On the Russian port of St. Petersburg, Sikorsky's friend Ivanov was watching him.

Behind them, an Ilya more than twenty meters long? Muromets has been divided into several parts and is being loaded onto a passenger ship by workers in the port. And on the freighter, another Ilya? Muromets has already been packed into containers ...

"Igor, are you really going to sell your plane to those Orientals?"

After hearing his friend's words, Sikorsky, who was still watching the workers load the plane, turned his head and said helplessly.

"Mikhail, didn't I already say that I was right to Ilya? Muromets has a plan for improvement, but this plan requires a lot of money ...

That's right, now Sikorsky is working on an improvement plan, ready to bring Ilya? The two existing 100-horsepower "Hundred-Eyed Giant" engines and two 140-horsepower "Samelsson" star-shaped air-cooled engines on Muromets were replaced with four 150-horsepower "Daylight" engines. The Muromets bomber can carry more than 500 kilograms of bombs, and can carry one 500-kilogram bomb or five 100-kilogram bombs, of course, this bomb also contains incendiary bombs and poison gas bombs. When used as a torpedo machine, it can carry a 450-kilogram 18-inch MK.IX torpedo for combat. (457mm, the mainstream caliber in the European war)

It's just that improvements and upgrades need financial support, not to mention that Sikorsky does not just replace a few engines, but revises the entire fuselage, which requires more financial support. So when Yan Guang came to the door, the two hit it off. And in a very short period of time, an agreement was signed with Yan Guang to provide financial support, and Sikorsky to provide two prototypes, a full set of drawings and follow-up upgrade services.

But about Yan Guang's invitation to Sikorsky to work for him in Sichuan? Sikorsky didn't want to be seen as a racist, but he certainly didn't want to be an Oriental subordinate and employee, let alone work in the wilderness of China...

As for selling the aircraft developed by oneself to the Orientals, is it considered to be serving the Orientals? In Sikorsky's view, this was just a fair trade, and didn't the adventurers who went to the Americas also trade with the Indians?

Not to mention that it is a matter of pride to sell my own plane to the Orientals―――――― you see, even the savage Orientals know how to appreciate my planes.

However, while Sikorsky was still complacent there, Mikhail . Ivanov, on the other hand, had a different opinion about his friend's sale of the plane to the Easterners. No, maybe he is not against the sale of the plane to the Orientals, he is only against the sale of the plane to Yan Guang.

Because of his work, Mikhail once went to China, and after the end of his work, he also went to Sichuan, after all, Sichuan's Chengqing Highway has already earned a lot of fame through newspapers, and Mikhail has seen reports on Chengqing Highway in newspapers when he was in Europe.

However, when Mikhail set off, he was only curious. Just like Sikorsky's thoughts, after seeing what China was like at that time, in Mikhail's opinion, Sichuan was also a wild place, and if he insisted on it, it might be better than the rest of China...

However, when Mikhail arrived in Chongqing by boat, he realized that he had been wrong...

"China is a wild place? Maybe that's true elsewhere, but at least Sichuan isn't..."

That's right, in Mikhail's opinion, Chongqing, as a city along the river, is even cleaner and more civilized than St. Petersburg, the most important Russian port city in the Baltic. As for Shanghai? Although Shanghai is the largest city in the Far East and at the same time the financial center of the Far East, with a mix of foreign and extravagant people, and there are "civilized" concessions everywhere, in Mikhail's opinion, Shanghai is too chaotic ...

After noticing that Sichuan was a completely different world from the rest of China at that time, Mikhail, who had planned to return to Russia after only viewing the Chengqing Highway, stayed in Sichuan for at least half a month. Although he has not been able to travel all over Sichuan in the past half a month, he has also traveled to more important areas such as Chengdu and Yucheng, and therefore the image of the National Socialist Party has become profound in Mikhail's heart...

"Fifteen first-class infantry divisions, such strength has even surpassed some small European countries. It is not unusual for that large but ailing China to have such strength, but it is only a warlord who occupies the territory of two provinces..."

Tsarist Russia's greed for land is unimaginable, because of China's weakness, Xinjiang Province, Mongolia, Manchuria and other places are being encroached upon by Russia. Although Mikhail did not approve of such a move, as a Russian he could not stand up against it. Even at some point, he had to help his country as much as he could.

This kind of thing has nothing to do with justice, just because he is a Russian, and as a Russian he has to think about his country ...

As a close friend of Sikorsky, Mikhail knew Ilya very well? How powerful the Muromets bomber was, and at the same time the experience of more than half a month in Sichuan also made it clear to him that the Chinese of the two provinces of Sichuan, the ruler, had equipped his army with the most advanced weapons in the world ...

