Sang Luobing sat in a high chair by the bar, sipping the cocktail in her glass and swaying to the beat of the music.

"Why didn't your brother come with you? Haven't you two always been inseparable? Sang Luobing put the wine glass on the bar and asked an American soldier.

"He won't be able to come tonight, he has a mission." The American soldier replied.

Sang Luobing looked around the entire hall, and she noticed that in the entire hall, there was not a single staff member of the combat department who came here for leisure.

"It looks like the Yankees are really going to do something unusual." Sang Luobing thought as he quietly picked up the wine glass, took another sip, then put the wine glass on the bar, stood up Yingying, and stretched out a jade arm to the American soldier.

"Tom, won't you ask me for a dance?"

……

The war room of the 14th Air Force was brightly lit, and in the middle of the war room was a huge map, surrounded by staff officers. Some of them were carefully moving the small red and blue flags, which symbolized the strength of the two sides, while others were busy calculating. A large-scale wargame is underway.

"General, the expected results for the first week are out." A staff officer walked up to Chennault, who was sitting on the side, and handed him one by one.

Chennault looked down and handed the piece of paper to the sitter [a ^ book ^ read ^ novel] [.[ yb][du].] Ron on the side.

"You see, the losses of the transport aircraft in the first week are not small." Chennault glanced at Ron, "The losses have increased by forty percent. ”

Ron took a closer look at the simulated results statistics. In the first week, the exchange of fighters had a clear advantage over the Chinese and American forces, but the losses of transport aircraft were indeed serious. However, after seeing the loss figures of the Japanese fighters, Ron felt that he had a spectrum in his heart.

"We did lose a lot in the first week, but to see that the Japanese lost a lot too, I guess they won't be able to hold on by the second week. In three weeks at most, they will completely lose air supremacy. General, let's wait and deduce the results of the second and third weeks. ”

A few hours later, the staff officer handed Chennault a piece of paper again. Chennault looked at it and handed the paper to Ron.

"The results of this week's deduction are not quite what you expected - in fact, what you expected to be done in the third week was already completed in the second week. The losses of transport aircraft also fell a lot, well, the air power of the Japanese was exhausted and already threatened the route by force. ”

"So, are we going to move on to the third week?" Ron asked.

"Of course, why not. But that's all for today. Everyone's tired, isn't it? Go back to sleep. ”

With General Chennault's order, the staff officers immediately became busy again, making notes and collecting maps. After a period of hectic confusion, everyone opened the thick curtains and opened the door to the war room. At this time, a faint purple color had already appeared in the distant sky.

……

"Tom, you're hanging out here again? Where's your friend? Are you at odds? ”

"Who said that? Huck has been busy all night, and now he's sleeping. He's now completely cat-like and sleeps exclusively during the day......"

"I heard you guys suffered a big loss on the hump route?"

"Who are you listening to?"

"Don't lie to me, I know you Flying Tigers have always liked to mix water in battle reports. But you know, this kind of activity can cause price fluctuations on the black market. If I were you, if there was anything, I would have stocked up on a batch of cigarettes in my hand first. ”

……

"Ron, after these few deductions, I think our plan has stood up to scrutiny. But to turn this plan into a battle order, we'll have to talk to Stilwell. ”

Stilwell is Chief of Staff of the Chinese Theater and Commander-in-Chief of the U.S. Forces in the China-Burma-India Theater, and has direct control over the distribution of U.S. aid to China. An air campaign of this magnitude inevitably involves the distribution of various war materials, and without Stilwell's support, the campaign concept could not have been implemented.

"We'll go together in a moment to meet General Stilwell, who is now in Kunming, but who has always paid little attention to the role of air warfare...... You have to try to convince him to support the plan. Chennault paused, "It's up to you to explain the plan to him." After all, you are one of the best experts in air combat tactics in the United States. ”

……

"In the yellow area, the Americans seem to be preparing for a big move, and the staff team of the 14th Air Force is unusually busy. In addition, some U.S. soldiers have apparently begun stockpiling cigarettes. I am concerned that their actions may interfere with the distribution of US aid. Maybe we should stock up on something ahead of time. ”

"Luo Bing, you are really my female Zhuge ."

A fat-headed and big-eared ** officer sitting on the sofa smiled and put out the cigarette in the ashtray, then pulled Sang Luobing into his arms, and one hand poked in through the crack of her clothes.

"Huang, you're so bad...... This is in the office...... Oops......"

……

Kunming, Stilwell's stay.

