Chapter Eighteen: The Air Force Takes Off

  December 8, 1914

  Chen Shao stayed at the shipyard for five days and finally brought Feng Ru back, along with his two students Qian Pengfei and Xu Jinghai. The three of them each piloted a plane and slowly landed on the newly built air force command center's airport. These three planes were brought back by Feng Ru when he returned to China and were also made by him.

  Feng Yu had returned to China with great enthusiasm, bringing his students and planes to participate in the revolution. However, he was disappointed to find that the country's industrial level was extremely low, unable to even produce a propeller, let alone an engine. Moreover, the warlords were fighting each other, and no one was willing to invest in the aviation industry.

  For several months, Feng Yu had been involved in the warlord wars, but instead of dropping bombs from his planes, he was dropping flyers. Feeling disheartened and ignored, it wasn't until someone approached him with a $50,000 check and proposed that he establish an aircraft research institute. The person also showed him pictures of a factory.

  Initially, Feng Yu was skeptical, thinking that this might be another domestic patriot's empty promise. He decided to send two students to investigate the location shown in the pictures. A few days later, when they returned with glowing reviews, Feng Yu finally agreed to join forces with the mysterious person.

  He brought his three best planes and left a few others in Guangzhou, along with several pilots who had been hastily trained after returning to China. With two students and the person who had approached him, Feng Yu followed the map to Guangxi. The person told him where to land, but instead of finding a small airstrip, he was surprised to see two long runways, rows of hangars, a tall building with flashing lights on top, and several large factory buildings nearby.

  Near the airport, there was also a large shipyard and a dock under construction. The shipyard was bustling with activity, and Feng Yu could see that they were building ships. He couldn't believe that such a large-scale shipyard existed in China and felt as though he had returned to America. He circled his plane above the airport several times before landing smoothly on the runway.

  Chen Shao looked at the father of aviation in front of him, his face excitedly grasping his hand and saying: "Mr. Feng's great righteousness, Chen Shao admires it to the utmost."

  "Director Chen, your actions have earned even more admiration from Mr. Feng. Let me introduce you to my two students, one is Qian Pengfei and the other is Xu Jinghai, both of whom are my proud disciples. Although they are still beginners in aircraft design, their flying skills are absolutely top-notch." Mr. Feng was also very excited as he introduced his two favorite students to Director Chen.

  "Chen Shao welcomed the three of them and asked if they wanted to rest first or take a look around. As for Feng Ru, he couldn't wait to go exploring."

  Chen Shao took them on a tour of all the factories around Fangchenggang. Feng Ru asked Chen Shao questions nonstop along the way, and the more he knew, the more he admired this young regimental commander. In this era, being able to see clearly into the world was not just about competing with other warlords for power and influence, but about developing China's future industries. And not only that, but also investing heavily in heavy industry, even producing cars and building warships - how much money would all of this cost? If he were to use all this money to arm his troops instead, he would have a say in Chinese politics right now. But this young man had not done so; instead, he was taking things one step at a time, which left Feng Ru somewhat perplexed. Wouldn't it be better to first secure a large territory and then establish industries?

  At lunchtime, Feng Ru still couldn't help but ask at the dinner table.

  "Director Chen, Feng has something he doesn't understand and hopes for an explanation."

  "Mr. Feng, please speak, Chen Shao will certainly keep no secrets."

  "I see that Commander Chen's family business is very large, why not raise an army to directly participate in domestic politics, at least having more say, wouldn't this be a better foundation for Commander Chen's career development?"

  "Hehe, I'd like to ask Mr. Feng, what would you do when facing a corrupt and crumbling building?"

  "Demolish and rebuild."

  "What is the first step in building a brand new high-rise?"

  "Lay a solid foundation"

  "Now China domestically is like a rotten mansion, inside there are still people fighting for power, even if I join in, what I get is just a rotten mansion, and later on it's inevitable to patch up everywhere. So I gave up competing for the mansion, instead I built a brand new mansion next to the old one, to replace the already rotten mansion, and the industrial foundation I established is the solid base of this new mansion, also the hope for my Chinese nation's future." Chen Shao said with full confidence.

  When Chen Shao finished speaking, the people present fell into a long period of contemplation. When everyone had more or less come back to their senses, Chen Shao continued: "I invited Mr. Feng here today also for the sake of China's future. A strong China must have a powerful air force. Under my command, the army has already achieved some results, and the navy has just begun. Now all that is missing is an air force to defend China's future airspace. Therefore, Mr. Feng, I hope you can lead China's future air force towards glory, and I will fully support you. Whatever you need, I will give it to you. If you say there are not enough airports, I will immediately build more; if you say there are not enough factories, I will also immediately build more. And a few days ago, I began recruiting the first batch of air force flight students. In the future, we will not only establish an army aviation corps but also a naval aviation corps. I hope that Mr. Feng's two students can train new pilots together with our air force instructors."

