Chapter 161 Aviation and Oil

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The war that took place in Daye, Hubei, China, stimulated the attention of Japan, and the War Department discussed and held meetings every day, and one army after another was ordered to get ready, and ronin and samurai gathered in front of the Prime Minister's Office all day long, demanding severe punishment of the country on the other side, and even clamoring to occupy, to declare war, to plunder ().

In the face of this chaos, the cabinet of Saionji Temple was anxious, and many people even began to worry that the country would enter turmoil again. Only a small percentage of the population understands that the decision to declare war on China does not depend on the Prime Minister's Office, but on an ancient temple in Kanagawa's Odawara Prefecture.

The clear spring dingdong bypasses the ancient nunnery, and the hollowed-out bamboo knots collect drops of clear water, and the water droplets flow along the bamboo pipe into the water tank, and when it overflows, it will automatically sprinkle under several cherry blossom trees. Under the flower tree, an old man in a kimono with gray hair stands quietly, admiring the flowers that will bloom in a few days.

The cherry blossom season is just around the corner.

In the shade of the trees in the distance, several Japanese officers in general's uniforms stand solemnly, and in the middle are a man dressed as a traditional ronin wearing a kimono and stepping on clogs. The old man didn't seem to see anyone waiting for him, so he stood so quietly, neither the two pretty maids next to him nor the guards in the outer circle dared to disturb him. Finally, a person came over, like a subordinate in the shogunate era, and when he arrived in front of him, he knelt on the grass with his legs bent: "Lord Duke, there was news from the hospital just now that His Majesty's condition has deteriorated again. ”

The old man was rarely moved, his snow-white eyebrows raised slightly, he couldn't tell whether he was happy or sad, turned his head and stabbed several officers in the distance with two sharp eyes, and waved his hand lightly: "Let them come over." ”

Although Katsura Taro, who was dressed in a general's uniform, was also a Japanese veteran, his qualifications were still too poor compared to this one, so he took a step forward respectfully: "Does the duke have instructions?" ”

The servant made an invitation gesture: "Everyone, please come with me." ”

Katsura Taro and the others hurriedly bowed their heads and followed their subordinates to the old man, don't look at them to be able to call for wind and rain in the Japanese political arena, but in front of this they are as well-behaved as children, and the head of the samurai dressed as a samurai is even more atmospheric, because the short, seemingly weak old man in the distance is the one who really controls the fortunes of Japan!

Yama Prefecture Yutomo, the only person in Japan who can control the fortunes of the country after the death of Hirobumi Ito, is known as the elder of the patriarchs!

"Yamaman-kun is back too?" Youpeng took the wooden teacup from the maid, and Longjing tea from Hangzhou, China, was one of his favorites, and he had been taking it for more than a decade since Japan set foot on that fertile soil after the first afternoon.

Toushan Man can control the life and death of others in Manmeng, but he doesn't even dare to come out of the atmosphere here, so he hurriedly bent down and bowed, looking respectful: "Toushan Man has seen the Duke." ”

"What duke, old man." Yama County Youpeng smiled, and the corner of his eyes swept over Katsura Taro and the others. If it weren't for his past experience, I'm afraid no one would have felt how much power this old man had in his hands, don't look at the current chaos between the navy and the army, the Xiyuan Temple cabinet is proud, but if he stomps his feet, I'm afraid that the whole of Japan and even Asia will tremble.

"Is it for Han Yeping's business?"

As the number two person of the Yama Prefecture faction, Katsura Taro did not dare to conceal it: "Duke Yingming, we have just received news that Takakawa Shaozo and his tun army have been martyred, and the Third Fleet of Kawashima has done nothing. The people of China now put forward a request to our country to redeem Han Yeping's shares, and also sent a telegram asking Sheng Xuanhuai to return to China to discuss the future status of Han Yeping! I suggest that we should act immediately, send troops to Hubei, and at the same time mobilize the Kwantung Army and do a good job. ”

"Are you ready to declare war?" Yama Prefecture Aritomo suddenly interrupted him, and although the voice was not loud, it made Katsura Taro's heart tremble. In fact, as a patriarch, he did not want to declare war on China, he was not afraid of war, but he knew that Japan was not ready at the moment! The huge pressure of foreign debt has made the country breathless, and he just wants to take this opportunity to pull Xiyuan Temple to dismount, so after being seen through his thoughts, he hurriedly bowed his head: "Don't dare, please ask the duke to admonish." ”

