afterglow

Chapter 258 Use both soothing and calming; kamikaze!
A few obstacles are harmless, and the progress on the front line is generally very smooth.

Before that, some people were skeptical of the Metropolitan Government's expectation of "putting down all the resistance in the Eastern Islands within a month and a half", but now it seems completely reasonable?

In the early spring, when everything is recovering, the temperature in Nanjing has gradually warmed up, and it will soon be the most pleasant time of the year.

In the Forbidden City in the morning, there are court ladies who perform their duties, and most of them walk leisurely and look relaxed.Working in the imperial palace sounds lofty, but once the novelty wears off, it's no different from an ordinary job.

The abolition of eunuchs and eunuchs was an inconspicuous but influential event during the constitutional government, which directly cut off the thoughts of some people who sent their children into the palace as slaves.At the same time, the practice of castrating boys as slaves by some tyrants without authorization has gradually disappeared.

As a result, the waiters in the Forbidden City, strictly speaking, limited to "Miyagi" were basically women.

Men... there are, but there are very few of them. These eunuchs in the new era can be said to be retro in a sense—not all eunuchs in the Qin and Western Han Dynasties were eunuchs.

If it weren't for the assistance of a series of machinery and equipment brought about by the industrial revolution, otherwise the situation of such a large number of men and women would definitely affect the normal operation of the Forbidden City, because there was always physical work to be done in the palace, and the weak strength of the palace ladies was not enough to do it.

For example, laying floor mats. Many areas in the palace and Miyagi must be laid with floor mats. In summer, we use carpets, in winter we use felt, and in spring and autumn we use blankets.Each piece of these thick things is several square meters, and they are quite heavy. One can imagine how troublesome it is to transport them.

"...Our Second Army was obstructed by the local resistance army and was slightly damaged, but the soldiers were brave and fearless, and the enemy failed to stop our army. As of midnight last night, Tokyo was surrounded on three sides."

In the Hongde Hall next to the Qianqing Palace, Lin Xi stated the latest progress to the emperor in very clear words.

The latter simply asked: "Has there been any change in the official attitude?"

"No change, still submissive." Lin Xi pushed his glasses, and continued: "Yesterday was the third public statement, and there should be another one today."

"Okay." The emperor thought for a while, and then asked: "I heard that some people in the court made a big fallacy, saying that they wanted to arrest and kill all the rebels?"

"There is such a thing, but it should be a joke, and everyone didn't take it seriously."

"It is not appropriate to underestimate the national consciousness of the Japanese people. It is easy to find trouble, but difficult to lose it."

"What Your Majesty said is very true. For a place like the Wa country that has been relatively independent and independent for thousands of years, no matter how you look at it, the excessive policy is not worth the candle."

The Ming Dynasty’s strategy for dealing with Japan was basically derived from a memorandum many years ago. Today’s policy is based on it, adding bricks and tiles to improve it.

Although he lacks influence at the moment, the emperor with a long history has inherent advantages. As long as the publicity is in place, he is very suitable as a puppet to unite people's hearts on the surface.

Just like the canonization of Toyotomi Hideyoshi in the Wanli period, the emperor is now re-canonized as the king of Japan to continue to maintain the actual state of the separatist regimes and prevent any one party from dominating the family, making it difficult to unify the entire national power.

At the same time, in terms of overall policy, Huairou is the main focus, and instead of forcibly changing customs, it changes its atmosphere by opening Sinology schools and foreign students, thereby alleviating and eliminating the resistance of the people.

In view of the large number of illiterate population and the lack of resources in the archipelago, follow the art of command and try to absorb all the talents in Japan, and the rest of the large number of low-quality people can be attracted to remote areas to engage in reclamation and construction work through propaganda; it is also good to recruit as servants s Choice.

After more than [-] years in power, I am afraid that no one knows better than Zhu Shiyan what the current situation of Ming Dynasty is.

The future war is a battle related to the fate of the country, and any unnecessary resource investment should be avoided.The conflict was so intense that the local garrison was overwhelmed and had to invest more troops to forcefully maintain stability?

This kind of loss had already been suffered in Annan during the Yongle and Hongxi reigns, so it is still necessary to learn from history.

Therefore, the overall policy Zhu Shiyan emphasized is—should not take the initiative to cause trouble, but resolutely suppress the local troublemakers.

This day is March 7, 15:30 in the morning, nine hours after No. [-] landed.

"Has the latest casualty statistics come out? Why haven't the supplies arrived yet? We're an hour late!"

