On the European side of the Dardanelles, on the southern tip of the Gallipoli Peninsula, at a commanding height east of Cape Helles, Major Zhou Shuren, wearing a steel helmet, is under the guidance of a young Warrant Officer Dönitz, looking through a high-powered telescope mounted on a tripod at the smoke of gunpowder in the distance and the flaming Turkish fortress at the entrance to the strait.

"Yesterday's all-day bombardment has completely destroyed two fortifications at Cape Helles, and the other two on the opposite shore of Kumkale have also been badly damaged, and the enemy's shelling is unusually accurate, which must be related to the air calibration of the aircraft. The counterattack of the Turkish coastal defense artillery was ineffective, and very few hits were confirmed......"

Dönitz introduced the situation to Zhou Shuren with regret.

"The main target of the enemy today is Kumkale...... No, it's just appearances. ”

Zhou Shuren keenly noticed something, lowered his head and pondered for a while, then turned back and asked, "Is there a usable plane?" ”

Dönitz scratched the back of his head in embarrassment: "Airplanes? It seems that there are only a few left, and yesterday the enemy air raids on the air bases of Mydos and Canakkale caused great losses, and none of the planes sent to reconnoiter Lemnos returned - the lack of pilots is more of a problem than the lack of aircraft, and it is said that there are no more qualified pilots left who have received complete training. ”

"It's so serious...... Can you help me find an airplane? Preferably a two-seater. ”

"I'll try, but I can't guarantee that I'll find a qualified pilot...... You're going to send it to scout the enemy? ”

Zhou Shuren smiled faintly: "No, I'm going to drive it myself, go to the places I'm interested in, and I also need a qualified backseat observer." ”

For a few hours, Warrant Officer Dönitz, who was as tense as a lobster, was already sitting in the back seat of a ZL-7 "Tianfeng" reconnaissance plane purchased from China before the war, and Zhou Shuren, who was wearing a flight leather hat and goggles, had not had time to change out of his snow-white naval uniform in the driver's seat, and under the plane was the steep and strange Chunuk Ridge in the middle of the Gallipoli Peninsula, and the plane almost crossed the ridge with a peak of 971 meters above sea level. There are a large number of warships and transports in Sufra Bay! ”

Zhou Shuren looked sideways for a while, and suddenly approached the voice transmitter and shouted: "I don't think they plan to land here, look on the left, those barges are heading south, let's go over and have a look!" ”

The toy-like single-engine, two-winged "Tianfeng" reconnaissance plane flew south along the coast, and the steep cliffs of the Chunuk Ridge extending into the Aegean Sea were clearly visible under the wings, flying over the Cape Gaba at the southern end of the cliffs.

"The enemy is landing! General Sanders must be reported immediately! ”

Dönitz exclaimed anxiously, and the "General Sanders" he was referring to was none other than Otto, the head of the German affairs adviser who commanded the Turkish Fifth Army to hold the Dardanelles. Liman. Feng. Sanders.

"This plane doesn't have a radio?"

Zhou Shuren asked casually, tightening the joystick with one hand and picking up the telescope with the other hand to carefully observe the movements below.

"As far as I know, none of the planes here have radios." Dönitz replied rather reluctantly.

"Then we'll have to go back quickly...... Karl, how many of the boats down there, can you identify? ”

Zhou Shuren said that he would go back, but he was manipulating the plane in his hand and hovering over the landing fleet.

Dönitz, who didn't react for a while, also honestly recognized it from the binoculars: "This...... Let me take a closer look...... Except for the old battleships of the British, as well as those passenger cruise ships and cargo ships, the others are not impressive, and should not exist in the existing identification manuals. ”

"Where have I seen ......?"

Before Zhou Shuren could think of anything, Dönitz in the back seat suddenly exclaimed in despair: "Zhou! There are enemy planes in the back! ”

Zhou Shuren looked back, and sure enough, three light biplanes that had never been seen in the identification manual actually followed behind the plane at some point, and they had already set up a posture ready to attack at any time.

"Carl, there's something I should tell you before I take off."

"Now is not the time to talk about this...... Run! ”

"Actually...... I didn't pass my aviation training at all, and theoretically I wasn't qualified to fly military aircraft. ”

"What's the use of saying this now! Zhou, my life is in your hands, hurry up and do something, do anything! ”

Zhou Shuren tilted his head and breathed a long sigh of relief: "I'm relieved if you say that, Carl, hold on tight, and you will know Lu Dao soon, why will I be kicked out of school in the middle of my studies...... Ready, on! ”

The thin "Tianfeng" reconnaissance plane seemed to be tripped by an invisible rope, the tail of the plane suddenly turned up, the nose of the plane was almost perpendicular to the sea surface, the body suddenly trembled violently, the engine whined, and the skeleton made a terrible "click" sound......

……

On the west coast of India, 80 kilometers south of Mumbai, in the remote and sparsely populated Murud. North of Chinchilla Bay, on the wide, flat, two-kilometre-long Murud Beach, along the waterfront line is crowded with landing craft of all sizes that have run aground, and from the open gangplanks of the landing craft to the coconut groves at the other end of the beach, dozens of roads paved with slotted steel plates are densely opened, and trucks painted with gold, red, and blue concentric circles on the doors are busy rushing to and fro, transporting thousands of officers and men and tons of supplies inland.

