Chongqing is only about a thousand kilometers away from Nanjing. The Junkers-52 can fly directly without landing for refueling.
At eight o'clock in the morning on June 24, Xiang Xiaoqiang brought five experts headed by Wang Hexiang, six guards headed by Hu Jiong, and three confidential female soldiers headed by Qiu Qiu, plus Xiang Xiaoqiang himself.
Fifteen people took a bus to Xianlin Airport and boarded a Junkers-52 to fly to Chongqing.
At around 11 a.m., the plane landed at Yubei Shiping Military Airport in northeast Chongqing.
Shiping Airport is about fifteen kilometers away from Chongqing city. But Xiang Xiaoqiang is not going to Chongqing, but to the headquarters of Taipingji Company. The area around Shiping Airport is the production base of Taipingji Military Industry Company. The production of Taipingji
The base is not on the same level as Lianfeng and small arms companies like Qi Shunfa. Here, large and small factories are located next to each other, with numerous chimneys, criss-crossing railroad tracks, mother factories, subsidiary factories, shooting ranges, test tracks... forming a huge heavy industry city.
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Xiang Xiaoqiang took a car from the airport and looked at the majestic factories passing by on both sides of the road. He had a feeling as if this was not Chongqing or Sichuan, but Germany's Ruhr Industrial Zone, Krupp's production base.
Ming Dynasty has three main rear strategic heavy industrial zones in the country, namely the Southwest Strategic Heavy Industrial Zone (Yun, Guizhou, and Sichuan), the Southern Strategic Heavy Industrial Zone (Guangdong, Guangxi), and the Southeast Strategic Heavy Industrial Zone (Fujian). These large industrial zones
It is responsible for the most life-and-death industrial production of the Ming Empire such as steel (southwest), machinery (southwest), military industry (southwest), automobiles (south), shipbuilding (southeast), and oil refining (south). It can also be said that once a war breaks out,
These strategic industrial zones are the hematopoietic system of the empire.
The reason why these areas are regarded as strategic heavy industrial zones is mainly because they are located in the rear and far away from the borders of the Ming and Qing Dynasties. Especially the two strategic industrial zones in the southwest and southeast are surrounded by high mountains and mountains, making them easy to defend and difficult to attack.
The possibility of the Qing army conquering from land is very small. In this way, even if the Qing army crosses the river and the Ming Dynasty loses the political, economic and cultural center of Jiangnan, it can still persist in the war.
However, the territory of the Ming Dynasty itself is not vast, nor is it very deep. Even if it is a "rear" strategic industrial zone, there are still some parts within the range of long-range bombers, such as the Sichuan Basin, where the production base of Taipingji Company is located.
place. Because the western boundary of the Ming and Qing Dynasties was divided by the Qinling Mountains and the Daba Mountains. To the north of the Sichuan Basin is the Daba Mountains, and further north is the Qin Dynasty. The Qinling Mountains were controlled by the Qing Dynasty, and the Daba Mountains were controlled by the Ming Dynasty. The north of the Qinling Mountains is the Northern Qing Dynasty
Shaanxi, Gansu.
Long-range bombers taking off from Shaanxi and Gansu only have a range of 300 kilometers into the Sichuan Basin, and only more than 400 kilometers to Chongqing in the southern Sichuan Basin, completely within the flight radius of twin-engine bombers. The Yangtze River Defense Line starts from the west of Anqing
It was converted into a land defense line. Although it was still called the "Yangtze River Defense Line", the defense line no longer relied on the Yangtze River, but on high mountains. The Daba Mountain on the north side of the Sichuan Basin was a section of the Yangtze River Defense Line. The defenses on the mountains and ridges were extremely strong.
It is basically impossible to break through on land, so the only danger in the Sichuan Basin comes from the air.
Therefore, this area became one of the two key air defense areas of the Ming Empire. The so-called two key air defense areas, the first is the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River plains, and the second is the Sichuan Basin. The Sichuan Basin also has unique air defense conditions. It
The area is vast and the terrain is relatively flat, so there are many places where airports can be built. Therefore, except for the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River plains, this is the area with the highest density of airports in the Ming Dynasty. The northern part of the basin is almost dominated by defensive fighter groups.
Mainly airports. These fighter airports form a large air defense network to protect the strategic industrial zone in the Sichuan Basin. Chongqing Shiping Airport, where Xiaoqiang's plane landed, is a bomber brigade airport because it is in the south of the basin.
