On the eve of the fall of Liaodong, he led his troops in a remonstrance against the young marshal.

"Buzzing!"

Death has arrived.

When the Mustang Brigade finds the Akagi, it will be their death.

A massive swarm of bombers descended from the sky, like the scythe of death, beginning their harvest.

The Akagi was fleeing at full speed of 28 knots. The captain shouted himself hoarse in the bridge to direct the steering, and the huge ship twisted one S-shaped evasive track after another on the sea.

But to bombers flying at 300 kilometers per hour, all the evasive maneuvers of a 27,000-ton aircraft carrier on the sea surface are as slow as a catfish crawling in place.

"Click!"

"Click!"

The lead bomber opened its bomb bay door.

One bomb after another fell from under the fuselage, the black bombs tumbling through the air as they plummeted toward the sea, their trajectories drawing parabolic arcs in the air.

The first batch of eight 250-kilogram aerial bombs landed on the sea around the Akagi, sending up water columns as high as 30 to 40 meters.

One of the near misses exploded less than five meters from the port side, and the underwater shockwave blasted a two-meter-long crack in the steel plate of the Akagi's port hull.

The second wave of bombers followed immediately with their bombs.

"Boom!"

This time, a bomb hit the middle of the flight deck of the Akagi. The 250-kilogram warhead pierced through the wooden flight deck and exploded inside the ship.

The shockwave from the explosion spewed out from the breach in the deck, carrying flames and debris dozens of meters into the air.

Several damaged planes that were parked on the deck and had not yet been pushed into the sea were overturned by the blast wave and rolled into the sea like toys.

The Akagi was hit, thick smoke billowed out, and the sailors began to extinguish the fire with hoses.

But what was truly deadly was not the bomb, but the torpedo.

Twelve torpedo bombers skimmed the sea surface, approaching from the port side of the Akagi, the aerial torpedoes hanging under their bellies reflecting a greasy sheen in the setting sun.

The twelve aircraft were divided into two six-plane formations, simultaneously approaching the Akagi from the port bow and stern, respectively—a classic pincer torpedo attack tactic. No matter how the target turned, it would always expose one side of its hull to at least one formation.

The captain of the Akagi, standing on the bridge, saw the low-flying torpedo bombers on the sea, and his pupils contracted sharply.

As a veteran who had served in the Navy for twenty years, he knew all too well what was to come.

"Hard to port! Hard to port!" he almost roared.

However, the Akagi's massive 27,000-ton body had too much inertia in the sea, and the helmsman locked the rudder, causing the bow to slowly veer to the left.

However, this turning speed is far from keeping up with the attack rhythm of torpedo bombers.

The first six-plane formation dropped a torpedo 800 meters from the port side of the Akagi.

The sound of the six aerial torpedoes hitting the water was like six muffled drumbeats, and the white wakes left six straight lines underwater, extending from all directions toward the port side of the Akagi.

The captain of the Akagi watched helplessly as the six white lines extended towards him. His lips trembled, and he forced out two words through gritted teeth:

"...It's over."

"Boom! Boom! Boom!"

Three torpedoes hit the port side.

The first shell hit the bow midships, three meters below the waterline, blasting a hole eight meters in diameter, and seawater poured into the boiler room at a rate of hundreds of tons per second.

The second missile struck directly beneath the ship's midships, severing the Akagi's main keel. The entire aircraft carrier emitted a deafening metallic clang, like the mournful cry of a giant beast on its deathbed.

The third missile struck the stern, destroying the rudder and propeller shaft, and the Akagi lost all power within seconds.

Fifteen thousand tons of seawater flooded into the hull of the Akagi within fifteen minutes.

This once proud large aircraft carrier of the Combined Fleet began to list rapidly to port. With nothing fixed on the deck, ammunition boxes, oil drums, aircraft wreckage, and corpses all slid down to the left side of the sea like a slide.

The tilt angle increased from 10 degrees to 20 degrees, and then from 20 degrees to 35 degrees.

When the tilt angle exceeded 45 degrees, the Akagi emitted an unprecedentedly loud noise, and the keel broke in two at the hull.

The entire aircraft carrier folded into a strange V-shape, with its bow and stern simultaneously rising above the sea surface, before slowly sinking into the cold waters off Lushun.

From the first torpedo hit to the complete sinking of the Akagi, the entire process took less than thirty minutes.

Almost simultaneously, the Kaga was subjected to an even more intense attack.

The Kaga was larger than the Akagi, with a standard displacement of 38,000 tons, making it one of the largest aircraft carriers in the world at the time.

However, a larger tonnage does not mean greater durability. On the contrary, a larger size means a larger target and slower turning speed, making it a floating giant target in the eyes of a torpedo bomber pilot.

