After the discovery of nuclear fission in Germany in 1938, Japanese academics also took note of this epoch-making information, and in 1939, the famous physicist Yoshio Nishina proposed the possibility of applying the new discovery to military use. www.biquge.info In May 1941, Hideki Tojo approved the "Report on the Manufacture of Uranium Bombs" submitted by the Army Aviation and assigned Yoshio Nishina to lead more than 100 scholars to conduct research. Not to be outdone, the Japanese Navy also implemented a nuclear development project the following year, named after the initials of the English word "fission" for "atomic fission", called "Plan F", supported by Kyoto Imperial University, and headed by physicist Fumitsu Arakatsu.

In 1943, Yoshio Nishina completed theoretical research on the atomic bomb, but Japan lacked uranium raw materials for experiments, so he searched for uranium mines in Japan, Korea, and Manchuria, and then turned to Germany for help. Germany could not obviously refuse this, otherwise it would be telling Japan that it was developing an atomic bomb and opposing Japan's development -- this would affect Japan-German cooperation, but Hoffmann did not want to speed up Japan's research and development progress, so he adopted a compromise method, telling Japan that there is not much uranium ore in Europe, and Germany has taken it to study it on its own, and that at present there is uranium ore in Belgium in the Congo, and Germany strictly restricts the export of uranium ore to other countries, and Japan is not among them as an ally, but there is no stock, and it will have to wait a few months to provide it to Japan, and the price is not expensive.

Japan chose to wait, and finally got hundreds of tons of uranium ore in October, which made the Japanese side very satisfied, and hurriedly shipped back to China to study, this year Japan hit India and found uranium ore in the local area, overjoyed to mine it, and soon even the Shanghai black market can buy uranium ore.

The authorities in Chongqing, Yan'an, and Nanjing often bought urgently needed medicines and small quantities of munitions in Shanghai, and even bought aero engines, anti-tank guns, and other things that China could not produce at all.

In addition to physical objects, the most famous thing in Shanghai's black market is intelligence trading, all kinds of people participate in intelligence trading in Shanghai, China's three factions, the United States, the Soviet Union, and Japan are all intervening in it, turning over the river and the sea, Germany and Italy have also stationed a lot of forces in Shanghai, and the streets and alleys of Shanghai often inexplicably kill people, most of these are intelligence officers and informants, and their spy warfare is thrilling and can be called a unique in the world. Far more than

By December, Japan had also bought heavy water and two sets of enriched uranium separation units from Germany, and Yoshio Nishina calculated that it would cost one-tenth of Japan's electricity and one-half of its copper to build an atomic bomb (he underestimated the demand for electricity but overestimated the demand for copper), and speculated that Germany, the United States, and even the Soviet Union must have started the development of the atomic bomb and the progress was faster than Japan's, and was eager to start the project of enriching uranium and making an atomic bomb.

Of course, there is an inherent institutional problem that cannot be bypassed: the army, navy, and navy's nuclear programs are still operating separately at this time, and there is no coordination, let alone a merger -- this matter cannot be settled at all without Ishihara Wan'er, Horiyoshi, and other bigwigs from the base camp sitting down to talk. Ishihara was extremely enthusiastic about the development of nuclear weapons, and he imagined early on that there was a "strange light" weapon that would suddenly appear to change or even end the war, and the "Ren Plan" was ahead of the "F Plan", so he proposed that the army should lead and the base camp co-ordinate, which Horiyoshi also agreed, but then the army proposed that the funds were insufficient, hoping that the navy would bear more than 80% of the cost and ensure the introduction of other technologies and equipment from Germany, which made the navy unacceptable, even if Horiyoshi agreed, The rest of the navy, including Yamamoto, also had ideas, and things had been frozen here, and Chiaki Matsuda, as Horikichi's henchman, knew the whole thing very well - there were no more than 10 people in the navy who knew about it.

However, in Matsuda's view, this matter may not have turned around, and the next Hawaii strategy will introduce a lot of army forces, so you might as well use it as a bargaining chip to negotiate with the army, so he proposed these two plans.

Hearing this, Horikichi, who had always been confident, was rarely silent, and shook his head with a wry smile after a long time: "The fission weapon is beyond my comprehension, and it is difficult for me to believe that there is such a powerful weapon." Taking a step back, even if this weapon is effective, it is not something that Japan can afford at present. ”

"I'm not so pessimistic, if the two plans merge as soon as possible, concentrate on research and development, ensure the supply of materials and energy, and get a little equipment and technology from Germany, I think the speed will be greatly accelerated, maybe ......."

"But in the end, this is a weapon that is highly enriched in technology, capital, and resources, and only a strong country can succeed, and Japan has no advantage in any aspect, and it is too far behind the United States. If Japan can figure it out, there's no reason why the United States can't figure it out. Maybe we produce one, and the Americans can produce 5 or 6, how can this be fought? Horikichi let out a long sigh, "If we can really take Hawaii, the national defense posture will be greatly improved, and maybe there will be more energy and financial resources to support the development of fission bombs." After all, this is quite a resource-intensive, money-consuming weapon. ”

"How much does it cost?"

