At this time, in the commander tower of the battleship "Spring and Autumn", the captain of the ship, Colonel Bi Haibo, recalled the thrilling scene just now, and he still couldn't help but feel palpitations.

Just after discovering that the heavy patrol fleet had appeared in the port direction of the Chinese fleet, Chu Yangwei ordered the "Chunqiu" to immediately break away from the formation and go to intercept it. And just as the "Spring and Autumn" sailed out of the ship, huge waves suddenly appeared.

As if a mountain suddenly rose from the bottom of the sea, the "Spring and Autumn" is located on the top of this mountain, and the battleship with a displacement of more than 50,000 tons is like a toy ship pinched in the hands of a child.

The moment he saw the giant ship rushing straight towards the unfathomable abyss, Bi Haibo wanted to close his eyes, but the blood all over his body seemed to be congealed, he instinctively grabbed the handrail, stood there, his eyes widened, his mouth open, and he watched the destruction in horror like everyone else.

But destruction did not come.

The huge waves were like a giant palm, firmly supporting the hull of the "Spring and Autumn", the bow of the "Spring and Autumn" plunged straight into the huge waves, the stern of the ship was raised high again, and the huge propeller was exposed to the water, idling in vain.

This amazing scene was only a brief moment, and the "Spring and Autumn" fell into the trough again, and then another huge current lifted the body of the giant ship. And just between these ups and downs, the "Spring and Autumn" came to the front of the heavy patrol fleet.

The heavy cruiser "Atago", which had not been beaten once before, actually crashed into this Chinese battleship this time. At this time, the horror in my heart can be imagined.

"Hurry up and fire!" Looking at the heavy cruiser in front of him, Colonel Bi Haibo couldn't help but shout.

Another huge wave hit, slapping the hull of the "Spring and Autumn", making a loud noise, the three triple main turrets of the "Spring and Autumn" were turning at this time, and the slapping of the huge wave made the "Spring and Autumn" shake violently, despite this, the Chinese gunners were still persistently aiming, watching the huge main turret of the "Spring and Autumn" slowly rotate in the storm, Kondo Nobutake's heart was full of fear.

At the moment when the hull of the ship stabilized, nine 406-mm cannons erupted in unison with dazzling fire.

The sudden bombardment surprised the officers and men of the fleet on the Atago, the flagship of the heavy cruiser.

Under such sea conditions, the Chinese battleships were able to start firing salvos, and the combat quality of the officers and men on the ships was excellent.

Nine huge bombs fell and exploded next to the "Atago" and "Torikai", splashing high columns of water, and without waiting for Vice Admiral Kondo's order, the "Atago" resolutely turned and began to flee.

Seeing the flagship turn, the "Chokai", "Myoko", "Haguro", "Shima" and "Hane" also turned and fled for their lives.

In such storms, neither the 203-mm guns nor the advanced long-range oxygen torpedoes of the heavy cruiser were of any use.

Although the heavy cruiser fled quickly, the superb gunnery of the Chinese naval officers and men was truly astonishing. Despite the interference of the stormy waves, in this short period of ten minutes, the battleship "Spring and Autumn" fired four salvos one after another!

The heavy cruiser "Hane", which fell behind, unfortunately fell victim. Two 406-mm shells fired from the battleship "Chunqiu" fell directly on the surface of the "Hane" and exploded, turning the "Hane" into a wreckage fragment in a sea of fire.

At the moment when the heavy cruiser "Hane" was hit by a shell, the first thought in the hearts of many officers and men of the Yumoto Navy was that they had been ambushed by the Chinese, but what Yu himself did not expect was that the battleship of the Chinese was so strong, and in such sea conditions, four rounds of salvo fire took no more than 15 minutes in total, and it easily hit the heavy cruiser of the Yuben Navy, which made it the first warship to be sunk by artillery fire in this naval battle, which originally had the duty of "stubborn blocking."

Although the heavy rain continued to extinguish the rising flames, the explosion of the "Feather" did not stop, with another fierce explosion, in the firelight, a large cloud of steam rose up, straight into the sky, and then a huge wave came, extinguishing all the flames, but the hull of the "Feather" suddenly broke at this moment, and disappeared into the storm after a while.

