On 24 July, all seven bomber regiments were dispatched to bomb more than 10 small and medium-sized cities between Tokyo and Osaka. Although the bombing was fiercely intercepted by the Japanese anti-aircraft guns, and even a number of Japanese fighters took off to meet the enemy, it did not prevent the bombers from dropping bombs, and more than 10 small and medium-sized cities suffered a catastrophe. From then on, the Tang Empire intensified its bombardment of small and medium-sized cities in Japan, and a large number of Japanese evacuated from large cities had to evacuate to the countryside.

On the 26th, the 6th team completed the construction of the first field airfield, and the runway paved with steel plates was enough for the fighters to land. The next day, three squadrons of escort fighters arrived at Hachijojima. The three squadrons were all equipped with "Falcon" fighters, which were the third fighter acquired by the Imperial Naval Air during the war, and it was arguably the most advanced fighter in the world at that time.

The "Hayabusa" fighter uses a modified 22-cylinder "Wind 16" motive, which is actually developed on the basis of the "Wind 12". After the introduction of the new model of supercharger, the output of the motor reached 195o horsepower, and in a short time it was also possible to increase the power to 21oo horsepower (this applies to fighters, while the engine used on naval bombers was limited in output to improve the life of the engine), and in addition to the "Falcon" The aerodynamic design of the fighter has undergone a lot of optimized design (15oo engineers participated in the entire design stage, and more than 2oo naval technicians to cooperate), the fuselage is all made of aluminum alloy skeleton, which not only improves the structural strength (this is the biggest difference between the naval fighter and the 6th Army fighter), but also reduces the weight (but also increases the cost), the leading edge flap is used, which greatly improves the low fighting ability of the fighter (but also increases the complexity of production), and also retains the characteristics of the high performance of the imperial navy fighter, especially the excellent dive performance。

In terms of performance in all aspects, the "Hayabusa" fighter has comprehensively surpassed Japan's "Zero Battle" and is even better than the "Thunderbolt" fighter and several other fighters that Japan has only successfully developed. Other than that. The "Vixen" fighter, which is still being developed by the United States, is actually quite inferior to the "Falcon." This was the first fighter with all-round performance advantages acquired by the Tang Imperial Navy after the outbreak of the war. With a maximum level fit of 32o knots (tested with a dive limit of 365 knots), this alone is far better than the 3oo knots of the late Zero.

The first batch of "Falcons" equipped with the Navy were provided to the Navy's shore-based aviation (in fact, the Navy's shore-based aviation is the ground reserve of the aircraft carrier aircraft force), and at that time, both aircraft carrier fleets were participating in combat operations, and they could not return to China for rearmament, so the shore-based aviation was first allowed to use new fighters. And the first batch of five squadrons formed. All but two squadrons stayed behind to train pilots and reequip carrier-based units. Another reason for letting the "Hayabusa" serve as an escort fighter is that this fighter has a combat radius of 4oo nautical miles when carrying a drop fuel tank and eight rockets, and if it takes off from Hachijojima, it can not only escort bombers, but also bomb some tactical targets.

On the 27th, the bomber forces did not make a sortie. Stayed to rest. Tan Renhao and Luo Yunchong both think. It was time to bomb the day and change the previous bombing habits to catch the Japanese by surprise. And this bombing must concentrate all forces. Choose an ideal target to swing for maximum effect.

"How's Tokyo going?"

Hao Dongjue is also very positive.

Tan Renhao and Luo Yunchong both shook their heads.

"We bombed Tokyo three times, and more than half of the city was reduced to ashes, so there was no point in bombing Tokyo again."

"What about Osaka?"

Hao Dongjue was not discouraged.

Tan Renhao smiled and shook his head. "Osaka was also bombed twice, and the city's Class A targets were all destroyed, so there was not much value."

"To Kobe, then? Nara? Nagoya? ”

Seeing Tan Renhao and Luo Yunchong shaking their heads again and again, Hao Dongjue sat down: "Okay, then where do you say the bombing is more appropriate?" ”

Tan Renhao glanced at Luo Yunchong and didn't hurry to speak. He already had a goal in mind.

