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

"Buzzing!"

"Buzzing!"

Twenty silver Mustang fighter jets descended from the clouds in neat three-by-three formations.

The glow of the setting sun shone on their aluminum skins, turning them into twenty golden eagles.

They circled once over Fengtian Airport before landing on the runway one after another. Before the white smoke from the landing gear had even dissipated, the twenty pilots had already climbed out of their cockpits and automatically lined up to report to Zhu Wudi.

Everyone's movements were exactly the same as those of the 82 Mustang pilots who had arrived earlier.

Zhang Zuoxiang stood there leaning on his cane, his lips moving for a long time before he finally managed to squeeze out a single sentence:

"Another twenty planes?"

Tang Yulin stared wide-eyed at the twenty silver fighter jets that had just landed on the runway, muttering to himself:

"Second Master, how much did you buy?"

Zhang Xueming did not answer them.

He turned to face Li Changkong and Zhu Wudi, and shouted:

"Li Changkong".

"arrive!"

"You shall immediately lead all the fighters and bombers of the Fengtian Air Force, including Blackgay 27s, de Havillands, Junkers, and all those that can fly."

"You'll be at the front, leading the way for Zhu Wudi."

"Upon arrival at the target sea area, you will be in charge of directing the ground bombing."

"You are most familiar with the waters around Lushun. You will plan the bombing route. The priority order of targets is: airfields, aircraft carriers, battleships, cruisers, port oil depots, and ammunition depots."

"Zhu Wudi, you will lead all ninety-two fighter jets of the Wild Horse Squadron to provide escort."

"You have three tasks. First, suppress the anti-aircraft fire in Lushun Port and use machine guns and rockets to destroy the Japanese anti-aircraft artillery positions."

"Second, intercept any remaining Japanese aircraft attempting to take off."

"Third, if the Japanese carrier-based fighters take off from the aircraft carrier, shoot them all down, and do not let a single one go back."

"Remember, the attack order must be that fighters straf the carriers, cruisers, and battleships first, clearing all the artillery on them, before torpedo bombers and bombers can enter the fray."

He paused for a moment, his gaze slowly sweeping across Li Changkong and Zhu Wudi's faces, and his voice suddenly turned cold.

"The goal of this operation is not to win an air battle."

"The objective of this operation is to take a big bite out of the Japanese Combined Fleet."

"Bite them until they feel pain, bite them until they are afraid, bite them until they never dare to swagger around on the northern shore of the Yellow Sea again."

"If you can sink an aircraft carrier, then sink it; if you can't sink it, then sink a battleship; if you can't sink a battleship, then sink a cruiser; if you can't sink a warship, then sink the port facilities."

"In short, we must turn Lushun Port into a sea of ​​fire."

"Fengtian Air Force has deployed 300 fighter planes, 150 fighter jets, 100 bombers, and 50 torpedo bombers."

"Zhu Wudi and Li Changkong, act together and cooperate with each other."

"I'm here, waiting for you to come back. Is there a problem?"

Li Changkong was trembling with excitement.

He waited eight years, and this day has finally come.

He had drawn countless flight paths for bombing Lushun in his mind and practiced countless dive-bombing maneuvers in his dreams, only to find that it was all in vain every time he woke up.

Today, it's no longer a dream.

He wanted to personally pilot the plane over Lushun Port and drop bombs onto the deck of the Japanese aircraft carrier.

He snapped to attention, raised his right hand, fingers together, to his forehead, and roared from the deepest recesses of his chest:

"No problem! We'll complete the mission even if it kills us!"

Zhu Wudi's answer remained a crisp and concise four words:

"No problem."

Zhang Xueming patted the two men on the shoulders and instructed them:

"Remember, airplanes are the cheapest items. In the future, we will have tens of thousands of airplanes. Your lives are the most precious thing."

"Don't take any risks, come back alive!"

Li Changkong saluted again with great emotion, having already decided to repay the debt with his life.

Ground crew scurried between the planes like ants, while fuel tankers lined up along the runway, with refueling hoses extending from the tankers and being inserted into the fuel tanks of each aircraft.

