Entering the town, the sky has not yet darkened, and the elegant Western-style street lamps on the sidewalks on both sides of the street have been lit up one after another, decorating the various shops, teahouses, and taverns on both sides of the street more prosperously.

More than 2,000 workers often get off work and take a bath and change clothes directly in the big bathroom of the mine, and go home to lead their wives and children to go shopping and go to the restaurant, among which there are many She daughters-in-law who marry into the town, still wearing very distinctive She costumes, at a glance, people come and go bustling, making people feel as if they are in the bustling Shanghai concession.

Only Wu Ming and the local militia brothers knew in their hearts that it was rare to have such a lively time in normal times, and it was estimated that the mayor of Sao Bao couldn't stay idle, so he ordered in advance to turn on the street lights on all the streets, and probably said something with a loudspeaker, otherwise there would never be such a prosperous and lively scene today.

Wu Ming still overestimated the vigilance of the militia brothers.

Under the continuous inquiries of the exclamated guests, the militia brothers who accompanied the visit vied with each other to sell treasures, and proudly introduced to the guests that this is the best photo studio with the best skills, that is the best tavern, and that it has a history of all kinds of mountain delicacies and game that are popular in the town, and also shows the theater that is being built on the north street behind the town office that can accommodate 1,500 people to watch plays and movies.

Fortunately, no one dared to say the most important trade secrets.

Two years ago, Wu Ming invited two jewelry processing masters from Shanghai with high salaries to lead more than 50 local apprentices to process the best essence of fluorite mines into night pearls, accessories gems and various exquisite works of art.

These products in short supply have been underwritten by the three major jewelers in Shanghai for a long time, and have signed a strict contract and confidentiality agreement, a lot of fluorite artworks with national characteristics are exported to Europe and the United States through Shanghai, becoming the most important industrial pillar of Maoliangwu, everyone in Maoliangwu can live in a small western-style building, everyone receives a generous allowance, the biggest credit is fluorite.

Zhou Zhirou and Jiang Jianren and others were full of praise for the omnipresent luxury and atmosphere of the town, one by one abandoned their horses on foot, browsed around, and exclaimed from time to time, asking the mayor of the town Lu Zhengxian and others who rushed to accompany them with such and such questions, and they were reluctant to leave when it was dark, almost to the point of lingering, if they were not the most hungry, I am afraid that they would not be willing to leave the two streets where "the lanterns shine on the tourists".

Back at the Phoenix Mountain base, the enthusiastic guests were tired after a sumptuous dinner, and many of them went to bed with a body of alcohol without washing their faces.

Wu Ming led the satisfied Zhou Zhirou back to the dormitory built by the mountain behind the base, sent the energetic adjutant Cheng Yuan to sleep, soaked in a pot of local tea, and had a long talk with Zhou Zhirou.

Zhou Zhirou sat down and stood up again, walked to the floor-to-ceiling window, looked out of the door again, looked around carefully, and asked in great surprise when he came back: "No, is the place where we are now a cave?" ”

Wu Ming smiled and nodded: "The eldest brother really understands people, and he knows the Tao at a glance...... It was completely dug by hand, and under the platform on the left is the source of the stream that flows to the south of the base, and I liked it when I first came to see this place, and then I drew a picture and gave it to the engineer company, and it was completed half a year later...... It's night, you didn't see it clearly on the way here, and you'll be even more surprised tomorrow morning when it's dawn."

"But don't worry, this place is a 100-meter radius of stepped terrain, covered by 36 towering trees that have grown for more than 100 years, plus the front roof is camouflaged camouflage, not only can you not see it in the sky, even if it is a hundred meters away, you don't know that there is a headquarters composed of seven reinforced concrete buildings in this place."

Zhou Zhirou was even more surprised: "This ...... This place is surrounded by mountains...... Inaccessible...... Is this necessary? ”

Wu Ming said with a smile: "It is precisely because of the existence of your air force that this is necessary...... Big brother, think about it, if the Japanese really fight, how long can your air force stand? If I can't hold on, will my place be safe? The younger brother didn't want to hide anything from his brother, and there were a lot of things that needed his brother's help, so he took this opportunity to talk to his brother in detail, but he needed his brother to keep it secret, and he didn't say it to anyone for at least two years, okay? ”

Zhou Zhirou looked at Wu Ming steadily, knowing that Wu Ming was not joking, so he nodded solemnly: "No problem, if the foolish brother can help anything, he will not refuse."

Wu Ming removed the tea set on the low table, carefully wiped Yu Jing with a cloth, got up and took out two volumes of maps from the huge bookcase at the back, pulled down the telescopic chandelier he made on the top, spread out one of the maps in front of Zhou Zhirou, and introduced the location and functions of the barracks, training grounds, shooting ranges, training ranges, and twelve hidden large and small caves on the base plan one by one.