Seeing this scene, Kondo Nobutake was anxious, and he thought that he should fight back and use artillery fire or torpedoes to fight back, but now that the Chinese battleships were calmly shelling, there were not many opportunities left for him to counterattack.

Seeing that the battleship "Spring and Autumn" that rushed out of the huge waves was still maintaining a good speed, this made him suddenly have a new idea in his heart.

Vice Admiral Kondo immediately ordered the heavy cruiser formation to speed up, and his plan was to let the five heavy cruisers move forward quickly out of the guns of the Chinese battleships, while using the tail batteries to counterattack the Chinese battleships and attract their firepower, while at the same time turning at high speed, striving to open up the distance, and fire torpedoes at the Chinese battleships, before the torpedoes were fired, each battleship could counterattack the Chinese naval battleships on their own.

But Nobutake Kondo couldn't imagine what would happen to the torpedo he fired in a moment.

The battleship "Spring and Autumn" was adjusted in place at high speed, and at this time Bi Haibo had already figured out the reality of the heavy cruiser of the city, and when he saw that the other party only had 5 heavy cruisers (one had just been sunk), his anxious heart suddenly calmed down, although his battleship was not a super battleship like the "Fuxi", but he could play the same game to kill these heavy cruisers.

In the distance, the sea and the sky resounded with the rumbling cannons, the battleships in the high-speed maneuver slammed out round after round of naval gun salvos, and the shining fireworks flashed and were active on the sea, after the two super battleships and five heavy cruisers of the Navy's navy also joined the battlefield, the entire battle area was no longer pitch black, and the orange flames of orange fire and explosions made the turbulent "sea of demons" no longer dark.

At this time, outside the "Dragon Triangle", another naval battle was also going on.

On the vast sea, the sky is blue and white clouds, which can be said to be a beautiful sunny day.

On the bridge of the "Qiulong" aircraft carrier, Rear Admiral Tang Haisheng, commander of the fleet, watched the battleship sail forward at high speed, and a round of fierce screams was hanging high in the air, sprinkling thousands of golden rays into the sea through the clouds. Under such a majestic and magnificent scenery, he sighed: "The scenery is very good, but unfortunately now is not the time to enjoy the beautiful scenery." ”

Chief of Staff Yu Yunwen heard his words and smiled faintly, "I estimate that the battlefleet should be fighting happily now, and the scenery in the 'Dragon Triangle' should be much stronger than ours." ”

"I don't know if they'll be able to run into my own boat! I really hope they can have a good fight. Tang Haisheng said in a slightly self-deprecating tone, "Since the appearance of the plane, the battleship has lost its majesty, and it is not easy to have such a chance for the battlefleet to fight against each other." ”

"Yes! It can be regarded as the swan song of big ships and huge guns. Yu Yunwen said.

Although both of them belong to the cutting-edge "aviation faction" of the Chinese Navy, as an old navy, they can also understand the deep inner desires of the "big ships and giant artillery party".

"It's good for their battleships to fight theirs, and our aircraft carriers to fight ours. No one should be idle. Tang Haisheng said and came to the chart table.

After successfully rendezvous with other Chinese aircraft carriers, reconnaissance planes discovered the whereabouts of the aircraft carrier. When I saw the enemy, I naturally didn't let it go.

At this time, the two "Dragon King" class aircraft carriers were already under the escort of their respective direct guard ships, driving at high speed into the wind and releasing their fighters.

The "Qiulong" aircraft carrier will closely coordinate with the land-based attack formation that took off from Taiwan's Keelung Naval Air Base to attack the Japanese aircraft fleet. The land-based attack aircraft group is composed of 56 N3 "Sky Strike" attack aircraft, which carry bombshells and 37mm rockets as the main offensive weapons.

