Move your eyes to Hubei ().

When the guns were in full swing more than a thousand kilometers away, the young Xue Muhua (a cameo from a book friend) sat in the Curtiss racing machine and kept looking out.

His father was a native of Zhangzhou, Fujian, and his well-to-do grandfather sent him to study in France, where he met his mother, a beautiful Hungarian girl, who was struggling to survive.

He learned to fly by chance, and quickly became obsessed with the feeling of flying freely, even after the outbreak of the Italian-Turkish War last year, when the Ottoman Empire openly recruited volunteer pilots in newspapers, he wanted to go and sign up. He was not a big fan of the Ottoman Empire, and just wanted to get a chance to fly for a long time without money.

Later, due to various reasons, he could not make the trip, and just when he was depressed, Zhi Gongtang, who was very famous in the Chinese circle in the United States, suddenly came to him and said that China had also begun to form a flight team and needed experienced pilots. He was skeptical until he was dragged to pick out the plane, met another pilot and dozens of mechanics, and bought fifteen expensive Curtiss racing planes in one go, and then he said goodbye to his parents and set out on the road back to China.

He returned, met Yang Qiu, the commander of the Wehrmacht who was younger than him, and was offered a flight job that was the envy of his American counterparts. Half a year ago, when the towering Wuxia moat swept under his wings, he arrived at the Southwest Aviation School on the outskirts of Chongqing, and was officially awarded the number of the Wehrmacht Flying Team.

The wish to fly freely without money was finally realized, but he was soon depressed again, because for half a year, except for occasionally helping the railway company survey the terrain, the flight team had been training in addition to training. There are more than 20 pilots, and they get a salary that makes the army blush every month, but they have nothing to do, which makes everyone very depressed.

I went to find Feng Ru several times, but that guy is not going to heaven now, and he took dozens of mechanical experts and a dozen Austro-Hungarian mechanical engineers to live a semi-secluded life, saying that he would break through the engine limitations within three years and develop a super aircraft comparable to Europe. The super plane has not yet been seen, and the flying team is already moldy.

Everyone who has nothing to do can only focus on flying. This also led to three accidents caused by long-term engine wear and tear, and the loss of three planes and pilots, but fortunately, the young commander did not seem to care about the loss, but purchased a second batch of 80 units from Germany, which had the best engine technology. The aviation school itself imitated this racing machine according to the drawings.

This time, he was invited by the Hubei government to fly with a partner to cooperate with the government to survey the Hanyang-Xiangyang highway to be built, just as he was getting bored with the mountains and woods. A phone call turned him up.

An enemy is coming!

A Beiyang Army, said to be the best in the country, is trying to break the peace, and the army needs the help of flying teams to find out where they are.

The sky was already very cold in November, even with leather jackets and hats and windproof goggles, the wind still froze the body stiff, of course, this was not the most annoying, but the infuriating thing was to fly the number one racing plane in Europe, and after flying for two days, it was said that there were 3,000 troops. What a shame!

He slowly deflected some wings to the left, and in five minutes he should have entered the Henan territory. It is not a defense area of the Wehrmacht, but it doesn't matter, the commander said that the current Chinese sky belongs to the flying team!

A translucent river under the wings. In front of it is Shinno, a city that my father said was very famous.

Just as he was about to fly over Shinno Castle to take a look, a long gray line on the riverside suddenly jumped into view. Although the survey flight was very boring, it allowed him to practice how to distinguish ground targets, and the long wriggling gray was definitely not a caterpillar, so he immediately pressed the nose of the plane, quickly descended to a height of 200 meters, and flew towards the gray line.

Wu Peifu on the ground had already discovered Xue Muhua. He was also a little surprised when he saw the plane for the first time, although he heard that there was an overseas Chinese flying team in Shanghai. The Japanese elite artillery was also equipped with observation aircraft, but it was really surprising that there were planes in Yangqiu, Hubei.

The hum of the engine made the crotch of the war horse very uneasy. The soldiers' eyes widened even more, curiously watching this "big eagle" pass over and over again, and even the "piercing Peng" was surprised, pointing to the Curtis racing machine in the sky and asking, "Ziyu, this is the plane?" ”

Wu Peifu's face gradually became solemn, it doesn't matter what it is, the important thing is that he was discovered! "Shoot it away, the others will all run forward, and they must rush to Xiangyang City in an hour!"

A few brave soldiers raised their guns and snapped, although the wood and canvas are very resistant to bullets, 200 meters is enough to drill dozens of holes, but this thing is a racing machine after all, and Xue Muhua saw the soldiers raising their guns and expected that something bad would happen, so he took a step early and stepped on the accelerator to Xiangyang City in the south (the early plane is stepping on the accelerator) and rushed away ().

When he flew over Xiangyang City, not only was he not happy, but something went wrong. Xiangyang is an important place in the Central Plains and is known for its fertile land, the city has a large population, and when I saw a big buzzing bird flying overhead, it suddenly exploded as if it had exploded.

Stationed in Xiangyang was the 42nd Regiment, and the 27-year-old regiment commander Han Yong was a classmate of Shi Xiaolou, the commander of the Fourth Division. When he saw that the plane was finally not as nervous as ordinary people, he laughed at the soldier a few times: "Stupid, panic, that's our plane." ”

My own people are always at ease, but the problem comes again. Xue Muhua danced with his hands, shook his wings, and swung his tail in circles, but the group of big-headed soldiers below didn't understand what they meant at all, and they frequently waved to him and cheered.

