Different from what we saw last night, Shanghai in the 1930s is considered very luxurious nowadays. The main reason is that there were concessions from various countries here, which promoted its prosperity.
When he got up in the morning, Zhou Zhihan did not have breakfast at the Xinya Hotel. Instead, he found an "Old Shandong Big Cake" breakfast shop on the street. He sat at the table outside the shop and ordered a bowl of tofu pudding and a large piece of cake. Pancakes and two fried dough sticks.
Watching the boss skillfully scoop out a bowl of bean curd with a spoon, pick up a dozen light yellow shrimps with three fingertips and throw them on the white and tender bean curd, sprinkle some green onions and coriander, and then scoop out two small spoons of the dense soup. As expected, Zhou Zhihan's saliva immediately flowed to the bottom of his tongue.
From time to time, the driver of the yellow croaker truck could be heard shaking his bell on the street, shouting to pedestrians to be careful not to be hit by the yellow croaker truck.
There are also more and more rickshaws on the streets. Most of the rickshaw drivers pull empty rickshaws out of the alleys where they live and go to busy areas to attract passengers.
Enjoying the soft and sour tofu pudding, you watch the number of pedestrians on the road gradually increase.
People's lives are still as usual. They don't know that the July 7th Incident happened last night, and they don't know that in a month, this city will undergo earth-shaking changes.
After having breakfast and returning to Xinya Hotel, the young coachman was already waiting outside the hotel at a special place to collect customers.
Seeing Zhou Zhihan approaching, the coachmen who were lined up in a row immediately stood up. Seeing Zhou Zhihan walking straight towards the young coachman, they sat back on their handlebars in disappointment.
"Go to the Huangpu River!"
Zhou Zhihan said to the young coachman.
There was a light rain last night. This morning the air along the Yellow River was very refreshing and there were many people on the riverside.
Zhou Zhihan got off the rickshaw and asked the young rickshaw driver to wait here. He walked alone to the riverside.
Many young women who had just gotten up walked past Zhou Zhihan wearing loose pajamas and curling their hair with curlers, carrying a faint smell.
At the Shiliupu Pier a little further away, there were several warships flying the Japanese flag parked on the river.
Among several warships, there is the giant ship "Izumo" that symbolizes the power of the Japanese in Shanghai.
At six o'clock in the morning, the sailors of the Izumo gathered on the deck to start various morning exercises, and then wiped various shipboard weapons.
The Japanese are world-famous for their rigor. Except for both sides of the ship, every position on the ship must be carefully wiped to remove the corrosion caused by dew on the ship.
The sun is shining red on the river in the east. It will definitely be very hot today.
Looking towards the "Izumo" from west to east, the light is not good and the location is not good. Most of the sight is blocked by several warships defending the periphery, making it unsuitable for photography.
Walking eastward along the river, Zhou Zhihan hung a high-end camera brought back from the United States around his neck, taking pictures of the river and shore scenery as he walked.
"Sir! I want cigarettes, melon seeds, and matches!" A man speaking pure Shanghainese appeared next to Zhou Zhihan.
Zhou Zhihan turned his face.
A middle-aged man wearing a straw hat and big shorts made from old trousers, with a wooden sales box hanging on his chest, smiled at him enthusiastically.
"Then let's buy a pack of cigarettes!" Zhou Zhihan looked at the wooden sales box hanging on the middle-aged man's chest, "What kind of cigarettes are there?"
Recognizing Zhou Zhihan's foreign accent, the shrewd Shanghainese immediately switched to standard dialect and said with a smile: "Sir, please go to Daqianmen, the symbol of Shanghai. If you don't use Daqianmen when you come to Shanghai, it's like you haven't been to the Bund!"
"Then get a pack!" Zhou Zhihan said, taking out the French currency he exchanged from the New Asia Hotel.
The seller skillfully took out a pack of cigarettes and said while changing money: "Sir! I see you are an out-of-town tourist. You must have never seen those warships in the river! Especially the Izumo, it is very big. , the location is not good from here. If you want to take pictures, I will take you to a location that only I know. It is very suitable for taking pictures of Izumo."
Zhou Zhihan was overjoyed and thanked him repeatedly.
Sure enough, the place where the salesman took Zhou Zhihan was very suitable for taking pictures. At a glance, the entire Izumo can be seen.
