My Head of the Huaxia Expeditionary Force

"Morning pants! Haha pants!"

The commander's scolding voice lingered in his ears, and many navy sailors were busy in the ship. No one dared to take it lightly at the last moment of going to sea.

The pier was crowded with people, and the laborers who had been captured by the Japanese to do hard labor were densely packed, like a group of hard-working ants, silently enduring the suppression and abuse, and carrying various supplies, ammunition and equipment to the warships.

On the morning of June 6, in the battle room of the Yamato ship tower...

The gloomy-faced fleet commander Ito Zhengichi was staring at the battle map in silence. For some reason, the inexplicable uneasiness lingered in his heart.

The fleet is sailing in the South China Sea at a speed of 17 nautical miles per hour. It should be able to pass through the Nansha Islands and the Balabac Strait tomorrow and the day after tomorrow, and then sail to the Sulu Sea to reach Mindanao Island in the Philippines.

It had been a day since he left port, and the fleet was moving in the planned direction, but he still felt uneasy, and his right eyelid kept twitching, which seemed to indicate that something bad was about to happen.

Looking out the window of the war room, the three triple main guns reflected the cold metallic light under the scorching sun, which gave Ito some comfort and confidence.

The Yamato is the largest battleship in the world today, with a full load displacement of more than 460 tons, nine 155mm main guns, twelve 127mm secondary guns, twelve 25mm rapid-fire naval guns, and dozens of mm or above There are more than anti-aircraft guns and artillery pieces alone.

The entire ship is also covered with a large amount of armor. Important parts of the ship can withstand bombardment from 460mm cannons. Its chimney is also equipped with honeycomb steel plates and protective armor at the opening and sides, which is far superior to other naval warships of the same period. It can be said that The main guns of any other battleship in the world could not easily penetrate the Yamato's armor.

With these hardware strengths as a guarantee, even if the Americans send out Iowa-class battleships, they will not be able to get an advantage in front of the Yamato.

Ito tried hard to cheer himself up in his mind, and walked out of the war room, standing outside the ship tower and looking at the sea ahead.

Looking around, many soldiers on the ship were standing ready at their posts. There were four light cruisers and eight destroyers escorting the Yamato.

Ito held the guardrail and nodded with satisfaction, smiling as the bow of the ship broke through the waves. The waves continued, and the mighty fleet looked so majestic in the sun.

At this moment, a figure also lying on the railing on the lower deck caught Ito's attention. It was a junior marine. The solitary figure looked a bit awkward on the edge of the deck.

But having regained his confidence, he didn't want to pay attention to it. He just watched it for a while and then returned to the war room...

……

The sea breeze blew across his face. Kamio Kikujiro, who was only fifteen years old, stood on the deck of the Yamato and looked into the distance. His thoughts were gradually taken away by the endless sea in front of him.

"You're so stupid? Kamio-kun?"

At the same time, soldier Uchida hurried over and patted him on the shoulder. He looked around again and said hurriedly: "Major just went to the second floor. Go back quickly and don't let him find out that you are lazy again."

The reminder from his companion put a little fear on Kamio's face. Although he often sneaked out, he was discovered by his superiors more than once or twice, and he was dealt with miserably every time.

Just like that, the two and a half-year-old children hurriedly ran back to their team's posts.

There...a dozen Japanese soldiers with the same childish faces were maintaining a triple anti-aircraft gun, but their clumsy and unfamiliar methods soon attracted a lot of curses from the commander.

After all, these soldiers are still underage children. They were just students two months ago. They have not even completed the basic training of new recruits, but they are placed in the most important positions.

Because there are really no people in the Japanese army now. Not to mention little boys like these fifteen or sixteen years old, even girls and younger children have to be recruited to the army to do logistics support work and receive certain military training. , so that you can go to the battlefield at any time. Of course, the Japanese high-level officials do not expect these children to have much combat effectiveness in the future. As long as they can pull off grenades and kill the enemy together, even if they exchange them for one, they will still make money. This is the crazy 100 million jade plan of the little devil.

Kamio and Uchida are also one of these child soldiers. They were sent to the Yamato as supplementary soldiers two months ago.

Here, they train day and night and endlessly repeat shipboard air defense tasks in order to integrate into the battle as soon as possible and become qualified naval soldiers.

Although it is hard work, many people do not feel any resistance at all, because the Yamato's status in the hearts of the Japanese is very sacred. This is their national pride. Being able to work on the ship is something to be proud of.

Young people, with simple and pure thoughts, were slightly deceived by their superiors, coupled with the relatively good treatment on the Yamato, which made them all excited and wanted to fight and die for the empire right away.

But the sober-minded Kamio didn't think so. His father served in the navy and had died in the Battle of Leyte Gulf.

There has been no news from his brother who is far away in the battlefield in China since he sent back his last letter last year. He and his mother are the only ones left in the family to depend on each other.

What was unexpected was that the Japanese military was unable to contain its defeat. Kamio and other students who were still in middle school at the beginning of this year were ordered to suspend classes, and were subsequently drafted into the army without even having a chance to say goodbye to their families.

Both their former teachers and their current superiors have instilled in them the spirit of dedication to the empire and the victory of the Yamato nation. However, Kamio no longer has any hope for this war, and his family has also paid a lot for it. The price paid.

He still remembered that before joining the army, the situation at home was very bad. As a science and engineering student, he could still receive a certain amount of subsidies from school, but it was only enough to feed himself.

But my mother could only eat wild vegetables and wheat bran every day, not even brown rice, and had to go to the factory to do a lot of tedious work.

Now that the country has reached this point, what capital can we use to make a comeback?

But as a Japanese, he had to obey the arrangement and endured the reluctance to be separated from his family.

Kamio, who was thinking a lot, couldn't help opening his jacket pocket and took out a photo of a girl. The person in the photo was his school sweetheart, Ueno Sakurako.

Looking at the pretty girl in the photo, the corners of Kamio's mouth unconsciously turned up. This should be his only love now.

"What are you doing, Kamio, take it quickly!"

Companion Nanjo struggled to move a box of anti-aircraft artillery shells. Kamio was supposed to pick it up and get the position of the ammunition hand, but because of his confusion just now, things were delayed again.

Nanjo was already thin and small. A box of 25mm shells weighed several dozen kilograms, and it took all his strength to move it up from the lower ammunition depot.

Kamio hurriedly ran over to help, while Nanjo had veins popping out on his forehead, and the arms holding the ammunition box were almost out of strength. The two of them were still unable to avoid mistakes while they were scrambling. The box fell to the ground with a bang, and there were yellow and orange shells inside. It crashed onto the deck.

"Asshole! What are you doing!?"

The officer not far away heard the commotion and came over very angrily and cursed angrily.

After seeing the ammunition all over the ground, he was so angry that he rolled up his sleeves and took a vine whip and started beating Kamio and the two of them indiscriminately.

The two of them had their heads hanging down, being slapped on their bodies and mouths, and kept saying sorry. After the officer vented his anger, he immediately knelt on the ground and picked up the scattered shells...

(End of this chapter)