afterglow

Chapter 217 Temporary Parole; Responses from Parties

"Staying outside for one more day is a good thing. People who have never come out want to go in again."

"Hey, but this..."

"How can there be any reason to stand by? Do you and I have other tasks now? No. And the tracks are all deformed, and the train can't go."

"But that's too dangerous, there will be a plague."

"Stop talking about reasons. Daming now has sulfa drugs, so he is not afraid of bacterial infection. Let's go, let's set off quickly."

Zhou Changfeng was naturally unwilling to leave, so Luo Fu seemed very embarrassed, because one of his accompanying tasks was to keep an eye on this guy so as not to do some outrageous things again.

Excluding the responsibility of emergency rescue and disaster relief, participating in the earthquake relief now is simply a blood profit for Zhou Changfeng.

What is "execution outside prison"?The days outside the prison are also counted within the prison sentence. If you stay outside for one day, you can spend one less day in prison after you go back.

However, after hesitating, Luo Fu chose to refuse in his heart, but there was no objection on the surface.

The two left the inn after simply packing up, and came to the street. The citizens all looked frightened and gathered on the side of the road, not daring to go back to the house.

When passing by several patrolmen, Luo Fu suddenly grabbed Zhou Changfeng's arm and shouted: "You guys, come and help! Take out the handcuffs!"

Ten seconds later.

Zhou Changfeng, who was speechless, stared at Luo Fu beside him, "Okay, you guy, did you deliberately mess with me?"

The latter cupped his hands, "I offended Brother Zhou, and I will be blamed if you run around."

Zhou Changfeng took a deep breath, lowered his voice and said, "Okay, you can call the princess now and ask for instructions!"

"His Royal Highness will not agree."

"Not necessarily, you just go."

In order to make Zhou Changfeng give up, Luo Fu agreed.

Accompanied by a policeman, they returned to the Police Station of the Inspection Department here.

The call made by Luo Fu went through layers of transfers, and it took dozens of seconds before it was connected.He explained the current situation and Zhou's intentions, and then heard Su Yiyi on the other end of the phone asking Zhu Lingjing.

After a while, he turned his head to look at Zhou Changfeng who was a few steps away with a strange expression, and said with some confusion: "Brother Zhou, what His Highness means is that unless you agree to a temporary parole, it will not work."

Parole refers to release before the sentence expires due to special circumstances, but there is a certain probation period. As long as no new crime is committed, the sentence will be judged to have been executed, otherwise the old and new punishments will be combined.

This is a typical Western legal concept, which originated in the maritime law system, was later quoted by the civil law system, and is now also absorbed into the Chinese legal system after major reforms.

In the military law of the Ming Dynasty, parolees can regain their original reserve ranks during the probation period, and return to the official rank after the probation period ends.

However, it is clear that Zhou Changfeng does not meet the conditions for parole now, and he will have to go back to prison for a few days after this period of time. Temporary parole seems to be taking off his pants and farting, but he can legally and legally have a military rank during this period of time.

"Okay, I agree." He agreed without thinking.

What else?It would be great to be able to go, and I also regained the rank of reserve lieutenant colonel, which I wished for.

They stayed here for a while, and later, the Navy Department of the Ministry of War called, announcing the provisional parole.

"...Hey, wait, the reserve ranks are also divided into arms, so I still use the original one?" Zhou Changfeng asked.

There was a bit of noise on the other end of the phone, and then someone changed, and Xu Zhanming's voice came out, "No, change to the military police. Isn't it a good thing for you, kid? This time I promise you to do business. Remember, no publicity is allowed, but you can't Keep a low profile, this represents the navy, is that clear?"

At this moment, Zhou Changfeng was deeply moved, he stood up straight and said solemnly: "Don't worry, I promise to fulfill my duty!"

In a disaster area that is almost equal to military control, the power of a military police lieutenant colonel is unimaginable, and now it will not even be greatly discounted because of the extra word "preparation".

Since ancient times, China has been dispatched more than its own duties, and it was even worse in the Ming Dynasty. A seventh-rank patrol censor can make a fourth-rank magistrate terrified, only because of the temporary extra powers added to him.

The embarrassed Luo Fu smiled dryly and said, "Brother Zhou, you... don't blame me, I'm also in a dilemma."

Zhou Changfeng rolled his eyes, and then stretched out his hands to let the patrolman on the side unlock the handcuffs with a key, then smoothed his clothes, and said casually: "That won't work, I'm a person who holds grudges, from now on you will go to the Marine Corps honestly." Ha... well, let's go now."

