Volume 1: Entering the War of Resistance Chapter 59: Fury

  At this time, He Juncai was already a lieutenant general in the Air Force, one of the few high-ranking officers, and had control over the most core air force power - the Guard Flight Brigade (Fourth Flight Brigade). Chairman Chiang entrusted him with the entire sky of Sichuan, giving him absolute trust.

  If the National Government were to issue a "Busiest Person" award, it would undoubtedly go to He Junci. Since arriving in this world four months ago, He Junci has been working day and night without a moment's rest. The Floating Airbase is his biggest secret, containing many things that cannot be revealed to outsiders, so he eats and lives on the airbase, yet to experience the charm of this era's National style. Now that the war has finally stabilized and all work is back on track, he decides to entrust the operation of the Floating Airbase to Zheng Shaoyu and give himself a two-day break to continue his hometown tour.

  At the end of July, He Juncai had planned a trip to Nanchong, but at that time, the Doulieba Airport in Nanchong had just started construction, so He Juncai had to take a detour via Chengdu. It was during that stay in Chengdu that He Juncai personally experienced the threat of bombing and cancelled his trip to Nanchong, instead launching an even more fierce attack on the Japanese enemy.

  Originally in 1938, the Aviation Committee asked the Sichuan Provincial Government to build Duwei Ba Airport as a rear base for the Chinese Air Force, but it was not realized due to various reasons. In 1940, Japan began large-scale bombing of Chongqing and Chengdu, posing a serious threat to the airports in these two places. After He Junci suddenly crossed into this world in June, Chiang Kai-shek clearly strengthened his support for the air force, and then Sichuan began to build airports on a large scale. Nanbu's Duwei Ba Airport is one of them. Although some auxiliary facilities of the airport, such as command posts, warehouses, and hangars, are not yet completed, fortunately, in this era, planes only need a flat ground to land, He Junci can avoid turbulence on the ground and fly directly from the floating base to Duwei Ba Airport.

  There was also a beautiful lady accompanying He Juncai, Lieutenant He Xin, the original communications consultant of the Floating Air Base. As He Xin is now assigned to the Fourth Flight Squadron and has been designated as He Juncai's personal secretary, she needs to follow him wherever he goes. Of course, in order to ensure safety during this era of banditry, He Juncai was inevitably required to bring along several bodyguards, who were selected from the Air Force Marine Corps and were all violent and capable men.

  Sitting in the liaison plane of the floating base, He Juncai looked proud. According to previous standards, this was already a glorious return home, and he even brought a beautiful woman with him, which was unimaginable in his past life. Although the captured Japanese communication plane was not only leaky and noisy but also very bumpy, He Juncai still felt a sense of accomplishment. However, this feeling disappeared shortly after landing, because he saw those shabby laborers.

  He Juncai walked past a group of migrant workers pulling a massive stone roller, noticing that they were almost naked, considering it was already close to October and the weather had turned cool. These people had become very tired due to long-term labor, their dark skin covered with dust, most importantly, their eyes were empty, like a walking corpse. Their task was to pull the huge stone mill behind them to flatten part of the airport apron.

  Suddenly, with a loud "crack", one of the ropes snapped, and the laborer in the middle fell to the ground. Because everyone was tightly packed together pulling the millstone, his fall brought down many people, and the millstone continued to roll forward slowly. He Xin saw this situation and let out a loud cry. The laborers walking in front quickly went to pull up those who had fallen, while others tried to hold back the millstone from behind, but the heavy millstone was still rolling towards the fallen crowd under its own inertia, and the situation was extremely critical.

  "Hurry! Hold onto that stone roller!" He Jun shouted back at the few guards who were still in a daze, while he himself ran forward first and grabbed a rope to join the laborers. The guards who were in a daze saw that the person they were protecting had already run up and quickly also grabbed several ropes. With several strong guards joining in, the stone roller finally stopped just before it crushed the last laborer's leg. Everyone worked together to pull up the laborer who was still lying on the ground, pale and shaken.

  At this time, a man wearing short sleeves and looking like a foreman came running over.

  "What are you doing?! A group of lazy fools, do you want to eat rice today?!" He scolded the poor laborers and was about to raise his whip to strike them.

  "Stop! Didn't you see that an accident happened here?" He Juncai could no longer bear it and stopped the foreman's vicious behavior.

  "Good sir, forgive me for not seeing you earlier." The foreman only then noticed that there was another man in the crowd wearing a lieutenant general's uniform staring at him angrily. "I am anxious to complete the construction of this airport as soon as possible so we can participate in the fight against Japan sooner," the foreman said with humility and deference.

  He Juncai found this action very familiar, wasn't this the traitor image in later generations' films and TVs? He couldn't help but feel extremely disgusted with this worker, waving his hand to let him scram.

  "Sir, please take charge for us!" After the hateful foreman left with a humiliated face, the laborers, who were as pale as vegetables, all knelt down in front of He Junci.

