At 4:30, more than 45 minutes before the sortie, watching Musashi and King Kong refueling in an orderly manner, but the reconnaissance plane that expanded the search area still did not find anything, Kakuji Tsunoda, who was as anxious as an ant on a hot pot, said to Arima Masafumi in a trembling voice: "Please tell the sir, the reconnaissance plane has not yet discovered the location of the enemy ship, do you let the attack group take off first?" Adjust the final course in the air according to intelligence? ”

Chiaki Matsuda was also in a hurry, but Horikichi flatly refused to send such a telegram requesting: "No! Tell Tsunoda to calm down and don't worry! If the night search fails, prepare to turn to the visual search, and release the colorful clouds after 4:45. Pen ~ Fun ~ Pavilion www.biquge.info"

Matsuda Chiaki said: "Sir, it's okay to release the attack group first, even if the regular colored clouds find the target, you can use this attack group to strike......"

Horikichi shook his head slowly: "You think the enemy is in this area, but I haven't found it for the time being, my concern is that the enemy is not there at all, what if it misses?" ”

"But the enemy is so fast......"

"What if they turn around after nightfall? What if the enemy also tries to close the distance between them and our army? Horikichi suggested a new possibility, and a group of staff officers immediately rushed over to study it, and came to the conclusion that if the American troops had turned around after nightfall, the maximum probability would have been 1,100 kilometers away by now -- in fact, Halsey was now 930 kilometers away, because he had not used 17 knots to run at high speed, but only 10 knots to slowly move north.

Not to mention 1,100 kilometers, even 900 kilometers are more than the combat range of the attack group, and Horikichi does not want to lose his strength in vain.

"When will we be able to meet up with the Second Air Battle?"

"After 6 o'clock, it will enter a 200-kilometer cooperative combat circle, and it is expected that the visual distance convergence will be achieved at 9 o'clock, and the attack group has now completed preparations."

"Inform Kuwabara-kun, release the reconnaissance plane after 4:45, pay attention to search in other directions, don't rush the attack group, don't hang torpedoes in the first round, bombs for all members!"

After the Second Battle of Pearl Harbor, Horiyoshi reorganized his troops, and the commander of the Fifth Air War was Vice Admiral Kuwabara Torao, and Miwa Yoshiyoshi became the chief of staff, both of whom were typical representatives of the aviation school in the navy.

Kuwabara Torao is very old, and the sailor schedule is the same as Ozawa Jizaburo's 37 period, which is 2 times higher than Tsunoda Satoru, but the hammock number is lower than Ozawa. Although he did not rank high, Kuwabara had a good reputation in the navy and was considered a pioneer in naval navigation. Japan's first seaplane carrier, the "Wakamiya Maru", was proposed by him to lay a runway and carry aircraft on it, and the use of aviation torpedoes can be traced back to Kuwabara. He later served as captain of the Kasumigaura Flight Force, commander of the Third Air Force at the Battle of Pearl Harbor, and was supposed to succeed Tsukahara's Chinese Dispatch Fleet, but as Japan gradually withdrew from the Chinese theater and the navy retreated faster, he returned home last year.

Because of the big hat of the aviation faction on his head, King Fushimi Miyahiro Gong did not treat him very well, so he was appointed as the commander of the reserve air fleet - in charge of training, as the new air fleet increased and experienced commanders were urgently needed, especially the pilots who followed Hori Yoshi to fight this time were basically brought out by him, so Hori Yoshi simply regarded him as the commander of the second mobile fleet.

Miwa Yoshiyoshi was Yamamoto's aide-de-camp in the Kasumigaura Flying Team, and later Yamamoto's aviation staff officer, and he was a thorough man of his own for Horiyoshi. In the first Indian Ocean sea, Yamamoto thought that the Counterattack (prestige-class battle cruiser) was relatively old and brittle, and could probably be sunk by aircraft, but the George V-class Prince of Wales was a newly built battleship after all, and it could only be blown up to a big blow at most, and the Miwa Yoshiyong, who had formulated the battle plan, fought with it repeatedly, thinking that it could completely destroy the opponent, and finally forced Yamamoto to make a bet of 10 cases of beer in order to prove himself, and as a result, both the Counterattack and the Prince of Wales were all sunk by Japanese aircraft, and Miwa Yoshiyoshi finally got his wish and got 10 cases of beer. Yamamoto's gambling is still good.

There are not many people in Japan who can win Yamamoto 56, but after all, Horiyoshi won a house in Yamamoto a long time ago, and Miwa Yoshiyoshi won 10 cases of beer - spread it out and can brag for a lifetime.

The combination of Kuwabara + Sanwa is second only to the combination of Tsukahara + Kusaka Ryunosuke in the eyes of many people, and it is stronger than the combination of Tsunoda + Arima Masafumi, especially after Tsunoda took charge of the second air war this time and caused the oil break turmoil, everyone muttered more in their hearts, but Horiyoshi himself didn't see it that way, Tsunoda was a tiger general, he used it as a pioneer officer, courage and sharpness are the first requirements, Japan will have many air fleets in the future, and it needs to fight a variety of different battles, how can it be generalized? It is said that Kurita Keno is timid and conservative, isn't it good for someone to be in charge of the transport fleet? Employing people must give full play to their strengths, don't be limited to death by the number of periods and hammock numbers, just reading books is so useful - this is what Hori Yoshiko, who is the chief of the 32nd issue, said that even Yamamoto did not dare to openly challenge the hammock number system - he is not the chief after all, but only the 7th.

