On the night of November 18, 1598, the moon was sparse. A huge fleet is heading for the Luliang Strait in the southeast of the Korean Peninsula, and the commander of this fleet is Shimazu Yoshihiro, who is known as Shimazu's first military general, and there are more than 560 ships and ships here with a total of more than 10,000 troops, and the number of ships and officers and men is equivalent to two-thirds of the Sino-Korean joint fleet at that time.

By this time, the war of aggression launched by Toyotomi Hideyoshi had reached the sixth year, and the victory at the beginning of the war had long been erased by the counterattack of the Sino-Korean coalition forces, and the Japanese officers and soldiers who had suffered heavy casualties had no intention of falling in love with the hotel because of their long-term stay abroad, and with the death of Toyotomi Hideyoshi, the invading Japanese army began to gradually withdraw to the mainland, and the Shimazu fleet carried the last batch.

The war seemed to be ending in a state of indecisiveness, and although the Japanese army was defeated, the ambitions were still there.

However, after boarding the ships from Sacheon and Xinseong, these more than 10,000 officers and men belonging to the Japanese Fifth Army did not retreat to Geoje Island as planned, because they received a letter of help from the Japanese Second Army retreating from Suncheon, and the Second Army was blocked by the Chinese and North Korean naval divisions at Gwangyang Bay, and the retreat route had been cut off.

As a result, Shimazu Hisahiro decided to lead his fleet to Gwangyang Bay to rescue the trapped friendly forces.

In Shimazu's fleet, the Hashiba Ichi Toyotomi Navy accounted for a considerable proportion, and the predecessor of this Navy was the Awaji Navy trained by Wakisaka Yasuharu and Kato Yoshiaki. Speaking of this Awaji Naval Army, it was a maritime force that everyone knew and knew in the Warring States Period, and when this naval army was still controlled by the Ataka clan, it had shown its skills in the previous battles or joint battles of the Miyoshi Army, and they appeared in the battles of Kurinura, Tennoji, Eguchi, Setju, Kumida, and Hanoi, and the power of the Awaji Naval Army continued to expand in the war. Later, due to the decline of the Miyoshi family, the Awaji Navy switched to Oda Nobunaga and assisted the Oda Navy in finally defeating the Maori Navy in the Battle of the Kizu River. As soon as Oda Nobunaga died, Hideyoshi Hashiba quickly took control of the Oda family, and took control of the Awaji Navy with his cronies.

Just after Shimazu's fleet passed through the strait, the noisy shouts and countless bright spots suddenly appeared in the surrounding darkness, and the Japanese officers and soldiers were horrified to find themselves in the middle of countless Chinese and North Korean ships in front and rear, they reluctantly took up arms and prepared to counterattack, but the opponent grasped the initiative on the battlefield with orderly preparations and high morale. Rockets were blazing on the sea, artillery drums were ringing, mountains and seas were shaking, and Japanese ships were constantly sunk.

The Japanese soldiers who fell into the water struggled and wailed helplessly, but the combined fleet of China and North Korea did not leave them the slightest chance, and after a night of fierce fighting, only dozens of Japanese ships escaped, and countless soldiers were killed and wounded.

For the next 200 years, the Japanese army never dared to set foot in Korea again.

More than 390 years have passed in a blink of an eye, and the Awaji Navy has long been history, and one of the victors of that year has become a colony of the Great Japanese Empire, and the other is being trampled by the iron hooves of the Japanese army. The losers of the year, but in another way, enjoyed the thrill of revenge. That was the heavy aircraft carrier "Awaji", which was completed in 1926. It was currently incorporated into the Combined Fleet and the 1st Fleet to fight against the German Navy.

"General, I beg your pardon to say that although the leakage of the ship's compartment has been controlled. But the hole caused by the German torpedo could not be repaired at sea, and a thousand tons of seawater did not hinder the normal navigation of the ship, but I always felt that ......" The man who spoke was wearing a blue cardigan military coat with a single flower on a gold background, and he looked like he was not confused and knew that his destiny had not yet arrived, and under the large-brimmed hat grew a head in the shape of a round potato, his beard was very clean, and his eyebrows were naturally short.

"Teramoto-kun, your worries are not unreasonable, but at the moment, the 3rd Fleet is only an air carrier on this ship.

