When the sun was just rising, Lieutenant Colonel Zhou Yingcong, who was standing on the pilot boat sailing into the Huangpu River, saw the cruiser Izumo firing in a salvo in the middle of the river, saw Japanese planes circling in groups wantonly in the sky, and saw dense Japanese naval ships lining up on the farther river, shelling the opposite bank......

At this moment, the Shanghai Beach in front of him was a hell -- the fire seemed to be burning in the entire American Concession, hot and violent, and the black smoke was thick, covering the original colors of the early morning. Pen × fun × Pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 infoEven the landmark of Yangshupu, the 105-meter-tall cement chimney of the American power station, is gone, and if he doesn't look at the right bank of the Huangpu River, he will think that this is a strange world.

"Ah, God! Zhou ......" saw the corpses floating in the Huangpu River, and the pilot boat let out an exclamation. After so many days of fighting, this is the first time that the corpse of a soldier has appeared on the Huangpu River - China. The army had been fighting inland, and the Japanese troops occupying the banks of the Huangpu River could not allow the corpses of their soldiers to float on the river.

The British pilot Han Bolin was dumbfounded by this, listening to the rumbling cannon in his ears, which was obviously the Chinese rushing to the river. The army was bombarded by Japanese naval guns. Even now, large-caliber shells rumble through the black smoke like trains, and finally fall to the ground, exploding and making loud noises. In the black smoke, it is like thunder and lightning obscured by dark clouds, hazy but inspiring.

Zhou Yingcong rushed from Nanjing, the railway and highway were not only occupied by the army, but also bombed by Japanese planes from time to time, he had to take the British merchant ship eastward, originally thought that the British merchant ship could enter Shanghai, but at this time the Huangpu River was rumbling with cannons, and the merchant ship was afraid of being hit by artillery and was unwilling to dock, so he had no choice but to let the captain hang the flag and summon the pilot ship in the port. Because of this, he saw this tragic scene in front of him, here, it seems that it does not belong to this world at all!

Although they knew each other, Lieutenant Colonel Zhou Yingcong did not answer Han Bolin's words, what he thought in his heart was: If submarines can be ordered a year in advance, then the Japanese Navy may not be able to enter the Huangpu River, at least if the army does not lose ground, it will not be able to advance. It's just that history has no ifs, the navy has retreated to the Jiangyin fortress, and those torpedo boats of the electric mine school are ......, he really can't imagine that Ouyang Ge also has the idea of protecting the ship.

For the sake of his own safety, the pilot boat sailed to the upper reaches of the Huangpu River at the fastest speed, and in a hurried glance, Zhou Yingcong actually saw a tank being blown up by the river: the turret had cracked, like a broken cloth shoe upper, and the barrel was only a short section, and it was extremely bent, which was probably the so-called victory of Huishan Wharf in the Nanjing newspaper yesterday.

The pilot boat docked at the wharf of the British Concession, and Zhou Yingcong called and waited for a while before seeing Zeng Guosheng who came to pick him up. As soon as he opened his mouth, he said, "The minister asked how the matter of the mines was?" ”

In the original history, during the Anti-Japanese War, the first mine of the Navy was made in September 1937, using 300 pounds of explosives given by Miss Kong who came back from Europe, and this mine was sent into the Huangpu River from the British shipyard in the concession on the night of September 28 by the engineer Wang Yisheng and Chen Lanfan (Zeng Guosheng and Zhou Yingcong persuaded the Chinese gatekeepers who were watching the factory to let them sneak into the Huangpu River from behind the shipyard on the night of September 28).

Different from the legendary version, according to the memories of the person concerned, Zeng Guosheng, who made this mine, was inexperienced in the design and actually forgot to calculate the weight of the cable, so the engineer could not push it when he pushed it into the river. Since it couldn't be pushed, it simply exploded, and it was not at all the legendary water ghost that was discovered by the Japanese army, and the searchlight was used to detonate it. Mines are a very small thing in the navy's weapons, and Li Kongrong naturally does not pay attention to such trivial matters, but the Chinese navy in the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression is all planted on mines.

