Republic of China: Ace Pilot

Chapter 88: The Treasure-Hunting Team Formed, Parachute Training

As night fell, all the staff of Taishan Airlines went home, leaving only the security personnel to continue working.

Some employees ate in the cafeteria, while others ate at food stalls outside the airport.

The spending power of passengers and staff from both airlines has made the area increasingly commercial.

Shunzi carried two food boxes from the company cafeteria, then went to the pub to get some braised beef. With a smile on her face, she greeted her colleagues and jogged home.

Fang Shouxin stood outside the door, took the food box, and went inside.

At this moment, Fang Wen was talking with Chief Wang.

"This operation is being carried out right under the noses of the Japanese, and not a single word can be leaked. General Manager Fang, since you've asked me to participate in this heist, I'm making it clear beforehand that anyone found to have leaked information will die."

Fang Wen nodded.

“I trust Chief Wang. Let’s agree on three rules today. I’ll handle the air transport, and you’ll be in charge of the treasure heist. I’ll only assign two people to participate in the operation to facilitate communication.”

Chief Wang nodded: "Okay."

Fang Wen smiled, extended his hand, and shook hands with Chief Wang and Zhao Jiu, thus finalizing the cooperation agreement.

Immediately, Fang Shouxin moved a table over and took out the dishes and wine from the food box.

Two more people entered from outside the door: Manager Liu and Sun Debiao.

Wang Bangzhu exclaimed in surprise, "Aren't these your Taishan Airlines' chief accountant and security captain? You're really willing to let them go with me to the border region."

“They are both trustworthy. Didn’t you say we should be careful to prevent leaks?” Fang Wen said with a smile.

Overnight, the division of labor and the plan were determined.

Fang Wen was responsible for transporting the treasure-stealing team to the area outside the Great Wall, as well as transporting the stolen goods back to Jinan and bringing them back.

The treasure-hunting team conducted reconnaissance there, bribed the guards of the young marshal's mansion, and studied how to steal the treasure.

There's no need to worry about Fangwen's transportation.

The key is the composition of the treasure-stealing team.

Chief Wang is a master of assassination in Shanghai. Both assassinations and treasure thefts rely heavily on planning and careful execution.

His proposed team for stealing the treasure was divided into three parts.

Part One: Intermediary planning and liaison with all parties. This part was handled by him, Sun Debiao, and Manager Liu.

He was also the only one in the treasure-stealing team who knew the complete plan.

Part Two: The Peripheral Group. This includes armed groups to obstruct and distract the garrison, local groups to gather intelligence, and groups to sow discord among the troops and officials stationed at the Marshal's Mansion.

The third part is the treasure-hunting team. This team has the most unique requirements; they are all well-known thieves in the underworld, and each member must have a special skill.

After determining these factors, the next step is to find suitable candidates.

Near Taishan Airlines, another small company opened.

The company is called Fugui Business Company, which sounds a bit rustic, but it still attracts quite a few applicants.

These are the people who don't seem like good people.

The owner of Fugui Business Company is surnamed Wang. He never shows his face, but personally receives job applicants at the company.

Those who applied for the job also showed great respect to Boss Wang.

As Taishan Airlines' new neighbor, Fang Wen naturally paid a courtesy visit and took the opportunity to learn from Boss Wang.

He carried small gifts and led Manager Liu and Sun Debiao into Fugui Business Center.

Inside the small company, a group of people were looking at him with unfriendly expressions.

This is what you call having a fierce look.

Perhaps they didn't intentionally show it, but in the underworld, this kind of ruthlessness is what matters, so it naturally became ingrained on their faces.

Fang Wen understood that this group of people must have been selected by the action team; they were desperate criminals who could fight and kill.

He went up to the second floor and saw Chief Wang chatting with an old man.

Upon seeing Fang Wen come up, Chief Wang introduced him, saying, "This senior is a former bandit king from the Qing Dynasty. He is willing to offer us advice."

Fang Wen bowed politely and said, "Hello, sir."

The old man smiled and replied, "Your plan is incredibly audacious. Even someone like me who has spent my whole life stealing doors never dared to think of it. But if it succeeds, it would be a great thing. I'm willing to join in, so I can at least gain some fame and fortune before I die. I've heard about your plan, and I have some different opinions."

"Please speak, sir." Fang Wen's face lit up with joy.

The old man said with a serious expression:

"Your plan is conventional; it might work if you were stealing from an ordinary wealthy family. But this is the Japanese army, and we can't use ordinary methods. The army is disciplined and has its own system. They are highly vigilant and will actively question any strangers. Your plan, which seems meticulous, is very likely to have flaws during its execution, causing all your efforts to be in vain."

Fang Wen nodded, "As expected of a professional, he sees things clearly."

