The text begins with Chapter 53 of Baghdad

At night, the Dammam Gulf of the Persian Gulf is still a busy scene, the lights of the merchant ships illuminate the entire bay, on the dock site, thousands of sappers are still rushing to build a temporary wharf, on the beach, a steady stream of supplies and troops, even in the middle of the night, are still ashore, there is no wharf, which seriously hinders the transportation of troops and materials. ＂＂

Just a few hundred meters from the coast, on the steel-framed conning tower, a few lights lit up the night, and near the continuing tower, beside the planes lined up, the vigilant airport guards walked back and forth on the edge of the airport.

"Our plan is to take off before dawn, take advantage of the long daylight and fly continuously, and if we take off at 3 a.m. with a searchlight, we expect to arrive in Baghdad around 9:30 a.m."

Inside the tent, Xu Huansheng explained to the commander of Li Qin's army the plan to bomb Baghdad.

"Yesterday, we carried out an aerial photograph of Baghdad, and with the actual flight, each aircraft can carry 3.2 tons of bombs, and for safety reasons, we will only fly with 3 tons of bombs to carry more raw materials."

"Is the goal decided?"

After measuring the distance with a ruler, Li Qinyun asked without raising his head, and at the same time he looked at the dozens of photos on the table, which are aerial photos, from the photos, the houses in Baghdad are very dense, and the Arabian-style flat-roofed houses are next to each other, and the city is not a good target for bombing.

"The target is the city of Baghdad, and we will calibrate the first target on the Euphrates, then the Tigris River for the second calibration, and finally the Baghdad Provincial Governor's House for the final calibration, and that's ......"

Xu Huansheng took out a photo, and it can be clearly seen in the photo that the big garden behind the Governor's Palace, the reason why he chose to use the Governor's Palace as the calibration is because that garden, from the air, this oasis in the city is the most obvious calibration target.

"According to the intelligence services, Baghdad has hardly any urban planning, residential, commercial and administrative areas are mixed, and the city streets are narrow, so our bombing will be centered on the governor's palace, bombing the entire city, given that most of the local buildings are made of bricks more than 50 centimeters thick, and the roof is also covered with a thick layer of insulating lime, if heavy aerial bombs are used, the power of the bombs will be severely weakened by the walls, therefore, this bombing, We will use 15-kilogram light aerial bombs, which, according to the power of the bombs, are still enough to destroy two or three similar buildings, even if their power is weakened, and the actual power of ten 15-kilogram aerial bombs should be greater than that of 200-kilogram aerial bombs......"

When Xu Huansheng gave an explanation, Li Qinyun only nodded occasionally, he was the wing commander of the fighter wing, these "elephants" were just the troops he temporarily managed, and he was completely a layman for the bombing, and finally he looked up at Xu Huansheng and smiled.

"Alright, there's still an hour, you go get ready!"

Let the flames of war burn in the depths of the enemy's country!

This is the mission of strategic bombers, and I hope they can really do it!

"Intelligence shows that there are 15 planes in Baghdad, in order to ensure your safety, I will send a squadron of planes to escort you, these planes have auxiliary fuel tanks, there should be no problem escorting you, here is only more than 800 kilometers away from Baghdad, if it is farther, there is really no way!"

"Thank you, sir!"

"800 kilometers!"

Ma Mingxiao, who was preparing next to the plane, let out a few smirks, he didn't expect that as soon as his plane was assembled, he received such a task, escorting the bomber, the fuel range of the nine-year fighter is only 1600 kilometers, and this is already the distance of the map round trip of this mission.

In this flight, the Nine-Year fighter will have a different load than it has ever done before. In addition to the fuel in the main fuel tanks, there are additional drop fuel tanks under the belly, which will give the aircraft an additional 300 km range, but all of this adds weight to the aircraft.

After the fighter lifted off, which may have even been overloaded, what other dangers were hidden along the way, he could only guess. The engines can't fail, navigation and piloting must be foolproof, and unlike in the past, they don't even have the opportunity to make mistakes, and if they do, the plane runs out of fuel in flight. …,

"If two-thirds of the fuel is consumed halfway, on the way back, you can fly in the direction of the Persian Gulf, and off the coast of Kuwait, there is our fleet, you can search for the fleet in the open sea, and then parachute and abandon the plane......"

