Li Xiaofeng naturally did not pin all his hopes on Ma Zhanshan, judging from his previous appearance, he would waver and compromise with the Japanese in the face of great difficulties and pressure. Obviously, the period from 1933 to 1937 was a particularly painful period for people with lofty ideals who were determined to resist Japan.

Li Xiaofeng didn't dare to guarantee that Ma Zhanshan would be able to hold on to the Northeast until the end, so it was inevitable to choose a few more spare tires. For example, Feng Yuxiang is very optimistic. In fact, Feng Yuxiang was also quite interested in the olive branch thrown by the Soviet Union, and gladly accepted the intention of cooperation.

However, it is a pity that the two people with the highest anti-Japanese enthusiasm were not very powerful at that time, and they belonged to the lame family in exile. Needless to say, Ma Zhanshan naturally said that the troops were disabled by the Japanese, and fled to the territory of the Soviet Union with the remnants of the defeated army. And Feng Yuxiang is not much stronger, in the Central Plains War, he was defeated by the "Chang's Logistics Company" and was forced to go into the field, and his Northwest Army was also forced to accept the "adaptation", at this time, even those old subordinates who were loyal to him before would not necessarily obey his orders.

At this time, the two most powerful in Inner Mongolia, North China and Shanxi were the two families, the Northeast Army under Zhang Shaoshuai who retreated into the Guannai and Yan Xishan in the vinegar west. To tell the truth, these two families are full of contradictions, neither of them trusts the other, and it is basically unrealistic to expect them to go all out to resist Japan.

And Li Xiaofeng actually wants to fight for Zhang Shaoshuai the most, because the Northeast Army that retreated into the Guannai has the best strength and equipment, and most of the people hope to fight back to their hometown, if the Northeast Army can go out to resist the war, not to mention recovering the Northeast, at least it can temporarily curb the ambition of the Japanese to enter the Guannai.

It's a pity, though. Zhang Shaoshuai is weak by nature. In the face of tigers and wolves, the Japanese are not strong enough in their will. I have always pinned my hopes on the so-called League of Nations to help boycott the Japanese, and I thought that the annexation of the Northeast would satisfy the wolf ambitions of the Japanese, but I did not understand how greedy and cruel these devils were.

In the face of the pressing of the Japanese step by step, especially under the pressure of Nanjing, Zhang Shaoshuai retreated step by step, even if the Soviet Union promised assistance, it still could not be his firm determination to resist Japan.

In this regard, Li Xiaofeng is also helpless and regretful. This is Zhang Shaoshuai's life, in essence, this is really a son-in-law, and he is not suitable to be a soldier or a politician at all, but fate has made him inherit such a foundation. I really don't know if this is his luck or misfortune!

Fortunately, Li Xiaofeng did not have too much hope for Zhang Shaoshuai, as long as his Northeast Army did not add chaos to the War of Resistance with the Central Army, it would be thankful.

"How much munitions have been prepared?" Li Xiaofeng asked again.

"There are about 100,000 rifles and millions of rounds of ammunition that have been shipped and previously stored in the Far East." Yakov reported the number jù, "The main reason is that the statistics are rather confusing, and a considerable part of the remaining arms and related materials of the civil war are still being reorganized and counted." ”

Li Xiaofeng nodded to show that after the end of the civil war, the Red Army carried out large-scale demobilization. Most of the remaining munitions from World War I and the Civil War were mothballed, and the Red Army was an extensive force. The management is really sloppy. At this point, it may be difficult to come up with an accurate figure.

"Why not directly support the standard weapons of the Red Army? Compared to those captured and purchased foreign arms, our standard weapons are better maintained and logistically replenished, aren't they? ”

Wufeng Yevic, who had been standing on the side and listening for a long time, suddenly asked, and Li Xiaofeng just smiled at his question, and motioned to Yakovunu to answer.

"It is not suitable for us to directly support China's anti-Japanese forces, after all, we are not ready for war with Japan, even for a local war. Therefore, it is easy to give the Japanese the truth about the standard weapons of the Red Army directly, and it is easy for us to be passive in diplomacy. And those surplus materials from the previous war, there is no such taboo......"