However, there were three German fleets that escaped from Vladivostok, and the difference in numbers was obvious, and it was inconvenient for the army aviation to summon them, so if we left the fleet behind and returned alone, we were afraid that it would be difficult to fight the German fleet with Vice Admiral Tateno's capital ships, and we might be besieged by German submarines on the way back! ”

The words were mixed with the continued helplessness of another admiral wearing the same military coat, and the epaulettes were also single flowers on a gold background, judging by the gray hair. He has passed the age of knowing the destiny of heaven, so there is a little more maturity and depth in his eyes.

"What the god said is extremely true, and it is really not considered in the future!"

Being able to call each other's surnames shows that this Teramoto has a close relationship with the gods, but judging from the slight bowing actions of the temple, he and the gods should have a superior-subordinate relationship in their positions.

Kamiyo shook his head, "Teramoto-kun, in fact, I'm just as worried about the future as you!" It's not that I'm afraid of the Germans, but judging from the situation of the Battle of Vladivostok, the commander of the German ** team is not a mediocre person, and it is very rare to be decisive in advance and retreat, as far as I know, the fighters of the Kwantung Army have broken into the port of Vladivostok several times at night, but they have not been able to sink a German capital ship, which is probably not just luck! ”

"The meaning of the god Dai-kun ......" Teramoto was a little puzzled.

"Na Shi Pei has been in the Far East for more than 20 years, and his familiarity with this sea area is even better than that of you and me, but I am afraid that he will ambush his fleet with the superiority of sea, air and submarines, and the situation will be very bad at that time!" Kamiyo looked worried, and sighed deeply at the end.

"Then why didn't Kamidai-kun make a suggestion to Lieutenant General Tachino?" Teramoto was even more puzzled.

"Lieutenant General Tachino is in the prime of life, and he is stubborn and self-serving, and he is very happy, which naturally caters to the favor of high-ranking military officials, and he has a good messenger to capture Singapore and occupy Hawaii, so he will climb to you and me so quickly! On command, on talent......" Kamiyo shook his head, "The ambitious leader of the fleet to Vladivostok came up empty, because the mines outside the port could not directly enter the port, and he could only watch the army snatch the credit for the occupation of Vladivostok, how could he swallow this breath?" Now to admonish, alas, I am afraid it will only cause unnecessary trouble! ”

"What Shen Daijun said is also true, those who don't brag about patting horses and won't boast of their exploits these years are already difficult to climb up!" Teramoto sighed in agreement, and after a moment asked, "If the Germans really set up an ambush for us, will we just sit back and wait for death?" ”

Kamidai Goji stared at the sea outside the porthole for a long time before he said in a deep voice: "Even if you are ambushed, it may not be the Germans who win!" After all, we have a numerical superiority, and the air force deployed by the army along the coast of Hokkaido will not be killed, so I estimate that although it will be difficult to inflict heavy damage on the German fleet, as long as we are careful. It shouldn't be too difficult to get out of the way! Despite the large target of this ship, the hull of the battleship was not so easy to deal with.

Even if we get two more torpedoes, I think we'll be able to get back safe! ”

It seems that he was influenced by the god of Goji, and Teramoto Takeji was also a lot more confident, and he waved his fist, "Not to mention our hundred fighters!" The lads under my command have long been gearing up, and the German fighters want to drop bombs on our heads, hum. You'll have to ask me first! ”

"Yes, maybe the key to the battle is these fighters!" As Japan's largest aircraft carrier, the "Awaji" carries 12 Type 87 carrier-based reconnaissance planes, 46 Type 85 carrier-based fighters and 42 Type 86 carrier-based bombers, and another 6 spare planes, and the pilots are all strictly screened and trained all year round, most of them have more than 500 hours of flight time, and half of them have participated in the military operation to invade Oceania, which can be described as the elite of the naval elite.

Although the performance of the "Awaji" and its sister ship "Iyu" is beyond doubt, the Japanese Navy currently attaches considerable importance to aircraft carriers. But due to the fact that many detours have been taken in the development of the capital ships of the Navy. Until the start of the war, the Japanese Navy had a total of seven combat aircraft carriers - "Shozuru", "Zuizuru", "Awaji", "Yiyu", "Soryu", and "Flying Dragon"

and the Hosho, as well as a number of escort aircraft carriers temporarily converted from merchant ships, whose insufficient numbers forced the Japanese Navy to deploy them only in the most important seas. Because the Japanese First Fleet stationed in Sasebo shouldered the heavy task of holding the two German detachments in the Pacific, it was assigned three aircraft carriers, the "Xianghe", the "Zuihe", and the "Yiyu", while the "Soryu" and "Flying Dragon" were deployed in the Philippines, and the "Fengxiang" was deployed in Hawaii.

