Chapter 236 Japanese Military Headquarters

"This is a Japanese reconnaissance aircraft. Its quality is a little too inferior. It flies so slowly and turns so clumsy. It's just like shooting a target. It's so boring." A pilot who hit the Japanese aircraft said teasingly.

"I didn't expect that Japan was also equipped with the plane. It seems that we have an opponent."

"Search the surrounding airspace to see if there are any Japanese planes. I will see one plane to catch another, so that the Japanese can taste our power." Zuo Yunfeng ordered the formation to find enemy planes.

The formation carefully searched the nearby airspace in three directions, but another Japanese plane had escaped successfully. Fortunately, it was not discovered and gradually disappeared from a distance. The formation then began to turn back. After finding the aircraft carrier, the warship issued a warning, saying that it was just a sudden encounter with an enemy plane. They replied that the enemy plane had been shot down. Finally, everyone landed one after another and began to replenish fuel and ammunition.

When another Japanese reconnaissance plane arrived at the waters east of the Diaoyu Islands, it was discovered a mess, with Japanese ships emitting black smoke everywhere, and a large number of Japanese soldiers' bodies and other warships floating on the sea. He immediately thought of the message sent by his missing companion just now, and the fleet was attacked by air.

When the seaplane landed on the sea and the pilot returned to the warship, he reported his new discovery to Shigetaro Yoshimatsu.

"What, the plane landed on the warship, have you seen it clearly?" Yoshimatsu Shigetaro's turbid old eyes widened to the extreme and said in surprise.

"I saw it very clearly. The warship was not an ordinary ship. Its decks were all blank areas and there were not many superstructures. I saw the plane landing directly from the sky onto the ship's deck, and it was also turning on the ground. Another missing pilot also saw it." The pilot continued to explain.

"Is it an aircraft carrier?" Shigetaro Yoshimatsu has been serving in the naval department, and of course he knows much more about the new naval equipment than a pilot, so he immediately thought of the aircraft carrier.

As early as 1911, the Americans tested aircraft landing tests on cruisers, but after they failed, they did not continue to develop such warships. Later, the British first developed aircraft carriers. They developed aircraft carriers during World War I. In 1917, the British converted a cruiser under construction into an aircraft carrier, and then the aircraft carrier gradually came into people's sight.

"It must be a newly built aircraft carrier by the Chinese. The Chinese planes flew from that aircraft carrier, I understand." Yoshimatsu Shigetaro's eyes lit up, and he immediately patted his forehead and exclaimed.

"How far is that warship from us?" Shigetaro Yoshimatsu then felt a strong sense of danger, and immediately turned his head to look at the pilot and asked.

"About 150 kilometers." The pilot responded.

"The enemy is likely to launch a second air strike on us, and we must evacuate as soon as possible." Shigetaro Yoshimatsu felt the seriousness of the matter and immediately said.

"Hurry and send a telegram back to the military headquarters and report the matter in detail and ask them to send a fleet to assist as soon as possible." Shigetaro Yoshimatsu immediately ordered.

The officer went down to deploy.

"Order the fleet to retreat at full speed and return to Japan." Shigetaro Yoshimatsu knew that if he continued to travel to Taiwan at this time, the fleet that lost 20,000 Japanese soldiers and a large number of military supplies would be easily subject to another air strike by the aircraft, so he immediately issued a rear-side order.

"Sir, can we send submarines to test the opponent's aircraft carrier? I guess we can't escape far, and their planes will catch up. The speed of the plane is much faster than ours. If the planes follow us back to Japan along the way, we will be bombed and wiped out by enemy planes before we retreat to the land." The officer next to us reminded.

When Shigetaro Yoshimatsu heard this, his eyebrows suddenly squawked. After thinking for a moment, he nodded and said, "What you said makes sense. Order the ten submarines of the fleet to break the back and move forward to the enemy's seas, and then search. If you find the position of the enemy aircraft carrier, no matter how powerful the opponent is, you must strive to launch an annihilation war."

