After flying several times over the harbor and around the adjacent reservoir, it was not until the navigator behind him issued another warning that the remaining fuel was barely enough to return to the fleet, and Yu Yong reluctantly reversed course and sent a telegram to the navigator who was also taking care of communications.

At this time, it was already 10:15.

Four hundred kilometers away, the mobile fleet "Chicheng".

When the communications staff officer came, Tian Shi rushed to meet him and took the telegram.

After a quick glance, Tian Shi turned around and handed the message to Lieutenant General Lan Yun, who was looking at him.

It was shocking, but it was completely expected, and there were already mental preparations for this beforehand, so it was not to say panic.

The four aircraft carriers of the Liang Xia Navy are not in Chengjiang Port!

In addition, the fast battleships that followed the activities of the aircraft carriers were not there.

The only good thing is that after the second wave of bombardment, all twelve battleships in Chengjiang Port were heavily damaged, and four of them have sunk.

According to the plan, there was no need for a third wave of bombing.

Because the aircraft carrier of the task force was not found, and the aircraft of the carrier-based air force were not found at the airfield near Chengjiang Port, even if there were still battleships that were not sunk, they could not launch a third wave of bombing, let alone launch an attack to destroy the infrastructure of Chengjiang Port.

Now the priority is to find the task force!

Where the hell are those four damn aircraft carriers!?

Lan Yun didn't ask Tian Shi's opinion, but asked the staff officer to call Gentian Dazuo.

Tian Shi was a little hesitant, not knowing whether he should remind Lieutenant General Lan Yun.

In the telegram sent back by You Yong, to be precise, at the end, it was clearly mentioned that the oil depot in Chengjiang Port had not been bombed and was still intact.

That was the main oil depot of the Southern Fleet.

At any one time, no less than one million tons of heavy marine fuel oil are stored here, in addition to 100,000 tons of high-standard diesel, and about the same amount of aviation gasoline. If the Liang Xia Navy is already preparing for war and has increased its fuel reserves, then the fuel stored here will have to be doubled.

What is this concept?

Blowing up the oil depot would completely paralyze the Southern Fleet.

Although it is not said that a bomb can blow up the entire oil depot, after all, the military oil depot has a very high level of defense, and the oil storage tanks are buried deep in the ground, and they are scattered, and they need to be bombed in a concentrated way to achieve the purpose of destruction, but in the long run, the value of blowing up the oil depot is very huge.

If nothing else, just destroying the oil depot can greatly reduce the combat efficiency of the Southern Fleet.

The key is that if you dispatch 20 ships to attack, you will be able to complete the task.

Tian Shi hesitated and didn't say it, and the reason was very simple. He was sent by Gao Ye, not Lan Yun's descendant, and Lan Yun had been guarding against him, at least in a different way.

Obviously, such an anachronistic suggestion is certainly not a good fruit to eat.

While Tian Minori was thinking about how to make a suggestion, Genda Osaku arrived.

As Tian Shi guessed, Lan Yun arranged a new task for Genda Daizo, to adjust the carrier-based aviation and send additional air defense fighters as soon as possible.

In addition, it is to contact the fast battleships and heavy cruisers that escort the escort, and be ready to dispatch seaplanes.

It's just that Lan Yun didn't point out the direction of the search.

There is no need to rush, it will take more than ten minutes to get the seaplane ready to take off, and the search mission will be arranged before that.

Genda is also an honest man, and he went out after receiving the task.

"Shaozuo, what do you think?"

Tian Shi was slightly stunned, probably because he didn't expect Lan Yun to take the initiative to ask his opinion.

Before the attack, Tian proposed to use seaplanes on board fast battleships and heavy cruisers to search the eastern and southeastern seas. The search range was set at 500 km, but it was only necessary to avoid a few definite islands to ensure that the operation was foolproof.

It's a pity that this valuable suggestion was vetoed by Lan Yun.

Lan Yun's reason is simple: expanding the search area will startle the snake, and there is no intelligence to indicate the existence of a threat outside Chengjiang Port for the time being.

In any case, Lan Yun was the commander of the mobile fleet, and Tian Shi was just a guest staff officer.

In the tradition of the narrow navy, Tian Shi could give his opinion, but it was not binding, and his opinion would not be included in the combat report.

In his or her own role, the Visiting Staff Officer is primarily responsible for supervising the subordinate commanders.

"I know you have an issue with my command. It's just that now we should focus on the navy and the imperial state, rather than just caring about our personal future. Lan Yun said this calmly, and the implied threats and warnings were also very clear, and Tian Shi was not given much room to turn around.

"The priority is to find the task force." Tian Shi let out a sigh and continued: "No matter what, the twelve battleships that have destroyed the Southern Fleet, and now the only ones that can pose a threat to us are the four aircraft carriers of the task force. Find those four carriers, even if they are too far away to attack, you will know what to do next, whether to continue to look for fighters, or to return and retreat. ”

"Send a seaplane out?"

"It's better to attack the ship."

Lan Yun frowned, obviously not quite understanding what Tian Shi meant.

"First dispatch some ship attacks to carry out reconnaissance missions, and when Yui Nakasa's group returns, we will have enough strength to launch an attack."

"What if the task force is discovered before then?"

"We still have dozens of ships exploding, even if it is not enough to annihilate the task force, we can still hold off the task force and buy time for the next wave of attacks."

"In this case, we can only launch an all-force attack."

"General!"

Tian Shi suddenly became anxious.

It's no secret that Lan Yun is suspicious.

Suspicious people must be cautious in their actions, and they will be indecisive when they encounter problems.

But at this critical juncture, Lan Yun was still hesitant, it would be too undeserved.

Tian Shi only hesitated for a moment, but after half a second, he continued: "General, maybe the reconnaissance plane of the task force is flying towards us. If we don't send out reconnaissance planes, we won't be able to arrange for enough fighters to take off before the Yuyong group returns. Even if they are not attacked, it will take at least an hour more to organize and launch an attack when the group returns! ”

Lan Yun frowned, looking at Tian Shi intently, although he didn't ask, but his expression was obviously asking: Is it so serious?

What the hell was he thinking?

What Lan Yun was thinking about now was definitely whether to give the order to turn and retreat.

The reason is also very simple.

Through two waves of bombardment, the Southern Fleet has been disabled, and even if it retreats now, it can be sent to the top. After withdrawing, only by keeping the precious fleet can we continue to deal with the Liang Xia Navy, and only then can we hope to continue to grasp the strategic initiative in the next war.

Now that the fleet is exhausted, what to do next?

In fact, Tian Shi had long known why Gao Ye had sent him to maneuver the fleet, but he never expected that Lan Yun would be so cautious.

Of course, it is not wrong to say that it is cowardice.

Interestingly, it was precisely because of his lack of assertiveness that Lan Yun was reused by Takano and became the commander of the mobile fleet after Takano became the commander of the permanent fleet.

Perhaps, what Takano needs is this kind of unassertive subordinates.

"Whew-"

Just as Tian Shi was about to continue to suffer badly, the alarm sounded.

It's a long beep.

That's an air raid alert!