No one saw the lonely Liu Lang looking up at the sky, his eyes filled with tears.
There, there were not only his expectations, but also full of sadness and regret.
He regretted that because of his busy military affairs, he could not go and see with his own eyes those young people who wrote an incomparably glorious page in the sky of China. If he missed those days, he would never have the chance to see them in this life.
He was sad that they would always be young, because their young lives were fixed in August of 1937.
Before coming to this era, Liu Lang had watched a movie based on the intertwining time and space of Huaqing University over the past century. Liu Lang was an iron-blooded soldier who could bleed but could not shed tears easily. But that day, sitting alone, In the cinema, Liu Lang watched "Shen Guangyao"'s mother open her son's belongings and read a faint sentence in her notebook: "Mom, I'm sorry!"
In an instant, tears welled up in my eyes.
He sacrificed his life and his future, but when he was about to go to the battlefield, he just wanted to say to his mother: I'm sorry! It's not that he doesn't care about life, and it's not that he doesn't hope for the future. But, the country and the nation need him.
I can only, I’m sorry. Mom!
Moreover, Liu Lang also knew that Shen Guangyao was not a fictional character. His prototype was Shen Chonghai. His father, Shen Jiayi, was a famous jurist who was the chief judge at the time. In the future, he would be a proper "second generation official" with a golden key in his mouth. The young and old.
On August 19, Shen Chonghai's plane on a bombing mission against Japanese warships on the Huangpu River broke down. The only option left for him was to abandon the plane and parachute to escape. However, this 25-year-old young man chose another option. A path that ninety-nine people would not choose.
He dived down from an altitude of 2,000 meters, facing the Japanese warships that were firing at him frantically, using the aircraft body as ammunition and flesh and blood as medicine. As thousands of people on the shore watched silently, he was 100 meters away from the Japanese warships. Turn into the brightest fireworks in the blue sky.
Although the Japanese ship was not damaged, this move was shocking. Perhaps, at that moment, the people who witnessed this feat firmly believed that China would never be destroyed.
Before him, his teammate Yan Haiwen, a handsome 21-year-old guy from the Northeast who had set a perfect score for target shooting in the history of Miqiao Aviation School, was hit by enemy anti-aircraft artillery when returning from a bombing mission. The wind direction changed and he fell into the Japanese position. When the Japanese troops surrounded him, he preferred death to surrender. He counterattacked with his pistol and killed five Japanese soldiers. He shouted "China has no captured air force" and committed suicide with his last bullet.
"China, no captured air force!" This is not the first time the Chinese Air Force has shouted this.
There is a school motto on the stone tablet in front of the gate of the Central Aviation School at Hangzhou Miqiao Airport: Our bodies, aircraft and bombs should perish together with the enemy's warships and positions!
I believe that there is no other school in the world that would use such words as its motto. West Point cannot, not Frunze Military Academy, not Sandhurst Royal Military Academy, nor the Third Reich Bundeswehr Command College.
Even the ferocious Japanese invaders were extremely shocked when faced with Yan Haiwen, who kept the last bullet for himself. For the first time, he erected a monument for an enemy soldier and wrote: Tomb of the Warriors of the China Air Force. The Japanese Shanghai Expeditionary Force Commander Army General Shirakawa Yoshinori lamented: "In the past, during the Russo-Japanese War, where did the courageous and fearless spirit of the Yamato nation remain? It has been taken away by China's Shen Chonghai and Yan Haiwen!"
Although there are not many Chinese Air Force left, they are still a group of people who exude the brightest light in that era.
How could the Battle of Niangziguan be without their participation?
Liu Lang's biggest trump card was them. They were forced to withdraw from the Songhu battlefield and were forced to hand over the sky of their motherland to the Japanese invaders' eagle.
Although they shrink their wings, they can still fly high.
As early as early October, before the Battle of Niangziguan had begun, Liu Lang had already contacted the "Aviation Volunteers" who were forced to retreat to Nanjing through Situ Meitang in Chongqing. In early October, he needed at least ten
Planes came to the sky above Qigen Village and turned the incoming Japanese 96 bombers into turkeys all over the sky.
Zhou Dapeng called and said that he would arrive at the battlefield on time.
However, even Liu Lang himself had no confidence in this trump card.
If we want to mobilize aviation forces from the southeastern battlefield to support the Shanxi battle, first of all, it is extremely difficult from a geographical point of view.
From Nanjing in the southeast to Pingding in Shanxi Province, the straight-line distance is more than 1,000 kilometers, and that is already the limit of the range of the junior version of the "Thunder" fighter with a combat radius of only 600 kilometers. Moreover, there is no suitable aircraft for their transition in Shanxi.
Airport.
More importantly, the "Aviation Volunteers" that have handed over command to the National Air Force Command are not just grass-roots troops. They can go wherever they want. Every action requires the approval of the Air Force Command, and there is no warrant from the Air Force Commander.
, the "Aviation Volunteer Army" can't even imagine having a plane fly into the sky, let alone go to a battlefield 2,000 miles away.
Fortunately, the old man Situ Meitang, who donated more than 8 million US dollars to the national government, was here. Under his coordination, Zhou Dapeng and Shi Zhou decided that in January of the war, the aircraft engines were overloaded and needed to be transferred back to Sichuan for engine replacement.
Five fighter planes received military orders to transfer from Xi'an back to Sichuan.
