Republic of China: Ace Pilot

Chapter 617 Hotel Agent Arrested, Aerodynamics Company Cooperation Agreement

Outside the Carlton Garden Hotel.

Three black police cars turned onto Piccadilly Avenue, their roof lights flashing.

Before them, plainclothes officers from the Army had already blocked off the street corner, their military pistols concealed in their overcoats.

The leader waved, and a group of people headed towards the hotel's back entrance, completely blocking the entire hotel.

"Oh my god! Look up there, there's someone."

A pedestrian's exclamation drew the attention of the citizens, who all looked up.

On the third-floor windowsill, two dark gray figures clung to the wall like geckos.

The man on the left had long since lost his hat in the flowerbed downstairs. His light brown curly hair was disheveled by the wind. His right hand was gripping the drainpipe tightly, his knuckles turning white from the force.

They had to be so careful; falling from the third floor of the hotel would either kill them or leave them severely injured.

The two men's only goal was to move from Fang Wen's room to another guest room so they could find an opportunity to escape.

But now, this idea is no longer possible; the shouts of the crowd below have left them nowhere to hide.

It seems likely that their story will become another topic of conversation among the citizens in tomorrow's newspapers.

"Everyone back five meters!" the sheriff shouted at the crowd. "Don't obstruct official business."

Although people stepped back, they still looked up with great interest.

The two carefully moved along the wall to the window of another room.

Before they could do anything, the window opened by itself, and the officer behind it reached out, trying to grab the two men.

This scene prompted the two men to quickly retreat, while the officers also climbed out of the window and moved over against the wall.

On the other side, two officers also climbed out of the window.

It seems that these two have nowhere to escape.

One of them suddenly squatted down and tried to climb down the wall to the second floor.

But the second floor below was more than ten meters high, and there were no footholds along the wall to help him up, so he fell down immediately.

A gasp of surprise came from the crowd of onlookers.

He fell from a height of more than 30 meters, and the ground below was concrete. He was unable to move.

The police officers rushed over and notified medical personnel.

Meanwhile, the remaining person above was still putting up a stubborn resistance.

"You dare not fire! This is central London!"

The officers spoke with him, trying to persuade him.

Until someone brought a message.

"The person who fell died."

Upon hearing this, the man could no longer resist and agreed to surrender.

After a period of careful movement, he was pulled into the hotel room.

Inside Fang Wen's guest room.

A body was still lying on the ground, covered with a sheet to prevent the bloody mess caused by the bullet wound from causing discomfort.

Another person was just pulled in through the window and is being searched.

Two small handguns and four spare magazines were found on him.

This pistol is smaller than the palm of your hand; it's very compact.

Fang Wen happened to have one.

He couldn't help but exclaim, "It's a Walther PPK semi-automatic pistol."

The lieutenant general picked up his gun and nodded: "Yes. Continue searching; he should have something else on him."

The officers then launched a more thorough search.

Surprisingly, they found another small round tube, a bottle of medicine, and cotton gauze on him.

The lieutenant general took the two small round tubes and skillfully installed them on the gun head.

"This is a specially made silencer, manufactured by Schmeisser in Berlin. After being silenced, the firing noise is reduced. When used in enclosed spaces such as hotel corridors and cafes, the sound is only similar to 'breaking a glass,' making it extremely difficult to detect."

The gunshot that just came from inside the room was the same sound the lieutenant general described, and it wasn't the same as a normal gunshot.

The bottle of medicine was clearly not a good thing either; the officers carefully put it away and prepared to take it with them.

Before leaving, the lieutenant general told Fang Wen, "We will interrogate the two men, which may involve military secrets, so you cannot participate. I will let you know the results later. I apologize for what happened today. If you would like to change hotels, I can arrange it immediately."

"No need, this place is fine, but I want to stay on a different floor," Fang Wen replied.

The lieutenant general nodded, leaving one officer to handle Fang Wen's affairs, while the others led the prisoners away.

That officer was the one who went to the airport to pick up Fang Wen.

After the lieutenant general left, he said, "Gentlemen, we need to go downstairs to check in again. There might be some issues with the hotel. You don't need to answer; leave it to me."

Fang Wen nodded, and he and Gong Xiuneng followed the officer down the elevator.

Upon arriving at the lobby on the first floor, the officer went straight to the front desk. Before he could even speak, a hotel manager jogged over.

After some negotiation, the officer agreed to Fang Wendao's request.

“We have explained the situation to them. We will take responsibility for the hotel’s losses. Your new room is on the fifth floor, and they guarantee that they will improve security standards.”

