Hongqiao Airport is located in the northwest suburb of Shanghai Special City. It is not far from the urban area, only more than ten kilometers.

Hongqiao Airport was built during the Beiyang Government period and began construction in the 10th year of the Republic of China. The original purpose was to prepare for the opening of air routes between Peiping and Shanghai. At that time, the airport area was not large, and only less than 300 acres of land were acquired. However, due to lack of funds, only 300 acres of land were acquired.

Stopping work after just one runway has failed to achieve the purpose of navigation.

It was not until the 18th year of the Republic of China that the Ministry of Transportation of the National Government completed the construction of the airport, placed it under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Transportation, and opened the first domestic regular route from Jinling to Shanghai.

In the 23rd year of the Republic of China, the airport began large-scale expansion, acquiring nearly 1,000 acres of land and expanding the airport area to nearly 1,200 acres.

Strictly speaking, the geographical location of Hongqiao Airport is not very important, at least not to the Kuomintang Air Force. Not only is it a civilian airport with imperfect facilities and is not suitable for the Kuomintang Air Force, but it is also far from the Shanghai urban area.

It is very close, and it is very unsafe as a military airport.

However, this is an airport after all. Once occupied by the Japanese, the Japanese army can continuously drop troops based on the airport. Although the Japanese Air Force at this time does not have the ability to transport large-scale troops by air, it is impossible to transport troops in a short time just by air.

A large number of troops are transported to the airport, but proper defense is still necessary. After all, this is still a transportation portal for personnel and materials. It does not have much tactical significance, but it still has strategic significance.

Because of this, during the pre-war preparations, the 659th Regiment disguised itself as a security force and stationed at Hongqiao Airport.

Although the airport is large, the facilities are very simple. Although there are oil depots, warehouses, control towers and other necessary airport facilities, there is no decent waiting room. There are only some short and simple bungalows for passengers to use as waiting rooms.
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In addition, there is a two-story building used by airport personnel and a dozen bungalows.

Since there are few buildings at the airport, most of the soldiers of the 659th Regiment stationed at the airport live in tents.

Of the 659 regiment stationed at Hongqiao Airport, only the third battalion is actually stationed here. Regiment leader He Fan leads the regiment headquarters and the first and second battalions to be stationed at the Songhu Garrison Headquarters and several other strategic locations.

The second division belongs to the German Arms Division. Not only did the German Arms Division's troops purchase all their weapons and equipment from Germany, but their military uniforms are also gray-green like the German army. However, because they are stationed at the airport in the name of security forces, they are now wearing yellow khakis.

The military uniforms of the security forces may be because they can’t find the tents that the security forces should use temporarily. Their tents are still gray-green German standard military tents.

The commander of the third battalion of the 659th Regiment is a tall and thin young man of 27 or 28 years old. Since the local security forces do not have military ranks, it is not clear what military rank he has, but generally speaking he should be a major, and a few with higher qualifications will be

Lieutenant Colonel, due to the strict regulation of military ranks in the 24th year of the Republic of China

The system of the Kuomintang Quanxu military rank promotion is very harsh. It takes four years as a captain to advance from lieutenant to school officer. It takes three years to advance to the first level of school officer. It takes at least four years to advance. It is not just a matter of seniority.

Yes, this requires military exploits or other outstanding achievements.

If there are other positions and military ranks, they can only be approved by the Military Commission, which means they need to be signed and approved by the Chairman.

In the twenty-sixth year of the Republic of China, that is, after the Anti-Japanese War began, in order to avoid too rigid military ranks affecting appointments, the Quanxu military rank system was suspended and only job ranks were implemented. It was only after the Anti-Japanese War that the Quanxu military rank was restored. It can be said that during the Republic of China, there was a dual military rank system, that is,

Strictly formal military ranks and relatively loose job ranks.

This has also led to many strange phenomena. A typical example is Wang Yaowu, a first-year student in Huangpu. When he served as deputy commander of the 74th Army, his military rank was major general, but his official rank was lieutenant general.

The most typical example is Liao Yaoxiang, a sixth-generation student from Huangpu. When he served as the commander of the Ninth Corps, his military rank was lieutenant general, but his Quanxu military rank was lieutenant colonel. He had to wait several months to be promoted to colonel.

Sure enough, after Wang Zhaohuai took out the letter from the Beijing-Shanghai Security Command, Li Xiuling not only saluted Wang Zhaohuai respectfully, but also called him senior.

It turns out that Li Xiuling graduated from the seventh class of Huangpu, and his current military rank is a major. His years of experience are enough to reach the rank of a major.

Nowadays, most of the Central Military Forces have Huangpu academic qualifications. According to Li Xiuling's age, he, a major, is in line for promotion.