Because it was a temporary task, he forgot to bring the airdrop bamboo tube specially used to deliver the message, but there were a few pieces of white paper, but the bamboo tube was still like this, and he didn't know where it would go. The reconnaissance news can't be delivered, this is either fate, seeing that there will be a while when Beiyang kills over, if you miss a big thing and you are scolded is a small matter, God knows if the commander will be angry and remove the flight team that eats and does not do anything, so he simply gritted his teeth and chose a fairly smooth yellow mud road outside the city to force the landing.

The landing was not smooth, and the yellow mud road that looked smooth was actually potholed and bumpy. Seeing that the wheels were about to stop, a large crater suddenly appeared, and the nose of the machine was planted suddenly.

"Fack! No wonder the provincial government wants to build roads. The army soldiers who arrived stupidly watched the American-style national curse, and Xue Muhua, who mixed English and Chinese, climbed out of the plane with smoke from the nose, and didn't know whether to go up to help lift the two-winged wooden bird, or to salute first (he was a warrant officer rank).

At this time, Han Yong also rode to the "accident scene", and when he saw the damage to the plane, he scolded in distress: "What are you doing in a daze?" Drag it out! Go to the city and find some old carpenters to see if they can fix it. ”

"Okay (). I'll do it myself. Hearing that he was actually looking for a carpenter, Xue Muhua didn't bother to talk to these big-headed soldiers, and said, "Major, you should prepare for battle!" I found a Beiyang army forty miles north of Xiangyang City. It should have crossed the provincial border by now, and there are quite a few people, which should be what the command said. "He's not done yet. Han Yong, who had a mustache, had already jumped up excitedly: "Beiyang! I knew that I was going to Lao Tzu! What the are you doing? Haven't you seen a plane and get ready to fight! ”

When the war was about to start, Han Yong and the soldiers all ran away, and Xue Muhua realized that he had left himself alone in the field! was so angry that he stomped his feet: "Fake, I'm Fak, you, you should leave two people to help me pull it out!" ”

By the time Xue Muhua finally found a horse to help him pull out the plane and enter Xiangyang City, the city streets were empty. The National Guard battalion stationed here is going door-to-door, asking everyone not to go out as much as possible. An hour later, sporadic gunshots were the first to fire from Xiaoguling outside the north gate, because this is the highest point around Xiangyang City, and the geographical location is very important. So the battle is all concentrated here.

At four o'clock in the afternoon, the first batch of artillery shells fell to Xiaoguling, and 12 75-mm field guns per day bombarded the hilltop position at a constant rate of five pieces per minute.

Because the elite artillery regiment of the division has been deployed at Wusheng Pass to guard against Beiyang. The production of mortars was not large, and the supply of the fifth division was given priority, so the 42nd regiment had only 2 75-mm imitation Krupp field guns and 6 57-mm mountain guns. It was very suppressed in artillery.

Fortunately, the 42nd Regiment was not an ordinary unit, and most of the soldiers were accustomed to fighting without an advantage in artillery from the bloody battle of Wushengguan. Xiaoguling is also a key area, and the fortifications are relatively solid.

Wu Peifu looked calm, not as impatient as other Beiyang generals, after experiencing the Russo-Japanese War, he knew very well what it meant to have enough artillery coverage, so after suppressing the enemy artillery, he still fought more than a dozen rounds before ordering the infantry to attack.

When the machine guns on both sides neighed wildly, several people in the Wuchang General Staff also worried about it. Yue Peng knew the combat effectiveness of the Second Division best: "Qin Zhangshu has received the news that it is not far from Guangshui to cross the past, and the vanguard of the 4th Brigade will arrive tomorrow morning at the latest." With the backing of Xiaoguling and Xiangyang City, and the cooperation of the National Guard Battalion, there will be no problem in the artillery to defend until tomorrow morning. His finger fell on Wusheng Pass: "Is this a precursor to a large-scale attack on Wusheng Pass?" ”

Xiao Anguo was also full of sadness: "The second division is deployed in parallel from Wushengguan to Xiangyang, the first division is stuck in Wuxue and Macheng, the 3rd brigade has also been transferred to Guangxi, and there are only five regular brigades in Hubei. The three National Guard regiments are all lightly armed troops, and the thousands of recruits I have trained in my hands are not of the best use, so should I draw back two brigades from the Fourth Division? ”

When everyone was about to continue talking, the staff officer suddenly pushed the door and crashed in: "Report, Wushengguan reported that it was bombarded by heavy artillery, judging from the explosive power of the shell, Brigade Commander Chu thinks it is likely to be a 150-mm field gun!" ”

"150 mm! Janissary artillery. ”

Tang Shaoyi immediately remembered that he had only been equipped with 150-mm Krupp field guns from the former Qing Janissary Guard. Obviously, at least some of them arrived in Xinyang! This news made him and Zhang Taiyan nervous, but Song Ziqing and other officers seemed to relax, pointed to Xinxian County, which was far away from Macheng, looked at Yue Peng and asked, "How is it?" ”

"There are only two regiments of the Wuwei Right Army in Xinxian County, and the 2nd Brigade stationed in Macheng is less than 70 kilometers away from them, and the mountain road cannot pass through the Krupp field artillery, but." Yue Peng smiled: "The 2nd Brigade has been equipped with 12 120mm mortars, as well as 36 80mm mortars, and all the good horses purchased from the north last month have also arrived, I will let them know what it means to rain bullets." ”

"Let's go, then." Song Ziqing glanced at Tang Shaoyi, saw that he didn't say anything, and said with a smile: "Since they used 150mm heavy artillery, then we don't have to be polite." Order the 2nd Brigade to set off immediately to defeat this Wuwei Right Army first, and add some more to the election! ”