Eighteen torpedo bombers, divided into three six-plane formations, launched an attack from the starboard side of the Kaga, while sixteen de Havilland bombers dropped bombs from high altitude to suppress the attack.

The captain of the Kaga desperately directed the warship to perform serpentine evasive maneuvers, but three torpedo bomber squadrons simultaneously approached from three different angles, sealing off all evasive options.

Six torpedoes hit the starboard side.

One of the missiles struck the aviation fuel tank on the starboard side, igniting thousands of tons of aviation gasoline. The fireball from the explosion erupted from the midsection of the Kaga, with a diameter exceeding two hundred meters.

The flames were so hot that they melted all the glass on the bridge into liquid.

The captain of the Kaga and everyone on the bridge were burned to a crisp the moment the fireball was unleashed.

The Kaga sank within twenty minutes.

Of the three aircraft carriers, the Ryujo sank the fastest.

This light aircraft carrier was already weak in terms of protection. After being targeted by eight torpedo bombers, it took three torpedoes on its port side and two on its starboard side.

Within fifteen minutes, the ship broke into three pieces and sank to the bottom of the sea. On the surface, only a huge oil slick and a few hundred survivors struggling and calling for help remained.

Even after all three aircraft carriers sank, the bombers and torpedo bombers of the Fengtian Air Force did not stop.

Zhu Wudi's order was clear: release all the bombs and torpedoes, leaving none behind.

The bomber group turned towards the battleship formation.

The Hiei was hit by five 250-kilogram bombs and two torpedoes, causing severe flooding. The captain ordered the ship to run aground, but it capsized before it could reach the shallow water.

The Kirishima was hit by three bombs on its bridge and main gun turret, paralyzing the ship's fire control system.

It was subsequently hit by two torpedoes that pierced the port engine room, lost power, and floated on the sea for two hours before finally sinking due to uncontrollable flooding.

The Kongo and Haruna were each hit by four bombs, their superstructures were completely destroyed, but at least they retained their power. Covered in wounds and with mountains of corpses on their decks, they managed to escape south, following behind the destroyers.

The heavy cruiser Mikuma was hit by three torpedoes and sank. The Mogami was severely damaged by two bombs and one torpedo, and its bow was almost blown off, but miraculously it did not sink and drifted south at a speed of five knots, dragging its wreckage.

Several light cruisers and destroyers were also hit, but because Zhu Wudi ordered that large warships be attacked first, most of the destroyers were only strafed by fighter jets. They suffered heavy casualties but not many sank.

The two destroyers collided in the chaos, with the bow of one ship smashing a large gash into the midsection of the other, rendering both incapacitated.

As the sun completely sank below the sea level, more than a dozen raging fires burned on the sea off Lushun.

The fuel leaking from the sunken ship spread a thick film on the sea surface, which, when ignited by flames, formed a floating sea of ​​fire, turning half the sky a dark red.

The Japanese sailors who fell into the water struggled and screamed amidst the oil fire. Some of them caught fire and desperately tried to dive back into the water, but the fire reignited when they surfaced. In the end, they sank to the bottom of the sea surrounded by both fuel and flames.

Zhu Wudi circled once at an altitude of two thousand meters, looking down at the burning ruins on the sea through the cockpit window.

As the sun set, the entire battlefield had become a living hell.

In the vast ocean, these Japanese sailors who fell into the water had no ships to rescue them, and there was only one outcome: death.

A relieved smile appeared on his face.

He pressed the radio transmission button:

"Each fleet shall check its ammunition and fuel levels, and then return to Fengtian in turn."

He then switched to another channel and sent a final, brief telegram to the Fengtian command.

"The main force of the combined fleet was completely wiped out."

"Akagi, Kaga, and Ryujo sank; two battleships sank and two were heavily damaged; one heavy cruiser sank and one was heavily damaged."

"Several other ships were hit, but the Fengtian Air Force suffered no losses."

He released the button, paused for two seconds, and then added another sentence.

"Commander, we've won!"

Inside the Fengtian Command Center, the loudspeakers broadcast Zhu Wudi's last words, word by word.

Zhang Xueming stood still, his fingers trembling slightly as they hung down at the sides of his trousers.

The staff behind him were in an uproar. Some threw their hats onto the ceiling, some hugged each other and slapped each other's shoulders, and some with red eyes tried desperately to hold back their tears.

Outside the window, the night sky over Fengtian was cut into several pieces by the beams of distant searchlights, and the evening breeze blew in through the open window, carrying the dry, dusty scent of the northern plains.

Most people in the city are unaware that a major air and naval battle, capable of altering the balance of power in the Far East, has just concluded hundreds of kilometers away.

The victor of this great battle is now flying north at an altitude of 5,000 meters, facing the last rays of twilight.