afterglow

Chapter 326 Paratrooper Leg Pockets; Daming Local Officials Are So Cowardly?
"Let's see who gets caught first..."

After returning to the Yin Hotel in Houguan County, Zhou Changfeng began to ponder with the others who should start with it.

Since the shipyard incident still doesn't scare the big fish, let's increase the stir and force the other party to take action first.

Although it smells like fishing, there seems to be no other way right now?Neither the emperor nor the court was bothered to play cat and mouse on this matter.

On a whim, Shen Yu was trying to replace green tea with coffee. At this moment, he stirred the cup and said, "The customs in this prefecture are basically rotten. If you catch it casually, it means enough."

Zhou Changfeng flipped through the roster and investigation appendix, and said thoughtfully: "We still have to find a big one. They are too shrewd and cunning, and we have to rely on information differences to win."

He pointed to a piece of paper and said, "In this way, start with the household bureau, then the accounting department, and then the customs..."

Luo Fu nodded and said: "Indeed, when dealing with these old treacherous and cunning people, one should be straightforward, otherwise they will easily see their flaws."

After picking four people with different positions, Cui Quan, who took the order to leave, summoned his subordinates to arrest them.

If it is in Yingtianfu, the capital, arresting officials at home requires a special approval document issued by the criminal department, which is equivalent to a higher-level arrest warrant. It has long been called "driving post" by Ming people.

During Zhengtong and Chenghua years, not only ordinary yamen servants had to follow this rule, even Jinyiwei and Dongchang arresters also had to follow this rule, but with the chaos of the system and the decline of management ability, this rule gradually fell into disuse.

Now that Zhou and Shen can temporarily handle affairs with full power, it is completely in line with the rules to issue driving notes to arrest some middle and low-level officials.

Compared to Zhu Lingjing's hesitation and worry, Zhou Changfeng can be said to have no worries at all.

Even if the province of Fujian was paralyzed for several months, so what if it could not function normally in the initial stage of the outbreak of the war?
In fact, only the province of Guangzhou and the island of Xiaoliuqiu are enough to support the Ming army to go south without any worries.

It can only be said that the emperor and the court took the opponents in the Nanyang region too seriously.

This time, what the British and Indian troops in the Malay Peninsula will face is not just the bicycle army in history, but a battle group composed of serious tanks and trucks.

Because he sat firmly on the Diaoyutai and was not in a hurry, Zhou Changfeng still had the leisure to ask the officers and soldiers of the first paratrooper regiment to learn about the various situations of the Ming airborne troops.

Unlike the persistence and strong support of the Germans and Russians for paratrooper units, the paratrooper units of the Ming Dynasty Air Force are much smaller, and there are only three regiments today.

As the most difficult "conventional" force to train and deploy, the cost of forming a qualified airborne force is too high.

Not to mention other aspects, just a pair of parachutes in hand is a lot of money-it is a serious silk fabric, although it is not a disposable product, but the durability is not good.

Moreover, the combat effectiveness of the airborne troops is also very worrying. After all, the way they enter the battlefield determines that they are destined to lack heavy weapons, and after landing, they are in a state of disorder, disorganization, and fighting on their own.

But talking on paper is definitely not convincing, so right now the Air Force has specially organized a simulated confrontation exercise, which happened at the beginning of last year.

At that time, the second regiment of paratroopers participated in the actual combat simulation. The imaginary enemy on the ground was played by the No.20 Seventh Infantry Division of the Army. The troops are very limited.

However, the army still made a very effective response-they were sure that the airborne operations were very limited, and the opponent would inevitably choose flat and open areas to carry out airborne, so they sent some infantry units in advance to wait in these places.

On the open field, a heavy machine gun, a light machine gun, a mortar, and an infantry unit composed of only 20 people occupied favorable terrain such as ridges and hills, and barbed wire was laid around the position. Well camouflaged with mine, also carefully done.

After that, the army men drank tea, barbecued, played cards and slept leisurely in the camp.

Ever since, when the fleet of planes all over the sky flew over and dropped countless paratroopers, the whole sky was covered by white umbrella flowers.

Then, the army masters raised the heavy machine gun to a higher angle...

A considerable number of paratroopers were judged casualties by the director and coordination team as soon as they landed, and the subsequent offensive operations were even worse.

A group of stragglers in the open field faced the uninterrupted machine gun and mortar firepower of the opponent. It took a long time just to assemble, and the attack was even more embarrassing-only the mortar can be assembled in a short time to fight back. The paratroopers, who did not have enough supporting firepower, had to push forward little by little.

