Republic of China: Ace Pilot

Chapter 559 North Korea's International Airborne Training: Cross-Border Airborne Assault

Fuping Sea Airport.

Fang Wen piloted the plane to land.

Bai Yunfei, who came to greet him, warmly shook hands: "You traveled 2 kilometers in just one day. I really admire your flying skills and physical fitness. I doubt you can find another person in the country who can fly at such a high intensity as you."

Fang Wen smiled and replied, "I'm young and strong, I can handle it. Where are those North Korean international fighters?"

"This is the place where you trained your paratroopers last time. The equipment is ready. Your plane can be parked here, and I will arrange for someone to guard it."

"Okay, let's go now."

The two talked as they walked out of the airport.

Since the Independent Regiment left, this airport has been converted into the residence and rehearsal place for the cultural troupe.

When Fang Wen and his group walked over, they saw an anti-Japanese war drama being rehearsed on the field.

Fang Wen hadn't seen it when he brought them over last time, so this time he decided to stop and take a look.

Bai Yunfei explained, “They are arranging a very famous anti-Japanese drama called ‘The Traitor’s End.’ It tells the story of a recent incident in our base area where a traitor led a Japanese army to sweep through the area. However, the army was defeated by a joint operation between the county brigade and the air regiment, and the traitor was captured and publicly tried.”

"Are the Japanese soldiers looting large quantities of grain?" Fang Wen asked.

"Yes, every time they came to raid, they left nothing behind. The villagers said that the Japanese devils were all reincarnated starving ghosts. Now everyone knows to move their grain in time so that the Japanese devils won't steal it anymore."

Fang Wen has a deeper understanding of this.

He said, "There's something I think is related to the Japanese army's massive looting of grain. They not only seized grain in the base areas, but also in the occupied territories."

His words were also heard by the soldiers of the cultural troupe.

An officer took out a pen and paper: "Could you explain in more detail? I want to use this as material to publicize the atrocities committed by the Japanese army."

Fang Wen nodded: "We not only need to tell the people what the invaders did, but also let them know the purpose of the invaders' actions." He looked at Bai Yunfei, "I'll take a little time to tell them about the Japanese army's looting of grain."

Bai Yunfei certainly wouldn't refuse. The sources of information in the Jin-Cha-Ji base area were still too few. This guy, who frequently travels between China and abroad, must know much more.

Immediately afterwards, Fang Wen told the arts and literature officer what he had learned:
"The Japanese established the 'North China Development Company' in North China, forcibly purchasing grain at 'official prices' 50% lower than the market price; they carried out 'burning, killing, and looting' against villages that resisted, and this spring alone, more than 300 villages were burned down for refusing to hand over grain. In Central China, through the puppet regime, they implemented 'rationing by population,' strictly controlling farmers' rations to 150 grams per day, just enough for survival, with the remainder being 'requisitioned'; when building roads and strongholds, they directly plundered grain from villages along the way."

His words attracted the attention of the performing arts soldiers, who stopped their rehearsals and came over to listen.

A female soldier interjected, "What about outside the pass?"

"The Northeast occupied area implemented the 'Grain Export Law,' which stipulated that farmers must hand over 70% of their harvest, and those who violated it would be punished as 'anti-Manchurian and anti-Japanese.' They also forcibly promoted 'Xiehe Rice,' because the rice was not suitable for the local climate and soil, which led to a decline in the grain production capacity in the Northeast."

After a pause, Fang Wen looked at the cultural troupe and continued, "The Japanese army not only plundered large amounts of grain, but also carried out premeditated economic colonization. As far as I know, they plan to triple cotton planting in North China this year, which will reduce grain production by 20%. And the tens of millions of tons of grain they plundered are not only used to feed the army, but are also continuously transported back to their homeland."

"Is the Japanese homeland short of food?" Gong Xiuneng couldn't help but ask.

"In order to carry out the war of aggression against China, they conscripted more than 100 million soldiers and sent many agricultural laborers to factories to serve the war effort. As a result, 3% of the agricultural labor force was lost and the total grain output declined year by year. As a result, there was already a food shortage in Japan, and a food rationing system was implemented throughout the country, with each person receiving 290 grams of rations per day."

Fang Wen's words, from the perspective of food, reveal the state of the invaders' exhaustion of resources for military expansion.

The cultural affairs officer excitedly recorded these materials, saying, "Great! I think we can create a new anti-Japanese war drama called 'The Food War'."

Fang Wen smiled and nodded, then left the airport with Bai Yunfei without saying anything more.

After leaving the airport, the group arrived at the former camp of the Provisional 8th Division, where airborne training was conducted.

