The Iron and Steel Frenzy of the Republic of China

Dark and cloudy clouds were pressing over Tokyo, as if a fierce storm was about to come.

On the street, there was still a rush of people. In the newspapers published that day, the optimism that predicted the Imperial Navy’s great victory and how many Chinese warships would be sunk prevailed. In his lifetime, he will see the second "Jiawu" victory with brilliant results, and a new spring of the empire is coming!

It seems that they are full of blind trust in such predictions. The faces of most people are full of longing and anticipation. There are even many young students wearing black school uniforms and floppy military caps, meeting at Wujun Port To welcome the triumphant return of the navy, to raise money nervously to buy banners and write big characters, to discuss intensely the possible course of the battle, to deploy troops, and the resulting drastic changes in the situation in China. What measures will Japan take to consolidate this situation? A fruit of victory.

In the major newspaper offices, young reporters stretched their necks and waited outside the Ministry of the Navy, hoping to catch the news of the great victory as soon as possible. Many manuscripts have even been written, and they are only waiting for the news of the victory or the approximate figures to come out. Fill it in and it will be printed and distributed nationwide!

In short, a piece of optimism and anticipation.

And it has already been spread everywhere in China that the rumors of China's victory and the disastrous defeat of the Japanese navy have been severely blocked, and all radio stations and wireless phones leading to China are under surveillance, and no information shall be leaked at all; There are not many radios that can receive short-wave signals, and very few people understand Chinese.To care about the content and news of what programs are shown in China, they have not been spread.

The military command, which was not prepared for this at all, spent a lot of effort to barely complete the deployment. The ships and planes that came from other places and landed were strictly ordered not to spread any "false news" that was not good for Japan. On the surface, there is still peace and harmony.Optimistic.

The main officials of the Admiralty, the Military Command, and the Ship Administration Headquarters were summoned urgently when the occupation took a turn for the worse early in the morning.Minister Mitsumasa Yonei, King Fushimi Miyahiro, and Lieutenant General Ueda Soshige were all present, and a group of people waited with serious expressions in the meeting room with a bit of British style, frowning.Various newspapers and extras urgently airlifted from China.Large photos, etc., piled up on the table.

Minei Guangzheng clasped his hands together and placed them flat in front of his lower abdomen. His military cap was neatly placed on the table in his left hand. His eyes were closed and his face was expressionless, as if he was resting. His pale complexion clearly showed his true condition.

Fushimi Miya glanced at everyone coldly with hawk-like eyes, and tried hard not to tear the newspaper in his hand into pieces.His cheeks twitched twice, and he asked in a dry voice: "The news has been confirmed, and it is impossible to hide it from the people for too long, gentlemen. What can I do?"

Everyone bowed their heads together.

What can be done?The whole country is looking forward to a big victory. It has been publicized since yesterday. Today you go to tell them that the imperial navy has suffered huge losses and returned in a disastrous defeat. Until now.How many capital ships can come back is not necessarily, what will they think?Not to mention ordinary people, I am afraid that the gang of lunatics from the Ministry of the Army will come in directly brandishing their knives and chop them up, the main responsible persons?

Thanks to the fact that the army was beaten all over the head when it launched an attack last time, it has not been so arrogant recently, otherwise, the second 8.26 Tokyo bloody night will definitely be staged again!

The decision-making was made by them together. The action plan, the military command department and the Ministry of the Navy worked together and planned in detail; the judgment and research of the enemy's naval power, in addition to the intelligence department, the naval administration headquarters could not escape the responsibility. Battleships are counterfeit and shoddy products that are thin-skinned and shoddy. They are definitely not the opponents of the "Nagato-class" battleships. What happened?All died there!On the contrary, the opponent's air force, which has been on guard repeatedly, has not exerted much force.As a result, all the calculations were completely empty, I really don't know what to say!

They don't even want to talk, do they?King Fushimi Miyahiro Kyo was holding his breath, stared at Minai Mitsumasa coldly and shouted: "Minai Navy Minister, shouldn't you offer some useful opinions?"