Within a dozen kilometers of the convoy's journey from the airport to Taipingji's headquarters, Xiang Xiaoqiang saw two anti-aircraft artillery stations in the car, and he kept hearing the roar of engines passing overhead. Taipingji came to pick up the plane.
The representative said that this is the aircraft of the Army Airlines training. Since the Ming and Qing wars at the beginning of this year, in the past six months, the aircraft of the Army Airlines have been training day and night without interruption. As long as it is daytime, there will always be light above the head.
Hear a "buzzing" sound.
Xiang Xiaoqiang is very satisfied. Li Guoliang is really working hard, which also shows that both the army and the government of the Ming Empire attach great importance to air power. Otherwise, with such high-intensity training day after day, the fuel burned every day would be nothing.
A small number. The Ming Dynasty did not produce its own oil, and had to transport it all the way from Southeast Asia. Therefore, this would not have been possible without the attention and support of the entire country.
…
Arriving at the headquarters of Taipingji Company, Xiang Xiaoqiang met Zhang Shaoheng, the current boss of Taipingji Military Industry Company. Mr. Zhang is the second generation head of Taipingji Military Industry Empire. His father is Zhang Taiping, the founder of Taipingji. Zhang
Taiping has passed away long ago, but in the words of later generations, he is the "spiritual leader" of Taipingji. The current chairman, Mr. Zhang Shaoheng, not only inherited Taipingji, but also inherited Nai's father's legacy. He is quite similar to Zhang Taiping at that time.
smell.
Mr. Zhang Shaoheng is over sixty years old. He is dressed in simple Chinese clothes, with snow-white hair hanging down from the back of his head on his shoulders. He is energetic and has an air of immortality. Behind him are more than a dozen senior executives of Taipingji.
, all in crisp suits and leather shoes, reflecting Zhang Shaoheng's supreme and aloof status.
When Zhang Shaoheng saw Xiang Xiaoqiang, he came up to him with a smile and shook hands with him vigorously, showing the demeanor of a big entrepreneur. However, Xiang Xiaoqiang was well experienced in the world, so he joked and greeted him in a smart way.
At noon, Mr. Zhang hosted a treat to welcome Xiang Xiaoqiang and his party. Xiang Xiaoqiang originally thought that Chongqing was a big furnace and it would definitely be very hot, but he never thought of it from the moment he got off the plane. Now it’s time to go out for dinner.
, Xiang Xiaoqiang suddenly remembered that Chongqing did not seem to be as hot as the legend. He suddenly realized that he was from Nanjing. Nanjing is also a big furnace, not inferior to Chongqing at all, and he has adapted to it. And there may be another reason.
, this era did not have as strong a greenhouse effect as later generations, and the average annual temperature was much lower. Winters were colder than later generations, and summers were cooler than later generations.
Considering that Xiang Xiaoqiang and his party are all public officials, in order to avoid the suspicion of bribery, Boss Zhang's reception banquet was not extravagant. Although the dishes were exquisitely prepared, there was nothing expensive in them. This is also a characteristic of Sichuan cuisine.
But one thing that makes Xiang Xiaoqiang very comfortable is that there are several kinds of iced food on the table. Iced fruits, iced sour plum soup, iced bamboo leaf green wine, and iced Coca-Cola after the meal...
In this era, when refrigerators have just appeared, it is an absolute luxury to eat iced fruits and drink iced drinks in the summer. Because even most rich people in this era
There is no refrigerator. If you want to eat something cold in summer, you have to rely on ice cubes stored in the ice cellar in winter. Ice cubes are very expensive in summer. There is an ice cellar in Xiang Xiaoqiang's official residence. After June, Qiu Qiu
People often take out ice cubes and put them in the room to keep cool.
But now, after eating the spicy Sichuan food, and then drinking a sip of ice-cold sour plum soup, it feels so good...
…
After lunch, around one o'clock in the afternoon, Xiang Xiaoqiang touched his lips. Without taking a break, he directly asked Boss Zhang to prepare a car and go to the test site to see a prototype car.
The group of people took a car out of the administrative living area and entered the factory area. There were railway tracks extending in all directions and running through the factory area. They came to a train garage and got off the car.
Xiang Xiaoqiang and the others were a little confused, because they were going to the test site. Why did they get off the train in front of the train garage?