The two went straight to the station and took a car to the military camp in the suburbs.

The brigade headquarters of the Army's Third Siege Artillery Brigade was located in Yanzhou Prefecture. When they arrived, it was already in a state of combat readiness, but it was only the lowest level D.

They came here mainly to take a ride, but the adjutant on duty told them that they had not received an order to participate in the rescue of the disaster area, and now they have no right to make their own decisions, and the brigade commander was recuperating due to illness a few days ago.

"...The 35th, 31st, and [-]th divisions in Jinan, Daming, and Kaifeng have already been ordered, but we are still on standby."

"I know, but it should be fine for me to borrow a car from you, right? I am now ordered to directly coordinate the actions of the Navy."

Zhou Changfeng, who was wearing a uniform without a collar or epaulets, was so unconvincing that the officers in the brigade were skeptical.

They didn't listen to Luo Fu's testimony, but sent a report directly to the Ministry of War. After confirmation, they finally believed that what these two people were telling was the truth.

Fortunately, the Siege Artillery Brigade is a unit directly under the Metropolitan Governor's Mansion, otherwise, they would have to go up level by level to inquire, even if it would take until tomorrow.

As the only three combat units in the country, the Siege Artillery Brigade is equipped with all precious things-192mm heavy field guns, 320mm heavy mortars, and their dedicated crawler tractors.

The 320㎜ mortar can launch a 430㎏ heavy concrete destroying projectile 12㎞ away. The shell of this projectile is made of expensive nickel-vanadium-manganese alloy steel, and the warhead is the same expensive tungsten-nickel-chromium alloy. It can penetrate three Meter thick reinforced concrete.

Just imagining the scene of this thing firing, and the nearly half-ton shell hitting the enemy's head makes me feel good.

Zhou Changfeng originally wanted to borrow an ordinary Xunlei XVI off-road vehicle, but he caught a glimpse of some big ones in the garage here that he had never seen before.

Although it is also a four-wheel off-road vehicle, it is more than a circle bigger.

Seeing his bright eyes, Luo Fu explained helplessly: "It's also produced by Xunjie Company. It's Type [-], a heavy-duty off-road vehicle, but it's too expensive. Only the Army bought a hundred vehicles last year..."

The same angular and tough shape, the size is increased, the total weight is increased from 1220kg of the sixteen type to 1600kg, and the power is changed from 45 horsepower to a 65 horsepower six-cylinder gasoline engine.

"That's it." Zhou Changfeng caught sight of this aggressive and heavy-duty off-road vehicle, and waved his hand: "Put another motorcycle on the back seat, and then fill it with medicine and food."

According to the known information so far, I know how bad the previous earthquake was. I brought a motorcycle to deal with the harsh situation that even off-road vehicles could not drive in.

Several soldiers moved onto a two-wheeled scooter together, and then began to load various supplies.

During this period, Zhou Changfeng asked the gendarmerie officer of the third brigade for his spare epaulets and collar badges, and then asked the tailor to change the outer frame from blue to red for school officers, and add a triangle to indicate reserve; if it is a reserve service, it is round.

At noon that day, the off-road vehicle with the awning unfolded drove out of the barracks at high speed, splashing muddy water a few meters away on the ground, and then disappeared into the gray rain.

As far as Zhu Lingjing was concerned, she was very busy now, and she didn't have the time to take care of Zhou Changfeng who was thousands of miles away. Besides, at least this time he knew to ask for instructions in a fair manner.

These days, there have been a lot of people showing favor and joining the group. She was busy considering and screening, but who would have thought that such a serious natural disaster would suddenly occur.

So now I have to make a fuss about it. Being involved in politics means not being able to act according to one's own wishes and preferences in many cases.

Although Zhu Lingjing feels that rushing to the disaster area at this moment is nothing less than a shameful show, she also knows that at the same time, there are many politicians belonging to different parties and factions in the north and south of the river are rushing to the disaster area.

It doesn't matter if they are sincere or put on a show, if they go and they don't go, then the limelight will be taken by others.

Now the political power between the ruling and opposition parties in the Ming Dynasty should not be out of balance, and this sudden change is the time to test all parties.

She immediately asked people to prepare a large donation, and organized public donations while promoting it, while she made several phone calls to several people, including the crown prince, to vent her anger.

In the evening of the same day, she flew directly to Yanzhou Mansion by plane. Zhu Lingjing, who had a psychological shadow on the plane, did her best this time.

The crown prince, who answered the phone in his busy schedule, expressed his support, and then continued to coordinate the overall situation.

