The Third Naval Air Fleet flagship, the carrier "Longxiang".
If Major General Tsunoji hadn’t taken the first reconnaissance aircraft seriously, thinking that it had taken off from Zu Island before daylight and was now on its way back, then when the second reconnaissance aircraft approached from the sa direction, Tsunoji felt sothing was amiss.
That was from the east!
When arranging the second round of reconnaissance, had they not adjusted the flight route of the reconnaissance aircraft?
Although Tsunoji’s abilities could not compare to Lan Yun and Sawa, not even to Yamaguchi of the Second Naval Air Fleet—which was why he was relegated to commanding the Third Naval Air Fleet—still, he knew that during reconnaissance, one must adjust the flight routes of the planes according to the actual situation.
Two reconnaissance operations, almost identical in nature, even with a few hours’ interval, would not yield any unexpected findings.
Besides, which fleet commander would stake victory, or even life and death, on chance?
After harboring doubts, Tsunoji, however, did nothing.
It was simple: they couldn’t break radio silence, and the two carriers of the Third Naval Air Fleet, "Longxiang" and "Fengxiang", were preparing for an attack, with their decks filled with bombers and torpedo bombers waiting for takeoff, as ground crew were fueling and arming the aircraft.
Shortly after daybreak, at around seven o’clock, the Second Main Battle Corps dispatched all its seaplanes to the Xu Sea to search for the Dostic Fleet. According to the plan, once the seaplanes located the target, the Third Naval Air Fleet had to launch an attack imdiately.
The first wave had to deploy all available ship bombs and ship attacks.
Indeed, this was Takano’s plan.
In the early morning, the First Main Battle Corps had sent a telegram instructing Tsunoji to fully cooperate with the Second Main Battle Corps in annihilating the Liangxia Fleet trying to pass through Watcher Strait to enter East Ocean, and to assist the Landing Forces in capturing the major islands north and south of the strait in the subsequent operations.
The Second Main Battle Corps had also received the telegram.
Otherwise, the Second Main Battle Corps wouldn’t have taken the initiative to deploy seaplanes to search for targets on behalf of the Third Naval Air Fleet.
Additionally, Tsunoji knew that the Mobile Fleet had been annihilated in the Fla Sea, having received news of the destruction of the Fifth Naval Air Fleet beforehand.
Tsunoji had learned of the demise of the Mobile Fleet and the Fifth Naval Air Fleet from the Liangxia Empire’s broadcasts.
The broadcast signals ca from Guard Island, where there was a very powerful signal tower, continuously relaying the Liangxia Empire’s broadcasts twenty-four hours a day.
There was no helping it, as legally the North and South Sado Islands were still considered overseas territories of the Liangxia Empire.
Although Takano had not ntioned it in the telegram, Tsunoji understood that if they did not severely damage the Dostic Fleet, charging at full speed during the day, the Second Main Battle Corps might not hold out until the First Main Battle Corps arrived, and thus the planned landing operations could not proceed as scheduled.
Furthermore, the Third Air Special Protection Fleet had to be taken into account!
This was precisely why Tsunoji believed he had to bet everything on a single offensive strike, hoping to cripple the Dostic Fleet in just one wave.
At the very least, he needed to inflict severe damage on several of the Dostic Fleet’s main force ships.
As long as the Dostic Fleet was halted, the Third Air Special Protection Fleet would not dare to enter Watcher Strait alone at night, thereby having no choice but to stay put in the Xu Sea. By tomorrow, once the Landing Forces arrived and occupied Guard Island and Wang Island, even if the Third Air Special Protection Fleet was as powerful as a dragon, it wouldn’t be able to stir much trouble.
Tsunoji placed his bets on the offensive operation, and there was another reason he could not overlook.
"Longxiang" and "Fengxiang" were small carriers. Even with so enhancents made before the war, such as "Longxiang" being able to carry 97 ship attacks, they could not match the might of the Fleet’s carriers. Even at full capacity, the two carriers could only carry a little over sixty ship-borne aircraft.
With such a force, what could they really do?
Tsunoji was very self-aware and harbored no unrealistic fantasies. As long as he could get a chance to launch an attack before being exposed or, to put it accurately, before being attacked, that would be sufficient. Even if it ant a costly battle, as long as the mission could be completed, death would be worth it.
The key point was that the second reconnaissance aircraft still had not found the "Longxiang."
About thirty kiloters away from the "Longxiang," that "Flying Fish" was intercepted by the 96th Fighter Group.
It tangled with the 96th Fighter Group for a while before turning away, not continuing to fly westward, prior to the arrival of two nearby fighters.
From such a distance, with the sky full of dark clouds, the pilot definitely did not spot the carrier dozens of kiloters away.
What was there to worry about?
Unfortunately, what Tsunoji did not know was that while the 96th Fighter Group went to chase away that "Flying Fish," a "Wasp" ca in from the sa direction but at a much lower altitude, below the clouds, and had dived into the cloud layer just before the "Flying Fish" turned away. At about ten kiloters from the "Longxiang," it erged from the clouds. It flew for less than three minutes below the cloud layer before diving back into the clouds once more.
During these few minutes, no one noticed that "Wasp."
Since fighters had chased away the reconnaissance aircraft from that direction, even if soone did see it, they would mistake it for one of the fighters operating nearby.
Furthermore, after entering the cloud layer, the "Wasp" turned south, flying several dozen kiloters before exiting the cloud layer.
Fifteen minutes later, the "Wasp" caught up with the "Flying Fish" that had been chased away by the 96th Fighter Group and forced to turn south to evade.
Then, the "Flying Fish" sent out a telegraph.
The "Wasp’s" pilot didn’t follow the "Flying Fish" southwest, towards Zu Island, but flew southeast, towards the vast ocean.
Over two hundred kiloters away, a huge group of attack aircraft was flying this way.
The pilot of the "Wasp" was Major Ji Yeshang, a squadron leader of the Third Shipborne Air Force Wing, a three-ti elite pilot capable of flying all three types of shipborne aircraft.
According to the plan devised last night, Ji Yeshang was to pilot a "Flying Fish" and lead the first group of aircraft in the attack.
Little did he expect that his own aircraft would be requisitioned.
Although the service personnel promised to install a spare radio in another "Flying Fish" as soon as possible, Ji Yeshang felt that waiting on the carrier for an opportunity was not as good as flying up into the sky to find one. The key was that in the newly arranged attack tactics, a commander was needed to lead the way up front.
At that ti, Zhou Yongtao took fifteen minutes to explain this rather complicated tactic to Ji Yeshang and several other elite pilots who were to navigate the "Wasps."
It’s possible that he confused himself with all the twists and turns.
Ji Yeshang didn’t fully understand either, but he grasped the main points.
The guiding "Wasps" were to accompany the "Flying Fish," and after finding the Third Air Corps, proceed to the designated sea area, et with the group of attack aircraft, and then lead the attack. The key point was that the entire operation would be commanded by the pilots of the guiding "Wasps."
Why did Zhou Yongtao have to make it so complicated?
There was one simple reason.
To ensure the concealnt of the Third Air Special Protection Fleet, so that they wouldn’t reveal their position due to launching an attack, and could even lead the enemy into making a wrong judgnt.
In Zhou Yongtao’s words, it might even drag the enemy into the gutter.
To this, Ji Yeshang felt it was entirely unnecessary, utterly superfluous.
If they could annihilate the Third Air Corps in one fell swoop and take down those two small fleet carriers, what else was there to worry about?
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