The last rays of the setting sun were finally swallowed up by the deep blue sea. But the sea was not entirely dark, and a crescent moon had risen in the sky, so that the captain of the battleship Kongo, Koyanagi Tomiji Osa, could barely distinguish the boundary between the sea and the sky.

A few hours ago, a US reconnaissance plane appeared near the shelling formation, which made Koyanagi very nervous. Fortunately, God bless the Imperial Kingdom, American bombers did not appear with it.

This reconnaissance plane not only made Koyanagi Tomiji nervous, but the commander of the shelling fleet, Keno Kurita, was even more nervous and sweaty. If it weren't for Yamamoto's strict orders, if it weren't for the fact that there wasn't much time left before dark, Kurita Keno almost planned to run away again.

Speaking of the Japanese army, in the general impression, it is all fierce, brave, and desperate for death - whether it is someone else or oneself. Look at the Japanese military song "Crossing the Sea", look at the lyrics: "Crossing the sea, the corpse floats on the sea; Across the mountains, corpses are everywhere." It makes people feel that the work of escaping seems to have nothing to do with the Japanese Imperial Army. There's nothing wrong with that. It is true that the Japanese Imperial Army does not run away, and they have a more technical term for this kind of thing, which is called "turning in". Almost all the countries that have been illuminated by the light of Chinese civilization are particularly adept at using this kind of obscure language, and Japan is no exception. However, in general, there were indeed not many times when the Japanese army took the initiative to escape. But black swans exist, and there are exceptions to everything. Lieutenant General Keno Kurita ~ One ~ Ben ~ Read ~ Small ~ Say ~ YBDU is the most typical exception, he is a black swan in the Japanese Imperial Army.

As early as February 28, 1942, Kurita had been ordered to cover the landing of the 16th Army of General Jun Imamura in Banten, Java Island. Later it became clear that the enemy had only two cruisers. He sank the American heavy cruiser USS Houston and the Australian light cruiser Perth, but the torpedoes fired by his fleet also sank four Japanese transports, including Commander Imamura's, drowning a large group of Japanese troops and nearly drowning Admiral Imamura in the sea. Of course, afterwards he concealed the fact that the torpedo was fired by him, and falsely claimed that it was the torpedo released by the US military. However, since then, he has been nicknamed "Kurita of Escape". However, he was not punished afterwards, and if he was punished for fleeing the battlefield, it would affect the image of the navy. Anyway, they still killed a horse pistol; Second, it didn't cause any serious consequences, didn't it just kill some of the army's dirt buns? Do you want the Navy to punish its own people for the sake of those stupid hats of the Army? So there was nothing wrong with "Escape Kurita". Later, during the Battle of Midway, Kurita's fleet collided carelessly when they "turned in" at night, and the heavy cruiser Mogami and her sister ship, the Mikuma, engaged in a fierce confrontation on this night when the lights were blind and the fingers could not be seen. The story of the lilies between the sisters ended tragically, when the poor Mikuma was knocked off the bow of the ship, and its speed dropped to 12 knots. "Kurita who escaped" immediately ordered after learning of the situation: all run away, and Mikuma will be broken. As a result, Mikuma never returned. However, the Midway Island aircraft carrier alone sank 4, and no one cares about one more Mikuma.

However, this is not the most wonderful performance of "Escape Kurita", the future Battle of Leyte Gulf is the most exemplary battle of "Escape Kurita". Of course, we'll save that for later.

This time, Yamamoto put on a posture in front of Masanobu Tsuji who was desperate to help the army take down Kuah. He even gave an order: "In the unlikely event that two battleships are torpedoed by an enemy submarine or destroyer during the shelling, they should think of running aground on the beach, and the crews should go ashore as marines." "For this purpose, all crew members were also issued Type 38 rifles. But Kurita has its own opinion. He believes that carrying out such an operation under the enemy's advantage is undoubtedly a suicide action like "a mouse tying a bell around the cat's neck", and it is a "desperate solution". He accepted such a task completely out of force. It's impossible for Yamamoto to be ignorant of Kurita's ideas and Kurita's usual style, he still lets Kurita lead the team, and I'm afraid that only some guys in the Navy know what to do.

"General, find the beacon!" Word came from the lookout post, "It's the beacon of Cape Esperance!" ”

This shows that the goal is now close at hand. Kurita gave the order: "The destroyers will go out on alert, and the battleships will slow down to 18 knots and enter Iron Bottom Bay along the southern waterway of Savo Island." "It was 22 o'clock on the 13th. The shelling of airfields by battleships for the first time in history was about to begin.

The U.S. military airfield has been strictly controlled by lights since Ron arrived, and the whole island is now dark. In order to carry out accurate and effective shelling, it is necessary to first find the target. So a Zero water reconnaissance plane flew out of the King Kong. The pilot of this plane, Isamu Oshima, is also an old pilot. Although the island was now dark, he relied on his years of experience to quickly find the airport and drop flares.

In the white glow of the flares, Oshima could clearly see the airfield—it was beneath him, and he could see the planes in the bunkers not far from the runway, filled with all sorts of planes.

