Republic of China: Ace Pilot

Chapter 403, Section 401: DC-3 Design Drawings and Manufacturing Parts, Female Pilot Isabella
The newly received loan was barely warmed up before it was spent.

Moreover, a large portion of this money was used by the three conglomerates.

Aluminum alloys, copper ingots, copper wires, and steel are essential bulk commodities.

The materials required for producing semiconductor equipment are even more complex.

Silicon steel sheets used to make inductors.
Currently, only a few American factories manufacture acetal enameled wire that can be used for transformer winding and voice coils.

There's also the plastic used for speaker diaphragms.

Neodymium iron boron magnets, etc.

Some of these materials were originally available domestically, but due to the war, many factories had ceased production, making it more convenient to purchase them from the United States and Europe.

Fang Wen was confident that he could convert these materials into semiconductor equipment, earn a lot of foreign exchange, and play a role in the war, so he purchased a very large quantity.

The purchase amount of seventeen million US dollars shocked even the three consortia.

They tactfully suggested that the company should not purchase so many supplies at once, as stockpiling too many production materials would pose a significant risk to the business.

Fang Wen did not accept this offer, but instead resolved to purchase that many supplies.

After all, he was familiar with history and knew that Europe was about to be drawn into a world war. A large amount of American supplies would be prioritized for the European battlefield, and it would be more difficult to obtain supplies in the future. It was better to stockpile them in large quantities at once, so that they would not be unable to buy them later.

Despite his strong insistence, the procurement contract was still signed.

As required by the contract, the cargo carrier will be Taishan International's cargo ship, and all supplies will be delivered within one year.

In this way, the money came from the three conglomerates and quickly returned to their hands, adding a profit to their accounts.

They seemed quite happy.

After the contract was signed, Fang Wen contacted Lin Shuiwang in the United States by telegram, entrusting the follow-up on the contract's performance to Taishan International, which he managed. This marked the end of the matter.

After concluding his meetings with the three consortia and finalizing the loan follow-up and procurement contracts, Fang Wen did not immediately board a plane to return to Asia.

He still needs to wait for a group of people to leave together.

Those were gunboat and aircraft training personnel sent by the Spanish Republican Army.

To this end, Fang Wen instructed Paul, the manager of the Paris branch, to contact secret agents of the Republican Army stationed in Paris.

After Paul went out, he brought back a beautiful blonde woman with blue eyes and introduced her to him.

"General Manager, this lady is Isabella Laurence, an actress from the Moulin Rouge and also the Republican Army's liaison in Paris."

Isabella is a typical Spanish female name, deeply rooted in Spanish culture. Laurence, on the other hand, is a French name. Although it originates from Latin, it is widely used in France, revealing the woman's connection to Spain through her name.

Her appearance was very distinctive, which made Fang Wen feel a sense of familiarity, as if it matched a certain image in his memories of his previous life.

Fang Wen smiled and shook hands with the other person, then asked, "How is the situation with that group of people?"

Isabella Laurence replied, "We are ready and will arrive in Paris in five days."

"Five days?" Fang Wen frowned.

Isabella explained that these people needed to travel from Aragon, cross the National Army's blockade into southern France, and then take a train.

Most of that time was spent traversing the mountains of northern Spain.

Fang Wen did not mention flying a plane to Spain to pick up those people.

His principle was not to concern himself too much with or interfere in things that were not his responsibility, unless the Republican Army actively requested help, in which case it was a different matter.

Since they had to wait a week, Fang Wen felt that they couldn't just waste their time in Paris.

He decided to visit the underground arms dealers in Paris to see if he could find anything useful.

After getting into the branch company's car, Fang Wen took Gong Xiuneng and set off for the underground arms dealer he had visited before.

As the car passed the Moulin Rouge, Fang Wen stopped, picked up a woman's handbag from beside him, and got out of the car.

This was left by Isabella Laurence after the last negotiation, and Fang Wen planned to return it to her on his way.

While inside the car, Gong Xiuneng couldn't help but say, "Commander, I think that foreign woman is interested in you. She clearly had this bag in her hand, but she deliberately left it behind when she left."

Fang Wen stopped. Sometimes, an outsider sees things more clearly. He hadn't noticed Isabella Laurence's subtle actions at all.

But Gong Xiu didn't expect to see through it.

French women are often said to be synonymous with romance, and Isabella is also very beautiful.

Fang Wen replied, "If I don't come back, I'll give you a signal, and you can drive back to the company yourself."

After saying that, he walked towards the Moulin Rouge under Gong Xiuneng's envious gaze.

When the person arrived at the Moulin Rouge, they explained the situation to the staff at the gate, and the staff went inside to look for the person.

