Empire Conquest
Chapter 55 - 51 Change and Constancy

Chapter 55: Chapter 51 Change and Constancy

Not only Bai Zhizhan received the orders, but so did Major General Gui Boyong, the Commander of the First Aviation Special Mixed Fleet, and Brigadier General Li Yunxiang, the Commander of the First Shipborne Air Force Wing.

Both of them were commanders, with ranks and positions superior to that of Bai Zhizhan.

By the time Bai Zhizhan changed his clothes and came onto the flight deck, Li Yunxiang had already seated himself in the torpedo attack aircraft, and ground crew were busy preparing for takeoff.

Recruiting Li Yunxiang from the Army could be considered one of the most beautifully executed accomplishments of Bai Zhizhan.

In fact, it wasn’t entirely Bai’s own doing.

In the year the great war ended, Li Yunxiang joined a group of Air Force officers committed to establishing an Independent branch for the Air Force away from the Army. Sadly, in the tide of a massive military drawdown, the prospects of establishing an Air Force were not even to be considered. As a result, hundreds of Army Air Force officers were purged in the aftermath. Although Li Yunxiang was not on the purge list, being a well-known war hero, he became disillusioned with the Army, and Bai Zhizhan took this opportunity to extend an olive branch.

It was one thing for Li Yunxiang to switch allegiances alone, but he also brought along a group of Army pilots, who became the seeds of the Navy’s shipborne aviators!

Back then, Li Yunxiang’s transfer to the Navy caused quite a stir, almost leading to a public dispute between the Army and the Navy.

From this perspective, Li Yunxiang was indeed the foremost figure in the Empire Navy’s shipborne air force.

Moreover, he was the first shipborne aviator in the Empire Navy to complete a takeoff and landing and became the first instructor for ship-borne aircraft.

Before transferring to become the Commander of the First Shipborne Air Force Wing, Li Yunxiang served as an instructor at the Naval Aviation School affiliated with the Naval Academy, working his way up to Head of Academic Affairs, and trained hundreds of shipborne pilots. By now, Li Yunxiang’s protégés have become the core backbone of the Empire Navy’s shipborne air force.

However, Bai Zhizhan knew that Li Yunxiang’s thoughts were still elsewhere.

It’s not that the Navy was not good to him, but rather that the platform the Navy offered was too small to allow him to realize his ambitions.

During his time as an instructor, Li Yunxiang wrote several papers, thoroughly and comprehensively expounding the value of an Air Force, proposing a military thought centered around comprehensive strike capability. In his words, future wars would be decided by air supremacy, and the most effective way to achieve air supremacy was not to send fighters into the battle to shoot down the enemy’s planes but to dispatch bombers to destroy enemy aircraft on the ground.

Clearly, the bomber that Li Yunxiang desired was something the Navy could not provide.

It wasn’t until Bai Zhizhan and Gui Boyong took their seats in the cabin that Li Yunxiang started the engine, then gave a ready signal to the ground crew.

The torpedo attack aircraft had an oversized auxiliary fuel tank attached to its belly, and it was taking off fully loaded, requiring the aid of a catapult.

"Ready?"

"Ready!"

Bai Zhizhan took the position of the machine gunner in the back, leaving the more spacious middle seat for Gui Boyong.

Over these twenty years, Gui Boyong had changed a lot.

Of course, mainly in terms of waistline and weight.

In his words, time spares no one; there comes a day when everyone gets middle-aged spread, even though he had passed middle age long ago and was not far from old age.

He was also the one who changed the least, mainly reflected in his rank and position.

Twenty years ago, he was already a Navy Brigadier General; now, he is just a Navy Major General. He was the first and only Commander of the First Air Sub-fleet, and to this day, he remains the Commander of the First Aviation Special Mixed Fleet. He personally promoted Bai Zhizhan and is still Bai’s immediate superior.

In fact, he is also one of the people Bai Zhizhan respects the most.

Not just because he is the superior officer but also because of his obscurity and his willingness to play a supporting role.

