afterglow

Chapter 390 Routine reconnaissance of Pearl Harbor; greatly shocked
What is it like in Hawaii at the turn of spring and summer?
Golden soft sandy beach, sparkling blue sea, gentle sea breeze blowing, and palm trees swaying gently.

Pearl Harbor is located in the southern part of Oahu. It is named after the oysters that are rich in pearls. It is also a world-famous excellent military port. Therefore, it has naturally become a key naval base of the U.S. Pacific Fleet. It is also the cornerstone of controlling the Pacific and facing Asia. Strategic pedal.

At 5:20 a.m. Hawaii time on May 6, in a single-family villa in downtown Honolulu, Louise got up as usual.

She gently opened the curtains a little, and the warm sunlight passed through and sprinkled on the bed.Then she walked downstairs and went to the kitchen to prepare breakfast.

Newly married for a short time, Louise is not yet tired of this boring life like those old couples.

She was born in the conservative state of Kentucky. When she received her higher education, she attended a women's college and even specialized in a short-lived major - home economics.

The beginning of the century was a period of intense debate among Americans over "what kind of higher education women should receive." You can imagine how many diverse phenomena there were at that time.

Louise didn't like this trend, so she patiently completed her studies and applied for a job. As a result, she muddled across half of the United States and half of the Pacific to Hawaii, where she became one of the many civilian employees at the Pearl Harbor Naval Base. a member of.

It was also here that she met her current husband by chance - the latter was a Mingren who had just immigrated and his main occupation was a painter.

With a "sizzling" sound, she fried a few strips of bacon and eggs, and then put them on the plate.

At this time, the sound of footsteps going down the stairs also came from behind.

"Good morning dear, are you busy today?"

Zeng Changhe sat directly at the dining table, picked up a volume of today's Tanshan News and read it carefully.

"Yes, the fleet from San Francisco arrived today. We have a lot to do."

With that said, Louise brought breakfast and then started eating by herself.

"Good luck with your work."

"These things are very simple, but there are more of them. My dear, your work needs more inspiration. How do you feel today?"

"Average." Zeng Changhe stared at the newspaper intently, "I want to go to Keolao Ridge. I hope the beautiful scenery can give enough help."

After breakfast, the two left home together.

Zeng Changhe first drove Louise to her workplace, an office building outside the Pearl Harbor Naval Base, and then drove away in the northeast direction.

When he was about to drive onto the winding mountain road, he slowed down the black Ford car and parked it on the side of the road.

A man in a suit and leather shoes was wandering around the roadside boredly. When he saw Zeng Changhe coming, he walked over quickly, opened the car door and got in.

The car drove slowly on the winding mountain road, heading towards the Koolau Ridge.

"You are really nourishing. You are also sent here to work here, but you are the only one who can enjoy such a blessing." The man complained about Zeng Changhe's unique experience, "Tsk, tsk, tsk, why are there such big differences between people?" ?”

"I've convinced you, I have to say a few words every time, stop chewing my tongue, and get ready to work. Have you brought everything?"

"Take it, take it, it took four months for this large telephoto lens to arrive."

Although I had already been mentally prepared when I joined the Metropolitan Government Intelligence Office, when I left my hometown and came to a distant overseas country, the feeling of uneasiness and loneliness was really hard to suppress.

Agents must play their superficial roles well, and all their emotions can only be briefly vented in the dead of night.

In a sense, Zeng Changhe was very lucky to be able to meet a girl who truly admired him under a false identity.

Considering that Louise's status is neither high nor low, it is very suitable. The Honolulu station of the Intelligence Division supports Zeng Changhe in maintaining a relationship with her. There are a large number of civilian employees, who can have scattered access to first-hand information about the naval base, but not so much. On the radar of counterintelligence agents.

The two of them were standing next to a peak in the southern part of Ke'olau Ridge. What they saw in the distance was the huge Pearl Harbor anchorage and port area.

one two three four……

The rising sun shone on the eight majestic battleships and cruisers in twos and threes, as well as rows and rows of destroyers and auxiliary ships of various sizes.

On the battleship deck and dock, there were many sailors and dock workers in white and yellow clothes coming and going.

The entire Pearl Harbor was a quiet and peaceful scene - a few small traffic boats were passing through, and a tugboat with gray smoke was dragging a destroyer to the berth. They passed by like a bronze mirror. The water surface leaves a gentle track.

