The shells that fell near the aircraft carrier "Taizu" were none other than the 356-mm main gun shells fired from the flagship of the Japanese Second Battlefleet "Kongo". In less than two minutes, dozens of shells fell, and the main guns of the four battleships were almost all aimed at the most obvious target of the "Taizu" (at that time, the "Xuanzong" was blocked in front of the "Taizu" on the right).

When the 1st Task Force was preparing in the port of Zhoushan, and the imperial warships in the South China Sea began to move north, the Japanese side had already determined that the Tang Empire was organizing a combat operation to ascend to the Ryukyu Island. This led to an extremely serious conflict between the Japanese Navy and the Japanese 6th Army. The reason why the Japanese Navy insisted on holding Ryukyu Island was very simple, and in World War I, the Tang Empire's navy was based on Ryukyu Island to complete the blockade of the Japanese mainland, and then the Japanese Navy was in an extremely passive situation, and even it was difficult to go to sea, and it was completely blocked in the inland sea by the Tang Imperial Navy. Therefore, it is necessary to defend the Ryukyu Island, where it is necessary to take out the naval fleet of the Tang Empire. The Japanese 6th Army insisted on landing on the Korean Peninsula, and it was the fastest way to force the Tang Empire to engage in a ground war with Japan, and this was also related to the issue of pincerizing the Tang Empire with the Russian Empire.

In any case, there was a great contradiction between the two armies of the Japanese Sixth Sea over the question of whether to hold the Ryukyu Island or rush to land on the Korean Peninsula. In the end, it was not which faction won the battle that helped the Japanese military department make a decision, but the intelligence that the Tang Empire had increased its troops to the Korean Peninsula by 25 divisions. Coupled with the strength of the 15 divisions and 4o divisions that the Tang Empire had already deployed on the Korean Peninsula before, it had actually dashed Japan's hopes of landing on the Korean Peninsula. On this narrow peninsula, it was very difficult for the Japanese Noboru 6 Army to break through the defensive line of the 6th Army of the Tang Empire with 4o divisions.

In the end, the 6th Army made a compromise and agreed to increase its troops on Ryukyu Island, temporarily abandoning the battle plan to land on the 6th Korean Peninsula. But at the same time, the Navy agreed. As long as the Battle of Ryukyu Island is over, no matter what the outcome is, etc., it will fully support the combat operations of the 6th Army on the Korean Peninsula. Subsequently, the Japanese Navy made a series of defensive arrangements, such as the first battlefleet moving out of Ryukyu Island to strengthen the maritime threat to the Tang Empire, and the second battlefleet going north.

Shells fell one after another. Every time there was an explosion, Tan Renhao would have a feeling of panic, and no one was sure that the next shell would not hit which battleship when it fell to the ground. However, the degree of "Taizu" is still very fast. The bomber carrier, which had been receiving the return flight before, was sailing westward at 33 knots, but now it has only turned its course to the northwest, but it has not decreased much. According to the current relative position of the two fleets for two hours. The aircraft carrier will be able to get out of danger, but who dares to guarantee it. The aircraft carrier will not be shot in these two hours?

Without waiting for the order from the fleet staff, the escort warships took the initiative to meet the attack. While the two heavy cruisers covered the retreat of the two aircraft carriers, the other two heavy cruisers and several destroyers all rushed towards the Japanese fleet en masse. The officers and men on these battleships did not think of their own end at all, because their end was very clear, it was a suicidal attack, but they knew better that this was to save the aircraft carriers in the fleet, and the task of these battleships was to escort the aircraft carriers, and now it was time for them to show themselves.

The battle went on quite fiercely. The two heavy cruisers quickly attracted a large number of shells. I don't know what the commander of the Japanese Second Battlefleet, Takeshin Kondo, was thinking, and how much effect would it be to not hit an aircraft carrier and two heavy cruisers? Maybe Kondo Takeshin thinks those heavy cruisers. And destroyers are more threatening than fleeing aircraft carriers.

When Tan Renhao saw that the artillery fire of the Japanese fleet was concentrated on the assault escort warships, he breathed a sigh of relief. But at the same time, I was nervous. The officers and men of these escort ships all made a decision to kill themselves, but it was also a decision to save two aircraft carriers.