More than a month after the Battle of Songhu began, Chen Shaokuan found that the navy did not have a single mine! This kind of thing is like a country. It was as unusual that there were no grenades in the military ammunition depot and that the restaurant only served dishes and did not sell rice, but this was the current situation of the Navy at that time. It is true that the Admiralty did not have a single mine before the manufacture of the Hai C electric engine mine used on 28 September, and the mines and torpedoes ordered for the submarine in Germany were cancelled before they arrived, and the Mine School had only purchased 240 torpedoes and no mines.

Each imported mine is about 4,000 national dollars, and I don't know whether it is because it is considered too expensive, or whether it is felt that such a low-tech weapon does not need to be purchased, and neither the Admiralty nor the Electric Mine School have made any preparations. After the Type C electric mine, the Admiralty vigorously studied the mine, and finally there was the Haigeng mine with stable performance. Chen Shaokuan lamented and lamented this: If there were mines, Jiangyin would not need to be blocked by warships and merchant ships, only 600 mines; If there were mines, the 28th of September could blow up or even sink the unsuspecting Izumo.

The navy learned a lesson, and the lightning school lost Ouyang Ge's life. Ouyang Ge, who is ambitious and talented, arrogant and greedy, will certainly not take the little mine in his eyes. Jiangyin Fortress is blocked by Fujian shipwrecks, and Madang Fortress, the gateway to Wuhan, is protected by mines from the Electric Mine School, but the Electric Mine School has thin roots after all, although a number of mines have been created, but this mine area was easily broken through by the Japanese fleet. Xu Zushan, who supervised Madang's defense, immediately went up to the top to read a copy, and Gu Zhutong also said that 'the electric thunder school was set up on the river and fought against the field army, and it was completely unable to support it'[Note 32].

'The facts of the delay in the military plane and the handling of the funds are unknown', this is a note personally approved by Chang Kaishen, and Ouyang Ge was almost killed on the spot. Fortunately, everyone in the CC department interceded, so they saved their lives for the time being. Everyone thought that Ouyang Ge would come out in a few years, after all, it is not easy for the party-state to train a cadre, especially a senior cadre, and the tuition fee always has to be paid. Who would have expected that the sky would destroy Cao, in the middle of 1940, it was suddenly rumored that Ouyang Ge's wife Zhang Jingqiu had a huge sum of 130,000 US dollars in the United States, although there were several pleas from the patriarch Wu Zhihui, he actually argued that this was Zhang Jingqiu's dowry, but Ouyang Ge was still shot.

Zhou Yingcong and Zeng Guosheng, who were at the former site of the former seaway survey bureau of Fenglin Bridge in the French Concession, of course did not know the story of the small mine in another period of history, and they did not even care about the mine -- Zhou Yingcong's mind still flashed to the Japanese warship shelling the country before. The tragic state of the army. Although he is a Fujian system, although he cares most about the interests of the Fujian system, as a navy, he sees the country in the river. The army corpse is really speechless!

"Without the right to control the sea, the fight is too bad." Zhou Yingcong was holding a cigarette, not smoking it at all, but letting the cigarette burn silently.

"Sea control is not easy to say!" Zeng Guosheng sighed, and he also read the newspaper in Shanghai -- the country that attacked the Huishan wharf. Most of the soldiers were killed by the guns of the Japanese ships, and their bones were gone. "Let's build mines first. The Yangtze River wants mines, the Gaochang Temple area needs mines, and there are ...... There, too, mines. ”

"Didn't you say that the design was immature?" Only then did Zhou Yingcong remember that one of the things he did when he came to Shanghai was to urge Zeng Guosheng to build mines quickly. Without engaging Japanese ships, mines suddenly became the navy's number one weapon.

"It's been changed." Zeng Guosheng said with a smile, "Now it's Haiding, and the previous one is Hai Yi and Hai C." The release of these mines will certainly cause the landing Japanese troops to be in great trouble. ”

"If it works, it's good to work." Zhou Yingcong suddenly lowered his voice and said, "Is that the quantity purchased?" The amount of money allocated above is limited, and the minister is worried that the amount will not be enough. And how to solve the transportation problem? Thousands of mines are going to be transported over there, and that's hundreds of tons. ”

