It was not until late evening that an army long-range reconnaissance plane spotted a Japanese fleet sailing rapidly in the direction of Nagasaki 20 nautical miles west of Hirashima, and finally confirmed that the fleet contained a large fleet carrier, several cruisers, and destroyers.

After receiving the telegram from Lu Airlines, Tan Renhao immediately rushed to the chart table and quickly found the island. It is a tiny island in the Tugala archipelago, less than 300 kilometers from the Japanese mainland and more than 400 nautical miles from Task Force 1. Now the Japanese fleet is still heading north at full speed, returning to the port of Nagasaki. In other words, even if Tan Renhao launched a desperate attack, it was unlikely that he would be able to catch up with the Japanese fleet.

"**, I actually let Nanyun Yizhong slip away!" Tan Renhao slammed the table hard, and then lit a cigarette. At this time, he also discovered why he had not been able to find the Japanese First Air Fleet.

Japanese bombers were flying from the north, so when the Japanese First Fleet attacked, it should be somewhere south of Jeju Island, about 150 to 200 nautical miles away from Tan Renhao's aircraft carrier group. At that time, Tan Renhao received erroneous information, thinking that the Japanese fleet was near Hengdang Island, that is, in the northeast direction of the fleet, so Tan Renhao did not expect that the attack would come from the north.

Then, he recovered the group of Deng Zichao and Zhang Naiding, and when he was about to organize the attack, the Japanese bombers had already returned, and the Japanese fleet must have received the news that there were no bombers on the aircraft carriers of the Tang Imperial fleet. This actually gave Nanyun Yizhong a stimulus. Nagumo Yizhong must have thought that the Tang Empire's ground bombers were already on the way. Therefore, he immediately ordered the fleet to sail to the east.

At this time, the reconnaissance planes sent by Tan Renhao flew directly to the north, and there was a delay of nearly an hour in between, and counting the flight time on the road, when these reconnaissance planes flew over the sea area where the Japanese fleet was before, Nagumo Kazutada had already led the fleet to sail eastward for at least 50 nautical miles. And this is already beyond the search range of reconnaissance aircraft. What is even more wrong is that Tan Renhao did not take this into account at that time. He did not even expect the Japanese fleet to be so close to him, so he set a search distance of 250 nautical miles for the reconnaissance planes, so this group of reconnaissance planes did not expand the search range laterally, but continued to fly forward.

The ground reconnaissance planes took off two hours late, which was considered the flight time needed halfway, when they reached the skies over the naval battle. The Japanese fleet is probably already near Yokodang Island. And this is exactly a sea area that Tan Renhao and Lu Hang have ignored. As a result, dozens of reconnaissance planes of the Army Aviation and reconnaissance planes sent by Tan Renhao were all searching in the waters where the Japanese fleet had left, so naturally it would be impossible to find the Japanese fleet.

When the Japanese First Air Fleet reached the waters near Yokodang Island, it immediately turned north and came into the cover range of its native fighters. Of course, the First Air Fleet may not be going to Nagasaki, but it is also possible that it is preparing to pass through the strait north of the Osumi Islands. Return to the Port of Yokohama.

In any case, Tan Renhao had missed the best opportunity to strike at the First Air Fleet, and now the "Xuanzong" aircraft carrier had also suffered heavy damage and had to return to Zhoushan ahead of schedule, and Tan Renhao also issued an order to return to Zhoushan in the afternoon of the same day because he was afraid of being besieged by Japanese submarines at night. But. Before the fleet reached the waters of the Zhoushan Islands, he received news that a long-range reconnaissance plane from the ground had spotted a large Japanese fleet in the waters southeast of Miyako Island, and had determined that there were at least four battleships in it.

At this time, Tan Renhao hesitated. It must have been the Japanese Second Battlefleet that had attacked them the night before, but what was his intention, not to attack the transport ships on Ryukyu Island, but to him?