The battle at sea to the south was fierce, and the two heavy cruisers were soon hit by a continuous burst of artillery fire. Especially when they were less than 5 nautical miles away from the Japanese battleships, the Japanese battleships' ground and secondary guns posed a mortal threat to these two heavy cruisers, not to mention those main guns and ground shells. However, as if they would never give up, the two heavy cruisers not only passed through the rain of bullets, but also kept firing at the Japanese battleships. Maybe 2oo mm shells could not pose much of a threat to the Japanese battleships at all, but this made the Japanese battleships suffer a lot in the places where there was not much armor protection, such as the gun emplacements of the secondary guns, the chimneys of the anti-aircraft guns, and so on.

Perhaps the most heroic of all, the six destroyers that counterattacked the two heavy cruisers rushed towards the Japanese fleet in a group to carry out a torpedo attack. The largest caliber guns on these destroyers were only 12o mm, and they were also high-level dual-purpose guns, even if they approached and shelled, they could not damage the battleship. Their armament is loaded torpedoes, and in traditional naval warfare, destroyers are tasked with torpedoing the enemy's capital ships. This is also a tactic that the officers and men on the Imperial destroyers must master. If Tan Renhao had not chosen to stay in the fleet staff but went to the grassroots troops, then it is very likely that he would have commanded his own warships on one of the destroyers to launch a suicide attack on the Japanese fleet.

Each of the six destroyers had two quintuple torpedo tubes, and they used heavy ship torpedoes, which were much more powerful and faster than aviation torpedoes, and had a much longer range. However, for the heavy cruisers of the Japanese fleet, they simply did not give these destroyers of the Tang Empire a chance to release torpedoes.

The battle was at a fever pitch, with all six destroyers quickly being hit by shells, but none of the destroyers withdrew from the battle, they were still charging, and finally collectively began to turn around about 3.5 nautical miles from the Japanese fleet. However, its exposed flanks immediately attracted artillery fire from the Japanese heavy cruisers, and the three destroyers were immediately turned into a bunch of campfires floating on the sea. Four destroyers fired a torpedo salvo quickly, and the other two exploded violently before the torpedoes were fired, illuminating the surrounding sea and then quickly disappearing from the sea.

At this time, Tan Renhao's "Taizu" had escaped the range of the Japanese battleship's shelling, but the fires on the southern sea were still clearly visible. He couldn't believe his eyes to tell the truth. He was admiring the officers and men of the Imperial Navy on the escort ships. Their sacrifice is not worthless, Tan Renhao is also secretly vowing that one day he will avenge these Imperial Navy officers and men, and personally send the Japanese Second Battlefleet to the bottom of the sea!

"Chief of Staff Tani Yu arrives with news that the Japanese fleet is ......"

"In which direction?" Tan Renhao was shocked. Obviously, those desperate assault escort battleships are all finished.

"It's coming towards us, and it's fast!"

The officers in the command headquarters were all startled, and then they all looked at Tan Renhao.

Tan Renhao was also shocked in his heart. But immediately laughed and said: "Let the fleet stay where it is, but don't let the Japanese warships get close," why did Ren Hao do this? Lei Shaoqing immediately interrupted Tan Renhao's words.

"Because we're bait. In order to protect the Deng-6 troops, it would not be a bad thing to take the Japanese fleet around for a few hours, right? Tan Renhao sneered. The Japanese fleet must have been coming at us, otherwise they should have attacked the Noboru 6 troops on Ryukyu Island and the transport ships on the surface of the Noboru 6 field instead of chasing us. And our mission is to support the Deng-6 operation, so we can't let the Japanese fleet despair, take them around for a few hours, wait until dawn, and let the 6-voyage pick up these Japanese battleships! ”

Lei Shaoqing was stunned. I immediately understood what Tan Renhao meant. At the same time, he was also impressed in his heart, and when the enemy's muzzle was on his forehead, Tan Renhao was still so calm and accurately judged the enemy's intentions. I am afraid that I can make accurate decisions quickly. This is not something that any young officer will be able to do.

Tan Renhao glanced at Lei Shaoqing, and then made a move for Lei Shaoqing to hurry up and give an order. Lei Shaoqing reacted at this time, and then nodded to the staff officers who were still stunned, and asked them to pass on the order.