The aircraft can fly into the sky, but that does not mean that it can fly to the Taihang Mountains to participate in the battle. Generally, as long as the aircraft is not on a combat mission, it is not allowed to carry a large amount of ammunition for safety reasons. If there is no ammunition, even if it flies to the Taihang Mountains
Are they used as targets for the Japanese troops in the sky?
So, it was the Huashang Group's turn to take action. More than ten small yellow croakers were sent out. The reply from the Xi'an Airport to the National Air Force Command was that they refused to accept the transfer of fifteen aircraft. The reason was very simple. There was a shortage of oil during the war, and Xi'an Airport no longer had the ability to do so.
Provide aviation kerosene for fifteen fighter planes to fly 800 kilometers.
The reason for the rejection left the Air Force Command helpless. Let alone not being able to investigate this point, even if it could be investigated, at this moment when the whole country was bleeding blood on the Songhu battlefield, as long as it was not a case of gross corruption, the rest could be tolerated.
In addition to Xi'an, there can only be another important town in Jiangcheng, Wuhan. However, in Wuhan, heavy troops are already gathering and moving towards Songhu. The airport is really busy. If 15 more fighter planes come to transfer, won't it add chaos?
On the side of Sichuan, except for Hubei and Shaanxi provinces, there is no suitable place. When I was scratching my head, someone lost no time in proposing Yan'an Airport. The red army-controlled area with Yantian Oilfield can also provide sufficient aviation kerosene.
Commander-in-Chief Zhou, who was in distress, felt like he had found a treasure. He immediately called the Red Center and requested to accept fifteen fighter planes from the "Aviation Volunteer Army" to transfer to Sichuan and provide aviation kerosene for the fifteen fighters.
The reason why this person listened to the news was that Yan'an was determined because of the rain. It was not that the fifteen fighter planes could successfully transfer, but that the red troops who owned the oil fields had long made the government salivate. Although the small oil field in Sichuan
The output is seven or eight times that of the Yantian oil field with a smaller output, but the national government also has a lot of wealth! Not to mention the country's cars, there are hundreds of airplanes, and the supply is stretched.
In the red control area, cars are rare, let alone machines. Most of them are horse-drawn and ox-carts. The oil fields, for them, are just a way to earn money from selling oil. Since the 1936 Incident, the Kuomintang and the Communist Party have cooperated again.
Later, two companies from the United States and the United Kingdom settled in northern Shaanxi, and they were responsible for refining oil. Seeing the vast ocean of the government turned into the military expenditure of the Red Party members, many people in the government were heartbroken.
Fifteen fighter planes, after all, are several tons of aviation kerosene! If you can use the name of the Kuomintang and the Communist Party to jointly resist Japan, Commander-in-Chief Zhou will report to the bald principal.
As for whether Yan'an will take the opportunity to secrete the fifteen fighter planes, the commander-in-chief of the Chinese Air Force is not worried at all. As long as the top leaders of the Red Party are not bad, they will not do this, especially at this moment of the national war of resistance.
.
Sure enough, the Red Party members immediately rejected Comrade Zhou's deceptive request. Aviation kerosene is a waste of money, why do we think we are fools? The airport also provides supplies?
Comrade Zhou was trying hard to slap the red party members on the head with all kinds of nationalist righteousness, and finally agreed to get more funds for the 18th Group Army. Only then did he reluctantly get the top brass of the red party to agree to send fifteen fighter planes from Yan'an.
Requirements for transition to Sichuan.
Comrade Lao Zhou was extremely satisfied with his eloquence. As for the so-called more funds, he was just talking about it. Without the old man's nod, who would dare to give more money? If you can give it, it will be good.
He did not see that the leader of the Red Party sitting at his desk was also smiling. Opposite him sat the general manager of the Huashang Group. What he brought to the northern Shaanxi control area was a full list, except
Some weapons and ammunition, and more daily supplies, are also urgently needed in northern Shaanxi.
And all they paid was a few tons of aviation kerosene, and they were definitely making a fortune.
As for the various types of ammunition required by the "Aviation Volunteer Army", they were shipped from Sichuan to northern Shaanxi as soon as Liu Lang's telegram was issued in early October. Ten days was enough.
Liu Lang had already decided on Yan'an. Only there could Zhou Dapeng's fleet of aircraft successfully reach the Taihang Mountains. Although the 630-kilometer range was close to the limit of the combat radius of 600 kilometers, Zhou Dapeng, after calculation, believed that as long as the weapon load was reduced to a certain extent,
With the auxiliary fuel tank installed and the combat time maintained at 10 minutes, he can successfully complete this combat mission.
Liu Lang agreed. As long as nothing unexpected happens, the "35 Version Thunder" equipped with a Rolls-Royce engine that was several years ahead of the Japanese invaders and completed by him and experts from the United States and Britain can definitely defeat the Type 96 of the Japanese invaders.
Now, Zhou Dapeng and his comrades have landed at the slightly crude airport in Yan'an with their fighter planes!
Liu Lang withdrew his gaze to the sky and looked at the future general who was speaking to refute his battle plan. He solemnly raised his hand in salute and said in a deep voice: "In the name of the people, I, Colonel Liu Lang of the Chinese National Revolutionary Army, request Chief Chen,
Approve this Qi Gen Village battle plan."
"Captain Liu, you are a true soldier." The future general sighed slightly and raised his hand in return: "Yes!"
Looking at the major general, brigade commander and colonel commander, as well as the school officers of the two armies, they all stood solemnly.
The autumn wind blew slowly through the Taihang Mountains, and the leaves fell silently, but it was full of chills.