June 6, 2781 (1940), Red Sea County, Yanqiu City (Djibouti).

The city of Yanqiu is the former French Somalia, also known as Djibouti. It is located on the western shore of the Gulf of Aden in northeastern Africa, guarding the Red Sea's gateway to the Indian Ocean. It is bordered by Somalia to the southeast, Ethiopia to the southwest, west and northwest, and Eritrea (now Ethiopia) to the north.

The word "Djibouti" means "boiling steamer" in the local language, and both the former Djibouti and the current name "Yanqiu" fully reflect the topographical characteristics here. Although the area here is only 23,200 square kilometers, the terrain is very complex, with towering volcanoes, deep lakes, most of which are volcanic plateaus with low altitudes, deserts and volcanoes account for 90% of the country's area, and there are low-lying plains and lakes. The southern part is mostly plateau and mountainous, with an altitude of 500~800 meters. The Great Rift Valley passes through the central part of the region, and the Flame Hill (Lake Assar) at the northern end of the Rift Belt is 150 meters below sea level, making it the lowest point on the African continent. Almost all terrain except glaciers can be found here, so it is called "living specimens in geology".

Of course, where the terrain is too complex like this, the land is usually barren. Although volcanic soil is one of the most fertile soils, there are few plains suitable for farming, and the whole territory is very hot and rainy all year round, so it is difficult to develop traditional agriculture here, and the city has less than 3,000 hectares of arable land, and the yield is extremely pitiful. It is only suitable for the development of some livestock farming that is less demanding on the terrain, and there are about 200,000 hectares of grassland and pasture in the area, but because of the lack of rainfall, it does not produce much fruit.

In the past, the population was too small because it was too barren and the food production was too impressive, and when China took over sovereignty over the area from France, there were fewer than 40,000 indigenous people in Djibouti, an average of less than two people per square kilometer.

After China took over, it made a lot of upfront investment here, carried out infrastructure construction, and vigorously immigrated. Although the land here is barren and the climate is not friendly, the location is important. The most important thing is that this is China's first territory in Africa, and it is also the bridgehead for future expansion to Africa.

After more than 20 years of construction at any cost, Yanqiu has completely changed. Cities and towns have been built, there is a well-developed transportation network, railways to Addis Ababa (the capital of Ethiopia) and Somalia, and several major airports. Because of the large number of Chinese moving in, the permanent resident population of Yanqiu at this time has exceeded 180,000. There is hardly a single black skin on the streets here, and it feels no different from a mainland city.

The Chinese built Yanqiu Bay (Tachura Bay) here, expanding it into a large seaport, building a large naval base in the port area, which can berth 200,000 tons of large ships, and a 100,000-ton maintenance dock for the repair and maintenance of capital ships and large aircraft carriers. As a result, it has also become an important base for the Chinese Indian Ocean Fleet.

The land is limited by natural conditions, and it is indeed not suitable for the development of agriculture, and in the history of the original time and later generations, ninety percent of the grain here has to be imported to solve the problem. However, now with Mr. Wen, it is naturally different, with the support of various new crops, the grain, fruits and vegetables, meat and other agricultural products in the place have been able to export after satisfying self-sufficiency.

Although the cultivated land of Yanqiu is barren, it is extremely rich in geothermal resources and minerals. During the period of French rule, perhaps because it was too small, the French did not invest enough energy in it, and of course there were technical reasons, so these minerals were not found at all, so naturally they were not developed. Not long after China took over here, the exploration department relied on the detailed geological data provided by Wen Desi, and discovered a world-class super-large volcanic copper-gold-silver associated ore here, including copper metal reserves of more than 28 million tons, gold reserves of 1,700 tons, and silver reserves of 1.62 million tons, roughly equivalent to the national copper reserves during the original time and space Datu Dynasty.

Naturally, it has also become the largest copper mining base and copper smelting center in China, which can provide 450,000 tons of refined copper, 15,000 tons of silver and about 40 tons of gold for China every year, accounting for more than half of the total domestic copper production. Although China's exploration results for this area have also changed the figures, but so many copper ingots are sent to China every year, but it is impossible to hide people, even if foreign countries do not know the real reserves here, but even estimates know that this copper mine is very large.

When the French found out, they beat their chests with regret, and they said that if they had known that there was a huge copper mine here, even if Madagascar was ceded to China, they would not be able to let it here. The people even scolded their own government and experts to the blood, and the post-war French political scene turned to the right, which is also a big reason.

