Chapter 115: 114, Riding The Republic Of China’s Largest Airplane: Junkers G38, London’s Chinatown
Fang Wen revealed the treasure hunting plan to the military officers, and the 7 military officers gladly accepted.
But now was not the time to carry out the plan; at least they had to go to the United Kingdom first.
But this was enough to pique the military officers’ interest; compared to this arms deal, they wanted the treasure that could make them rich more.
Therefore, during the subsequent transaction, the relationship between the two sides underwent a subtle change.
At three in the afternoon, Lin Shuiwang anxiously waited in the guesthouse holding the suitcase, occasionally standing up to look outside through the window.
Two national defense army soldiers stood outside the door; he had tried, but they forbade going out, and there were also soldiers guarding behind the guesthouse.
Lin Shuiwang was not too worried about his own situation; he was more nervous about Fang Wen’s current situation.
Fang Wen, who didn’t understand German, where had he gone? What would happen?
He didn’t dare to think about it.
Just as he was worrying for the nth time, Lena exclaimed in surprise: “The car is back.”
Lin Shuiwang immediately opened the door to greet them.
The Mercedes-Benz 170 pulled up outside the door, and a military officer got out of the car.
He leaned down and kindly said goodbye to Fang Wen in the pilot seat in English: “You go back and rest first; we’ll talk about the transaction tomorrow morning, and we’ll come over.”
After speaking, the military officer got into the military vehicle behind, and the soldiers in front and behind the door also lifted the alert and jumped onto the back seat of the military vehicle to leave.
Watching the two military vehicles drive away, Lin Shuiwang nervously said: “They didn’t give you trouble, did they?”
“No, after completing the transaction tomorrow, we’ll go straight to the United Kingdom.” Fang Wen smiled in reply.
Next, he parked the Mercedes-Benz 170 in the garage.
Preparing to take out the hidden banknotes.
He took two stacks of banknotes from the shelf in the garage, three stacks from the empty oil barrel on the ground, and one stack under the car seat cushion.
All in all, British pounds and US dollars worth 55,000 US dollars were taken out.
Fang Wen wrapped this money with newspapers from the garage and returned to the guesthouse.
He went straight upstairs, and Lin Shuiwang followed.
In his own guest room, Fang Wen closed the door, unfolded the money from the newspaper, took out British pounds worth 100,000 marks and set them aside, then took out some US dollars and handed them to Lin Shuiwang: “Take this money and give it to Lena downstairs; her mother and daughter have a hard life, and you can’t just take advantage of them.”
Lin Shuiwang took the money, scratched the back of his head with a dry laugh, and didn’t speak; he did feel embarrassed.
“Aren’t you going?” Fang Wen looked up at Lin Shuiwang.
“Oh.” Lin Shuiwang put down the suitcase, turned around, and went downstairs.
Lena’s surprised cry came from downstairs.
Fang Wen continued, wrapping the 100,000 marks banknotes with a cloth found in the room.
Then he opened the suitcase and put the remaining money together with the information inside.
At this time, Lin Shuiwang came back and asked the question on his mind.
“Mr. Fang, aren’t you worried that those military officers might have bad intentions during the transaction?”
“No need to worry; they won’t act rashly. I gave them a more enticing cake.” Fang Wen replied confidently. Compared to the treasure and a few tens of thousands of marks, those military officers wouldn’t do anything stupid.
February 5th.
The nearly month-long trip to Berlin was about to end.
Fang Wen and Lin Shuiwang got up early, brought their luggage, and waited on the first floor.
The demonstration on the street outside was still continuing.
But now it had become another group of people.
They shouted Nazi slogans loudly, and under the influence of the emotions, more and more people began to join them.
There were more and more people, and even vehicles couldn’t pass.
The 7 military officers simply parked the car on the roadside and jogged across the street, pushing open the door of the guesthouse.
They familiarly found seats and sat down.
The military officer who spoke English spoke to Fang Wen to communicate.
“We all know Lena’s husband; when you drove his Mercedes-Benz 170 over, someone told us.”
So that’s how it was; Fang Wen felt a bit ashamed of his own unprofessionalism.
They continued to talk.
“I brought the other half of the information; you don’t need to give us cash right now. It’s a bit unsafe lately; how about completing the final transaction at the airport?”
As he spoke, the military officer handed another suitcase to Fang Wen, who passed it to Lin Shuiwang, then stood up.
“Then let’s go.”
Immediately, the group left the guesthouse, crossed the road, got into the military vehicle, and headed to the airport.
At the airport, to buy airplane tickets to London in the United Kingdom, Fang Wen took out money for Lin Shuiwang to go, but a military officer took the money and handled it instead.
When the airplane tickets were bought back, Fang Wen opened the suitcase, took out the British pounds worth 100,000 marks, and completed the transaction.
When those military officers left, they also handed a small notebook to Fang Wen.
Lin Shuiwang watched the whole time and was surprised in his heart, not understanding why these people were suddenly so cooperative and even cared about Fang Wen’s safety.
