"Then the power of the cannonball will be reduced?"
"No, the amount of explosives loaded is more than the old-fashioned cannonballs in the museum, and the explosive power is stronger. [Read full text]" If Lin Shenhe were present, he would probably preach the superiority of high-density columnar black powder. Xue Ziliang didn't bother to talk, and he didn't think much of Lingao's self-produced explosives. "The two shakes you just made were enough to blow a pirate's speedboat into pieces."
"It's a pity that there is no steam engine." The mercenary was always worried about things without engines.
"You don't have anywhere to add coal in Manila - someone in the industrial port suggested installing a hot-bulb diesel engine on this ship on an experimental basis."
"I remember the Planning Institute didn't have diesel."
"Yes, there is one thing. It's okay to burn coconut oil if it doesn't work. But after a long time of tossing, the guys at the industrial port said they couldn't fix the fuel pump, so the matter fell through." Xue Ziliang said with regret, "This ship was originally in trouble. Those who are indeed ready to use the diesel engine have reserved their seats.”
The former mercenary neither knew nor was interested in the concept of a hot-bulb diesel engine. Anyway, except for the lack of power system, everything on the Esmedala is satisfactory and impeccable. The fake earl returned to the captain's cabin in high spirits.
"We have stayed here long enough. Let's go to Marata. The harbor is just big enough to accommodate the Esmedala. The important thing is that the count should be able to see his ship at a glance from the window of the villa."
"It's quite interesting." Xue Ziliang sat cross-legged on the floor of Lando's study. The cork floor in front of him was covered by a large piece of canvas, which was covered with all kinds of tattered metal debris. They were all brought from Manila by Jimide under the instructions of the count. Fragments of various spherical, conical shrapnel and explosive shells were secretly picked up from the artillery shooting range on the outskirts of the city. The broken cone-shaped projectile body was covered with rust spots, and the ridges carved by the rifling were clearly visible on the remaining copper or lead expanding ammunition belt.
"Look at this thing, the Spanish Saturn V." Weiss grabbed a completely charred rocket wreckage that was basically complete in appearance. If Lin Shenhe saw it, he would probably recognize it as an improved Congreve rocket. Although the arrow body made of rolled iron sheet has a strange appearance of being thick at the front and thin at the back, only a small section of the fixed guide rod under the arrow body is burned. Several rows of neat round holes could be seen on the nose cone. The edges had been distorted and cracked by the high temperature, and the incendiary agent in the warhead sprayed out from here. There were still traces of a mixture of sulfur and asphalt. In fact, after the rocket was released from the artillery shooting range, it accidentally turned in the air and plunged into a nearby village. When Jimide, disguised as a Chinese trader, bought this "devil's fireworks" from the Tagalog peasant woman, she was still weeping over the fact that her hut was burned to ashes.
"This friend of yours should go to bin Laden and get a monthly salary of one hundred thousand dollars to build nuclear bombs for him. How could such a person risk his life to smuggle a few broken guns?"
"Hell, Paul got Hale. I had no idea such a guy existed in the world until he came aboard my ship. Anything more, rum or wine?"
"Rum, thank you. How many good things did you get in Manila? My lord?"
Lando took out the wet rum bottle from the barrel filled with well water, poured some into the glass, then added some guava juice to the wine, and finally topped it up with soda water.
"Too bad there's no ice here."
"I am contented with soda-water and rum, and fortunately the Senate has always been 'worldly' in its enjoyments."
Xue Ziliang stopped slowly sipping the bubbles and ruby-red wine in the glass. Instead, he raised his neck and drank it all in one gulp. He put down the cup, opened the briefcase that had been with him since disembarking, and handed Weiss a brown paper bag with a bright red seal stamped on the seal: "Confidential, destroy after reading."
The brown paper bag contained several documents from different headers. The instructions Weiss received were far more complicated than he imagined. He must establish regular radio contact with Lingao. Probing in detail the military strength and economic status of the colonial authorities in Manila, he discerned that Jiang's intelligence bureau was more interested in the latter than the former. Report the movements of colonial authorities and port information at any time, especially the Manila galleon; collect various intelligence on the situation in Europe from colonial officials and merchants. He even has to try to obtain permission for an exploration team from Lingao to enter the interior. Although the Executive Committee is unwilling to invest in the attack on the Philippines at the moment, it has already coveted the mineral deposits under the archipelago. As for the ghostly possible presence of his former associates. The order issued by the intelligence agency was: "try to identify its existence" but "avoid active contact that may lead to your own exposure."
