Cai Jiheng came out of the pilot's cafeteria and walked into Sergeant Jack's workshop in two turns. This workshop is located in the southeast corner of Hengyang Airport, far away from most airport buildings, and is rarely visited here.

Cai Jiheng is a 1.75-meter average man, like most men in southern China, with a slightly thin figure, the kind of person with a very evenly proportioned body. He had a fair complexion on his thin face, a delicately straight nose, thick hair that was slightly curly, and a natural, long sideburns on the sides of his cheeks. The most striking sign of his face is that the combination of two thick black sword eyebrows and two slender eyes is very vivid.

The young pilots of the 3rd Brigade have the following evaluation of Cai Jiheng: His small appearance was born for the stage, and he is even exempt from makeup when he plays a little student with red lips and white teeth.

Once Cai Jiheng was reading a book in the dormitory in shorts, and put his two bare legs on another chair, there was a guy nicknamed "White Wolf" in the 8th Squadron, and when he saw Cai Jiheng's white bare legs, he had some obscene thoughts. In fact, this is a blaming white wolf, the skin on Cai Jiheng's legs is smooth and clean, not like ordinary men, and it looks inevitably reminiscent of a young woman's thighs. The white wolf touched Cai Jiheng's leg with his hand, and said with a wicked smile: "Xiao Cai, I think you should go to Mr. Mei Lanfang's place to mix a bowl of rice, if you dress up well, it's absolutely no problem to play "The Drunken Concubine" or something......"

Before the white wolf could speak, he was choked by Cai Jiheng's neck, and his head was pressed on the table. Cai Jiheng didn't know when an umbrella knife appeared in his hand, and the sharp blade had already resisted the carotid artery of the white wolf, and everyone in the dormitory was stunned.

Cai Jiheng's voice was not high, but it was full of murderous aura, and he said coldly: "White wolf, you have two choices, either apologize to me, or I cut your neck." Did you hear me clearly? ”

The white wolf's face turned pale, and he shouted repeatedly: "I apologize, I apologize, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry......"

Cai Jiheng put away the umbrella knife, sat down casually, and continued to read, and the dormitory suddenly became silent. There are no cowards who can become pilots, but these bold guys are shocked by this little white face, they are not afraid of knives, but they are frightened by the murderous aura that shoots from the slender eyes of this little white face.

Of course, this was all when Cai Jiheng just reported to the Sino-US Air Force Mixed Regiment, and no one dared to call the title of "little white face" soon, and was replaced by a vicious nickname "crocodile", which shows that Cai Jiheng has taken off the hat of "little white face", and has made a series of moves to maintain his dignity.

In fact, Cai Jiheng is also very dissatisfied with his appearance, he doesn't even like to look in the mirror. He envied those tall and stout northern men with rough facial lines, and thought that was the image that a man should have. But his parents made themselves like this, especially inheriting his mother's snow-white skin, which made Cai Jiheng feel very unfortunate.

Cai Jiheng's family has four brothers and sisters, Cai Jigang is the eldest son, and below are two younger sisters, these two younger sisters have long been married, and now temporarily live in Kunming and Chongqing with their husbands. Cai Jiheng is the youngest brother of the four brothers and sisters, he is stubborn by nature, he has been restless since he was a child, and he causes trouble outside for three days. The Cai family has been a scholarly family for several generations, but there is such a bad seed, which really responds to the folk saying: The old gourd also has a string of seedlings. This gave his father Cai Chaoyun a lot of headaches. In order to discipline this evil obstacle, Cai Chaoyun used countless family methods, and each time he used rattan to beat Cai Jiheng's ass to the flesh, but it was useless. Every time Cai Jiheng is beaten, as long as the wound on his buttocks heals, he will start a new round of pranks with great interest.

In 1940, Cai Jiheng was in the third year of the Department of History and Sociology of Southwest Associated University in Kunming, which was the result of the persecution of his father Cai Chaoyun. Cai Jiheng doesn't like this kind of campus life, and the way he expresses his resistance is to read a novel in class or sleep. Once listening to Mr. Chen Yinke's class, Cai Jiheng fell asleep, and actually snored, which made Mr. Chen furious, and ran to Principal Mei Yiqi to ask for punishment for this student. Professor Chen Yinke was already a well-known historian at that time, and as a student of the Department of History and Sociology, it was not a wise move to offend Mr. Chen. Cai Jiheng saw that he had caused trouble, and was considering whether to go to Mr. Chen's house to ask for his forgiveness. Before he could make up his mind, a tragic air battle occurred in the history of the Sino-Japanese War.

On September 13, 1940, the Japanese Navy's latest Zero fighter met the Soviet-made I-15 and I-16 aircraft groups of the Chinese Air Force over Bishan County, west of Chongqing, and the two sides engaged in an air battle. In this battle, the Chinese Air Force was beaten badly, and there was almost no room to fight back, and within 10 minutes, 13 planes were shot down in succession, 11 planes were wounded and forced to land, 10 pilots were killed and 8 were wounded. After the Japanese Zero fighters achieved this record, all of them returned safely without any losses. This one-sided battle cost the Chinese Air Force all face. The Japanese media announced that 30 Chinese Air Force fighters were shot down, with a damage ratio of 30:0.

The news of the Bishan air battle reached the Southwest Associated University, which had an explosive effect on the campus, and this kind of shame and humiliation made the college students simply go crazy, and the students of various departments had no intention of attending classes, and they gathered on the playground for a long time and refused to disperse, and the Chinese army had greatly disappointed them, and all the students pinned their hopes on the Chinese Air Force, because the air force pilots were all high-quality, highly educated, and elite people selected by one in ten thousand miles, and they had no reason to lose the war at all.

Cai Jiheng was so angry that he scolded in the crowd and scolded those uncompetitive pilots. In fact, the college students really wronged the pilots, they didn't know that the Bishan air battle that had just happened was a special battle that went down in history, it was the first large-scale air battle when the Japanese Zero fighter had just completed testing and had not yet been installed. As far as the performance of the aircraft is concerned, the Zero is the most advanced and excellent fighter in the world at that time, and as far as the Zero is concerned, the Soviet-made I-15 and I-16 fighters equipped by the Chinese Air Force are nothing more than some live targets, and the combat performance of the aircraft of the two sides is not at the same level at all.

The humiliating battle of the Chinese Air Force was also ridiculed by the Western media, with the Washington Post even calling the battle an "aerial hunt" for Japanese pilots.

However, 15 months after the Battle of Bishan, the Americans could not laugh anymore. On December 7, 1941, the Pacific War broke out, and the Japanese Navy attacked Pearl Harbor. Japan's newly reequipped 81 Zero fighters participated in the air raids of the two attack waves as escort fighters, and completely mastered air supremacy over Oahu. Subsequently, Japan's land-based air forces stationed in Taiwan, China, also launched large-scale air raids on the Clark and other air bases in the Philippines, and the Zero fighters adopted the low-speed and fuel-efficient flight mode of repeated training to provide long-range escort for the Type 1 land attack planes. The US military could not help but be greatly shocked by the Japanese fighter with such a strong endurance, and the US Air Force in the Philippines was also beaten to pieces. In the early days of the Pacific War, the Japanese Zero fighter surpassed all Allied aircraft in terms of performance, especially its maneuverability and endurance were unmatched, and it was known as the "universal fighter". At that time, the American F-2A Buffalo, F-4F Wildcat, P-40 Tomahawk and other aircraft were helpless in the face of the ferocious attack of the Zero fighter. In China**, Singapore, the Philippines, the East Indies and even the Indian Ocean, Zero fighters dominated the skies, laying a solid foundation for Japanese landing operations.

In this way, the Chinese Air Force did not show too much shame in the air battle of Bishan in 1940.

