The two landing craft slowly approached the port of Arthur, and Li Ming, Hao Changfeng, Shi Mingfeng and others walked down from the boat. Wang Yaowu and the responsible persons of the various units stationed in Lushun had been waiting for a long time, and they greeted them and saluted one after another, and then led Li Ming and others to the Western Theater Headquarters, which had been renovated.

In order not to arouse the alarm of the Tartars, the company is now stationed at the Lushun base with a battalion of the Wild Lion Brigade and a company from the War Department. There are only more than 700 people, and there are 5,000 displaced people from Shanxi.

But the entire coast of the Port of Arthur is covered with rows of warehouses, and the hoarded military supplies have long been piled up. In addition, Changshan Island, Zhangzi Island, Hiroshima Island and Ocean Island are also full of supplies.

At present, the main forces of the Western Theater are all stationed in Jeju and will arrive at Lushun and Dongjiang islands one after another in the spring of next year. Because the opening of a shipyard near Arthur to build ships on a large scale will definitely make the Tartars have some precautions, and the forestry resources of Jeju Island are relatively poor, all the river steam deck barges in the Western Theater of Operations will be built and assembled by the Vladivostok shipyard. Assemble a batch and drive along the coast of North Korea to Jeju Island.

In the past few months, a large number of river deck barges have continued to pass by the DPRK coastal brigades, which has scared the souls of the DPRK authorities. They also sent a special envoy to Jeju Island to inquire about the intentions of the Far East, and learned that this was a normal transportation operation in the Far East and had no intention of targeting the DPRK.

The DPRK envoy was relieved to leave, but the DPRK authorities were still not at ease, and collected tens of thousands of stones of rice in the country and sent it to Jeju Island, repeatedly saying that if the Far East needed food, the DPRK could still send it.

Li Ming and the others walked into the newly completed Western Theater Command, and after they took their seats, Wang Yaoguo reported to Li Ming on the war preparations for Port Arthur.

After listening to Wang Yaowu's report. Li Ming nodded and said, "We are all hiding in Vladivostok, and we have thrown the mess of Lushun to you, and we have worked hard to show off our martial arts during this time." Everyone has already understood the battle plan of the Western Theater, and now we are only waiting for Song Tao to come back and bring back real-time information on several attack directions in Liaodong. Then finalize this battle plan. ”

Wang Yaowu said with a smile: "Song Tao has been gone for almost two months, and it is time to come back." ”

Li Ming smiled bitterly and said: "Song Tao led these guys to Shenyang, the telegram he just sent back before I came, I can return to Lushun in a few days, it is estimated that he has reconnoitred the new situation, listen to his meaning." Maybe we'll have to change our plans. ”

At this time, a communications staff officer outside walked into the war room and said to Li Ming: "Commander, a telegram has just been sent from Vladivostok that the airship unit of the Air Force Department will fly to the Ocean Island base in the afternoon. ”

Wang Yaowu listened and said suspiciously: "When did we have an airship force?" Isn't there only one soft airship in the Air Ministry? ”

Li Ming smiled: "You have been in Lushun, and you may not know it yet." The big airship research and development center developed a wooden semi-rigid airship last year, and after several months of test flights, various kinds of jù are very ideal. After the transfer to the Air Ministry, the Air Department was also very satisfied with the safety and seaworthiness of the airship.

In order to support the Pingliao military plan, the Air Force Department submitted to the Military Commission the proposal for the formation of an airboat unit. After the research and decision of the Military Commission, three wooden semi-rigid airships were customized to the large airship research and development center. And one already in service, to form a detachment of airships. The airship detachment consisting of four airships will join our Western Theater to provide us with reconnaissance, communications relay, and other support. If necessary, it can also carry out tasks such as bombing and dropping supplies. ”

After he finished speaking, he suddenly remembered something, and then asked, "Yaowu, is the airship field at the Ocean Island base big enough?" I'm afraid the four airships can't stop, right? ”

Wang Yaowu said with a smile: "The terrain of Ocean Island is very suitable for airship mooring, we have leveled a large area and built a large airship take-off and landing field, which will become the airship base of the Air Force Department in the future." That's for the big airship of the future. ”

Li Ming waved his hand reassuringly, and said with a smile: "Let's go to Ocean Island to have a look." By the way, he also took a turn around the islands of the Dongjiang River to express his condolences to the officers and men of the overseas brigades who have been stationed on the islands. ”

Wang Yaowu took Li Ming and a group of people. After inspecting several islands on the Dongjiang River in two landing craft, I came to Ocean Island. Ocean Island has now completely changed, the entire bay has been built into a fully equipped military port, and all kinds of infrastructure on the shore have been built.

The person in charge is still He Ping, and this guy is rooted here. Li Ming also met Sun Tong, originally the residents of Haiyang Island were all relocated to Jeju Island, Sun Tong has been on the island to help the Far East Company do things, He Ping left Sun Tong behind, and now his son has joined the Jeju Island Coast Guard.

