The speed of time is not always constant, a good environment, a good mood, a good couple, these can make life harmonious and comfortable, but at the same time, it will also make you feel that the flow of time is so fast, so fast that it is a little impersonal, so fast that it is regrettable.

For Chen Tian, although the new year has just begun, a week in Hawaii will obviously be the most leisurely and relaxing time of the whole year, although he is not the kind of monarch who must do everything, but he rules an empire that is unprecedented in terms of territory, population, and nation, although this empire has unparalleled military, technological and economic strength, but the internal and external troubles have not completely disappeared. In the international arena, almost no country is willing to surrender, every defeated general dreams of re-emerging or even counterattacking, and every country with a certain national strength may be transformed into an indirect or direct opponent under certain circumstances; At home, the class contradictions have not disappeared with the economic recovery, the flame of revolution has never been extinguished, and the anti-war wave has become more and more intense, and if the government takes a wrong step in a major decision, all this can become a powder keg of great power......

After bidding farewell to the tranquil island villa, Chen Tian and his party returned to Pearl Harbor, a military center in the Central Pacific with an equally beautiful name and scenery, and just before boarding the special plane to the Americas, the Hawaii garrison command sent a somewhat tricky report.

"The 'San Francisco'...... Are you holding an American Red Cross ship? "I just read the beginning of this report, and Chen Tian asked the rear admiral who brought the report to the airport.

"Yes, Your Majesty! We received credible information that the ship was nominally carrying a shipment of medicines for civilians to Japan, but in fact it was carrying contraband! The general, with his thick brown hair, was the first to report.

"What kind of contraband...... Rare precious metals? Chen Tian found the answer in the report.

"Yes, intelligence indicates that the ship was carrying rare metals used to make high-strength alloys, and we speculate that it is most likely nickel and chromium!" The general replied without thinking.

"I see...... Chen Tian quickly read through the entire report, although the United States is still participating in the war against Japan as an ally of Germany, this does not prevent the Red Cross agencies in the United States from providing humanitarian relief supplies to Japan, which is one of the belligerent countries. As for why these supplies were supplied to Japan and not to Germany. The reason is simple, because Japan is the one who is under a tight naval blockade, and it is also Japan that faces the threat of serious infectious diseases to many of its citizens.

Considering that the use of chemical bombs in the bombing of Japan was also an important factor in Japan's current disease epidemic, the German government was also open to the transportation of humanitarian goods, allowing the Red Cross of various countries to provide relevant relief supplies to Japan in limited quantities.

"If there is nickel and chromium...... Chen Tian searched in the depths of his memory for a while, "these two rare metals should be used more on warships and planes!" ”

Hearing this question, the rear admiral in front of him suddenly chuckled in his heart, because he had come in a hurry. He had not prepared for this highly specialized issue, and in his knowledge he probably did not know much more than the Emperor.

Fortunately, Chentian's question was not aimed at him, how could there be a lack of military experts on the "Air Force No. 1" of the dignified German Empire? After receiving the emperor's signal, an attendant officer quickly conjured up an officer with the rank of colonel and a pair of thick-bottomed glasses, and the whole process took less than 1 minute.

"Back to Your Majesty, these three rare metals can almost be said to be indispensable for military alloys, nickel and chromium can greatly improve the properties of steel, and if the steel of the cannon body is completely free of chromium, the body tube lacks elasticity and toughness, and it is difficult to withstand too high chamber pressure and corrode quickly. If the armor is completely free of nickel and chromium, its bullet resistance will also be greatly reduced! Therefore. Both metals are used in a wide range of applications in the military industry, from warships and artillery to tanks, airplanes and all kinds of precision instruments! It is no exaggeration to say that any country is short of nickel and chromium. No matter how high its military industrial technology is, the performance of the weapons it manufactures is also greatly reduced! ”

Experts are experts after all, and in a few words they point out the importance of nickel and chromium. Hearing this, it is not surprising why the Americans smuggled nickel and chromium Although Japan's economy was almost limited to collapse due to the war, there was still no shortage of hard currencies such as gold and silver, not to mention that they also took advantage of the opportunity of the United States' defeat after 1924 to buy many American companies on the verge of bankruptcy, which made them not lack the financial resources to buy rare metals from Americans at high prices, and the truth that money can make ghosts grind is common all over the world!

"In that case, why haven't our men done a thorough inspection of that ship to determine if there is contraband on board?"

Tatsuten turned to the rear admiral.