At that time, Cai Jiheng was still a hot-blooded young man who was arrogant and boundless, in addition to being enthusiastic, he was still in a state of ignorance and fearlessness in terms of military knowledge, even if he was given a general and commander-in-chief, he would dare to be it. He shouted and scolded on the playground unscrupulously: "These bastards of the Air Force should be sent to the military court to be shot, these bastards eat well, dress well, and coax cowhide on weekdays, how can they fight like such bears when they fight?" Damn, even if Cai goes up, he won't be ......"

A classmate patted Cai Jiheng on the shoulder and said, "Jiheng, the department has notified the students to go to class!" ”

Cai Jiheng said angrily: "If you don't go, what class will you take?" If the war is like this, they are about to become slaves, so what's the use of finishing college? ”

Another classmate came running, and he shouted as he ran: "Students, the Air Force Military Academy has come to recruit pilots, and those who are willing to sign up should go to the General Affairs Office to fill out the form." ”

Cai Jiheng jumped up when he heard it, he realized that the opportunity had finally come, if he wanted to resist Japan and save the country, it was not enough to just read history, he said that he was useless and was a scholar, and there was really some truth in this, what the country needed at the moment of danger was soldiers. Cai Jiheng has always had a very high opinion of himself, he believes that he is not the material to carry a rifle to drill the trenches, since he is a soldier, he must choose the most cutting-edge military branch, the air force is naturally the first choice, and fighter pilots are the essence of the air force, and can even be said to be the elite of the entire army. So good, let's learn to fly, Cai Jiheng doesn't believe that those Japanese pilots have three heads and six arms, and sooner or later he will have to fight those bastards in the sky.

Cai Jiheng signed up without consulting anyone, and passed the pilot's examination and physical examination as he wished. When his father, Cai Chaoyun, found out about it, he rushed from Chongqing to arrest Cai Jiheng in a rage, he had already gone to the Air Force Military Academy in Yunnanyi, east of Baoshan, to take a beginner's class.

In fact, Cai Chaoyun is not unpatriotic, but he only has two sons, the eldest son Cai Jigang has become a professional soldier, running around the battlefield all the year round, for this eldest son, the old man can no longer say anything, the country is in trouble, the Cai family should send a son to fight, the old man still has this awareness. But patriotism is patriotism, the old man's patriotic consciousness is not high enough to ignore the Cai family's inheritance, the eldest son has been dedicated to the country, and the younger son can no longer be a soldier no matter what, he should study hard and become a scholar and professor in the future, which is the glory of the ancestors. For this matter, the old man also went to the Chongqing Aviation Committee to make a fuss, but to no avail.

In 1942, Cai Jiheng had graduated from the junior class of the Air Force Military Academy, and was temporarily retained to teach because of his excellent grades. In May of that year, the Japanese army occupied Mangshi, trapped Longling, bombed Baoshan, and confronted the Chinese army on the Nu River. The junior class of the Air Force Academy was forced to move to Lahore, the capital of Punjab Province, India[1]

Cai Jiheng worked as a pilot training instructor in Lahore for a year.

In March 1943, the U.S. Air Force Task Force in China was expanded into the 14th Air Force of the U.S. Army Air Corps, and General Chennault suggested that China and the United States send air and ground crews to form three flight groups to cooperate in the operation, and named the Sino-American Air Force Mixed Regiment, which was officially established in Karazi, India on October 1, 1943 [2]

。 Cai Jiheng insisted on being approved to enter the combat unit and was assigned to the third brigade of the mixed regiment of the Chinese and American air forces. This flying regiment, which is composed of Chinese and American pilots, has a bomber group and two fighter groups under its jurisdiction, numbered the first, third, and fifth groups respectively.

The mixed regiment of the Chinese and American air forces was a product of political pressure and military innovation, and played an important role in the most difficult stage of China's war of resistance. It is a miracle that two distinct races of different cultures and colors of skin can merge into one strong fighting unit. The U.S.-China Air Force Mixed Regiment has achieved a commendable record of success, while also overcoming the huge cultural and technical differences between the two countries' mixed units. In the later stage of the Anti-Japanese War, the mixed regiment of the Chinese and American air forces played a non-negligible role in the entire course of the war.

After 1943, with the help of the Americans, a steady stream of new Chinese pilots graduated from aviation schools and were assigned to combat units. However, not every Chinese pilot can be assigned to the mixed regiment of the Chinese and American Air Forces, and some of them are assigned to the 14th Air Force of the United States Army and become full-fledged American officers. Because most of the 14th Air Force were Americans and Chinese were only a very small minority, the Chinese pilots did not like it there, and they all looked forward to being transferred to the mixed regiment of the Chinese and American Air Forces and returning to their own people.

In this comparison, Cai Jiheng is still very lucky, he is very satisfied with the unit he serves.

Cai Jiheng made a temporary forced landing at Hengyang Airport three days ago. On that day, he and the 5th Squadron formed a four-plane formation of jellyfish skins, duhei, and Finnish knives, and took off from Guilin Airport to Wuhan to carry out a bombing mission. Cai Jiheng's luck was not very good, his plane was hit in the tail by a Japanese anti-aircraft machine gun on the ground, Cai Jiheng didn't notice anything at first, and when he returned, things came, the plane flew more and more hard, and black smoke rose from the tail. Cai Jiheng checked the route map and found that Hengyang Airport was nearby, and there seemed to be no better way than to make a forced landing at this moment.

Cai Jiheng notified the three guys of the formation in secret words: "Hey! Jellyfish skin, Du Hei, Finnish knife, I am a crocodile, I am going to make a forced landing in the No. 5 circle (Hengyang Airport), and I will not return to the No. 2 circle (Guilin) tonight. Please tell the musketeer (captain) that as soon as my horse (plane) is rested (repaired), I will return to lap 2. ”

Most of the air and ground crews of the mixed regiment of the Chinese and American air forces have nicknames, especially the pilots, and calling each other by nicknames in air combat is also a secrecy measure, and it is always a good thing that the Japanese army's listening department has their real names. The pilots' nicknames are varied, and most of them have provenances. "Jellyfish skin" Zhao Yuting is a native of Zhejiang, and he secretly agrees with the word "sting"; "Du Hei" Chu Zhengguang is a loyal believer of Du Hei, the founder of the theory of air supremacy; "Finnish Knife" Wang Haven is a knife lover, collecting all kinds of knives, especially Finnish knives, hence the name.

Jellyfish Skin is a loud voice: "Crocodile, we will accompany you to the No. 5 circle, place you (land safely) and then go!" ”

Duhey said in a secret language, "Crocodile, is your horse okay?" If you really can't do it, just ride the clouds (skydive)! ”

Cai Jiheng replied: "Everyone, you don't have to worry about this little thing, I wish you all the best!" ”

Although Cai Jiheng said this, his teammates were still not at ease, they insisted on accompanying Cai Jiheng to fly over Hengyang Airport, and watched him land safely before shaking his wings and returning in formation.

Cai Jiheng heard from the mechanic that although there was no major problem with the repair of his plane, there were several parts that needed to be replaced, and it happened that there were no such parts in the parts warehouse at Hengyang Airport, so he had to ask Cai Jiheng to wait patiently for a few days, and the transport plane at Zhijiang Airport would bring the parts three days later.

It seems that he can only wait for a few days at Hengyang Airport.

