afterglow

Chapter 612: The wife is going to take on a new shape; % of it belongs to someone else
After receiving the "surprise attack was a great success" telegram forwarded by the Surabaya Naval Base, Zhou Changfeng, who had just finished dinner, smiled knowingly.

Although it is not clear how much damage was caused, according to the agreement before the operation, at least 30 aircraft must be destroyed and one or two oil depots must be destroyed to be considered a great victory.

This chaos is likely to create a legendary story. From now on, the Old Port and Balikpapan oil fields will be stable for at least a month.

Let’s hope that the officers and soldiers of Yiluansi can evacuate safely and escape!
What Zhou Changfeng didn't know was that at the same time, half a world away in the western desert of Australia, more than 20 Ming army commandos who had caused a big mess were being hysterically pursued by the U.S. military.

"I can't believe that! Those damn bandits! Come on! We have to catch those sons of bitches!"

Captain Elton once served in the Louisiana National Guard and participated in the pursuit of Bonnie and Clyde.

The hot-tempered Captain Elton couldn't believe that these enemies dared to attack the airport so recklessly. He shouted angrily and ordered the nearby guards and patrols to give chase.

The U.S. military is so highly motorized that it is no exaggeration to say that they would rather walk than ride in a car. At this moment, the U.S. troops chasing the officers and soldiers of the Yiluansi are diverse, and the vehicles they ride are also different.

There were M3 armored reconnaissance vehicles, GMC CCKW trucks, International M56 trucks, Willys M38 jeeps, Harley WLA motorcycles, etc., a total of more than a dozen vehicles were chasing closely.

"This damn bastard is picking a fight with us!"

"What to do?!"

Hua Yao sloppily wrapped two bandages around his arm and shouted into the walkie-talkie, "It's up to you, Big Xu. Give those white devils a few slaps!"

The two trucks carrying the Yiluansi officers and soldiers were riddled with holes, and there were constant casualties among the commandos in the carriages.

Only two people were injured in the previous commotion at the Cleveland airport, but this pursuit resulted in two deaths and five injuries!

Some enemy soldiers were carrying bazookas and shooting, but they could not hit the target due to the violent shaking. The Ming army commandos were not to be outdone and carried Type 37 rocket launchers and fired at the rear.

The infiltration phase of the surprise attack is extremely plain and simple. If a movie is to be made based on this, editors and directors will certainly have to add some exaggeration to consider the viewing experience.

However, there is no need to fabricate the car chases nowadays, as the scenes are exactly the same as those in police and gangster movies!
The two trucks lured the pursuing American troops into the ambush area, where there was a burning bonfire. Hua Yao pulled out his signal gun and fired a yellow flare into the air.

"Bang—whoosh—boom!"

A 64mm mortar shell suddenly fell, and the flames of the explosion instantly engulfed an M3 armored reconnaissance vehicle, and screams echoed throughout the wilderness.

That bonfire was a marking object specially arranged by the support team to assist in determining the position at night when visibility was low.

The two MG40 general-purpose machine guns also roared, and the high-rate gunfire presented a "swish swish swish" turbid and continuous tearing sound, and 7.92×57㎜ Mauser heavy pointed bullets rained down on the US military pursuit convoy.

The American soldiers tried to fight back with vehicle-mounted heavy machine guns, but the dense bullets fired at them had a surprisingly good suppressive effect.

Captain Elton's right shoulder blade was shattered by a bullet and blood was gushing out.

The medic gave him a shot to relieve the pain and said as he bandaged him, "Captain! I think there are at least ten machine guns firing at us!"

"Damn it! Damn it! Bastard!" Elton cursed, huddled in the co-pilot seat of the jeep and shouted into the radio: "We need support, there are a large number of enemies here, probably paratroopers, there are a hundred of them or more."

Obviously, the sudden and fierce firepower completely stunned the US military pursuit convoy. They mistakenly thought that the Ming army here was an organized paratrooper unit.

"Boom!"

The last of the eight mortar shells carried by the support team also fell, and the explosion startled the American soldiers who were relying on vehicles for cover.

Seeing the enemy shrinking back, Hua Yao made a prompt decision and fled as soon as possible.

The stolen trucks and armored vehicles were large targets, so they were all abandoned after the booby traps were laid and replaced with their own light motorcycles.

The uninjured commandos rode the bicycles, and the wounded ones sat on the back seat. Taking advantage of the cover of night, the group rushed to the evacuation point in the north as quickly as possible.

When daybreak comes, the US military will probably send planes to search all the way, which will be troublesome.

More than a dozen motorcycles were speeding through the boundless desert in western Australia. The sky and the earth were particularly dark on the moonless night. Although the bright stars were beautiful, they could not illuminate the way home.

