Republic of China: Ace Pilot

Chapter 181, Section 180: The Vienna Serial Shootings, The Lucky Air France Pilot
Fang Wen and his two companions left the Nazi rally site, got into a car, and drove to the airport.

Upon arrival at the airport, staff immediately came over to complain.

"We agreed on two days, and it's already past the deadline, but thankfully no one is checking."

Indiana paid the extra fee, and the other party immediately stopped complaining.

After he left, Fang Wen unlocked the hangar door and unloaded three boxes from the Boeing 247 cargo hold.

Those were support weapons purchased in France.

The model is: M1930 7.92mm Browning light machine gun.

Its prototype is the M1918 Browning Automatic Rifle, the best automatic rifle available at the time.

Because the M1918 Browning automatic rifle used 7.62mm ammunition, which was unsuitable for China, Fang Wen did not purchase it in the United States at the time.

But while preparing the weapons for this operation in Paris, he unexpectedly discovered this one and was immediately drawn to it.

This is a copy from the Belgian company FN. It weighs 9 kg, is fully automatic, and has a fire selector. The fast rate of fire can reach 600 rounds/min, and the slow rate of fire is 350 rounds/min.

It can be said to be the most powerful light machine gun with 7.92mm bullets.

The three men opened the box, loaded the machine gun with 20-round magazines, and each man had 5 magazines of ammunition, which was more than enough to ensure firepower.

After finishing these tasks, Fang Wen instructed, "These weapons are for emergencies and will only be used in two situations: 1. The gang steals something and refuses to hand it over to us; 2. The gang's operation fails and hidden security personnel appear in the area. If neither of these situations occurs, that would be the best outcome."

After speaking, he exchanged ideas with Lin Shuiwang and Indiana about shooting while the car was in motion, in order to prepare for shooting in the event of a pursuit.

We didn't return to the hotel until 11 p.m.

The night passed, and at 7 a.m., Indiana left early to contact the gang.

Lin Shuiwang waited in the stairwell on the seventh floor for the other party to come out.

Fang Wenze went downstairs, checked the vehicle, refueled, and bought three Vienna breakfasts.

Waiting at the hotel entrance.

The streets were deserted and quiet.

Half an hour later, Indiana returned and explained the situation.

“They sent five men, armed with weapons; three went in, and two guarded outside.”

Fang Wen nodded and handed a breakfast to Indiana.

After a while, Lin Shuiwang came out.

He got straight into the car, panting, and said, "The Japanese should be coming out soon. While they wait for the elevator, I ran down the stairs."

As they were talking, the two Japanese men walked out of the hotel and headed toward a restaurant 200 meters away.

They now had a combination lock box.

The car slowly drove off and stopped outside the restaurant street. The three people covered their faces with handkerchiefs.

After a while, a Junkers trader came over, also carrying a box.

As soon as he went inside, the gang members hiding in the shadows made their move.

Five people emerged from different directions; two of them guarded the restaurant entrance, while the other three casually walked in.

Moments later, gunshots rang out from inside, and continued uninterrupted.

After a while, the gang members who had made the move rushed out.

One of them was covered in blood and being supported by his companion, while the other person was carrying two suitcases.

But they didn't cross the street to hand the box to Fang Wen and his group. One of them stretched out his hands and shouted, "Our people are injured, so we need to double the amount."

Lin Shuiwang's face turned cold, and he was about to raise the M1930 7.92mm Browning light machine gun he was holding.

If you just mount that thing on the car window and start firing, all five gang members will be taken down.

"Don't move," Fang Wen said, stopping him.

From the perspective of mechanical perception, he saw someone rushing towards him.

The car started immediately and moved forward.

Suddenly, people appeared from behind and engaged in a fierce battle with the gang.

Clearly, this was the guarantor of the transaction, who rushed over after discovering the situation.

Indiana analyzed, "It's probably a Nazi action force. Now the Junkers have been completely taken over. They won't dare to expose themselves in Austria; they'll leave immediately after looting."

As he said, the Nazi action troops were far better marksmen; five gangsters were riddled with bullets, and they also stole the goods.

The group got into two white sedans and drove away.

Only then did Fang Wen step on the gas and accelerate to catch up.

The appearance of the Nazi action force gave Fang Wen a better idea: to be the mantis stalking the cicada, unaware of the oriole behind. Once the enemy was far away from the hotel area, he would take them out and then return, and no one would know that he was involved.

The car accelerated in pursuit, and Fang Wen also revealed his plan.

“I’ll accelerate past those two cars. Lin Shuiwang, you shoot through the car window, just pull the trigger and fire horizontally. Indiana, you smash the rear window and fire the follow-up shot. Trust me, this is much simpler than me shooting from the air in a plane.”