Of course, in addition to this huge copper mine, which was only discovered in the middle of the 21st century, there are also rich salt mines, and a large salt chemical base has been built here. On top of that, there is an incredible geothermal resource, with China building 22 large-scale geothermal power plants here using the latest thermoelectric conversion technology, which not only solves the local industrial electricity supply at once, but also supplies the surrounding area. Submarine cables are used to supply electricity to areas such as Hodeidah and Yemen across the Yanqiu Strait (Bab el-Mandeb Strait), and to transmit electricity to Ethiopia, British Somalia, British Sudan, and even Egypt and East Africa through high-voltage cables.

Naturally, a place like this cannot be taken too seriously. So don't look at Yanqiu, there is only a palm here, but China usually has an infantry division and a mountain brigade stationed here, and the air force has also stationed a fighter regiment here, and the city of Hetai across the strait is the headquarters of the West Indian Ocean Military Region, with two army divisions and an air force division stationed for a long time.

Originally, such a force was already strong, but after the outbreak of World War II, China successively strengthened its military to prevent it from being affected by the pond fish. Because World War II was not only fought in Europe and North Africa, but also in East Africa.

The East African Republic is the camp of the Central Powers, and after the war began, the two countries of Egypt and Ethiopia in the Entente camp took the colonial army of British East Africa to organize a group to brush up the copy of East Africa, but they forgot that East Africa was a fighter in the Black Silk. As a result, even the underwear was lost, not only lost all the East African territory just grabbed, but also lost all Uganda, as well as most of Kenya and Somalia, which can be described as a loss of money.

If it weren't for the fact that the East African army could not keep up with the logistics and ran out of ammunition, it had to stop its offensive along Lake Turkana, otherwise it would have entered Ethiopia and Sudan by now.

Since there is a lot of fighting on the East African side, it is also appropriate for China to strengthen its defense. East African black corn is also black corn millet, who knows if they will accidentally "stray" into Yanqiu.

Xiandeng County is a county in the north of Yanqiu, bordering Eritrea (now Ethiopia) in the north, that is, the "Obock" area of the original French Somalia, and is the third seaport of Yanqiu. To the northeast of Xiandeng is the Yanqiu Strait (Mandeb Strait), which is only more than 20 kilometers wide, and on the opposite side is Hetai City, the capital of the Red Sea County.

The armored training ground of the 18th Army was located here. At this time, a large group of steel giants galloped in the training ground, causing the entire field to be full of smoke and dust, and the miasma of smoke and smoke was high. The division commander, Major General Peng Sizong, was not at all unhappy, and his face was smiling like a flower.

"Yes, yes, it's still a panda! It's much better than a leopard!" Peng Sizong said happily.

"Lao Peng, the leopard is the first generation, and this panda is the third generation, two generations apart, can it be bad?" Brigadier General Wang Yaowu, commander of the 118th Armored Division, glanced at him and said with some pride: "You are just red pandas, but our division has giant pandas, which is better than this!"

"What? What's better than this? You're not bragging, are you?" Peng Sizong was a little incredulous.

"Cut, what am I lying to you for. Look, isn't that coming......" Wang Yaowu pointed to a team of "Bison" heavy flatbed trucks that were entering the field, and said with a smile.

I saw that each "Bison" flatbed truck was carrying a huge canvas bag, and the canvas was tightly wrapped, like a large zongzi. Peng Sizong was very familiar with this kind of flatbed, and when he looked at the shape of the main beams and tires of those flatbed trucks, he roughly estimated the weight of the goods on them. "Good fellow, about 50 tons of ......"

Lao Peng was an anxious man, and he ran over before the car stopped, and he was about to climb into the car as soon as he raised his legs.

"General, we haven't unloaded the cargo yet......" the squad leader of the escort reminded him with a black line on his face.

"Hehehe, hurry up and unload the truck......"

A group of officers and men of the armored division ran up with hula and ran up, untying the ropes, lifting the canvas, and opening the fasteners on the car board. Soon, a formidable armored fighting vehicle revealed its face.

If future generations of military fans see it, they will definitely feel very familiar. The "Panda Tank" in front of me is like a Type 99 with an enlarged turret and a lengthened hull. The group of "Red Panda" tanks that were running on the field in a small circle looked about the same as the 96A, and of course the turret was also larger, and the hull was a little wider. Well, in fact, they are based on the Type 99 and 96A, with some optimization and modifications, and their tubes are all thinner than the original, which is 105mm.