At 4:45, the second batch of reconnaissance planes was released, but Horiyoshi was not in a hurry at this time, and said to everyone: "I'm tired, take a nap first, don't be too nervous, the Americans can't beat it all at once!" ”

Horiyoshi can relax and nap, but the others don't even dare to blink their eyes, for fear of missing something, and time passes minute by minute, Matsuda Chiaki, Kakunoda Kakuharu, Arima Masafumi, Kuwabara Torao, Miwa Yoshiyoshi and others are so impatient that they can't do it, and they are restless one by one. Another commander who had no psychological burden was probably Nishimura Shoji, a vice admiral in his 50s who stood on the deck of the Musashi and shouted, dancing: "Hahaha, it's oil, it's oil, it's good to have oil...... Come on, hit me now......"

All the officers and men were stunned for a while, and the commander was probably suffocated, and only the most trusted staff officers knew that Commander Nishimura was not afraid of death at all, he was afraid that he would die on the battlefield without gas, and this would not be avenged -- Nishimura had a total of three sons, two of whom died young, and the last son was a naval aviation officer who died in the Philippine campaign in December 1941. For a father, it makes no difference if he dies early or later. And in real history, Nishimura Shoji was indeed killed in the Battle of Leyte Gulf a few days ago.

There are still many descendants of Japanese commanders who serve as soldiers on the front line, such as the only son of Ito Junichi in this decoy fleet, Lieutenant Ito Rui of the 72nd Marine Soldier who followed the Yano heroes to attack, Matsuda Chiaki knew that Horiki valued Ito Junichi very much, and he was bent on taking it for his own use, and before leaving, he wanted to change Ito Rui to the safer Katsuragi, but Ito Rui himself resolutely disagreed, and Hori Yiji did not agree after knowing it, and then it was not transferred.

When Matsuda Chiaki asked Horikichi privately afterwards, the latter sighed: "Matsuda-kun, I kept saying that I would work hard, or I would not be afraid of sacrifice, and in the blink of an eye, I would arrange the son of a senior general to a safer place, how can I serve the public?" Leading soldiers must be a bowl of water, and if you have no desire, you will be strong! Besides, if you do this, of course, the starting point is good, but Ito will never accept your affection, he will only think that you look down on him and it will be self-defeating......"

Historically, Ito's father and son were both killed in the Yamato attack, and now it seems that their fate is different.

At 5:40, there were already more than 50 Japanese reconnaissance planes on the sea, and Horiyoshi finally woke up from his "nap" and asked, "How is the fuel situation in the Second Air Battle?" ”

"The aircraft carrier and the cruisers have been refueled, and they are currently resupplying the Musashi, Kongo, and destroyers, and it is expected that the two battleships will be completed at half past six, and the rest of the ships are guaranteed to be completed by half past seven." Matsuda Chiaki said, "The second batch of reconnaissance planes has been dispatched and is ready to expand the search area, and new news should come after dawn." ”

Horikichi nodded with satisfaction: "Wait for the news of the reconnaissance plane, don't worry, maybe the results of the reconnaissance will surprise us." ”

Seeing that the other party was still frowning, he laughed: "Matsuda-kun, don't keep your face strained, this battle is basically won, and now the key is how to defeat the opponent at the lowest cost!" ”

"Win? Xia Guan couldn't see it at all. Chiaki Matsuda cried with a sad face, "The reconnaissance plane searched for nearly five hours, the sector area was extended to 170 degrees, and the distance was stretched to 700 kilometers, but I found nothing, I am afraid that the enemy reconnaissance plane has taken off and is looking for us, maybe it will be followed by a large number of attack planes, and at present, the air defense fighters of various fleets are arranging to take off one after another, and they are ready to carry it for a while." ”

"I don't completely rule out this possibility, wait and see." Horikichi smiled slightly, "And there is one thing I forgot to tell you before I nap, if the U.S. fleet is still in a group, even if I find the opponent's position, I may not choose to fight it, I would rather wait for the enemy to attack us first." ”

"Sir, you?" All the staff officers, including Chiaki Matsuda, were stupid.

"Ask Tsukahara where he's gone."

At the same time that a large number of colorful clouds were being released by the Japanese troops, Halsey and McCain, who had also stayed awake all night, released all the F4U reconnaissance planes, and they searched not only in the west and north, but also in the south, which had been neglected -- Turner only made up after being reminded. To help the fleet, the Hawaii Army will also fly reconnaissance planes.

At 7:29, a cry of surprise came from the telecommunications room: "Sir, the US fleet has been found, all the main forces are there, the course is 0 degrees, the speed is 10 knots, and the current distance from the second air battle is 950 kilometers............"

"Where did they go?" Now the Second Voyage Battle is still with the decoy fleet, and the speed is still only 14 knots, and the course is southeast. Tsunoda ran southeast, and Halsey ran north—the distance between the two was getting further and wider.

"It seems that the enemy forces really turned at night."

Chiaki Matsuda couldn't help but be glad that he didn't attack indiscriminately in the morning, otherwise he would have made a mistake in the direction at the beginning and too far away, and the attack group sent out could really only act as a one-way attack and smash into pieces before the US army's tight defense.

At 7:58, Halsey also received information that the two Japanese fleets (the Tsunoda fleet and the Yano fleet) had completely converged, about 950 kilometers from the main fleet, and they did not find the Five Air Battles a little further away.

He nodded, which was expected by him, and just as he was about to turn to shorten the distance to attack, the shocking news came, 890 kilometers to the southeast, another Japanese fleet appeared, heading due north, with a speed of up to 30 knots, with 3 fleet carriers, and about 80 kilometers behind them, there was also a large group of battleship formations clustering north, including 2 majestic super battleships.

"This is the enemy's main fleet!"

Halsey was in a hurry, and the TF50 fleet was caught in the dilemma of being flanked by the Japanese on both sides......

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