…… The mission of the 1st Outer Blue Fleet is to destroy the Huludao fortress of the Kuomintang army in China with powerful naval artillery! Pull out the stinger nailed to the throat of Manchuria! ”

With tears in his eyes, Sugisaka Jiro snapped and replied loudly

"We are less than fifty nautical miles from the Huludao Fortress!" Shiozawa Koichi's eyes flashed fiercely, and he said with a blushing face: "Now there is nothing that can stop us from completing our mission... As long as there is coal and iron in Manchuria, the empire can build more and more powerful battleships, and today's losses will soon be compensated! Now, please abandon the ship immediately and transfer with me to the "Hyuga, and let's go together to avenge the Fuso!" In the end, Shiozawa was almost chewing iron and chewing iron, spitting out word by word.

"Hay!"

The officers in the wheelhouse wiped away their tears, their eyes were blazing with hatred, and while arranging for the abandonment of the ship, they gave the order to the light cruisers and destroyers to search for and sink the Kuomintang Navy submarines!

Not to mention the frenzied but futile search of Japanese light cruisers and destroyers looking for submarines under the surface, Zhang Yiming and Song Da, who were already a few kilometers away, knew that the huge battleship was hopeless when they saw that the "Fuso" was torpedoed for the second time and began to tilt rapidly.

"Commander, the devil seems to be abandoning the ship!" Song Da, who was observing the movement of the sea surface through the periscope, excitedly shouted, "Haha! These devils also have today! A battleship! They didn't have a single battleship! ”

"Okay, all the personnel pay attention to the Japanese destroyer and marry, everyone cheers up. Get ready for an emergency dive! As the commander of the submarine force and the first submarine captain of the Chinese Navy, Zhang Yiming knows that now is not the time to celebrate, and the submarine is not out of danger yet.

On the sea, nine Japanese destroyers were frantically dropping depth charges around them, and it seemed that the three submarines that had been arranged to attack the destroyers on the periphery had found nothing. Depth charges continued to explode in the seawater, and for a time a huge wave rolled on the sea surface with great momentum. But unfortunately, sonar had not yet been installed on these Japanese ships, and it was undoubtedly a needle in a haystack to find out the submarines hidden deep in the water. They can't stay here for long, and there are three battleships and three heavy cruisers waiting for them to escort......

"Report, submarines No. 019 and No. 020 report that they seem to have disengaged from the Japanese ship and are heading towards our ship." The Chief of Communications reported.

"Okay, order them to return immediately! In addition, the three submarines responsible for covering the order also immediately returned with us. Zhang Yiming sighed softly, now this submarine detachment no longer has a single torpedo.

The bomb load of this Type 2D submarine is also too much.

Zhang Yiming paused, and then said, "Report to the fleet commander that the first detachment of our submarine force successfully ambushed the Japanese fleet in the waters south of Huludao and sank one Ise-class battleship and damaged one King Kong and one class-class battleship. There are no losses on their own" The building of the Huludao Fortress Command is now fully completed. This simple three-story brick and timber building is located on the banks of the Lianshan River, about 10 kilometers from the ice-covered Liaodong Bay. Looking out of the south window of the headquarters, there is the huge Huludao military airfield, which used to be a division-level military airfield where nearly 250 planes were concentrated, but now it is cold and oaked, and there is no longer a single plane in sight, only a large piece of empty dàngdàng flat ground remains.

The headquarters was also quiet at this time, except for the sentries standing guard at the gate, there seemed to be no one anymore. As early as three days ago, most of the personnel of the Northeast Theater Command were relocated to Qinhuangdao, leaving only one of the most streamlined former enemy headquarters remaining in Huludao, and all the members of this former enemy command headquarters have now entered the underground shelter of the headquarters, waiting for the start of the land battle of the Bohai Bay Operation.

In the war room in the underground shelter, everyone's face was not only nervous, but also nervous. Every look, a slight movement, seems to be filled with the smell of gunsmoke!

