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Volume B, North, Chapter 16, Confession

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    The interior of the b-17 is like a lightweight aluminum cigar tube. The aircraft's aluminum ribs are tightly arranged and fixed with thousands of rivets, which gives it aerodynamic strength and durability, but is attached to  The aluminum skin on these ribs is so thin that you can poke a hole in it with a screwdriver.  The thirty-meter wingspan makes the aircraft look huge, but the ten crew members are squeezed into this claustrophobic space, making it even narrower than the inside of a submarine.  Especially the two shooters on the waist of the aircraft. When they fired through the open portholes, their backs were almost touching each other.  The tail shooter, on the other hand, had to hunker down and face aft, in a painfully small compartment under the towering tail, a windowed compartment so narrow that his twin  The gun could only be fed in via a rail, and ammunition could only be stored in the middle of the cabin.  The top turret gunner, the radio operator, the underbelly gunner, the navigator on the port side of the nose cabin behind the cockpit, the bombardier a little ahead of him, Captain Paul Tibbetts, the captain, had a habit of leaving the comfort before getting close to the target.  The cockpit inspected every position on the plane, greeted everyone, and even helped them put on electric heating suits and parachutes before returning to the cockpit on the top of the bomber.  As he made his rounds, co-pilot Lieutenant Lockhart felt an indescribable nervousness. There were more than one hundred and fifty switches, dials, cranks, handles and gauges in the cockpit, any one of which could save or destroy the entire operation.  aircraft and crew.  It's okay when flying direct, but if you encounter clouds, sometimes the clouds will extend to an altitude of 23,000 feet, forcing many aircraft to fly blind to rise above the clouds.  It was dark in the clouds, and even if both pilots were present, they would often become disoriented, and the result would be a collision between the aircraft and other bombers, with disastrous consequences.  Fortunately, this flight was safe. After entering the mainland from a hundred miles west of Macau, the sky was blue. Although the sun was still hanging in the sky, it had sunk deeply to the west, because under the cover of clouds, the sunlight filtered into  An attractive golden-orange color, this gave the entire bomber fleet a layer of gold.  But what¡¯s even more beautiful is the clouds below the plane. They are like pieces of golden-orange cotton, stretching into the distance endlessly.  When Captain Tibbetts returned to his seat and was worried about whether there were such thick clouds above the target, gunfire came from the middle of the plane.  This was the prepared machine gunners testing their guns. When they fired together, the whole aircraft shook, the sound of shooting was deafening, and the pungent smell of gunpowder filled the entire cabin.  After that, everything calmed down again, and the only sound was the low, monotonous roar of the engine.  "Are we there yet?" Twenty-five minutes later, the captain asked his co-pilot, Lieutenant Gene Lockhart, loudly.  "Yes. Maybe, I want" Lieutenant Lockhart was a little incoherent and extremely nervous.  Before this mission, no one had ever dropped a real bomb. During training in the Mojave Desert, the shooters' only experience with moving targets was using pistols against rattlesnakes.  The target assigned by the 49th and 20th Squadron this time is the Guangzhou Airport, which is protected by anti-aircraft artillery. Not only is there a dense array of anti-aircraft artillery, the squadron may also encounter interception by enemy fighter jets Although the information is very detailed, the more detailed it is, the more difficult it is.  That worries the pilots.  Just as the captain was about to comfort Lockhart, anti-aircraft guns fired.  "Damn it!" the captain wearing an oxygen mask yelled.  As the anti-aircraft cannon fired, the entire plane began to vibrate slightly, and the smoke from the explosion of the anti-aircraft cannon shells also spread into his oxygen mask with the wind.  Fortunately, the altitude of the aircraft was set at 23,500 feet, which was just outside the range of the anti-aircraft guns, so these anti-aircraft gun shells eventually turned into black high-altitude fireworks.  But even so, the crew members were still frightened into panic. They sat on the heavy lead plates one after another to protect their vaginas and genitals, but soon they discovered that these anti-aircraft shells could only explode under their feet.  They cheered instead.  "Are we over the target?" the captain asked the bombardier loudly into the internal intercom. Although the Liberty could only follow the pilot aircraft to drop bombs, he still wanted to know whether the bomb bay should be opened now.  "Yes, sir." Bombardier Harlock said loudly on the intercom.  "We are over the target." "Open the bomb bay door!" the captain shouted again.  As he and the co-pilot operated, the bomb bay door of the plane was opened, and a stronger and pungent smell of gunpowder flowed into the cabin along with the cold wind. This not only made people feel cold, but also uncomfortable.  At this moment, the leading pilot dropped a bomb.  Even though he was far away, the captain seemed to be able to hear the raindrops of five-hundred-pound bombs falling to the ground with the scream of death.  "Get ready to drop the bomb!" the captain shouted again, all the worries in his heart were reached at this time.  The engine still roared low and monotonously. After reaching the position above the target, the bombardier pressed the bomb release button, and the bombs rained down like those previous aircraft.As soon as it landed, everyone could clearly feel that the fuselage suddenly lightened and the mission was completed.  One after another, planes dropped bombs, and there were continuous explosions on the ground, but no one was interested in taking a second look at the target. Everyone wanted to return home as soon as possible.  However, returning home is a dangerous action, which means that all aircraft must turn around exactly. If there is a slight disturbance, the formation of the entire formation will be chaotic. Once the chaos occurs and there is no intensive three-dimensional fire protection, a single bomber is likely to be destroyed.  Enemy plane shot down.  Fortunately, no one on this mission has seen the new Chinese Air Force fighter called the "Wind-Eating Ghost" as reported in the intelligence.  Perhaps as the intelligence said, due to insufficient radar warning time, these aircraft that did not have time to take off had been blown to the ground more than 23,000 feet below.  After continuing to fly north for five minutes, under the leadership of the pilot aircraft, the entire bomber formation began to turn around awkwardly. It was difficult to control such a huge aircraft to turn around.  Just as Captain Tibbetts and his co-pilot Lieutenant Lockhart were trying to control the aircraft to turn smoothly, the sun in the west flashed with cold light, and an unseen number of enemy aircraft divided into three groups and pounced on the turning bomber.  group, one of the planes headed straight for the Liberty he was piloting.  Like light, the flames spewed out by the fighter jet shot straight towards the cockpit. The Chinese Air Force's 20mm aircraft cannon shell easily shot through the right side window of the cab. Half of the instrument panel was blown away. Amidst countless metals flying, Tibei  Captain Ci only felt raw pain from being hit on his right cheek and shoulder, and he even felt several more shrapnel embedded in the oxygen mask he was wearing.  The captain on the left was in this condition, and the co-pilot Lieutenant Lockhart on the right, who bore the brunt of the attack, was in even worse condition. Half of his right hand was blown off by this vicious 20mm shell, blood spurted everywhere, and his screams were  The top turret shooter Edward Ekko, who also served as a mechanic, panicked all the crew members and ran down quickly when he heard the captain's call for help. But the strange thing was that he did not immediately find a bandage to help the co-pilot bandage his broken arm, but instead crossed the captain's  Shoulders, hands reaching for the throttle and turbine controls, reducing engine power at twenty-three thousand five hundred feet.  There was chaos in the cabin. In order to prevent his co-pilot from bleeding to death, Captain Tibbetts could only use his right hand to raise his severed arm high above his head and pinch the blood vessels of his arm while the other  His hands were extremely reluctant to control the aircraft, trying to maintain a level flight.  At the same time, he shouted loudly to Ike, ordering him to take his hands off the controller immediately, but because the cold wind was howling in through a hole in the dashboard, Ike couldn't hear what he was saying at all.  The situation was extremely critical. The captain had no choice but to grab Lieutenant Lockhart's severed arm and hit Ike hard on the chin with his right elbow. With two screams, Ike suddenly fell to the ground and huddled up in pain. The co-pilot  Lockhart also fainted due to the impact of the wound.  Just as the captain was congratulating himself on regaining control of the aircraft, the Wind Eater's attack came again, this time a 20mm shell hit the lower part of the aircraft.  After a violent explosion, the entire plane plummeted horribly, trailing thick black smoke and fuel.  The bombardier ran up with panic on his face and reported that there were several big holes under the plane and that he had to break away from the formation and parachute.  Captain Tibbetts' whole body was shaken as if he had been struck by lightning, but then he maintained a calmness that ordinary people do not have. He used the intercom system to inform the entire crew to prepare to abandon the plane and parachute, while opening the bomb bay and trying his best to control the aircraft.  