Of course, on this plane, their names are the ZZZ-2780 "Giant Panda" main battle armored combat vehicle, and the ZZZ-2779 "Little Panda" main battle armored combat vehicle. ZZZ is the pinyin abbreviation of the main battle armored combat vehicle, and 2780 is the republican year that indicates the finalization, that is, 1939 AD.

In fact, the code name of "giant panda" should be "cat bear", which is also the correct scientific name of this animal. It's just that because of the influence of Wen Desi, the domestic masses are used to calling "pandas", and they can't change their mouths at all, so they can only make mistakes. In addition to those professional periodicals and regular media, the folk all call Rolling "Panda", and in order to distinguish it from the genuine Panda, a "big" word was added, and the genuine Panda, that is, simply the noodle gentleman, can only add a "small" word prefix.

"Why is such a mighty chariot called a panda? Why is it not called a lion tiger or something? What do you think above?" said Peng Sizong with an embarrassed face.

"I know. However, I heard that this was taken by Mr. Wen himself......" Wang Yaowu whispered: "I heard that after Mr. Wen saw it in the Tianjin factory, he said that this is our panda, so the name was decided......"

"Well, this name is very appropriate, the panda is our image representative of China!" As soon as he heard that Mr. Wen had chosen it himself, Peng Sizong immediately changed his mind. Wen is always the person he admires the most, and the name he chooses is naturally the best!

"Oh, good fellow, it's a giant panda, and although it doesn't look much bigger than a red panda, it weighs more than a dozen tons. Old Peng Dong looked west, and compared it with the red panda on the field, and then said after a while: "I just don't know how the performance is?"

Wang Yaowu asked the officers and soldiers next to the car: "Which group of cars does this car belong to?"

A young lieutenant immediately stepped out of the ranks, saluted him, and said loudly: "Report to the division commander, it is our car group, the No. 1 car of the first regiment, one battalion, three companies and one platoon......

Wang Yaowu looked at him and said very kindly: "Platoon Commander Wen, your car team will drive it down now and show us ......"

"Yes......" Platoon Commander Wen immediately greeted the members of the vehicle crew, and soon got into the chariot.

The "Boom Boom Boom ......" tank was activated, and a bridge for getting on and off the flatbed was placed at the tail of the flatbed. The Panda quickly got off the flatbed with agility that was not commensurate with its weight, and then began to demonstrate its performance.

After a while, a group of officers and soldiers saw that their eyes were shining. Especially Lao Peng, his eyes are green. These new vehicles are all equipped with Leopards and Red Wolves in terms of mobility, firepower, and mobile shooting accuracy.

"I have only been given a battalion of leopards over the years, and I am about to vomit when I play with red wolves, and now I finally change my clothes, and I don't give me a big one, I want a giant panda ......" Peng Sizong jumped up all of a sudden: "No, I have to go to Commander Li......"

As soon as Peng Sizong's voice fell, someone behind him said, "Peng Sizong, what are you looking for me?"

Everyone looked back, and there was a bunch of generals standing behind.

Standing in the middle were the top local military commanders -- General Hong Shilou, commander of the West Indian Ocean Military Region, Lieutenant General Li Zongren, commander of the 18th Group Army, Major General Luo Guangying, political commissar, and Major General Bai Chongxi, chief of staff. There are also Lieutenant General Liu Yiqiang, commander of the Eighth Group Army, and Lieutenant General Yang Ning, commander of the Eleventh Group Army...... Wait, a whole platoon of generals, ninety percent of the generals of the entire military region are here.

His immediate boss Li Zongren looked at him with a smile: "Xiao Peng, what are you looking for me?"

Peng Sizong and others hurriedly saluted. "Ah, chiefs, when did you come?"

Bai Chongxi smiled: "It's been twenty minutes, and we'll be standing behind you." You're all just looking at the pandas, where are you going to pay attention to your back......"

"Commander Li, why don't we have giant pandas in our 29th Infantry Division?" said Lao Peng quickly.

"What kind of giant panda do you want for the infantry division? That's the equipment of the armored division, you can just use the red panda......" The corners of Li Zongren's mouth twitched, and he said: "Do you know how much this thing produces? Even the armored division is not a single one, how can it be your turn to be a mechanic ......?"

"That's right, we all have only one group of giant pandas, and the others are red pandas...... Wang Yaowu said with some regret.

Hong Shilou smiled and said: "Xiao Peng, the production of pandas is not enough now, so many troops across the country have to change their clothes, so it can only be like this for the time being." Our military region and the Anxi Military Region were the first to change their clothes, and other military regions are still waiting with their necks stretched. When the output goes up, the quota will be increased in the future, you mechanics also have plans, what are you anxious about......" When Hong Shilou was young, he looked not angry but mighty, and he had a murderous aura, but after middle age, his appearance became more and more kind, and he became the image of a gentle elder.

