The first to return the result was the team from the Forbidden City Archives Office in Beijing. The Dongchang special team who flew from Nanjing to Beijing to search for the Qing Palace archives turned over the Forbidden City Archives office and finally found only a copy of 1927
The records prove that the Kanas Lake Palace built under the supervision of the governor of Xinjiang was completed that year. In August of the same year, he "went (he should be Emperor Xuantong)" to visit the Altay region in autumn hunting in northern Xinjiang and stayed at the palace. However,
There are no drawings of the palace at all.
Dongchang agents asked some old people from the original archives office of the Qing Palace, but found nothing. They did not remember such a set of drawings at all. It seems that the drawings of Kanas Lake Castle should have always been in northern Xinjiang.
The castles and villas in the Nashu area must have been built by the Altay prefect. Shi Shigege accepted the "filial piety" of one of their villas and helped them with their affairs. This is definitely unmistakable. However, what is recorded in the Qing palace archives is
It was built under the supervision of the governor of Xinjiang, probably because of the "unspoken rules": for such achievements, the superior should be given the lion's share of the credit.
Since the Qing palace archives said "built under the supervision of the governor of Xinjiang", then the capital of "Xinjiang Province" in the Qing Dynasty was in Dihua, so Xiang Xiaoqiang and the others, with a glimmer of hope, turned over the former Qing archives and drawings of Dihua.
They searched everything, but still found nothing. It seems that the blueprint of the castle should have been left with the Altay prefect, which means that it may have been in Altay City all along.
But now Altay City is still in the Soviet-controlled area, and Ming Dynasty is powerless. The situation is even worse: Guangwu took the blueprints with him before leaving because he wanted to take refuge in the Kanas Lake Palace.
Immediately afterwards, the second piece of bad news came. The Beijing Dongchang special agent team could not find the blueprints in the Forbidden City, so they went to the former Northern Qing Military Aircraft Department and the Ministry of Civil Affairs to search for information about the Altay governor. The important real power of the Northern Qing court, such as important
Regarding the appointment and dismissal of officials, the names above are in the Ministry of Personnel, but in fact they are all in the Military Aircraft Department. But the Ministry of Personnel will definitely have files. So the Dongchang agents checked both places, and found both places - that Altay
The prefect had already fallen seriously ill in 1930 and died in office.
Now, both lines are broken, and all hope is concentrated on the last one, the foreign designer.
The person responsible for checking this clue was the Nanjing East Factory Headquarters. They did not look at the files as hard as the Beijing team did, and they knew that there were no files to check. They analyzed that in the 20th century, designing and building a castle was an important step in architecture.
It is definitely a big deal in the world. It is different from designing a building. It will definitely be published in the architectural magazines and yearbooks of the time. And having the opportunity to design a castle is an opportunity that many famous architects will not get in their lifetime.
Therefore, this architect must be a famous person and must be familiar to many people in the industry.
Therefore, Nanjing Dongchang started from the architect circle, first went to the Imperial College of Architecture in Nanjing, and consulted several famous professors. Sure enough, these architecture professors were deeply impressed by this matter. Not only did they say it out loud
He also took out several large brochures introducing the castle from the library and placed them in front of the stunned Dongchang agents.
…
These large booklets contain photos, texts, and introductions in Chinese, English and French. These Dongchang agents were excitedly flipping through these large illustrated books, and their hearts almost jumped out of their chests.
But after browsing for a while, I found that there were only three or four exterior photos and one or two interior photos, and no drawings.
"Professor Wang," a female agent asked hopefully, "do you have a drawing of this castle?"
"What drawing?"
"It's...well, a more formal drawing, showing the various parts of the castle, the internal structure, dimensions, and the layout of each floor, like this."
Several old professors looked at each other and shook their heads.
"What, you don't have one here? Where can I see it?"
Professor Wang smiled and said:
"The 'formal drawings' you are talking about are blueprints, which are the original design drawings. That thing is only in the hands of the designer and the builder, and is generally not disclosed. The designer is Durand Architects in Paris.
Mr. Philippe Durand is a partner of the firm and the designer of the castle. He should have a blueprint in his hand. But now he is in France... If you are in urgent need, you can go to the builder-the former Qing court to find it.
Ah! Isn’t it unified now? You can go to the Archives Office of the Forbidden City in Beijing and have a look, there should be a copy there too.”
