After becoming the master, there is another problem that gives Zhang Chi a headache, that is, there will be more.

Early that morning, Zhang Chi was ordered to let him and Wang Mazi go to Gua Island for a meeting...... However, this may not be blamed on the position of "division commander", because he knows that even if he does not become a division commander, he is likely to attend this meeting.

Zhang Chi and Wang Mazi took the C47 transport plane, which has a range of 2,600 kilometers, so that it can easily carry Zhang Chi and others from Rabaul to Kuah Island.

As for escort missions...... Originally, this task was given to the "Cactus" air force, which was General Halsey's consideration of the importance of Zhang Chi and Wang Mazi, so it was strongly recommended that the P38, which had more flight experience and better combat performance and longer range, should serve as the escort mission, but in the end Zhang Chi refused.

On the one hand, this is because there is very little chance of Japanese warplanes appearing between Rabaul and Kuah at this time, unless the Japanese are also like the American army, and can intercept the American telegram and successfully decipher it, but this is almost impossible.

What's more, Zhang Chi felt that he was a Chinese, even the commander of the Chinese Air Brigade...... There were not a few people in the new 1st Division or even in the entire newly formed Seventh Army who had the experience of commanding the air force to participate in air battles and achieve victory, not even Zhang Junhua, the captain of the aviation brigade; although he had participated in the Songhu War of Resistance and commanded fighter planes to bomb the Japanese "Izumo," it was not an air battle, and it was difficult to call it a victory.

So Zhang Chi became the commander of the aviation brigade.

As a commander, if you don't trust your subordinates, how can you make your subordinates believe in yourself?!

Therefore, Zhang Chi Wanyan rejected Halsey's suggestion, and still chose to let Zhang Junhua organize the escort.

In this way, the whole Rabaul was busy......

The escort is not just an escort, the reason is that the maximum range of the "Wildcat" fighter is only more than 1,200 meters, which can only be said to be comparable to flying from Rabaul to Kuah Island, and because the cruising speed of the C47 is 260 kilometers per hour, this makes the escort of the "Wildcat" fighter must also fly at a speed of 260 kilometers per hour, so it takes more than four hours to fly more than 1,000 kilometers from Rabaul to Kuah Island, and the intensity of flying in the air for more than four hours is a bit too much for Chinese pilots. And it's not necessary either.

So Harris decided to take this opportunity to also conduct a training session on the aircraft carrier formation and the landing of fighter planes.

His plan was as follows: The aircraft carrier formation set off first and waited in the middle of the route between Rabaul and Kuah Island, so the distance was divided into two equal sections, each of which was about 500 kilometers, and the fighters were also divided into two groups, the first group was responsible for escorting the first half, and the second group was responsible for escorting the second half.

Of course, the dispatch of aircraft carriers and the escort of destroyers can also be trained, which can also be regarded as a kind of actual combat exercise.

Zhang Chi, who was sitting on C47, casually flipped through the exercise plan jointly drawn up by Zhang Junhua and Liu Guangzhong...... The plan was detailed, and they even simulated two contingencies on the way, one was to find an enemy submarine, and the other was to find an enemy group of aircraft in the air.

Zhang Chi was very satisfied with the exercise plan, because the two exercise subjects were set up to protect aircraft carriers, the former was aimed at Japanese submarines always targeting Allied aircraft carriers, and could train destroyers in anti-submarine and escort aircraft carriers. The latter is aimed at the biggest threat that can be encountered in an aircraft carrier war...... Carrier-based aircraft of the enemy.

This says at least two things:

One is that Zhang Junhua and Liu Guangzhong knew that in battle, they must first save themselves, and then destroy the enemy...... This seems to be common sense in modern times, but in this era, many people are always like the Japanese army, thinking that the best defense is to attack.

Those who hold this view always cite the victory after victory of the Japanese army on the battlefield. The reason why the Japanese army has been able to win victories again and again is not because its strategy and tactics are right, but because the gap between the combat effectiveness of the Japanese army and the Chinese army is too great, and it is a completely asymmetrical battle, and such victories are not enough to explain the problem.

Zhang Chi is very glad that Zhang Junhua does not have such thoughts.

Second, it was Zhang and Liu who knew what the focus of the aircraft carrier formation was on the battlefield, that is, the aircraft carrier.

In fact, this cannot be said to be entirely the credit of Zhang and Liu, and Harris also played a very important role in this.

On the other hand, Zhang and Liu also drew on many examples of aircraft carrier operations between the United States and Japan, such as the Battle of Midway and the Battle of Kuah Island...... Among them, especially the several aircraft carrier battles on Kuah Island, after Zhang Junhua really understood what role Zhang Chi played in the naval battle of Kuah Island, he couldn't help but say strangely: As an army officer, how can he seem to know a lot about naval and air battles? It seems that everything is under his control!

The more I thought about it, the more strange I felt, and even Zhang Junhua borrowed his own strength to find out the details of Zhang Chi...... This is not to say that Zhang Junhua suspects Zhang Chi of anything, but Zhang Junhua wants to know if Zhang Chi has studied in any military school or where he has studied before, but he can't find anything, not even Zhang Chi's family background, it's like a mystery.

However, this is not an uncommon thing in the era of war, under the massacre and aggression of the Japanese army, too many people in China do not have any archives and no family background, but Zhang Chi's identity is a little special.

Of course, Zhang Chi didn't know that Zhang Junhua was checking his background, and he was looking at the exercise plan, and he was still thinking about it at this time, and he should train this Zhang Junhua well in the future, because just like the aircraft carrier captains of the US Navy have pilot experience, Zhang Junhua is actually more suitable to be an aircraft carrier captain.

Of course, none of these things can be done in one step, you have to take your time.

After closing the exercise plan, Zhang Chi leaned back, rubbed his forehead, and then looked out the window at the blue sky and white clouds.

Thinking to myself...... The new Seventh Army, this number will actually be in his hands.

The new Seventh Army in history did not appear at this time, but after the victory of the War of Resistance Against Japan, because Chen Cheng and Sun Liren did not agree, the New First Army was dismantled into two armies, the New First Army and the New Seventh Army.

It should be said that the New Seventh Army was also declared out of the New First Army, and now it is not much different from history, but it is many years ahead of time, and it does not actually have aircraft carriers, warships, and fighters like it does now, and then it still has a head-to-head confrontation with little Japan in the Pacific theater.

Looking at the layers of white clouds drifting outside the window, Zhang Chi thought: I don't know where I will take this new Seventh Army.

(To be continued.) )