Phi-Fic Chapter 1143 Prevention is better than cure
Chapter 1143 Prevention is better than cure
Regarding Li Shaoyi's series of actions, the old man had already emphasized them to his subordinates in person during the last military conference held in Jinling.
Li Shaoyi is undoubtedly capable, and he can generally handle any task assigned to him well. However, there is one thing they least want to see: whenever Li Shaoyi completes a task, his power expands significantly afterward, which is something the Nationalist government does not want to see.
However, some people said at the time, "You can't just ask people to do things without giving them any benefits, can you? There are no such people in the world who are willing to give so much. If there were, they would probably have been taken in by someone else long ago."
Minister He has been very worried about the air defense of Hankou these past few days. He doesn't want to stay in his underground office like a rat all the time. The problem is that our air force is not yet fully reorganized, and our airfields were bombed while we were fighting the Japanese, so we can only temporarily avoid the enemy's advance.
If Li Shaoyi could provide a batch of anti-aircraft weapons and effectively take on the air defense work of Hankou, it would be very beneficial for the entire city. Moreover, the people have been quite resentful of the Nationalist government lately, so if we can achieve some results in air defense, we can appease the people.
But every coin has two sides, and Minister He's mind works very quickly. If Li Shaoyi is to be in charge of air defense, then his power must be increased. It was only with great difficulty that his authority was limited to the 72nd Army Group; other areas were no longer his concern. But now, are they going to give him a new appointment?
"Minister He?"
Li Shaoyi's urging voice came through the phone. He didn't understand why it would take so long to consider something that was entirely beneficial to them. If they continued to consider it, the next wave of Japanese planes would probably arrive.
“I will give you an answer before tonight. But before that, you can conduct an on-site inspection of the selected location. Hankou is different from other cities; there are still some foreign concessions here. If we choose to locate there, the foreigners will definitely not be willing. Try not to have any disputes with Western countries right now. We still need them, and the international community still needs these people to speak for us.”
Given Minister He's temperament, he might have readily agreed to Li Shaoyi's request. However, he had suffered quite a bit before, getting a severe scolding from the old man. Therefore, he absolutely dared not make decisions on his own now; anything concerning Li Shaoyi had to be reported to higher authorities. Even as the Minister of Military Affairs, he had to be clear about who was behind him.
"Is the matter of air defense for a city something that even the Minister of Military Affairs can't decide? Don't tell me that something like this needs to be discussed in a meeting of the Military Commission. By the time you've finished discussing it, the Japanese will probably have bombed the entire Hankou, causing countless casualties among civilians and soldiers from all over the country. I didn't say I wanted to do anything here; I just said I wanted to install some air defense equipment. Do I really need to hold a meeting for that?"
Li Shaoyi was so angry he almost laughed out loud. What time is it now? The Japanese are rushing towards the middle reaches of the Yangtze River without stopping. You guys are so slow and inefficient. Even if you had the same training and the same weapons, you'd still be far inferior to the Japanese.
"It's settled then. I'll have my secretary contact you. It won't take too long, but in the meantime, you'd better not do anything else. There are some things I don't need to say, but you understand. This is Hankou, not Huangpu."
Minister He was unwilling to say anything more to Li Shaoyi. He knew that he couldn't reason with Li Shaoyi, so he simply hung up the phone.
Half an hour after Li Shaoyi hung up the phone, Japanese planes returned to the airspace over Hankou. This time, there were a total of more than a dozen planes, and our side scrambled a total of 6 planes to intercept them. However, most of our planes were relatively outdated biplanes, almost completely out of date compared to the Japanese planes.
Under these circumstances, it was naturally impossible to achieve much. The bombs ignited several small fires in Hankou city, burning several buildings to ashes. If they had acted faster, Li Shaoyi's anti-aircraft weapons would already be in place. While they couldn't say they had captured all the Japanese planes, this time they wouldn't be allowed to leave so easily.
That's how air defense operations work. If you inflict even a little loss on them each time, the daily losses add up over a week or a month. They'll calculate it and immediately start to feel the pinch, and their bombing intensity on our side might decrease. Of course, it might also force them to commit more troops.
Li Shaoyi wasn't afraid of this. The devil is always one step ahead. While I can't match you in terms of aircraft, my air defense weapons are still up to par. The matrix air defense system we established on the battlefield is still effective. Once the sky is filled with our ammunition, no matter what your planes are made of or what kind of training your pilots have received, they'll die right there.
At 7 p.m., Minister He's secretary finally called. The meeting decided to temporarily appoint Li Shaoyi as the deputy commander-in-chief of the Hankou Air Defense Command.
As for the commander-in-chief, Minister He will concurrently serve as the commander-in-chief, while Yue Gang, formerly the deputy commander-in-chief, will assist Li Shaoyi in formulating the air defense strategy for Hankou.
"Our air defense command has really improved. The Minister of Military Affairs is now personally serving as the air defense commander. This is something we never dared to dream of before. We originally thought that our place was neglected and unloved, but we never expected that two generals would suddenly join us as our leaders."
When Yue Gang held the telegram, his eyes were full of disbelief.
After all, this is just too absurd. This is something that a major general could have done, but unexpectedly, two generals and a minister of military and political affairs like Minister He were thrown in. This is even more absurd.
Of course, everyone understands that Minister He's appointment as air defense commander wasn't because he wanted the position, but because he needed to keep Li Shaoyi in check. If no one was watching Li Shaoyi, he might have managed to amass an army of 10 in Hankou during his time there. Then whose Hankou would be?