The expeditionary force began to dominate Southeast Asia by recruiting defeated soldiers

Chapter 380 The Snow Wind Runs Away Again

In the early morning of September 16, 1944, in the waters west of the Malay Peninsula, the sea breeze mixed with salty and humid air blew across the deck, and the IJN Yukikaze destroyer sailed alone on the dark sea.

After three months of renovation, this veteran destroyer that survived the Battle of the Marianas returned to service.

Radar soldier Matsumoto stared at the oscilloscope screen of the No. 22 radar detector. The green spike signals that should have been jumping were now distorted into a chaotic snowflake.

"Report to the commander, the radio detector has failed again!" He shouted back in a hoarse voice, "Just like the situation off the coast of Lusong last month, the clutter interference has covered the entire band!"

Captain Fujita, the duty officer standing nearby, frowned and his face turned dark. He roughly pushed Matsumoto away and put his face close to the fluorescent screen. After a moment, a drop of cold sweat slipped from under the heavy brim of his hat, leaving a circle of water marks on the glass of the display screen.

"Baka! Those idiots from the Ordnance Department..." Fujita cursed softly, his fists clenched until they cracked, but at the last moment he resisted the urge to smash the console. This thing was expensive, and he couldn't afford to pay for it if it broke.

"Should we report this to Captain Uchida?"

"Baka!" Captain Fujita lashed out, kicking Matsumoto hard in the thigh. "It was working fine just now, but now it's broken all of a sudden. Did you make a mistake?"

Matsumoto gasped in pain, but didn't dare to retort. According to the "Etajima Spirit," when seniors and superiors lectured you, even if you were right, you had to stand up straight and take the beating.

But he couldn't help rolling his eyes in his heart:

This idiot Fujita knows nothing. God knows when this broken No. 22 detector will go out of control. The quality of domestic electron tubes is very poor. They often overheat or use up their lifespan very quickly. Therefore, they sometimes work and sometimes don't. It is very common that they were working well just now and suddenly broke down.

Do you have to blame it on me?

"I'm going to report to the captain. You have five minutes to fix it!" Fujita said this and left the radar room angrily.

"I'm going to report to the captain now. I'll give you 5 minutes to fix it!" After saying this, Captain Fujita left.

Matsumoto rubbed his thigh, exchanged glances with his thin assistant, and whispered, "Turn off the power first and open the heat sink at the back. I suspect the tube is burned out."

"Senior, you... you can fix it?" The deputy swallowed, clearly unsure about dismantling the machine. "How about we try restarting it first?"

Another, even thinner radar soldier, who hadn't dared to speak just now, stammered, "Matsumoto-senpai, can you fix it? How about we try restarting it?"

The two carefully disassembled the fuselage, but did not find any parts that smelled burnt or seemed broken, so they had to restart it.

A few minutes later, the radar restarted, and after waiting for a while, there was still a snowflake on the lit display screen.

When Fujita returned, he saw the same radar screen covered in snow. His rage instantly exploded, and he kicked each of the two operators several times, shouting, "You two gluttons who only know how to eat white rice! What use are you to me?"

At this moment, they knew that, high in the night sky, two PBY-4 'Nanyang Inspector' electronic warfare seaplanes, painted with the insignia of the An Min Army, were quietly passing through the clouds. These aerial claws, specialized in electronic jamming, had quietly severed the Yukikaze's "eyes."

The night was as dark as ink, and at four in the morning the sea was dead silent. The Yukikaze was like a lone wolf, wandering in a hunter's trap.

Thus she sailed in complete darkness for 20 minutes.

"Captain, would you like to turn on the searchlight to check the sea surface?" The navigator's hand was shaking as he gripped the telescope. At 4 a.m., the sea was as black as ink, and the sound of metal rubbing against the tide was faint.

Captain Uchida frowned, his gaze fixed on his pocket watch. Daybreak would arrive in just over an hour. The Yukikaze's mission was originally to rely on radar for nighttime reconnaissance, but now that radar was out of service, the searchlights would easily expose the ship...

"Port side 30 degrees, three short flashes!" Uchida ripped open his collar. "Have the lookout keep an eye on the west reef area!"

As the Yukikaze's searchlight tore through the night sky, a stream of scarlet fire suddenly swept across from the front left.

"Fire! Fire spotted in front of the left!" the lookout roared, his voice trembling noticeably.

The next second, several shells whizzed in, brushed past the mast, and fell into the sea, exploding into several tall columns of water.

"It's a 6-inch (152mm) gun!" The navigator's face turned pale. He quickly judged the enemy ship's firepower from the sound of the gunfire. "At least cruiser-level firepower!"

Uchida's eyes widened, with the afterimage of the fire still lingering on his retina. He saw two slender black shadows approaching, and vaguely he seemed to see the silhouettes of the three turrets on the bow of the enemy ship.

The shells whizzed down around the Yukikaze, splashing a lot of water, and Captain Uchida was filled with horror.

The enemy ship had actually reached our face in the dark, and the first round of shooting resulted in a cross-fire. What kind of magical artillery technique is this?

"Quick, send a message to the Lion City Command. Our ship encountered the main force of the White Eagle Navy Squadron on the west side of the Malay Peninsula. Send the message quickly!" Uchida pulled the helmsman away and took the helm himself.

Smoke was drawn, boiler pressure was increased, and torpedoes were released to disrupt the enemy's position. Like a frightened cuttlefish, the Yukikaze reacted instantly, twisting and turning frantically in the hail of bullets to escape...

------

"Run away now?"

Inside the bridge of the Brooklyn-class artillery light cruiser with hull number 201, You Hongxuan stood in front of the command seat, a trace of unwillingness flashing across his face.

Contrary to the judgment of his opponent Captain Uchida, the one who ambushed the "Yukikaze" was not the main force of the White Eagle Navy, but the landing fleet of the Anmin Army.

Two of them were recently commissioned, the Helena light cruiser, the 'gold ship' purchased from the War Thunder system, which was naturally the main force.

With the modified new radar and all-electric fire control, the fire control response speed of these two cruisers in the dark far exceeds that of any warship at that time.

Relying on the advantage of radar, You Hongxuan was the first to discover the location of the Xuefeng. He commanded the two ships to approach the Xuefeng in the dark, hoping to catch the turtle in the jar, but he didn't expect that he was still a little unlucky in the end.

Even in the harsh situation where its radar was paralyzed and it suddenly encountered the enemy, the Yukikaze was still able to maintain amazing judgment and reaction speed.

The Type 93 oxygen torpedoes burst out, piercing the water and swooping down like ghosts with their white wakes. Seeing the situation was bad, You Hongxuan decisively ordered the two ships to evade—in a night battle, no one dared to underestimate these underwater spears of the Japanese.

By the time it had stabilized its course again, the Yukikaze had already taken advantage of its high speed, thick smoke and sea fog to rush out of the range of its main guns in one breath.

You Hongxuan stood up straight, adjusted his military cap, and raised the corners of his mouth slightly, revealing a self-deprecating smile: "Forget it, let's run. Our mission is not to hunt foxes, but to cover the landing."

"Aren't you afraid he might give the alarm?" the first mate asked, putting down his binoculars.

Captain You Hongxuan pointed overhead and said, "Once the jammers up there are turned on, that Japanese destroyer won't be able to send out any signals until it's out of range. By the time it escapes back to Lion City, we'll have already completed the first wave of landings."