Ma Mingxiao didn't take the captain's orders to heart, it was a trivial matter, and the most important thing was that in half an hour, he would have to take a long-distance flight of more than ten hours.

With his eyes closed, Ma Mingxiao recalled in his mind the necessities of a long-distance flight, water, food, and of course, an empty bottle, which was used to hold "water".

By the time the fighter formation was making the final arrangements, the group of bombers that had completed their preparations was already lined up in order on the runway, and under each "elephant" there was a crew of six people waiting at the airfield for the first rays of dawn. Xu Huansheng's subordinates included navigator-co-pilot Second Lieutenant Qiao Licun, bow machine gunner, mechanic, and bomber Sergeant Song Ming, belly machine gunner An Ming and Private Li Xiaoquan, and tail machine gunner Zhang Ze. Compared with any previous bomber, the "elephant" with two bow machine guns, two belly machine guns, and two tail machine guns can be said to be a machine gun fortress in the air, and in the eyes of pilots who know the elephant, no fighter can get close to it, let alone shoot him down, and even in Xu Huansheng's view, the "air combat capability" of an ordinary fighter is even inferior to the "elephant" with four machine guns.

At about 2:50 a.m., the various crews that were originally waiting for takeoff were "elephants". Natural light was enough for them to see the horizon, but nothing else was visible, and the entire airfield was completely illuminated by searchlights. The huge plane was parked on the runway, the wooden blocks were plugged under the wheels to stop the plane's movement, and the engines were running at full power. While the engines were still running at full speed, the ground crew pulled the blocks away, and the twelve bombers began to move slowly along the runway. The takeoff was longer than any before, but finally they staggered into the air, humming in the still dark low sky of the desert bay.

Five minutes later, the engines were still running at full speed, and the plane barely climbed to an altitude of less than 200 meters. As the fuel is consumed, the aircraft slowly climbs. An hour and a half after liftoff, the plane carrying the 3-ton bomb reached a safe cruising altitude of 2,000 meters.

The air flow in the air was very smooth, and the flight went very smoothly, so after the sky was bright, Xu Huansheng ordered the mechanic to climb to the outermost engine of the wing twice. He wanted to make sure that when the engine failed in the air, the crew could go to the faulty engine for repairs, and every time he received an order, Song Ming would go through the small hatch between the double wings, and grab the ropes under the wings with both hands to check the aircraft engine, bomber mechanics are definitely the most daring group of people in the world, and people who know their duties will praise them so much, they must check the engine in the air.

Grabbing the rope and walking to the back of the engine, Song Ming stopped, there was a space behind the engine because of the protection of the engine in front, so the air flow could not be blown. It's beautiful and fun to look at the plane's huge fuselage and wide yellow wings from this angle. It was a strange feeling to see the wings not moving in the smooth and clear air of the early morning, but Song Ming did not have the leisure to appreciate the angle that others could not appreciate, stayed behind the engine, he listened carefully to the sound of the engine, and after a few minutes, after making sure that there was nothing wrong with the engine, he walked into the cabin again, and then squeezed into the bow to report.

"Sir, there's nothing wrong with the engine!"

"Okay, got it, tell the big guy, have breakfast in an hour ......"

Nodding, Xu Huansheng glanced at the fighter jet nearby.

"Well, it's right in window number one!"

For breakfast, I'm afraid this is a treatment that can only be enjoyed on bombers, on the fuselage of the elephant, there are several windows, those open windows, some are used to overhaul the aircraft, some are used to hang machine guns, and the first window is located behind the cockpit, both from inside the bomber and from the outside of the bomber, you can see clearly.

Sitting next to the No. 1 window, except for the co-pilot, several other people took turns enjoying a breakfast of sandwiches, fruit and coffee, and they even held coffee cups and raised their glasses to the fighter pilots not far away.

"I guess they'll be mad!"

"No, this group of children, they think they are great for nine years, but they don't know that flying on an elephant is what it is!" …,

From time to time, the crew members who were enjoying a hot meal shouted to the nearby fighter pilots, and the words were nothing more than "invite" them to breakfast.

"Damn it!"

Ma Mingxiao, who originally intended to have breakfast, muttered in his heart, through the window, he even saw someone eating fritters inside, and even holding a bowl as if they were drinking something, what kind of person is this!

