afterglow

Chapter 683 What to do? Only kill! Trench Warrior Stick!

After a long silence, Zhou Changfeng said slowly, "There is no solution. There is no end to it."

"Many of the people who were tracked down have bright futures. What a pity." Shen Yu said with great regret: "There is nothing I can do. It is my duty. I can only do my best."

"It seems that your edges have been completely smoothed out. When I met you in the 36th year of Zhichang, there were still many of them left." Zhou Changfeng said with a smile.

Shen Yu smiled bitterly, without commenting, and said, "Brother Zhou, you are much calmer than before."

"Actually, I miss that time quite a lot." Zhou Changfeng recalled their first meeting seven years ago - he was having lunch with Xia Xiaoshi in a restaurant when Shen Yu came to his door.

While the two were reminiscing about the past, several agents from outside the factory led the Yingtian police, who were armed with live ammunition, and rushed straight to the hideout in the southern suburbs.

According to the confession, the middleman's hiding place was in a hotel in the southern suburbs.

Just like following the clues, efficiency is important. The longer you delay, the more likely it is that the other party will get away with it.

The next day, after summarizing and analyzing the suspects captured overnight, the clerk of the Foreign Investigation Factory was surprised to find that this group of people happened to match a case handled by a two-person team.

The two agents had been investigating for nearly half a month and were still collecting further evidence recently. Unexpectedly, they were caught in the act ahead of time. Now they have found the same batch of special penicillin in many hospitals and private clinics. More than 200 empty bottles have been used and dozens of them are still unused.

Zhou Changfeng attached great importance to this and supervised it personally, asking about the progress tirelessly every day.

The combined penicillin production of the two pharmaceutical companies in the Ming Dynasty can now reach 13 billion units per month. The Ministry of War has mandated that most of it be supplied to the military first, and is manufactured according to a distribution ratio of 70% for military use and 30% for civilian use. Only more than 25 doses of -unit military penicillin are shipped out each month.

Before the attack on Brisbane, the Australian Corps had only stockpiled 6000 doses, which was not enough. Field hospitals and medical ships often used one dose of 25 units mixed with saline solution as two doses of 12.5 units.

The investigation team then raided a warehouse, where they found another batch of special-supply penicillin, all of which had been unpacked and passed off as genuine products.

The result of the interrogation was that they felt that the original profit was not big enough, so starting from the second batch, they divided the sodium penicillin powder in each syringe into five parts, and then mixed it with glucose powder. This showed how greedy they were, passing off inferior goods as good ones.

Zhou Changfeng has no interest in these downstream gangs in the interest chain. From now on, he will spend half his life digging in the mines of Borneo.

Half a lifetime instead of a lifetime? Was it because the imperial court was too kind and humane? In fact, it was simply because ordinary people could not work for more than a few years in the deep forests of Borneo, which were full of miasma and poisonous snakes and insects.

He found that there seemed to be more rats in the army than before. The dawn of complete victory was about to come, causing many people who had made a fortune from the war to become complacent and indulge in revelry.

"Who says we should turn a blind eye when the situation is going well? It will hurt the good mood? What a joke!"

It goes without saying that the case of reselling military supplies could not be limited to penicillin, but must involve other supplies.

Zhou Changfeng was determined to investigate the matter thoroughly, even if it meant expanding it.

Zhu Lingjing was not willing to launch an in-depth investigation so hastily. In such cases, it would be better to investigate secretly and find out who the implicated persons are before making any further considerations.

But on second thought, after the national war, countless cunning people have made a fortune and become arrogant and daring. In order to avoid major chaos in the future, they should curb their prestige and arrogance.

So she didn't interfere. The only drawback was that Zhou's fuss about supervising the matter was obviously very annoying, and she could do nothing about it, so she just let him do it.

Zhou Changfeng attached great importance to it beyond imagination, and he continued to urge the matter even during the imperial meeting.

He felt that the Ministry of Justice was inefficient and excluded it without giving it face. The investigation was jointly conducted by the Military Law Department of the Ministry of War and external factories, and the military police unit of the 1st Imperial Guard Division was also ordered to assist in the arrest operation.

It took six days and five nights to finally solve the case itself (a level one case), and most of the level two cases involved were also solved, but the level three cases are still under investigation.

Five of the 74 people involved in this case are still at large, and the rest have all been arrested. A total of 5 of them are military personnel. The military supplies that were resold included 13 doses of penicillin, a large amount of gasoline, tires, leather boots, watches, canvas, meat, and sugar.

There were three level 2 cases in total, roughly estimated to involve more than 200 people. In addition to regular supplies, the most shocking thing was that tungsten ore and pig bristles were disguised as other commodities, false lists were issued, customs were bribed, and then exported to Chile, Peru, and Guatemala.

