Since the rendezvous with the submarine force, the fleet's sailing route has begun to be strange, sometimes to the west, sometimes to the north, and several times to the east, although this toss, but the fleet is still constantly approaching the west of the big 6, from the previous 2,000 nautical miles, shortened to the current 1,000 nautical miles. Vice Admiral Moffitt swept away his previous unhappiness with Lieutenant Colonel Tian Shijie and began to joke with him cordially, and everyone in the fleet also felt that the Japanese seemed to be far behind them, and the only thing that could threaten the fleet ahead was probably the island chain of Taiwan and the Ryukyus, which would be the last blockade line of the Japanese Navy.

Just as the sailors were looking forward to how to celebrate when they returned to port, and the captains were discussing how to break through the island chain, an unlucky guest came to the sky above the fleet, which was a biplane seaplane, and when Lieutenant Commander Tian Shijie thought it was his own man, the conspicuous sun flag on the plane made the whole fleet understand that it was Japanese.

After the Japanese searched for a whole week after the South Pacific convoy was lost, they had a premonition that the flotilla had passed through the search fleet they had sent, so the Japanese had to transfer the seaplane carrier Wakanomiya Maru from the test and began to search for possible positions in the convoy by water planes. It stands to reason that the Chinese seaplanes should show up to the other side, but the Wakanomiya Maru is only a merchant ship in the Japanese search fleet, and because he does not release planes all day like his own, the seaplane only notified the fleet to bypass after the search, and did not expect that there would be seaplanes in the belly of this merchant ship.

However, flying in the harbor is different from flying on the sea, and the seaplanes on the Wakanomiya Maru have problems as soon as they leave the port, and if the wings and propellers are broken, it can be solved. But if the motivation fails, the entire aircraft will have to be scrapped. There were only four planes on board the Wakanomiya Maru in total, and two were lost due to a motor failure. The remaining two also have some minor problems. Therefore, the flight team decided to take off only one plane a day, and if the weather is good, it will fly once in the morning and once in the afternoon. If the weather is bad, then only fly once. In this way, the air time of more than two hours made the plane only able to reconnoiter a radius of less than 100 kilometers, but even such a short reconnaissance distance still allowed it to see the fleet rushing westward.

Pleasantly surprised to find a few wisps of smoke on the sea, the Japanese plane hurriedly turned over, under the clouds two cruisers with the dragon flag and a merchant ship with the flag of the United States sailed west on the sea, Lieutenant Takao Takebe, who was sitting behind the pilot Captain Yamada Tadaharu, scolded happily, "What a cunning Shina man!" What a cunning Shina man! Yamada-kun. We're going to report back right away! I'm going to report back right away! ”

Takebe Takao was happy, but Yamada Tadaji in front was full of sternness, because he was sitting in front, and what he saw was not only a thin fleet, but vaguely, he saw that there seemed to be something dense behind the fleet, and without explaining to Takebe Takao behind, he pulled the plane out of the clouds and flew to the rear of the fleet for less than three minutes. He finally saw what it was, more than two dozen submarines following the flotilla to ride the waves.

The officers and men of the navy on the flotilla saw the planes when the Japanese were emerging from the clouds. Vice Admiral Moffett didn't know anything about submarines, but he knew about airplanes, and when he saw something flying in the air, he yelled. ’。 With the fleet alarm sounded. Today's seaplanes have extremely short ranges, and if the Japanese planes are here, then the Japanese fleet should be nearby. When Lieutenant Colonel Tian Shijie saw the Japanese plane, he rushed to the telegraph room as quickly as possible. shouted through the hatch: "Report to the avant-garde that we have a Japanese seaplane here, order them to shoot it down!" Command now! Shoot down the Japanese! ”

A few minutes later. Major Tangen received a telegram from him on the seaplane aircraft carrier 30 kilometers in front of the fleet, anticipating that the Japanese planes would not be in the air for a long time, and he did not inform his own planes that were searching in front of him. Instead, he directly ordered the spare plane to take off urgently, and with the roar of a motor, the No. 4 plane, which had not slipped far on the sea, pulled up, and the pilot, Second Lieutenant Zhu Binhou, no longer heeded the previous order to prohibit flying close to the fleet, and flew directly over the fleet.