Because of insomnia last night, Zhou Changfeng woke up a little later today. After learning that the supplies had not arrived, he couldn't help being a little annoyed.

Damn!Unilaterally crushing the situation, the enemy didn't even have shelling or air strikes, and the supplies couldn't be delivered on time?This is purely a human issue.

Xie Wancheng clasped his fists and said, "Last night, four people were seriously injured and died, and a few more people were sick. The supplies should be here soon."

"Send someone to ask about it. This doesn't take war seriously at all."

"Yes."

At this time, Xiao Li at the side suddenly saw something strange.

Pointing to the sky in the northeast direction, he asked doubtfully, "Didn't our plane just fly back? Why are there more planes here?"

About 2 minutes ago, three dive bombers performing reconnaissance patrols returned from the inland direction and flew towards the aircraft carrier on the sea.

But how many more planes have appeared now?One, two, three...five?
Zhou Changfeng picked up the binoculars and saw five dark green biplanes flying slowly towards the south. Their fuselage parts seemed to have been scribbled and their logos erased.

"Hiss... I'll go!" He suddenly realized that the situation was not good, and immediately shouted eagerly: "Quick! Report to the fleet, there is an incoming enemy plane!"

Since there are people in the Army and Navy who support the call to "prove blood with resistance and exchange respect with blood", then there are naturally pilots in Army Aviation who agree.

A dozen or so pilots from the [-]nd Flying Squadron flew old and outdated Bulldog fighter jets manufactured by the British company Bristol to carry out this carefully planned air strike.

They were originally ordered to transfer to Ashikaga City, waiting for the Ming army to come and take over, but they flew away against the order.

During the few days of waiting, they have been looking for opportunities to observe and record the take-off and landing rules of the Ming army's carrier-based aircraft. After planning, they officially put it into action today.

The five bulldog fighters were divided into two groups, and the two fighters in one group were responsible for fighting with the Ming fighters that might appear, thus creating opportunities for the three fighters in the second group to attack.

They climbed to a high altitude early, and waited for the Ming army's carrier-based aircraft to return before descending to follow.

The distance of a few kilometers is too short for the aircraft. The fleet has just received the warning telegram from the first marine regiment, and the lookout post has already seen these approaching enemy aircraft.

"Ugh-"

"The entire crew enters the battle position!"

The shrill and piercing air defense sirens rang out from every warship, and the sailors who went to the bathroom, ate, smoked, chatted, no matter what they were doing, immediately rushed to their posts.

The two Type [-] carrier-based fighter jets hovering over the fleet on duty also sensed the incoming enemy. After communicating with the wingman, the lead plane quickly adjusted its course and prepared to dive and attack.

Down below, dozens of warships, including minesweepers, destroyers, light cruisers, heavy cruisers, battleships, and aircraft carriers, all pointed their air defense weapons in the direction of the five enemy planes.

"Single wing, five planes. Altitude 1120, speed 190, direction 67, stapling!"

According to the results of the summary and calculation of data such as height, speed, and direction, one of the gun crew members used a special wrench to set the time for the mechanical fuze of the 128mm naval gun.

The destroyer Cangzhou opened fire first, and several 128mm anti-aircraft fragmentation bombs exploded at a height of more than 1000 meters, and clouds of black and gray smoke bloomed under the white clouds.

The formation of enemy planes consisted of two, three continued to fly head-on, and the other two turned to climb and prepare for engagement.

The slow biplane is almost like a live target for the warships in the middle and late stages of the war, but it is different now, and the navies of the great powers have not yet explored the best combination of anti-aircraft firepower.

The Americans are still using 12.7mm machine guns and 28mm "Chicago Piano" anti-aircraft guns, lacking medium-caliber anti-aircraft firepower, and the performance of small-caliber anti-aircraft weapons is not good.

The Russians use a combination of 12.7mm machine guns and 76.2mm naval guns; the British are equipped with 12.7mm "bang bang" guns in addition to the 40mm machine guns, but their performance is backward. The British who want to save money and trouble choose Multi-door installations make up for quality with quantity, and there have been double installations, quadruple installations, and even eight-door installations.

The Ming Navy used a combination of 20.8mm anti-aircraft guns and 128mm naval guns, supplemented by a small number of 12.8mm anti-aircraft machine guns as supplementary firepower.

Three Bulldog fighter jets kept approaching against the sky full of artillery fire. The explosion caused the plane to undulate and tremble continuously, and the high-speed fragments cut holes in the wings and fuselage skin.