Just now, Cai Jiheng met Sergeant Jack, a mechanic, at the door of the restaurant, and he and Jack were good friends. A year ago, when Cai Jiheng was stationed at Liangshan Airport, Jack was his mechanic, responsible for repairing his plane. Traditionally, pilots and mechanics get along better, because the quality of maintenance of the aircraft is directly related to the life of the pilot, which is definitely not a trivial matter. Cai Jiheng and Jack naturally became good friends. In the mixed regiment of the Sino-US Air Force, most of the Chinese pilots are not very good at English, and it is no problem to speak a few words of everyday language, but most of them can chat with their American colleagues in English, except for a few people such as Cai Jiheng, and can only communicate by gestures. There is no language barrier between Cai Jiheng and Jack, Jack is a rough man, his language is very uncivilized, often mixed with some foul language. Although Cai Jiheng's English is very good, the English teacher did not teach him to speak foul language, so Jack became his teacher, on the condition that Cai Jiheng pay for every consumption at the bar. Of course, Cai Jiheng will occasionally teach Jack a few Chinese foul words in return, and Jack learns very seriously. Major Xu Huajiang, the deputy captain of the 3rd Brigade, was a student studying in the United States and his English was also very good, and according to his report, once in the hangar, he heard Cai Jiheng and Jack insulting each other in English, and their foul language was endless.

According to the regulations, the standard of food for air crew is much higher than that of ground crew, so Jack often pokes his head outside the pilot's cafeteria and complains about this unfair treatment. After Cai Jiheng knew, he said in a big way, you can say whatever you want to eat, if you have a brother, I will eat, you will eat, who will be with whom we brothers?

During that time, Cai Jiheng often stole some food from the air stove that could not be seen in the ground stove to satisfy Jack's hunger.

Later, Jack was transferred to Hengyang Airport, and Cai Jiheng's 5th Squadron was transferred to Guilin Airport, and the two separated, but they have not broken contact for a year.

Jack is 30 years old this year, and compared to young people like Cai Jiheng, he is an old guy. But there is no age barrier between the two, not only do they get along like brothers, but they are not big or small, and it is common for them to scold each other. Jack's nickname is rather scary, "Rattlesnake", who knows whose name he had, but he is actually a very kind and gentle man.

A native of Seattle, Jack and his father have worked at Boeing's aircraft factories for two generations. When Chennault was recruiting volunteers in the United States, Jack didn't hear anything else, he only remembered one thing, and that was the salary of $300 a month. His monthly salary at the time was $80, which was a median income in American society at the time. Jack did the math at the recruiting meeting and immediately became interested in the $300 job, which is almost four times his current salary, so what was there to hesitate about? He immediately decided to join the volunteer team, is this account still worth it? As an ordinary mechanic, there is no country in the world that can earn a monthly salary of $300 except for going to China.

At the recruitment meeting, Chennault not only introduced the treatment of volunteers, but also publicized China's War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression. Chennault, an idealist who hated fascism, told Jack that the Japanese fascists were slaughtering the Chinese, and that we should help the Chinese, and to help China was to uphold justice.

To be honest, Jack was confused at the time, because neither China nor Japan had any concept for him, and Jack was just a technician, and he never paid much attention to anything other than technology. Two years later, in a repair workshop at Liangshan Airport, he told Mr. Cai that all his previous impressions of China had come from downtown Seattle's Chi

atow

(Chinatown), I don't know anything other than eating a Chinese meal treated by a colleague. As for Japan, Jack only knows a food called sushi, which is dipped in a weird green mustard, but it doesn't taste very fucking.

Cai Jiheng was very angry at Jack's loneliness, it was really unbelievable, an ancient oriental country with a history of 5,000 years of civilization, this guy didn't know? He is also a mechanic, and if he is placed in China, he can be regarded as a great intellectual, how can he be so poor in knowledge?

Facing Cai Jiheng's anger, Jack shrugged his shoulders apologetically: "Crocodile, why should I know so many things that have nothing to do with me?" A person's mind is like a house, the space is limited, if there are too many useless clutter, then the useful things can't be put down, I don't believe that your house is full of fucking rags. ”

Jack's crooked reasoning made Cai Jiheng so angry that he wanted to hit his head against the wall, but he still forgave him. He lived in his lair for the first half of his life, and the outside world was none of his business, and you can't ask a rattlesnake to care about human geography, current affairs and politics.

Although Jack is a stupid guy (at least Cai Jiheng thinks so), as far as aviation mechanics are concerned, he is definitely a skilled master, and repairing various types of aircraft is not difficult for him.

Nicknamed "Rattlesnake", Jack is a mild-tempered man who has never seen him get angry. Jack himself was not satisfied with this, and he very much wished that he could become more vicious so that he could appear manly. He put a rattlesnake pattern on the triceps of his left upper arm, the pattern was designed by himself, and it lacked artistry in terms of composition, it was a rattlesnake with its head coiled up, in order to highlight the tail that could snap, he also designed the snake's tail to be cocked, and the snake's head was on the same horizontal line, which looked so nondescript.

Ever since he got this tattoo, Jack has often worked shirtless, even when it's cold, and he thinks it's the best way to show himself, which is cool!

Old Jack was deeply sympathetic to Cai Jiheng for all kinds of troubles caused by his appearance, he always took off his shirt triumphantly, showed his tattoo to Cai Jiheng, and instigated: "Crocodile, we are men, men are dignified, of course God has the final say on what they look like, but how to show themselves, this can be up to us, you see how vicious my rattlesnake is, to tell you, since I have this rattlesnake, it has had obvious results, all my colleagues have begun to please me, and I have become accustomed to a temper, I want to beat people at every turn! ”

Cai Jiheng was a little agitated by Jack: "Old Jack, do you really think that you feel much better after getting a tattoo?" Nobody said you're a, right? ”

"Of course, who dares to say I'm not a man? Unless he's impatient to live. Crocodile, your nickname is good, but if you walk down the street, who will know your name is crocodile? You can't just meet people and say, "Hey, I'm a crocodile!" Don't mess with me. Isn't that a brain disease? So you're going to listen to me, and get a crocodile tattoo on your left arm right now, or I'll help you design a pattern? ”

Cai Jiheng thought about it for a while, and felt that if he didn't agree, he would let down Jack's enthusiasm, he couldn't hurt his friend's feelings, and it wasn't a big deal anyway, so he just stabbed a crocodile. Of course, the pattern designed by Jack is really not very good, so it is better to design it yourself.

So Cai Jiheng put a crocodile pattern on the triceps of his left upper arm, and from then on, as long as he sat with Jack and drank, the two took off their shirts and showed off their tattoos to each other.

It's been almost a year since they were separated, and Jack was very happy to see Cai Jiheng, he patted his chest and said that he would be the host tonight and go to the bar to sit.

Cai Jiheng was only thinking about returning to the base as soon as possible, and he was a little absent-minded about Jack's warm invitation, he shirked and said: "Forget it, rattlesnake, please hurry up and repair the plane for me, we are busy over there, sometimes we have to take off two or three times a day, as soon as the plane lands, the ground crew immediately refuels and loads, and the pilot is waiting next to the plane, and takes off immediately after the refueling and reloading." Rattlesnake, I need to get back as soon as possible. ”

Jack said disdainfully: "Your plane is being repaired, I'm not an average technician now, I don't have time to fiddle with the P-40." ”

"Yo yo yo, so spirited? You're not going to be a general, are you? ”

"Let's just say that my standing has improved like never before a year ago, General Chennault has given me an important mission, and I now have something more interesting. Crocodile, guess what, what am I playing? ”

"I said rattlesnake, what are you doing is none of my business, I'm fucking annoyed." Cai Jiheng said that he was leaving.

Jack said triumphantly, "Crocodile, if I told you that I had a complete Japanese Zero, would you believe it or not?" ”

Cai Jiheng stopped abruptly: "Really? Where is it? It can't be in Tokyo, right? ”

"Hey, hey, in my workshop. You can only come quietly, this is a relatively confidential task, and you must not leak secrets! Jack said mysteriously.

Cai Jiheng sneered: "Everything has become a secret task when it comes to you, aren't you just a broken mechanic?" It's not a general, so you can know about the secrecy? We have a saying in China that it is called holding chicken feathers as an arrow. Rattlesnake, you're holding a chicken feather right now. ”

"What do you mean? I didn't take any chicken feathers...... Wait a minute...... I'm going to write this down in my notebook, is this an insult? It seems to have a lot of meaning......" Jack scrambled through his notebook.

