Episode 6 Skywalk

The world map was spread out on the table, and Xiang Xiaoqiang's finger slid on the map, slowly crossing half the world, moving from the north to France, and said in a deep voice:

"From here to here, it takes half a month to take a single boat ride at the earliest, right?"

Qiu Yu nodded:

"Yes, the last time we went to Germany, wasn't it half a month? The average speed of the boat is still 30 knots, and it won the red ribbon award. ”

Xiang Xiaoqiang nodded and said:

"Well, good. What if you fly? ”

Several people were stunned.

Qiu Yun looked at him and said with a smile:

"Xiaoqiang, are you kidding?"

Not only Qiuyu, but even Xiuxiu, Fourteen Gege, and several people from Dongchang looked at him with strange expressions, as if they were looking at aliens.

Xiang Xiaoqiang also knows that there is no concept of "international routes" in this era. And even if there were, it was referring to sea routes. At this time, the civil aviation industry was just getting started, and there were only a few important mail flights, or small planes played by the rich, flying clubs, etc. The air passenger transport industry, like that of later generations, has not yet developed. Generally, those who fly by plane are military and political dignitaries like them, and even if they occasionally fly to foreign countries, they are all neighboring countries, such as flying from Daming to Siam and India, and it is not the norm.

As for Xiang Xiaoqiang's "flying from Daming to France", it is completely fantastical in this era. At this time, the range of a large plane is one or two thousand kilometers, and how many times do you have to land in the middle of a half-circle around the earth. Without a well-established international flight system, it is easier said than done.

But that's exactly what Xiang Xiaoqiang is trying to achieve. He pointed to the map and said:

"We have a good relationship with France, right?"

Deputy Director Zhang of the East Factory looked at everyone, nodded and said:

"Yes yes, yes, but ...... It depends on what happens. ”

Xiang Xiaoqiang asked:

"It's not a big problem to borrow a transport plane from them, right?"

Deputy Director Zhang hesitated for a moment, nodded and said:

"It should be fine. - If it's a military transport aircraft, it might be a little more troublesome. ”

Xiang Xiaoqiang says:

"If you don't need a military, it's just a general civilian mail plane, and you can have a larger range."

"That should be fine."

"Okay," Xiang continued, "we have a better relationship with Britain than with France, right?" ”

"Well, you can say that, so you can say."

"Then it shouldn't be a big problem for us to say hello to them and let our civilian planes land, refuel, and eat in their overseas colonies or spheres of influence, right?"

Deputy Director Zhang looked at everyone, and at this time, everyone guessed what Xiang Xiaoqiang's calculations were. Deputy Director Zhang frowned, always feeling that this matter was not so easy. He hesitated and said:

"This ...... It's not impossible in theory, after all, it's not a big deal...... But...... Lord, you mean, we borrowed a transport plane from France, took the blueprint, and just crossed half of the Eurasian continent and flew all the way back, right? ”

"Yes."

"Where are you going to land the plane along the way for refueling?"

Xiang Xiaoqiang asked:

"What kind of mail transport plane is in France? How far is the voyage? ”

Deputy Director Zhang said skillfully:

"Like us, it's also an American DC-3, is the range...... More than 2,000 kilometers is no problem. ”

"Okay," Xiang Xiaoqiang bowed his head and pointed to the map, "first take off from Paris, cross the Mediterranean, and land in Tu-Ni-S." Turn-nis-s is French territory, right? It then flew east from Tu-Ni-S, across the North African continent, and landed in Cairo. Egypt is British territory, right? After filling up the tank in Egypt, it flies eastward, across the Arabian Peninsula, in the UAE...... No, it shouldn't be UAE yet...... Ahem, what is this place called? ”

He pointed to what would later be called the "United Arab Emirates" and looked up and smiled.

Deputy Director Zhang looked at the map and said:

"There are seven emirates in this area, Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Sharjah, Ras Al Khaimah, Fergera, um Al Quwain, and Akiman, all of which are British protectorates."

"Well, which country has an airport?"

