the world is at stake

To make matters worse, the two bangs called Iwate another seaplane that was circling nearby.The latter quickly flew over and dropped flares, and the hull of the more than [-]-meter-long ship was immediately exposed.

The 'Fuzhou', which was shelling 'Wild Wind', was taken aback, only to find that there was a silent opponent hiding in the darkness.In an instant, its 203mm main gun turned its direction, giving priority to aiming at the [-]-ton ship.

As for the 'Wild Wind', it was hit by the secondary guns of the 'Fuzhou' after four rounds of straddle fire, and then was shot into the soul by the 203mm main gun, destroying most of the bow.

The thousand-ton destroyer was now head down, buttocks up, the propeller idling away from the water, exposing the barnacle-grown bottom of the ship.The crew members are desperately jumping into the sea to escape, and they are thankful that the sea water in June is not too cold, and they may still be saved.

After confirming that there was no threat to the warship, the seaplane that had been lighting it up immediately flew elsewhere.

At this moment, the waters eighty nautical miles southeast of Okinawa are like a boiling cauldron, with the sound of cannons and the bright lights of flares one after another, like a feast of thunder.

Within half an hour, all 100 warships of different sizes from the Japanese artillery squadron led by the 'Hiei' were discovered.They are scattered in an area of ​​[-] nautical miles, more than [-] nautical miles away from Miyako Island.

Many stubborn admirals in Europe and the United States still stubbornly insist on the route of large ships and cannons, believing that in bad weather and at night, aircraft carriers cannot take off and land fighters, and there are still battleships in the sea.

But even unarmed seaplanes can put bombarding warships in a difficult situation from which they cannot extricate themselves.The emergence of aviation power made the broadside tactics instantly obsolete, and the 'Jylland'-style million-ton battleship line-up bombardment scene will never appear.

As time went by, more and more Chinese naval ships were called to the battlefield.

There is one or even two seaplanes circling above the heads of each Japanese warship to ensure that the enemy ships are always in a state of being lit, so that the opponents are like blind eyes in the dark, and can only fire indiscriminately.

By eight o'clock in the night, all hopes of Colonel Sangshima, who commanded the battle, were shattered.Don't talk about attacking now, the bombardment squadron can't escape even if they want to escape.

The 356mm heavy guns of 'Hiei' and 'Haruna' can only fire at the muzzle flashes of the opponent's lights in the dark.This cannon is powerful, but the accuracy of hits is extremely poor.

The torpedo boats and destroyers surrounded in the dark seemed to be facing a gluttonous feast. They joined the battlefield at a speed of more than 35 knots, approaching to launch torpedoes within five nautical miles.

The secondary guns of the two battle cruisers kept firing flares into the surrounding sea area, and each shot could illuminate two or three Chinese warships that were desperately attacking.The torpedo track can be illuminated under the sea surface, which is concealed and deadly.

No matter how hard you try, the fate of sinking cannot be changed.

At [-]:[-] in the evening, the Chinese Ministry of National Defense sent a real-time battle situation to the whole country through the broadcast-the incoming Japanese artillery fleet was blocked by the heroic People's Navy in the southeast waters of Okinawa.

At present, the "Haruna" company has hit three torpedoes, and its speed has dropped to fifteen knots.

Through the relay station, the Japanese troops fighting in North Korea could also hear the broadcast, and the 20th Division, which was trapped in Seoul, felt a little bit cold-and hoped that the navy's horse manure would be a little bit responsible, but they trapped themselves.

The broadcast can also be heard in Hiroshima across the Tsushima Strait, and then forwarded to Tokyo.

Inside the base camp, Terauchi Masaki and Yamamoto Gonbei looked at each other.Let them do all kinds of calculations, but they can't change the ongoing naval battle.

Prime Minister Miura, who had expected it for a long time, sighed, "You...do you want to continue fighting?"

Gonbei Yamamoto, as the Minister of the Navy, shouted furiously: "The rise and fall of the empire is a battle, how can we not fight it? Even if 5000 million people are broken, we must persist."

