"Thirty groups of pilots, thirty groups of logistical personnel, plus two and a half million dollars."

Looking at the list of offers from the other side, the lieutenant colonel American officer fell into deep thought.

This price is really not low.

No, it's a lion's mouth.

With $25 million, the monthly salary of a grassroots army soldier is $50, and the basic monthly salary of a fighter pilot is $150, which is intuitively equivalent to 20 tons of gold.

Of course, the actual price is definitely not this amount.

Then there were thirty groups of pilots, a total of ninety people, and thirty groups of logistics personnel, a total of three hundred.

The logistics staff said that it was okay to throw it into the maintenance office.

But ninety fighter pilot training is also not cheap.

Pilot training takes a long time and is divided into three steps, general aviation subject training, junior flight school training, the next step of C-level flight school training, and finally fifty hours of instrument flight.

The whole journey takes about nine months to a year, 300 hours of flight time, and the average cost per person is between 50,000 and 100,000 US dollars.

In other words, the other party is asking for about $30 million.

"How long does it take for us to research this technology ourselves? How much research funding is needed? ”

The lieutenant colonel's eyes flashed, and he looked at the other major.

Although the United States has money, and it is now a time of war, the ticket is even bigger, 30 million US dollars is really not much, and the other side also said that it can be deducted with machinery and equipment or materials, excluding profits, in fact, it is lower.

Compared with the tens of billions of concession bills, it is really not much.

But using dozens of catties of paper materials for 30 million US dollars, this always feels like a blood loss, like being slaughtered as a pig.

"It's hard to estimate accurately."

The major understands technology and has also participated in the military's research project management, and he spreads his hands together:

"I've seen a little, the technology of making this shell is very low, and the difficulty lies in the theory, which is completely a new theory of fluid mechanics, and we don't even know the basis at the moment."

"And."

Then, the Major said in a somewhat agitated tone:

"This is completely a new military technology system, and there is great potential for subsequent development."

Hearing this, the corners of the lieutenant colonel's mouth twitched.

Well, it's a complete seller's market, a monopoly, and it is estimated that the follow-up bargaining will not be too smooth.

"Send it to the country."

The lieutenant colonel sighed.

There is no need to increase the volume of the chamber, there is no need to lengthen the barrel, and only a small improvement in the shells can increase the range of the cannon by 120 to 30 percent, so there is no need to say much about such technical importance.

Not to mention the beginning of a new military-technical system.

"Strange."

The major was puzzled:

"There are detailed experimental data in these technical documents, where did they get them?"

Before the other lieutenant colonel could respond, the door was opened, and an American in his forties walked in, not dressed in civilian clothes, with eyes, and clearly not a military man.

"Dr. Aiken, how's it going?"

The lieutenant colonel asked directly.

Their main purpose this time was to investigate a kind of animal power here, what kind of big mule is called, and the extended-range bomb is just an accident. The doctor of animal husbandry, who works with the military, is the main person in charge.

"It's much better than what the information says."

Dr. Aiken's tone with eyes was thick with horror:

"I suggest that you immediately order equipment in large quantities for the mountain division."

The major and lieutenant colonel officers in the room were startled at the same time.

Before coming, this Dr. Aiken swore that the information was false, it was completely impossible, and he had the same attitude before going out in the morning.

Not even a small batch test, requiring direct large-scale equipment?

Seeing the attitudes of the two officers, Dr. Aiken emphasized:

"In the last war, if the Germans had been equipped with such mules in large quantities, then Europe would already be theirs."

"Walter?"

"Walter!"

Both of them were shocked at the same time.

Dr. Aiken was also a lieutenant officer in the army during the last war, and he only retired after the war, so the words that came out of his mouth made the two of them feel incredible.

And after Dr. Aiken explained why, the two officers also wrote this in a telegram, and after several relays, sent it back to the continental United States.

······

The other side.

in the room of the logistics department.

"It's okay for us to ask for such a high price, right?"

Zhang Wanhe asked Zhao Gang, and his tone was a little nervous.

Originally, Minister Zhang meant that after the pilot training, it would be enough to ask for another eight million dollars, and even the bottom frame in his heart was five million dollars, where did he think that Zhao Gang would directly increase the amount by more than three times as soon as he came, and of course, the low price has also increased a lot.

As soon as the price of $25 million came out, Zhang Wanhe instantly felt that his back and scalp began to tingle.

"No problem."

Zhao Gang's tone was relaxed, even a little regretful.

He has read some of the extended-range ammunition materials, and the most important thing in them is not the manufacturing technical data, but the corresponding technical principles, fluid mechanics, shell fluid mechanics, and so on.