Browning M1911 pistol, Mauser G98 rifle, Madsen light machine gun, Maxim heavy machine gun, new mortar gun called mortar and the latest German cannon of all calibers, howitzers...

Leaving aside the quality of the soldiers, in terms of equipment alone, even in Europe there is probably no army capable of rivaling the National Socialist Army. And if it goes with Ilya? A bomber like Muromets, with a combat radius of more than 200 kilometers and a bomb load of 400 kilograms, is simply a tiger with wings for the National Socialist Army...

As a Russian, when his own country is plotting against another country, Mikhail naturally has to think carefully about his own country. After Mikhail's return to Russia, many Russians regarded Mikhail's words as wind in their ears, and did not believe that the sick and weak Chinese could pose any threat to the great Tsarist Russia, even Mikhail's friend Sikorsky. Or there is only one reason for this, and that is that Sikorsky may have been to China, but not to Sichuan...

Can a sick Chinese pose a threat to Tsarist Russia? It seemed to them to be a joke. Yes, perhaps now the Chinese have indeed assembled the world's most advanced weapons on their bodies, but so what? Wasn't it the same with the Qing people of decades ago?

What's more, even if these Chinese really armed themselves with the most advanced weapons, in the eyes of the Russians it would be something that could be solved by just a bayonet charge ...

――――――――――

Looking at Sikorsky, who obviously didn't take his words to heart, Mikhail really wanted to drag this guy to China, and then let him have a good look at the great changes in China.

However, alas, although Mikhail was a good friend of Sikorsky, Sikorsky obviously did not want to pay attention to Mikhail's "nonsense", so in the end Mikhail still failed to prevent Sikorsky from selling his plane to the Chinese ...

"Now I only hope that the Chinese surnamed Yan will not win in the civil war, otherwise His Majesty the Tsar's encroachment on Mongolia and other places may not be so easy..."

Thinking of what he saw and heard in Sichuan, Mikhail shook his head there and sighed.

Just while Mikhail was there sighing, the second Ilya? The last part of Muromets has also been loaded on board by the workers. After handing over the suitcase containing the full set of drawings to his assistant, Sikorsky stood on the dock with Mikhail and watched the freighter's departure.

That is, at the moment when the freighter set off, Zhu Qinglan had also completed the last step of reconnaissance of the Beiyang Army.

Although it is a bit regrettable that we were not able to find out all the artillery of the Beiyang Army, but...

"It's enough, if you really want to find it all, I don't know if you have to wait until the Year of the Monkey and the Moon..." Zhu Qinglan slapped on the sand table, and then looked around at everyone with his eyes. The Governor meant to take Wuhan as soon as possible, so that whether it was to move the army north or to pacify the Kuomintang, the initiative was in our hands. ”

The people present were all core figures of the National Socialist Party, and the most subordinate level was also at the division level, and they understood what the strategic intention of the National Socialist Army was, so Zhu Qinglan did not need to be too subtle when he spoke, let alone worry that they would reveal the content of the conversation to others.

And after hearing Zhu Qinglan's words, Yang Shan and the others around him also nodded.

At the time of the offensive battle, the Nationalist Army had already formulated offensive steps, first Hanyang, then Hankou, and then Wuchang, the core of Wuhan. The order is exactly the same as during the Yangxia Defense War, except that the Beiyang Army was the attacker at that time, but now the Beiyang Army is the defender. Moreover, in order to force the Manchu royal family to abdicate during the Yangxia Defense War, Yuan Shikai ordered Feng Guozhang's subordinates on the front line to show mercy when he reached Wuchang, after all, if the revolutionary army was defeated, the ambition in Yuan Shikai's heart would not be realized. However, the current Yan Guang has no intention of showing mercy to his subordinates, because his ambition can only be realized after defeating Yuan Shikai...

So...

"Since everyone has no opinion, then tomorrow is 14 o'clock in the afternoon, which is the time for the general offensive to be launched..."

"Understood..."

――――――――――

"Do you think something is wrong?"

Standing in the new headquarters, Feng Guozhang asked his subordinates.

And after looking at each other, several of Feng Guozhang's subordinates looked at him.

Obviously, he didn't figure out what Feng Guozhang meant.

Zhuang Guang was silent for a moment and then spoke.

"Do you think there's something wrong with the planes of the National Social Army not coming recently?"

Hearing Zhuang Guang say this, Feng Guozhang nodded and said approvingly.

"That's right, some time ago, the planes on the opposite side made dozens of sorties to attack us almost every day, why has there been no trace of them recently......... I always felt that something was wrong..."

