.As the news of the 1st Fleet leaving the port, the debate in the German Supreme Command in Berlin about the main force of the Japanese Navy's fight or the inability to retreat finally came to an end, and the eye-catching "gambling" also ended with the victory of the Navy Chief of Staff Redel. In the envious eyes of everyone, Redel happily took the prize from the "frustrated" Chen Tian - a bottle of red wine produced by the 1900 French Bordeaux Margaux Winery.

"The day when the Imperial Navy wins, that is, when this wine is opened, we share it!"

Raidel announced to the officers around him holding the bottle in both hands. Hearing this, the crowd was filled with joy.

In 1929, there were not many red wines in the 18th century on the market, and high-quality red wines after 1900 emerged one after another, but those were not comparable to the Bordeaux red wine produced in 1900. 1900 was not only the year of the century, but the red wine produced in Bordeaux was of high quality and rare in a century. The products of Bordeaux Margot Winery back then were even more emperors and were known as the best red wine in the century. It was such a bottle of red wine that could be the bet of the "Emperor's Gambling".

Chen Tian lost, but he lost happily. In fact, as a "prophet", he knew very well that Japanese militarists would not give up the opportunity to make a living and die under the current circumstances. In a sense, the top Japanese military leaders are veritable "gamblers"!

After losing his treasures, Chen Tian's joy was beyond words, not only because of Raidel's "selflessness", but also because of his keen vision. The German main fleet commanded by Hippel lined up 8 battleships, 4 battle cruisers, and 4 heavy aircraft carriers with a powerful lineup. Most people believe that the main force of the Japanese Navy will hide in the strong defense Sasebo military port and avoid it. A few generals represented by Raidel believe that the Japanese commander would not miss such an opportunity to severely damage the German Navy in one fell swoop, even if the chance of success is only one percent!

After glanced at the exquisite wine bottle in Redel's hand, Chen Tian suggested: "When will the battle to bet on a sea with another bottle of red wine break out and how?"

"It must be tonight!" Redel said firmly.

"Oh?" Chen Tian couldn't help but look carefully again at the lieutenant general who was not tall and handsome in front of him. At first, Chen Tian thought that the Nazi marshal in another world was a general with outstanding organizational skills, but as he deepened his contact, he found that Redel's military talent far exceeded his expectations. Redel, 43, has shown outstanding planning skills and excellent strategic vision, and has very good interpersonal relationships in the Supreme Command. In addition, it is possible to become "Tirpitz's second".

"If your Majesty does not believe, you can bring another bottle of red wine. I have promised to share this bottle with everyone. If your Majesty wins, I will present the 1895 French Bugenti red wine collected at home!"

When he first entered the command department, Raidel spoke cautiously, but under the rigorous but relaxed atmosphere, he was able to show this confidence and generousness when talking to Chen Tian. From this point of view, Chen Tian was still very satisfied with his habit of handling superior and subordinate relationships.

"Okay!" Chen Tian summoned his attendant and "Go to get my other bottle of 1900 Bordeaux wine from the Palace Cellar!"

Redell still had that confident smile, and the happiest one was the army and navy generals present. No matter who wins or loses in this bet, they would give the best French red wine of this era.

Chen Tian, ​​who is about to lose his second bottle of good wine, is not the ultimate frustrated person. Just two bottles of top red wine can eliminate the anxiety of the generals while waiting. By the way, bring the relationship between the generals of the army and the navy closer. Of course, it is a great value for money!

At this moment, a report on the latest progress came from the front line. Although the content of the report was not very directly related to Chen Tian and Radell's "gambling", it was enough to revive everyone present. The main fleets of Germany and Japan had not yet confronted, and a fierce naval battle was staged in advance in the waters of Zega Island far away in northern Japan. The Pelz fleet heading north faced the main force of the Japanese current team as promised. Although the Pelz fleet was at an absolute disadvantage in strength, the advantage of speed allowed them to play hide-and-seek with their opponents. More importantly, the German fleet heading south from the Kuril Islands was quickly rushing towards the Sogoku Strait, where thousands of Japanese transport ships were there, and it was the confidence pillar of the Japanese troops landing on the island. Once the Sogoku Strait was re-controlled in the hands of the German army, the consequences of the Koye Island Battle are conceivable.