His words gave them courage.

Lin Shuiwang opened the car window and set up the gun.

Indiana raised his gun and smashed the rear window.

Ten seconds passed.

Fang Wenjian was ready and suddenly accelerated.

The other party was driving a Mercedes-Benz 200, while Fang Wen was driving an Audi R-type "Dominator".

Both are about the same speed, the difference being that the Dominator has an eight-cylinder engine with amazing explosive power.

In mechanical sensing mode, the car completed its maximum acceleration and rushed past in an instant.

Just before passing the first Mercedes 200, Fang Wen shouted, "Fire!"

Lin Shuiwang pulled the trigger without hesitation.

The automatic rifle unleashed 20 rounds in one go.

The moment the ruler surpassed the Mercedes 200, all shots hit.

A volley of bullets instantly hit the people in the car, sending them veering off to the side of the street.

At this point, Indiana began to fire a follow-up shot.

He remained calm, adjusted the fire selector to burst fire mode, and fired at different positions inside the vehicle.

At this point, the car had already crashed behind the second machine.

Lin Shuiwang and Indiana had just finished firing their bullets and were changing magazines.

Fang Wen forcefully grabbed the M1930 7.92mm Browning light machine gun that was lying flat on his lap, rested the muzzle on the window frame, and pulled the trigger directly.

The bullets shot out horizontally, penetrating the body of the second Mercedes 200 and exploding inside.

With this shooting posture, the recoil was all on Fang Wen's right arm. The recoil of the gun made Fang Wen's arm ache, but he endured it.

Meanwhile, Lin Shuiwang and Indiana had also completed their trade, and the bullets continued to rain down.

The firing of all five magazines caused a devastating attack.

The two cars were parked on the side of the road and remained motionless.

Fang Wen stopped the car, and Lin Shuiwang and Indiana got out, cautiously approaching with handguns in hand.

One person per vehicle, and the result was that no one survived. The light machine gun was firing horizontally at such close range, and since there was no time to react, no one could avoid it.

The two returned immediately after finding the item.

Lin Shuiwang looked unwell, probably because he had witnessed a horrific scene, while Indiana remained calm.

Fang Wen sighed inwardly. These things always take time. He had done the same thing when he first strafed the Japanese troops from the plane. He would gradually get used to it over time.

Instead of returning to the hotel, he accelerated towards the outskirts of the city, drove the car into the Danube River in a secluded spot, washed it, and then returned to the city.

It was already afternoon when the three returned to the hotel. From the hotel entrance, they could see people still investigating at the restaurant 200 meters away. There were quite a few bystanders in this kind of situation. Fang Wen calmly asked one of the onlookers, "What happened?"

The waiter replied with great interest: "I heard that two Japanese men and a German man were dining at the restaurant when they were robbed. During the struggle, the robbers shot and killed the two Japanese men and seriously wounded the German man. After they left with their loot, they encountered another group of people, who then killed all the robbers."

"Is it that complicated?" Fang Wen asked, feigning surprise.

"And that's not all," the hotel lobby manager added in English. "The men who killed the robbers got into two cars, but they were caught up on the road and shot dead with heavy weapons. The people who shot them were masked, and they even got out of the car to check and took the two suitcases that the robbers had stolen."

"Really? They're definitely fighting over those two boxes; there's something very valuable inside," Fang Wen analyzed.

“That’s what I thought too,” the waiter replied.

After the conversation ended, Fang Wen, Lin Shuiwang, and Indiana carried their suitcases into the hotel and went straight upstairs.

Upon reaching the sixth floor, the three entered room 604, where Fang Wen took the box from Lin Shuiwang to inspect the contents.

He first opened the box without a password, which was full of documents.

It should be the data for G.38 and K37.

These materials are currently useless to Fangwen, since China's aircraft manufacturing foundation is weaker than Japan's, and it is impossible for China to produce the aircraft described in the materials at present.

Furthermore, technology alone is not enough; a complete industrial base is also necessary.

Fang Wen didn't know if he would be able to build a fighter jet in the future, but he didn't think much about it and moved on to the next box.

The second box had a combination lock, which is impossible to crack with brute force.

Fang Wen used a dagger to cut open one side of the box, revealing what was inside.

Contrary to expectations, there was no gold or jewelry inside.

There are also many paper-based items.

The top one is an agreement.

The agreement was actually a plan to divide up Southeast Asian colonies.

As stated in the agreement.

Japan and Germany divided up the South Asian and Southeast Asian territories controlled by Britain, France, the United States, and the Netherlands.

According to the agreement, British India, British Burma, and French Vietnam belonged to the Weimar Republic.

The rest of Southeast Asia was given to Japan.

Fang Wen found the agreement amusing.

