Episode 193 Preparing for the big wedding

Japan has not yet sued for peace, but at least most of the threats have disappeared. The Ming Navy has gone from having difficulty even entering the western Pacific Ocean to being unscrupulously encircled around the Japanese archipelago. The Japanese navy suffered a great loss, coupled with the lack of fuel, and did not dare to sail in line easily, but like the previous Ming army, they retreated to the local military port to preserve their strength.

The Ming Dynasty is now truly like the United Kingdom, becoming a veritable sea power country, and it is a sea power country dominated by surface ships. In the past, the surface ship units of the Ming army mainly stayed in the harbor, half of them concentrated their efforts to prevent the Japanese invasion, and half of them did not dare to go out. Now a large number of surface ships of the Ming army have come in handy, scattered, escorting escorts and blockades, as if they are enjoying the hard-won sea dominance.

Combined with the naval blockade of the cruiser group, Japan is now unable to enter the port not only for oil tankers, but also for no ships, and the blockade rate has really reached 100%. In addition to blockading the other side, the Ming army's cruisers and destroyers also escorted their own merchant fleet, preventing Japanese warships and submarines from slipping out and disrupting the lines of communication. The two aircraft carriers of the Ming army regularly maintain patrols in the waters of the western Pacific, and once a situation occurs, carrier-based aircraft can go to support in the shortest possible time.

Now Xiang Xiaoqiang has only two things in his mind. The first thing is that he is about to marry Zhu Yourong. It's only a few days away. The date of the wedding is set for April 26, which is April 26 on both the solar and lunar calendars. In order to choose the specific date of the empress's wedding, the National Meteorological Observatory specially carried out continuous observation on how many days in advance, and several respected meteorological experts and masters conducted detailed analysis and demonstration, and finally came to the consensus that the weather should be sunny all day, and the temperature and humidity were very comfortable.

Xiang Xiaoqiang is now considered to have seen the marriage of Her Majesty the Empress of the Ming Empire, what kind of specification it is. Let's not talk about how big the wedding was and how much money it spent, just for this selection of days, the National Meteorological Observatory spent no less time than the time spent before the major military operations of the Ming army. When he married Qiuyu, Xiuxiu, and Shishigege, he also paid out of his own pocket to organize a banquet, when did he use the power of the state. Now that he is a husband, he can be regarded as following the empress's wife to "dip into the light" and open his eyes.

Zhu Yourong and Xiang Xiaoqiang have been very busy these days. The palace secretariat, the Praetorian Guard, the company that undertakes all kinds of materials and services for the wedding, as well as the People's Guard Security Department and the agents of the East Factory, who are responsible for the protection...... All departments are rehearsing over and over again. The ceremonial departments in the Forbidden City are rehearsing every day. Zhu Yourong, as the heroine, naturally can't hide. In the past few days, she has been "manipulated" by the people below every day, and she has been directed in rehearsal training like a doll, and she is anxious, but her heart is very sweet.

Fortunately, by Zhu Yourong's side, there are always a few girls who keep circling around, like bridesmaids, talking and laughing with her, and accompanying her to deal with trivial things. Among them, the three most "core" girls are Zheng Yuxuan, Wei Zijin, and Xiuxiu. In addition, there are three girls who are more "peripheral", that is, Zhu Yourong's second sister Zhu Youmei, third sister Zhu Youli, and fourth sister Zhu Younan. Compared with people like Zheng Yuxuan, Xiuxiu, and Wei Zijin, these three sisters are much more natural, and they are not always by Zhu Yourong's side, and when they are happy, they run to their sister to join in the fun, or they run before and after running in the palace, taking advantage of the good day of their sister's wedding, no one cares, and they don't have to do their homework, so they have a good time.

There are also several elders, mainly Mrs. Li and uncle Zheng Gongyin, who also surround Zhu Yourong, "Rong Rong" is long and "Rong Rong" is short, and they are very loving, as if they will never see each other again if they get married. In short, Zhu Yourong was busy with a pot of porridge.

Xiang Xiaoqiang was also very busy, so he had to take the time to accompany Zhu Yourong to a rehearsal, and then went back. In addition to marrying Zhu Yourong, there is now another major event that affects Xiang Xiaoqiang's nerves, that is, the spring offensive against the Soviet army in Central Asia that is about to begin.

Although the progress of the Pacific route Shanghai is slower in Shanghai and Hangzhou, a large number of materials from the United States have been continuously transported to Daming on the Indian Ocean route. At present, 100 percent of the troops deployed by the Ming army on the Western Front have been fully mechanized or motorized, and the road transportation capacity from Lanzhou to the front line has increased by 120 percent compared with last year.

Not only vehicles, weapons and war materiel were shipped from the United States, but also many oil tankers. These tankers came with a full load of oil, from the Gulf Coast. After arriving in Guangdong, the oil was pumped directly into the oil tanks of the refineries along the coast, and then these oil tankers did not go back, so they joined the oil tanker teams of several oil companies in Daming, going back and forth between Guangdong and Nanyang, and transporting Nanyang oil for Daming. These tankers themselves are one of the orders, and they come with American oil, just to not empty and not to waste capacity.

The fleet was accompanied by a large amount of refinery equipment. In this era, the United States is the world's largest oil producer, and the entire oil industry chain is very developed, from exploration, exploitation, to refining, finishing, all oil-related equipment and technology are very mature, and the production capacity is quite huge. As the equipment arrived in Guangdong, a new batch of refineries was being built to support the massive war against the Soviet Union.

Wagons of munitions were speeding along the railway line and were transported to western Gansu. In addition to tank artillery on flatbed trucks, there are a lot of small arms. The main thing is a new automatic rifle - the F-38. These automatic rifles shone in the Siberian War in winter, especially in the Battle of Sakhalin. After nearly two years of honing and repeated modifications, this automatic rifle is not as reliable as Xiang Xiaoqiang feared. On the contrary, on the cold and wet winter battlefield in the Northeast, the F-38 withstood the test and did not suffer large-scale mechanical failures. Many times, the bolt is stuffed with snow or even mud, and with a few wipes, it can still be fired.

In winter, there is often fog and snow in the snow fields, and visibility is very low. And in a forest environment, the range is also limited. But even in this environment, the soldiers of the Ming army are still full of praise for the F-38. Now, the new battlefield has shifted to the steppe and the Great Gobi Desert with a wide field of vision, and the officers and men of the Ming army are very confident that this automatic rifle will give full play to its greater advantages.

Along with the rifle itself being shipped to Gansu, there was also a matching batch of bipods. This is an "extended product" specially developed by Qi Shunfa Company for the battlefield environment in Central Asia. After communicating with the military, they all agreed that in the open battlefield environment of Central Asia, the distance between the two armies would be greatly farther apart. Therefore, the range and accuracy of the gun are more important. With the addition of a bipod, it allows soldiers to achieve more accurate shooting results when shooting in a lying position, which can somewhat replace light machine guns.