When the Deng Zilong sailed out of the Sasebo Naval Base, it happened to be the morning of the Midyear Festival, and in addition to the three light cruisers Haichen, Zhaohe, and Yingrui who escorted it, there was also a Japanese Navy notification ship Mogami, which had not been available before. Although this warship built for testing steam turbines has a displacement of only 1,350 tons, it has a power of 8,000 horsepower and a top speed of 23 knots.

When they received the order from the General Staff to cancel the Miyakojima offensive and order the fleet to go to the Sasebo Naval Base, Rear Admiral Liu Guanxiong, commander of the fleet, and Colonel Zhu Tiansen, commander of the aircraft carrier, thought that the telegram had been sent in error.

After sinking the Tone, although the flight formation wiped out all the surviving sailors on the Tone, they did not expect that the reconnaissance plane of the Japanese wakanomiya seaplane carrier, which had been converted from a merchant ship, saw this strange flat-topped ship under the cover of the clouds. Although he didn't see Deng Zilong retracting the plane, the captain of the Wakanomiya Air Force, Jin Ziyangsan Shaozuo, thought that this was a land aircraft carrier as soon as he saw the appearance of the ship. ▲

At first, he and the staff officers of the Navy's Command Department thought that this was just a reconnaissance ship of the Shina Navy, and its role was similar to that of the Wakanomiya, but after the Battle of Shanghai and Shanghai, some people began to speculate that this was a land aircraft air-carrier attack ship, and that the Tone was sunk so quickly, and it must have been done by a torpedo plane.

Since the Sino-Japanese peace talks are leaning in the direction of the Sino-Japanese alliance and the Sino-Japanese joint fleet. It was King Hirokoshi Fushimi who requested a visit to the land-based aircraft during the final negotiations. The Japanese demanded that the negotiators could not decide, and the news reached Yang Rui. Think twice, especially when you think about the appearance of the USS Fury in the late stages of World War I. It doesn't matter if you let Japanese people visit.

There is another important reason in Yang Rui's view, that is, the Japanese Navy in World War II did not wake up from the dream of battleship showdown until after the Battle of Midway, shouted to stop the Maru Five plan and quickly threw out the aircraft carrier-centered plan to change the five, but by this time it was too late. If China and Japan really want to form a joint fleet, it must be centered on aircraft carriers rather than battleships -- the Sino-Japanese alliance is the yellow peril that Kaiser Wilhelm II reminded the Western civilized world to avoid, and it is also one of the combinations of threats to 'world freedom' cited by Mackinder, the author of Lu Xin's theory, at the end of his article "The Geographical Pivot of History."

Since Westerners have such an understanding, the United States, which regards the Pacific Ocean as its backyard, will certainly not ignore it, and since war will break out, it would be best to draw Japan in the east. For this reason, it is extremely important to enhance the strength of the Sino-Japanese joint fleet and guide those big ships and artillery parties onto the correct path. Of course, Japan may eventually become an enemy, but that will never be in the twenties, a few years earlier to let the Japanese Navy see aircraft carriers, in Yang Rui's view, it is not a big problem.

This decision made by Yin'an Temple Shenwu in the third year profoundly changed the history after that, but the Chinese and Japanese naval dignitaries were at a loss to know about it, only when Rear Admiral Liu Guanxiong and Colonel Zhu Tiansen saw Rear Admiral Tetsutaro Sato, who was known as the Japanese Mahan, and asked to wait for the ship. I was a little surprised. The two staff officers of the Japanese Navy, one Sato and the other Akiyama, could not have imagined that they would see one of them today. Not wanting to wait for Tetsutaro Sato to come up, another staff officer of the Japanese Navy, Mayuki Akiyama, came.