Although Iraq's history dates back to the Sumerian civilization of more than 4,000 BC, Baghdad is not very long, and until 754 AD, it was an unknown village on the west bank of the Tigris River. That year, al-Mansur, the second caliph of the Abbasid dynasty of the fledgling Arab empire, decided to make his capital here because of its precarious location and pleasant climate. It took 100,000 migrant workers four years to build one of the most majestic cities in the world in the Middle Ages.

In 762 AD, the city was officially designated as the capital of the Abbasid dynasty and was named "Medina? Seran" means "City of Peace", but it is still customary to call it Baghdad. From 786 to 833 A.D., it was the prosperous period of Baghdad, the city was full of construction, and the buildings rich in Arab style appeared one after another, and the urban area developed from the west of the river to the east of the river, becoming the most important cultural and trade center in the vast region of the Middle East at that time, and was known as the three famous cities in the world at that time together with Chang'an, the capital of the Tang Dynasty of China, and Constantinople, the capital of the Byzantine Empire.

In 1203 AD, the then caliph al-Nassar decided to build walls to protect against foreign invasions and floods, including four majestic gates, which became known as the Baghdad Gate. But his efforts were in vain. In 1258 and 1400 AD, the city of Baghdad was invaded by the Mongols, and most of the buildings, including the palace, school and library, were razed to the ground. Later, the Persians and Ottoman Turks alternately occupied Iraq, but both used it as a frontier area and did not want to make great efforts to build it, and Baghdad was silent for hundreds of years.

After several vicissitudes, the former Baghdad city gate is now left with an east gate called "Vastani", and the dilapidated gate and a small remnant of the city wall vaguely show the style of Abbasid fortifications. Hundreds of years of the three famous cities, long since the decline of the once glorious and magnificent buildings, the once glorious and magnificent buildings have long been destroyed in the war, and now Baghdad is nothing more than a crowded, narrow city, the city, not even a spacious main street and a real city center.

Almost as soon as the sun rose, the crowded, cluttered city awoke, and in the center of the city was a demolished site where thousands of Baghdad were building its streets, one built by Baghdad's governor, Kariphasha.

"A city without streets!"

Standing on the balcony of the Doge's Palace, Kali Pasha looked at the construction site in the distance, rejoicing in his vision, believing that with the completion of this street, his name would be remembered along with the city.

After becoming the governor of Baghdad last year, he began to work on how to restore the city's glory in order to prove to the world that the Turks are also capable of urban governance, and this street is the first step in changing Baghdad.

"Damn, why a war?"

Thinking of the invasion of the Chinese and the uprising of the Arabs, Kali Pasha felt helpless in his heart, and he looked back at the table, the "new Baghdad" designed and planned by him, it would be a Turkish, European-style new Baghdad, and New Baghdad was by no means a lifeless and dilapidated city like it is now.

If it weren't for the war, maybe in another five or six years, anyone who walked into Baghdad couldn't help but wonder: how could this be such a beautiful and imposing city! The ancient Tigris River meanders through the city, roads are interspersed with dense date palm groves, small villas are scattered throughout the city, and mosques with golden minarets and blue domes are set against the green sky.

At that time, as the designer of the city, he Kali Pasha will be famous all over the world and earn honor for Turkey, so that the Arabs who keep saying that they can govern the city can see that the city is not something they can manage, and they will finally submit to this beautiful and magnificent city like the nomads of a thousand years ago. …,

In Karipasha's mind, the construction of such a beautiful city had an impact on the Arabs even more than a few divisions, but the war changed everything, at least the reconstruction of the city, after Turkey declared war on Britain and France, especially after China declared war on Turkey, the source of building materials such as steel, cement, and glass was cut off, and without building materials and architects from England, France, and Italy, the city could only exist on drawings and models.

"May Allah forbid and kill that damned infidel!"

Thinking of the pagans, especially the sudden declaration of war by China, and the invasion of Baghdad province, Karipasa prayed in his heart that compared to the army in the central region of Turkey, the army of Baghdad province was very limited, but only a few divisions, and this limited force, to suppress the Arab uprising, but also to block the invasion of the Chinese army, it can be said that he had long fallen into a state of exhaustion, and just yesterday, he transferred one of the only two divisions in his hand to the south to block the attack of the Chinese army.

"Heretics, infidels, must not allow the infidel army to trample on this sacred land!"