Now that the Eighth Division has been temporarily transferred away, only one battalion remains to garrison this place. These soldiers all recognize Fang Wen, and they all stand up straight and salute.

Fang Wen smiled and returned the salute. Then a soldier asked, "Sir, how are the brothers who went south doing?"

He was asking about the group of soldiers Fang Wen had selected from the Provisional Eighth Division. They were all from Sichuan and cared about each other.

In response, Fang Wen said, "They fought a battle to cross the river with the Japanese and are now stationed in Yangjiang, Guangdong. I will tell them about your concern when I get back."

"Sir, could you deliver this message? My cousin is over there," a Sichuan soldier asked.

Fang Wen agreed. "Okay. Write the letters, remember to write your names and who they are addressed to. Then give them all to your battalion commander so he can give them to me."

Immediately, the Sichuan Army soldiers began to get busy, and some even wanted to notify their comrades stationed in other places.

Fang Wenze and Bai Yunfei headed to the paratrooper camp.

There, three North Korean international fighters were waiting.

Upon seeing Fang Wen and his group arrive, they immediately stood up, lined up, and introduced themselves.

"Kim Song-chol, former soldier of the North China Detachment of the Korean Volunteer Corps!"

"Park Jung-tae fought in the Northeast Anti-Japanese United Army!"

"Choi Jung-sook, who fled from Seoul, was in charge of Japanese battlefield translation!"

The three voices were loud and clear. Cui Zhenshu was the only woman among them, and they were all wearing Eighth Route Army uniforms, which were also patched.

Fang Wen shook hands with each of them. "I can take you to land on the peninsula by air, but because it will be a nighttime airdrop, it will be more difficult than a regular airdrop. You need to be prepared to undergo high-intensity training."

"Yes," the three said in unison.

"Alright, let's start with parachute tower training. Gong Xiuneng, take them to get the training equipment," Fang Wen instructed.

Gong Xiuneng led three North Korean soldiers to the seaplane base and brought back several packs of parachutes.

The group then went directly to the parachute tower.

Before the ground jump, Fang Wen first inspected the sandpit.

He was worried that the sandpit might have hardened from being unused for a long time, thus losing its cushioning effect and potentially causing injury to the skydivers.

Fortunately, the sandpit had been loosened, and you could sink your feet in when you stepped in.

Then, Fang Wen and Gong Xiuneng helped the three of them put on parachutes, and Fang Wen led them up the parachute tower.

Standing atop the 30-meter-high parachute tower, the three were somewhat nervous.

Choi Jung-sook couldn't help but ask, "Isn't this height a bit low? I'm afraid I won't have time to deploy my parachute if I jump."

“If you open your parachute after you jump, it will definitely be too late for a beginner.” Fang Wen pointed to a steel cable on the parachute tower. “See this? It mimics the parachute system in an airplane. The pull cord hook is attached to the steel cable. After you jump, it will pull open the parachute mechanism, and then you can experience the feeling of landing. Don’t be afraid. I have trained many people, and there has never been a single case where the parachute failed to open.”

With Fang Wen's words of comfort, the three of them felt relieved.

Kim Sung-cheol stepped forward and said, "Mr. Fang, I'll go first."

Fang Wen nodded, hooked the rope to the steel cable, and then instructed, "Don't think too much about your first jump. The most important thing is to dare to jump." "Yes!" Jin Chengzhe shouted and ran and jumped.

After he jumped, the parachute opened, and thanks to the buoyancy of the air, he did not fall rapidly, but instead landed slowly on the sandpit with the parachute attached.

Gong Xiuneng helped him up, put away the parachute, and left the sandpit.

Next was Park Jung-tae, who was not good with words. After Fang Wen attached the rope and gave the order to jump, he also jumped out.

They landed safely as well.

Having witnessed the demonstrations of the previous two, Choi Jung-sook became much bolder. She stood on the diving platform and said, "Sir, you may begin."

Fang Wen hung up the cable, but then noticed that Cui Zhenshu's calves were trembling.

He couldn't help but sigh inwardly, then gently reassured her, "Don't be nervous. The parachute is made of very sturdy material. As long as you jump out and the parachute opens, you will land safely. After this experience, the subsequent training will be much easier. But if you can't take the first step, there's no point in talking about the subsequent training. I can only suggest that you withdraw from the training and find someone else."

Fang Wen's words made Cui Zhenshu stand up straight. "I must go back, sir. Please give the order."

As she stood up, the trembling in her calves disappeared. This state wouldn't last, so Fang Wen immediately gave the order: "Jump!"

Choi Jung-sook ran out and jumped off the platform, but a scream came from mid-air.

But the parachute had already opened, and with a scream, she landed safely in the sandpit.

