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Osaka Bay is a sea area surrounded by the Osaka Plain and Awaji Island on the Pacific coast of the southern island of Honshu. It is a relatively closed bay bordered by the Kii Peninsula to the east, Awaji Island to the west, the Seto Inland Sea to the northwest via the Akashi Strait, and the Okinoshima Island and Jinoshima Shoi Waterway to the south. It is roughly northeast to southwest, about 60 kilometers long and 20 kilometers wide. The water depth is nearly 20 meters in the eastern half and 60 meters near the north shore of Awaji Island in the west.

Kobe was an important shipbuilding base for Japan after the Meiji Restoration, and it was a state-of-the-art shipyard run by Kawasaki Heavy Industries, which was able to produce all the warships that Japan needed. After the destruction of the Japanese government-run Kure Naval Yard, Yokosuka Naval Yard and Sasebo Naval Yard by the Chinese Navy four years ago, the Japanese government began to support private shipyards on a large scale for financial reasons. Kawasaki Heavy Industries and Hitachi Shipyard, among others, are private shipyards that have benefited.

In order to protect the Kobe shipyard, the Japanese Admiralty specially built two fully enclosed reinforced concrete gun emplacements around the Kobe shipyard. These paitai, which are more than two meters thick, can defend against the bombardment of large-caliber naval guns. Equipped with more than 200 naval guns, including 20 mm caliber, the defense here is second only to Tokyo Bay.

"His Royal Highness Prince Weiren of Arisugawa Palace, the fleet has been shattered!" A somewhat thin, dark-skinned middle-aged admiral in Japan reported to Prince Arisugawanomiya Weihito, who is now the supreme commander of the Japanese Navy.

"Your Excellency Junyoshi Kawamura, order your troops to prepare for battle! The attack of the Shina people is about to begin! Prince Arisugawa Palace Weihito said. He did not take the destruction of the remnants of the Japanese fleet in his eyes. Once Japan is finished, there will be no point in the navy, and as the emperor's loyal warriors, death is the best destination for these people.

"Yes, Your Highness! The two heavy artillery brigades of the army have also entered the battlefield! Junyoshi Kawamura said.

"The army's horse manure, their heavy howitzers, with a range of less than ten kilometers, are not a threat to the Chinese navy at all. Let them withdraw from the battle and prepare to resist the landing of the Chinas later! Prince Arisugawa Palace Weiren said disdainfully.

"Your Royal Highness, the Army's heavy artillery brigade is participating in the war, this is requested by His Excellency Katsura Taro!" Junyoshi Kawamura said.

"Then let them go!" Prince Weiren of Arisugawa Palace said helplessly. The fleet was wiped out, and his position declined sharply. Even though he is the prince of Japan, he no longer has much status in the cabinet.

"Attention to all ships, give priority to attacking the batteries of small Japan, and replace all armor-piercing shells. Finally, destroy the shipyards of the Japanese, and as for the two battleships that have already been launched, be careful not to blow them up. When the war is over, this will be ours! Lieutenant General Li Haitao ordered.

Two 'Sichuan-class' battleships and three 'Chengdu-class' heavy cruisers lined up in two battle lines and began to launch artillery bombardments at a distance of 10,000 meters from the port of Kobe. Japan was clearly well guarded, and there was no need to risk light cruisers and destroyers to avoid unnecessary losses.

"Boom! Rumble! "One after another, shells weighing more than 300 kilograms, with huge kinetic energy, smashed into the coastal defense batteries of the Japanese Navy. Although these batteries have rough skin and thick flesh, it is difficult to withstand the bombardment of armor-piercing shells of this caliber. If a battery is hit, even if it will not be blasted, the shock wave from the huge explosion is enough to kill the Japanese artillery inside. Not to mention that two or three artillery pieces can easily destroy the coastal defense batteries of the Japanese Navy.

When the Chinese naval fleet attacked, the Japanese naval shore defense fleet also launched a counterattack. More than 200 cannons of various calibers from 2 batteries all began shelling. For a while, it rained on the sea, and a series of skyrocketing water columns exploded.

It's just that, compared with naval warships, shore defense batteries have a congenital disadvantage. The shore defense batteries are fixed, and it is very troublesome to adjust the design orientation, which is far less easy than the naval guns. At the same time, stationary batteries, which are always more likely to be hit than battleships.

"Boom! Rumble! Rumble! "The artillery battle was very fierce, China and Japan came and went, one by one, the shells made a sharp whistling in the sky, and the people screamed and smashed down, bursting out with great power.

The warships of the Chinese Navy are constantly moving on the surface of the sea, as if passing through a rain of bullets. Although only two 05-mm guns on two 'Sichuan-class' battleships and two 20-mm guns on three 'Chengdu-class' heavy cruisers were fired, the power caused far exceeded the more than 200 shore defense guns of the Japanese Navy's coastal defense forces. The Japanese Navy's coastal defense artillery is difficult to pose a threat to fast-moving targets, while the Chinese Navy's warships are clear about the Japanese Navy's coastal defense batteries one by one.

