Shortly after the annihilation of the Tanaka Infantry Regiment, the supreme commander of the Japanese army in Shandong, the commander of the 12th Army, Otaka Kamizo, was held accountable because his relatives had lost their lives in Liangshan, and he angrily mobilized more than 5,000 people to take turns to "sweep" in the areas of Luxi and Southwest Lu, but he failed and returned. The areas www.biquge.info of Liangshan and Yun (Cheng), Juye, Heze, and Juancheng are still controlled by the 115th Division of the Eighth Route Army, and the Luxi base area is still stable.

Coupled with the existence of various anti-Japanese armed forces such as the Jin-Hebei-Henan Detachment, the Sulu-Henan Detachment, and the National X Army Security Regiment north of Longhai Road, a large number of Japanese troops were contained.

In eastern and western Henan, a large number of troops of the National X Army have been concentrated, and even if they attack the eastern Henan region, the Japanese army will realize that at least tens of thousands of horses must be dispatched to have the certainty of victory. What's more, the western section of Longhai Road has been broken and scattered, and many strongholds along the road have been broken one by one, and it is not easy for the devil to restore his mobile advantage.

In other words, if the Japanese army wants to sweep the Yongcheng base area, it must dispatch nearly 10,000 men and horses, and the more troops dispatched, the more materials will be consumed, and the longer the preparation time.

And the truth of the cold lips and teeth, Yang Tianfeng knows it more deeply than anyone else. As soon as the battle ended, he gave specific instructions to Chief of Staff Lin Cunzhong, and gave some of the captured guns and ammunition to the anti-Japanese armed forces participating in the war in the north of Longhai Road in the name of thanking them for their help in the war, and the Jilu-Henan detachment and the Sulu-Henan detachment were respectively given a battalion of Japanese-style equipment and dozens of steel fists.

Speaking of the loss and replenishment of the three columns, the two detachments of Guo and Jiang went through several battles and suffered many casualties, but the establishment of the four detachments was cancelled and the personnel were replenished. Coupled with Cao Dazhong's and Li Zhongyi's anyway puppet army, as well as the recruits recruited in the Guangfu Zone, the strength of the army was restored and far exceeded the previous number.

Now that the name of the New Seventh Army has been established, the Three Verticals have become history, and the establishment of the troops must also be changed. Guo Songlin of the 1st Division, Jiang Jicai of the 2nd Division, Tong Zhihe of the 3rd Division, and the Independent Brigade and the Garrison Brigade directly under it were led by Zhao Qing and Chen Dalong respectively.

When Sun Dianying's troops were reorganized and merged, Yang Tianfeng calculated the speed of recruiting new recruits, and the total strength of the New Seventh Army would reach at least 27,800 people, and maybe even about 34,500.

Of course, the negative impact of such a large-scale expansion is the decline of overall combat effectiveness. And to avoid such an outcome, there is no other way than to intensify training.

One month is too hasty, and if it can be delayed for two to three months, it will almost be possible to expand, integrate, and urgently train all the troops, so that the overall combat effectiveness will rise back to the level that Yang Tianfeng hopes.

But how can you delay the devil's retaliatory attack? Yang Tianfeng's mind kept making various assumptions, and he was a little absent-minded even watching the third test flight of the plane.

Although Yang Tianfeng came up with a preferred plan that absorbs the strengths of others, he still found some problems in the first and second test flights.

There will be a slight left deviation in level flight, which requires adjusting the control cable trim; Tail chatter occurred when flying at speeds above 360 km/h, and the judder problem was solved by adding wing root fairings and smooth transitions at the junction with the wings and smoothing out the airflow......

In just seven days, the plane was improved and reinforced several times, and it took to the skies again.

Rolling, climbing, swooping...... The plane maneuvered in the air, much more daring than in the previous test flights, and the agility of the plane looked good, but Yang Tianfeng was still a little worried that it would tear the wings.

However, according to the description of test pilot Han Zhen, although there were problems in the test flight, the piloting performance and flight characteristics were still very smooth, surpassing the main fighter currently used by the National X Army -- the Soviet Little Donkey Yi 16. If it can be pushed to the limit, the plane may be able to fly faster, higher, and more nimble.

This is not surprising, this aircraft has adopted a completely new monoplane structure design, unlike the Yi-16 fighter with the structural characteristics of a biplane fighter. Moreover, the design of the body of the Yi-16 is immature, which leads to greater drag during flight, which affects maneuverability.

In particular, the handling performance of the Yi-16 can be said to be very bad. The aircraft trembles almost all the time, which greatly affects the accuracy of shooting, and is not considered a stable firing platform. When the aircraft suddenly dives or flips, the engine will vibrate violently, which seriously affects the pilot's control and shooting. At the same time, when the aircraft maneuvers at a particularly fast speed, there is a danger of losing control, and tailspin is often generated.

Therefore, after the birth of the Yi-16 fighter, because of the problem of handling, even the most powerful pilots were selected, accidents often occurred. For example, the red team aerobatic pilots Huppelun and Yeusheev, one dead and one wounded. In addition, Kurtyunov, the commander of the first group of the Soviet Air Force for China, led the first batch of Iraq-16 fighters from Xinjiang to Nanjing, but crashed and died near Gansu because the plane lost control.

It can be seen that this is true of the best pilots, not to mention ordinary pilots. This is certainly contrary to Yang Tianfeng's idea of training pilots as soon as possible and as much as possible.

Of course, based on the current level of manufacturing, the instrumentation equipment of this aircraft is relatively rudimentary, with only a fuel gauge, compass, and altimeter, which is not much different from the Yi-16. However, the installation of shortwave radios and walkie-talkies has made great progress in communication.

Moreover, due to the use of wooden main structure, as well as the perfect aerodynamic shape of the fuselage and the advanced design of the wings, the "Eagle" fighter named by Yang Tianfeng has great advantages in reducing weight and air resistance.

According to Yang Tianfeng's estimates, it is at least 400 kilograms lighter than the Japanese Zero. And this is the result of the addition of eight millimeters of steel plates outside the fuel tank and behind the driver's seat.

Of course, this is also a helpless way to make up for the lack of engine power. Light weight, small wing load, and flexible maneuverability are probably the biggest advantages of the Eagle.

"Sir, I think the second plane can be built according to this design." Sun Gang was itching, Han Zhen's flying skills were sophisticated, his personality was calm, he couldn't snatch this first plane, and in private exchanges, he also agreed with Han Zhen's point of view, the Eagle aircraft surpassed the Yi 16 in terms of comprehensive performance, and could compete with the Japanese plane in air combat.

Yang Tianfeng glanced at him and was noncommittal. He was not in a hurry to fight against the Japanese plane, and he did not think that the Hawk would be able to compete with the Zero that would come out next year. He had to wait for better engines, for more aircraft engineers, for more pilots to be trained. In other words, the Eagle is just an attempt, a test of the endurance of wooden aircraft.

Sun Gang grinned and wanted to fight, but Gao Fengge pulled him and signaled him not to worry. (To be continued.) )