afterglow

Chapter 540: Numerous letters from fans; arrogant people who think they are justified
The setting sun stretches the shadows of things very long, and the cicadas chirp one after another. It is still very hot at this time, and it will not cool down until after sunset.

At first, Zhou Changfeng was not used to having a bunch of attendants busy around him. At that time, he wondered, wouldn't leaders, rich people, and wealthy people feel uncomfortable being taken care of like this?

However, as a high-ranking general, he is also a second-rank official in the imperial court in any case. He can have fewer attendants, but he cannot be without them. Drivers, secretaries, and guards are all top priorities, and the family members also need reliable nannies to take care of them.

If something goes wrong with a general - putting aside trivial matters and accidents, the biggest risk is assassination. If this happens, the court will be humiliated and disgraced, and both dignity and face will be completely lost.

In this regard, the emperors and ministers of the Ming Dynasty all stood in a unified position and criticized Zhou for being irresponsible for hating his attendants. It didn't take long for the latter to leave on the pretext of being busy with military affairs.

"Everything has been checked."

"it is good."

A black car with a red license plate with white characters stopped at the door of the Zhou family's house, then turned right and disappeared from the intersection.

The license plate with a crimson background indicated that the car belonged to the army, and the Governor's Office sent a car to deliver hundreds of letters.

Seeing two more boxes of letters, Xia Xiaoshi couldn't help complaining: "There are so many letters today, it's endless."

"Is it possible that the fight will continue? It's obvious that this battle is coming to an end." Xia Xiaoshi said with some resentment.

"Not much? It's obviously quite a lot."

Lin Xi felt that she selectively ignored other types of letters, "Madam, actually there are not many letters from women..."

Familiar footsteps, familiar knocking on the door... In fact, at this moment, Xia Xiaoshi had already realized who the visitor was - listening to the sound and identifying the person.

It may be a more appropriate decision to abandon illusions, simply and decisively withdraw troops from Europe, and use all our strength to deal with the Ming Dynasty. However, it is obvious that the top leaders of the United States still cannot give up the strategy of Europe first and Asia first.

Zhou Changfeng pinched her cheeks and looked into her eyes. After two seconds, he smiled and said, "You can't say for sure in the future, but I won't be responsible for it within half a year."

"That's right. It's hard not to get dark when you're basking in the sun in Hawaii at this time." Zhou Changfeng said nonchalantly, then stretched out his hand to pull her into his arms.

At this moment, the sound of an engine and the sound of tires running across the road came from far and near, and finally stopped at the door of the house.

Zhou Changfeng always comes home without prior notice. It can be said that he is a special kind of lover who makes sudden attacks. While giving surprises, he also likes to see his wife's expression change from surprise to joy.

Xia Xiaoshi took two steps forward, bent down and took out a few from the pile of various envelopes. Because the letters had been opened and checked, she could easily read them in succession, "These words can be said to be true. He Zhou Kexing is really popular among girls."

Zhou Changfeng suppressed his smile, pointed at her chest and said slowly: "There are no suitable islands and reefs in the waters off the west coast of the United States. The fleet cannot transit, support, and rest. Hawaii is the place they rely on most and the only place they can rely on. Without Hawaii , the Pacific Fleet must start operations from San Diego, which is right at home. Strategically, it is on the defensive and the situation is very passive.”

He continued: "Things of this nature are really related to the fate of the country, and no one will be willing to give up, not to mention that Americans are quite confident in their own national strength."

When they met at the door, Xia Xiaoshi looked him up and down for a few seconds before speaking. The first thing she said was, "Zhou Kexing, why are you so tanned?"

In a sense, losing Hawaii is more serious than losing Europe, because the United States will face direct risks for the first time.

"Ah? Do you really want to continue fighting from now on?"

Lin Xi opened the box and flipped through it roughly, "In total, there are six boxes...seven boxes in the past three days."

"Just listen to this argument, don't take it seriously."

The long-lost touch and long-lost breath made him finally relax.

"Now... everything should be fine now, right?" Xia Xiaoshi, full of hope, raised her eyes and asked, "Are there still battles to be fought in the future?"

Although people today cannot imagine the future war model, Zhou Changfeng is different - if we can secure Hawaii, the United States will be blocked by various long-range firepower in a few decades.

"Then put these in the dining room as well, madam. The dishes for dinner should be on the way."

At this time, Lin Xi walked slowly and bowed slightly, "From four days ago to today, letters have been sent. They are from all over the country, and they are all placed in the west."

"Ah? Xin? What's going on?"

Seeing his doubts, Xia Xiaoshi who was standing next to him said seriously: "Our General Zhou has become famous, and naturally he will be followed by thousands of women in the Ming Dynasty."