"There are fields to the north, a good harbor to the south, and mountains to the east and west. This place is really wonderful." The agent in suits and ties sighed with his hands on his hips.

"Get ready to work, come and help." Zeng Changhe opened the trunk of the car and took out a large suitcase containing a camera, telephoto lens, and film.

There are also easels, drawing boards, paints, inkstones, brushes and other things. I don’t know whether I want to paint oil paintings or ink paintings, but at least it looks pretty intimidating.

Load the 35mm film, install the telephoto lens, aim, focus, and audition!
"The war between the great powers has started again after a 20-year pause. I don't know what will happen in the West. If a big war breaks out, tens of thousands of lives will be lost."

"Yes, throughout the ages, great powers have always fought for hegemony with their bodies lying thousands of miles away."

"I read the newspaper. The German army of one million people is advancing in multiple directions. The momentum is very strong. I am afraid that they will go straight to the capital in one go."

"Indeed, in the past, there have always been debates about how to use chariots. By analogy, some people regard them as shield chariots, while others regard them as cavalry in the new era. Judging from the situation of the war between Germany and France, the second method is better. It’s much more effective.”

"That's right, soldiers need to be fast. Moreover, the chariot has advantages in maneuverability, and it can also rush into the formation. It is very sharp."

"Speaking of which, don't the Americans have plans to relocate their nationals? Is there any concrete news from the headquarters?"

While chatting, the two took three consecutive films of Pearl Harbor, from the whole to parts, a total of dozens of photos.

According to requirements, intelligence must be updated every once in a while. For agents in Hawaii, this task has long been routine.

Just as they finished their work and were about to get in the car and leave, a police car from the Honolulu Police Department suddenly turned out from the winding mountain road behind.

The police car also slowed down and pulled over. Two police officers wearing wide-brimmed hats and carrying revolvers at their waists opened the door and walked over.

Zeng Changhe and his companions immediately became vigilant and prepared to start their car and escape.

"Sir, please sit still for inspection." The two police officers shouted as they approached, with their right hands on their gun holsters.

At this moment, Zeng Changhe was not only nervous but also felt regretful - it was really too negligent.

Because the Americans' peripheral vigilance against Pearl Harbor was quite lax, they had easily completed routine intelligence gathering tasks in the past.

For example, when flying around in a small plane, or driving up a mountain like I do now, I almost never encounter obstacles.

How can you keep your shoes from getting wet if you often walk by the river?
However, it was obviously impossible for the two of them to just surrender. They had a tacit understanding and were prepared to use force.

"Officer, our car broke down." "Sit still and let me see your hands."

"Police officer! People from the Qiankun Association! Behind!" Zeng Changhe suddenly shouted, then immediately raised his hand and fired.

The so-called Qiankun Society is an organization similar to the Triads of the Original Plane. Compared with local gangs in the United States, they are more organized, ruthless and ruthless, giving the public security departments in Hawaii and California quite a headache.

The two police officers were stunned for a moment subconsciously, and then they saw the two men pulling out guns? !

In this flash of lightning, the two sides launched a short and fierce close-range exchange of fire.

"Bang bang bang—bang bang—"

Zeng Changhe and his companions used Browning M7903 pistols, and two Honolulu police officers used Colt M7917 revolvers.

The police officer who was shot staggered and fell, but still fired as hard as he could until he ran out of bullets.

Zeng Changhe didn't know if he had been shot, and he had no time to check himself now. He only felt his blood and energy rising, without feeling any pain.

He changed a magazine, got out of the car and fired a few more shots to make sure no one was left alive.

Nowadays, unlike later generations, radio has been widely used, so it is safe for the time being to deal with these two guys who are seeking death.

After doing all this, he felt as if his whole body had been drained of strength in an instant, and he almost collapsed to the ground.

At this time, a companion’s cry for help came from the car, “Damn, I’ve been shot!”

I saw blood on the passenger seat. At least one .45ACP pistol bullet hit his left chest, and his suit was stained red.

"Uh...ah, I'm a little...out of breath."

The difficulty in breathing caused by blood loss and open pneumothorax made the companion almost go into shock, but Zeng Changhe had no good solution now.

He took out the handkerchief his wife gave him from his pocket and stuffed it in it, then quickly started the car.

