afterglow

Chapter 594 Madam, rest assured; clean up the housework - General Mobilization Meeting, Hall
The second day of mid-December, Huangpu County, Shanghai Prefecture.

The sky was gray in the early morning, making people feel depressed and uncomfortable.

This is a new working day after a two-day weekend. People who take the tram to work are accustomed to buying a newspaper before getting on the bus, so newspaper vendors arrive at the station early in the morning every day.

On the third page of the Ming Dynasty official news agency newspaper, everyone was shocked to find the headline "Zhou Chenshi's plane was suddenly intercepted by enemy plane over the ocean and his whereabouts seemed to be leaked." Even those who were in a daze opened their eyes wide.

Absolutely absurd!

Disclose whereabouts?

Is there really a traitor in the imperial court? !

People from all over the country started their day in confusion, shock, anger and anxiety.

At the Zhou family residence, Lin Xi came to the second-floor living room with a newspaper in hand and knocked on the door with a nervous look on his face.

My baby son has only been one month old for a short time. He is already in his troubled state. It is normal for him to cry for milk every few hours.

Xia Xiaoshi works hard and has not had a good night's sleep for many days.

She heard the news while she was half asleep and half awake, and all her sleepiness disappeared in an instant.

The news in the newspaper said that the plane Zhou was on was intercepted in an organized and premeditated manner, and his whereabouts were unknown. The Hawaii Expeditionary Force was searching for him.

But can it really be found in that vast ocean?

She had asked this question before, and the answer she got was: if the body falls into the sea close to the shore, the probability of finding it is quite high; but if it is far away, the possibility of a successful search drops sharply.

The words on the newspaper in my hand suddenly became blurry, and even the headlines became unclear.

Xia Xiaoshi, with her stiff body, sat back on the bed unconsciously, her eyes confused and sad.

At this time, the phone rang and Lin Xi hurried downstairs to answer it.

She then called out, “Madam, madam, please come down and answer the phone.”

She was worried that Xia Xiaoshi would lose her balance and fall down the stairs due to the sudden blow, so she hurried to support her.

The call was from Xia Bing - he saw the newspaper as soon as he arrived at the office.

Xia Bing warned her to stay calm and not to take any radical actions. Whether it was an accident or a deliberate murder, the dust had not yet settled and no one could guarantee the outcome. She should just wait for the emperor's decision.

Xia Xiaoshi's eyes were dazed and her thoughts were still confused. She didn't even know what she had said. When she came to her senses, she realized that she had hung up the phone.

Just a few seconds later, another call came.

A clear and gentle female voice came out, asking, "Is this the residence of Mr. Zhou?"

"Yes."

"You are the lady, right?"

"Yes."

The person on the other end of the phone clearly heard Xia Xiaoshi's depressed tone, and comforted her, "I'm from the Palace Administration Department, Madam, just rest assured, don't worry, His Majesty has his own plans, and the matter of Zhou Qianshi has been resolved, and he will never give up."

Xia Xiaoshi felt her heart suddenly lifted up, and blurted out, "Did you find him?"

"I can't reveal it for now, but... the situation is good now, so there's no need to worry." The other party's answer was vague.

"Okay, I understand." Xia Xiaoshi didn't ask any more questions.

After hanging up the phone, she took a deep breath, slowly opened the door, walked to the front yard, looked towards the east, and murmured: I hope you are safe, Zhou Kexing.

The news that Zhou was intercepted on his way to the front line was delayed. In fact, it happened a few days ago.

After learning about the situation, Zhu Lingjing waited patiently for a few more days before signaling to release the news to the outside world.

During this period, in order to avoid alerting the suspects, the investigation was carried out in secret.

She had vaguely felt that something was wrong, but when she saw that nothing had gone wrong for more than half a year, she gradually stopped paying so much attention to it.

How dare you play the trick of borrowing a knife to kill someone now? You are taking advantage of others! How despicable!
Zhou was not only her staunch supporter, but also a famous general. From both perspectives, this matter could not be condoned.

However, the investigation by the Foreign Investigation Bureau did not go smoothly.

In recent days, they have conducted a secret investigation on all relevant persons who knew Zhou's itinerary exactly, but they all behaved normally, making it difficult to find evidence, and no breakthrough has been found yet.

"If we do this quietly and without making it public, we will definitely not find out anything useful." Su Yiyi said softly while making tea.

"It must have been planned for a long time, and it must be foolproof. It is difficult to find witnesses and evidence." Fang Shujun murmured.

"It's leak-proof?" Zhu Lingjing said nonchalantly, "If you smash the pot, it will leak."

This incident prompted her to make up her mind to clean up the house.

