The bombing continued, and the planes in the sky seemed endless, and one after another, each plane kept dropping bombs at the Japanese battleships on the sea, and each bomb explosion took several lives, blew up a deck, or destroyed another turret.

All the Japanese naval officers and sailors who are still alive on the battleship are already going crazy, when will the planes in the sky stop bombing? This is no longer something they can hope for, an hour and a half has passed since the beginning of the bombardment, and the sea is full of fires, not only the battleship is burning everywhere, but also the fuel leakage after the battleship sinks and surfaces to the sea, and the oil starts to burn again after the high temperature of the fire, and now the whole sea is on fire.

There are potholes everywhere on the battleships, no part of the deck is flat, and the decks of some ships have long been unable to see the shape of the deck, only to see large holes with a diameter of several meters wide everywhere, and in addition to the piles of turrets that have been blown into scrap iron, there are also a large number of corpses, stumps and broken arms, blood and flames.

When the ship was bombed, many Japanese naval officers and sailors were on fire, and some could not bear to stay on the ship and were bombed, so they jumped into the sea to avoid the flames and shells, but they did not know that the sea was actually not safe, and those fighters immediately fired at the sea after seeing the Japanese naval officers and men [all jumped into the sea, and soon the sea water was dyed red, and corpses were floating on the sea, everywhere.

Until now. The Japanese naval fleet still had no ability to fight back, and could only verify that it was slaughtered by the Chinese fighter group. It is also the Huaguo aircraft group that does not want to blow up and sink these warships, but only wants to beat these warships to the point that they lose their ability to resist and act. If this had not been the case, the Japanese naval fleet would have been completely wiped out long ago.

Yoshimatsu Shigetaro was already in despair, his whole body was dumbfounded, and he kept pounding his head with his fists, blaming himself for ordering the battleship to be so dense, and turning off the boiler and extinguishing the fire, if it weren't for this, it was entirely possible for them to scatter and flee, after each of them scattered and fled. The firepower of each ship is much smaller, and now that they are all gathered together, the planes in the sky will blow up one bomb, and the bombs will not blow up this ship, and there is a great chance that they will fall on another ship, and the probability of falling into the sea is much smaller.

Chief of Staff Yamanaka Shibayoshi was sweating profusely, anxiously looking at the apocalyptic scene outside, and turned back to Yoshimatsu Shigetaro and said, "Your Excellency, Commander, we are not the time to despair. We must find a way to save ourselves, otherwise our naval fleet of the Japanese Empire will be completely finished, and if the fleet is finished, we will be sinners. I don't want to be a sinner, you know? Let's figure it out! ”

Yoshimatsu Shigetaro went berserk: "Think of a way, think of a way." What can I do? I've thought of all the ways I can, but none of them can save us from the crisis we are in. Now we can only pray that the planes of the Chinese people will not fly again, and the Chinese naval fleet will not be on the route here! ”

"Yaga. Yaga! Yamanaka Shibaji screamed and hit the bulkhead to vent his grievances.

Shigetaro Yoshimatsu saw several commanders who were still in the conference room, and immediately became furious, "What are you still doing here?" Why don't you hurry back to your respective flagships to command the fire and plug the leak? ”

"Hey!" Several fleet commanders hurriedly agreed, and hurriedly left the conference room, returning to their flagship in a dinghy to take command.

Yoshimatsu Shigetaro said to Yamanaka Shibayoshi again: "Yamanaka-kun, please go and let people count the losses of each ship, and make a rough assessment of the weapon system, power system, and casualties, the sooner the better!" ”

"Hey!"

Yamanaka Shibayoshi immediately passed on the order, and when he returned, he and Yoshimatsu Shigetaro went to the command cabin with the support of the soldiers, and the explosions continued to stop outside, and the fighters dived and strafed from time to time.

Soon someone came in to report the loss of the whole fleet, and as a result, Yoshimatsu Shigetaro and Yamanaka Shibayoshi seemed to fall into an ice cellar, after such a long time, the two dozen or so battleships that had been seriously injured and had been determined to sink had all sunk, all of them were old warships and small warships on the periphery, and those relatively new, and thicker than rough flesh, although the larger warships were seriously injured, but they had not sunk, and what made the two even more desperate was that almost all the remaining battleships were not intact, None of the battleships could still fire, which means that all the battleships have lost their ability to resist until now, and all the turrets on the deck have been destroyed, which is obviously deliberately done by the Chinese fighter group.

