"Boom...... Rumble! ....." The explosion of depth charges exploded around the submarine, and although it did not hit the submarine, the powerful shock wave still staggered the submarine like a baby in swaddling clothes. Everyone grabbed the object that stabilized their bodies, and the only thing they could do at this point was to pray that their luck would not be so bad that they were hit by a depth charge.

"Order, dive to a depth of three hundred meters!" "Yes, three hundred meters deep!" As the tank filled the water, the pitch-black submarine slowly but surely continued to dive into the deep sea. Above their heads, five destroyers formed a circle, and depth charges rained down like dumplings.

Not far from them, the battleship 'Fuso' was on fire, and countless sailors were desperately rescuing the damage. Three of the six torpedoes fired by Ryuyu just now hit the middle and tail of the port side of the Fuso, causing the Fuso to suffer heavy damage, and a large amount of fuel oil came out, floating on the surface of the ocean like a big whale about to die.

Jizaburo Ozawa, whose face was covered in blood, didn't care about bandaging, he stood on the bridge and commanded the sailors to rescue the ship, and at his feet lay a corpse with his head sunken to one side, he was Fukuda Nakasa, who was hit on the head by a hard object scattered everywhere when he was hit on the head by the strong shock of the explosion just now. But at this moment, Ozawa Jizaburo was not in the mood to pay attention to this former loyal subordinate, and now there was only one thought in his heart, that is, he must not let this 30,000 and 600-ton battleship sink in his own hands.

'Fight the fire, everybody have to put out the fire!' The Fuso must not sink into our hands! Jizaburo Ozawa's voice echoed through the megaphone on the ship...... Ozawa's efforts paid off, and the 'Fuso' was finally brought under control by the efforts of 1,351 sailors on the ship, and the hull of the ship stopped tilting, and it seems that the 'Fuso' was saved, and although more than 300 sailors were killed for this, it was all worth it in Ozawa's opinion.

When the 'Fuso' put out the fire, several destroyers who had gone out to search for submarines also returned to the formation in a huff, and during the nearly hour-long attack, they did not even touch the fur of the submarine, which made the hearts of the angry destroyer captains feel even more gloomy.

After seeing the destroyer return, Ozawa Jizaburo did not hesitate to give the order to return, it will be dark in a few hours, maybe how many submarines are coming nearby, at that time it was the world of submarines, he didn't want to drive a battered warship in the dark night with those undersea killers to play hide and seek, this is not what a battleship captain should do.

The battleship 'Fuso' drove away, scarred and wounded, without firing even a single shot of the twelve 360 mm guns it was equipped with. In the deep sea of three hundred meters, the sonar soldier who had been listening to the Japanese fleet couldn't suppress the joy in his heart, and said in a low voice: "Report, the Japanese formation has retreated, and the speed is thirteen knots!" ”

Huzi, who had been holding on to the handrail beside him, wiped the cold sweat on his forehead, and scolded in a low voice: "Damn, it's better to have less fun with such exciting things in the future, if you hadn't dived to a depth of three hundred meters earlier, everyone would have seen the Sea Dragon King together." ”

The first mate on the side also nodded with apprehension, if it weren't for the fact that most of the submarines in the world now have a depth limit of 200 meters, and none of the Japanese expected that their opponent would be lurking at the bottom of the sea at 300 meters, with the density of the depth charges just now, the chances of them escaping are really very slim.

Shaking off the vest that had already been soaked, Huzi ordered in a low voice: "The submarine floats up, the direction is 302, and at the same time notify the rest of the submarines, return to their respective areas and continue patrolling......."

Since receiving eight new '

After the 'class submarines, Huzi took these eight new submarines and the original four UIB-type ocean-going submarines, a total of 12 submarines, divided into two teams and engaged in unlimited submarine warfare on the line from Peter the Great Bay to the distant mountains of Korea, and attacked Japanese merchant ships. Under the command of Long Yu, they took the wolf pack tactics they learned in Jiang Qiang to the extreme.

The main point of the wolf pack tactic is to immediately send a signal once the enemy ship is discovered, and other submarines will quickly rush to attack in a group after receiving the signal, and quickly disperse and evacuate after succeeding. Usually each group consists of about six submarines, with an interval of 10 to 20 nautical miles, and is deployed perpendicular to the sea area through which the enemy's convoy must pass. The submarine of the escort convoy was first discovered, and the location, course, speed and composition of the target were immediately reported to the shore command post, and at the same time, it was followed closely and continuously reported. The shore command post directs and guides the boat group to assemble in a certain sea area in front of the target route, occupy an attack position, and simultaneously carry out torpedo attacks from the water at night. The submarine then dives underwater to avoid the counterattack of the escort ships; At the same time, the reloaded torpedoes again rushed to the front of the target course, occupied the next attack position, and attacked again at night.

