Zhang Zhizhong also felt that the problem of Japanese planes had now reached a point where it had to be solved, otherwise the troops would inevitably suffer heavy losses when the Japanese 11 th Division was encircled and annihilated.

"High School Colonel, Major Zhu." Zhang Zhizhong turned around and greeted Xingda and Zhu Guangda.

Seeing Zhang Zhizhong greeting, Xingda and Zhu Guangda hurriedly ran to Zhang Zhizhong. “

I agreed this morning with your senior chief of staff that you would provide us with air support the day after tomorrow before our army launched a general offensive. In view of the advance of the counteroffensive, I would like to ask Staff Officer Gao to telegraph to Chief of Staff Gao Zhihang that your air support should start early. ”

Originally, Zhang Zhizhong could contact Gao Zhihang in Changshu by phone in the war room. However, launching an attack on the Japanese army and cutting off and annihilating the 11th Division of the Japanese Army is a major military secret, and once it is eavesdropped by the Japanese reconnaissance personnel, the consequences will be unimaginable, not only will it not be able to achieve the operational goal of annihilating the 11th Division of the Japanese Army, but it may even threaten the security of the 187th Division and the ** Brigade that are interspersed.

For reasons of secrecy, the matter had to be contacted by telegram.

"And." Zhang Zhizhong turned to Zhu Guangda.

"Tomorrow, I hope that the Central Army Air Force will also participate in the war and support our ground forces. Therefore, I also ask Chief of Staff Zhu to contact the Hangzhou side immediately. ”

Zhu Guangda was very excited about the imminent counteroffensive and the target was still a whole Japanese division. However, as soon as he heard that the planes from Hangzhou were also coming to Shanghai to participate in the war, Zhu Guangda couldn't help but feel a little embarrassed.

Zhu Guangda's attitude made Jiang Guangyan couldn't help but be angry, and said coldly: "The planes of the Fourth Route Army can participate in the war, could it be that the air force of the Central Army is hiding in Hangzhou to watch the excitement?" ”

"No, no."

Seeing that Jiang Guangyao's tone was not good, Zhu Guangda hurriedly shook his hand in a panic. Then he looked at Xingda for help.

Xingda hurriedly explained to Jiang Guangda and relieved Zhu Guangda.

"Commander-in-chief, that's right. There are now only a dozen fighters left in the Central Army, if they act alone. Don't take any advantage. It will not be of any help to the ground troops, and I have already discussed with Major Zhu that after taking our planes of the Fourth Route Army to destroy most of the Japanese fighters, the planes of the Central Army in Hangzhou will rush to Shanghai to participate in the battle. The performance of the seven bombers of the Central Army was quite good. Strong support will be provided to the ground forces. ”

After listening to Gao Xingda's explanation, Jiang Guangyang reluctantly nodded. But. The face is still ugly.

Zhu Guangda hurriedly followed Xingda out to generate electricity as if he had received amnesty.

Soon, Xingda and Zhu Guangda returned to the war room in high spirits.

"Commander-in-chief. Commander Zhang. Chief of Staff Gao replied that in view of the advance of the general offensive and the critical situation in Loutang, the air force of the Fourth Route Army would take immediate action, and the first batch of planes was estimated to arrive over Loutang in 20 minutes. ”

"20 minutes?"

Hearing that Gao Zhihang agreed to send planes to support, Jiang Guangyang and Zhang Zhizhong were very happy. However, it will fly over in 20 minutes, which is still a bit unbelievable to the two. Changshu is about 50 kilometers away from Loutang in a straight line. At the current speed of the plane, how can it fly for more than ten minutes, and this is not counting the preparation time before takeoff.

Seeing the two of them looking surprised, Xingda said with some pride: "Our Jian-2 fighter built by Taiyuan itself has reached a speed of 380 kilometers per hour, which is the fastest flying in the world now. ”

Taiyuan built it himself, and it is also the fastest flying fighter in the world, which surprised everyone, including Zhu Guangda.

"All made by yourself? The engine too? Zhang Zhizhong asked with some disbelieving.

He had only heard that the arsenal in Yan Xishan in Taiyuan could assemble aircraft, although Mawei could also build airplanes in the past, but the performance did not seem to be very good, and the engines were all imported. …,

Gao Xingda said with a smile: "We all built it ourselves, not only the engine, but even the 20mm machine gun installed on our plane is made by Taiyuan itself." ”

"Can you be sure that you said that J-2 is the fastest in the world?" Zhu Guangda asked with some disbelieving.

"Absolutely."

Gao Xingda said proudly: "Let's put it this way, in addition to Lao Maozi, the main technical data of the latest aircraft equipped by the air forces of Britain, the United States, France, Germany, Italy, including little Japan, will be available to our headquarters within three months, and these things can be obtained from the aviation data published abroad." There is no aircraft in the world that can reach speeds of more than 350 kilometers per hour. Little Japan's Nakajima is the fastest flying in Japan, but its speed is only 239 kilometers, which is 111 kilometers slower than our J-2. In addition, the ultimate altitude of our J-2 has reached more than 10,000 meters, and now only a few British and American planes in the world can reach this altitude......"

Zhang Zhizhong made Xingda excited, and called a staff officer.

"Let's go find a few goggles, put them all on the roof, and we're going to see with our own eyes how our own planes hit little Japan."

Zhang Zhizhong, Jiang Guangmao, Gao Xingda, and Zhu Guangda followed the ladder set up by the guards to the roof, where four artillery observation scopes had already been set up.

