Republic of China: Ace Pilot

Chapter 154, page 153: The First Eurasian Commercial Flight – Scientific and Technological Talents Buried in History
Fang Wen drove his car over, shouting to Zhao Jiu at the same time:

"Grab the grip, pull the trigger, no need to aim, just sweep horizontally. When I say fire, just do it."

Zhao Jiu silently recited the four-word mantra in his mind: "Grab the grip, pull the trigger, no need to aim, sweep horizontally."

Follow these steps and wait.

The car sped through the warehouse and was spotted by plainclothes officers, some of whom turned and fired.

The bullet hit the car, but it didn't cause any damage and even bounced off.

This is a war toy meticulously crafted by Fang Wen and Howard, featuring a body reinforced with steel plates and bulletproof glass removed from the F.220 machine gun compartment.

No matter how fast the Thompson submachine gun's rate of fire is, its pistol bullets cannot penetrate this kind of defense.

The car sped through the warehouse area, then suddenly stopped, drifting and swaying sideways.

The rear of the vehicle was pointed at the enemy.

"Fire," Fang Wen gave the order.

Zhao Jiu, who had been waiting for this moment, gripped the handle with both hands, pulled the trigger, and rotated the gun as it shook.

The powerful 7.62mm bullet is far superior to any pistol bullet.

As the gun shook, bullets were fired, some hitting the plainclothes officers.

The scene was truly horrific.

When a 7.62mm bullet enters the human body, it not only causes direct tissue damage, but also causes extensive tearing and destruction of surrounding tissues through the cavity effect.

A single bullet is enough to stop the attack.

When the ten plainclothes officers fell to the ground, the others fled in panic.

"Stop," Fang Wen said, stopping Zhao Jiu from continuing to fire.

At that moment, the people inside the warehouse had a chance to break out.

They bowed to Fang Wen in gratitude and then boarded a ship together to cross the Huangpu River.

Fang Wen also turned the car around and left.

After dropping off Zhao Jiu, they drove out of the city.

They didn't stop until they reached the airport.

After parking the car, Fang Wen was somewhat sullen. He had initially thought he wouldn't lay a hand on his own people, but in the end, he made an exception.

In the situation just now, if they didn't take action, the entire treasure-hunting team would be wiped out, their secrets would be exposed, and their network of contacts and future plans would be affected.

He thought of Chief Wang.

In this chaotic world, those who have ideals must be ruthless and willing to make sacrifices.

After negotiations with the treasure-hunting group ended, Fang Wen was continuously converting silver dollars into US dollars for investment purposes in the United States.

During this time, Sun Debiao returned, bringing Zhang Laifu's family with him.

These individuals are in relatively good condition; they mainly suffered while sneaking through Japanese-controlled areas.

It's quite convenient to take the train from Tianjin, get off in Jinan, and then transfer to a plane to return home.

Fang Wen's group held a celebration for this meritorious individual and awarded him a generous material reward.

As for Zhang Laifu's family, they also arranged for him to work at the company, and his family members were given a job on the street, which was much better than what they had done in their hometown.

Time passed by unnoticed, and it was already mid-June.

Everything that needs to be prepared is ready.

Fang Wen prepared to depart.

This time, since Zhao Jiu needs to be brought along, a single-seat fighter like the Shrike is obviously not suitable.

The Boeing 247, on the other hand, is an option.

But this time, using a Boeing 247 to fly the Asia-Europe route, will we be able to leverage Boeing's support as we did last time, while also building good relationships with local governments to facilitate the establishment of Asia-Europe routes?

Fang Wen sent this idea via telegram to Neil in the United States, asking him to negotiate with Boeing.

Boeing strongly agreed with Fang Wen's proposal.

The Boeing 247 is now on sale worldwide, and as a key customer of the Boeing 247, Taishan Airlines is eager to use this opportunity to promote the aircraft.

Therefore, the two parties hit it off and agreed on a business travel project called "Eighty-Day Tour of Asia and Europe".

The project consists of three parts.

Part One: Departing from Shanghai on a Boeing 247 and arriving in Paris, France.

It took about three days.

The second part involves the passengers spending 70 days in Europe, which conveniently allows Fang Wen to travel to the United States.

Part Three: Depart from Paris on D.332 and return to Shanghai.

This plan will invite passengers from China, India, the Pahlavi dynasty, Türkiye, and Europe to participate.

This way, we can use passengers' brand awareness to promote Boeing and Taishan Airlines, and also leverage their influence to pave the way for future Asia-Europe routes.

This is a great thing that benefits both Boeing and Taishan Airlines.

An agreement was quickly reached.

There's no need to worry about the flight path or the ground airport support; we can use the same system as last time.

The choice of passengers needs to be considered.

According to the telegrams exchanged between Fang Wen and Boeing, the quotas for different regions were determined.

The Greater China region definitely has the most slots, with three people.

This decision will be made by Taishan Airlines.

