Episode 24 Shot down

The conditions for the airdrop were very good, although the sky was already dark, and there was some southeast wind, but the wind was not very strong. And most importantly, no one bothered. The group of air-speculators can slowly hover and find the best position, while reducing the speed to the lowest possible and the height to almost enough to open the parachute. In short, it is possible to make the airdrop as perfect as possible.

The altitude is lower, the speed is slow, and the cabin doesn't seem so bitterly cold. The hill below is so clear that if you have the best visibility at noon, you can see every tree.

The selected airdrop area is not large, it is almost a rectangular area of 1000 meters by 3000 meters, which can be said to be a small basin or a valley. These three square kilometers were filled with guerrillas of the Taihang Mountain Column, waiting to receive the goods. These three square kilometers, again mountainous, are already large for the guerrillas on the ground, but for the planes in the sky, it is a matter of passing in the blink of an eye.

Even at its slowest speed, the Junkers can still fly tens of meters per second. Fifteen planes lined up, swaying over the rectangle, dropping one large cylindrical bag after another at a rapid pace.

These large, cylindrical sacs left the plane and descended almost straight down, dragging a bundle of unopened parachutes on them, shaking in the air currents like little tails.

Suddenly, the "little tail" swelled up and became a huge white cloud, which began to drag the big bag to sway in the sky and float in the wind. But the altitude of the airdrop is very low, and the parachute is already very close to the ground when it is opened. The sacs didn't float far before they touched the ground, wrapped in a parachute, and rolled down the hill.

The valley was full of guerrillas, and when they saw a bag hit the ground, they immediately cheered, and they came from all directions, unpacked, portioned, and dragged away.

Because the airdrop area was too narrow and the parachutes were relatively dense, several parachutes were entangled together, and they rushed straight to the ground like bombs, falling in all directions, and food packets, canned food, compressed biscuits, shoes, and daily necessities rolled all over the hillside. And more people came down to pick it up.

In less than a minute, the first aircraft to lead the flight judged from the bonfire below: it had flown out of the three-kilometer area. Although more than half of the packages were not dropped, they no longer continued to be airdropped, but turned around and flew back.

When the planes following behind saw this signal, they all stopped there, and followed it to turn and circle, flying back. A few minutes later, the last plane also flew over the entire area.

The time was so short that some planes dropped half of the packages, while others only dropped a third.

Despite caution, nearly forty percent of the parachutes in the first round fell outside the designated area, and patches of white parachute cloth lay outside the border campfire. Some are only a few hundred meters away, while others are thousands of meters away. Fortunately, the mountains in this area are not steep, and there are many guerrillas, so with a little more effort and hardship, you can also pick up a single one.

Fifteen Junkers lined up and calmly flew again from the beginning. The fighter jet observed from above provided some correction to the transport plane, and this time the airdrop was much more accurate. In the second round, 5 transport planes finished their cargo, and the remaining 10 aircraft only had a small amount of cargo.

A few minutes later, the third round of airdrops ended, and all 45 tons of cargo were dropped.

By this time it was already close to 18:00. The sun was setting, the western sky was shaking, and the entire fleet began to return east.

All planes increase the throttle, and they must fly over the fleet within an hour. It was too difficult to land on an aircraft carrier at night, and the fighters had to return to the aircraft carrier before it was completely dark. Then 15 Junkers-52 planes could take advantage of the cover of night to fly over the Bohai Sea and return to the Dongjiang Fleet airfield.

……

Nanjing People's Guard Headquarters, Airdrop Operation Command Center.

There was no sound in the conference room, only the "ticking" of the clock on the wall, and the smoke that filled the room. The table was filled with senior generals of the Army and Navy, as well as several leaders of the People's Guard's security forces. Some stared at the slider map board, some at the document in front of them. In this tense time, everyone has their own thoughts.

From time to time a female officer came in to report the latest news on the fleet and the fleet.

It's been ten minutes since the airdrop report was received, and everyone knows that now is the most critical time. It's up to the next half hour.

I was lucky when I went, I didn't encounter enemy planes along the way. But along the way, it must have been seen on the ground. No matter how stupid the Qing army is, it should guess the intentions of the Ming army. In the Beijing-Tianjin area, the Qing army's fighter planes were so close to each other that it was easy to intercept them on the way back from the Ming army's aircraft group.

Minutes and seconds passed, and the atmosphere was as silent as death.