Cai Jiheng didn't bother to explain: "Rattlesnake, why do you fucking come to the spirit as soon as you hear the swearing?" You go first, I'll be in your studio in 10 minutes. ”

Cai Jiheng looked at Jack's back and muttered, this kid can't be a liar, where is he going to get a complete zero machine?

At the beginning of the Pacific War, the Japanese army had only 300 Zero fighters, of which 250 were put into the Pacific theater, and with these 250 Zero fighters, the Japanese army wiped out two-thirds of the Allied fighters in the Pacific within a few months after the war began. When the Allied pilots took off to meet the Zero, both the pilots and the commanders understood that once the plane had taken off, the likelihood of returning home was almost zero.

After 1942, the U.S. military successively obtained several Zero fighters that were forced to land, and after research, they roughly grasped their structural performance and defects, and also provided Allied fighter pilots with new aerial tactics to deal with Zero aircraft, so the phenomenon of one-sided in air combat was reversed.

On Cai Jiheng's record of shooting down two Zeros, he has a deep respect for the Allied pilots who died in the early days of the Pacific War, without their sacrifices, it would be impossible to gain valuable experience in dealing with Zeros, which is the experience of blood in exchange.

Jack's workshop is actually a small hangar, which is very spacious, and Cai Jiheng really saw a Zero fighter without landing gear, the two wings of the plane were on two 50-gallon empty gasoline drums, and Jack and a few Chinese ground crews were busy around the fuselage.

Jack looked up and saw Cai Jiheng, he pointed to the plane proudly and said, "Dear crocodile, take a look, this is my new lover, is she beautiful?" ”

Cai Jiheng walked around the plane, carefully observed the parts on it and asked, "Rattlesnake, tell me, which mouse hole did you find this lover from?" ”

Jack slapped his wings and said, "I heard that your guerrillas picked it up on a remote beach." It may be so, the plane was hit by a bullet in the fuel tank, causing a fuel leak, and the son of a bitch pilot was going to make a forced landing on the beach, but the sand was too soft and the tires were trapped, and the plane flipped over, and this guy's neck was broken like a chopstick. The plane was later discovered by several peasants, who informed the guerrillas, who dismantled the plane and secretly transported it to the rear through the Japanese blockade, where many parts were damaged or lost. But that's okay, we've done a lot of Zeros, and I found a lot of useful parts from the wreckage, and it took me two weeks to put together a perfect Zero. ”

Cai Jiheng kicked the gasoline barrel of the wing: "Why don't you even have a landing gear?" ”

Jack replied, "The original tires have been cut off by Chinese farmers to make soles, and I can't restore them to their original state, so I have to remove the tires from an old Hawker biplane and replace them, and I haven't had time to install them yet." Fuck, I just figured out that the skin of the Zero was made of cloth, and these Japanese monkeys were so imaginative that they actually made planes out of cloth, and I would have liked them to paste the planes with newspaper, and then you could poke it off with a bamboo pole. You see, the original Japanese cloth on its ailerons, rudders, and elevators were torn off by the common people to make clothes, so I had to use Chinese silk to paint a few coats instead. Don't you Chinese women pay attention to wearing silk cheongsam? I'm also going to dress my beauties in a cheongsam made of silk. ”

Cai Jiheng asked suspiciously: "Why did you bother so much to come over?" It's no secret to us that the Zero is no secret. Rattlesnake, why did General Chennault let you do this? ”

"General Chennault said to me, 'Jack, no...... At that time he called me by his nickname, and he said, Sidewinder, the Japanese have been improving this aircraft, and we have to find out if the performance of this aircraft has improved and improved a lot compared to the data we had before, Sidewinder, I want you to fix it and let this damn plane fly, this is very important to the allies, no one can do this except you. ”

Cai Jiheng snorted and said sarcastically: "Rattlesnake, you must have been flattered at that time, right?" ”

Jack couldn't hear Cai Jiheng's sarcasm, he said seriously: "Of course, I was indeed a little flattered at the time, General Chennault is a big man. I saluted the general and said, thank you! Sir, I haven't fiddled with the Zero before, but it's not a big deal, I'll do my best to get the job done, thank you for trusting me! ”

Cai Jiheng jumped into the cockpit of the Zero machine, fiddled with the joystick and said, "Old Jack, what have you found?" ”

Jack said in a compliment: "It's very new, very clever in its design, and there are many creative inventions. Its left and right wings are integrated into the cockpit, reducing the weight of the joints and screws, and its landing gear is light, only one-third the weight of the P-40 aircraft's landing gear. The sights and oxygen units are also very delicately designed, while the cooler, fuel tank, propeller and engine are actually a single unit, fixed to the fire wall of the aircraft with only four large screws, and all the fuel, lubricating oil, pressure, temperature and other lines are connected to a simple junction box, and it only takes 25 to 30 minutes to install or disassemble a complete zero engine and aircraft propeller and lube oil cooler system. Our P-40 or P-51, on the other hand, takes 5 to 6 hours to do the same work, and this obvious time advantage is of great significance in wartime......"

"Alright, old Jack, you don't have to say a little technical jargon, you just have to tell me, compared to the old model, what are the improvements of this new and improved Zero? How do we deal with it in aerial combat? ”

"Crocodile, please be patient and listen to me. We all know that the Zero is dexterous because it weighs half as much as an American aircraft, which gives it a great advantage in flight performance. I found that this improved Zero was much lighter than the old model, and it turned out that these bitch designers had removed all the pilots' protective armor, and they didn't seem to care much about the pilot's life. In addition, the one-inch-thick self-sealing fuel tank was removed [3]

The electric starter of the engine was also removed, but it weighed only 10 pounds, and they wanted to save weight in every tiny detail. ”

Cai Jiheng couldn't help but interrupt Jack's chatter again, and he shouted loudly: "Damn rattlesnake, are you finished?" I'm not a mechanic and don't want to listen to these dry technical jargon, what I care about is its weakness, weakness, you know? I know its weaknesses so I can beat it! Cai Jiheng smashed his fist on the dashboard......

Jack cried out in distress, "Crocodile, you fucking light, it's so delicate like a beauty, you can't treat it so rudely." Well, crocodile, let me tell you the conclusion, the Zero has an excellent rate of climb and turning radius and can easily surpass our F-4F Wildcat and P-40. Crocodile, you remember, dogfight with these two planes and the Zero at low altitudes is tantamount to suicide. But if at high altitude, the Zero's vertical maneuverability begins to deteriorate, because the ailerons are sluggish and reacts slowly, then you know what to do. In addition, the dive speed of the Zero is not fast, if you are bitten by the Zero in battle, you should immediately dive and roll at high speed, you can usually get rid of it, but remember not to use climbing means to get rid of it, and do not chase the Zero that climbs sharply, otherwise it will be a fucking dead end. Also, the Zero does not have a self-sealing fuel tank and fire extinguishing equipment, and the fuel tank will turn into a large fireball if it is hit. It also doesn't have any armor to protect the pilot, which is easy to do. Crocodile, use your old method, aim at its cockpit first, and beat that bitch pilot into a red, green, and green pizza, and you don't have to think about anything else. ”

Cai Jiheng's eyes rolled, and he immediately had an idea in his heart, and he asked with a smile on his face: "Dear rattlesnake, who is your Zero going to test fly?" ”

Jack sat down on a broken sofa in a big way, took a sip of coffee from the ground staff, and said, "It's not decided yet, I'm afraid it's up to General Chennault to think about it." Wait a minute...... Crocodile, what do you mean, it can't be that you want to come for a test flight, right? ”

Cai Jiheng moved forward and said in his heart: "Old Jack, tell me, are we good friends?" ”

"Well, I don't dare to say that, because I don't know what bad ideas are going on in your head, I'm a very simple person, pure as a blank piece of paper, and if I don't get it right, I'll fall for you. Crocodile, tell me your bad idea, I'll listen to it first, and then I'll tell you if we're good friends. Jack looked at Cai Jiheng slyly.