It is only a few kilometers away from Loutang, although because of the topography, you can't see the situation on the ground in Loutang, but you can still see the unscrupulous Japanese planes in the sky very clearly, and you can even vaguely distinguish the yellow-green livery of the Japanese planes. At this moment, 12 larger Japanese Type 13 carrier-based attack planes and 12 smaller Nakajima fighters were wantonly bombarding the squadron on the ground. These 20 or so Japanese biplanes were busy sometimes diving, bombing, and strafing, sometimes hovering at low altitudes in search of targets.

"Here we go! Our plane is coming! ”

Xingda shouted excitedly: "Look, ten o'clock." ”

Zhang Zhizhong, Jiang Guangjiao, and Zhu Guangda hurriedly turned their respective observation glasses in the direction of ten o'clock.

Sure enough, they soon found that twelve blue-gray painted monoplanes flew out of the clouds high in the northeast sky, and because of the color, these twelve planes were relatively blurred, and only vague outlines could be seen against the blue sky. However, the speed of these planes was significantly faster than that of the Japanese planes.

After flying out of the clouds, the twelve planes of the Fourth Route Army quickly found their target and began to dive towards the Japanese group. It was only then that the Japanese planes spotted the swarm approaching and hurriedly began to scatter and disperse, preparing to climb in order to occupy a favorable position.

However, it was too late, and the planes that swooped down from the high altitude quickly bit one enemy plane after another and gave chase after them, and in just one round, two enemy planes emitted black smoke and rushed to the ground crookedly.

Judging from the pursuit process between the two sides, the planes of the Fourth Route Army had a clear advantage, and they were far better than the Japanese Nakajima fighters in terms of speed and flexibility.

"Good! Well played! Jiang Guangmo shouted excitedly.

Zhang Zhizhong's eyes were close to the observation glass, and he excitedly asked Gao Xingda loudly: "High school, the planes we built ourselves are too good, but there are fewer of them this time, and if there are a few more, those attack planes of the Japanese army will definitely not be able to escape."

From the observation glass, it can be seen that taking advantage of the opportunity of the planes of the Fourth Route Army busy chasing the Japanese fighters of Nakajima, the Japanese Army's Type 13 attack planes fled south one after another.

Jiang Guangji also asked anxiously: "High school, how many of these planes have you come this time?" ”

Gao Xingda was a pilot from the Northeast Army, and when he saw his comrades-in-arms fighting in the air, he was a little frustrated that he could not fly into the sky to attack the Japanese planes. …,

"Report to the commander-in-chief and Commander Zhang, we have thirty-eight Jian-2 planes this time."

"It's only thirty-eight!"

Gao Xingda's answer made Jiang Guangmo a little disappointed.

Xingda said with some regret: "This is already all of our J-2." Although we can build this kind of aircraft with advanced performance, our production capacity is limited, and now we can only produce ten planes per month, and these Jian-2 were originally used to deal with Lao Maozi, but they were all transferred from Baotou by Commander-in-Chief Song. ”

"However, please rest assured that the commander-in-chief and the commander of the army have also flown eight unicorns, also monoplanes, and thirty biplane Newburg-28s. In addition, there are 72 old biplanes of our own modification, as well as 38 bombers and 10 reconnaissance planes, also of our own construction, for a total of 166 aircraft. That's pretty much all the planes we've been able to sort. Because this has affected the daily training of the Air Force, Deputy Commander Mike also quarreled with our commander-in-chief. ”

"166!"

Gao Xingda's words surprised both Jiang Guangding and Zhang Zhizhong.

"Good! Attaboy! Fighting little devils, this Song Zhewu is really willing to spend money, and he is really a model for my generation of soldiers. Jiang Guangding couldn't help but be amazed.

Listening to Xingda's Northeast dialect, Zhang Zhizhong asked Xingda: "Are you from the Northeast?" It's Han Qing's troops. ”

At the mention of Zhang Xueliang, Xingda couldn't help blushing a little.

"Report to Commander Zhang, I was originally from the Northeast Army Air Force. After 18 years, I joined the Fourth Route Army along with the vast majority of our Air Force pilots. ”

Jiang Guangding was not in the mood to ask Xingda's resume, so he hurriedly asked Xingda: "Since we have so many planes, why are there only so many planes, and if there are more, those attack planes of Little Japan will not be able to run." ”

Jiang Guangding's questioning made it difficult for Xingda to answer. As an operational staff officer, Gao Xingda knew that Gao Zhihang's target was a Japanese aircraft carrier, and he just wanted to lure Japanese fighters as much as possible when the ground forces began to encircle and annihilate the Japanese army, first destroy the Japanese escort fighters, and then attack the Japanese aircraft carriers. But as a staff officer, he has no right to reveal it to Jiang Guangding.

Zhang Zhizhong had heard some from Chiang Kai-shek, but he was not good at explaining it to Chiang Guangding now.

Zhang Zhizhong had no choice but to smile and say: "Brother Jingran, just these dozen planes, it will make the little devils fart and pee, and there will be more, if the little devil's planes dare not come, then Wenge's planes will not come to Shanghai in vain." ”

Jiang Guangding, who was in a very good mood, couldn't help but laugh out loud when he heard Zhang Zhizhong's words.

"The little devil's plane is gone!" Zhu Guangda, who had been lying on the observation mirror, shouted at this time.