358~359 Air competition

Two updates are made together, one update is made, ten thousand words are updated

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Under the bitter cold wind, a team wearing special red cold-proof clothes were walking on an ice field.

They were hugged like rice dumplings, three layers inside and three layers outside, fearing that they would be frozen. More than twenty Siberian husky sled dogs were pulling five sleds filled with salutes and food and moving forward quickly on the snow, with the Chinese dragon flag inserted on the bracket waving in the wind.

Every twenty kilometers the team walked, they stopped to build a house that could accommodate ten people. Not long after, another team brought more food, cotton coats, coal and other winter items to store them in the house.

It turned out that this was the last area conquered by mankind among the seven continents on Earth. Her name was Antarctica. The Chinese Empire scientific expedition team, who came to conquer her, adopted step by step tactics and approached the Antarctic pole step by step.

As early as 1768-1775, the explorer Captain Cook made an expedition to the Antarctic Circle for the British Admiralty. He broke the ice three times and entered the Antarctic Circle, but he failed to see the Antarctic continent.

Since Dr. Chen Qian, the School of Natural Sciences of Beiyang University of the Chinese Empire, led the Chinese polar expedition team to conquer the Arctic Ocean and inserted the flag of the Chinese Empire to the Arctic pole in 1907, he led the expedition team to conquer the Antarctic one year later.

However, Antarctic is far more difficult to conquer than the Arctic because the Antarctic continent has more than 4,000 meters of mountains and a snow-covered frozen layer that is unknown how many meters thick. Walking on the Antarctic ice field, I don’t know when my feet are empty and I fall from the cliff and die.

Therefore, Chen Qian and his group tried three times in the past two years, but none of them reached the extreme and sacrificed their lives for it.

By 1910, the news that Chen Qian failed to conquer Antarctica was exposed by the media. By chance, Emperor Chen Hao of the Chinese Empire learned about this and praised and supported Chen Qian and his group. At the same time, Wang Chenhao was very interested in Antarctica, a homeless land, and asked the cabinet and the Ministry of Defense to plan to include Antarctica in the category of overseas territories of the Chinese Empire.

Cabinet and Defense Ministry officials are puzzled by this. No country is willing to include Antarctica in its territory because Antarctica is covered with ice and snow all year round, has no economic value, and is not suitable for human survival.

But only Wang Chenhao knew in his heart that in the next hundred years, the large-scale industrial emission of carbon dioxide will lead to global heating, and Antarctica's ice and snow will begin to melt, and sooner or later it will become a land suitable for human habitation. Moreover, Antarctica's area is more than 14 million square kilometers, and such a huge land area is extremely important for the sustainable development of the Chinese Empire centuries later. If the League of Nations was established to declare Antarctica a common heritage of mankind, it would be too late.

Wang Chenhao hopes that while European and American countries are not interested in Antarctica, it is the best time to include Antarctica in the overseas territory of the Chinese Empire.

However, to claim sovereignty over Antarctica, people must be permanently located there, and people must travel across Antarctica and conquer the Antarctic.

Therefore, Chen Qian and his expedition team became the best choice for the Chinese Empire to swore sovereignty over Antarctica.

For this reason, Wang Chenhao made an exception to summon Chen Qian and his group to talk to him and handed over the burden.

Chen Qian and others were very enthusiastic about this matter and promised Wang Chenhao that they would complete the task.

Starting from February 1910, Chen Qian and his Antarctic expedition team received sufficient funding support, and the Ministry of National Defense sent an army of 200 people to join it. The expedition team was also renamed the Expeditionary Force, preparing to occupy Antarctica.

The Navy Pacific Fleet sent a supply fleet and a naval hospital ship, and even sent Naval Aviation aircraft to reconnaise the Antarctic terrain from the air to find a suitable direction for the expeditionary force.

In March 1910, Chen Qian arrived at the geomagnetic pole of the Antarctic and became the champion of mankind's conquest of the Antarctic. At the same time, Norwegian explorer Roalder Amundsen and British explorer Scott also arrived at the Antarctic one after another, becoming the runner-up and third place in conquering the Antarctic.

Chen Qian learned from the experience and lessons of his predecessors, and made steady progress towards the Antarctic Pole. No matter what nature has to deal with him, he eventually failed. Faced with the step-by-step process of Chen Qian and others, one transit station to the Antarctic Pole was established and completed. Nature was completely helpless with Chen Qian and others, so the rest of the journey went smoothly, allowing them to come safely.

