Republic of China: Ace Pilot

Chapter 454, 450: Air Raid on Northern Xuzhou, Emptying Magazine-Style Attack
At 9 p.m., Fang Wen piloted the Taishan experimental bomber and took off from Xiangxi Airport.

The flight target was Jinan, but it was uncertain whether the train carrying the poison gas bomb had already departed.

To this end, Fang Wen arranged for Zhao Junping, a communications officer, to monitor radio signals on designated frequencies at any time, so that he could adjust his actions in a timely manner based on the signals transmitted by the underground party.

This child, only fifteen years old, was inevitably a little nervous because it was his first time participating in real combat.

While piloting the plane, Fang Wen spoke to Zhao Junping to ease his emotions.

"Do you miss your grandfather?" he asked.

Zhao Junping's hand trembled: "I think, he's all alone in the family. Although he's of a higher generation and the villagers will take care of him, if he falls or gets hurt while living alone, no one will know."

"Have you ever wondered why he didn't run away with you?"

"Why?" Zhao Junping couldn't help but look at Fang Wen. This question had been buried in his heart. He couldn't understand why his grandfather wanted him to go alone.

Looking at the black sky ahead, Fang Wen uttered a few words with emotion.

"Because you are hope, and a family needs hope to continue. As long as you are doing well, your grandfather will be happy no matter where he is."

"Oh." Zhao Junping looked blank. Although he didn't quite understand, the general manager's words eased his tension. "I'll do my best. I promise I'll do my best."

Teenager Zhao Junping roused himself, staring intently at the wireless equipment in front of him, his right hand slowly turning the tuning knob, his left hand pressing on the headphones on his head to listen.

He grew up, during the years of war, growing into a soldier.

Fang Wenzan glanced approvingly at Zhao Junping, then used his mechanical senses to check on Gong Xiuneng and the engineer bombing team in the rear cabin. Everyone was working diligently, waiting for the moment of bombing.

He also put his mind at ease and focused on driving.

The plane flew from Xiangxi Airport to Jinan, a distance of 1100 kilometers.

The range of the Taishan experimental strategic bomber far exceeded this, leaving much room for maneuver. It was precisely for this reason that Fang Wencai took on the dual responsibilities of reconnaissance and bombing.

An hour after takeoff, when the plane arrived near Xiangyang, correspondent Zhao Junping received a radio message.

He quickly wrote it down, translated it using a codebook, and then reported it.

"Commander, we received a call saying that the Japanese train has already departed at 9:50."

Fang Wen remained expressionless, deep in thought.

The frequency band he gave Zhao Junping was from the Jinan underground party, so the information should be reliable.

The train departs at 9:50 a.m., traveling at a speed of 35 kilometers per hour, and it will take more than 7 hours to reach Xuzhou.

The plane can definitely catch up.

However, they must first determine the target before they can go back to pick up the gunboat squadron and set off together; otherwise, the gunboat squadron's fuel will not be enough to support the extra combat range caused by the misjudgment.

He then slightly adjusted his flight path, flying slightly eastward.

One hour and forty minutes later, the plane arrived in Xuzhou.

Judging from the train's speed, the other party should be on the railway north of Zaozhuang.

Fang Wen continued piloting the plane forward, flying over Weishan Lake and searching along the railway.

To ensure he didn't miss any targets, Fang Wen activated his mechanical perception to observe the area below.

Under the mechanical perception Eagle Eye skill state, the pitch-black earth gained a black and white outline.

Thus, he saw the situation clearly.

This section of railway was destroyed by the Yellow River breaching its banks. The damaged railway was abandoned, and a temporary railway was built next to it using a large number of rail sleepers.

Suddenly, a light appeared at the far end of the railway; it was the train.

In the darkness, the locomotive, billowing white smoke, sped past.

There are approximately twelve sections.

With so many carriages loaded, they were probably all filled with poison gas bombs, just as Fang Wen had predicted. A single bomber couldn't have completely destroyed them.

He immediately turned the plane around and returned to base, issuing the order: "Notify the Second Air Battalion to prepare for takeoff."

Zhao Junping immediately sent a telegram, and the atmosphere in the cabin became tense.

Two hours later, the Taishan experimental bomber returned and circled over the Xiangxi airport.

The five gunboats below received orders and took off immediately.

At the same time, Fang Wen also pressed the tail electrical indicator light on the right side of the control panel.

Two rows of small lights behind the bomber flashed on and off, guiding the gunboat aircraft.

Following the usual nighttime transport aircraft swarm flight strategy, Pan Jiafeng and others piloted gunboats that followed behind the Taishan experimental bombers, with the bombers acting as the lead aircraft for nighttime navigation.

This method allowed the battle group to maintain a stable flight path even without electronic navigation and satellite radar.

The flight remained silent until three hours later when Fang Wen picked up the microphone.

