Yamamoto Isoroku ordered the First Fleet to rush to sea to prepare for interception, and at the same time sent an urgent telegram to the Navy Ministry and even the base camp. Pen, fun, pavilion www. biquge。 info

Tokyo City, a conference room in the Prime Minister's Office.

More than an hour ago, after receiving information about the possible sinking of a dozen destroyers, cruisers, as well as patrol boats of the Navy as a result of an attack by the submarine forces of the Northeast Border Guards.

Prime Minister Minoru Saito urgently convened a meeting of cabinet members to discuss how to deal with it.

As usual, the Prime Minister of the Navy and the Prime Minister of the Army quarreled and discussed for more than half an hour, but they could not come up with any decent results.

&nb[pig^pig^island^novel][]. [zhu] [zhudao]. []sp; Just when Minoru Saito had a headache, the adjutant of the attendant hurriedly ran over and whispered in his ear, and Saito Minori's color changed.

Navy Prime Minister Katenshiro and Army Prime Minister Shiki Hirano were still arguing over the priority supply of the Empire's strategic resources, and the two were blushing and thick-necked, looking at the posture and longing for a duel between samurai.

Minoru Saito slammed the table and shouted angrily, "Enough, shut up for me!" ”

Shiro Kato and Saki Hirano stopped arguing at the same time and looked at Minoru Saito with puzzled eyes.

Minoru Saito said with a gloomy face: "Two, you are still doing a senseless dynasty here, are you worthy of His Majesty the Emperor and the people of the Yamato nation?" ”

Hirano Shaoki and Katenshiro were both confused and wondered, Prime Minister Saito's words were a bit serious, although the two of them quarreled for the interests of the navy and the army, but they couldn't be involved with His Majesty the Emperor, let alone the entire Yamato nation, right?

Sensing the confusion of the two, Saito motioned for the attendant adjutant to speak.

The attendant adjutant nodded respectfully, and said in a shocking voice: "Your Excellency the two generals, just now the commander of the First Fleet of the Navy, Admiral Yamamoto Fifty-six, sent an urgent telegram that the people of China have gathered at least hundreds of thousands of army, navy and air force are crossing the sea, and their purpose is likely to attack our Great Japanese Empire itself.

At present, General Yamamoto 56 has quickly ordered the First Fleet to sail to the waters of Kyushu Island to prepare to intercept the sea crossing army of the Shina Army.

In the message, he said that the situation had reached the point of 100,000 urgency. Please quickly order the army and navy of the whole country to immediately prepare for battle and defend the Japanese Empire! ”

The words of the attendant adjutant exploded in the ears of Shiro Kato and Shoki Hirano like thunder in the nine days of thunderstorm.

The two were deeply shocked and were directly stunned on the spot.

It wasn't until Shiro Saito asked them what they could do that Shiro Kato came back to his senses and said, "Your Excellency Prime Minister, is this, this news true?" How dare the people of China attack our homeland on a large scale? Why are they? ”

As the Prime Minister of the Navy, Shiro Kato cannot help but be surprised, first of all, Japan is an island country, and the navy is the top priority of the development of the Japanese, yes, but it is the same. The navy is also the absolute guardian of Japan's homeland security.

Once the homeland is in an emergency, the navy is bound to bear the brunt of the attack, and it is incumbent on them to rush to the forefront to keep the enemy out of the country.

As the Great Japanese Empire, which had a naval foothold in Asia and spanned the Pacific Ocean, it was acceptable for the army to lose the Goryeo Peninsula and Manchuria, which had been entrenched for nearly half a century.

But now that their homeland is about to be attacked by the enemy, how can Shiro Katen, as the prime minister of the navy, not be shocked?

He could hardly believe his ears, even if the combined fleet of the Navy of the Imperial Japanese Army was not the first in the world, it could still rank among the top three.

Attacking the British and American powers may not be enough. However, it is still more than enough to hold on to the mainland of the four islands of Dongying.

Seeing Prime Minister Minoru Saito nodding solemnly, Katenshiro had already made a decision in his heart, and immediately said, "Your Excellency Prime Minister, please report this matter to His Majesty the Emperor as soon as possible." Immediately command all the officers and men of the Imperial Army of the Navy Combined Fleet to set off immediately to resist the invasion of the Chinese people, and they will definitely have no return! ”

Minoru Saito nodded with satisfaction, and did not forget to instruct: "Jia Teng-kun." Since the people of China dare to come, they must have come prepared, and the navy should not be careless. ”

"Hay. Your Excellency the Prime Minister, please rest assured. Katen Shiro bowed his head abruptly in response.

"In addition, Hirano-kun......" Minoru Saito turned to Hirano and said, "This is a crisis that has hardly been seen since the founding of the Yamato nation, and I hope that the army will be able to fully prepare for the defense of the coast of the homeland."

If, I say, if the naval resistance is unfavorable, the army must be ready to resist the enemy at all costs! ”

"Of course, I still have confidence in our combined fleet of the Japanese Empire!"

"Hay!" Hirano Shaoqi also knew that this was not the time to continue to fight with the navy, and it was still clear which was more important, so he immediately bowed his head and responded.

……………………

As soon as the base camp was decided, the War Department and the Admiralty quickly began to move.

Of course, in view of the strength of our own navy, the War Department, including Hirano Shoki, did not take this crisis too seriously.

