At noon, the southeast wind blowing from the sea dispersed the clouds, the long-lost sun sprinkled all over the earth, the mountains and ravines in the Lunan area were clearly displayed under the sky, the temperature on the ground rose by seven or eight degrees, and the more than 5,000 officers and men of the Second Division of Reading Power who were arranged in Mazhuang and blockaded the western foot of Dahongshan happily took off their standard cotton coats and put them on again, looking particularly spiritual and mighty.

In front of the side of the nine large tents, there is a platform of more than 100 square meters, two huge grinding discs are placed in the middle of the platform, and there are three wooden box-shaped windmills in the low grass hut on the side.

The large grinding disc has two functions: shelling and crushing, because this grinding disc is too large, it requires two donkeys or a large mule and horse to pull; Wooden blower carts are used to process rice and barley, and the dried millet and barley are poured into the hopper above, and then the wind wheel axle in the middle is turned to blow out the useless rice and the shriveled and useless part of the barley husk, so as to obtain the best grain or seeds.

Nearly 100 foreigners were so happy after understanding that they couldn't do it, and they all joked about what they guessed and what they didn't, and the atmosphere on the platform was lively and the laughter was loud.

A dozen or so young women who had taken off their tweed coats and wore skirts and tight sweaters were the most conspicuous, and their towering breasts and snow-white long legs made the men feel distracted, and the thousands of officers and soldiers around them who were feeding themselves on compressed biscuits and canned meat were even more stunned.

Around the low table in front of Tent No. 4 sat Victor, the US military attache of the Joint Investigation Team. Liddell, Consul George of the British Consulate General in Qingdao. Royce, Vice Consul of the French Consulate in Nanjing, Carlas, who has not recovered from his facial injuries. Ribbeck, the military attache of the Italian consulate in Qingdao, Arsino. Frost and six others.

The six leaders of the joint investigation team did not participate in the fun activities on the platform, but quietly tasted dishes such as local spiced grilled chicken and steamed cured meat specially provided for them by the master chef of Mazhuang.

Lunch is coming to an end, and dozens of journalists from all over the world on the platform are still laughing happily in the warm sunshine, George. Royce put down the knife and fork in his hand, wiped his mouth with a white napkin, looked at the guards and soldiers who were chewing dry food in a circle in front of the temporary headquarters, and couldn't help but whisper to several colleagues around him:

"Gentlemen, do you see? All the officers and men of this army ate dry and cold biscuits and frozen canned food, and they ate like this every day for three days, without wine or hot soup, and all officers and men were treated the same, and they did not see any dissatisfaction or hear a single complaint, which is really admirable! ”

The diplomats of the surrounding countries immediately looked over, then observed the officers and soldiers who were in a neat circle all around, and then turned to the officers and soldiers who were standing on commanding heights in the distance and were on strict guard, and they all sighed in a low voice.

American military attache Victor suddenly stood up, strode to the headquarters tent in the middle, and quickly took out a box of canned food and a pack of compressed biscuits and returned to his colleagues:

"Look, gentlemen, this is the military food produced by the Sichuan Army Logistics Factory, and I visited the Sichuan Army Military Academy in Chengdu in November last year, and I have seen and tasted this food with my own eyes."

After reading the packaging, Victor asked everyone to read the packaging, and then tore open the square compressed biscuits wrapped in two layers of yellow oiled paper, and then opened the lid of the can pressed by galvanized iron, and immediately smelled the unique spicy taste of Sichuan braised beef.

"Surprised? Ha ha! ”

Victor pointed to the food on the table: "See, very delicate, and very nutritious, these two pieces of flour, soybean flour, sesame powder and peanut flour mixed and fried, plus salt, vegetable oil and sugar mixed and pressed military biscuits, enough to provide a soldier with the calories needed for a day, and the taste is good, it is quite easy to carry, I think even the German American army, which attaches the most importance to logistics supply and demand, is not necessarily better than the Sichuan army." Of course, it is painful to eat for a long time, but it is much more convenient than cooking over a fire, especially when fighting, isn't it, gentlemen? ”

The Frenchman Callas carefully broke off a corner and put it in his mouth, chewed it a few times, and then his eyebrows flew: "The taste is very good, much better than English biscuits!" ”

As the consul general of the Yubu Empire in Qingdao, George glanced at Kalas with disdain, tasted it with the same interest as everyone else, and when he was done, he picked up a piece of frozen square beef with a fork and stuffed it into his mouth, quickly opened his eyes, opened his mouth wide and jumped up: "It's too spicy, too salty, my God, where is the tea?" ”

Everyone couldn't help laughing when they saw the beads of sweat the size of beans gushing out of George's forehead, but before the laughter stopped, they heard a roar in the eastern sky, and the experienced Victor immediately ran to the platform, and built a pergola with many stunned reporters, looking up at the sky in the distance.