Li Yunxiang had long become a household hero, and Bai Zhizhan had also made a name for himself in the Navy, but what about Gui Boyong?

When mentioning the First Aviation Special Mixed Fleet, the first person that comes to mind is Bai Zhizhan. Those familiar with the Navy also know of Li Yunxiang, but only upon reminder do they realize that the Commander of the First Aviation Special Mixed Fleet is not the two of them, but rather a Major General named Gui Boyong, who is already over fifty.

The greatest contribution of Gui Boyong was actually making way for Bai Zhizhan, leaving the space for growth and development to Bai.

With the engine’s roaring sound intensifying, a tremendous force acted upon the torpedo attack aircraft, and it immediately flew off the deck.

It felt like he had been pushed out of the carrier.

Although it wasn’t the first time Li Yunxiang had taken off from a carrier in a shipborne aircraft, Bai Zhizhan was scared out of his wits every time, thinking that the cumbersome torpedo bomber would plunge headfirst into the sea.

Fortunately, that was just his worry.

After shooting off the flight deck, the torpedo attack aircraft fell several meters along a parabolic trajectory, then promptly pulled up.

It climbed to a thousand meters high, transitioned to level flight, and only then did Bai Zhizhan allow himself to secretly breathe a sigh of relief.

Relax?

That would have to wait until the aircraft landed.

"Boss Gui, do you have any idea why the higher-ups are calling us back?" Li Yunxiang opened the conversation, making sure to turn off the communication radio before speaking.

No matter what they said, only the three of them could hear it.

"Boss" was the nickname Li Yunxiang had given to Gui Boyong.

In Li Yunxiang’s words, the two mother ships of the Aviation Mixed Fleet were like a hotel for the shipborne air force, making the commander of the Special Mixed Fleet essentially the hotel’s boss.

"Most likely nothing good."

"Do I even need you to tell me that?" Li Yunxiang clearly felt that Gui Boyong was just humoring him and wasn’t speaking the truth.

"Xiao Bai, what about that girl your sister-in-law introduced to you last time? Are you two still in touch?" Gui Boyong took this opportunity to change the subject.

"Boss Gui, why drag me into this again?" Bai Zhizhan was exasperated.

In personal matters, Bai Zhizhan always saw Marshal Zhu Shijian as a role model. Only, he didn’t have a childhood sweetheart to dote upon. That’s why, now well into his forties, Bai Zhizhan was still not married, nor did he even have a long-term partner.

Because of this, Gui Boyong was extremely worried.

Actually, Bai Zhizhan was quite helpless about it.

Out of 365 days in a year, he spent 300 at sea, and of the remaining 65, at least 50 were consumed with handling all kinds of official duties. To say nothing of others, the annual fleet exercises alone took him out to sea for several months, and a lot of time was spent preparing before and after.

"I’m actually worried that after we return this time, we won’t find much leisure."

"Did we ever have leisure before?" Li Yunxiang bluntly retorted. "That being said, Xiao Bai, you really are something. You’re in your forties by now, right? Just the other day I heard some officers and soldiers discussing privately, wondering if their chief of staff has some sort of problem in that department."

Bai Zhizhan rolled his eyes, completely speechless at Li Yunxiang.

Despite approaching fifty himself, Li Yunxiang’s son had entered military school last year, and his daughter was about to get married. Yet, constantly mingling with young officers, he spared no restraint in his jokes. The key point was that his appearance didn’t show his age at all; he looked no more than in his thirties.

"Li, let me get some sleep, wake me up when we’re about to land."

"Me too, I’ll leave it to you."

After speaking, Bai Zhizhan deliberately yawned several times before taking off his headset.

The Navy Command’s sudden order to end the ongoing fleet exercise and the telegram summoning Bai Zhizhan and the others back definitely indicated that something grave had occurred.

Considering the international situation over the past two years, Bai Zhizhan couldn’t help but believe that Gui Boyong wasn’t speaking nonsense.

Perhaps, the twenty years of peace that had been maintained were about to come to an end.

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