In the two months from April to June, the submarine brigade in Heilongjiang sank a total of 38 merchant ships of 150,000 tons. Although these losses did not hurt the Japanese transportation industry, they were disgusting, and the psychological pressure it caused to the Japanese shipowners was also heavy, after all, no one wanted to be sent to the bottom of the sea in the middle of the night by a batch of torpedoes that did not come from nowhere to feed the sharks.

The fierce attack of the submarine group made the Japanese merchant ships almost frightened, and the call of the Japanese business community for the navy to send a large number of warships to escort the ship became louder and louder. This also gives the Japanese government a headache, large-scale armed escort is an extremely money-burning thing, just the daily consumption of fuel is an astronomical amount, Japan is not a big resource country, those precious oil are bought with precious foreign exchange, plus since last year, Japan's main export products raw silk export share has been Heilongjiang strong silk stockings and nylon suppressed to a ridiculously low level, and the loss of the northeast is even worse for Japan, If every batch of merchant ships had to be escorted in this way, it would not be long before the Japanese navy would go bankrupt.

The Japanese Government, which was embarrassed and angry, had no choice but to issue an ultimatum to Heilongjiang through a clear telegram, saying that if Heilongjiang did not stop this despicable submarine warfare, the Japanese Government would have to take countermeasures and launch a submarine offensive against all the merchant ships in China.

In this regard, our Wang Yizhe's attitude is: Whatever you want, anyway, I really don't have much demand for overseas, and most of them are foreigners.

The Japanese government had no choice but to send a telegram to the Japanese troops in China that it was advisable to raise food and materials from the occupied areas on their own.

As soon as this order came, the senior generals of the Japanese army in China were bitter. What is self-financing, isn't it plundering the occupied territories? Originally, it was nothing to do this, the occupying army is not here to learn from others to do good deeds, and if they don't search the occupied area, it will be too sorry for the word occupying army. But now is an extraordinary time, since Chahar's Ninth Theater regained the northeast, these two months have been busy with troop rest and redeployment without launching an offensive against the Japanese army in North China. However, Jiang Qiang was not idle, and in the past two months, 600,000 heavy troops had been deployed on the front line of Tangshan, Beiping, and Baoding, and he also announced to the outside world that he would recruit troops on a large scale again.

Under these circumstances, the Japanese garrison in China really did not dare to stir up the nerves that had already become very sensitive in the occupied areas, and if they were to go on a rampage again, this powder keg might explode at any time and blow the Japanese to pieces.

General Sugiyama Moto, the commander of the North China Dispatch Army, who was under the most pressure, sent a telegram to the base camp three meals a day, requesting conscription and ammunition supplies. In the message, Sugiyama claimed that the telegram from the base camp was extremely unreasonable, and that it was an extraordinary time, and that due to the defeat of the Kwantung Army, there were more and more people in the occupied area who were hostile to the Imperial Army, and that if it further stimulated the sensitive nerves of the people in the occupied area, it would cause unpredictable consequences. In addition, Sugiyama asked for another transfer of troops from Central China to reinforce North China, which has already resisted the threat from the north.

Originally, the original intention of the base camp was to let the Japanese army in China reduce the pressure on the homeland, but now the two dispatch troops are reaching out to the base camp to ask for troops and supplies, which can make Prince Zaihito Miyaji, who is the chief of the general staff, very angry, and scolded Sugiyama Moto and Shunroku Hata in public as two fools who can only reach out to the empire and ask for things.

However, the problem must be solved, and the base camp in desperation had no choice but to continue to dispatch materials to the two dispatch troops in China, but fortunately, the number of submarines in Chahar is still relatively small, and the tentacles cannot reach the Yellow Sea, which can be regarded as a great luck in misfortune.

At the same time that Jiang Qiang was busy worrying about the naval academy, the Japanese base camp was also worried about the future of Japan, and at the end of June, the Japanese Government convened a series of high-level imperial meetings chaired by Emperor Hirohito to discuss the future of Japan. However, due to some differences, the two-day meeting was not formally decided, and today is the third meeting.

