Chapter 469 "Jingyanggang" Operation

Chapter 469 "Jingyanggang" Operation

Chapter 469 "Jingyanggang" Operation

Bavaria, Bechstgarten, at the foot of the Alps, the Eagle's Nest.

This was the new headquarters that the Germans had secretly built after Berlin was turned into a scorched earth by the British airship fleet's retaliatory napalm bombing.

Marshal Moltke passed through a gloomy tunnel 124 meters long carved out of solid granite and came to a magnificent hall.

The entire hall is a steam-powered elevator that can accommodate 53 people at the same time.

The hall slowly rises to a sturdy fortress at the top of the mountain that can withstand any scale of bombing.

William I and Bismarck were waiting in the café here.

"My marshal, Emperor Alfonso has just issued a kill order against me."

"The reason is that our German Air Force Vulture Squadron blatantly attacked the Spanish royal airship, violating the rules of the Aristocratic War, which do not attack members of the royal family. Is this true?"

Moltke stood at attention and said, "Your Majesty, we have accurate information that Isabella II is staying in the Royal Palace of Madrid."

"We didn't bomb Madrid, so who could have predicted that the Queen and the Crown Prince of Spain would suddenly return from the East?"

"Moreover, they did not reach Madrid, but went directly to the Yarama front to supervise the battle. So our boys believe that although the airship is painted with royal emblems, it is used as an artillery observation airship."

The large-scale war on the Western Front was completely different from the small-scale conflict in which one Bulgarian division took on three Romanian divisions.

Millions of people from both sides were fighting each other, with sufficient manpower and human lives as worthless. They did not hesitate to sacrifice a large number of rapid-fire artillery units to frantically attack the other side's artillery observation balloons.

This allowed both sides to simultaneously launch their airships into the sky and use them as observation balloons.

The maximum ceiling of an airship is 5000 meters, which is beyond the attack range of current anti-aircraft guns and far above the current ceiling of aircraft.

The artillery observers on the airship and the artillery assistants on the ground were equipped with high-powered telescopes and communicated coordinates using flag signals.

It turned out that the airship in Madrid was not an observation airship, and after being shot at by the bomber's machine gun, it did not rise to avoid it, but instead attracted a group of fighter jets to escort it.

"Your Majesty, the Daxia people have produced fighter jets that have demonstrated extraordinary combat effectiveness. We need to place an order immediately."

"Haven't the British bought any bombers yet?"

"We have bought them, but they are on their way to the Western Front, so our fighter planes are necessary."

"I think we should seize the opportunity to launch a larger offensive and take Paris directly, while Britain and France do not have bombers yet and one million American troops are still in the Atlantic Ocean before reaching the European continent."

"The French are now in chaos in Spain, their rear. Once Paris falls, they will have no way out and will inevitably lose their will to fight. We will quickly win the war."

"But do we have enough troops?"

"Your Majesty, the military strength is indeed tight. We only have 2.5 million men who can fight."

"However, we have already won complete victory on the Eastern and Southern Fronts, and have just transferred 500,000 troops from our Austro-Hungarian allies and one million newly recruited Italian vassal troops to the Western Front."

"Although their combat capability is questionable, they should be stronger than the Indian vassal army, right? They are also out of manpower."

"Oh, by the way, Your Majesty, we no longer have a navy. There are still 60,000 sailors in Kiel Harbor who are receiving state pay for nothing, but they refuse to go ashore to be used as army soldiers..."

William I waved his hand and said, "I will personally transfer them to the front line for you."

"Your Majesty, you can't do that. If the soldiers are dissatisfied——"

William I's beard twitched. "I am the founding emperor of Germany. As long as they are German soldiers, they will obey me. This is a small matter."

He turned around and told the chancellor, "Bismarck, call Paris back and tell them that we shot down the Spanish airship by mistake and did not see the Spanish royal emblem on it. Yes, we over-recruited soldiers and the pilots are all short-sighted."

William I and Bismarck smiled at each other, then turned to look at Moltke, "My Marshal, I am very curious, why did our bombers fail to shoot down the enemy's airships, but the airships we sent to continue bombing London were shot down by British machine guns."

Moltke stepped back, "That's because the British developed a machine gun incendiary bomb after being bombed by airships. Our technicians are urgently trying to crack it, and I believe we will master this technology soon."

"Okay! Tell the French emperor that we have now mastered the technology of machine gun incendiary bombs. Please do not hang around in the airships of the Spanish royal family. It is very dangerous and easy to be hit by mistake."

The three of them laughed. William I picked up a cup of coffee and said, "Marshal, drink this cup of coffee, you go to attack Paris, I will go to Kiel, and we will meet in Paris!"

Bismarck hesitated to speak, for he knew where his important officials' suggestion to end the war as soon as possible came from.

But the German army is about to achieve complete victory. I must bear this pressure alone and fully support Your Majesty in dominating the European continent.

After all, if the Americans had not arrived yet, France had surrendered, Britain would be unable to hold on alone, and the war would be over, right?

…………

On December 1877, 12, Shao Quanzhong returned to Hailing.

Having just experienced an assassination attempt, he did not stop his busy pace and did not go home. As soon as he got off the train, he was called to the Good Fruit Company.