"Hehehe, Mr. Hong, I'm just asking. It's good to have it...... there" Old Peng Gan laughed a few times. For some reason, what he feared most was this mild-looking commander.

At this time, I saw the three panda tanks demonstrating their performance on the field speeding over various obstacles, and the speed soared to at least 80 kilometers. As they sailed over a gravel ground to the range, they suddenly drifted. That's right, it's tank drifting, and there is also simultaneous fire from the main gun.

Then they quickly fine-tuned the barrel orientation in the drift and aimed at the target vehicle at a distance of 1,500 meters. The vehicles were modified from retired Wolverines, and the driving system was changed to remote control, with a shell covering the outside, so that their size and shape can mimic most vehicles.

"Boom...... Rumble...... Boom ......" The three pandas roared almost simultaneously, and a ball of fire rose from the hulls of the three target vehicles almost simultaneously. Of course, the Panda is now firing a trainer bullet, and its weight and ballistic characteristics are the same as that of a live projectile, but it is a soft alloy warhead with a small amount of black powder in it, which will not really destroy the target vehicle.

"Good job! It's all the first hit!" Wang Yaowu shouted happily, such a difficult action was successfully completed, and now he could have a long face in front of his boss and colleagues.

Sure enough, Hong Shilou's eyebrows flew up, and he praised Wang Yaowu repeatedly: "These three car crews are all masters! Xiao Wang, you are a good soldier!"

"This is all the result of the hard training of the officers and soldiers...... Wang Yaowu felt that the bones in his body were a few pounds lighter.

Li Zongren and the other eighteen generals all had a proud expression, and their faces were smiling. The faces of the generals of the other two group armies are not so good-looking, although they are both from the same military region, but the competition is also very fierce.

Hu Zongnan saw that his boss Yang Ning's expression was very serious, so he hurried up and said in a low voice: "Commander, our division also has someone who can play drift shooting, no worse than their eighteen episodes......

"Got it......" Yang Ning nodded, his expression relaxed.

Wang Yaowu introduced to several superiors: "Chiefs, these three cars are all in a platoon. The platoon commander of the first regiment, one battalion, three companies and one platoon of our division was Lieutenant Wen Zecheng, who was assigned last year, and an undergraduate student of the Armored Command Department of the Zhending Army School......"

"I've heard of this high-achieving student before, and it's really worthy of his reputation!" Hong Shilou nodded with a smile. At his level, it is of course difficult for him to know the rookie lieutenant who has just been assigned, but this one who leads the team to play drift is different...... and the appearance can imitate most vehicles.

"Boom...... Rumble...... Boom ......" The three pandas roared almost simultaneously, and a ball of fire rose from the hulls of the three target vehicles almost simultaneously. Of course, the Panda is now firing a trainer bullet, and its weight and ballistic characteristics are the same as that of a live projectile, but it is a soft alloy warhead with a small amount of black powder in it, which will not really destroy the target vehicle.

"Good job! It's all the first hit!" Wang Yaowu shouted happily, such a difficult action was successfully completed, and now he could have a long face in front of his boss and colleagues.

Sure enough, Hong Shilou's eyebrows flew up, and he praised Wang Yaowu repeatedly: "These three car crews are all masters! Xiao Wang, you are a good soldier!"

"This is all the result of the hard training of the officers and soldiers...... Wang Yaowu felt that the bones in his body were a few pounds lighter.

Li Zongren and the other eighteen generals all had a proud expression, and their faces were smiling. The faces of the generals of the other two group armies are not so good-looking, although they are both from the same military region, but the competition is also very fierce.

Hu Zongnan saw that his boss Yang Ning's expression was very serious, so he hurried up and said in a low voice: "Commander, our division also has someone who can play drift shooting, no worse than their eighteen episodes......

"Got it......" Yang Ning nodded, his expression relaxed.

Wang Yaowu introduced to several superiors: "Chiefs, these three cars are all in a platoon. The platoon commander of the first regiment, one battalion, three companies and one platoon of our division was Lieutenant Wen Zecheng, who was assigned last year, and an undergraduate student of the Armored Command Department of the Zhending Army School......"

"I've heard of this high-achieving student before, and it's really worthy of his reputation!" Hong Shilou nodded with a smile. At his level, it is of course difficult for him to know the rookie lieutenant who has just been assigned, but this one who leads the team to play drift is different......