Colonel Zhu Tiansen, who studied the Japanese Navy day and night, was speechless for a moment when he saw two well-known naval staff officers standing in front of him, but Liu Guanxiong, who was good at communicating, was calm and calm. After the two introduced themselves as usual, he smiled and said, "Welcome the two rear admirals aboard." Please! ”

It was not so easy to transform from a hostile relationship to a comrade-in-arms relationship, and Tetsutaro Sato followed Liu Guanxiong and others to the bridge. On the contrary, Akiyama Mayuki looked at the flat-topped ship as he walked, and before he reached the bridge, he suddenly stopped, tapped his fingers on the teak wood under his feet, and said, "Excuse me, can these planks support the flight plane to take off?" ”

Akiyama Mayuki has always been weird, he is so Sato Tetsutaro just smiled, the Chinese and Japanese navies are actually under the British tutelage, and the officers are fluent in English, he asked like this, and the captain of the ship, Colonel Zhu Tiansen, replied in English: "Your Excellency, you will know tomorrow morning." ”

The Chinese didn't care about Akiyama's answer, he knocked on the teak again before getting up, and after dinner, he walked around and gathered in Tetsutaro Sato's cabin and began to talk about his feelings about the aircraft carrier.

"Sato-kun, the plane will completely change the mode of naval warfare, and this time Shina is ahead of all countries." Akiyama Mayuki lamented that he began to follow the Chinese saying that he no longer said flying planes, but airplanes.

"Yes, this is also a shortcut for them to build a big navy. What I think now is that it will take too many young people for the planes to replace the battleships and become the hegemon in the oceans. "Tetsutaro Sato is also optimistic about the plane, but time is of the essence.

"Perhaps...... Decade. Akiyama Mayuki thought about it and said for a while.

"No, ten years is too short, it will take at least twenty or even thirty years." Tetsutaro Sato said. "The torpedo bombers were too slow, and the bombs were dropped too low and too close, and as long as there were a sufficient number of machine guns on the side of the ship, the losses of the torpedo planes would be great. The Imperial Fleet, which was caught off guard in the battle of Shanghai and Shanghai, shot down and damaged a number of Torpedo planes in China, so I think that only when aviation torpedo technology and aircraft technology have developed to a certain extent, can the air carrier truly replace the battleship as the supremacy of the sea. ”

"Sato-kun is too pessimistic." Akiyama Shinyuki disagreed with his judgment: "When the submarine appeared, many people thought that it could only be defended near the sea, and it would take thirty years to develop, but the diesel engine changed this qiē, and the most annoying thing for the Royal Navy was the submarine, and it was the submarine that made the empire lose the war." The development of technology is always one step faster than we imagined, and the Empire's 88 shipbuilding plan is best to add four large air carriers......"

The 88th Fleet has long been a luxury for the Navy, but the weak finances after the Russo-Japanese War were not enough to support such expansion, not to mention the growing battleships. It's a lot of money. However, now that the army has completely lost its position, the navy will cooperate with the Chinese navy in building ships according to the agreement. The 88th Fleet finally has the possibility of realization, but it is only necessary to build four large air carriers......

"Akiyama-kun. Do you want the China Navy to build air carriers, and we to build battleships and cruisers? Sato suddenly guessed Akiyama's intentions, and his voice suddenly lowered a little.

"It's not! According to the secret agreement, although the shipbuilding plans of the two countries should be coordinated with each other, it does not mean that each will have to make more sacrifices. And since the air carrier is the direction of development of warships, the empire should have built and used it earlier to accumulate experience. Akiyama Mayuki spat out his true thoughts, and he said again:

"Ever since I heard that Shina would form an alliance with the Empire, I felt that God was protecting Japan. Sato-kun. Among the three big countries, Japan is really too small, and if the empire wants to survive itself, it must ally with one of these three countries. Lu is too greedy for land, and they lack good access to the sea, and the empire will eventually become his sea slave if they ally with him; As for the United States, he himself is a country that attaches great importance to the sea, and there is the Philippines as a pedal in East Asia, and the role of the empire for him can only be to curb the southward expansion of the Lu country and the eastward expansion of China. In alliance with him, the empire will forever be suppressed in Northeast Asia;

Only China was the natural and most appropriate ally of the Empire, and they lacked a strong navy, and their national power was not much stronger than that of the Empire. But China has unlimited potential, and its southwest borders the Indochina Peninsula and India, if the two countries form an alliance. Both the Western Pacific Ocean and the Indian Ocean will become anchorages for the Combined Fleet, and because the China Navy is not strong. Only by allied with it can the empire obtain equal benefits. ”

"Do you believe Yang's judgment that the Mi Kingdom will eventually break up the Japan-Britain alliance?" Regarding Akiyama's thoughts, Tetsutaro Sato did not express an opinion. But in his heart he agreed. However, what made him and the navy hesitate was whether the alliance between Japan and Britain was really irretrievable.

