Chapter 33: Expectation
The days were spent in Zhao Zhi and Rowling's leisure, and at the end of October, the fleet transporting Jewish refugees from the port of Marseille brought Zhao Zhi a gift from Göring: a Mercedes-Benz convertible. Mercedes-Benz sedan is a special honor that can only be enjoyed by senior generals and those in power in the German army, in the eyes of the proud and rigorous Germans, this Mercedes-Benz convertible is a symbol of status and status, and the Mercedes-Benz car given to Zhao Zhi by Goering is said to have been specially customized by Hitler personally to the Mercedes-Benz car factory for Zhao Zhi.
Cars and guns are the two hobbies that Zhao Zhi had in his previous life, and now there is another Rowling, as soon as the car sent by Goering arrives, Zhao Zhi has a new hobby, he likes to use the car to take Rowling around the world all day long. The reason why Zhao Zhi set the time of the great retreat in December was that he wanted to spend the New Year in China, and the other was that he wanted to drive this Mercedes-Benz car through the Yunnan-Burma Highway, and the rainy season that would end in October made Zhao Zhi have to postpone the retreat to December.
With Fairman's bank, Zhao Zhi amassed money much faster, and the monthly interest distribution made the Thunder Investment Bank overcrowded, and those toast heads who took a wait-and-see attitude looked at the other people counting the banknotes in their hands, and their hearts itched, so in the second month, the amount of deposits in the bank increased several times. Anyway, the banks lent to the Jews, so under the command of Zhao Zhi, Fairman used the bank deposits to buy a large amount of daily necessities and ship them to China to sell to the Jews, and the bank also made money when solving the problem of the shortage of Jewish materials.
The war material reserves were also going smoothly, and the convoys departing from the United States met the Japanese at sea several times, but the American flag hoisted on the mast still played their due role, and the Japanese naval ships never checked them, and for the time being, Japan had not yet made up its mind to turn against the United States. Martin, who regarded money as everything, worked tirelessly to travel between Miami and Yangon, sending a large number of weapons and ammunition to Zhao Zhi, and when he returned, he put a little on the whole ship of rare wood, and served the Lockman family and Zhao Zhi for a whole year, and Martin earned enough money in his hands to support his retirement for the rest of his life.
The final goal of Zhao Zhi's entire plan is the Korean Peninsula and Siberia, which have a long coastline, so getting to know a captain like Martin with rich sailing experience is only good for Zhao Zhi. "Where are we going today?" As soon as she got up early in the morning and sat at the dining table, Rowling was thinking about today's itinerary, and the wanderings over the past few days allowed Rowling to find a chance to be alone with Zhao Zhi, so the first thing she thought about when she opened her eyes every day was the itinerary of the day.
"Not today, the aircraft assembly factory called yesterday, I'm going to go there today, if you have nothing to do, go to Margaret for tea" Because of the relationship between Zhao Zhi and Capone, Rowling and Capone's wife Margaret became good friends, and when Zhao Zhi was busy, Rowling usually went to Margaret for tea and chat. Zhao Zhi and Capone did not object to the gathering between the wives, and sometimes deliberately created opportunities for them.
"Okay then" Rowling took a bite of the omelette a little sullenly, the meaning in Zhao Zhi's eyes was undoubtedly revealed, obviously she didn't want to take Rowling to the aircraft assembly factory, Rowling, who knew each other, knew when she could be coquettish and what to follow Zhao Zhi, when it came to business, Zhao Zhi didn't like to bargain the most. She is Zhao Zhi's woman, so naturally she should follow Zhao Zhi's wishes, in front of Ye Kong and them, Rowling must play an exemplary role, otherwise the mercenaries under Zhao Zhi will disobey him and will laugh at Zhao Zhi for not even being able to control his own woman.
Hastily filled his stomach, Zhao Zhi took Ye Kong away, the time was still half a month away from the day of the great retreat, and it was already known that the Japanese army was going to attack Burma, Zhao Zhi would not leave what he had worked hard to build to the Japanese, including the aircraft assembly plant and the bank, many things had to be moved to China, and the aircraft assembly plant, which was Zhao Zhi's highest expectation, was also ranked in the retreat plan, and was arranged in the first batch of retreat lists.
Thirty P-40 fighters were parked at the rudimentary airfield, and there were five P-40s being assembled in the hangar, and after the Germans completely occupied France, they changed their previous commitment to Zhao Zhi. The British and French planes that had fallen into the hands of the mercenary squad were forbidden to take to the skies. The Germans were imminent in the full-scale bombing of the British mainland, and they also lacked air power, and they exchanged a batch of captured British Hillman tanks for the use of these aircraft. Therefore, the 35 P-40s at the airport and the 10 P-40s that will arrive in Hong Kong this month will be all of Zhao Zhi's current air power.
