The crown prince's so-called "little trick" woke up many people at once, although this casual trick cannot be called a clever and unsolvable trick, but it should be enough.

Give the Americans a set, and that's it!

The two Youyun-2 passenger planes carrying the Ming military expedition took off and landed during the long voyage, and successively changed places, when they landed in Constantinople... No, when it was time to refuel at Istanbul Airport, the military attaches of the foreign legations in the city of Nanjing received invitations.

The Ming side has just sent a military observer group to the Iberian Peninsula, where the fighting is raging, and now it is calling everyone to come to the party?

It's not a traditional festival lately, so what important information do you want to take the opportunity to quietly reveal?

As a result, none of the more than a dozen military attachés of the British, French, American, German, and Russian embassies were absent, and all of them arrived on time.

The venue of the evening banquet was chosen to be held at the Tonghui Hotel, and a car parked on the west side of Tongjimen Avenue.

One moment it was European classical music coming out of the gramophone, and the other moment was the melodious sound of the guzheng in the corner of the hall.

However, to a certain extent, this is just a pretense, because the military attaché of the embassy is actually an intelligence officer with official status, which is the tacit acquiescence of all countries in the world.

Although it is common to think that intelligence should be done in the shadows, the fact is that in many cases, intelligence gathering is done in the open, and it is also very effective.

Major General Anderson, the chief military attache of the United States in Daming, was unable to attend due to the cold, but two other military attachés, Colonel Lane and Lieutenant Colonel Grayton, were present at the banquet.

“…… The meeting of 100 gifts cannot be made without wine. I said that you America is also strange, what kind of alcohol is forbidden in a good way, inexplicable! ”

Sitting at the table with the two military attachés was a Ming Army colonel and an Air Force civilian colonel, who spoke Cantonese about what had happened to him in Washington a few years earlier.

It's so hateful, I couldn't drink freely in those years, and it was very troublesome to buy alcohol.

Colonel Ryan took his cigar and said with a smile: "It's a pity, Xu, if you were in California, you could have bought a few grape bricks, so that there would be enough wine to drink." ”

"Grapes? Brick? ”

"Yes, that's right, in this we call it 'there is a policy, there is a countermeasure', the winery dehydrates the grapes and presses them into cubes by machine, and the merchant prints on the package a reminder that "it is forbidden to put it in a gallon of warm water for twenty-one days, otherwise it will become wine."

The look on the face of the colonel surnamed Xu was first surprised and then regretful, and finally tapped the table, "Alas! Sure enough, the people have infinite wisdom in this regard! ”

"Hahaha-"

In this way, the two sides talked happily and gradually became a little drunk.

Colonel Xu, who had successively dried most of the half cup of Mianzhu Daqu and two small glasses of whiskey, was flushed and looked half-drunk.

After the civilian colonel of the Air Force on the side intentionally or unintentionally pulled the topic to the plane, the two sides suddenly talked with a little more gunpowder.

"Douglas' DC-3 is bound to be the most successful airliner, and none of its competitors can beat it."

"Old Ryan, it's too early to decide, right? The plane itself is one thing, but more importantly, it is the source of its power, and it is hoped that the British can build better airliners with better engines. ”

"Impossible! P&Whit's 'Double Wasp' is amazing, Xu, I can only describe it as perfect......"

Colonel Xu, who seemed to be using the strength of the wine to conceal his mouth, immediately waved his hand, "The engine produced by our country is no worse than yours, 12 cylinders, 1,300 horsepower, but the fuel consumption is larger, and it ......is effective when installed on bombers."

This is, the civilian colonel of the Air Force reached out and tugged at his sleeve with a serious face, so that he didn't say anything more.

Colonel Lane and Lieutenant Colonel Grayton naturally noticed the whole process.

Just said you leaked your mouth?

Although they continued to talk and laugh, the two of them kept thinking about the previous sentence in their hearts.

That's a lot of information.

After the banquet, before the two returned to the embassy, they started talking about it in the car.

"12 cylinders, 1300 horsepower, high fuel consumption, bomber", although the key data of displacement, cylinder bore, piston stroke, and working life are not yet known, it seems that a lot of information can be guessed.

Grayton said suspiciously: "Their latest Type 36 destroyer uses 800 horsepower engines, and the bomber has 860 horsepower, but now they have already experimented with 1300 horsepower?" ”

"It's a big boost." Ryan pondered for a few seconds, "From his words, it can be seen that this type of engine still has shortcomings, but it won't take long to improve. ”

Although Grayton and Ryan were a little surprised by the sudden development of Daming Aero Engine, they didn't seem to be pretending to be in the movements and demeanor of the two people before.

After returning to the embassy, they discussed the matter for a while and decided to wait and see if they could gather any other evidence to corroborate this information.

This is several days.

During this period, they asked Colonel Xu about the city he had visited some time ago, so as to determine the test site of the unknown new bomber.

In this way, after unremitting efforts, they learned that a twin-engine bomber with the orange-red primer used by the Ming Air Force for experiments had indeed appeared at an airport on the outskirts of Zhaoqing, and managed to get a few blurry photos.

In the photo, a large plane can be vaguely seen parked next to the airport runway, although it is a little blurry, but it can still be distinguished from the active bombers of the Ming army.

"Look at the big hanging tail at the tail, this is definitely not a Type 36 bomber."

"It's unbelievable, if this is the so-called bomber with a 1,300 hp engine, then ......"

In the U.S. legation, several experienced military attachés looked at each other, unable to understand what they thought.

The Ming army only installed the Type 36 light bomber last year, with two small-area vertical tails, two 860 horsepower engines, and a bomb load of 1000kg, and the comprehensive performance was quite good.

"Maybe it's just an experimental machine?" Lieutenant Colonel Grayton felt that it was unlikely that it would be a model in secret service, and at most it was secretly tested.

"The key is the engine, according to the Chinese style, they can't develop a high-power engine by leaps and bounds, they have a word called 'so ambitious', so it's clear that someone has provided them with technical support." Colonel Ryan shrugged.

"You mean, the French?"

"They? Their new bomber, which made its maiden flight last month, was powered by a 1,000-horsepower engine from Hispano-Suza. ”

The British were excluded by default, so in the end the only possibility pointed to ......

Grayton frowned: "The Germans are breaking common sense, they dare to trade the latest technology." ”

Colonel Lane, who calls himself a "China expert", came up with an idiom to describe this situation - lest the world be chaotic.

(End of chapter)