Lieutenant General Liu Fei, Chief of Staff of the Northeast Theater, Senior General Li Zongren, Commander of the First Group Army, General Xia Wei, Commander of the Second Group Army, Lieutenant General Yu Hanmou, Commander of the First Division, Lieutenant General Huang Xu, Commander of the Fourth Division, Lieutenant General Luo Zhuoying, Commander of the 11th Division, Lieutenant General Huang Guyu, Commander of the Armored Cluster and Commander of the First Light Division, Lieutenant General Xu Yunfei, Commander of the Second Light Division, Lieutenant General Liu Yongyao, Commander of the Second Air Force Division, Rear Admiral Yu Yanshou, Commander of the Huludao Fortress, Lieutenant General Fu Zuoyi, Commander of the First Army of the Jin Army, Lieutenant General Liu Zhongyan, commander of the Second Division of the Youth Army, and Colonel Kruger, German adviser,.........,

In addition to Lieutenant General Liao Lei, commander of the Fifth Division, Lieutenant General Wei Lihuang, commander of the 10th Division, Lieutenant General Sun Zhen, commander of the 16th Division, and Lieutenant General Zhang Zhi, commander of the 20th Division, who was responsible for the defense of Shanhaiguan in Qinhuangdao. The senior generals of the Kuomintang army in the entire western Liaoning region are all concentrated here!

Looking at the posture of these people, they have been waiting here for quite some time, and everyone is sitting upright, silently waiting for something.

Footsteps suddenly sounded, followed by a loud roll call from the adjutant: "Commander Security of the Northeast Theater has arrived!" Everyone stood on the ground, and Bi Cha gave the standard military salute, even the German adviser, Colonel von Kruger.

An Sihua was dressed in the uniform of a general of the National Revolutionary Army, and strode in, his eyes flashing, full of fierce looks, and a little joy.

He walked to his seat, and did not sit down, but put his hands into fists on the table, and his eyes swept around: "Everyone, first of all, I will inform you of the good news, just now, on the sea of Bohai Bay, which is less than fifty nautical miles away from us, six submarines of our Navy's submarine force ambushed the Japanese fleet and sank a battleship!" Wounded a battlecruiser without a single casualty! The results of this battle have already shown that the anti-submarine capability of the Japanese army is quite poor, and it is impossible to deal with the sea supremacy of Lou's submarine Bohai Bay, and it will not be long before it will be returned to our hands! In addition, in view of the smooth operation on the naval side, the Military Council decided to adopt the strategy of holding the fortress of Huludao to consume the Japanese and then launching a counterattack. Ladies and gentlemen... Let's turn Huludao into an island of death for the Japanese army and navy! This news will shock everyone, everyone knows that Japan is a naval power that has dominated the East for decades, and the Beiyang Fleet was completely wiped out in the Sino-Japanese War more than 30 years ago! In the Russo-Japanese War more than 20 years ago, the Russian Pacific Fleet and the Second Baltic Fleet of the 10,000-mile expedition were basically annihilated, so in the eyes of the world, the Japanese Navy was basically a symbol of invincibility, even after the Chinese Air Force and Army had already shattered the myth of the invincibility of the Japanese Empire, but the Japanese Navy was still like a sword of Damoris hanging over the heads of the South Chinese bourgeoisie and the Kuomintang bureaucracy.

And now, this seemingly invincible fleet has been beaten by the weak Chinese Navy with only a few submarines and more than 10,000 mines, and it seems that the throne of East Asian hegemony will soon change hands!

There was silence in the room. Major General Tang Enbo, deputy chief of staff of the Northeast Theater of Operations, stood up movingly, raised his arms and shouted: "Long live the Republic of China!" Long live the National Revolutionary Army! "With him, there was also a group of young Zhuang faction officers who graduated from the Whampoa Military Academy, all of them waved their fists with red faces, eager to jump on the table!

The overall situation of the naval battle has been decided, and the rest is waiting for the army to inflict heavy losses on the Japanese army in Huludao!