Zhang Shaoheng stood next to Xiang Xiaoqiang, pointed at the tall train garage and said with a smile:
"You don't understand, sir? Haha, yes, from this moment on, our company's product demonstration for you has begun...it starts from here."
He made a gesture. The two workers pushed open the two huge warehouse doors slowly, and a dark locomotive appeared inside. It could be seen that the locomotive was exhausted and was wheezing from time to time.
The smoke was thick, the chimney above the head was floating lightly with white gas, and water was dripping from the boiler. A driver got on board, blew the whistle, steam spewed high from the front of the car, and drove out with heavy steps.
Xiang Xiaoqiang and the others still didn't understand. But Xiang Xiaoqiang was very patient. He had already sensed the wonderful things he was about to see from behind the motorcycle that was getting ready to go.
The locomotive was completely driven out. At this time, Xiang Xiaoqiang saw that this was not a separate locomotive. There was also a passenger car hanging behind the locomotive, and a flatbed car behind it.
The locomotive let out a long sigh and stopped. Xiang Xiaoqiang glanced at Zhang Shaoheng inquiringly. Zhang Shaoheng laughed and made another gesture. The door of a smaller warehouse next to the train garage opened.
The eyes of Xiang Xiaoqiang and the others lit up. They saw what they wanted to see. In the dark warehouse, there were two armored vehicles parked. Viewed from the front, they were about one person tall. They were wheeled and had roof racks.
Armed with a baffled Woodpecker machine gun.
As the familiar engine sound sounded, the two armored vehicles started at the same time. They drove out of the garage almost at the same time, turned neatly, and exposed their whole bodies. Behind the tires on the front of the vehicles were tracks.
This is a half-track, the legendary half-track.
This kind of car is a bit like the World War II German half-track vehicles that Xiang Xiaoqiang is familiar with, but it is different in many ways. The body is not that high. This one is only 1.8 meters tall, only the height of an adult man. The length of the car is about five or six meters.
, there is also a sloping armor plate on the front.
One of the two vehicles seems to be empty, a simple transport vehicle, and the other has a short gun tube extending upward at the rear. The gun tube is very thick, Xiang Xiaoqiang visually inspected it, and it is about 105 or 120 mm caliber.
. He understood. The first one was the basic model, and the second one was a modified variant, which was a self-propelled mortar.
Xiang Xiaoqiang's breathing quickened and he stared intently at the two half-track armored vehicles. The engines of the two vehicles were vibrating and they drove under the flatbed truck. Then four workers jumped out from the first personnel carrier and removed the large wooden planks from the flatbed truck.
After setting it up diagonally, one person stood on the flatbed truck to direct, and then a scene happened that made Xiao Qiang stunned.
The first half-track vehicle blew out smoke and roared, showing that the front pair of tires drove up the inclined plank, and then the rear tracks pushed it, and it suddenly drove onto the flatbed truck.
Several workers took out wooden blocks and stuffed them at the front and rear of the armored vehicle's tires and tracks, and then quickly fixed the armored vehicle to the flatbed truck with steel cables.
Then, the second self-propelled mortar followed the same pattern and drove up quickly.
…
In Xiang Xiaoqiang's opinion, the climbing ability of a half-track vehicle is far inferior to that of a full-track vehicle. Because its front part is wheeled, this is an inherent disadvantage. But the current half-track vehicle is simply climbing along the wooden board onto the flatbed vehicle.
It's like playing. It seems that only tanks can do this. If a half-track wants to get on the train, it must be like a car, either relying on a crane to lift it up, or the slope of the plank must be very small.
The slope of the wooden board at the moment is very steep, and it seems that only tanks can go up it.
"Haha, Sir," Zhang Shaoheng said with a smile, "You have also seen that although the blast 36 is a half-track vehicle, it can do actions that can only be done by tanks and full-track vehicles. It has good climbing ability. This means
It has better cross-country ability and the ability to climb over trenches. And it has very low requirements for train transfer. It does not require a large site and long boards, and it can easily get on the train. And as you know, sir, the main battle force
The car has good adaptability to railway transportation, which is an important condition for winning the war."
Xiang Xiaoqiang smiled and nodded, but he kept staring at the two "Haifeng-36" on the flatbed truck. His heart was already more than half moved by those two beautiful guys. Zhang Shaoheng and his Taipingji products, as soon as they appeared,
It's a nice start.
A group of people boarded the passenger car in front of the flatbed truck and took the train to the testing site with the prototype truck.