Keep it flying horizontally so that everyone has a stable skydiving platform.  The cabin was on fire and the fire was getting bigger and bigger. After the co-pilot was carried away by the gunner, the captain set the aircraft to autopilot and climbed to the rear bomb bay.  Through the open bomb bay door, the captain could see the billowing black smoke trailed by the plane and the mottled ground below.  After shouting God bless him, he jumped down.  The bombing of the southeastern provinces of China was a comprehensive and thorough air attack. The U.S. Army Aviation used a total of 12 bomber groups and 968 B-17 Flying Fortress bombers.  There were two bomber groups each for the bombing of Shanghai and Nanjing, and one group each for the bombing of Guangzhou, Huizhou, Shantou, Xiamen, Fuzhou, Taipei, Taichung, and Dagou.  In addition to bombing the Tianjin-class giant battleships that the Navy strongly demands to be blown up, its purpose is also to wipe out all Chinese airports near the Philippines. This will prevent the Chinese Air Force from retaliating against US military airports in the Philippines.  Among the ten bomber targets, the first bomb to fall was the Jiangnan Shipyard in Shanghai. Although there was a radar warning, the General Staff also asked the local area to prepare for air strikes yesterday. However, due to lack of preparation and the proximity of the shipyard to the Huangpu River, the number of bombs released around the factory was  The smoke failed to effectively cover the factory area. According to the shipyard report afterwards, the Tianjin Guardian, which was nearly completed, was hit by five 1,000 kilogram special aerial bombs. The shipyard and factory were also bombed into a mess.  Shanghai, Nanjing, Guangzhou, Huizhou, Shantou, Xiamen, Fuzhou, Taipei, Taichung, Dog Fighting, AdvertisingUrgent telegrams were sent to the General Staff Headquarters one after another, but the office of the Chief of General Staff remained unmoved and deserted.  After Weng Wenhao approved everyone's resignation just now, everyone sat in the room without talking.  It was said that Yang Rui was not in Tonghua at this time, and the front was being bombarded by US bombers. For a while, everyone began to feel discouraged.  While everyone was silent, only Huang Zongxing kept cleaning his gun. He dismantled his own gun into parts over and over again, and then assembled it into a gun again.  After a long time, he coughed heavily. Guo Bi looked at him and asked, "Aren't you going to kill Weng Wenhao with this gun, are you?" "It was just a chance to kill Weng Wenhao. Now that the imperial guards are surrounding the Wenhua Hall, there is no chance.  "Huang Zongxing had thick breath coming from his nostrils and replied angrily. His hands were still moving, and his speed was not slow at all.  "Let's find a way." Lieutenant General Shen Honglie said after sitting for a long time and feeling that the blood in his body was cold.  "Can we bypass Weng Wenhao to dispatch troops? I don't believe we can't fight without him." "What's wrong with that bastard Weng Wenhao!" said Lieutenant General Fan An, who did not go to the Wenhua Hall, but was sitting here with everyone.  "The whole problem lies with the Judicial Yuan! I heard that the Judicial Yuan held a vote in the afternoon. Of the 626 representatives present, only 297 voted for the declaration of war, and the other 313 voted  It¡¯s a vote to challenge, and there are still 16 abstentions. " Guo Bi and others have been waiting in the Wenhua Hall since eight o'clock today. When Fan An mentioned the Court of Justice, Air Force Commander Qin Guoyong immediately said: "Those bastards.  Why should we come up with a challenge and just declare war?" "Response to war is to talk while fighting, but to declare war is to talk after the fight is over, or even not prepare to talk at all," Fan An explained, "Those weaklings in the Jisu Yuan think about it.  After declaring war on the United States, Britain would declare war on us. I felt that there was no chance of winning this battle, so I wanted to save my life and work so that we could see each other in the future. If not, Weng Wenhao would have stepped down early today.  , there are nearly 10 million overseas Chinese, and the United States is lucky. Once Britain declares war on us, these nearly 10 million overseas Chinese will be thrown into prisoner-of-war camps if they cannot be evacuated. Therefore, the vast majority of overseas Chinese representatives choose to respond to the war rather than declare war; in the end,  Regarding foreign trade, once we declare war and all countries are neutral, the Persian Gulf and the Eurasian Canal will be blocked, and there will be no foreign trade business. Therefore, as long as the representatives who are related to foreign trade business all choose to fight, even many representatives from Shanxi choose to fight.  "Yes, but the strange thing is that the Shanghai delegates voted for a declaration of war, and the two foreign delegates also voted for a declaration of war." "A bunch of snobs!" Huang Zongxing picked up the loaded gun and cursed.  "These people should all be brought to the shooting range and shot one by one!" After cursing, he slammed the gun on the table and said loudly: "If this continues like this, I can't stand it anymore. I'd better send troops into the city to take over the cabinet and the government."  Jisuyuan, please come out! What a bastard!¡± ¡°Then what?¡± Guo Bi stared at him, ¡°Then we¡¯ll finish the battle.  Is it okay to become the Supreme Emperor and fight for the position of the new emperor? Don't say it is impossible. If we don't follow the rules, the people below will also not follow the rules. I know you are better off doing nothing.  I feel angry when I see Weng Wenhao and his gang. But is the problem really not with Weng Wenhao and his gang? The problem is with the representatives of the Jisu Yuan!  They are the ones who are desperate to withdraw from the East Asia Alliance! They are determined to negotiate with the Americans even if they throw bombs over their heads! But the problem is not only with the representatives of the House of Representatives?  It's the gentry and merchants below them and the majority of the people in the country who are afraid of going to war with Britain and the United States! It's these people who are worried that we will lose!  We met! Mr. Wang once said that except for Shanghai, other places in China basically have no ability to govern themselves. I didn¡¯t believe that people of that age still don¡¯t know how to take care of themselves. This doesn¡¯t mean that they are still three-year-old children.  But now it¡¯s obvious that they really can¡¯t take care of themselves. When they are about to die, they still think about peace talks and peace is the most important thing" "But we just sit back and do nothing.  "Go down?" What Guo Bi said may not be unreasonable, but Huang Zongxuan is angry. He could have avoided these losses and bombed the Philippines first, but now he did nothing and was completely passive. He, the chief of operations, was very angry.  It blew up!  "Hey!" Guo Bi sighed, "Zong Bin should read more history books. Think about the time when the Northern Song Dynasty court sent its princesses and concubines to be ravaged by the Jin people; think about the Southern Song Dynasty when the Mongolian Yuan Dynasty drove them to the sea and threw themselves into the sea;  Think about the fact that at the end of the Ming Dynasty, Zhili Shandong allowed the Qing soldiers to enter the pass and attack the grass valley, and no one dared to stop them; in the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1898, the army was routed thousands of miles away from Pyongyang, and the navy's armored ships were actually sunk by their own fortress artillery. Today, these are the foundations.?It¡¯s nothing!  Can we be saved for a moment, or for hundreds of generations?  What is important is not what we should do, what is important is whether the people can show their blood and integrity when life and death are at stake. Otherwise, what is the point of us winning?  The United States is attacking today, but in a few hundred years it may be an ugly America or a flowery America. If you don¡¯t teach the people how to be self-reliant, they will still lose in a few hundred years.  People at that time would definitely say that if they had known this, it would be better to lose this war now. Only after losing and suffering the pain of slavery will everyone reflect. The war at that time might have been won.  " Guo Bi is not young anymore, and his teachings like a private school teacher actually made everyone feel a little calmer. After taking a few long breaths of relief, Huang Zongxing, the most fierce one, said: "Then let's just watch now?  " "Do what we can.  Guo Bi replied. After he finished speaking, he added, "Don't forget it's summer vacation!"  " The word summer vacation made everyone's eyes brighten, but it made Weng Wenhao of Wenhua Palace's face darken. Today was supposed to be his big day, but the House of Representatives actually rejected the Fuxing Association's request to overthrow the cabinet. He is still a member of Greater China  Although the prime minister of the country has also added the task of self-defense and resistance to war, in essence, the main task of the new cabinet is to negotiate peace with the United States.  Each one is more calculating than the other. Their only purpose is to end the war as soon as possible and then live in peace. As long as the government does not implement the Bolshevik system, they can accept any political system. At most, life will be harder, but it is better than fighting.  Good. The representative of the Institute of Audit and Supervision said so, but the earlier support for college and technical secondary school students was in chaos. Although the scale of education has not expanded after the political reform, there are 9 million students in junior high schools and 400 students in high schools and technical schools nationwide.  