"Yes, I think it will! Britain is weakening. Akiyama said, "Since the country will be defeated, then the rice country will take advantage of the situation to rise." Since Britain can withdraw from the Caribbean, it can also withdraw from the Western Pacific, and she would rather cede sea power to the rice country of the same language and race than to the pagan yellow race. In fact, this time against the war, we can see Britain's attitude towards its allies, it is Britain that instigates the empire to go to war, and it is also Britain who will not save it when it sees death, it only cares about its own world hegemony. ”

The expression of allies in the war against China is a taboo subject in Japan, and those who know the inside story have long been indignant and dissatisfied with the so-called alliance treaty, but the official fear of affecting the diplomatic relations between the two countries has issued a ban on all newspapers, but the more this happens, the greater the anger of the people. They did not hate those who defeated them, but only those who betrayed them, and the would-be citizens, who thought that they had found a reason for defeat, had pointed the finger of defeat at Britain, and many advocated that the empire should form an alliance with the Lu country and go to war again to defeat China.

Angry thoughts, Tetsutaro Sato, has always ignored them, but looking at what Britain did as an ally in the war against China is too ......, thinking of this, Sato didn't want to talk about it anymore, and said at the moment: "Akiyama-kun, let's go back and rest, and in six hours we will have to watch the ground attack of the empty mother." ”

As soon as Tetsutaro Sato reminded him, Akiyama thought of business. Six hours after his farewell, the aircraft carrier's hangar was brightly lit and busy. Although the carrier-based aircraft has been completely overhauled a long time ago, but the refueling and loading before the battle are still extremely nervous, and the two people who got up early in the morning looked at the busy ground crew in the hangar, and the planes that were difficult to count for a while, Sato couldn't help but ask the captain Zhu Tiansen: "Your Excellency, how many planes are here?" ”

"There are forty of them, but this time only one squadron needs to be dispatched, and the enemy is weak, isn't it?" The number of planes can be estimated too much, and Zhu Tiansen only said the number and did not mention the type of aircraft -- whether it is the army or the navy, the dive bomber is absolutely secret. For the unsuspecting Russian Pacific Fleet, which had only one cruiser Pearl and a few torpedo boats, a squadron was already very face-saving, and he said again: "This is actually a continuation of what you didn't finish nine years ago." ”

Zhu Tiansen's answer was very formulaic, but his last sentence quickly narrowed the psychological distance between the two sides, Sato Tetsutaro and Akiyama Shinyuki had a plan to attack the Puyan (Vladivostok) military port in their early years, but they did not expect that this wish would be fulfilled by the Chinese.

"Your Excellency, can we see how the squadron attacks?" Mayuki Akiyama was curious again.

"We can't see it, the attack is a hundred kilometers away." Zhu Tiansen replied.

"Can I sit on the plane and watch it?" Akiyama Shinyuki pleaded, against this new type of combat. It seems that he does not want to let go of a single detail, waiting for the result on the aircraft carrier. It is better to follow the plane to the scene of the battle.

