Chapter 76: Rekindling Youth

With Tang Wen able to recycle the decommissioned resources, the disarmament of the Qiaoli went very smoothly.

All the weapons and ammunition on the ship were recycled; the disappearance of the external secondary and anti-aircraft guns didn't affect much, but the gun mounts left behind after removing the bow and stern main turrets were awkward to deal with, so they were simply covered with tarpaulins for now.

But in Tang Wen's mind, the Qiaoli was already in a critically endangered state.

【Main Turret Severely Damaged】

【Main Turret Destroyed】

【Secondary Weapons Destroyed】

【Qiaoli: 4210/5150】

On the game panel, red zones lit up all over the Qiaoli, with the weapon system in a scrapped state.

And the disarmed Qiaoli, from the outside... still looked quite like a warship.

No way around it — fishing boats all put the bridge at the stern, leaving the large front section empty for cargo.

But the Qiaoli had a standard warship layout, with the bridge amidships and the funnel right behind it.

Tang Wen thought for a moment, then opened the "Camouflage" function in the game.

Following fishing boat convention, the upper superstructure was painted white, and the lower hull a deep blue.

After painting the entire warship in fishing boat colors, it immediately looked much more harmonious, giving off a strong rustic vibe.

After a moment's thought, he also painted the white lettering of the Fudong Fisheries registration number "E Yu 4410" on the side.

"Does it look like one?"

Tang Wen tilted his head and asked Tang Yi.

"No."

The latter answered honestly:

"If there were more time, the masts and other structures on the aft section should all be removed — that would increase the cargo hold area considerably.

But that's a big project, so let's just use it as is."

"Actually, there are plenty of examples of light warships being converted to cargo ships. The Flower-class corvettes from Britain a few decades back had a similar role to the Qiaoli — after the war they were converted into whaling ships, and after liberation they were converted back into corvettes and served for quite a long time.

If needed, we could use the Qiaoli as a base and imitate the Flower-class conversion plan, swapping in a diesel power unit to design a pretty decent fishing boat."

Tang Wen: "Then what's the difference between that and designing a fishing boat from scratch?"

Tang Yi: "Maybe having a warship's foundation makes it sturdier and more crash-resistant?"

……

"Tang Wen, why do you look so haggard?"

Yang Tai had slept a night on the Simmons mattress at the Dawan Hotel, and getting up refreshed, he immediately saw Tang Wen with two dark circles under his eyes, and quickly said:

"Although the city inspection is a big deal, there's no need to worry that much."

"……"

In fact, Tang Wen had been busy at the shipyard half the night, then ran over to Dawan Port to disarm the Yanze.

The cruiser Yanze had far too many weapons — just walking the entire length of the ship took a lot of time, so he had barely slept all night.

"Speaking of which, this hotel room is decorated way too nicely — the walls are all soft-padded, and the bathroom has such a huge mirror. It must cost at least twenty yuan a night, right?"

"Actually, I think it could be two hundred."

Tang Wen pointed at the restaurant upstairs:

"The buffet is an extra hundred and fifty. For guests who can afford to come here, three hundred and fifty yuan including all-day buffet is already a pretty good deal."

Hearing that number, Yang Tai couldn't help but wince — just a few years ago, many people earned only two hundred yuan a month, and now it's gone in one night?

But on second thought, each floor has at least 30 rooms, with ten floors for accommodation; if a third are occupied, that's twenty thousand yuan in revenue per night.

Add in the luxury restaurant, and this hotel alone could bring in enormous profits.

If they also took on banquets and such for outsiders on a regular basis, given the style, people would be willing to pay no matter how expensive.

Although the countryside is poor now, it's not short of rich people — on the contrary, many of them have nowhere to spend money beyond the traditional four big items.

Is it possible to make Dawan a second economic hub that surpasses Dawan Town at the same time?

Yang Tai's thoughts gradually drifted, and he hurried off to find a notebook to jot down these ideas.

Meanwhile, Tang Wen found Liu Kan, who was focused on tackling his spaghetti, and started chatting with him.

Liu Kan's family had worked in aviation-related fields for three generations — his grandfather had been a mechanic pressed into service during the occupation, and after the founding of the country continued repairing aircraft; sadly, neither of the next two generations managed to get into the pilot program.

But Liu Kan was very familiar with all kinds of aircraft — he'd handled everything from the J-5 to the J-8 currently in service, though he had never flown a jet.

He'd flown plenty of planes like the Yun-5 and the CJ-6, and although he didn't have a license, his skills were absolutely beyond question.

Tang Wen was tempted to recruit him, but considering aviation school jobs weren't easy to come by, he took a step back and suggested hoping he could recruit a few retired pilots still able to fly.

"Old pilots? That's easy — there are plenty."