Shigetaro Yoshimatsu knew that the Tang-class submarine of the Zhenguo Army was more advanced than the Japanese Wolf Class. The 500mm-caliber torpedo equipped by the opponent was much more powerful than the 200mm-caliber torpedo of his own. Moreover, the opponent's sonar detection methods were equipped a few years ago, and it is estimated that the next generation of sonar had been developed at this time.

So Shigetaro Yoshimatsu was not sure whether his ten submarines could compete with the submarine formation with unknown number of Shinko Army fleets, but he thought it was worth a try, at least he could test the strength of his opponents and accumulate experience for future combat.

"Hi."

Far from Tokyo, the internal banquet hall of the Japanese military headquarters was a different scene at this time, and everyone was in joy. Yama Prefecture Aritoto had just obtained the position of Minister of the Japanese Military Headquarters from Emperor Taisho, who was somewhat abnormal in spirit, which made the old guy, who was 76 years old, come back and start commanding the Japanese military headquarters to carry out strategic deployment.

"Hahaha, cheers."

"Let us celebrate the re-leading leadership of the Japanese military headquarters and serving the Japanese emperor again." Navy Commander Irisen Goro raised his glass and smiled.

"Everyone, drink with all your heart." Yuto Yama County's bright eyes glanced at the general, lieutenant general, and major general on the table, and raised his glass to everyone happily.

Although Shanxian is over 70 years old, his body is very strong and his thinking is clear. In history, he lived until 1922 to die.

"The reason why I chose to come back this time was because of the war between Japan and China. I originally wanted to retreat, and all the affairs of the General Department were handed over to you young people to handle, but this world war suddenly broke out, and I was worried about the fate of the Japanese Empire." Yuto Yama Prefecture put away his smile and said with a serious look on his face.

"Mr. Duke has anything to worry about. Leave the war to us. We are not a problem to deal with the Chinese." A lieutenant general replied.

"Please rest assured that Japan's own fighter jets and bombers will be produced soon, and the Chinese people's planes are no longer afraid. This time, the Chinese people choose to go to war with the four major powers of Japan, Britain, France and Russia at the same time. They are about to be in a dilemma of being attacked from all sides. I see how long they can last. Soon, the divine weapons of our great Japanese Empire will kill from north to south and towards the vast and fertile land in southern China. At that time, the entire Chinese will be under our control." Army General Prince Zai Ren laughed twice and continued.

"I hope so." Yupeng of Shanxian nodded in a deep voice.

"Hahahaha, let's toast to the Great Japanese Empire to become the host of China."

There were waves of despicable laughter at the banquet, and everyone was cheering and having fun.

After mid-drinking, a lower-level officer suddenly knocked on the door and walked in. His face was gloomy and walked to Youpeng in Shanxian County and saluted a military salute.

"What's the matter? We're having a meal, can't you wait?" Shanxian raised his head and saw a gloomy face, which was obviously out of place with the cheerful atmosphere of the banquet. He immediately asked with some anger.

"Please read the telegram from the First Fleet immediately." The officer lowered his head and replied.

Shanxian took the telegram from the officer with some displeasure and began to scan the paper. Then his old eyes gradually began to shrink, and his face quickly turned into pig liver color.

Everyone stopped laughing at this moment and began to focus their confused eyes on the extremely gloomy face of Yuto Yama County.

"Duke, what happened?" Ijiyuan Goro asked carefully.

"You can take a look at it yourself." Shanxian suddenly felt a hint of undepressed anger in his heart, and he raised his hand to throw the message into the middle of the table.

"What, the Chinese people attacked the First Fleet with aircraft carriers?"

"It's incredible when the Chinese people built such warships."

"What should we do?"

The generals of the Japanese military headquarters were dumbfounded, and their faces, which had just been filled with joy, immediately collapsed.

"Don't panic, our first fleet has lost less than a quarter of its ships. This shows a problem. Although the Chinese have aircraft carriers that can take off and land aircraft, their combat effectiveness is also very limited. Otherwise, it would never be possible to retain their strength and they will definitely deal with the first fleet at one time." As the commander of the navy, Goro Ijiyuan was also angry and embarrassed, but he thought about it and said immediately.

"Commander Yiji, you are right. Let's not be scared by this failure. I guess the number of Chinese aircraft carriers is not large. Otherwise, as Commander Yiji said, they will definitely hit the First Fleet with a greater blow." Zai Ren continued.