After getting the target data, the battleship Kongo opened fire first. The 356-mm guns let out a deafening roar, and the battleship, which weighed more than 30,000 tons, trembled violently. Huge shells were thrown out, and these 625-kilogram high-explosive shells streaked through the air with a rumbling roar, like the sound of a speeding train. In the blink of an eye, Yanagifuji, who was standing on the bridge, observed the flash of light emitted by the shells when they hit the target.

Judging from the position of Liu Fuji Daisa, the shell landed on the ground and sent out some flashes. But to a closer observer, the scene is much more exciting.

Ron and his pilots have been taking refuge on a hill farther away from the airport every night for the past few days. Now Ron is in the mouth of the anti-artillery hole, and from his point of view, the entire airport is already in a sea of fire. Each shell that landed and exploded made all the furniture in the shelter, which was already more than a kilometer from the airport, jump. Dust also rained down from the wooden and steel support ceilings of the bomb holes. The mouths of the people inside were full of the smell of earth.

"I'm glad I moved here!" There was someone sighing in the dark.

"If you don't move out, I'm afraid it's all over now." Someone sighed.

But Ron knew that if he didn't move out, it wouldn't be all over. In the original history, only 41 US troops, including members of the command of the 32nd Naval Air Force, were killed in this shelling. There was even a guy who was near the runway at the time of the shelling, and this guy didn't run after the shelling, but knelt down and prayed to God. I prayed extremely sincerely until the end of the shelling, but I still failed to be called by God, and I still left my soul belt ** in the world. Along with him was a newly built fighter runway.

Ron kept an eye out for the impact points, mostly on the runway and the flight bunkers where the fake planes were placed. This means that this time, compared to the shelling in history, the losses on the aircraft side will be much smaller. In addition, fuel has been dispersed. Historically, after the shelling, the dilemma of using a siphon to suck oil out of a scrap plane probably would not have appeared. The only regret: several missed shells landed in the direction of the newly built bomber runway, and it is not known how much damage was done. All this will only be known after the end of the shelling.

Further afield, the Japanese Army is also watching the spectacular fireworks display. The officers of the 17th Army of the Japanese Army happily held binoculars and cheered, cheering for the Navy from the bottom of their hearts for the first time in their lives. Before the bombardment was over, the commander of the army, Hyakutake Haruyoshi, impatiently sent a telegram of thanks to the navy: "The shelling of two battleships is better than a thousand field guns."

The battleships Kongo and Haruna fired a total of 918 rounds of 356-mm large-caliber shells. At this time, the U.S. military, which had reacted, also began to launch a counterattack. To the north of Kuah Island, four U.S. Navy torpedo boats, pt38, pt46, pt58 and pt60, which were on duty to defend cargo ships, sailed out of port and sailed like a Japanese fleet in the dark. However, the light was blind, and these torpedo boats did not see the Japanese fleet clearly. They mistook the Japanese destroyers escorting the battleships for battleships (the milk bottle was extremely admirable for this, and could see something more than a thousand tons as more than thirty thousand tons. Even though it was night, the look was really embarrassing) and fired a torpedo. (Of course, not a single shot hits)

The Japanese destroyers also spotted the torpedoes, but the lookouts on the destroyers looked around and did not see the enemy ships (the torpedo boats were very low and completely disappeared in the shadows of the islands in the night). But torpedoes exist, and there are no torpedoes from enemy ships.

The destroyer's soldiers didn't know where the torpedo came from, but Kurita immediately knew as soon as he heard the report: "Do you need to ask?" It must be a submarine of American animals! "As soon as the shelling began, Kurita was habitually nervous. I don't know what's going on, but a sense of foreboding always makes him uneasy. While everyone was cheering for the shelling, he was the only one standing on the bridge without making a sound. Now, the fears have been confirmed: the Americans actually ambushed the submarine to plot against him! He immediately remembered Yamamoto's words: "In case two battleships are torpedoed by an enemy submarine or destroyer during the shelling...... Masanobu Tsuji would have thought that this order meant a decisive battle, but Kurita knew that it was a reminder not to let the domestic torpedo go black at night. Besides, Marshal Nagano (that) also specially reminded: "Don't break the warship." ”

So Kurita immediately ordered: "End the shelling and retreat!" ”

An operations staff officer surnamed Hattori asked, "But General, we haven't determined the extent of the damage on the shore?" ”

Kurita turned and stared fiercely at the staff officer until he winced away from his gaze. When did the staff officers of the Navy dare to question the chief officer like those dirt bun staff officers of the Army?

"You know what! The reconnaissance aircraft has already reported that 'all targets are covered', what else is there to be sure of! If you want to be sure, then pick up the 38 rifle issued to you, and I'll send you to the island to make sure yourself! ”

Kurita, after teaching the poor staff officer a lesson, glanced at the officers around him with tiger-like eyes.

"I'm going to return immediately, which of you is for it and who is against?"

Naturally, there will be no naysayers at such times. The Imperial Navy is not unbrave, and the Imperial Navy is not afraid to take risks. The Imperial Navy can take risks for many reasons when necessary, and even launch a deadly onboard charge like the Army when necessary. But there is no doubt that there is absolutely no mention of the Army's reasons among the many reasons, and there is absolutely no time when the Army needs it when it is necessary. A stupid hat like Hattori didn't even understand this, and he deserved to be scolded.