The entire Yangtze River estuary was already like a pot of porridge at this time, and the planes of both sides were in a fierce battle from the sea to the air, and although China's losses were almost twice that of Japan, many pilots were able to parachute and survive after the plane was shot down.

Often, the first thing these pilots do after arriving on the ground is to return to the air base as soon as possible, and once again fly the planes prepared in advance to participate in the war again, in addition, the ground firepower can also provide some support, and the surrounding defense planes are gathered in Shanghai, China gradually regained some air supremacy.

On the contrary, the Japanese pilots are getting more and more tired and unable to be replenished, and the two armies are in a stalemate, and Japan can take advantage of less and less!

However, the fighting around the mouth of the Yangtze River was even more brutal, China had already laid a considerable number of mines at the mouth of the Yangtze River, of course, the Yangtze River is also China's main lifeline, and it cannot be completely blocked, so the Japanese battleships and cruisers were able to rely on minesweepers to open the way, and then calmly enter the mouth of the Yangtze River, and use super-large caliber heavy artillery to fire frantically at the downtown area of Shanghai.

However, China's ground forces will not be tied back, in the mouth of the Yangtze River China has also arranged for shore defense artillery units, built a solid artillery position, a few meters or even more than a dozen meters of reinforced concrete fortifications to provide good protection for the shore defense artillery, China's main combat is the 230 mm coastal defense artillery, China has not broken through the key technology of large-caliber heavy artillery for a long time, and most of the production energy is put on the naval artillery.

The warships could not be left without artillery, so a total of 36 230 mm shore defense guns were used to defend the mouth of the Yangtze River, and these cannons were mainly hidden along Chongming Island, and they bombarded the Japanese warships with a long range, and two Japanese destroyers were sunk one after another.

Armed with 410mm guns, the Kaga and Nagato are definitely a nuclear-weapon deterrent in this era, and they will not be easily thrown into combat, and every shot must even be recorded and calibrated by aircraft. Along the way, it was only possible to send back some useful at critical moments in the attack on shipyards and docks.

You must know that the barrel service life of this super cannon is very limited. Unable to waste it casually, every cannon must be used on the blade, and now in the face of China's stubborn coastal defense artillery, Japan has no choice but to use the Kaga and Nagato to attack.

The 410 mm main gun far surpasses the Chinese coastal defense artillery in terms of range and power, and once the cannon falls, it will create a huge no-man's land, and the Chinese artillery will suffer more casualties than the air force. The entire Chongming Island was shrouded in monstrous black smoke, but the artillery fire of the counterattack never stopped, in addition to Chongming Island, there were also many large-caliber self-propelled guns equipped by the army on the south bank of the Yangtze River to join the battle, launching a fierce attack on the Japanese Navy.

These guns, although they could not hurt super-battleships, were enough to deal with destroyers and cruisers. These warships with weak defenses only need to be hurt by a few of them.

It is precisely because of the constraints of these artillery pieces that Japan's auxiliary ships cannot enter the mouth of the Yangtze River at will, and therefore cannot provide effective protection for Japan's giant ships.

Japan would not have easily driven a giant like Kaga into the dangerous Yangtze River estuary, and even without a fierce counterattack by the Chinese army, it would have been lively if it ran aground at the mouth of the Yangtze River because it was unfamiliar with the hydrological conditions.

For this reason, Japan dispatched some air forces to bomb China's artillery positions, thus thinning the already stretched naval aviation. And the resistance of the Chinese artillery has not stopped. Japan became more and more frenzied, and Kato ordered the battleships except the Kaga and Nagato to enter the mouth of the Yangtze River one after another. An unbridled shelling of Shanghai was launched.

They no longer have any bottom line, the target of the attack is on the ordinary people, what the Japanese want to do is to destroy a city, and then destroy the confidence of the Chinese people, but they will never understand the kind of iron bone of the Chinese, the more ferocious the enemy, the more it arouses the blood and dissatisfaction of all the people.

This was especially true of the soldiers, who, despite their exhaustion, their legs were so heavy that they could barely take a step, and their hands were swollen from the excessive number of shells they had carried, none of them gave up, and they all fought back with all their might.

The battle became more and more intense, and the heart of Kato Kanji, commander of the Japanese Combined Fleet, became more and more tight, the naval aviation had already lost more than 30 planes, and the remaining pilots were also physically exhausted because of continuous combat, and it was difficult to fight for a long time, and the sky had already darkened, and if it was night, China's submarine forces could launch an attack on Japan under the cover of night, and the situation of the Japanese warships would be even more dangerous at that time.

Looking at the city of Shanghai, which had been shrouded in flames, Kato also felt a sense of satisfaction, and he was ready to withdraw his fleet to the newly occupied Zhoushan first, then replenish it, and use Zhoushan as a base to harass China's coastal areas with all his might, so that the Chinese army could be exhausted.

In addition, Kato has another purpose, that is, to lure the Chinese navy out, and then send the Chinese navy to the bottom of the sea in one fell swoop.

Although the Japanese army suffered a crushing defeat in Korea, this is not a problem, Japan still has a navy, as long as the combined fleet can block China's sea lanes, sooner or later this big country will be forced to submit, and then the Japanese government and the opposition will know who the real heroes are, and those army forces full of flesh bullets are destined to be only worthy of the navy.

