Forty-four

  As Hamazaki Hiroshi galloped towards the airport, he was pondering a question. If his opponent successfully hijacked the plane and took off from Jingzhou, how should he respond? Should he order all soldiers to shoot down the plane? Or immediately notify Commander Okamura Yasuji to dispatch fighter jets to intercept and destroy it? Or quickly command the air force to conduct large-scale bombing of all airports in Chongqing, making it impossible for the plane to land and exhaust its fuel? He thought of many options but felt that they were either too difficult to implement or unrealistic.

  But under the rapid galloping, the cold autumn wind blew continuously, and the brain that was hot-blooded for a moment slowly calmed down. In addition, no planes were seen taking off from the airport in front of us, and it seemed that the situation had not yet reached an irreversible point. At the same time, I felt that as the highest military commander of the entire army at this moment, rushing forward alone without any rationality was of no use! It is also unfavorable for the upcoming battle between our troops and the enemy. So, involuntarily began to slow down the speed of the horse's gallop, secretly thinking on the horse about how to command the troops to thoroughly defeat the opponent here!

  After a brief pause, Mi Cangli had already brought all the officers above the rank of lieutenant with the entire battalion.

  "In the rice storehouse, deeply moved and near to tears, Okita loudly said: "Hijikata-san, I sincerely apologize for my rudeness and ignorance earlier. Now, please immediately return to your rightful command position as the highest officer of our unit. Please!" With that, he bowed his head in apology on horseback."

  Hamasaki Hiro immediately pulled the reins tight with his right arm to stop the war horse, pointing to a place not far away where the lights were flashing but no gunshots could be heard: "Is that our airport over there?"

  When Banzai Hiroshi said to stop, he stopped without warning. Mihara Risho hurriedly pulled the reins of his war horse and turned back two steps: "That's right, that's our airport over there. But I don't think it's a good idea for us to rush over with a dozen or so officers and fight the enemy at this moment. Our troops are just behind us, please return to your command position, Mr. Banzai."

  "Alright, I'm giving the order to start the battle now. Once we enter the battlefield, immediately use all your troops, Mikura-san, to surround and seal off the airport! We must annihilate the enemy within this airport!"

  "All of my troops?" Mihara thought he hadn't heard correctly.

  "Alright, not bad, all your troops! Lieutenant Colonel Mihara, you don't understand the enemy we're about to face. Their combat strength is the strongest I've encountered since entering China and fighting against the Chinese! We must firmly pin down the enemy inside the airport. I will lead my troops to intercept the enemy at the entrance of the airport with a pincer movement. Order all infantry, mortars, and grenade launchers to heavily bombard the airport with all their might! Make sure not to let a single plane take off from here!"

  While speaking, the large army of soldiers who were running at full speed in succession came up one after another. Mizo-ura said to the many officers beside him, "Do you all understand Lieutenant-Colonel Hanzawa's orders? Carry out the orders immediately!" As soon as he finished speaking, the many officers on horseback each found their own troops and loudly ordered them to take action.

  "Hamazaki, are you really going to order the troops to bombard our airport with full firepower? That's now an Imperial Army airfield! There are seven or eight planes of various models from the Great Japanese Empire inside! And our best Imperial Air Force pilots!"

  "Commander Mi, if we don't do this, the Empire's planes will become our enemies' accomplices at any time! At the same time, I also don't think there are any excellent pilots of our Imperial Air Force left in the airport right now!" With that said, he followed the troops who had already advanced forward and rode his horse away.

  The plane struggled to start turning, facing the direction of the runway, correcting its heading and starting a difficult takeoff acceleration!

  "Boom!" Another Imperial Japanese Army Type 11 70mm infantry mortar shell landed within thirty meters of the plane, which was still taxiing on the runway! The plane shook violently as it continued to accelerate under the massive shockwave from the explosion! At the same time, Yan Wei clearly saw two explosive fragments flying towards them, "Bang!" "Bang!" Two loud crashes pierced through the fuselage and shot inside!

  Yan Wei can now do nothing but beg for good luck from heaven. There are no heavy weapons or artillery to suppress and counterattack the enemy! Firstly, it's dark and you can't see the target clearly, secondly, there's not enough time! The entire airport is now within the range of the Japanese army's artillery fire! A lucky shell for the enemy could destroy the plane at any moment, winning this battle completely! His only hope is that this old plane takes off quickly so he can lead his brothers in a breakout! If they continue to be besieged in the airport, the Japanese soldiers he killed earlier will not have died in vain!

  The Japanese army outside the airport had apparently noticed the situation inside the airport and had already begun to launch a fierce attack on the gate where Yan Wei ordered his men to defend to the death! Apparently, the orders they received were exactly the opposite of their own, and they would not allow any plane in the airport to take off!