This hit right at Liu Kan's strength; having worked at the aviation school for decades, he knew exactly where to find retired pilots.

Things were different from later eras — the treatment pilots received after retirement was only passable by society's standards, just a leisurely job after transferring out.

Many pilots also retired quite young, with relatively few flight hours.

In fact, from the 1960s until 2000, for a long stretch of time, Air Force pilots' flight hours and training intensity were actually worse than in the 1950s and 60s.

There were even elite aviation units in the 1950s capable of night combat and low-altitude flight missions, but after the 1970s, exercises revealed they had lost their night takeoff and landing capability……

Many pilots were discharged around age forty, still in excellent physical condition.

Getting them to fly old propeller planes would be a breeze, and they wouldn't even need to be paid much—the chance to keep flying alone would attract a vast number of people willing to travel thousands of miles to come.

Tang Wen: "If propeller fighters can be picked up quickly, then other propeller aircraft like twin-engine light bombers and seaplanes should be no problem either, right?"

"Oh, light bombers would be a bit different — you'd definitely have to think it through.

As for seaplanes — seaplanes?"

Tang Wen: "I have two seaplanes. Compared to the F4F taking off and landing on dirt runways, they should be safer, and much friendlier for tourists."

"Where is it?"

Tang Wen led him to the hotel window; pushing it open revealed the harbor outside.

Beside the Yahagi, covered by a tarp, were two seaplanes lowered from it:

the Aichi E13A, also known as the Zero Seaplane Reconnaissance Aircraft, with two floats, a very capable small seaplane used by the Combined Fleet.

Powered by a 1000-horsepower engine, its top speed was 367 kilometers per hour, and its range was another five or six hundred kilometers greater than the F4F.

More importantly, as a reconnaissance aircraft, the Zero Seaplane had three seats: a pilot, an observer, and a tail gunner.

This meant it could carry two passengers, and a seaplane forced landing was far safer than one on land.

A dirt runway under three hundred meters wasn't something just anyone could handle, but water takeoffs and landings were unlikely to be fatal as long as you didn't crash headfirst.

Moreover, if the Zero Seaplane was safer, demonstrating it before the leaders would be less likely to result in accidents.

Liu Kan had excellent eyesight and spotted the two Zero Seaplanes floating one after the other on the water immediately.

But his attention wasn't on them; it was on the Yahagi beside them.

When he arrived at Dawan Port yesterday, it was nearly dark; he only knew it was a concrete ship model.

Now he could see the details clearly and was immediately stunned by their extreme realism.

Drawing on his years of experience as a military enthusiast, he recognized it as a Combined Fleet cruiser from the heavy Japanese-style bridge and its size, with an extremely accurate scale.

If he wasn't mistaken, the seaplane catapult on the ship had also been reproduced?

The Zero Seaplane was widely used on various warships of the old Combined Fleet; Tang Wen was far too professional.

Liu Kan couldn't wait to eat and ran straight downstairs, only to discover that the layout of Dawan Port also resembled a real naval base; apart from being smaller, there were almost no flaws.

And when he made his way to the pier and boarded the seaplane, he confirmed in a few moments that the condition of these two aircraft was the same as the Wildcat's yesterday; the instruments and control sticks were very smooth, looking brand new.

Liu Kan turned around as if he had seen a ghost and asked:

"Do you have light bombers too?!"

Tang Wen: "B-25s. They'll arrive in a while."

Liu Kan: "What else?"

"SBD dive bombers, TBD torpedo bombers... that's all for now; they aren't here yet."

The remaining types were still on the Hornet, in a closed warehouse less than a hundred meters away from the two of them, to be brought out only when needed.

However, Liu Kan already felt deep respect and said seriously:

"Boss Tang, with so many types of aircraft, you surely need professional pilots. How about me? The salary doesn't need to be high; just give me some flight hours each month, and I'll maintain them myself after flying."

Forget flight hours; I'd give you a whole plane, as long as you can afford to keep it.

Tang Wen thought to himself, but said aloud:

"You work at an aviation school; wouldn't coming here be a waste of your talent?"

Liu Kan shook his head vigorously: "No. If I spend the rest of my life here, it might be my happiest time.

I know this seaplane like the back of my hand. The instrument layout and operating methods are exactly the same as the first batch of aircraft at the old aviation school; they were all made by those little Japanese back then. Fill it with fuel, and I can take off in ten minutes."

"This seaplane is great; it's safer than the F4F."

Yang Tai watched the Aichi E13A flying almost skimming the sea surface, his expression somewhat envious.

After all, having been away from flying for decades, he had long lost the ability to get up to speed quickly and could only watch Liu Kan test the performance of the Zero Seaplane for now.

Out of respect for air traffic control and for ease of communication, the flight altitude was kept down to a few hundred meters, and a radio was installed by removing one from the other aircraft for contact.