"Your Royal Highness, Fort No. 2 has been destroyed!" Less than twenty minutes into the start of the battle, Junyoshi Kawamura reported to Prince Arisu Kawanomiya Weihito.

Prince Arisugawa Miyahito was expressionless, just using the binoculars in his hand, quietly watching the warships of the Chinese Navy that were recklessly on the sea. However, if you look closely, you can see that the knuckles of his hands holding the telescope are already white from excessive force. From this can be the anger in his heart.

The fierce battle was still going on, and by 11 o'clock, three of the batteries of the Japanese naval coastal defense units had been destroyed, while the Chinese Navy, only the battleship 'Xikang' was hit by a 55-mm shell, and did not cause substantial damage. The hard armor of the battleship provided very good protection for the battleship.

As more and more batteries were destroyed, the firepower of the Japanese Navy's coastal defense forces gradually thinned, and the threat to the Chinese Navy became even smaller. In order to hit the target more accurately, at 12 o'clock at noon, when there were only 5 shore defense batteries left of the Japanese Navy, the Chinese Navy shortened the distance to 8,000 meters.

"Boom! Rumble! Rumble! "Suddenly, from within the city of Kobe, a series of dense shelling erupted, and a large number of shells flew from the sky and smashed into the sea. The Chinese Navy was caught off guard, and several warships were shot. Fortunately, these shells were all high-explosive shells, and although they caused some casualties to the Chinese Navy, they did not cause any damage to the battleships covered in thick armor.

"Stand back! Back 10,000 meters away! Lieutenant General Li Haitao hurriedly ordered. He also thought that this was a trap for the Japanese.

"Chief of Staff! It's a high-explosive shell, a 55-mm heavy howitzer of the Japanese Army! Brigadier General Zhao Hongcai, the captain of the 'Sichuan', said.

"Stand back first, and then teach these little Japan a lesson!" Li Haitao ordered.

Soon, after re-withdrawing 10,000 meters, the Japanese Army's heavy artillery had no way to take the Chinese Navy, and the Chinese Navy began to take revenge.

The three heavy cruisers turned their guns and aimed at the city of Kobe, where they had just fired their guns. Whether there are civilians there or not is no longer in the picture.

"Boom! Rumble! The 20-millimeter guns of the three heavy cruisers opened fire one after another, and one after another, high-explosive shells of nearly 300 kilograms, flew quickly towards the city of Kobe. Ten seconds later, a series of violent explosions rang out in downtown Kobe. Every explosion of a 20-mm shell can create a large crater with a diameter of several tens of meters, and every qiē within 100 meters of the surrounding shell will be destroyed. Because the Japanese Army hid the heavy artillery brigade in the urban area, in the shelling of the Chinese Navy, not only the heavy artillery brigade of the Japanese Army paid a heavy price, but also the houses in the urban area of Kobe were also destroyed. The fire caused by the explosion of the high-explosive bomb quickly spread to all directions. Japanese wooden houses are always very prone to large-scale losses in war.

"Your Royal Highness, the people of China have launched an artillery bombardment on Kobe!" Junyoshi Kawamura said with a look of horror.

"How many civilians are there in Kobe?" Prince Arisugawa Miyahito asked.

"Most of them have been evacuated, but more than 100,000 people remain in the city. These damn people, they actually attacked civilians, they are simply inferior to beasts! Junyi Kawamura scolded hatefully.

"Those damn guys in the Army, they want to use civilians as meat shields!" A trace of anger flashed on the face of Prince Weiren of Arisugawa Palace.

Using the civilians of Kobe as meat shields was exactly the plan of the Japanese War Department. However, I did not expect that the Chinese Navy did not pay any attention to benevolence, righteousness and morality at all, and immediately launched a counterattack after discovering the position of the Japanese Army's heavy artillery brigade. Anyway, there are no good people among the Japanese.

The battle was fierce, and the two heavy artillery brigades of the Japanese Army suffered heavy losses under the bombardment of three heavy cruisers of the Chinese Navy. In the end, the battle had to be withdrawn. At that time, there were less than twenty of their hundreds of 55-mm heavy howitzers left. As for the entire urban area of Kobe, it has become a sea of fire, and countless Japanese civilians have been killed in this shelling. According to Japanese government statistics after the incident, 100,000 people died in Kobe in the shelling, and hundreds of thousands more were left homeless. Of course, this is entirely due to the fact that the Japanese government is deliberately exaggerating in order to win sympathy from the international community.

The assault on Kobe continued until two o'clock in the afternoon. All the shore defense batteries of the Japanese Navy were destroyed. Eventually, the Chinese Navy launched an artillery bombardment on the Kobe shipyard and did not leave until it had been blown into ruins.

After that, the Chinese Navy did not leave Osaka Bay immediately, but launched an attack on other Japanese cities in Osaka Bay, and it was not until the night that the fleet left Osaka Bay from the Kii Suido after all the coastal industrial areas of Japanese cities along the Osaka Bay were destroyed.

PS: The fourth update is here! Tomorrow's three watches, no update in the early morning! Ask for a subscription, ask for a monthly pass! (To be continued.) Please search, the novel is better and faster!)