At this time, even if a wise adviser in the Japanese Navy headquarters had realized this, the speculation without evidence could not be said to the senior Japanese generals who were determined to win a battle in the waters of the Ezha Island. Moreover, it was too late for the 3rd Fleet to return to aid at this time.

Sure enough, shortly after the battle in the Zezha Island began, the Japanese army discovered the speeding German fleet east of the Sonoku Strait, one battleship, three heavy cruisers, three medium-sized aircraft carriers and some light cruisers. The fleet composed of destroyers was not as strong as the main force of the Japanese 3rd Fleet. However, at this time, there were only "Anyi" in the Sonoku Strait, and the two slightly older battleships, "Hanoi", once the fragile strait defense line was broken by the German fleet, the remaining transport ships would only be beaten.

When he learned about the sudden change in the maritime situation in the north, Taniguchi Naoma and his main force of the joint fleet were sailing on the sea more than 50 nautical miles southeast of Sasebo. The Taniguchi fleet was helpless in the battle between the Zeta Island and the Sogo Strait, which were thousands of miles away. In order to avoid shaking the morale of the army, Taniguchi even ordered the news to be blocked to the entire fleet.

What made Taniguchi feel most depressed was not pretending to be innocent in front of the lower-level officers. Soon, the Navy Headquarters located in Yokosuka sent a telegram, ordering him to continue to lead the main force of the joint fleet to the decisive battle area, and to ensure that he could win back the humiliation from the north with a huge victory.

"Since that the fleet heading north is a bait, who can guarantee that the decisive battle in front of you is not a bigger trap?" Guguchi kneaded the telegram in his hand with a gloomy face. He was in extreme anxiety and paced back and forth in the commander's tower like a trapped beast.

"General..." Takida Yoshiro, who was standing aside, saw the clues, but at this time he didn't know what to say.

"Kun Takita, we seem to think too simple about the Germans! Being able to defeat France, Britain, the United States, and Russia is by no means possible by luck and brute force!"

Taniguchi's tone was so heavy, but it seemed too late to admit that the Germans' strategic abilities were a bit too late.

Since the Russo-Japanese War, the Japanese command team has been conceited from top to bottom to surpass its own strength, and its contempt for the Russians has been extended to other European countries. This psychological flaw has left the Japanese army in a very unfavorable position at the beginning of the war with Germany, and the successive defeats have only caused a small number of generals to start looking for factors outside the gap in weapons and equipment between the two sides.

Most people still pursue "brave", "spirit" and the so-called "jade break".

"It is a world-recognized fact that the Germans are rigid inflexible. However, thinking about the several wars since 1914, the tactical qualities and combat strategies of the German commanders are amazing! As for this naval battle of picking islands, we all think that the German fleet was just harassing our coast and heading north to reinforce Kuye Island. We didn't expect that the long journey was to restrain our third fleet, and the Germans occupied the Kuril Islands fleet and headed south to Zonggu Strait at the right time. The clever timing of the opportunity was amazing!"

The two consecutive "amazing" may not be enough to express what Duntian felt at this moment. One fleet was used to lure the tiger away from the mountain. The other team waited for an opportunity to move. This was not an incomprehensible strategy, but no one from a large group of senior staff members of the Japanese Navy headquarters saw through this, which really made people feel very disappointed.

After that, the two people standing together did not speak for a long time.

"In the name of the Joint Fleet General Staff, he asked them to withdraw the fleet and head south quickly. What do you think Taniguchi Jun?" After a long time, Chaostian finally broke the dull atmosphere.

Taniguchi's gaze that looked to the distant sea surface seemed to have frozen. After a while, he nodded heavily. "Although the Navy headquarters may not adopt it, this is the only way to save the situation in the war! In this way, we have tried our best!"