After a while, three biplanes sprayed in blue, white, and gray colors flew from east to west in an inverted V shape, and after the three-plane formation crossed the top of Xiaohong Mountain in the east, it slowly descended and flew over Mazhuang at a speed of about 180 kilometers per hour, and the plane in the middle quickly lowered its flight altitude and flew accurately towards the two battle flags that were waving on the ground.

"The three planes are all military aircraft manufactured by our American company Curtis, two of which were successfully developed in 1917, and the most advanced Hawker two-seat ground attack aircraft was dropped, oh my! When did Curtis sell fighter jets to China? ”

Victor cried out in surprise, his deep-sunken eyes, still staring blankly at the western sky.

George shook his head slightly: "Dear Victor, don't forget the newly built airfield of your good friend General Xiao Yimin on the outskirts of Nanjing. As far as I know, in addition to the Nanjing airport, Bengbu and Xuzhou, north of the Yangtze River, have also repaired military airports and can be put into use at any time. It can be seen from this that the air force of the Nanjing camp has already been formed, otherwise these planes would not have appeared in our field of vision so quickly, and so many airfields have been built in one go. ”

Callas asked suspiciously, "Impossible, right?" The war in Europe has just ended, so far, no country has a professional air force, and it is absolutely impossible for backward China to go ahead of Europe. ”

"Nope! We must not underestimate the military strength of the Nanjing camp and General Xiao Yimin's ability to accept advanced culture and science and technology, before who could believe that General Xiao Yimin's army had many and very advanced mortars of three calibers? Who can believe that the Sichuan Arsenal can produce tens of thousands of advanced light and heavy machine guns? ”

George spoke out loud about his views, which also represented the faint concern of British political axe about the rapid development of the Chinese industry.

Victor smiled and said: "Isn't the Paris Peace Conference discussing an arms embargo against China?" It seems that there will be no desired effect, because China's industrial system has been initially established, and the level of production and research and development of light weapons in the Sichuan army is much higher than the politicians of various countries have expected, and if Britain finally agrees to impose an arms embargo, it will only benefit Ben and Italy, which do not abide by the rules. ”

The Italian Arcino didn't care about the irony in Victor's words, he pointed to the two horses galloping and loudly informed everyone around him: "Look, two cavalrymen have sent the orange items dropped by the plane, shall we go to the command headquarters to find out?" I have a strong premonition that the battle will soon be fought! ”

George, the head of the investigation team, immediately made a decision: "Gentlemen, it seems that it is necessary for us to learn about the battle plan from General Wang Qian, it is our duty...... In addition, I am very interested in the upcoming battle and am eager to see the whole battle from the front line. ”

"Agreed!"

"Agreed!"

In the temporary headquarters, Wang Qian and Xiao Fei had already opened the map and brief information sent by the air force, and checked in detail the Dahongshan bandit caves and firepower points marked in red and blue on the map.

Seeing that the six gentlemen of the joint investigation team came uninvited, Wang Qian didn't care, politely greeted everyone, and then continued to stare at the map.

Ten minutes later, Wang Qian politely invited George and Victor to approach the huge sand table and introduce them in proficient French: "Dear gentlemen, due to time constraints, there is no need for translation, here, I can only make a brief explanation, if anyone needs to ask, you can bring it up after I have introduced the situation, agree?" ”

Everyone nodded with a smile, they didn't expect Wang Qian, who was always tight-faced, to speak so well, and he spoke French quite fluently.

Wang Qian took the long stick handed by the adjutant: "Gentlemen, after the more than 3,000 bandits gathered on Dahong Mountain received our letter urging them to surrender unconditionally, there was a large-scale civil strife, and it is estimated that more than 300 bandits died in the civil strife. ”

"Wait! Dear General, what are you talking about Ogasa Fuji? "Victor was keenly aware of an extremely important issue.

Wang Qian explained: "According to the information we have obtained, the bandit leader named Li Fuzhi had entered the Lunan area a year ago, responsible for the bandits' military training and the planning of many operations, his real identity was actually an intelligence officer sent to Qingdao by the army staff headquarters in Qingdao, his name was Ogasa Fuji, 32 years old, 163 centimeters tall, weighing about 58 kilograms, square face, slender eyes, graduated from the cavalry section of the army non-commissioned officer school in 1914, had a slight disability in his left foot, and served as a captain of the Korean Dispatch ArmyIn 1915, he was wounded in the suppression of the Korean Revolutionary Army, and was later transferred to the intelligence agency of the city, where he was responsible for intelligence work in the Qingdao area.

"Gentlemen, this person has worked in the Imperial Hall in Yanjing for a year and a half, and I believe that after meeting him, maybe some of your colleagues who are resident in Yanjing will know him."

The six diplomats were taken aback, looked at each other, and then looked gloomy and annoyed, and in addition to being unacceptable to their own intentions, they were also deeply shocked by the ability of the Nanking camp to gather intelligence.

Wang Qian smiled slightly, raised his baton, pointed between the two peaks in the depths of Dahong Mountain, and eloquently explained the battle plan that would start soon.

(To be continued)