In a sense, the British were successful, at least the image of the courteous gentleman they created succeeded in confusing the Ming monarchs - these guys were indeed mercenary and greedy, but the basic ethics should still be there.

Europeans who worked for the imperial court and the military found this filter comical, and could only blame it on "distance produces beauty".

As everyone knows, after the collapse of the colonial system, the British deliberately planted mines even if they left in a huff, leaving endless disasters, and many disputes such as the partition of India and Pakistan, the Palestinian-Israeli issue, and the half-cut of Cyprus were all written by the British.

Looking at the present, the British launched an attack to prevent the Navy of the French Third Republic from defecting; In order to hinder the dispatch of troops and the delivery of materials to the German Society, they also bombed the railway station and railway shunting yard in the territory of the French Society......

Knowing that the attack on the country's inspection team had killed three people and injured many people, the Ming court was shocked.

The attendants in the palace were undecided, not knowing whether to interrupt the emperor's nap because of this "big and not small" matter.

In the end, Su Yiyi made up her mind and personally woke up Zhu Lingjing, who had just rested.

After informing her of what had happened in a foreign country, she noticed that Zhu Lingjing's face quickly became gloomy.

"Despicable! This was premeditated. ”

"Your Majesty, it's good to wait for the edict to remind you to verbally condemn for the time being, and there is no practical way to retaliate now."

"Let's write down this debt!"

Zhu Lingjing was very angry, and today's nap was naturally abandoned.

The Foreign Affairs Department jumped for a while, and Foreign Minister Yu Shenhua immediately summoned the British minister.

Sir Robert Nollin, the unknown Minister, set off in a hurry, and after leaving the Legation, he went straight to the Foreign Affairs Office of the Ministry of Rites.

A black Rolls-Royce sedan drove him down Chongli Avenue, and Sir Robert was so distracted that he didn't know what was going on.

Walking into the official office, he felt many hostile eyes, Yu Shenhua, whose face was like frost, did not say a word or two of greetings as usual, and even the waiter who served tea and poured water did not appear.

Before he could speak, Yu Shenhua said coldly: "You deliberately attacked the foreign affairs personnel we sent in Kyiv, and many people were killed and wounded. ”

Sir Robert was unaware, but as a seasoned diplomat, he reacted extremely quickly.

"I'm sorry, Mr. Chancellor, but as a diplomat I don't know about this."

"I summoned you to ask you something clearly," Yu Shenhua stared at him and asked in a deep voice, "Do you know what the consequences of assassinating General Qincha and the official envoys were?" ”

Silence, long silence.

It took a dozen seconds for Sir Robert to say, "No, this is not a malicious murder in peacetime, this is a lawful attack in wartime. ”

"Shameless! Liars like you are rare. ”

"Mr. Chancellor, this is not a quibble, international law has never forbidden one country from attacking another general."

"Of course the law doesn't say that, just as it doesn't explicitly prohibit eating with your hands." Yu Shenhua took a deep breath and said lightly: "You have proved that you are barbarians with no morals to speak of, and you will bear the consequences. ”

Sir Robert wanted to say something, but was interrupted by a straight point, and Yu Shenhua did not give him a chance to explain again, and waved his hand to drive away.

To everyone's indignation, the status and status of several of the victims were not low, and they were all important people - apparently the children of the gentlemen were not happy to fly to Europe at such a time.

For example, the death of the senior engineer of the Taiyuan Air Force Arsenal directly led to a dilemma in the research and development of 20.8mm guns and 32mm guns, and someone had to be found to take over the work.

Morning in Kyiv arrives amid the intermittent and faint sound of gunfire, bandits and resistance elements, and the city's law and order level is constantly shifting between good and bad.

Chrissy sought to eliminate the risk of tampering with the aircraft in the first place, so the passenger mission that had been planned for Lufthansa was cancelled.

After applying to Berlin, the Germans transferred a Ju-90 large transport aircraft overnight.

Four-engine, twin vertical tails, with a green fuselage and a yellow tail, the huge Ju-90 transport aircraft has an extraordinarily long wingspan with both left and right wingtips sticking out of the runway.

The plane taxied and took off, soared into the clouds, and disappeared at the end of the western sky.

Eventually, the group arrived in Berlin unharmed.