Mechanics climbed ladders onto the wings of the bombers, pushing aerial bombs into the bomb bays and locking the safety pins on the racks.

The ground crew of the torpedo bomber is even busier. The aerial torpedoes are thick and long, requiring a special trolley to push them under the fuselage of the aircraft, and then hydraulic jacks are used to slowly lift them up and align them with the pylons.

The entire process must be accurate to the millimeter; even the slightest deviation will cause the torpedo to veer off course when it is dropped.

The ground crew's uniforms were soaked with sweat, and the grease on their faces gleamed under the searchlights, but not one of them stopped to take a break.

Li Changkong stood in front of his Blackgate 27, making the final checks before boarding.

His fingers lightly touched the bullet holes in the wing skin, left from the morning's air battle. They hadn't been repaired yet, and the ground crew had temporarily patched them with aluminum sheeting.

He patted the patch as if he were patting an old comrade on the shoulder, then flipped over and jumped into the cockpit, put on his flight helmet and goggles, pulled down the canopy, and pressed his finger on the engine start button.

The engines of the Bragg 27 emitted a sharp screech, and the propellers spun wildly.

He glanced through the windshield at the runway beside him; Zhu Wudi's Mustang fighter jet had already taxied onto the main runway.

The silver fuselage gleamed, the twelve-cylinder engine roared deep, and the swirling air currents made the grass on both sides of the track lie flat against the ground.

Zhu Wudi pushed the accelerator, and the Mustang began to accelerate and slide on the track. The tail wheel left the ground, the main wheel left the ground, and it flew south.

Then came the second, the third, the fourth...

All ninety-two Mustangs took off and were assembled into groups.

Then came Li Changkong's Bragg squadron and the de Havilland bomber group.

Fifty-six fighter jets, one hundred bombers, and fifty torpedo bombers taxied onto the runway in turn, accelerated in turn, and took off in turn.

The roar of three hundred aircraft engines created a deafening sound that rattled the paper windows of Fengtian City.

The people in the city who were celebrating rushed into the streets and looked up at the sky. They saw countless navigation lights, red and green dots intertwined to form a flowing galaxy, surging southward in a mighty torrent.

Li Changkong sat in the cockpit and glanced back at Fengtian City.

The flags on the city wall fluttered in the wind, and the city wall was full of people, including soldiers, civilians, student volunteers, and the wounded. Everyone looked up and waved to the sky.

He couldn't see their faces clearly, but he knew they must be shouting something.

"Kill those little devils!"

He grinned, then turned his head, pushed the throttle to the maximum, and the engines of the Bragg 27 let out a final screech as it noseped up and flew south, merging into the starry sky.

Zhang Xueming stood at the window of the control tower, watching the taillights of the last plane disappear into the horizon.

Standing behind him were Zhang Zuoxiang, Wan Fulin, Tang Yulin, and Wang Yizhe.

No one spoke; everyone was still immersed in the earth-shattering changes that had taken place in just a few short hours.

First, more than two hundred Japanese planes swarmed in, then Zhu Wudi and Li Changkong's fighter squadron took off to meet them, and then came a great victory in the air battle, shooting down two hundred Japanese planes.

Now the offensive and defensive roles have shifted, and the Northeast Army's four hundred aircraft are heading straight for the combined fleet of the Japanese invaders in the south.

Every minute of those hours was overturning their understanding, telling them:

The Northeast Army is different now.

From this day forward, the Northeast Army will no longer be the Northeast Army that was forced to defecate and urinate under the weight of Japanese planes without daring to utter a sound.

They have become one of the most powerful air forces in East Asia.

Zhang Zuoxiang walked to Zhang Xueming's side with his cane, said nothing, but simply patted him hard on the shoulder.

Outside Fengtian City, the Hun River flowed quietly, with a few pieces of Japanese aircraft wreckage floating on its surface.

A north wind blew across the river, carrying a hint of gunpowder smoke and the smell of burning.

The people spontaneously gathered at the city gate, waiting for their eagle to return from the south.

Meanwhile, on the southern sea, Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto, commander of the Combined Fleet, was making a difficult choice.