Takita bowed 75 degrees and gave a Japanese military salute, then walked to the communication room to send a telegram.

The lonely valley mouth stood silently in front of the porthole. Looking at the vast crowd of ships on the sea, I felt infinite emotion in my heart.

More than 400 nautical miles ahead of the Japanese First Fleet, the German main fleet was also rushing to the battlefield in a huge scale. Coincidentally, all 89 ships on the German side were lined up in 8 combat columns. Although the number of warships was less than that of the Japanese fleet on the opposite side, the total tonnage was more than twice that of the other side. The Japanese sent a considerable number of torpedo boat troops, and the German fleet also had at least 1,800 tons of standard-class destroyers, and the popularity of ship-based radar was unmatched by the Japanese fleet!

The distance of 400 nautical miles was not far away, and the long-range reconnaissance planes of both sides quickly discovered the other party's traces.

Immediately afterwards, the commanders of both sides ordered the fleet to perform tactical maneuvers, and sent their first wave of attack aircraft groups.

132 fighter jets, 56 dive bombers, 52 torpedo bombers, and the German fleet's aircraft carrier group released a huge aircraft group equivalent to the total number of carrier-based aircraft in the Japanese fleet in one breath. It's no wonder that the "Kemal", "Alsace", "Prussia" and "Lorraine" in the fleet are all heavy aircraft carriers with displacement of about 40,000 tons. Together with 20,000 tons of Zeppelin class and 1 European class and 4 Vienna class 120,000 tons of aircraft carriers, the number and carrying capacity of aircraft carriers are 3 times and 3.7 times that of the other party's land respectively!

The strength of the first-wave attack aircraft group sent by the Japanese fleet cannot be underestimated. However, as Naoma Taniguchi was worried, it is still unknown whether these pilots who have never participated in real naval battles can fully play their usual training.

After more than an hour of long-distance flight, the German aircraft group and the Japanese aircraft group approached their own targets one after another, and the aircraft carrier formations of both sides also sent fighter aircraft groups responsible for defense almost at the same time. They obviously had a spiritual advantage to wait for the work side to have a mental advantage. The attackers were unable to engage with the other side for a long time due to oil restrictions. In the two extremely fierce air battles, the technical strength of both sides was reflected to a certain extent, but more often they competed with the technical and psychological qualities of the pilots. During the battle lasted for more than half an hour, some bombers of the German and Japanese attack aircraft group successfully broke into the air above the opponent's fleet, and they also regarded the opponent's aircraft carrier as the primary target of attack.

As a result, the German dive bomber injured the Japanese main aircraft carriers "Xianghe" and "Ruihe", and the torpedo bomber sprinkled a handful of salt on the wound of the "Xiangrui". One of the deadly torpedo detonated the ammunition depot of the aircraft carrier, and another torpedo that missed the target accidentally sank the Japanese heavy cruiser "Sohoku". The Japanese torpedo bomber pilots showed amazing determination in the battle. They successfully damaged the German heavy aircraft carrier "Lorraine" while fighting to the death. One hour after the air battle, the overwhelmed aircraft carrier finally capsized.

Although the losses of the two sides on the warships were not big, looking at the entire combat process, the German fleet's more complete air defense system shot down as many as 69 Japanese fighters. In comparison, there were only 27 German fighters shot down by Japanese fighters and warship air defense guns.

After receiving the war reports sent back by their respective aviation forces, the commanders of both sides were "happy". The report that Taniguchi Naoshi received was "hit 4 large aircraft carriers on the other side, estimated to sink 2-3, and another 34 large warships on the other side." Compared with the report full of moisture from Japanese pilots, the report of the German aviation force was much more rigorous. "hit 3 aircraft carriers on the other side, one of which ignited a fire, but it was not seen sinking; sink 1 medium warship on the other side!"

After that, Taniguchi and Hippel issued new orders, the entire Japanese fleet turned right and the entire German fleet turned left. Although the two commanders had their own plans, the distance between the two fleets did not narrow to within 300 nautical miles in the next two hours.
Chapter completed!