A few kilometers south of the beach, the Gingilla Fortress, built on the isolated island at the entrance to the bay, had already been flattened by the huge artillery bombardment and aircraft raids of the previous day, and the entire island was filled with smoke and fire, and the low sound of explosions could be heard from time to time in the rubble.

Mulud. Meander inland for 10 kilometres, surrounded by mountains, fed by several rivers of all sizes at the bottom of the bay, silted up and unable to moor large warships, it is a natural haven for many fishing boats and small and medium-sized cargo ships, but now it is about to become a stepping stone for the East Asian coalition to attack Mumbai - as a temporary anchorage for the small and medium-sized ships of the combat fleet, as well as for the distribution and reloading of the landing fleet.

"It seems that if the Port of Mumbai cannot be opened in the short term, it will also relieve us a lot of burden."

On the back seat of a "Golden Eagle" carrier-based attack plane hovering over the bay, Major General Pan Guochen, special commissioner of the base camp, sighed behind the telescope.

"General, it's time for us to go home."

The pilot's reminder suddenly came from the headset, and Pan Guochen had to put down the telescope temporarily, lowered his head to the throat transmitter around his neck and promised: "Received, return." ”

Half an hour later, the "Golden Eagle," which was slightly tilted on the nose, lowered its tail hook and cleanly hooked one of the 12 blocking cables at the rear of the "Kunpeng" flight deck, and was firmly stopped on the deck under the damping action of the hydraulic device.

Pan Guochen thanked the pilot on the wired phone, and then quickly unfastened the safety belt, parachute bag, and integrated flight cap in turn, lifted the hard-brimmed military hat under his feet, stepped out of the open cabin with his hands and feet, stepped on the root of the wing, jumped off the deck, and put the military hat neatly on, and then strode on the flight deck made of fir planks to the starboard ship island. When he ascended the revolving ramp to the commander's bridge, Lieutenant General Bi Lingbo, commander of the 1st Air Force, had already greeted him with a smile.

"Commissioner Pan is back, how is it, what special has you discovered?"

Pan Guochen saluted him politely, and when Bi Lingbo politely returned the salute, he took off his military hat casually and sat on his special folding chair in the corner of the bridge.

"It's a nice anchorage, the surrounding mountains are dangerous, easy to defend and easy to attack, and it's easy to replenish fresh water - it's a pity that you can't stop big ships, and it's too far from Mumbai."

"I think Commissioner Pan must be tired, it's still early to eat, why don't you go back to the cabin and rest for a while?" Bi Lingbo is also good at observing words and feelings.

"Thanks, it's just a plane to see the scenery, and I'm not tired - by the way, I'm out for a while, is there any new news?" Pan Guochen spoke unintentionally, and when the words came out, he realized that the second half of his sentence was simply in the tone of the emperor riding on Bi Lingbo's head, and it was too late to change his words.

Fortunately, Bi Lingbo didn't react when he heard it, and replied calmly: "Commander Liu's order has come down, the main force will go to the new position tonight, and tomorrow if the weather permits, we will attack the port of Mumbai again, and if the weather is bad, we will go to Karachi instead." The 1st Fleet of Aviation, which continues to cover the landing operations here. ”

Pan Guochen's eyebrows tightened: "Do you want to leave the 'Saker'?" I always feel that dividing the army is not a good thing......"

"Anyway, when the 'Fortune Peng' is in place, the 'Saker' will be transferred to the Pacific Ocean, if the intelligence is okay, there should be no resistance from the port of Karachi, and the remnants of the Combined Fleet of the Entente and the Indian Air Force should still be hiding in the Gulf of Aden, and now I am counting on the 'Fortune Wing' to arrive before sweeping the Gulf of Aden - I have to ask Commissioner Pan for more help."

Bi Lingbo is quite able to wrap around, and he will circle back to Pan Guochen in three clicks and two clicks.

"Don't let your guard down, concentrate your forces as much as you can, just in case...... Although I have doubts about the strength of the Combined Fleet of the Entente, I am even more reluctant to take unnecessary risks when the advantage is in my hands. Of course, I, as a commissioner, have no intention or right to interfere with the command, so I can talk about it casually and don't take it to heart...... It seems that I'm really tired, I'll listen to you, let's go back to the cabin to rest first, and take my leave. ”

Without waiting for Bi Lingbo to reply, Pan Guochen had already buckled his military hat back to his head, saluted, and turned around to go out, the sound of leather boots stepping on the iron ladder seemed to linger for a long time......

"It seems that Commissioner Pan has no intention of overstepping his bounds."

Behind Bi Lingbo, Lieutenant Colonel Jiang Ye, a confidant staff officer, leaned close to his ear and reminded him meaningfully.

Bi Ling took a long breath of relief and said with a faint smile: "Of course, his ambition and future are far above you and me, so why bother with the things in front of him?" ”