"Ordinary" officers like Jiang Hailong were by no means uncommon in the Imperial Navy, and they were found in any fleet, and they accounted for a large proportion. If every officer is a light bulb, like Tan Renhao, outstanding generals like Huang Xiaotian are the brightest light bulbs, and it is the light they emit that is too dazzling, so many people do not notice the existence of ordinary officers like Jiang Hailong.

The importance of ordinary officers like Jiang Hailong must not be denied, and it can even be said that they are not inferior at all to outstanding generals like Tan Ren Hao and Huang Xiaotian, without them, Tan Ren Hao and Huang Xiaotian would not have won the battle on the battlefield. The author spends a section to introduce Jiang Hailong's "example", just to illustrate that when bombers and giant cannons dominate the battlefield, personal heroes have left the war, this is no longer a war in the era of cold weapons, and a general can withstand millions of soldiers. On this battlefield dominated by aircraft, tanks, warships, and artillery, everyone, including the marshal, is just a very ordinary part of the war, and on the road to victory, every soldier is making contributions, they are an indispensable part of the army, they are the flesh and blood of the army!

Kanke's experience has honed Jiang Hailong's extraordinary perseverance. He never envied those colleagues who had been promoted rapidly, but he was very grateful to the Fourth Task Force and Huang Xiaotian for giving him a chance to display his talents. When he received the news of his promotion to the captain of the cruiser, Jiang Hailong also wanted to find an opportunity to make a special trip to thank the commander for his promotion, but he never found this opportunity, because Huang Xiaotian had been very busy and had no time to deal with personal matters. Obviously, Jiang Hailong is also a very simple person, he has no luxury, no greed, he is an ordinary soldier who makes unknown contributions in an ordinary post, just like the millions of imperial navy soldiers around him. This also determines one thing, and that is. He would not hesitate to make a sacrifice when he was needed, he would not hesitate at all, because he knew that after he put on the uniform of the Imperial Navy, one day, he would fulfill the oath he had taken in front of the Zhenhai flag, and he would use his own blood. Life to defend the dignity of the empire, to defend the interests of the empire!

Huang Xiaotian gave the opportunity, when the cruiser "Genhe" was incorporated into the "Death Fleet" and was appointed as the commander of the "Death Fleet", Jiang Hailong led more than 500 officers and men on the "Root River" without hesitation, as well as two other cruisers, six destroyers, and more than 2,000 officers and men embarked on a one-way route. They will have to go and never return. Maybe it's time for them to return to the Empire and have their mounds placed in the Imperial Navy Soldiers' Cemetery.

Jiang Hailong doesn't like the title of "Death Fleet", he is not afraid of death. It's not that death is something to be proud of, those slogans of dedication to the empire are shouted out for others to hear, and more often they just need to be remembered in their minds, and they can fulfill their vows with actions at critical times, is it necessary to keep talking about it? Everyone is afraid of death, and soldiers are afraid of death. But what I really fear is not death, but when I know that there is hope for survival, I have to face death. This involves philosophy, Jiang Hailong doesn't understand philosophy, but he knows. If the officers and soldiers all have the hope of life, it will be impossible to face death bravely. It is only in the knowledge of certain death that a tenacious person can burst out with a much greater ability than ordinary people. This is the difference between life and death.

In Jiang Hailong's mouth, the "death fleet" became the "death fleet". There are two different meanings of this, one is that they will definitely die this time, and they will take the initiative to die for the hope of more people to live, and they will make valuable sacrifices. The second is to bring death to the enemy and give death to the enemy. In layman's terms, even if it's over. That's going to have to drag a few pads!

When he broke away from the Fourth Task Force, Jiang Hailong had a long white flag raised on the "Genhe", and then the same white streamers were raised on the top of the masts of other warships. This is Jiang Hailong, and more than 2,000 officers and soldiers are announcing their determination, they no longer have the luxury of returning to the empire, they even handed over the suicide note to the comrades-in-arms who came to see them off when they set off, or left their last words, they no longer think about the future, maybe they will miss the past, but they all have the same belief, their sacrifice will be exchanged for the greatest victory!