Hirohito looked at the ministers below who were still arguing, holding the imperial sword carved with chrysanthemums handed down from the emperor's royal family tightly in his hand, and his brows were furrowed. To be honest, he was tired of the quarrels at the Imperial Council, but the outcome of this meeting would be related to the future survival of Japan, and he could not afford to remain here impatiently.

At the meeting, a group of generals headed by Tada Jun planned to negotiate peace with the Chongqing government, withdraw all their troops in China, and throw all their forces in the direction of the South Seas, and instead attack Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand, Indonesia, and other countries, where there were oil, rubber, minerals, and other resources that Japan urgently needed, and it was expected that the resistance encountered there would be insignificant.

On the other hand, a group of generals headed by Hideki Tojo strongly advocated peace talks with the Chongqing government in order to keep the current occupied areas, and could make certain concessions to gradually withdraw the troops from North China. However, we must not make any concessions to Fujian, Guangdong and other places.

So one said that they would withdraw completely, and the other said that they would maintain a limited occupation, and the two sides were at loggerheads, but one thing was the same, that is, both sides maintained a high degree of agreement on the strategy of advancing southward.

"No, those territories in China were fought down at the expense of hundreds of thousands of soldiers of the empire, and we must not give up so easily, otherwise the hard work of our hundreds of thousands of soldiers for decades will be in vain." Hideki Tojo's plain pale face turned red.

"Don't give up?" Tada Jun sneered and looked at Hideki Tojo, "Is Tojo-kun sure that those people will automatically give up those territories?" You must know that it is not three years ago, and with the army of General Tang Juwu in Shanghai eyeing you by the side, can we have the ability to keep those territories? War cannot be won by just a few slogans, it needs strength, not lip service! ”

"How dare you say I'm playing tricks! What qualifications do you have to say about me if you are a defeated man! Hideki Tojo's face turned from red to purple, and he stared at Tada Jun tightly, estimating that if it weren't for the emperor's presence, he would have staged a full martial arts here.

"Hmph, I lost the battle, but no matter how defeated I am, I can't compare to Tojo-kun losing 300,000 troops in one go!" Not to be outdone, Tada Jun is not to be outdone.

"Yaga! You bastard! Hideki Tojo was excited and was about to pounce, but was pulled back by his colleagues next to him, and the scene suddenly became chaotic for a while.

Seeing the army arguing there, the Minister of the Navy closed his eyes and recuperated, but several admirals around him watched with relish. Now that the strategy of going south has been decided, no matter which faction they have the upper hand, the support of the navy is indispensable, so the navy people are very leisurely on the side, and they have a rather breezy appearance.

Prince Zairen of the Xianyuan Palace frowned and pondered, and he still couldn't decide which side to support.

It would be nice if we could preserve our interests in China as much as possible, but judging from the current situation, it is unrealistic, and the hatred between Japan and China over the past 100 years has brought the possibility of peace talks to a freezing point. At present, millions of Japanese immigrants are still digging mines and building railways in the outer northeast, which is the best proof of this. But the glory of being an emperor is difficult for him to say the words of giving up his interests in China, at this time, Prince Zairen couldn't help but think of a Chinese idiom, 'dilemma', which is really appropriate!

Hirohito, who was sitting in front of the screen, patted the table lightly and said that he had something to say, he had been watching such a scene for two days and really didn't want to watch it anymore.

The people sitting below stopped arguing when they saw that their boss had something to say, and they all looked at Hirohito.

Hirohito first looked at Hideki Tojo and said, "Tojo-kun, you said that you can't give up your interests in China and want to keep the right to occupy the coastal areas, right?" ”

Hideki Tojo said respectfully, "Yes, Your Majesty! The land that our empire has gained by sacrificing hundreds of thousands of soldiers cannot just give it away, so how can we be worthy of the hundreds of thousands of soldiers who sacrificed their lives for the empire! ”

Hirohito asked expressionlessly, "In that case, I ask you, China has a long coastline, how many troops does our empire need to hold those provinces?" If the Shina people come over, will Tojo-kun be sure that he will be able to resist the attack of the Shina people? ”

Hideki Tojo thought for a while and said, "After the humble duty, it is estimated that only 500,000 troops will be enough to hold those coastal areas. ”

"Half a million?" Hirohito sneered and asked, "So we can only draw 200,000 troops from Shina to carry out the Nanyang offensive?" ”

"Yes...... Yes! Facing the emperor's inquiry, Hideki Tojo hung his head in shame.

"But do you think 500,000 troops will be able to stop the attack of the China?"

"Your Majesty, the Chongqing government's army is not strong in combat, and we can completely stop them."