In fact, there are two sources of so-called war surplus materials, one is the German weapons captured in Poland, including a large number of G98 rifles and MG08 machine guns (Maxim German version), which were previously stored in the three Baltic countries and Belarus for the use of the militia; The other is some of the Japanese arms left behind and captured during the Japanese occupation of the Russian Far East in World War I, most of which are Type 38 rifles and ammunition.

For Russia, this is all rags, the kind of garbage that is left in the arsenal and takes up space. But for China, which has almost no military industry and basically relies on imports of military equipment, this garbage is a treasure.

And these German and Japanese garbage also have logistical convenience significance for China, after all, the most popular in China at that time was the German 7.92 mm rifle cartridge (actually 8×57J round), whether it was the imitation of the 88 Committee rifle made in Hanyang, or the Chinese formal rifle advocated by Chang Kaishen, this kind of ammunition was used.

As for the Tomosaka-style rifle cartridges, with the Japanese army's large-scale invasion of China, it is believed that it will not be difficult to capture them from the battlefield. For the logistically weak anti-Japanese forces, the rifles in comparison of these two sources of ammunition were more suitable than the Mosinagan and there was less pressure from the Soviet Union. Anyway, these two rifles are relatively widespread in China, and Japan can't do anything even if it wants to find fault diplomatically.

Of course, this is only a stopgap measure, because the state of preservation of these rifles is probably quite unsatisfactory, and many of them may have been turned into burning sticks. After the Far Eastern Red Banner Front has made the corresponding war preparations, there is no need to send garbage so secretly.

In fact, in Li Xiaofeng's vision, Ma Zhanshan and Feng Yuxiang's anti-Japanese forces could succeed if they could keep Chahar, as long as they could occupy a base area north of the Great Wall that could border Mongolia, they would be able to obtain assistance more easily in the future, and they would be able to hold out longer.

With this in mind, Li Xiaofeng once again went to the Far East, and after a few days of trekking, he arrived at Komsomolsk. Compared with 1919, the Far East in 1933 appeared to be more dynamic, and a large number of young people poured into the city to carry out round after round of construction.

Who would have thought that a few decades later, when the USSR collapsed. With the decay of the economy. The flow of people from the Far East will return to Europe. Emerging cities such as Komsomolsk are once again on the verge of becoming ghost towns. Looking at the young people who are sweating and crying for socialist construction at this time, and then thinking about the scene of their descendants fleeing here, I am afraid that in addition to sighing, it is probably endless sighs.

At this time, the morale of the youth construction army in Komsomolsk was very good, and it really was the kind of frenzied scene depicted by Paul Kochakin, in which a brand new city rose out of swamps and primeval forests under extremely difficult conditions.

Komsomolsk would be one of the nucleus of the Soviet Union's strengthening of its control over the Far East, and it would be more of an industrial base than a city. Amursk Shipyard, Amur Steel Plant, Komsomolsk Aircraft Factory, Komsomolsk Oil Processing Plant. A plethora of factories makes this young city feel alive.

Li Xiaofeng was quite satisfied after inspecting the aircraft factory and shipyard, although the shipyard can only produce light ships, the aircraft factory also produces honest Yi-5 fighters, and the more "new" Yi-15 and Yi-16 cannot be produced for the time being, but for a city starting from scratch, you can't ask too much.

All in all, the situation in Komsomolsk was quite ideal, but the situation in the Red Banner Far Eastern Front was really not good. Generally speaking, the supply of troops is tight, the morale is not high, and the equipment is quite improvised, so I can really only bully and bully the Northeast Army, which has no good will to fight. If you want the Red Front of the Far East to play a greater role in the future. Greater investment is needed.

Of course, this is also one of the main reasons why Li Xiaofeng came. The Mentor hoped that he could find out the first-hand situation of the Far Eastern Red Banner Front, and the Mentor still believed what someone had seen with his own eyes than the reports of those below.