  "Ah! What are you doing, get up quickly, it's already the Republic era, no need to kneel!" He Juncai was extremely embarrassed by this situation. His mother's hometown was in a mountain village somewhere near the airport, and when he was young, he had followed his grandmother here to pay respects to their ancestors. Calculating the time, it was possible that they were among the laborers building this airfield. Among these people kneeling down might be relatives of his grandparents' generation, how could he bear it? He Juncai quickly went to help each of them up.

  "Everyone, please stand up. Although I am a soldier, if you have grievances, I can also represent you to reflect on the National Government." He Juncai said to the people surrounding him, these people are all his relatives by blood.

  "The government took our land to fight against Japan, but they didn't compensate us. Now we've lost our livelihood. We have no choice but to sell our labor here, and it's hard to make ends meet even doing that. We're forced to sell our belongings, sell our children, and it's getting harder to carry on. Please, sir, help us." The crowd pushed forward an elderly man to explain the situation to He Juncai.

  "Did we not allocate special funds to compensate the farmers for their land?" He Juncai was shocked, he also supported the construction of the airport, and the Equipment Department's Construction Division was specifically responsible for this matter. The land acquisition fees were also paid by the Air Force, but this part of the money had not reached the hands of the farmers whose land had been requisitioned!

  "We didn't get a single penny, the government just issued an order and asked us to move out of our village and land where we have lived for generations, giving us only three days' time. Many people didn't even have time to relocate their ancestors' tombs. Most of us can only set up a small shed next to the airport to shelter our families from wind and rain, while we come here to sell our labor to make a living." As he spoke to this sad point, everyone's eyes welled up with tears. He Xinyin was also moved, feeling sympathy for these hardworking people's tragic experiences.

  "This matter, I will give everyone an explanation." He Junci had already roughly understood what was going on. It should be that the government officials embezzled the land acquisition funds, causing these honest farmers to lose their means of livelihood. He Junci patted his body, wanting to help these suffering compatriots, but he didn't find a single cent. Having been in this world for so long, it seemed like he had never spent money before, and also hadn't received any money.

  "Here, take it." He Xin took out a stack of French currency from a small bag and relieved the embarrassed He Junci.

  "Here, divide this money among yourselves first. What you've told me, I'll investigate and report truthfully!" He Juncai handed the money over to the elderly man, hoping it would temporarily alleviate their difficult living situation, and also hoping that using the airport in the future would be more reassuring.

  "Thank you, sir!" The crowd knelt down again. If they hadn't been driven to desperation, these honest and kind-hearted peasants would have endured the exploitation and wouldn't have come out to complain. Their children were crying with hunger in their shabby huts, while they themselves had been deprived of their land. Although they worked long hours every day, it was hard for them to guarantee a warm meal. The officials forced the people to rebel, and He Juncai seemed to understand how the Communist Party defeated the Nationalist Party. Since 1939, the Nationalist government had lost its vitality and no longer thought about how to recover the lost land, but only cared about filling their own pockets. Chiang Kai-shek guaranteed his own integrity, but turned a blind eye to the corruption of his relatives and subordinates, and the National Government was slowly losing the support of the people.

  He Jun looked at these people struggling to make a living at the bottom of society with sorrow and anger. He had come to this world, fighting for his life, in the hope of bringing about a new change for China, but those corrupt officials and military personnel had negated his efforts, and he must solve this problem properly. Although later generations have seen many descriptions of the corruption of the Nationalist Party, He Jun thought that was one-sided and did not believe it all, now is the real experience!

  "Make way! Make way!" The foreman brandished his whip and drove the crowd to one side, then led a man who looked like an official to He Juncai. The official, dressed in traditional long gown, took off his hat and bowed to He Juncai, saying: "I am surnamed Xie, responsible for the construction of this airport project. I didn't know Your Excellency was coming, please forgive me."

  He Juncai was now on the verge of anger and bluntly said: "You are an official, I am a soldier, we originally had no intersection, what crime do I have? I say a few words to these fellow townspeople, you can't interfere with me!"

  "How dare I, how dare I. So General, you are a local, may I ask where your ancestral home is?" said the official with the surname Xie humbly.

  "Shouldn't the Xie family also be a big local family?" He Junci's grandmother was surnamed Xie, so he guessed it should be. "Why do you treat the local people like this?" He Junci asked.

  "This is all a sacrifice for resisting Japan." The official with the surname Xie said in a panic.

  "I'm telling you, I am the Air Force general. I knew that when requisitioning this land, the Air Force allocated a special fund for it. Why hasn't this fund been distributed to the thousands of farmers whose land was requisitioned?"

  "But I've never heard of such a thing happening before. The Sichuan provincial government only requested that an airport be built in Duwei Ba, and the county was responsible for handling the land expropriation and labor on its own. We also know that farmers are poor, but we can only try our best to help." Officer Xie replied, his back still sweating despite the cold weather.

  "There's no need to explain further, I'll report the truth as it is. If you have a conscience, quickly arrange for houses to be built, so these elderly villagers don't have to live in shanties anymore, the weather is getting cooler! Also, arrange for proper rest time, just now was almost an accident because of exhaustion!" He Juncai waved his hand, refusing to listen to the official's explanation, and left with his guards. He decided to use the air force's power to investigate this matter, understand the current situation of the officialdom in this era, and lay the groundwork for future development.

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