The remaining seven spots, including those for India, the Pahlavi dynasty, Türkiye, and Europe, will be filled by Boeing.

It's likely that Boeing will seek out a group of influential passengers to promote its aircraft.

Who were the three passengers from the Greater China region selected?
Fang Wen had an idea regarding the selection of the three passengers.

There's no need to find high-ranking officials to fill the space; Mr. Liang and Mr. Lin are good choices. There are many historical sites and buildings along the way, which are exactly what they like to study.

He sent invitations to both of them.

However, both of them declined, citing their busy schedules.

Since that's the case, Fang Wen thought it would be better to use the money as a benefit for Taishan Airlines passengers.

He acted on his impulse.

Publish a notice in vernacular Chinese in the newspaper.

Taishan Airlines Anniversary Celebration Activities Announcement
To thank our passengers for their patronage, starting today, any passenger who has previously flown with our airline can register with our company by presenting their old ticket stub.

The registration period is three days, after which our company will hold a grand prize draw.

At that time, three lucky winners will be drawn from the many registrants to receive the grand prize, and there are also many prizes for the other winners.

The grand prize winner will receive a pair of round-trip tickets to Europe, allowing them to travel across the continent on Taishan Airlines for a full 70 days. After the 70-day trip, our company will arrange another flight to safely transport the distinguished guest back to Shanghai.

The value of this grand prize is truly precious. If the winner is unable to travel due to unforeseen circumstances, they may resell the ticket to another party, or entrust it to our company, which will resell it for one thousand silver dollars, so that more people who wish to travel to Europe can benefit from it.

In addition, to help you understand the details of this trip, we have included a route map and introductions to the areas we will be passing through. We hope that you will take a good look at it and use it in preparation for your trip.

Taishan Airlines looks forward to spending wonderful time with you and sharing the joy of travel.

After Taishan Airlines' event announcement was published in the newspaper, it attracted much attention and discussion, and the matter was widely disseminated.

At this time, Taishan Airlines, with its five routes, made travel much faster. Many families choose this, although it is more expensive, it is also safer and more convenient, when facing long-distance travel.

This is why passengers on Taishan Airlines come from all walks of life and all social classes.

Most of them kept their ticket stubs and went to the airport of Taishan Airlines to report their ticket stub numbers to the staff for recording.

They were all there for the grand prize of 1000 silver dollars.

This amount of money is too much for most families; it's enough to make a big difference.

Meanwhile, another group of people are also very interested in this.

Those are the people who have read 'Afro-Eurasia Flight Travelogue'.

They envied the aerial travel experience described by Fang Wen in his travelogue, but they couldn't achieve it themselves.

But now, if you win the lottery, you can be like Fang Wen, the general manager of Taishan Airlines.

Therefore, even without a ticket stub, these people bought a ticket on short notice within three days for the lottery.

This resulted in the Shanghai-Fuyang route, the cheapest of Taishan Airlines' five routes, selling out early for three consecutive days.

Three days later, the lottery began.

At the busiest Shiliupu Wharf in Shanghai, reporters flocked to the scene, while local residents, ferry passengers, and people who came to see if they had won the lottery surrounded the area.

Taishan Airlines employees carried a wooden rocker-style lottery machine onto the stage.

The lucky draw was hosted by Pan Jiafeng.

Facing the noisy crowd, he picked up the megaphone and shouted:

"Ladies and gentlemen, please be quiet. I'd like to explain the lottery process and rules."

After everyone quieted down, Pan Jiafeng continued:

“We will put the slips of paper with all the ticket numbers written on them into this lottery machine, and then invite a participant randomly selected on the spot to draw the winning numbers. To ensure our fairness and transparency, everyone can see the process of putting all the slips of paper into the lottery machine.”

Immediately afterwards, bundles of slips of paper with ticket stub numbers written on them were carried onto the stage by Taishan Airlines staff, opened in front of everyone, and put into the lottery machine.

After all the slips of paper were put in, Pan Jiafeng turned around and picked up a ball.

"I will toss the ball behind me, and whoever catches it will come up on stage to participate in a lucky draw and receive a prize provided by our company."

The people below burst into laughter:

"Isn't this like throwing a bridal bouquet? If it were a woman throwing it, I would definitely snatch it."

"Then don't try to steal it later. I don't want a wife, but the prizes from Taishan Airlines are pretty good."

Before the people below could even begin to discuss it, Pan Jiafeng had already forcefully thrown the small ball backwards.

Immediately, everyone raised their hands to grab it.

"I got it, let me through."

A man carrying a small ball rushed onto the stage.

Pan Jiafeng instructed, "Turn the joystick, and it will make the slips of paper inside roll in the lottery machine. It's best to turn it several times, and then take out one slip of paper from the lottery machine. Remember, you can only take one; if you take more, the lottery draw will be invalid."

The man nodded and turned the joystick as instructed. After the lottery machine stopped, he took out a slip of paper.