"This ......" Zhu Tiansen was a little embarrassed, and he looked at Liu Guanxiong. Liu Guanxiong didn't care about the aircraft carrier at all, he looked at the deputy captain and political commissar again, and at this time, the deputy captain Xi Dingmo stepped forward and whispered: "The order of the General Staff is not to leak the ghosts and not to explain in detail. As for the torpedo planes, the Japanese had already seen torpedo bomber attacks during the war in Shanghai and Shanghai, and he went there to reproduce them all over again. ”

Xi Dingmo may not be able to impress Zhu Tiansen when he says this, but he treats aircraft carriers and carrier-based aircraft as treasures, but Xi Dingmo finally added: "The Americans are unwilling to teach us the shooting clock and command instrument on the Hiei, but now the Japanese are willing to teach us." Always make them feel like they're getting their money's worth. ”

One of the conditions for visiting the aircraft carrier was that the Japanese Navy would teach the latest naval gunnery and help China train qualified Hiei operators. Although the battleship gunnery will become obsolete after 20 years due to the rise of aircraft carriers, the Navy attaches great importance to it, after all, it is still the time for battleships to take the lead. Liu Guanxiong, who heard Xi Dingmo's words next to him, nodded like a chicken, he had already booked the captain's room of the Hiei, if the warship couldn't play, it would be a shame.

"Okay, I see." Zhu Tiansen said. He turned to the long-awaited Akiyama Shinji: "Your Excellency, it is very dangerous to fight with a pilot. But if you insist on it, I can only agree. However, after going up, you must obey the command and do not move without permission. ”

"Thank you so much, Your Excellency!" Akiyama danced excitedly. It wasn't until Sato pulled him next to him that he calmed down.

Half an hour later, amid the roar of an engine, Shinyuki Akiyama, who was sitting in the back seat of a reconnaissance plane, rose into the air in the night. He did not understand why the plane could fly at night without getting lost, but in the air at a height of several hundred meters and somewhat cold. Looking at the flashing fighters around him, he suddenly felt a strange kind of warmth and pride: warmth was accompanied by many warriors of the China Navy; And pride. It feels like the yellow race is finally ahead of the white race, and the attack on the enemy's military port with an aircraft is unprecedented in the history of the world's navy. He couldn't help but think of the night attack on Lushun ten years ago, and of Takeo Hirose who died in the Occlusion Battle......

The take-off time of the aircraft carrier planes pinched the sunrise time, and the torpedo bomber squadron flew for more than half an hour, and the eastern sky began to turn white, and then the clouds gradually became red with the morning glow, becoming strangely beautiful. Just as Akiyama was looking at the beautiful morning glow in the east, the pilot in front stretched out one hand backwards, and then pointed down, and Akiyama, who was looking down, found himself above the Puyan Military Port.

Today, Vladivostok is a port city with a population of more than 100,000, three-fifths of whom are Chinese. Although there are many people, but after all, they are overseas Chinese, the Chinese here have no status at all, when the Russians need it, the leaders of the overseas Chinese can make some money, but when the Russians themselves are not doing well, the Chinese become the best fish and meat objects, especially in the Russo-Japanese War Japan defeated Russia, the Koreans who were originally pressed at the bottom suddenly turned over and began to walk sideways with a false tiger, which made the status of overseas Chinese drop sharply.

In the year of Xinhai, the whole country rebelled, and then the restoration of the Ming Emperor, the local overseas Chinese couldn't help but have some expectations, but the Sino-Japanese war together, the Chinese here can only clamp their tails and be people. Later, Russia actually took advantage of the fire to rob, which made the bloody men indignant. The local Liu Yushuang, who was fooled by Li Zhengwu, the leader of the Shanghai Youth Gang with Zhang Zongchang in history, to go to Shanghai to do revolution, saw this and also wanted to gain fame and wealth, but his move was stopped by the liaison officer of the Intelligence Bureau.

On Sunday morning, the whole of Vladivostok was still asleep, and the Governor of the Amur Governorate, Lieutenant General Kwan Daki, did not think that he would be the target of the raid of the yellow-skinned monkeys, and although the Siberian regiment was inexplicably annihilated, the Chinese did not dare to launch a counterattack, and under the deterrence of the tsar, they did not even dare to occupy Harbin. A few days ago, the yellow-skinned monkey who ended the war with Japan actually wanted to attack Qingdao, which is undoubtedly very happy, but in addition to being very happy, it can prove that the Chinese are just lustful and inward. Russia is a world power, and now she is only pinned down by the Germans, and once the entire Russian ** team turns to the east, then Yellow Russia is not too far away.