After a short period of movement, An Sihua quickly regained his composure, and turned his head to look at Huang Guyu, who also looked moved: "Can the armored cluster attack at any time?" ”

Huang Guyu snapped upright: "The first light division and the second light division are all ready, as long as they give an order, they can immediately launch a counterattack!" An Sihua nodded with satisfaction, and explained a few words: "The armored cluster is the most powerful striking force in the Northeast Theater, and it is also the trump card in our hands. ”

Huang Guyu nodded: "Then are we going to dare the Japanese devils out of the Northeast all of a sudden?" An Sihua smiled and nodded: "The key to the decisive battle in the Northeast is logistics, and the key to logistics is the sea transportation line, so the key to the key is to win at sea!" Whether it is our 300,000 army or the more than 600,000 Japanese army, we have to consume a huge amount of supplies every day...... As long as the logistics line is blocked, the consequence is only defeat! Originally, the Military Commission and the General Staff believed that it was unpredictable to defeat the sea, so they adopted a more conservative plan. And now...... In just half a night's battle, the navy has already achieved an unexpected victory, and it seems that the sea supremacy in Bohai Bay will soon be able to reach the point where it is not Huludao that will be blockaded, but Lushunkou! His face became a little more solemn: "But before we counterattack, we still have to endure a stormy attack!" As long as we go over, the entire Northeast will be our world! ”

Jinzhou, Dongdaying. Former enemy command of the Kwantung Army.

At the same time that the Japanese Navy's First Foreign Fleet began to prepare for the Bohai Bay Breakthrough Operation, the Kwantung Army was also preparing a larger plan for a decisive battle in Manchuria! According to this plan, the twenty-four divisions that had already arrived in Manchuria were to be divided into two operational clusters, the north and the south.

The North Manchurian Combat Cluster will be composed of eight divisions, including the 4th Division, the 13th Division, the 15th Division, the 17th Division, the 102nd Division, the 103rd Division, the 105th Division, and the 106th Division, with a total strength of nearly 200,000 troops and more than seven artillery pieces (excluding Type 92 infantry guns). The North Manchurian combat cluster will be commanded by General Shirakawa Yoshinori as the commander-in-chief, and the task is to cross the river to fight against the joint offensive before the Songhua River thaws, seize Harbin, Qiqihar and other important cities in North Manchuria, and severely damage the main force of the anti-Japanese alliance.

The South Manchurian Operational Cluster will be under the personal command of the 14 divisions and regiments, including the 2nd, 3rd, 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th, 9th, 10th, 11th, 12th, 14th, 16th, 19th, and 20th Divisions, plus the 1st and 2nd Heavy Artillery Brigades, the 1st Tank Wing, the 1st Air Wing, and other units, with a total strength of 400,000 troops and more than 1,040 artillery pieces (excluding Type 92 infantry guns). The mission of the South Manchurian Combat Cluster is to seize the mountainous areas of western Liaoning and the corridor of western Liaoning, inflict heavy losses on the Kuomintang troops in western Liaoning, and expel them into the pass, so as to complete the complete occupation of the South Manchurian region!

In addition, the 101st and 107th divisions and regiments were directly under the Kwantung Army Headquarters, which were responsible for public security tasks in Liaoning and Jilin.

In order to command more effectively, the First Army and the Second Army were also formed under the South Manchurian Operational Cluster.

The "army" was not the basic unit of the Japanese army, but was temporarily set up during wartime. The First Army formed this time consisted of the 2nd Division, the 3rd Division, the 5th Division, the 6th Division, the 7th Division, the 8th Division,

The Ninth Division, the 1st Heavy Artillery Brigade, the 2nd Heavy Artillery Brigade, and the 1st Tank Wing were composed of the Ninth Division, with Senior General Muto Nobuyoshi as the corps commander, responsible for offensive operations along the Liaoning West Corridor.

The Second Army consisted of five divisions, including the 10th Division, the 11th Division, the 12th Division, the 14th Division, and the 16th Division.

Although it was late at night, the front enemy headquarters of the Kwantung Army was still brightly lit.

Figures came and went, and the high-ranking generals of the Kwantung Army gathered in the conference room, everyone with anxious and waiting expressions on their faces, all eyes staring at the map, staring at the telegrams and telegrams that went back and forth.

In the past few days, the activities of the Kuomintang naval aviation have suddenly become active, and a series of transport fleets have encountered air raids off the coast of Arthur Pass, and the logistics and transportation of the entire Kwantung Army have also been greatly affected, and at the same time, it has also cast a shadow on the gate of the Bohai Bay Operation, which has already begun, and tonight is the critical moment of the Bohai Bay Operation......