In addition to the officials of the German government, there were many high-ranking generals, and the neatly arranged military band played the national anthem "Fuyao", and in the distance was a long Horch luxury car, and the scene was not small.

A diplomat stretched out his hand and shook hands: "On behalf of the government, I would like to express my sincere apologies for the loss of life and injury on your side caused by the security error." ”

Zhou Changfeng sighed, shook his head and said, "It's not all your fault, after all, it's not your control area, it can only be said that it was exploited by noble British gentlemen." ”

The tall German general laughed, and then said disdainfully: "You Chinese still don't understand the British, they are extremely shameless, but they work hard to maintain their image as gentlemen, very hypocritical, noble and elegant gentlemen after dining in the restaurant, pick their teeth, wipe their mouths, chat but do not pay, this is a gentleman." ”

The German general who docked with Zhou was Lieutenant General Harald, a senior general who was different from his original plane, and was promoted step by step from an ordinary artillery second lieutenant in the European war, with deep qualifications and enthusiasm.

Chrissy also said coldly: "The Anglo-Saxons have inflicted disasters and exploitation on countless colonial peoples, and no one can tolerate their crimes, and they must be baptized by a complete revolution." ”

The diplomat from earlier coughed dryly, nodded and said, "Rest well before doing anything else, the hotel is strictly secured, please rest assured." ”

The delegation then took a car and was carefully escorted to the accommodation - Adlon Hotel.

Located directly opposite the Brandenburg Gate, this famous luxury hotel was completed on the eve of the outbreak of the European War, and was rebuilt after being severely damaged at the end of the war, and has hosted the likes of Wilhelm II and Queen Elizabeth.

Now the German government has intervened in the operation of this hotel, transforming it into a second-class, semi-official state guesthouse-style hotel, similar to the Tonghui Hotel in Daming.

There were heavily armed soldiers standing sentry, and the attendants were mixed with plainclothes Stasi agents.

Follow-up contacts and exchanges did not begin until October 6, and everyone had plenty of time to rest.

The energetic Zhou Changfeng didn't want to stay in the hotel the next day with nothing to do, and he wondered if he could take a stroll around Berlin.

Chrissy said yes, and drove herself as a driver and tour guide.

An expensive Mercedes-Benz 770 bulletproof sedan was brought in for pick-up and drop-off – partly as an apology and respect, and partly to eliminate the risk.

"Wow, this car is so big." Xia Xiaoshi was surprised.

Looking at the sedan with an amazing wheelbase in front of him, Zhou Changfeng vaguely remembered that in history, the production of this kind of Mercedes-Benz sedan was very small, and it was only given to dignitaries and nobles?

The movement of the engine and supercharger was impressive, and Chrissy, with her hands on the steering wheel, proudly explained: "It weighs five tons, the body and windows can withstand bullets, and the engine power is 200 horsepower, which is more powerful than some tank engines." ”

The bulletproof sedan of the W07 chassis is made of steel sheet with a thickness of 4 mm, the front windshield is bulletproof glass with a thickness of 50 mm, the rear seat backs are installed with steel plates, and the doors and floor are also reinforced to resist bullets and bombs. The car weighs 5.1 tonnes and is powered by a 200 hp, 7.7-litre inline-eight, liquid-cooled petrol engine with a supercharger.

In this era, it is undoubtedly a rare black technology.

Zhou Changfeng remembered that Zhu Lingjing also had such a bulletproof car, which was specially developed by Swift Company for the emperor and court officials, and it was no less than the one he was riding in in terms of ballistic performance, but the engine was much inferior, so it was relatively sluggish.

Chrissy still remembers the "Dongfeng Iron Armor" that Zhou casually mentioned before, and she still believes in it to this day.

A series of chain reactions led to the German People's Army to apply for a grant for the research and development of heavy-duty high-mobility off-road vehicles, requiring a vehicle weight of 1600kg, a climbing degree of 60%, and a top speed of 120km/h.

Over the next two days, Zhou and his wife visited numerous landmarks, including Charlottenburg Palace, Museum Island, the People's Parliament Building, and the People's Stadium.

The first event began on 6 October, with the military mission divided into several teams, each responsible for its own area.

Zhou Changfeng and a group of technicians from the military industry department took a train to Kassel, Hesse, and the special train was delayed for half an hour in order to give priority to the military train, and they did not arrive until the afternoon of the same day.

