Great Power Long Sky

In the maintenance hangar of the East China Sea Air Base, the J-7E fighter jet No. 037, which had just experienced a long-range flight and rigorous training, sat quietly, as if one could still smell the battle atmosphere from three days ago.

Li Lu was intently leaning over the left side of the fighter jet, meticulously sketching the overhead outlines of the U-2 and P-3 reconnaissance aircraft with his paintbrush, each stroke showing exceptional focus.

Not far away, An Min and Wang Bicheng were squatting next to the dismantled tail section, carefully examining it. Peng Fei stood to the side with his hands behind his back. All three of them had slightly furrowed brows and were silently thinking about the next repair plan.

The tip of the tail is missing, with a section of about 30 centimeters missing. The metal at the break point shows some twisting and deformation.

After Li Lu finished drawing the outline of the airplane, he slowly walked down the gangway, stepped back a few paces to examine his work from a distance, and then nodded in satisfaction.

Xue Shuang and Chen Qi, standing not far away with their arms crossed, were watching with smiles as the J-7E No. 037, which had just achieved two combat victories, was now at work.

One of its achievements was inheriting the legacy of the deceased J-6 Modified No. 101.

Xue Shuang said, "Old Li, your 'surgical' tactic is impressive, but it's a tactic that the Russians used first. It's time to come up with some new tricks."

Li Lu scoffed and replied, "If we don't make physical contact with the fuselage, are we going to use the cannons? Is someone gossiping behind our backs again? Let him try it himself if he dares."

"Haha, you were right." Xue Shuang laughed loudly. "Ou Dewei from the Second Company said that you only pick up what the Soviets have already used and don't take the army's equipment seriously."

"The Su-27 has twin vertical tails, so if one fails, there's another one, giving it a high degree of safety redundancy."

Upon hearing this, Li Lu suddenly realized: "So it's that kid Ou Dewei... He's from my hometown in Guangdong. We enlisted in the army and went to the unit in the same year. Back in flight school, I was always ranked first and he was always ranked second. He always wanted to surpass me, but he was still second until graduation."

"Later, I became the acting company commander, while he was directly appointed as the company commander. I still don't understand why he was just an acting commander and then officially appointed?"

Chen Qi suddenly interjected with a laugh: "He was second in flight school, and he was still the second squadron leader in the army... Sixth Brother, now I understand why you always called him 'Second Brother'—it meant 'eternal second place'!"

"Hahaha! That's right, that's exactly what I mean." Li Lu couldn't help but burst into laughter.

Xue Shuang then lowered her voice and said, "I heard that Ou Dewei has an uncle who works in the military region."

Li Lu and Chen Qi were both taken aback. The former pressed, "Military region leaders?"

Xue Shuang nodded: "It must be a leader. Last time, when the head of the Air Force of the Military Region came to inspect, he even had a private talk with him before leaving."

"You noticed such details?" Li Lu asked, somewhat surprised.

Xue Shuang smiled slightly: "Who am I? My comrades in my old unit called me 'Hearers of the Wind' and 'Eyes of a Thousand Miles,' because keen observation has always been one of my strengths."

Li Lu scoffed, "What 'all-seeing ears and all-hearing eyes'? You're just a gossip."

"Go to hell!" Xue Shuang cursed angrily.

Li Lu immediately retorted with a laugh: "I'll give you a piece of my mind, what are you pretending to be from the capital for, you 'Hong Kong West local'?"

Chen Qi grinned as he watched the two brothers banter.

Over there, Peng Fei waved and said, "Xiao Li, come over here."

The three of them quickly ran over and stood at attention.

Peng Fei pointed to the tail and said, "It's missing a piece. We either need to apply for a replacement or find a way to fix it. Xiao Li, it's your plane, what do you say?"

Chen Qi subconsciously said, "The flight log doesn't mention any parts being damaged enough to need replacement. It'll be difficult to get a report approved, won't it?"

Xue Shuang shook her head and said, "It's not a question of whether it's easy or difficult to approve, but rather the possibility of being held accountable."

The flight log did not mention that the vertical tail of the J-7E No. 037 was damaged and needed to be replaced. If a report were submitted, it would bring up the dogfight in the sea and air east of the island.

Li Lu's idea was to handle it discreetly; he didn't care about merit or anything like that, he only cared about the kill record on the aircraft.

He frowned and asked, "Old squad leader, will it be difficult to repair?"

Peng Fei said, "It's definitely not as good as the original."

Anmin and Wang Bicheng nodded in agreement, indicating that they shared the same opinion.

Li Lu walked to the broken section, squatted down, and examined it carefully.

After a while, Li Lu said, "If it's repaired, it might not be worse than the original."

He looked at Xue Shuang and Chen Qi and said, "The J-7E has a problem with aerodynamic coupling resonance. If we add some reinforcing ribs to the vertical tail, is it possible to solve this problem?"