"Attention everyone, we have entered the preparation combat zone. Our air raid ambush point is located on the railway section north of Xuzhou. It is now 4 a.m., and the battle will be over in forty minutes. I have only one request: empty your magazines and fire all the ammunition you brought."

This requirement excited the entire air strike group.

Clearing all ammunition within 40 minutes is no easy task. The crews of bombers and gunboats began pre-battle preparations.

Five minutes later, six planes arrived at the ambush site, and the train also came from the north to the south.

Fang Wen was the first to act.

He adjusted the aircraft's position so that it was parallel to the railway, and then ordered: "Continue bombing until I give the order to stop. After the railway is destroyed, the gunboats will descend and conduct continuous circling fire."

The engineer bombing team inside the bomber cabin immediately sprang into action.

The prone bombardier looked down through the bombardment observation device. At 4 a.m., the sky was already bright, and the area below could be seen.

He dropped the first batch of bombs the instant the plane and the railway tracks were parallel.

Then continue pulling the bomb-throwing lever.

Meanwhile, the rest of the team were busy turning the joystick to retract the emptied bomb delivery vehicle into the cabin and load in four consecutive aerial bombs.

The operation continued, and everyone in the bombing team was drenched in sweat, but they were in high spirits.

The aerial bombs they dropped fell in a straight line onto the railway.

Explosions rang out one after another, plumes of smoke rose into the air, and railway sleepers, stones, and scraps of metal from the carriages were blown into the air.

The method of bombing from end to end not only destroyed the railway but also severely damaged the train, causing it to lose power and stop in place.

At this moment, five gunship aircraft descended from the sky. When the altitude dropped to 800 meters, the five gunship aircraft conducted a circling firing operation with the train as the center point.

12.7mm heavy machine guns and 20mm cannon shells were unleashed on the train without restraint.

The dense, relentless attack riddled the train carriages with bullets.

After firing from the left, the gunboat squadron circled around to the right and continued indiscriminate firing.

Under continuous firing, the carriages were exploding.

Yellow and green smoke billowed from the carriage.

The soldiers hiding inside the train carriages were forced out by the smoke. These soldiers were all wearing gas masks. But the poison gas wasn't just effective against the respiratory system.

Mustard gas was among the poison gas shells distributed this time.

Mustard gas, as a blistering agent, has an oily liquid nature that allows it to penetrate clothing and undergo esterification with sebum. The dichlorodiethyl sulfide group in the agent molecule attacks DNA base pairs, causing cell division to stop and skin ulceration to occur.

These Japanese soldiers escaped bombing and attacks from gunboats and aircraft, but they could not escape mustard gas.

The high concentration of mustard gas seeped into their clothes, causing them excruciating pain, as if boiling water had been poured over them.

Some couldn't hold back any longer, took off their coats, revealing their red skin, and then collapsed to the ground, convulsing.

This is retribution, retribution for their use of Chinese people in Northeast China to conduct experiments and develop poison gas and bacteriological bombs.

But this retribution did not end there; another carriage detonated its poison gas bomb during an aerial bombardment.

Various colors of toxic fumes continued to be emitted.

As the air raids continued, the area became filled with the smoke of gunpowder and poison gas.

Finally, after forty minutes of attack time, the air strike group, having run out of ammunition, took to the skies and withdrew from the area.

An hour after they left, Japanese troops from a nearby outpost arrived at the scene.

What awaited them was only ruins, a twisted locomotive, broken carriages, and sections of rail broken into pieces.

Unaware of the dangers lurking here, the troops at the outpost searched for valuable clues among the scrap metal.

They soon discovered that the skin of the dead soldiers was festering and some of it had turned black.

Then, these Japanese soldiers suddenly felt palpitations, a stinging pain in their throats, and blurred vision.

Painful screams rose and fell as the soldiers struggled and collapsed to the ground.

Then another group of Japanese soldiers entered the area to investigate, but they still did not return.

Under such circumstances, the nearby Japanese troops dared not send any more troops. At this time, orders were also issued from above, requiring them not to approach and to wait for a special person from above to come and investigate.

In the afternoon, an armored railcar came from the direction of Jinan.

Upon arriving at the site where the train was destroyed, five people in protective suits disembarked from the armored vehicle and cautiously approached to investigate the location.

Inside the armored vehicle, however, two officers were talking.

"Another nighttime air raid. No one else could have done it but him."

"The Army intelligence department has attempted to assassinate him multiple times without success; he is simply too difficult to deal with."

"Then continue to send assassins. He's not a god; he'll succeed eventually."

"I think so too. Those people in the Special Higher Police are almost insane. If they don't succeed, it will be a disgrace they can never wash away. They will definitely continue their actions."

"By the way, we are also researching countermeasures against night flights. Radar and night reconnaissance aircraft are good research directions."