Deputy Director Zhang thought for a moment and said:

"Abu Dhabi, Dubai, these two are the first and second largest emirates, there should be airports. Abu Dhabi definitely has. ”

"Good, then land in Abu Dhabi. After eating and drinking enough to fill up with fuel, it flies east across the Arabian Sea and lands in Mumbai on the west coast of India. India, of course, is British territory, and a place as big as Mumbai must also have an airport. ”

"Well, there should be. Even if you don't, there must be somewhere nearby. ”

Xiang Xiaoqiang was very satisfied and said with a smile:

"It then took off from Mumbai and crossed the entire Indian subcontinent to land in Kolkata, on the east coast of India. After eating and drinking enough fuel, it takes off from Kolkata and crosses the Bay of Bengal to find a place on the Indochina Peninsula to land. You see, there are so many places to choose from. Burma to the west is British territory, Indochina to the east is French territory, Siam is our territory in the middle, and we also have military bases, which is more convenient. ”

Qiu Qiu's eyes were very sharp, and he directly pointed with his hand and said:

"It's better to land directly in Kunming, the longitude is about the same, what are you going to do in the south."

Xiang Xiaoqiang smiled:

"That's right, Qiu Yun is right, you can fly directly to Kunming. Then fly from Kunming to Lanzhou, and then fly from Lanzhou to Dihua...... Ah, isn't this just flying all the way back? What's unrealistic? It's realistic! …… Xiuxiu, Qiuqiu, you two do the math, see which section of the road has a distance of more than 2,000 kilometers, and then calculate how long the total flight will be and how many hours it will take. ”

……

Xiang Xiaoqiang waved his finger like this, and although everyone thought it was incredible, it sounded like the head was the way. At least I can't think of anything I can't do for a while. Indeed, it is not difficult to borrow a plane. It is also reasonable and not difficult to let the planes of friendly countries land and refuel in overseas colonies...... In this way, it is really realistic to fly directly from Europe to Daming by plane. The point is that the route is the territory of friendly countries, and there is no need to fly over the Soviet-controlled zone, which is very safe.

Qiu Yu and Xiuxiu took the compass, the triangle and the abacus, and lay on the map for a while to calculate, and soon reported the results. None of the voyages exceeded 1,800 kilometers and were all within safe range. The whole journey is about 13,000 kilometers, and at the DC-3's cruising speed of 260 kilometers per hour, it theoretically takes 50 hours to fly.

"50 hours," the light of excitement shone into Xiaoqiang's eyes, "that is, a little more than two days." Counting the time to land, refuel, and eat, and then counting the time spent flying during the day and sleeping for two nights, that is four days at most. ”

Qiu Yu was also excited:

"It takes 26 days less than a boat ride!"

Deputy Director Zhang smiled bitterly:

"Lord Wang, this is not counting the time of the trek. This is not counting the time we have spent communicating and coordinating with Britain and France through diplomatic channels, as well as the time for Britain and France to arrange and coordinate with overseas military bases and airports. ”

Fourteen Gege seems to be quite supportive of this idea. She laughed:

"Deputy Director Zhang, as far as I know, the problem of lost navigation can be solved by radio navigation. It is to let the various airports along the route send a fixed radio signal for our aircraft to constantly correct the course. Of course, all of this requires coordination. However, isn't this the time when Dongchang and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs need to play an efficient role? Hehe, as long as the whole process is controlled within a week. ”

Deputy Director Zhang stared at the map, thought about it for a while, nodded and said:

"Do your best......"

Then, he hurriedly retired and went to send a telegram to the factory supervisor in Nanjing, asking for coordination with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Fourteen Gege approached Xiang Xiaoqiang and said in a low voice:

"If you really want to do this, it's best to talk to Your Majesty, and let Your Majesty put some pressure on the Foreign Secretary, so that they don't procrastinate."

Xiang Xiaoqiang nodded and said:

"You're right, I'll go tell her."

……

Sure enough, when Zhu Yourong heard this, he was also very supportive of this idea, and immediately sent an "edict" to the foreign minister, urging him to arrange for the ambassadors and military attachés to Britain and France to deal with this matter as soon as possible.

Now that the problem of borrowing blueprints from France has been solved, the next problem is to plan the operation itself.

Here are three of the most critical issues to solve:

First, how many troops did the commandos send?

Second, how do I get into the target area?

Thirdly, how to evacuate the target area?

A large blackboard was hung in the conference room where the action was planned, and these three questions were written on the blackboard by Xiang Xiaoqiang.

After Xiang Xiaoqiang finished writing, he threw the chalk head, patted the chalk end on his hand, and said:

Actually, these three issues are interrelated. The number of troops that need to be projected directly determines the way we do it. And what kind of delivery method we adopt directly determines how many troops we can deliver. How many troops we need to send depends on how many troops the Soviets are stationed there. At the very least, we can't be too disadvantaged. Okay, let's talk about it. ”

This kind of problem, the commando commander is more knowledgeable than everyone here. Now, he's an expert among them.