In the end, when the four or five preset anti-airborne positions in the airborne area were removed, the second paratrooper regiment had been judged to have suffered one-third of the casualties, and the head of the regiment was judged to be "killed by the opponent's mortar".

And the most important thing is that they took so much time that the Army had enough time to organize a reserve force to encircle them.

Whether it's a mule or a horse, let's talk about reality.

The results of the simulation exercise proved the weakness of the airborne troops, and those who advocated "development of large-scale airborne troops" in the Ming army also died down after that.

So now the Ming Air Force has built paratrooper units as a rapid force with special application scenarios. It does not expect them to be able to compete head-on with the army's field forces, so it will no longer expand its scale.

For example, in the operation to seize oil fields, paratroopers can play an effective containment role.

Or if the enemy forces seize the road and flee, you can quickly deploy a paratrooper unit to airborne behind the enemy's only route and cut off the enemy's retreat.

In short, this will be an irreplaceable auxiliary with a special role, but it is difficult for someone to make it the main force.

"Speaking of which, how about your equipment? Can the leg pocket fit a long gun? About one meter is enough."

Zhou Changfeng suddenly thought of the Ming Air Force's plan to purchase automatic rifles for paratrooper units, so he asked casually.

As a result, if you don’t ask, you don’t know. If you ask, you will be shocked.

The adjutant of the Second Battalion of the [-]st Parachute Regiment was a tall man with a Chinese character face and as strong as an ox. He replied in confusion: "Leg bags? What are those?"

"Huh?" Now it was Zhou Changfeng's turn to be surprised, he made a gesture, and then asked: "It's the weapon bag, hanging under or beside the thigh."

"Uh uh... I've heard of it, but we have no use for it."

"Then how do you drop weapons when you deploy by air? Airdrop alone?"

"Are you referring to the weapon airdrop box?" The second battalion adjutant said naturally, "Yes, we all use special boxes to drop them separately."

This is unscientific. Airdropping a human and a suit is not a difficult idea to think of.

The restriction of airdropping people and equipment separately is too great. The paratroopers themselves only carry paratrooper knives and pistols with them, while rifles, submachine guns, light machine guns, grenades, etc. are all packed in airdrop boxes separately.

However, there is a difference of a thousand miles in the slightest loss. God knows whether the airdrop box will land accurately, and sometimes the error can be hundreds of kilometers.

Before obtaining the airdrop box, the elite paratroopers were just a group of "only an inch of iron" stragglers.

During the Battle of Crete in history, the German paratroopers faced such a dilemma-even they could only use pistols to fight fiercely with the heavily armed British troops.

"Tsk, this is a big problem." Zhou Changfeng muttered.

He suddenly realized the seriousness of the problem, and he was still puzzled.

Although "leg bags" and "human-suit airdrops" were pioneered by the British and later spread throughout the world, they are not sophisticated things in themselves.

It's so funny, there is nothing in my subconscious mind that I already have by default?
If this really started a war, the one-in-a-million elite can only use pistols to fight against the low-level garbage like the Dutch and Indian Army, wouldn't it be maddening?
Just thinking about it makes people's blood pressure soar, no, we must immediately figure out the cause and effect!

Designers should be sent to Siberia to dig potatoes!No, this is in Daming, and it should be relegated to a place where no shit!

"Damn, what the hell is going on!"

Because he was too upset, Zhou Changfeng put aside the matter at hand for the time being.

Afterwards, he made a direct call to the Air Force Department of the Ministry of War.

Faced with this inexplicable phone call to question the teacher, the official on the other end of the phone obviously couldn't stand it—it can be said that Zhou's resentment almost came out of the microphone.

"This... Chief Zhou, Zhou Daizhao, I don't know, please wait a moment, I will call someone to appease the anger, appease the anger."

Only the faint background sound remained in the microphone.

Shen Yu on the side couldn't help but said: "A strong anger is harmful to the body. It's better to find out and deal with it as soon as possible. Hmm...is this problem serious?"

Angrily, Zhou Changfeng picked up the teacup and drank the remaining water in one gulp, and then replied, "How old is your baby?"

Shen Yu, who didn't know why, was stunned for a moment, "It's more than six years old."

"If he still doesn't know how to write his own name at this time, do you think you are angry?"

"..."

After a while, a voice finally came from the other end of the phone.

"Hey, Zhou Taizhao? It's like this. In fact, the thing you asked about has been tried before, but the effect was not satisfactory, so it was shelved."