According to what is said in it, a Bofors 75 shell, with a maximum charge, has an actual range of only 30 percent, and there is still a lot of potential to be tapped.

If it weren't for the low voice on his side, he could have asked for a higher price.

"How's the pilot Miaozi preparing?"

Zhao Gang then asked.

When he was in the tank business, Boss Chen made it clear that the aircraft was also fast, and he would directly provide two models of fighters and attack aircraft comparable to the world's top, so he contacted his superiors early in the morning to prepare flight talents and find opportunities to train pilots.

"It's all set."

"Ninety pilots and 300 logistics personnel are all good seedlings with a cultural foundation, more than half of them are college students, and the rest also have a foundation in English, all of which came out of the Kang Da training class."

Zhang Wanhe replied with a smile.

The army is getting stronger and stronger, and there are more and more examples of war, especially the rescue of disaster victims, which is a great bonus to fame, and now more and more intellectual and cultural young people are defecting to the base area, so they can come up with so many outstanding talents at one time.

"Okay."

Zhao Gang's eyes lit up.

"I'll set up a shell fuse factory over there first."

Zhao Gang continued:

"You can start preparing to organize a production line for 120 mortar shells, and the production capacity of the rest of the mortar shells can also be expanded."

"Really?"

"Great."

Zhang Wanhe's eyes lit up.

On the side of the arsenal, with the technical guidance from Zhao Jiayu, several earthen blast furnaces here have been improved many times, coupled with the detailed mineral points on the 'map', and now the daily output of cast iron is more than 200 tons, and cast iron is not good for guns, but there is no problem at all when used to make mortar shells.

The explosives were also solved, and the independent regiment was able to transport more than a dozen tons of explosives every day.

But the biggest trouble is the fuze, the production of shell fuses is very troublesome, and his side can only produce in very small batches, and the quality is unstable, resulting in the production of shells has not been able to rise.

As long as the fuze problem is solved, the self-produced shells can be increased tenfold.

The next day.

On the other side of the American ranks.

Telegram quickly came back:

The big mules continued to follow the original plan, first sending 300 horses to the Italian battlefield for testing, and as for the extended-range projectiles, they would wait for the detailed information to be studied and discussed in China before making a decision.

Looking at the domestic telegram, the corners of Dr. Aiken's mouth twitched.

Such a high-quality is simply an incredible big mule giving away three hundred horses for nothing, and he feels that this guy, who is nicknamed Tubalu, definitely has a conspiracy.

······

A week later.

Taiyuan.

Inside the headquarters of the 1st Army.

Yoshio Shinozuka returned to his throne and breathed a long sigh of relief.

Although he was reluctant before, when he really sat in this position and held tens of thousands of troops, the reluctance in his heart suddenly disappeared, and he was even glad that he did not firmly refuse before.

Lieutenant General is just a military rank, what really matters is that he holds the army and has real power.

"What about the airport losses?"

Yoshio Shinozuka asked the staff officer who entered the door.

The staff officer who came in was an old staff officer, and his position was not low, and when he saw Yoshio Shinozuka, he couldn't help but smile on his face - among so many generals he had come into contact with, only Yoshio Shinozuka rarely slapped the staff officer.

"The captain of the flight group is broken, twelve hangars and warehouses have collapsed, all the planes have been damaged, only three reconnaissance planes have survived, five pilots have broken jade, and there are five people left, and there is no fuel at present."

The staff officer replied with a bowed head.

"According to the previous order, let the airport garrison brigade go to Pan County."

Yoshio Shinozuka waved his hand.

It was Yoshimoto's order to mobilize the airport garrison brigade to Panxian, but Yoshimoto was dead, so he didn't bother to change his previous order. And this order is not bad, anyway, the airport has been abolished.

Yoshio Shinozuka knew very well that in order to deal with the air fleet of the government and the Americans, for the sake of the No. 1 operation plan, it was impossible for him to get planes and fuel replenishment.

'Hi. ’

After the staff officer left, Yoshio Shinozuka picked up the phone:

"Pick me up General Yamamoto of Heian Prefecture."

Kazuki Yamamoto's voice soon came from the other side of the phone:

"General."

Yamamoto's voice was full of surprise.

Although Yoshimoto is really good to Yamamoto, in Yamamoto's heart, Yoshio Shinozuka is the best boss and the most suitable imperial general to deal with Li Yunlong. It's his eternal boss.

"Yamamoto-kun."

Yoshio Shinozuka's tone was also joyful:

"Next, a large amount of reinforced concrete will be transported from the northeast, and all of it will be given to you."

