In the afternoon, 300 nautical miles from Wake Island, the main force of the Japanese Combined Fleet was marching mightily towards the Tang Empire.

This fleet consisted of more than 100 ships, including supercrossbow battleships, heavy cruisers, light cruisers, destroyers, submarines, aircraft carriers, seaplane carriers and other combat ships, as well as large and small auxiliary ships such as refueling ships, refueling ships, food and fresh water supply ships, tugboats, maintenance ships, etc., as well as 15 troop carriers carrying 20,000 Japanese marines and a large number of artillery and other heavy weapons and equipment.

The most conspicuous of these are the six supercrossbow battleships. Their bodies are huge, like small mountains.

In particular, the flagship Nagato, as the largest and most powerful supercrossbow battleship of the Japanese Navy, deserves to serve as the flagship of the Combined Fleet.

The battleship Nagato was regarded by the Japanese Navy as a trump card that could not be used until the decisive battle of Zuihou. According to this guiding ideology, coupled with the speed limit, since its completion and service eleven years ago, the Nagato has never been far from the Japanese mainland, and while becoming a star battleship as the pride of the Japanese Navy, it has been caricatured by its Shijie naval counterparts as a coward warship that does not dare to fight and is afraid of being sunk.

Standing on the bridge of the Nagato, Vice Admiral Takuzo Kobayashi looked down on the giant ship.

To be able to get the Nagato to participate in the battle, Kobayashi Takuzo was under tremendous pressure. Because the Nagato is very special and represents the strength and industry of the Japanese Navy, for political reasons, it is not allowed to be sunk, otherwise it will be a heavy blow to the Japanese Navy.

But Kobayashi still convinced his superior, Admiral Kato, because he never understood how the battle cruiser fleet under the command of Ono Sannori was completely annihilated by the weakened Tang Royal Navy.

International public opinion seems to have been manipulated by those with good intentions. It has always been believed that the submarine sneak attack of the Tang Army was successful. But the Japanese military also believed it. However, according to the recollection of the commander of the Yi-13 submarine who escaped, the incident occurred in a clear daylight, and how did the submarine with a weak speed sink the much faster battle cruiser without being detected?

Kobayashi has always had such a big question mark in his mind. He knew there might be another reason for the truth. He had misgivings, so he persuaded Kato to allow him to put the battleship Nagato into the Tang campaign, which he felt would be more certain.

At the same time, Kobayashi also learned that the four aircraft carriers completed by the Tang Army at the San Francisco shipyard had returned to the Tang Empire.

This incident made the Japanese military very annoyed, according to the principle of belligerence, Japan is in a state of war with the Tang Dynasty, and the US government should prevent the Tang Army from obtaining these four aircraft carriers. However, a U.S. military attache was killed as a result of the shelling of Japanese ships. As a result, the Americans were extremely dissatisfied with the Japanese government, so the aircraft carriers of the Tang Army were allowed to go.

After thinking about it, Kobayashi felt that all this seemed to be a trap carefully set by Zhang Meng for the Japanese. He did not know what consequences the acquisition of four aircraft carriers by the Don Army would have for the Japanese Combined Fleet. But he still prepared two aircraft carriers and two seaplane carriers for this purpose.

"Your Excellency Commander, the submarines we deployed in the waters around Datang have sent us the latest information."

The chief of staff of the fleet, Rear Admiral Kameji Tanaka, hurriedly walked over, he had just returned from the telecommunications room.

"It was discovered that the so-called aircraft carrier battle group of the Don Army had left their naval base and headed northeast. Due to the overall speed of the Datang fleet is very fast. Our submarines are deficient in speed and endurance. In addition, he was worried about being discovered by the anti-submarine ships of the Tang Army, so he failed to keep up. ”

"In your opinion, do you think the sudden departure of the Tang Army aircraft carrier battle group from Hong Kong is weishenme?"

"Along the way, I believe that our every move is within the surveillance range of the Tang Army's submarines and reconnaissance planes, and they should know that we are almost there, so it is possible that they will take the initiative to meet us."

Kobayashi Jizao suddenly frowned, and asked puzzledly: "What kind of support do they have to destroy a complete detachment of our battle cruisers." Now they have the courage to fight without fear, and they even dare to take the initiative. Don't they know that it is bound to be a dead end when they run into the main forces of our combined fleet? ”

"Maybe they thought they were sorry after winning the first battle." Kameji Tanaka was also puzzled, and could only think that Tang Jun had a problem with his brain.

