On the eve of the fall of Liaodong, he led his troops in a remonstrance against the young marshal.

High above the clouds, Li Changkong sat in the cockpit of a Mustang fighter jet, the collar of his leather jacket fluttering in the biting wind.

He pushed his goggles up to his forehead, squinted, and looked down at the battlefield in Hucheng through the windshield.

Thick smoke billowed from the direction of Tiantong'an, the station building was bombed and collapsed, Japanese seaplanes were diving down, and the bodies of fallen soldiers lay scattered on the battlefield.

Those 19th Route Army soldiers lying in the bombed-out trenches, their faces covered in blood, still gripping their rifles and refusing to retreat a single step, made Li Changkong's anger surge to the top of his head.

Blood debts must be repaid with blood.

"Attention, all troops! Slaughter every last one of these Japanese bombers!"

Li Changkong gave a cold order, then made a hand gesture to signal.

The hunt begins!

"yes!"

"kill!"

Eighty Mustang fighter jets spread out above the clouds, like falcons swooping down from the sky, attacking in pairs.

"Boom boom boom!"

The roar of the engines coalesced into an explosive roar, tearing a huge gap in the dark clouds above Hucheng.

Li Changkong took the lead, his plane suddenly swooping down from the clouds, its wings whistling as it cut through the air, heading straight for the sixteen Japanese seaplanes that were wantonly ravaging the Tiantong'an position.

It was only then that the Japanese pilots noticed the Chinese aircraft approaching from the north.

"Enemy attack!"

"Enemy planes in sight! Take cover!"

"Support! Quickly request support! Don't come any closer! Baka..."

Their formation was thrown into chaos instantly.

Some tried to pull up and climb, some tried to turn around and escape back to the Huangpu River, and some didn't even realize what was happening and were still diving and strafing.

They were just seaplanes used for reconnaissance and bombing, not for air combat. They were bulky, had weak firepower, and their maneuverability was like an ox meeting a cheetah compared to a Mustang.

What's worse is that there were only sixteen of them, while Li Changkong brought eighty.

A massacre is unfolding in the sky.

Li Changkong's lead plane was the first to lock onto a Japanese seaplane that was pulling up to escape.

The Mustang fighter's six M2 heavy machine guns fired simultaneously, bullets tracing six blazing trajectories in the air, like six red-hot wires, accurately cutting into the fuselage of the Japanese plane.

"Da da da da da!"

"Da da da da!"

The seaplane's aluminum skin was torn open with fist-sized holes by large-caliber bullets.

Fuel sprayed out of the ruptured tank, ignited by the bullet's high temperature, and instantly exploded into a huge fireball.

"Boom!"

The plane was torn to pieces in the explosion, and the burning debris fell from mid-air, crashing onto the riverbank north of the Suzhou Creek and splashing up a cloud of mud.

The Japanese pilot and his plane were reduced to ashes.

Upon witnessing this scene, the soldiers of the 19th Route Army on the ground roared with deafening force:

"Well done!!!"

Before the roar had even subsided, more Mustang fighters in the sky opened fire simultaneously.

Two Mustangs attacked from both sides, locking onto a Japanese plane that was trying to escape by skimming the ground. Four bullets simultaneously cut in from both sides, turning the plane's wings into sieves.

The Japanese plane lost its balance, tumbling and spinning in the air before crashing into an abandoned factory building in Zhabei.

The moment the fuselage hit the ground, it exploded into an orange-red mushroom cloud. The shockwave also collapsed the remaining half of the factory wall, and shards of brick and glass flew across half a street.

Another Japanese plane was shot down.

Its tail was struck and caught fire, leaving a long trail of black smoke, like a lit kite, wobbling across the sky above Hucheng before finally plunging into the Suzhou River.

The moment it entered the water, it created a water column more than ten meters high. After the water splashed down, only a few pieces of still-burning debris and a charred flight helmet floated on the surface of the river.

The streets of Hucheng were filled with citizens.

They stood on rooftops, on balconies, at the entrances of alleyways, and on the banks of the Suzhou Creek, gazing up at the dazzling aerial hunt in the sky.

"Kill! Kill all those Japanese planes!"

"Well done! Bring down all those sons of bitches!"

"The Chinese Air Force is invincible! Well done!"

"You all did a great job! You didn't disgrace yourselves!"

"Kill a few more Japanese devils, and I'll donate money! I'll buy you airplanes and cannons! Kill them! Kill them all!"

Amid cheers from the citizens, the number of Japanese planes decreased rapidly.

Sixteen, fifteen, fourteen, thirteen...

Every minute, Japanese planes were shot down, and every minute, a fireball exploded in the sky.

From the moment the first plane was shot down to the moment the last one had nowhere to escape, it was only a quarter of an hour.

The remaining Japanese planes flew around aimlessly in the sky like headless flies.

Some flew over the Suzhou Creek in an attempt to escape towards the concessions, while others tried to climb and use the clouds for cover. But the Mustang fighters were much faster and had a much longer range than them.

Any Japanese planes that attempted to escape were tracked down, fired upon, and shot down, exploding into fireballs.

All sixteen aircraft were caught without exception.

The sky over Hucheng returned to tranquility.

The sun, which had been obscured by the smoke of battle for so long, finally reappeared in the dissipating dust.

Sunlight filtered through the gaps in the clouds, shining on the surface of the Suzhou River and creating a shimmering golden glow.

Only the aircraft wreckage floating on the river and the flames on the shore serve as reminders of the aerial hunt that has just taken place here.

Cai Tingkai stood in front of the command post window, the binoculars slipping from his hand and hitting the floor with a dull thud.

He didn't pick it up because he couldn't care less about anything else.

He leaned against the windowsill, looking up at the Chinese aircraft formation gleaming golden in the sunlight, tears welling up in his eyes and streaming down his cheeks, wetting his collar.

His eyes were filled with tears, as if he could see the dream he had longed for time and time again, and the day when the Chinese Air Force would finally stand above the enemy.

His long-cherished wish finally came true in his lifetime.

"There's hope!"

His voice trembled, tears and a smile blooming simultaneously on his face, which was covered in gunpowder and blood. "We're saved!!"

"China is saved!!"

Li Changkong looked down from the cockpit at the Zhabei battlefield, which was engulfed in flames, his gaze as cold and sharp as a knife.

He had no time to celebrate, not even time to turn around and glance at the sixteen burning remains.

He turned on the radio and issued the second order:

"Air Force Squadron, listen up! Divide into three groups!"

"The first route, led by Zhang Wei, will sweep away the Japanese ground forces on the Zhabei battlefield. The second route will follow me to destroy the Japanese warships on the Huangpu River. The third route, led by Gao Yong, will blow up the Japanese airport in Hongkou and sweep away the Japanese expatriate area at the same time."

"Fire all the bullets you can! Kill as many Japanese devils as you can!"

"yes!"

Eighty Mustang fighters regrouped in the air, like an open folding fan, splitting into three arrows and flying in three different directions.