After a while, Isabella Laurence came out.

Fang Wen took out the woman's handbag: "This is your bag. I was passing by and brought it to you."

Isabella Laurence tucked a strand of hair behind her right cheek, took the bag, and smiled, "Thank you. My home is nearby. Would you like to grab a coffee?"

Faced with the invitation, Fang Wen did not refuse and was about to press the semiconductor signal transmitter on his body to notify Gong Xiuneng to go back first.

At that moment, he thought of his wife, who always unconditionally supported him no matter what he did outside.

Going there today would undoubtedly be a betrayal of my wife.

The flame that had risen in his heart was dying down, and he swallowed back the words he was about to say, opting for a different approach.

"I'm sorry, something's come up, I'm afraid I can't come to your house."

Isabella Laurence looked disappointed. "Well then, I hope I'll have the chance to hear your war stories next time."

Immediately, Fang Wen turned and left, afraid that he might change his mind and stay.

At that moment, he suddenly realized that the German consultant's efforts to make him famous in Paris had a side effect: for example, now, romantic Parisian women were very willing to date him.

After quickly leaving, Fang Wen got into his car, started the engine, and drove away.

Gong Xiuneng asked in surprise, "Commander, you seemed to be having a good chat. Why did you come back?"

“If I don’t come back soon, I’ll make a mistake. I don’t want to let Mingzhu down,” Fang Wen replied. He was willing to confide in Gong Xiuneng, who had always been his close protector.

Gong Xiuneng nodded in response: "Madam is very good, and what you said is right, Commander. But you are like a well-fed man who doesn't know the hunger of an starving man. Seeing how popular you are with women, I am so envious. Why don't you teach me how to deal with women?"

Fang Wen was amused by this and punched Gong Xiuneng on the shoulder. "I'm not Kuang Anming. I don't have that many reasons. If you like someone, just be direct. If you don't like someone, then forget it. Being timid will only make you suffer."

These words made Gong Xiuneng thoughtful. He asked, "Commander, what's the name of the female employee in our company's administration department who has short hair?"

"I don't know. There are so many employees in the administration department, I don't usually pay attention to them." Fang Wen paused after speaking, "You kid, you've got your eye on someone, haven't you? I'll ask around when we get back. If they're not married, I can help you set them up."

Gong Xiuneng nodded with a silly grin, occasionally scratching the back of his head, looking embarrassed and as if he really wanted to.

However, the image of Isabella Laurence still lingered in Fang Wen's mind.

He finally figured it out.

The other person looks very much like Sophie Marceau, and her captivating charm is extremely similar to her on-screen image.

No wonder I was attracted to it.

Banishing the images from his mind, Fang Wen focused on driving. He drove to the south bank of the Seine and stopped outside a small bar. Inside the bar, Fang Wen met with a contact for an underground arms dealer.

Then, the man led Fang Wen and Gong Xiuneng from a residential house into the underground pipe network of Paris.

Gong Xiuneng was startled when he first saw the wall covered with skulls.

He thought it was some evil place in France, but Fang Wen explained to him that it was a catacombs in Paris during the Middle Ages, which put him at ease.

After traveling through the tunnel for a while, they arrived at an underground hall.

He met with arms dealers there.

The other party recognized Fang Wen: "Guest from the East, what would you like to buy this time?"

"Do you have any intelligence?" Fang Wen asked.

"Of course I have them. Besides weapons, I have intelligence here. The latest intelligence special issue is 3000 francs."

The price is a bit high; I don't know if the content is worth the money.

Fang Wen paid in cash and received a French-language intelligence special issue.

It says "Second Intelligence Bureau Analysis Center" on it.

France also has intelligence agencies, but they are not highly valued. It's surprising that such important intelligence has been leaked and sold by arms dealers.

He opened it to take a look.

It lists important intelligence that has occurred recently.

On February 12, according to intelligence obtained through external channels, Hitler met with Schuschnigg, demanding that he sign a protocol pledging Austria's complete subordination to Germany, and ordered him to respond within three days, or he would invade Austria.

[Subsequently, a large number of German Wehrmacht troops appeared on the border. Under the threat of German troops advancing on the border, Austria was forced to make concessions such as releasing Nazi criminals and appointing Nazi leader Artur Seysinquart as Minister of the Interior and Minister of Security.]

On March 11, Schuschnigg was forced to step down, and Seyssingert took over and formed a government. Early the following morning, German troops entered Austria.

On March 13, Germany and Austria signed the "Law Concerning the Reunification of Austria and Germany," formally annexing Austria, which became Germany's Eastern Province.