After listening to the results of the report, the two highest-ranking men of the Japanese fleet did not speak for a long time, allowing the bombs to explode nearby, but the two of them could not do anything, and then another officer came in and reported: "Your Excellency, you have found that the Chinese fleet has appeared in front, and the scale should be exhausted!" ”

After hearing this report, the two immediately picked up their binoculars and looked ahead, and sure enough, they saw in the telescope several large capital ships of Huaguo that they had only seen in the photo, such as the battleships Yingzheng and Ying-4, as well as the battle cruisers Liu Che and Liu Xiu, and their main cruisers all appeared in sight, and there were dozens of auxiliary ships around.

In the end, it was Yoshimatsu Shigetaro who broke the silence, he put down his binoculars and said tragically: "Yamanaka-kun, it seems that our capture has become a foregone conclusion, even if we have more ships than them now, but they are fully armed and menacing, and we are large and numerous, but our teeth have been stripped off, and we are scarred, we have no strength in our bodies, we have no ability to attack, what else can we do but surrender?" ”

At this time, an officer reminded: "Your Excellency, the planes of the Chinese are decreasing, and they are flying in the direction of their fleet!" ”

Yoshimatsu Shigetaro and Yamanaka Shibayoshi looked up, and sure enough, the Chinese planes that were still dropping bombs in the sky and randomly strafing with machine guns just now began to gradually retreat, which happened after the appearance of the Chinese fleet, maybe they received some orders. Could it be that those planes flying in the sky can contact the Chinese fleet?

Thinking about these heads now in vain, Yoshimatsu Shigetaro was silent for a while with a pale face and said, "Yamanaka-kun. We played, the Japanese naval fleet was finished. I think the Chinese fleet will soon demand our surrender."

If it had not been two minutes, the communications staff officer came over with a telegram and reported: "Your Excellency the Commander, Your Excellency the Chief of Staff, the Chinese fleet has sent a telegram in clear code, demanding that we surrender immediately and unconditionally, and all the personnel will go to the deck and form a neat queue for them to receive!" ”

"Yaga, Yaga Yalu!" Yamanaka Shiiji shouted, "The people of Shina are so arrogant, why do they think that we will surrender. We would rather scuttle all the battleships and smash them all than surrender! ”

Yoshimatsu Shigetaro thought about it and looked at the situation outside, now the fleet is so miserable that it can no longer find a battleship that looks better, every battleship is damaged, the bombing has stopped, but it has not quieted down. Howls, cries for help, screams, cries and whimpering were everywhere on deck, in the cabins and on the sea, and fires were still burning on many ships.

Yoshimatsu Shigetaro said to an officer next to him: "Order, let the officers of each ship organize manpower to put out the fire and extinguish the smoke!" Let the officers and men on those battleships that are about to sink be transferred to a better battleship! ”

"Yes. Your Excellency, Commander! The officer took the order and left.

Yamanaka Shibayoshi yelled at Shigetaro Yoshimatsu: "Your Excellency, Commander, why? Why? We have been defeated, but we will not surrender. Anyway, if you want to scuttle the ships, why do you want them to transfer? ”

Yoshimatsu Shigetaro shook his head with a blank expression on his face and said, "Yamanaka-kun." We have here all the elites of the Japanese Navy, if we all die. The Japanese Navy will be completely hopeless, the battleships are gone, we can tighten our belts, save money, and save money to build warships again, but if we, the naval elite, are dead, then our Imperial Japanese Navy will be completely finished, but if we are still alive and bear the burden of humiliation, even if we surrender now, I think we will return to Japan sooner or later, and that is when we will be indignant, revitalize the Japanese Navy, and rise again! So we can't do stupid things, we have to keep useful things for the future. If you think about it, in the First Sino-Japanese War, we annihilated the Beiyang Fleet, in the Russo-Japanese War, we annihilated the main force of the Tsarist Russian naval fleet, after so many years, they have all risen again, and they are stronger than before, since they can all endure humiliation, why can't we? ”

Yamanaka Shibayoshi was silent after listening to Yoshimatsu Shigetaro's words, and after a few minutes, he looked up at Yoshimatsu Shigetaro with a firm look in his eyes, and said sincerely: "Thank you, Your Excellency Commander, it was you who made me understand our mission, I don't die, surrender and surrender, and together we will keep a useful body to find an opportunity to make the Imperial Japanese Navy rise again."

