The wind, still like a knife, blew over the plains of Western Siberia.

In Tomsk in late April, the temperature still hovers below zero day and night. Compared to the warm and humid southeastern tropics, the people here have just survived a cruel winter that they will never forget. As the plane entered the field airfield along the railway line, Chu Nan clearly saw that the Trans-Siberian Railway was already covered with a large number of Soviet prisoners of war who were recasting the roadbed under the watchful eye of the National Guard and Central Asian Coalition soldiers, and the engineers were also directing the track-laying train to relay the damaged steel rails. These images tell the outside world that the important West Siberian Plain, which has fallen into the hands of the Wehrmacht, runs from the eastern shore of Krasnoyarsk in Eastern Siberia to Omsk.

In fact, the siege of West Siberia began after the Battle of Petropavlovsk before the beginning of winter last year. At that time, Liu Mingzhao and Long Yun saw the opportunity, the former led Zhuofan to attack Petropavlovsk, and the latter raided Omsk, cutting off the main artery of the Trans-Siberian Railway in one fell swoop, encircling the triangle of Barnaul, Tomsk and Novosibirsk. At that time, Stalin gave a death order, asking the encircled 400,000 Siberian Army Group to hold on to help, but Zhukov believed that he should evacuate in time to preserve the living forces, and was almost imprisoned for this. He was unwilling to sacrifice hundreds of thousands of elite veterans in vain, so he found Rokossovsky of the Ural Front, and the two of them hid from the commander of the Front, Timoshenko, and withdrew 150,000 veterans before the encirclement was completely closed. Because of this incident, the two were removed from their posts for investigation. It was not until early January, when the besieged Siberian Army sent a telegram to Moscow, reporting that it had encountered extremely cold weather, and that heating, power generation and food had been blown up by the Chinese Air Force, causing a large number of soldiers to freeze to death and frostbite, that Stalin reactivated the two and sent Zhukov as the commander of the Stalingrad Front, which was considered a disguised admission of his mistake.

But the big mistake has been made!

Because from the end of the Battle of Petropavlovsk. China's Central Asian Theater Command mobilized more than 1,000 bombers of various types to repeatedly bomb cities large and small within the encirclement for three months, destroying all people's livelihood facilities and food. In the absence of heating, no food, and even dilapidated houses sheltered from the wind and snow, the military and civilians in the West Siberian encirclement suffered heavy losses, plus the temperature in the region was below minus 35 degrees for three consecutive months last winter, so tens of thousands of people in the entire Western Siberian region froze to death every day, and finally developed to the point of cannibalism! Many people are suffering from hunger and cold. Had to cross the icy blockade and surrender to the Wehrmacht in Semiy and Pavlodar.

Originally, according to the prediction of the General Staff, if this area was attacked in the summer, which was full of mudslides and swamps, and there were countless large and small fortresses, at least 300,000 casualties would be paid. However, under the tactics of "severe cold blockade" that lasted for half a year, Western Siberia, which had 1.2 million soldiers and civilians before the war, in addition to the 150,000 Soviet troops and 300,000 civilians who fled before and after the Battle of Petropavlovsk, 500,000 people were frozen to death, and 300,000 refugees and soldiers surrendered. The entire Western Siberian low-latitude settlement. There are less than 50,000 residents left. Therefore, after the siege began at the beginning of the month, the 500,000 Wehrmacht and the Central Asian Allied Army encountered almost no resistance, and all the troops encountered were scrawny and dying Soviet soldiers and civilians. Or thousands of corpses that have already decomposed. In the end, with less than 3,000 casualties, Western Siberia was completely taken into the palm of his hand.

As soon as he got off the plane, he saw Song Ziqing waiting at the airport, and hurriedly went over to salute: "Minister." How can I bother you to wait for me here. ”

"I also just came back from Petropavlovsk, and I heard that your plane was behind me, so I just waited a little longer." Song Ziqing smiled: "Is there good news in the southeast?" ”

"Not too good." Chu Nan and Song Ziqing have gone from Wuchang to the present day together. So there is nothing to hide in front of him. As soon as he got into the car, he told him about the bitter battle on Kumejima: "It was difficult at first, but Kuribayashi Tadamichi's defensive tactics were unexpected. But after a few days of tug-of-war, the remnants of the enemy have now been trapped in Gumi Mountain to the north. According to Liao Changfeng, the remaining Japanese troops were less than 1,000 men, and all the heavy weapons were exhausted, so he is now repairing the airfield while clearing and destroying it, and it is expected that the airfield will be put into use in two days. Judging from the results of the entire battle, the total casualties are about 6,000, which is still expected, that is, it takes a lot of time Shen Honglie has already started to continue to attack Yipingya Island, but it is difficult to say how long it will take to take it. ”