Yamaguchi Aritomo did not want to blame Katsura Taro, and said, "Prime Minister Saionji has already come yesterday, and he is considering a negotiated and diplomatic solution. Foreign Minister Uchida also told me personally that the United States and Germany seem to be very much in favor of Yang Qiu taking back Han Yeping, and that our allies have sent people to tell me that they do not want to see a large-scale war on both sides of the Yangtze River. So don't blame Kawashima and the navy, they have their own difficulties, it's not the sea, and our super crossbow warships currently need the help of allies to build them. ”

Katsura Taro and others know that this is just Yama Prefecture Youpeng is forcibly suppressing both the land and the sea, and in the current Japan, only this person can lightly suppress the contradictions between the two armies, although this makes many army generals dissatisfied, but who dares to disobey this person's will now? Although the temple next to him did not dare to disobey, he still said: "Lord Duke, we can tolerate the inaction of the navy, but Han Yeping is related to the national fortune of the Japanese Empire, and we must send more troops to Hubei to protect it." ”

"And how many are you going to send?" Youpeng in Shanxian took a sip of tea: "A division?" There are 100,000 troops in Hubei, and hundreds of thousands more downstream, and although they are being fired, can you guarantee that they will not be rearmed if we enter? Have you calculated how much military expenditure is needed to go deep into the upper reaches of the Yangzi River and maintain a division and regiment to fight? Have you considered the consequences of sailing to your allies for the sake of an iron mine? ”

"I just got the news that His Majesty the Emperor's condition has worsened again, maybe ()." Yama County Youpeng sighed, and suddenly felt that he was old, when Oyama Yan, Ito Hirobumi and others left one by one, was it their turn? No! You can still dominate the country, but you have to endure it now. He got up and glanced at the cherry blossoms that were about to bloom, and waved his hand: "Go ahead, it's not the cherry blossom season yet." ”

Yes, the cherry blossoms are not in full bloom yet! Katsura Taro and the others didn't dare to say more, and walked out with their heads down. Yama Prefecture Youpeng suddenly turned his head, looked at Katsura Taro's back and seemed to think of something, beckoned to call the next person just now: "Send someone to tell the prime minister, I have helped him do what I should do, I hope he can fulfill his promise, and appropriately increase military spending Cherry blossoms are always going to bloom, and whether they can be more beautiful depends on whether they are carefully maintained in peacetime." With that, he took the spoon and watered the cherry blossom tree himself.

The political whirlpool surrounding Han Yeping was constantly expanding, and the Xiyuan Temple's cabinet was determined to use political means to solve the problem this time, which also offended many young Zhuang officers, laying the groundwork for the subsequent conflict.

At the same time as the Japanese and Beijing envoys rushed to Wuchang, the initiators of the Daye Incident had quietly arrived in Caidian, west of Hankou and in the upper reaches of the Han River.

A leveling temporary dirt runway was finally repaired after half a month of leveling, and two wide canopies were erected on both sides of the runway, because the Chongqing Aviation School and training base are still under construction, and the current river ships are used to transport large machinery into Sichuan, so the aviation team led by Feng Ru can only be temporarily stationed here.

This talented mechanical and aircraft designer led everyone to spend half a month to assemble all fifteen Curtiss biplanes, and the neat row of warhawks really had some air force posture, but it was a pity that the Curtiss Jenny fighter in front of him was not a well-known fighter in World War I, it was just a racing aircraft with 80 horsepower, assembled with a large amount of canvas and steel wire, and even the current mainstream models in Europe have a big gap ().

80 horsepower cannot support 11.41 million square kilometers of sky, but this is already the mainstream aero engine in various countries, and it is a batch of 150 horsepower to 250 horsepower power sources that only appeared during the First World War.

In addition to Yang Qiu, in order to prepare for the establishment of the first pilot in the three provinces, and even laid the foundation of the future national defense air force, Miao Luo was also invited to watch the flight together, and the injury was almost healed Rui Yao heard that he could fly in the sky, and he also followed. As for Song Ziqing, Zhang Wenjing and others, they all came, and even Zhang Taiyan, who didn't care much about the military and ran around for education, came early in the morning when he learned that the flight team was going to make its first flight today, and when everyone saw Miao Luo and Rui Yao, the two beauties, actually standing beside Yang Qiu on the left and right, they all showed a knowing smile.

