Episode 180 Walking to the Wheat City

At half past seven o'clock in the morning of 10 April, the plane flew from Pingtung Airport in southern Taiwan. These planes came out early in the morning to patrol in order to search the waters around the entrance of the western Pacific Ocean as carefully as possible before the arrival of the Dimensity detachment and to discover every Japanese ship in time.

The target of the reconnaissance plane was to find a Japanese aircraft carrier or battleship. Both of these were adversaries that could pose a serious threat to the Ming fleet. But so far so far it has gone well, and no one on the radio has said that battleships and aircraft carriers have been found. At the moment, these reconnaissance planes have only encountered a few Japanese seaplanes. The Japanese seaplanes were all single-engine carrier-based aircraft, apparently taking off from large warships.

Neither side had weapons, and it was clear that the Japanese reconnaissance planes wanted to get rid of the Ming reconnaissance planes. However, the Ming reconnaissance planes knew very well that as long as they followed the other side, they could find the Japanese warships. The Japanese seaplanes were all carrier-based aircraft, which were single-engine and had a very limited endurance. Several Ming twin-engine land-based reconnaissance planes followed behind once they discovered the Japanese reconnaissance planes. The seaplane was slow, and it tried its best to get rid of the land-based plane behind it, but it couldn't. It took more than an hour in the sky, and finally returned in the direction of the warship.

In this way, the Ming reconnaissance plane successively discovered three Japanese cruisers. At least two were "tracked" in this way.

As soon as the Ming reconnaissance plane appeared, the Japanese cruisers below immediately fired all their cannons, and the clouds were suddenly covered with a barrage of black clouds. The Ming reconnaissance plane was not verbose, reported the position of the Japanese cruiser by radio, turned around and left.

……

At about nine o'clock in the morning, the Dimensity squadron sailed over the southern tip of Taiwan Island and entered the western Pacific Ocean. Three Japanese cruisers were about 100 kilometers to the east. Now that the general location is known, the Dimensity detachment is naturally reluctant to let go of this first prey. Although his mission is mainly to reconnoitre, he will never let go of the enemy who crashes into the door and can deal with the enemy.

The two aircraft carriers, the Dimensity and the Tianxuan, began to fly their combat fleets. This time took off half of the carrier-based aircraft, a large group of bombers and a large group of fighters. The remaining two groups of aircraft, except for one group of bombers who stayed on the ship, and half of the group's fighters took off to take off for reconnaissance and alert missions. The other half of the fighter group, which was already on guard in the sky, now landed back on the ship to replace and rest.

A group of fighters and a group of bombers flew at the three Japanese cruisers in the east. Because the two Japanese aircraft carriers were not in the port recently, it is estimated that they are circling around the western Pacific, and the Ming army has to be careful. Even if no trace of the Japanese aircraft carrier was found, the group of aircraft that went to the air raid was equipped with fighter escorts.

Twenty minutes later, the first group flew over the Japanese light cruiser "Naka" and immediately launched an air attack. In the next 10 minutes, the other two groups also found the "Kinugasa" and "Aoba" that were fleeing and launched air raids.

The Ming army used a mixed bombing squadron of dive bombers and torpedo bombers, plus a fighter squadron, a total of more than 30 planes to attack a cruiser, and the disparity in strength should be said to be very great. Moreover, the results were not long in coming. The light cruiser "Naka" was sunk, and the heavy cruiser "Kinugasa" was shot and wounded, and thick smoke billowed out, and it seemed that it would soon follow in the footsteps of Naka. And although the Aoba has not yet been shot, it is also a matter of time.

At this moment, a terrifying voice came from the radio headset of the Ming army group:

“…… Abandon existing attacks and return home...... Abandon existing attacks and return home...... The fleet was subjected to air strikes ......"

At this moment, the pilots of the Ming Army, who were fighting vigorously, were all hairy, and each of them was a cold air that went straight to the backbone. Without saying a word, the squadron leader immediately ordered to stop the attack, regroup, and return immediately.