On March 9, the sky was clear and the air was bright, and a burst of cheers broke the eternal silence of Antarctica.

Victory! The long-cherished wish over the years has come true. Chen Qian became the champion of mankind's conquest of Antarctica. He excitedly waved the flag of the Chinese Empire and asked his companions to take this precious shot.

Subsequently, the Chinese Empire sent a Marine Corps one after another, and established an outpost on the southern magnetic pole at 72°24′ south latitude and 155°18′ east longitude. The flag of the Chinese Empire was fluttered on it. A monument of the Chinese Empire was erected nearby, which read that the Chinese Empire had sovereignty over Antarctica.

On the 13th and 17th days after Chen Qian and others arrived at the Antarctic Pole, Norwegian explorer Amundsen, British Royal Navy Colonel and explorer Robert Foken Scott arrived at the Antarctic Pole one after another.

Amundson was extremely frustrated and disappointed that Antarctica was first conquered by the Chinese. Both the poles of the north and south were conquered by the Chinese Empire, which made them, such as Westerners, really have no face.

However, when he saw the Chinese Empire erecting a sovereign monument at the Antarctic Pole, he secretly sighed that the Chinese Empire was so hungry that he would eat and even occupy such barren land. He was really puzzled.

In the following time, the Chinese Empire Marines successively established dozens of outposts in the surrounding areas of Antarctica and set up sovereignty monuments nearby, swearing that Antarctica would become the overseas territory of the Chinese Empire.

On April 1, 1910, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Chinese Empire officially announced to countries around the world that the Chinese Empire occupied Antarctica, and Antarctica was incorporated into the overseas territory of the Chinese Empire, and named it Queen's Island.

European and American countries have different attitudes towards the Chinese Empire's announcement of occupying Antarctica. Most countries just protested. After all, Antarctica is a barren land, and they are not interested in fighting with the Chinese Empire. Besides, the Chinese Empire is powerful, and they dare not offend them, so most countries choose to default.

However, Britain and the United States were not happy to see the Chinese Empire showing off their power everywhere and expressed strong protests, but they would not take any serious action. After all, Antarctica's interests were almost zero. They were just verbally dissatisfied with the Chinese Empire and protested twice to show their existence, but they were just protesting and did not get too entangled with the Chinese Empire. Soon they agreed to the fact that the Chinese Empire occupied Antarctica.

Since the Chinese Empire announced its occupation of Antarctica on April 1, this day was April Fool's Day. People from Europe and the United States only thought that the Chinese Empire had made an international joke with other countries and did not take it to heart. They jokingly called it the biggest joke of this century. It was not until many years later, when they realized the rich minerals under Antarctica, that they finally understood how stupid they were.

The Chinese Empire chose to declare sovereignty and occupation of Antarctica on April Fool's Day. Its purpose is naturally to downplay the international community's attention to this matter as much as possible. People from Europe and the United States smiled this matter in April Fool's Day, which just coincided with the original intention of the Chinese Empire to deliberately downplay this matter.

In this way, the Chinese Empire occupied Antarctica and obtained 14 million square kilometers of overseas territory.

At the same time, the Chinese Empire's overseas colonial process is also advancing rapidly. In addition to seizing more than 30 overseas colonies in Britain, the Chinese Empire's Foreign Ministry also purchased the Danish Virgin Islands from Denmark through peaceful redemption. After merged with the British Virgin Islands obtained by the Chinese Empire from Britain, it formed the Chinese Virgin Islands territory. For this reason, the Chinese Empire spent 20 million dragon coins.

The Virgin Islands are located between the Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea, in the east of the Little Antilles in the Caribbean Sea, 64 kilometers west of the Central Puerto Rico. It consists of three main islands, St. Thomas (215 square kilometers), St. John (80 square kilometers) and Santa Cruz (52 square kilometers). The British Virgin Islands are located in the west of the Little Antilles. After the Chinese Empire took over the British Virgin Islands from the UK, the Danish Virgin Islands became an obstacle.

Of course, the Virgin Islands of Denmark are also the focus of the game between China and the United States. As early as when China and the United States launched a war against Spain, the Chinese Empire in the Caribbean built a naval base in Puerto Rico, threatening the Virgin Islands of Denmark. The United States controlled Cuba, and American warships also threatened Denmark. However, Britain gave up competition with China and the United States and took the initiative to withdraw from the West Indian fleet, which made Denmark afraid of losing the archipelago and had to accept negotiations with the Chinese Empire and the United States.