"Old Jack, old Jack, you really disappointed me, we have a saying in China called hot face sticking to cold ass, I wholeheartedly treat you as a good friend, fucking everyone will say, I have a good big brother, my home is in Seattle, USA, in the future, I will retire to buy a piece of land and build a house by the seaside in Seattle, and spend my old age with my eldest brother. Old Jack, I find that you are very insincere, as if you don't treat me as a good friend at all, and you don't even recognize me as a friend, which really makes me sad......"

"Alright, alright, crocodile, don't talk about it, and you're going to shed crocodile tears. I can see that you are going around and calling me brothers, in fact, you just want to play with the Zero machine, don't you? ”

"Of course, of course I want to have fun, and besides, you've finally fixed it, someone has to test fly, right? Why should we ask for others? Your brother and I can do it for you. Cai Jiheng's mouth was like honey.

Jack refused: "Crocodile, I can't promise you this, without General Chennault's approval, no one can use the zero machine, otherwise the old man will kill me." ”

Cai Jiheng painstakingly enlightened: "Dear old Jack, General Chennault is not an all-knowing and all-powerful God, how can he know about our affairs? We could have kept it from him unless you betrayed our friendship, but with your old Jack's character, I'm 100% sure you'll keep your mouth shut, won't you? ”

Jack is indeed a real person, where is he the opponent of the skillful Cai Jiheng, he was defeated in only two or three rounds, he hesitated: "Crocodile, I need to think about this matter...... Besides, how can we convince the duty officer of the tower? Forcing a take-off without a take-off order from the tower will cause a big incident. ”

"You don't have to worry about that, I'll take care of everything. I said Sidewinder, if I'm not mistaken, the Zero should have two 20mm cannons and two 7.7mm machine guns, and two 60 kg ** under the wings. My question is, how much ammo did you collect? ”

"Ammunition doesn't seem to be a problem, it can be equipped according to its standard ammunition base, but ...... Crocodile, what are you going to do? Even if I agree with you to test fly, you don't have to fly with bombs, right? Jack looked at Cai Jiheng suspiciously.

Cai Jiheng said solemnly: "Old Jack, you are just a mechanic, not a pilot, you only care about the technical performance of the aircraft, but not its weapon system, and I have to test the weapon performance of the Zero, such as whether its sights and impact points are incorrect, etc." ”

Jack scratched his scalp and said, "You make me think about it, and I'll answer you at dinner today." ”

"No problem, I'll wait patiently for your reply. I said rattlesnake, have you ever eaten Chinese Hunan food? It's so delicious, I bet with you, if you eat it once, you'll definitely regret why you didn't reincarnate in China. On the issue of eating, it's not that I look down on you, you Americans are still in a primitive state of drinking blood, and you lack a certain amount of creativity and imagination. In this way, I will invite you to eat Hunan cuisine tonight, there is a good Hunan restaurant in Hengyang City, I will take you to try it. ”

Jack was a little embarrassed: "Crocodile, in the past, you always paid the bill when we drank, but this time I let you break the bill, I'm really sorry." ”

"Old Jack, I don't like to hear you say this, who are we with whom? That's a brother, a friendship in a pair of pants. ”

"What? Wearing a pair of pants? Why are we wearing a pair of pants......" Jack scrambled to pull out his notebook to record.

Cai Jiheng said in his heart, Jack, Jack, Cai doesn't have to bother to get your rattlesnake at all.

Man Tang and Tie Zhu are fetching water by the Luo River in the north of the village to water the ground. The two brothers carried the bucket and walked less than five times before they were tired and lay down. It is about 200 meters from the ground to the Luo River, if it is a normal year, this work is nothing, but since the disaster the year before last, the brothers have not eaten enough, and their bodies have been weak, and the distance of 200 meters seems so long.

Mantang threw down the bucket and fell to the ground, panting for breath for a long time.

Tie Zhu couldn't stand on the ground, he gasped and asked, "Brother, what's wrong with you?" ”

Man Tang snorted angrily: "It's okay." ”

Tie Zhu said: "Brother, you are tired, you rest, I can just pick a few more trips." ”

Mantang turned over: "I don't have to do anything, it's just that his mother's life is not interesting." Tiezhu, do you say that our brothers and sons can only dig in the soil for food in this life? ”

Tie Zhu replied sullenly: "What if you don't shave?" Our father and mother have been planing for a lifetime, and the croppers are so cheap, we have to accept our fate. ”

Mantang sat up abruptly and shouted, "Shit! I won't accept my fate! In my life, I didn't come to carry water to water the ground or dig food in the soil. ”

"Brother, then what did you come for? What else can we do besides digging in the soil? ”

Mantang's mouth was speechless for a while: "What are you doing?" I can't tell, but that's not what I'm doing. ”

Tie Zhu cautiously asked, "Brother, are we going to do it then?" If they don't do it, these seedlings will die of drought, and the whole family is still counting on it. ”

Mantang glanced at the half-wilted crop seedlings, and suddenly deflated, he got up and picked up the bucket again: "Mother, what do you do, what if you don't do it?" ”

The two brothers didn't walk a few steps with their shoulders on their shoulders when they heard the sound of the motorcycle engine on the ground, and Tie Zhu looked up and said, "Brother, that devil is here again!" ”

Mantang stabbed the iron pillar: "Be quiet, this kid knows Chinese, don't let him hear it." ”

Keichi Yamada pulled up his motorcycle on the ground and greeted him with a grin.

Mantang tried hard to make a smile and said, "Brother Yamada, you're here!" ”

Keiichi Yamada smiled and said, "It's the devil who is here." ”

Tie Zhu said embarrassedly, "Yo, did you hear that?" Brother Yamada, don't be angry. ”

"I'm not angry, I know the Chinese call us devils." Just call it, it's already very polite. I met **** soldiers on the way here just now, I didn't want to mess with them, isn't it good that everyone is polite and walks separately? But this **** soldier didn't think so, they raised their rifles to shoot at me, but there was no way, I had to shoot two shots first, and they immediately ran away without even a shadow. Keiichi Yamada patted the pistol holster on his waist and said.

Tie Zhu stared at his pistol holster and asked, "Your guy is called ****, right?" ”

Keiichi Yamada said dissatisfiedly: "It's hard to call it like this, how can you call it Wang Hachi?" This is called the Southern Type 14 pistol. ”

Mantang asked, "Brother Yamada, do you have something to look for me again?" ”

Kei Yamada nodded: "Do you know Houdian Township?" ”

"I know, it's 30 miles away from the county seat of Jiaxian, and I went there last year to send medicinal materials to the owner."

Keiichi Yamada said with a smile: "That's great, our troops are going to Houdian Township, you know, the road marked on the map is very inaccurate, and sometimes we have to take a lot of unjust roads." Mantang, can you show us the way? ”

"Yes, I know there's a path, it's close. But...... What's in it for me? Mantang made no secret of his greed.

"According to the rules last time, how about 20 catties of rice?"

"50 pounds, don't pull it down." The house did not back down.

"Okay, okay, it's 50 pounds, and we can make a deal. Manhouse, when can you leave? Our chief said the sooner the better. ”

"What's the hurry, we haven't made a deal yet. Brother Yamada, I am two people, 50 rice per person, a total of 100 catties. ”

Keiichi Yamada thought about it for a while, and said helplessly: "Mantang, you guy is definitely not a good citizen, this is simply blackmail." But...... Now the military situation is urgent, I don't have time to bargain with you, 100 pounds is 100 pounds, let's go immediately! ”

Mantang bent down and picked up the bucket and said, "Then I have to say hello to my father and mother." ”

Keiichi Yamada was busy starting the motorcycle: "You get in the car, I'll take you home, so it can be faster." ”

Mantang waved his hand and said coldly: "You wait for us at the head of the village, don't enter the village!" ”

"Why?" Keiichi Yamada asked puzzled.