Zeng Guosheng was completely responsible for the matter of the mines, and as Chen Shaokuan's cronies, he knew a lot of things. Seeing Zhou Yingcong asking, he said: "No matter how much you save, you will get 400 yuan for one piece, and 1,000 yuan will be 400,000." Half a nautical mile wide and ten nautical miles long, it would cost 1,800 pieces, 720,000 pieces. It's just that this mine doesn't need to be durable, and the true and false are combined, and 600,000 is enough. Now it depends on how much money is allocated by the ministry. Speaking of this, Zeng Guosheng said: "Is the electric mine school also making mines?" ”

In the planning of the Ministry of Military Affairs, the electric mine school naturally wants to build mines, which is also an incentive for the navy to lag behind in the research and development of mines. If both the Admiralty and the Electric Mine School apply to the Ministry of Military Affairs to manufacture mines, it is very likely that the funds will be allocated to the Electric Mine School, after all, Ouyang Ge is still Chang Kaishen's celebrity.

"The minister is fighting for it." Zhou Yingcong was a little serious, "But Shao Sheng may be able to think of some ways." ”

"Shao Sheng?" Zeng Guosheng has heard Li Kongrong's words more in the past two months than he has heard in his life, and now the entire Admiralty seems to be revolving around him. "What can he do?"

"Shao Sheng can get some money." Zhou Yingcong said, "With the money he mortgaged the house, it is about 400,000." The ministry ...... again"

"Four hundred thousand?" Zeng Guosheng was taken aback, "He... He...... Where did he get all this money? Could it be ......?"

"No, it's not." Zhou Yingcong shook his head, "It has nothing to do with the submarine, he said that this is the way from Vice President Kong's side." He is now in charge of two errands, and the money can be embezzled first, and when the Ministry of Military Affairs makes up for it that day, he will have to return it. ”

"Go back? Is it possible? Zeng Guosheng was a little unconvinced -- Qiu Zhongming's plan to bring him back to China included a plan to preserve the value of the property of the main people of the Admiralty. Real estate could not be mortgaged immediately to the bank due to the war, but cash could be exchanged for dollars and pounds sterling. It is impossible for Li Kongrong to repatriate from the country in the national currency, but the Ministry of Military Affairs must have allocated the national currency, not to mention the exchange price of the national currency at that time, it is very likely that the control of foreign exchange was already implemented at that time, and free exchange was prohibited.

"Shao Sheng had made a plan before: if the government suspended the exchange of foreign currency and the national currency in our hands continued to depreciate, then we would immediately buy a batch of local goods and transport them from the Guangdong-Hanzhou Railway to Hong Kong for sale. Whether you win or lose, the least money you sell is in foreign currency. Zhou Yingcong explained, he said and laughed, "Shao Sheng has never done business either, but I feel that he understands everything." ”

"That's really the way to go. But what about the shortfall part? Zeng Guosheng finally nodded.

"He said it was a big deal, a direct showdown. In short, you don't have to worry about money. The ministry will also find a way to raise money, and it is impossible to rely on Shao Sheng to find a way alone. Zhou Yingcong said. Now the minister is worried about how to transport these more than 1,000 mines. ”

"Luck is good luck." Zeng Guosheng was worried about money, since there was no problem with money, there was no problem with everything else. "Usually the freight route is from the Huangpu River to Dayang Bridge in Jinshan County, which is a transit station. If it is your own ship, you can transport it directly, and if the boat is smaller, it can definitely be transported directly to the sea, and it is a big deal to transport it a few more times. ”

Zeng Guosheng said as he spoke, and suddenly said, "Did the minister send you to lay mines this time?" ”

"It's not." Zhou Yingcong shook his head, "I...... To go abroad, the Ninghai is outside, and I have to follow closely. ”

Zhou Yingcong is not easy to say that he is going to South America, and the less people know where he is going, the safer the Ninghai will be. Zeng Guosheng didn't want to ask him where he was going, but said: "The speed of the Ninghai is so low, can it really break the relationship?" ”

"Of course not." Zhou Yingcong smiled, "As long as she makes one vote, she will return to her capital, and if she makes two votes, she will make a lot of money." This is what Shao Sheng said, he, hehe......" Speaking of the Ninghai, Zhou Yingcong's gloomy mood since the morning suddenly brightened, and he said: "The minister said: 'As long as Shao Sheng is here, we (Fujian) will not collapse!'" ’”