The rainy season in the Philippines came late this year, but it did come after all. Big raindrops hit the window pane, forming a waterfall. The Esmeralda dropped anchor in a small bay near the fishing village. This small bay is formed by a natural rock embankment extending from the coastline. It just blocks the wind and waves coming from the northeast.
"How long can you stay here?"
"It won't last long. The Special Reconnaissance Command will call me back soon. You can give orders to the captain and the four members of the special reconnaissance team. The instructions they have received are to follow your orders in the Philippines unless they receive a notice from Lingao. New orders coming.”
Weiss stared out the window. The rain curtain outside the glass window blurred his vision. The sails on the ship had been rolled up and tied neatly on the mast. A few figures covered in oilskin raincoats could still be vaguely seen walking back and forth on the deck. They were sailors on duty.
There was a banging sound from downstairs, which could be heard through the closed study door. Chinese craftsmen in Manila are burying and laying pipes in the garden despite heavy rain, and are installing newly delivered toilet equipment under the command of naturalized technicians who came with the ship. These investments were definitely not to add extravagance to himself. He thought that the villa under the name of Count Vananova would be used as an intelligence center against the Manila authorities and a trading post for Australians in the Philippines in the future. The Chinese in the Lingao Senate are as horribly shrewd as the congressmen on Capitol Hill. In their eyes, the small ship they were given to support them was equivalent to an entire aircraft carrier battle group. Weiss Lando had to make a name for himself, otherwise he and Jiang might face questioning at the hearing.
He stuffed the orders back into the manila envelope, lit it with a lighter, and threw it into the fireplace.
"That Hale," Weiss watched as the paper was licked into ashes by the flames, "said he was from the United States. Haven't you checked him on the computer?"
"You are kidding," Xue Ziliang said, "If there was a Japanese or Japanese-American named Hale in the archives of AT or the Immigration Bureau, of course I would have an impression. The problem is that there is not."
Xue Ziliang made a mistake. Although he could not remember a Japanese or Japanese-American named Hale, he could find a Japanese named Evaristo Rosa Okamoto in the databases of bi and the immigration bureau. Brazilian international student, a terrorist on the wanted list.
Xue Ziliang made a mistake. Although he could not remember a Japanese or Japanese-American named Hale, he could find a Japanese named Evaristo Rosa Okamoto in the databases of bi and the immigration bureau. Brazilian international student, a terrorist on the wanted list.
In 1974, 30-year-old Keiji Okamoto left his hometown with his wife and children, traveled across the ocean, and finally settled in a village on the outskirts of Sao Paulo. Although the post-war Japanese immigration crisis had passed by the 1970s, no one in Brazil, which has more than one million Japanese and Japanese expatriates, would pay much attention to the arrival of a new Japanese immigrant. But as time went by, the local Japanese community gradually found that this person was difficult to get close to, and they especially did not like to deal with immigrants from their own country. They didn't know that the farmer who claimed to be from Kumamoto was distantly related to Okamoto Kozo, who became famous for strafing Tel Aviv International Airport a year ago. He immigrated to Brazil to avoid the police. This was carefully concealed by Keiji. Come down. His son's Portuguese name was given by his stepmother. In the third year after settling in Brazil, Keiji's wife fell ill and died. After living as a widower for several years, he married a Brazilian mixed-race woman who believed in Catholicism and added her surname to his son's name.
Little Okamoto grew up on this farm that was nearly isolated from the world, and was as silent by nature as his father. In addition to doing farm work, he is self-taught in repairing cars and various agricultural machinery and equipment, which has won him a lot of praise among the Japanese in surrounding villages. When Evaristo was admitted to the Florida Institute of Technology and went to study in the United States, it also caused quite a shock among the local Japanese residents who had been farming for generations.
Evaristo Rosa Okamoto did not show any noticeable peculiarities during his degree studies. When asked by federal agents, university professors and classmates could only recall a Japanese student of medium build, gentle and taciturn. He had excellent academic performance. In addition to his majors in mechanical engineering and chemical engineering, he was also very interested in Eastern history. In addition to Japanese, I also taught myself Arabic. In order to raise funds for a trip to Asia, he used his vacation to work for the Union Pacific Company, responsible for refurbishing and maintaining antique steam locomotives. His enthusiasm for those old machines impressed the railroad company's engineers. He would have continued to play the role of a harmless and good student had it not been for an occasional drug raid that led to the police finding detailed blueprints and partially made parts of a remote-controlled explosive device from his apartment.
