In the early morning of the 26th, at 4:30 a.m., the Ashto Military Port in the south of Ashishima Island.

After bouncing twice on the water, the "fat swan" finally flew.

It was only when the vibration from the joystick became less noticeable that Second Lieutenant He Weigui turned his head sideways and looked at the harbor behind him, which was gradually moving away.

A dozen or so seaplanes in the back, lined up in a column on the sea in the harbor, were waiting to take off.

At this time, the navigator in the rear cabin got into the cockpit.

A boxed lunch per person, still lukewarm.

There's no way, it's all in a hurry.

In fact, He Weigui couldn't figure out what the guys above were doing, and he only arranged the task an hour in advance.

Could it be that those officials think that the seaplane can take off after filling the fuel tank?

In just one hour, it is only enough to refuel a seaplane.

Fortunately, after returning from the flight last night, He Weigui did not rush back to sleep, and completed the work that should have been done before the next sortie, that is, to check and maintain other key equipment other than the engine to ensure that it can operate normally on the next flight.

At that time, He Weigui had a bad premonition, knowing that there would be a new task soon, otherwise he would not have prepared in advance.

Unfortunately, I didn't have time to overhaul the engine last night.

It's not that you're lazy, it's that the engine needs time to cool down, and maintenance can only be carried out after it has been completely cooled.

As a result, He Weigui could only fly the seaplane, which had four engines that could fail during the flight, to carry out patrol missions that lasted until the evening.

This "fat swan", or "black swan" to be precise, is capable of flying 4,500 kilometers at a speed of 250 kilometers per hour after being fully fueled. If the speed is reduced to 200 kilometers per hour, the flight time can be extended to 20 hours.

Because of its thick fuselage, the "Black Swan" maritime patrol plane was also called "Fat Swan" by the pilots.

In the Imperial Navy, the "Fat Swan" is the most unpopular aircraft for pilots, and there is no one, mainly because the endurance of this aircraft is too strong, and the flight time of each patrol mission is as long as ten hours, which is by no means tolerable for ordinary people.

That's exactly how a crew has seven members!

In addition to the co-pilot, there were telegraphers, navigators, and three observers. In the case of a search and rescue mission, it can also carry two search and rescue and medical personnel.

The biggest advantage of having a lot of people is that you have someone to chat with during the flight, so it won't be too boring.

During a normal patrol mission, the seven crew members are usually divided into three teams and take turns using binoculars to search and monitor the surrounding sea.

Of course, the search can only be carried out during the day.

At this time, more than 1,000 kilometers away in the southwest, the aircraft carrier of the special group "Longjiang" was born.

Just after four o'clock, the eighteen pilots of the six crews went to the dining room for breakfast, and were now in the aviation operations center to listen to the mission briefing.

Outside, the ground crew had already sent six Exocets, which had been repaired overnight, onto the flight deck.

All six torpedo planes took part in yesterday's battle, and all of them were damaged, and in the past they must have had to wait until they returned to port and returned to the factory for repairs.

It's just that now, it definitely can't be done.

In order to repair these torpedo planes, the aviation service personnel of the "Longjiang" spent a lot of effort and also dismantled two torpedo planes that were particularly seriously damaged and had lost their repair value.

Even so, the six "Flying Fish" are only barely repaired, and they will definitely be able to fly out, but whether they can fly back is unknown.

In the distance, eight "Exocets" on board the "Mohe" were also sent to the flight deck.

Like the "Longjiang" side, these "Exocets" were also damaged in yesterday's battle and were repaired by aviation service personnel overnight.

Because it is impossible to ensure safety when landing at night, according to the arrangements made yesterday, the carrier-based planes that replenish the special protection group will not arrive until after dawn.

To do this, it is also necessary to send two "Flying Fish" to lead the way.

This is not a matter of choice, after all, the task force has to maintain radio silence, and therefore cannot use a radio station with a working distance of up to several hundred kilometers to provide navigation signals for the group.

As a result, only 12 "Exocets" could be arranged to carry out the search mission.

Although there is enough reason to believe and enough intelligence to corroborate that the mobile fleet commanded by Lan Yun went straight to the Shuangche Strait after the battle yesterday afternoon, and did not avoid it to the south, no one knows when the damaged aircraft carrier was repaired, how fast it was before and after the repair, and whether Lan Yun slowed down the entire fleet for the sake of this aircraft carrier.

Moreover, how many knots can the absolute speed of a mobile fleet reach?

Don't forget, until now, it has not been clarified whether it was the "Chicheng" or the "Feilong" that was bombed and sunk, at least it has not been confirmed.

It has been confirmed that the other aircraft carrier that was sunk was the "Canglong".

If it was the "Chicheng" that was bombed and sunk and was not dragged down by the damaged aircraft carrier, the absolute speed of the mobile fleet might have exceeded 33 knots.

On the contrary, that is only thirty-one verses at most.

Of course, such a small speed gap can basically be ignored.

The point is, there is no way to be sure that the mobile fleet is heading straight for the Shuangche Strait, and not to other places, such as Mara City in Nanzhu Kingdom.

For this purpose, only a general search area can be delineated.

In this way, twelve "Exocets" are barely enough at most.

According to Liu Xiangzhen's arrangement, even if the mobile fleet is not found in the first round of reconnaissance, it does not matter, and the second round of reconnaissance operations will be launched as soon as the supplementary carrier-based aircraft arrive. It is precisely for this reason that it is necessary to get the first reconnaissance planes to set off before dawn.

By the time the replenishment of carrier-based aircraft arrives, the flight deck will be completely occupied, and it will certainly not be possible to lift carrier-based aircraft into the air at that time.

If the current reconnaissance planes are allowed to set off until after dawn, it will take up a lot of time, and the arriving carrier-based planes will not be able to land on the ship in time.

Of course, the problem is also very prominent.

These reconnaissance planes will fly about 300 kilometers to the east before dawn. If the mobile fleet is not far enough, less than three hundred kilometers, it is likely to be missed by reconnaissance aircraft. What's more, the lookouts of the mobile fleet may be able to spot reconnaissance planes flying overhead.

Even if you can't see it with your eyes, you can hear it with your ears!

As long as the staff officers of the mobile fleet are a little more careful, they can even roughly calculate the distance from the special task force based on the distance the reconnaissance plane continues to fly eastward.

At 4:45 a.m., the first two Exocets were sent to the ejection point at the front of the flight deck.

In order to increase the range as much as possible, all Exocet were attached to the auxiliary fuel tank, and they were fully fueled inside, and took off with maximum weight.

It's only a matter of minutes.

Before 4:50 p.m., the last two Exocets were ejected.

After watching the reconnaissance planes fly away, Liu Xiangzhen went to the officers' cafeteria, which was located on the bottom floor of the island and was only open to the staff officers and pilots of the headquarters.

At first, a telegram was already received from the command of the Navy.

Actually, it's a code.

Patrol planes deployed at Ashto Naval Base in the southern part of Ashishima have been dispatched and will focus on searching the waters southeast of Ashishima.

The combat operation to encircle and annihilate the permanent fleet of the Sagi Navy began.