Chapter 196: 195, Shrewd Father-in-law, 19th Route Army’s Finale, Refinery And D332 Receiving Goods
The night snack continued, but the conversation shifted from cinchona bark to broader topics.
Through tonight’s chat, Fang Wen suddenly realized that his father-in-law’s understanding of the world situation far surpassed that of people within China.
This was perhaps related to his father-in-law’s experiences: as a youth, he had lived in Los Angeles before returning to China, and then built a considerable fortune in Nanyang.
Fang Wen wanted to hear his father-in-law’s insights.
He poured a cup for his father-in-law.
“Things are getting rough in the Weimar Republic right now, and the United States has changed presidents too. What do you think about this?”
Fang Wen’s father-in-law Kuang Shanming did not answer immediately but waved to call over the waiter: “Two gin and tonics.”
The waiter brought two tall-stemmed cocktail glasses and placed them in front of Fang Wen and Kuang Shanming.
Kuang Shanming took a sip first, then pointed to the half-full cocktail and said: “This is a cocktail with cinchona bark added. I know the secret recipe: gin, orange juice, sugar, and quinine water. It can cure illness, refresh the mind, and looks beautiful when you raise the glass to the light.”
（British gin and tonic cocktail, gin refers to golden liquor, also called gin; tonic refers to quinine solution.）
（It is said that long-term consumption of quinine can damage the kidneys; drink cautiously.）
Fang Wen followed his father-in-law’s instructions, raised the wine cup to the light, and the liquid in the glass showed a strange light blue sheen.
As a future person, he was wary of any beverage with a strange color and shook his head with a smile to refuse.
Kuang Shanming didn’t mind, took another sip, and continued:
“You’re still too young. Things in this world aren’t that simple. Do you think the Nazis in Weimar came to power just through those seductive speeches? Wrong—the root is interests. Do you know how much money Weimar has borrowed over these years?”
“I don’t know.” Fang Wen replied.
“Let me tell you. Don’t mention the Versailles debt; it’s unpayable. A few years ago, due to the world economic crisis, Weimar’s currency depreciated; people needed carts to carry money for shopping. Why was it able to turn around later? It relied on American aid. This money wasn’t borrowed for free—they used it to control Weimar’s industries. General Electric, United Steel, Dye Industry Interest Group—these three control most of the resources in the electricity, steel, and chemical industries.”
Kuang Shanming had drunk two different kinds of alcohol and was a bit mixed up; under the stimulation of alcohol, his temperament flared up, and he spilled out things he usually wouldn’t say.
He counted them off on his fingers sternly.
“Dillon Reed, Harris Forbes, National City Company（nationalcity）, Equitable Trust（Equitabletrust）—these are Wall Street’s big backers, the behind-the-scenes controllers. They need a strong figure to control workers’ strikes and trade unions; the Nazis are the best choice.”
Fang Wen nodded and added: “But they underestimated the Nazis; now it’s out of control.”
“Right, right, out of control, lost control. Such an extreme party, plus an even more extreme leader—Wall Street people actually thought they could control it through finance. That’s ridiculous.”
Kuang Shanming finally gave his view: “I think the Nazis will absolutely not be content to be controlled. They’ve already dominated Congress; next, they’ll definitely do big things. The American way of economic control will soon fail; the Nazis will absolutely seize back all economic control, and then it’ll be chaos again.”
Fang Wen strongly agreed; hadn’t Junkers aircraft company already become the Nazis’?
For now, they’re only targeting domestic companies; in the future, they’ll definitely confront Wall Street head-on.
As a historical firsthand witness, he saw the direction of history even more clearly.
He raised his glass.
“Father-in-law, your foresight impresses your son-in-law; please give more guidance in the future.”
“Of course, you’re the son-in-law I’m most satisfied with. Much more capable than my two sons; my Mingzhu really didn’t choose the wrong person.”
Amid laughter and cheers, the two drank until midnight, then rode in the king’s car back to the governor’s residence.
One night passed; it was time for serious business.
Lin Guangzhong and Lin Shuiwang contacted the Kuala Lumpur side and learned that the cargo ship had passed the Strait of Malacca and could arrive at Kuching Port within the day.
Father-in-law Kuang Shanming’s cinchona bark was stored in a warehouse in southern Kalimantan Island and would also be shipped by sea vessel to Kuching Port, expected to arrive tomorrow.
During the wait, the Raja of Sarawak warmly invited Fang Wen to attend his airplane’s maiden flight ceremony.
It was a custom-made amphibious aircraft.
The lower half was boat-shaped, with wheels on the boat bottom for land landing; the upper half had normal wings, and the propeller was above the wings.
This amphibious aircraft emphasized safety and comfort; it could moor and take off on water, with a speed of just over 100 kilometers per hour.
Clearly a toy prepared for rich people who liked to play; besides leisure, it had no other uses.