Luo Yunchong took out his cigarette first, and then laughed, and he also thought of a goal.

"Don't play dumb riddles, is there anything you can't tell me?"

Hao Dongjue sighed.

"Dongjue, we don't have anything that we can't tell you, think about what other important city on the Japanese island of Honshu is not frequented by our bombers?"

Luo Yunchong handed over a cigarette.

Hao Dongjue hesitated for a moment, and then quickly glanced at the map. Then he shook his head.

"Think about it."

Luo Yunchong was already hinting at Hao Dongjue.

Hao Dongjue still didn't expect it.

"We will not only destroy the foundation of the Japanese war, but also destroy the spirit and will of the Japanese!"

Tan Renhao lit a cigarette: "So how can we break the will of the Japanese?" What is the spiritual pillar of the Japanese people? ”

Hao Dongjue's eyes rolled and he immediately said, "The Emperor of Japan? ”

Tan Renhao and Luo Yunchong smiled and nodded at the same time.

"Damn, the last time I sneaked up on the Japanese Imperial Palace, the emperor was not in the palace at that time, and most of them went out**, this time I can't let this old immortal mad dog escape!"

Hao Dongjue immediately slammed his fist on the table: "Is the emperor in Tokyo?" ”

"No, after we bombed Tokyo, the emperor went to Mt. Fuji, but a few days ago the intelligence department sent news that the emperor would go to Kyoto at the end of the month and make Kyoto a temporary ......."

Hao Dongjue was stunned for a moment and said: "No wonder we haven't started with Kyoto before, you have thought of it a long time ago?" ”

"To be precise, we didn't think of it before."

Tan Renhao sat up straight: "Kyoto is the capital of Japan, so there are almost no industrial targets, and until now, the bombing is still dominated by industrial targets, so we have not bombed Kyoto. If the emperor did go to Kyoto, then why couldn't we go and drop a few bombs over Kyoto? ”

"This ......"

Hao Dongjue frowned, "Should we report the situation to the Navy Command first, although it is a good thing to blow up the Japanese emperor, but this is a political task......"

"Don't worry, the marshal won't have an opinion."

Tan Renhao sneered: "There is no restriction from the Navy Command, which city we can't bomb, wasn't Nara blown up by us?" And. Who knows if the emperor is not in Kyoto, we are just going to bomb the military targets in Kyoto, and not to deal with the emperor, if the emperor is unlucky, then we will be rich! ”

Hao Dongjue also immediately laughed, which was obviously playing a side game.

"Actually, it means a lot to kill the emperor. The Emperor has always been a symbol of Japan. Moreover, after the last World War, Japanese militarists used the emperor as a pretext to deceive the Japanese people into embarking on the road of militarism. If we can blow up the Japanese emperor, then Tojo's mad dogs will have no backing, and Japan may fall into civil strife. Of course, it may be a different story. In any case, it shouldn't be a bad thing to kill the emperor of Japan! ”

"Yun Chong is right."

Hao Dongjue stood up: "Then let's go to Kyoto and drop a few bombs, if you're lucky." Let the emperor be completely finished! ”

The three hit it off. Immediately began planning a combat operation to bomb Kyoto. Tan Renhao also considered that the bombing of Kyoto might be stopped by the above, so he did not rush to report the bombing plan. Instead, the plan was returned to the naval command half an hour before the bomber group came out. In this way, even if the Navy Command had to terminate the mission, by the time the new order arrived, the fleet would have been out and out of the range of the fleet to be returned.

None of the three young men thought about the consequences of doing this, all they thought was that if they could blow up the emperor, they would write a new history. Of course, the bombing of Kyoto was not so easy.

Kyoto is located in the central part of Japan's main island of Honshu, about 1,400 kilometers from Iwo Jima, and the bomber fleet had to fly for at least 50 minutes over the Japanese mainland. That is, they had to withstand the anti-aircraft fire on the ground and the Japanese fighters who came to intercept it for nearly an hour, and in this hour, anything could happen.

