Bright Sword: The Flowers of War

Chapter 263 Counterattack
Baiyang Airport, more than 200 kilometers away from Yichang

A sense of despair spread like a plague through the base of the Japanese 90th Air Squadron.

The tense atmosphere at the airport was so oppressive that it was almost suffocating.

The pilots no longer gathered together to boast about their achievements or play cards as usual. Instead, they sat in twos and threes in the stuffy flight tents, silent and staring blankly at the ground.

The air was filled with the sour smell of engine oil, sweat, and failure.

Occasionally, the oppressive silence would be broken by a sudden argument, and pilots would even fight like wild beasts over a single word, until others were exhausted and pulled them apart.

The shadow of failure loomed over everyone's heart.

Finally, this suppressed emotion erupted.

Several of the most senior and longest-serving pilots and officers could no longer endure the torment. With livid faces, they rushed to the command tent of Colonel Kenji Yamamoto, the squadron leader.

"Your Majesty Colonel!"

The lead lieutenant, without even giving prior notice as required by procedure, his voice hoarse and angry, demanded an explanation! Why! Why did the battle turn out like this?

Another young pilot, his eyes red and his voice trembling, questioned, "In less than a week, our squadron has lost nearly half of its aircraft and pilots."

Half...our comrades, like moths to a summer sun, crashed headlong into the muzzle of Chinese cannons! Were their lives so worthless?

Faced with his subordinate's almost roaring questioning, Yamamoto Kenji was speechless.

His tall frame appeared somewhat hunched over, and the muscles in his face twitched slightly.

How could he not want to know the answer?
These days he thinks about this problem every day, replaying those brutal air battle scenes in his mind over and over again.

But the conclusion he reached sent a chill and a shiver down his spine.

The Zero fighter, the pride of the Imperial Japanese Air Force, a newly developed aircraft that he once thought could dominate Asia... has actually become outdated.

No, it's not just about being backward.

The opposing air force, the one designated "Pirates," seemed to know everything about the Zero.

They never engaged in dogfights with the Zero, but instead used a fighter jet he had never seen before, with terrifying speed, to swoop down from higher and farther skies like eagles.

One strike, just one strike.

Their machine guns were incredibly powerful; a fragile Zero fighter would disintegrate and explode in mid-air like a paper lantern if it was hit by just a few shots.

When his pilots tried to retaliate, the enemy planes always managed to roar back up into the sky with their terrifying power and disappear without a trace, leaving the Zero fighters circling in vain below.

Not only that, they even devised a scissor tactic, where two planes chased each other like swallows biting each other's tails. If a Japanese plane tried to attack one of them, the other would attack it without mercy, causing the Japanese plane to be overwhelmed and eventually shot down.

This was not a battle; it was a one-sided massacre.

The enemy seems to have specifically trained a set of tactics to counter the Zero, a deadly tactic that completely neutralizes the Zero's strengths while infinitely amplifying its weaknesses.

The thought sent a shiver down Kenji Yamamoto's spine. He felt a cold sweat trickle down his back. A terrible idea took shape in his mind.

These Chinese were almost intimately familiar with the Zero's performance... no... the enemy knew the Zero's strengths and weaknesses even better than they did, and had even developed tactics specifically targeting them.

A crazy idea flashed through Kenji Yamamoto's mind: he would immediately send a telegram to headquarters! Requesting them to stop production of the Type 0 immediately!
No, it's not just about stopping production; it's about starting from scratch immediately and designing a new fighter jet that can rival, or even surpass, the "Pirates." Otherwise, the Empire's skies will be completely lost!
Unfortunately, the thought only flashed through my mind.

He knew very well that once the telegram containing such treasonous remarks was sent, he would not be rewarded, but rather face a military court trial.

He would be seen as a coward terrified by the enemy, a madman who undermines morale.

He took a deep breath, forcibly suppressing the turmoil of fear and anxiety churning within him.

He looked at the pilots in front of him, who were on the verge of losing control of their emotions, and instead of getting angry, he comforted them in a tired but still gentle tone.

"Gentlemen, I understand your feelings."

The warriors of the Empire should not suffer such pointless sacrifices.

He tried to make his voice sound gentler. "I have reported our predicament, as well as the enemy's new fighter jets and tactics, in detail to the Air Corps Command."

Please believe that the Empire's high command will not stand idly by while we sacrifice ourselves. Reinforcements and new tactical guidance will arrive soon!

He painted a pie in the sky that even he didn't believe in, using empty promises to numb these young people on the verge of collapse.

He knew very well that if the pilots were to cause another mutiny or similar scandal at this point, his time as squadron leader would be over.

Just as Yamamoto Kenji had finally managed to calm the pilots down temporarily with lies and authority, allowing them to disperse, a heart-wrenching, piercing alarm suddenly ripped through the airspace above the airport!

"Woo..."

Everyone instinctively looked up and saw a large, dark mass of aircraft that had appeared on the western horizon at some unknown time.

That wasn't the Zero they were familiar with, nor any of the Imperial aircraft they had ever seen before!

"pirate"

"They were pirates."

And...those with bombs hanging from their bellies, those are bombers!