Not far away, the construction crew and villagers were working while mainly focusing their attention on the seaplane, discussing it fervently.

"Yesterday the plane had the American insignia; today it's the Japanese style, just like in the movies."

"Is Tang Xiazi going to make a movie?"

"I just saw it take off from the water; can it be put on a fishing boat?"

"What good would that do?"

"Next time we go out to sea, let the plane keep watch; if we spot the Security Bureau's patrol boats early, we can just run away."

"Then why not use the plane to drop grenades?"

"How could you hit anything out at sea? It's better to just use two shotguns to scare them off."

"..."

Tang Wen didn't yet know that the bold fishermen were already planning to use the aircraft for fishing; he was instead focusing on contacting Liu Kan via the radio.

Japanese aircraft always had quite good maneuverability and low-altitude performance; Liu Kan found it even easier to handle than the F4F once he got airborne.

"Liu Kan, how are things?"

"Very good! Do you want me to come down and pick you up for a spin?"

"Yes, yes."

Yang Tai grabbed the microphone, checked his watch, and said:

"But don't fly too far. The leaders will arrive before lunch; you're not familiar with this area, so be careful not to get lost."

"Don't worry, I'll just circle around... wait, I see the cars!"

Liu Kan was already flying at a low altitude of a few hundred meters; looking down, he saw two cars driving on the road in the distance.

He immediately banked the fuselage and moved toward the direction of the cars.

"Director Gao, the roads here in Dawan Town are indeed not very good."

In the back seat of the black Santana, Gao Yuliang, with a head full of white hair, swayed left and right with the road surface, nearly hitting the window, until Secretary Li immediately reached out to protect him.

"With road conditions this bad, they still managed to get the shipyard running; this Tang Wen really loves his hometown."

Gao Yuliang didn't pay much attention; in the past, when he went to the countryside, he rode a bicycle, so having a sedan was already a huge improvement.

Back then, he was also a little ghost of the Children's Corps, barefoot, delivering messages to the county detachment; what was this little fatigue compared to that?

However, what he did not know was that although the road in Dawan Town used to be a dirt road, it was not so terrible; it was entirely because the trucks from the shipyard had run over it several times, creating vast stretches of potholes.

"Little Li, did you hear the commotion outside?"

The closer he got to Dawan Village, the more Director Gao could sense the commotion in the air; it felt familiar, yet somewhat uncertain.

"It must be the commotion from the shipyard; shipbuilding definitely makes a lot of noise."

"No, no."

Director Gao frowned and thought for a long time; feeling the sound grow louder and louder, he rolled down the window to get some air and listen carefully.

When he stuck half his head out the window, he saw a dark green propeller aircraft, buzzing loudly, flying straight toward them in the sky.

His vision suddenly blurred before his eyes, returning him to more than fifty years ago, the first time he heard that sound in the county town.

The paint scheme was the same dark green, and even the shape was so similar; generally speaking, by descending to this altitude, they would have already dropped their bombs and begun strafing civilians with machine guns.

Twelve-year-old Gao Yuliang watched in terror as the plane chased overhead, crying and running toward the woods outside the city with all the strength he could muster.

Memories slowly overlapped; Director Gao recalled the run under the sunset, that was his lost youth.

"Stop!!!"

After a heart-wrenching scream, the driver jolted awake, slammed on the brakes to pull over, and turned his head to see a Japanese plane nearly brushing the treetops as it passed.

Secretary Li stared in shock as sixty-year-old Director Gao jumped out of the car and, with astonishing agility, charged into the roadside bushes, vanishing in a few strides.

"Director Gao? Director Gao!"

At the entrance of Dawan Village.

Yang Tai, holding the radio transceiver, asked in confusion:

"Are you sure you saw it?"

Liu Kan's voice came through the radio:

"Yes, just that one road; I saw a Santana and a 212; it must be them."

"Then it should be correct; it's been half an hour, why haven't they arrived yet?"

Yang Tai found it strange; having received the news, he immediately took Chen Yonggui and Tang Wen to the village entrance to welcome them, yet half an hour passed and they still saw no sign of the convoy.

It was such a short distance; they should have arrived long ago.

"Little Liu, take another look; we haven't seen the cars."

After a few minutes, Liu Kan's voice also became somewhat strange:

"The convoy has stopped there and isn't moving; the people on board have even gotten out."

Listening to the conversation over the radio, Tang Wen stroked his chin and guessed:

"Did the plane scare them?"

"How is that possible? It's just this..."

Yang Tai's smile gradually froze; oh no, he had thought the plane flying today was an F4F.

"Liu Kan, you damn fool, stop flying and get back here immediately!"

After shouting furiously into the radio, he quickly climbed into his own 212:

"Damn it, drive fast, let's go check!"