In fact, Feng Guozhang can't think of anything wrong, and if he insists on saying it, it can only be attributed to men's intuition?

Like Feng Guozhang, Zhuang Guang always felt that something was wrong, but these days, the National Social Army has always launched an attack every two days, and its actions are extremely regular, so Zhuang Guang can't figure out what's wrong...

However, just when Feng Guozhang and Zhuang Guang were thinking carefully about what was wrong in the headquarters, there was a sudden whistling sound of cannonballs flying outside the headquarters.

"It's strange, isn't it the other side to attack today?"

Listening to the sudden whistling sound, Zhuang Guang's expression changed.

However, Feng Guozhang was indifferent.

"There is no law in the affairs of the soldiers, how can people fight if they are touched by you?" As for the shelling of the National Socialist Army, Feng Guozhang was not very worried, because although Feng Guozhang had changed his command, the position of this headquarters was still outside the range of the artillery of the National Socialist Army, so he did not need to worry about being hit by the artillery of the National Socialist Army.

However, Feng Guozhang's composure did not last a few minutes before he was broken by an officer who broke in.

"My lord, something happened, the current artillery of the National Socialist Army is all aimed at our artillery!"

"What!"

Hearing the unkempt officer say this, Feng Guozhang and the officers in the command headquarters all changed their faces. It wasn't until Feng Guozhang took the lead out of the headquarters that they found that at this time, on the positions of the Beiyang Army, the positions baptized by the shells were almost all hidden by the artillery of the Beiyang Army.

Looking at the pillars of dust raised on the position of the artillery position, Feng Guozhang said angrily.

"Bastard, how did the Nationalist Army on the other side know the location of the artillery!"

Looking at the scene in front of him, Zhuang Guang finally understood where he felt something was wrong. But now is not the time to think about this, so after throwing the distracting thoughts out of his head, Zhuang Guang said to Feng Guozhang anxiously.

"My lord, let's quickly order all the artillery to be withdrawn, otherwise we may not have a few artillery left!"

Hearing Zhuang Guang's words, Feng Guozhang also reacted, and hurriedly said to several officers next to him.

"You guys go quickly, withdraw all the artillery from the position, go quickly!"

Hearing Feng Guozhang's order, the officers were stunned, but after glaring at Zhuang Guang fiercely, the officers still ran away with a wry smile.

"Withdraw, how to withdraw? Now the artillery positions are covered by artillery fire, and if you rush in, won't you look for death? ”

If the killing range of the 150mm gun is 30-50 meters, then the killing range of the 210mm gun is 80-100 meters. That's really too long to live by yourself! (The kill range of the 8-inch American M115 howitzer in service during World War II)

Fortunately, although more than half of the artillery positions have been swept away by artillery fire, there are still less than half of the artillery positions that have not been hit. Therefore, when the officers went down, they did not take people to the artillery positions that were hit, but to the positions that were not hit. So when the artillery of the Beiyang Army was almost destroyed, several of them also dragged all the remaining artillery to a safe position.

After learning about this, although Feng Guozhang's face turned blue with anger, he couldn't say anything.

Because he himself knows how dangerous it is to rush into the artillery fire, and I am afraid that even if the entire regiment will lose its strength, I am afraid that I will not be able to save a few guns. However, Feng Guozhang could not fail to do any investigation, because the losses of the Beiyang Army this time were too great. More than 400 of the more than 600 artillery pieces were destroyed, and the Meiji 38-style artillery that had just been purchased by Yumoto not long ago was completely wiped out, and only some old guns purchased in the former Qing Dynasty remained.

"Alas, the loss is so great, how can I explain it to the palace guard..."

Seeing Feng Guozhang standing there sighing, the generals and officers around him didn't know how to comfort him, after all, Beiyang was already at a disadvantage, and now that the artillery of the artillery unit was almost wiped out―――――― I am afraid that this battle will not be able to be fought.

In the end, Zhuang Guang stood up and said.

"My lord, if there is no artillery, I'm afraid Hanyang will no longer be able to defend it, since this is the case, it is better to..." It is better to retreat to Hankou as soon as possible, so that we can still hold on to the Han River for a while, and take this opportunity to let the palace guard move again, and buy some equipment from the British and himself as soon as possible, as long as the time is fast enough, maybe we can still hold on until the arrival of these equipment..."

After listening to Zhuang Guang's words, Feng Guozhang nodded.

"It may be difficult for the British to say, but I ......... Hmph, at this time, I will definitely help. As he spoke, Feng Guozhang looked at the people in the headquarters. First defeated Qianjiang, and then defeated Hanyang, I have no shame to lead everyone, so I decided to resign from my position later and ask for guilt from Lord Gongbao..."