The full hall suddenly erupted: "What do you ask?" I don't want people to poke my backbone, if it weren't for this life-saving food, I would ...... I...... Forget it, I won't say anything! ”

Keiichi Yamada was silent.

Full Hall and Iron Pillar hurried home. After entering the door, the brothers hurriedly found a change of clothes and packed their things.

"Mantang, where are you two going?" The full house lady hurriedly asked.

"Go to Houdian Township, and you can come back the day after tomorrow."

Mantangniang sighed: "Mantang, you have been stubborn like a donkey since you were a child, what do you want to do now, my mother can't stop you, if you want to go, go early and return early." Mother only has one sentence, you listen to me......"

Mantang looked at his mother's wrinkled face and whispered, "Mother, you say, I'll listen." ”

Mantangniang touched Mantang's face and said, "Son, remember! When can't you do things that lack virtue, hear clearly? ”

"Got it, mother! That's gone. ”

Sister Cuihua came over, timidly pulled the cuffs of the full hall and whispered: "Brother, there is a war outside, there are dead people everywhere, brother, I don't want you to die, you go home early." ”

"Don't worry, we'll be back in a day or two, and our land hasn't been watered yet." Mantang and Tiezhu took their burdens and walked out the door.

When he stepped out of the hospital, Mantang suddenly remembered something, turned around and asked his mother: "Mother, where is my father?" ”

"Your father is watering the ground in Chen's garden and will come back at noon."

Mantang's heart suddenly felt a sourness, these days his father was angry, and he felt a little sorry for his father. In fact, if it weren't for the 100 catties of rice, he wouldn't have bothered to lead the way for the devil.

Thinking of this, Mantang's eyes were a little moist: "Mother, tell my father, don't be angry, wait for me to come back and compensate him!" After saying that, he pulled the iron pillar and left without looking back.

Man Tang Niang and Cuihua watched them away blankly, until they couldn't see it, Man Tang Niang turned around and secretly wiped the tears from her face.

Where did Man Tang and Tiezhu know that when they left, they would be separated from their relatives forever.

Keiichi Yamada's unit was the 3rd Wing of the 11th Independent Infantry Brigade of the Japanese Army, which had three infantry brigades and an infantry artillery squadron, which was a fully manned wing of about 2,500 people.

Keiichi Yamada drove at the front of the line on a sidecar motorcycle, with Mantang sitting in the sidecar and Tetsuki sitting in the back seat of the driver.

The hall looked with interest at the Japanese soldiers walking behind him, they were lined up in four neat marching columns, the devil soldiers were not tall but stout, their faces were ruddy, and they looked well-nourished, but their uniforms were a little shabby. Each of the devil soldiers carried a Type 38 rifle on their backs, a cowhide bullet box around their waists, and their steel helmets were covered with a layer of nets like fishing nets.

Tie Zhu looked around and felt very fresh, and he kept asking questions to Keiichi Yamada: "Brother Yamada, why do you put the fishing net on the iron hat, are you idle to use it to fish?" ”

Keiichi Yamada glanced at the iron pillar and couldn't help but smile: "That's not a fishing net, it's a camouflage net, and you can stick branches and leaves on it when you need to disguise." ”

"Oh, what kind of gun is the one walking in front carrying, and why is the handle crooked?"

Keiichi Yamada replied: "It's a Taisho 11 light machine gun, designed like this so that the shooter doesn't have to bend his neck to aim. ”

"That'...... What's your hand like a bear? Not even a wooden handle, like a melon ......"

"Tiezhu, why are you talking so much? Shut your mouth for me! The full hall reprimanded.

Keiichi Yamada looked back at a Japanese officer on a white horse and whispered, "It's okay, no one here understands Chinese except me." Do you see the officer? He is Sakai Daisa, our co-captain, a native of Osaka, and in Chinese words, we are fellow countrymen. ”

Mantang also glanced back and said, "Hey, you ghosts...... No, you Japanese people also pay attention to recognizing fellow countrymen? ”

"You want to talk about devils again, it's very rude, I haven't called you Chinese devils, why do you always call us devils? It's not good. Keiichi Yamada reproached dissatisfied.

"Okay, okay, don't say it, don't say it, I'll call you Yamada Taijun in the future. Okay, right? You Japanese people are so fucking troublesome. ”

Suddenly, there were scattered gunshots and shouts in front of him, and Keiichi Yamada braked the car suddenly, and Mantang almost flew out of the sidecar with inertia.

Keiichi Yamada pulled out his pistol and shouted in Japanese, only to see the Japanese machine gunners walking in front of the group lightning-fast with crooked machine guns and firing forward, the sound of gunfire was deafening, and the scorching bullet casings burst to the ground one after another.

Only then did the hall see clearly that dozens of national army routs appeared from the side of the mountain bag and ran head-on, each carrying a lot of things in large bags and small bags. Caught off guard by the Japanese army, they threw their things away in a panic and lay down on the spot, shooting indiscriminately. The Japanese marching column dispersed in an instant, and the soldiers responded with a one-legged kneeling position. Wing Commander Sakai Osa gave a loud order, and immediately a squadron of Japanese soldiers quickly outflanked from both flanks under the cover of machine guns.

The Nationalist rout was knocked down by machine-gun fire, and the rest fled in fright, rifles and large and small bags thrown to the ground.

Captain Sakai waved his white-gloved hand and shouted a few more words in Japanese.

"What did he say?" Mantang asked nervously.

"Don't fight, keep going!" Kei Yamada replied as he started his motorcycle.

The formation of the Japanese army was not chaotic at all, leaving behind more than a dozen corpses of the national army and painful wounded soldiers, and continued to march. Several Japanese officers walked out of the queue and drew their pistols to replenish the wounded soldiers, apparently with no intention of taking prisoners.

Looking at the corpses close at hand, the hall suddenly felt very uncomfortable in his heart. Mother, whether these fallen people are Tang Enbo's soldiers or not, they are Chinese after all, sitting in the devil's car, watching the devil kill the Chinese, and pretending to be nothing, what is this fucking not a traitor? He secretly swore in his heart that when he arrived at the place, he would settle the bill with Keiichi Yamada immediately, and leave as soon as the 100 catties of rice arrived, and in the future, the devil would not give them 100 gold ingots, which was too embarrassing for the ancestors.

As it got dark, the march of the 3rd Wing of the Japanese Army did not slow down at all, and the soldiers were already showing their tiredness. Sakai Osa looked at his watch and ordered the troops to rest in place and eat some dry food to replenish their strength.

The spring nights in central Henan were not warm, and Mantang and Tiezhu put on all the clothes they had brought, but still felt a little cold, and Keiichi Yamada suggested that they lean against the motorcycle, which was still hot. A soldier was handing out food to the soldiers, and Man Tang and Tie Zhu also received a portion each, a cold rice ball made of rice mixed with barley, a piece of dry and hard salted fish, and a cup of cold tea.

Mantang nibbled on cold rice balls and said to Keiichi Yamada, "You eat this every day?" ”

Keiichi Yamada gobbled up and replied, "yes, what do you think we eat?" ”

"I thought you eat big fish and meat every day, and after a long time of trouble, it's salted fish and rice balls, and this food is not good."