He couldn’t help but ask: “Mr. Fang, is this the big cake you mentioned yesterday?”
Fang Wen nodded and looked at Lin Shuiwang: “After the matters in the United Kingdom are done, I’ll take you to share the cake.”
Regarding the treasure, Fang Wen didn’t tell Lin Shuiwang now; he planned to focus on handling the penicillin matter in the United Kingdom first, then deal with that.
Lin Shuiwang didn’t ask either; the two took the airplane tickets into the airport waiting room, waited for a while, and then the airport service staff announced that the Berlin to London airplane was ready for boarding.
Fang Wen stood up with the canvas bag in his left hand and the suitcase in his right, and Lin Shuiwang followed behind.
The two lined up with other passengers and filed out of the waiting room.
Once out of the waiting room, they saw a passenger aircraft parked on the airport.
As the airline company general manager, Fang Wen was very interested in passenger aircraft.
He examined this airplane while walking.
This was a rare giant civil airliner.
It was even almost as big as the giant beast bomber F.220 that Fang Wen bought.
Germany really put effort into aircraft; such a large airplane was actually used for civil aviation.
Fang Wen suddenly thought of Germany’s defeated country agreement; yes, they couldn’t use it for military purposes, so they used it for civilian purposes instead.
Such a huge airplane interested Fang Wen greatly; after boarding, he carefully inspected the inside of the aircraft.
It surprisingly had transverse seats, allowing passengers to sit on the wing with the same view as the pilot to watch the flight process.
There were even berths at the rear of the airplane.
This design had too much sci-fi flair.
Fang Wen couldn’t help but admire the designer’s imaginative genius.
Even in modern times, this airplane would be considered luxurious, yet it was built in 1933.
After the airplane took off, Fang Wen sat in the seat on the wing, activated mechanical perception, and learned about this airplane.
After some probing, he had a general idea of the airplane’s condition.
This airplane’s configuration was also very luxurious.
4 engines of 750 horsepower.
It could carry 37 passengers and a large amount of cargo.
After takeoff, the total weight of the airplane was around 24,000 kilograms.
Wingspan: 44.0 meters
Captain: 23.2 meters
Height: 7.2 meters
The speed was not fast: maximum speed should be around 280 kilometers per hour, cruising speed around 250 kilometers per hour.
Flight altitude could reach 6,000 meters.
As for the range.
Fang Wen estimated that empty it could reach 3,000 kilometers, fully loaded 1,000 kilometers.
Although there were shortcomings in speed, there was no doubt that this airplane was currently the largest airplane in the world.
Calling it an air train would not be an exaggeration.
When the flight attendant came over, Fang Wen asked.
“Hello, what model is this airplane, and which company produced it?”
The flight attendant smiled and replied in English: “It is the Junkers G.38, produced by Junkers Company, owned by our Deutsche Lufthansa airline company.”
“Is it for sale to the outside?” Fang Wen’s heart stirred again; having just bought the F.220, he became interested in the Junkers G.38.
“Sorry, the Junkers G.38 is our Germany’s proprietary airplane and will not be sold to the outside.” The attendant replied proudly.
It seemed it couldn’t be bought.
Fang Wen felt a bit regretful, but then thought that such a large airplane, for daily passenger transport operations, was not better than the Boeing 247, and might even incur losses due to huge fuel consumption and inability to reach full capacity.
It could only be modified into a heavy bomber during wartime.
But having the F.220 himself, he no longer had demand in this area.
It was just greed driven by his love for airplanes.
Thinking this way, Fang Wen let it go and no longer had ideas about the Junkers G.38.
He leaned back in the seat, put his legs on the window frame in front, leisurely looked at the sky ahead, faced the gentle sunlight, and gradually fell asleep.
After a four-hour flight, the Junkers G.38 landed at London Airport.
Lin Shuiwang woke Fang Wen.
“Sir, we need to get off the airplane.”
Fang Wen woke up, stood up, took his luggage, and followed Lin Shuiwang behind the passengers to leave the airplane.
After passport inspection and stamping at the airport customs, the two arrived on British land.
In London, it was Lin Shuiwang’s home turf; he happily suggested to Fang Wen.
“Mr. Fang, let’s go to Limehouse; my home is there, and there are many fellow villagers who can help.”
“Is that so? I’ll listen to you. Then how do we get there?” Fang Wen agreed.
“We’re at Croydon Airport now; take the subway, then switch to a taxi. Sir, follow me.”
Lin Shuiwang had lived in London for many years and could be considered a local.
He led Fang Wen into the subway station, bought subway tickets, and boarded a subway train heading to central London.
There were many people in the subway, but it wasn’t crowded.
After getting out of the subway, Lin Shuiwang sighed: “Mr. Fang, when will our China become like this?”
“It will, and it will become better than here.” Fang Wen affirmed.
“Really?” Lin Shuiwang couldn’t believe it, but since the words came from Fang Wen’s mouth, he started to look forward to it a bit.
