The expeditionary force began to dominate Southeast Asia by recruiting defeated soldiers

"Speaking of which, what is the origin of this independent regiment? How did that deserter major staff officer named Zhang Chi suddenly appear?" Bai Jianchu finally broke the silence and asked with confusion.

"Speaking of this..." Kong Zhongneng's expression turned serious. "All I know is that this so-called independent regiment is a mysterious unit organized by Stevenson himself. He called it Unit A, which is specifically responsible for fighting behind enemy lines behind the Fusang Army in northern Pegu."

"As for the specific staffing structure, old man Stephenson keeps it very secret and guards it very closely. I can't find out more."

Kong Zhongneng pursed his lips, showing a bit of helplessness.

"My life here is much harder than back home. Even though I studied abroad at the Virginia Military Institute, these white people don't trust me at all. I face a bunch of Johns and Bald Eagles every day, and I'm completely out of touch..."

Bai Jianchu nodded thoughtfully. "I checked the divisional roster a while ago. Staff Officer Zhang Chi's grades when he graduated from the Whampoa Military Academy Infantry Division were pretty average. He rose through the ranks simply because of his excellent logistics work. Tell me, why would Stevenson choose such a man as a pawn in his quest for military power? What did he want from him? Just for his obedience?"

As soon as he finished speaking, Bai Jianchu couldn't help but laugh at himself. He knew that perhaps being obedient was the most important thing.

The root cause of their disastrous defeat in this expedition was the disorganized command and he was well aware of this.

Kong Zhongneng stroked his chin thoughtfully and asked in a low voice, "Do you think Zhang Chi is just a puppet of Stevenson? Is there someone else actually commanding the battle?"

"Maybe." Bai Jianchu looked towards the distant sky, his eyes filled with deep doubt. "Who knows in this world?"

Suddenly, a staff officer's hurried shout came from outside the door, interrupting their conversation.

"Report, the theater command has airlifted a batch of photos and requested they be delivered to General Chen."

Bai Jianchu raised his head and frowned: "General Chen is not here, give it to me first."

He waved his hand and signaled the staff officer to hand over the envelope.

The staff officer walked over quickly and handed a thick envelope to Bai Jianchu.

Bai Jianchu took the envelope and poured all the photos inside onto the table.

Kong Zhongneng also came over, and the two of them looked through the photos together.

When their eyes fell on the images, both of them gasped, shock appearing on their faces.

"This..." Bai Jianchu was stunned, picked up a photo and widened his eyes.

In the photo, the Japanese weapons are piled up like mountains, densely covering the entire picture, and next to them is a whole row of Japanese pilot prisoners squatting on the ground with their heads in their hands.

The following photos showed Japanese planes burned to skeletons, with the wreckage emitting black smoke extremely dazzling.

Others showed burning oil depots and airport buildings, with flames raging so fiercely that they threatened to burst out of the photos.

Kong Zhongneng stared at the photos and could hardly believe his eyes.

He and Bai Jianchu looked at each other, their expressions extremely complicated.

In this age without Photoshop technology, they all knew that these photos were basically impossible to fake.

Kong Zhongneng murmured softly, "It seems this victory is real. How did Stevenson and Zhang Chi do it?"

Bai Jianchu didn't say anything, but slowly put the photo back on the table and nodded heavily.

They both fell into a brief silence, and the same thought flashed through their minds at the same time -

"It's over. Commander Chen, if he goes to Stevenson now, isn't he just asking for trouble?"

------

While both the enemy and us were speculating on how Zhang Chi had achieved such an amazing result, our independent regiment commander Zhang Chi did not have the slightest joy of victory in his mind.

He knew that the Japanese counterattack would come soon.

At this moment, how to deal with this counterattack became his top priority.

Zhang Chi stood in front of the map, staring at it in deep thought.

The independent regiment is currently stationed between the Mailikai River and the Kumen Ridge. It is surrounded by either mountains or rivers. The terrain is easy to defend but difficult to attack. In addition, he has built various reinforced concrete fortifications. If the Japanese troops come from the ground, they will only crash into his defense line and suffer heavy losses.

Not to mention that he had a large number of amphibious tanks and torpedo boats, which he could use to attack the Japanese logistics from behind by crossing the Mali River at any time.

And the railway that the Japs usually used to transport large quantities of ammunition and supplies on the domestic battlefield of Qian Country?