Kassel is home to the Henschel factory, a world-renowned heavy machinery company with a long history, which originally produced steam locomotives, but now includes tanks, bulldozers, trucks, diesel engines, trucks, airplanes and much more than locomotives.

The assembled No. III tanks were neatly parked at the back of the building, all of which used 75mm short-barreled guns.

"More than 6,000 workers and engineers are employed at the Kassel plant, and 1,600-ton load steam locomotives, 3-ton trucks, and 20-ton combat vehicles are produced here," says the head of the company, Henschel,......

The German Society is accustomed to reforming the holding of private companies, and depending on the importance, the proportion of government holdings varies, usually not higher than 35%, but the proportion of individual public service enterprises can be as high as 70%.

Zhou Changfeng and his entourage walked between the factories, and they could feel that the atmosphere of the factory was not urgent, and each workshop was working in an orderly manner.

The welded blanks of the tank body, which were the responsibility of other companies, were transported by rail and first hoisted onto the cement table for fixation.

The next step is to determine the drilling position with calipers and chalk, and use a horizontal boring machine to drill holes on both sides of the car body to install the suspension and load wheels.

Next, the workers used a vertical milling machine to mill the upper part of the car body to cut a circle, which is the turret seat, to install the turret.

The final assembly hall was also the busiest, with about ten tanks arriving on the conveyor tracks, and workers rushed up to install the driving wheels, load wheels, carrier pulleys, internal cables, engines, fuel tanks, ......

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Unlike in history, the Henschel company also undertook the production of the No. III tank, and because the combat area was not in the plains, the needs of the German army also changed, so the G model was changed to a 75mm short-barreled gun.

There was nothing new about the operation of the assembly station at Henschel's Kassel plant, and the delegation was not interested.

The Tank III also lacked a design to learn from as a tank with interwar technology, and its overall layout was quite conservative and had little potential, and the long-barreled 50mm tank gun was the limit.

Everyone's evaluation is that the manufacturing process is excellent and the welds are tight and neat, but there is no merit.

Henschel does have a tucked away goodie – the VK4501 prototype is being built here, but it's apparently kept under wraps.

Walking around, the boring and boring Zhou Changfeng chatted with his fellow Lieutenant General Harald.

“…… The field fortifications of the Americans were often very rudimentary, full of temporary nature, and were dominated by foxholes. We noticed that even though they had a few days or even hundreds of hours of free time to fortify their defenses, they still did not bother to fortify them, and the captives said that this was because they considered such field fortifications to be temporary installations. Lieutenant General Harald said.

"It's an American, it's lazy." "I rarely saw this in the island battles, but some of the troops in Australia did report similar situations," Zhou recalled. ”

"The 1st Infantry Division, the 1st Red Division?"

"Seems like so."

"In terms of infantry tactics, the Americans are accustomed to deploying outposts outside the range of infantry fire, picking the best place to see, generally between 4,000 and 6,000 meters in front of the defensive line. Most of the time they will deploy a platoon, about 30 people, these outposts are not heavily armed, but will try to stop our patrols.

Zhou Changfeng, who was holding his hands on his chest, looked at the crane hanging the tank and muttered: "We are different, my subordinates often find that the Americans will place heavy machine guns in front of the island battles, and there are many cases of this kind of forward heavy firepower. ”

"Maybe your infantry detachments prefer tactical infiltration and are tougher, and the Americans may rely on heavy machine guns to stop your combat patrols."

After chatting for a while, Zhou Changfeng couldn't help but complain to Lieutenant General Harald: "I feel that there is nothing to see here, let's discuss the procurement matter directly, how are you assessing?" ”

"It's all worth considering." Lieutenant General Harald smiled, "But something depends on the work of your diplomats. ”

The diplomatic agreement on this visit to Germany is a top priority, and military exchanges are secondary.

It is clear that the sincerity of the Germans depends on the degree of overlap in the views of the two sides on many foreign affairs, and if there are serious differences, it is natural to have reservations.

Zhou Changfeng's so-called "procurement" is actually the main goal of the military inspection team, aiming to introduce some shortcomings of the Ming military industry.

The more important are the Hoch leistungs motor and the aero engine, both of which are key heart components, and the stronger the better.

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(End of chapter)