Before they could even recover from their shock, the lead dive bomber let out a deathly shriek, nose down, and with a destructive intent, hurtled straight for the ground! Instantly, the entire Baiyang Airport was transformed into a fiery inferno.

"Boom...boom..."

Bombs fell like hailstones, exploding into huge fireballs on the runway, beside the hangar, and in the fuel depot.

Explosions rang out one after another, deafeningly loud. A hail of bullets and shrapnel rained down like the scythe of death, mercilessly reaping the terrified crowd on the ground.

The pilots, those proud sons of the skies who had just been protesting against him, were now as fragile as ants in the storm of steel.

They ran and fell amidst a hail of bullets, their bodies torn to pieces.

Anti-aircraft machine guns and cannons around the airport roared desperately, spitting futile tongues of fire into the air in an attempt to weave a net of fire to block them.

But the planes in the sky were exceptionally agile, like birds of prey toying with their prey, easily weaving through the dense hail of bullets, pulling up, and then diving down again to bring a new wave of death.

What was just a short ten minutes felt like an eternity to those on the ground.

As the last "Pirate" aircraft contentedly flapped its wings and disappeared into the horizon, the vast Baiyang Airport was completely paralyzed.

The runway was riddled with craters, all the hangars were on fire, and almost all the planes that hadn't taken off, whether intact or awaiting repair, were destroyed, turning into piles of black-smoking scrap metal.

The pilots were mostly killed or wounded, and the survivors were mostly injured, sitting dejectedly in the ruins, many of them weeping loudly.

As Kenji Yamamoto crawled out of the rubble, he stared blankly at the fighter jets that had been reduced to a pile of scrap metal. He knew that the 90th Fighter Squadron... was finished.

When this devastating news reached the ears of Lieutenant General Kazuo Sonobe, commander of the Japanese 11th Army, less than two months into his new post, the commander was so enraged that he swept everything off his table and roared like a wild beast, nearly going insane on the spot.

Yichang Bell Tower Command Post.

When the communications soldier handed Su Yaoyang the telegram confirming the final battle results sent by Cheng Rufeng, a tense silence still permeated the entire command post.

Everyone held their breath, awaiting the final verdict.

Su Yaoyang's gaze quickly swept over the numbers on the telegram:
"Confirmed to have destroyed or damaged 56 Japanese aircraft of various types, including 22 Zero fighters... The airport runway, control tower, fuel depot, ammunition depot... were all destroyed... Preliminary estimates indicate that the Japanese 90th Air Squadron has lost all combat capability, with more than half of its personnel killed or wounded..."

After reading the telegram, Su Yaoyang couldn't help but smile. Finally, he couldn't hold back any longer and let out a hearty laugh.

"Hahaha! Good! Well done!"

His laughter was like a bomb going off, instantly igniting the atmosphere in the entire command center.

"We won! We won!"

"Those damn Japanese army corps have finally been crippled by us!"

"Long live!"

The staff officers, who had been holding back for so long, erupted in a thunderous cheer, with some of the younger officers even throwing their hats into the air in excitement.

The chief of staff pushed up his glasses, his eyes behind the lenses gleaming with excitement, but he maintained the composure of a professional soldier. He walked to the huge sand table and said to everyone, "Gentlemen, quiet down! The significance of this victory is far greater than we imagined!"

He picked up a wooden pole and pointed it at Yichang.

"The annihilation of the 90th Fighter Squadron means that, at least for the next one to two months, Sonobe and Ichiro's 11th Army has completely lost its ability to threaten us in the air. They have become blind and crippled!"

One staff officer said with some concern, "They can bring in planes from other places!"

The section chief smiled, a hint of disdain in his smile.

I've told you to read more books for ages, but you just wouldn't listen.

Do you think the Japanese Army Air Force is run by the Sonobe and Ichiro family?
Each air force unit has its own fixed combat mission and defense zone, just like a radish in its own hole.

Are you asking the commander in Wuhan to transfer planes to Yichang? Or are you asking Yoshio Shinotsuka in North China to give him the planes? What about the others still wanting to fight? As for transferring planes from the mainland…”

The operations chief drew out his words and lightly tapped the map with his command stick.

“The aircraft takes time to manufacture, the new pilots need time to train, and the transport from the mainland takes even more time! This whole process will take at least a month or two; Sonobe and Ichiro won't see a single thing! So…”

He looked at Su Yaoyang, his eyes filled with admiration and excitement.

"In other words, from this moment on, the skies over Yichang belong entirely to us!"

Su Yaoyang nodded in satisfaction. He stood up from his chair, walked to the sand table, picked up the small blue flag representing his own troops, and planted it heavily in the core position of the Japanese defense line.

"Section Chief Lan is right."

Sonobe Kazuichiro is now like a tiger whose teeth and claws have been pulled out.

He looked around at everyone, his voice not loud, but full of determination, "Now, it's our turn to take the stage."

"Order!"

Su Yaoyang's eyes flashed with a cold killing intent. "Huang Guantao's Second Regiment, and all artillery units, prepare for a general offensive! I want to wipe the 13th and 47th Regiments off the map within three days!"

"Yes!"

Inside the command post, a unified roar rang out once again.

(End of this chapter)