Several agents looked at each other and thought, why don't you tell me, if I can find it in the Forbidden City in Beijing, will I come to you again?
They had no choice but to thank them, ask several professors to sign a confidentiality guarantee, then wrote down the name of the French architect and his architectural firm, and left with the only information about the castle.
…
Several agents from Nanjing took the castle information they found and flew to Dihua. Xiang Xiaoqiang and the others looked at these illustrated booklets and found that except for a few clear photos, they were not very helpful. The text descriptions were also
Most of them start from the artistic style and genre, and there is not much specific data size, especially the internal structure.
They showed this information to the commander of the Army Aviation Commando at Tianshan Camp. After carefully reading the information, the commando commander said cautiously:
"With the existing information, it is not impossible to carry out a raid. However, since there is no structural layout diagram inside the castle, the risk after entering the castle will be very high. It can be said that from sneaking into the Kanas Lake area to approaching the castle, the success
Whether it is or not is more or less in our own hands. We can use as thorough a plan as possible and targeted training to reduce the risk. But if there are no blueprints, then from the beginning of entering the castle, everything has to be left to God. God knows what is inside.
What does it look like? We have to fight and explore layer by layer. The casualties will be huge and the time will drag on for a long time. During this period, the Soviet army will have enough time to shrink its troops and surround the castle. In the end, it is very likely that the entire team will not be able to get out.
Come, the whole army will be wiped out... Your Majesty, I followed you to the north two years ago to rescue the crew of the Grasshopper. You also know that I am not the kind of person who is afraid of wolves in front and tigers in the back. I am doing it for the chance of winning the entire operation.
I just said these words because if we fail, not only will the lives of our brothers be thrown away, but we will also be afraid that Guangwu will flee to the Soviet Union and there will be no chance in the future."
Xiang Xiaoqiang nodded and said:
"Yes, brother, what you said makes sense."
This person was one of the members who followed Xiang Xiaoqiang to Beiqing to rescue people more than two years ago. Because of his outstanding performance that time, he added a glorious touch to his resume and was promoted to the Ming Dynasty within two years.
The position of commander-in-chief of the aviation commando team. He is a very experienced and professional person. Xiang Xiaoqiang knows him quite well. He even calls him "brother" when he becomes a prince. This is the same as Li Gensheng, who has been through life and death together.
A comrade in arms, he can also be said to be one of Qiu Qiu's saviors.
Xiang Xiaoqiang thought for a while and asked:
"What if there was a full set of drawings?"
The commander said:
"That's different. If you really need a complete set of drawings - you don't need a complete set, just the floor plan and staircase diagram of each floor. The success rate of the operation will at least double."
Xiang Xiaoqiang and Shi Shigege looked at each other, nodded, and said:
"Good brother, you go down first."
"I will finally retire."
…
Xiuxiu looked at Xiang Xiaoqiang in disbelief, and finally couldn't hold it in any longer, so she tentatively said:
"My lord...are you really going to send someone to France to get the drawings?"
Qiu Qiu also said:
"Yes, this is no joke. It takes more than a month to go back and forth!"
Fourteen giggled and said:
"Qiu Qiu, more than a month is nothing. If it can ensure that the success rate of the operation is greatly increased, it is worthwhile to postpone it for a month. After a month, Guangwu will not run away. He will still be there. Moreover, the commando team
You can also use this month to train.”
After a moment of silence, Xiang Xiaoqiang said slowly:
"Can you really guarantee that Guangwu will still be there a month later?"
Fourteen was startled and said with a smile:
"Of course there is no guarantee. Maybe... maybe Guangwu was shocked by this bombing, and he packed up and went to Moscow a few days later. It's hard to say."
Xiang Xiaoqiang smiled and said:
"Yes. Maybe the Soviets feel that in order to protect Guangwu, it is not cost-effective to maintain an additional air defense base here for a long time. Then it is definitely possible to move Guangwu to Moscow."
Qiu Qiu became a little anxious when he heard this:
"Then what should we do? Doesn't that mean we have no choice? Ah..."
Seeing the smile on Xiang Xiaoqiang's face, she guessed something and said with a smile:
"Xiaoqiang, do you have any ideas again? Speak out, don't hide them."
Sure enough, Xiang Xiaoqiang nodded and commanded confidently: