When the pilots returned to their rooms, they were still giggling and excited.

I don't know why, after this fight, Zhang Yun suddenly felt that his new comrades-in-arms were not so annoying.

On the contrary, it's pretty cute.

"Speaking of which, Jon." Kip hugged Zhang Yun's shoulders affectionately, "I really didn't expect that: you, a 'medieval ascetic', usually look like a priest, but as soon as you start to move, you knock on someone's face full of flowers, I said you can really do it." ”

"That's not a real problem, is it?" Zhang Yun wanted to cover his face a little, "And!" What about George? ”

He didn't pay attention to the mess in the bar just now, but now when he returned to the dormitory, he realized that the initiator of the incident, "Love Saint" George, had not returned.

"He's not going to get caught, is he?" Zhang Yun secretly began to worry.

"Don't worry." David handed him a cigarette, "George and that Jewish beauty are rolling the sheets, and if I'm not mistaken, you can find them in one of the cars in the cargo hold." ”

“…… Did he think it was the Titanic? Zhang Yun sighed, in addition to the white smoke screen that came out of his mouth, he also had a black line on his head.

"Titanic? Does the cruise ship that sank 30 years ago have anything to do with us? ”

David and Kip looked at each other for a while, and they all looked at Zhang Yun in unison, obviously not knowing why.

"No, nothing." Zhang Yun didn't bother to explain, and just wanted to divert the topic, the door was suddenly slammed open.

Everyone was startled, and subconsciously thought that the ship's guards had found it, but it was Peter, the liaison of their group, who came in.

"Something's wrong." Peter's expression was serious and solemn, "We won't go to China after we arrive in Hanoi. ”

"What?" Zhang Yun was taken aback.

"We have to go to Yangon." Peter said, "This is the colonel's order!" ”

※※※

From January 4, 1942, the 55th and 33rd divisions of the Japanese army launched attacks from Thailand to Dawei and Mawlamyine in southern Burma respectively.

In less than a month after the attack on Pearl Harbor, the Japanese army invaded the Philippines, Thailand, Malaya, Guam, Hong Kong, Singapore, Indonesia, the Solomon Islands, and Burma, declaring that they would join Hitler in the Middle East.

With the rapid offensive of the Japanese army in Southeast Asia, on December 23, 1941, China and Britain signed the Agreement on Mutual Defense of the Yunnan-Burma Road. The 5th, 6th, and 66th armies of the Chinese Expeditionary Force began to prepare to fight in Burma.

On January 31, the 55th and 33rd divisions of the Japanese army, taking advantage of the cover of darkness and large forests, suddenly came out of the Thai-Burmese border, which was considered "impassable" by the British army, like a group of cunning and tenacious loaches, launched an attack from behind the Anglo-Burmese defense line, successively conquered Dawei and Gaojiali, cut off the retreat of the Anglo-Burmese division and surrounded Mawlamyine.

The Japanese army launched a general attack on Mawlamyine, and 18,000 Japanese soldiers armed with rifles routed 30,000 well-armed enemies, Mawlamyine fell, and the city of Yangon was exposed to the invaders.

As a last resort, the British army asked the Chinese government for support. In mid-February, the 49th and 93rd Divisions of the 6th Army of the Chinese Expeditionary Force had entered the Jingdong area of Burma.

However, the expeditionary force lacked air cover, and the endless air strikes by Japanese planes caused heavy casualties to the Sino-British forces, and the battle was very difficult.

When Zhang Yun arrived at Yangon's Minkaden Airport, he saw such a situation.

The air was damp and stuffy, and the damp wind characteristic of the tropical rainforest made people feel slimy all over their bodies, and they felt uncomfortable after standing for a while, as if they were pressed with an inexplicable irritability, not to mention the desolate atmosphere that permeated the air.

Smoke replaced the once blue sky, and the airport was littered with fighter jets: Buffalo, Wildcat, and P40s, but all of them were scarred and riddled with bullet holes, looking miserable and dejected.

