Chapter 488 Eagle over North Africa (Season 4)

@@@@@@@@ Ryukyu, dominating the navy port.

A boat of about eight or nine thousand tons looks strange. There are eight thick iron pipes on its body. The iron pipe seems to have a flat-top ship slowly sailed into the waterway with the help of a defense-class destroyer and two ocean-going tugboats.

When it entered the harbor through the waterway, countless sailors and workers were attracted by the ship. It's just a strange look. After all, today's Xinhua has all kinds of strange ships, more than square sterns. For example, a cargo ship with a lock behind the buttocks, but this ship not only looks strange, but also on it The large flat roof is now miserable. Most of the charred boards have been lifted, and a large hole has been exposed in the back half, and even the thick supporting iron pipe on the left side of the stern has been deformed.

Experienced sailors and boatmen knew at a glance that it was caused by an explosion and a fire.

After the flat-top boat staggered into the water-filled dock, the lock quickly closed, and four high-power pumps began to pump out the water in the dock to facilitate the workers' maintenance.

Today's Ryukyu Overlord Sea can be said to be the only large city with shipbuilding and military port. The natural superior geographical environment, coupled with the resource support on the mainland behind it, has made this big island shine.

Four docks above 20,000 tons, four 5,000 tons of small docks, two maintenance docks, and a 20,000-ton floating dock that has just been launched are only calculated by a single shipyard, which is second only to the more hidden Huludao Shipyard in Bohai Bay and has six 30,000 tons of docks.

However, this position is estimated to decline in two years, because on Changxing Island in Shanghai not far away, a super shipyard with a total of eight large docks is about to take shape, but in any case, the reputation of Ryukyu Shipbuilding Island cannot be erased.

Good logistical support and all kinds of warships covering the whole harbor have made it the most important base in Northeast Asia of the Navy. If it hadn't been for the diverse surnames of the base, the Admiralty had even planned to close Lushun.

More than 50,000 workers of all kinds, plus soldiers and their families, have gradually developed into a new type of city. Because it has been well planned from the beginning, the whole city still maintains the beauty and tranquility of the harbor.

Originally, this beauty made Li Mo very happy, but after seeing the tragedy of the simple aircraft carrier training ship modified from a coal-carrying ship, he suddenly frowned.

"Your Majesty, Lefei came to report."

The young and handsome new naval aviation commander with a cold face saluted in awe. His thin and dark face confirmed that he had been practicing hard with the soldiers during this period. After Li Mo returned a salute, he walked to the training ship under his leadership.

"I've lost a lot of weight. Isn't it too hard?"

"Thank you, Your Majesty, for your concern." Le Fei said, "It's just that it's too hot around Daxia, so I got a little tanned."

"Ha ha, not at all, it's just Bao Qingtian!" Li Mo stopped, turned his head and smiled and said, "I heard that you have recently hooked up with Mr. Li's girl. She doesn't dislike you like this, does she?"

"Your Majesty."

Li Mo's sudden words made Yi, who had a cold face, couldn't help blushing and blushing. He scratched his head and didn't know how to answer awkwardly. Finally, he could only squeak and squeak: "How can it be."

"Don't always care about work, pay attention to the combination of work and rest, and come back to rest more when you have nothing to do. That girl hasn't seen you for a long time. Recently, she has been pestered Li Enfu to ask me where you are!" Li Mo smiled and said, "Besides, it's a good thing for you to stand alone, but after taking care of all the work, how can the people below train?"

"Remember, you are the commander, not the training officer!"

"Yes!"

After a few words of concern, Li Mo focused on this aircraft carrier training ship. There are three of these training ships, Xinhua, which are modified with coal carriers, mainly used to explore the use of future aircraft carriers, help the design department accumulate experience, and use them for sea take-off and landing training.

The engine has not broken through for a long time before, and the take-off and landing training has been very difficult. Recently, Hanyang and Changchun have taken out new engines with 450 horsepower, which has been able to ensure the current lightweight biplane take-off and landing requirements on the narrow deck. Therefore, after Lefei got the new aircraft, he began to strengthen special take-off and landing training, but the accident also occurred. Now. It is now.

"What's going on?" Standing on the wide wooden flat deck and looking at the scorched black hole more than three meters wide behind him, Li Mo patiently asked.