The aerodynamic coupling resonance problem is an inherent defect caused by the double delta wing aerodynamic layout of the J-7E. This problem cannot be completely eliminated, but it can be alleviated by adjusting flight control parameters and strengthening the structure.

The J-7E's user manual explicitly states that the throttle should not be reduced while afterburner is engaged; afterburner must be turned off before reducing the throttle further to avoid aerodynamic coupling resonance.

Before Xue Shuang and Chen Qi could answer, Li Lu had figured it out. He quickly said, "Yes, we can try reinforcing the tail section, adding a few thin steel bars or something. Let's do that, I'll handle it!"

Without saying a word, he rolled up his sleeves, went to the tools area, looked at them for a while, and then picked up a hammer.

Xue Shuang and An Min stared wide-eyed.

They had been transferred to the 7th Air Regiment for less than three months, unlike Peng Fei, Wang Bicheng, and Chen Qi, who were quite calm, because they didn't understand the situation.

Li Lu turned back, stood beside the broken end of the hammer, put it down, spat twice into his palm, rubbed his hands together, and then picked up the hammer again.

He raised the hammer high and smashed it down on the deformed part of the fracture.

"eighty!"

"eighty!"

"eighty!"

……

Li Lu would shout "Eighty!" with each smash.

Xue Shuang was stunned. He murmured, "Qiqi, Old Li can repair airplanes? And he's eighty-eight, what kind of work number is that?"

Chen Qi looked annoyed and said, "Captain Xue, you can call me by my name or Xiao Chen, but please don't call me Qiqi like Sixth Brother does. It sounds really awkward."

"Oh, okay." Xue Shuang's attention was entirely on Li Lu, who was wielding a hammer.

Chen Qi explained, "In the first month after Sixth Brother joined the army, he learned to repair airplanes from Sergeant Peng. He said that a pilot who can't repair airplanes is not a good pilot."

Lowering his voice, Chen Qi said, "Why does everyone call him Sixth Brother? Because Sixth Brother is amazing, he knows everything. As for 'eighty-eighty,' we don't really understand it either, it probably means 'comfortable.'"

Xue Shuang subconsciously said, "He's not from Sichuan, so what's with the 'Ba Shi'? He should be shouting 'Eighty'."

"Who cares? It's just a work number, just like 'one, two, one'," Chen Qi said.

Before long, the deformed part of the fracture was hammered back into place. The hammer wasn't an iron hammer, but a wooden one, which had fewer side effects and was specifically designed for repairing aircraft.

Xue Shuang was stunned and exclaimed, "Old Li, you really know how to fix airplanes!"

Li Lu let out a breath, pointed at Wang Bicheng, and said, "Old Wang is just a professional technician; otherwise, his skill level wouldn't be as good as mine."

Wang Bicheng said with a smile, "That's right, Sixth Brother is very skilled in mechanical repair. His understanding of avionics systems and their development direction is much higher than ours."

Li Lu smiled and waved his hand, "Revolutionary soldiers don't do that kind of flattery; they're all here to protect their country. Try adding a few 0.3-centimeter steel bars inside and fix the tail."

Wang Bicheng said, "Yes, Sixth Brother, don't worry, leave the rest to us."

Peng Fei said with a smile, "I'll weld on the anchor to increase the strength as much as possible."

Li Ludao said, "After it's done, I'll test fly it a few times. If there are no problems, I won't need to apply to replace the vertical stabilizer, which will save me some money."

Just then, a Jeep 212 sped up to the hangar entrance. Hong Lin jumped out and ran inside, shouting, "Captain Li! Captain Li! The regimental commander is looking for you! He's in the headquarters building and seems quite anxious."

Li Lu immediately rolled up his sleeves and ran outside, not forgetting to turn back and remind him, "Old Xue! Qiqi! Learn some repairs from the old squad leader and the others; it'll be good for you in the future!"

The two readily agreed.

Before long, the 212 Jeep stopped in front of the government building.

As Li Lu got out of the car, he asked Hong Lin, "Do you know what's going on?"

Hong Lin was a little afraid of Li Lu, so he forced a smile and said, "I don't know. I'm on duty today, and as soon as I got the order, I rushed to find you..."

Before he could finish speaking, Li Lu abandoned him and strode towards the regimental commander's office on the third floor.

Hong Lin stood there, feeling awkward in waves.

"Report!"

Li Lu stopped at the door.

Xu Hailiang looked up and said, "Come in and sit down."

After Li Lu sat down, Xu Hailiang placed several photos in front of him and said, "Take a look."

Li Lu took a closer look and was immediately dumbfounded.

These are clear photos of the scene where he "cut" the P-3 anti-submarine patrol aircraft. There is also a photo of the P-3 floating on the sea surface, and the serial number matches.

Li Lu exclaimed urgently, "Who took this picture? It's impossible!"

