Republic of China: Ace Pilot

Chapter 482 France's First Air Force Procurement Order: Request for Assistance from Guangzhou
Indiana's words successfully piqued the interest of three former colleagues.

Now they are all over forty years old, past their prime, and their careers have basically come to a standstill. In a few years, they will be transferred back to China to work in an office for a few more years before choosing to retire.

But their income savings and government-paid pensions make them the middle class.

It's impossible to live a comfortable retirement life.

"What exactly do you do? You must tell us the truth," asked the most composed of the three who didn't drink.

"As I said, it won't affect your professional ethics, but I will use the intelligence network you've built up over the years to help an Asian military-industrial conglomerate sell weapons."

"Asian arms are being sold to Europe? Are you kidding me?"

“I’m not kidding, the new gunboats that have appeared in Spain are made by this company. They also have other military equipment, all of which are very advanced.” To make it more convincing, Indiana added, “The situation in Europe is tense right now. Germany annexed the Sudetenland and invaded Czechoslovakia, and the war in Spain is still going on, while Britain and France have chosen to stand by. Nowadays, the smaller countries in Europe are most worried about their security and need to better equip their armies.”

What he said makes sense.

How could the three American intelligence officers stationed abroad not understand?

Now Britain and France are standing by and watching, neither helping nor interfering.

Germany, however, launched attacks on all fronts with great momentum, showing no signs of being a defeated nation.

Those smaller European countries, having seen the examples of Austria and the Czech Republic, do indeed have a need to improve their military capabilities.

But they remained hesitant and did not make a decision.

Indiana did not ask them to make an immediate decision, but instead told them to consider it further.

Indiana then informed Lin Shuiwang of Taishan International about the situation, asking him to pass on the message to Fang Wen.

Yangon, Taishan Airlines headquarters.

Fang Wen translated the coded message sent from the United States.

After reading the contents of the coded telegram, he couldn't help but ponder.

It seems that the people Indiana is looking for are interested, but they're just missing that final push to get them to make a decision.

How can we get them to make a decision?
Fang Wen believes that instead of focusing on the three individuals, it would be better to start with their families.

According to Indiana, all three are married with wives in the United States, and most of their income from working overseas is used for their family life.

Because of their good salaries, all three families lived a comfortable middle-class life in the United States.

But there is one crisis they cannot avoid.

That is the current flawed social welfare system in the United States.

Fang Wen owns a company in the United States, and he is quite familiar with the current welfare system there.

According to the 1920 Civil Service Retirement System and the special allowance for intelligence work, the three overseas intelligence officers were entitled to "Category A Retirees," which is the retirement benefits for those who have served the government for 30 years or more.

The pension you can receive is based on the average salary over the top 10 years, and you can receive 60% of the average salary, with a minimum of $360 and a maximum of $720 per year.

In other words, the three people will receive a maximum of $720 in retirement benefits per year after retirement.

This retirement pension is far worse than what they received while they were working.

Moreover, they have always relied on their individual salaries to cover the family's expenses. Like many middle-class families, the wife does not work but stays at home to take care of the children.

That means that when the couple reaches retirement age, they can only live on that $720.

They can no longer enjoy the comfortable middle-class lifestyle.

Even if they have some savings, they cannot survive the long-term expenses after retirement.

They would inevitably have to live a life of frugality.

If I help them solve this problem, will they feel that I'm being sincere?
With this in mind, Fang Wen immediately sent a telegram to the United States to make arrangements.

In New York, Indiana hosted a small family gathering at his home.

Among those attending the gathering were his family and the families of three former colleagues from overseas intelligence work.

Cars arrived one after another at his residential area.

The three families brought gifts and entered the house together.

Naturally, the women gathered together, the children played in the backyard, and the men went upstairs to drink in Indiana’s study.

There, Indiana decided to help his old friends settle some accounts.

Then he asked, "Do you think $720 a year will allow you to live a comfortable retirement?"

The three men's expressions changed.

They had considered their life after retirement, but hadn't made detailed calculations.

A retirement pension of at most $720 a year is far less than their current income and is certainly not enough.

Seeing an opportunity, Indiana continued, "Three years ago, the president enacted the Social Security Act, which allows for the establishment of a contributory retirement pension system. This system stipulates that as long as employers pay taxes to a trust fund, their employees can receive monthly pension payments starting at age 65. If you agree to this cooperation, you will not only receive substantial commissions from the arms trade, but you will also obtain long-term retirement insurance for your wives. Taishan International will pay their pension contributions, and at age 65, they will receive a monthly pension income of $300, equivalent to a retirement annuity of $3600, enough for you to comfortably live out your retirement."