Miura rolled his eyes, "I'm afraid the 5000 million citizens don't want the jade to be broken."

Chapter 26 Collapse

On May 5, in the northeast direction of the Philippine Sea, 31 nautical miles from Miyako Island.

The four Japanese "Fengxiang" class aircraft carriers sailed at a speed of [-] knots without any escort ships.

Today was another sunny day, but the angled deck, which should have been busy, was empty.The four large fleet aircraft carriers are like ghost ships that have lost their souls, aimlessly.

A circle of people surrounded the take-off deck of the flagship 'Fengxiang'. The commander of the task force, Lieutenant Admiral Kato Sadayoshi, knelt on a blanket, tied a 'menstrual belt' on his forehead, untied his clothes, and faced the sun.

The fleet officers and staff officers in a circle were all solemn and sad.

Rear Admiral Toyoshima Jiro, the commander of the aircraft carrier, bowed his waist and shouted earnestly: "Your Excellency Kato, please reconsider. Times are difficult, and we need an experienced and prestigious commander like you. Please don't give up."

Kato Sadakichi is a Japanese Chinese, a family of ministers left over from various feudal clans in the Edo period.In his early years, he followed the Meiji important minister Xixiang to follow the road, and worked smoothly all the way to the commander-in-chief of Wu Zhenshoufu.

Such a high-ranking military aristocrat was going to have a caesarean section.

"Last night's disastrous defeat is ultimately someone's responsibility. Instead of letting the base camp blame everyone, it's better for me to take the responsibility. Please don't persuade me any more." Kato faced the sun, grabbed his saber, with a sad face.

The battle on the evening and night of the 30th gave the Japanese navy a big blow, and instantly woke up all Yumu who were still obsessed with decisive battles - because they had no cards to play.

According to the tactics formulated by the aviation staff, the Japanese aircraft carrier sailed from east to west, released the carrier-based aircraft alternately between day and night, and attacked when the Chinese air defense fighters returned. Although this is bold, it is definitely not an unfounded risk.

At present, except for the night flight capability of seaplanes, there is no difference between land-based aircraft taking off and landing at night and sending them to death.Therefore, the Chinese fighter planes must return before dark.

The Japanese fleet came from the east, just to make a time difference with the opponents returning to the west.In order to win the game, the four "Fengxiang" ships only retained one aviation brigade, and sent hundreds of "Ship Wars" to attack.

According to Toyoshima's expectation, once the "ship battle" wins air supremacy, four more "ship attack" and "ship explosion" brigades will be sent to attack Miyako Island. Flooded.

The army following behind can land on a transport ship smoothly.

Before the war, Kato and Toyoshima were full of praise for the combat plan formulated by the aviation staff, and both believed that the chances of winning were extremely high.This battle will shock the world, and its name will be passed down to future generations. It will be a century-old classic battle.

At that time, how to discredit the stupidity of the Chinese army will be the prerogative of the winner, and the loser will not be able to retaliate.

However, the situation of the battle did not develop according to the plan of the Japanese army staff, and the radar was moved to the sky on the opposite side to detect the incoming aircraft fleet in advance.The three 'ship battle' attack waves were all ambushed, and they also ran into several ace squadrons of the Chinese land-based aviation force.

Under the fierce battle, less than one-third of the more than 100 "Type III" warships returned home.To make matters worse, these returning carrier-based aircraft also attracted Chinese fighter planes from Miyako Island.

Today, the hulls of the four aircraft carriers all have signs of being attacked by rockets. Among them, the deck of the "Wufeng" aircraft carrier was hit by seven or eight rounds, directly losing the ability to take off and land fighters.

The 'Tianxiang' was hit by two light torpedoes with a caliber of 455 mm. Fortunately, the anti-torpedo compartment worked, and lost more than [-] sailors and lost five knots of speed.

The ship island of 'Fengxiang' became darker and lost its ability to command.The four aircraft carriers lost most of their combat capabilities in a blink of an eye, and lost a large number of carrier-based aircraft and pilots.