Maybe. Tan Renhao is thinking too much. In fact, the Japanese Second Battlefleet did not want to do anything, it just wanted to return to Leyte Gulf. At night. Kondo Takeshin defeated the escort warships of the 1st Task Force, and after discovering that he could not catch up with the aircraft carrier formation at night, he immediately took the opportunity to break away from the battle, wanting to disengage from contact with the Tang Empire's aircraft carriers before dawn to avoid being attacked during the day. However, Kondo Takeshin was very cunning, he knew that if he returned to the south according to the original course, he would definitely be caught up by the Tang Empire's water reconnaissance planes, or night reconnaissance planes. Therefore, he chose another route, that is, the line sailed east, and after daybreak, then went south at full speed. Of course, Kondo Takeshin did not forget to report the "results" to General Yamamoto 65, and he also added one more, that is, to severely damage an aircraft carrier of the Tang Empire. Because there were so many communication signals on the battlefield at that time, the radio measuring devices of the Tang Empire were not able to catch the telegram sent by Kondo Takeshin.

However, Kondo Takeshin made an extremely low-level mistake at this time, he did not contact Takasu Goro of the First Battleship, not knowing that Takasu Goro was fighting hard with the cruiser fleet of the Tang Empire. Therefore, instead of attacking Ryukyu Island, Kondo Takenobu turned south half an hour before dawn, about 40 nautical miles from Torishima, and sailed south as fast as he could. However, it also allowed him to avoid the group of Don Empire bombers that would arrive in two hours.

It was not until he sailed to the sea northeast of Miyako Island, that is, at about half past ten in the morning, that Kondo Takenobu received a reproachful telegram from General Yamamoto 65, telling him to immediately return to Ryukyu Island and attack the landing fleet of the Tang Empire. However, Kondo Takeshin is indeed a bit cunning, at this time, the bombers of the Tang Imperial Army Aviation have already begun the daytime bombing operation, and he is now heading north, at least until about 2 o'clock in the afternoon to reach the battlefield, isn't that going to die? As a result, Kondo Takeshin simply ignored the telegram and still headed south at full speed with the fleet. The First Battlefleet was finished, and he didn't want to be the second Goro Takasu.

After pondering for half an hour, Tan Renhao received another telegram that the Japanese fleet was still heading south at full speed. That's when he breathed a sigh of relief. With the present position of the Japanese fleet, as long as they did not go north before dark. It is impossible to attack the landing site at night. And the Japanese First Battlefleet had collapsed. In other words, landing operations are no longer threatened from the surface of the sea.

After dark, the aircraft carrier "Taizu" and one of the escorting destroyers entered the port of Zhoushan. Along the way, Tan Renhao's biggest worry was that he would be attacked by a Japanese submarine, but fortunately, at least the Japanese submarine did not have the courage to operate in the waters of the Zhoushan Islands. Unless they consider it an adversary to those anti-submarine patrol aircraft, as well as destroyers.

After going ashore. Tan Renhao got the exact news from Ji Xiaobin's side. The night battle lasted almost four hours, and the officers and men of the five cruisers, as well as eight destroyers, showed great valor. In particular, the gunners of the "Li Jing" went to the ground, and in the course of the whole battle, the three main guns of the "Li Jing" were simply a disaster for the Japanese heavy cruisers, and in the first two hours, the main guns of the "Li Jing" knocked out the bridges of the three Japanese heavy cruisers. In particular, the bridge of the "Rigen" was bombed down, so that Vice Admiral Goro Takasu was finished, and the Japanese fleet lost its unified command. However, the disaster also happened at this time, a 203-mm armor-piercing bullet from the "Kumano" hit the bridge of the "Li Jing", and Rear Admiral Ji Xiaobin and more than a dozen staff officers who were at the bridge headquarters at that time were all killed. At the same time, the "Li Jing" also became a key target of the other three Japanese heavy cruisers. Throughout the naval battle. The "Li Jing" was hit by more than 20 bullets, and in the end, all three main guns were destroyed, but the officers and men on the battleship continued to fight with 120-mm anti-aircraft guns.

The greatest threat to the battleships of the Tang Empire was not the shells on the Japanese battleships, but those "spear" torpedoes. During the first round of torpedo attacks from Japanese destroyers. The heavy cruiser "Rain" was hit by two torpedoes and sank ten minutes later. Then. The heavy cruiser "Qingming" was hit by another torpedo, and although it did not sink, it became the target of the Japanese battleship's key shelling in the next half hour because of the fire during the fire. In the end, the heavy cruiser also sank half an hour before the end of the battle.