In other words, Taishan International transferred a long-term pension insurance income to the three individuals under the guise of normal employment.

This was something they hadn't expected; it was actually more attractive to people in their forties.

"I agree." The most composed one was the first to agree to this condition.

Upon seeing this, the other two also agreed.

Indiana smiled as she went downstairs, dialed the phone, and told Lin Shuiwang the good news.

The following day, a job fair was held at Taishan International, and among the new employees recruited, three housewives were surprisingly included.

The arms dealer issue is settled.

Three intelligence officers who had finished their vacation returned to Europe.

They first went to the French branch of Taishan International.

In the branch office, I met the person in charge of this collaboration.

Fang Wen shook hands with the three people with a smile on his face.

"Welcome to the team. Let me briefly introduce myself. My name is Fang Wen, and I am the owner of Taishan Aviation. My military industrial enterprise has excellent weapons and equipment to provide, but it lacks external sales channels. I hope you can solve this problem for me."

"Hello, my name is Ek Morton, military attaché to Poland." "Phi Bennett, military attaché to the U.S. Embassy in Poland." "Solan Peyton, head of the operations team in Poland."

The three men introduced themselves, all of them intelligence agents in Poland, which stirred something within Fang Wen.

"What do you have to say about Germany's current behavior?"

Ek Morton, who doesn't drink, replied: "Poland has its own interests in the Czechoslovakian issue. They believe that the United States should intervene in European affairs and give Poland and Hungary a common border to resist German expansion in Eastern Europe."

Poland has military needs, but the country was only established after World War I and has a very weak economy, making it not Fang Wen's ideal client.

He stopped discussing the matter in detail and instead took out the completed product catalog.

This is a product catalog specifically designed for foreign trade.

Five of them are military items.

Gunship aircraft, Hengshan No. 1 strategic bomber, Taishan individual rocket launcher, 'Taishan Pine' medium tank, Taishan walkie-talkie.

These military supplies were all items that Fang Wen was planning to discard, and they were perfect for use as export orders.

Listening to Fang Wen's explanation and looking at the photos in the product catalog.

The three looked surprised.

They thought the best arms brokerage business was selling gunboats and aircraft, and the rest should be selling a bunch of replica firearms and ammunition, but they never expected it to be these.

These military supplies are considered top-tier equipment even by British, French, American, and German standards. If they could actually sell them, they were quite confident they could successfully market them.

Ek Morton, who doesn't drink, asked cautiously, "Can all this equipment be supplied at any time?"

Fang Wen replied, "These military products all have existing production lines. As long as there are orders, they can be produced."

“What is the minimum order size and the maximum order size? How is the transaction completed?” Ek Morton asked again.

He asked about details, showing he was a man of action, and Fang Wen couldn't help but take a few more glances at him.

Then he replied, "The minimum order quantity is $3, but you can see the samples first. As for the transaction, we only accept cash in full, and I will decide the transaction location."

Ek Morton nodded: "A face-to-face transaction with full cash payment, and you choosing the transaction location, can minimize risks, and I agree with this method. Although it's somewhat demanding, as long as your equipment is truly good, I think there will be buyers willing to accept it. Another question: do you have any preferences? For example, you've sold weapons to the Popular Front before, can we sell weapons to Franco again?"

This era has factions; it's impossible to please both sides. You must have your own stance.

Fang Wen resolutely refused: "No, I support the People's Front and will never sell to Franco's rebels."

“And what about Germany?” Ek Morton asked again.

That's definitely not going to work. After World War II ended, Germany was defeated again. Selling military equipment to Germany would just be asking for trouble.

Fang Wen shook his head again: "Germany won't work, Italy won't work, and Japan definitely won't work."

After a conversation, Ek Morton understood Fang Wen's requirements and also obtained a way to contact Fang Wen.

The three then took their leave and departed Paris.

After they left, Fang Wen also piloted his own commercial airliner back to Yangon as a civilian pilot once again.

Fang Wen was very confident about arms sales to Europe. He believed that as the Nazis became increasingly fanatical, the demand for military equipment would continue to rise, and there was no need to worry about finding buyers.

In preparation for the upcoming arms export business, Fang Wen began to prepare goods.

Currently, half of the military products on the production line are produced domestically and half are produced overseas. The domestic batches are shipped back directly when they reach their designated transport volume, while the export-oriented stock is stored in warehouses.