This time, Gong Xiuneng didn't pull her up. Instead, he had two fellow soldiers help her up, jokingly saying, "You're not very big, but your voice is really loud. You can't shout like that when you're actually parachuting."

Choi Jung-sook blushed slightly, "It won't happen again."

As Fang Wen said, the key to skydiving is taking the first step and overcoming your psychological barriers.

The three North Korean international fighters were actually psychologically strong enough to successfully overcome the first hurdle.

After training them on the parachute tower for two days to get them used to the parachute process, Fang Wen asked to take them to an airplane for a real parachute jump.

Of course, for safety reasons, they chose to land on the water.

This location was the waterway where the Eighth Route Army's air regiment was stationed.

There, they jumped from hundreds of meters in the air, and because of the altitude, they didn't need to control their landing point and landed directly on the water.

He was then rescued by the squadron's ships and parachuted back into the plane.

Through repeated skydiving training, they quickly internalized skydiving as a mechanical memory, ingraining it into their bodily instincts.

This is the effect Fang Wen wanted.

Fang Wen was the one who truly ensured their successful parachute landing; all they needed was basic parachuting skills.

Five days of high-intensity training have ended.

We took a special day off and set off on the seventh day.

When that day arrived, Bai Yunfei brought a batch of items prepared for them.

Portable telegraph machine, a pen gun specially made by Taishan Military Industry, a miniature short-range telegraph transceiver, as well as pistols and bullets.

The three packed their belongings into backpacks, hung them around their necks, and then put on their parachute packs and waited for deployment.

Fang Wen walked up to them and asked, "Are you ready?"

"Ready," the three said in unison.

Fang Wen smiled and said, "Alright, dismissed. We'll depart at 8 PM tonight."

It was 3 p.m., and with five hours to go, the three of them had no choice but to put down their luggage and continue waiting.

Five hours passed, during which I ate my last Chinese meal at a restaurant in Fuping County.

At 7:40, the group got ready and boarded the plane at the sea airport.

At 8:00 AM sharp, with Bai Yunfei watching, the seaplane accelerated on the water and took off into the sky.

This nighttime voyage will start from Fuping, pass through Baoding and Tianjin, cross the Bohai Sea, and fly directly to North Korea.

The distance is 1100 kilometers.

Because it is a Huashan-1 amphibious aircraft with a speed of 350 kilometers per hour, the estimated time to arrive is 3 hours.

In the pitch-black night sky, no plane could stop Fang Wen from crossing the Japanese war zone; he was the king of the skies at night.

The plane flew eastward, passing over Baoding and Tianjin, two areas heavily guarded by the Japanese army, before entering the airspace over the Bohai Sea.

There, the Japanese fleet had also vanished, and the sea and sky were pitch black.

The aerial positioning of sea routes differs from that on land. On land, local people can use the anomalous signs to see the terrain and landforms and locate landmarks.

On the sea, where these topographical features are absent, another method of positioning is needed.

That's the astrological positioning method.

By using a specific constellation, Fang Wen confirmed that the flight path had not changed and that he was maintaining the correct course as he flew towards the Incheon area.

Incheon was a port area that served as a distribution center for Japanese military factories and supplies in the Japanese-occupied zone, and was heavily garrisoned by troops.

Fang Wen did not land the three people over Incheon, but chose Gwanaksan Mountain, more than 20 kilometers east of Incheon.

The area was sparsely populated, making it an ideal place to land. The three of them could land in the mountains, destroy their parachutes, change their clothes, and then disguise themselves to enter the city.

Pushing his thoughts aside, Fang Wen observed the situation of the three North Korean soldiers in the cabin, who sat expressionlessly on folding chairs.

To ease the tension, he said, "For this skydive, I will try my best to ensure a favorable landing location for you, and set the landing altitude at around 1000 meters so you can land quickly. Now, recite the skydiving precautions I mentioned. Choi Jung-sook, you do it."

Choi Jung-sook recited aloud: "When exiting the plane, keep your back arched, knees bent, and arms slightly outstretched to ensure your body is perpendicular to the plane's flight direction and avoid being pulled off course by the airflow. If multiple people are jumping consecutively, maintain a distance of more than 5 meters to prevent the parachutes from getting tangled. After jumping, spread your body out, relax, and wait for the parachute to open. The moment the parachute opens, there will be a strong impact. After a short period of adjustment, you need to hold the control straps firmly and keep your body upright."

“Very good, that’s it. As long as you ensure that every step is done strictly according to the requirements, your airborne operation will not have any problems.”

Fang Wen paused suddenly as he spoke.

"We have reached the North Korean coastline. You have 10 minutes to prepare."

The three of them immediately stood up and stretched.

Gong Xiuneng also came over to help check the equipment.

(End of this chapter)