In the words of Zhou Kexing, no matter what, you have to clean your own house first.

She had some concerns before, worrying that this would cause turmoil in the court and be detrimental to the war situation, but facts have proved that compromise cannot eliminate hidden dangers, it only postpones the conflict and makes it seem vulnerable.

If Zhu Shiyan's method of combating dissidents is to use a soft knife to weaken them, be civilized and gentle, and not exaggerate, then Zhu Lingjing has already prepared himself mentally to cut the Gordian knot and let blood splatter.

This behavior is tantamount to declaring war. There is no room for retreat. It disregards national interests and deserves to be put to death!

She was determined to use this incident as an excuse to exaggerate the case and make it a major case in which she would rather make mistakes than let them go unpunished. Perhaps many years later, people would call it the Jinghe case just like the Hongwu case.

In addition, the performance of the outsourced factories in recent years has been less than satisfactory. Not only are they inefficient, but they also often go wrong.

Now is the critical moment of the total war. Extraordinary times call for extraordinary measures. It is necessary to set up a more privileged internal affairs agency outside the foreign factories. We can no longer continue to condone local scoundrels and dissidents.

Zhu Lingjing has roughly thought it through in the past two days and plans to set up the fifth department - the Criminal Investigation Department - at the overall mobilization meeting.

In February of this year, in response to the strong calls of many people, the cabinet established a new committee outside the major government offices of the Ming Dynasty court - the General Mobilization Committee.

The committee is the leading body responsible for formulating, coordinating and supervising war mobilization, and can be figuratively likened to the control panel of a war machine.

The overall mobilization meeting is composed of the Department of Experience, the Department of Industry and Commerce, the Department of Finance, the Department of Agriculture, and the Department of Transportation, totaling one department and four departments.

The first task is to take the lead in organizing resource allocation and expand Ming's industrial capacity as efficiently as possible, so as to ensure the needs of the army, navy, and air force, enhance their combat effectiveness, and eliminate logistical worries.

The second task is to take over the formulation of material rationing, adjust the rationing system as appropriate, and supervise its implementation, so as to save more resources for investment in military industry departments and the military while ensuring the daily necessities of the people.

The emperor and the cabinet generously gave it power and supported its operation. After more than half a year, the general mobilization meeting was well organized and the work was effective.

It’s just that all the major government agencies are worried that their rights will be gradually encroached upon, and therefore have some dissatisfaction and complaints.

The telegram from Hawaii arrived instantly, and after being transcribed and filed, it was presented to the emperor.

After reading the telegram, Zhu Lingjing, with a relaxed look on her face, said with a hint of surprise, "So soon? This is quite different from last time."

It took only five days to crush the organized resistance of the US military on Lanai Island, basically wiped out 20,000 enemies, and seized countless spoils of war.

The defeat in the Battle of Molokai last year left a deep impression on the Ming dynasty's rulers and ministers, who realized that opponents entering a wartime state were not so easy to deal with.

It was generally expected that the attack on Lanai would take at least half a month and result in 20,000 casualties.

Zhou Changfeng made a brief comment and summary at the end of this telegram.

One of the reasons for our quick victory was that we took advantage of the enemy's surprise by using new weapons, which greatly delayed the actions of the enemy's air force and made it hardly any hindrance to us.

The second reason for the quick victory was that the morale of our participating troops, the 14th Division, was high. With a desire to avenge their humiliation, the soldiers fought fearlessly despite the enemy's strong and treacherous defenses.

The third reason for the quick victory was that the enemy had not made a worst-case scenario plan before the war and seemed unwilling to fight without air cover. After being divided and isolated, their combat efficiency dropped sharply, and after their command center was annihilated, they were immediately unable to mount an organized resistance.

Zhou Changfeng specifically reminded at the end of the article that the new weapons that catch the enemy by surprise - chaff and anti-runway bombs - may not always be effective, and perhaps they will not be so effective next time.

"Your Majesty, do you want to call Zhou Chenshi back to the capital now?" Fang Shujun bowed and asked, "Another victory that has not been seen for a long time, now is a good time to take action."

"Yes." Zhu Lingjing nodded affirmatively, then raised her left hand and glanced at her watch.

The finishing touches on the Battle of Lanai are not yet complete.

Some divided and surrounded bunkers and strong support points lost contact with the outside world, and the US troops inside were guarding these reinforced concrete fortifications alone.

They didn't believe that most of the garrison troops had been wiped out. After all, only five days had passed.

Because there is sufficient drinking water, food and ammunition stored inside, we should not surrender, both subjectively and objectively.

The order issued by the US military command on Lanai allowed for giving up resistance only in three circumstances: running out of ammunition, receiving orders, or holding out for two weeks.