Kari Pasha muttered in his mouth, this is a staff member's proposal, inciting the Arabs to resist the infidels, but this is not an easy task, after Mehmed V succeeded to the Sultan, Turkey's power was concentrated in the "Big Three", they practiced Great Turkism internally, dissolved all non-Turkish political organizations, abolished the majority of Arab representatives in the Imperial Parliament, all these policies of the Young Turks caused the Arab nationalists to part ways with them, The current small uprising of the Arabs is a clear proof of the rebellion of the sheikhs and dignitaries of the Arab provinces against the Turks, who are ready to use violent means to establish a completely independent Arab state.

In this case, how can the Arabs, as they were when the Ottoman Empire was founded, use the Arabs against the infidels and thus create the Ottoman Turki Empire, unless another "holy war", a "holy war" against the infidels.

"Lord Pasha!"

Entering the large balcony where the Pasha was entered, Akjor bowed respectfully.

"Akyol!"

Tilting his chin slightly, Karipasa's face was full of aristocratic arrogance, and although Akyol was his staff, he was nothing more than a slave in his eyes.

"My lord, at your request, I wrote this article."

As he held the article to Karipasa with both hands, Akyol had a flattering smile on his face.

"Well, I'll take a look!"

Jihad, any holy war is often based on religion as an excuse, in Carry's view, the holy war he will launch, the same is based on religion, Akyol served as a counselor in the legation in China, can be said to know China quite well, and it is for this reason that he will be commissioned by him to write an article to count the sins of the Chinese, the group of infidels.

"Historically, since the seventh century A.D., the glory of Allah has shone in the northwest of China, where millions of Muslims live in Xinjiang, and Islamists are scattered in almost every province of China, but in the past eight years, their governments have closed the country's mosque schools, and the rebellious imams have been imprisoned in labor camps by the army...... In order to cut off their spiritual ties with Allah, they have adopted a law prohibiting so-called minors from entering mosques or studying the scriptures, requiring all children to be sent to government schools, where it is illegal for anyone to preach Islamic teachings, and students are severely punished for their worship or study of the scriptures, and thousands of imams have secretly established preaching schools in order to uphold the teachings of Allah, but they have suppressed the secret preaching with extreme brutality, and the preachers will be beaten to death by the army, Families who send their children to study the scriptures will have custody revoked and their parents will be thrown into prison......"

Looking at the article in his hand, Kali Pasha frowned from time to time, all this is not news, in fact, as early as a few years ago, he had seen similar reports, after the Pan-Raidist Turkish Al-Shabaab came to power, and even protested because they had demolished mosques that accepted minors, after all, in their opinion, Xinjiang was also part of the abruptness. …,

And the Chinese government did not even pay attention to the protests of Turkey, at that time Chinese foreign ministry officials did not even accept the protest letter, their reason was very simple, it was China's internal affairs, and the next day, in the Chinese newspapers, there was a news that overnight, more than 500 mosques were closed for illegal missionary work to minors, the monasteries were bombed and demolished, and even 500 imams were sentenced to death by military courts for sedition.

After the newspaper was sent to the Turkish Legation in China by the Chinese Foreign Ministry in the form of an official letter, Turkey never pointed fingers at the issue of speculation, and the tough attitude of the Chinese on that position is not allowed to be questioned by outsiders, and it is also not allowed for outsiders to interfere, for which they even closed the Turkish consulate in Dihua.

"It's not enough! Far from enough, the Russians, the Europeans did the same, we want to emphasize the difference between the Chinese, well, the Chinese should be the same as the Mongols, they came here to slaughter and plunder! ”

Throwing the article away, Kari Pasha shouted dissatisfied.

"Akyol, you look at this city, this city of great historical glory, this was the capital of the Arab Empire, it was destroyed by the Mongols, we want to emphasize this, we want to tell those people, how those Kafir slaughtered the believers in the country, well, didn't they ask all the Han Chinese who profess Islam to change their faith? We want to tell everyone that they are using a butcher's knife to force those people to convert! Didn't they rename the cities of Xinjiang? Let's just say that they slaughtered one city after another of believers, and then moved a large number of Han Chinese, and they said......"

At that moment, a strange roar in the air interrupted his words, and Karipasa, who was standing on the balcony, hurriedly raised his head and looked into the air.

*J@b