And in the corner of the airport, several Allied pilots were sitting on sandbags with their heads bowed and silent, and when Zhang Yun and they walked past these people, one of them stood up:

"Hey, man, borrow a fire."

Zhang Yun took out a match from his pocket and handed it over, and took out a cigarette, but the other party shook his head and refused.

"What's wrong? Bad fighting situation? Zhang Yun noticed the dull and melancholy expression on his face.

The Anglo-Saxon descendant smiled unnaturally: "You're new here, aren't you?" ”

"We just came from Hanoi." George was the first to answer.

"No wonder......" said the pilot, "that by tomorrow you will be like me—if you are still alive." ”

The pilots couldn't help but look at each other. The veteran's words hung over them like a great shadow - although they had heard of the tension on the way, the level of tension was unexpected.

Kip stepped forward, and was about to ask a few more questions, when the roar of planes was heard again in mid-air. He raised his head, and the two "Wildcats", dragging thick black smoke, staggered down the runway and finally stopped in front of them.

The ground crews who were guarding the side immediately surrounded them, and several high-pressure water cannons began to charge at the fighter jets with black smoke billowing out.

The cockpit was opened, and an American pilot climbed out with difficulty.

His flight helmet was broken, the epaulettes on his clothes were missing, his face was full of smoky black marks, and the blood marks on his forehead were even more shocking, and he looked extremely embarrassed.

The British pilot immediately greeted him.

"Why are you two the only ones coming back?" He asked aloud, "What about my brother?" ”

The American pilot shook his head gloomily.

"We ran into Zero." He said.

The British pilot who asked the question froze, and the two men stood silently against each other, and the emotions of grief and sadness spread silently in the air.

Zhang Yun sighed and stepped forward to comfort him a few words, but suddenly stood still.

It seems that it is superfluous to say anything nowadays......

They are soldiers, this is war, and if it is war, there will be sacrifices.

He sighed faintly, and suddenly heard someone calling behind him. Zhang Yun turned around and saw that his captain, Benida, was walking towards him with a Chinese general.

This is the first time Zhang Yun has seen his compatriots. Yellow skin, dark eyes, long gone...... All these oriental characteristics are so kind to him.

Zhang Yun hurriedly walked up to meet him.

"Let me introduce you," Benida enthusiastically pulled Zhang Yun over and pointed to the Chinese general, "This is General Du Yuming, a member of the China-Burma-India-Malaysia military inspection team, who has made a special trip to Yangon for inspection." General Du, this is Jon Spark, whom I just told you about. ”

Just talking about it?

Zhang Yun was stunned, not understanding why the squadron leader suddenly mentioned himself, but Du Yuming had already smiled and stretched out his hand.

"Jon was the best pilot in our 'Adam and Eve,' Benida continued, "and he shot down two Zeros at Pearl Harbor. ”

This time, Zhang Yun suddenly understood-it turned out to be because of this.

But at the same time, this sentence also focused all the eyes around him on him, and the degree of concentration could almost be felt from the sight!

The biggest problem plaguing Yangon at the moment is these two words -

Zero.

In order to fight against Zero, they don't know how much they paid, but the result was far from ideal. People gradually began to go from shock and anger to unwillingness and sadness, and finally from sadness to despair.

Nowadays, when people take off to meet the Zero, both the pilot and the commander understand that after the fighter plane flies out, it will not come back.

But now I am told that someone once shot down the "Zero" alone, and it was two!

How is this possible?

Du Yuming also looked Zhang Yun up and down with slanted eyes, and finally couldn't help asking, "You...... 'Zero' that ever shot down a Japanese devil? ”

"Yes, General."

“…… Did you do it alone? ”

"Yes."

Du Yuming's eyes flashed. Today's Chinese Air Force has withered in talent, especially after a series of large-scale air battles such as Shanghai, Lanzhou, and Bishan, and experienced pilots have almost lost all casualties.

