Empire Conquest-Chapter 777 - 60: Rejoining the Team After Much Trouble_2
"What else could we do? It’s wartime, and Major Tang giving us an army truck was already good enough," Lian Mingyang said with a bitter smile, clapping his partner on the shoulder. "Once we get to Atla, I’ll find some connections and try to get us a helicopter, then we can really get down to business."
"Alright, I’m with you."
"Hey, you two!"
Hearing the call, both of them immediately stopped in their tracks.
Tang Boxiong hurried out, his pace brisk.
"You are Major Lian Mingyang, an armed helicopter pilot in the Army Aviation?" Tang Boxiong scrutinized Lian Mingyang closely after approaching.
"Yes." Lian Mingyang seemed surprised because he had started by introducing himself, but it now seemed Tang Boxiong hadn’t been listening at all.
"I just received a call from Atla, reinforcements from the Land Air Force have already arrived, including a reserve team that’s severely lacking experienced pilots. In more than ten minutes, a transport plane will be here. I’ve made arrangements for the two of you to take the transport plane to Atla."
"Land Air Force reinforcements?"
"An air assault brigade, with over a hundred armed helicopters but only a handful of pilots."
"Alright."
Before leaving, Tang Boxiong made a point of nodding at Lian Mingyang.
Clearly, he had figured out Lian Mingyang’s identity. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have been so polite.
Lian Mingyang was speechless about this, but getting back to Atla promptly was all that mattered.
About a quarter of an hour later, an Air Force’s "Yun-9" arrived.
This type of tactical transporter was capable of taking off and landing on a smoothed field runway, its main value being to shuttle back and forth between the front and rear.
The transporter wasn’t there just to pick up Lian Mingyang and his partner; it had brought supplies and equipment needed by the troops and merely took the two Land Air Force pilots along on the return flight.
It was still a "Yun-9B," not the latest "Yun-9F," with a lot of the paint chipped off, perhaps from the reserve forces.
But at that time, nobody cared about such details.
Of course, there wasn’t much to be said for comfort on the transport plane.
The interior was quite old-fashioned; at least half the seats were missing their covers, and some didn’t even have seat belts—it felt like it had been cobbled together from scraps.
During takeoff, the severe jolting made Lian Mingyang think the rickety plane might fall apart at any moment.
Fortunately, it finally took off.
About an hour later, around 5 a.m. on September 12, the transport plane reached the Air Force base to the north of Atla.
Though called an Air Force base, it was actually a comprehensive base.
Outside the airfield was an army camp.
Moreover, the airfield was shared with the army.
However, the army’s helicopters were mainly deployed on the side close to the camp, while the side where the runway was located was primarily used for deploying the Air Force’s combat aircraft.
Atla was originally the Eastern Group’s top military stronghold towards Astrakhan.
The combat troops guarding Astrakhan, more accurately the support troops, were all deployed around Atla.
Besides this Air Force base, there was a large Army base to the west, and to the east was a military train station managed by the Army.
Put simply, Atla was the strategic support point in this direction.
Tang Boxiong wasn’t talking nonsense; the Land Air Force reinforcements had arrived in Atla, and it indeed was an air assault brigade, with over a hundred armed helicopters.
Among them, at least one battalion was equipped with the "Z-10A." 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝒆𝔀𝒆𝙗𝓷𝒐𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝓶
Most of the helicopters had just been delivered, and ground crew were busy attaching components, such as rotors, that had been removed for transport.
Clearly, these were brand new, freshly manufactured armed helicopters.
Sending Jiang Shanggui to clarify the situation, that is, the status of those "Z-10A" helicopters and when they could be mobilized, it was only then that Lian Mingyang headed to the headquarters.
Seeing the brigade commander, Lian Mingyang was taken aback.
It was actually Colonel Zheng Zhishuang, Lian Mingyang’s former immediate superior in the Land Air Force.
This Zheng Zhishuang also had quite a reputation; he was Zheng Jiangming’s youngest son, nearly 30 years older than Lian Mingyang. He had been a Land Air Force pilot more than twenty years ago.
In his own words, when Lian Mingyang was still in split-bottom pants, he was already soaring over Boi Country in a helicopter.