"Well, what you said makes sense. We cannot be discouraged by this failure. We can only blame our intelligence work for not doing a good job and not fully estimate the strength of the Chinese Navy." Yutoto Yama Prefecture breathed a deep breath, then nodded and said.

"Now everyone talk about their own views. How do we deal with the emerging aircraft carriers and their fighters of the Chinese people?" Shanxian paused slightly, and then said.

"I think we should give up rushing to Taiwan for the time being. We should wait a few months later to produce our army's fighter jets, and purchase an additional batch of fighter jets from Britain and France to expand our air power. After a few months, we will go to a decisive battle with the Chinese people." A lieutenant general said.

"Yes, I think we need to start an aircraft carrier research project immediately. We can transform old battleships and civilian ships into aircraft carriers in advance, conduct aircraft take-off and landing tests, and then wait until our fleet has several aircraft carriers, and then launch a large-scale naval battle with the Chinese people." One person echoed.

"I don't agree with the two of you. I think the iron should be hot. When we build an aircraft carrier, the new Chinese aircraft carrier will probably come out. Since the strength of the Chinese aircraft carrier fleet is still very limited at this time, we should kill it in the bud. While they were just beginning to develop, three Japanese fleets were sent to pursue the Chinese coastal ports and annihilate their fleets." Another retorted.

"I don't agree with your words. If we rashly send the main forces of the three major fleets to the coast of China to launch a decisive battle with the Chinese fleet, we may suffer heavy losses. It is very dangerous to attack rashly without knowing how much strength the enemy is hiding."

"The heavy losses are always like hiding in Japan and being beaten passively. Since the Chinese have aircraft carriers, they will send planes to attack our military ports and warships at any time, and even send planes to bomb Tokyo. By the day when Japan's aviation forces grow, Japan will be defeated."

The generals, lieutenant generals and major generals began to have a fierce debate on this issue. Some believed that they should stick to their homeland and wait for the opportunity. Some believed that the decisive battle should be launched in a timely manner, otherwise they would always be in a passive situation of being beaten.

"Okay, everyone's opinions make sense, but I think most of you support taking the initiative, and I'm inclined to take the initiative, because if we can't stand it, the Chinese will soon send aircraft carriers to bomb our naval port. The British were wiped out at the Angchuanzhou port in Hong Kong, which is a great lesson." Yutoto Yama County stroked his thick beard and said thoughtfully.

"Yes, we must start a decisive battle with the Chinese people as soon as possible, otherwise there will be endless disasters." The supporters immediately agreed.

"The question now is how strong the Chinese people are, and this must be tracked in the report." Yama County nodded slightly and continued.

"I ordered the reconnaissance flight team to risk their lives to enter the Chinese airspace and investigate their airports and naval bases. We must figure out how many aircraft and warships the Chinese are hiding. Only after we have a clear understanding of their specific strength can we have a clear mind."

Yama County knew that time would not wait for people. If you wait for one more day, you would give the enemy an extra chance to consume their strength. However, if you attack rashly, you would encounter unknown dangers, so he had to let the aviation scouts conduct careful reconnaissance, but he knew that it would be extremely dangerous for their pilots to break into Chinese waters and airspace, because the Japanese First Fleet had already seen that the flexible maneuverability and extremely high speed of Chinese aircraft were incomparable to Japanese reconnaissance aircraft. Once they were discovered, they would have to face the fate of death.

"As soon as possible, the suicide squad must go deep into the airspace and territorial waters of China to conduct reconnaissance." Yama County emphasized again.

The celebration banquet of the military headquarters soon ended in a gloomy atmosphere. Yuto Yama County returned home with a heavy mood and began to prepare for the next combat plan.

On the Shenzhou aircraft carrier, there were busy figures everywhere. The soldiers were wearing various clothes and distributed in different positions. The elevators were lifted frequently, and ammunition and fuel were loaded onto the aircraft by logistics personnel. Quality inspectors were checking the aircraft's condition under the aircraft to see if there was any damage. All positions were operating at full capacity. Commanders were holding meetings to formulate the next combat plan...
Chapter completed!