The United States began to negotiate with Denmark to purchase Danish Virgin Islands as early as 1904. Denmark was optimistic about the strength of the United States. Denmark initially ignored the demands of the Chinese Empire. However, with the end of the Sino-British War, the Chinese Empire's strength expanded violently, which forced Denmark to consider the attitude of the Chinese Empire. After the Chinese Empire obtained the British Virgin Islands, it urgently needed to merge the Danish Virgin Islands. So Denmark weighed the pros and cons before finally selling the archipelago to the Chinese Empire.

However, Denmark's Virgin Islands are worth the money. The Chinese Empire is not expensive for 20 million dragon coins, and it benefits a lot.

Danish government built a vast network of roads on the island, mostly paved with pavements. Charlotte Amaria on St. Thomas Island, Frederiksted on St. Chloe Island and Limetree Bay (limetree bay) are deep-water ports and can be used as anchorages for the Atlantic Fleet of the Empire of China. A new container port on the southern shore of St. Chloe operates most of the freight on the archipelago. There are ferries between the three major islands, and the ferries also lead to other islands.

Denmark's seaplanes imported from the Chinese Empire have two airports here, located on the islands of St. Thomas and St. Chloe. There are sea planes that navigate between the islands and lead to Puerto Rico, Cuba and St. Martin.

After the Chinese Empire obtained the Danish Virgin Islands, it expanded its ports and airports. Among them, the role of airports has become increasingly important in the Caribbean Sea. As an emerging product, people have a strong interest in it. Using aircraft as a means of tourism and transportation has become a trendy today.

In response to this situation, as a major aviation power and a powerful country, many merchants of the Chinese Empire also valued the huge profits in this regard, so it is becoming increasingly urgent to develop civil aviation.

However, the Ministry of Defense of the Empire of China has always been strict in the control of aviation technology for airplanes. The Air Force is worried that the aviation technology of the Empire of China will be stolen by European and American countries, and then Europe and the United States will develop aircraft that pose a threat to the Imperial Air Force.

However, after five or six years of development, the Chinese Empire found that European and American countries did not pay enough attention to aircraft, and the speed of developing aircraft was very slow. This was mainly because the Chinese Empire could provide various advanced aircraft for air forces to purchase by various countries. The aircraft industry in various countries started late and could not compete with the major airlines of the Chinese Empire. The aviation field was almost monopolized by the Chinese Empire. A few airlines in Europe and the United States lacked their survival ability, so the R&D capabilities were naturally weak.

After seeing this situation clearly, the Imperial Chinese Air Force gradually relaxed its technical support for civilian aviation, which enabled major airlines in the Imperial Chinese to obtain more advanced aircraft design and technical equipment.

However, the General Staff of the Chinese Empire has always attached great importance to some important technologies and equipment of the Air Force. In order to prevent European and American countries from developing fighter jets and bombers too early, the General Staff had to keep a confidentiality of a series of fighter fighter jets and bombers currently developed by the Chinese Empire. The number of fighter jets and bombers equipped by the Air Force was limited, and the flight time was also restricted.

Faced with the continuous update of the Navy and Army equipment of the Imperial Empire, the Air Force's call for more funds is getting higher and higher, so the pressure from the General Staff and the Ministry of National Defense doubled and had to find a way to solve it.

In the imperial study, the Minister of Defense Wang Shizhen and the Minister of Air Force Liu Xiang were quarreling, so they came to the imperial emperor Wang Chenhao and asked Wang Chenhao to arbitrate.

"Your Majesty, there are train transport supplies and personnel on land, and ship transport supplies and personnel in rivers, lakes and seas. So why not create aircraft for transporting supplies and personnel in the air?"

Wang Chenhao asked in a little surprise: "Do you want to build a transport aircraft?"

"Your Majesty's clarity, but I have this idea." Liu Xiang nodded and continued: "Our bomber can already load a ton of ammunition. If the weapon mount box is removed, it can be easily transformed into an aircraft that transports goods and personnel, which is what Your Majesty calls a transport plane."

Wang Chenhao smiled and nodded. He still agreed with Liu Xiang's idea. At least this time, Wang Chenhao did not propose the transport aircraft project first, but Liu Xiang thought of it. This shows that the talent system of the Chinese Empire has begun to take effect. They have begun to think about the problem by themselves. This is undoubtedly a huge progress. After all, Wang Chenhao himself cannot think about everything in thought.