"Comrade Andrey, the situation is very bad," said Blyukhel with a grim face, "and the number of my troops is too small relative to the area that my troops need to defend, and it is difficult to replenish them, so there is no way to win the battle, no!" There's no way to fight a war at all! ”

"I understand," Li Xiaofeng nodded, comforting: "Comrade Tukhachevsky and Comrade Ubolevich have agreed that in the next few years the Far Eastern Red Banner Front will be a key construction unit, and the newly manufactured aircraft and tanks will be the first to be equipped with your boys." ”

Blyukhel sighed, for him it was not good enough just such a promise, after all, far water can't save near fire, and around the mechanization of the troops, someone and Tukhachevsky are already incompatible, who dares to say that there will be a smooth future in the future? In case someone tore up with Tukhachevsky, the new tank and plane would probably not be able to go to the production line at all.

Thinking of this, Blyukhel considered it his duty and obligation to remind someone to take into account the overall situation: "Comrade Andrey, for the time being, the most lacking thing for the Red Army is not high-performance tanks and aircraft, it is not a matter of quality at all. It's an absolute lack of numbers, we urgently need tanks, planes and artillery, even if the performance is not good enough, we can accept it! ”

Li Xiaofeng naturally understood what Blyuhel meant, and it was clear that the highly decorated old marshal hoped that he would be able to give Tukhachevsky a little bit. However, Li Xiaofeng did not want to talk about this topic, because this is not a problem that can be solved by giving or not giving up.

He immediately digressed from the topic and asked: "Are you interested in helicopters and real transport aircraft?" ”

Blyukhel was obviously stunned, and for the first time he felt that the contradiction between someone and Tukhachevsky was probably irreconcilable, and he immediately sighed. And Li Xiaofeng seems to have deliberately pretended to regret not seeing Blyukhel, but spared no effort to recommend helicopters and real transport planes.

Blyukhel asked: "What is a helicopter?" What's the use? ”

"This is a new type of aircraft that can take off and land vertically, has a fairly small dependence on airfields, and can hover in mid-air, which is a more stable and useful observation platform than artillery balloons."

Of course, the real use of helicopters is more than that, but in those days, very simple early helicopters could really do that. Acting as a stable artillery observation platform and taking on a somewhat light reconnaissance mission is the limit of the helicopter.

However, as a real soldier, when Li Xiaofeng described in detail to Blyukhel what a helicopter is, Blyukhel became quite interested, for the Far East, where the land is vast and sparsely populated, and the conditions are harsh, a vertical take-off and landing aircraft is still quite attractive, at least it is better than the dangerous artillery observation balloon.

However, Blyukhel was not fooled by Li Xiaofeng's depiction of a bright future. He really wanted to use this new flying machine and then evaluate it. Li Xiaofeng is naturally understandable about this. Call EO soon. Let it send a part of the Russian copycat version of the R-4 helicopter in better condition to the Far East.

Slightly different from the original R-4, the Russian version of the R-4 is a bit larger and is actually closer to Sikorsky's later S-51. The aircraft is now numbered S-11, the eleventh aircraft of the Sikorsky company. Of course, the previous ten were really unsuccessful, and almost every one of them produced only one prototype.

The S-11 has a rotor diameter of 15 meters, 1.8 tons in the air, a maximum take-off weight of 2.3 tons, and uses a Bristol Jupiter 6 engine. That is, the Soviet M-22 engine (480 horsepower), the maximum level flight speed is 170 kilometers per hour, and the maximum range is 450 kilometers. One driver and three passengers can be carried.

All in all, the S-11 is almost twice as large as the historical R-4, and its flight performance has improved a lot, at least it can carry four people. This is a passing pass for an artillery observation machine.

Of course, compared to the S-11, Blyukhel was more interested in what a certain immortal called a real transport aircraft. For the Far East, which is sparsely populated and has exceptionally poor infrastructure, transportation is a big problem. The defense area of the Red Banner Front Army in the Far East is quite vast, stretching for thousands of kilometers. Commanding troops on such a large front is really a big problem.