Mitsumasa Minei raised his eyelids slightly, and the corners of his mouth twitched twice, but he didn't say anything immediately.Before the launch, he was not particularly optimistic about this plan, and repeatedly stated that the sinister and cunning of the Chinese people would never let people see their true strength, and rashly formulate a battle plan that they thought was perfect, and they would suffer losses.

Even after the fleet chased him for more than 1000 nautical miles, he raised his concerns again. It was too far away from the mainland, and anything could happen in the Pacific Ocean where the sea conditions were particularly complicated.Before discovering, it is best to proceed with caution, the key is not to offend the Americans.If you run further east, you will enter the US Navy patrol area.

No one listened to him. For a stubborn conservative like him, Japan did not welcome him very much. If the army hadn't suffered continuously, and the cabinet and the Senate hoped for a safe person to take the helm, they wouldn't let him open his mouth like this. Shut up, the guy who always talks frustratingly is the Prime Minister of the Sea, and the Imperial Japanese Navy has plenty of talents!

But in the current situation, it seems that his crow's mouth is all right, so he will be even more hated.He was the first one named by Fushimi Palace, so it may not be without bad intentions.Navy, someone has to take the blame!

Minai Mitsumasa seemed to have deliberately gathered his confidence, and said slowly: "It is always necessary to control public opinion to the greatest extent, but it is not easy to keep it hidden for a long time. China has deployed many spies and agents in the empire to spread information that is not good for the empire. News, they will definitely do things that hurt the confidence of the people. The first priority is to see if they can find a way to cause more damage to China and save the situation; second, to divert the attention of the people and minimize it. Influenced by the news that the battle is not good. Besides, this matter must be submitted to His Majesty the Emperor, and it is not up to us to decide."

The battleship Juhui, which represents the dignity of the royal family and the imperial navy, almost sank. If you don't tell Hirohito, how can it be done!

Fushimi Palace felt a little more comfortable, anyway, Hai Xiang was interesting enough.The two points he raised are very important. He turned his head and glanced at the crowd again: "According to the suggestion of the Minister of the Navy, you can come up with any specific action plan. Now is not the time to get angry!"

Someone starts first, and those who follow will not have to worry about responsibility.As the staff officer of Yamamoto 56, the backbone of the Naval Aviation Department.Onishi Takijiro squinted his eyes to see that the generals refused to speak out, so he straightened his body and said: "The most important thing now is to strengthen the air force of the special fleet as soon as possible! Take off fighters and bombers from the mainland. It can be done in a few hours. Provide effective support within!"

The eyes of a group of people stared over immediately, Minei Mitsumasa said indifferently: "Onishi Dazuo makes sense, but have you considered it. Can the fighter plane fly back?"

The expedition fleet is now more than 1000 nautical miles away from the mainland!That is, the distance of 6 kilometers to hang zero, if you take off a fighter plane, it is not impossible.The latest a3m4 or road-based Type 3000-[-] fighters have a maximum range of [-] kilometers, and twin-engine bombers can also reach this distance.

But the problem is that the maximum range must be light-loaded, and without bombs, it can only be an air combat escort.It is difficult to form a direct attack on enemy naval ships.The most terrible thing is that they can go but have no place to stay. How can they come back?Or, just not coming back?

Onishi Takijiro said unambiguously, "Compared to battleships, the value of aircraft is nothing. As long as it can protect the fleet from leaving safely, or launch a heavy blow to the Chinese navy, it is worth losing some!" "

This statement seems to make sense!A battleship, no matter how bad it is, costs tens of millions of dollars; what about a fighter plane?It's less than [-].It's a good deal to lose a hundred planes!

The point is, no one cares about how much the plane is lost, but if the main battleship is destroyed, it will cause panic among all the people!

It is almost a fatal rescue operation!But no one cares about that anymore.Big deal, put parachutes on every plane?

Fushimi nods gently with pursed lips: "Onishi's proposal is very good, and it can be implemented accordingly. Then, what are the other ways?"

others?There is really no good way.The distance is so far, but the battle situation is so urgent. It will take at least two or three days for the ship to catch up, and only the plane can take care of it.