Suddenly realizing it, Zhou Changfeng burst out laughing, "I smell sourness, someone's vinegar bottle has overturned."

Xia Xiaoshi tilted her head slightly and looked to the side, "Do you have one? I don't have one."

"No? Who would believe it?" Zhou Changfeng said indifferently, pretending to be profound: "The women who write letters must be divided into two categories. One is the kind of little girls and female students who are not deeply involved in the world, and the other is the ladies, Courtesan, obviously I'm not interested at all."

Then he went to the west corner and brought a stack of letters over, and picked one at random.

As expected, the handwriting was in Juanli's small regular script, which read: "General Zhou Chongjian: After learning that the king's division had defeated the enemy, my daughter hesitated for many days and wrote..."

However, Zhou Changfeng's focus is definitely very different from Xia Xiaoshi's. In addition to the admiration and kindness of many girls, there are also a large number of letters from civilians.

He was keenly aware of signs that something was wrong - there were enthusiastic and radical students in the letters making impassioned speeches, promoting their ideas and ambitions; there were wealthy businessmen with compliments and flattery, congratulating the thriving business in the Nanyang region.

Others who had the same experience as him were Ouyang Zhanghua, Song Zhongkai and others. Because of their great victory in the expedition to Hawaii - at least that is what the official report of the imperial court reported, they have inevitably become household heroes.

Zhou Changfeng received Ouyang Zhanghua's invitation the next day and readily attended the appointment.

The location is still the most frequented and most suitable Tonghui Hotel. Take the elevator straight to the eighth floor and walk along the corridor to the single room at the end.

There was a hint of worry on Ouyang Zhanghua's face, which was completely different from the relaxed and comfortable feeling when the fleet returned home some time ago.

"Hey, here we come, sit down quickly." "Okay, I'll sit here."

"The imperial court's report is too exaggerated." Ouyang Zhanghua shook his head while pouring wine: "Reporting victory should not come like this, and such important news should not be carefully considered. It should be emphasized that the enemy still has plenty of spare power and stamina."

"Yes, I also read the editorial of the Riyue Society. That editorial was unsigned. Who wrote it?" Zhou Changfeng got angry when he heard this and complained: "After rambling here and there, I suddenly deduced a winning formula. Sitting and waiting for others to come to a peaceful conclusion is really just playing the piano."

"The public is just mad, but some soft-eared guys in the Consultative Yuan really believe it and are planning to reduce next year's military spending." Ouyang Zhanghua said helplessly.

"Ah?" Zhou Changfeng, who had just touched the glass with his mouth, immediately put down the wine cup and asked in surprise: "Is there something wrong in your head?"

"The Consultative Council is not surprising."

"That's true, but it's just a few people's nonsense that can't stir up trouble and only adds to the laughing stock."

Letters and messages of condolences were sent from all over the southeast and northwest these days. Zhou Changfeng received hundreds of them every day, and Ouyang Zhanghua received about the same.

A large number of family members of soldiers who had won military exploits wrote letters to express their gratitude, expressing their gratitude to the general's wise and powerful command for allowing their sons, brothers, and husbands to achieve such supreme honors under their leadership, and to achieve great achievements and honor their ancestors.

Several students were extremely regretful because they were rejected from joining the army. They collectively wrote in blood to express their annoyance and anger. They would rather be pawns than scholars, and requested that they be specially recruited in this way.

There is also a respected professor who hopes that Ouyang Zhanghua can write a special inscription, which will be carefully framed and hung in the corridor on the first floor of the main building of Zhujiang University as an inspiration.

Ouyang Zhanghua stared at the fragrant nectar in the wine cup and said worriedly: "There are too many compliments and praises. It is obvious that all the soldiers worked together, but now it seems that the credit is attributed to one or a few people? If we can’t continue like this, we will not only suffer the consequences, but it will also easily lead to anger.”

Zhou Changfeng, who looked calm, was silent for a long time, and finally said leisurely: "The high patriotic enthusiasm and proud national pride are double-edged swords. Use them to suppress sharp conflicts and gather strength to face the outside world, but you must also bear its consequences... …toxicity."

"Hey, there are fewer and fewer people who are sober and rational. If this continues, it will be even more difficult to make tortuous decisions after coming to power. If you are not careful, you will be criticized and stabbed in the spine. "Ouyang Zhanghua sighed.

The Ming Dynasty's strategy before the war was relatively clear, and its expectations for this large-scale war were either "quick victory" or "prolonged".

The argument for quick victory is based on the meaning that "mobile power is crucial" and "strategic locations are indispensable." This argument believes that after severely damaging the Pacific Fleet or capturing Oahu, the United States is likely to give up its pursuit of Asian interests. ideas, choose peace talks, and deal with Europe with all our strength.

