The sky was completely bright, the hangars, gas stations, pilots' quarters, runways and other facilities of Jianqiao Airport were bathed in the glow of the rising sun, the planes on the tarmac were covered with heavy rain cloths, the entire airport was surrounded by barbed wire, and soldiers with loaded ammunition and guns walked around.

The convoy pulled into the airport and stopped in front of the terminal.

Wu Ming, who was sitting in the first car, was the first to get out of the car and couldn't help but walk towards the runway, where several planes happened to be driven out of the hangar, and the mechanics were overhauling.

The soldiers patrolling nearby were nervous when they saw Wu Ming with an unfamiliar face, and they didn't relax until Zhou Zhirou and other air force generals also got out of the car.

The huge bodies of the HFL09 fighter and the 87 bomber shone brightly under the rising sun. Wu Ming has already seen the photos of the two fighters in aviation magazines, and now he still has a stunning feeling when he looks at them closely, and the metallic luster of the fuselages of the two fighters is full of soul-grabbing atmosphere, highlighting the incomparable magic of the great industrial era.

Seeing Wu Ming's admiring eyes, Zhou Zhirou was very proud, strode forward, pulled Wu Ming to one of the 87 bombers, and took Wu Ming to the wheelhouse with the left wing.

Wu Ming had an indescribable excitement, although he had taken a plane many times when he was on a business trip in his previous life, it was the first time he had taken a fighter plane. It's a pity, if China can be unified in the Xinhai year, it will not be difficult to produce such a fighter after more than 20 years of construction.

Wu Ming turned around and asked Zhou Zhirou, who was sitting in the back seat: "Brother, the plane has been bought, has the pilot been trained?" The planes made by the Germans were very advanced, and if they played well, they could fight two against one or even three with one."

Hearing Wu Ming's question, the pride on Zhou Zhirou's face was gone, and a sigh revealed a faint worry:

"Brother Xian, to tell you the truth, the performance of these two new fighters is indeed excellent, but the requirements for pilots are also very high...... It has been less than a month since our air force took over the fighters, and it has been less than a week since the first batch was assembled, and we have not had much time to train...... So far, a total of 21 pilots have been able to fly fighter planes into the sky with relative proficiency, but it will take time for them to become combat effective. ”

Wu Ming felt a little cold in his heart when he heard this, but he was relieved when he thought that the construction of the Chinese Air Force had only been a few years.

In the autumn of the 20th year of the Republic of China, the Aviation School of the Ministry of Military Affairs was established in Nanjing, and in December of that year, the Aviation School was moved to Jianqiao, Hangzhou. In June of the following year, it was expanded and reorganized into the Central Aviation School, which was subordinate to the Aviation Administration of the Military Committee. In the two years that followed, although the aviation school trained more than 100 cadets, the construction of the air force has not been greatly developed due to limited funds.

Three years ago, Soong Meiling accompanied Chiang Kai-shek to inspect more than a dozen provinces in North China and Northwest China, and what she saw along the way was that people were in the wilderness, traffic was blocked, the roads were rotten and slippery, and on several occasions they were almost destroyed by cars and people died, and it was only from Lanzhou to Ningxia that they got on a plane. At the same time, through the January 28 Incident in Shanghai and the War of Resistance on the Great Wall, Chiang Kai-shek also felt that aviation was a symbol of national prestige and military prestige, so he began to vigorously develop the air force.

However, it is not easy to create an air force, and without specialized personnel who know aviation knowledge, everything has to start from scratch; fortunately, Soong Meiling is proficient in English, knows six Chinese, and has the experience of studying in the United States for 10 years, and is familiar with Western culture. Therefore, at her initiative and formally appointed by the National Government, Soong Meiling officially served as the secretary general of the Aviation Committee.

After Song Meiling took office, Zhou Zhirou was recommended by Chen Cheng to serve as the director of the Aviation Committee.

Zhou Zirou was a veteran of the civil engineering department, and he served as Soong Meiling's deputy and as the director of education of the Kuomintang Central Aviation School...... Wu Ming is more familiar with this experience than anyone else, and naturally understands Zhou Zhirou's difficulties.

So far, Jianqiao Central Aviation School has trained more than 500 pilots, but they are evenly distributed to Hangzhou, Nanjing, Nanchang, Guangde, Jurong, Guangzhou, Xi'an, Bengbu, Xuzhou, Hankou, Chongqing and other places, which is already insufficient.

Wu Ming frowned: "Is there no other way?" ”

Zhou Zirou shook his head: "I've thought of everything, but no one really ......."

Wu Ming thought for a while and suggested: "Brother, if no one pilots it, would it be better to send these new planes back to the rear?" Jianqiao Airport is too close to the coast, once the battle between Songhu and the Japanese fleet approaches Hangzhou Bay, it can send carrier-based aircraft on aircraft carriers to surprise attack Jianqiao Airport."

Zhou Ziju said: "This is the reason why I strongly advocate the construction of Quzhou Airport, once the war in Shanghai starts, a large number of temporarily unusable fighters will be transferred to Nanchang and Quzhou airports, and the rest are aircraft that can be immediately put into battle, of course, including some Hfl09 fighters and 87 bombers." ”

Wu Ming's eyes lit up, and he patted Zhou Zhirou's hand: "Brother, when the time comes, if the brother is desperate on the front line, looking for you to support you, you can't die without help."