While Tan Renhao was so calm, he was also secretly surprised. It was clear that the most valuable targets were not the warships of the First Task Force, which were faster than rabbits, but the defenseless transport ships that had gathered on the 6th floor of the Ryukyu Island. If the Japanese Second Battlefleet had been killed, none of the more than 100 transport ships would have escaped. So why did Kondo Takeshin give up such a big piece of fat and run to catch up with the aircraft carrier of the First Task Force?

Tan Renhao's doubts are not unreasonable: the Japanese Navy sent the Second Battlefleet north to break up the Tang Empire's attack on Ryukyu Island, so as long as the transport ships and Deng6 ships were killed, then the Deng6 operation would definitely be a failure. On the contrary, even if the First Task Force is killed, there is still 6 air lines of the Tang Empire, which can guarantee air supremacy. Moreover, as long as the 6 was successful, the Tang Empire 6 Airlines and the Hainan Airlines could send fighters to the island's airfield, which could expand air supremacy. Therefore, it doesn't really make much sense to take out Task Force 1. So why did Kondo Takeshin do this?

One of the reasons was that Kondo Takeshin was tasked with using night cover to cover the aircraft carriers approaching the First Task Force and then kill the two aircraft carriers with heavy artillery. The order was straightforward and clear, but Kondo Takeshin's luck was not so good, and when he arrived with his fleet, both aircraft carriers were sailing westward at maximum speed. As a result, there was no radar on the Japanese battleships, and Kondo Takeshin judged that the 1st Task Force had shown their whereabouts and was releasing bombers and fleeing in the direction of the Tang Empire mainland. Therefore, he immediately gave the order for shelling, and the shelling distance was given at a distance of almost 20 kilometers, instead of shortening this distance by another five kilometers to improve the accuracy of shelling. If he was a little more patient, then the distance of five kilometers was enough for Tan Renhao to lose his life.

After killing the Tang Empire's warships that counterattacked, Kondo Takeshin knew that it was impossible to catch up with the Tang Empire warships that escaped at a distance of 33 knots, because his warships were only 3o knots. However, he still unswervingly carried out the order given by Admiral Yamamoto 65 and began to pursue the aircraft carrier formation of the 1st Task Force.

If he had sailed eastward to Ryukyu Island, perhaps the Tang Empire would have had to admit that the Deng 6 operation had failed before dawn. However, it was this mistake that allowed tens of thousands of Tang Empire soldiers and hundreds of ships to avoid a catastrophe.

In this cat-and-mouse game, Kondo Takeshin has no advantage. However, Tan Renhao didn't think about letting Kondo Takeshin go. When he fled, he had already sent the news back to the naval headquarters (at that time, he was not able to communicate directly with the 6th Army, and had to convey the news through the naval headquarters), and then reported the news of the current Japanese 2nd Battleship Fleet back, and asked the 6th Fleet to attack the Japanese 2nd Task Force after dawn. But it's not that simple.

After running for two hours, a message surprised Tan Renhao again.

"The Japanese fleet disappeared from the radar screen?" Lei Shaoqing was even more surprised than him.

The staff officer nodded a little innocently. "We have already established that it was not the radar that had gone wrong, and the Japanese fleet began to turn five minutes ago, and it should have abandoned the pursuit."

Tan Renhao was startled, and immediately rushed to the chart table, and then glanced at the navigation clock. He only thought for two minutes before laughing.

"Renhao Japanese Fleet ......"

"Don't worry, they're not going to attack the 6th unit, they've given up the pursuit!" Tan Renhao breathed a sigh of relief: "There are still five hours before dawn, and the Japanese fleet will not be able to reach Ryukyu Island before dawn, even if it is the fastest degree. They must have fled in the sense that they would be hit by bombers after dawn. ”

Lei Shaoqing was a little unconvinced at first, but after thinking about it carefully, he understood. The Japanese Second Battlefleet was already nearly 2oo nautical miles away from the Ryukyu Road, and it would take more than six hours to reach the waters near Ryukyu Island at a distance of 3o knots. And by that time the bombers must have flown over, and they didn't have anything to deal with the Deng-6 troops on the island of Ryukyu!