noffsinger Chapter 249: The Past of the Flying Tigers
Chapter 249: The Past of the Flying Tigers
Chu Yunfei turned his head slowly, his eyes blank.
"Brother Yunlong, what does this mean?"
Li Yunlong pulled Chu Yunfei back to the conference table.
"Brother Yunfei, your Linzhou is an isolated city. If one day your commander Yan really wants to take action against our independent column, then the situation of your Linzhou city will be the same as the situation a few days ago."
Chu Yunfei's face darkened and he threw his gloves on the table.
"Brother Yunlong, are you threatening me?"
Li Yunlong quickly laughed.
"How dare I! I'm just giving an example. I certainly won't take the initiative to attack Commander Yan's troops, but can he watch me grow bigger and stronger in Shanxi?"
Li Yunlong paused, looked at Chu Yunfei thoughtfully, and then continued speaking.
"Let's take a step back and say that I have nothing to do with your Commander Yan. Are you sure you can still fulfill your wish to fight the Japanese? As far as I know, your Commander Yan has a complicated relationship with the Japanese. You may have to change your clothes in the end!"
"Okay, Brother Yunlong, don't talk about things that don't exist!"
"Okay, what's the saying, a good bird needs a big tree to stay in?"
Chu Yunfei looked at Li Yunlong helplessly. This guy was good at fighting, but his cultural level was just at the stage of being illiterate.
"Good birds choose trees to roost in!"
"Yes, yes, that's right. You, Chu Yunfei, are the good bird, and I am the big tree. If you just come, I will give you a position as a division commander! The weapons and equipment will be the same as now, and I will never treat you unfairly!"
Chu Yunfei now understood Li Yunlong's little thoughts. Did he want to take Linzhou into his possession without losing a single soldier?
"I'm sorry, Brother Yunlong, I'm sorry that I can't obey your order! Goodbye!"
Chu Yunfei rushed out.
Li Yunlong walked up to the fortress's watchtower and watched the horses gallop away, unable to help but sigh in his heart.
Chu Yunfei was one of the few Shanxi-Suiyuan Army officers whom he recognized, and they felt a sense of mutual admiration.
"Chu Yunfei, I hope you and I won't meet on the battlefield!"
Before Li Yunlong had time to come down from the watchtower, he saw a timid old man who looked like a businessman approaching the military fortress step by step in the distance.
The sentry shouted to him from a distance:
"Who is it? Don't come near!"
Then he fired a gun into the air to signal.
The businessman held up a letter and placed it on the ground.
"Sir, please don't shoot. Someone asked me to bring a letter to Commander Li Yunlong!"
After saying this, the businessman ran away.
"Commander, do you want to shoot?"
"No need, it looks like he is a real commoner, pick up the letter!"
The letter was checked and then handed to Li Yunlong.
After Li Yunlong unfolded it and read it, he was completely dumbfounded.
"Does this little devil really think highly of me? He directly promised me the position of commander-in-chief of the Chinese Security Army?"
It turned out that Yoshio Shinozuka, who was far away in Taiyuan, also participated in this "battle for plums".
He offered a higher price: Commander-in-Chief of the Chinese Security Army.
He was in charge of all the puppet troops, plainclothes teams and police stations in China.
While Li Yunlong was sneering, Zhao Gang climbed up the watchtower.
"Old Li, I've been looking for you for a long time, and finally I found you!"
When Zhao Gang saw Li Yunlong holding a piece of paper and sneering, he took the paper and started reading it curiously.
"Old Li, you have a lot of face, don't you think he is the second most important person?"
"Bullshit, number two lackey is almost the same! Give it to me, I'll burn it, it makes me angry when I see it!"
"No, why are you burning it? I have a great use for this thing!"
"Okay, okay, if you don't mind it being unlucky, just keep it! By the way, why did you come to see me?"
"I almost forgot the important matter!"
Zhao Gang came to Li Yunlong to invite him to go to Yongji together, because the Yongji Yellow River Bridge built by Mr. Mao Yisheng would be completed and open to traffic in four days.
Mao Yisheng specially invited Zhao Gang and senior officers of the Independent Column to attend the opening ceremony.
"Just take care of this matter. I have a lot of things to do."
"No, this is not just a ceremony, it also involves future security. But you said before that you will be in charge of military matters!"
Li Yunlong was lifting a rock and shooting himself in the foot.
"Okay, wait for Wang Meng to come back, and we'll go together. Then we can directly implement the protection of the bridge."
At this time, after most of the day's trouble, Wang Meng finally arrived at Kunming Airport.
Four C-54 transport planes and sixteen F6F fighter planes landed at Kunming Airport.
Suddenly, the brand new Sky-King and the never-before-seen Hellcat became stars again.
A man in M Army uniform came over.
"Mr. Wang, I didn't expect that we would meet again so soon."
Li Yunlong looked at Chennault, whose military uniform was ironed meticulously, and walked up to him enthusiastically.
"General Chennault, I never thought we would meet again. You haven't been doing well recently. You look much older."
"Really? I've been promoted to brigadier general. Isn't this a happy thing?"
"Excuse me, if this is a happy thing, then why can't you see a smile on your face?"
"The Flying Tigers are disbanded!"
As soon as he said this, a trace of loneliness flashed in Chennault's eyes.
After the outbreak of the Pearl Harbor incident, Country M planned to incorporate the Flying Tigers into the US military's combat sequence.
On July 1942, 7, the transport group commander officially signed an order to disband the volunteer group, and all personnel were incorporated into the 3rd Group of the United States Army Air Force.
Chennault was also re-recruited into active service by the American Army, restored to the rank of colonel, and was immediately promoted to brigadier general.
During this period, he tried his best to retain the members of the Flying Tigers, join them in the 23rd Squadron, and stay on the battlefield in China.
However, these American pilots came to the Chinese battlefield for justice, the excitement of the battlefield, and more importantly, for the high salaries offered by Chongqing.
The monthly salary of a Flying Tigers pilot was US$600, the monthly salary of a squadron leader was US$750, and the monthly salary of ground crew was US$250, with 30 days of paid vacation each year.
Not only that, pilots would receive a reward of $500 for each Japanese plane they destroyed, whether in the air or on the ground.
Compared with the service benefits in Country M, the monthly salary of a second lieutenant is US$150, and the monthly salary of a brigadier general is only US$667.
In other words, every Flying Tigers pilot received a general-level salary.
For this purpose, when the Flying Tigers were first established, a total of 110 pilots and 200 ground crew members were recruited.
But once they join the 23rd Battalion, their salary and benefits will be greatly reduced in accordance with the unified standards of the M Army.
Therefore, it is better to return to the mainland of Country M and do some easy and enjoyable work. Otherwise, you will be taking a cheap salary but doing a risky job.
In the end, only five pilots and ten ground crew members were willing to stay.
The situation was not so bad originally. This had a lot to do with the 23rd Battalion's immediate superior, Major General Bissell...