The geographical location of the Tang Empire determines that its national defense construction cannot be a simple defensive type.

Zhang Meng knew that the Tang Empire lacked strategic depth on land, and the only land fortress base, Yanjing Fortress, could only defend Yanjing and Wawau Islands, while Tonga and Hapai Islands, far away from Wawau Islands, could not provide fortress fire support.

But these two archipelagos are coral islands, with an altitude of less than ten meters and a flat mountain without any danger. The only thing that can provide concealment is Aiwa Island, where Daxing is located. The island is covered by endless tropical rainforests. It is okay to fight guerrilla wars with the enemy inside, but it cannot protect the security of the capital Chang'an and Jinling.

Without the strategic depth on land, Zhang Meng could only hope to build a defense system for integrated sea and air war. He could only vigorously develop naval and air force forces and block the enemy's invasion in the Pacific Ocean away from the land of the Tang Empire.

Zhang Meng knew that the biggest enemy of the Tang Empire in the next decade would inevitably come from Japan in the North Pacific. As the world's third largest naval power, the Japanese Joint Fleet became the largest naval force second only to the US Navy and the British Navy, and the largest naval force in the Pacific region. Even the United States dared not easily touch its edge.

Faced with the Japanese joint fleet, Zhang Meng knew that the Washington Navy Treaty was about to expire, and the Japanese Navy refused to sign the new London Navy Treaty, which meant that the Japanese Navy would expand on a large scale.

Although the Japanese Navy is very powerful, Zhang Meng is not actually afraid of them. The reason is that Zhang Meng knows that aircraft carriers and aviation forces will dominate the battlefield in the future.

However, the Japanese Navy has now served three aircraft carriers, Fengxiang, Kaga and Akagi, which will pose a huge threat to the Tang Empire.

But what is puzzling is that the USS Fengxiang aircraft carrier, which has only been built in 22 years in the Japanese Navy, is on combat readiness duty. The other two Akagi and Kaga aircraft carriers have been conducting secret experiments since they were completed in 28 years to study the construction and use of second-generation aircraft carriers for the Japanese Navy.

It can be said that the Japanese Navy was earlier than the United States and Britain in the construction and application of aircraft carriers, and its aircraft carrier combat theory and experience were ahead of the navies of European and American countries, and it was a veritable number one aircraft carrier power.

Zhang Meng attaches importance to the enemy tactical terms, but always despises the Japanese strategically.

In order to fight against the Japanese Navy, Zhang Meng planned and built a total of twelve airports on three archipelagos, belonging to four air force bases. They are the Qinglong Air Force Base on Yanjing Island, the Zhuque Air Force Base on Chang'an Island, the White Tiger Air Force Base on Jinling Island, and the Xuanwu Air Force Base on Daxing Island.

These four air bases plan to deploy at least 3,000 combat aircraft of various purposes, including 1,200 fighter jets, 600 bombers, 200 reconnaissance aircraft and 1,000 trainers.

The reason why one thousand trainers was required was mainly because Zhang Meng had no ready-made pilots. He selected five thousand people from the National Defense Forces to form an air force, and transferred pilots from Raptor Airlines to train them.

Although it is not too difficult to fly an airplane in this era, it may be possible to drive the airplane into the sky in half a month, it is very difficult to become a qualified pilot or become a trump card.

However, Raptor Airlines has only provided a batch of fighter jets mainly for training, mainly P6E fighters produced by Martin, the predecessor of Raptor Airlines, and F11C carrier-based fighters produced by the US Army Air Force and the US Navy aircraft carrier fleet.

To be honest, Zhang Meng really can't stand the US military's biplane propeller fighter. Whether it is the fighter jet of China Airlines or the carrier-based aircraft used in aircraft carriers, its fighter jet performance is very backward.

However, Raptor Airlines has not yet completed the development and design of the new generation of single-wing all-metal retractable landing gear fighter, and Zhang Meng is worried about the national defense security of the Tang Empire, so he is anxious to form an air force.

In his opinion, as long as the air force of the Tang Empire formed combat power, even if the Japanese came to find Zhang Meng to take revenge, they would not be afraid of them. Because they could not penetrate Lu Bai at the end of their strength, Japan was thousands of miles away from the Tang Empire, even if their navy came, they would have no choice but to deal with Zhang Meng without absolute air superiority.

Raptor Airlines expanded its production line because it received direct investment from Zhang Meng, and it turned out that there was a batch of inventory. Therefore, the first batch of fifty P6E fighter jets and twenty F11C carrier-based aircraft were quickly delivered to the Tang Empire Air Force and deployed to the Qinglong Air Force that was completed first, specifically for training for the Tang Empire Air Force pilots.

Since the speed of these two types of fighter jets is not fast, basically anyone who can drive can drive. The only difficulty lies in the airplane's airsickness and direction judgment caused by the rotation of the customer service aircraft during flight. In most cases, once the direction cannot be determined, there is only one result that it will fall directly into the sea.

In order to overcome the problem of air sickness and inability to distinguish direction, Zhang Meng specially set up a large number of horizontal bars and axial rotating cages on the training ground of the air force base to help pilots overcome difficulties. The horizontal bars mainly allow pilots to make at least 200 abdominal cranes a day to solve the problems of pilots' motion sickness and air sickness. The axial rotating cage simulates the state of the aircraft cockpit when it spins in the sky, allowing the pilots to adapt to that situation for a long time, and finally achieve a muscle memory state, preventing the pilots from being unable to distinguish the direction when the aircraft rolls and rotates in the air.

It can be said that Zhang Meng's simple method is very effective. For pilots with low education, Zhang Meng's method is easier to learn and remember than the pilots who teach them.

In less than half a month, most pilots can fly into the blue sky. During this period, some casualties will inevitably occur, but these are within the allowable range.

In order to encourage the courage of pilots to fly the plane, Zhang Meng issued a regulations on the air force pilot's large-scale disability and death pension. Once an accident occurs, the pilot and his family will receive three times the compensation from the military. At the same time, the minimum treatment of a pilot is the second lieutenant, and the food is also the highest standard for the entire army.

These preferential policies immediately soothe the confidence and fighting spirit of the Air Force officers and soldiers, and made them join the training with the greatest enthusiasm.

Zhang Meng planned to temporarily use Army aviation to fight against the threat of the Japanese joint fleet, but if we consider the three aircraft carriers of the Japanese Navy, Zhang Meng would have to find another way.

If the Japanese Navy came to attack the Tang Empire, if they dispatched aircraft carriers, then Zhang Meng would have to have a naval fleet as an auxiliary to the land aviation industry.

Of course, Zhang Meng wanted to own the aircraft carrier immediately. But he knew that the air force pilots of the Tang Empire were still trembling at the land airport, let alone letting them take off from the bumpy and shaking aircraft carrier deck, which was simply unrealistic.

Moreover, the most important thing is that Zhang Meng does not have an aircraft carrier, and even his navy only has a few antique gunboats. The naval base is still under construction. Although the relevant shipbuilding equipment of the Delis Shipyard, a subsidiary of Boliheng Steel Company, has been transported back, the Yanjing Port Shipyard is also under construction. Four large 60,000-ton docks will not be completed until the summer of 1931.

Even if Zhang Meng wanted to build a third-generation aircraft carrier, he would have to wait until 1931 to start construction. He did not want the great powers to know the design plan of his third-generation aircraft carrier, so it was impossible for him to order the third-generation aircraft carrier in foreign shipyards.
Chapter completed!