afterglow

Chapter 638: Bits and Pieces; Bleeding with a Utility Knife
"No, I won't consider it for now." Zhou Changfeng rejected the proposal for the eighth time.

"Are we going to keep wasting time until the end of time?" Zhao Hanfeng said helplessly and worriedly, "The enemy's small aircraft carriers are endless. This is not a solution."

"Don't be impatient. Just delay it. The Americans are more impatient than us."

"Ok."

Although Zhou Changfeng appeared calm, he was somewhat troubled in his heart.

Can you attack without air superiority?

Of course you can, but your movements will be greatly restricted - you will be bombed when you are gathering, bombed when you are attacking, and bombed when you are resting.

We have sufficient anti-aircraft guns and self-propelled anti-aircraft guns, so enemy aircraft cannot carry out low-altitude attacks without restraint, but the rhythm of the operation will still be seriously disrupted.

When planes came, they had to disperse and hide. After the air raid, they had to regroup, check the condition of the vehicles, and calm the frightened mules and horses, which was very time-consuming.

For example, a typical scenario:

The first echelon of our side launched an attack and successfully captured the enemy's position. At this time, the second echelon followed up, but halfway through they discovered that enemy planes were attacking. What should they do at this time?
If we force our way forward, we will surely suffer losses; if we hide immediately, the captured position may be recaptured by a counterattack by the enemy's reserve forces.

In addition, the loss of air superiority will lead to a significant increase in the rate of equipment loss.

The most typical example is trucks. For example, at the beginning of the Korean War, the logistics unit had a total of about 1300 trucks. 217 of them were destroyed by US aircraft in just one week. After that, trucks were urgently allocated from all over the country for reinforcement. In two months, another 6646 trucks were destroyed.

Considering that the technical equipment of the Ming army in Hawaii had to be transported across more than 8,000 kilometers of ocean, and the US military's sea transportation line was less than 4,000 kilometers, with the same scale of transportation capacity, the US military naturally had the advantage of geographical location.

For this reason, Zhou Changfeng firmly opposed unrealistic large-scale attacks.

Even if a phased victory was achieved, it would be meaningless. The US military would most likely seize the window of opportunity and launch a large-scale counterattack before the Ming army had completed its reorganization. That would be dangerous.

Under the current circumstances, we must preserve our strength and temporarily only use the strategy of piecemeal attack by small groups of elite infantry units.

As the sun sets in the west, another tedious day seems to be passing.

A captain staff officer handed over a freshly filled-in form as usual, which was a detailed combat log for the past twenty-four hours.

"Big Battle (Team and above): 0 times.

Small battles (squad, platoon): seven times.

Battle results: one stronghold was eliminated, two observation posts were eliminated, twelve people were killed, ten people were captured, four cars were destroyed, and two armored vehicles were destroyed.

Battle casualties: 14 killed and 51 injured.

Losses due to the air raid: five people killed, nineteen people injured, five cars that could not be repaired, four cars that could be repaired, one tank that could not be repaired, and 2,300 kilograms of food and supplies.

Losses due to shelling: 8 killed, 1 injured…"

At this time, a single-engine seaplane landed in Maalaea Bay, and then slowly stopped at the dock. The lieutenant colonel with a bag slung over his shoulder got ashore, hailed an off-road vehicle, and drove to the headquarters.

It was already late, but there were very few campfires or lights along the way. The off-road vehicles drove slowly with the lights turned off. Only at the forks and checkpoints could you see the lights with sunshades.

This was the lieutenant colonel's first time at the front. He was puzzled at first, but then he was amazed at how strict the blackout was.

Then he handed the imperial calligraphy to Zhou Changfeng in person.

He took out his pocket watch, glanced at it, and said, "At 19:20, the imperial edict arrived."

"Thank you for your hard work." Zhou Changfeng nodded and greeted with a smile: "Hurry up, you should be able to eat hot dishes."

"Resign."

Generally speaking, Zhu Lingjing would not go to the trouble of sending a special person to deliver the letter unless there was something secret that could not be disclosed.

At this critical moment in the war, what is the urgent matter?

Zhou Changfeng, who was confused, opened the envelope, took out the letter and began to read it carefully. After reading a few lines from right to left, he felt his blood pressure soaring.

He patiently read it, smiled, shook his head helplessly, then took out a lighter and lit it.

Simply put, people in the military and political circles are questioning the ongoing Battle of Maui. They don't understand why the Battle of Lanai was so smooth at the beginning of the year, but is now so difficult, dragging on for more than two months with no outcome. Some people suspect that this is Zhou's passive avoidance of war.