When Lian Mingyang joined the military, he was already a Land Air Force colonel and had retired from the Land Air Force over four years earlier due to health reasons.
As was customary, Zheng Zhishuang became a reserve officer of the Land Air Force after his retirement.
"Land Air Force Major Lian Mingyang reporting for duty!"
"You’ve arrived just in time; we’re short of pilots." Zheng Zhishuang didn’t beat around the bush with Lian Mingyang. "This is a reserve force. Our assigned task is to hold Astrakhan at all costs. We currently only have two-thirds the required pilots; the other third is unstaffed. You do have a partner, don’t you?"
Lian Mingyang was momentarily startled, then quickly said, "Yes, he went to the bathroom."
In front of his former superior, Lian Mingyang didn’t dare to speak carelessly.
"That’s good. Later, go pick out an armed helicopter and take command as the squadron leader of the First Squadron." While saying this, Zheng Zhishuang brought Lian Mingyang to a map. "The enemy’s vanguard is expected to reach Akhtubinsk this afternoon. The defending Luosha forces there will certainly hold out until nightfall, or to be precise, they will retreat at night. Therefore, our first mission is to strike after dark."
"Anti-armor combat?"
Zheng Zhishuang nodded and said, "The Air Force will dispatch bombers for battlefield interdiction. Since there are very few attack aircraft left to deploy, the frontline anti-armor task falls to us. If we can withstand this attack, we’ll be able to buy a few more days."
"Just us?"
"As of now, just us." Possibly guessing what Lian Mingyang meant, Zheng Zhishuang added, "According to the higher-ups’ plans, the priorities for the Luosha forces are at the Chains Land Bridge, leaving us with the critical responsibility of defending Astrakhan. But the problem is, our main force will take at least three days to arrive. So for the next three days, we are the only ones who can stop the enemy’s Armored Forces."
"No ground forces for cover..."
"It’s indeed quite challenging, but we absolutely must not retreat. To put it bluntly, it’s now a war of attrition against the enemy to see who can’t hold out. Although our losses are immense, the enemy’s situation isn’t much better. It’s said that just to forcefully cross the Volga River in the north, they lost nearly a brigade’s worth of armored strength. A few more operations like that, and they won’t be able to think about capturing Astrakhan."
With Zheng Zhishuang having said so much, Lian Mingyang didn’t feel it appropriate to say more.
He didn’t tell Zheng Zhishuang that it was his low-altitude assault force that had taken out nearly half an armored brigade, while the following Luosha Armored Forces finished off the other half.
Unfortunately, when compared with the enemy’s committed forces, these achievements were practically insubstantial.
According to the news received on the road, just at Volzhsky alone, at least three Western Luosha Armored Brigades had crossed the Volga River.
When the enemy’s second-tier forces caught up, an additional three to five Armored Brigades and Mechanized Infantry Brigades would join.
It was expected that the loss of one Armored Brigade was entirely within the pre-war predictions and would not negatively impact the operations.
"If there’s nothing else, go find your armed helicopter. Come for lunch, and we’ll finalize the details for the night assault operation."
"The other pilots..."
"A few squadron leaders; you know them all. I’ll have them come to you."
"Okay, I’ll go check on the aircraft."
Actually, there was no need for Zheng Zhishuang’s introductions.
As soon as Lian Mingyang left the command center, he saw Jiang Shanggui and a few squadron leaders.
They were all familiar faces, all a decade or so older than Lian Mingyang, reserve pilots who had previously been his superiors, and now, having transferred to the reserves, they were his subordinates.
But there wasn’t much to feel sentimental about.
Lian Mingyang had been flying the "Z-10A" for three years, and these reserve pilots got, at most, just 50 hours of flight time per year. Many hadn’t even touched advanced helicopters like the "Z-10A," only getting occasional practice on trainer helicopters like the "Z-7."
The first thing to be addressed was actually getting these reservists familiarized with the "Z-10A."
However, this was the least of Lian Mingyang’s worries.
No matter what, these retired pilots had over 1500 hours of flight time, their experience was immense, and getting the hang of new helicopters wasn’t too troubling.
All they needed was a few practice runs.