It is not easy to take off and land an aircraft carrier, especially the risk of landing.

As the engine power continues to increase and the speed of the aircraft becomes faster, the pilot needs to slow down carefully when landing, and constantly adjust the angle, but the problem is that the current weight of the aircraft is too light, such as the F3F navy model modified by the air force vulture they are currently using. Once decelerated, side wind and turbulence The impact will be greatly increased. As long as young novices don't pay attention, they will either be high or directly loaded into the stern or the sea.

After strengthening take-off and landing training during this period, dozens of pilots have encountered such troubles, and even paid the price of three sacrifices.

In addition to the influence of strong winds, the F3F engine was enhanced, which gave it the ability to mount two small 50 kilograms of bombs for the first time. Lefei began to organize maritime attack and bomb-drop training according to the future aviation development manual prepared by Li Mo.

This accident originated from this kind of training. Because of the problem of the bomb hanger, a pilot failed to drop a bomb. At first, he felt that the bomb should not fall, so he landed with the bomb. Unexpectedly, when the wheel landed on the deck, the vibration made the bomb hit the deck, causing the explosion and big Fire.

Fifty kilograms of training bombs were only loaded with one kilogram of explosives, but because they were all wooden structures, the explosion quickly caused a fire, which eventually caused the situation.

Fortunately, Lefei happened to be on this training ship at that time. He decisively ordered non-essential personnel to take the lead in jumping into the sea to escape. At the same time, he personally rushed into the front line with the damage management team and suppressed the fire with water dragons, and finally did not destroy the whole training ship.

Squatting on the dark deck and listening to Le Fei's narrative, Li Mo also scratched his head.

It was not until recently that Li Mo knew that he had been wrong. In his opinion, the technology of the first-generation aircraft carrier did not need to be too high. In fact, the equipment department just took out the prototype not long ago for lifting ammunition and large lifts used by aircraft.

The hydraulic cylinder of the blocking cable is also very troublesome, and the current aircraft structure can't use the blocking cable at all. Last time, Adel also conducted a blocking cable experiment on the ground with the only aluminum aircraft at present. When the tail hooked the blocking cable, the fuselage was directly torn into two pieces by the thrust.

In addition to the fact that the aircraft structure is not strong enough, the main reason is that they have no sea take-off and landing experience. They think that landing at sea is the same as land, and they can descend slowly. Even some old birds turn off the engine early and slide down close to the lift of the wing.

But this is not possible at sea. When landing, because the take-off and landing deck is not as long as the land airport, it must maintain a certain amount of power. In case the landing point is too long, the plane can be pulled up again, which puts forward higher requirements for the structure of the aircraft and the strength of the landing gear.

These things can be reinforced, and a stronger engine is needed, so this seems to be a dead knot.

The lightness of the aircraft causes the side wind to affect the stability of take-off and landing. The high air utilization rate of the wings of the biplane will increase this problem. The reinforcement of the fuselage and landing gear requires strong and strong materials, which will return to the improvement of the engine again.

This is a vicious cycle, as he calculated at the beginning, unless the engine is raised to at least 600 horsepower and the aircraft adopts an all-aluminum reinforced structure, otherwise the problem will always exist.

However, it is not completely pessimistic. At least after a large amount of accumulation before, the engine power enhancement has broken through the critical barrier. The V-type eight-cylinder engine of Hanyang Factory and Changchun's Type 11 star engine have taken out a 600 horsepower prototype, and applied turbocharged technology to it for the first time. Although Li Mo is not Learn the engine, but you can also know that as long as you continue to improve and improve the stable surname, it is no problem to take out the practical model after a year at most.

This is the era when a good engine made a generation of famous aircraft, so it has arrived in North Africa at this moment. It is extremely critical to wait for the forty-eight vultures hired by Osman, because training and actual combat are different. Although the aircraft engine in Europe is worse than its own at this moment, it is just like the one that happened to Nujiang not long ago. The pigeon biplane still has a certain mobility ability due to the use of double-layer large wings and improved air utilization.

This makes them initially have the ability to fight. When fighting in actual combat, once they enter the chase and fight with each other, pilots often make a lot of subconscious avoidance and offensive actions, which cannot be imitated during training. In extreme cases, the engine and the plane themselves will expose big problems. Wait until this Feedback and solve some problems is undoubtedly a leaping opportunity for the development of our aviation industry.