"I don't know the specific price, I heard that it won't be less than the price of 10 Yamato, and the key is not to know if this kind of bomb really has a decisive effect, in case the money is not spent, the effect is not good, this thing will be embarrassing. It doesn't matter in peacetime, it's a big deal to take a detour, and the whole country will suffer a little and endure it, and if you take a detour in wartime, the consequences will be unimaginable. Horiyoshi sighed, "If we hadn't built Yamato and Musashi, we would have had at least 6 more Shozuru classes, and even Midway wouldn't have lost!" Besides, it didn't come in handy to fight Midway Yamato and Musashi......"

Chiaki Matsuda and the staff officers all nodded subconsciously, Yamato has been using it since the chief, so it is better to use it as a hotel at the dock all the time.

"I don't know what is the progress of the development of this fission weapon on the German side, and will it be used in this Madagascar military exercise?"

Chiaki Matsuda shook his head: "Ito-kun sent a telegram today, saying that the German army has displayed a lot of new weapons in the exercise, but it does not mention fission weapons, but it says that the Germans carried out vehicle-mounted rocket launches, and also showed new jets and vertical take-off and landing aircraft......"

"VTOL?" Hori was stunned for a moment, "It's a bit interesting, doesn't this mean that any ship can be used as an aircraft carrier in the future?" ”

However, he commented that this kind of vertical take-off and landing aircraft is currently slow and has poor ability to resist strikes, like an extra-large bamboo dragonfly, and that sea operations are at most anti-submarine, and there are a lot of operational hopes, but it may be of great help to the army. In addition, he emphasized the role of the V4 rocket, believing that it is a faster and unmanned Sakura bomb, under the saturation attack of multiple rockets, ordinary warships can not withstand it at all, and since Germany can develop a vehicle-mounted version, it must also be ship-based, and special attention should be paid to the development of such weapons by the US military to deal with the capital ships of our army, and this weapon will be more terrible than shore-based Sakura bombs in the future......" Speaking of this, Chiaki Matsuda showed a look of admiration, "His inference is the same as yours, and the giant ship cannon will completely withdraw from the stage of history in a few years, There will be a new naval battle mode. ”

That's why I can't wait for an armistice, and even give the Americans a decent step, so I send the Americans to their knees, just hoping to win a chance for the empire to recuperate...... It's a pity that the Americans ignored us and forced me to fight Hawaii - you know, in my heart, I don't want to fight Hawaii at all! ”

Chiaki Matsuda waved her fist: "They will regret it!" ”

The two don't know, in fact, the Americans have regretted it now, but for the time being, they still don't want to put it in their hearts.

"The chief changed the meeting point?" In the bridge of the Unryu, Kakuharu Tsunoda, Masafumi Arima and others are discussing their next move.

"Yes, the new meeting point is tentatively 2,500 kilometers east of Hawaii, which is about the 43rd parallel, 2,300 kilometers from the west coast."

Tsunoda was stunned for a moment, and immediately went to look at the chart: "That means we have to go north?" ”

Horiyoshi's original strategy was very clear: the Tsukahara fleet went north to cut off the connection between the east coast and Pearl Harbor, pinned down the Halsey fleet, and then Horiyoshi's fleet went north to meet the southward convergence of the Second Voyage Battle, but now due to the northward movement of the Halsey fleet and the lack of oil in Tsunoda, the entire arrangement was destroyed, but this was also a helpless move, and the telegram explained it very clearly.

"Do as the commander asks first." Tsunoda sighed, "This time I have caused the chief, and I will ask the chief to ask for guilt when I go back." ”

In the middle of the night, the three fleets continued to advance, with the Halsey fleet maintaining a 295-degree course, the Horiyoshi fleet turning to a 10-degree course, and the Tsunoda fleet making a major adjustment to its course from 220 degrees to 285 degrees, slowly moving towards the designated target.

After the adjustment, the angle between the Tsunoda fleet and the Halsey fleet was greatly reduced, and the distance between the two sides was reduced by less than 10 kilometers per hour, even taking into account the speed difference.

Early in the morning of October 27, the parties released their reconnaissance planes, relying on the ability of Caiyungai, Tsunoda found the Halsey fleet at 10 o'clock, confirming that the gap between the two sides had narrowed to 1,050 kilometers, still satisfying Horiyoshi's requirement of "seeing but not fighting", Halsey did not find Tsunoda, because the search distance of the reconnaissance plane he sent was only about 800 kilometers. However, the B-29s sent from Pearl Harbor later informed him of the location of Horikiyoshi's fleet, 1,400 kilometers northeast of Hawaii Island.

Due to the loss of many warships, Horikichi adjusted the composition of the fleet, changing the structure from a three-tier echelon structure to a two-tier structure, with a more compact formation and an overall speed of 15 knots. After studying the photographs, Ingram was convinced that the Japanese forces were a little smaller than the one reported to Halsey yesterday, and he was finally relieved.