Izumo, this giant steel ship is the flagship of the Japanese Third Fleet that has been deployed in China for a long time. The dazzling plaster flag is flying over the Huangpu River, showing off Japan's power. It is more than 130 meters long, and the entire ship is covered with Anti-aircraft weapons and artillery for enemy shore attacks, there were many Japanese sailors coming and going on the ship.
However, due to the limitations of current shooting equipment, and the fact that the Izumo standing on the shore is far away from the water in the river, the photos taken by Zhou Zhihan are of little value, and only the outline of the Izumo's hull can be roughly seen. , the weapons on the Izumo can't be seen clearly at all.
Zhou Zhihan was disappointed.
He originally planned to take photos of all the Japanese ships after arriving in Shanghai, take them back to Nanjing, develop the photos, and study the weapons on the ships.
Only now did he realize how ridiculous his idea as a time traveler was. The shooting equipment at this time was very backward. The Izumo was far away from the shore in the river, and the weapons on the entire ship were covered with tarpaulins and the like. Only It was only briefly exposed when the sailors were wiping it, and even if it was captured, it was blurry because of the distance.
Just as Zhou Zhihan was about to leave, a dull ship's whistle suddenly sounded from the Izumo, and then a plume of black smoke emerged from the huge chimney, rushing upwards more than ten meters high before slowly dissipating.
The Izumo is activated. Is this preparation for training?
Zhou Zhihan stopped and wanted to leave.
After a while, a dozen sailors lifted the camouflage cover at the stern of the ship, and a plane was slowly lifted by a crane on the ship and placed on the river.
This is a seaplane.
It has four wings and a single engine. According to visual inspection, its wingspan is about 12 meters. The fuselage is about 9 meters long and about 4 meters high. The whole body is yellow. There is a float on the water surface connected to the fuselage, similar to a kayak. The black carrier, due to the distance, it was impossible to tell whether there were weapons on board the aircraft.
Zhou Zhihan frowned. He had never seen this aircraft before, not at Randolph Air Force Academy, nor in the [Air Overlord] secret book.
When the yellow plane landed on the water, the two propellers began to rotate. The plane floated on the water, like a speedboat, accelerating forward. Then the nose of the plane was raised, and the fuselage broke away with a splash of water. The river surface, and then slowly climbed into the air, reaching an altitude of two thousand meters, then turned sideways and flew back above the Izumo, circled twice, and flew toward the southwest.
Zhou Zhihan quickly raised the camera of his mobile phone, but he could only take a blurry shadow.
Why was this seaplane flying southwest?
To the southwest is Hangzhou's Jianqiao Airport Bridge.
Could this seaplane be the legendary Type 95 water reconnaissance aircraft?
From the simple maneuver of the seaplane rising into the air, turning inside and flying over the Izumo, Zhou Zhihan could judge that the speed of this aircraft should be about 300 kilometers per hour. Its inscribed radius is very large, and the maneuverability It's not very capable, and it's definitely not an air combat aircraft. It's most likely a reconnaissance aircraft.
After taking photos for a while, Zhou Zhihan felt that the photos were of little value and could not see the weapons on the ship at all, so he thanked the vendor with the wooden box hanging on his chest and walked back.
On the roadside, the rickshaw driver was still waiting.
Zhou Zhihan got into the car and waved to the small vendor who came back carrying a wooden box to solicit business.
The young coachman pulled the car and ran towards the New Asia Hotel.
This morning, Zhou Zhihan stood on the ninth floor of the New Asia Hotel with his camera. He wanted to take pictures of the defense positions inside the Japanese Marine Corps headquarters. However, due to the angle, even from the ninth floor, he could only see Part of the outline of the Marine Corps building.
Zhou Zhihan felt that he was stupid and had no experience.
In fact, if you think about it, you will know that it is impossible for the Japanese to just let people take photos of their internal defenses on the buildings surrounding the Marine Corps.
It is estimated that the Japanese had already arranged the surrounding buildings before building the Marine Corps Headquarters.
Maybe, the New Asia Hotel is full of Japanese whistleblowers.
Thinking of this, Zhou Zhihan suddenly felt that he was too young.
I will go to take some photos near the Japanese Marine Corps Headquarters later, and then I have to leave Shanghai for Nanjing as soon as possible. Zhou Zhihan has not reported to the Nanjing Air Force Headquarters for more than ten days. It is estimated that several air force leaders who learned that he returned to China are already anxious. Unexpectedly, I thought something had happened to him on his way back home.
