Republic of China: Ace Pilot

Chapter 285, Company Meeting 284: Activating Japanese spy Yoshida; Telegram transmitting a report from the Japanese Naval Command.

The meeting is ongoing.

Sun Debiao, manager of the air distribution branch, reported: "Due to the expansion of domestic routes, the air distribution business has also been carried out to more regions via seaplanes. Currently, we are using our ample aircraft capacity to sell cigarettes, medicinal materials, and other valuable goods."

Sun Debiao excitedly reported on the progress of his business.

Airborne distribution has seen tremendous growth, with high-speed transportation networks enabling the rapid distribution of high-value-added goods to various regions.

Sun Debiao can expand his business reach wherever Taishan Airlines aircraft can go.

He even made a bold suggestion: not only should they assume the role of commodity circulation and wholesale, but they should also directly participate in retail business.

The general idea is that he envisions a brand chain store in the future, and he's even come up with a name for it: Taishan Store.

Fang Wen was quite surprised by Sun Debiao's performance.

Despite his bandit background, he is just as capable as anyone else when it comes to getting things done.

Unfortunately, he was born at the wrong time. The idea of ​​a chain of specialty stores cannot be implemented now, since Japan will soon be at war and there is not enough energy to maintain such a business.

Fang Wen politely declined.

"It's not the right time for this yet. We lack the preparation for opening stores on a large scale. That would require management personnel, complex business channels, employee training, and standardized store decoration and layout, among other things. Let's talk about it later."

Seeing that the general manager had expressed his opinion, Sun Debiao regretfully ended his report. He had only thought of the idea by chance and had not thought of it as far ahead as the general manager had thought of. Since the general manager said to wait, then he would wait.

Next up is Shao Sishen from the training center.

During this period, due to the widespread expansion of seaplane operations, Shao Sichen expanded the training center and added many flight instructors.

Because the training focused on low-speed seaplanes, the difficulty was relatively low. With the large-scale recruitment and training of flight apprentices, a group of usable pilots were also selected.

These ordinary seaplane pilots will undergo one to two months of training with flight instructors to ensure they can work independently before they officially begin their training.

In addition to training pilots, each seaplane also needs a flight attendant, who also needs to be recruited and trained.

It can be said that the comprehensive training mechanism developed by Shao Sishen in the past two years has been crucial to the rapid expansion of the seaplane project in China.

Fang Wen responded affirmatively: "Sishen, you deserve the most credit for the company's flight talent development. Thank you for your hard work."

“That’s only right,” Shao Sichen replied. Now, he was completely committed to following Fang Wen’s path to the end, treating the training business as an integral part of his life.

Next, Pan Jiafeng gave his report.

He met Fang Wen in 1932, when Fang Wen was only 19 years old.

Now he has become a mature young man, very organized in his work, just like when he flies a plane.

He took out the manuscript and explained the situation.

"During this period, due to the General Manager's requirements for the company's aviation business management, an Aviation Flight Management Department was specially established. My responsibility is to customize daily routes and flight schedules. Initially, arranging land-based routes wasn't too difficult, as they were all planned by the General Manager. Later, with the rapid expansion of seaplane routes, my responsibilities shifted to this area. Because seaplanes operate on a multi-stop, continuous takeoff and landing model, route planning and personnel arrangements are relatively more complex. Fortunately, we accumulated a lot of experience with the Yellow River and Hai River routes, which provided a reference for the management of routes in other waterways. To date, seaplane routes in the five major waterways and some smaller waterways have all been incorporated into unified management. We confirm route scheduling and personnel flight arrangements every day through our own commercial telegram. Currently, this method is operating well and there haven't been any problems."

Pan Jiafeng has finished his report.

Fang Wen looked at his apprentice with admiration. Pan Jiafeng was now not only a qualified pilot, but also an indispensable management talent for the company's aviation business.

Life is always changing according to needs; you might become a pilot, a manager, or even fly a fighter jet into battle someday.

He did not praise Pan Jiafeng verbally; the two understood each other without saying a word.

Then, Fang Shouxin, the administrative director of Taishan Airlines headquarters, gave a report.

"During this period, Taishan Airlines has undergone a major expansion in terms of personnel. The seaplane business department has 300 employees. Including land-based routes, our domestic branch has a total of 753 employees. And the international airline has 262 employees. Currently, Taishan Airlines has officially exceeded 1,000 employees."

He also explained the company's current salary and financial situation to Manager Liu.

Because Fang Wen judged that the legal tender issued by the Nationalist government would continue to depreciate, the company, although it collected legal tender for ticketing, still used silver dollars internally.

In this way, the employees' wages are stable and will not be affected by the devaluation of the legal tender. The monthly wage expenditure is approximately 5 silver dollars.

This approach has stood the test of time. In the year since the issuance of the legal tender in 1935, the legal tender has indeed depreciated slightly, although the magnitude is not large, it has been continuous.

