sjar Chapter 1141 An Old Acquaintance?
Chapter 1141 An Old Acquaintance?
When the ground is completely dark, there are some small lights on the plane. If you don't know the general direction, you probably won't be able to see them clearly. But once you know the general direction, a sharp-eyed colleague can spot them immediately, and the observer next to him can quickly determine our attack angle.
"Deploy half of our air defense forces."
Only four bombers; there's no need to commit all our forces. Besides, judging from the looks of it, their target isn't in our direction; we're just preparing. The distance is too great for anti-aircraft guns to reach us.
Just when everyone thought they had returned empty-handed for the night, the ground trembled slightly. They all looked back at the same time and saw that four 88mm anti-aircraft guns had been pulled out. Just how many good things does our commander have left?
A 20mm anti-aircraft gun couldn't reach it, but an 88mm anti-aircraft gun certainly could. The Japanese didn't expect us to have such things in Hankou, so they swaggered over when they went to bomb at night.
The observant brothers immediately turned to look at the sky. Even at night, they could see flashes of light in the sky, and each flash meant that one of their shells had exploded nearby.
"One enemy plane was shot down and one was damaged."
"Intensify the attack!"
A smile appeared on Li Shaoyi's lips. At this point, our air defense forces were still quite capable. Although they hadn't received proper training, our weapons were advanced, and once detected by radar, they could immediately provide a corresponding firing angle. Although it was dark and we couldn't see clearly over there, with all four artillery pieces firing simultaneously, the damage would generally be good. As long as there were aircraft nearby, shrapnel would surely take down one or two.
The Nationalist troops on the ground, who were already prepared to resist, were also taken aback. When did we acquire large-caliber anti-aircraft guns? As for these Japanese planes, they remembered that there were only anti-aircraft machine guns in Hankou. As long as they flew a little higher, these anti-aircraft machine guns would be of little use. So tonight, they prepared to bomb horizontally.
Unfortunately, before they could even reach the city hall, several large-caliber shells exploded around them. The shockwaves from the explosions felt like their internal organs were displaced; they felt nauseous but couldn't vomit, knowing their internal organs had been severely damaged. Just as they were trying to pull up and return to base, they discovered that the aircraft was damaged even more severely than their internal organs.
The number of planes deployed that night was not large, so the Japanese immediately fled with their tails between their legs under our anti-aircraft fire.
"Get me connected to the Air Defense Command. I need to work with them to get some important locations allocated to me in the city."
Around 1 a.m., the whole city had power back on. Although Li Shaoyi had a small generator in his basement, we'd better not make any exceptions. If something were to happen, it wouldn't just be our problem anymore.
What's the air defense like in Hankou now? When they spot Japanese planes, they just scramble everyone into the basement—that's their response. Just passively taking hits like that isn't in our nature. That's how you used to deal with it, that's your problem. But now that I'm here, it has to be changed.
Li Sibei knew Li Shaoyi's temper; simply taking a beating without fighting back wouldn't do. But Li Shaoyi had only just arrived in Hankou, and he was already interfering in air defense matters—wasn't that going a bit too far? However, seeing the look in Li Shaoyi's eyes, Li Sibei could only immediately contact the Air Defense Command and ask them to approve the necessary permits. "You don't have anti-aircraft guns, but we do, so the air defense forces must be handed over to us first."
This was originally a matter of utmost urgency. Japanese planes were dropping bombs on Hankou every day, and deciding on this matter sooner meant we could fight back against the Japanese sooner. However, by 8 a.m. the next morning, there was still no news from the Air Defense Command. Li Shaoyi had no choice but to drive to the Air Defense Command himself to see who was in charge of this matter.
"Damn it, what's wrong with those people up there? Air defense is a matter of life and death every second. We submitted the report last night, and it's already 8 a.m. Now. If the Japanese send dozens of planes tonight, I don't know how many people will be killed. Commander Li arranged the anti-aircraft guns for us, did he make a mistake? Are all the people in the city defense command dead?"
As soon as Li Shaoyi arrived at the air defense command headquarters, he immediately heard cursing coming from inside, and it sounded somewhat familiar.
Yue Gang!
Li Shaoyi remembered that this guy was a division commander in the Central Army when he was in Pujiang, and now he had become the deputy commander of the Air Defense Command.
From the day the Air Defense Command was established, its commander-in-chief was also the commander-in-chief of the Hankou City Defense Command. So the work fell to Yue Gang; frankly, he was a scapegoat—anything that went wrong would be pushed onto him. But if he achieved merit, his superiors would rank much higher than him.
"Who's making such a loud voice? Isn't this the great hero from the battlefield back then? He single-handedly killed three Japanese soldiers with bayonets. In our Nationalist army's combat ranks, this is nothing new. But among the generals of the Nationalist army, this is the first time."
Seeing the heroes on the battlefield, Li Shaoyi was already feeling very frustrated. But he knew that this wasn't something Yue Gang could decide, so his tone softened considerably. Seeing Li Shaoyi and his men approaching from outside, Yue Gang quickly buttoned up his coat and jogged in.
The generals who fought the Japanese to the death on the Pujiang battlefield all knew what kind of person Commander Li was. They had also jointly sent a telegram to Nanjing, but unfortunately, it all went unanswered. Therefore, these people also harbored considerable resentment towards the Nanjing Nationalist Government.
"Commander Li, what brings you here? When I received your telegram last night, I was thinking of coming over to share the good news and thank you for saving my life back then. What's a bayonet fight compared to this? If it weren't for your anti-inflammatory medicine, I would have been dead for months by now. But what about the people at the city defense command? I don't know what's going on with them. It's 8 o'clock and there's still no news."
When Yue Gang met Li Shaoyi, he looked rather displeased; he hadn't even handled this small matter properly…