beginning or end."

"You should know the family she is going to. Zhou Changfeng is the one from the Navy."

"Ok?"

Shen Yu frowned when she heard the words, and immediately asked vigilantly, "What's wrong? Is there something strange about that woman?"

"That's not true. There was nothing unusual in the routine interrogation. Lao Li also went to take a look and said that she was just an ordinary girl."

"That's fine, Lao Li has screened as many fine works as the bridges you have walked through."

Although he said so, Shen Yu was still very strange—what did Zhou Changfeng do?Always doing weird things!

Not to mention the past, a military attache from the German Society visited some time ago, and now a reserve non-commissioned officer from Lanfang is visiting.

When looking for a maid for your sister-in-law, shouldn't you give priority to someone you know well?No matter how bad it is, at least it must be a local, right?I really don't understand what this guy is thinking.

Shen Yu complained a few words in her heart, and Zhou Changfeng, who was having a meeting in the No. [-] conference hall of the Navy Department of the Ministry of War, couldn't help but sneezed.

"Ah!"

He touched his nose, thinking that the temperature of the air conditioner here was set too low, but he obviously didn't feel cold.

In the huge conference hall, there are more than 20 naval officers of the Ming Dynasty, ranging from majors to brigadier generals...there are civilian majors, technical lieutenant colonels, staff colonels and so on.

As a lieutenant colonel of the Marine Corps, Zhou Changfeng was supposed to be an inconspicuous member, but his deeds were so legendary that they had already been spread among the army, navy and air force.

"...This is the first-class experimental type after all. It is my first time to preside over the design. There must be some omissions and inappropriate parts. If you have any comments, please convey them in time. I hope that this aspect will be more perfect and strive for excellence." This is a speech by a designer from Jiangsu and Zhejiang Shipbuilding Group. He presided over the design of the first-class frigate of the Ming Dynasty.

"...All in all, for such a brand-new ship type, how to use it must be clear in the heart, so that the regular fleet destroyers can be completely liberated from the heavy escort tasks, and the strength of the front-line main fleet will be enhanced in disguise." This is a speech by a colonel of the Nanyang Fleet, and he is stating his analysis of future defense of the maritime supply line.

Zhou Changfeng had just talked to Yan Chenwu about the "frigate" type of light warship when he had just dug into the navy and was still making up lessons in the training class.

The latter's uncle, Yan Zhong, was the commander-in-chief of the First Battle Fleet of the Eastern Fleet, so his words naturally carried a lot of weight.

Under many impetus, the Ming Dynasty Navy formally established the project of "small warships with low construction costs and no need for high speed, mainly used to accompany the anti-submarine escort of the transport fleet".

A design team of the Jiangsu-Zhejiang Shipbuilding Industry Group designed a "trial-production A-type light frigate" based on the mature Guangning-class cargo ship.

The Guangning-class cargo ship is a type of civilian ship born in the early 30s, with an empty displacement of more than 900 tons. There is a great demand from the people. In just seven years, more than 100 ships have been built.

Because the navy requires "low construction costs", using such a mature cargo ship as the basis can save resources to a large extent, and those small and medium-sized shipyards can quickly switch production skillfully, and can also use some original accessories by the way.

The standard displacement of the "Trial Type A frigate" is 1030 tons, the full load displacement is 1250 tons, the length is about 68 meters, and the width is about 9.5 meters.

You can also choose to use the old-fashioned water-tube boiler and triple-expansion steam engine with a large inventory, which can output 2500 horsepower, the maximum speed drops to 16 knots, and the voyage is also reduced to 3200 nautical miles.

The weapon configuration is two 112mm naval guns, which is considered to be an ancestral thing of the Ming Navy, and it was used almost 30 years ago.It adopts a tandem layout, a semi-open mount, and no turret.

There are also two single-mounted 20.8mm anti-aircraft guns, two double-mounted 12.8mm anti-aircraft machine guns, and three 7.36mm heavy machine guns. There are two depth charge launch rails at the stern of the ship, and there is a depth charge ejector at the left rear and right rear. The entire ship is equipped with 60 depth charges.

In fact, Zhou Changfeng has always wondered why the Japanese anti-submarine escort was so inefficient during the Great War in history. Not only was the pre-war construction biased, but there was also a lack of effective remedial measures during the war.

Is it because of the characteristics of the Japanese war situation since ancient times that they naturally lack the concept of "protecting food roads when fighting"?

There is neither effective anti-submarine escort force nor sufficient merchant ship reserves, and the number of cargo ships built during the war is very small. After a large number of merchant ships were sunk by U.S. submarines, the embarrassed Japanese were in a dilemma.

On the other hand, the Daming Navy in front of us paid as much attention to defending the sea supply line as it did to studying fleet decisive battles, and it could even be said to be even more important.

In particular, the dozens of submarines deployed by the Americans in Wakayama and Ishikawa counties have always been a thorn in the side of the Ming Navy. They even have several detailed plans to destroy these submarines as much as possible at the beginning of the war.

"...As for this type of special support ship, it is purely prepared to provide strong support for the landing troops. The power of the multiple rocket launchers... is shocking. Huh? Where are Lieutenant Colonel Zhou Changfeng and Lieutenant Colonel Zhou Changfeng?"

(End of this chapter)