"Report, call from the theater of operations on the Southeast Front."

After receiving the telegram forwarded by the staff officer on duty and quickly glancing at it, Gu Yingyang suddenly frowned slightly.

Liu Qianhua looked at it in her eyes: "What? Something happened to Zhang Yiye again? ”

Gu Yingyang handed over the telegram with both hands: "I just received a report that our submarine has spotted the enemy's aircraft carrier mobile unit in the waters west of the Santa Cruz Islands, which is heading in the direction of the Solomon Islands. ”

"It's coming back so fast."

Liu Qianhua squinted, the sea and air battle that occurred in the Solomon Islands half a month ago had an impact on the Imperial Navy and even the overall strategy of the Empire.

Gu Yingyang bowed his head and said, "Your Majesty, please relax, the old minister will convene a combat guidance meeting and work out a countermeasure as soon as possible." ”

"Then it's hard Wu Linghou - but I'm still worried that the navy will inevitably use the topic to play and fan the flames, you have to be calm and decisive, supplemented by thunderous means if necessary, and you can't let those old guys indulge in arrogance at will."

Liu Qianhua clenched the words and was not angry.

Gu Yingyang was respectful: "After being reprimanded by the emperor last time, the old guys of the navy have reined in a lot: Liu Buyun, Minister of the Navy of the National Defense Headquarters, resigned due to illness and has been approved to be transferred back to the reserve; Lin Taizeng, who was transferred to the president of the Naval University at the beginning of the year, also said that he was ill and refused to return to the post of Minister of the Navy; Now, for the time being, Yan Fu, chief of staff of the Navy, is concurrently serving as the Minister of the Navy -- I have discussed it with Hook, and when the Gulf of Aden strategy is over, Sa Zhenbing, commander of the Combined Fleet, will be promoted to the central government to serve as the Minister of the Navy or Chief of Staff, and Liu Guanxiong, the current commander of the Second Fleet, who is more advanced in thinking, will take over the Combined Fleet, so as to take this as an opportunity to reorganize the Navy. ”

Liu Qianhua nodded with satisfaction: "You have also grasped the matter of Liang Shuming's comeback, and in the past half a year, I have almost trained him, so you can rest assured that he will be appointed." ”

"The old minister obeyed the order, and the old minister stepped back first.................."

"Go ahead, I'm not feeling well today, and I'll go back to the palace to rest later, so I'll leave it all to you here."

"Emperor Xie trusts, and the old minister retires."

Gu Yingyang lowered his head and took two steps back, then turned around and went out Liu Qianhua watched his figure disappear behind the heavy iron gate, closed his eyes and sighed, and rang the bell to call the female official Ye Jingying.

"Mirror, move the Yuehua Palace, summon the crown prince to meet you."

In the "wild boar" woods, on the first reserve position overgrown with bushes behind the anticline of the heights, Captain Tukhachevsky was staring at the irregularly undulating black-gray ridge at the top of the heights from the narrow observation hole of the commander's conning tower.

Before daybreak, at the suggestion of the French adviser Captain Charles de Gaulle, the 1st Independent Heavy Tank Battalion was withdrawn from the main position on the front slope - due to the intensive bombardment of Chinese aircraft and artillery for several days, there was little vegetation left around the main position, and it was difficult to provide shelter for the huge "Saint-Sha Méng" heavy tanks.

For the same reason, the 29th Gram Brigade, which was mainly equipped with Renault FT series light tanks, was subsequently withdrawn in batches, which in turn affected the deployment of the 4th Infantry Division.

Major General Anfinov, commander of the 41st Infantry Division, did not want his infantry to lose the protection of tanks, so he ordered the eight infantry battalions holding the main position, together with the accompanying anti-tank artillery units, to all retreat to the first reserve position with dense vegetation, leaving only a few observation posts equipped with wired telephones to report the enemy's situation.

However, before the 41st Infantry Division, which had slowed down by half a beat, could complete its retreat, at dawn, the Chinese artillery on the opposite bank suddenly launched the most intensive and fierce artillery bombardment in three days, knocking down and shattering the infantry outside the position, and even more immobilizing the troops on the position who had not had time to withdraw.

An hour of shelling was followed by a thick smoke screen that towered in front of the entire position, and the earth-shattering roar of machinery came from the smoke screen, which was enough to terrify the surviving infantry on the main position, drop their weapons, and disperse towards the rear of the high ground.

In fact, just a few minutes earlier, a group of unarmed routs had staggered around Tukhachevsky's car, ignoring the shouts and threats of the officers around them, and fled deep into the woods behind the first reserve position.

"Corporal, pay attention to the path ahead, the enemy will give him a guy immediately."

While watching, Tukhachevsky did not forget to remind the gunner on the left - Corporal Zhukov.

"Armor-piercing or grenade for the first shot?"

Through the tail of the 75-mm main gun mounted on the right side of the front of the hull, Zhukov asked coldly.

Tukhachevsky patiently replied: "The chamber is filled with one grenade, and there are only ten armor-piercing shells, and each shot must be reserved for the enemy's 'Leopard, tank, which is not allowed to be used indiscriminately without my orders—why, you forgot what I said at the meeting last night?" ”

Zhukov looked a little apprehensive: "I'm sorry, I may .................. Probably a little nervous......"

Tukhachevsky smiled: "Last night you were in front of Captain de Gaulle, where did that heroic and ambitious look go?" ”

"It's because of those big words that I don't have that kind of ability.................."

"It's too late to start worrying about this kind of thing - look to the left, the enemy is coming!"

The engines behind the two men began to roar violently, and the driver, who was sitting in the elevated seat on Zhukov's left, struggled to push and pull the lever and turn the heavy hull slightly to the left in order to bring the target within the limited range of the main gun.

Standing behind the tail of the gun, the loader pulled out a yellow 75mm round from the ammunition rack under the floor, quickly stuffed it into the chamber, tightened the bolt, and slapped Zhukov on the shoulder.

Zhukov, whose eyes were firmly on the sight, rotated the two small handwheels on the left side of the gun from time to time to adjust the direction of the barrel to the left and right, as well as the high and low direction, until he was sure that the black shadow on the ridgeline five or six hundred meters away had completely entered the indicator circle of the sight - it was now!

Pulling the firing rope, the whole car shook violently, only to see the tail of the gun flick back heavily, and part of the barrel that should have been outside the car retracted into the car in the blink of an eye, and soon stretched out under the action of the hydraulic anti-recoil device.

"Hit!"

Tukhachevsky clapped his hands excitedly, and before he could recognize the damage of the other man, the loader had already opened the bolt, pulled out the still smoking cannon cartridge with his asbestos glove left hand, and let it fall to the floor behind him with a long thud, and then took the second shell from the co-loader, loaded, closed the latch, and patted the shoulder—all in just four or five seconds.

Zhukov pulled the firing rope again, but this time it missed, and the high-explosive grenade filled with explosives exploded a small cloud of dirt behind the target's right rear.

"The target is still advancing, it's a Leopard tank, change to armor-piercing shells!"

…… To be continued...