Keiichi Yamada snorted: "How rich do you think we Japanese are?" If we eat big fish and meat every day, we won't be able to fight. ”

Tie Zhu suddenly realized: "I said, why did you come all the way to China, you are so poor that you can't eat for a long time, and you are going to China to grab food?" ”

Keiichi Yamada swallowed hard a bite of rice balls and said, "Shut up!" You talk too badly. Before the war, my family opened a small shop in Osaka, and life was not bad, but this battle was not for me to fight, it was for politicians to fight, and I had to go to prison if I did not serve in the military. Do you understand? ”

Mantang raised a question that had been held in his heart for a long time: "Brother Yamada, are you really Japanese?" Why is Chinese so good? ”

"Of course I'm Japanese, but ...... My birthplace is Northeast China, and my parents came to Northeast China as early as 1915, so my Chinese is more standard than you Henan people. ”

"Why is that? Did you come here after a disaster in Japan? The room was full of bewilderment.

Keiichi Yamada was silent for a while before he said slowly: "My family has no land in Japan, there are many children, and the family background is too bad, so it is very difficult to survive in Japan. Later, ** called on everyone to immigrate to Northeast China and organize a civilian pioneer group, my parents took the whole family to Yichun in Heilongjiang to open up the wasteland and farm, there was no me at that time, I was born in 1917, and spent my entire childhood in Northeast China. ”

Tie Zhu scratched his scalp and asked puzzledly: "What is this saying, your family is so poor in Japan that they can't get along, so they went to China to open up wasteland and farm?" This land is planted, and no one has collected your rent yet, why is there such a good thing? Then I Henan people go to your Japan to farm, okay? ”

Man Tang sneered: "Iron pillar, your head is an elm pimple? Why do you want to do beautiful things, Brother Yamada can't mix with the land in his hometown, and it's your turn? ”

Tie Zhu's brain was a little dull, and the more he couldn't understand, the more tendons he felt, and he reluctantly asked the next question: "That...... Brother Yamada, I still don't understand, it stands to reason that the Chinese are interesting enough, let you white seeds, and don't even collect rent, why do you Japanese still use guns and cannons to beat them? ”

Keiichi Yamada was a little embarrassed: "This ...... I don't like this war either, and I don't understand that the land area of Tohoku has long been several times larger than that of Japan, and it is enough to live, but the politicians are not satisfied and have to fight. My family saved some money from the Tohoku wasteland, and my family moved back to Osaka when I was 10 years old. My father used his savings to open a grocery store, and he had a good life. When the Sino-Japanese War broke out, my eldest brother was drafted into the army and died in Shanghai three months later. When my mother received the death notice from her eldest brother, she fainted from crying on the spot. Two months later, I was also forcibly drafted into the army...... Full house, to be honest, I don't like war, and I don't like my ** ......"

"Oh, let's go together, I don't like my **, those turtle grandsons who are officials don't have a good fucking good." Mantang said through gritted teeth.

At this time, Tie Zhu interjected and asked, "Brother Yamada, you said that this battle has been fought for six or seven years, why can't you be defeated?" Is it true that you Japanese don't want to die in a war one by one? ”

Yamada shrugged: "This is not necessarily, the Japanese are not the same as the Japanese, when I joined the army, I was in the Fourth Division, and it was all composed of Osaka people." This unit is one of the oldest divisions in Japan, having existed before the Russo-Japanese War. If you want to say that there are any beautiful battles fought, I don't think there is anything worth mentioning. It's no wonder that the soldiers of the Fourth Division are all vegetable vendors from Osaka City, and everyone is a trader before joining the army, and they pay attention to harmony and wealth, and there are few who are brave and ruthless, and occasionally one pops up, and everyone still looks down on you and thinks that you have lost the face of the people of Osaka. ”

Man Tang laughed: "I said, why do you have such a good temper, your team is afraid that you will be beaten, why don't you show your face?" ”

"It's not for nothing that once a private ran a red light in the center of Osaka and got into a confrontation with the police and was detained by the police. The commander of the division at that time, Lieutenant General Terauchi Shouichi, was furious when he heard this, and the old man thought that the police did not take the honor of the division and regiment seriously, so he led his troops to beat the police and smashed the police station. At that time, all the newspapers in Japan reported on the 'Osaka Incident'. You see, it's not like the Fourth Division can't be fought! Keiichi Yamada said self-deprecatingly.

Tiezhu said: "It's better to be from Osaka, everyone doesn't like to fight, they like to do business, if the Japanese are like this, this war can't be fought." ”

Keiichi Yamada sighed: "There is only one Osaka city in Japan, how can they all be as good-tempered as us?" There are still many fierce troops, such as the 18th Division, which is composed of miners from Kitakyushu Island, also known as the 'Kurume Division', who participated in the capture of Nanjing, and I heard that many civilians were killed in Nanjing. You think, these miners usually like to drink and fight, gather crowds to make trouble, there are not many good people, and the army composed of these guys is of course terrible. ”

As he spoke, Wing Captain Sakai Daisa walked over with his hands behind his back, and Keiichi Yamada immediately shut up. When Sakai walked over, Keiichi Yamada stuck out his tongue and said, "Fortunately, Chief Sakai can't understand Chinese, otherwise it would be troublesome, he is an officer who is absolutely loyal to the emperor, if he knew that I was slandering the imperial army with the Chinese, he would have unceremoniously sent me to a court-martial." ”

Mantang looked at Sakai Daisa's back and asked in a low voice, "Isn't he also from Osaka, isn't he still your fellow countryman?" ”

"He is different from us businessmen, he is a professional soldier, he went to the non-commissioned officer school and the army university, and he used to be in the 4th Division. After all, the Fourth Division is a first-class division and has many veterans, so the base camp often transfers officers and soldiers from the Fourth Division to other divisions and regiments. To tell you the truth, I've already changed five or six troops. Being constantly transferred will affect my promotion, so I've been in the army for almost seven years, and I'm still a military officer. ”

Tie Zhu asked, "What kind of official is Jun Cao?" ”

Keiichi Yamada thought for a while: "Well, it's equivalent to a sergeant in the Chinese army, and it belongs to a non-commissioned officer." ”

Mantang persuaded according to the thinking of the Chinese: "Brother, you still want to think about being promoted, your chief and you are a fellow countryman, the old man sees the old countryman, the two tears are full of eyes, Sakai Dasa should pull the old man no matter how he wants!" ”

Keiichi Yamada put his head on his knees with his hands, and he said disheartenedly: "I don't want to be an official, I just want to save my life and go home safely." To tell you the truth, I don't want to fight this unfortunate war for a day! My brother died in Shanghai a few years ago, and if I die again, my parents will probably die too. Alas, this damn war ......"

Keiichi Yamada covered his face with his hands and cried silently, tears flowing down his fingers.

Devils who dare to love will cry too? Mantang and the iron pillar looked at each other, but they didn't know what to say.

As soon as it was dark, a sharp whistle sounded, and Yamada jumped to his feet and started his motorcycle. The Japanese soldiers stood up and quickly formed a formation, and five minutes later the line set off again. Keiichi Yamada, Mando, and Tetsuki were silent, and there was no one in the marching column, except for the sound of hurried footsteps, the rolling of the wheels of large carts, and the low roar of motorcycle engines, all of which permeated the early morning mist.

When the 3rd Wing of the Japanese Army arrived in the Houdian area east of Jiaxian, it was already more than 9 o'clock in the morning, and a dull sound of artillery was faintly heard on the horizon in the distance. Captain Sakai rode forward to the motorcycle, said a few words of Japanese to Keiichi Yamada, waved to Mando and Tetsutsu, and then rode to the back of the line.

Keiichi Yamada took a sack of rice from a cart and said, "This is your rice, 100 catties is only a lot more, you carry the rice on your back and leave quickly, there will be a battle in front of you, the wing commander said thank you for leading the way." Full house, iron pillar, we will have a period later! ”

Mantang picked up the sack on his back and looked at Keiichi Yamada with some reluctance: "Brother Yamada, can we still meet?" ”

"Who knows, look at fate, I am a person who believes in Buddhism, I believe that freedom is at will, fate arises and dies, and everything does not need to be deliberate. Let's go! Keiichi Yamada pulled out a Type 38 rifle from the cart and ran into the queue.