In fact, Blyukhel's inspection troops were tired and panicked. You have to cross several time zones. Anyway, he was fed up with the bad traffic in the Far East, and once the enemy attacked the railway lines in wartime. Nablyuhel can only scratch the blind with sincerity.

Besides, Tukhachevsky was tossing the airborne troops again this year, and he was quite optimistic about the prospects of airborne operations, which even influenced a large number of high-ranking Soviet generals, and everyone was quite interested in airborne and airlifting.

Breukhel was not immune, but after watching a few airborne exercises and riding in the egg-shattering TB-1 bomber, he was quite skeptical about the role of such a crappy aircraft in airborne warfare. It was even considered impossible to achieve airborne operations of the kind hoped for by TB-1 Tukhachevsky alone.

In this regard, Li Xiaofeng agreed, not only the TB-1, but even the TB-3 are not used at all, and these bombers who are halfway out of the house really do not do this. And the DC-1 he just acquired is different, this is a special transport aircraft (passenger aircraft), comfortable to ride, relatively fast, the only regret is that the capacity is slightly lower.

However, this is not a big problem, because Li Xiaofeng is not ready to use DC-1 as an airborne force vehicle at all, in his opinion, DC-1 is still more suitable to do his old job, used as a passenger aircraft, specifically as a business jet is very suitable.

For example, from Moscow to Komsomolsk, why does it take a week to take a train and switch to DC-1? At most, it's a day. Moreover, it is completely possible to carry out appropriate modifications to DC-1 and install more complete radio communication facilities, so that it can become a battlefield command and dispatch vehicle.

In addition to the fact that the DC-1 is really good, Li Xiaofeng still wants to open a breakthrough from Blyukhel, if Blyukhel can also support the DC-1 with a 12Ybrs engine, then Tukhachevsky's obstruction will be even weaker.

"Is this plane really that good?" Blyukhel expressed his doubts, and this is also the most important problem that Li Xiaofeng has to face, that is, DC-1 has not yet been completed, there is no picture and no truth!

Thinking of this, Li Xiaofeng patted his chest to Blyukhel to ensure that there was absolutely no problem with the performance of DC-1, and on the other hand, he also hurriedly sent a telegram to Natalia, asking Douglas to speed up and come up with the finished product as much as possible. Even a certain immortal emphasized: "Be sure to solve this problem within one to two months, money is not a problem!" ”

A sentence that money is not a problem made the Douglas company excited, under the effect of three times the overtime paid by a certain immortal, the workers who were plagued by unemployment broke out, 24 hours a day, and the DC-1 prototype flew into the sky two months in advance, and note that the prototype of the first flight was not one, but two, one was equipped with the original Wright Cyclone R1820 engine "American version", and the other was equipped with the 12Ybrs engine of the Soviet version.

And after the latter completed the first flight, it soon moved to the high latitudes of Alaska for test flights, and after these two prototypes, there are four prototypes in intensive manufacturing, according to the meaning of a certain immortal, as long as the first batch of prototypes has no major problems, the second batch of factory test flights directly to the Soviet Union, and then while trying to improve.

It should be said that it is quite risky to do this, that is, a certain immortal who is not short of money and is crazy dares to do this. Fortunately, the design of the Douglas company is still very successful, in general, the DC-1 has no defects, the test flight and trial are smooth, especially the Red Army, which admires this American aircraft very much, thinking that it is much stronger than the TB series!

For Li Xiaofeng, the important person in his visit to the Far East was not only to inspect and sell, but more importantly, to make contact with the heads of China's anti-Japanese forces, so that they could accept the Soviet Union's ideas and act as a pawn of the Soviet Union to disgust the Japanese. Speaking from the heart, this is not easy, because Ma Zhanshan and Feng Yuxiang are not fools, it is very difficult to fool them and make them die willingly...... (To be continued......)

PS: Bow and thank you to Hawkli, Yoo Shin V, hzwangdd, Shining Charter and Comrade Juventus!