Republic of China: Ace Pilot

Chapter 55, Trapping a Turtle in a Jar: An Initial Victory
"receive."

Ning Hangsheng put down the microphone, lifted the canvas curtain at the back of the truck bed, and said to Deputy Regiment Commander Ni Shinai:

"Head to Chaiji. Follow my instructions for the exact location."

"Yes, Commander." Ni Shinai followed the orders.

Immediately afterwards, a full-strength regiment of 2000 men set off following behind the military trucks.

Fang Wen, hovering high in the sky, took in all of this.

The Yuhang Shengbu below looked as tiny as a line of ants.

Fang Wen was making plans in his mind.

From Fuyang to Chaiji, a distance of more than 20 li, Yu Hangsheng said that his army's marching speed was 10 li per hour.

That means it will take two hours to arrive at Chaiji.

That's the crux of the problem.

The bandits here are skilled horsemen, and they are much faster than infantry regiments.

It is estimated that someone will ride out of Fuyang City at this time to inform the bandits.

He turned the plane around and flew back over Chaiji.

Airplanes are much faster than other land vehicles in this era.

The Qingyun train travels at 220 kilometers per hour and returns to Chaiji in the blink of an eye.

Then it hovers in the air and waits.

At first, there was no movement below.

An hour later, a fast horse galloped in, and the bandits in the courtyard on the hill immediately moved.

They hurriedly packed their belongings, rushed down the mountain, and joined the cavalry below.

The bandits must run!
This is why Yu Hangsheng's army has been unable to subdue the enemy. With the help of informants inside the city and by sending messages by fast horse, the bandits are always able to escape one step ahead of the infantry regiment.

But now, they can't escape.

The Qingyun continued to circle high in the sky, constantly monitoring the situation below.

Instead of fleeing to other places, these bandits headed towards Chaiji and broke up into smaller groups to infiltrate the town.

Fang Wen then contacted Yu Hangsheng.

"Eagle calling jackals, please respond."

"Jackal, please speak."

"The target received a tip and has moved; they have entered the town and are hiding in different places."

Yu Hangsheng's face turned cold as he finally understood why the bandits were able to disappear without a trace during the encirclement and suppression.

The bandits had been operating in the Chaiji area for a long time, and the locals had no choice but to take them in because of their brutality.

But this time, the bandits made a wrong move and ended up in their own cage.

The army sped up and jogged all the way to Chaiji, surrounding the town completely.

A siege began, and after the town was surrounded, some bandits desperately tried to escape from this desperate situation.

They were shot dead by the surrounding soldiers on the flat ground outside the town, and the rest hid inside the town.

Then 1000 soldiers continued the siege, while another 1000 soldiers entered the town and searched house to house.

With the situation hopeless, many bandits laid down their weapons and surrendered. Some even reported their accomplices. Later, the townspeople also dared to point out which bandits had infiltrated the town.

The first anti-bandit operation, conducted with coordinated air and ground forces, has thus come to a perfect conclusion.

More than 200 bandits were tied together with ropes and brought back to Fuyang City. This was a rare piece of good news after years of banditry and internal strife in Fuyang City.

The county magistrate and local officials and gentry went out of the city to see the bandits imprisoned in the military camp.

Many locals also came to watch.

However, those people had a different view of the bandits than the officials and gentry.

After finishing their first day of flying, Fang Wen and Sun Debiao arrived at the military camp under the protection of a group of soldiers, just in time to witness the lively scene.

Of the more than 200 bandits, only a few were properly dressed; the rest were ragged and had dark skin, and it was hard to tell whether they were tanned or hadn't bathed in a long time.

There were even children who looked like they were underage.

The locals watching from the periphery whispered among themselves, but showed no hatred for the bandits.

Fang Wen noticed these subtle changes and whispered to Sun Debiao.

"Why don't the people here seem to hate bandits?"

Sun Debiao glanced at it and replied in a low voice, "Speaking of bandits, there are even more in Northeast China, probably the same as over there. These bandits can be divided into several categories. The first type is bloodthirsty, cruel, and vicious, most of whom become bandit leaders. These people only know one method: to oppress people with violence. Anyone who disobeys will be killed. The second type of bandits are cunning, treacherous, and opportunistic. They follow the bandit leaders and are often small leaders among the bandits. The third type are mostly people who are coerced into becoming bandits, or who have no other choice but to become outlaws. Many of them are just teenagers."

At this point, Sun Debiao seemed to realize something and added:

"General Manager, don't feel sorry for them. No matter how well-behaved a wolf cub is, it's still a wolf cub. A child who has seen blood can be ruthless. Those people don't seem to dislike bandits; they've just seen them so many that they're no longer bothered by them."

Sun Debiao's words made Fang Wen realize the meaning of the word 'numbness'.

In this world, morality has collapsed and society has fallen into disarray. People in small towns have no hope and live only for themselves.

The best solution is to end this chaos as soon as possible.

With a sigh in his heart, Fang Wen walked into the regimental headquarters in the military camp.

There, Ning Hangsheng, his face flushed, chatted with officials and gentry from Fuyang County, quite pleased with his achievements that day.

Upon seeing Fang Wen enter, she quickly stood up and casually put her arm around Fang Wen's shoulder.

"Today's battle was made possible by Brother Fang's aerial coordination; without him, we wouldn't know where to fight."

The county magistrate smiled and said, "General Manager Fang has a long track record of fighting the Japanese, so dealing with mere bandits is no problem for him. I just hope that we can wipe out the bandits in Fuyang as soon as possible, and then the air route can be officially opened. This will allow Fuyang to revitalize its economy."

The others echoed his sentiments.

Fang Wen responded to these compliments with ease, not taking them seriously at all, and remained true to himself.

After a while, the county magistrate led his men out to reprimand the more than 200 bandits.

Fang Wenze and Ning Hangsheng strolled and talked in the military camp.

"Brother Fang, what you did today has truly opened my eyes. I never knew war could be fought like this. With you directing from the sky, those bandits have nowhere to run. Do you think the National Revolutionary Army could be organized and fought in this way in the future?"

"Probably not. These devices are very expensive; even a division might not have the money to equip them," Fang Wen answered truthfully, but he didn't mention that other pilots flying biplanes might not be able to achieve the same effect.

"Yeah, even if we had that money, it would probably be divided up by the higher-ups. I'm just daydreaming." Ning Hangsheng smiled bitterly, acknowledging reality.

He told a funny story from his own experience.

"Two years ago, the higher-ups gave us a sum of money, saying it was for purchasing blankets and military quilts to keep soldiers warm during field marches and battles, at a standard of one silver dollar. But when it came to our regiment, the stuff was so bad it was unusable. I went to the division headquarters to inquire and found out that our division commander's brother-in-law had taken it all. We were lucky to get even that little bit of stuff."

Fang Wen didn't know what to say about this, so he changed the subject.

"Hey, let's not talk about that. Let's discuss the bandit suppression efforts. I can't stay here too long, so it's best to finish it as soon as possible."

Immediately, Ning Hangsheng's expression turned serious.

"After today's battle, I have a new plan. Since Brother Fang can provide real-time feedback on the movements of the bandits on the ground, starting tomorrow, our regiment will advance all the way to Fuyang and wipe out all the bandits in one fell swoop."

“Okay,” Fang Wen replied.

(End of this chapter)