Hearing Feng Guozhang's words, everyone tried their best to dissuade them, but Feng Guozhang had already made up his mind, so in the end, everyone could only return in vain.

After learning that more than half of the 600 guns were destroyed, Yuan Shikai, who was already bedridden, vomited three liters of blood again. However, after vomiting blood, Yuan Shikai became much more energetic, not only did he not show any fatigue when he saw Minister Yuying, but even a few Korean concubines who had never been pampered...

After pampering a few Korean concubines, Yuan Shikai turned back to Feng Guozhang's plea. After all, Feng Guozhang knows very well what his subordinate is capable of, if he can't do it, Yuan Shikai really doesn't know who his subordinates can, but even so Yuan Shikai still let Duan Qirui take his place, after all, the losses of Qianjiang and Hanyang really need someone to take responsibility.

As for the purchase of arms from Ben and Britain again? As Yuan Shikai's best friend, Zhu Erdian was hesitant in this matter, and he was very enthusiastic. Yuan Shikai only revealed a little bit of tone, and said that Enjiro Yamaza, the minister to China, had already run over in a carriage. (Enjiro Yamaza was Minister to China who arrived in July 1913 and died of illness on May 28, 1914.) After Madojiro Yamaza left office, he was represented by Tsuneo Matsudaira, First Counsellor of the Legation, and then Tsunekio Kohata, First Clerk of the Legation. As for the follow-up envoy to China, it is a well-known benefit... ）

Of course, as the so-called falling into the well, Enjiro Yamaza also put forward some non-subordinate requirements when Mao recommended himself, such as Manchuria, such as Outer Mongolia...

However, Yuan Shikai did not let go of his mouth in this matter, and just offered to use cash to directly buy his own arms―――――― Yuan Shikai knew very well why he was so enthusiastic, so it was a rare hard time.

In the face of Yuan Shikai's toughness, Enjiro Yamaza had no other way to coerce and lure all of them, and finally had to agree to provide a batch of heavy weapons to Yuan Shikai. In addition to the 75mm caliber Meiji 41-year mountain artillery and the 38-year-old field artillery, even a batch of Meiji 38-year 105mm field artillery was even supported to Yuan Shikai. As for the Meiji 38-style 120mm and 150mm howitzers? Because I don't have much of it, I don't have any support.

At the same time, because it must have been too late to make it, after receiving a telegram from Enjiro Yamaza, although he was annoyed that Yamaza had not negotiated the conditions, he still quickly ordered the War Department to transfer the army's active artillery, which shows how enthusiastic he is about this matter.

(Regarding the Meiji 38 105mm field gun, I have two documents in my hand, one of which says that it was put into service in 1931, but judging from the name of Meiji 38, this is obviously wrong, and I also have another information that during the Russian War, I imported 20 10 centino cannons, 34 12 centiam howitzers, and 16 15 centiam howitzers from the German Krupp company to replace the heavy artillery units equipped with old artillery.) By 1908, the three types of artillery were successfully copied, including 10 centiga, 12 centi, and 15 centi, and were named 38-type 10 centi-plus, 38-type 12 centi-pomegranate, and 38-type 15 centi-pomegranate. It follows that the Meiji 38-style 105mm field gun should have entered service in 1908. By the way, due to the lack of technology, there has always been a problem with the artillery mount of the Meiji 38 series guns. The gun carriage does not retreat like the original gun after firing, but the hoe cocks like a tail, and this problem has not been fundamentally solved. ）

Yan Guang soon learned the information about his arms sales to Yuan Shikai, but this information was provided to Yan Guang by the Germans and the British, and the speed of the Military Intelligence Bureau was slower. Here the Germans naturally want to get closer to Yan Guang, after all, Yan Guang has always had a good relationship with the Germans, as for the British? Zhu Erdian is naturally very happy that he helped his old friend, but from the position of the British, Zhu Erdian is quite annoyed...

After Yan Guang learned of this information, while he was happy that Yuan Shikai did not betray the interests of the country, he did not react to the transaction between Yuan Shikai and Yue himself. After all, at this time, the Beiyang political axe was the legitimate political axe of China, and he was just a "rebellious" warlord, and he was not qualified to protest against this deal at all.

So in the end, Yan Guang just sent a telegram to Zhu Qinglan, Yang Shan and others, asking them to take Hanyang as soon as possible.

Zhu Qinglan and the others were fighting for anger, or Feng Guozhang and Duan Qirui had already retreated, so in just a week, the important town of Hanyang fell into the hands of the National Social Army, and the three towns of Wuhan were only Hankou and Wuchang...

(To be continued)