Ten thousand, there are 350,000 college students. It was okay before Japan and the United States did not declare war. Now that Japan and the United States have declared war, and the United States has issued an ultimatum to China, these students immediately exploded. It was summer vacation. According to the previous regulations, universities and middle schools.  Junior college students can ride trains and ships for free during the summer. According to the National Security Bureau, since yesterday, students from all over the country have been clamoring to go to Beijing to petition universities, middle schools, and technical schools. The total number of people is really huge.  Knowing what would happen! Weng Wenhao's face turned dark, while Secretary Wang Yunwu looked at Director of National Security Shi Chengzhi. This man was from Hangzhou, graduated from the fourth phase of the Japanese Military Academy, and served as the 33rd Assistant Commander of the 17th Town in Sichuan during the former Qing Dynasty.  After the Ding Revolution, he had been idle at home. After the reform of the military system, he was hired as a military adviser to the Zhejiang Jisu Yuan. Because of his relationship with Jiang Baili, he was appreciated by Weng Wenhao and finally became the director of the National Security Bureau. People who came from the former Qing Dynasty had some.  He is old-fashioned and conscientious in his work. The most important thing is that he is loyal to Weng Wenhao, who has given him a favor. This is the real reason why he was appointed as the director of the National Security Bureau instead of Zhu Jiahua. "Brother Tiao Mei, is the news accurate?  Are those students really coming to the capital in thousands?  "Wang Yunwu said, he was asking questions knowingly. "How dare Chengzhi deceive the Prime Minister!  "Shi Chengzhi cupped his hands. "The students from the Northeast went to Yang Jingcheng's house in Tonghua in the morning. When they heard that he was not there and someone said that this matter should be under the control of the Prime Minister's Office, all those students came.  Now that trains are speeding up across the country, I think a batch will arrive tomorrow morning.  Although students from other places only went out sporadically today, they would definitely come to Beijing as soon as the bombing happened in the afternoon and public sentiment arose.  " "Can't youcan't you let Mr. Juancheng's Ministry of Transportation order to stop all trains and ships?  Otherwise, these students will not be allowed to get on the bus.  "Wang Yunwu came up with a bad idea, which made Shi Chengzhi shake his head secretly. It seems that Wu Jingchao's injury is really not a good thing. "Prime Minister, there are more than 10 million college and technical secondary school students in the country. Even if junior high schools are not counted, there are four to five million.  If these students are really not allowed to take trains or ships, they might have to walk to Beijing.  " Shi Chengzhi thought of the past events during the Revolution of 1911, and then said: "Xiaoguan remembers that in the year of 1911, many students walked for a month to the provincial capital to help in the war. Many people got sick when they arrived, but they pretended to be sick.  If you are not sick, you have to fight with a gun. From this point of view, it is impossible to block it.  Besides, transportation is now developed, and students in high schools and universities are all children of wealthy families. Besides paying for tickets, it is not impossible to charter a boat or rent a car to go to Beijing" "Then what do you say?  What should I do?  "Weng Wenhao was silent, but Wang Yunwu stamped his feet. Last year, more than 10,000 students turned the capital upside down. Now four to five million students have entered Beijing, so that's okay. "Prime Minister, now the Americans are bombing us, we are bombing.  Just reply to them.  In this way, those students can see that the government is indeed fighting the war, and they can go home with peace of mind.  "Shi Chengzhi suggested. But after he finished speaking, Weng Wenhao shook his head: "Since it is said to be a self-defense war, we will defend them if they attack us, but we will never attack the Philippines.  Otherwise, how can we negotiate in Washington?  " "But" Shi Chengzhi didn't understand what it meant.He had never heard of "self-defense and resistance". He only knew that even the Qing Dynasty would be "defeated without defeat" at best. No one dared to say that it would only defend but not attack.  With such a passive beating, it is no wonder that the General Staff has to resign as a whole.  "Prime Minister, if we don't do anything, we can't cope with the public opinion!" Shi Chengzhi finally said one more thing because he was Weng Wenhao's close friend.  "Even ifeven if we just let a few planes fly to the Philippines to drop something, there would be an explanation in the country." (To be continued.)
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