"There are still capable people in Japan." Song Ziqing also frowned slightly when he heard that the small Kume Island had lost more than 6,000 soldiers, which had also caused the plan to be delayed by four days: "Looking at it this way, the time to land in the Ryukyus will be postponed?" ”

"It's hard to say right now." Chu Nan shook his head: "Iheiya Island is different from Kume Island, the terrain is long and narrow, and there are no too high peaks, so there is basically no danger to defend. The Japanese also knew this, so intelligence said that there were less than 10,000 people stationed on the island. Liao Changfeng and the others are going to change their tactics this time, first landing on Yefu Island, and then deploying two heavy artillery battalions and a few heavy mortars here, so that they can cover the entire Iheiya Island and Isena Island, and there is no need to be afraid of insufficient fire support like Kume Island. As for the timing of the landing in the Ryukyus, Bingwen and they are still waiting for news from the fleet. ”

"What, Yamamoto fifty-six is still holding on?"

"It should not be able to hold on, because the Japanese military department is already very dissatisfied with the loss of Kume Island, and even Hirohito sent him a farewell telegram from Tadamichi Kuribayashi. With his character, there will never be a 'national death and the survival of the navy'. Therefore, Bingwen and they think that as long as Yi is the famous island is launched, he must come out for a decisive battle. Chu Nan touched his forehead and said with a smile: "I'm worried about whether I can eat Yamamoto now." Because yesterday's intelligence said that the commander of the US army, MacArthur, had arrived in Madrid, and the number of troops had increased to 200,000, which was expected to increase to 300,000 by the beginning of the month, and that 130,000 British troops had entered Spain. On the German side, Guderian has already conquered Zaragoza, and from the direction of attack, he wants to go to Barcelona first and open up the railway from Toulouse in France to Spain. It can be seen that it should be taking into account the terrain problem, and prepare to put the main force in first and then fight a decisive battle. A larger battle in Spain is expected in early May. We judged that Stalin would certainly seize the opportunity that Germany could not escape and launch a larger offensive on the Central Asian side. So I was worried that if the navy could not use this to defeat Yamamoto's main force, it would affect the Battle of Malacca. If we don't open up the shipping lane, we can only rely on the Central Asian Railway to protect the Persian Gulf, so Bai Chongxi and Du Yuming will have to wait a few more months. There was also no way to attract Soviet troops to the Caucasus and relieve pressure on this side. ”

Song Ziqing is a civilian minister, and he knows better that Central Asia is fighting with logistics and money and food. After the decisive battle in the southeast began, the total amount of materials sent from China to Central Asia has dropped by one-third compared with last year, which has made the Central Asian Theater Command feel powerless. On the contrary, as the battlefield became closer and closer to the European region of the Soviet Union, the logistics line of the Soviet army became more convenient and closer, offsetting many logistical disadvantages. As a result, the rest of the war conditions for both sides are close to each other, except for a slight advantage in equipment. If the navy cannot eliminate Yamamoto's main force as soon as possible, then the southeast will inevitably drag on. This will be very detrimental to the Central Asian front.

Chu Nan continued: "The War Department has also urged me many times to enter the DPRK as soon as possible. Long Yun and the others have prepared 35 divisions in the northeast and 22 divisions of the new Korean army. They planned to start early next month, with 20 divisions and 22 divisions of the North Korean Army counterattacking the peninsula, and another 15 divisions being thrown into the direction of Sakhalin and the Sea of Okhotsk. Originally, the Navy promised to wait for the XN23 battle group to take Gilbert, and then turn around and go north to support the operations on Sakhalin and the Chiba Islands. But yesterday, Bingwen asked them to postpone it for a few days and wait for the landing of the Ryukyus before attacking the peninsula. This did not say a word, and the two sides quarreled again. "As the stall gets bigger and bigger. Logistics has become the most headache for officers at all levels. Stalin also saw through this, and only after the opening of the southeast did he formulate a series of counteroffensive plans to try to save Japan and consume China. The three armed forces in the country are also competing for resources. There was a small quarrel for three days, and a big quarrel for five days, and he, the chief of the general staff, was overwhelmed by logistics before his ass was hot.

"What Bingwen said also makes sense. If the main force of the Japanese Navy is not defeated, the material consumption of the Navy will not be able to be suppressed. If the army opens the Korean battlefield again, the pressure will be too great. ”

"So you're going to get the president to come forward. Coordinate it? Song Ziqing understood Chu Nan's predicament very well. But he knew better what Bingwen and the navy were thinking, if they didn't defeat the main force of the Japanese navy, even if Yang Qiu came forward, they wouldn't sell it and take the initiative to reduce the amount of supplies. However, there is only so much of the country's material support capacity, and it is no longer realistic to have a manufacturing capacity at a higher level in the short term, so this matter is very difficult to do.