Fang Wen had nothing better to do, so under the king’s warm invitation, he piloted this aircraft to give the king its maiden flight.
The airplane slowly taxied on the runway and laboriously flew into the sky.
Fang Wen piloted the seaplane leisurely circling in the sky; the king behind him was very excited.
“This feeling is too great. Fang, I heard you can pilot all kinds of airplanes; is that true?”
“Not all, but nearly 10 kinds.” Fang Wen replied, recalling in his mind the airplanes he had flown.
Nanyuan Aviation trainer aircraft, Detroit person short-haul passenger aircraft, Rhine NYP-2, k-47, Potez 25（Qingyun Hao）, Boeing 80, Boeing 247, p26-b (Shrike Hao), Ford Trimotor, f.220 (Taishan One), d332.
Unintentionally, he had flown 11 types, and even he was a bit emotional about it.
The king behind him continued: “Fang, you should really consider establishing a new route here. There are many Chinese people here; they need better travel options.”
Fang Wen was a little tempted; as long as he didn’t invest in airport construction in Southeast Asia, he could avoid war risks.
And as the king said, there were many wealthy Chinese in the Nanyang region who could afford air passenger transport.
Unfortunately, Taishan Airlines was now in a development bottleneck, mainly handling Asia-Europe international routes, with no extra material resources or manpower to open new routes.
No airplanes; Boeing 247 orders were backed up until next year, and dc-1 was too expensive at 800,000 US Dollars each.
No pilots either; the pilots needed for Asia-Europe international flights already stretched Taishan Airlines thin—where could they spare people to fly Southeast Asia?
For this, Fang Wen could only respond vaguely: “Nanyang routes are good; I’ll discuss it within the company when I get back.”
This reply made the king very happy, as if it were already confirmed.
Over the next two days, while being warmly hosted by the Raja of Sarawak, they loaded the arriving cargo onto the plane.
With 8 tons of cargo loaded, Fang Wen bid farewell to the Raja of Sarawak, and the group boarded the airplane to return to base.
The airplane crossed the South China Sea and flew back to Guangzhou Dashatou Airport, unloading 6 tons of cinchona bark first.
During unloading, Lin Guangzhong told Fang Wen the situation he had learned.
“Something happened; Fuzhou is now surrounded, and the 19th Army is fighting the Central Army.”
“Has flying been banned?” Fang Wen asked.
“No air force involved; the airport is still operating.”
According to Lin Guangzhong, this war wouldn’t affect the FZ urban area, and everything was normal; the airport was operating normally.
Since that was the case, Fang Wen chose to continue flying to Fuzhou.
Two hours later, Taishan One entered Fujian and would reach Fuzhou soon.
Because they had entered the theater of operations, Fang Wen activated his mechanical perception ability to merge with the airplane, thereby seeing the battle situation below.
The 19th Route Army had set up defensive lines at three positions outside Fuzhou.
From Fang Wen’s perspective, he understood the situation below clearly.
He compared it to the map and identified the place names of each battle line.
Gutian and Yanping were heavily guarded, 100 kilometers from Fuzhou.
Then, troops were also deployed in the Min River section within Minqing County.
The current situation wasn’t good.
Gutian and Yanping had been partially breached; an army was advancing straight in, targeting the defensive troops at the Min River section.
The target was clear; obviously, the 19th Route Army’s deployment had leaked.
From the looks of it, the 19th Route Army’s defense in Fuzhou would definitely fail; Fang Wen quickly spoke up.
“Lin Guangzhong, I’m about to land; hurry and contact the 19th Route Army to pick up the goods, or Fuzhou city will change hands.”
At these words, Lin Guangzhong broke out in a cold sweat; Lin Shuiwang could only comfort him.
Fang Wen turned on the radio device, contacted the ground, and immediately landed at his own airport.
As soon as the airplane stopped, Lin Guangzhong rushed out of the airport.
Over an hour later, he returned with a team of military vehicles, organizing soldiers to hurriedly transport the supplies.
At the same time, a gaunt middle-aged military officer walked toward Fang Wen.
He extended his hand.
“Pleased to meet you.”
After shaking hands with him, Fang Wen asked: “Who are you?”
“19th Route Army Cai Tingkai. Last year, we fought the Japanese together; your two bombings are still fresh in my mind.”
So it was him.
Fang Wen gripped the other’s hand firmly, shook it, showing soldier-like respect.
“Pleased to meet you. At that time, the whole nation was watching; the 19th Route Army turned the tide, and I admired it greatly.”
“Alas. A true hero doesn’t mention past bravery; one wrong move, and the whole game is lost.”
Cai sighed as he got into the military vehicle and waved goodbye to Fang Wen.
Their army was leaving Fuzhou; having lost Min Land’s largest and most prosperous city, the 19th Route Army no longer had the capital to confront Chiang Kai-shek.
Fang Wen couldn’t help but sigh; this was one of the Republic of China’s strongest combat forces.
