Chapter 879 878 [Zhou Zhirou, Happy and Worried]

After returning to Chongqing after a year abroad, Zhou Hexuan found that things had changed drastically. Especially in the areas of Shangqing Temple, Niujiaituo, and Liziba, government buildings and garden houses have been built one after another. The restaurant where Zhouzhirou is hosting the Fengfeng Banquet today is newly opened.

When Zhou Hexuan and the others arrived at the restaurant, four people were already sitting in the private room, namely Zhou Zhirou, his adjutant, secretary, and ace pilot Dong Mingde.

The four great kings of the Chinese Air Force, Yue Yiqin, used to be Dong Mingde’s subordinate.

When the Japanese army attacked Nanjing, the Chinese Air Force had only two aircraft left.

Le Yiqin took the lead in taking off, fighting a Japanese squadron alone, and then Dong Mingde also flew up. The two cooperated tacitly in the air, shooting down two enemy planes and damaging one. However, due to being outnumbered, Le Yiqin died while parachuting, while Dong Mingde successfully broke out in a plane with a damaged lubricator.

The next day, Dong Mingde replaced the oiler and flew into the sky with determination to die. At this time, only Dong Mingde was left with one aircraft in the Chinese Air Force on the entire battlefield. He found a marching Japanese army between Xuancheng and Guangde, and immediately swooped down to fight.

In this way, Dong Mingde flew a plane alone and blocked an entire Japanese motorized force for most of the day, causing great damage to the enemy while also providing a breathing space for the Chinese defenders.

In the air battle in Wuhan that Zhou Hexuan saw last year, Dong Mingde pursued the Japanese Air Force and killed two enemy planes one on two. His own plane also ran out of gas, and he was injured and made an emergency landing in a rice field. Fortunately, neither he nor the plane was seriously injured.

When Liang Tiancheng saw the two of them, he immediately saluted: "Director, captain!"

(PS: Correction, the captain of the Fourth Brigade is Dong Mingde, and Liang Tiancheng is just an ordinary member. In addition, there are only 15 fighter planes left in Chongqing at this time, and there are no flying military planes over Jiulongpo.)

"It's a private occasion, don't be formal." Zhou Zhirou smiled at Liang Tiancheng, and then shook hands with Zhou Hexuan and Feng Yong. "The two gentlemen brought the plane back to China. Brother, I am very grateful. If the Japanese plane dares to come to Chongqing, I will let them There’s no coming back!”

"I believe in the heroes of the Air Force." Zhou Hexuan said with a smile.

Zhou Hexuan really believed it because the Chinese Air Force performed very well in the War of Resistance. Take the Four Heavenly Kings of the Air Force as an example. Both sides have their own Four Heavenly Kings. Which of the Four Heavenly Kings on the Chinese side has not achieved numerous results, but what about the Four Heavenly Kings of Japan?

Let’s talk about Japan’s “King of Destroyers” first. He led 8 fighter jets to cover 14 bombers and fought against 7 Chinese fighter jets. Not long after the fight, he was hit in the rear. Miwa Kuan was forced to parachute into a wheat field and was beaten to death by a local farmer with a hoe.

Next up was the Chinese King Gao Zhihang versus the Japanese King Shichiro Yamashita. After several rounds of fierce fighting, Yamashita Shichiro's plane was hit and he was caught after making an emergency landing. This guy didn't want to repent. He actually collaborated with other prisoners of war to collect military intelligence and escaped. He was shot when he was caught again.

The third king of Japan is Shioda Ryohei, nicknamed the "Eastern Red Samurai". When this person was covering a Japanese bombing, he was killed by the Chinese Air Force in the sky without even a chance to parachute.

The last Japanese king was named Nango Shigeaki. After his death, Emperor Hirohito posthumously named him the "God of War" of the Air Force. He threatened to avenge the other three kings. Less than a month after he said this, he died in the air battle in Nanchang and was killed by Chinese and Soviet pilots.

The Four Heavenly Kings of the Air Force, so much publicized by the Japanese invaders, were all sent to see Amaterasu one after another less than half a year after the outbreak of the Anti-Japanese War.