Governor Guan Daji looked at the squadron besieging Harbin with such thoughts, and when he was still in a sweet dream, aimed at the cruiser Pearl docked at the trestle, four torpedo bombers easily threw torpedoes into the water six hundred meters away, while other torpedo bombers aimed at the remaining torpedo boats, for these densely arranged boats, the pilots had no lateral attack angle at all, and the only way to sink them was to accurately drop torpedoes on the bow of their ships. In order not to affect each other, they juggled, lined up in columns to pull down and drop bombs one after another. More than ten seconds later, one explosion after another sounded in the quiet early morning, and the last ship of the Russian Pacific Fleet sank forever in the harbor.

Akiyama watched these torpedo bombers perform from a high vantage point, and at first he was amazed by the superb skills of these pilots, but when he saw the last battleship of the Lu Navy's in East Asia explode and sink, he broke out in a cold sweat on his back. He was very glad that the Chinese Navy did not kill itself, the Deng Zilong had forty planes, even if not all torpedo planes, there were thirty torpedoes, and thirty torpedoes were thirty, if the combined fleet was also attacked by the Torpedo planes like the Lu Navy below, the heavy losses would be unbearable for the navy.

Akiyama thought that the Japanese military port must strengthen its air defense after going back, and at this time, the lower port was finally awakened by the violent explosion on the pier, and the sailors and policemen ran out of the barracks to look at the pier in rags, they did not know what was happening, and the plane was left in a mess at this time, and left early with wings far away.

"Could it be a submarine of the Chinese?" Standing on the balcony of the Governor's Palace, Governor Kwan Daji looked at the burning dock, and he remembered that he had specifically told the fleet to set up a few more anti-submarine nets.

"My lord, some people say that they saw the plane, the plane of the Chinese." In the midst of the chaotic crowd, the head of the police department, Colonel Shinshkulkin, who had hurried over, looked up at the governor on the balcony and reported flatteringly.

"Airplanes?" The Governor's expression became solemn, and he exclaimed, "Is the telegraph connected?" Telegram pass? ”

The governor wanted to ask the adjutant, but he did not want Colonel Shkurkin to know about it, and he continued: "My lord, the telegram was not available in the middle of the night last night, and the telegraph office reported that it might be ......"

"It's not possible, it's certain!" The governor said with great certainty, "Prepare for battle immediately, the Chinese are coming!" The Chinese are coming! As soon as he finished speaking, the adjutant behind him began to call, but it was too late, several shells had already exploded on the edge of the city, and the Chinese had not only arrived, but arrived.

Akiyama Mayuki didn't know what was happening behind Vladivostok, the sun had just jumped out of the sea at this time, and the glow reflected the whole sea, and he was extremely intoxicated by the scene of water and sky. At this time, he had forgotten about the war that had just happened, and was only admiring the beauty of nature.

The other pilots didn't have time to enjoy the sight of the sky, they were looking for the shadow of the aircraft carrier through the glorious back of the rising sun, and after an hour of sailing, the silhouette of the Deng Zilong finally fell into the eyes of all the pilots, and the public channel suddenly resounded with cheers and prayers of 'thank you Mazu'.

The aircraft carrier is sailing smoothly, and the ground crew on the landing deck is already on standby. They are all old pilots, and in the worries of Tetsutaro Sato and Shinyuki Akiyama, the planes landed safely one after another. After this strange journey, Akiyama Shinyuki really jumped off the plane and grabbed Sato's hand and shook it, and he couldn't say the whole word excitedly, he said: "The empty mother... Certain... It's perfect... It's perfect! ”

Sato, who did not accompany the fighters, watched how the aircraft carrier flew the planes, and how these planes landed safely, although he did not see the scene of the battle, but knew that the unsuspecting Luguo Navy must have been sunk by these planes, he stroked Akiyama's back and said: "The air carrier is the future of the navy, let's go ahead of all the Omi." (To be continued......)