It had fought in the Northern Expedition, Central Plains War, January 28th Songhu War of Resistance—a battle-hardened army.
Witnessing the 19th Route Army’s downfall, Fang Wen immediately piloted the f.220 back to Shanghai.
No matter how the situation changed, it couldn’t stop his plans.
Mid-December.
Four cargo ships carrying refinery equipment, along with a batch of technicians and engineers, arrived at Port of Yangon.
The workers carefully unloaded the heavy refining equipment from the ships and transported it near the port.
It was an ideal place to build a refinery: close to the seaport, so after oil tankers arrived, crude oil could be immediately piped to the refinery’s crude oil storage devices.
But installation and construction were complex and rigorous processes.
According to the plan, it would take 3 months of construction, then one month of trial production; if everything went smoothly, it could go into production.
Managing the refinery required a professional talent.
The bullet factory in Yangon also needed a factory director.
For this, Fang Wen had a long talk with Huo Duanyang.
“Duanyang, I want you to go to Yangon and manage the bullet factory and refinery. I’m not at ease with those Americans; the refinery must have one of our own watching it.”
Huo Duanyang, who had been frequently traveling between Western Hunan and Yangon lately, looked a bit haggard.
“I’m willing to go to Yangon, but what about the bomb factory in Western Hunan? The catalyst formula for napalm bombs is known only to me. For secrecy, didn’t we agree at the start that only the two of us would know and not pass it on?”
Yes, this military secret absolutely could not be spread; the side effects would be astonishing if it leaked.
“I’ll handle it.” Fang Wen replied.
“That’s fine; it’s actually not difficult.” Huo Duanyang began explaining how to make the catalyst.
The catalyst in napalm bomb production mainly involved substances that gelled the gasoline.
Specifically, the gelling of napalm was achieved by adding specific thickeners to gasoline; these thickeners acted chemically as catalysts, promoting the gasoline’s change from liquid to gel state.
Making this required two materials: aluminum naphthenate and palmitic acid.
Aluminum naphthenate sounded awkward but was actually very common in reality, also known as fatty acid.
Palmitic acid accounted for 40% in palm oil.
This was why Huo Duanyang had used palm oil when making napalm bombs initially.
Huo Duanyang carefully taught Fang Wen these chemical reaction steps and demonstrated them in practice.
It took one day to learn; then Huo Duanyang left his post at Xiangxi Airport and went to Yangon to start a new undertaking.
Because he needed to make the catalyst, Fang Wen spent more time at Xiangxi Airport.
Here, besides making the catalyst, he organized employees to build an aircraft repair and modification plant.
The aircraft repair and modification plant wasn’t built yet when a telegram arrived from France.
Two d.332 passenger aircraft had left the factory and were awaiting acceptance.
Five aircraft manufacturing engineers would also come to Asia together.
This was Fang Wen’s main business; he couldn’t wait and piloted that d.332 to Europe.
The d.332 airplane flew to Europe; the Asia-Europe international route quietly opened.
The route was the established Taishan Airlines Asia-Europe international route.
Shanghai—Guangzhou—Kolkata—Delhi—Kabul—Tehran—Ankara—Rome—Paris（Toulouse）; just the final Paris changed to Toulouse.
There were 8 French pilots as passengers.
Ticket sales at each transfer airport were open to the public, but only for reservations, and only for return flights from Europe to Asia.
The airplane departed immediately, following standard international flight procedures this time.
Taishan Airlines’ telegraph department sent route requests to each airport and notified Taishan Airlines office personnel at each airport.
After negotiations, takeoff and landing permissions were obtained, contact maintained, and the airplane took off.
After flying over Guangzhou, each time the airplane landed at an airport, it sent a telegram to Taishan Airlines Headquarters to confirm the landing, ensuring headquarters knew the airplane had safely reached the transfer airport.
Meanwhile, Taishan Airlines office personnel at each transfer airport handled fuel replenishment, overnight stays, meals, cargo loading/unloading, etc.
Upon reaching Kabul, they made a short stop to check the local joint airport construction progress.
There was now more complete airport infrastructure, even including airport hotel, restaurant, and shops.
Fang Wen was satisfied with these changes and continued takeoff, finally arriving at Toulouse.
The airplane landed at Devatine Company Airport in Toulouse; two brand-new d.332s were parked by the runway.
Fang Wen test-flew both new d.332s; with his mechanical perception ability, he found no issues.
This showed the aircraft structure and mechanics were passable; then he had the 8 French pilots conduct accompanying test flights.
The 8 French pilots had 2 months of d.332 piloting training experience and handled flying these two d.332s with ease, relieving Fang Wen of any worries.
Then, he flew as lead aircraft, bringing the two d.332 passenger aircraft toward Paris.
Starting from Paris, the return journey was also the inauguration of the Eurasian flight.
Just unknown how many people would book Taishan Airlines’ Eurasian flights to Asia.