"What if it was replaced by Tang Juwu's army in Shanghai? Can you guarantee to hold those coastal areas? ”

This time Hideki Tojo was silent, and the 800,000 elite Kwantung Army let Wang Yizhe's army rush to North Korea, and the 500,000 troops were really hanging to hold such a long coastline.

Seeing that Hideki Tojo did not speak, Hirohito turned his gaze to Prince Zaihito of the Kanin Palace, and this Hirohito's imperial uncle knew that it was his turn to speak.

Prince Zaihito of the Imperial Palace organized the language in his heart, cleared his throat and said: "Ladies and gentlemen, our Great Japanese Empire has once again come to a crossroads, due to the defeat of the war in China, we have reached the brink of life and death, military spending is increasing year by year, but national income is declining year by year, and if this continues, our empire will automatically collapse without others to fight." It's time to make a choice! I think that it is better to throw them into the South Asian battlefield than to continue to waste our troops in China, as long as we occupy South Asia, our empire will no longer have to look at the faces of the Americans and the British, and as long as we have the strength, it will not be difficult to counterattack China again in the future. ”

Those present knew that the situation had been decided after hearing the words of the oldest prince, and that Prince Zaihito's words almost represented the emperor's statement.

"Well, so decided. We will withdraw our troops from China from next month, and we plan to withdraw all troops from China within three months. Hirohito made the final decision with a blank face.

"Your Majesty, even if our empire is all withdrawn to the mainland, we can't cheapen those china people. Before leaving, we might as well help the Chongqing government! After the overall situation was decided, Tada Jun's eyes rolled and he had a bad idea.

"Yo Xi!" Hirohito nodded appreciatively, "I'll leave this matter to Tada-kun, if we can re-provoke the civil war in China, it will be the best." ”

"Hello!" Tada Jun immediately stood up and bowed.

At the time of the decision of the Japanese Imperial Council, the chairman of the committee in Chongqing was also troubled by Wang Yizhe's aggressive posture. Now that the troops of the Shandong Group Army have been directed at Shijiazhuang, if Shijiazhuang also falls into the hands of Jiang Qiang's army, will Jiang Qiang immediately use the slogan of fighting the Japanese to wave his troops south to chase the Central Plains?

These questions have been entangled in the chairman's mind, so much so that he has not had a good night's sleep these days.

The stars blinked in the sky, and the faint starlight lightly dotted the night sky. The chairman of the committee sat by the promenade in the courtyard, thinking about things expressionlessly, and the tea in the teacup next to him was already cold, but it was still full and did not move.

"Father, it's late at night, and it's time for you to rest." A voice sounded softly beside the chairman.

The chairman raised his head slightly, patted the stool next to him and said, "It's Jianfeng, why haven't you slept yet!" Childe smiled bitterly and slowly sat down beside the chairman, "Father, I can't sleep when I think about where so many people have been going to Shandong recently." I don't understand, first Jiang Baili, then Chen Shaokuan, and now even Shen Honglie has gone over there, is it true that our party-state can't retain talents? ”

The chairman smiled bitterly, "Jianfeng, I told you a long time ago to think more about things. Jiang Baili is just that, that is the old hero who assisted Jiang Qiang when he made his fortune. But Chen Shaokuan and Shen Honglie are not like this, they went to the past because we couldn't give them what they wanted. ”

Gongzi said indignantly: "Ridiculous, the country is extremely weak, the people can't even eat, that Chen Shaokuan still wants to toss around what kind of aircraft carrier plan, does he think we are those old capitalist countries in the United States?" Shen Honglie too, he didn't accept you to let him be the commander of Shandong security, that Jiang Qiang hooked his fingers and he was busy running to hug people's thighs, shameless! ”

"Huh!" The chairman waved his hand lightly, "It has always been human nature to be red-topped and white, and we can't ask everyone to share weal and woe with us, it's unrealistic." The most important question now is how we can get more votes in the National Convention in September, and that is the most pressing question at the moment. If I am forced out of power by the Baath Party, how will I face to meet the former prime minister under Jiuquan? ”

Childe thought for a while and said, "Now our main problem is the successive defeats and retreats on the military battlefield, and even the Nanchang counteroffensive plan launched a few days ago has been frustrated, which is the biggest problem with the people's dissatisfaction with us. If only we could win a few battles on the frontal battlefield. ”

The chairman frowned, and was about to speak, when suddenly an officer from the chamberlain hurriedly came and handed the chairman a telegram.......