"That's great. If we succeed in our research, he won't be invincible anymore."

The two officers burst into unrestrained laughter.

The nighttime air raid formation returned to base and landed at Xiangxi Airport. After refueling, the five gunboats of the 2nd Air Battalion will fly back to Fuping.

During this time, Pan Jiafeng awkwardly approached Fang Wen: "Master, there's something I want to tell you."

Having just destroyed the Japanese poison gas bombs, Fang Wen felt relieved and said with a smile, "Speak your mind."

“I would like to ask for leave to go to northern Myanmar to see Shen Shuyun,” Pan Jiafeng said.

Shen Shuyun is Pan Jiafeng's high school classmate and the daughter of the mother and daughter that Fang Wen rescued when he took the train to Shanghai.

Later, Shen Shuyun and Pan Jiafeng became boyfriend and girlfriend, and Fang Wen saw the mother and daughter again.

Their family originally went to Wuhan with Pan Jiafeng's parents, but later, due to the relocation of Taishan Airlines' industries, both families also went to northern Myanmar.

Among them, Shen Shuyun also worked as an office clerk in a semiconductor factory in northern Myanmar.

Pan Jiafeng hasn't seen Shen Shuyun for a long time; it's time to give her a break so the two war-torn lovers can reunite.

Fang Wen laughed and said, "I'll grant you leave. How about this, you fly the plane back to Yangon with me, and I'll give Shen Shuyun leave too. You two can spend a few days in Yangon."

"How about a few days off?" Pan Jiafeng had a new idea. He scratched the back of his head and said, "Master, if I had a few days off, I would like to marry Shen Shuyun."

Fang Wen was stunned: "What? I can't make the decision about your marriage. It has to be discussed between your parents and her parents."

“Both sets of parents have agreed a long time ago, but we just haven’t had the time,” Pan Jiafeng replied.

Hearing that he had so many apprentices, Fang Wen felt a little guilty.

He entrusted Pan Jiafeng with an important task, appointing him as the battalion commander of the Second Aviation Battalion at a young age, and making him the independent leader of the night transport team.

However, he did not consider his apprentice's personal life.

See? They held out behind enemy lines for more than half a year, only able to see their families and girlfriends briefly during the night when the transport team flew to Wuhan. Later, when they moved their businesses to Myanmar, they could no longer see them at all.

It's possible that the two of them had already planned to get married, but they kept putting it off until now.

He patted Pan Jiafeng on the shoulder forcefully: "I'll take care of a grand wedding for you. Oh, and before you go back, don't forget your men. Let's prepare some wedding candies for them to take back to Fuping so the soldiers can celebrate together."

Immediately, he told the gunboat squadron not to fly away yet, and he and Pan Jiafeng went to the food factory inside the Xiangxi Airport, where they took a large basket of newly made pastries and candies and gave them to the pilots of the gunboat squadron to take back.

When the pilots heard that their battalion commander was getting married, they were all happy to offer their blessings to Pan Jiafeng, which made Pan Jiafeng quite embarrassed.

Subsequently, six planes took off, splitting into two groups: four gunboats went to Fuping, while the planes piloted by Pan Jiafeng and Fang Wen went to Yangon.

The plane landed in Yangon.

Fang Wen disembarked and then went to the sea airport to meet his apprentice.

"Here's what we'll do. You come to the company with me first. I'll arrange for someone to pick up your parents, Shen Shuyun, and her parents. You don't need to worry about the rest; just wait."

“Master, I think we should wait a little longer,” Pan Jiafeng said, having second thoughts.

Fang Wen glared: "The wedding candies have already been handed out, and your soldiers all know you're getting married. The wedding has to take place whether you want to or not."

"That's right, at this point, we have no choice but to end it," Pan Jiafeng nodded and got into the car with Fang Wen.

The car drove out of Yangon port, into the city, and stopped in the courtyard of the new headquarters of Taishan Airlines in the south of the city.

Fang Wen led Pan Jiafeng up to his home on the top floor.

"Aunt Wu, get some food for Pan Jiafeng, and also clean out a guest room for him to stay in."

After saying that, he told Pan Jiafeng to wait at home and went downstairs.

The offices of the general manager and deputy general manager are downstairs.

Fang Wen walked into the deputy general manager's office. His wife, who was looking at documents, didn't even look up and said, "You're back."

"You're back. I have something to tell you." Fang Wen sat down on the sofa: "I want to throw a wedding for Pan Jiafeng, but I don't know how."

Kuang Mingzhu put down the documents, got up and walked to Fang Wen's side, saying with great interest, "Your apprentice is getting married, and as his master's wife, I definitely have to help. How about I take care of the arrangements?"

This was exactly what Fang Wen wanted. He took his wife's hand and said, "Okay, I'll go with you."

(End of this chapter)