In addition to these problems, the Air Force is also the only young force in Xinhua that lacks actual combat experience at present. Through this kind of low-intensity battle, a group of seed pilots have been trained. When they come back, they can quickly pass on their experience to more people, which is also a great promotion to improve the combat effectiveness of the army.

It was these factors that prompted Li Mo to put the air force into the Italian-Tunese war, but the Ottomans obviously did not realize how big the threat of Italian planes and airships was, but it didn't matter. When they had suffered enough, they would come to help themselves.

Thinking of this, the corners of Li Mo's mouth tilted. As soon as he got off the gangway, he saw a jeep parked in the distance, and Zhang Zuolin ran over in a hurry.

"Your Majesty, Osman agreed to Wu Yingke's conditions!"

"Oh? How many ships did they buy?

"Three ships, all of them!" Zhang Zuolin smiled excitedly and said, "Each ship is 450,000 pounds, a total of 9.45 million blue coins. The first batch of 3.5 million blue coins will be paid, and the rest will be repaid in three years by loan from us."

"In addition, they also agreed that as long as we can convince Germany, we can transfer the Baghdad Railway to us, and they also hired Wu Yingke as naval guidance to help them deal with Italy."

"Navy guidance?" Li Mo was stunned for a moment and immediately smiled and said, "Is this Wu Yingke's idea?"

Zhang Zuolin nodded: "Yes, Wu Yingke said that the three duke-classes were handed over last night, but the Ottoman naval sailors and generals were too poor to use three battleships at all, so he promised Muhammad V to temporarily join the Ottoman Navy in his private capacity, and he called to ask if he could give it again. He has dozens of veterans and officers, so that Osman can go to sea for a decisive battle as soon as possible.

"Yes, send him a telegram immediately and choose 20 people from the previous three battleships, but it's still the same. It must be in a private name, and it must not be leaked!"

"Yes!"

Just as Zhang Zuolin was about to take the order to leave, Li Mo suddenly stopped him and asked, "Yes, Yuting, how is Feng Qi talking with the German?"

"The Germans initially agreed that the Baghdad Railway is already a chicken rib for them. Britain, France and Russia would rather use the threat of war than let them repair it, but." Zhang Zuolin paused for a moment and said, "Germany hopes that we can provide a loan of 500 million blue coins. In addition, we also want to buy our eight gray shark submarines and manufacturing technology!"

Zhang Zuolin's news made Li Mo and Le Fei around him smile: "Five hundred million! How dare you say it! What, Germany is out of money?"

"There is no money. The main reason is that Germany's resources are currently under pressure. In addition to steel, everything else has been under pressure, especially rubber, cotton, and some heavy metals. We estimate that Germany's request for a loan this time should be more of a test for us, and it is starting to do it for the war. I'm ready!"

"All eight gray sharks are needed! These German bastards have sharp eyes!" Li Mo said with a smile, "You tell Tang Shaoyi that you can agree to Germany's conditions, but the loan must be mortgaged with gold or other things, and the submarine can't be taken for nothing. I heard that Germany is preparing to develop a new 15-inch naval gun to suppress Britain. You can tell William II and Tier Pitts, our ship. Cannon is also in trouble, and I hope to share the technology with them!"

"Is it about the plane?"

"The Ottomans haven't agreed yet, but Wu Yingke called and said that there is no need to worry, because since Italy has developed a seaplane, as long as Osman suffers a little loss, he will definitely come for help!"

" OK, let's do it."

After Zhang Zuolin drove away, Li Mo turned his head and looked at the training ship behind him. Suddenly, he wanted to turn it into a real aircraft carrier overnight. If so, why should he borrow Osman's hand? Directly join hands with Osman to beat the European wall down first, so as not to get in the way!

It's a pity that the dream is beautiful, but the reality is cruel. He still has to wait for a while.

On November 2, for the purpose of merging the Ottoman Empire and Xinhua, after night-to-night secret negotiations between the ambassadors of the three countries in Yanjing, Germany quickly agreed to exchange the Baghdad Railway for eight gray shark-class submarines in Xinhua. In addition, it also agreed to Xinhua to jointly develop 15 British. An inch of naval gun to compete with Britain.