Afterwards, he and the hotel lobby manager led Fang Wen and Gong Xiuneng to the 5th floor by elevator.

After settling in, the officer took his leave.

As soon as the person left, Gong Xiuneng closed the door and eagerly discussed the matter with Fang Wen.

"Commander, who do you think is targeting us?"

"They're either Japanese or German intelligence agencies; I think they're more likely German agents."

"why?"

"Because the Walther PPK semi-automatic pistols they used were specially made, and only a small number were released as collectibles. Those who could use them as assassination and self-defense weapons were more likely German agents."

As Fang Wen finished his analysis, he subconsciously touched his underwear pocket.

There was no warning from the bronze tripod.

I can finally get a good night's sleep tonight.

After a night.

Fang Wen got up early, washed up, and went out.

I had breakfast at the hotel restaurant and then waited in the lobby.

The agreed time with the aerodynamics company was nine o'clock.

It's 8:50 now, you'll have to wait a bit.

He simply sat down on the sofa in the hotel lobby.

There lay today's newspaper, and Fang Wen picked one up to read. The front page featured a striking headline in bold black type: "German Army Encircles Warsaw, Polish Defenses Retreat Step by Step, Western Front Temporarily Stalled." The subheading below was smaller, yet it conveyed a heavy sense of pressure: "Eight Days into the War, Polish Army Suffers Tens of Thousands of Losses, Britain and France Have Yet to Launch a Substantive Offensive."

He read on, and the reporter used “sporadic telegrams from Berlin” as a starting point to describe how the German armored forces penetrated from the west and south, dividing the Polish army into several parts: “After breaking through the defenses outside Poznan, the Panzer III group advanced toward Warsaw without stopping, and the Polish cavalry’s charge had little effect on the steel tracks.”

The accompanying image is a blurry black and white photograph.

A Polish cavalryman is brandishing his saber, attempting to kill a motorized infantryman on his left.

German soldiers had already pointed their guns at him.

Turning to the second page, news about the Carlton Gardens Hotel finally appeared in a corner of the social news section, but the headline deliberately downplayed the conflict—"Accidents occur frequently at the hotel; man falls to his death, police say it was caused by illegal trespassing."

The report made no mention of "spy agents" or "gunfight," only stating lightly that "two men were suspected of illegally entering a hotel room. One of them fell while climbing the exterior wall, and the other was taken into custody by the police. The case is still under investigation."

Clearly, the War Department suppressed the truth. After all, the people of London were already anxious because of the declaration of war with Germany. If they knew that there had been a spy raid on a high-end hotel in the city center, it would probably cause even greater panic.

"Mr. Fang, I apologize for being late."

Fang Wen put down the newspaper.

White, the representative from the aerodynamics company, strode over carrying a brown briefcase. He saw the newspaper in Fang Wen's hand, sat down on the sofa opposite him, and his gaze fell on the headline on the front page. His tone became a little more serious: "The news in this newspaper is too conservative. I received a private telegram from Brussels this morning that the German army has captured Łódź in Poland and is less than 100 kilometers away from Warsaw."

Fang Wen folded the newspaper and placed it on the coffee table. "Compared to the situation in Warsaw, I'm more concerned about the engines we're going to talk about today. As you know, the need for efficient power is urgent in war, whether it's Britain or China."

“You’re right. If your proposal is approved today, I hope that through this cooperation we can finalize the turbojet engine as soon as possible.”

"That's what I was thinking too, let's go then."

Immediately, Fang Wen and Walter got up, and the three of them left the hotel.

White's car was parked outside the hotel.

If it weren't for what happened yesterday, Fang Wen would have been driven by White, but now, he's no longer willing to entrust his safety to someone else.

"White, how about I drive? I have a quirk, I like to drive myself. You can rest assured about my driving skills."

“No problem.” White handed the electric start key to Fang Wen.

Fang Wen then got into the Morris car.

The Morris car has an engine that takes up half of the body, making the cabin look somewhat small.

But actually, the space inside is not bad.

As soon as he started the car, Fang Wen's mechanical senses immediately merged with the car, giving him a field of vision and a comprehensive understanding of the car itself.

There was nothing wrong with the car, and Fang Wen observed the surrounding area through the mechanical sensing system and found no one tailing him.

He then drove to the aerodynamics company.

Half an hour later, the car drove into the aerodynamics company.

After getting out of the car, Fang Wen followed White into the company premises.

In the company's conference room, he held a technical discussion with engineers from the aerodynamics company before the collaboration.

This time, we need to demonstrate something real to prove our technological capabilities in turbojet engines.