Everyone thought the surprise attack was a success, but what happened next made everyone nervous.

According to the original plan, after the Yiluansi arrived at the evacuation point, the submarine responsible for picking them up would send a rubber boat to the shore to take them away.

At 3:25, the officers and soldiers of the Yiluansi received a telegram that the Lixia Yi No. submarine claimed to be waiting at the evacuation point and sent light signals to the shore, but no one saw it at all.

At 3:52, Hua Yao led the team to continue driving north along the coastline. He suspected that they had made a mistake in their location.

At 4:18, the two sides still hadn't discovered each other. The deep sea was pitch black, with no light at all.

At 4:40, a commando shouted in surprise that he saw a light signal, but everyone soon discovered that it was just the reflected starlight, and their excitement was in vain.

In fact, both sides deviated far from the designated evacuation point, with the Yiluansi deviating by about four kilometers and the submarine deviating by about thirteen kilometers.

It was almost dawn, and the eastern skyline was already showing a faint hint of paleness.

Hua Yao couldn't help but become nervous and worried about his uncertain fate.

At 5:18, they made a final risky attempt, sending a signal to the submarine to indicate its position with a flare.

Finally, a few minutes later, both sides saw the light appearing in the night sky in the early morning, and the officers and soldiers of the Yiluansi hurriedly drove towards it.

However, this also exposed their position.

At 5:45, two P-39 fighters spotted Lixia B No. floating near the coast and immediately swooped down on her.

American planes dived and strafed the Ming submarines, and sent back specific coordinates to the airport.

The latter immediately dived to avoid the disaster and escaped.

But as their whereabouts were exposed, a Hua-class frigate and an armed fishing boat soon set sail from Port Hedland and came here to hunt them down.

"Damn it!" Zhu Rensi slapped his thigh and complained, "Why can't I find the right position?"

"It's over, it's over now." Someone shrugged and sighed.

Feelings of regret, annoyance and disappointment surged into everyone's hearts, and several commandos sat down on the ground in despair.

Hua Yao calmly weighed the current situation and waved his hand, ordering, "Stop talking so depressingly. Get out of here, get in the car, and get away from this damn place before daybreak."

"How can we go back? Our supplies won't last for a few days, and the water is almost gone."

"This place is more than 3,000 miles away from Shengye in a straight line. If we go by land... I'm afraid we'll have to go through 4,000 miles of desert." "The radio is here and the car is still usable, so why can't we go back?" Hua Yao lifted up the motorcycle and said angrily: "Whether we walk or crawl, we can always get back!"

Then he added: "Send electricity to Surabaya. To avoid enemy radio tracking, keep silent and only send electricity at intervals."

At this time, a warrant officer with a serious abdominal injury said weakly: "Captain Yao, you take the brothers away, I will stay here."

The voice immediately attracted everyone's attention.

He smiled bitterly and said, "I won't be able to survive this injury for long. Rather than dying on the road, I'd rather stay here. Who knows, I might be able to replace him with a few more when the enemy catches up."

"That's right. It's too cowardly to die on the road. I'll stay here with you." Another corporal who was shot in the right lung sat on the ground and barely waved his hand.

The rest of the Yiluansi officers and soldiers were silent, with pity in their eyes, and some wanted to speak but stopped themselves.

"Oh!" Zhu Rensi stomped his feet unwillingly - if only he could be taken to the submarine in time, the military doctors inside would be capable of handling simple rescue operations.

Hua Yao was the calmest. He asked others to take out the remaining mines and jumping mines, and said to them: "Use them properly! Give me the sign, and then do anything else you want to do."

"All my money will be used to pay off my debts. There is nothing else to explain." said the warrant officer with a serious abdominal injury.

"Write a letter to Li Ying at the Changzhi County Telephone Bureau. She used to dislike me for being idle, but now I've made something of myself." The corporal said this and then chuckled.

Hua Yao put away their ID cards, then clasped his fists and said solemnly: "Take care!"

As the sky grew brighter, more than a dozen motorcycles started up one after another, rushing towards the north at the fastest speed...

In Yingtian Prefecture in the capital, the weather is clear and there is a light breeze.

Zhou Changfeng learned about this situation after he arrived at the Grand Marshal's Mansion in the morning. He had gone to sleep in a good mood last night, but he frowned when he heard the news.

The message sent by the Yiluansi was very brief, saying only that they had failed to evacuate as planned due to a wrong location, that the submarine was now being tracked by an aircraft, and that they were trying to move north along the coastline by land.

Extreme joy brings sorrow!

"Send a telegram to the Shengye Garrison Command to provide as much support as possible and send reconnaissance planes with supplies to search along the way." Zhou Changfeng immediately gave instructions.

