July 23, South China Sea.

The bright moon and stars reflected on the black curtain of the sea, and the 10,000-ton Haitian heavy cruiser broke through the waves, rising and falling in the ocean, but there was no light coming through.

The doors and windows of the officers' lounge were covered with thick curtains to block the lights. Chen Shaokuan stood aside with his arms crossed, and his brows became tighter and tighter as he watched several naval officers pointing to the charts and discussing calculations.

At the time of receiving a secret order from the Navy's Command Department, the heavy cruiser Haitian was replenishing fuel and supplies at Cam Ranh Bay, a military port in French Indochina. During this time, the slightly larger Japanese naval vessels had left the waters west of Taiwan, leaving only some submarines and gunboats to carry out the task of breaking diplomatic relations in the South China Sea. The Haitian left Cam Ranh Bay overnight to avoid Japanese submarines, and although the Haitian had been equipped with the most advanced sonar system during its dock in Italy, anti-submarine was not the job of a 10,000-ton heavy cruiser after all. ""The fastest update, full text hand-typed

But what really baffled Chen Shaokuan was not the Japanese submarines operating in the South China Sea, and the Haitian was fast enough to keep off all the submarines. What worried him was the order issued by the Navy's Command Department to "harass coastal cities on the Japanese mainland and break into the Sea of Japan."

Such a task is simply touching the tiger's ass. It's better to harass the coast of Japan, but if you hit it, you can run away and hide in the far sea of the Pacific Ocean. At present, the main force of the Japanese Combined Fleet is in the area of the Yangtze River estuary, and most of the warships left behind in the Japanese mainland are the products of the old Russo-Japanese War, and they will certainly not be able to keep the Haitian. But suddenly, the Sea of Japan is a bit of a death-seeking thing. Baidu search "" to see the latest chapters

There are only four entrances to the entire Sea of Japan, the Tsushima Strait, the Kamatsu Strait, the Soya Strait, and the Tatar Strait. If it's a surprise. Breaking through the Tsushima Strait should be no problem. But it's easy to get in, but it's even harder to get out. The Japanese Combined Fleet only needed to deploy a small fleet, including an armored cruiser, in each of the Tsushima and Soya straits to blockade the Kamatsu Strait with land batteries. If a fleet with battle cruisers is used to enter the Sea of Japan and search from south to north, the Haitian can be forced into the Tatar Strait, and if Japan blocks the Nevelskoy Strait again, the Haitian will surely die!

But the order of the Naval Command Department is very clear: "...... At present, the main forces of the Japanese Combined Fleet are gathering at the mouth of the Yangtze River, and they have used armored cruisers and battle cruisers to run aground on the Hengsha and Chongming beaches as fixed batteries, which has put great pressure on the coastal defense of the Yangtze River estuary. Therefore, the Haitian must break into the Sea of Japan with the utmost determination and shell the coast of Japan. Threaten Sakhalin in order to attract Japanese ships to come back for reinforcements. After completing the task of attracting enemy ships, if necessary. The heavy cruiser Haitian can be abandoned, and all personnel can be retreated to the Far East Coastal Zone, which is controlled by our military......"

The words of the Navy Command Department have already said this, and the shape of wanting to fight at the mouth of the Yangtze River is still very serious. As a naval commander who grew up in the shadow of the Japanese Navy, Chen Shaokuan knew very well that the Japanese Navy's strong strength was by no means something that two submarines and more than 200 aircraft could deal with. Honestly. If the military intelligence report of the Military Command Department is true. The Chinese Navy has found a shortcut to surpass the world's naval powers. But the real transcendence will not be achieved until at least ten years later, not in this war.

"Report, I received a telegram from the Navy's Command Department that two hours ago, the Japanese fleet shelled the Shengsi Islands in Zhejiang, and now the communication with the Shengsi Islands has been interrupted, and it is estimated that the Japanese army has landed on the Shengsi Islands."