Li Guoliang pressed the cigarette butt into the ashtray, puffed the cigarette and said:

"The Qing army north of Xuzhou -- Zhili, Shandong, and Liaoning -- now adds up to less than 300 fighters. There will be no more than two hundred and fifty of them that can fly and fight. And it can't be all in one place at the same time. But our hundred fighters are all in one place. …… That is, we have a large local numerical advantage. ”

None of the generals present spoke, but a few nodded in agreement. Everyone knows that Li Guoliang mainly wants to comfort everyone. That said, but it's still quite dangerous after all. In addition, the main air battles will be fought over the enemy's land, which means that every downed plane, the pilot will not be able to return.

Fourteen Gege pushed the table to his feet and slowly paced to the window.

Everyone looked at her. Everyone knew that this was the first time that Fourteen Gege had participated in a meeting to directly deal with the Northern Qing. Everyone spoke very carefully, and the "Qinglu" and even "Qinggou" that were usually on their lips were very careful not to say it, and replaced it with the neutral word "Qingjun".

Fourteen Gege gently pushed open the window, took a deep breath of fresh air, and looked at the sunset in the distance.

……

The wall clock struck "dang", and everyone stared at the wall—it was six o'clock.

At this time, a female officer came in and reported something to her stomachache. Then he nodded with a stomachache and said to everyone:

"I just received a report from the Hongwu detachment that they have released 40 fighters again and are going to meet them."

Xiang Xiaoqiang took out another cigarette can from the table, lit it on the cigarette butt on his mouth, and then put it in his mouth, had nothing to say, and asked about the stomachache:

"Ziteng, how much is the monthly output of Beiqing fighters after the war?"

Stomach ache immediately said:

"My lord, the production figures of combat aircraft in the Northern Qing Dynasty in the past three months are about 500 to 600 aircraft, about 35 percent of ours. Between 300 and 400 of them are old biplanes. The ratio of fighters and bombers is split evenly, as if there are more bombers. Of the 250-300 fighters, Hai Dongqing should have no more than 100. ”

Xiang Xiaoqiang nodded and said slowly:

"I remember that when the armistice was armistice, there were still dozens of Hai Dongqing of the Qing army left. Now that adds up to a hundred or dozens of them. Among these 100 or so planes, no more than one-third can be placed north of Xuzhou. ”

"My lord," said with a smile with a stomachache, "the main forces of the Qing Air Force are all placed south of Xuzhou, mainly 200-300 kilometers north of the Yangtze River defense line. North of Xuzhou is their big rear, and the only thing we have to guard against is our Dongjiang Fleet airfield, where we only have one brigade and dozens of bombers, and their few brigades and two or three hundred fighters are more than enough. ”

Xiang Xiaoqiang took a puff of cigarette, squinted, glanced at the fourteen grids by the window, and continued to chat:

"I wonder, the heavy industry base of the Northern Qing Dynasty should not be weak, why can't the aviation industry go up?"

"Qing's aviation industry is overly dependent on Japan."

When everyone heard the sound of Fourteen Grids, they all looked to the window.

Fourteen Gege leaned back against the window, facing everyone, and his figure was only a graceful silhouette in the backlight of the setting sun.

She continued faintly:

“…… And the design company of each aircraft is different. Kaito Ao's is Mitsubishi's, Jebel's is Kawasaki's, and Ugumo's is Nakajima's. It is said to be in-house, but everything from the assembly line to the engine to the parts has to be shipped from Japan. In this way, producing five or six hundred aircraft in three months is already exhausting its strength. Opposite...... In addition to the twin-engine large aircraft, Daming has no independent model, and the single-engine aircraft is really completed by itself from the design to every smallest part.

“…… Hehe, speaking of which, I once suggested to Emperor Jiade that it would be better to learn from the Ming Dynasty and achieve self-production, and the industrial base of the Qing Dynasty was not impossible. Emperor...... He agreed, and tried to do so...... But it can't be done. Key officials were all fed by the Japanese military. The Japanese didn't want the Qing Dynasty to be too strong, just enough to suppress the Southern Ming. Because at that time, Daming had just completed the autonomy of the aviation industry, and the number of aircraft was also very small.

"Guardian doesn't have much courage, and if he can't carry it out, forget it. Now this Guangwu is different. I know his character, if he really wants to do something, whoever goes against the grain he will kill. ”

……

Everyone was stunned when they heard it, and they didn't expect Fourteen Gege to say such a paragraph. And he didn't shy away from saying what happened to him in the Manchu Qing Dynasty before. Everyone was stunned for a moment, and then they all laughed playfully, "Liaoyang Princess Gaojian" or something.

Xiang Xiaoqiang immediately grabbed and asked:

"Her Royal Highness the princess means that Guangwu will be given another period of peace, and the Beiqing Aviation Industry may come up?"