Ocean Island has completely become a military base in the Far East, mainly as a storage site for logistical materials in the Western Theater, and has also built a regular airfield and airship take-off and landing mooring sites.

In the afternoon, the Air Force Department's airship detachment flew over the Haiyang Island base, and then landed one after another on the airship mooring site on Haiyang Island.

After more than a year of training, the Air Force Department has trained more than a dozen pilots of floating airships and more than 100 ground maintenance personnel. The airship detachment participating in the war in the western part of the country will all be piloted by pilots trained by the Air Department.

Ding Weiguo stepped off the airship, exchanged pleasantries with everyone, and reported to Li Ming the situation of the airship detachment.

"This is the latest design and finalization of the 32-type semi-rigid floating airship of the big airship R&D center, and the frame, beams and trusses are all made of wood. It is 65 meters long, with a maximum diameter of 13 meters, and uses two 10.85-liter 240 hp engines. The maximum ceiling is 2,400 meters, and the maximum speed is 125 kilometers per hour in the windless state. It is equipped with two pilots and can carry eight passengers, and the maximum stay time is 6 days.

If weather permits, the aircraft detachment can always guarantee the ability of three airboats to fly over the theater of operations and one to receive maintenance standby on the ground. Carrying a variety of equipment, it carries out various tasks such as reconnaissance, communication relay, transportation of personnel and supplies, limited bombing, etc. ”

After listening to Ding Weiguo's words, everyone was very satisfied with the various numbers of the Type 32 floating airship, and if the three airships could always fly in the air above the theater, it would undoubtedly be of great help to the combat units on the ground. The role of reconnaissance capability and troop communications relay on the battlefield situation alone is immeasurable.

They also boarded four Type 32 floating airships and visited the facilities on the airships. Li Ming walked down from the airship pod with satisfaction, and smiled at Ding Weiguo: "I didn't expect the research and development speed of the big airship R&D center to be so fast, and the day when our big airship plan will be realized is not far away." Your Air Force Department is very important to the Pingliao operation plan launched by our Central Military Commission next year, and you and Li Yuancong must be prepared, because next year's skies over the two theaters will depend on the full support of your Air Force Department. ”

Ding Weiguo said loudly: "Please rest assured, commander, that all the officers and men of the Air Force Department are ready for war, and all planes and airships are in good condition and can take to the air at any time to fight." Next spring, two caravans, two helicopters, and four delta-wing aircraft, as well as all aircraft pilots, ground service personnel, supplies, and equipment, will be stationed at the Port Arthur base to provide all-round air support to all ground troops participating in the war in the Western Theater. ”

Li Ming nodded and said, "Is the strength of the air force in the Eastern Theater a little thin?" ”

Ding Weiguo said with a smile: "The operational environment in the Eastern Theater is rather complicated, and there is no suitable air force forward base. Moreover, the Eastern Theater is more engaged in movement operations, and the enemies it faces are not the elite main forces of Houjin. The main tactical intention was to annihilate the living forces in the hinterland of the rear of the Tartars, block the route of the Tartars' westward and northward flight, and form a flanking attack with the western theater.

As soon as the main force of our army arrived near the city of Fangzhou by water, it entered the combat radius of the two caravan planes of our air force, and could receive air support at any time. The land and mountain troops in the Eastern Theater basically do not need air support for the enemy they face. The combat mission of the Western Theater is more important, so our Air Force Department has invested more forces in the Western Military Region. ”

After arriving at the Haiyang Island base, the Air Force Department's airship detachment will stay here until next spring, where it will spend several months intensifying its training to adapt to the weather conditions here and making positive preparations for the Central Military Commission's Pingliao military plan next year.

A few days later, Song Tao and the special combat team returned to Lushun. Li Ming immediately summoned all the personnel of the Western Military Region to hold a military meeting in the war room of the headquarters. Song Tao reported to Li Ming on their reconnaissance in the Tatar-occupied area of Liaodong for more than a month.

"Our special combat team entered the Tatarzikong area of eastern Liaodong from the three directions of Gaizhou, the mouth of the Liaohe River and Zhenjiang Fort. Judging by our reconnaissance, the Tartars are not aware of our military offensive next spring. It was only on the front line of Gaizhou and Haizhou, as well as in Fengcheng, that some elite soldiers and horses were deployed, but judging from our reconnaissance, the Tartar garrisons in these places did not become nervous.

Most of the most elite main forces of the Tartars are stationed in the area of Liaoyang and Shenyang, and there are also many elite main forces of the Tartars stationed on the front line of Ningjin. Last year, the Tartars won the Battle of the Daling River, and the main force of the Guanning Army on the front line of the Daming Ningjin suffered heavy losses, and the garrisons of the Tartars are now generally lax in defense, and I estimate that this phenomenon will be even stricter next spring.

After the three groups of our special combat team converged, they went deep into the Shenyang area to conduct some reconnaissance before withdrawing from the Tatar-occupied area. I have a new idea for this reconnaissance operation, but once this plan is implemented, it will have an impact on the entire operational plan of our Western Military Region, and many plans will be changed accordingly. (To be continued)

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