"Zhao, see those P-40 fighters on the runway, they will become a nightmare for Japanese monkeys" Rabin, the airport director wearing round glasses and a face stained with oil, was very happy to see Zhao Zhi, this old man is a Jewish aircraft engineer brought back by Zhao Zhi from Germany, Rabin, who has seen the methods of the German army, is very grateful for Zhao Zhi's help, and he has been very dedicated since he came to this aircraft assembly plant. If it weren't for the limitations of tools and equipment, the old man would have really wanted to assemble the four B-29 bombers stored in the warehouse.
"Only the manpower and tools for assembling the P-40 fighter jets are kept, and the rest is packed up and ready to be relocated to China, you calculate how long it will take to get ready" The five P-40 fighters in the hangar are almost assembled. Time waits for no one, and the Japanese army will not postpone their offensive in Burma because of the aircraft assembly plant, so Zhao Zhi made a long story short and asked Rabin to calculate the time to prepare for the evacuation.
"A month, at least a month, we still have a lot of aircraft parts on hand that need to be repackaged, those P-40s on the runway also need to be lifted off for test flights, and the ten that are coming soon, we need at least another month to complete the relocation" Rabin knows the time when the fleet arrives at the port, and he also knows that the fleet that arrives at the port this time will bring 10 disassembled P-40s, so Rabin's statement that it takes half a month to prepare is still very reliable.
"Pilots and fuel can supply you at any time, you pack up those things that are not needed first, I will arrange a convoy to pull, time waits for no one, we move a little bit is a little bit, so as not to mess up when we get it" More than 60,000 Jewish soldiers and 200,000 Jewish refugees are rushing to repair the Yunnan-Burma highway that has become dilapidated because of the rainy season, and large road construction machinery from the United States is taking turns to fight, Zhao Zhi wants to rush to transport all the things he values and the 300,000 Jewish refugees stranded in Yangon in the next month, So he can't put all his energy on the aircraft assembly plant.
"Boss, you're here" George Lubo is the captain of Zhao Zhi's flying team, this guy who regards flying as his life never calls Mr., only likes to call Zhao Zhi the boss, and even the ruffian pilots under him also follow the boss's boss's blind shouting. When Zhao Zhi saw George Rubo, this guy was carrying some paint to paint on his car, perhaps because of the nature of the Americans, and the pilots under George Rubo loved it. The P-40 parked on the runway was painted by them with bells and whistles, including beautiful women and bald eagles, and Zhao Zhi also found that one of the P-40s actually had a dog's head painted on the wing.
Zhao Zhi touched the cold fuselage, and there was a little excitement in his heart, maybe it was the natural adventurous character of men, Zhao Zhi was also interested in flying, but he flew the famous Apache helicopter in his previous life, this kind of old-fashioned P-40 for him, Zhao Zhi really didn't have the courage to sit in the cockpit. "What about these planes? I mean performance" Zhao Zhi asked in a low voice, George Rubo is as familiar with the plane as he is familiar with his own body, Zhao Zhi wants to know the situation of this batch of aircraft, the best person is to ask George Rubo.
"Very good, better than any of the planes I've flown before, but we still need to test their maximum speed and lift limits, as well as some operational tests of aerial evasive maneuvers," George Rubo put the last touch on his wing, and began to admire his masterpiece in his pipe, a green cactus. Giorgio Rubo, who had lived in Mexico for several years, had an unusual love for cacti, so he painted a cactus on the wing of his car.
Zhao Zhi spent a whole day in the aircraft assembly plant, and George Rubo and his ruffians demonstrated a P-40 fighter for Zhao Zhi, and George Rubo also gave Zhao Zhi a suggestion. Anyway, the airport belonging to Thunder on the outskirts of Kunming has also been built, and George Rubo is already tired of staying in Yangon, and George Rubo, who is eager to fight with Little Japan, wants to fly to Kunming for a spin, and 35 P-40 fighters are enough to fight with the Japanese army.
"No, George, it's not time yet, it's just 35 fighters, the strength is a little weak, I'm sure after Christmas, you'll get more planes" Zhao Zhi patted George Rubo on the shoulder. According to the agreement between him and the German High Command, after Christmas, the German army will have a batch of fighters and transport planes handed over to Zhao Zhi, and the large bombers will not be handed over to Zhao Zhi until the British surrender, and the German army cannot weaken its bombing capabilities before the British surrender.
After carefully analyzing the information sent by Goering, Zhao Zhi came to a conclusion that as long as the United States did not help, Britain would not last long. In the German army's upcoming all-out offensive plan, the German army will gather more than 30 divisions of elite troops to sweep through the British mainland, for the time being, if the British still want to defend the homeland with all their might, once the German navy completes the encirclement of the British mainland, what awaits them is only surrender or death. Zhao Zhi looked forward to the defeat of the British, only in this way could he get the planes and ships he wanted from the Germans, and without the cooperation of air power, Zhao Zhi's plans for Siberia and Korea would come to naught.