Although the incident happened suddenly, the two were trained professionals after all, and Zeng Changhe and his companions maintained their utmost calmness.

After going down the mountain, they rushed to a public phone booth and called a transportation station at the site, asking the other party to go to any movie theater in Xicheng District immediately to buy movie tickets and some food.

It would take almost half an hour to drive from Keolao Ridge to Xicheng District. Such an alibi would be a child's trick in future generations, but now... at least it can be considered a child's trick.

For decades, Ming Dynasty's espionage activities in Hawaii have been continuous, and Singapore's experience of being co-operated from inside to outside has inevitably been noticed by the United States.

Some people proposed that tens of thousands of overseas Chinese with hidden dangers be transferred to the mainland, but they met with a lot of opposition, thinking that this was simply nonsense.

Some people have taken the next step and proposed that overseas Chinese should be centralized and controlled to prevent trouble, but there are still a series of doubts.

From a macro perspective, these two approaches definitely have more advantages than disadvantages and can ensure Hawaii's internal stability when it is besieged.

But the problem is, who can guarantee that Ming Dynasty will definitely send a large army to expedition?

When Zeng Changhe sent his dying companion to a reliable hospital, the capital of the Ming Dynasty was still in the evening of the [-]th.

"Hurry up and continue. It will be dark in half an hour."

Zhou Changfeng stood in the bunker half a man deep, leaning on the sandbag in front of him, observing the live ammunition test not far away with binoculars.

"Bang! Bang!"

An arsenal tester used a Lee-Enfield rifle to shoot at a target 50 meters away. The full-size mannequin was wearing a complete protective suit.

After firing five shots, he put the rifle away and stepped forward to check the test results.

As expected, there were holes in the nylon layer outside the vest, but the 7.7mm rifle bullet only left a shallow pit on the surface-hardened steel plate.

"Please take a look at Zhou Daizhao. As you can see, the bullet resistance is very good. It is [-] millimeters and weighs seven pounds. It cannot be penetrated by a rifle unless it is a steel core armor-piercing bullet."

Zhou Changfeng touched the shallow crater and nodded: "It's just too heavy. This is only suitable for commandos. They can use it when they are blasting fortifications under fire. It is too bulky and cumbersome for normal infantry field operations."

The 6.5mm thick case-hardened steel insert plate has a very eye-catching effect and is immune to most full-power rifle bullets with a muzzle kinetic energy of more than 50 joules at a distance of 3000 meters.

Even if the distance is as close as ten meters to the face, there is still a small chance of blocking an incoming rifle bullet.

The 2.5mm thick insert plate has also withstood the test. It can easily block various pistol bullets at a distance of ten meters.

The tester held a Thompson submachine gun and fired a fifty-round drum at it, but none of them penetrated.

If the distance is extended to 500 meters, or the bullet incident angle is not vertical, then the 2.5mm thick insert plate will most likely be able to block the rifle bullet.

"Tsk, I can't even think about it. We need to start mass production as soon as possible."

An official from the Army Division of the Ministry of War was originally here to discuss other matters, so he stopped by to take a look and took a look. What he saw shocked him greatly.

In fact, as early as the European War, due to the serious lethality of guns and artillery against infantry, the great powers developed various individual armors in order to protect the infantry as much as possible.

However, the technology at that time was relatively backward and the time was tight, so the finished products that were rushed were often not very effective.

During the interwar period, Ming Dynasty had also been developing its own individual armor, but it also had many flaws and shortcomings, and the army was not satisfied with it.

These armors are basically very large, covering almost the entire torso, and most of them are in one piece, so they are very bulky and a lot of weight is wasted in meaningless places. Therefore, they are only 2mm thick and have limited bulletproof capabilities.

[picture]

The plan someone Zhou came up with based on later designs was much more scientific - a 25cm x 30cm plug-in board, smaller in size, focused on defense, and only responsible for protecting the core of the torso.

In this way, under the same weight, the thickness of the steel plate can be greatly increased, and the bulletproof capability is also significantly improved to an excellent level.

However, everyone also noticed that the warheads that smashed into pieces on the steel plate flew in all directions, making many holes in the nylon layer.

[picture]

"Will this hurt the chin or the hands on both sides?" The official pondered for a few seconds and asked, "Is there any way to improve it?"

"This... there is no good solution." An arsenal official present replied with his hand.

(End of this chapter)