Fourteen Gege waved his hand and smiled:

"Okay, I didn't say anything, meeting, meeting."

With that, he paced back to his seat and sat down.

Suddenly, a female officer ran in and said directly:

"Ladies and gentlemen, our fleet has been intercepted!"

The "coaxing" in the conference room became lively, staring at the map board. The female officer didn't say a word, ran to the map board and marked it, and said:

"Right here, in the airspace near Renqiu County, there are more than a dozen enemy planes, and there is about one squadron, all of which are Jebe fighters. Now there has been a firefight. ”

Hearing that there was only one squadron of enemy planes, and that they were all Jebe, everyone relaxed a little. 李国梁 says:

"It could be a group of aircraft searching on the periphery of the enemy. Soon more enemy aircraft will appear. ”

At this time, another female officer ran in and said:

"The squadron of enemy fighters, shot down by our troops, had already left the battle and fled to the northeast. There were no casualties among our troops. ”

If Li Guoliang hadn't said that sentence just now, Xiang Xiaoqiang would definitely have nodded and smiled now and said, "Very good, very good." But he said that this was only the enemy's "vanguard", and now the atmosphere has only become more tense.

The two female officers finished marking the map board and trotted out again.

……

Another ten minutes passed, and there was no news for ten minutes.

The officers present looked at the hands on the wall clock, stared at the pencil route drawn on the map, and estimated the position of the fleet at any time.

At 18:15, the first female officer ran in, made a second mark on the map, then turned and said:

"At 18:13, about 40 fighters of the Qing army attacked our group from the northeast. It's still the Jebel style of the wings. No casualties or results have been reported. ”

And immediately ran out again.

Xiang Xiaoqiang glanced at Li Guoliang and got an affirmative nod. He understood that it was time for real.

This time the conference room was not as lively as the first time, and everyone was silent. The atmosphere was quite solemn.

The first female officer had almost just gone out, and a few minutes later the second ran in again, panting and reported:

"There are more than thirty more Jebe fighters, about a brigade of Jebe fighters from the north, attacking our group! So far, our army has shot down three enemy planes, and there are still no casualties! ”

Everyone secretly shouted "good" in their hearts, and Xiang Xiaoqiang's face was unwavering, but he was already sweating with the pen in his hand, and he almost broke the pen shaft. He kept saying in his heart:

Hold on! Hold on!

……

Now there are more than 70 Qing fighters fighting with the Ming army's aircraft group, and they are all two-winged Jebel type. So far, the Ming fighters are still in a qualitative and quantitative advantage.

The wall clock on the wall had already pointed to 18:25, and the markers of the fleet had been inserted on the map over Ayutthaya County. We've already walked more than half of the way back.

But no one knows whether this advantage will be maintained until the end. In the next 100 kilometers or so, the Qing army will mobilize a large number of fighters to encircle and intercept it. The Ming army openly penetrated into the Bohai Sea and into the rear of Zhili with great fanfare, which was the first time in more than 200 years. The Manchus would never tolerate it. The Ming fleet couldn't move, but the Ming army still had the ability to eat 100 fighters and 15 transport planes without defense capabilities.

The biggest advantage that the Ming army currently occupies is that the voyage is relatively short, and the Qing army has not yet reacted, and the Ming army has already arrived at the airdrop site. The Qing army had just begun to organize the siege, and the Ming army had already returned halfway.

"We were shot down a Junker!"

The second female officer ran in and said, marking the map as she spoke:

"The Qing army has another brigade of Hai Dongqing and another brigade of Jebe, and we have lost one Junker and three kingfishers in five minutes!"

Then she ran out.

"Poor Aunt Rong."

Xiang Xiaoqiang read silently, staring at the map. Now there are at least 130 fighters in the Qing army, and there is also a brigade, that is, more than 30 Hai Dongqing.

The Ming army only had 100 kingfishers, and they had to protect 15 Junkers. This is also to be expected.

At present, only 1 Junker and 3 Kingfishers have been lost, which is very small. This is also the reason why the Ming army has always been in a quality advantage. The 100 fighters of the Ming army were all new, and the pilots were better than the pilots of the Qing army in terms of flight hours and combat experience.

However, in the next ten minutes, as if God was determined not to let Xiang Xiaoqiang get better, bad news came one after another.

"We lost a Junker!"

"We've lost a Kingfisher!"

"The Qing army has another squadron Hai Dongqing and a brigade of Jebe!"

"We've lost three kingfishers!"

"We've lost another Junker!"

"We've lost two kingfishers!"

……

Anyway, at the last moment, to Xiang Xiaoqiang, the Ming army plane fell down like dumplings.