He asked, "Then what should we do?"

"Although the Japanese army is disciplined and seems like an impenetrable fortress, it has its weaknesses. They have come from afar, do not speak the language, and are unfamiliar with the geography. They need the cooperation of the locals, and those people are the key to winning them over."

Fang Wen was stunned.

Sun Debiao blurted out: "Looking for those traitors?"

"Yes, these kinds of people are ruthless, heartless, and have no home or country, yet they are most susceptible to temptation. Given enough profit, they can betray once, and they can betray twice."

The old man's words gave everyone present pause for thought.

The most anxious one was Sun Debiao, whose words seemed to be directed at him.

Even Manager Liu was somewhat embarrassed.

Fang Wen subtly tugged at Sun and Liu's clothes, which brought them back to normal.

But Sun Debiao still blurted out, "What if they're greedy and want to take the lion's share?"

The old man revealed a sinister expression: "Then agree to his request. After it's done, let's see if he'll live to take it."

Although the words were harsh, since the beneficiary was himself, the people present didn't seem to think much of it.

Only Fang Wen sighed inwardly, realizing that to accomplish such a shocking plan, one could only take an unconventional approach and rely on these ruthless individuals to carry it out.

But the old man hadn't finished speaking.

"Going beyond the Great Wall is a perilous journey, with nine out of ten chances of survival. Most desperados are not up to the task. They have no ties, and even if they perform well now, many will change their minds once they get there. At that point, your plans will be nothing but empty talk."

The old man used his decades of experience as a master thief to easily dissect human nature.

This also made Fang Wen realize the flaws in the plan.

Fang Wen quickly asked, "Then how can we remedy this?"

"It's okay now. The staff hasn't been finalized yet, and things can change at any time. My advice is to find people you can trust."

"Does such a person exist?" Fang Wen asked, puzzled.

"Yes, I have several disciples who are skilled at theft. They respect me as their master. You can take them with you, and if anything goes wrong, they can hold me accountable. Is that alright?"

Huh? Fang Wen was speechless. So it turned out this guy was recommending his apprentices to join.

But he's right, people you know well are safer, and besides, the old thief king's apprentice's skills shouldn't be bad.

The recruitment of the treasure-hunting team was basically completed after five days.

The team consists of a total of nineteen people.

Team commander and liaison for all departments: Chief Wang, Sun Debiao, and Manager Liu.

Peripheral group.

The seven members of the armed team are all skilled marksmen.

This is Wang Gangzhu's introduction; he's not called the King of Assassins for nothing.

The local intelligence gathering team and the divisive team tasked with bribing the garrison and officials of the Young Marshal's Mansion are not yet finalized due to the old man's warning; they will be formed after the people go to Shenyang.

Next came the carefully selected team to steal the treasure.

There were nine people in total, including Zhao Jiu, the three Liu brothers who were good at digging tunnels, and the five apprentices of the King of Thieves.

Once the manpower was complete, the next step was to figure out how to get these people across. The land route was impassable, with many Japanese troops stationed along the way, making it easy for problems to arise during the journey.

It's time for Fang Wen to demonstrate his importance.

In the suburbs of Shanghai, Fang Wen meets with a 19-person treasure-hunting team.

"Gentlemen, you cannot travel by land, and there are Japanese warships patrolling the sea route. My plan is to fly you to the vicinity of Shenyang and then parachute down."

Suddenly the whole place was in an uproar.

Chief Wang asked, "What is skydiving?"

Fang Wen pointed to the large backpack next to him: "This is it. Wear it when you jump off the plane, pull the handle on the right, and the parachute inside will deploy in the air, ensuring your safe landing."

As they spoke, Manager Liu, Sun Debiao, and Zhao Jiu stepped forward and took out parachute backpacks from a car next to them.

This was modeled after the mountaineering backpack Neil brought from the United States, something Fang Wen had always longed for.

Those who cannot skydive are in the most danger at high altitudes.

Therefore, he preferred to spend money to buy an expensive mountaineering backpack from the United States.

When I bought it, I found that the hiking backpacks of that era were very simple, and even the parachute opening mechanism was a manual pull ring, which could be made by tailors in Shanghai.

To reassure everyone, he picked up his parachute backpack and showed it to them.

"This backpack is made of sturdy canvas on the outside and the straps are too, ensuring it won't break during landing."

"Inside is a parachute made of silk fabric. To prevent accidents, the canopy is made quite large, so even if there is a hole, it can still land safely."

"This is the snap-on parachute deployment device. After jumping out of the plane, pulling it will automatically open the parachute."

"Of course, it's not time for high-altitude skydiving yet; we need to learn ground skydiving first."

As he spoke, Fang Wen pointed to a tall wooden tower in the distance.