Thanks to the fact that it was getting dark during the battle yesterday, the number of fighter planes taking off from Miyakojima was not large, and the second round of attack waves was not able to be launched.Toyoshima Jiro hurriedly ordered the fleet to leave quickly, using his own high speed to flee far away overnight to avoid the battlefield.

But when fleeing for their lives last night, no one expected that the Chinese Ministry of National Defense would use its powerful broadcasting system to broadcast the Miyako naval battle live to the whole country and even the world.

The 'Haruna' was struck by thunder and its speed dropped drastically.

The mine in the 'Iwakata' lost power and the hull tilted.

The newly commissioned heavy cruiser "Furutaka" released its own seaplane to provide nighttime reconnaissance lighting for the fleet, but was hit by a Chinese seaplane and both crashed.

The San Zuo of Sangdo Province commanded by the 'Bi' could only order the ships to withdraw from the battlefield.But less than 5 minutes after the order was issued, the second ship of the 'King Kong' class ate five torpedoes in a row.

The battle lasted until late at night, and Toyoshima Jiro received a fatal telegram from the 'Bi'.His tears fell on the message, and he only remembered that his radio operator had been sending out the "Heavenly Trouble Black Card" until the ship sank.

Overnight, the bombardment squadron was completely wiped out, not even a single destroyer escaped—the loser who was nailed to the pillar of historical shame and ridiculed became the Japanese army itself.

Such a heavy loss stunned the Tokyo base camp.

The Ministry of the Navy is in a mess because of this, but it really doesn't understand how the Chinese navy, whose largest warship is only more than 8000 tons, is so strong?

Only after the Toshima Division fled far away from Miyako Island did they dare to break the radio silence and report to the base camp that they were safe.As a result, not long after the telegram was sent, the commander-in-chief of the fleet, Sadayoshi Kato, actually wanted to have a caesarean section, and no one persuaded him to use it.

Before he died, His Excellency the Lieutenant General wanted to sing a song "Fifty Years in the World" to strengthen his momentum.But he was kneeling on the deck, in the vast sea space, looking at the sun hanging high in the sky, feeling very small in desolation, and he groaned...

"If a country is small but not humble, if its strength is small but not afraid of the strong, if it is disrespectful but insults its neighbors, if it is greedy and clumsy in making friends, it will perish." It comes from "Han Feizi·Death March".

The saber turned upside down and stabbed into the stomach.

Kato wanted to do another crosscut, but he was instantly powerless under the severe pain.He could only shout with all his strength, "Toshima-kun, please."

"Hi!" Toyoshima Jiro held back his tears, took out a pistol and pointed it at Kato's head, and pulled the trigger—the hammer hit the bottom of the bullet, and there was no sound, stinky.

Kato's painful face was distorted, and he continued to shout, "Toyoshima-kun, help me!"

Toyoshima hastily pulled the trigger to extract the casing and loaded it again, aiming at Kato's head again--the crackling sound, the hammer still failed to fire the bullet, as if the firing pin was too soft.

Kato fell on the army blanket, under the bright yellow sun, a gleaming saber was inserted into his white belly, and bright blood flowed out with distinct colors.

"Toyoshima-kun, please hurry up."

Toyoshima became anxious, and fired again from the shell, but the 'Browning' pistol imitated by Nambu Kijiro in his hand could not be fired.He was so anxious that he simply pulled out his saber and cut Kato's neck.

This made it even more bloody and unsightly.Kato yelled a few times after chopping it down a few times, and in the end, the Lieutenant General was tortured to death.Before he died, he cursed bitterly: "Toyoshima, you... are the ghost."

The fleet operation was a complete failure.

The Japanese mainland is [-] kilometers away from Taiwan. Without the assistance of a fleet, the Japanese troops stationed in Taiwan are water without a source and trees without roots.When the four ships of the "Fengxiang" returned to Kyushu Island, the National Defense Forces landing in Taiwan had increased from two divisions to six.

And Hiroshima and Nagasaki were bombed by Chinese Air Force incendiary bombs from North Korea.The flames of war finally reached the Japanese mainland, and great fear weighed on the hearts of its citizens and bureaucrats.