"Before presenting the design, I'd like to ask you a question—what is the stall threshold for the compressor blades in your current prototype?"

Upon hearing this, the engineers holding the blueprints were immediately stunned.

The chief engineer, Davis, sitting next to White, pushed up his glasses, his tone somewhat wary.

After obtaining White's permission, he spoke:

"The limit we just measured last week is Mach 1.8."

Mach is a "speed of sound scale" used to measure speed, describing the ratio of an object's velocity to the local speed of sound.

It is not only used for the speed of supersonic aircraft.

The stall critical value of compressor blades is expressed in Mach number, which can be conveniently used to describe the flow state and velocity characteristics of the airflow inside the compressor.

When compressor blades are in operation, the internal airflow velocity may approach or exceed the speed of sound, which can cause stall.

This is the question raised by Fang Wen.

Fang Wen did not answer directly, but instead took out a folded drawing from his briefcase, unfolded it, and laid it on the conference table.

On the paper, the three-dimensional cross-section of the compressor is clearly visible. The red curves marked on the blade edges almost completely overlap with the dotted lines on the drawing in Davis's hand, except for a slight arc-shaped groove at the root of the blade.

“Because I know your problem.” He pointed to the groove with his pen. “When the airflow speed approaches Mach 1.6, vortices will be generated at the blade root. We have encountered the same problem in our experiments, which will cause a sudden drop in thrust. This 0.3 mm guide groove can raise the stall threshold to Mach 2.2 while reducing airflow loss by 15%.”

Davis suddenly leaned close to the blueprints, staring intently at them, his breathing becoming rapid.

"Why is there no detailed data?!"

Of course not, the cooperation hasn't officially started yet, so why would Fang Wen present the detailed data?

After a brief awkward moment, the atmosphere in the meeting room warmed up, and this one topic alone earned Fang Wen the respect of the aerodynamics company engineers.

They couldn't wait to invite Fang Wen to see their prototype.

Upon arriving at the prototype lab, the engineers excitedly showcased their work.

The specific data for this equipment was not disclosed during the discussion.

In response, Fang Wen made a request: "May I participate in the power-on process?"

The other party agreed to this request, and with the engineers' explanation and assistance, Fang Wen participated in the operation of the equipment.

Fang Wen would not let such an opportunity pass him by; he activated his supernatural ability and connected it to the device.

In an instant, a large amount of data was obtained through the fusion of supernatural abilities and equipment.

After the tour, back in the company conference room, White said with a hint of pride, "Mr. Fang, you also saw our prototype. Although we encountered some problems, it is undeniable that it has met the power output requirements."

Fang Wen nodded.

“I have some different opinions. The annular combustion chamber you are using now has a fuel atomization angle of 120 degrees. Although it can ensure complete combustion, the thermal efficiency is only 80% at most.”

He drew a simple double helix structure on the paper and continued:
"If we change to a dual-swirling atomizing nozzle, which creates two opposing vortices in the combustion chamber, the atomization angle is reduced to 90 degrees, and the thermal efficiency can be increased to 90%. It can also reduce the generation of nitrogen oxides, which is crucial for long-duration high-altitude flights. You should know that at altitudes above 8000 meters, the low temperature causes unburned fuel to condense into carbon deposits and clog the nozzles."

White clenched his fists under the table.

He had initially worried that Fang Wen only had theoretical knowledge, but these words showed that Taishan did indeed have research on turbojet engines.

He looked at Davis and asked, "What do you think of what Mr. Fang said?"

Davis frowned, picked up a slide rule, and began to perform calculations on the spot.

After a while, he looked up, his doubt turning into shock: "According to this design, my calculations show that the thrust can be increased by at least 23%, while fuel consumption can be reduced by 18%. However, to realize the double helix structure, the combustion chamber needs to be significantly modified, and we have absolutely no experience with this."

The fact that the aerodynamics company could not make any further improvements to the double helix structure is exactly the reason for Fang Wen's collaboration.

Therefore, both parties reached a cooperation agreement and signed the contract on site.

According to the agreement, Aerodynamics and Taishan Military Industry will cooperate fully on turbojet engines. The two parties will exchange existing technological achievements and conduct regular exchanges in the future to jointly promote the accelerated improvement of turbojet engines.

With this agreement signed, Fang Wen's trip to the UK was not in vain.

But he will stay in England for a few more days.

On one hand, there's the issue of arms sales of gunboats and aircraft; on the other hand, there's the result of the interrogation of the hotel intruder. Fang Wen also wants to know if German agents are targeting him.

(End of this chapter)