Chapter 172: The Bombardment Must Not Stop!
Hodell and Fran were moved by the salary of two hundred dollars a month.
Perhaps this money isn’t even enough for a meal for rich people, but for ordinary Americans who have been in the Great Depression, two hundred dollars is enough for food for half a year for a family of four.
You know, food prices now aren’t high: a pound of beef is only 25 to 35 cents, a pound of pork 20 to 30 cents, potatoes even lower at 3 cents per pound, so a family of four’s monthly food expense is just 15 to 25 dollars.
Such a high salary was enough to make them risk their lives.
Fran asked again: “By the way, Ver… you haven’t said what you’re sending us to do. His boss is offering such a high salary; he surely won’t have us be his foot soldiers, right?
Also, you haven’t told me where we’re going to fight or who our opponent is?”
“Sorry, I forgot to tell you… You’re going to China, and your opponent is the Japanese.
Your mission is to form an armored force for your boss together with John.”
“China? Asia?”
Hodell and Fran looked at each other; they never imagined they would have to go to China, thousands of miles away, to fight the Japanese.
Seeing their expressions, Ver quickly said: “Of course, if you’re unwilling, I won’t force you; I can find someone else.”
“You’ve found others too?” Hodell’s sensitive mind caught the meaning in Ver’s words.
“Of course!” Ver spread his hands. “You didn’t think I only found you two, did you? To tell you the truth, his boss also wants to form an air force and needs pilots, so he had me recruit a batch of pilots.
And John said that for every pilot recruited, his boss pays him a thousand dollars reward.
Moreover, John told me he’s willing to split that money with me half and half.”
“Oh… God, this is crazy; that’s a thousand dollars!”
Hodell and Fran’s mouths gaped wide enough to fit an egg.
Not just them; even his wife and two children sitting at the same dinner table were all stunned.
“What is this?”
Ver curled his lip. “You haven’t seen the salaries his boss offers to those Army Air Force pilots; that’s high—five hundred dollars a month, plus two hundred dollars bonus for every plane shot down.”
“God, why give those birdmen such high salaries? It’s unfair!” Hodell and Fran were green with envy.
“There are so many unfair things in this world; can you manage them all?”
Ver curled his lip; in America now, the air force wasn’t yet established as a separate branch, and the infantry envied those pilots terribly.
Hodell gritted his teeth: “By the way, Ver, you said for every pilot introduced, John gets a thousand dollars referral fee, and if you introduce them, you get a five-hundred-dollar commission, right?
“Yes, what’s up? Do you have connections in that area?” Ver looked at Hodell strangely.
Hodell glared at him irritably: “Nonsense, I was a captain back then, and that kid John was my soldier; how could I not know a few pilots?”
Ver and Fran didn’t doubt this; if this guy hadn’t gotten trench foot, which triggered lung disease and forced his discharge, with his abilities, he’d probably be a colonel by now.
Ver spread his hands: “Fine, if you can bring in pilots, I won’t take a cut of the fifty percent; it’s all yours.”
“Good… it’s a deal.”
Hodell wasn’t polite; he was desperate for money now. Since the Great Depression, who knew how hard his family had it; to pay for his treatment, his son, daughter, and wife all went out to work hard every day. He never wanted to live like that again.
Night fell, and Ver and Fran took their leave.
Hodell sat quietly on the recliner under the eaves, gazing at the sky, with only occasional coughs breaking the tranquility.
“Hodell.” His wife Valerie quietly appeared beside him and held his hand.
“Can’t you not go? China is too far, and I hear the Japanese are a bunch of devils who kill without blinking. I don’t want to end up not even finding your body.”
Looking at his tearful wife, Hodell glanced at their rundown old house and sighed helplessly. He held his wife’s hand and said softly:
“Valerie, the doctor said if my illness keeps dragging on like this, I’ll be seeing God in two or three years at most.
Better to earn some money for you and the kids while I can. I can’t have the kids unable even to afford a ring to propose to their sweetheart, right?”
Looking at her husband’s aged face, Valerie cried even harder…
………..
The blazing sun scorched the undulating hills of Shanxi; the yellow earth was baked white, and heat waves carrying dust rolled through the ranks.
Ushijima Mitsu, still with a bandage on his arm, rode on horseback; his uniform back was soaked dark with sweat. He squinted toward the horizon, where a reconnaissance plane trailed a silver-white streak across the sky, its engine buzz piercing his ears like a hornet.
Cornfields on both sides of the road rustled; the dry leaves’ friction made the soldiers grip their rifles tighter.
Five cavalrymen returned from ahead, hooves kicking up choking dust. The lead scout dismounted, saluted him, and said loudly.
“Division commander, sir, vehicle tracks spotted three kilometers northeast.”
“Good… Have you checked where these tracks lead?”
“We looked; these tracks lead to a small road northeast, but out of caution, we didn’t send anyone to scout further.”
“You did the right thing.”
Ushijima Mitsu approved of the cavalry’s caution; after the last night raid, he had intensified reconnaissance.
He even sent out most of the cavalry regiment, searching every inch of the twenty to thirty kilometers ahead before allowing the troops to march.
Not only that, he even required the Army Air Force to conduct uninterrupted reconnaissance of his line of march.
Although aerial recon had already reported that the Shanxi militia had set up defenses around Wild Wolf Valley, he still insisted on continuous surrounding reconnaissance to feel at ease.
This was perhaps the aftermath of once bitten, twice shy?
“Division commander, sir, the Army Air Force has conducted the third bombing run on Wild Wolf Valley, but the Chinese anti-aircraft fire remains fiercely resistant.
Captain Hirano Takami asks if a fourth bombing run should be conducted?”
“Of course!”
Ushijima Mitsu said without hesitation: “Pass my order: the bombing must not stop until our main force arrives at Wild Wolf Valley!”