Unfortunately, China has too few aircraft. In the early stage, the number of aircraft compared with Japan was a terrible 1:8. Later, Chinese aircraft flew less and less, while Japanese aircraft flew more and more. This was a huge gap in the industrial strength of the two countries.

Everyone took their seats one by one, and Zhou Zhirou poured wine for Zhou Hexuan and Feng Yong enthusiastically. He talked about the situation of the air force without regret: "President Jiang transferred me back to Chongqing this time to reorganize the air force. China now has more than 100 military aircraft at full capacity. Many of them are training aircraft, and they are distributed on various fronts and cannot be twisted into a rope. Brother Zhou, Brother Feng, how many aircraft did you bring back this time? "

Feng Yong said: "Six Iron Gooses, four mother planes, two Boeing biplanes, and three Spades. These aircraft are relatively old and may not be able to carry out combat missions. What Mingcheng and I mean is to use these aircraft They were all donated to the aviation school for the daily training of the students. In addition, we also brought back 10 P-26s, 38 I-15s, 10 YT-1s, and 22 SB bombers."

Soviet goods are really cheap. The unit price of the I-15 is only more than 30,000 US dollars, and the unit price of the YT-1 is less than 20,000 US dollars. However, the YT-1 did not seem to be very useful. Zhou Hexuan originally did not want to buy it. The Soviets took the initiative to lower the price from 20,000 US dollars to 13,000 US dollars, and Zhou Hexuan reluctantly ordered 10 of them.

Zhou Hexuan actually wanted to buy more I-15s, but there was not enough stock in the Far East, so he could only temporarily get 38. In addition, although the name of the SB bomber is ugly, it is the main force of Chinese bombers in the Anti-Japanese War. It participated in almost every bombing against Japan. At least hundreds of Japanese planes were blown up by SB bombers, and they also killed the Japanese. Kou's many ships.

These planes and freight cost a total of 1.65 million US dollars, and the profits of the first three months of selling Chicken Soup Chenggong Xue were barely enough.

Zhou Zhirou thought about it for a while and was immediately overjoyed. The planes Zhou Hexuan brought back were enough to form two and a half combat squadrons and a bombing squadron. You know, although there was an aviation brigade in the Chongqing area at this time, there were only 15 flying fighters, and its strength increased several times in an instant.

It is also sad to say that although Zhou Zhirou is the commander of the Chinese Air Force, he is also nominally responsible for purchasing fighter jets. However, the top leader of the Air Force was Chiang Kai-shek, and the person who actually purchased the aircraft was Song Meiling. The two old Buddhas standing behind him made Zhou Zhirou want to hit him head-on.

At the beginning of the Anti-Japanese War, Kong Xiangxi purchased more than 60 aircraft from Britain and France. The price was more than double that of the Soviet Union, and even after paying the money, they were not shipped back. As of April 1938, Soong Meiling and Kong Xiangxi had ordered a total of 363 aircraft from European and American countries, but only 85 had been successfully delivered, of which 13 had not been assembled.

In the early days of the Anti-Japanese War, except for those aided by the Soviet Union, most of the main fighter aircraft of the Chinese Air Force were assembled from imported parts by the aviation factories in Hangzhou and Shaoguan. 100 Eagle 3 fighters alone were assembled. If we really have to wait for Soong Meiling and Kong Xiangxi to buy planes, then we won’t even think about engaging in air combat. Let’s just use grenades to knock down the Japanese planes.

Zhou Zhirou soon asked about the situation of pilots and technicians. After learning that Feng Yong had brought back a large number of professional talents, he seemed to have a fire in his heart. As long as he is given two months to complete the reorganization and personnel deployment of the air force, he can start a big war with little Japan.

The only worry is, how should Feng Yong deal with it?

Both the plane and the people were brought back by Feng Yong. Appropriate positions must be arranged. Moreover, the officials should not be too small, nor should they have no real power at all. But Feng Yong is Zhang Xueliang's subordinate brother. If he gets a higher official position, he may make Chiang Kai-shek unhappy.

Zhou Zhirou felt mixed emotions after eating this meal, feeling both happy and worried. After the meal, she immediately ran to see Chiang Kai-shek.