The officers and men of the Ming Dynasty, not only the pilots sent out, but also the officers and men on the fleet, were almost blinded, and they did not know where the large number of Japanese planes in the sky came from. There were more than 100 Japanese planes, half of which were dive bombers and torpedo bombers, and they were indiscriminately bombing the two Ming aircraft carriers at this time.

The two aircraft carriers were pulling out of high speed, dodging in an S-shape on the surface of the sea, and the surrounding water columns rose and fell one after another, dragging out long serpentine white marks behind them. The Sky Xuan had already been hit by a bomb, smoke was billowing from the deck, and the damaged sailors were braving a hail of bullets, dragging long pipes to spray water to extinguish the fire. There is an air battle going on in the sky, but there is a huge disparity in power. The Ming army only had half a fighter squadron in the sky - that is, the two fighter squadrons of the Tianji, and the two fighter squadrons of the Tianxuan were originally patrolling around the guard, and after the attack aircraft group was sent out, these two squadrons landed and rested, and now let alone take off, they haven't even replenished the fuel. Besides, now the aircraft carrier is already running in a serpentine manner in order to avoid bombs and torpedoes, and in this case, the carrier-based aircraft cannot take off at all.

Now it is half a brigade of the Ming army, less than 30 fighters against nearly three times the number of fighters of the Japanese army. There was a tragic scene in the sky over the fleet, the planes of both sides fell down like dumplings, there were planes dragging long smoke everywhere, and from time to time a plane on the sea surface fell to pieces, and the wreckage jumped one after another on the sea surface as if it were splashing in water......

And just below, the situation is even more tragic. The Dimensity had also been hit by a bomb, and the Tianxuan had already been hit by two bombs, and half of the deck had become a sea of fire. One after another, the fighters parked on it lay down in the sea of fire, and some directly dragged the flames into the sea in the S-shaped turn......

Suddenly, there was a loud bang, and a huge column of water rose from the side of the Tianxuan, several stories high. Immediately after the sea water poured down, the hull of the Tianxuan was already tilted slightly to the left.

A torpedo hit the Sky Xuan.

With the massive influx of torpedoes and seawater in the flanks, the Sky Xuan's speed quickly slowed down, and it was no longer flexible to turn and dodge. Immediately, a second torpedo also hit the port side of the Sky Xuan.

The commander of the flagship Dimensity, the commander of the fleet, looked at the Tianxuan in the distance, with thick smoke billowing and half of its body tilted. He knew that the Tianxuan would not be able to save it.

However, it is not far from the port of Kaohsiung. As long as it can pass the current level, as long as the Tianxuan can barely sink, it can let the Tianji drag the Tianxuan away. Although much slower, it only takes a day and a night to get into the protected area of Taiwan's land-based fighters.

But at this moment, the third torpedo hit the Sky Xuan again. The angle at which the Sky Xuan tilted was already very large. Things are clear: in another half an hour, the aircraft carrier will be completely turned on its side.

A wave of despair welled up in his heart, and the commander of the fleet turned his head and ordered:

"Tell the Sky Swirl that they can abandon the ship."

……

Overhead, there were bombs raining down, torpedoes rushing straight at the side, and in the distance were the sailors of the Sky Swirl rushing to jump into the sea from the raging fire...... The fleet commander kept giving the turn order in a deep voice, and at the same time assessed the situation, judging that there was still a chance that the Dimensity would escape from the ghost gate. In fact, he, like the officers and men of the whole fleet, still had a feeling that he didn't understand what was going on. The aircraft carrier formation of the Ming Navy has always been synonymous with "winning the flag" and "fighting with the wind at sea", and they have always sunk Japanese warships with ease, so why did they suddenly fall to the point of being sunk by the Japanese army today?