Although the disaster relief work is done step by step according to past experience, and these details are handled by the cabinet and other government agencies, some key decisions cannot be made without someone making a decision.

Since this month, the emperor has given most of the power to the crown prince because he is recuperating. Although he did not explicitly say that he is allowed to "supervise the country", all the civil and military officials are well aware of it.

"Your Highness, it is reported that Pratt & Whitney also agreed, but their asking price is... relatively high."

"Come on, don't be in a hurry, make a decision when the opportunity is right, and don't worry about how much money you have."

"Yes."

"Okay, have you got in touch with Caozhou now?"

"not yet."

At the beginning of the year, the trap that Zhu Liqie laid at random succeeded in fooling the Americans. They mistakenly believed that the Germans had secretly transferred the technology of high-horsepower radial engines to Daming, and Daming had already experimentally produced bombers equipped with 1300 horsepower engines.

As a result, the Americans relaxed their control while complaining vigorously.

Pratt & Whitney and Wright did not want to miss this great opportunity to make a fortune. Even if they wanted to sell technology or authorize production before, the federal government would never agree, but now it is different.

Wright Company has spent a huge amount of money on research and development of the R-2600 engine over the past few years, so it wanted to sell the production technology of the R-1820 engine to earn a lot of money, so it took the initiative to find the space established under the instruction of Zhu Liqie. shell company.

Americans are eager to sell, because the later the sale, the lower the price; Ming people are eager to want it, but they are pretending to be reserved on the surface.

Just yesterday, after a series of negotiations, the production license for the Wright R-1820-25 "Whirlwind" engine was finally settled. Wright will provide copies of nearly [-] pages of technical drawings, parts that can be assembled to [-] units, and a Production guidance engineer team.

However, extreme joy begets sorrow, people have not had time to celebrate in the future, and a natural disaster suddenly happened today.

After half a day of failed attempts, it was not until the early morning of the next day that a Type [-] small liaison aircraft sent by the Air Force barely landed. The cost was that the landing gear was broken and the propeller was deformed.

But this finally allowed several officers and soldiers with the radio to successfully land, and sent back a more detailed description than the aerial reconnaissance-"...continuous rain, puddles everywhere, the fields are like the country of Jose, and the affected people are sleeping on the streets and On the ridges of the fields, sheds were built to shelter from the rain. There were countless casualties, and the situation was extremely miserable... There were many cracks in the land, ranging from a few inches to a few feet, and the well water turned black and green, undrinkable..."

The official radio station of Daming also made a timely report after hastily organizing words: "...On the first day of August, a major earthquake occurred in Caozhou, and there was no news. Today, I only know the outline. The earthquake was severe at five o'clock at Yinshi, extremely turbulent, with wind and rain , the houses in the whole prefecture collapsed, the official roads and traffic were completely destroyed, the old and the weak, women and children were huddled among the ruined walls, there were countless casualties, and the officials and people were trying their best to help..."

When the news about the disaster area was reported by radio stations and various newspapers, Zhou Changfeng and Luo Fu finally arrived in Caozhou.

The short distance of [-] miles has been driven for more than ten hours, because the road is so damaged that it can only be driven in the rough wilderness most of the time, and the closer to the epicenter area, the more damaged the road is. no longer exists.

"It's really scary. The road conditions are like this. The follow-up disaster relief team will not be able to get in for a while." Luo Fu said worriedly.

How could a truck fully loaded with goods be able to drive in even if the lean and heavy-duty off-road vehicle was so strenuous?
"There must be a way, the big deal is airdropping supplies." Zhou Changfeng, who was looking ahead, sighed, "In short, do your best."

Passing through Juye County before, the devastated scene was already shocking enough, one can imagine what the situation in Caozhou will be like when it is about to arrive.

Caozhou is Heze, which was the most severely affected city in history. More than 3000 people died, more than 32 people were injured, and [-] houses collapsed.

Although Caozhou in Daming is just an ordinary inland city, its economic level is much higher than in history.

More multi-story buildings, more people, more concentrated... only worse.

The villages and towns along the way are also dilapidated, and there are wandering people everywhere. Zhou Changfeng and Luo Fu's current destination is the state government office, so they really shouldn't be distracted from helping them.

Just as the off-road vehicle bumped past the half-collapsed ancient city wall, suddenly, a gunshot came from the gloomy drizzle.

Immediately afterwards, there were several "bang bang bang".

"Get the gun ready!" Zhou Changfeng sighed inwardly, as expected, there are always people who like to take advantage of the fire to rob.

Zero yuan purchase?Never condone!

(End of this chapter)