"That's right!" Yoshimatsu Shigetaro nodded and said to the communications staff officer: "You go and call back to the Chinese fleet, ask them to give us an hour, and ask the commanders of all fleets and captains of ships to come to me!" ”

"Hey!" The communications staff officer said yes and left.

After Yoshimatsu Shigetaro and the other communications staff officers left, he said to Yamanaka Shibayoshi: "Yamanaka-kun, when I have a meeting with the commanders, chiefs of staff, and captains of the fleets, I will order them to lead their troops to surrender, and when the handover is over, you will take them to surrender to the commander of the Chinese naval fleet, submit the surrender document, and ask them for fair treatment of our naval officers and men!" ”

Yamanaka Shibakichi asked, "What about you, Your Excellency Commander?" You are here, how can I surrender to the Chinese fleet with them? ”

"Me?" Yoshimatsu Shigetaro laughed miserably when he heard this, and said tragically: "Yamanaka-kun, the Imperial Japanese Navy was defeated, the fleet was completely wiped out by the Chinese naval fleet, and the vast majority of the naval officers and soldiers surrendered with ships, this responsibility must be shouldered by someone, none of you can afford it, only I am the most qualified, but also the most suitable and responsible person, after the meeting, I will cut myself to give an account to His Majesty the Emperor, the Cabinet, the Admiralty and all the Japanese people, when the time comes, I want Yamanaka-kun to be my intermediary!" ”

"What? Your Excellency, Commander, by no means, didn't you say that you should endure humiliation? Why did you make us surrender and you chose to end your life in this way? Yamanaka Shibaji exclaimed.

Shigetaro Yoshimatsu said calmly, "Don't you understand? Someone must be responsible for this matter, otherwise our entire navy will be nailed to the frame of shame, you and the others surrendered only on my orders, you did not betray, it was caused by me, only in this way, you have the opportunity to return to Japan in the future before you can re-enter the navy, understand? ”

Yamanaka Shibayoshi understood, he looked at Yoshimatsu Shigetaro blankly, he didn't expect Yoshimatsu to want to bear all the guilt and humiliation alone, he bowed deeply, "Please, Your Excellency Commander!" ”

The command cabin of the battleship Yingzheng in the fleet of the Chinese Navy.

Cheng Biguang observed the situation of the Japanese naval fleet with a telescope, when the communications officer walked in and immediately reported: "Report to the commander, the Japanese fleet has sent a telegram expressing its willingness to surrender, but asking for fair treatment of the prisoners, and hoping to give them an hour!" ”

Hearing this, Cheng Biguang turned his head to look at Shen Shoukun, the deputy commander and chief of staff next to him, and asked, "Brother Shen, what do you think?" ”

Shen Shoukun put down the binoculars and said with a smile: "Now the Japanese can't afford to turn over the big waves, and their request is normal, after all, the surrender of the whole fleet is not a trivial matter, and Yoshimatsu Shigetaro also needs to convince the commanders of the fleets and the captains of the ships, in order not to cause unnecessary trouble in the surrender process of the meeting, I thought I might as well give them an hour!" ”

Cheng Biguang nodded when he heard this: "Not bad! After speaking, he said to the communications staff officer: "You go and call back, agree to give them an hour, let them have an hour later, everyone will go to the toluene collection, pile all the pistols, rifles and machine guns on the deck to be counted, and the ammunition depot will also be sealed!" ”

"Yes, sir!"

"Wait!" Shen Shoukun stopped him and added an order: "Send a report to all ships, let the marines of each ship immediately prepare weapons, ammunition, equipment and boats, and wait for the order to be issued, and then board the ships of the Japanese fleet in small boats to take over, their task is to control those Japanese naval officers and men, count the guns and take care of the ammunition depot, check whether there are still good turrets and torpedo tubes, if so, must be controlled by our people, and also check whether the ships are installed with explosives, if so, they must find a way to clean up." to provide security for the surrender ceremony! ”

"Yes, sir!"

In the process of accepting surrender, for the safety of one's own fleet, the fleet cannot get close to the opponent's fleet, and can only use small boats to send soldiers over to receive it, after all, no one dares to guarantee whether the other side really surrenders or fake surrender, and no one dares to guarantee that the opponent's warship still has the ability to fire and counterattack, if once the ship is close, the other side still has the ability to attack, then the consequences will be unimaginable. Moreover, in this attack, the focus of the aircraft group is to attack the surface of the ship, and the torpedo tubes under the side chord are basically intact, if the fleet is close, the opponent can completely use torpedoes to attack, and at short distances, you can't dodge if you want to! (To be continued......) R1292