Li Xiuling was very polite and respectful to Wang Zhaohuai, and took the initiative to make room in the small building for Wang Zhaohuai, Wang Zhaohuai's adjutant who arrived at the airport first, and several subordinates of Wang Zhaohuai's inspection team.

As for Qin Chuan, Li Xiuling was not so polite. Qin Chuan and the people in his inspection office had no choice but to live in tents on the open space at the airport.

Qin Chuan declined Wang Zhaohuai's offer to live in the building with him, but instead took everyone in the inspection room to live in a tent.

Since the tents were also very tight, Qin Chuan did not have a tent to himself. Instead, he shared a tent with Zhao Yi and Li Fei.

As soon as he entered Hongqiao Airport, Qinchuan's contact with the outside world was completely cut off. There were telephones in the airport tower and small buildings, but the telephones were controlled by Li Xiuling's subordinates. Except for Li Xiuling and Wang Zhaohuai, no one else was allowed to use the telephone.

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Qin Chuan understands this. After all, the 659th Group is stationed secretly, and there is no guarantee that the phone here will not be eavesdropped. If the phone can be used at will, it will easily leak secrets. For the airport incident, China and Japan are still

Everyone is arguing with each other.

Unexpectedly, there were so many people in the action team and security team in the inspection room. Li Xiuling's battalion did not carry much supplies. After arriving at the airport, they discovered that their food could not be provided and required the 659th Regiment and the supplementary brigade still in Suzhou.

It was unrealistic for the brigade headquarters to solve the problem. After discussing with Wang Zhaohuai and Li Xiuling, Qin Chuan spent his own money and went outside the airport to purchase the goods, accompanied by Li Xiuling's people and Adjutant Wang Zhaohuai.

If it were just the people in the inspection room, the problem wouldn't be big. More than 200 people wouldn't be able to use much, but Qin Chuan couldn't just consider himself, the 200 or so people, otherwise there would be two kinds of treatment at the airport. This would

It's very inappropriate, and it's even possible for Li Xiuling's people to criticize and make things difficult for them.

After asking about the number of people in Li Xiuling's battalion, Qin Chuan simply considered Li Xiuling's battalion as well.

The Second Division of the Central Army is a Category A division, and its regular force consists of two brigades and six regiments plus a supplementary brigade.

The Second Division is not only an A-type division, it is also an out-and-out moral weapon master.

The supplementary brigade of the Central Military A Division does not just supplement the troops, but its equipment and training are completely the same as those of its regular troops.

The main force of the Second Division is currently stationed in Baoding, but its supplementary brigade is in Suzhou. This is completely treating the supplementary brigade as an independent combat force.

What's more, it has now been adapted into the Twenty Independent Brigades.

Although it is called an independent brigade, its strength is not only no less than the other two brigades of the Second Division, but even more. Each of the six battalions is a strengthened battalion. One battalion actually has nearly 900 people.

The only reorganized division in China that almost completely imitates the organization and equipment of a German army division, that is, the number of people in a brigade of the teaching corps is almost the same.

There are more than 900 people, plus the people in the inspection room, there are more than 1100 people.

As for the B and C divisions, they will shrink a lot. For example, the three divisions of the Eighth Route Army that are about to be reorganized are all C divisions, with two brigades and four regiments.

The Second Division is a direct line unit of the Central Army, and the food standards are still acceptable. Since it is now equivalent to wartime, according to the wartime food standards stipulated by the Kuomintang Military Commission, each person is one and a half kilograms of rice and four taels of meat per person during wartime.

A certain amount of dried vegetables, pickles, salt, and soy sauce. Although it only costs a few cents a day for food, a meal for more than a thousand people costs more than 200 French currency.

Moreover, Qin Chuan knew that such food standards would soon be impossible to meet. Since the war started in full swing, due to the expansion of the army and the purchase of weapons and ammunition, military expenditures have been huge. It is simply impossible to meet such standards.

Therefore, Qinchuan simply handed over 10,000 French currency to Qian Tong at a time and asked to buy 1,000 catties of pork and 1,000 chickens, ducks and other cooked food.

In addition, they can buy enough rice to feed their 200 people for two days, because the rice grain carried by Li Xiuling's troops is still enough, so they only need to buy what they need for two days.

Vegetables are also necessary, but you can only buy some appropriately, which is enough for two days.

The rest of the money was used to buy various canned meats from foreign companies in the concession. Qin Chuan specifically mentioned that he would buy as many canned luncheon meats as possible, and all these cans would be given to Li Xiuling's troops.

Although there is a local Meilin company in Shanghai that produces canned meat, the factory of Meilin company is in Hongkou, a public concession, which is Japanese territory.