Since Kyushu Island was no longer safe, the four aircraft carriers that were the last capital of the Japanese Navy were transferred to ship repair yards in Osaka and Tokyo for maintenance and replenishment.

Toyoshima Jiro himself received a suspension order from the Ministry of the Navy after he went ashore, saying that he wanted to investigate the responsibility for the defeat.He silently accepted all the arrangements of the military headquarters, and was even ready to take all the responsibilities.

But what happened next dazzled every bystander.

On June 6, the United Kingdom expressed its willingness to mediate the Sino-Japanese war. Japanese Prime Minister Naiyasu Miura made a rare public appearance, and expressed to the diplomats stationed in Japan that the Japanese army was willing to withdraw from North Korea and Taiwan and hoped to negotiate seriously with China.

The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs turned the British guy back - Asia belongs to Asians, and a European country is not qualified to mediate in Asian affairs.Japan either surrenders unconditionally or dies.

It is said that King Charles I of England was mad at this statement.

While seeking a diplomatic truce, the Japanese military hastily organized the 'Jade Crushes of 5000 Million Citizens'.Gonbei Yamamoto's wishful thinking is - anyway, your Chinese navy is weak and cannot fight against our island country.

But throughout June, the war situation between North Korea and Taiwan completely collapsed.The Japanese divisions in the two places were either besieged or surrendered, and the remnants then entered the prisoner-of-war camps to accept ideological reform against feudalism and the emperor.

They are all soldiers conscripted by five-cent stamps, and no one is more noble than the other.When the senior officers of the Japanese army were pulled out to accept criticism, the low-level soldiers who received cruel training broke out with a strong rebellious psychology.

By the end of June, the original two regiments of the Japanese People's Liberation Army had rapidly expanded to two divisions.Their first task is to atone for the sins of the Korean people and use labor to obtain forgiveness from the masses.

Let the little devils work captive, don't think about it.Waiting for the first half of the year to make arrangements after the mood has stabilized can avoid many unnecessary resistances, and can also screen and cultivate backbones.

The Japanese military did not even bother to refute the "rumors" spread by the defectors in public opinion. At most, they began to collect radios from people's homes to prevent them from hearing the poisonous propaganda of the "Voice of Free Japan".

These 'ostrich' policies should theoretically work very well.But when the time came to July, the real disaster came - food shortage.

Due to perennial battles and a large number of young people being recruited to serve in the army, Japan's domestic food has long been insufficient, and it must rely on foreign aid.

But now European and American grain merchants no longer provide low-priced grain, and are even unwilling to ship grain to Japan to avoid losing the Chinese market.

In fact, as early as May, the Japanese government knew that this year's grain production would be greatly reduced.After the loss of the naval battle in June, the people also realized that Japan could no longer get enough food.

When the harvest of summer grain began in July, the shortage of grain could not be concealed at all.

Toyoshima Jiro has been under house arrest in the Yokosuka military base south of Tokyo during this period.One day, he suddenly saw the guarding soldiers stealing his lunch.

"Baga, what are you doing?"

Forget it that Rear Admiral Tangtang was placed under house arrest, but a second-class soldier ate most of his lunch, and there was not even a single bit of beef left on his dinner plate.

The soldiers who stole food were only eighteen or nineteen years old.He was taken aback by Toyoshima's yelling, and he was scared for the first few seconds because of the gap in official positions and his daily dignity.But after a while, he straightened his neck and retorted: "Why do you eat so well as a defeated person?"

This rhetorical question broke Toyoshima's defenses on the spot, his head was hot and his face was flushed, and he was extremely ashamed.

The soldier who ate it continued: "You despicable military officials don't know the pain of the herbivorous class. The rice you eat is grown by my parents, and the beef on your plate is the blood and sweat of my parents.

You only paid five cents for a stamp to conscript me into the army. You clearly wanted me to serve the emperor, but you actually asked me to die for your fame and status.The current plight of the country is completely caused by you. "

Toyoshima was so scolded that he couldn't even speak back.The soldier's momentum rose sharply, and he hummed a lyric to his face, "The rich and powerful only know about the proud family, and there are really few people among them who worry about the country.