It is about 30 meters high.

Some people are starting to back out.

"I'm not afraid of death, but I don't want to fall to my death here."

"Yeah, skydiving isn't a good idea. How about we try to get there by boat? Maybe the Japanese won't be patrolling at night."

Once someone started, others chimed in, creating a somewhat chaotic scene.

Fang Wen said calmly, "A brave man like you is afraid of heights? You always brag so much, are you just faking it? I'll go first, you guys watch."

After saying that, he picked up his parachute backpack and climbed up the wooden tower.

These words brought the argument to a halt, and everyone realized that they had indeed been a bit too timid.

Even the general manager isn't afraid.

The fact that someone who is barefoot is less daring than someone who is wearing shoes is quite a shock to those who make a living through daring.

They couldn't help but follow.

Fang Wen climbed to the top of the 30-meter-high tower.

With materials available in this era, reaching this height is already the limit; standing on the tower, it feels a bit precarious.

He grabbed the tower's spire and looked down.

For him, who was already used to flying at high altitudes, it wasn't actually that scary.

And below is a large area of ​​sand, which serves as a buffer for landing.

As long as the parachute opens in time when you jump, there will be no problem at all.

Seeing that everyone below was looking at him, Fang Wen took a deep breath and leaped forward.

The parachute opening mechanism was activated in advance.

The snow-white silk umbrella opened, billowing under the decreasing air resistance.

Fang Wen suddenly felt his body lighten and slowly floated down.

Then it landed on the soft sand.

That's it!
With Fang Wen's demonstration, everyone felt that it wasn't so difficult or dangerous after all.

Chief Wang picked up a parachute pack, walked up to Fang Wen and asked how to use it, and then climbed up the parachute tower.

After a struggle with his mind, he bravely leaped out, and then the white parachute opened, and he drifted down to the sand.

To be honest, skydiving is definitely the most exciting sport of our time.

Fang Wen and Chief Wang's demonstration successfully piqued the interest of this group of madmen who were walking on the edge of a knife.

Sun Debiao also went up and landed successfully.

He also mastered a little trick.

"Don't look down. Jump out with your eyes closed, put your hand on the ring, and pull the ring as soon as you leave the wooden tower. Then you'll find yourself floating up lightly."

The techniques he summarized were quickly adopted by others.

One by one, the bolder guys climbed up and jumped down, shouting.

There were also mistakes.

He pulled the pin before even jumping off the parachute tower, which resulted in the parachute not opening fully and causing him to fall to the ground.

Fang Wen and the others were so frightened that they rushed over to help.

Fortunately, the sand was thick enough and not compacted, so the man only got stuck in the sand. It took some effort to dig him out, but there were no major problems.

This, ironically, became a driving force for them to skydive, leading to more people and more frequent ground-based skydiving training.

After a week of this training, skydiving from only 30 meters is no longer dangerous.

Overconfident, the treasure-hunting team applied for a skydive.

In response, Fang Wen solemnly warned: "Skydiving is completely different from ground training. Due to differences in wind direction and operation, you will land in a certain area, and you may also be unable to land because your parachute gets caught on a tree branch. In addition, strong winds may also cause a small probability of the parachute getting caught on your body during the jump. You must be careful."

Chief Wang nodded in agreement: "Yes, everyone's lives are their own, so we must all be careful and not act recklessly. Alright, General Manager Fang, let's get on the plane."

Fang Wen looked at the others.

They were initially reluctant, but after completing ground skydiving training, they surprisingly accepted this exciting and dangerous sport.

Therefore, extreme sports are a game of courage, which is the best explanation.

He stopped talking and instead piloted the Boeing 247, which was not yet in service, carrying 19 people into the sky.

In the sky, Fang Wen searched for a suitable landing spot.

He chose Xishan Island on Taihu Lake.

There are mountains, water, and forests there.

It is designed for complex training terrain, especially forest environments, which perfectly simulates the situation where a parachute gets caught during landing.

He circled over Taihu Lake and called out, "See the island below? Your mission is to parachute onto the island, find your teammates, regroup, and then return to Shanghai on your own. Is that alright?"

"Yes, that's fine." After saying that, Chief Wang looked at the others: "Are you all okay?"

Everyone responded.

"can."

Even Manager Liu is like that; everyone here is adventurous.

Immediately, the hatch opened, and Chief Wang was the first to jump out.

The parachute opened high in the sky, and the high-speed descent suddenly slowed down, drifting towards the ground.

Others followed suit and jumped out of the plane, one after another until the last person.

Fang Wen was the only one left on the plane. He left the cockpit, quickly stepped over two barriers, and closed the boarding door.

He then ran back to the cockpit and flew the plane back to base.

(End of this chapter)