In addition to this large exchange agreement, the most important foreign loan agreement in Xinhua's history has also been reached. Germany used gold and German-controlled Guinea Island as collateral and loaned 500 million blue coins to Xinhua. According to the agreement, 300 million of these must be used to purchase all kinds of urgently needed materials in Xinhua!

Blue coins are not as valuable as pounds, and they are a little worse than dollars, but the figure of 300 million is a huge amount of money in later generations, not to mention the current era!

On the first day of the signing of the agreement, Tang Shaoyi immediately called the industry and commerce and other relevant departments, and also contacted a number of ocean-going transportation companies, including Pacific Freight, in front of the German ambassador to make every effort to ensure the smooth completion of this big business.

At the same time, he also contacted Long Guozhang in Luzon and asked the navy to ensure the shipping safety from Luzon to the Suez Canal and make every effort to provide ocean escort for the fleet.

After getting the news, Long Guozhang, who was idle, was immediately excited. He even circled the Mediterranean Sea into the escort area with a big stroke, which made Li Mo, who got the news later, shake his head. If you want to escort, you have to get it!

Compared with the sky-to-day loans that Britain and France have constantly proposed to the United States, the 500 million blue coins provided by Xinhua are just a bred, but they are of a great significance. It not only means that the two major groups have begun to prepare for war, but also means that Xinhua has suddenly changed from a capital importing country to a capital exporting country!

And Germany is just a test this time. As long as they see Xinhua's determination to complete this super business wholeheartedly, including the Ottoman Empire and the Austro-Hungarian Empire, they will come to take out loans to prepare for war!

A huge capital export war officially broke out!

On November 5, Li Mo ordered for the first time that in addition to the original price of this batch of goods in Germany, the rest of the materials that can be used for war, including rubber, sugar, gauze and other materials, were raised by 10%, including Thomas Mining, all the enterprises belonging to him personally or controlled by him.

The sudden price increase of the Xinhua Empire is simply a robbery in the eyes of foreign businessmen. Because Xinhua controlled 70% of the world's rubber, sugar, tobacco, copper, manganese and other materials, a price increase cyclone quickly spread all over the world. The world's second largest resource export, and the United States, the largest equipment industry. However, he will not play against Li Mo, which also opened the curtain of price increase.

The two feud-like countries have reached a subtle tacit understanding this time. Even the export-oriented countries such as Chile, Brazil and Argentina have taken action one after another, which makes Europe, which is already short of resources, miserable.

Fortunately, Britain and France have at least a huge overseas colony as a guarantee. Germany has temporarily eased its urgent needs because of the previous 500 million loans and 300 million orders, but Austria-Hungary, Russia, Italy and other countries are in trouble, especially Russia. Although with the help of Britain, now Britain is too busy, so it can only Seeing that the gap is getting wider and wider.

The situation is even worse for Italy, which has colonies and is still competing for North Africa, but obviously lacks sufficient resources on the land, because they suddenly found that the Ottoman Empire had transferred three obviously modified ships from the Black Sea overnight. It is said that they were three Duke-class battleships that had been secretly bought before the war. !

Sutherly, the situation in the Mediterranean Sea changed greatly, and an Izmail forced Italy to accelerate the construction of the Dante. Now the three modified Duct class almost reached the standard of quasi-new battleships, allowing the Italian navy to take seriously the increased Ottoman navy.

On November 8, Italy officially protested strongly to Xinhua, accusing it of violating the Neiva Convention and not selling weapons to warring countries. It also visited Britain, France, Germany and other countries to pressure Xinhua, and even once demanded the closure of the Suez Canal!

Although it is an ally, Germany naturally can't offend Xinhua at this time and push this increasingly important country to Britain and France, so it refuses to make any comments, and Britain and France are not willing to overdo the Xinhua Empire, but for the purpose of merging Italy, it made a verbal protest and demanded Xinhua Sea in the future. The fleet passing through the Suez Canal and the Mediterranean Sea must be escorted.

On November 9, after Italy quickly sent the last batch of troops to the coast of North Africa, the fleet rushed to the Dardanelles, hoping to block the Ottoman Empire in the Strait.

On the same day, at the suggestion of Wu Yingke, the main force of the Ottoman navy, which was originally training three new battleships in the strait, also drilled out of the Dardanelles and set out for Cyprus along the coastline.

Encounters in the Mediterranean are imminent!

(to be continued)