Chapter 72: 72, Siam Internal Strife, Short-term Secret Flight Path
At eight in the evening, in the small tavern on the street outside the airport.
Fang Wen, Shopkeeper Liu, and Sun Debiao sat together drinking small wine and eating dishes.
This time, Fang Wen took the initiative to bring up the topic for tonight.
“The United States sent a telegram saying they can ship in a month. My fourth sister’s husband has already started stockpiling this year’s tung oil. The problem is I’m short on money.”
Fang Wen being able to say this was based on the tacit understanding between the three, as well as a form of trust.
As the saying goes, one fence needs three stakes, one good man needs three helpers; sometimes one person can’t get things done alone.
Sun Debiao thought for a moment.
“Last time suppressing bandits, Fuyang has been talking about you. The airplane dropped a bunch of bombs from the sky with a clatter, and the bandits were thrown into chaos. I see in the Central Plains area, mountain peaks everywhere, banditry rampant; how about you help suppress bandits, maybe there’s profit to be made.”
Fang Wen hadn’t thought much yet when he heard.
“No.”
Shopkeeper Liu spoke up to stop it.
“In these worldly affairs nowadays, good men don’t join the army. Why? The money all goes to the officers, and what’s left is just enough not to starve. This rotten idea of yours is pitting people. I dare guarantee, even if you fly there, you won’t get a single silver dollar.”
Yes, Fang Wen couldn’t help but recall what Ning Hangsheng had said back then: their regiment’s blankets and marching bedding were replaced with inferior goods by the division commander’s brother-in-law. This was common in the National Army, with exploitation layer by layer from the top down, leaving nothing for the soldiers.
Even within their own system it’s this corrupt; no need to hope outsiders will get any profit.
With such credit, Fang Wen really didn’t dare to try.
He nodded: “Water’s too deep, can’t do it. Any other reliable ideas?”
Sun Debiao awkwardly scratched the back of his head, “My idea doesn’t count, let Shopkeeper Liu say. He deals with more things, maybe he has a good way.”
Shopkeeper Liu thought for a moment and spoke: “The day before yesterday, I went to the urban area to check accounts and ran into a colleague. He mentioned something that happened abroad. South of our China, there’s a country called Siam. Just a few days ago, it had internal strife, the army took power, the king stepped down, they say it’s a constitutional monarchy now, and changed the country name to Thailand. My colleague’s patriarch has a lot of business there and good relations with the royal family. He’s worried this incident will affect him and wants to transfer assets back to China.”
Fang Wen’s eyes lit up immediately.
Thailand actually had a coup; if true, plenty of wealthy merchants would likely consider avoiding disaster.
And there, many overseas Chinese businessmen would often consider transferring assets back domestic.
If he provided a short-term secret flight path, he could probably earn a hefty freight charge.
He spoke: “Old Liu, trouble you to contact that gentleman. I want to talk to him.”
Shopkeeper Liu nodded: “No problem, I’ll go tomorrow morning.”
The next day, routine flight as usual: Fang Wen flew from Shanghai to Fuyang in the morning, back from Fuyang to Shanghai in the afternoon; both ways full passengers, plus two to three hundred kilograms of air cargo and mail.
After finishing the flight, Fang Wen ran into Shopkeeper Liu at the airport.
“Their people are here, in the tavern.” Shopkeeper Liu said in a low voice.
“Good, I’ll change clothes and come over. You entertain them first.” Fang Wen replied.
Then, the two parted; Fang Wen quickly left the airport, returned home to change into plainclothes, then headed to the tavern.
At the usual spot in the tavern, there were two strangers, plus Shopkeeper Liu.
Fang Wen walked over; Shopkeeper Liu stood up to introduce: “This is Mr. Kuang from Nanyang trade, and Accountant Sun.”
Fang Wen shook hands with the two and sat down to talk.
“Yesterday I heard Shopkeeper Liu talk about what happened south. I think I can provide some help, of course, this help requires a fee.”
Mr. Kuang quickly said: “Expenses no problem, as long as you can transport the things to Guangzhou.”
Fang Wen unhurriedly took out paper and pen.
“I need to understand some situations: first, where the airplane lands.”
“Chiang Mai has Suthep Airport, a military airport, but we have good relations with the local garrison, so it can be used.”
“Can you guarantee safe landing and takeoff?”
“Yes.”
Although the other party affirmed it, Fang Wen didn’t believe it just like that. If something went wrong, he would immediately pilot the airplane to take off and never get stuck there.
Then he continued asking.
“Second, the airplane can carry at most one person plus 500 kilograms of cargo. Is that enough?”
“Only 500 kilograms?” Mr. Kuang was somewhat disappointed. “Can you fly multiple times?”
Fang Wen explained: “The more times you fly this kind of thing, the more dangerous. Think about it yourself: once the news leaks, even the local garrison can’t protect you.”
“Like that.” Mr. Kuang didn’t reply directly but said he’d go back and consider.
Then the two left the tavern.
Two days passed, and they came to the airport again.
This time they firmly stated the requirements.
Just need to fly twice, takeoff from Guangzhou Dashatou Airport, land at Suthep Airport; they’ve handled the arrangements at both airports.
Two flights to bring back a total of one ton of cargo.
Additionally, three people.
First flight to carry a mother and child, one big one small; second flight an elderly person.
As for the identities of the people and the cargo contents, Mr. Kuang didn’t say.
But offered a generous reward of 3000 silver dollars for the trip.
Fang Wen agreed but required departure in a week.
The reason for departing in a week was that this flight was a bit dangerous, so Fang Wen planned some modifications to the Qingyun Hao.
Then, after daily routine flight work, Fang Wen started modifications on the Qingyun Hao together with Howard and Paul.
Per Fang Wen’s requirements, the two rotating machine guns on the airplane without suitable ammunition were removed.
In their place, a single-barrel Vickers machine gun in the nose.
This was an old aircraft machine gun from World War I, obsolete after later twin synchronized machine guns.
Precisely because of that, it could be bought cheaply on the Shanghai black market, this dedicated aircraft machine gun and matching bullets.
The reason Fang Wen chose this single-barrel fixed nose machine gun was that it had a nice advantage for him.
It used gas-operated automatic principle, making the machine gun recoil very small after shooting, thus improving sustained accurate shooting.
This precision in air combat was useless for other pilots, since current fighter jets mostly separate pilot and machine gunner, and the gunner in the rear operating the machine gun couldn’t aim precisely, mostly just estimated shooting.
But for Fang Wen, in mechanical perception man-machine unity state, any precision improvement was effective for him.
Once air combat happened, personally controlling the machine gun firing, naturally the higher the precision the better the effect.
Besides the aircraft machine gun modification, the auxiliary fuel tank was also changed.
As a droppable auxiliary fuel tank, this time made larger capacity: upper level real auxiliary fuel tank, lower level storage compartment, so more cargo could be carried inside.
After finishing these modifications, the monthly routine maintenance week arrived again.
Mr. Kuang came to the airport again; this time, he would ride Fang Wen’s Qingyun Hao to Guangzhou Dashatou together to arrange the next matters.
