After becoming a master, there is another problem that makes Zhang Chi a headache, that is, there will be more.

Early that morning, Zhang Chi received an order to ask him and Wang Mazi to have a meeting on Guadalam... But this may not be blamed for the position of "teacher commander", because he knew that even if he had not become a master commander, he would probably have to attend this meeting.

Zhang Chi and Wang Mazi were on the C47 transport aircraft, which had a 2,600-kilometer range, allowing it to easily carry Zhang Chi and others from Rabaul to Guadao.

As for the escort mission... Originally, this mission was handed over to the "Cactus" aviation team. General Halsey was considering the importance of Zhang Chi and Wang Mazi, so it was strongly recommended that the escort mission be carried out by P38, which has better flight experience and better combat performance and has a longer range, but was eventually rejected by Zhang Chi.

This is because the possibility of Japanese fighter jets appearing between Rabaul and Guadalam at this time is very slim, unless the Japanese army is also able to intercept the US military's telegrams and successfully decipher them, but this is almost impossible.

More importantly, Zhang Chi felt that as a Chinese, he was even the commander of the Chinese Aviation Brigade... In the New First Division and even the entire Seventh Army, there were few people who had the experience of commanding the air force to participate in air combat and achieve victory. Even Zhang Junhua, the captain of the Aviation Brigade, did not. Although he participated in the Battle of Songhu and commanded fighter jets to bomb the Japanese "Izumo", it was not an air combat, and it was difficult to call it victory.

So Zhang Chi became the commander of the aviation brigade without permission.

As a commander, if you don’t believe in your subordinates, then how can you make your subordinates believe in yourself?!

Therefore, Zhang Chi politely rejected Halsey's suggestion and chose to let Zhang Junhua organize escort.

This made the whole Rabaul busy...

Escort is not just escort, because the maximum range of the Wildcat fighter is only more than 1,200 meters. This range can only be said to be flying from Rabaul to Guadalam. At the same time, because the cruise speed of the C47 is 260 kilometers per hour, the escort "Wildcat fighter must also fly at a speed of 260 kilometers per hour. Therefore, it took more than 1,000 kilometers from Rabaul to Guadalam for more than four hours. This intensity is a bit too much for Chinese pilots and is not necessary.

So Harris decided to take this opportunity to train the aircraft carrier formation and fightership landings.

His plan was like this. The aircraft carrier formation set out first and waited in the middle of the journey of Labaur and Guadalam. So he divided the distance into two equal sections, each section about 500 kilometers, and the fighter jets were also divided into two batches. The first group was responsible for the escort of the first half, and the second group was responsible for the escort of the second half. In the middle, he took the opportunity to train the fighter jets on the aircraft carrier landing and takeoff training.

Of course, the training can be achieved, including aircraft carrier dispatch and destroyer escort, etc., which can also be regarded as a practical exercise.

Zhang Chi, sitting on the c47, looked at the exercise plan formulated by Zhang Junhua and Liu Guang**... The plan was very detailed. They even simulated two emergencies on the way, one was to discover enemy submarines, and the other was to discover enemy aircraft groups in the air.

Zhang Chi was very satisfied with this exercise plan because both exercise subjects were set for protecting aircraft carriers. The former was aimed at Japanese submarines always targeting allied aircraft carriers, which could train destroyers' anti-submarines and escorts for aircraft carriers. The latter was targeting the biggest threat that may be encountered in the aircraft carrier war...the enemy's carrier-based aircraft.

This shows at least two points:

One is that Zhang Junhua and Liu Guangzhong know that in battle, they must first save themselves and then eliminate the enemy... This seems common sense to modern people, but in this era, many people always like the Japanese army, thinking that the best defense is offense.

Those who hold this view always prove the victory after victory of the Japanese army on the battlefield. Unexpectedly, the reason why the Japanese army was able to win again and again was not because of their correct strategy, but because the combat effectiveness of the Japanese army and the Chinese team was too large, and they fought completely asymmetrical battles. Such victory was not enough to explain the problem.

Zhang Chi is very glad that Zhang Junhua does not have such thoughts.

Secondly, Zhang and Liu knew what the focus of the aircraft carrier formation in the battlefield was, that is, the aircraft carrier.

In fact, this cannot be said to be entirely due to Zhang and Liu. Harris also played a very important role in this.

On the other hand, Zhang and Liu also learned from many examples of aircraft carrier battles between the US and Japan, such as the Midway Battle, and the Guadalam Battle... Among them, especially the several aircraft carrier battles in Guadalam, Zhang Junhua truly understood what role Zhang Chi played in the Guadalam Battle, and he couldn't help but say strangely: As an army officer, why does he (fight Zhang Chi) seem to know a lot about the sea and air war? It seems that everything is in his control!

The more I thought about it, the more I felt strange. Zhang Junhua even used his own strength to check Zhang Chi's background... This is not to say that Zhang Junhua doubted Zhang Chi, but Zhang Junhua wanted to know if Zhang Chi had studied in a military academy or where he studied before, but he could not find anything. Even Zhang Chi's family background could not be found, just like a mystery.

However, this is not a rare thing in the war era. Under the massacre and invasion of the Japanese army, there are too many people in China who have no archives or family backgrounds, but Zhang Chi's identity is a bit special.

Of course, Zhang Chi didn't know that Zhang Junhua was checking his background. He was looking at the exercise plan, and was still thinking about cultivating Zhang Junhua well in the future, because just like the US Navy's aircraft carrier captain has experience in piloting, Zhang Junhua is actually more suitable to be an aircraft carrier captain.

Of course, these things are not done in one step, so you have to take it slowly.

After closing the exercise plan, Zhang Chi leaned back, rubbed his forehead and then looked at the blue sky and white clouds outside the window.

I thought to myself... The newly-edition Seventh Army, this number will actually be in my hands.

The new Seventh Army in history actually did not appear at this time, but after the victory of the Anti-Japanese War, because Chen Cheng and Sun Liren were incompatible, the New First Army was demolished into two armies: the New First Army and the New Seventh Army.

It should be said that the New Seventh Army was also from the New First Army. It is not much different from history now. It is just that it has been many years ahead of schedule, and it does not actually have aircraft carriers, warships, fighter jets like it is now, and then it still faces the Japanese head-on on the Pacific battlefield.

Looking at the white clouds floating past the window, Zhang Chi thought: I don’t know where he will take the New Seventh Army.
Chapter completed!