Shanghai is China's most prosperous region, and the Chinese government will definitely not remain indifferent to this fatal blow, and the navy will not be able to act as a turtle with a shrunken head, and Japan's long-awaited decisive naval battle is coming.

Just when Kato Kanji was full of joy, suddenly a telegram came, Kato only glanced at it, and his face was sluggish, as if he was hit by five thunders, and all the three souls and seven spirits were lost!

The battleship Mutsu sank!

The pride of the Japanese Navy, the sinking of the battleship Michinoku, which was more than 40,000 tons, surprised Kato even more than the sinking of the Tosa, a staunch supporter of battleships, although the superiority of aircraft carriers had been highlighted in this naval battle.

If Japan did not have the carrier-based aircraft cover of two aircraft carriers, there was no hope of a successful attack on Shanghai, but from the bottom of his heart, Kato valued battleships even more, and the Japanese Navy now has three of the largest battleships, Kaga, Nagato, and Mutsu!

Among them, the Nagato, which has the smallest tonnage, has a full load displacement of nearly 40,000 tons, which can be regarded as the world's top battleship. In the midst of the Washington Conference. Countries imposed restrictions on battleships, the maximum tonnage could not exceed 35,000 tons, and the main guns could not exceed 410 mm, but Japan played a small trick when building warships, deliberately modifying the displacement down a lot.

The United States and Britain also deeply hate such rogue behavior with Japan, but the Japanese have a very remarkable ability, that is, to mess around. The United States and Britain will only open their eyes and close their eyes, but the United States and Britain are not the ones who suffer, when they designed the next battleship, they also greatly expanded the tonnage, and the actual limitation treaty has become a dead letter!

The Mutsu, which is now in second place in the Japanese Navy, was suddenly sunk. It simply made Kato feel that the sky had fallen, and he had always regarded the Mutsu as an unsinkable ship, not only him, but also the Japanese emperor and the Japanese people, all regarded the battleship as the patron saint of Japan, and worshipped it, and now the extremely powerful battleship has been sunk. It's simply unthinkable.

Kato even felt that this was a conspiracy played by the Chinese. He deliberately sent himself such a telegram, but he nevertheless kept the sanity of a military commander. This is not a joke at all, but the Chinese really did it, they sank the battleship Mutsu.

The balance of war between China and Japan has begun to tilt in favor of China, and now the most important thing Kato Kanji needs to do is to keep the best of these Japanese ships, if another battleship is sunk, Japan will really be removed from the list of naval powers!

Kato Kanji was worried at this time, but Chen Shaokuan, who commanded the Chinese warship to sink the Mutsu, was both excited and remorseful, he had already received the news of Japan's attack on Shanghai, and the navy did not guard the national navy at a critical moment, which was a shame for the Chinese navy, he hurriedly urged the Chinese navy to go north as soon as possible, the Japanese navy can attack China, but they don't want to withdraw from China's territory easily, if the Japanese do not pay the price, they are not worthy of being a bloody soldier!

And the other people on the starting point are more immersed in the joy of sinking the Mutsu, especially the best pilot Wu Kaijie, who finally gave the Mutsu a fatal blow, and now Wu Kaijie's whole person seems to be in the clouds, and his whole body is fluttering, the joy is indescribable!

However, it is not without a price for China to sink such a sea overlord, a total of 23 planes were shot down by Japan, just a few dozen days ago, the sinking of the Japanese heavy cruiser Furutaka, the pilot Cheng Hailiang, who opened the prelude to the Sino-Japanese war, was killed in this attack.

As long as Wu Kaijie closes his eyes, the battle that has just passed is constantly replayed in his mind, and he can't disappear for a long time.

Chen Shaokuan formulated a plan to lure the enemy, and Tang Qianming deliberately slowed down the Guangxi and Chongqing, which happened to be observed by the Japanese destroyers, and then the Mutsu was under the opportunity of Yamane Nobunari, and frantically pursued the Chinese warships.

Although Japan's industrial base is weak, it has a crazy momentum, and the level of shipbuilding is still good, and the maximum speed of the 40,000-ton behemoth of the Mutsu can exceed 26 knots, which is two or three knots faster than that of the warships of the United States and Britain.

Now the Japanese are at full speed and chasing the Guangxi and Chongqing, and the Guangxi and Chongqing are both injured in the battle, especially the condition of the Chongqing is even worse, there is a constant influx of sea water into the ship, the fastest speed is only 18 knots, and there is even the possibility of further decline!

After an hour of pursuit, the Chinese warships were about to enter the range of the Japanese, and Yamane Nobunari's triangular eyes were shining like wolves, and the prey was about to arrive, and it was already past three o'clock in the afternoon, and the Chinese warships had to be sunk quickly, and if they were delayed until night, it was very likely that they would be allowed to escape.

However, he didn't know that the Chinese Navy also paid the same attention, and it must not be delayed until the night, the starting point sailed against the direction of the wind, sailing at maximum speed, and one after another China roared into the air, these war eagles were loaded with a large number of bombs, and their mission was to send the Mutsu to meet their Amaterasu! (To be continued.) )

PS: The May Day holiday is coming, the small one is still 10,000 a day, and there is no ambiguity, kneel down and beg for a few monthly passes to decorate the façade, thank you.