"Nope! They must have something to rely on! ”

Kobayashi's keen military instinct told him that it was a very dangerous thing to ask the enemy for advice, especially if he despised an enemy who was much weaker than himself, and would always be planted in the hands of such an enemy because of all kinds of underestimating enemies.

"What do they have to rely on? Isn't it just four aircraft carriers and thirty-six small warships of several thousand tons? It simply cannot be our opponent. Our six Supercrossbow battleships alone would be enough to destroy them, not to mention that we still have dozens of large cruisers, and they shouldn't be able to fight back! If it's their submarines, I don't think it's comparable at all, our lead ships are equipped with sonar equipment, and it's impossible for them to get close to the main fleet. ”

Kobayashi Jizao closed his eyes, and just now he had a flash of inspiration, and he seemed to think of something, but he always felt that he almost guessed it.

"The Tang Army wants to use aircraft carriers to compete with us!"

"Impossible! The last time Ono Sannori encountered it was definitely not the opponent's aircraft carrier, because their aircraft carrier had not yet been built at that time! ”

"It's an airplane!"

Kobayashi suddenly became excited, and he finally discovered the real reason why the Tang Army knew that its strength was inferior to that of the Combined Fleet, but he dared to take the initiative.

"It must be their aviation! It was their aviation that destroyed Ono Samurai Sanori's fleet! ”

Kameji Tanaka was still puzzled and asked, "Your Excellency Commander, their aviation unit has only been formed for a few months!" ”

Kobayashi Tatsuzo said deeply: "We have all ignored a key issue, the Tang Army has been misleading us into thinking that it was the submarine that destroyed the Ono Sannori fleet, but in fact they have an air force unit in addition to the submarine. If it weren't for the air force, how could they have had naval aviation in just a few months after receiving four aircraft carriers and were engaged in air raids on Fiji. ”

"You mean that the Tang Army used the Air Force to destroy the Ono Sannori fleet from the very beginning?" Kameji Tanaka seemed to understand something, but quickly shook his head and said: "Impossible, their air force only has a few hundred P6E and F11C trainer aircraft, those are all aircraft products of the Americans during World War I, we know the combat effectiveness of those aircraft, relying on a few thirty-kilogram aerial bombs, or 7.92 mm machine guns?" Absolutely impossible! ”

Kobayashi also felt that it made sense when he heard it, but suddenly thought about it again.

"What if this is a trap carefully designed by the Tang Army? They can't put everything in the open for us to see. Just like us, a lot of secret weapons and equipment are hidden in the snow. The Tang army must have hidden a batch of torpedo bombers that would be enough to destroy Ono Sanori's fleet, because only by dropping torpedoes could the aircraft create the illusion that the fleet was attacked by submarine torpedoes and sank. ”

Kameji Tanaka was stunned for a moment, which he didn't expect.

"It's just that the Tang Army will go to war with us from the beginning?"

"It's impossible for others, but Zhang Meng, the head of the Tang Army, is definitely ready again! Don't forget, he's the one who robbed many of the Empire's banks, and he must have been worried about the Empire's retaliation for a long time, so he orchestrated all this. ”

After Kobayashi finished speaking, even he was convinced.

"From this point of view, the fact that the Tang Army has so much money but does not build battleships but aircraft carriers is indeed like winning the last battle with airplanes."

Kameji Tanaka looked a little frightened by the unknown, and hurriedly said, "What should we do?" ”

Kobayashi pondered for a while, then suddenly snorted coldly, and a cold light appeared in his eyes.

As a battle-hardened general, since Kobayashi knows the cards in the opponent's hand, he will inevitably take corresponding countermeasures.

"Since the Tang Army has an aircraft carrier in its hands, what would you do if you were the commander of the Tang Army?"

Kameiji Tanaka thought for a moment and said, "Our battleships cannot be destroyed, and they want to repel us again, and if it were me, they would cut off the supply line of the Imperial fleet." After all, we have come from thousands of miles to go on an expedition, and I heard that the Tang Army has laid a large number of mines in the waters around the mainland, I think they will fight a war of attrition with us! ”

"That's right! That's how it should be! Kobayashi nodded, and suddenly showed a mysterious sneer. (To be continued......)