The two switched to a London taxi outside the subway station.
This was an Austin 12/4 taxi, produced by Austin Motor Company two years ago, all black, becoming London’s new trend.
The taxi drove east along the River Thames to Rotherhithe.
There was a river tunnel completed in 1843, connecting Rotherhithe on the south bank of the river and Wapping on the north bank.
The car entered the tunnel and after ten minutes, arrived on the other side of the river.
Lin Shuiwang had the taxi stop, paid the fare, and got out.
He pointed in one direction.
“That street near the river is Limehouse; this is Wapping District, part of Hamlet Tower London Borough. Early on, when we Chinese people crossed the seas to London, we settled by the River Thames, right here.”
In Lin Shuiwang’s introduction, the residents here were all laborers and sailors from Fujian and Guangdong areas; many later brought people from their hometowns, and over time it formed a Chinese gathering place, which was Chinatown of this era.
After chatting, the two walked into Limehouse.
There, there were really Chinese people everywhere.
From clothing to shop decorations, everything revealed Eastern colors.
Lin Shuiwang was very popular here; along the way, many people greeted him.
He responded while leading Fang Wen to a street-facing shop.
“This is my shop, rented to a fellow villager to open a restaurant, and we solve our meals there conveniently. The second floor upstairs is rented to his family, and the third and fourth floors are mine.”
After speaking, Lin Shuiwang walked into the shop and shouted loudly: “Tu Zai, I’m back. What’s good to eat today?”
The Tu Zai he called was a short and fat middle-aged man, naturally with a smiling face, most suitable for doing front-door business.
Tu Zai chuckled: “The British people wanted me to make fried fish for them, and I made a bit too much; how about eating fried fish?”
“No way, Tu Zai, see this person? He’s a pilot from the homeland, airline company big boss, combat hero who sank Japanese warships; making him eat fried fish, wouldn’t that be too embarrassing for our Limehouse?”
Lin Shuiwang’s mouth was sharp, making Tu Zai feel ashamed; he thought for a moment.
“Got it. How about I make soy sauce fish stew.”
This dish name was very ordinary, but Lin Shuiwang showed a happy expression: “That’s the one; make it good. I’ll bring the guest upstairs to settle and come down; also bring out the wine I left with you.”
Then, he led Fang Wen through the back hall of the restaurant and up the stairs from behind.
On the third floor, Lin Shuiwang knocked on the iron gate: “Mother, open the door.”
An elderly woman came out from inside, shakily opened the door, muttering nonstop in her mouth, but it was Min Nan dialect, which Fang Wen couldn’t understand.
Lin Shuiwang helped his mother into the room, turned to greet Fang Wen: “The third floor is the living room, with one more room; the fourth floor has two rooms, one for me and one for Mother. If you find it inconvenient, stay on the third floor; no one will disturb you.”
Fang Wen nodded and followed Lin Shuiwang into the room to check the bedroom.
The bedroom surprisingly had wedding characters pasted and the bed covered with cloth.
Lin Shuiwang pulled off the cloth and explained: “My mother always wanted me to get married, so I found a friend to bring a woman from the hometown to be my wife to comfort her; who knew that woman was smart, knew English, and while I was out sailing, she got together with a foreigner.”
“You still miss her.” Fang Wen saw something from Lin Shuiwang keeping the wedding house setup.
“No more.” I just can’t bear to part with these things; they were quite expensive when bought. “Mr. Fang, don’t mind these; stay as you please, it’s fine.”
Fang Wen nodded, said nothing, and put down his luggage.
Lin Shuiwang went out and conveniently closed the door, leaving a sentence: “I’ll call you when the food is ready.”
Half an hour later, Lin Shuiwang came over; Fang Wen, changed into a set of clothes, went downstairs with Lin Shuiwang.
Tu Zai and his wife, Fang Wen, Lin Shuiwang, and still Lin Shuiwang’s mother, a total of five people sat around the table.
On the table was a large basin of stewed dish, which was the soy sauce fish stew Tu Zai mentioned.
There were also some stir-fried vegetables and Western sausages.
Before eating, Lin Shuiwang introduced to Fang Wen: “I have to tell you about this dish; we Min Nan people rely on the sea and eat from the sea, loving to eat fish the most, with all kinds of ways to cook fish, but every family makes soy sauce fish stew. I won’t say how it tastes; you’ll know when you try it.”
Fang Wen nodded and picked up a chopstickful.
This chopstickful of fish meat was coated in soup with some ginger shreds.
He ate it; because it was fried first and then stewed, even the bones were soft and tender.
The fish meat mixed with soy sauce elevated the fresh coastal flavor to another level, using ginger shreds and cooking wine to remove fishiness, fried garlic and scallion whites to enhance aroma.
The taste was actually quite good.
Fang Wen nodded: “Very delicious.”
Finally eating a meal of Chinese food, Fang Wen had a great appetite and ate several bowls of rice.
After the meal, he discussed the actions in London with Lin Shuiwang.