Many people don't understand why, for hundreds of years, the Empire, the Imperial Navy has been able to stand up in adversity again and again, and has been able to defeat powerful enemies in adversity again and again. If you understand the cultural background of the empire, and understand the determination and belief of the imperial soldiers who are never afraid of death, then it is not difficult to understand why the imperial army can often burst out more powerful in the face of adversity, and why there are so many heroic stories that can be sung and cried in hundreds of years of history. Maybe Jiang Hailong, and the more than 2,000 officers and men of the Imperial Navy who followed him, are not heroes, but they are indeed heroes, ordinary heroes.

In fact, at this time, the fate of the "fleet of the dead", or rather the "fleet of the dead", was already decided. No matter how meaningful their final sacrifice was, they were all outstanding soldiers worthy of everyone's admiration, worthy of emulation by every imperial soldier, and a small part of the thousands of outstanding soldiers of the empire.

After receiving the information from Huang Xiaotian that the US landing fleet was likely to abandon its operation to Midway Island and was either sailing south to avoid the attack, or it was sailing east and returning to Necke Island, Jiang Hailong did not immediately announce the news, but called several captains to the cruiser "Genhe". And the nine people made a common decision, that is, not to return to the fourth task force for the time being, to continue sailing south, even if they could not intercept the American landing fleet, then they would definitely be able to do something, of course, as for what role they could play. None of the nine are very clear.

Another telegram received later confirmed that their decision was correct, and that Huang Xiaotian did not let the "death fleet" return, but continued southward and prepared to deal with the attack of American bombers. At this point, Jiang Hailong understood the meaning of the "Death Fleet", if they could entangle hundreds of American bombers, then they could get a precious opportunity for the Fourth Task Force to annihilate the enemy. Even if they couldn't have killed many enemies in battle, their sacrifice was certainly meaningful, and it was extremely significant.

The development of the battle was different from Huang Xiaotian's expectations, and it was also different from Jiang Hailong's expectations. On the morning of the 30th, only a nasty US reconnaissance plane appeared near the fleet, and the US bombers never flew over. Perhaps, others will be happy about this, but Jiang Hailong is not happy at all, and even feels very frustrated because he has not been able to complete the task. The bombers of the US military must have gone to deal with the aircraft carriers.

This is indeed the case. But Jiang Hailong never received a message from the Fourth Task Force, and by one o'clock in the afternoon, he finally couldn't help it. A telegram was sent back on his own initiative, asking about the fighting. This is the telegram that Yan Yulong received. thus reminded Huang Xiaotian that the "Death Fleet" has not yet been killed, and only a few dozen anti-aircraft shells have been used, and now the fleet still has complete combat effectiveness, and it will definitely be able to do something.

After waiting anxiously for nearly an hour, Task Force 4 sent a call back. After receiving the new order, Jiang Hailong immediately sent someone to call the other eight captains over.

"This is the telegram that I just received." Jiang Hailong handed the telegram to the captain of the cruiser "Nenjiang" and asked everyone to pass it on and take a look. "Commander, they just ended the combat operation with the Fifth Fleet, and now three aircraft carriers have been damaged. Moreover, it is more than 300 nautical miles away from the Fifth Fleet, and it is simply impossible to catch up with the Fifth Fleet. However, all six aircraft carriers in the Fifth Fleet were also seriously damaged, and we are no more than 200 nautical miles away from the Fifth Fleet, perhaps less than 150 nautical miles. Now, the Fifth Fleet will not be able to exceed 20 knots, and if we go to intercept it immediately, we will be able to intercept it before the Fifth Fleet returns to the cover range of shore-based bombers! ”

The other eight captains read the telegram one after another. Huang Xiaotian did not use the command to let the "Death Fleet" intercept the Fifth Fleet, but only mentioned the possibility of intercepting the Fifth Fleet, and the "Death Fleet" is the only force that can intercept the Fifth Fleet. Of course, this also indicated that the "Death Fleet" would not receive any support, and the telegram also mentioned that the Fifth Fleet still had a large number of escort warships. Therefore, if you go to intercept the Fifth Fleet, it is really not much different from "sending you to death". Because of this, none of the eight captains immediately took a stand.