The submarine of the current branch made Captain Yamada Tadaji more excited than the current Chinese fleet, and after the emergency dive of the entire submarine force, he was still thinking about circling the sea, according to his understanding, the submarine could not hold back underwater for a long time, and he really wanted to see the wolf bèi appearance of the submarine that had to float.

But while he was waiting mockingly, fate laughed at him. Suddenly a different kind of plane appeared in the clouds, and the nose of the plane flashed with fire as it dived, and a shuttle of bullets grazed the wings, and the last few drilled holes in the wings. Captain Tadaharu Yamada, who felt the danger, hurriedly pressed the nose of the plane to get a higher degree to get rid of the attack from behind, but he didn't expect that his plane was not solid, and at the same time that the plane's downward impulse increased, the wing also flew out a piece, and as soon as the wing was lost, the plane began to spin uncontrollably, and when Zhu Binhou's second shuttle bullet hit, the whole plane disintegrated and fell into the sea. Unable to understand that his first battle was so lightly obtained, Second Lieutenant Zhu Bin shook his wings stupidly, turned around and flew back to the aircraft carrier.

Born more than a dozen kilometers away, the first air battle in the history of the world fell in the eyes of several hundred officers and men of the fleet, and from a distance they saw only one flying thing with broken wings and falling into the sea. Japanese Bird Sinks! As soon as he said this, the sailors on the cruiser were jubilant.

Looking at the seaplanes that swept over the fleet, Lieutenant General Moffett smiled and said to Lieutenant Colonel Tian Shijie: "That is also the toy of His Majesty the Emperor?" ”

He asked, Tian Shijie had to pretend to be stupid: "Yes, there are a lot of toys for His Majesty the Emperor." Although the Japanese plane was shot down, they will definitely carefully search this area, Mr. Lieutenant General, I think we should discuss the next route. ”

The time is already three o'clock in the afternoon, Wakanomiya Maru on the Japanese Navy Air Force Captain Kaneko Yosan Shaozo looked at the empty sea is very uneasy, three hours ago Yamada Tadaji, who sailed the plane, piloting skills are second only to his own in the air team, now there is no wind and waves on the sea, is it the same as before?

"Sir. Something must have happened to Yamada-kun, and I asked to take off to search the sea. "It's been three hours. Captain Wada Hidehui also knew that it was impossible for Tadaharu Yamada to come back.

"Well, as is customary for in-flight searches. The place where Yamada-kun was wrecked should be in the south, you can search the area to the south, and I will also notify the fleet to search south. Jin Ziyang Sanshaozuo had no choice but to agree. You can buy another plane if you lose it, but you can't buy it back if you lose a pilot, and now there are only four pilots in all of Japan.

"Hay!" Captain Wada Xiuhui agreed, just waited for the crane to be lifted out of the plane, and then went out of the water. However, it is the same as Tadaharu Yamada. Three hours later, he didn't come back either.

"Yaga! The people of China must be nearby. Quick, call the captain of the fleet immediately. "Kaneko, who had not been seen for a long time, finally realized that something was wrong, and hurriedly informed the captain of the flagship Ibuki of the secret fleet, Kanji Kato, and the entire fleet began to turn south.

The shooting down of two Japanese planes in a row made the sailors happy, but also made all the officers on the Haiqi uneasy, but fortunately the sun had already set in the west. Soon, it will be dark, and once evening comes, the fleet will be able to get rid of the Japanese who are already close to them, and pull them up more than a hundred nautical miles.

"Field. Is Beijing going to war with Japan? "Although the Chinese and Japanese fleets did not fire artillery shelling each other, they had already exchanged fire in the air, although only the Chinese side fired unilaterally. This couldn't help but make Lieutenant General Moffett a little uneasy. The situation seems to be getting worse, and he believes even if the fleet returns to China. It is also very likely that a war will break out between China and Japan because of this. He was not afraid of war, but there was such a huge disparity in naval strength between the two countries. How should this war be fought?

