Once, Toshiichiro Koizumi said to Yamamoto Isoroku: The empire does not lack brave and warlike admirals, but if you want to confront the behemoth of the United States, our existing officer reserves are far from enough.

This was also a concern for Yamamoto, who, in this operation, used a large number of mid- and lower-ranking officers as front-line commanders and gave them considerable authority.

The combined fleet of the Japanese Navy had a bad year, first being bombed and sinking the aircraft carriers "Akagi" and "Flying Dragon" during the "let's sink" operation of the academy army, and then causing the "Kaga" aircraft carrier to suffer huge damage during the Nagasaki incident.

No matter in terms of displacement or aircraft capacity, the "Soryu" aircraft carrier is the backbone of the combined fleet, and for this reason, it is not difficult to understand that the new captain of the "Soryu" Yamada Definition Osa is proud. Prior to this, there had been no examples of Japanese troops participating in battles at night, either by army or navy, but this did not affect Yamada's ambitions. His Excellency Yamamoto is aggressively promoting and appointing capable young and middle-aged officers, and this joint operation on land and sea is an opportunity for him to get ahead. When Matsui Ishone asked him for help as a lieutenant general, hoping to get fire support from the Soryu aircraft carrier fleet in tonight's operation, he agreed without even thinking about it. During this time, the performance of the Canglong aircraft carrier fleet was excellent, not only completing the air raid mission assigned to him by Yamamoto 56 with quality and quantity, but also not falling behind in the confrontation with the Cadet Army Air Force. Because of the radar to provide early warning, Yamada led the Canglong aircraft carrier fleet to cruise along the coasts of Guangdong and Fujian, like a ghost, repeatedly bombing and airraiding the coastal military points of these two provinces, and has become a devil that makes the coastal residents of these two places smell and change. Just a few days before Matsui sent the telegram, Yamada had just discussed the idea of launching an air raid at night with his staff officers, and worked out a feasible plan. And now, because the South China Front is on the ground to attract the attention of the cadet army, in his opinion, this is the best opportunity to test his plan of air raids at night. One moment he had just sent a telegram to Matsui Ishine confirming his participation in the war, and the next moment, he asked his adjutant to summon the captains of the ships to a meeting, and under his strong initiative, a complete "night attack" plan was freshly released, and then there was this air raid that Jiang Guangnai and Shen Guanghan were puzzled by.

I have to admit that Yamada is bold enough to define. He let more than a dozen gunboats and frigates with a displacement of two or three thousand tons under his command sail from the far sea to the southeast coast of Fujian at great speed, while he led the main fleet to slowly follow. This made the coastal radar soldiers of the Fourth Army unable to react for a while, and by the time they reacted and began to report to Lu Shang, the fleet of light gunboats and frigates of the Canglong aircraft carrier fleet was only a dozen kilometers away from the coast of Fujian. Then, a scene that stunned the radar crews appeared - after the Japanese ship approached the coast, it fired flares instead of artillery shells. At this time, the main fleet led by Yamada was only about 30 kilometers away from the coastline, so under the illumination provided by the flares, the Canglong released more than 30 fighters in waves, and after these fighters took off, they immediately began to bomb the military and civilian facilities on the outskirts of Fuding City indiscriminately under the guidance of the flares fired by the gunboats and frigates.

The Fourth Army was responsible for defending the Fuding line with the 10th Division and the 2nd Fujian Guard Division under the command of Liu Yuqing. The sound of the air raid by Yamada was so loud that even Jiang Guangnai and Shen Guanghan, who were far away in Fu'an, were alarmed, and Liu Yuqing naturally couldn't sit still. At that time, he was inspecting the troops on the front line, when he suddenly heard someone shouting "division seat" from afar, and stopped and waited for a while, only to find that it was a staff officer of the division headquarters who was chasing him. Liu Yuqing was strict in governing the army, and he didn't like his subordinates to be reckless, he was about to ask why he was so flustered, but he heard the sound of artillery from the south. He turned his head to see the trajectory of a large number of shells, and then, when the staff officer was out of breath to relay the report of the radar soldier, the shells exploded high in the air to the south of them, and began to burn violently—he realized that they were flares.

"The little devil is going to attack!" Liu Yuqing immediately made a judgment, and then did not continue to inspect the troops, but directly asked to use the walkie-talkie to call Xu Chunfu, the commander of the battery on the front line of the Fuding coast, and ask him to be prepared, and once he found that the Japanese ships were involved in the attack, he would immediately return fire. Then he sent a telegram to Fu Xiangfu, the commander of the 28th Brigade stationed at the forefront, asking him to pay attention to vigilance, and at the very end, he sent a telegram to Zhu Zaiting, chief of staff and commander of the 29th Brigade of Xue, asking him to do a good job in the anti-artillery work of the rear troops. After three consecutive phone calls, Liu Yuqing's mind was completely calm, and after thinking about it, he was about to call Jiang Guangnai, but he heard the roar of fighter engines from the south. Then, more flares rose into the air and actually hit him in the head.

Seeing this, the commander of his guard battalion was willing to let him continue to stay in such a dangerous place, waved his hand, and drove him towards the headquarters with a few guards.

The first round of bombing by more than 30 enemy planes targeted the two places where the artillery of the Cadet Corps was most likely to lurk in the early days, and under the guidance of the flares, the Japanese planes flew by with a roar, and the bombs fell like hailstones, instantly blowing up the two woodlands into a raging fire.

Without waiting for the Japanese planes to turn around and carry out a second round of bombing, the air defense units of the Fourth Army opened fire. At the same time, the communication soldier who followed Liu Yuqing handed the microphone to Liu Yuqing and said, "Master, Jiang Lao's phone." ”

Liu Yuqing ordered his subordinates to put him down and took the phone.

Jiang Lao is Ouyang Yun's honorific title for Jiang Guangnai, and after it spread, whether it was an officer or a soldier, when Jiang Guangnai was called again, he continued to use this title.

On the other end of the microphone, Jiang Guangnai's voice was a little hurried: "Is it Xianting?" ”

"Yes."

"The air defense alarm has been sounded on our side, is there an invasion of enemy aircraft?"

"Yes, Jiang Lao, it seems that the Japanese will launch a big offensive tonight!"

After a pause, Jiang Guangnai said viciously: "Let them come, the Second Special Artillery Brigade is ready to fight." The specific timing of the attack, you grasp it! ”

"Yes. Jiang Lao, I'm not worried about the ground offensive of the little devils, it's just this sea. Please contact Commander Tie, if you can't curb the bombing of the Japanese army, the 2nd Special Artillery Brigade will attack, the risk will be too great! ”

"Okay, I'll contact you from the Air Force, if you have any new information over there, you must tell me as soon as possible!"

"Yes!"