There is no need to explain tungsten sand ore. Pig bristle is the most suitable raw material for making brushes, which can be used for painting or cleaning gun barrels, and the effect is excellent. Before the war, Ming Dynasty exported 80% of the world's pig bristles each year. After the outbreak of the war, the hostile Britain and the United States faced the dilemma of a shortage of pig bristles.

Because the United States entered the war later, it hurriedly purchased two batches of pig bristles from the Ming Dynasty, but they were consumed in just over half a year, and it had to switch to using less effective substitutes.

So it is a foregone conclusion as to where these controlled strategic materials were exported to, and to which countries they ended up.

Zhou Changfeng glanced through the existing list and found that the highest-ranking person involved in the case was a quartermaster with the rank of colonel, as well as a customs official from the Guangdong Provincial Administration.

"Great, helping the enemy." He took a deep breath and instructed calmly, "Check, keep checking. I want to see what other characters can be pulled out in the end. They are really brave."

What to do? Only kill!

After a pause of a few seconds, he continued, "For those found, every one of them will be sent to Borneo to mine... Forget it, we don't need so many people, just execute them; local officials will be hanged; those with military status will be shot."

Xie Chun, a doctor in the Military Law Department, was already ashamed and hesitated, "We have already found more than 300 people, and there are more than 60 civil and military officials. Is it too much to sentence them all to death..."

Zhou has a bad reputation, so Xie Chun is fully prepared to severely punish those involved in the reselling case.

But executing more than sixty civilian and military officials in one go? That was too radical.

"Just do what the law says." Zhou Changfeng asked seriously, "Is there not enough bullets? If not, can I write a note and go to the warehouse to get 100,000 bullets?"

"Zhou... Zhou..." Xie Chun was anxious and pleaded helplessly: "My great General Zhou, it has been many years since you killed so many people at once. I am sorry that I cannot obey your instructions. Please calm down and wait for the decision of His Majesty and the cabinet."

"Calm down? You don't have to calm down. Do you think I look angry now?"

"Alas, I am in a dilemma too."

This matter was of great importance, and the Prime Minister had to take time out of his busy schedule to examine the causes and consequences.

Liao Zihe's style is more radical than Zou Zhuoyun, who used to seek stability above all else. He does not rule out taking this opportunity to conduct a thorough investigation and rectify the work style.

The army was much more arrogant than before the war, so it was only right to suppress them. Moreover, the generals had heard that there would be a large-scale reward after the war, and they were all looking forward to it and were extremely excited. At this juncture, they would not say a word even if they were hit hard, and they just hoped that they would not be implicated.

As for the local officials involved in the case, many of them were members of the Renhe Party and the Democratic Party, and they died a good death. Therefore, the prime minister also acquiesced to the investigation and execution.

Upon learning that Zhou had threatened to kill people, the relatives and friends of the person involved became anxious and ran around seeking help, hoping to get him exonerated, but to no avail.

Some relatives even went to Beijing overnight to visit Xia Xiaoshi and tearfully begged her. After responding twice, she got fed up and closed the door to visitors.

This major case with far-reaching implications did not attract much attention because the timing was very unfortunate - those at the top of the pyramid were gathering together to discuss national affairs during this period.

The imperial meeting held in mid-March of the third year of Jinghe was of particular importance because it involved many military and national affairs such as strategic decisive battles, negotiation games, interest division, and sphere of influence division.

In comparison, the issue of punishing internal corrupt officials seems insignificant.

Zhu Lingjing secretly complained that Zhou Kexing really knew how to pick the right time to start a killing spree. Now the powerful and wealthy were all focused on dividing up the feast and had no time to care about the lives of the small fry.

"There really is such a terrifying weapon? It's horrifying and beyond my imagination."

The curtains were drawn in the meeting room of Wenhua Hall. The huge hall was pitch dark, with only the light from the projector reflected on everyone's faces.

The screen was showing images of nuclear tests, shot using expensive color photography - after a dazzling flash of white light, a mushroom cloud with a hint of red rose up, and the enchanting scarlet glow filled the sky.

Several people present were so shocked that they were distracted and unable to extricate themselves.

Song Zhongkai was the calmest and asked first: "How powerful is such a bomb? I mean, how powerful is it exactly?"

"Reporting to you, there are probably more than 19,000 metric tons of yellow explosives," Luo Fu replied.

"How heavy? How many are there?"

"It's a little over five tons. We have one now and will have another one ready by the end of the month. After that we'll have to wait another three months."