After studying the intelligence of the recent independent regiment, Yoshio Shinozuka always felt that things were not good, Li Yunlong was definitely looking at the layout of Ping'an County, and Li Yunlong should also be able to guess Yamamoto's plan, not to mention which Chen Fan provided information.

Li Yunlong must have been prepared to deal with it.

There is a high probability that Yamamoto's interspersed attack plan is difficult to complete.

Those four strongholds are estimated to be unable to stop Li Yunlong's attack, and in the end, Li Yunlong will definitely attack Ping'an County.

But the reinforcements that General Gangmura promised him have not yet come, and he can't spare much reinforcements to support him now, but fortunately, there is a batch of reinforced concrete from the northeast side to him, and Yoshio Shinozuka will give it all to Yamamoto.

"Thank you, General."

Yamamoto Kazuki's tone has obviously improved a lot.

"We must focus on strengthening the defense of the county, so that the key fortifications can be immune to 150 heavy artillery."

Yoshio Shinozuka raised his tone:

"We must keep Li Yunlong and his army out of the Zhengtai Railway."

As long as Ping'an County was in the hands of the imperial army, Li Yunlong and his independent regiment would not be able to threaten the Zhengtai Railway, the lifeline of the First Army, on a large scale.

"Hey."

Yamamoto bowed his head should be.

Yoshio Shinozuka's thoughts in his heart, Yamamoto Kazuki and Shinji Kosa, who had been fighting Li Yunlong for a long time, were naturally very clear, but at that time, the two really couldn't think about dealing with this problem.

"General, I have one more thing."

Finally, Kazuki Yamamoto reported on the recently collected supplies:

"In the past ten days, Ping'an County, Panxian County, Yuxian County and other counties around the Zhengtai Railway under the military management have obtained a total of 15,000 tons of sugar, 20,000 tons of various fine grains, and 30,000 tons of various coarse grains, you can see ·····."

"So much?"

Yoshio Shinozuka was taken aback, and his face was solemn.

A long time ago, he knew that these materials were deliberately released by Li Yunlong, but he couldn't think of a reason, and now there are more and more, and in just ten days, nearly 70,000 tons of materials have been collected.

7,000 tons a day.

And that's just the Imperial Army.

Obviously, the materials flowing out of the independent regiment were definitely promoted by Li Yunlong.

What the hell is he trying to do?

It seems that Li Yunlong deliberately gave food to the imperial army, so as not to reduce their troops because of insufficient food. Shaking his head, Yoshio Shinozuka threw out this outrageous thought.

"Li Yunlong has occupied Heyuan County, and there are more channels for materials to flow out."

Yamamoto's explanation confirms Yoshio Shinozuka's speculation:

"And its base is completely laissez-faire towards caravans, any material can come and go at will, and even the imperial merchants turn a blind eye."

"Hmm."

After a long time, Yoshio Shinozuka said:

"Intensify the collection."

They know it's a conspiracy, it's a trick, it's poison, but what can they do?

What can the First Army do?

Offense? In the mountainous area of northwest Shanxi Province, where Li Yunlong is located, there is a large group of deep fortifications with more than 100 mountain artillery, and with the current strength of the First Army, even if all of them are dispatched, they will not be able to defeat them.

Retreat is also impossible.

Therefore, knowing that it is poison, I can only grit my teeth and swallow it. And he swallows as much as the other party releases.

"Hey."

Yamamoto bowed his head should be.

······

"Hahaha..."

At the same time, Li Yunlong looked at the news from the inside line lurking in various counties, and smiled very happily:

"The speed at which the little devils are mobilizing new recruits has accelerated."

"It seems that our strategy of increasing the output of materials is right."

Zhao Gang also said with a smile.

The more devils outside, the more the independent regiment will gain in the future.

It's not just a devil with a one-ton tank quota, a hundred tons of grain, twenty tons of fuel, eleven tons of reinforced concrete, and to thirty thousand, there is a large hospital and medicines.

And after reaching 40,000, there are still good things, although the details are not written, but the price is bound to be not low.

As for whether the independent regiment can eat it.

There's nothing wrong with this.

Ping'an County, Pan County, Yu County and Niangziguan Railway Station are surrounded by plains, tank troops, half-track armored vehicle units can gallop at will, when the time comes, face a hundred tanks, hundreds of half-track armored vehicles, the devils gathered here·····

According to Boss Chen's words, it is a ripe leek.

"Speaking of which..."

Li Yunlong took out another stack of documents:

"This time, Brother Chen gave me a lot of good things."

Just now, Li Yunlong contacted Chen Fan in exchange for tanks and tracked armored vehicles, and he got a lot of good things for free.

Zhao Gang looked over and saw the information on the first page, and immediately frowned:

"Transport ship Awa Maru route..."