So, Wang Chenhao said: "Yes, it is completely feasible to change the bomber to a transport aircraft! The speed of transporting materials in the air is much faster than on land and sea. For combat troops, the earlier they get the supplies, the more combat-effective they have and the more survivable they have."

Liu Xiang said: "Your Majesty, if we build bombers on a large scale, it will inevitably attract the attention of the great powers and thus affect the future strategic plan of the empire. However, if we produce a large number of transport aircraft, form a huge air service company, and engage in the air transportation service industry, it will not attract too much attention from the great powers. In this way, the Imperial Air Force can use the air service industry to conduct long-range maneuver training, and pilots can fly transport aircraft to the sky, observe the situation around the world, and contribute to the future war needs of the empire. Once a war occurs, a large number of transport aircraft can be immediately converted back to bombers, saving production and construction cycles, and allowing the Imperial Air Force to form long-range strategic strike forces. In addition, the Air Force can also raise funds by establishing air transport companies to save financial expenses for the empire."

"Good idea!" Wang Chenhao nodded happily: "Let the Air Force hide in the transportation company to achieve the purpose of training and make profits. The most important thing is that once a war occurs, you can participate in the war at any time. This idea is very good!"

"Thank you for your praise!" Liu Xiang quickly became modest.

Wang Shizhen next to him suddenly said: "Your Majesty, this may not be able to hide it from the European and American powers. Although most of them are arrogant, there are also many strategic military strategists. As far as I know, Kang Youwei published last year, a book called "Future Air Warfare", which explained his theory about aircraft carrying weapons and large aircraft replacing airships carrying bombs in future air combat. Moreover, this book has attracted the attention of some European and American military strategists. France's Somensi also put forward similar views based on this book, causing a lot of sensation. If the Empire changed bombers to transport aircraft and put them into market operations at this time, it would be easy for European and American military strategists to think of bombers."

Wang Chenhao frowned and said, "How did this Kang Youwei have this insight?"

Wang Chenhao really couldn't figure out how Kang Youwei, as a politician, had a profound insight into this. In fact, Wang Chenhao had not realized that he had seriously changed history. Since the historical environment was different, the thoughts and future of the people living in this environment had undergone tremendous changes. For example, Lu Xun had always served in the Atlantic Fleet of the Chinese Empire, and had risen from a second lieutenant to a lieutenant captain of a light cruiser. Without the turbulent era of the late Qing Dynasty and the early Republic of China, without the darkness of politics, he could no longer become a thinker, but as a naval officer, and even after Japan was defeated by the Chinese Empire, he could no longer go to Japan to study and learn from the scriptures.

If Wang Chenhao thought of this, it would not be difficult to accept the fact that Kang Youwei became a military theorist.

Of course, Kang Youwei is still a veteran of the Republican Party, and his political purpose has not changed. Publishing books and biography is just a means for him to increase his value and popularity.

Wang Shizhen said: "Your Majesty, Kang Youwei and his Republican Party have also won many seats in the parliament. It is not uncommon to know that the Imperial Air Force has developed some secret weapons. After all, there is no airtight wall in everything."

Wang Chenhao couldn't help but smile bitterly. The Chinese characters he knew had basically changed. In fact, it was impossible not to change. Wang Chenhao had to admit this.

At this time, Liu Xiang said: "Since Lord Wang also said that there is no airtight wall, we should not hide it anymore. Maybe spies from Europe and the United States have learned that we have fighter jets and bombers. Instead of restricting the air force like this, it is better to let go of our room for development and provoke the world air force arms race like the navy."

Wang Chenhao waved his hand and said, "The Air Force cannot start a competition. After all, there are not many actual combat. Most of the military strategists from Europe and the United States cannot think of the role of the Air Force."

Liu Xiang and Wang Shizhen asked quickly: "What does Your Majesty mean?"

Wang Chenhao thought for a while and said, "Just follow Liu Xiang's plan! We use transport planes to cover the identity of Air Force bombers to train our long-range bombers and fighter pilots."

Since Wang Chenhao made the decision, Wang Shizhen had no objection, so he had to formulate a specific implementation plan with Liu Xiang and finally reported it to Wang Chenhao. Wang Chenhao was very satisfied with the plan and approved it.

Three days later, Wang Chenhao issued an order to establish Imperial Airlines and formulate relevant execution procedures with the Cabinet General Staff to build the world's first air transport team for the Chinese Empire.