"I don't know." Lieutenant Colonel Tian Shijie didn't understand why the foreigners asked this question, but the long-term avoidance of the Japanese Navy's suppression, and the war spirit that had just been ignited by his own pilots, made him naturally say: "If it really starts a war, then fuck it!" ”

"You're not worried about their navy?" Looking at this Chinese whose age and rank were very incompatible, Lieutenant Colonel Moffitt couldn't help but think about what age he was when he received the rank of lieutenant colonel, and in him, he felt something else.

"Mr. Lieutenant General, can you avoid war by worrying?" Lieutenant Colonel Tian Shijie asked, "The Japanese can only bully China now, and if they hunt down the American fleet like this, I am afraid that you will start a war with them long ago." These bastards who bully the weak and are afraid of the hard, the more they compromise, the more arrogant they become, so not only should we not worry about war, but we should also welcome it. ”

"Yes. You're right, worry is something that can't be avoided. Lieutenant General Moffett felt like he had asked a stupid question. When he was about to say something, Lieutenant Colonel Tian Shijie was called away by the correspondent, and after a while he came back and said: "The entire Japanese detachment has already sailed towards us, and it is very likely that they will appear to us immediately." ”

"Really?" Lieutenant General Moffett was shocked when he heard this, this was the worst news in more than ten days. He looked at the sun that was about to set on the sea, and said comfortingly, "Maybe it will be dark when they appear with us." ”

It's about to get dark, and Kutsu of the cruiser Nisshin saw that Masao Osa was standing on the bridge and was extremely anxious, and the people of Shina were nearby, otherwise the seaplanes would not have crashed continuously, but where were they? If they really want to go into hiding, pass through the port of Naha, and then sink them, then they will have to think about the war with Shina. As a naval officer, he is not afraid of war, but the navy can't board the 6th and open fire, if the 6th Army's red deer lose the war like last time, then the Rilu War will be fought in vain, and the Nanman that the imperial soldiers took with their lives will be lost. What an incompetent red deer! His Excellency Dazuo cursed in his heart.

As he cursed, the lookout on the mast shouted, "Now the target! Now the goal! He pointed to a place to the west, and following the direction he had given, Osa saw a faint wisp of smoke thirty or forty kilometers to the west in the Zeiss high-powered prism telescope, it was so faint that it would not appear at all if you didn't look closely.

"Immediately follow along, and report to Ibuki that we are now supporting the fleet, 800 nautical miles west of Taiwan, on the surface of the Philippine Ocean." Kutsu immediately ordered when he saw Masao Daisa. Soon, at his command, the cruiser Nisshin turned right and headed west after a few moments, pursuing the wisp of smoke in front.

Built in 19o2 and launched in 19o3, the cruiser Nisshin was originally one of two armored cruisers built by Italy for the Argentine Navy, and was later acquired by the Japanese Navy due to the Russo-Japanese naval war. The ship has a displacement of 7,700 tons. The main guns were four twin Armstrong eight-inch guns arranged at the tail ends, and the secondary guns were fourteen single-mounted Armstrong six-inch guns. In the case of the known cruisers of the China people with only two eight-inch guns. It was not inappropriate for Kutsumi to see that Masao Daisa's decision to pursue the Shina fleet alone, after all, it was about to be night. If the people of China were allowed to escape, one night would allow them to travel more than 100 nautical miles.

Under the full voyage of 20 knots, the shadow of the ship of the Shina fleet finally fell on the sight of Masao Osa of Kutsumi, and by the afterglow of the sunset in the west, the figures of the three ships were clearly reflected on the sea level, if the cannon was fired at this time, the line of sight was extremely beneficial to him, but unfortunately, the distance between the two sides was about 18,000 kilometers. This is outside the range of the main gun. While lamenting that he couldn't open fire, Kutsu couldn't help but smile when he saw the sailors on the cruiser Shina in the telescope. But what made him strange was that the people of China did not run away, but drove towards him, were they impatient? Dazuo thought puzzled.