Although there is now the support of the Volunteer Air Force, anyone with a discerning eye knows that this is only temporary, and after all, they are Americans, and they will eventually return home. And this time when he came to Burma, he also found that these Allied pilots could not do anything with the Japanese.

Zhang Yun's record couldn't help but impress him......

"That's a rare pilot." He thought to himself, "If I can keep him, then I will ...... in the future."

At this moment, Du Yuming suddenly had a strange idea in his mind.

Zhang Yun stared at Du Yuming scorchingly, and unconsciously began to feel apprehensive.

He...... What's going on?

As a traverser, Zhang Yun is of course familiar with Du Yuming, and he also knows that he is now the deputy commander of the first road of the Chinese Expeditionary Force.

But Du Yuming, who is a general, does not speak, and Zhang Yun, as a soldier, can only stand upright with an expressionless face due to the strict discipline of the army, and continue to endure the gaze of those who are pierced in all directions. The scene was suddenly a little inexplicably embarrassing.

Benida coughed lightly.

"General, we ...... Let's go around the other squadrons. He reminded softly, and when he saw the other man nodding, he turned to Jon again and said:

"Colonel Chennault has just returned from the front, and you have to meet him as soon as you arrive."

※※※

"Report!"

"Come in."

Pushing open the gate of the tower, Zhang Yun saw Chennault again—the latter was looking down at the messy drawings on the desk, in a daze.

Zhang Yun glanced at it and found that these were all kinds of flight route diagrams. The Colonel seemed to have some difficult problem, his hands propped up on the table, his brow furrowed, and he barely said a word.

Zhang Yun was a little curious about the colonel's taciturnity, he had already seen the other party's poor state of mind at a glance. Claire Lee Chennault, who usually straightens her back, is now tensed all over, which is an inherent manifestation of human pain and tension.

"Did you get into any trouble?" He thought to himself.

"Oh, you're here." Colonel Chennault finally looked up from the pile of drawings, "Is the road going well?" ”

"It's going well, sir."

"That's good." The Colonel's face still had a stern, gloomy look.

He pulled over a chair, motioned for Zhang Yun to sit down, and said, "Long story short." As you should already know, our Volunteer Air Force accepted the request of General Chen Cheng of the Chinese Expeditionary Force to support the operation in Burma. ”

"Yes, sir." Zhang Yun responded.

After disembarking in Hanoi, the group successfully met with the British intelligence officers who had come to contact them, and were escorted through French Indochina (i.e., Vietnam).

At that time, on the road, the British agents had already explained the battle situation to Zhang Yun and them.

"The expeditionary force is holding back the Japanese in this area," Chennault said, pointing to the huge map behind him, "and the Japanese are attacking so hard that the Allied lines are being bombed almost every day." The Japanese bombers were so arrogant that they sometimes dared to go out alone without fighter escort - just because we did not have air supremacy. ”

Zhang Yun's mood sank suddenly: Air supremacy is the most important factor in a war, and it determines the outcome of a war. If air supremacy is lost, the army and navy will basically become live targets. The Italian military theorist Duhei once famously said: "In future wars, the air battlefield will be the decisive battlefield."

"And the reason for losing air supremacy is because we can't deal with it." Chennault pointed to the drawings on the table.

Zhang Yun followed the direction of his finger and looked carefully.

"Zero?"

"It's it."

Colonel Chennault nodded, and his movements looked very heavy.

"I have to admit that the Japanese are very maneuverable," he said, "and I have been to the front line to observe their operations: the Zero has a very small turning radius, and our pilots have no way to catch its trajectory, but it can easily go around your back and give you a fatal blow." In fact, I've researched a lot of ways to deal with Zero, but none of them worked, so I'm in a hurry to get you. ”

As he spoke, he tapped his fingers on the table with hatred, as if he were going to smash all the "Zero" fighters on the pattern with his own hands.

Zhang Yun hesitated: "What do you mean ......?" ”

"You're the only one in the entire Air Force to shoot down the Zero, so I'd like to hear what you think of their aircraft."