The flagship of the special group "Longjiang".

Although the whereabouts of the mobile fleet were grasped at 7:40 a.m., and it was not wrong that the reconnaissance plane that discovered the mobile fleet had taken off from the "Longjiang," until now, at 8:20 a.m., the carrier-based plane with torpedoes and bombs had not been allowed to take off.

For the same reason, when the reconnaissance report was received, the task force was receiving carrier-based aircraft from the rear.

Two aircraft carriers, each supplemented with sixty carrier-based aircraft.

Even at the rate of one aircraft per minute, it would take a full hour to receive sixty carrier-based aircraft. Because some of the pilots came from the reserve forces and had not landed on the "Longjiang" class aircraft carrier before, there were several mistakes, so the actual use time was longer.

Of course, these problems have been taken into account long ago when making arrangements, and all carrier-based aircraft have auxiliary fuel tanks, and after reaching the airspace above the special task force, they can fly for at least one and a half hours, and bombers and torpedo planes with a longer range can fly for two hours, which is very sufficient.

As a result, it was busy until after eight o'clock, and the last "Flying Fish" landed on the "Longjiang".

It's just that it's still very early to attack.

Because there were too many carrier-based aircraft accepted at one time, and when making arrangements, they certainly did not expect to discover the mobile fleet so quickly, and it was more than 300 kilometers away in front, so the dozens of "Typhoons" that arrived first all landed on the aircraft carrier. In order to allow the carrier-based aircraft to land behind, these fighters were all sent to the hangar and placed in the innermost part of the hangar, which was very troublesome to turn around.

Even then, a lot of carrier-based aircraft remained on the flight deck.

This is something that can't be helped, after all, the aircraft carrier is only so big, and when recovering the carrier-based aircraft, you can only use the front end, the elevator located between the catapults, and it takes two minutes to transport one, so according to the fastest speed to recover the carrier-based aircraft, a part of it must be left on the flight deck.

These carrier-based aircraft must have been parked in the take-off area at the front of the flight deck.

In addition, the hangar is stuffed with no less than sixty carrier-based aircraft.

The hangars of the "Longjiang" class usually can only accommodate six squadrons of carrier-based aircraft, about fifty, and the extra can only be parked on the flight deck.

It was only now that the ground crew sent the carrier-based aircraft parked at the front to the rear of the flight deck.

"How long will it take?"

"At least an hour, maybe an hour and a half." Zhuang Bisheng was also very helpless, he was more anxious than Liu Xiangzhen, and he was eager to immediately send out the attack aircraft group.

Before that, he went to the aviation service department twice to urge, and the reply he received was "do his best".

Liu Xiangzhen smiled bitterly and talked about it.

What else can be said?

Even if time is precious, now you can only wait patiently and be prepared for the blow that is coming!

That's right, the air defense of the fleet must be strengthened as soon as possible!

In the telegram sent back by the reconnaissance plane, it was emphasized that the attack aircraft group of the mobile fleet was taking off, and the fighters were the first to take off, and it was estimated that the two aircraft carriers would each dispatch three squadrons of bombers and attack aircraft. It is very likely that these groups are attacking special groups.

Why "very likely"?

The reconnaissance plane was then shot down, and the direction of flight of the attack aircraft group was not mentioned in the telegram!

In addition, the Third Air Task Force under the command of Bai Zhizhan had already entered the Guia Ocean with Ashishima before dawn, and it was not in the Yanhai Sea, and the distance between it and the mobile fleet was certainly more than 500 kilometers, which was not within the strike range of the mobile fleet, and even exceeded the search range of the reconnaissance planes.

In addition to the special group, there are also targets worthy of the mobile fleet's full force in this vicinity?

However, neither the fighter planes in the air nor the radio monitoring stations on the warships found any enemy reconnaissance planes or abnormal radio activities.

As for the radar, it has not yet been launched.

Without radar, it is not because of the fear of exposure, but because the reliability of the radar is not high enough.

Because the MTBF is less than an hour, it takes five telecommunications officers eight hours to overhaul and maintain after one cycle of operation. If there is a breakdown, I am afraid that it may not be repaired in a few days and nights. Therefore, radar can only be activated and used when the enemy situation is clear, or after the fleet has been exposed. When not in use, wrap the antenna in a tarp.

It's really easy to use, but it's too delicate.

Without the ability to improve reliability, it is impossible to spread the word.

According to the report of the reconnaissance aircraft, the attack aircraft group of the mobile fleet will arrive at the earliest after nine o'clock.

For this purpose, the radar of the "Nord River" was activated at 8:45.

What needs to be done now is actually to strengthen the air defense of the fleet as soon as possible, so that more fighters can take to the skies to patrol and expand the air defense area before the enemy planes are killed.

After yesterday's battle, Liu Xiangzhen has full confidence in radar.

Under the guidance of radar, air defense fighters are able to extend the interception range to more than 100 kilometers, and can even prevent enemy aircraft from discovering the fleet.

As such, after the front of the flight deck was vacated, ground crews began to put the fighter jets that had previously been sent into the hangar back onto the flight deck. Next, these fighters are refueled and reloaded, the necessary checks are carried out, and the staff of the aviation department simultaneously assigns tasks to the pilots.

These have already been arranged, and Liu Xiangzhen doesn't have to worry about it.

"Report!"

After the telecommunications officer shouted, Zhuang Bisheng immediately stopped him and turned and walked over.

After giving some orders and letting the telecommunications officer return to the bridge, Zhuang Bisheng walked to Liu Xiangzhen's side.

"It's half past eight in three minutes, and we'll start right away."

Liu Xiangzhen was stunned for a moment, and then he understood.

Yesterday evening, after the Imperial Prime Minister declared war on the Sagai Empire via radio broadcast, he left room for maneuver and issued an ultimatum to the Sagai Empire. As long as the Sayi Imperial State surrenders before 8:30 today, the Liangxia Empire will temporarily cease targeted military operations.

No?

Let's fight!

In fact, there is a more sensitive issue involved here.

Shousuke was not the supreme commander of the imperial army, not even a military commander, and was therefore not qualified to declare war on a hostile country.

De jure, the only person who is qualified to declare war on the enemy country is the supreme commander of the empire, that is, the emperor!

Strictly speaking, Shoufu was the head of the civil officials, and in the era of Emperor Shiwu, he was the chief of the rear, managing and running the empire instead of the emperor.

In terms of appeal, only the emperor can unite all the military and people of the empire to the outside world.

To this end, the Emperor will declare war on the Imperial State by radio at 8:30 today, after the ultimatum expires, and issue a war mobilization order.

Let Shousuke speak first, which can be regarded as a front station.

According to the Oriental culture, the most important thing must be to stay at the end, so that there is a saying that "the finale debuts".

In fact, in the history of the empire, all declarations of war followed this process.

Because war has broken out, declaring war is secondary.

What matters is mobilization for war.

If Shousuke's radio speech can be heard or not, then the declaration of war and mobilization edict issued by the emperor must be heard.

Listen carefully!

Don't forget that the Emperor is the Supreme Commander of the Imperial Army and the object of the oath of allegiance to the Imperial soldiers!

In the past, soldiers had to bow their heads when they listened to the edict.

It's not that strict now, but it needs to be taken seriously.

Of course, there is no need to comply with these red tapes when there is a mission, and there is no need to follow these red tapes.