In Pegu, the John people only built the railway to Myitkyina. In the mountainous area further north of Myitkyina where the Independent Regiment was located, there were only simple dirt roads, and most of these roads were along rivers and were all within the attack range of the Independent Regiment's navy.

What Zhang Chi is really worried about now are the hundreds of planes of the Japanese Southern Army.

With the destruction of the Japanese airport closest to the Independent Regiment by him, the Independent Regiment won a temporary respite before the end of the rainy season.

General Stevenson promised to give him priority in providing him with a batch of P-40 "Warhawk" fighter jets, the same model as the Flying Tigers. This made Zhang Chi feel that he had the capital to protect himself against the Japanese air raids.

But he also knew that nothing was ever "enough" in war, and that current preparations were far from adequate to cope with the increasingly intense fighting.

Therefore, Zhang Chi directly used the War Thunder system to exchange all the gold seized in previous battles and the gold that Bai Minghui brought back from the temple for 16 synthetic pilots.

Each pilot cost 10 kilograms of gold - expensive, but necessary.

"16 synths plus the 13 Allied pilots rescued earlier, plus more than 30 flight trainees, can almost form an air force." Zhang Chi calculated in his mind, his eyes flickering slightly.

He knew that training pilots and building an air force was not something that could be accomplished in a short period of time, but time waited for no one, so he had to start with the resources at hand.

Zhang Chi planned to equip this independent regiment's aviation team with 12 "Bulldog" biplane fighters, 8 "Swordfish" attack aircraft and 4 "Hawk Kite" reconnaissance aircraft.

These aircraft previously obtained at the John Airport were all biplanes with poor performance. Therefore, Zhang Chi decided to let them train only in clear weather and explicitly prohibited any actual combat attacks.

"Don't expect these biplanes to be able to deal with the Japanese Zeros."

As for the main combat aircraft of the future independent regiment, Zhang Chi plans to use both Eagle Aid and War Thunder systems.

未来白鹰的驻身毒第十航空队将装备P-40“战鹰”、P-51“野马”、P-38“闪电”三种战斗机与B-24“解放者”重型轰炸机和C-46、C-47两种运输机。

Zhang Chi felt that with his current relationship with General Stevenson, where they shared weal and woe, he could easily get dozens of these planes from the Allies.

As for more advanced aircraft, Zhang Chi plans to rely on the War Thunder system to provide them.

According to the system, when the troops under his command reach the brigade level, he will be able to unlock the qualification to purchase level IV gold/silver coin vehicles.

Thinking of this, Zhang Chi opened the system interface in his mind and stared at the Level IV gold coin machine on the White Eagle technology tree.

There are more than ten types of White Eagle IV-level gold coin machines, but Zhang Chi is currently eyeing three of them.

初代实验式喷气机P59-A：单座双发，装备有一门37mm M10机炮和3挺12.7mm勃朗宁重机枪，最大时速690 km/h，最大升限13 000 m。

A-1H Skyraider carrier-based attack aircraft: The main carrier-based attack aircraft of the White Eagle in the early days of Annan. It is a real bomb truck that can carry 11 500-pound bombs or 3 2000-pound super-heavy bombs at a time for dive bombing. It is equipped with 4 20 mm cannons and can both fight and bomb.

F4U-4B VMF-214号舰载战斗机：F4U-4B‘海盗’战斗机的金币款，二战和半岛战争中的白鹰主力舰载战斗机，能够携带2枚1000磅重磅炸弹进行俯冲轰炸，装备有4 门 20 mm机炮，能打能炸。

Zhang Chi plans to equip the P59-A to train ground crew members in jet maintenance capabilities and to train future jet pilots.

As for the remaining two types of propeller aircraft.

In Zhang Chi's plan, the A-1H will serve as the main bomber of the future flying team, responsible for bombing the Japanese warships and reinforced concrete fortifications from the air.

The F4U-4B was to serve as the squadron's main fighter.

This aircraft perfectly surpasses the Japanese's main Zero and Type 1 fighters in terms of firepower, engine output, and body strength. It can also carry bombs for dive bombing, making it a multi-purpose aircraft and very cost-effective.

However, this level IV gold aircraft is priced at 20 kilograms of gold in the system, and Zhang Chi started to worry about the source of the gold.

Thinking that he was able to find the golden Buddha in a temple in the mountains last time, Zhang Chi guessed that in this parallel world of different time and space, the area where he was might be a gold-producing area, so he decided to call the elders of several nearby Qian country immigrant villages to inquire about the situation.