Subsequently, the Air Force Department modified the H1n1 bomber. After dismantling the weapon load, the aircraft's range and speed increased, with a load of 3 tons. It also opened transportation routes to major cities in the Chinese Empire and launched air transportation services.

The General Staff of the Cabinet called the modified transport ship of the H1n1 bomber a Pegasus transport aircraft. The Pegasus transport aircraft can carry 3 tons of cargo or be converted into an Airbus. The crew depends on the range. If the range is short, the number of crew will be more, and if the range is long, the number of people will be less.

To this end, the Imperial China Nanyuan Airlines has opened five Pegasus transport aircraft production lines, with an annual output of 200 aircraft.

Subsequently, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Chinese Empire assigned major media at home and abroad to hype the advancedness and convenience of the Chinese Empire's air transport companies and advertise for Pegasus transport aircraft. Some domestic and foreign merchants suddenly discovered this huge business opportunity and proposed the intention to negotiate and form air transport companies. However, if they wanted to purchase Pegasus transport aircraft, they had to sign technology and equipment with the Chinese Empire's Ministry of Defense, as well as confidentiality agreements for personnel use. Any company that purchased Pegasus transport aircraft was required to ensure that the performance and equipment of the aircraft could not be obtained by outsiders. The crew was completely provided by the Imperial Chinese Air Force, and the company had to keep their military background confidential. Only after signing these agreements could they be allowed to establish an airline and obtain Pegasus transport aircraft.

Of course, the Chinese Emperor's side only allows Chinese airlines to purchase Pegasus transport aircraft, and foreign companies cannot obtain Pegasus transport aircraft for the time being. However, foreign merchants have also seen the huge profits and prospects of this air transport industry, so they try their best to cooperate with the Chinese Empire's airlines so that they can introduce advanced air vehicles such as Pegasus transport aircraft.

With the massive coverage of the Chinese media's announcement of the establishment of China's Air Tourism Transportation Company, the eyes of the world have been attracted to China again.

Human beings dream of swimming in the sky. Although there are already planes, they are all small reconnaissance aircraft with short range and are not open to the common people. Now China has established this aviation tourism transportation company to serve the people, making people's wishes possible.

At the end of 1910, with the completion of the construction of civil aviation airports in Beijing and Shanghai, the first civil route in China was opened, with routes from Beijing to Shanghai.

Despite the cold weather, there were crowds of people near Beijing and Shanghai airports, and Chinese and foreign people came here to watch the takeoff and landing of the Airbus.

On the morning of December 3, the first Pegasus passenger plane of the Imperial Nanyuan Airlines took off and carried 30 passengers to Shanghai. As the first passenger flight, many people were afraid and dared not take it. Among the 30 passengers, they were basically the families of Air Force officials, who were forced or semi-forced before boarding.

After several hours of flight, the first civil aviation passenger plane landed safely at Shanghai Civil Aviation Airport. When thirty Beijing passengers got off the plane in a daze, the people waiting for the plane at the airport cheered and thunderous applause rang out.

After the first batch of passengers flew safely, the plane taken off at Shanghai Airport carried 30 passengers to Beijing Airport safely. The welcome scene was extremely huge, and people finally believed that they could fulfill their dream of swimming in the sky.

The first batch of passengers were asked to dispel the people's worries and fears. In addition, the media reported the safety of the planes significantly, and slowly unraveled the worries in the people's hearts.

Then, in order to attract customers, Nanyuan Airlines announced that it would experience the fun of flying for one week for free. As soon as the news was announced, the service halls of Beijing and Shanghai airports were crowded. More than 1,000 people signed up on the first day, and more than 30,000 people signed up in the next week. There were too many people, and Nanyuan Airlines only had twenty passenger planes and was too busy. So he had to promise that after the test flight time, the single ticket price would be around 60 yuan dragon coins, so people would not have to worry.

Sixty yuan dragon coins sound very little, but for the purchasing power of the Chinese Empire today, sixty yuan can allow ordinary people's families to live a carefree life. Therefore, taking a plane is still ridiculously expensive and cannot afford to ordinary people. Of course, judging from the continuous improvement of the national living standards of the Chinese Empire, it is not long before civilians can afford to take a plane.

Aircraft are originally for business services, especially merchants who have made strict requirements on the transportation time of goods. Although the transportation cost of aircraft is high, it is worth the money for them.
To be continued...