Five two-man reconnaissance planes painted blue-gray on their bellies flew over São Paulo. The five planes are identical, monoplane, twin propellers, and metal skin. This design does not pursue particularly high speeds and does not incorporate the need for air combat on the aircraft.

Li Shaokang, captain of the Air Force Flying Group, personally led the team, and the entire flight group had a total of four squadrons, each of which was subordinate to four squadrons. A squad of four reconnaissance aircraft. This time he brought a team with him. The group made radio contact with the local authorities before passing over the city of São Paulo. Guided by the reflectors on the ground, Li Shaokang found the runway on a flat field.

The runway is narrow, only about 200 meters, which is very shabby compared to the 100-meter-wide and nearly 1,000-meter-long runway in the Great Lakes region. However, Li Shaokang did not underestimate it in the slightest, for a runway that can be completed in six or seven hours, this speed is fast enough.

The truck was carrying steel plates, and the truck was pressed wildly with the truck first to find a flat ground, and the sappers filled the potholes on the runway as soon as possible. Steel plates were laid, on which a landing strip made of teak was fixed. Fortunately, this is a motorized infantry army, and there is no way to transport such a thing with such a large load by relying on a motorized infantry division.

"God forbid, I hope those boys can take care of the carriage guards." Li Shaokang muttered in his heart, and then ordered the pilot to land. In order to be able to make the most of the transport capacity, all trucks have a teak wood that is used as a runway. The first thing you do when you arrive at the battlefield is to disassemble these things and assemble them. Tens or even hundreds of thousands of products have the same material, length, width and thickness. What's more, these products are drilled in the same locations so that they can be used at hundreds of kilometers away. If those soldiers could not cause damage to these things on the road, Li Shaokang himself would be able to land well with the plane, and take off well in the intensive reconnaissance in the future. It is a matter of life, and Li Shaokang can't help but pray for blessing from God who doesn't exist at all.

The plane finally landed, and the impact when landing made Li Shaokang feel a little more relaxed, the runway was flat enough, and the impact force was naturally impossible to eliminate, but this impact was very stable. The flight team had a problem and tried to land on the muddy ground that looked flat, but because it was too turbulent, some of the plane's load-bearing brackets broke, the plane was destroyed, and the pilot was seriously injured.

Five planes landed one by one, and immediately someone came to take the aerial film. Li Shaokang: When they were looking for the airport, they naturally had to fly a few laps over St. Paul and Minneapolis, and the time they should have to use should be used. More than a dozen aerial cameras equipped with automatic stabilizers took dozens of rolls of film.

Rushed to the headquarters on a partial three-wheeler, and after everyone met, they didn't say much, Li Shaokang went directly to the front of the map and pointed to a few places and said: "The Yankees have built fortifications here." It seems that they have the intention of resisting here. ”

Those places were all traffic arteries, which could be seen from the plane, and the attacking troops of the Liberation Army actually hit the front of the Yankees' defensive line. Qi Rui stared at the map with a pencil, and Li Shaokang hurriedly suggested: "We can let the commander sit on the plane and fly along the offensive route twice." After looking at the terrain, they should be able to know better. ”

Let the commander get out of the battle line, it takes an hour or two to go back and forth, and Qi Rui feels that this time is a waste in his heart. And Li Shaokang's next words immediately dispelled Qi Rui's view of wasting time, "There are not many places that are on fire now, but there are already thick smoke billowing in some places." If you fight for a few more hours, I'm afraid that the whole wooden city of the Yankees will burn down. I can't see it clearly if I want to. ”

"Okay, I agree." Qi Rui immediately agreed to Li Shaokang's suggestion. The smoky cities on the west coast of the United States left a deep impression on Qi Rui, and the loss of Yankees' property was naturally not something Qi Rui cared about, but once São Paulo burned, it was not uncommon for the fire to burn for two days. The entire battle plan was only three days, and now it has been almost a day. Burn it for two more days, and three days will pass. The purpose of the battle plan was to occupy São Paulo, not to occupy São Paulo, which was burned to the ground.

The plan for the first day was to capture the railway station as much as possible, and after capturing the city center, the enemy could be divided and suppressed. All units sent commanders who were proficient in maps to the sky to see the terrain, and the military commanders of the troops, without exception, chose to stay on the ground and direct the battle.

In front of the 1st Division was a fortification that the Americans had stuck on the railroad, and the Yankees used several small railcars to bring in some timber and cut down the trees next to the railroad. Soil and stones were piled up on these foundations to create a major defensive position. Enemies also appeared in the favorable terrain and woods on both sides of the railway, and the Restoration Army did not want to go deep alone, and initially confronted them.

At one o'clock in the afternoon, the correspondent delivered a new map on a partial tricycle. The map was rough, but it marked the positions where the troops had already advanced. Seeing that the red cross in the circle surrounded St. Paul on all sides, Ma Xiaoming discussed a few words with the chief of staff of the division, and immediately asked the correspondent to tell the group that was confronting the Yankees on the railway to start attacking.

At about two o'clock in the afternoon, engineer Mendes, who was in charge of reinforcing the defensive positions of the railway, heard the sound of artillery coming from the opposite side. Engineer Montes shouted: "Lie down!" He took the lead and hid behind the fortifications he had been building for hours. Some of the more clever guys obeyed the order, and some guys who had no idea of the battlefield still stared blankly at the people around them running or lying on their stomachs.