  At this moment, Yan Wei had completely understood the purpose of the Japanese army. These Japanese troops who rushed to the scene were not ordered to rush here after receiving a request for support from the airport. Firstly, it's not possible to arrive so quickly even by plane! Secondly, he didn't believe that there was any enemy left to send out a distress signal during his previous round of swift and violent attack!

  The large Japanese army that rushed here must be the old opponent who had been competing with us for thirteen days on the road! At the same time, he also admired his opponent's keen insight and now desperate decision to sacrifice the entire airport as a burial gift for himself!

  This is an opponent worthy of respect and admiration! From accurately analyzing the situation on the way, to blocking the Yangtze River and cutting off his own water route! Until now, he was able to rush to the airport in time to intercept himself! Every step of the way, Yan Wei deeply felt that he hadn't gained any advantage at all! It's as if he had been letting his opponent choke him for a long time, making it hard to breathe! If this weren't his own country, if both sides were competing on foreign soil, he would have probably lost to his opponent already!

  Watching the plane that had already taken off on the runway, struggling to shake off the irresistible gravity of the earth, and straining its head towards the starry sky. Yan Wei sincerely hoped that the Japanese army could pause for five seconds in their bombing attack, even one second would be good! But what Yan Wei saw was on the one hand his own extremely good luck! This can be seen from the fact that almost all the planes in the entire airport have been bombed and destroyed, with only a few still intact. On the other hand, however, was the Japanese army's increasingly fierce bombing! Now he and Wu Hanhuai had been forced to take cover behind a machine gun bunker on the airfield, unable to even lift their heads. One bomb, just one lucky bomb from the enemy would be enough to send them both soaring 20 meters into the air to make the ultimate sacrifice for the party and country!

  Suddenly, on both sides of the airport gate, in the air above, sounded the soul-stirring and deadly voice of the Japanese Type 11 light machine gun that was not unfamiliar to him!

  "Damn it! It's all over! How could my own men have blown this operation so badly?! How could they let the Japanese reoccupy these two crucial machine gun towers at a time like this?! If the machine gunners on both towers were to simultaneously open fire on our planes from their elevated positions, we'd be done for even if the Japanese stopped their artillery attack! The dense hail of light machine gun bullets would turn our planes into Swiss cheese! Yan Wei couldn't help but feel a secret relief that Fang Lan hadn't boarded this ill-fated plane with him!"

  Yan Weizheng was just about to risk his life, raise his head and shout "Qū Fēi", and fight off the two damned machine gun towers with He Lan, when he suddenly realized that the number of shells fired into the airport seemed to have decreased significantly! The dense bullets and shrapnel flying overhead also weakened a lot!

  Yan Wei suddenly understood what had happened, and he slightly raised his head in relief to look at the two deadly machine gun towers. Indeed, both towers were simultaneously spewing out tongues of fire! Pouring bullets like raindrops towards the lower perimeter of the airport where the Japanese army's assault position was located! It was clear that these two deadly machine gun towers had been occupied by their own soldiers!

  For a moment, Yan Wei's heart was filled with joy and delight, and he couldn't help but burst out laughing! Wu Hanhuai, whose brain was in no way inferior to Yan Wei's, calculated the situation at lightning speed. The two of them simultaneously gazed longingly at the plane that had just landed at the end of the airport runway, the very plane that carried their hopes!

  At this time, the plane that carried Yan Wei and Wu Han's hopes, the National Government's hopes, the US military's hopes and the Japanese army's nightmare was no longer on the ground. Changing from the clumsy footsteps on the runway, it had spread its wings to fly high, rising up towards the sky that belonged to it!

  "Boom!" Another loud explosion! A 70mm caliber Taisho 11 year type field gun shell of the Japanese army exploded again under the Ki-21 "97" heavy bomber that was about to take off into the night sky! The massive upward explosive shockwave shook the huge body, which weighed nearly four tons, violently! At the same time, the intense light from the explosion illuminated everything. Not only did Yan Wei see clearly with his eyes, but also a piece of shrapnel flew up and hit the tail of the plane, cutting off a chunk of the horizontal stabilizer with a loud "Bang!"

  Yan Wei didn't understand the structure and performance of the aircraft, but seeing such a large piece of the tail being blown off, he was shocked and quickly turned to look at Wu Hanhuai. However, Wu Hanhuai knew that the horizontal stabilizer was a critical component in controlling an airplane's ascent and descent, and for an aircraft currently in the takeoff and climb phase, this damage could be said to be a fatal blow!

  The excellent industrial technology of the Yamato nation has once again demonstrated its unparalleled power to conquer the world! With only half a rudder remaining, Mitsubishi Industries proudly and steadily soared into the night sky!

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