Manager Liu further explained, "The general manager once said that the Nationalist government didn't have sufficient reserves when issuing legal tender, so its value was somewhat questionable. But later, the Nationalist government discovered that no one cared about the value of the legal tender, so they started printing large amounts of money. As the amount of currency in circulation increased, they were essentially draining the nation's resources through unsecured printing. If this situation continued, it would only worsen the domestic economy, and those currencies without any reserves would become increasingly worthless, ultimately destroying China's financial environment."

This set of financial principles was proposed by Fang Wen and has been gradually proven true.

However, this is not understood in China, and currently only Taishan Airlines is taking measures to deal with the continuous devaluation of the legal tender.

The meeting has now concluded.

Fang Wen adjourned the meeting, and then spoke with Fang Shouxin alone afterwards.

The couple continued their conversation with Fang Shouxin in the conference room.

This time, Kuang Mingzhu said, "Uncle Fang, Fang Wen plans to have Mom, Dad, and their brothers all move to the mainland or go abroad, but my husband and I are afraid we can't persuade the old man and his two older brothers. Do you have any good ideas?"

Fang Shouxin asked in surprise, "Why do we need to move? Isn't the situation great right now?"

Fang Wen explained, “Our situation is good on the surface. Although the civil war will end, there are many factions and contradictions in the country, making it difficult to unite as one to fight the Japanese army. But the unity we show is a very dangerous signal to the Japanese. Four years have passed, and the Japanese have been preparing for four years. They probably won’t let us remain united. I estimate that it won’t be long before they launch a larger-scale war.”

This mention of a larger-scale war moved Fang Shouxin deeply.

That means Shanghai is likely to be engulfed in war again, and Jiaxing, which is not far from Shanghai, will also be affected.

This is why the young master wanted the master's side to be completely moved away.

Fang Shouxin replied, "If that's the case, I'll go back. After all, I've worked for the master for 20 years, and there are many things I can say."

"Thank you, Uncle Fang," Fang Wen said with a smile, ending the conversation.

After the meeting at the Wuhan company ended, Fang Wen stayed in Wuhan to oversee the work instead of wandering around.

On the surface, he was in charge of the overall operations of Taishan Airlines, but on the other hand, he was closely monitoring the movements of the Japanese side.

To this end, the secret intelligence station in Shanghai would send the collected intelligence to Wuhan by plane every week.

Therefore, although he was in the heart of China, Fang Wen understood the current situation better than anyone else.

Intelligence suggests that the Japanese are already preparing public opinion in preparation for the start of war.

Konoe, the speaker of the House of Peers of Japan, published an article entitled "My Political and Diplomatic Goals" in the Tokyo Asahi Shimbun.

The article openly advocates that "China's natural resources such as cotton, coal, and iron ore are still inexhaustible, and should be jointly developed by Japan providing capital and technology and China providing labor."

Such remarks, which regard China's resources as their own, are extremely arrogant.

Subsequently, Japanese aircraft appeared in Qingdao, Tianjin and other places, distributing shameless leaflets.

Japanese aircraft were even spotted in Jinan, and leaflets even landed at Jinan Airport.

This is undoubtedly a provocation against Fang Wen.

He longed to fly over there and shoot down the Japanese planes.

But the current situation does not allow him to do so. Cooperation between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party has been put on the agenda, and causing trouble at this time would affect the progress of cooperation.

Suppressing his anger, Fang Wen was even more eager to know how the Japanese leadership currently viewed the cooperation between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party.

He decided to activate the chess piece in Japan.

Kure City, Hiroshima Prefecture, Japan.

This is Japan's largest naval shipbuilding center and its largest domestic naval base. Yoshida is also here.

During the 1st Division mutiny in Tokyo, he risked his life to rescue the prime minister, an act that earned him some political rewards.

Now, Yoshida's father has finally been registered in the House of Nobles.

Yoshida himself also came to the Kure Naval District with Nagano Osamu, and went from being an adjutant to a staff officer on the battleship Kirishima in the First Fleet of the Combined Fleet.

According to what Nagano Osamu told him, the Kirishima battleship is currently undergoing refitting, and being a staff officer during this period is just a formality. Once he has gained experience, he will be assigned to be the deputy captain to learn how to manage a warship.

This is the career path for naval officers that Osamu Nagano planned for Yoshida.

This is also the best reward for Yoshida's rescue of the Prime Minister and for gaining Nagano Osamu's trust.

Yoshida was also very pleased with this, as he was the highest-ranking and fastest-promoted member of his family in the military.

But he also understood who gave him all of this.

That mysterious and unpredictable Chinese figure could not only kidnap Nagano Osamu and escape unscathed, but also bomb Tokyo.

Every time Yoshida thought about it, he would feel short of breath and his heart would race, constantly reminding himself not to forget.