"It's too heavy." Song Zhongkai was particularly regretful and said in a deep voice: "Then it can only be used within the range of the Air Force's large bombers."

Zhou Changfeng coughed lightly and explained to everyone who had come to their senses: "Everyone, although this nuclear bomb looks very powerful, it has limited damage to things with protection. It is only suitable for attacking key transportation hubs, or simply dropping it on cities to kill people indiscriminately. Generally speaking, it can destroy half of a large city and kill hundreds of thousands of people."

Chen Jieli, president of the Advisory Council, asked thoughtfully, "Can it destroy a division of soldiers?"

"No, unless the enemy is in a group, it can only destroy half a regiment in a normal battle, and more if you are lucky." Zhou Changfeng gave the specific data, "When it explodes in mid-air, the damage radius that causes minor damage to buildings is two kilometers, which is a circle with an area of ​​13 square kilometers; if it explodes on the ground, the killing range will be greatly reduced, but it can leave long-term radiation contamination, which can be understood as poison."

"More than a thousand hectares..." Yu Shenhua thought for a moment, "This is perfect for scaring people, a powerful weapon for intimidation."

"You have to kill people first before you can scare them." Zhu Lingjing, who was sitting firmly at the top seat, spoke up, "Canberra is the first choice, but maybe we have to postpone it."

Canberra is indeed a good choice, but why delay?
Everyone is puzzled.

Zhou Changfeng looked at Song Zhongkai who was standing diagonally opposite him, smiled slightly and said: "Although it is difficult for this thing to sink a warship by itself, if the fleet is bombed..."

The latter nodded and said affirmatively: "Okay, this can be used as a trump card in the decisive battle."

Song Zhongkai heard a few days ago that Zhou intended to attack Christmas Island to lure the main fleet of the US military. He felt that it was inappropriate at the time, but now he immediately changed his mind.

With the atomic bomb as a trump card, we can indeed fight a decisive battle without any worries, and even if the fleet fails in the battle, we can turn defeat into victory.

Considering the risk of interception, Zhou Changfeng proposed to shelve the plan of nuclear attack on Canberra and concentrate both atomic bombs on the nuclear attack fleet, just in case. Even if something goes wrong, there will be emergency backup.

The proposal was unanimously agreed.

The imperial conference lasted for several days, and the disagreements mainly focused on the division of interests and spheres of influence, but this was not a top priority.

The preliminary preparations for the negotiations have been completed, and the United States and Ming have agreed to start armistice negotiations at the boundary between the controlled areas on the front line of Maui Island.

Zhu Lingjing replaced a candidate she thought was not steady enough with Major General Chi Xianze, who had served as the chief military attaché of the Chinese embassies in the United States and France.

Zhou Changfeng took some time to review the landing battle carried out by the 190th Fleet and the 4th Marine Brigade on the Gold Coast, and then began to plan the expedition to Christmas Island.

The modification and training of the Yinghuo have been completed. The vertical delivery capability will be a joke in the eyes of future generations, but it is subversive now.

If nothing unexpected happens, this will be the last large-scale amphibious operation in the long Pacific battlefield.

On March 3, with the arrival of another transport fleet, the 22rd Heavy Armored Division, one of the five major prospecting divisions, was deployed to Oahu after losing only 9% of its equipment, further strengthening the garrison.

On March 3, sporadic gunfire echoed on Maui Island. This was the norm here. A total of 25 troops from the United States and the United States were confronting each other, and neither side was willing to take the initiative to attack. In the morning, several CCKW ten-wheeled heavy trucks with white flags drove slowly and stopped in the middle of the battle line between the two sides on the east side of the Iao Valley.

"Look, here they come with a white flag."

"You are really punctual. Come on, let's get closer."

A team of Ming army military police left their guard positions and walked forward carrying sticks.

The American soldiers unloaded tents, aluminum folding tables and chairs, gasoline stoves, and gasoline generators from the trucks, and quickly built a camp consisting of four large field tents. They also laid Marston mats and wooden boards on the ground and hung up light bulbs.

This somewhat crude camp will be where representatives of the warring parties in the Pacific War will hold armistice negotiations... half of the camp, as the other half, which is under the responsibility of China, has not yet been built.

The two sides agreed in advance that a square area with a side length of 1000 yards (914m) and this place as the center would be used as the negotiation venue. It would be a demilitarized zone and armed personnel were not allowed to enter. Each side would send 100 gendarmes without guns but only with sticks to maintain order.

"Are you kidding me? What are those Chinese holding?!"

Dozens of Ming army gendarmes slowly approached, each holding a trench stick with bared fangs and claws - a trench stick with nails embedded on the head.

How come the mace, the special weapon, is not considered a stick?

(End of this chapter)