Even the Taishan Pine medium tank has begun to be produced again.

At the same time, he was also keeping an eye on the situation in China and maintaining one-on-one contact with Yoshida, a key figure in Tokyo, to learn about the progress of the Zero fighter there.

During this period, according to a secret telegram from Yoshida in Tokyo, the Mitsubishi 12 test aircraft project was suddenly suspended.

Subsequently, several changes were made to the aircraft project.

Although he didn't know the specific details, Fang Wen could tell from Yoshida's report that the changes were related to his fake technical documents.

Fang Wen was secretly pleased, it seemed that his false information had worked.

He eagerly anticipated the plane he had modified based on his flawed design falling from the sky.

Time flies, and it's already mid-November.

On this day, Fang Wen, who had just returned from northern Myanmar, was handling routine affairs at the headquarters building.

He carefully examined the documents, writing his name where a signature was required and then affixing the official seal.

There was a knock on the office door.

Secretary Zhao Junping came in with a confidential telegram.

"General Manager, it's a telegram from Europe."

"Put it down," Fang Wen replied without looking up as he was signing the document.

Only after he had finished dealing with the documents in front of him did he pick up the coded telegram to translate it.

The telegram was sent by arms dealers in Europe.

The arms deal is showing promise.

The first customer turned out to be the military procurement department of the French Air Force.

What they want are gunships and aircraft.

As Spain's neighbor, France, though remaining a bystander, was very familiar with the situation of the Spanish Civil War.

The role that gunships played in Aragon and other mountainous regions proved valuable to the French Air Force.

They even learned about the effectiveness of airborne operations by gunboats through Far East intelligence networks.

Therefore, they want to buy a prototype first to see how it performs, and if it's good, they will purchase it in bulk.

After reading the telegram, Fang Wen pondered.

Gunships are highly practical; they can serve as transport aircraft, provide ground fire suppression, and carry paratroopers for airborne operations.

However, it also has many weaknesses: low speed, inflexibility, and poor anti-air capability.

That's why the French Air Force tentatively purchased a prototype to test the waters.

But the gunships have another advantage, which they will soon discover.

That's because it's cheap.

The current gunship aircraft are all converted from the Suiyun-3 civilian amphibious aircraft. Because the profits during the operation of the civil aviation have already recovered the cost, the price after conversion into gunship aircraft is not high, only 8, which is about the same as the price of a fighter jet.

I believe the French Air Force will really like this inexpensive and high-quality military aircraft, even though it has some flaws, after using it.

He smiled, drafted a telegram, and inquired about the details of the transaction.

An hour after the telegram was sent, a reply was received.

Because it was a transaction with the French Air Force, they guaranteed the security of the deal and required the gunboat to fly directly to Paris to complete the full payment transaction there.

If that's the case, Fang Wen felt there was no need for him to go there in person.

He entrusted this matter to the newly established arms sales department, whose head was Li Tiezhu, who had honed his skills in international shipping business for two years.

The once impetuous Li Tiezhu has matured a lot in the past two years and is now capable of handling things independently.

During the last negotiation in France regarding the acquisition of V-engine technology, Li Tiezhu single-handedly coordinated and handled all the aftermath, which gave Fang Wen a new assessment of his abilities.

Fang Wen entrusted him with this matter of arms sales, which was a sign of his high regard for him.

After taking over the gunboat deal with the French Air Force, the arms sales department immediately contacted the French branch and used its connections along the Asia-Europe route to obtain permission to use airports along the route for takeoffs and landings.

Therefore, a prototype gunboat took a civilian flight route to Europe.

As the plane took off, Fang Wen watched it depart from the airport.

This successful arms sale will open a new chapter for Taishan Airlines.

Afterwards, he drove back to headquarters with his bodyguard Gong Xiuneng.

The car was parked in the backyard of the headquarters. As soon as we entered the lobby, we heard a familiar voice.

"Commander Fang, it's been a long time."

He is Captain Gao of the 6th Aviation Squadron of the National Air Force.

Fang Wen smiled and walked over to him, hugging him: "Long time no see, you're still alive."

Being alive is the best blessing for soldiers returning from the battlefield.

Captain Gao laughed and said, "I was lucky. A few times I was almost taken away by the King of Hell, but he said that my lifespan was not over yet and let me continue to stay in the human world to fight the Japanese."

"Then how did you end up here?" Fang Wen asked.

"I've come to ask for help. The situation in the south is critical; you must come down from the mountains and help us," Captain Gao said earnestly, his face serious.

(End of this chapter)