"Back to Your Majesty. Our men had lightboated and took control of the situation, but there was a strong protest from the other side, claiming that we were trampling on international law, and some medical staff were blocking the entrance to the cargo hold with their bodies, saying that we wanted to go in unless we stepped over their bodies, so ...... So we haven't checked the cargo in the hold yet! The general replied with a difficult face.

"Oh my God!" Chen Tianzhen didn't know what to say, international law has never been used to tie the hands and feet of the weak to the strong, even in the current era of so-called civilization, international disputes are also who is strong and who has the final say. Even if the League of Nations is formed in the future. Nor will this change substantially.

It seems that the general in front of him has not really understood international politics, if Chen Tiandi speaks, he will not care about the identity of the other party, whether it is an ally or the Red Cross, first forcibly check it and then say, the other party has nothing to say if he finds contraband, and if he can't find it, he will apologize and lose money.

However, the German garrison command in Hawaii was not as weak and incompetent as people imagined, after all, the German army under the rule of Chentian had no precedent for the Red Cross to detain and search Red Cross goods, and since the establishment of the Red Cross - the first neutral organization called the International Committee for the Rescue of Wounded Soldiers (founded in 1863 and renamed the International Committee of the Red Cross in 1875) - since its establishment, its influence has far exceeded that of any other neutral international organization, and its influence has spread all over the world. Any country or army that violently interferes with the legitimate humanitarian operations of the Red Cross by force, for whatever reason, is met with moral condemnation from all States.

The poor general did not understand why his sovereign was so surprised, and he said timidly:

"Your Majesty, because this matter may cause international disputes, the headquarters sent me to ask you for instructions......"

"Alright, General, I'll give you the authority now, and you will immediately send someone for me to search the whole ship, up and down, and don't let go of a single corner! If those so-called medical personnel insist on physically blocking our people search, you can fire warning shots, or you can use force, in short, you will do whatever it takes to find out those contraband, and if there are any consequences, everything will be borne by the Imperial Government! Do you understand? ”

Chentian's tone was very firm, in his opinion, barbarism is not barbarism, although Japan's vitality at this time was greatly damaged, but Germany, which had the advantage, should not only not relax its vigilance, but should continue to attack its confidence and morale through a strict blockade.

"Yes, Your Majesty!" The general then stood up, and from the tone of the other party's voice, he knew very well what he had to do, he had to use two hundred percent of the investment to make up for the time wasted before—if the other party was clever enough, he might even dispose of all those "goods"!

After seeing the other party leave, Chen Tian said to the attendant officer beside him: "I want to see how the Americans shoot themselves in the foot this time, and inform us that our trip will be postponed for one day for the time being!" ”

"Yes!" The attendants unconditionally carried out the order, and on their scheduled itinerary, Mexico City was the first stop, and the second stop was Washington, D.C., which was also Chentian's first visit to the United States after the end of the German-American War in 1924, this trip was nominally to thank the United States for standing on the side of the Allies in the German-Japanese War, and by the way, to review the German troops in the United States that were making final preparations for withdrawal - as an important condition for the United States to participate in the war against Japan, the German clusters in the United States would be withdrawn by 1930, For Chen Tian himself, commemorating the old talent is the focus of this old place revisit.

After the order to change the itinerary was conveyed, the fighters that had taken off as escort formations returned to the airport one after another, and Chen Tian and his entourage also left the airport by car and returned to the villa at Pearl Harbor. Only three hours later, the news of the discovery of tons of nickel, chromium and manganese came from Honolulu, which was less than 100 kilometers away, and later Chen Tian learned that in front of the German soldiers who had suddenly become arrogant, the medical personnel who had always been tough on the ship did not hit their bodies with their guns after all, and not even a single person was injured in the whole incident. After investigating and dealing with this batch of contraband, the German Navy announced that it had officially detained the American freighter "San Francisco" and all 89 crew members and medical personnel, and held urgent diplomatic consultations with the US government on this matter. Although Germany did not impose any sanctions on the United States after the incident, the German Navy announced that it would carry out a thorough inspection of every ship destined for Japan in the name of humanitarian affairs, instead of merely sending military observers to "observe" the ship, as was the case in the past.

However, although these measures largely cut off the channels for the Japanese to smuggle rare metals through the Red Cross, before the end of the war, the Japanese still obtained a certain amount of rare metals of military importance such as nickel, chromium, and manganese from the outside world, and developed their last fighter in the war, the Type 90 fighter. (Full Text)