The voice of the communications officer of the Haitian suddenly made the air in the officers' lounge tense. Chen Shaokuan hurriedly walked to the chart, looked at the Shengsi Islands above, and whispered to himself: "What are the Japanese doing when they occupy a small fishing village?" ”

"Anchorage, perhaps?" The first mate of the Haitian reminded. "It's only a few dozen nautical miles from the mouth of the Yangtze River. It seems that the Japanese army is preparing to fight a protracted war with us in the East China Sea. In addition, the Japanese army's operation on the Shengsi Islands is likely to be the beginning of their invasion of the islands off the southeast coast of China and their attacks on coastal towns. ”

"Coastal islands? Coastal towns? ”

Hearing the first mate raise this possibility, Chen Shaokuan shook his head slightly. "It's unlikely, most of the big coastal cities are far from the beach, only Xiamen, Qingdao, and Lushun Dalian are built on the seaside, but those cities are surrounded by coastal defense fortresses and heavy troops."

"Fu Gong, the target of the Japanese army may not be a big city, but a small town!" The first mate said with a frown.

"Small town?" Chen Shaokuan's pupils shrank suddenly, and then he shook his head again. "The garrison of a small town is empty, but it has little military value. What is the purpose of the Japanese doing this? ”

The first mate snorted, "It's better than doing nothing, isn't it?" Now the Japanese army in the Far East and Korea is completely out of play, more than a dozen standing divisions and regiments have been defeated, and even if they send new divisions and regiments, it will be impossible to save the situation. And the attack on the Yangtze River estuary was also unsuccessful, unless they were willing to use more capital ships stranded as fixed batteries, even so, they were not sure to win, after all, the channel of the Yangtze River estuary had been blocked by mines and sunken ships, and if they wanted to enter it, they had to occupy Chongming and Changxing islands first, and then slowly clear the channel. This process is to fight with human lives, and the Japanese Navy can get battleships, and their army may not have enough lives to fill in. ”

"So they can only use the method of attacking the coast to force the chairman to make concessions and compromises?" Chen Shaokuan still shook his head. "Destroying a few fishing villages, killing thousands or tens of thousands of fishermen, can scare the chairman?"

"It's scary, but it makes us uneasy, and we can't focus our energy and financial resources on construction. This is probably the tactic of the Japanese at the moment, right? ”

Chen Shaokuan sneered, the hesitant expression on his face had disappeared, as if he had made up his mind, he said: "Since Little Japan is attacking our coast, let's also go to the coast of Japan to kill people and set fires in retaliation, and we won't let them be peaceful!" As he spoke, he glanced back at the naval officers on the side of the chart. Has the route to break into the Sea of Japan been determined? ”

"It's settled, break through the strait south of Tsushima Island, and then head north along the coastline of Japan's Honshu, shelling Japanese coastal towns along the way. Finally, they will advance to the Tatar Strait, trying to break through there before the Japanese blockade of the Nevelskaya Strait, so that they can enter the Amur River and avoid the pursuit of the Japanese navy...... However, the premise is that the army can control the lower reaches of the Amur River before then. ”

"Good. That's it, it's not bad to hide in the Amur River and save the zài fleet, so that at least one battle cruiser formation can be pinned, right? Chen Shaokuan nodded with satisfaction.

……

On the battleship Nagato, Isamu Takeshita looked up at the pitch-black sky and breathed a sigh of relief. It seems that the weather will not be too good tomorrow, and the main forces of the Combined Fleet may be able to attack the mouth of the Yangtze River during the day.

"Have you taken Shengshan Island and Goji Island?"

"It has been won, there are no regular Chinese troops on these two islands. There are only a small number of customs anti-smuggling officers stationed there, and they are completely vulnerable. ”

Takeshita walked up to the chart table and slid his finger on the chart. found these two small islands located in the eastern part of the Shengsi Islands, and finally settled down a lot in my heart.

The two islands are close to each other, forming a bay-like shape and are the main havens in the Shengsi archipelago. And the water depth conditions are just right. At around 10 meters. Large warships can be moored, but aviation torpedoes cannot be used, and the only thing to watch out for is submarines. However, it is not a big problem, because the entrance to the north of this bay is very narrow and can be sealed with anti-submarine nets, and it is only necessary to intensify patrols in the south.

After occupying these two islands, the main forces of the Combined Fleet will have a foothold on the southeast coast of China, and every day after the weather is good. The main force of the fleet took refuge here, and the rest of the time it attacked to fight at the mouth of the Yangtze River. Meanwhile. Then send cruisers and destroyers to transport marines to attack and harass the southeast coast of China and fight guerrilla warfare with the Chinese army!