Lieutenant General Ueda Muneshige of the Fleet Administration Headquarters proposed: "To divert the attention of the people, it is best to downplay the news of the war with China from now on and let them focus on our new warships. Currently, two brand new main battleships It’s nearly completed, and we can definitely open them up ahead of schedule to arouse national interest and replace the original warships in their minds, so that even if the final news leaks, there is always room for relaxation.”

Fushimi Palace's eyes lit up, and a hint of satisfaction appeared on his face: "This proposal is excellent! The power of the navy is the foundation of the power of the empire. It is better to let them see more hope than to stare at some insignificant things." .It can be done like this!"

King Fushimi Gong Hiroshi, as the chief of the military command department, is the unswerving core leader of the Fleet faction. In his mind, the bigger the navy, the better!The more ships the merrier!Of course, don't talk too much about the differences with the Ministry of War.

Right now, the proposal was approved in January 1936, and the main construction of the two supplementary warships that started construction that year was completed at the end of last year, and the sun-drying has only been barely completed until now. In fact, it will take some time for the official launch, and the internal equipment installation and commissioning have not been completed. , The ammunition depots are all empty, forming a combat force, at least by the end of the year... But when things come to an end, we can only take them out first.Anyway, the naval guns and everything are finished, and the surface is radiant, no problem!

"But in this way, the real situation of our newly built warships will be known to other countries. Although we have withdrawn from the naval agreement, it would be bad if we aroused the vigilance and blockade of all countries at this critical moment."

The more cautious immediately disagreed.Everyone present knew very well that the standards of the newly built warships had already seriously exceeded the standards of the Washington Naval Agreement.The standard displacement is 47500 tons, and the full load reaches 55000 tons. The big guy with three triple-mounted 410mm turrets is undoubtedly the first-class in the world. eyeballs.It is much higher than the maximum standard discharge of 3.5 tons in the agreement.

But now it's so open and aboveboard, is it really okay?

Nagano snorted disdainfully and said: "What's the matter! Under the current situation, which country do you think still cares about the naval agreement? The Germans are building powerful battleships, why can't Japan? Don't forget Yes, we have always wanted to form an alliance with Germany! Without a strong navy, how could the Germans agree to a close cooperative relationship! If they fall to the Chinese because of their defeat in this battle, it will be a big trouble!"

In the eyes of the fleet faction, whether Japan has strong strength and sufficient value mainly depends on the number of warships and the strength of the navy.The United Fleet, which was mostly destroyed, and the United Fleet with brand new and powerful warships are completely different things!

From a political standpoint, Nagano Slim, who single-handedly caused Japan to withdraw from the naval agreement, is qualified to say so.

Minai Mitsumasa seldom echoed his words: "It is right to think this way. The empire must have strong allies, and countries such as the United Kingdom and the United States will only create more troubles and traps for us. I support the proposal of the Minister of Ship Affairs."

After all, he is also the backbone of the navy, so we can't just watch the navy collapse like this.

This one passed again.Time is urgent, even people who are always talking nonsense and disagree with each other, on major matters related to the future of the entire navy and the empire, it is rare to show enough patience and sincerity to cooperate, which is much better than those bastards in the army.

After a few hours of hasty meeting, more than a hundred fighter planes scrambled from the mainland and flew towards the vast sea at high speed. They had to rush to the battlefield before dark, and the air covered the slow evacuation of the fleet until the fuel was exhausted. , Fall into the sea and pull down.

The slow seaplanes and bombers did not dare to dispatch in the end, and those things were almost live targets. At this time, don't expect to turn defeat into victory, and first save the power as much as possible.

Afterwards, several core dignitaries including Mitsumasa Minai and Fushimi Palace met the Emperor together.

Emperor Hirohito, who was in the palace, was not deaf to what was going on outside the window. He had no shortage of short-wave radios bought from China. His complexion was as if half a catty of white ash had been wiped on his face, not to mention how ugly it was.

"Is this how you ministers are devoted to the empire? The mighty Allied Fleet has exhausted its main force, yet it has caused such a huge loss. How do you think I should explain to my subjects?" (To be continued)rq