"Have you tried it? Not ideal?" Zhou Changfeng frowned upon hearing the words, "Who are you?"

"This is a matter of my office. This happened in the autumn of the previous year. I still remember it roughly."

"Okay, why don't you say it's not as good as you want?"

"The main problem is the strength. The existing parachute can't support such a heavy weight. You think, the weapons and ammunition add another [-] catties. When I tried it, the lanyard broke repeatedly. It was too dangerous."

Apparently Zhou Changfeng was not satisfied with this answer, he asked back: "So what? There's no more to say?"

"Yes, the headquarters of the air force unit feels that safety is the first priority, and such an accident is not worth the loss..."

"No, so why not strengthen the parachute?"

"Uh... The argument given at the time was that firstly, it would increase the weight, secondly, the soldiers responded that it was so obstructive and inconvenient to move, and thirdly, it would cost a lot to reorder."

"It's not an insurmountable problem." Zhou Changfeng sneered, and said in a deep thought: "Let me put it this way, the matter is of great importance, and it will directly affect whether the future war plan will work. Hurry up and restart the project, right away."

"Huh?" The air force officer on the opposite side obviously didn't believe his words, and felt that his words were exaggerated.

Moreover, if you suddenly make a reckless phone call thousands of miles away from another place, is it too trifling with the military affairs?

Shen Yu winked and signaled Zhou Changfeng to speak more harshly - the reason why the word "special" was added to the privilege was naturally extraordinary.

The latter blinked, and then said very seriously: "The devil knows when the war will start. Design, mass production, familiarity, and practice all take time. The matter is urgent and it cannot be delayed. I will return to Beijing immediately after the Fuzhou incident is over for inspection." . If anyone dares to deliberately procrastinate, I will be the first to sue him!"

After speaking, Zhou Changfeng hung up the phone directly.

He complained gloomily: "It's really interlocking. If the diversion mission of the paratroopers fails and the oil fields and refineries are completely destroyed by the Dutch, it will be difficult for us to repair them."

Shen Yu naturally didn't understand the specific technical details, but he knew the consequences of this series of events.

"It's not too late to make up for it." He said in relief, "Even if Taixi starts fighting today, we still have a month's buffer time."

Brother!Don't be crow mouthed!

Rather helplessly, Zhou Changfeng held his forehead and waved his hands again and again, "Don't, don't, it would be embarrassing if you really got what you said."

As a result, the trip to Fuzhou, which originally seemed very dull and boring because everything was under control, suddenly became a little more tense.

The unexpected abnormal thing made Zhou Changfeng so speechless that he began to seriously think about whether there would be a similar situation.

During this period, the ruthless paratroopers have efficiently completed the arrest operation.

Resolutely, he refused to open the door and then forcibly broke the door. Four officials of different positions were arrested and brought to justice on time.

The "tigers" originally thought that the emperor and the imperial court would not magnify the matter, so they have been doing everything possible to mediate with the capital, while patiently waiting for the investigation team and imperial envoys to leave.

In fact, they guessed roughly right, but unfortunately the plan couldn't keep up with the changes—because the emperor still made up his mind to change his mind.

The number of people involved in the Changle shipyard case was limited, at best it was just a few flies and a tiger cub.

But the matter of customs is different. If we get to the bottom of it, the chief secretary, the inspectorate, and the governor's office will all have to "suffer".

Moreover, it is not just a matter of customs.

Now that the expansion has begun, does the court want to continue to follow the clues to investigate and delve into other matters?

While releasing some confusing news from time to time, Zhou Changfeng and his party patiently waited for the matter to ferment for a few days.

On the last day of early December, the news that "the investigation team will return to Beijing urgently tomorrow" quickly spread throughout the Fuzhou government.

Seems like it's going to be a sleepless night?
But the strange thing is that the whole night was very peaceful, and the expected bold move did not happen.

Early in the morning, more than [-] people from the team boarded cars and buses and set off for the airport.

"Why are they so easy to get tricked? Brother Zhou, you should have listened to me in the first place." Shen Yu said.

"It's okay, it's not you who gets criticized anyway." Zhou Changfeng, who was particularly depressed, said sarcastically.

Strange, why is the magistrate of Daming so cowardly?
As the sun rises in the east, the convoy reaches the outskirts of the city. The brick and tile houses look like houses, and the sound of cocks crows one after another.

But at this moment, a red oil tanker came towards us.The distance was getting closer, but it didn't slow down.

(End of this chapter)