Chu Nan smiled bitterly twice, stretched out his hand and looked embarrassed: "What else can I do?" Before coming out, Bingwen told me that they had spotted a Japanese fleet heading south from Okinawa Daito Island to join the Philippine Fourth Fleet. Bingwen judged that this might be Yamamoto's plan to lure the enemy, so he had already given up the original plan and was ready to make the plan go south, let Zhang Zhaoyang of the Ryukyus go south overnight and pursue through the Taiwan Strait, while Pan Duheng quickly rushed east to Dadong Island to search for Yamamoto's main force after an illusory shot in Palau. This will not only confuse the Japanese Navy, but also deceive Yamamoto. Because Yamamoto's target was Ryukyu, he was not afraid that Zhang Zhaoyang would attack across the island, but that Pan Duheng would kill him from behind. So simply make a big cross deception, so that Yamamoto mistakenly thinks that it is Pan Duheng who is chasing the bait. When Yamamoto thought that the XN21 battle group was led away, Pan Duheng would be able to cooperate with the four escort aircraft carriers remaining in the Ryukyus and the land aviation of Kume Island to carry out a flanking attack. His hands moved, and he made a cross-handed movement. Finally, he smiled: "I rely on the navy now, if I can't do it this time, then I, the chief of staff, will really have to sell myself." ”

"Hehe, you, you." Song Ziqing was amused, laughed, pushed open the door and got out of the car: "Let's go, see if the president agrees to let you sell yourself." ”――

On the night of April 23, ten o'clock.

In the Keirama Sea, two cruising Black Shark-class submarines, less than three kilometers apart, appear and disappear from time to time when the waves rise and fall. The radar antenna, protruding from the command enclosure, rotated rapidly. Inside the Sailfish, the burly captain Zhou Sen, wearing a vest and pants, lay on the chart while checking the patrol route while constantly wiping his sweat. Directly below the command platform, the first mate is operating the periscope and continues to observe the sea surface. Suddenly, there was a noise in the electronic cabin, and a moment later a hurried voice came out of it: "Sir, 3 nautical miles southeast!" The number is eleven. ”

"Bang." With a bang, Zhou Sen excitedly knocked over the teacup. Lunge rushed to the periscope and twisted the lens to the direction of the radar report. But the sea was too dark to see anything. "No. 1 and No. 2 pressurized water tanks drain, go up and have a look." He commanded the submarine to float in his mouth, but he himself quickly ran into the electronic cabin. The reason is very simple, although there is a ninety percent certainty that it is an enemy ship that appears, there are two of his own destroyer patrol formations cruising in the waters of Kerama, so he needs to confirm again. Fortunately, the experienced radarman quickly deduced from the direction and angle of the target's appearance that the course did not belong to the night patrol range of his own patrol formation.

Knowing that it was not his own fleet, Zhou Sen immediately turned on the siren of the whole ship. The orange-red warning lights flickered rapidly, and a series of passwords echoed in a nervous and orderly manner in the sealed submarine.

"The horizontal rudder is ready to go out into the water at five degrees."

"Right hand rudder 17 degrees, engine room full speed."

"Azimuth 220, the sound of high-speed propellers is approaching!"

"Stop draining! The main horizontal rudder was leveled, and the left rudder was five! Check all the hatches and get ready for an emergency dive! ”

"Torpedo compartments, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 launch tubes are pressurized, waiting for the mine to start charging, ready for attack."

The deliberately muffled voices rose and fell in the narrow hull of the ship, which was shaking, full of pipes and valves, and the dozens of sailors were not only not nervous, but swept away the energy tormented by the stuffiness and fatigue, and worked quickly with excitement. "Release the communication buoy and contact the patrol formation to come and help. Send a signal to the Big Yellow Croaker and let them follow our ship and move to port! "The Black Shark-class submarine is worthy of being the fastest underwater submarine so far, and without waiting for the periscope to find the target, the streamlined hull has been under the command of Zhou Sen, quickly seizing the launch position.

"Captain, come on!" In the first mate's reminder, Zhou Sen immediately squeezed to the periscope, held the armrest tightly, turned it slowly, and read in his mouth: "Quiet!" Turn off the engines, start the electric propulsion, target identification begins to find targets, the number is not clear, there are tall ship islands, five turrets, and so on. He rushed back to the nautical table, opened the thick book of photographs of Japanese Navy ships, and after a quick flip through it, finally found a similar model on the last few pages.

His eyes suddenly brightened: "It's the Tone level!" ”…… (To be continued......)