Xu Hailiang laughed and said, "They have already released these photos."

He then produced a document and said, "A special commendation order recognizing your outstanding contributions during combat readiness duty, a first-class merit award. Are you happy now?"

Li Lu was stunned for a moment, then quickly opened it to take a look.

Wow, this is a commendation order issued by the Air Force Political Department, which is even more prestigious than the commendation order issued by the military region.

Li Lu looked at the commendation order over and over again, saying, "I'm not used to the Air Force Political Department being so generous all of a sudden."

Xu Hailiang laughed and said, "The Navy sent you a letter of thanks, and the Air Force couldn't ignore it. That submarine returned to port safely, and the Navy believes that if it weren't for your timely response, their submarine would have been in great danger."

"The submarine's batteries malfunctioned at the time. Shortly after you removed the P-3, the batteries were repaired, and you were able to dive before the second P-3 arrived."

Li Lu breathed a long sigh of relief and said, "The risk wasn't in vain."

He suddenly changed the subject, saying, "Commander, there's a bonus for the First-Class Merit Citation, right? The bonus for the last First-Class Merit Citation hasn't been paid yet; it added up to four thousand yuan!"

A first-class merit award was worth 2000 yuan, a second-class merit award was worth 1000 yuan, and a third-class merit award was worth 500 yuan. This amount of money was not small in the 1990s.

Xu Hailiang's smile vanished, and he asked, "Are you short of money?"

Li Lu said, "What a question. Who doesn't need money?"

"Your salary plus the handling fee is quite a lot, where did all the money go?" Xu Hailiang asked, frowning.

Li Lu said, "These are two different things. When the bonus is paid out has no direct connection to how I spend it!"

Xu Hailiang was taken aback for a moment, then said, "...You're right, but asking me is useless. Go ask the political commissar. If the funds haven't been allocated yet, there's nothing the political commissar can do."

"Okay, I'll go ask the political commissar." Li Lu got up and left.

Xu Hailiang wanted to say something more, but Li Lu's figure disappeared through the doorway.

Based on salary plus handling fees, Li Lu's income is higher than that of Xu Hailiang, the regimental commander. Li Lu's personal life is also very simple, with almost no expenses. Furthermore, Li Lu is someone who doesn't care much about material things, so it's really strange that he suddenly cares about the first-class merit bonus.

This concerns the personal life of a pilot, so it's no small matter.

Xu Hailiang thought for a moment and then sent someone to call Xue Shuang over.

"Li Lu has been getting quite close to you lately, and you're his wingman. I'm asking you, has he encountered any difficulties recently?" Xu Hailiang asked.

Xue Shuang thought for a moment and said, "Difficulties? There aren't any difficulties. It's just that I'm keeping in touch with a girl in the area. He should have reported that to me."

"Corresponding with local women? I didn't know that," Xu Hailiang said in surprise.

Xue Shuang explained, "That girl is eighteen years old. Last time the plane broke apart, it was that girl who saved Li Lu from the tree."

It's normal for unmarried officers in the military to correspond with local women. For a key officer like Li Lu, the political department is more than encouraging him to find a partner.

Xu Hailiang stroked his chin and said, "I didn't know about that, but..."

He was about to mention Gu Ya, but then stopped himself. Neither Li Lu nor Gu Ya had ever expressed any desire to be in a relationship, and it was difficult to speculate about matters of the heart, even though Xu Hailiang knew Wang Yong's true intentions.

Xu Hailiang said, "I'm referring to financial difficulties. Li Lu, does your family need a lot of money recently? You two are inseparable, do you even know what's going on?"

Xue Shuang found it strange and said, "His home? No, he's never mentioned it. That's not right. He was talking to his grandfather on the phone just a few days ago, and they seemed to be having a great time. It didn't seem like anything was wrong."

Li Lu only has one grandfather in his family, and the fact that the old man could chat with him so happily clearly means he's alright.

"That's strange. That kid came to me to urge me about the bonus." Xu Hailiang stroked his chin and said, "Here's what you should do. Try to subtly probe him and see what's going on. He doesn't seem like someone I know."

"Yes, Commander!"

After Xue Shuang left, Xu Hailiang remembered that Li Lu's grandfather was a veteran revolutionary soldier. Even if he was sick and needed to be hospitalized, the expenses were all waived, so there was no question of financial difficulties.

Based on this deduction, Li Lu must have encountered something else.

Several thousand yuan is no small amount. If you add Li Lu's urgent need for it, the money could buy a Jeep 212.

Flying an airplane is a job that combines high mental and technical skills. Pilots need stable families, healthy personal lives, and good mental states in order to be able to perform flight training missions without distraction.

This is part of logistical support.

Xu Hailiang planned to talk to Fang Zhenwei later. If there were any bad signs, he wanted to nip them in the bud as soon as possible. If there were indeed difficulties, the military would provide assistance.