"We herbivorous class want to restore the republic, reform this old country, and find a way out for ordinary people. You who are defeated in this war should be ashamed. Shameful, understand?"

Facing the anger of the soldiers, Toyoshima took half a step back, feeling a little scared, "What nonsense are you talking about? You must have been subjected to violent propaganda, right?"

The soldiers mocked, "What violent spending? This is a complete smear. If a country that can feed ordinary people is called 'brutal', what is Japan that makes people hungry? Hell!"

Chapter 27 Persuasion

When the time came to August, a seemingly inconspicuous event shocked the Japanese military and political circles—two Chinese marine brigades set off from Busan, North Korea, and landed on Tsushima Island between Japan and North Korea under the coordination of sea and air.

The Japanese army stationed a brigade and two aviation brigades on the island, and also built a solid beachhead fortifications-the air superiority was abruptly robbed by the Chinese ace pilot, and then the beachhead was named one by one by [-] kilograms of guided bombs, and the damage effect was very good.

If the purpose of seizing Miyako Island at the end of May is to recapture Taiwan, landing on Tsushima Island must be hostile to the Japanese mainland—North Korea’s Busan is less than 5 kilometers away from Japan’s Kyushu Island, and Tsushima Island has reduced this distance to 110 kilometers. kilometer.

Tsushima Island is where the Tsushima Strait where the Japanese Navy defeated the Tsarist Russian Expeditionary Fleet during the Russo-Japanese War.

The fact that this place can be landed can only mean that the Japanese naval and air forces have completely shrunk, and they are simply unable to deal with the increasingly sharp Chinese military power-without US aid, it will be difficult for the Japanese navy and air force to even burn oil.

If China sets up an air base in Tsushima, not to mention the nearby Kyushu Island, even Osaka will be within the air strike range of Chinese fighter planes.

But in the face of such a catastrophe, the battered Japanese military was completely unable to deal with it. They were trapped by the increasingly serious national food shortage.

Major General Toyoshima Jiro, who was under house arrest, seems to have been forgotten by the military.Until one of his subordinates came to Yokosuka Naval Base to visit him, it was Major Junichi Kira of the "Second Air War" assigned to the "Fengxiang".

Kira asked straight to the point: "Does Your Excellency Toyoshima have any views on the current situation?"

This kind of question is special.

Toyoshima, who was bored enough to flip through an outdated newspaper, looked up lazily, "I'm a guilty person now, what qualifications do I have to comment on what happened in Tsushima Island? That's a trouble for the big bosses in the military department."

"I'm not referring to Tsushima Island, but the recent British-American mediation." While talking, Kira took out a document from his pocket with the stamp of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on it.

Toyoshima took the document and glanced at the title, his eyelids twitched wildly, unable to hold back his anger, "What do the ghosts of the United States want? Let us cede Kyushu Island?"

China's attack on Japan aroused the sensitive nerves of European and American powers.Even with the current 'friendly' diplomatic relations between China and the United States, President Wilson of the United States has to examine the consequences of China's swallowing of Japan.

Even though Japan is currently being suppressed by the rising China, it still has a family fortune of decades of Meiji Restoration.If it can be combined with Chinese resources, it will be a Shiquan Dabu Pill.

The eyes of the United Kingdom, the United States and France are focused on Europe, but they are still exerting diplomatic pressure with all their strength, trying to make China accept as soon as it is good, so as to avoid losing the best pawn to check and balance China in Northeast Asia.

In order to end this protracted war, the White House sent a presidential envoy to visit the imperial capital in an attempt to satisfy China at the cost of Japan's cession of Kyushu Island.

With the United Kingdom and the United States joining the mediation, the Chinese side unexpectedly expressed that it could consider it.But this plan was sent to the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which immediately caused an uproar.

China's blood is thick, and it can withstand hundreds of years of encroachment by the great powers.But Japan's territory is such a long strip, and if Kyushu Island is lost, its territory will be reduced by one-tenth.