Comrade, your ingredients are too complicated.

At dusk that day, the beach of Laizhou Bay was crowded with Japanese soldiers waiting to be evacuated.

The sky changed from its previous clear state to a gloomy one, as if foreshadowing that something ominous was about to happen.

A Japanese lieutenant was squatting behind a sand dune, his fingers unconsciously rubbing the butt of his Type 38 rifle, his eyes occasionally scanning the distant sea level.

"Captain, it's been almost three days. Do you think there might be a ship coming today?"

"In my opinion, we shouldn't trust the navy, nor should we flee without weapons or armor. We're going to die anyway, and I'd rather die on the battlefield."

Everyone can say polite words, but a person's actions will always reveal his true thoughts.

Looking at the wisps of black smoke floating on the sea and listening to the undisguised trembling in his men's voices, the Japanese lieutenant shook his head helplessly.

"Don't worry, the navy will definitely send ships to support us."

"I heard from the captain that the Red Deer have mobilized more than 400 ships this time, and they will send everyone to Hebei Province tomorrow at the latest."

"After a period of rest, our division will be sent to the Pacific Ocean like the Ikki Detachment. But this is also a good thing. After all, the ugly country devils are much easier to deal with than the Eighth Route Army."

There is no such thing as a gift from fate in the world. The so-called assistance has already been secretly marked with a price.

The main reason why the Japanese Navy was willing to take the risk to transport troops was the lack of island defense troops in the Pacific battlefield.

The Kwantung Army, which has high quality and has fought against mechanized and motorized troops, is naturally the most ideal filler in Yamamoto Shichihachi's mind.

Just as the two devils were talking, thousands of soldiers and puppet troops formed a winding team and came into the waist-deep sea carrying building materials looted from everywhere.

These people, who were no different from coolies, had been hungry for a whole day and a half.

Without food and clean drinking water, their morale is extremely low, as if the future holds only endless waiting and fear.

"Baga! Who allowed you to rest? Hurry up and build the trestle for me."

"There is no bridge, and there is no ready-made large port on the beach. Do you all want to swim to the ship?"

"Hurry up and work. The navy sika deer must have brought enough food. I heard that their meals are very rich. I will allow you to eat as much as you want!"

Just when a Japanese captain was cursing and urging his soldiers to go into the sea to build a temporary pier, a creepy buzzing sound suddenly came from the sky.

This roar, which was no less than that of the Jericho horn, immediately turned the faces of the Japanese soldiers on the beach pale.

"Air raid! Take cover!"

"Everyone, grab your tools and disperse immediately!"

The roar of the piston engine was getting closer and closer, like the whisper of death across the sky.

The Japs looked up and saw dozens of silver dots emerging from the dusk clouds and swooping down towards the beach like falcons.

"The hunt begins!"

"Keep an eye on the engineers in the book and don't let the enemy build the trestle easily."

Through the optical sight, Fang Ziyi saw Laizhou Bay as if it were a tree stump hollowed out by termites. Thousands of green figures were crawling among the sand dunes, which made him dazzled for a moment.

After a moment, he selected a group of devils who were fleeing back to the beach from the shallow water.

The enemies, wearing steel helmets and carrying wooden stakes, scattered in search of cover, and some officers in their greatcoats left bloody trails on the sand.

Fang Ziyi pressed the bomb-release button, the fuselage suddenly lifted up, and two 250-kilogram bombs rotated and cut through the air.

The first high-explosive bomb landed in shallow water, and the shock wave lifted a wooden boat to a height of five stories.

The second one exploded in the center of the crowd, and the wooden stakes flew into the sky with burning bodies. Sand, seawater and shrapnel fell like raindrops again, and screams instantly filled the entire beach.

In the first few seconds of the climb, the skilled and courageous Fang Ziyi started to pick up French fries with his machine gun. The 20mm shells plowed several deadly grooves in the beach.

Several Japanese lieutenants were organizing soldiers to shoot into the air with rifles, trying to drive away the low-flying ground-licking plane overhead.

However, resistance is almost futile. A counterattack of this intensity can only boost your courage and tell yourself that you are not waiting to die passively.

"Second team, get into combat position!"

By the time Fang Ziyi began to climb, the second wave of storms and typhoons had already arrived at the battlefield, and dropped napalm bombs with even greater lethality.

The black and red viscous liquid spread along the tide, turning the shallows into a boiling pool of magma.

The flaming human-shaped torch screamed and rushed into the sea, but turned into charcoal in the flames of the burning oil slick.

The salty air was filled with the smell of barbecue, a smell that even the pilots' oxygen masks couldn't filter out.

Looking at the doomsday scene below that looked like that after a volcanic eruption, Fang Ziyi suddenly remembered an idea that Director Huang once had: Is it possible to detonate several resonance nodes to accelerate the eruption of an active volcano?