It is indeed not easy to accurately determine the location in this era without satellite positioning. What's more, western Australia is uninhabited and lacks suitable landmarks. Various unfavorable factors have led to this terrible situation.

He believed that those elite troops who had undergone comprehensive training would be able to return safely in the end.

That morning, the Navy Department of the Ministry of War sent someone to submit a plan for the modification of the Yinghuo.

In addition to normal maintenance, the Jiangnan Naval Factory designed a so-called "amphibious assault ship equipped with helicopters" modification plan based on the requirements put forward by Zhou.

1. The flight deck in the middle section on the port side is floated two meters outward and the dividing line of the vertical take-off and landing operation section is painted.

Second, fine-tune the hangar and elevators to adapt to the helicopter.

Third, the hangar catapults were removed from the hangar openings on both sides and replaced with landing craft suspension cranes.

Fourth, some cabins will be modified to accommodate the marines travelling on board.

5. The turrets in front and behind the starboard deck were restored, but replaced with the same dual-purpose guns as the Nandina-class anti-aircraft cruisers.

When the Lexington was captured, one of its twin 203mm turrets was blown up. Later, the Guangzhou Chuting Shipyard dismantled all four turrets during repairs. The guns were disassembled for use as coastal defense guns, and the turrets were disassembled for recycling into steelmaking.

Considering the multiple uses of one gun, the Jiangnan Naval Factory naturally selected the expensive but high-performance Type 131.2 32mm dual-purpose gun. It can fire anti-aircraft fragmentation shells weighing 4.2kg and with a charge of kg, and is very powerful both in air defense and in artillery support on the other side of the river.

Based on the estimated sizes of the two types of helicopters, one large and one small, that are under development, the Yinghuo's hangar can accommodate 22 small helicopters (carrying 2 people) with relative ample space, and the deck can accommodate 8 large helicopters (carrying 12 people).

Although my wife is temporarily broken, it will be in new shape after it is repaired.

After spending the whole morning finishing his work, he went to the palace to meet the emperor as usual.

Zhu Lingjing is dressed very freshly today and looks several years younger.

In fact, she also liked to slack off, but fortunately, the cabinet under the constitutional government was capable of deciding most government affairs, and there were many things that really needed to be finalized by the emperor himself.

Zhou Changfeng sometimes thought that if it were in the past era of autocracy, an emperor like Zhu Lingjing would definitely be a lazy and incompetent ruler.

She was reading today's edition of Jiangnan Minbao and said casually, "You're here? Lan Fang has sorted out its internal affairs and is now thinking about a second round of military expansion. What do you think?"

"Lan Fang?" Zhou Changfeng answered without thinking too much: "They only have so many people, so don't expand the army. The rest will be the same as before... fast aircraft and submarines, no, fast aircraft escort and submarines, planes, frigates, submarines, speedboats."

"Look, they're here to ask me for guns and cannons." As she said this, she pointed to a memorial on the imperial desk.

Zhou Changfeng picked it up and looked at it, then jokingly asked, "Your Majesty is very wealthy, so you wouldn't be reluctant to give some guns to your vassal, right?"

Zhu Lingjing snorted, "I am willing to do so, but are you willing to do so?"

Lan Fang has certain basic industries, but the categories are incomplete, the production capacity is very limited, and it is highly dependent on imports.

The Dongwanlu Arsenal can manufacture small and medium caliber artillery; the Pontianak Shipyard has built some coastal defense ships and minelayers; the Singkawang Aircraft Manufacturing Plant has the ability to assemble aircraft parts and can manufacture most of the parts itself.

The Ming Dynasty now has a lot of surplus military production capacity - except for explosives and heavy-duty vehicles, all other production capacity is not fully utilized, so there is enough capacity to support some weapons and equipment for vassal states.

"The Lan Fang troops have gradually withdrawn from Sarawak, and Brunei's troops are also about to begin training," said Zhu Lingjing.

"This division is good. Both sides are satisfied and it is also good for the country." Zhou Changfeng nodded.

Lan Fang, which completely occupied Borneo, might be difficult to control, so it would be a good idea to divide it appropriately. Besides, the Lan Fang upper echelons did not like Sarawak very much.

As a result, the Kingdom of Brunei, which had lost the Sarawak region a hundred years ago, regained it, and its current territory occupies the northern part of Borneo.

The Ming Dynasty court was not considering restoring the former Sulu Kingdom for the time being, so Lan Fang now occupied the rest of Borneo and owned the Dalagan and Balikpapan oil fields, which was extremely rich.

According to the agreement, all oil will be provided to Ming Dynasty free of charge during the war, and the profits will be distributed in a 30:70 ratio after the war.

70%? 70% belongs to the suzerain country!

[Added the design diagram of the Type 38 heavy tank. ]

(End of this chapter)