Pan Jiafeng took the slip of paper and read out the number: "Shanghai to Jinan, ticket stub number Qin Liu Lu 2754".

This ticket stub number is a unique anti-counterfeiting feature of Taishan Airlines.

Only the technicians and ticket production staff of Taishan Airlines knew what it meant.

Qin is the surname of the technician on that flight, Liu is the surname of the ticket clerk, and Lu is the surname of the manager at the landing site of that flight.

The combination of the three surnames, along with the numbers, makes it very difficult for outsiders to forge.

Even if it were forged, it would be easy to find out who leaked it; Taishan Airlines employees would never do such a thing.

That number also has special significance: the flight has sold 2754 tickets, which is quite good for the annual passenger capacity of an aircraft.

At the lottery draw, after Pan Jiafeng read out the ticket stub number, no one came up with their ticket stub to claim their prize.

Perhaps he was worried that the value of a thousand silver dollars was too high and dared not show himself for fear of being robbed, or perhaps he was really not there.

Pan Jiafeng smiled and said, "The first winning number will be written on a red paper and posted publicly. It doesn't matter if no one claims the prize now; you can collect it at our company's headquarters outside the city."

As soon as he finished speaking, someone held up their ticket stub and shouted, "It's me! It's mine!"

The man went on stage holding up his ticket stub and showed it to Pan Jiafeng.

"Isn't this a painting on the spot?" Even the usually mild-mannered Pan Jiafeng was furious and ordered the scoundrel to be thrown away.

Then a lucky draw was held.

After a full day, the lottery draw concluded, and the three first prizes, several second prizes, third prizes, and consolation prizes were all drawn.

Besides the first prize of a plane ticket, the second prize is 50 silver dollars, which is the most valuable prize to win on the spot.
The third prize is a bag of rice, which is not bad either;
Even as a gesture of goodwill, they gave us eggs, ten of them at that.

The generous prizes surprised the onlookers and also boosted the popularity of Taishan Airlines.

However, none of the three top prizes were claimed on-site, as the lack of public security in this era made them feel unsafe.

It wasn't until after 4 p.m.

Just as the employees of Taishan Airlines outside the city were about to leave work, three people arrived at the company in a furtive manner.

Two of them chose to exchange their money for 1000 silver dollars and left happily with the dollars.

There was another person who stammered.

“I have a relative who originally wanted to study abroad, but he lacked travel expenses. I was thinking, could I give him this outbound ticket, since he doesn’t need the return ticket? Could I sell it for 500 silver dollars?”

Manager Liu, who was in charge of redeeming the tickets, shook his head: "No, the round-trip tickets are combined. Even if he doesn't take the return flight on time, we can't give it to someone else."

The man became even more anxious: "He has no tuition fees while studying in Europe, and these 500 silver dollars are very important to him."

Fang Wen, who overheard the conversation outside the door, sized up the person and thought, "This must be the one who went to study in Europe."

He went into the general ledger room and asked, "What did your relative study in Europe?"

"You might not understand what I'm saying," the man mumbled.

"How am I supposed to know if I understand if you don't tell me?" Fang Wen retorted. As a person from the future who traveled from the information explosion era, he might not understand the specific principles and theories, but he should have an impression of certain terms.

When Fang Wen asked this question, the other party replied, "What I want to learn is vacuum tube technology. Currently, all vacuum tubes in Shanghai are imported from abroad and then assembled. After several years of exploration, I have mastered the manufacturing technology of vacuum tubes. However, there are still some technical issues that I need to understand. If I learn the relevant technology in Europe, I can come back and manufacture the same vacuum tube equipment."

Vacuum tubes—if it weren't for radar research, Fang Wen really wouldn't understand these things.

Vacuum tubes, also known as electron tubes, were important components in early wireless equipment.

It utilizes the movement of electrons in a vacuum to transmit signals or amplify current, playing a crucial role in fields such as radio communication, broadcasting, and radar.

Tsinghua University purchased many expensive vacuum tubes for a shortwave transmitting and receiving device at a specific frequency. The reason they were so expensive was that the technology was in the hands of foreigners.

Unexpectedly, someone in China was actually developing this kind of electronic component.

Fang Wen's thoughts were wandering. If he didn't have his own history, perhaps this person's research would have ended here forever. Without funding, he wouldn't have been able to overcome the final hurdle and would have lived a life of obscurity.

But now?

Fang Wen smiled and asked, "Is it you or your relative?"

These words made the man look embarrassed.

Fang Wen continued, "If you can prove that you have made significant contributions to the research on vacuum tubes, I can help you with that."

The man asked in surprise, "Even if I said it, would you understand?"

“I don’t understand, but some people do,” Fang Wen replied, referring to the professors in the Physics Department of Tsinghua University, who should be able to distinguish between truth and falsehood.

(Early vacuum tube crystal radios could be converted into telegraph machines.)
(End of this chapter)