The arrival of so many officials from the three provinces made the young men full of enthusiasm, especially the young pilots sent by the American Zhi Gong Court saw the two senior sisters leaning against the commander, and they couldn't wait to perform well, and they had the posture of supporting the senior sisters as a dowry.

A barrel of gasoline was pushed out, and the hand-cranked oil pump began to refuel the two planes, although the planes in this year could not drink much oil at one time, but the thought of the consumption of hundreds or thousands of planes in the future still made Yang Qiu frown.

"What's wrong with Brother Yang? It's the best aircraft in the United States. The attentive Miao Luo frowned when he saw him, thinking that he was not satisfied with the plane he brought back. Yang Qiu hurriedly shook his head: "The plane is very good, I'm just thinking about when we will be able to produce our own gasoline." ”

Feng Ru, who was appointed as the leader of the Flight Manufacturing and Experiment Brigade, didn't realize this problem yet, and said with a smile: "Don't worry too much, Lord Patrol, this time we brought back five hundred barrels of gasoline, which is enough to ensure that it can be used for a while." ”

Yang Qiu smiled bitterly in his heart, of course five hundred barrels are enough for a while, this thing is only eighty horsepower! When the technology is upgraded to more than 250 horsepower, 500 barrels may be consumed in a few days, and it seems that the issue of refineries and oil should also be put on the agenda. The engine itself has enough information, and there are some technical data on material synthesis, not to mention that he is still the sales of the automobile factory in later generations, and the engine is disassembled and assembled with his eyes closed, but geology and oil are really not his specialty. China only remembers the three oil fields of Daqing, Tarim and Yanchang, among which Daqing and Tarim do not need to be considered at present, the former oil layer is thousands of meters deep, and the latter is simply in the desert, which can not be exploited by the current technology and transportation means (). The extension is very good, but it is not its own territory in Shaanxi, and the railway project to enter Sichuan through the Qinling Mountains is larger, even if you want to build yourself, you really have no money.

Sichuan also has oil resources, mainly concentrated in the Qijiang River, which is now used as a raw material depot for the future Chongqing steel plant, but the oil layer is also too deep. As for the international community, he only knows about the Gulf of Mexico, the Middle East, Baku and Tyumen, and also knows about the two super oil fields of Saudi Arabia's Garhwal and Safania, but now the Middle East sends people to estimate that it will be beaten back, and it will have to wait for the start of World War I to see if it can get a few licenses for the exploitation of resources in the Arab world from the British.

Why don't you have the kind of super oil field around you that has tens of billions of tons of tons as soon as you plug a tube?!

In Yang Qiu's distress, the two Curtiss biplane racing planes had already let out a rumbling roar, and the rapid rotation of the two-bladed propellers gradually turned into a virtual shadow, and everyone even jumped uncontrollably on his own heart. Piloting an unprotected plane into the sky, I am afraid that I will be frightened if I change it, not to mention other people, and the two girls are even more disgraced, watching the pilot sit in the cabin and cover their mouths.

After several staff members who pulled the airplane's anti-skid slowly let go of their hands, the two biplanes began to taxi one after the other like a toddler old woman, and just when everyone thought they couldn't fly, their wings lifted forward and gradually jumped into the void.

"Fly! Fly! Brother Yang, look, it's flying! Miao Luo was the most excited, excitedly forgetting his shyness and suddenly hugged Yang Qiu's arm and cheered, Rui Yao also saw for the first time that the machine could actually fly in the sky, as if she was afraid that they would fall down, her pretty face approached Yang Qiu nervously, and unconsciously half of her body was on the left.

The same plump and soft feeling on the left and right made Yang Qiu almost forget the flight in front of him, but fortunately, everyone was attracted by the two planes flying with their wings spread at this moment, and they didn't notice the beautiful picture here. The plane circled in circles, and when their naughty low altitude swept over the airport, frightening the two women from time to time, everyone saw this, and Yang Qiu could only cough lightly and slowly pulled out his arms.

At this time, the two girls realized that they were unconsciously hugging someone, and their pretty faces were red and hurriedly hid to the side, and the two pairs of beautiful eyes stayed on Yang Qiu's body for a while, and then looked at each other and quickly separated. Fortunately, the plane began to land soon, and everyone's attention was attracted by them, so the two women avoided embarrassment and deliberately pulled Yang Qiu far away.