Heavy diesel trucks carrying the latest bombers and fighters were leaving the company. These were the latest products ordered by both Germany and Britain. The new products had more powerful engines, and the fighters had become single-engined, with hanging machine gun pods and canvas coverings on the wooden frames, making them look more like modern aircraft.

The bomber only needs four engines to be powered, and it also has a cover and skin, so the pilots and bombardiers don't have to suffer the cold at high altitudes.

During the war, the advancement of military technology was the fastest.

After returning to Qiao Garden from Haoguozi Company, as soon as he entered the second bamboo house, Le Sen was already ready to report on his work.

"Marshal, the incident of your assassination has caused a huge response in various places. Soldiers of the Huai Army in five provinces have requested to fight. Marshal, please thoroughly investigate the enemy. The Huai Army is determined to defend you to the death."

"The new army in Shaanxi is unstable and is indignant about the sacrifice of Chen Siqi, the hero of the first uprising, and demands a thorough investigation of the murderer."

"Technicians and skilled workers from the northern provinces protested, believing that the Marshal should have led the entire Great Xia long ago, and that this assassination was intended to cut off their way to make money. They were extremely envious of their counterparts from the five southern provinces who could drive Mercedes-Benz cars and marry Lucia concubines."

"The bosses fired a few of the most troublesome people, which caused a confrontation between the two sides."

"Workers in the north have been demanding the same treatment as the five southern provinces, and farmers have been demanding permanent farmland and calling for not waiting for a meaningless ten-year period. The assassination of the Marshal has greatly disappointed them with the northern provinces, and large-scale protests have broken out, which have been suppressed by the provincial warlords."

"Our investigation is progressing very quickly, and we should be able to find out the mastermind behind this assassination soon."

In short, there has been no progress yet, but once there is a result, it will be earth-shattering. The anger of the northern people, which is caused by the comparison with Hailing's colleagues, is accumulating and will erupt through the assassination of Shao Quanzhong.

The door suddenly opened, Rong Hui poked her head in, and seeing Shao Quanzhong summoning Le Sen, she stuck out her tongue and stepped back.

"Come in Hui'er, we're done talking here."

Rong Hui entered the room and said, "Brother Shao, I have something good to show you."

A young man at the back came into the room carrying something strange-looking. "You must not know what this is."

Shao Quanzhong had never seen this thing with a speaker and a crank before. Rong Hui shook the handle of the device like a treasure, and a song came out of the speaker, "Mary had a little lamb..."

"This is the tinfoil phonograph that Edison just invented. Does it sound nice? Come, let me record something for you."

Uh, this is too primitive, recording still needs to be done manually? However, Shao Quanzhong immediately had an idea, "Brother Le, come back, does our intelligence department know about this thing?"

Le Sen smiled and said, "We knew it right away. All major cities have applied Mingyue Tower's monitoring. Jiang Chunlin knows it well."

"However, our Mingyue Buildings in major cities in Germany and the UK were burned down, causing heavy losses, and we have temporarily stopped our activities—"

Shao Quanzhong waved his hand and said, "It's just a small amount of money. The construction team of Daxia will earn it back a hundred times during the reconstruction."

…………

Rothschild Bank, Frankfurt.

The brothers Alfonso and Gustave were very cautious and never went to places like Mingyue Tower. They always plotted in their own offices.

Under the gaslight, the two brothers' faces looked a little grim.

"Brother, Bismarck is very stubborn this time and refuses to help us. William I is also out of our control. Germany is about to unify the European continent. This is not good."

Alfonso smiled contemptuously. "No one in the European continent has ever been able to fight against financial capital. Even Napoleon couldn't do it. They are courting their own destruction."

Gustav shook his head. "This time is different. I have already done the work on several Italian and Austro-Hungarian generals, but even if I buy them off, the German army will probably be formidable on its own."

"Our Eastern Lord has reinforced the German army too much, and the Americans are procrastinating and have not yet reached the battlefield."

"The old man is the founding emperor, and his prestige among the soldiers is too high. I have a feeling that we may fail this time."

Gustav's face was grim. "If we can't solve the problem, then we have to solve the problem. Didn't the French Emperor and the British Emperor both issue arrest warrants for the old guy? He went to Kiel Harbor to appease the sailors this time. I think -"

Under the gaslight, the brothers' faces looked pale as the conspiracy continued.

On top of the fireplace chimney, several dark shadows were lurking outside. They were the Wudang swordsmen who had not been seen for a long time, formerly known as the "Nanyang Chishitan", members of the Second Detective Team of the Daxia Statistics and Investigation Bureau, led by Captain Yang Banhou himself.

Yang Banhou was carefully shaking the tinfoil phonograph he had just acquired, but unfortunately the Xibe tape ran out of air at the critical moment.

It doesn't matter, the required intelligence should already be available.

Yang Banhou carefully hid the Xibe tape in his arms. Several swordsmen under his command quickly disassembled the phonograph into parts and carried them with them, disappearing into the moonless night.

It was not accidental that they came here to record the video. They had been keeping an eye on the two brothers for half a year, and today they finally got the key evidence.

They were carrying out a top-secret operation jointly executed by the Intelligence Department and the Statistics and Investigation Bureau, code-named "Jingyanggang".

On December 1877, 12, His Majesty William I arrived in the port of Kiel.

(End of this chapter)