Zhou Zhirou patted her chest and said happily: "As long as you send a telegram, I will definitely give you support"

Wu Ming nodded happily. With his relationship with Zhou Zhirou, as long as there is still a fighter plane in the Air Force that can move, presumably Zhou Zhirou will not ignore his request for help.

After having lunch at Jianqiao Airport, Wu Ming met with ace pilots such as Gao Zhihang, Li Guidan, Liu Cuigang, and Le Yiqin in the afternoon, and presented small gifts such as nail clippers, instant noodles, and ham sausages to the somewhat restrained pilots, and then asked Zhou Zhirou to say goodbye.

At four o'clock in the afternoon, a special train full of officers and men of the New Second Division was launched at Hangzhou East Railway Station and headed for Jiaxing.

Jiaxing is the railway, highway and waterway transportation hub to Shanghai, the last time Wu Ming inspected the Jiangsu and Zhejiang defense line first stop is Jiaxing, this time according to the order of the Military Committee and the General Staff Headquarters, Wu Ming led the new second division to be stationed in Pinghu in the south of Jiaxing, waiting for orders to support Shanghai at any time.

To the southeast of Jiaxing, the first line from Daqiao Town to Zhapu is currently the station of the four regiments of the supplementary brigade led by Long Shaogang and Yin Dizhong. With the gradual completion of the defense fortifications in Zhajia, the four regiments were concentrated on the line from Xinfeng Town in the northwest of Pinghu to Xiaoqiaotou in the south, and the three battalions of the engineer regiment directly under the division built six barracks here.

Getting off the train at the Jiaxing Railway Station on the north shore of Nanhu Lake, Wu Ming saw Long Shaogang, Yin Di and others who were greeted outside at a glance, and Fang Zhibin, the outgoing deputy chief of staff, fell behind.

When Long Shaogang, a man with five big and three thick eyes, saw Wu Ming, his eyes were red, and he held Wu Ming's hand heavily after saluting, and he was so excited that he couldn't speak.

Fang Zhibin has already received an order, and after joining up with the new Second Division, he will return to the secret service to serve as the colonel deputy head of the Shanghai Intelligence Station, that is, Shen Zui's deputy, and Chiang Ching-kuo officially assumed the post of deputy chief of staff of the New Second Division.

Wu Ming held Fang Zhibin's hand: "I have wronged Brother Fang in the past few months, but I have always been right about things and not people, I believe we will meet again in the future."

Fang Zhibin smiled bitterly and shook his head: "Master, I know that you don't want me to disrupt the preparations for the new Second Division, even Director Dai has hit a wall with you, not to mention that I now have Jiang Dagongzi to help you, I estimate that in the future, the Military Committee and the Ministry of Military Affairs will no longer indiscriminately stuff people with the New Second Division."

"I hope so"

Wu Ming nodded, and said: "Brother Fang, I won't say much polite words, you just need to remember one sentence, no matter where you go in the future, the new second division is your maiden home, if you need help, just ask, I will definitely try my best to satisfy."

"Xie Lu Xie Shi Seat"

Fang Zhibin saluted Wu Ming solemnly, turned around and walked to his car.

Long Shaogang stood beside Wu Ming, looking at the Dodge car that was gradually moving away, and a smile appeared on the corner of his mouth: "Deputy Chief of Staff Fang is finally leaving, I guess I am very unwilling...... After staying in our new second division for half a year, I was originally ambitious to build the political training department to the battalion and company level, but I didn't expect to achieve nothing in the end."

Wu Ming asked with a smile: "He didn't think about realizing his ambition in the supplementary brigade?" ”

"I mentioned it, but I sternly refused"

Long Shaogang said: "It's already very tiring to build fortifications every day, plus we have to ensure that the training does not fall behind, our officers and soldiers are already overloaded, where is the spirit to listen to his nonsense?" He mentioned it to me four or five times, and when he saw that I never let go, I had no choice but to give up."

Wu Ming repeatedly praised Long Shaogang for his proper response and did not let Fang Zhibin succeed, otherwise it is estimated that the supplementary brigade would have been in a miasma at this time.

Long Shaogang, hey, hey, straight. Although he had only seen Wu Ming for a few months, Long Shaogang had been listening to the news every day since the Phoenix Radio Station was launched, and he was sincerely happy that Wu Ming led the new Second Division to defeat three times the enemy in the Yushan exercise.

On the night of the end of the exercise, Long Shaogang specially ordered pigs to be slaughtered and sheep to be slaughtered, and all the officers and men of the brigade added vegetables to celebrate the victory of the new Second Division in the form of "tooth sacrifice."

Yin Dizhong came back from Yushan, and Long Shaogang specially asked Yin Dizhong to learn about the situation of the exercise, and he was rarely drunk that night. Since then, Long Shaogang has not dared to slack off, and while seizing the time to build national defense fortifications, he has also carried out large-scale military training. Thanks to the intensive training at the expense of losses, basically every officer and soldier was able to fire 50 rounds of ammunition in a week, and his marksmanship improved rapidly.

Told Luo Yuming and Yang Si to stay and sort out the troops first, and after the assembly was completed, they marched to the camp, and Wu Ming, accompanied by Long Shaogang and Yin Dizhong, rushed to the Pinghu area in advance.