When the bombing stopped temporarily, a Japanese officer stood up and looked around the beach.

The entire Laizhou Bay has turned into a slaughterhouse, with corpses floating in the sea and the beach littered with burning equipment and wailing wounded.

······
Forty-five minutes later, 120 nautical miles northeast of Laizhou Bay, the Japanese Navy combat fleet assembled.

At the junction of the sea and the sky, a battered Zero seaplane swept across the waves, trailing black smoke.

Its fuselage was covered with honeycomb-shaped bullet holes, and only half of the metal frame was left of the left float, as if it would crash if it were to be looked at any longer.

When the underwater reconnaissance plane slanted towards the sea, the waves it created directly splashed onto the portholes of the cruiser Kashii, causing the Japanese on the deck to exclaim in surprise.

"Baga! Why are you privates still in a daze? Are you going to watch your seniors die in the sea?"

"Turn the crane arm around quickly. My vehicle can be rescued in time and can attack again. If this Zero-type reconnaissance aircraft is missing, you will have to row the boat to conduct reconnaissance!"

"What bad luck! Why should I take a bunch of rookies to rescue the army? The Military Affairs Department should just let them die in the Republic of China."

In order to implement the internal combustion engine combat plan formulated by General Okamura Yasuji and to rescue tens of thousands of Kwantung main forces trapped in Shandong Province, the Japanese navy truly made a desperate deployment of troops.

After Umezu Yoshijiro facilitated the signing of a secret agreement between the Army and the Navy, the Honko General Staff immediately mobilized all the surface combat ships of the Expeditionary Fleet.

Even the Southern Expeditionary Fleet stationed on the peninsula and responsible for escorting the Southeast Asian routes were all incorporated into the combat sequence.

There are countless land, sea and air forces participating in this rescue operation.

There was no way, the Japs were really scared by the bombing of the Eighth Route Army Air Force.

At a time when the main forces of the Combined Fleet are being pinned down in the South Pacific, if only a few troops are sent to Laizhou Bay for rescue, I'm afraid the Navy itself will be in trouble.

It is precisely because of the high attention paid by all parties that the Bohai Sea Task Force was formed, which is composed of three cruisers as the core and five destroyers, gunboats and coastal defense boats as auxiliary.

"Please wait a moment. I'll hoist the water detective up right away!"

Listening to the shouting and cursing of his predecessors and looking at the long oil stains floating on the sea, the Japanese soldier operating the crane felt that the joystick in his hand had become as heavy as a thousand pounds, and even his right hand began to twitch uncontrollably.

After taking several deep breaths, he controlled the crane arm to turn to the port side and worked with his colleagues to lift the Zero-type submersible reconnaissance aircraft back to the middle of the ship.

When the plane returned to the runway, the orderly on standby quickly set up the ladder and helped Lieutenant Colonel Sato down from the driver's seat.

"Lieutenant Colonel, Vice Admiral Wada is waiting for you on the bridge!"

"Ah."

The task force participating in Operation Internal Combustion Engine was divided into two combat groups. Among them, Mitsuken Wada of the Southern Expeditionary Fleet led three light cruisers and five destroyers, and was mainly responsible for combat-related tasks.

When necessary, they also need to bombard the land to cover the Kwantung Army's retreat by boarding ships.

Launching water reconnaissance and heading to the Laizhou Bay airspace in advance to observe the terrain and battle situation was naturally a task arranged by the Japanese devils themselves.

Soon, Lieutenant Commander Sato entered the bridge of the flagship under the guidance of the sailors. After seeing his superiors, he could no longer suppress his anger and resentment.

"Your Excellency, Lieutenant General, the current situation of the Kwantung Army is very bad. It is completely different from what Umezu Mijiro explained."

"Tens of thousands of their troops were packed like sardines in a can along a few kilometers of coastline. The only cover they had was some destroyed vehicles and heavy equipment."

"The only good news is that those army elks prepared a temporary trestle in advance, so it won't be too crowded when boarding the ship."

As soon as he said this, Wada Sanjian slammed his fist on the table. He never expected that even at the critical moment of life and death, the army still did not tell the truth.

In the old Japanese's expectation, although the Kwantung Army suffered a defeat in Shandong Province, it could at least build several lines of defense and organize a retreat in an orderly manner.

Who would have thought that the performance of the elks was even worse than that of Britain and France.

What’s the difference between crowding on the beach and waiting to die!
"Baga, damn Umezu Mijiro actually lied about military intelligence. How dare he ask for help from the navy without arranging a rearguard unit?"