As soon as the whistle sounded, the Japanese soldiers immediately dispersed, digging bunkers and building fortifications with sapper shovels, which caused smoke and dust for a while......

Mantang and Tiezhu didn't understand the meaning of Yamada Kei's words, they only knew that this bag of rice was in hand, and it was quite cost-effective to give it to the Japanese on an errand.

On the small road leading from Houdian Town to Jiaxian, Man Tang and Tiezhu were desperately hurrying with food on their backs, and they had already evaded a national army unit heading east. Sweating and looking at the sun, he must determine the direction and go northwest as soon as possible, the family is still counting on this bit of food, and he must get out of this land of right and wrong as soon as possible. Looking at this formation, a big battle is about to break out here.

It was nearly noon, and the weather was getting hotter and hotter. Tie Zhu took off his coat and wiped his sweat. Mantang took out the cold rice balls he had stolen last night and broke half of them to give them to the iron pillars, and the two brothers sat on a tree stump on the side of the road while munching on the rice balls, while debating which way to avoid this unfortunate place.

Before a rice ball was finished, there was movement behind it, and there was a noise on the path.

The whole hall was full of excitement, and he jumped up, and he pulled the iron pillar to the side of the road, hiding behind a pile of corn stalks to observe. It was a sizable Nationalist army, with soldiers in gray cotton uniforms, and the guys on their shoulders were all old sleeves[4]

Something like that. I have heard people say that anyone who wears this kind of gray military uniform should be a local miscellaneous unit in the national army, while most of the central army is a khaki military uniform, and the guys in their hands are better.

Before the two brothers had time to take a closer look, they felt that the back of their heads was cold and was pressed against something, and a low roar came from behind them: "Don't move!" Holy shit, put your hands up! ”

The brothers obediently stood up, holding their heads in their hands and slowly turned around.

Behind him was a second lieutenant of the national army with two soldiers, and three black muzzles were aimed at them.

"Sir, I'm a common man from a nearby village, and I just came back from Houdian." The hall is full of nonsense, and my heart is still a little weak, why don't these soldiers walk silently, when did they come to the back of my stomach?

A soldier shouted: "Platoon commander, I don't think these two are good people, eighty percent are Japanese spies!" ”

The house was full of fire: "You're the fucking spy!" Before the words fell, he was hit the back.

Tie Zhu shouted: "Boss, boss, I'm wronged!" I'm really a common man! ”

The second lieutenant had a pockmarked face, and there was a deep knife mark seven or eight centimeters long from his cheek to the corner of his mouth, which looked hideous, and he waved his pistol and said, "It doesn't matter if it's a Japanese spy, haven't we made up enough yet?" Just take these two boys on top and take them with me! ”

Mantang and Tiezhu were kicked and driven into the team, and Tiezhu remembered the bag of life-saving food, so he struggled to run outside the team, shouting: "Boss, my food ......"

The second lieutenant of Mazi was on fire, and the rifle that took the soldier was a ** on the back of the iron pillar, and the iron pillar fell to the ground and gnawed a mouthful of mud.

Mantang pulled up the iron pillar and whispered, "Pillar, let's not do it......" He had already seen that something was wrong, this was a four-column marching column, and the middle two columns were all ordinary people without military uniforms and with empty hands, and on both sides were soldiers with loaded guns.

Man Tang and Tie Zhu glanced at each other, and the heads of the two brothers became big all of a sudden, and they said in their hearts that this is trouble, the matter is obvious, and they were arrested.

Mantang squinted at the terrain on the side of the road, a flat open field, and there were no ditches and bumps to hide. He wondered in his heart if he escaped at this time, would the soldiers shoot...... Just as he was thinking, a man in his thirties beside him suddenly rushed into the stab, knocked over a soldier, and ran out of the queue. The strong men were in a panic. A captain at the front of the group pulls out a mirrored box[5]

, Shaking his hand was a shot, and the man shook his body and fell headlong on the ridge, and his legs twitched a few times before he moved.

Mantang and Tiezhu hugged their heads in fright, squatting on the ground and shivering.

Don't look at the two brothers who robbed Tang Enbo, it was completely based on how bold people were, and they didn't have the courage to kill people. And the captain of the national army in front of him is really stunned, killing someone is like twisting a bedbug to death, a human life is gone in a blink of an eye, and he doesn't even have the intention of collecting his mother's body, and the full cousin is really scared.

The captain blew his mouth, played with flowers and inserted the gun back into the wooden holster, and then kicked it in the butt of the full hall, and shouted: "Have you seen it?" Now is an extraordinary time, you have all listened to me, and whoever runs away again will be rectified on the spot. Now move on! ”

The team of strong men who were still in chaos just now suddenly quieted down, and the strong men all cheered up, lowered their heads and hurried away in an orderly manner, and Man Tang and Tiezhu also temporarily dispelled the idea of escaping.

The team picked up the pace of the march and ran northeast.

The captain was right, this is indeed an extraordinary time, and the Chinese army in the Central Plains has come to a catastrophe.

On April 21, Zhengzhou was lost, and the Japanese army moved south towards Xinzheng, and the Chinese defenders of Xinzheng had no will to fight, and the city was defeated in only half a day. Lieutenant General Eitaro Uchiyama, commander of the Japanese 12th Army, set up an advance command post here.

On April 27, the 62nd, 63rd, and 27th Divisions, the 3rd Tank Division, and the 4th Cavalry Brigade of the Japanese Army quickly moved south, and the front of the troops was directed towards Xuchang. Uchiyama Eitaro judged that Xuchang was an important town in central Henan, known as the granary of the Central Plains, and was a famous "military capital" in the Three Kingdoms era.

Lieutenant General Eitaro Uchiyama believes that for strategic locations, the use of the tactic of "killing chickens with a knife" is very necessary. To this end, the Japanese army concentrated more than 80,000 troops and was determined to take Xuchang in one fell swoop.

[1]

In World War II, Lahore belonged to India. After World War II, the Indian peninsula gained independence and was divided into India, West Pakistan, and East Pakistan, with Lahore belonging to West Pakistan. Due to territorial disputes (i.e., the Kashmir issue), India and Pakistan fought three Indo-Pakistani wars in Kashmir in 1948, 1965 and 1971, and the third Indo-Pakistani war directly led to the independence of East Pakistan as Bangladesh. Lahore is now the second largest city in Pakistan.

[2]

Karazi also belonged to India at that time. Now belongs to Pakistan.

[3]

In the early days, the fuel tank of military aircraft was metal, and as long as it was hit, it would leak or catch fire, and later the self-sealing fuel tank was invented, which added a layer of soft rubber inside the fuel tank, which had the ability to repair itself when shot through, and the rubber around the bullet hole would quickly block the hole to prevent the fuel leakage in the tank. The self-sealing fuel tank also reduces the fuel load due to the reduced fuel tank volume due to the wall thickness, which shortens the range of the aircraft. In order to reduce weight and increase the range, the Japanese Zero aircraft in the late World War II simply canceled the self-sealing fuel tank and restored the dangerous metal fuel tank.

[4]

The old sleeve is the common name of the Hubei Gun Factory, the predecessor of the Hubei Hanyang Arsenal, which imitated the 1888 Mauser rifle produced in Germany in 1895, with a caliber of 7.92 mm. There is a set of barrels on the outside of the barrel of this gun, and the reason for increasing the sleeve is because the barrel material used at that time is not good, and it is often blown up when it is used.

[5]

"Mirror box" is the common name for the German-made Mauser pistol, also known as the barge gun.