  "We will definitely do our best and won't let Director Chen down." Feng Ru and the two students thought of the big pie that Chen Shao had drawn for them, and they answered in unison.

  The next day, the first batch of 300 air force pilots and air force instructors arrived at Fangcheng Port on time. Chen Shao built a new barracks for them at the airport and began theoretical and practical training. Theoretical knowledge was learned in the barracks, while practice was conducted at the airport using the three aircraft brought by Feng Ru, which were converted into dual-seat trainers. Chen Shao arranged Feng Ru to be in charge of researching new aircraft at the air force command center at the airport, while the adjacent tank factory was also urgently producing a batch of new trainers based on those three aircraft.

  Watching the entire Fangcheng Port develop in an orderly manner and growing larger in scale, he thought that this place should start arranging defense forces, although the location is remote, it's also necessary to guard against it, so this time he recruited two battalions of reserve troops to come over, starting training in the mode of the Marine Corps, thinking as he went back to Qinghe Village with Wang Jie and Wang Xiaoshan.

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  December 9, 1914

  Several pieces of news appeared in newspapers all over the country.

  The 18th Infantry Regiment under the Guangxi Provincial Military Governor's Office is recruiting patriotic individuals from all over the country to join the army.

  Longteng Group in Guangxi Province recruits various skilled workers nationwide, with salaries...

  Longteng Group's shipping company in Guangxi Province is recruiting experienced sailors nationwide, with a salary...

  Guangxi Province's Huashi Town is recruiting a batch of teachers from all over the country. We welcome talents from all over to come and apply, to contribute to China's education cause...

  …………

  These messages have attracted the attention of all parties and have set up many recruitment points in major cities across the country. Every day, the recruitment points are crowded with people, making a group of spies busy to the point of being out of breath.

  Inside a teahouse in Shanghai.

  "Did you hear that? There's a recruitment on the next street, with a salary of at least two hundred yuan per month. Let's go take a look!"

  "Really?"

  "Haven't you seen it in the newspapers? And I just saw a lot of people gathered there, several layers of people inside and out. It's said that they don't want just anyone, preferably those who are literate, if you're literate, you'll definitely be taken."

  "Yes, a neighbor of mine has been recruited. He used to work in an American firm. He said that as soon as he starts working in Guangxi Province, they will give him 5 dollars after one month, and also cover his travel expenses. Moreover, I heard that they even chartered a train directly to Guangzhou, and there are also cars picking them up when they get off the train. My neighbor is already preparing his luggage."

  "There's no such good thing, going there is still working for foreigners, I'm here and still working for foreigners, not much difference."

  "No, I heard it's not run by foreigners, but rather a factory set up by a Chinese student who returned from overseas."

  "It's opened by Chinese people, if it's opened by Chinese people, then I'll go, no need to suffer from those annoyances every day."

  "Let's go ask directly, let's go."

  Several people left the teahouse and rushed straight to the recruitment point.

  At this time, all major cities across the country set off a wave of job hunting

  "What's up, Teacher? Hurry up and go! I heard that GX Province is recruiting teachers somewhere, you won't regret going"

  You're an electrician, I think you can get a satisfactory salary in GX province.

  "Construction worker, I heard that GX province is currently undergoing large-scale construction, you'll definitely won't regret going there"

  At the same time, each warlord received a message that weapons would be exchanged for people, and as long as they were skilled workers, all kinds of talents were needed. One person could exchange one 38-style rifle and 20 rounds of ammunition. If they could gather 100 people at once, an additional 92-style heavy machine gun would be given away. This was undoubtedly good news for those warlords who only cared about fighting. However, this message also made them realize that the so-called Longteng Company had been selling them weapons for half a year, which instantly made each warlord jealous. But a warning forced them to calm down: James in the United States sent them a telegram, and they did not dare to make any rash moves in the face of foreign intervention.

  Especially the governor of GX province, Li Zongren, originally wanted to put pressure on Chen Shaoshi, but James sent him a stern telegram with his American identity, making him hesitant and unable to take action.

  This time Chen Shao's action has its pros and cons. The advantage is that a large number of talents have poured into Qinghe Village. The disadvantage is that he has entered the eyes of some people with ulterior motives. However, Chen Shao is not afraid of them now, thanks to James' protection in the United States. At least for these few years, he doesn't need to worry about someone openly causing trouble. However, covert actions will be inevitable in the future. Fortunately, San Jian has already established a sophisticated espionage organization in Huashi County, and Chen Shao doesn't need to worry too much about the underground competition.