His name is Wang Bingcan, with the rank of colonel, he is the commander-in-chief of the Ming Army's Army Aviation Commando, and he is also an old comrade-in-arms who participated in the rescue operation of the Northern Qing Dynasty with Xiang Xiaoqiang.

Wang Bingcan saw that no one else spoke, they all looked at him, and he took it as he could, and said:

"Lord Wang, the last general will be presumptuous."

"Brother Wang doesn't have to be restrained, just advise."

"How dare the last general ......advise," Wang Bingcan said, "It's just that we don't know how many troops the Soviet army has stationed at Kanas Lake." We don't have intelligence officers there, we can only approximate approximations. However, the general felt that in such a helpless situation, we did not need to be bound by the number of Soviet troops, and we only needed to consider the upper limit of the number of troops we could deliver. If we can send a hundred, we don't plan to send fifty. In this way, no matter how many Soviet troops there were, we only did our best. ”

Xiang Xiaoqiang nodded, glanced at the crowd, and said:

"Well, that makes sense. Indeed, if we can send a hundred, we will not send fifty. The bigger the troops, the better the odds of victory. However, while we are planning, we must also intensify the collection of intelligence on the Altay and Kazakh sides, and try to calculate the approximate strength of the Soviet army. ”

"What the prince said is right."

"And what about the delivery method? How about airborne? Xiang Xiaoqiang said, "I think the night airdrop is good, this is not limited by quantity." We can airdrop a regiment as well. And at night, the threat of Soviet anti-aircraft artillery was relatively small. ”

Xiuxiu hesitated:

"I'm afraid it's going to be louder...... If we really want to airdrop a few hundred people, it will take dozens of planes, and the Soviets will know that we are coming. Then there is no suddenness. If the Soviets saw that the sky was full of parachutes and hid Guangwu directly in the big forest, then what would we do? …… Also, the airdrop went down, so after the battle...... How to withdraw. ”

Everyone nodded slightly. Fourteen Gege says:

"Yes, what Xiuxiu said makes sense."

王炳灿 says:

"The two princesses are right, there is a problem with the airborne. But that's not all. This kind of airborne landing of dozens or hundreds of people is only suitable for plain areas, and in mountainous areas, especially in the lofty mountains of the Altai Mountains, which are covered with forests, the danger is too great. It would be nice to have a third of the people who landed without falling and getting hurt. Also, after landing on the ground, it usually takes a long time to reassemble, and in many cases, it can't be assembled at all. This is still a plain area. In the mountains, it is even more impossible. If you think about it, two people jumping out of the hatch may only be separated by one or two seconds, but after landing, it may be one or two snowy mountains apart. It can't be gathered at all. ”

Xiang Xiaoqiang nodded, his face solemn. He remembered the airdrop of Taihang Mountain. At that time, it was not an airdrop army, it was just an airdrop of supplies, and there were still thousands of people below lighting fires and responding. And just like that, in the end, half of the packages were not found. If the Airborne Forces are in the Altai Mountains, then it is estimated that they are really looking for death.

Obviously, Guangwu is not a fool, he can stay in that place so comfortably, and he must know that kind of place is born to land in the air.

Xiang Xiaoqiang hesitated for a moment, wanting to ask if it was feasible to sneak over on foot from the bottom of the mountain, that is, from Outer Mongolia, but glanced at the map and dispelled this idea. Outer Mongolia is also the Altai Mountains, and it is also an endless mountain range, and I don't know that the road is not passable. Even if you have access to the border, you can reach the border by car, so even if you count from the border, it is enough to reach the mountains of Kanas Lake for dozens of kilometers. The assault team carried heavy weapons, equipment, and supplies on their backs, and crossed mountains and mountains for dozens of kilometers...... I can't imagine that even if I don't get lost, I will still be able to fight at that time. The key is, after the battle, can you still come out.

Xiang Xiaoqiang was about to ask Wang Bingcan directly, "This doesn't work, that doesn't work, then what do you say", Wang Bingcan stared at the map, pinched his chin, and spoke by himself:

"Hmm...... How Long Is Kanas Lake? I don't know if this map is accurate......"

As he spoke, he took the pile of aerial photos and studied the Kanas Lake on the map of northern Xinjiang. Then he picked up the compass and ruler and made a simple calculation.

"Well, almost...... The total length of the north and south is more than 20 kilometers...... Enough for a seaplane to land. ”

After he said this, everyone's eyes lit up:

That's right, seaplanes!

……

However, Fourteen Gege immediately spoke:

"It's too loud, and it's a problem with airdrops. - That one is still high in the air, and this one flies directly to the surface of the lake, and it is louder. ”