Thinking of this, Takeshita smiled bitterly and sighed. A dignified Japanese union

The fleet was reduced to the point of fighting guerrillas. If we had known that this was the case, we would have spent the next two years on developing the army.

Looking up, beyond the sea level in the distance are Shengshan Island and Goji Island, the temporary shelter of the Japanese Combined Fleet. Before he finally entered the "comfort zone", he still didn't dare to take it lightly. In the past two days, the Chinese submarine attacked the Combined Fleet again and sank two coal carriers!

"Your Excellency, the submarine I-2 telegraphed that the heavy cruiser Haitian in China had left Cam Ranh Bay in French Indochina and was heading for the Philippine Islands."

Isamu Takeshita took the telegram with a puzzled expression on his face. "The Philippines? Did the Sea Sky want to cross the Philippine Islands to the Pacific Ocean? ”

"It should be the Pacific Ocean, and it is estimated that the heavy cruiser Haitian went to the South Pacific or the Central Pacific to break diplomatic relations." Eisuke Yamamoto, Chief of Staff of the Combined Fleet, took the telegram from Isamu Takeshita's hand, looked at it, and analyzed. "Do you want to send a battle cruiser to intercept it? A heavy cruiser is no joke, and neither the destroyers nor the old cruisers that now escort transport groups are its opponents. If the Haitian and several other Haizi cruisers turned, the Empire's foreign trade routes would probably be cut off. ”

Isamu Takeshita said with a frown. "Well, let the Kirishima and Haruna each take three destroyers and form the 1st Southern Fleet and the 2nd Southern Fleet to search for the Haitian. Also, send a telegram to the Military Command Department, asking them to rearrange the transport ship regiment and send old battleships and armored ships to participate in the escort. He paused, and then ordered: "Let the Asama take two destroyers and a large group of marines to attack Daishan Island, if there is artillery fire from the defenders on the island, then the marines will not go ashore, if not, they will go up and kill, burn, and rob!" ”

……

"Daishan Island is being shelled by Japanese ships!"

Chang Ruiqing, dressed in pajamas, walked barefoot around the small living room, finally standing in front of a makeshift map of China's southeast coast. "Last night it was the Shengsi Islands, and this morning it was Daishan Island...... What does Little Japan want to do? How many Japanese ships are there? Did you spot a landing ship regiment? Did the planes of the Navy and Air Force take off? ”

Hearing Chang Ruiqing's series of questions, Chen Cheng replied with a frown: "There are three Japanese ships in total, one armored cruiser, and two may be destroyers, and no landing ship regiment has been found. Today, the weather in the Daishan, Dinghai, and Zhenhai areas is very bad, and the planes have no way to attack, but the artillery positions of the 57th Division of the 19th Army deployed on Daishan Island have already fired back. ”

"What is the 105 howitzer tube for?" Chang Ruiqing waved his hand and sighed. "Our naval surface ships are still too weak, and the era of aircraft dominating the oceans has not yet arrived. Alas, there is still no sea defense in the sea frontier! The Japanese hit us right in the soft underbelly, but fortunately there is only a little more than a month left......"

A suspicious expression slid across Chen Cheng's face. More than a month left? That's September, right? What will happen in September? Could it be that the United States and Britain will go to war against Japan in September? I don't think I've heard of anything like this.

"It seems that the only way to organize the evacuation of the residents of the southeast coast is to be organized." Chang Ruiqing didn't notice Chen Cheng's strange expression. Instead, he instructed himself: "Cixiu, you go and hang up a phone call to Lu Zijia, chairman of Zhejiang Province, and Wang Fusheng, chairman of Jiangsu Province, and ask them to come to Shanghai once...... Let's evacuate the coastal residents of these two provinces first. ”

Chen Cheng took the order, gave a military salute to Chang Ruiqing and turned to leave, and was stopped by Chang Ruiqing as soon as he was halfway through. "Where has the Haitian gone? Have you ever passed the Philippine Islands? ”

"No word has been received yet, the Haitian is practicing radio silence." Chen Cheng replied.

