The Imperial Air Force's first order of 32 B-21 bombers will be delivered to the Air Force within the next month, and they will join Strategic Bomber Command's newest 21st Bomber Wing. Colonel Wang Mingcheng, who was in charge of testing the Imperial Standard Air heavy bomber project, said to a dozen senior generals of the Imperial Air Force who were standing on the side of the runway and were smiling at the reception ceremony of the Imperial Air Force's new bomber.

These include General Zeng Guowei, Deputy Chief of the General Staff of the Imperial Air Force, and Lieutenant General Wei Yi, Director of the Imperial Air Force Armament Bureau, who have been staunch supporters of the Air Force's heavy bomber program.

Wei Yi, who was standing in the middle of this group of generals, was wearing a blue woolen coat and looked at the heavy bomber that had just stopped on the runway, with an unconcealable excitement on his face.

From 301 to 306 of the Republic, it took nearly four and a half years, under his leadership, the Imperial Air Force, a heavy bomber capable of carrying 11 tons of aviation bombs, was finally developed, if it were not for the strong support of Marshal Wang Jiagan and even the emperor and the prime minister behind him, this kind of heavy bomber project with huge costs and an estimated cost of more than 1 million Chinese yuan may have died long ago.

The B-21 four-engine heavy bomber has a length of 32.6 meters, a wingspan of 46.2 meters, a fuselage height of 5.2 meters, an empty weight of 35.7 tons, a maximum take-off weight of 63.8 tons, a maximum speed of 592 kilometers per hour, a cruising speed of 362 kilometers per hour, an altitude limit of 11,200 meters, a maximum range of 9,400 kilometers, an actual combat radius of 3,100 kilometers, and a maximum bomb load of 11.2 tons.

In order to develop this new heavy bomber with unprecedented weight, Luoyang Imperial Standard Power Company specially designed and developed a standard RL-2400-36 36-cylinder twin 18-star air-cooled engine, which is equipped with a turbo increase device and can reach 2400 horsepower per engine.

"Colonel Wang Mingcheng, I am only concerned about its output now, you must know that the key to achieving its purpose in strategic bombing lies in quantity, and the performance of the aircraft is secondary." Admiral Zeng Guowei said.

"52 planes per month, which is the current maximum production capacity of Imperial Standard Airlines, they also have a large number of large transport aircraft orders from the Air Force and Army Air Force, and they can only squeeze out two production lines at present." Wang Mingcheng said.

"It's not enough! By the end of this year, the Air Force will be equipped with at least 3,000 such heavy bombers, and orders for transport aircraft can be transferred to Jinyang and Xifei for production. In addition, Shenfei and Xifei can also be authorized to start the production of B-21 bombers, of course, the current production of B-11, H-17, D-19 bombers will continue, but the production line will be gradually adjusted to reduce production. As Wang Mingcheng expected, the two air force bosses were extremely dissatisfied with the production of this type of bomber, and not only instructed Imperial Standard Airlines to stop the production of transport aircraft, but also asked Imperial Standard Airlines' competitors Henkel and Dornier to authorize production.

This was a somewhat large loss for the Imperial Standard Airlines, which independently completed the B-21 heavy bomber project.

"This ...... General, Prince Li Jingyu ......" Colonel Wang Mingcheng hesitated for a moment and reminded. Imperial Standard Airlines has a deep royal background, and the emperor's brother, Prince Li Jingyu, is the boss behind this aircraft manufacturing company, and the actions of the air force have obviously damaged the interests of Imperial Standard Airlines.

"It's a time of war, and I'll settle it on the royal side, and of course, tell Mr. An Guohua that the Imperial Air Force will pay some compensation to Standard Airways after the war." Lieutenant General Wei Yi said, "Now the Air Force is in great need of heavy bombers with excellent performance, and this kind of thing cannot be taken into account. ”

……

Luoyang, Prime Minister's Office.

After receiving the delegation of the Imperial Abysia Navy in East Africa headed by Mugawi, Prime Minister Li Jintang returned to his study and gave a helpless smile to Admiral Qian Hongsheng, director of the Imperial Security Bureau, who was waiting in the room: "The Abysians have become impatient, and even want to get rid of those two battleships before they have finished outfitting them!" ”

"Your Excellency, according to the reports of military intelligence, it is possible that the Byzantines will attack us in July......"

The prime minister waved his hand and interrupted Qian Hongsheng's speech, "What about your judgment? ”

"My judgment is in June!"

The Prime Minister walked up to the map and stretched out his index finger to shake it on the map: "Our military intelligence services in Central and West Asia have been infiltrated by the Europeans, and their intelligence is very unreliable. My point of view is the same as yours, also in June...... It depends on the timing of our preparations for the landing in Sinai, and the Byzantines could not have watched our landing in the Hejaz and remain indifferent. I want to postpone their attack as much as possible until after July, preferably in September! ”

Qian Hongsheng nodded: "Aren't you going to carry out a preemptive strike?" ”

"Of course, defensive counterattacks are also a tactic, and we need to attract more enemy forces closer to us." "We need to face up to the problem, there are some in the Defence Force who are against this war, and of course I am against it...... It is a question of position, this war that we are forced to fight for our own security! Li Jintang lowered his head, looked at a document on the desktop, and his tone became cold: "Some of them have become a little impatient recently?!" ”

"Yes, Your Excellency!" Qian Hongsheng said, "There are some high-ranking military officers involved. ”

"Well, people are always ambitious, and driven by it, some people will even cooperate with hostile forces to seek higher power and interests...... This is what European politicians often do. Some members of the once-proud officer corps have degenerated into politicians and love to play politics! ”

In this kind of matter, Qian Hongsheng rarely speaks, and some things can only be decided by the Supreme Command, and he only needs to be responsible for putting the decisions of the highest level into practice.

In the end, the prime minister just sighed softly and returned the document to Qian Hongsheng, "File it, just continue to monitor, at this time, no one really dares to jump out, and the most terrible thing is when you encounter difficulties......"

Qian Hongsheng took the document and looked at the emperor with some hesitation: "Don't you take any measures?" ”

The prime minister thought for a while, and finally shook his head: "Dealing with some senior West Asian generals is a very heavy blow to the reputation of the army, and it will also shake the determination and confidence of the front-line generals when they command the battle...... There are some things that don't have to be solved by violent means, and there is no need for that right now...... Of course, I will adjust some people's current positions accordingly. ”