It was sunny on Friday, the 4th. At around nine o'clock in the morning, Guo Kui was sleeping soundly. Suddenly, there was a beeping sound. He immediately opened his eyes and sat up, startling the telegraph operator next to him.
Soldiers have never been afraid of sacrifice, but there was a question of whether it was worth it. Therefore, when he learned that the seven large ships controlled by Qi Minghao and the others had almost no combat power, Guo Kui got directly into the " The Richelieu's communications room was closed.
At this moment, he stared at the second lieutenant and asked: "Telegram."
"yes."
"Where did it come from?"
"Hanoi."
"Quick translation."
"yes."
While the second lieutenant was translating, Guo Kui lay on the side and watched. About three minutes later, he read: "The main force of the Japanese warships appeared in the area of Labuan Island." The concept of Labuan Island was not in his mind, so he immediately ran out to find them. Minghao, Qi Minghao had just changed his shift. When he heard him asking where Labuan Island was, he immediately understood. His eyes lit up and he asked: "The main force of the Japanese fleet has gone to Labuan Island."
Seeing his expression, Guo Kui knew something in his heart, and his tense heartstrings suddenly relaxed. He took out a cigarette and handed it to Qi Minghao and said, "If you answer the question correctly, I will reward you with a cigarette."
"I can't smoke."
"Smoke one, smoke one. As a military cadet, I don't know how to smoke. I won't be afraid of people laughing when I say it. How far is Labuan Island from Singapore?"
"More than a thousand kilometers."
"Haha, Xu Kai and the others succeeded."
"It's not considered a success yet. We have to be able to contain the Japanese fleet there for at least a day and a night."
Guo Kui understood the relationship as soon as he thought about it. He lit a cigarette, took a deep breath and said: "I believe he has this ability. He can sink a giant like the 'Kaga', and a small sampan." ‘Fengxiang’ and ‘Longxiang’ are still on the table.”
Qi Minghao smiled bitterly: "Commander, this is not the algorithm. Let's put it this way, the submarine is an assassin in the sea. It can only rely on sneak attacks to achieve success. But now the Japanese army is on guard, so it is very difficult."
"No matter what, the Japs' main fleet is not in Singapore now."
“The time difference is not calculated well, but it seems that’s all it can do.”
The second lieutenant had already translated the entire message. He came up and handed the complete message to Qi Minghao, asking him if he wanted to notify the British in order to speed up the advance.
Out of respect for the lives of the captured soldiers, Phillips personally directed the actions of the mixed fleet. Qi Minghao thought for a while and said: "Send a telegram. Phillips was on night shift yesterday and should still be sleeping at the moment. Remember anything else." Don’t mention it either.”
The second lieutenant should have retreated. Five minutes later, Qi Minghao and Guo Kui were discussing what Xu Kai should do to attract the attention of the Japanese while protecting themselves. The words on the left side in front of Qi Minghao were used to communicate with the entire fleet. Phillips's voice came out: "Every ship, please pay attention. I am Phillips. I am now ordering all ships to maintain their original formation and move forward at a speed of thirty knots. Over."
Phillips got up quickly enough. A little surprised, Qi Minghao grabbed the microphone and replied: "The 'Richelieu' received it." Then he issued a series of orders to the cadets on the ship,
A few minutes later, Qi Minghao was about to say something to Guo Kui. When he chose the channel on the right side in front of him, Phillips' voice came out again from the Mail: "I am Phillips, please pick up Commander Qi."
"I am Qi Minghao, Commander Phillips, please speak."
"Commander Qi, I have received the telegram. I would like to ask if the main force of the Japanese expedition fleet was attracted by your army."
Qi Minghao and Guo Kui looked at each other with the same meaning in their eyes: This British guy has his own tricks.
Qi Minghao: "Sorry, I don't know about this."
Phillips was silent for a while and said: "Commander Qi, you must be aware that the main force of the Japanese expeditionary fleet is the biggest threat to our operation. The main force of the Japanese fleet has been transferred away from Singapore waters. We have already succeeded in half of this operation. If it can be towed to Labuan Island, the chance of success of our operation will be greatly increased. I suggest you communicate with Commander-in-Chief Ouyang about this matter."
Guo Kui: "What a damn, very sensitive sense of smell. He must have sensed something."
Qi Minghao waved his hand towards him, pressed the send button and said: "Okay."
"May God bless you, thank you very much." Phillips replied,
Putting down his words, Qi Minghao responded to Guo Kui's words just now: "He is worthy of being a man from the world's strongest navy. This Phillips is a character."
Guo Kui did not continue this topic, but asked: "If we advance at a speed of thirty knots, how long will it take to reach the target sea area."
Qi Minghao looked at the chart and said, "If nothing happens, we can arrive at around three o'clock tomorrow morning."
Guo Kui looked at his watch: "That means there are still at most fifteen hours."
"yes."
"Then I have to go and rest, Xiao Qi, you'd better go and take a nap too."
"I just woke up and I feel very energetic now."
Time went back six hours. At about three o'clock in the morning, on the ocean west of Labuan Island, Xu Kai was commanding the Song-class ship that had made great achievements the night before yesterday, playing a game of hide-and-seek with the little devil.
Guo Kui and Qi Minghao thought that it would be difficult for them to continue to attract the attention of Japanese ships surrounded by many Japanese ships. In fact, they achieved it very simply. By firing active sonar at a frigate, Long Xiang coincidentally The aircraft carrier "Kaga" was on the inside of the frigate. Having learned the painful lesson of the "Kaga" aircraft carrier being sunk by a torpedo, the Japanese commander of the Ryūjō carrier fleet did not dare to be careless and immediately ordered the entire fleet to conduct anti-submarine operations. However, The Song class was so slippery that all the Japanese anti-submarine ships dispatched from the fleet could not encircle it, so the Fengxiang aircraft carrier fleet also joined the encirclement and pursuit battle.
This cat-and-mouse game between the two sides lasted for more than four hours. This is why Xu Kai and the others discovered the enemy's main battleship Qi Minghao at three in the morning and did not receive the notification telegram until nine in the morning (for insurance, Xu Kai ordered the two The Ming class returned to Haikou base first),
At dawn, the overturned merchant ship pierced the eyes of the commander of the Ryukyu aircraft carrier fleet in a very conspicuous manner. Only then did the little devil remember that his responsibility was to take the transport fleet back to Singapore. The little devil also had good intentions and did not want to face resources in the empire. In a difficult situation, the equipment of that ship was wasted and the ship was towed back. Well, the speed of the Ryūjang was not fast originally. Due to its drag, the speed of the entire fleet was not fast. Now there are so many more As a result, the overall speed of the fleet dropped by more than half. With the sailing level at that time, it was almost a snail's speed. Then, the tragedy happened. When the Japanese Japanese army in Singapore suddenly discovered the huge fleet of the British and French coalition forces, Koizumi When they were ordered to return quickly, they were still more than 800 kilometers away from Singapore.
Because of this special situation, although the rescue operation actually started three hours later than Qi Minghao estimated, it was still enough for the officers and soldiers of the Jungle Special Operations Brigade to do their best.