The appearance and downing of seaplanes of the Japanese Navy put the entire fleet in crisis. The Japanese seaplanes were actually a dilemma, not to shoot them down, then after returning home, the Japanese not only knew the direction of the fleet. It is also known that the submarine fleet that acts with the fleet; As for shooting it down, not to mention whether it will provoke a war or not, the responsibility for the war lies on that side, as long as the plane does not return, the Japanese will definitely feel abnormal, especially when the second Japanese plane appears again. Moffitt, Tian Shijie, Cheng Biguang and others all knew that they had been exposed. And the result of the reconnaissance of the aircraft again was that five Japanese cruisers were rushing in their own direction, and if they turned. There is a good chance that it will encounter a cruiser that is tracking backwards from the South Pacific after an unsuccessful search.

Now that it has been surrounded, the best thing to do is to drill through the air raids of the Japanese cruisers. This is the best option for the fleet. It's just that the method that has been used once has failed this time, and the view on the calm sea is good. The plumes of smoke from the flotilla could be seen far and wide, and the flotilla that could have passed through made the sharp-eyed Japanese lookout visible.

It was 5:33 a.m., and after it was determined that it was the Japanese cruiser Nisshin, Vice Admiral Moffett and Lieutenant Commander Tian Shijie, who had considered all the circumstances, decided to engage them head-on and then sink them with submarines. Because if the fleet turns, then tomorrow at dawn it will be surrounded by more than eight cruisers and more destroyers.

Under the sunset in the sky, while the merchant ships were reduced, the Haiqi and the Hairong rushed to the front in parallel, and the captain of the Hairong, Lin Baoyi, scolded again and again and ordered the sailors to take their places. He scolded everyone, from the current emperor to the current prime minister Yang Rui, then to the fleet commander Moffitt, and finally to the Japanese - they are really too deceitful, and tens of thousands of miles of siege is simply not giving people a way to live, so people have to fight to the death. There is a reason for Lin Baoyi's scolding, compared with the Haiqi's eight-inch main gun, the Hairong's fifteen-millimeter main gun wants to be wielded, I am afraid that it has to rush to a place six thousand meters away from the Rijin before it can be fired, but in the process of reaching this distance, and in the process of firing at the distance and the Rijin, whether the thin armor of the Hairong can withstand the Japanese 100 kilograms of eight-inch shells, then only God knows.

The afterglow of the sun was slowly extinguishing like a remnant bonfire, and at 6:14, when it was 10,000 meters away from the Haiqi, the front main gun of the Rijin opened fire first, and a hundred kilograms of shells fell on the port side of the Haiqi 100 meters, and the column of water rising into the sky made everyone on the ship sweat.

Vice Admiral Moffitt and Lieutenant Colonel Tian Shijie's plan was to shoot at the Japanese ships for half an hour first, and then retreat when the sky was completely dark, so as to attract the Japanese ships to pursue. Maybe it should have been earlier to retreat, that's what both sides read from each other's eyes.

The Japanese fleet, which had been honed by the Russo-Japanese War, had indeed maintained the highest level of combat skills, in addition to the gunners' own self-confidence and mastery of artillery performance, the Japanese Navy also innovated in gunnery. That is, after being equipped with a measuring instrument, a variable range rate disc and a variable range clock, the Japanese Navy was already able to carry out a full artillery salvo under the command of the chief gunner, according to the calculated elements. This is something that the Chinese Navy cannot do - Vice Admiral Moffett is not a gunnery master after all, he cannot teach the Chinese Navy the latest gunnery skills, and even he does not have a complete plan for how to train a full-gun salvo, and the US Navy cannot provide any good advice on this, and their shooting command board has only been successfully opened this year.