Looking at this intelligence report, Fang Wen couldn't help but recall his last trip to Vienna.

At that time, Austrian Nazis were marching all over the streets.

This was bound to happen sooner or later.

Fang Wen continued turning the page to view other information.

There's even something about the East.

In their analysis, French intelligence officials surprisingly believed that Japan would complete its occupation of China within a year.

The analysis also provides reasons, mainly based on the gap in hard power between the two sides and the internal contradictions within China.

Fang Wen couldn't help but sneer. Equipment is only one aspect that determines the advantage in war; human will, strategy, and tactics are also very important.

These Western intelligence analysts could not possibly understand Chinese civilization.

After turning the page, the following intelligence reports concerned various European countries, which Fang Wen was not interested in.

Until he saw something related to airplanes.

[Showa Aircraft Industries, a subsidiary of Japan's Mitsui & Co., Ltd., has been in talks with Douglas Aircraft Company of the United States. The two parties signed an agreement on February 28th, under which Showa Aircraft Industries purchased a production license for the DC-3 fighter jet and parts for five aircraft for US$90,000. These materials have already departed from the United States and will arrive at the port of Marseille in a week, along with a shipment of weapon castings purchased from my country.]

This intelligence was merely mentioned incidentally by the French intelligence services.

But for Fang Wen, it has great significance.

Fang Wen had the right of first refusal to purchase DC-3, but he never used it. However, in the past two years, Douglas Corporation, which had limited production capacity, sold the production technology of DC-3 to other companies.

Among them was the Li-2 transport aircraft, which the Soviet Union was manufacturing.

Japan is now also purchasing the production technology for the DC-3 in order to replicate their large transport aircraft.

Fang Wen would have no objection to other countries purchasing DC-3 technology, but Japan would absolutely not allow it.

He believed it was necessary to destroy the batch of aircraft parts.

No, Fang Wen thought again. He also needed the production technology for large transport aircraft. If he could seize the technical data and aircraft parts on the ship, he could produce a large aircraft like the Taishan-1.

Moreover, this large transport aircraft can be modified into bombers, and the United States will use the DC-3 as a bomber in the future.

Thinking of this, Fang Wen felt a surge of warmth in his heart.

But how can we get our hands on it?

Two days later, it arrived at the port of Marseille. The subsequent route should be through the Suez Canal, the Red Sea, the Indian Ocean, the Strait of Malacca, and then to the East China Sea, finally being transported to the Japanese mainland.

During this process, the Japanese military currently controls only the waters north of the Philippines.

That means we can take it from anywhere else.

If everything is arranged properly, it will definitely succeed.

With this in mind, Fang Wen suppressed his thoughts, pretended to be calm, and left the underground pipe, returning to the surface.

They then immediately drove to the branch office.

The car was going very fast all the way, leaving Gong Xiu completely bewildered.

"Commander, what happened?"

"Great news! We're going to pull off something big!" Fang Wen replied with a smile.

Gong Xiuneng still didn't understand, but he could tell that it was important, so he didn't ask any more questions.

Half an hour later, the car returned to the company, and Fang Wen went directly to the commercial telegraph room to personally send a telegram back to China.

The wireless telegram traveled thousands of kilometers to be received by a high-powered receiver at the headquarters in Wuhan.

The Wuhan Telegraph Office then forwarded the radio signal to the Fuping base.

Upon receiving the telegram, William, the battalion commander of the 3rd Battalion of the Independent Regiment, immediately selected 100 soldiers to assemble and prepare.

Once the soldiers were fully equipped, they boarded five seaplanes piloted by Pan Jiafeng and departed from Fuping. After passing seaplane airports along the way, they flew to Yangon.

After arriving in Yangon, they will wait for Fang Wen to arrive so they can prepare for an attack on the Japanese ships.

After sending the telegram, Fang Wen spent the next few days waiting for the Spanish Republican Army to arrive in Paris.

He couldn't wait to return to Asia to prepare for the interception of the ship.

Fortunately, the Republican troops arrived in Paris without incident and were taken to the branch office by Isabella Laurence.

Eager to return home, Fang Wen immediately took them to the airport.

After the passengers boarded the plane, Fang Wen said goodbye to Isabella Laurence somewhat awkwardly.

He reached out to take the suitcase from Isabella Laurence's hand, assuming it was luggage she was carrying for one of the passengers: "Give it to me, I'll treat you to coffee next time you come to Paris."

"Thank you." Isabella Laurence smiled, but then picked up her suitcase and went upstairs.

Standing at the cabin door, she said confidently, "I am also a pilot. The Moulin Rouge is just my cover. Now I'm going to Asia with you to receive training in gunboat piloting."

(End of this chapter)