"No news is good news." Chang Ruiqing said to himself. With a wave of his hand, Chen Cheng left. He was right, if the Haitian encountered the Japanese fleet, there would be no need to keep the radio silent anymore. Now it's still silent. That just means that we haven't had any trouble yet.

……

25 July, Western Pacific. 100 nautical miles east of the Philippine Islands, the heavy cruiser Haitian.

"Sir, telecommunications room report. Two radio signals of unknown origin were heard. It's been more than 30 minutes since the report was sent. ”

The communications officer's report broke the silence in the bridge of the heavy cruiser Haitian. Chen Shaokuan frowned and asked, "Can you confirm where the radio waves came from?" ”

"It is impossible to determine the exact location, but it is certain that it came from the sea near or south of Okinawa, and it was either Japanese troops on the island or ......"

"It can't be the Japanese Army." Before the communications officer could finish speaking, Chen Shaokuan interrupted him. "A telegram of 30 minutes in a row must be extraordinary, either an important operational instruction or a discussion of military intelligence. If it was the Japanese defenders on the island of Okinawa. They should use submarine cables to send wired telegrams, so that it is safer. He paused. The voice grew heavy. "The Japanese are very likely to find out our whereabouts, there may be a Japanese submarine ambush outside Cam Ranh Bay, and when we leave Cam Ranh Bay, the moon in the sky will be bright!"

"But the sonar didn't find anything." Said the communications officer.

Chen Shaokuan shook his head and said: "It is very likely that the Japanese submarine will float on the surface of the water and prohibit it from moving, so that our sonar will not be able to find anything." ”

"Tick ring......" The phone rang, and the communications officer picked up the phone headset. Here is the bridge, ah, the discovery of enemy aircraft? How many are there? Azimuth...... Okay, got it. ”

The naval officers on the bridge all looked at the communications officer of the Haitian, and the atmosphere became tense. The communications official reported to the telephone headset: "Sir, the lookout post reports the discovery of a Japanese seaplane. ”

Hell, it's still been discovered! Chen Shaokuan's heart chuckled, most of the Japanese ships that could carry seaplanes were new-type battleships or battle cruisers! Such a warship appeared in the Pacific Ocean for only one purpose, that is, to hunt down its own heavy cruiser Haitian! And, most likely, there is more than one.

"What now?" The first officer of the Haitian rushed to the road.

Chen Shaokuan walked to the chart platform, stared at it for a while, and said slowly: "The fastest of the Japanese capital ships is the Kongo-class battlecruiser, with a maximum speed of 27.5 knots, which is 3.5 knots slower than our Haitian...... If there is only one, we need not be afraid. ”

"It can't be one," said the first mate, drawing on the chart with a red and blue pencil and a ruler compass or something. "There's definitely another one ahead of us. If it is assumed that we have been spotted by Japanese submarines when we leave Cam Ranh Bay, then the two Japanese battlecruisers should have been dispatched 40 hours before the sea from the mouth of the Yangtze River...... At least with a high speed of more than 20 knots, they should be about 800 nautical miles away from the mouth of the Yangtze River now, and the farthest will not exceed 1,000 nautical miles. ”

As he spoke, two arcs appeared on the map in the Pacific Ocean south of Okinawa and east of the Philippines. And the current position of the heavy cruiser Haitian is between these two arcs.

"Fu Gong, you can't go west anymore, let's turn around and go south." The first mate put down the compass in his hand and said. "The Japanese should not have imagined that our target is the Sea of Japan, and they may think that we are going to the South Pacific or the Central Pacific to break diplomatic relations. If we drive south, they will bite the back of the Haitian. When it gets dark, let's turn back and head north, passing between the two Japanese battlecruisers. ”

"Passing between two Japanese cruisers?" Chen Shaokuan glanced at the twenty-something lieutenant colonel in front of him and nodded appreciatively. This person's name is Bo Fuping, a graduate of the first phase of the Whampoa Naval Academy, trained by American and British naval instructors. This courage is really not comparable to the old navy of his generation who has lived in the shadow of the Japanese Navy for half his life!

He nodded and said, "That's it, turn around to the south first, then turn back to the north at night, pass through between them, the route must be carefully calculated, and be careful not to let the Japanese battle cruisers approach us." (To be continued.) )