After encouraging the pilots and mechanics, Yang Qiu told Zhang Wenjing to speed up the construction of the Chongqing Aviation School and the Flight Experimental Factory, and strive to build his own aircraft as soon as possible. As soon as Feng Ru and the others heard that the allocation of the aviation academy and the aircraft factory guaranteed at least one million a year, they were even more excited and almost wanted to fly a few more times.

Yang Qiu beckoned a second lieutenant of the guard company and introduced, "This is Qiu Ming, the most loyal officer in my guard company, and he will be responsible for forming a special security force to protect your work." ”

Feng Ru and others are very strange, what kind of security team do you need to build an airplane? I thought I didn't believe them, and asked: "Patrol, Chongqing is far away from the Central Plains, which is enough to avoid people's eyes and ears." Besides, we are all dedicated to building planes for the country, why don't you believe us? ”

"Brother Jiuru misunderstood, he wasn't sent to spy on you." Yang Qiu laughed and asked Lei Meng to bring a large box, and after opening the box, there were thousands of enlarged black and white photos that had been developed. He took out one from it, waved his hand to disperse the crowd, and then lowered his voice and said: "This is the top-secret aircraft development plan I got from Britain, Germany and France, and it is all the engine technology and new aircraft drawings that they are secretly developing, Qiu Ming's task is to protect these things from falling into the hands of people other than you!" ”

Feng Ru and everyone were surprised to see the photos, but the more they looked at it, the more incredible they felt! Star engines, in-line engines, 250 horsepower planes that can fly up to 6,000 meters high, as well as aviation machine guns and bombs, etc., is simply a treasure trove of flight! God, he's not going to bring back the top secret aviation databases of Britain, Germany, France and other countries, right?!

In fact, this is Yang Qiu's foolish thing, since the last transaction he has been worried about copying drawings, accidentally saw Dai Tianqiu with a camera to shoot newspaper news, immediately remembered the miniature camera technology, immediately purchased three micro cameras and a large number of films from Germany, and then used the method of reproduction to copy the drawings and technical data in the data machine. Although it is a black and white photo, I and the drawings are quite clear, but in order not to be shocking, and taking into account the actual ability, the materials taken out this time are all all kinds of technical drawings that appeared in the First World War, mainly to lay a good foundation for aviation rather than to pull out the seedlings ().

He knew that a good engine could create a famous machine, so he emphatically warned Feng Ru and others not to rush for quick success, but to solve the engine first steadily. On his suggestion, the Southwest Aviation Institute and the Southwest Aviation Research Institute were settled in this small, humble hangar. According to the plan, the aeronautical research institute will be divided into four research groups, and at least three aeronautical wind tunnel laboratories will also be built. At the same time, he studied star engines, in-line engines, aerodynamics and mechanical control technology.

After seeing these photos, Feng Ru and the others immediately understood that Yang Qiu was by no means a whim in aviation, and also put forward a large number of suggestions, such as continuing to send people to Europe and the United States to further their studies in machinery and aviation technology, recruiting Chinese children studying abroad through the Zhi Gong Court, and hoping to select twenty such talents from the current Austro-Hungarian technical experts to join them.

Yang Qiu immediately agreed to the first two conditions, and he didn't refuse the latter one. Recently, this group of Austro-Hungarian technical experts has basically settled down, and many of them have entered the job under the generous money and preferential treatment, and Yang Qiu not only began to receive their families one after another to get together, but also asked them to write letters to bring back to China to recruit technical talents who are willing to come to China, and at the same time secretly contacted Austro-Hungarian officials, stuffed 500,000 US dollars in benefits, and once again recruited skilled workers and experts from the huge political prisoners in Austria-Hungary.

After seeing the way of political prisoners, he did not forget another country where there were so many political prisoners that they were overcrowded with prisons, and through the return of Hakan, he contacted several senior officials of the Russian Navy, and used bribery and bribery to recruit technical experts in St. Petersburg, especially the three major categories of political prisoners in the chemical, mechanical, and military industries, many of whom were stuffed onto ships and secretly transferred here. By 1914, this kind of ant moving solicitation brought him more than 2,000 technical experts, plus their families, to this fertile land, which became known as the first wave of skilled immigrants.

That's all for later.

After he made an aviation development plan and returned to Wuchang with his shy two daughters, Zhan Tianyou was already blocking the door again......

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