The Ming army was unwilling to suffer more casualties in order to eliminate these remaining enemies, so it simply sent prisoners to persuade them to surrender.

The effect of this move was average. Although hundreds of people were persuaded to surrender one after another, some prisoners were shot and killed by bullets fired from the bunker during the process of persuasion.

Fortunately, most Americans are not so stubborn and are relatively rational.

Two days later, the remaining enemy found that the sound of gunfire on the island had become very rare in recent days. It seemed that the situation was true, and the island defense force had indeed been annihilated, so it was time to give up resistance.

Large numbers of prisoners were shipped to Oahu and then transported back to prisoner-of-war camps on the mainland.

A few prisoners were temporarily left behind to clean up the battlefield and pick up the mess left after the Battle of Lanai.

The Ming Air Force deployed in Hawaii also ended several days of high-intensity attacks, and the exhausted pilots and ground crew could finally take a breath.

The suppression stopped, and American planes soon appeared in groups over Lanai Island, launching attacks on exposed Ming army ground targets, causing hundreds of casualties, including many American prisoners.

The Ming army then unfurled many large Red Cross flags at the dock and clearly announced that they were evacuating the prisoners, forcing the U.S. military to abandon the air strike.

During this period, the Ming army was able to transport supplies without interference and experienced a few rare days of worry-free peace.

"The self-propelled anti-aircraft gun is really useful. It is a powerful weapon in the mountains and jungles. I need to ask the Ministry of War for more."

"That's right. I totally agree."

While Zhou Changfeng was on patrol in a car, he heard several officers from the 114th Regiment of the 38th Division chatting and praising the light self-propelled anti-aircraft guns that were being equipped one after another.

In this battle, the twin-mounted 20.8mm anti-aircraft guns modified from the outdated Type light tank chassis performed outstandingly, providing strong direct-fire support to the participating troops many times and were highly praised by the infantry units.

The Battle of Lanai also proved that the combat effectiveness of the Prospecting Division should not be underestimated - the 14th Division had not even completed all the equipment changes and was only half-equipped.

But even with just this half-built frame, the various self-propelled artillery it was equipped with also showed excellent battlefield adaptability - it was mobile, flexible and convenient, and was not afraid of artillery fragments and incoming machine gun bullets.

According to a memorial written by Zhou entitled "Prospects for Countermeasures to Future Wars in the Pacific", the Ming Army should form five to seven elite semi-mechanized and semi-motorized infantry divisions.

The Ministry of War finally decided to form five forecasting divisions, selecting the 14th, 21st, 26th, 38th, and 43rd Divisions.

There are only a few places available, and the fierce open and secret struggles during the period are another story.

The Imperial Guards were the most excited. They were determined to get a spot at all costs, but were ridiculed by everyone - the 2nd Division of the Imperial Guards was badly beaten in the Battle of Cairns, and it would be difficult for the Imperial Guards to be entrusted with important tasks with such a performance.

However, the Imperial Guards had a special nature. After watching the show coldly, Zhu Lingjing intervened personally and promised that the next sixth forecasting engineer would definitely be selected from the Imperial Guards.

As for which unit it would be, she had other plans before, but now she suddenly changed her mind and decided to directly upgrade Zhou's old unit.

After explaining the follow-up precautions, Zhou Changfeng was ordered to return to Beijing.

This time he still boarded the Type 38 heavy fighter, but it was an unarmed, lighter reconnaissance model.

A reconnaissance aircraft with a dawn and dusk paint job took off and flew leisurely towards Midway Island. This paint job has excellent concealment effects at dawn and dusk, with a blue fuselage and a pink belly.

"Mr. Zhou, since you have to travel between the mainland and the front line every now and then, why not just order a special plane? Even if you encounter the same thing as last time, you don't have to worry about it. And you can sit more comfortably. Look, this reconnaissance plane has nothing in the back seat and it's so cramped. It's so uncomfortable."

This pilot is a good talker and he won't stop talking once he starts.

Zhou Changfeng nodded and said, "That makes sense. I really need to learn a lesson."

"It seems that the country is developing a special long-range reconnaissance aircraft, unlike this fighter jet variant. I heard that thing is very powerful, flying fast and far, and it is equipped with a small electric stove inside."

"Yes, the Zhongsheng Company's 152 reconnaissance aircraft made its first flight last month."

This long and boring journey lasts a whole day, and sitting in the cramped and cold cockpit for a long time can even be considered a punishment.

The plane flew through the clouds and after a few minutes it was above the vast expanse of clouds.

Looking into the distance, all around is blue.

The capital should be in chaos by now, right? he thought.

[Picture below]

(End of this chapter)