In order to achieve a good attack effect, each aircraft carrier sent its full strike force. The two squadrons of attack planes and one squadron of escort fighters of the shore-based air force, which are tasked with the task of raiding the Navy, will depart from Taiwan's Keelung Naval Air Base and launch an attack within the extreme combat radius.

"I'm just worried about whether the reconnaissance plane of the Japanese army will be spotted now. If it is discovered by the Yue army in advance, then we will not be able to send a third attack wave, and it is estimated that the Yue Ben is also ready to go. As long as they know our location, they will soon organize a large-scale strike force to attack, and an hour and a half is enough to reach the skies over the fleet, which will affect the group of attack planes we have recovered before. Yu Yunwen said.

"If it is discovered between nine and ten o'clock, then we can recover the attack aircraft group and the escort aircraft group, and at the same time, the fleet air defense should be prepared immediately, and the recovered escort fighter squadron can no longer be put back into the air, and the air defense fighters reserved for aircraft carriers should be released as soon as possible. Of course, if it is discovered between half past ten and eleven o'clock, then we can only let the fighter squadron that escorts back to the battlefield again and strengthen the air defense of the fleet, but we cannot send out a third attack wave. Tang Haisheng thought for a while and said.

"And if after eleven o'clock, I haven't discovered us, then I don't have to look for us anymore, because they are already going to suffer three waves of attacks, and it is inevitable to go to the bottom to see the Dragon King." Yu Yunwen nodded and said.

"In other words, it is very important when our reconnaissance plane will arrive in the sea area where we may appear, especially the reconnaissance plane from the aircraft carrier."

"What I'm hoping now is that if the army can find us twenty minutes late, even if we have at least one more squadron of air defense fighters!"

Seeing Yu Yunwen's tired but still sharp eyes, Tang Haisheng had to secretly sigh in his heart for his meticulousness and thoroughness, "It's only twenty minutes, and we have ten minutes to start attacking the Yue Army fleet." He looked at the watch on his wrist and said.

At this time, while the carrier-based aircraft of the Chinese aircraft carrier fleet were busy taking off, the aircraft carrier fleet was not idle.

"Haven't you heard from Chief Yamamoto yet?"

On the bridge of the aircraft carrier "Soryu", Yamaguchi Tashi asked anxiously.

"Nope." The adjutant of staff replied.

"Is there any news from the heavy cruiser squadron?"

"Nope."

"Is there any news from the submarine team?"

"Nope."

The three successive "no" answers made Yamaguchi Tawen depressed, but now he had no better way to think of than to order more reconnaissance planes to be sent.

What he is most worried about now is the safety of Yamamoto Isoroku.

Naval warfare has entered the era of aircraft carriers, and Yamamoto Isoroku is deeply aware of this, so he appoints himself as the commander of the second aircraft carrier squadron, and at the same time makes Vice Admiral Nagumo Tadaichi, who has the same hobby of aircraft carriers, the commander of the first aircraft carrier squadron.

Yamamoto's original idea was to use two powerful aircraft carrier fleets to block the way of the Chinese task force to the south, and at the same time, continue to attack and consume the strength of the Chinese fleet until the Chinese fleet was finally annihilated. Therefore, the Yamaguchi fleet, which went south earlier, was used by him to carry out interception, and in his opinion, the Chinese fleet must have bypassed the "Dragon Triangle" and entered the East China Sea, seeking an opportunity to go west at the right time. However, he did not know that the Chinese fleet was moving in a south-easterly direction, far away from the First Aircraft Carrier Squadron of the Yue Army, but it was closer to the Second Aircraft Carrier Squadron of the Yue Army. What he didn't expect was that the range of the Chinese fleet far exceeded his imagination.

The No. 1 Aircraft Carrier Squadron, that is, the large-scale reconnaissance aircraft group sent by Nagumo Tadaichi, could not search for the Chinese aircraft carrier fleet at all, and the No. 2 Aircraft Carrier Squadron had always taken into account the threat posed by China's submarines and shore-based aircraft, so before letting the aircraft carrier sail quickly against the wind in order to release the reconnaissance aircraft group, he also asked a large number of destroyers to search for it first, and only after confirming that there was no submarine threat did he send a reconnaissance aircraft group, and in this way, the reconnaissance time was obviously delayed.