After Wu Ming finished speaking, he rolled up the map, picked up another volume and slowly spread it out, seeing that Zhou Zhirou, who was extremely shocked, had not come back to his senses, so he had to push him: "What are you in a daze?" You've been to Europe and seen the big people in the world, so you shouldn't be surprised by that."

Zhou Zhirou licked Yu Yu's lips, took the teacup handed by Wu Ming and drank it in one sip, exhaled a long breath, and sighed: "I finally know why you don't want to leave western Zhejiang, it seems that you have been preparing for the upcoming full-scale war between China and Japan all these years, and you firmly believe that the flames of war will come to western Zhejiang, right?" ”

Wu Ming nodded vigorously: "Based on the current comparison of national strength, military strength and popular sentiment between China and Japan, once a full-scale war breaks out, the flames of war will not only burn to western Zhejiang, but I am afraid it will burn most of China." The only thing I'm not sure about now is how long the western Zhejiang and eastern Jiangxi regions will last, so I can only take precautions. ”

"Too pessimistic, isn't it?"

Zhou Zhirou shook her head again and again, obviously not believing Wu Ming's judgment.

Wu Ming asked: "If there is a real fight, the navy will not mention it...... Those high-ranking members of the navy who say at every turn that my brother I am a rice bucket from the British Navy can't be counted on at all, and when the time comes, they can burn high incense if they are not traitors, and the only way to serve the country is probably to sink ships to block the Yangtze River waterway, but how much effect can such a passive way play? Let's talk about your air force, if you really fight, how long do you think you can hold out? ”

Zhou Zhirou was stunned, and after a while, he said in great frustration: "Our air force cannot be compared with the Japanese army, navy, and air force in terms of the number of planes or the number of officers and men, whether it is the quality of the aircraft or the quality of officers and soldiers...... If it's good, it can last for half a year, and if it's not good, it will only take a month or two, but even if the planes are all gone, our air force will never stop fighting. ”

Wu Ming pouted: "The little brother is telling you about the comparison of strength, and he didn't ask you to express his determination, what are you anxious about?" Look at you like this, you are also a pessimist at heart. ”

Zhou Zhirou sighed again: "Can I not be pessimistic?" I'm not afraid to tell you, brother, that after I came back, I did my best to increase the strength of the Air Force, running around and jumping up and down, and when I reached the worst point, I had to lower my head and face the reality...... Take, for example, the crashed Northrop plane you mentioned today, which I strongly disagreed with and objected to in writing to the Aviation Committee twice...... It's okay now, Northrop doesn't buy the plane, and I don't know where the money goes, so that everyone in the army scolds me for not knowing how to lift, so ambitious. ”

Zhou Zhirou's face showed a look of pain, paused for a long time, and then said: "Under the reminder of Ci Xiu and Brother Yuanzhang (He Guoguang), I learned the inside story, and I had to go to Shanghai in person to bow my head to the Song family and admit my mistakes, so that I regained the special allocation from the Ministry of Finance......"

"At this point, I still don't give up, and I still naively ask that I would rather buy less Northrop planes, and instead buy the H18 bomber, the latest technology of the American Douglas company, this kind of bomber developed and improved on the basis of the D civilian transport aircraft has excellent performance and is a real bomber."

But what was the result? I handed the report to people without looking at it, and then bought back 25 sets of Northrop aircraft parts to assemble by themselves, carefully calculated the price and the purchase of the whole machine, the performance is not as good as the whole machine imported, the plane that fell off is the assembly machine that has just left the factory...... What do you want me to do? ”

Wu Ming was also distressed after hearing this, but he was powerless to change the cruel reality, so he had to turn the topic to army equipment.

Wu Ming did not tell Zhou Zhirou about the situation of the Maoliangwu Arsenal hidden in the south of the base across a mountain before, and only inquired about the situation of the official rifles that had begun to be produced in small quantities, so he asked Zhou Zhirou unceremoniously:

"I heard that Minister Kong Xiangxi has successfully obtained the design drawings and production drawings of the Mauser Nl4 rifle from the German side?"

"That's right"

Zhou Zhirou nodded: "The tax police regiment and the quartermaster department bought tens of thousands of Nl4 rifles from the Mauser factory at one time, and privately used a lot of money to get the design and production drawings, but it turned out that it was almost the same as the Hanyang factory's own pattern drawings......

"After continuous technical research, now we can finally carry out small batch trial production in the Hanyang factory and Jinling factory, the garrison regiment of our aviation school just received a batch last month, if you want it, I will ask someone to send you a hundred after you go back, and I don't have more."

Wu Ming was very happy, he was trying to see the difference between the Zhongzheng rifle and the Mauser Nl4 that he had secretly copied for a year, Zhou Zhirou's move was tantamount to falling asleep and sending a pillow, and immediately thanked Zhou Zhirou.