General Stilwell, who had just turned 60, put down the plan that Ron had handed him, and at the same time removed his glasses from the high bridge of his nose.

"Where did the deduction of this plan take place?" He asked.

"General, the wargame deduction of the plan was carried out in the war room of the 14th Air Force." Ron replied.

"The Fourteenth Air Force did a deduction." Stilwell laughed, and after receiving this answer, the persuasiveness of the document was immediately diminished in his mind. Because in Stilwell's eyes, the Fourteenth Air Force was an army of mercenaries. When they were still called the Flying Tigers, the Nationalist government would pay them a $100 bonus for every Japanese plane they shot down. (In those days, $100 was equivalent to 3 ounces, or 85 grams of gold) In order to win more prizes, the Flying Tigers often reported some exaggerated results statistics, intentionally or unintentionally. As a result, they claimed to have shot down even more Japanese planes than the Japanese had in this area combined. According to Stilwell, the authenticity of the 14th Air Force's battle report is multiplied by a coefficient, and this coefficient is basically not higher than one-half.

And what is even more hateful is that the mercenary leader still likes to brag seriously about these obviously unreliable war reports, and even put forward so-called strategic ideas such as giving me a thousand fighters, and I can destroy the entire Little Japan. Now that the Fourteenth Air Force had come up with such a thing, Stilwell didn't even think about it, and it must have been Chennault's attempt to swindle him out of more supplies.

"Well, according to his request, in the next month, the supply of other supplies must be reduced by about 20 percent, so as to free up transportation capacity to provide them with fuel and ammunition for the war. Well, did Chennault think I was a fool like peanuts? Stilwell thought silently.

Although he thought he had seen through Chennault's little calculations, Stilwell did not intend to refute them to their faces, after all, he still had to work with Chennault, and it was not good to make the relationship too stiff.

"I'll let my staff carefully study this document. This is a very complex operational scenario, and it will take some time to study it. So I can't give you an answer right away. Stilwell thought for a moment and said.

"So, how long will it take for His Excellency the General to give us an answer?" Chennault asked.

Originally, Chennault didn't plan to speak out, but Stilwell's suspicion of the 14th Air Force still made him hear, which made Chennault feel very unhappy.

"About a week, right?" Stilwell replied patiently.

"Why does it take so long? In the 14th Air Force, the relevant deduction was completed in less than 48 hours. Ron asked.

This question was a dilemma for Stilwell. In fact, Stilwell originally planned to bring this plan back to India and let the staff officers of the 10th Air Force deduce it once. But now that Chennault is here, to say such a reason in his face will probably only lead to disagreement and conflict.

So he paused, looked at Chennault and Ron, and said, "Who first came up with this idea?" ”

"It's Colonel Ron."

"Oh, Colonel Ron, you know, I'm an amateur in air combat. If you have time, can you stay and explain this plan to me and my staff team in detail? Stilwell quickly found an excuse.

"Okay general." Ron replied.

Chennault stared at Stilwell, and he knew it was just Stilwell's excuse. He knew that, at heart, Stilwell and he were the same kind of people—unlucky people who thought highly of themselves and were thrown into such a secondary battlefield. Stilwell, like him, wanted to seize the opportunity of the war to make a difference. However, because of the limitation of transportation capacity, of course, and because of strategic priorities, the manpower and material resources that can be allocated to this battlefield are very limited. Chennault was short of supplies, and Stilwell was even more straightforward, not even a soldier. Moreover, Chennault could only command air battles, Stilwell could only command ground operations, and the supplies given to them could not guarantee their needs at the same time. The opportunity for any one of them almost means that the other will lose the material base necessary to make a difference. So, Stilwell instinctively opposed any plan for a large-scale air operation.

Chennault didn't want to fall out with Stilwell outright, but the plan was very important to him. Ron told him yesterday that the operation was actually a rehearsal, a dress rehearsal for the air battle in Europe. Once successful, this tactic will become a classic and go down in history forever. As the first general to practice this tactic, Chennault will also leave a heavy mark in history.

So Chennault was going to make concessions to that damn stubborn old man -- as long as that guy supported him this time, he was willing to reduce the 14th Air Force by one-third of its initiative in the next three months, at most four months, and save transportation power to repay this stubborn old man, and he was willing to express his support for him to reopen the China-Burma highway.

So Chennault spoke, "General, I think we should have a good talk, you, me, and Colonel Ron. This program is important for our country, and for our personal place in history. ”