The Outside Forces Zeroed Out!

Actually, no one at the scene knew.

According to the original course of history,

even without the Data Pod recovery incident, Xu Tingze would have made the momentous decision to defect on June 1 of the following year.

Xu Tingze was a captain and pilot in the 42nd Squadron, 11th Group, 2nd Wing of the opposing side's air force. He was from Shancheng and had joined the logistics service in 1945.

His skills were outstanding. He had received several medals and had even been received by the Baldy.

Later, unable to stomach the Baldy's indulgence toward Across the sea's advisers, he chose to fly an F-86F Sabre fighter to Longtian Airport in Fujian Province and defect on June 1 of the following year.

Xu Tingze's actions also set a precedent for pilots from the opposing side to defect. Over the following decades, more than two hundred pilots from the island would rise up in similar fashion.

The Rabbits treated these defecting pilots very generously. Xu Tingze, for instance, was rewarded with 2,500 taels of gold, equivalent to twenty million Huaxia currency in later purchasing power.

Considering the value of an aircraft and the political significance it carried, however, the expense was well worth it.

The rewards offered by the opposing side were even more generous. Sun Tianqin, who had defected from the Rabbits, received 7,000 taels of gold.

Meanwhile, Fang Yutong's fate was far more tragic than Xu Tingze's.

This veteran who had studied abroad for the sake of his people during the Battle of Songhu was framed by his colleague Ma Huaishan during the Baldy's so-called "Loyalty Inspection." He was arrested and imprisoned on Green Island, then secretly executed six years later.

It wasn't until 2021, after Xu Yun had traveled through time, that Fang Yutong's descendants finally brought