Chapter 226: Quzhou, a Bold Idea

The next topic turned to the overall deployment on the Myanmar battlefield, coordination with the British Army, and the route planning for the future counter‑offensive. These are issues the Supreme Command must consider; Jiang Anguo, as a front‑line Regiment Commander, is not high‑ranking enough, so naturally he does not need to take part.

There are so many Senior Officers, and he is still far from being a Major General!

Jiang Anguo's performance on the Myanmar battlefield was not outstanding, because his Independent Regiment belonged to the th Division.

Although the Lashu Defense Battle was fought by Jiang Anguo, he did not hand over Watanabe Masao, that old Little Devil, and thus he was not so conspicuous.

Watanabe Masao, in fact Jiang Anguo hadn't decided; if he handed him over to the Chongqing side, then his colonel could naturally advance further.

Jiang Anguo felt that this way his own benefit would not be great; most crucially, Jiang Fei also died because of that old Little Devil, so he could not let him get away so cheaply.

He held a teacup, slipped quietly into the Corner of the living room, making himself a background that drew no attention. Yet his gaze was firmly captured by the huge military map on the wall.

It was a heart‑breaking map.

Mountains and rivers shattered!

More than half of China was covered by glaring red, from the Northeast to Huabei, from East China to South Central; the Japanese Army's iron hooves had shattered countless mountains and rivers. Only a corner in the Southwest remained, a region marked with blue lines, like an isolated island surrounded by a vast ocean, struggling to uphold the nation's last dignity.

Even the Little Devil's telegrams appeared repeatedly only from the Chongqing forces, not the Chinese Army!

The victory in the 522 air battle, though uplifting, still seemed so small before this map. As long as Wuhan remained in the hands of the Japanese Army, and that massive area occupied by the Japanese persisted, Chongqing would never sleep peacefully.

The Japanese Army's bombing caused tens of thousands of casualties in Chongqing, even destroying some air‑raid shelters, leading to tens of thousands of deaths and injuries; this shows that the Japanese Army bombed with purpose.

It indicates that in Chongqing, Japanese Army spies transmitted some important facilities outward.

Spies: Jiang Anguo also sent three spies to the Japanese Army—three Senior Spy previously exchanged at Lashu—who, because of the Tonggu counter‑offensive, Jiang Anguo directly delivered into the Japanese Army's defeated troops.

Thus, the spies' identities were confirmed.

In fact, they were soldiers of the Japanese Army's 56th Division, retreating from the Lashu direction.

Facing this map.

In Jiang Anguo's mind, a thought ignited like a prairie fire, burning wildly.

Jiang Anguo could not bear anyone dying for him, yet the soldiers under his command did not aim to kill the enemy; their first priority was to protect their own commander.

He set down the teacup and walked to the map. There, Wuhan's location was marked with a huge red circle, and beside it a tiny aircraft icon, indicating the Japanese Army's Central China Expeditionary Force's main air base, also the primary launch point for bombing Chongqing.

"If…" Jiang Anguo murmured, "if we could take off from here…"

An extremely bold, even reckless, idea formed in his mind.

Take off fighter planes and bombers from Chongqing, make a long‑range strike, and bomb the Japanese Army's airport in Wuhan!

Thus, in the short term, the Wuhan airport complex, which poses the greatest threat to Chongqing and Chengdu, would be crippled; even a month or two of paralysis would buy precious breathing room for the bomb‑ravaged Chongqing.

Wuhan's airport could house at least one or two hundred aircraft; the Little Devil's fighters and bombers are also extremely valuable.

Moreover, if all the Japanese Army's warplanes in Central China were destroyed, it would not only slow the Japanese's gradual encroachment but also secure Changsha's safety.

There are many reasons the Japanese Army dares not advance westward; first, supply issues—occupying a place requires time to consolidate, and the early Japanese advance was too rapid for the consolidation to keep pace.

Second, Changsha has not yet fallen; if the Japanese Army launched a massive attack on Chongqing, Xue Yue of Changsha could strike the Japanese from the flank.

The idea quickened Jiang Anguo's heartbeat. Almost instinctively, he fished a military ruler out of his pocket and boldly traced it on the Principal's huge map.

From Chongqing to Wuhan, straight‑line distance…

The ruler's markings clearly showed: over seven hundred kilometers.

Jiang Anguo's heart sank. This distance far exceeded the operational radius of a P‑40 "War Axe" fighter. Even with external fuel tanks, a round‑trip was impossible, let alone bombers with smaller payloads and shorter range.

It was essentially an impossible mission.

He placed the ruler down, a bit dejected, his brows tightly knit.

"There's an airport near Quzhou; perhaps we could land there,"

A steady voice whispered softly beside his ear.

Jiang Anguo startled, turned his head, and found Dai Anlan had somehow appeared beside him. The commander of the 200th Division, having finished his conversation with the Principal, was, like him, staring at the map.

Dai Anlan's gaze was deep as he pointed to a blue dot in western Zhejiang on the map—Quzhou.

"Take off from Chongqing, make a one‑way strike on Wuhan, and after completing the mission, without stopping, continue east to land at Quzhou. That way the range will be sufficient," Dai Anlan's voice was light, yet each word hammered Jiang Anguo's heart.

Jiang Anguo looked at Dai Anlan and instantly understood.

Dai Anlan saw it. He saw the restless flame in his brother‑in‑law's heart, just as in Myanmar, when he recklessly wanted to counter‑attack Tonggu.

He must be seeking revenge.

Dai Anlan later learned that Jiang Anguo's original insistence on counter‑attacking Tonggu, despite opposition, stemmed solely from the fact that his most trusted Guard Company Commander, Jiang Fei, had been killed by the Japanese Army's 56th Division artillery. That comrade‑in‑arms grudge drove him to seek vengeance at any cost.

Now, in the 522 air battle, five pilots shed blood in the sky, some even perishing while covering him. Jiang Anguo also recorded this grudge.

He wanted to use a larger‑scale victory, a strategically significant revenge, to console those fallen heroes in the sky.

"Anguo, if you wish to bomb Wuhan Airport and have the aircraft return safely, you could take off from Changde, bomb Wuhan directly, then return to Changde; the distance is close enough," Dai Anlan admitted he was not very familiar with the P‑40's performance, but seeing Jiang Anguo plot the return route, he was clearly calculating the fighter's maximum operational radius.

Jiang Anguo's eyes lit up: indeed, Changde could also serve as a take‑off point.

Changde is only three hundred kilometers from Wuhan; for a P‑40, that's trivial, not only completing the mission but also allowing a few extra circuits over Wuhan.