Finally, a large group of black dots flew from the east, which was a group of Ming military planes that had returned in a hurry—a large group of fighters. There was also a large group of bombers, and after learning that the mothership had been attacked by air, the team leader ordered them to be diverted to Pingtung Airport in Taiwan and landed. The bomber has a large range and can fly there.

Now, the new force of this brigade has joined the battle group, and the battle situation has quickly changed dramatically. Although the Japanese still had more fighters than the Ming army, the disparity was not so great. With the superior performance of the Ming army planes and the superior skills of the Ming army pilots, the Ming army fighter group gradually reversed its decline.

The Japanese bombers began to fall like dumplings. Soon, the Japanese bomber group retreated first and fled the war zone. After fighting for a while, the remaining Japanese fighters thought that they could not take advantage of it, and they had seriously injured a Ming aircraft carrier, and they were about to sink when they saw it, and they had already achieved outstanding results, so they all withdrew from the battle group and returned home.

At this time, the Ming army fleet was almost out of fuel, and they had no intention of chasing and killing, so they all barely landed on the Dimensity. Half of the planes fell into the sea because they ran out of fuel and had no time to land, and the six destroyers around them shuttled back and forth non-stop to salvage and rescue them.

After another half an hour, the flaming Tianxuan finally capsized. The fire was instantly extinguished by the seawater, and a large amount of white gas rose from the sea, and the surrounding sea water was boiling with stinging and boiling. On the surface of the sea within a radius of several hundred meters, a large amount of oil is scattered and floating.

The Tianji detachment received an order from the General Staff of the Nanjing Maritime Force: cancel the original plan and sail to the nearest Kaohsiung port for rest.

……

At the headquarters of the Ming Army in Nanjing, there was also a shock at this time. The Dimensity detachment was ambushed, the aircraft carrier Tianxuan sank, the Dimensity was wounded, and a large number of aircraft were lost...... Such heavy losses have never been suffered by the Navy since the beginning of the war. The entire General Staff of the Straits was in astonishment and reflected, what the hell is going on? Why is this happening?

The room was quiet, no one spoke, except for a staff officer who was pointing at the chart with a pole and whispering to the analysts. Xiong Dingming bit his pencil and leaned back in his chair, listening almost in a daze—I don't know if he was listening.

The staff officer said cautiously:

“…… The distance from this sea area to any airfield of the Japanese army is very long, and it is definitely beyond the range of land-based aircraft. Therefore, in order for the Japanese army to achieve this ambush, they must use aircraft carriers. According to the battle report, the number of Japanese aircraft is very large, about 130-150, so the Japanese must have dispatched the two aircraft carriers, Akagi and Kaga. Not only that, but this number of planes must have sent out the carrier-based planes of the two aircraft carriers at one time, leaving no backup, not even reconnaissance and alert planes......

"Obviously, the Japanese are determined to sink our aircraft carriers this time...... For this reason, they even did not hesitate to put their only two aircraft carriers in an extremely dangerous situation: without the protection of aircraft, they would be powerless, and they could only rely on concealment and luck......"

Xiang Xiaoqiang also sat at the conference table, his face was extremely cold, and he looked like the bottom of a pot. Aircraft carriers are the things he loves and values the most, and now they have been sunk by a quarter in one fell swoop!

However, when he heard this, he suddenly let out a thoughtful "oh".

Xiang Xiaoqiang can now be said to have a high status in the headquarters, even if he just makes a little noise casually, the conference room is quiet, and everyone looks at him. Xiong Dingming also looked at him, and saw that he seemed to remember something, so he asked:

"...... it?"

Xiang Xiaoqiang was stunned, then nodded, and said slowly:

"Someone who dares to take such a big risk, likes to gamble so much, and gambles at a very high level, as far as I know, it is very similar to a person's style......"

"Oh, which one?"

Xiang Xiaoqiang licked his lips and said:

"Vice-Admiral of the Japanese Admiralty, Yamamoto Isorochi."