In addition, the British and American intelligence agencies - MI6 and the Office of Strategic Services - also played a number of negative roles, such as sowing discord and promoting the fact that Jiang and Wang were extremely talented and virtuous, or exaggerating the bad situation on the front line, and even spreading rumors that Zhou and Zhu Lingjing were having an affair.

Zhu Lingjing was quite open-minded and even joked in the letter that it was a good thing that you, Zhou, did not brag arrogantly before you set out - just like General Yuan Chonghuan who vowed to pacify Liaoning in five years, otherwise some people in the court would be more likely to find fault with you now.

This type of imperial letter would be burned after reading, and there was no need to reply.

Zhou Changfeng couldn't help but sigh that in war one must not only consider how to deal with the powerful enemy in front of one, but also beware of the villain behind one.

Although he was dissatisfied with Zhu Lingjing - she had become much more conservative and negative after he ascended the throne than before, he had to admit that this woman was reassuring most of the time.

First, don’t be suspicious and trust the people you employ; second, know yourself and don’t interfere recklessly.

These two major advantages formed a sharp contrast with some mediocre and arrogant people in the Ming Dynasty court, which made Zhou Changfeng deeply touched.

"Is there any unusual movement in the court?" Yao Liangchuan asked.

"No, there are just rumors that we are afraid of war." Zhou Changfeng put his hands on his waist and shook his head, "Forget about the councillors, those people really don't understand, they are talking to a cow. But! Some officials in the court are useless and dare to point fingers and say bad things about me, what a bunch of shit."

"People in the court who do not know how to lead their soldiers and stay out of the affairs and make decisions are too harmful and must be impeached. Our soldiers have fought bravely in the battles, how can we tolerate such slander?" Deng Siquan said calmly while smoking a cigarette.

"Recruit the sons of these guys and send them to the front line to see if they still dare to complain about this or that." Xie Wancheng, who was eating a steamed bun and fiddling with the sand table, said angrily.

Zhou Changfeng couldn't help but laugh and agreed: "This is a good idea."

As the production of escort aircraft carriers increased dramatically, the US military generously deployed these consumables to the front line.

At this moment alone, there were eleven escort aircraft carriers simultaneously carrying out missions in the Pacific Ocean between Oshima and the west coast. Six of them were acting as small offshore airports near Oshima, two were acting as aircraft transport ships to replenish fighters for Oshima, and the remaining three were patrolling along the transport line to hunt down Ming submarines.

After the Bogue-class escort aircraft carrier USS Nassau was sunk, the Ming army sank the Bogue-class Prince William in May and captured the Casablanca-class ships USS Mission Bay and USS Manila Bay in June.

The fragile escort aircraft carriers showed extremely poor survivability when faced with heavy bomb attacks, and once hit by a heavy bomb there was almost no chance of survival.

The US military itself also ridiculed the fragility of the escort aircraft carrier, because the number is CVE, which they deliberately interpreted as: combustible (flammable) - vulnerable (fragile) - expendable (non-reusable victim).

American sailors called it "an aircraft carrier with two torpedoes". After the first torpedo hit the target, the second one passed directly over the deck of the sunken aircraft carrier.

What gives the Ming Navy a headache is that there are too many of these cheap consumables, almost endless. Major American shipyards have completed 14 Casablanca-class ships in the past two months, and the remaining 27 ships are expected to be completed in the second half of the year.

The construction speed of the Casablanca class can only be described as crazy. It took eight months from the keel laying to the launching of the first ship to the commissioning, and then gradually dropped to four months. The shortest construction period in history, the Bougainville (CVE-100), took 50 days to complete, and all ships ordered by the Navy were delivered within a year.

【Picture】

Therefore, the US military did not care about the loss of these consumables at all. The number of escort aircraft carriers deployed near the big island was maintained at six. If one was destroyed, one would be replaced, and if two were destroyed, two would be replaced.

As for the precious fleet aircraft carriers, they were kept away from Hawaii to avoid being attacked and suffering unnecessary losses.

The next day, the sun was shining brightly.

As soon as one person left, another one arrived. The lieutenant colonel who came to deliver the imperial pen had just left by seaplane, and two more people came from the mainland.

As soon as the tall and thin engineering man met him, he said anxiously, "It's urgent, General Zhou! Please help me!"

"Who's been invited to tea again?" Zhou Changfeng, with a frown on his face, could guess what it was about.

Another Air Force civilian major saluted helplessly and explained, "The chief engineer of the Xuanniao Factory has been taken away for questioning. The production line is being debugged and prepared for operation. We can't delay for a single day at this critical juncture."

"Okay, I understand. Do you have a guarantee?"

"Have!"

After that, the major handed over a document envelope, which contained a letter of guarantee signed by many people. There were more than a dozen red handprints and signatures at the end of the document.

Zhou Changfeng took a look at it, then took out a special pardon note from his personal briefcase and wrote the chief engineer's name on it.