"The Eighth Route Army artillery in Shandong Province is equipped with 155mm cannons and howitzers. This type of direct-fire weapon with a range of more than 15 kilometers can directly threaten the existence of light cruisers and destroyers."

"Fortunately, I scouted the battlefield in advance, otherwise the entire fleet would be exposed to the enemy's firepower."

Compared with the allied ships of the same period, this light cruiser focuses more on speed and torpedo capability, and its protection design is mainly aimed at naval guns below 127 mm.

Within a range of 15 kilometers, the continuous concentrated fire of the 155 artillery cluster can definitely severely damage or even sink the main light cruiser of the Japanese Navy.

The Naka's experience in the Battle of the Philippines was enough to prove how powerless the 64mm armor was when subjected to concentrated fire from heavy artillery.

What's more, the light cruisers that carried out the rescue this time were a combination of two Katori-class ships and one Tenryu-class ship, which were old, young, sick and disabled.

If this happened while assisting in troop transport and being targeted by dozens of 155mm large barrels, Wada Sanken couldn't imagine how miserable his fleet would be.

After cursing for a long time, the old devil quickly called the signalman and ordered in a serious tone:

"Tell Okamura Neiji that our navy can continue to implement the rescue plan, but the army on the coastline must open up a safe zone of no less than 20 kilometers."

"Air defense is already very exhausting, not to mention that the enemy is the notorious Eighth Route Army Air Force. I don't want to be distracted by dealing with enemy artillery while fighting air defense."

"By the way, remember to send a copy of the telegram to the Military Affairs Department. I don't believe that our superiors will let us die."

After explaining a series of deployment plans, Wada Sanken turned his attention to Lieutenant Colonel Sato.

Seeing the other person's dusty appearance, the old Japanese suddenly smiled and then patted the other person on the shoulder.

"Sato-kun, you are still as brave and skilled as ever."

"I saw that Type 0 submarine was almost shot to pieces, but I didn't expect you to be able to fly it back. You are indeed a tough guy who dares to challenge the big brother in the fourth grade in the first grade."

"What? Did you run into the Eighth Route Army Air Force on the way back? They didn't even capture a single naval reconnaissance aircraft. It seems like those Republic of China people are just like that."

Hearing the praise from his admiral, Sato immediately showed an embarrassed expression.

By now, all the major belligerent nations around the world knew that the Eighth Route Army Air Force's 20mm machine guns were unrivaled in the world, and their destructive power was unmatched among weapons of the same caliber.

Even the British Royal Arsenal and the American General Electric were envious of their machine gun technology and sent people to exchange ideas many times.

After hesitating for a moment, Sato gritted his teeth and stomped his feet, and finally told the truth.

"Um, General, I didn't encounter the Eighth Route Army Air Force on the way there and back. The bullet holes on the Zero-type submarine were all caused by the heavy machine guns of the Army."

"I was flying at a low altitude, trying to get a closer look at the current situation of the troops on the beach. I never expected that two heavy machine guns would suddenly open fire on me, almost shooting me down on the spot."

"Considering that the red deer have been in a state of high tension for a long time, I didn't bother with them."

Awkward, deadly embarrassing.

After coming to his senses, the old Japanese suddenly had the urge to beat himself to death.

How could the fragile Zero fighter, which could even shoot down the 7.7mm Browning and 12.7mm Lao Gan Ma, possibly withstand the 20mm Western guns?

If hit by more than a dozen bullets, even a B-17 would probably die on the spot.

Adhering to the idea that a shameless person is invincible, Wada Sanken quickly adjusted his expression.

"Sato-kun, go eat first. The officers' kitchen has fresh beef and Southeast Asian specialties. If you want, you can eat as much tuna as you want. I don't want to give the army a bargain."

"It just so happens that the Type 0 submarine also needs repairs. You can use this time to think about the next reconnaissance route."

"Do you have anything else to ask for?"

As a vice admiral who has been on the front line all year round and has done enough homework in advance, Wada Sanken naturally knows that the Eighth Route Army now has a fleet.

However, the Japanese did not take the enemy navy seriously.

After all, the Truan-class cruiser was an antique ship from the same period as the Tianlong-class. With the advantage in numbers, the three cruisers on our side could completely crush the enemy.

Apart from the cruisers, the only ships that need attention are basically the four new destroyers of the Eighth Route Army Navy.

Deportation?
In terms of lightning strike capability, Wada Sanken himself is a mine warfare team commander who is good at night combat. The old Japanese are even hoping that the enemy will come to die, which is the main reason why he listed the direction of Liugong Island as a low-priority reconnaissance target.

Considering the strength of the Eighth Route Army Air Force, Lieutenant Colonel Sato said almost subconsciously:

"I need the support of land-based aviation. Without the help of my comrades, I can't complete the breakthrough alone." (End of this chapter)