Luo Yunchong's results are the same after repeated calculations. Each bomber carried a maximum of two tons of bombs, and it also had to place a temporary fuel tank in the bomb bay to carry an extra few hundred kilograms of fuel, otherwise the bomber's ground combat radius would not meet the requirements. In addition, all ground self-defence weapons must be installed. Let the bombers return to their original appearance, otherwise it will be difficult to break through the blockade and interception of Japanese fighters. In addition, in order to reduce losses, bombs could only be dropped at high altitudes, and it was necessary to increase the number of bombers to ensure that enough bombs could be dropped.

On the 28th, the air crews and pilots on the two islands were busy. The guns that had been dismantled were replaced, and temporary fuel tanks had to be placed in the bombers' bomb bays. It was a very difficult task to refit 1,200 bombers for seven regiments.

On the same day, the fighters of the three squadrons deployed on Hachijo Island were also modified, replacing the commonly used 25o liter drop fuel tank with a large 4oo liter drop fuel tank, so as to extend the combat radius of the fighter to 45o nautical miles, and ensure that the fighter could engage in air combat with enemy aircraft for at least 20 minutes (the fuel consumption in air combat was much higher than the fuel consumption during cruise), and the modification work continued until the early morning of the 29th. After resting for two hours, the orderly began to prepare for the bomber's departure at dawn. Again, it was a tiring thing, but this time the orderly was helped. Tan Renhao has an extra 200 pilots in his hands, and these pilots do not know the bombers below the service personnel, and they can assist the service personnel in completing the preparations before take-off when they are not carrying out bombing missions.

Luo Yunchong began to convey the task to the pilot at 7:50, and the pilot began to board the plane at 8:15. The first bomber left the runway at 8:25, and the last took off at 8:55. Because there are two more airfields, the bomber is much easier to take off, and it also reduces the pressure on the pilot.

The escort fighters that took off from Hachijo Island came out at 7:45. After taking off, the 1o8 "Hayabusa" fighters of the three squadrons first flew 20 nautical miles to the south, and then turned to fly westward, and then went to the sea area where they would assemble with the bombers.

At 9:13 a.m., the first group of bombers led by Colonel Chiang Shikuan converged with the fighters. The escort tactics adopted this time are still one front and two behind. One squadron flew about twenty nautical miles in front of the bomber group, and the other two squadrons were distributed over both sides of the bomber group, providing direct cover.

At 9:38 all the bombers caught up. The 1,200 bombers were divided into three large formations: Jiang Shikuan led the first formation of the three regiments, followed by the two regiments led by Colonel Mao Tingdun, the commander of the second regiment, and the other two regiments led by Liu Xiangzhi, the commander of the third regiment, at the rear. The size of the fleet is too large, and the urban area of Kyoto is not large. The bombers were divided into three parts and were to carry out three covering bombings on Kyoto, ensuring that none of the targets were missed. If it was really against industrial targets, it was completely unnecessary, so Tan Renhao and Luo Yunchong decided to waste thousands of tons of bombs for three rounds of repeated bombing for the sake of insurance!

Tan Renhao sent a communications staff officer back to the battle plan while he was having breakfast, and then he came to the tower.

"Renhao, I think it's a bit risky."

Luo Yunchong is also here, and the bomber group has already come out: "If it is not beneficial for us to blow up the emperor, then our bombing this time will definitely have problems." ”

Tan Renhao took a long breath. "The good is yes, the question is, is there more good or bad? In addition, none of us knows whether the emperor is in Kyoto or not, and whether he can blow up the emperor or not is a question, who can guarantee it? Don't think so much, if there's trouble, I'll take it! ”

Luo Yunchong glanced at Tan Renhao and said no more. Blowing up the emperor is a great temptation and an unknown factor. If the will to fight is stirred up because the emperor was killed, it will be an even greater trouble. This is also Luo Yunchong's worry, no one knows what Japan will become after the emperor is finished.

Of course, there is no guarantee that the emperor will be killed now, and it will be a few hours before the results are known!