Although the War Department and the Admiralty have been fighting openly and secretly for a long time, there is still a full affirmation of the strength of their own navy, including Hirano Shaoki.

Although Zhang Xinghan's Northeast Frontier Force had some advanced submarine forces some time ago, this was not enough to completely change the gap between the two sides in the overall strength of the navy.

In a local small-scale sneak attack, the submarine force of the Northeast Frontier Army may be able to take advantage of it, but submarines are only submarines after all, and the forces required for such a large-scale beach-grabbing landing cannot be delivered by some submarines.

Therefore, without naval ships, everything is in vain, and the navy of the Northeast Frontier Army will not be able to defeat the Japanese Combined Naval Fleet, which is the third in the world and the first in Asia, in terms of gross tonnage.

Therefore, Hirano Shaoki only strictly ordered the garrison troops in the coastal area of Kyushu Island to strengthen their vigilance in case of accidents.

I never thought of mobilizing reinforcements from Honshu Island to Kyushu Island, after all, Kyushu Island also has nearly 100,000 troops and hundreds of thousands of reservists.

As the Prime Minister of the Army, Sakei Hirano was still like this, and the reaction of the commander of Kumamoto's 6th Division, Kurume (Fukuoka), and the military commanders at all levels below them, as well as the commander of the 6th Division of Kurumoto (Fukuoka) and the military commanders at all levels below them, can be imagined.

Moreover, the order was conveyed to the bottom, in order to leak the news, cause turmoil in the country, and cause panic among the military and the people, it was no longer stated that the Chinese army had crossed the sea to attack, but ordered all garrison squadrons, brigades and even wings to be vigilant and ready for battle.

Under such circumstances, these orders were somewhat redundant and ridiculous in the eyes of the majority of junior and middle-ranking officers in the Japanese army.

This is the homeland of the Great Japanese Empire, the safest rear area, how can there be a battle?

Therefore, the combined fleet of the Navy gathered nervously in the Tsushima Strait, while the army on Kyushu Island was still normal, and the garrisons from all over the country should eat, drink, play, and visit brothels and brothels. Everything is business as usual, and there is no trace of nervous preparation at all.

This is true of Kyushu, not to mention Honshu Island and the farther islands of Shikoku and Hokkaido.

……………

The first to leave Kyushu Island and sail for the offshore waters was the main force of Yamamoto Isoroku's First Fleet.

They were about 70 nautical miles from Kyushu when they were attacked by more than 60 XXI submarines of the Northeast Frontier Guard Task Force Jiaolong.

One battleship was heavily damaged, two perimeter vigilance submarines were sunk directly, and the destroyers of the First Fleet began to blindly and continuously drop depth charges into the sea for anti-submarine purposes.

This kind of blind bombing could not cause any substantial damage to the submarines of the Northeast Frontier Army at all.

They nimbly dodged underwater, hiding beyond the blast range of Japanese depth charges and launching wave after wave of attacks on destroyers.

More than 20 destroyers, large and small, of the First Fleet were hit, blown up, and sank one after another.

Just when the Japanese felt helpless against the attack of the submarine forces of the Northeast Frontier Army, the main force of the Northeast Frontier Air Force Air Division, which had taken off from the airfields in Pusan and other places, and hundreds of bombers and fighters came to cover the sky like locusts.

Immediately, the Japanese fleet was nervously guarding against the attack of its own submarines, and launched a fierce air raid and bombardment.

In the final analysis, the Japanese Navy's current anti-submarine means and technology are too few and too backward, and in fact, even at the peak of World War II, the anti-submarine technology of the Japanese Navy's combined fleet is not very good.

Many of the small number of aircraft carriers were blown up and sunk by the Yankees' submarines, and you must know that the performance of the Americans' submarines is inferior to that of the German XXI submarines.

The submarine attack had already exhausted the Japanese First Fleet and was in a hurry, and the sudden arrival of these hundreds of fighters could not but add fuel to the fire for the Japanese.

One after another Zero fighters dived past at high speed, and a dense rain of machine-gun shells and machine-gun shells poured down on the Japanese ships.

The Japanese artillery and air defense soldiers outside the cabin cried and fell in a pool of blood.

The Zero fighters were followed by a group of Stuka dive bombers with B-17 Flying Fortress heavy bombers and HEE medium bombers.

Amid the sharp and piercing screams, one after another heavy bombs landed accurately on the large and small ships of the Japanese First Fleet.......

Suddenly, there was an earth-shattering explosion, and in the monstrous waves and firelight, their anti-aircraft weapons basically did not have time to play a role, and the carrier-based planes on the two aircraft carriers were destroyed along with the motherships without even taking off.

Under the repeated attacks of air force fighters and submarine forces, the Japanese First Fleet suffered a devastating blow.

In less than half an hour, this fleet with a tonnage of about 150,000 tons was basically declared extinct.

The two aircraft carriers were blown up and were rapidly entering the water, and it was seen that more than half of them had sunk.

As for the other battleships and destroyers, they were even more lost.

After the bombing of the air force, they quickly returned home, and they had to hurry back to replenish fuel and ammunition, and then participate in the next decisive battle and the task of covering the landing of the main army force. The submarine force covered the naval fleet and continued its advance towards the destination island of Kitakyushu. (To be continued......)