With a few "booms", the shells fell to the open ground of the fortifications, and the guys who were standing stupidly were unexpectedly unharmed. Several guys who were bending down and brisk to escape behind cover were blown over by shells. In the midst of the screams, all the Americans who had not yet taken refuge in the fortifications accelerated, and in less than ten seconds, they each found a place to hide.

Engineer Montes sighed, he also knew he couldn't manage much. Rifle in his hand, Mendes drove to the front along the gap in the fortifications that had been used as a line of communication. As soon as he arrived at the front line, the major in charge of guarding the fortifications grabbed Montes's arm with an anxious face, "Lieutenant, how should we defend?" ”

Although he is now an engineer, Mendes graduated from the military academy with the rank of lieutenant. After graduating from the military academy more than 20 years ago, the war ended within three months of going to the front. The U.S. federal government has limited financial resources and will disarm after the war. A petty officer like Montes, who has no background, is naturally in the ranks of disarmament. However, disarmament is disarmament, and the professional degree of engineer in the military academy is also recognized, and Mendes has participated in many major railway construction projects by virtue of his school education and being a soldier, and has also become a recognized engineer.

The Union Army major, who was sent to the defense, was in his early thirties and had never fought in the war. Knowing that the engineer Montes, who volunteered to participate in the war, was actually a senior in the army, he naturally relied on him very much.

"Block the offensive lines of the Chinese army and push them to the ground." Engineer Montes naturally had his own ideas about combat. As soon as he said this, the major also agreed. He immediately ordered the machine gunners to return to the machine gun positions after the Chinese shelling was over, "when you see the Chinese, you will shoot fiercely with machine guns, if you can kill the Chinese, you will fight, and if you can't die, you must drive them to the flat terrain in the middle." ”

The shelling ended quite quickly, and to the surprise of the Americans, the Chinese attacking forces did not appear. There was silence in front of the position, but the gunfire on the flanks was suddenly intense. The Major and Engineer Mendes didn't care at first, but after waiting for more than twenty minutes, the Chinese still did not attack, and the two of them felt that something was wrong.

"Send someone over there to have a look." Engineer Monters made a suggestion.

The major had a look of embarrassment on his face, and the location where the shots rang out was not close to the defensive position. If you walk, you have to walk for more than half and twenty minutes. What about sending someone over to see it? It takes 40 minutes to go back and forth, and at least an hour to figure out the situation. And you don't need to send someone over to know that there is a battle over there, and everyone actually has only one choice left, whether it is assistance or not. These thoughts were cleared in the major's mind in a moment, and he said helplessly: "We don't have enough troops here. ”

"It's possible that China will come from there!" Engineer Montes was uneasy about the area where the fighting took place. As a railway engineer in the São Paulo region, he was well aware that the position was diagonally behind the railway fortifications, and that this temporary position was mainly aimed at the defensive front. If the Chinese outflank from behind, the defensive position will fall into a very disadvantageous situation.

"Lieutenant, I've been tasked with defending here, and my troops are limited." The Major replied with a bitter face.

Montes understands this. Of course, this understanding is not the experience accumulated during the short three months of entering the war. As an engineer, there is always a shortage of labor on the construction site. Do some thoughtful consideration to avoid this kind of embarrassing problem. Engineer Monters advised, "At least send in guards and be prepared for defense." ”

A few scouts were not enough to shake the line of defense, and the major immediately arranged. Engineer Montes also asked his youngest son, Benier, to go with them. Bennier was not a regular soldier, and he could immediately return to report if he saw that something was wrong.

The scouts immediately set off, and after walking for more than 10 minutes, they saw Chinese troops standing guard on a high place. These people did not dare to continue on the road, so they had to take a detour. But the Chinese occupied the high ground and cleverly blocked the route of these scouts to the combat zone.

The American lords who came out felt that they had fulfilled their obligations, and they ran for a while in fear to determine several sentry posts in China. After everyone discussed, the leader said: "Yankee brothers, let's suffer here now, if the Chinese want to call, we will go back and report immediately." ”

Just when the Yankee brothers thought this suggestion was good, they heard the Yankee boys who came with them raise objections, "Why do the Yankees send out a sentry post here?" I don't think I want to see what they're doing! I think it's better to keep looking. ”

The Yankees, dressed in dirty workers' clothes and unclean uniforms, were a combined unit of the Union Army and the National Guard. The Yankee's clothes weren't very clean at this point, but the dirt and dust were freshly glued, and they were not much different from those of the old gray. Seeing that this hairy boy with an obviously higher background was unrelenting, the National Guard personnel led by him said unhappily: "If you want to go, go by yourself." We're going to stay here. ”

Seeing that these adults were so lazy, Benniel was also very uneasy in his heart. But a pretty figure flashed in his mind full of fear, and he overwhelmed the feeling of fear. Benniel straightened his chest in front of the adults, "I know there's a path to get around. ”

The little head of the National Guard rolled his eyes, and he replied very unhappily: "If you want to go, go yourself, we will not leave here." ”