It's clear that the Japanese are the ones who benefited.

While British India, British Burma, and French Vietnam were desirable, they were separated by so many countries along the Mediterranean Sea. What Britain and the United States truly valued was the oil in the Persian Gulf.

To occupy those territories, Germany would have to conquer the Persian Gulf, which is so difficult that giving it away would be tantamount to not giving it away at all.

Besides this agreement, there is a stack of securities, which is the core of the transaction.

There are a total of 70 US bonds, which may not be the full amount but rather a deposit or something similar.

Treasury bonds are hard currency and can be exchanged for anything, which is another gain besides aircraft design data.

After reviewing all this, Fang Wen should proceed with the profit-sharing.

He took two stacks of bonds from the $70 bond issue and handed them to the two men.

"Ten thousand US dollars per person, that's the payment for this."

Indiana accepted the money with a beaming smile. In order to be transferred back to the United States, he not only spent his savings and profit share, but also owed Fang Wen a huge favor. He was already penniless. With this money, at least he wouldn't have to worry about not having any emergency savings.

Lin Shuiwang, however, pushed the bonds back.

"I don't want it. Use it to fight the Japanese. The money you gave me last time is enough for my mother to live comfortably in her old age."

Fang Wen nodded, took back the bonds, and then took out the agreement and gave it to Indiana.

"Look at this."

After reading the agreement, Indiana couldn't help but smile: "They've got a brilliant idea; it's impossible for them to achieve."

Even Indiana, an intelligence officer, didn't believe it.

Fang Wen knew, however, that in the future, the two countries, along with Italy, would form an Axis power and launch a crazy war against the whole world.

He replied, "You should submit this agreement; perhaps the higher-ups will consider it valuable intelligence."

“But if I report it, how do I explain the source?” Indiana couldn’t help but ask.

Yes, whether this agreement will have any effect is unknown, but it will certainly make this operation full of flaws.

Fang Wen couldn't help but think of the article he published in the newspaper last year, which no one has believed in to this day.

Moreover, this plan seems like a pipe dream.

After all, even by the end of World War II, the Japanese had not accomplished everything they planned, and Germany had not occupied British India.

After thinking it through, Fang Wen felt relieved.

To keep the operation a secret, he found a place and burned all the agreements and boxes to destroy the evidence.

Then they secretly entered 705 and retrieved the wireless eavesdropping device.

After everything was done, the three spent the night in Vienna and calmly answered the police officers' questions.

No one doubted them.

There was no one on the street that day. The Japanese, gangsters, and Nazi action group who saw the car were all dead. The only survivor was the Nazi who worked at Junkers, but he had never had any contact with Fang Wen and the others. Even after he recovered, he still didn't know what had happened.

The next day, the plane took off from Vienna Airport and returned to Paris.

Fang Wen returned to Paris and stayed for another week.

This week, we need to recruit a group of pilots who lost their jobs due to the establishment of Air France.

These pilots had just lost their jobs and weren't too bothered by working overseas, plus the generous salary made them agree.

Fang Wen has only one requirement for recruitment.

That means being able to fly Boeing 247s and D.332s.

This requirement is quite challenging, as both aircraft have the best performance in current civil aviation, and the requirements are much higher.

He used a co-pilot flight test, where the co-pilot conducted operational tests.

If Fang Wen hadn't known that these pilots had considerable experience in flight maneuvers, he wouldn't have dared to use this method for testing.

After a series of tests, the best pilots were selected.

During their flight tests with Fang Wen, they were able to perform qualified flight operations. In the future, they only need to gain a better understanding of the two types of aircraft.

Fang Wen was very satisfied with this group of pilots, and he decided to immediately begin work on opening Asia-Europe flights after returning to China.

Thus began the return journey of the first 80-day round-the-world tour of Asia and Europe.

Two planes were waiting on the side of the airport runway.

One Boeing 247, one D332.

Fang Wen was piloting D332. Passengers included flight attendant Cheng Dayou, passengers Bai Zeshan, Gu Xingzuo, Dai Shimao, Lin Shuiwang, Indiana, and three French pilots.

The Boeing 247 was piloted by a pilot named Paul, and carried four other pilots.

The two aircraft will fly in formation, taking off together with Fang Wen as the lead aircraft, while the Boeing 247 will follow behind at a speed of 300 kilometers per hour.

This is equivalent to completing a Eurasian voyage, and also provides some piloting experience for future Eurasian routes.

So the two planes took off from Paris, transited through Rome, Ankara, and Tehran (disembarking in Indiana), and arrived in Kabul.

However, a major local event occurred here, forcing Fang Wen to stay for a day.

The old king has passed away.

To sign a transit agreement, a meeting with the new king is required.

(End of this chapter)