"There are many people who like to take advantage of others' misfortunes, so you should be careful with your words," he said.

"Alas, the higher the position you hold, the more people will be watching your words and actions," the major sighed.

Afterwards, the two exhausted men thanked and left without stopping.

It was called a pardon note, but in fact it was just the emperor's usual note - not even official paper. It had some words scribbled on it and a big bright red seal on it.

Zhu Lingjing casually picked up a small stack of notes, a total of about twenty sheets.

At first, she wrote down the complete sentence "This person should not be detained for investigation for the time being, pardon him immediately, and restore him to his original job" in a serious manner. Later, she was too lazy to write more and just omitted it to "release him and restore him to his original job".

After watching the two leave, Zhou Changfeng counted the remaining notes and complained, "How many times has this happened? I'm almost out of notes."

In the 1th year of Zhichang, when the Hawaiian Air War of Attrition just began, the air combat exchange ratio between the Ming Army and the U.S. Army was basically 1:40. At this time, the main force of the Ming Army was the Type C, and the main force of the U.S. Army Aviation was the P-B.

After that, the fighter jets of both sides were gradually updated, but there was no performance gap, and the exchange ratio remained at 1:1. At this time, the main force of the Ming army was the Type 40 Ding, and the main force of the US Army Aviation was the P-D/E.

It was not until the end of last year that the US military deployed the P-51A, but because it accounted for a small proportion, its overall impact was not obvious. During this period, the Ming army also began to use the Type J-type.

Due to limited airport capacity, in order to maximize the combat effectiveness of the air force, the US military gradually stopped replenishing the mediocre P-40E, replacing them all with P-51 and F4U, and rotating pilots back to the country for adaptive training.

Now, more than half a year has passed. With the increasing proportion of new aircraft in the US military and the popularization of No. 150 high-quality aviation gasoline, the air combat exchange ratio between the United States and Ming Dynasty is no longer balanced. In the past two months, it has gradually increased to 3.2:1 and has stabilized.

In order to protect the sea transport lines from indiscriminate air attacks, the Hawaiian Ming Air Force had to persist in attacking, competing with US fighter jets for air supremacy and intercepting bombers.

People shed blood every day, but fortunately the losses can be replenished in time.

In the first half of the second year of Jinghe, major local aircraft companies in the Ming Dynasty produced a number of aircraft equivalent to the entire year last year, and the total number this year is expected to reach 2.4.

Deutsche Welle, Hungary, the Czech Republic and Slovenia expect production to be 3.2 aircraft this year, which may be slightly lower than expected considering changes in production lines.

The UK's aircraft production has been relatively stable, with an estimated 2.6 aircraft this year; the US's aircraft production has almost doubled compared to last year, with an estimated 8.8 aircraft this year; and Canada has also manufactured thousands of aircraft.

Airplanes are actually just slightly higher-end consumables. There are so many of them that you can never use them up. They are not as valuable as qualified pilots.

Under the Riverdale Cooperative Training Agreement, bases in Canada can provide 5 crew members for the Commonwealth forces each year; the US military is not far behind, with wartime training programs and national pilot programs providing 9.5 crew members each year.

The Ming Air Force was not short of pilots. After the training time was reduced from the pre-war standard of 250 hours to a more reasonable 210 hours, qualified pilots graduated at a faster rate than they were lost.

【Picture】

What’s interesting is that the number of pilot deaths during training is far greater than those who died in combat. In the first half of the year, the Ming army lost more than a thousand pilots due to training accidents, and the U.S. military on the other side of the ocean lost twice as many pilots.

Historically, during the war, as many as 1.5 US military pilots died in training, and 1 died in non-combat accidents.

The war of attrition between the great powers is bottomless. It can be said that Hawaii has greatly limited the intensity of the struggle between Ming and the United States - there are only a few airports in total, and there is an upper limit on the aircraft deployed to the front line, so the loss rate is much lower than the manufacturing rate.

Figuratively speaking, it is like two adults cutting each other's fingers with a utility knife, one of them eating a tonic soup, and the other eating a family bucket of cola and fried chicken, and the bleeding and blood circulation are not proportional at all.

In order to reverse the situation, the Ming Air Force currently has high hopes for the SX-102 high-performance fighter jet that was rebuilt by the Shangxing Company, believing that it has the ability to fight against the Mustang.

However, before that, in order to reduce the loss of veteran pilots, the Ming Air Force also required the rapid design and mass production of an emergency fighter that paid special attention to protection and did not pursue a long range, and was used exclusively for the Hawaiian air war of attrition.

The two people who just left came for this purpose. This type of fighter jet was designed and ready for production in just three and a half months, setting a record for the fastest time.

(End of this chapter)