An hour before Hyakutake Haruyoshi finally recaptured the airfield, on the edge of Kuah Island, the Japanese Navy's Kongo-class battleship and sister ship Haraki battleship, as well as another battleship of the Nagato-class battleship, the Mutsu, a total of three battleships.

Under the cover of six destroyers, it headed southeast along the Solomon Islands.

The Solomon Islands are two parallel island clusters, the southern one is numerous and fragmented, the larger of which is Bougainville, Guadalcanal and San Cristobal, and Bougainville and Kuah are already garrisoned.

There were also several important small islands, Shortland, Vila Lavilla, Korobangla, and New Georgia, which were also home to Japanese troops.

To the north, the string of large islands, St. Vazelle (Choiseul), St. Isabel and Malaita, was so rugged that neither the Japanese nor the Red Guard were stationed.

The average width of the strait between the two strings of islands is about 50 kilometers, and the narrowest point is only more than 10 kilometers, like a water canal, called the "narrow mouth strait".

Rear Admiral Keno Kurita led this battlefleet.

His intentions were against sending precious battleships into the narrow "trough sea" to venture out, because enemy aircraft, submarines, and torpedo boats could threaten the battleships.

This practice of shelling airfields with battleships is not at all in line with the rules of naval warfare.

However, Nagano Shushu strictly ordered him to do it. Nagano's reason for the cultivation is simple, the main forces of the Japanese Navy have been operating near Kuah Island, and without destroying airfields, enemy aircraft will threaten aircraft carriers that are more important than battleships.

"The airfield has become the center of the world's attention, and it must be destroyed. Do a good job, Kurita-kun. This is the conclusion that Nagano Shusei has reached.

Fortunately, today's weather is very convenient for the fleet to move, and the storm is the best cover for the fleet.

Slowly approaching Kuah Island, all the Japanese sailors on the fleet have already entered combat positions.

On the Mutsu, Private Kotaro Koizumi suppressed his reluctance and pretended to be very serious and looked at the chief gun commander standing in front of him.

"Private Koizumi Kotaro, confirm the firing data of our ship on the Guadalcanal airfield."

Koizumi Kotaro knew very well that the gun chief in front of him was an avid war fan.

He served in the navy since his grandparents, and participated in the First Sino-Japanese Naval Battles, the Yellow Sea Naval Battles, and the Battle of Tsushima.

And this gunnern commander is also under the influence of his father, he memorizes all the naval battle tactics well, and requires all his subordinates to keep training.

Every day, boring training such as carrying shells, installing the fuses of shells, ranging, firing, etc.

"A cannon with 100 rounds is not as good as a cannon with 100 shots. Because they waste nine thousand nine hundred shells and require a hundred times more soldiers to maneuver. ”

In Koizumi's ears, he could be heard repeating the words of Admiral Heihachiro Togo every day. It seems that he was born into the world for naval battles.

Koizumi Kotaro was not an avid war fan like the gunslinger, nor did he burn and loot in the land of China like his brother and father, although it brought his family a lot of honor.

He has little interest in war, but loves all kinds of sea creatures and fantasizes about becoming a marine zoologist in the future.

If it weren't for all college students who had to be called up to join the army at any time, he wouldn't have chosen to join the army.

Because he knows his ability, he is not a doctor, nor a physicist, and what he learns, he is destined to become a soldier who goes to the battlefield.

So he decided to join the army, did not need to be called up by the state, and chose the navy, which seemed to him to be cleaner, because he did not want to be in the army, and then go and slaughter unarmed civilians.

If he wanted to be a soldier, he would rather choose to be a fleet that fought the enemy head-on, and he loved the sea, and he also liked warships.

This is also the reason why he served on the Michinoku, and with a higher education, he quickly became a relatively professional technical soldier.

But this was also the beginning of Koizumi's troubles, because he had a gun chief who was a war fan.

"Kiyooka Masagu, the firing range of our ship at the enemy's airfield?"

"Twenty thousand meters when entering the shooting. The course was seventy-five, the speed was eighteen knots, the firing section was 15,000 kilometers, the firing was forty-five minutes, and the exit was 21,000 kilometers. ”

"Use projectiles and angles?"

"Type 91 armor-piercing projectile, destroying the airport runway, firing angle 15 degrees; Zero incendiary bomb, timed fuse, three-type grenade, ricochet, delayed fuse, destroys aircraft, and has an angle of fire of 30 degrees. ”

Koizumi Kotaro didn't like the boring data, and although he knew it by heart, it was based on the fact that it was not difficult for him.

These simple data are simpler than intermediate mathematics, but for him, they are quite boring and unchallenging.

Because he felt that he was actually a robot, like an automatic loader on a school hour report, mechanically loading shells into the barrel, then taking them out, and loading them back in......

In fact, the Mutsu has an automatic loader, but unfortunately, in a small accident before going to sea, the automatic loader was damaged, and after simple repairs, it would often fail, which made the shell loading of this main gun manual.

Now it's not a problem to shoot the elements or reload them manually.

What Koizumi wants most now is to let the war end quickly, and then continue to complete his studies and do what he really wants to do.

At this moment, the fleet has left the waters of Santa Isabel Island and is approaching the war zone of Kuah Island at high speed.

Everyone in the fleet didn't know that the target of the Kuah Island Airport, Hyakutake Haruyoshi was preparing to snatch it into his own hands.

In the last confirmation telegram sent to Kuah, "Hyakutake Haroyoshi" gave Awata a clear recovery, and everything went according to the original plan.

Awata Keyo didn't know that the connection between the two was a huge scam.

The original plan was for the battleship fleet to arrive, cooperate with the army to capture the airfield, and then open a landing ground to allow the weapons and supplies on the transport ships to land on the island.

However, communications were controlled from the start, and both Hyakutake Haruyoshi and Awata Keio were engaged in tactical discussions with their own enemies.

If the Japanese Navy and Army can really establish a joint command and put aside all internal interests, it will be very difficult for the Red Guard Corps to set up such a deception.

However, the contradictions within the Japanese army and navy have given the Red Guard Corps the best chance, and the impending disaster can only be said to be cause and effect.