As the distance and height decreased, the 20.8mm dual-mounted guns fired immediately, and countless tracer bullets drew a series of conspicuous light marks!
"Bang—bang bang—"

In the blink of an eye, the ferocious fire net woven together by the entire fleet almost completely enveloped those planes.

Compared with the huge fleet of the Ming army, the few aircraft are really small. Such a fearless scene of using small things to make big things made the Ming army officers and soldiers both contemptuous and emotional.

The 20.8×112mm armor-piercing incendiary bomb containing [-] joules of kinetic energy directly hit the front of one of the Bulldog fighters, and the engine was instantly destroyed, and black smoke burst out.

In the next few seconds, another six or seven shells hit it one after another, the right wing was almost cut off, and the whole plane fell into the sea like a kite with a broken string, splashing huge water.

The fate of the other two planes was not much better. Facing the fiery fire net, they were shot down one after another.

The 100 kilometer (30kg) aerial bomb mounted on one of the planes was detonated due to the huge impact when it fell into the sea, and a column of water two to [-] meters high exploded.

The three incoming enemy planes were all wiped out, and the officers and soldiers of the fleet breathed a sigh of relief.

But at this moment, another plane suddenly appeared from the clouds and dived downward at high speed—it broke away from the fight with the Ming army's carrier-based fighter jets.

"Enemy plane!!!"

Although the reaction was half a beat slow, the fleet's anti-aircraft firepower still covered it.

Because it was intended to perform dogfighting missions, the plane actually did not carry aerial bombs at all.

The dark green-painted bulldog fighter was hit by several shells and emitted white and black smoke. However, under the control of the pilot, the whole plane pointed straight at the nearest and most valuable battleship, the Zhanghe.

The near-vertical dive is much more difficult than the interception of the three planes in level flight. Such an extreme dive almost caused the old plane made ten years ago to disintegrate by itself.

The sailors stared wide-eyed, watching the bigger and bigger plane approaching at high speed in amazement.

"Wh-boom!"

A large fire burst out of the middle of Zhanghe's hull, and a twin 20.8mm anti-aircraft gun was destroyed.

The gasoline leaked from the plane caused a fire, and some shells were detonated. The raging fire and successive explosions frightened the surrounding sailors.

"Damage control team hurry up! Put out the fire!"

"Report how the situation is!"

On the bridge, compared to the flustered officers around him, the captain of the Zhang He was very calm.

This is a battleship, as long as the armor box is not damaged, it will not sink even if everything and buildings above the deck are destroyed.

He recalled the previous scene where the three planes were easily shot down, and said firmly: "This doesn't seem like a mistake, I'm afraid it should be attributed to the poor matching of anti-aircraft weapons."

At this time, in the distance, the last Bulldog was also shot down by Ming fighter jets, and it fell into Tokyo Bay with gray-black smoke.

So far, the five planes that bravely defended the Turkish army to attack were all wiped out.

This action did not have much effect, and the suicide ram was only a tickle for the battleship with its hard guns.

Four of the battleship sailors died and thirteen were injured. Objectively speaking, it is nothing compared to five pilots and five planes.

At 14:22 in the afternoon, the sun is soft and the breeze is blowing. This should be considered a good time for spring.

However, in Tokyo, which has been affected by the flames of war, except for the people in the concession who are still in a good mood to welcome the new day, no one else may have that kind of thought.

A fire reconnaissance by the [-]th Infantry Division on the right flank kicked off the Ming army's siege of Tokyo.

In the direction of the offensive that the Marine Regiment was in charge of, the enemies in front of them were the defeated remnants of the Fujiwara Detachment and a brigade sent by the Takahashi Detachment for reinforcements.

Here is a small factory area, originally there was a textile factory and a shoe factory.

The resistance army occupied three factory buildings and water towers, using them as strong support points, and then built field fortifications around the factory area, and arranged a line of defense.

But such a defense mode is useless in Zhou Changfeng's view, and he can't help but feel a little desolate.

"This is an air of waiting to die." Zhao Hanfeng said calmly.

A few seconds later, horrific shelling from the Zhanghe and Yongping descended on the area.

A high-explosive bomb weighing more than 800 kilograms collapsed one-third of one of the factory buildings in one shot. Fragments of bricks and tiles were scattered and scattered, and the slowly rising gray smoke column was dozens of meters high.

The collapsed water tower fell to one side and hit a nearby factory building hard, and the remaining industrial water poured down like a gust of water.

"Is the breakthrough team in place?"

"It's all on the front line."

"Okay." Zhou Changfeng nodded, waved his hand and said, "The first battalion enters the attack starting position."

(End of this chapter)