The four Japanese destroyers, which had not been destroyed, withdrew from the battle, reloaded their torpedoes, and returned to the battlefield with another round of torpedo attacks. As a result, the heavy cruiser "Equinox" again fell victim to the Japanese "Lance" torpedoes. A torpedo hit the ship's main gun ammunition depot, and the violent explosion almost tore the battleship to pieces. Within five minutes the battleship was sunk. And only a hundred officers and men on the battleship were saved. In addition, two anti-shock destroyers accidentally "crashed" into torpedoes. These destroyers could not withstand the blow of the 500-kilogram head of the spear torpedo. In addition, there was a torpedo that hit the "Li Jing", but miraculously, this torpedo did not explode!

In other words, in the naval battle, the three heavy cruisers and two destroyers lost by the Tang Imperial Navy were actually killed by Japanese torpedoes, and the guns on the Japanese heavy cruisers only caused "skin wounds" to these battleships, and did not sink any of the battleships. On the contrary, two Japanese heavy cruisers were killed by the guns of the "Li Jing". In addition, the eight destroyers also used torpedoes to sink two Japanese heavy cruisers during the counterattack. And the heavy cruiser "Shocking" in the Tang Imperial fleet also killed two Japanese destroyers with artillery fire.

The battle ended before dawn. The Japanese fleet lost four heavy cruisers, two destroyers, and the remaining several battleships also suffered varying losses. As a result, the Japanese fleet was forced to withdraw from the battle, abandoning the idea of attacking the landing ground of the Tang Empire. Among the battleships covering the landing site, except for the two destroyers that were still "intact" and the heavy cruiser "Stinging" who remained to continue to cover the landing site and provide artillery support for the landing force, the "Li Jing" and four destroyers, which had been seriously damaged, also returned to Zhoushan Port after dawn.

A seaplane brought back General Ji Xiaobin's body. In fact, the only thing Ji Xiaobin left that could be identified was the set of general's uniform with more than a dozen shrapnel torn holes on it, and it was still burned black, and only one armband could still be recognized. The power of the explosion of the 203-mm shell is very huge, and this shell directly hit the bridge of the commander of the "Li Jing", and exploded a few meters away from Ji Xiaobin, it is a miracle that such a military uniform can be left.

"The general is a good man, but the general doesn't want us to mourn for him." Lei Shaoqing grabbed Tan Renhao's shoulder, "Every officer and soldier who chooses to join the navy knows that sooner or later they will go to the battlefield one day, and they will sacrifice their lives for the empire. The general must know this, and he also hopes that we can be like him, and when the empire needs it, we must stand up, sacrifice ourselves, and fight for the empire! ”

Tan Renhao nodded slightly, holding back the tears that were about to well up. When he came to the Fifth Fleet from the Imperial Naval Academy, the second person he met was Ji Xiaobin. At that time, Ji Xiaobin was the colonel's operational staff officer of the fleet. Now, Tan Renhao can clearly remember that when he first met Ji Xiaobin, Ji Xiaobin was always so busy, as if he could never finish something, and even spoke very quickly, for fear of wasting time. Tan Renhao closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He seemed to see Ji Xiaobin walking back and forth in the office, when Ji Xiaobin asked him to make a fleet training plan, and when he comforted him after the naval battle of Jeju Island. All this flashed in front of Tan Renhao's eyes like a movie. In his heart, Ji Xiaobin is not only his commander, nor is he just the teacher who took him into the fleet, but also his friend, a friend who can take care of each other with all sincerity and can trust him in life and death.

Lei Shaoqing patted Tan Renhao on the shoulder a few times. He knows this friend who grew up together. Tan Renhao will behave indifferently many times, and even say that he is a little unsympathetic. However, he is definitely a very emotional person, a person who values feelings more than anything else. Now that General Ji Xiaobin is dead, Tan Renhao's pain is huge, and it can even be said that this has left a wound in Tan Renhao's heart that is difficult to heal.

Tan Renhao let go of the military uniform that was holding the blood that had coagulated and turned black, and then let out a sigh, and then smiled awkwardly at Lei Shaoqing.

"I know, don't say anything." Lei Shaoqing took out a cigarette, "Where to eat at night, I'm in for a treat, I'll drink with you today!" ”

Tan Renhao smiled and shook his head, he didn't want to drink at all, he just wanted to go to sleep, he wanted to be alone, he was too tired and under too much pressure.