After the test firing of the clamping method was completed, at 6:18 a.m., there was no T-word, the distance was only 9,600 yards, and the four main guns of the Nisshin, which sailed slightly parallel to the Haiqi, began to fire a salvo of all guns, and the landing point of the shells flew over the mast of the Haiqi, and fell far behind the fleet, and the four columns of water splashed high, and then fell heavily, only smashing into the psychology of everyone. Inside the command tower, the captain Tang Tingguang, who couldn't bear it, said loudly: "The distance is nine thousand three hundred. Sir, can you fire? ”

"Fire!" Lieutenant General Moffitt was sweating profusely, and he had a bad premonition, but he had already rushed up, and it was impossible for him to turn around and flee without a shot.

"Shoot now!" Captain Tang Tingguang shouted into the microphone, and there was some echo in the loud voice.

At this time, Pan Wenzhi, the first mate of the artillery and artillery who received his order on the mast, immediately shouted into the microphone: "The distance is nine thousand two hundred, the voyage is twelve, open the cannon!" ”

"Distance nine thousand two hundred, voyage twelve, start shooting!" Huang Tianyou shouted repeatedly. As soon as he finished speaking, Liu Tiancai, the deputy gunner, shouted: "Pre-...... Prepare, put! ”

With his order, the entire eight-inch gun shook violently, and the irresistible force was transmitted from the cannon body, only the air in the turret roared, and the cannon body was retracted and then retreated by the brake, and the smoke of the projectile explosion filled the entire turret.

At 6:22, the first shell fired by the Haiqi landed on the sea 300 meters away from the Nisshin, and without entering the command tower, Kutsumi Masa, who was about to learn from Admiral Heihachiro Togo in the Hiroru War, was still standing firmly on the bridge, believing that the poor artillery skills of the Shina people would not be able to hit the Hijin. As it turned out, they had already entered a distance of nine thousand yards, and their shells were still falling so far.

He did not put the position of the artillery commander in the command tower because of the arrival of Lieutenant General Moffitt, and Pan Wenzhi, the gun chief officer who was commanding from the mast, watched his own shells fall 300 meters away from the Nisshin, and only wanted to slap his thigh, this artillery shot was too smelly. But before he could start scolding, a shell landed on the swollen part of the Haiqi in the second salvo of the Rijin, and after the fierce explosion, one of the secondary guns was immediately damaged, and the gunner in the battery died. Although it was known that the Japanese had used Shimose gunpowder and had removed all the flammable materials on the ship, the flames from the shells still ignited something. Seeing that his captain was on fire, Yang Kai, the first-class pipe wheel, shouted at everyone to put out the fire, it was about to get dark, if the captain was on fire, it would be a target at all.

Not caring about the place where the cannon was hit, Pan Wenzhi, the first mate of the guns, once again passed the shooting Zhu Yuan into the microphone: "The distance is eight thousand seven hundred, and the voyage is twelve." ”

Three minutes later, the second round of firing on the Haiqi began, this time not only the front gun, but also the eight-inch gun in the back, two loud noises echoed in the front and rear turrets, and at the same time as the shells were fired, Pan Wenzhi counted the seconds again, and after seeing the landing point, he suddenly shouted into the microphone, "Hit!" Hit the Japanese! ”

His excited voice not only reached the turret, but also to the command tower, Tian Shijie, Wu Fan, Cheng Biguang, and Tang Tingguang heard that they had hit, and immediately looked for the location of the shell in the telescope, but they didn't see anything.

"Fuck, where did you hit?" Captain Tang Tingguang scolded as he spoke, "Isn't this a fucking lie about the military situation?" ”

As soon as he said this, the others came to their senses that the cannonballs fired by their own side did not hit the Zhongri Jinhao at all. Seeing this scene, Lieutenant General Moffett's face twitched strangely, he wanted to laugh but couldn't laugh because of the critical situation, so he only heard him say: "Gentlemen, there is nothing wrong with giving the gunner more confidence. Perhaps, they will hit the Japanese next time! (To be continued!)

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