In this way, all the reconnaissance planes of the No. 1 Aircraft Carrier Squadron failed to find the Chinese aircraft carrier fleet. The reconnaissance planes of the Second Carrier Squadron had not yet been able to fly to a reconnaissance distance of about 300 nautical miles, but two rookie pilots on a reconnaissance plane of the "Caiyun" type of the Japanese Army, which had departed from a light aircraft carrier, crashed into the shit luck.

The Nakajima C6N "Caiyun" shipboard reconnaissance aircraft is the most advanced high-speed carrier-based reconnaissance aircraft in this country, which was trial-produced in 1943 with the Navy's 17 test carrier-based reconnaissance aircraft as the number. "Caiyun" was a kind of high-surname capable aircraft that could not be intercepted at that time, with a maximum speed of 610 kilometers per hour and a cruising range of 5,300 kilometers. However, the "Yu 21" engine of the "Caiyun" 11 was not reliable, so that the "Caiyun" was one of the planes with the lowest sortie rate at that time, and although it would not be easily shot down, it was difficult to dispatch frequently, so the "Caiyun" has always been used for liaison between the mainland and the Nanyang army, as well as long-range reconnaissance, guiding special attack teams, and confirming the results of the battle. This time, the "Caiyun" reconnaissance plane was piloted by Jiro Hirakawa and Ken Motogami, both of whom were novices who had just graduated from the aviation school, and I don't know if they were assigned to fly the new "Caiyun" reconnaissance plane, because people know that this kind of reconnaissance plane flies very fast and is not easy to intercept.

At the time of departure, the sky was not yet completely bright, and the two people who were drowsy were shouted to carry out a reconnaissance mission, and after filling their stomachs with a full stomach, they were asked to reconnoiter due south; when the two of them arrived at the target airspace in the "Caiyun" reconnaissance plane, the sky had already dawned, but in the good scenery of the morning glow, the two of them had to take turns holding binoculars and checking with sore eyes whether there was a Chinese aircraft carrier fleet in the sea area more than 1,000 meters down.

"I can't stand it!" After observing for half an hour, Hirakawa Jiro was already hazy with tears, and the whole sea was in the air at this time, and the sea was golden, and after holding the telescope for too long, Hirakawa Jiro's eyes were already a little unbearable, and his body and mind were even more unbearable.

"Let me do it!"

Ken Motojo, who was also not treated by other pilots like Jiro Hirakawa, understood his teammates' feelings very well at this time, and he was even more tired of such an endless painful search, although it was not as good as looking for a needle in a haystack, but it was also very difficult to find a large fleet with erratic tracks in the vast sea.

"What's that?" After the changing of the guard, Ken Hongami had just finished directly in front of him, on the left side, and was about to turn around to look on the right side, when a small black dot suddenly appeared in the sky above the left side of the plane, and it was very fast.

"It should be an enemy plane! But...... Too fast, right? ”

Hirakawa Jiro glanced at it, exclaimed in surprise and hurriedly lowered the nose of the plane, because he had already felt that the small black dot that was growing larger was spraying out a long list of machine guns, and the shells and tracer bullets were almost hitting the wings, and he only heard the old birds say that under normal circumstances, fighter jets have a limit altitude for diving, and the maneuver of the "Caiyun" reconnaissance plane can be better, and it is easy to get rid of the entanglement of enemy planes, so he chose to slam the nose without hesitation.

Ben sent a telegram in a hurry, and just after reporting his position, he did not report that he had been intercepted by a fighter plane that he had never seen before, and that he had not found an enemy fleet, and the enemy plane that had swooped down opened fire.

Although Jiro Hirakawa dodged in time and was not hit by the artillery fire of the enemy aircraft, he was still taken aback.

Because the speed of the enemy aircraft seems to be faster than the speed of the "Caiyun" reconnaissance plane!

And what appeared in front of them was a strange plane that they had not even seen in the enemy aircraft identification manual!

(To be continued)