Degu misestimated the ability of the cadets led by Qi Minghao to maneuver ships, and Wavell and Phillips also made this mistake. When Qi Minghao insisted that the cadet soldiers alone control the seven large ships of the Far East Fleet participating in the operation, they were unanimously opposed by the two people. Priffith's attitude at that time was no different from that of Degu, of course, because people were here to help after all, so his words were much more tactful: "The maneuvering of a large warship is not so easy. Well, in order not to delay the rescue operation, I will give you three days to try it out! ”

The time was exactly three days, and the "Richelieu" was sailed out of the military port by Qi Minghao and them. Phillips learned the news a little later, and the British were dumbfounded. There are other reasons why Wavell and Phillips did not let the Chinese control the seven large warships of the Far Eastern Fleet - after learning Ouyang Yun's domineering and "shamelessness" in Bangkok, Wavell was worried that the Chinese would forcibly occupy the Far Eastern Fleet if the rescue operation was unsuccessful, so in the spirit of prevention, decided to firmly control these large ships in his own hands no matter what.

He was even more shocked when he received Phillips's report, and blurted out if Phillips was dazzled—"How is that possible?" The Cadet Army, the Cadet Army is just the warlord armament of China - too, it's incredible......" is a bit messy, and Wavell seems a little incoherent.

It was not only Degu and Phillips who were shocked, but also the British and French naval officers and sailors under his command. Thinking at different levels, the low-level officers and men have simpler ideas; they originally looked at Qi Minghao and their ship with the mentality of watching Chinese jokes, but now when they see that they really drove the battleship "Richelieu" out of the country, they are stunned one by one and only look at admiration.

The Richelieu was followed by the Richelieu, then two heavy cruisers, then three frigates—seven battleships left the dock one after another, circled and returned, and when night fell, and the last frigate to return made a loud whistle before berthing, the officers and men of the Royal Navy of Great Britain, on the decks of several ships of the Z fleet, were finally completely convinced.

Wednesday, July 2nd, cloudy.

At about eight o'clock in the morning, Koizumi Toshiichiro had just taken his seat in the office of the Japanese Army Headquarters in Singapore, and his newly appointed adjutant, a young man named Hatono Shaotoshi, hurriedly walked in with a telegram in his hand. "Your Excellency, Lieutenant General Yukichi Yashiro has telegraphed that the British have bombed our Mawlamyine frontline positions again," he said, presenting a telegram to Koizumi.

Koizumi glanced at it and frowned: "It's cloudy today, and there is a strong wind of more than four levels, which is not suitable for aviation operations - are the British crazy?" ”

"Your Excellency, Lieutenant General Yashiro has once again requested tactical guidance from the Aviation, you see?"

Although Yamamoto Isoroku emphasized that there were no hard military targets when he left, Koizumi had this idea for some reasons, so he frequently mobilized troops during this period, the biggest of which was the mobilization of more than 100,000 Indonesian National Independence Army to the Mawlamyine area.

A large number of Japanese troops were assembled in Mawlamyine, and Wavell felt that the Japanese army would have a major attack in the near future, and he had the idea of containing the Japanese air force in the vicinity of Singapore to increase the insurance coefficient of the rescue operation, so he began to frequently dispatch fighter planes to bomb the Japanese positions in Mawlamyine on the 29th of last month, and it is now the fourth day of the air raid.

Compared to the infantry, which was about to collapse at the touch of a button, the British air force was much more combat-capable. Of course, with the quality of the Japanese soldiers, it would be unrealistic for Wavell to break their will with this level of air attack alone. Wavell must have seen this, so he targeted the air strikes against the indigenous Indonesians.

As it turned out, Wavell was the right choice. No, the air raid has only been carried out for three days, and no less than 20,000 Indonesians have been killed by bombing. As a result, Yashiro Yukichi, who originally wanted to repay Koizumi's kindness, had to send frequent telegrams asking for tactical guidance from the air force—with the experience of that time and space, Koizumi was a staunch supporter of the policy of "using razing to defeat razing." He ingeniously let the Second and Third Armies of the Marine Corps go on leave, but the Indonesian National Independence Army, which had only formed a combat strength of nearly 100,000, was transferred to the front line, in order to achieve the greatest goal at the minimum cost. Unfortunately, the performance of the Indonesians was so disappointing, at least not yet that of the North Korean puppet army fighting in China and the Chinese puppet army serving as a caretaker in North Korea.

This is not too surprising, Koizumi gently knocked on the table with his right hand, raised his eyebrows and instructed Hatono Shaomin: "Give me the call from Yamabe Daisa." ”

"Hello!"

The phone was quickly connected, and Koizumi took the microphone from Hatono and said, "Yamabe-kun?" I'm Tonichiro Koizumi. ”

"Exactly what do you command, Your Excellency?"

"How's the Zero Brigade doing? Are you still satisfied with its performance? ”

"Satisfied, quite satisfied. Your Excellency, as far as I know, compared with the Cadet Army's White-sided Dolphin, the Zero Type has similar performance except for a slight lack of armor protection, and its flexibility is greater than that of the White-sided Dolphin. Your Excellency, I am now very much looking forward to fighting with the Cadet Army Air Force," Yamabegawa said in a three-key voice.

"In order to ensure sufficient flexibility, a certain amount of armor protection must be sacrificed. Yamabe-kun, I'm going to give you a mission now! ”

"Your Excellency, please give the order."

"The British air force is recklessly attacking our Mawlamyine frontline positions, and your Kisarazu Air Wing will immediately move to meet it, Yamabe-kun, I look forward to your good news!"

"Your Excellency, please wait and see, with the Zero War, the British are not our opponents at all."

Yamabegawa Sanjian emerged from the "Hainan Raiders" and has received great attention from Yamamoto and Koizumi since then. Some time ago, it happened that the commander of the Kisarazu Air Force committed suicide because of the killing of Zhou Fohai, and Yamamoto promoted him. Soon after Yamabe was promoted to commander of the Kisarazu Air Force, he accepted the Zero Battle of the Navy of a brigade, and during this time, he devoted his main energy to the training of the Zero Brigade, which is why Koizumi asked questions like that just now.

At about ten o'clock, Yamabe personally piloted a Zero War with the number 0003 and led a total of 59 fighters of the Kisarazu Air Force to fly northwest. As these 60 fighters flew out of Singapore, the Japanese and Western Expeditionary Fleet at this time was left with only a few dozen fighters carried by the aircraft carriers Fengxiang and Longxiang in the vicinity of Singapore.

(Old Poison: Ten More Qi)