The Japanese expatriates in Hongkou have been completely inflamed by the Japanese because of the Hongqiao Airport incident. Buying cans in large quantities there is likely to arouse Japanese suspicion and even cause new troubles.

Although Qin Chuan knew very well that the two sides were about to start a war, he did not want his people to cause conflicts, and he even wanted to be labeled as causing conflicts.

Qinchuan knew very well that the Battle of Songhu would start tomorrow, and the 20th Independent Brigade would go to the battlefield the day after tomorrow. It would be inconvenient to buy too much fresh meat for them, not only due to storage problems, but also because of the tense war. They might sometimes do

There is no time for meals, so canned food is the most convenient.

Seeing Qin Chuan's generous donation to his troops, Li Xiuling was greatly moved, and his attitude towards Qin Chuan immediately changed significantly.

In fact, Qin Chuan wanted to buy more, but considering that he was now buying nearly 10,000 legal currency cans at a time, the quantity was already quite large. If he bought more in large quantities, he might cause panic among the citizens and even alert the Japanese.

Get started in advance.

As for lunch, he could only temporarily go out and buy a few hundred steamed buns and some cooked food such as white-cut chicken and salted duck. After eating it quickly, Qian Tong changed into civilian clothes with a platoon sent by Li Xiuling, as well as Wang Zhaohuai's adjutant.

, drove the ten trucks they brought to the city more than 20 miles away to buy rice, canned food and other foods.

It was Qin Chuan's suggestion that Wang Zhaohuai's adjutant go with him, and this was also to avoid trouble in the future.

The trucks include six trucks from the Shanghai Police Corps, plus four vehicles from the inspection room.

There was nothing else going on all afternoon until evening, when ten trucks rumbled into the airport.

Seeing the ten trucks full of things, and the fresh pork that filled more than half of the truck, the officers and soldiers of the Third Battalion of the 20th Brigade all smiled happily.

The food in the army is very monotonous. They are all big pot dishes. It is not easy to eat delicious stir-fry dishes.

But there is still no problem with big pot dishes. The third camp is divided into classes. Each class has a white-chopped chicken, a salted duck, two kilograms of soy beef, and a pot of braised pork.

During dinner, the entire airport was filled with laughter and laughter.

Due to the hot weather, all the officers and soldiers below the third battalion platoon ate outside their tents this season. Tonight, they made an exception and lit a bonfire, eating delicious meals around the bonfire.

Naturally, Li Xiuling, Wang Zhaohuai, Qin Chuan, Wang Zhaohuai's adjutant, and Li Xiuling's battalion mate would not eat in a big pot. Zhao Yi and Li Xiuling's battalion mate drove out to buy their meals.

Qian Tong and Wang Xiaoyong ate together with everyone in the inspection room. Although the style of their meals was the same as that of the officers and soldiers of the third battalion, the amount of cooked food they had was sufficient, and each of them also had two bottles of beer.

Six hot and four cold. Although there is no delicacy, it is very good in the military camp, and there is beer.

Although Li Xiuling and his battalion adjutant had not touched any alcohol, Wang Zhaohuai, his adjutant, and Qin Chuan all drank beer to their heart's content. After all, they were not soldiers, and they couldn't fight tonight, so there was nothing good for them.

Worried.

Especially Qin Chuan, not only does he not give up drinking, he also keeps looking worried and drinking beer to his heart's content.

It wasn't until one of Li Xiuling's subordinates hurried over to report that the director of the Political Training Division of the Beijing-Shanghai Garrison Command called and asked Wang Zhaohuai to answer the phone that Qin Chuan stopped frequently picking up the wine glass.

Soon, Wang Zhaohuai came back with a solemn expression, but Wang Zhaohuai said nothing and continued to drink and eat with a few people, and even fistfighted with Qin Chuan.

However, in just a short while, Li Xiuling also ran to answer the call from their regiment leader He Fan. When he came back, he hurriedly left on the grounds that it was too late. Moreover, not long after he left, the officers and soldiers of the Third Battalion who were holding a bonfire dinner at the airport came to the airport.

They quietly returned to their respective tents.

Wang Zhaohuai pondered for a moment and said, "Brother Chengji, you will go back to your tent and wait in a while. Someone will come to examine you."

Now, Qin Chuan can call Wang Zhaohuai brothers. Wang Zhaohuai is much older than Qin Chuan, so there is no problem in calling him by the same name.

Seeing that Qin Chuan was a little stunned, Wang Zhaohuai added, "This may very well be a matter of your life or death, so be careful!"

Wang Zhaohuai's solemnity made Qin Chuan's heart suddenly rise again. Could it be that reporting him had nothing to do with the director?
Chapter completed!