The persistent argument is based on the analysis of "the strategic stalemate between the two armies of the Ming Dynasty and the United States" and "the U.S. strategy of Europe first, Asia first". This argument believes that Ming Dynasty is capable of launching a tug-of-war with the United States and has paid too much. The losing United States will eventually choose peace talks because of strategic issues.

However, a series of consecutive victories greatly affected people's judgment. Not only among the people, but even in the court, the confidence of winning was quickly spread.

They believe that their full confidence is justified, because from their perspective, the current situation has "satisfied" the conditions for a quick victory argument.

First, maneuverability is crucial. Now the U.S. Pacific Fleet has been severely damaged, suffered repeated defeats, lost troops, and lost many aircraft carriers and battleships.

Second, strategic locations are indispensable. Now that the U.S. military has lost Oahu, Tarawa Atoll and other important locations, the fleet's movements are greatly restricted.

Because of this, they believed that the United States had to give up its interests in Asia and actively choose peace. In this way, the Ming Dynasty could concentrate its efforts on Britain, dismember the British core colony of Indu, and force the declining British Empire to kneel down and sue for peace.

After one night.

The next morning, the regular morning meeting of Wenhua Hall was held as scheduled.

Due to the changes in the war situation, some senior generals also attended the meeting, but the regular meeting began to discuss internal affairs, such as the hidden dangers of floods in Jingzhou, the completion status of the government-run Liuzhou Steel Rolling Company, etc.

These political affairs had nothing to do with the generals, and it was not until more than half an hour later that the topic came to the war situation between the East and the West.

"...It can be expected that Britain will intervene in Russia through the traditional Arctic Ocean route, with the destinations being Motown and Murmansk."

"Are you serious? The Englishman's hand is really long."

"This is probably just a threat. The Germans have publicly warned." Finance Minister Li Guangyuan said more firmly: "Unless Britain and the United States jointly send troops, the British cannot be so bold. Their troops are limited, and 100,000 troops are sent to the large land of Russia. Let’s make waves.”

"That's not certain. The British have always had the ability to stir up trouble." Foreign Affairs Minister Yu Shenhua shook his head slightly and said in deep thought: "Besides, a hundred thousand troops are not too small. They can be used in key places to be of great use."

"If that's the case, the Germans will have a good reputation. It's no problem to send millions of troops."

After learning its lesson, due to political considerations, the German Society has not openly intervened in the Russian Civil War, and its intervention measures have been limited to the small Red Eagle Legion and assistance weapons and equipment.

At the same time, they also warned that Britain and the United States would not be allowed to interfere, otherwise they would take tough measures to provide "necessary protection" to the people of Tsarist Russia.

The gentlemen in London know very well that the British Empire is currently fighting on multiple fronts and cannot mobilize a considerable expeditionary force to intervene in Tsarist Russia, so they have been encouraging Washington.

President Franklin had always declined this bold plan before, but recently he gave a more positive answer: "In about November we will begin to equip new weapons suitable for modern warfare, and 11 new divisions will also complete training. It is expected that in Deployment to Europe could be possible in January, and it might be feasible for some of these divisions to go to Russia."

The so-called new weapon in this reply is actually the M3 medium tank. After realizing that their tin cans could not meet the demand, the Americans worked overtime to develop the successor model of the M2 medium tank, which is expected to be put into production in two months.

The cutting-edge M3 light tank will arrive earlier, and the American Vehicle and Foundry Company (ACFC) has already begun trial production.

With such a reply, Prime Minister Winston was very excited. He believed that only in this way could the power and war resources of the hateful Germans be dispersed, otherwise there would be no hope of victory at all.

In addition, he also approved a strategic bombing plan targeting the Baku oil fields. Previous sporadic small-scale air strikes proved ineffective, so efforts must be intensified.

After briefly discussing the war situation in Europe, the topic of today's regular meeting came to the home country.

Song Zhongkai was not present, and Ouyang Zhanghua, as the authority of the Ming Dynasty Navy, was the first to speak: "I would first like to refute the recent arrogant and quick victory arguments, which are very inappropriate."

Ma Mingli, vice president of the Consultative Council, smiled slightly and said, "Why did Mr. Ouyang say this?"

"Obviously, the clause 'severely damaging the enemy fleet' is unrealistic." Ouyang Zhanghua stared at him, "The enemy still has two aircraft carriers. One of the two leased by the British can be repaired immediately, and a newly built aircraft carrier locally can also be repaired immediately." He is about to serve, and there are four of them, not a lot. How could he just give up?"

(End of this chapter)