Therefore, every Tuesday night, he would stay at home, secretly take out the telegraph machine, tune it to a specific frequency, and receive radio signals.

Regardless of whether there is a call or not, he will always do it on time and never slack off.

On this day, it was time to receive the telegram again. Yoshida went home early, closed the doors and windows, and sat quietly at home waiting.

At 8:30 p.m., he took the telegraph machine out of the wardrobe, put on his headphones, and tuned the frequency to listen.

Just when I thought there would be no result, suddenly, the radio waves came through.

He was excited and wrote the telegram down on paper.

That was a coded message with no clear meaning; it needed to be translated to get the correct content.

Yoshida took out a novel book he had brought from China, found the corresponding coded text in the book, and wrote it down.

After a while, the coded telegram was translated, and he looked at the translated text.

[Collect Japanese intelligence regarding China, especially reports on recent high-level assessments and statements. Once found, send them to me.]

Another task has come up.

Yoshida burned the coded telegram, then scrambled the frequency and put away the telegraph machine.

After doing all that, he pondered how to proceed.

His location was a naval stronghold with many high-ranking naval officers. Yoshida had once accompanied Nagano Osamu to a small clubhouse within the naval district.

That's the best place to get intelligence.

He then packed his bags, took the gifts, and went out to visit Osamu Nagano.

After walking for a while, they arrived at Nagano Osamu's residence.

Yoshida went directly to the door and was led to the study by the servant.

Nagano Osamu, who was reading a book, glanced at Yoshida and put the book down.

"You know that coming back to visit me already shows that you are more mature than many young people."

"This is Tosa sake that I asked someone to bring over. I delivered it to you as soon as I got it."

"Is this wine from my hometown? I miss it so much."

Osamu Nagano accepted the gift, opened it immediately, and was captivated by the aroma of the wine inside.

This was definitely not the place to drink. He stood up and said, "Let's go somewhere else."

Yoshida's little scheme succeeded, and he followed Nagano Osamu to the small clubhouse where high-ranking naval officers gathered.

The two walked to the edge of the naval district, to a wine shop converted from a residential house. It was a lively place with noise coming from time to time.

A woman in a kimono led the two inside and chose a quiet spot.

The two sat facing each other, ordered some snacks to go with their drinks, and then poured themselves a glass of Tosa sake from their hometown and drank together.

After having two drinks, Yoshida pondered how to get information out of her.

He organized his thoughts.

"General, are you aware of what's happening in China? I heard they're planning to join forces against us."

Osamu Nagano nodded. "The news has spread throughout the Navy Headquarters, and everyone feels that this cannot continue."

As they were talking, several officers passed by, saw Nagano Osamu, and quickly came in to pay their respects.

After the formalities were completed, Nagano asked, "We were just talking about things in China. What are your thoughts?"

An officer took a document out of his briefcase.

"General, this is the latest report, which I just received. It concerns the Navy Command's views on the situation over there."

Nagano Osamu took it, read it, and then handed it to Yoshida.

Yoshida, secretly pleased, carefully wrote down the contents.

He then kept recalling and reinforcing his memory, before leaving the club under the pretext of feeling unwell.

After returning to his residence, Yoshida wrote down the intelligence on paper and sent a telegram to China at 8:30 p.m. the next day.

After it was done, he felt completely relaxed.

(The battleship Kirishima entered service in 1915 and underwent refitting before the War of Resistance against Japan.)
After assigning the task to Yoshida, who was far away in Japan, Fang Wen originally thought it would take some time before he would receive any feedback.

They arrived the very next day.

Fortunately, he listened to the telegram on time and translated the contents of the coded message.

[Naval Command's Analysis of the Current Situation in China.]

[First, it can be inferred that Chiang Kai-shek, even if his eight demands were merely a temporary expedient, at least accepted the idea of ​​resisting Japan.]

Second, the compromise between Chiang Kai-shek and Zhang Xueliang will intensify the internal struggles among various factions within the Nationalist government, the outcome of which will have a subtle impact on the Wang Jingwei regime.

III. The war to suppress bandits (and fight communism) will end;

Fourth, the future activities of the Communist army and rebel forces (especially General Yang's troops) are quite problematic. If they cooperate, it will pose a significant threat to Japan, which has close ties with North China and Inner Mongolia.

Fifth, Britain was the most active behind the scenes in resolving the incident. Britain would further penetrate China's economic circles. China's inevitable trend would be to rely on Europe and America, especially leaning towards a pro-British stance.

Looking at this analysis from the Japanese Navy Command, Fang Wen fell into deep thought.

The Japanese Navy Command's judgment was correct. It's also possible that they had planted too many spies within China, and that some Kuomintang high-ranking officials who were inclined to support them had proactively revealed information.

It seems that the Japanese army had a clear understanding of the situation in China and realized that a united China would pose a threat to them.

(End of this chapter)