Chapter 143: Eagle Nest, Discovering the Little Bird

After the last man of the th Division crossed the Mijie River, the requisitioned boats were not destroyed. Jiang Anguo specifically ordered the engineers to untie all the boats and drag them upstream to a hidden river bay for concealment.

These boats will be of great use later, whether for material transport or crossing the river again, as they are valuable resources. Of course, an even faster method is the system's exchange, river vessels; it's not that engineers have a river only fifty to sixty meters wide, the floating‑bridge site is just a little over fifty meters wide.

The main force had just withdrawn from the banks of the Mijie River and entered the concealed safe zone a short while ago.

On the eastern horizon, a red sun rose slowly. Accompanying it was a low, dense hum.

"They're coming!"

A signal came from a distant guard post.

In the sky over Xibu, a black mass of Japanese Army bomber formation roared in.

The heavy rain of the past two days has immobilized the Japanese Army ground troops, and the air force is also frustrated. Seizing the rare chance of clear skies, they poured out at once, launching a frenzied carpet bombing on the abandoned empty city of Xibu.

The massive explosions could be heard across the Mijie River, and Xibu's ruins were once again engulfed by shells.

Seeing the flames rise on the opposite bank, the th Division officers at the rear felt lingering dread.

If they had delayed the withdrawal another step, or failed to retreat to the east bank in time, the consequences would be unimaginable.

Jiang Anguo successfully coordinated the th Division's crossing of the Mijie River, thanks also to the floating bridge built overnight; crossing by day would have required machine guns for air defense.

On the east bank of the Mijie River, a dense thicket was carefully camouflaged, forming an excellent hideout.

"Eagle Nest, Eagle Nest."

A military radio set, the operator pressed its keys; this spot was temporarily used as an outpost observation station, so telephone lines had not yet been installed.

Around the tent, several alert soldiers lay under camouflage netting, eyes fixed on the sky to the southwest.

This is the forward base Jiang Anguo deliberately set up, not only to monitor Japanese Army ground movements but, more importantly, to serve as the "eyes" for air‑defense warning.

"Eagle Nest received, please report the situation," replied immediately from the Lashu Airport direction.

"Eagle Nest, enemy aircraft spotted! Vulture 15, Sparrowhawk 8," the operator reported instantly, the numbers tallied through the telescope.

In Jiang Anguo's unit code, "Vulture" denotes bombers and "Sparrowhawk" denotes fighters. Both refer to Little Devil aircraft, and a sizable air formation was dispatched to bomb the Japanese Army at Xibu.

"Eagle Nest understood. War Eagle, ascend immediately!"

As the words finished, the roar of engines suddenly rang across the runway at Lashu Airport in the distance.

Song Yunfei had long been ready for action. Today's Lashu Airport is no longer the crude transit hub it once was. Seventy‑seven seasoned pilots and 185 highly skilled ground crew form the backbone of this young air force.

Unlike before, when chaos reigned and pilots had to load their own ordnance.

With ample ground crew, the tedious tasks of loading ammunition and refueling finally became orderly, and the sortie efficiency of the fighters improved considerably.

This time, Song Yunfei held nothing back. He launched thirty BF109 fighters in one go.

Facing only eight Japanese escort fighters, ten or even fewer aircraft should have sufficed. But Jiang Anguo's creed has always been "Han Xin's troop counting, the more the better," adhering to a pure wolf‑pack tactic: if I have the power to crush you, I will not linger but crush you outright.

It is not only to crush the enemy but also to apply psychological pressure on the Japanese aircraft.

One by one, the fighters slid off the runway, heads held high as they surged into the clouds.

After takeoff, the thirty BF109s did not circle to await formation; they plunged straight toward the southwest. In the air they skillfully adjusted positions, switching from a 2‑2 formation to a 3‑3 formation, three aircraft per squad.

This is the wolf‑pack tactic: I use three fighters to bite down on one of yours.

High, low, left, right interlaced, forming a massive aerial hunting net.

The roar of the fighters reached the ground.

Having just withdrawn from the Mijie River, the Expeditionary Force hidden in the forest erupted in deafening cheers upon spotting enemy aircraft.

The th Division soldiers looked up, watching the fighters bearing the Blue Sky and White Sun emblem sweep overhead, many eyes reddening again. The last time their eyes reddened was a few days earlier over Xibu, when Song Yunfei supported the th Division's attack.

The wings painted with blue and white clouds were a delight, because they were our own aircraft, not those of the Little Devil.

"Is that... a German BF109?" a knowledgeable th Division officer whispered, eyeing the distinctive wing shape.

Everyone was puzzled why the Expeditionary Force suddenly fielded a well‑equipped Independent Regiment, with enough tank guns, full squadrons of fighters and bombers, and even a plethora of transport aircraft.

Jiang Anguo's explanation was always a single line: "Donated by South overseas Chinese."

In any case, any question about the source of weapons was bluntly attributed to that South patriotic overseas Chinese. He gave no other explanations, because he had no reasonable answer; he couldn't claim the points earned by killing Little Devils could be bought from the system.

The gaze shifted to the sky over Xibu.

Lieutenant Zhongcun piloted a Type 97 bomber, leading the formation on a bombing mission.

This time the mission was undertaken by the Japanese Navy Aviation.

The other air force, of course, belonged to the Army Aviation.

When the bombs fell like rain and smoke rose again over Xibu, he looked down through the front glass hull, observing from the air, and discovered an unsettling fact: Xibu was too quiet.

The ground was dead silent, with no anti‑aircraft fire, no signs of ground counter‑attack, not even a single smoke bomb.

Something was wrong.

This deployment was originally made by the 15th Army commander Fanda Xiuerlang based on intelligence from the 146th Regiment commander Jin Gang Zong Si Lang, and Fanda Xiuerlang had also begun berating Watanabe Masao for his incompetence.

The Expeditionary Force's elite th Division stationed at Xibu must be subjected to a devastating strike.

The intelligence was sound before takeoff, but now that the bombs have been dropped, they found discrepancies with the reported intel.

At that moment, a flash of sunlight reflected off the metal wing and stung Zhongcun's eyes.

Before departure, the intelligence department had sternly warned: enemy new fighters were deployed toward the Lashu Airport direction, very likely German BF109s, exercise extreme caution.

Zhongcun's heart tightened; he yanked the control stick, and the Type 97 bomber surged upward sharply.

But he forgot that he was piloting a cumbersome bomber.