"Report, reconnaissance aircraft have spotted the German fleet, a fleet of about 22 ships 22) nautical miles northeast of this fleet!"

The communications officer had come with a telegram to report, and his face was still slightly red, as he had come from the newsroom.

"Oh?" Kamidai Goji and Teramoto Takeji looked at each other. Yukyo received the telegram in surprise, because it had only been a few hours since he left Vladivostok, and he could estimate the current location without looking at the map.

"220 nautical miles? Why is it so slow? It stands to reason that they set out from Vladivostok more than 20 hours earlier than we did, and at the speed of the warships, it was almost time to reach the southern entrance of the Tartar Strait! Besides, how could the Speeze fleet have only 22 warships, and according to our intelligence, they have 12 large and medium-sized warships above the cruiser level, and 40 or 50 destroyers, minesweepers, and auxiliary ships! ”

Teramoto didn't answer him this time, but asked the communications officer, "Did our reconnaissance plane report whether there were air carriers in that fleet?" ”

The Communications Officer followed his heels. "Report to the general, it is not cleared for the time being, our reconnaissance plane is approaching and observing!"

Teramoto turned his gaze to Kamiyo Goji, who had also carefully read every word of the telegram at this time, and he commanded the messenger:

"Well, then you go down and let the communications corps send this information to the flagship with a signal light, and let our reconnaissance planes find out as much as possible about the other party's situation. Also, keep an eye on the discoveries of other reconnaissance aircraft! ”

"Yes!" After saluting, the communications officer trotted back to the news room.

"Are you sending out our remaining reconnaissance planes as well?" Teramoto asked, at this time, there were only six reconnaissance planes searching in front of the fleet, and there were six other planes on standby on the "Awaji", and if necessary, fighters could also play the role of reconnaissance planes.

"Not for now!" Kamiyo waved his hand, "I'm thinking, maybe it's the transport ships and merchant ships that the German fleet took with them when they left Vladivostok, and they stayed in the rear because of their slow speed, and there should be only destroyers in them, at most one or two cruisers!" ”

A few minutes later, however, the reconnaissance plane's report immediately overturned Kamiyo's estimate that there was an aircraft carrier and a battleship or battlecruiser, but the reconnaissance plane's report ended there, because the two fighters that had taken off from the German fleet quickly drove it away.

"What kind of medicine are sold in the German gourd?" Both Kamiyo and Teramoto looked puzzled, and after receiving this information, the flagship of the fleet commander, Vice Admiral Tachino Tokujiro, quickly sent a signal: the whole fleet accelerated to 25 knots!

The original maximum speed of the "Awaji" was 29 knots, and then the sea water pouring into the cabin affected its speed, and 25 knots was already the limit!

An hour later, the second group of reconnaissance planes dispatched by the "Awaji" once again traced the traces of the German fleet and saw the true face of the other side: 1 battleship or battle cruiser, 1 medium aircraft carrier, 2 small cruisers or large destroyers, 2 ordinary destroyers, 16 transport ships and merchant ships, no other German ships were found within 50 nautical miles of the fleet, according to estimates, the speed of this German fleet was only 10 to 11 knots, and it was currently about 160 nautical miles from the southern mouth of the Tatar Strait.

In the command room of the battleship "Nagato", the staff officers were nervously calculating various data, and the "weak scholar", that is, Vice Admiral Tokujiro Tachino, who was known for his "courage", was staring intently at the navigation chart.

"As things stand, we will catch up with that German fleet in 15-16 hours, and then we will be in ...... It is exactly the junction of the Tatar Strait and the Soya Strait! Ha, God help me! Staff officer, pass on my orders, the Rapid Guerrillas, the 'Awaji' and the Battlefleet are in the center, the 1st Destroyer Fleet is on the left, the 2nd Destroyer Fleet is on the right, and the Special Warfare Team is behind, and the fleet is moving in a straight line! ”

Since the minesweeper squadron of Wamura Shigegan was left outside Vladivostok Harbor to continue the minesweeping mission, there was only one minesweeper detachment and four minesweepers in Tachino's fleet at this time, and the destroyers of the two squadrons were also acceptable in anti-aircraft and insufficient in anti-submarine warfare, because they were relatively backward in sonar technology, which was also the general situation of light ships of the Japanese Navy at present.