"Your Excellency, Commander! The combined fleet was in an emergency, and the 1st Foreign Fleet was ambushed by a submarine of the China Navy 50 nautical miles south of Huludao, and the battleship "Fuso, sank!" The battlecruiser Kongo is broken! ”

A staff officer of the Kwantung Army hurriedly rushed into the conference room, and as soon as he entered the door, he loudly reported the latest battle report received.

There were a few sounds of inhalation in the room, and several younger major generals jumped up in the lead, and the chairs made a ping-pong sound.

"The Navy is so stupid! A battleship worth tens of millions of yen sank like this! "Lost the battleship in just a few hours! And how could such a navy defend the logistics line of the Kwantung Army? ”

"Your Excellency Commander, the day before yesterday, the regiment transporting ammunition was attacked by the Chinese planes off the coast of Arthur Pass and suffered heavy losses, and now our army's ammunition reserves are insufficient, and if the navy cannot protect the route, the Kwantung Army will not be able to maintain long-term operations!" "Your Excellency, the military discipline of the seven newly built divisions and regiments is lax, the training is insufficient, and the reserve officers also lack the experience of fighting against the Kuomintang army in China, and they still need to increase their rectification efforts!" "Your Excellency, the aviation force suffered heavy losses in the early stage, the supplementary pilots are inexperienced, and the combat power is very questionable, I am afraid it will be difficult to undertake the task of air cover." "Your Excellency, the units of the North Manchurian Operational Cluster have not yet arrived, and I request that the offensive start time be postponed." Looking at the chaotic appearance in the conference room, the face of the commander of the Kwantung Army, Ryokara Takashi, was already gloomy, and he said coldly: "The navy has already paid the price of sinking the battleship in order to cooperate with the Kwantung Army to seize the Huludao fortress, so what can our Kwantung Army not give up?" He turned his head to look at the staff officer with a panicked face: "Has the navy ever given up fighting in Bohai Bay?" The staff officer shook his head and said, "The telegram of the Combined Fleet will fight to the end to meet His Majesty's expectations."

Ling Kari stood up and glanced at the officers below, and the conference room suddenly fell silent: "Gentlemen, you must understand that this Bohai Bay Battle is a national gamble that will determine the national fortunes of the empire in the coming year!" If we can't defeat the Kuomintang army in this operation, then there will be no chance to defeat them in the future Now the heavy industry of the southern branch has almost surpassed the empire, and their population, land, and resources are several times or even dozens of times that of the empire! If they are allowed to get Manchuria again, the East Asian continent will no longer have a foothold for the empire, and even the sea power of the East Ocean will be lost sooner or later! The great deeds of the empire for decades will also be in vain, and the empire will once again be reduced to a vassal of the continental hegemony, and when the time comes, what is the use of the battleships of the empire? What's the use of waiting for the Imperial Army? "But Lingjun, without the fire support of the navy's capital ships, our First Army is not capable of capturing the Huludao fortress." The question was raised by the commander of the First Army, General Muto Nobuyoshi, who had served as the commander of the Vladivostok Dispatch Force and had seen firsthand the power of the battleship's cannons in Vladivostok. Therefore, the battle plan drawn up by his First Army was a copy of the Vladivostok operation, using the fire of the battleship's giant guns to destroy the strong fortifications of the Huludao fortress, suppressing the artillery group of the Kuomintang army, and then seizing the fortress with the army.

Ryokari nodded slightly at Muto, and said with a smile: "Muto-kun, although you can rest assured, Commander Shiozawa Koichi of the First Foreign Fleet promised me with the honor of a samurai before going to Kure Military Port that even if the First Foreign Fleet is completely destroyed, the task of destroying the Huludao Fortress will be completed!" Therefore, the First Dispatch Fleet would not abandon the task of shelling Huludao just because of the loss of the "Fuso." Ryokari raised his wrist and looked at the time: "But they may be a little late, it's half past one in the morning of February 13, and it is estimated that the shelling will start at half past three to four o'clock!" So please ask the First Army to plan an offensive! Please ask the First Army to put aside everything and attack the main force of the Kuomintang army on the front line of Tashan with the determination to die! Destroy them completely! ”！