was frightened by the big explosion, as well as Liu Xiangzhen on the "Longjiang".

Although there had been similar worries before, Liu Xiangzhen always felt that the Nuland Navy would not use such inferior means.

Besides, it is too difficult to plant blame.

The point is that there is no way to prove that the submarine of the Liangxia Navy sank the merchant ship with a torpedo, at least there is no way to obtain enough conclusive evidence.

Without evidence, why blame the Liangxia Empire?

It was the Imman Empire that carried out unrestricted submarine warfare, not the Liangxia Empire, and the Liangxia Navy had sea supremacy, so there was no reason to let submarines mess around.

In fact, the Liangxia Empire was one of the few countries in the world that openly opposed the development of submarines.

As early as after the end of the last war, representatives of the Liangxia Empire successively expressed to reporters around the world in Saiba, Hwaseong and Luntai that they unconditionally supported the international treaty prohibiting the development, design and construction of submarines, and were willing to destroy all submarines in their country after the treaty was implemented.

Submarines lacking high performance have always been the number one shortcoming of the Imperial Navy.

Don't want proof?

If there is no evidence, just empty words, and if the Nuland people can still be hated by the enemy, then a few months ago, Lofus led the Nuland Federation into the war.

When it comes to going to war, you really need evidence!

Playing this kind of bitter meat trick, or making the bitter meat trick work, also requires evidence.

Those merchant ships were all sunk after being attacked, how can it be proved that the submarines of the Liang Xia Navy were responsible?

Doubting for a while, Liu Xiangzhen did not dare to delay, and immediately issued an order for combat readiness, so that the fighters of the carrier-based aviation of the two wings were ready to take off.

Just like he feared.

Shortly after dawn, Zhang Guozhu sent a telegram that the radar had spotted the approaching enemy planes and demanded that the 21st Task Force immediately provide air defense cover.

According to the battle plan, covering Task Force 42 was one of the main tasks of Task Force 21.

Although Liu Xiangzhen was unwilling to give in and did not intend to give up the opportunity to make meritorious contributions to Bai Zhizhan, he still kept an eye on it when making deployments.

The two carrier-based air wings of Task Force 21 were equipped with only a standard number of bombers and torpedo planes, three squadrons each, and a standard number of specialized reconnaissance planes, one squadron each. As a result, all the extra slots were used to carry fighter jets.

The 1st Wing has 37 "Roaring Sky" and the 2nd Wing has 36.

The extra one is a backup.

In addition, the two wings only used the "Roaring Sky" in July, and the refitting time was a few months later than the two wings of the 41st Task Force. Although pilots work hard, the experience required to master the new fighter is not something that can be trained with hard work.

Don't forget that the predecessor of the two carrier-based air wings of the 41st Task Force was the 1st Carrier-based Aviation Wing.

This unit was the first to change its equipment into the "Roaring Heaven," and not only participated in the battle to encircle and annihilate the permanent fleet of Sagi with the "Yokoe," but also carried out deployment tasks after the reorganization.

Besides, the striking ability of the "Roaring Sky" is not bad.

Such fighters are capable of carrying a 500-kilogram bomb to a distance of 500 kilometers, or a 250-kilogram bomb to a bombing mission of 650 kilometers.

Because of the good dive performance, the hit rate of the bombs of the "Roaring Sky" is not low.

During the attack on Liuhuang Island, the "Roaring Sky" often took the place of the "Wasp" in carrying out bombing missions.

It may be a little difficult to deal with a battleship, but it is certainly more than enough to deal with a freighter.

All in all, these extra "Roaring" fighters made Task Force 21 more comfortable when carrying out missions.

At 6:50 a.m., about 10 minutes after dawn, the first batch of "Roaring Heaven" lifted into the air.

At this time, the carrier-based aircraft of the Nuland Navy had already flown over the 42nd Task Force.

It's all fighters, though!

All of them are F4F fighters nicknamed "Wildcat", and they all fly at an altitude of more than 6,000 meters, and there are no warships that dive and strafe the sea.

It seems that the pilots on those fighters did not see the battleship on the surface of the sea.

They had come to seize air supremacy, or rather, to the fighters of the Imperial Navy, and naturally there was no reason to bother with battleships that could not be sunk with machine guns.

After receiving the news from Zhang Guozhu, Liu Xiangzhen was also taken aback.

If the Nuland fleet had been prepared to launch a return fire immediately after the attack on the freighter, the first wave of attack would have been crucial.

As long as you hurry up, you can dispatch carrier-based aircraft to take out the four battleships in the 42nd Task Force before the Imperial Navy can react.

The time window for launching an attack is just over an hour.

That is, within an hour after dawn, Task Force 42 was not covered by Task Force 21.

Liu Xiangzhen believed from the beginning that this was likely the key to the Nuland Navy to schedule its operation in the early hours of the morning.

Judging by the timing of the arrival of those F4Fs, it must have taken off before dawn, to be precise, before the freighter was attacked.

These are clearly planned for a long time.

So, what reason is there not to send bombers and torpedo planes to take out Task Force 42?

In a sense, Task Force 42 is the weight that changes the balance.

After taking out Task Force 42, the Nuland First Fleet will be able to drive straight in. Task Force 43, which had only four fast battleships, could not defeat the 10-ship Newland First Fleet in a hand-to-hand artillery battle.

If Task Force 43 can't defeat it, the situation of the Imperial Navy will become very delicate.

The point is that neither Task Force 21 nor Task Force 41 can go up to plug the cannon holes!

So is it to fight, or to withdraw?

If it were to fight, Task Force 21 would have to deal with the Nuland fleet that had been exposed, and the four battleships that would confront Task Force 42 before dawn.

In this way, Task Force 21 is likely to be exposed, and the next blow will be.

Of course, you can also choose to search for the Nuland Carrier Task Force first.

The problem is that Task Force 21 has only two aircraft carriers. If fighter jets were to cover Task Force 42, there would not be much reconnaissance aircraft.

In fact, Task Force 21 did not carry many reconnaissance aircraft.

The sortie capabilities of the two aircraft carriers were limited, and it was impossible to attack two Nuland fleets at the same time.

It can be seen that Liu Xiangzhen will definitely be in a dilemma at this time.

If the 21st Task Force does not win, the 41st Task Force under the command of Bai Zhizhan will definitely not take advantage.

What about withdrawal?

Perhaps, this is exactly what Lofos wanted to achieve by arranging all this, that is, to break the blockade and send more than a hundred ocean-going freighters to the Imperial Kingdom of Saty.

Millions of tons of strategic supplies, that's no joke.

In addition, with the support of the Nuland Federation, the Eastern Narrows regime will inevitably be more tenacious, and may even cause some trouble for the empire on the battlefield in the western part of the island.

Even if it's a dying viper, it's a viper!

Of course, the Imperial Navy will definitely not withdraw.

Fortunately, Zhang Guozhu reported the situation in a timely manner, and the fighter jets sent by the 21st Task Force had not yet flown far, so they were able to make adjustments to the deployment.

Liu Xiangzhen immediately issued an order, using a short-range voice radio to contact the fighters who had already departed, and told the pilot of the lead plane that unless the 42nd Task Force had already been attacked or attacked by Nuland fighters, the first shot would not be fired.