"At least, we can't beat the Fifth Fleet, and we won't be pressed by the Fifth Fleet, and our speed is not much slower than the heavy cruisers of the American army."

"Escape? I will never run away, if I want to fight, I will fight to the death, even if we are finished, then the Yankees will have to pay a few more battleships, if we are not finished, then the Yankees will be completely killed! ”

"Yes, if we want to fight, then we will never run away, if we want to escape, then we will simply run now!"

"Run now? So what are we going south for? Has the 'Death Fleet' become a 'Death Fleet' Fleet? ”

"Anyway, we should save our strength now."

"If we can kill a few aircraft carriers, even if it is over, then we will also earn it, and we will laugh when we go to the underworld!"

"It doesn't matter if it's an aircraft carrier or a cruiser, as long as you can take out more U.S. warships than us, you'll earn it!"

"Come on, it's nonsense to say anything now!"

The opinions of the eight captains were not entirely unanimous, but they soon reached an agreement, and they all decided to do something earth-shattering, and in any case, they would not retreat.

Jiang Hailong glanced at everyone. "Then we'll do it, the fleet will follow the 'Root River' and turn together, the Fifth Fleet is likely to return directly to Necker Island, we will go south at a speed of 31 knots, and we will be able to intercept the Fifth Fleet in the early hours of tomorrow morning!"

"Yes, take advantage of the darkness of the night and launch a torpedo attack. If the U.S. escort warships counterattack, the cruisers will contain the escort warships, and we will have two spare torpedoes on each destroyer, and as long as we give us half an hour, we can reload the torpedoes and use the torpedoes to kill the U.S. aircraft carriers! "One of the destroyer captains immediately came up with a set of tactics.

Jiang Hailong was born in a destroyer, and he knew very well how powerful those heavy torpedoes on the destroyer were, and this was also the most effective weapon for the destroyer against large warships. In most cases, destroyers are much more powerful at torpedo attacks at night than the heavy guns on cruisers, and if they can really seize the opportunity to carry out two or three rounds of torpedo attacks, even if the number of US escort warships is large, the US aircraft carriers will be dealt a heavy blow.

"Yes, let's have three cruisers to attract the American escort battleships, and then the destroyers will take the opportunity to approach, fire torpedoes, and then get out of the battle at full speed, and we will stop the American destroyers. Even if all three cruisers are exhausted, as long as the destroyer's torpedo attack is successful, then we will earn it! Another cruiser's captain, the captain of the "Jinghe", perfected this tactic.

Several other captains also nodded in agreement, this is the only effective tactic, it is unrealistic to expect the 200mm heavy guns on the cruiser to take out the aircraft carrier, and this has to first "ask" whether a dozen cruisers of the US army will agree, as for the 155mm guns on the destroyer, it is even more useless.

"Okay, let's do it then!" Jiang Hailong stood up, "The cruiser covers the destroyer to launch a torpedo attack, adopts a hit-and-run tactic, and uses our radar advantage to destroy the US aircraft carrier as much as possible!" ”

The battle plan was drawn up in this way, and this was not a battle plan at all, because there was not even a draft, it was just the result of discussions between several captains. In fact, there was no need for any battle plan, since the combat operations of the nine ships were not large, the command was not complicated, and the tactics were much shorter. For these nine captains, what they need is not a perfect battle plan, but determination to die, and a little luck! Sea Soul Volume 18 Rising Star Section 46 "Death" Fleet