Chapter 56: You've Got to Deliver, Honda!

Zhang Shan glanced at Natalie and did not immediately state his position.

In another space-time, a group of female pilots flying obsolete bombers engaged in night bombing, striking terror into the hearts of the enemy.

Here, the situation had evolved differently. After Zhang Shan received the British pounds from the Britannians, he went on a wild aircraft-production spree, resulting in a bizarre phenomenon where the speed of training pilots drastically lagged behind the speed of manufacturing planes.

There was simply no helping it; in Zhang's eyes, airplanes were far too cheap.

Compared to a navy where a single light cruiser cost nearly ten million Alika dollars, an airplane was outrageously inexpensive.

A top-tier cannon-armed I-16 cost only 203,550 rubles.

Considering it was wartime, the black-market exchange rate between the British pound and the ruble had already exceeded 1:20. In reality, to Zhang Shan, this piece of equipment amounted to a mere 10,000 pounds.

For Zhang Shan, who had extorted 130 million pounds from the Britannians...

He simply had more money than he could possibly spend! Truly, he could never spend it all!

Driven by madness, Zhang Shan placed orders at every single airbase available to him, including but not limited to all the Prince-Electors except the Emperor of Rascia.

The Emperor’s displeasure with Zhang Shan did not mean the Prince-Electors below him would pick a fight with money.

The depreciation of the ruble indirectly harmed the interests of all the Prince-Electors, and the pounds originating from Boria compensated for all of that quite nicely.

This financial benefactor surnamed Zhang blinked not once as he placed a massive order for five hundred I-16s, and even rolled out the green carpet for domestic Rascia aircraft manufacturers lacking blueprints, offering the blueprints for free as long as they were willing to help produce them.

Due to the relatively simple production of the I-16, nearly a hundred could be built every month.

In the eyes of others, Zhang Shan was an absolute fool.

Within two years at most, once the Yamato people widely deployed the Zero fighter, the I-16 would become utterly obsolete, turning into mere game for the opposing side's turkey shoot.

The period of advantage for the I-16 actually had only a little over a year left.

Zhang Shan did not care. He currently maintained a dispatch rate of about one squadron of fifty-odd I-16 fighters plus half a squadron of TB-3 bombers. His purpose was to lull the Yamato forces into complacency, making them believe the Principality of Boria was suffering heavy aircraft losses as well.

No matter how formidable the Yamato spies were, it was impossible for them to tally the production output of every single aircraft factory across the vast territory of Rascia.

Only Zhang Shan knew that at its peak, Rascia possessed the capacity to produce 2,000 I-16s and 200 TB-3 bombers annually. Right now, whichever type it was, pilots were in desperately short supply.

As it happened, the [Valkyries] were a special existence.

Unlike knights dedicated exclusively to combat, although the Valkyries possessed formidable combat talents, they had been cultivated by the nobility in the direction of all-around generals.

Every qualified Valkyrie was not only proficient in spearmanship and close-quarters combat, but also capable of driving cars and piloting airplanes—not to mention those other domestic skills.

At a time when Zhang Shan was anxiously cultivating reserve pilots, deploying Natalie and her fellow Valkyries as transitional pilots was actually quite a brilliant move.

After a brief contemplation, Zhang Shan spoke: "I agree. Not only you, but the rest of the standby Valkyries, novice Valkyries, and any other women possessing aircraft-piloting skills may sign up with you. Let us establish a night-bomber squadron."

"Your Highness?! This..." Natalie's voice trembled as she stared at Zhang Shan with wide eyes, filled with boundless pleasant surprise.

"We are currently driving even half-grown children to manufacture ordnance; leaving you idle would also be a waste of resources. We might as well fulfill your wish to strike the invaders."

"Thank you, Your Highness!" Natalie bowed deeply to Zhang Shan on the spot.

"Let me make one thing clear beforehand: I only permit you to bomb the Yamato military camps from an altitude of above two thousand meters; you are strictly forbidden from touching their newly constructed railways."

"Ah?" She was stunned for a moment, but agreed without overthinking it.

As the daughter of a knightly family loyal for generations, she never felt there was anything wrong with this.

Especially when Zhang Shan repeatedly admonished her that once an aircraft was hit, she must deviate from the north-south flight path and instead make an emergency landing eastward or westward toward the Yamato supply depots, Natalie was moved to tears.

She knew her liege lord had their best interests at heart. At present, the steppe remained the domain of the Khanate's knights, with four divisions taking turns patrolling around the Yamato supply lines. As long as they were more than three kilometers away from the supply lines, Rascia pilots had a high probability of being rescued as long as they reached the ground alive.

Natalie departed in radiant joy.

Only then did Zhang Shan turn to the bewildered Anna and smile: "Natalie doesn't know this, but the core anti-aircraft equipment of the Yamato forces consists primarily of Type 96 25mm anti-aircraft cannons. That stuff simply cannot reach altitudes above two thousand meters. Furthermore, that is naval equipment, and the Guabei Army hardly has any of it in their hands. With their wretched machine guns, it would be a miracle if they could even hit a TB-3. The only concern is that the enemy might be driven to desperation and deploy night fighters."

Naturally, Zhang Shan would also dispatch I-16 pilots trained in night combat to escort them.

Consequently, a TB-3 bomber squadron composed entirely of women was formed within a mere three days and dispatched to the front lines. They replaced the previously exhausted bomber pilots, allowing those veteran, meritorious pilots to temporarily retreat to rear-area airfields to train new pilots using the veteran-guidance method.

A few days later.

"Boom, boom, boom!"

Watching the blazing camp below and the familiar figures dancing in the flames, Natalie was overjoyed.

Even at an altitude of two thousand meters, relying on the Valkyries' extraordinarily sharp vision, she could still faintly make out human torches bouncing across the steppe, soon unable to bounce any further and collapsing onto the ground.

One particularly unlucky fellow even had a certain limb blown several stories high into the air...

"Go to hell, Japs!"

"Serves you right!"

"This is too easy. Haha!"

"Ura—!"

The communication channel was filled entirely with the cheers of young women.

It was not supposed to be this easy; the main reason was that the transport columns had suffered terribly from previous attacks. General Honda had executed a tactic of linking two hundred kilometers of encampments together, essentially connecting ten supply stations with trenches, barbed wire, and watchtowers.

While this effectively deterred the light-weapon-armed Khanate knights, to the bomber squadron, there could be no better target.

As long as they flew along the north-south axis, keeping the aircraft directly above the Yamato supply lines, they could drop bombs with their eyes closed and still hit something.

This was practically farming achievements for the [Night Witches]!

When the Boria Daily published the deeds of these heroic heroines in the newspaper, upon Natalie's return from one of her missions, her excitement was so intense she looked as though she wanted to leap onto Zhang Shan and plant a fierce kiss on him.

Conversely, Zhang Shan felt a trifle bewildered.

The deceased rogue before him might have been a stallion, but he certainly wasn't!

Taking advantage of the domestic propaganda frenzy calling for the entire populace to take up arms, Zhang Shan secretly leaked a piece of information outward through his second brother, Maxim.

[Prince Andrei is about to deploy his trump-card heavy knight regiment]!

This news overjoyed General Honda, Commander-in-Chief of the Guabei Army.

Originally, he had been at his wit's end because his supply lines were constantly harassed and frontline supplies were inadequate. Now, he was ecstatic.

"Hahaha! That boy named Andrei can no longer hold on! He has even deployed his personal bodyguards! As long as we push a little harder, we can capture Red Pagoda City!"