You were tasked with guarding the Sihang Warehouse, and you brought out a Tiger tank?

The unfortunate "Keiyo Maru" quickly attracted the attention of more BF-110s.

Without its tail rudder, the "Keio Maru" was like a mosquito caught in a spider web, spinning around in place, powerless to fight back.

One fighter jet after another took turns swooping down and strafing, plowing the deck of the troop transport ship again and again.

Meanwhile, on the sea not far from the "Keio Maru".

Private First Class Tanaka Tadashi clung tightly to a plank that had been blown off the "Azumaru," shivering in the icy seawater.

His lips were frozen purple, and his teeth chattered, making a "clucking" sound.

The surrounding sea was filled with drowning Japanese soldiers struggling desperately.

The screams, cries for help, and violent coughs before drowning mingled together, creating a scene reminiscent of hell on earth.

Suddenly, Tanaka felt someone grab the plank in his hand.

He turned his head in alarm, only to see a familiar face.

It's Colonel Kuroda!

Colonel Kuroda had completely lost the air of a high-ranking officer at this moment.

His military cap had long since fallen off somewhere, his hair was wet and stuck to his scalp, and his face was full of terror.

He couldn't swim, and after struggling in the water for a long time, he finally managed to grab onto the plank in the field that saved his life.

"Baka! Let go! Give me the plank!"

Colonel Kuroda coughed violently as he yelled at Tanaka.

Tanaka was stunned.

He can't swim, and if this plank is loosened, he will immediately sink to the bottom of the sea.

"Colonel, I...I can't swim!" Tanaka pleaded, his voice trembling with tears.

"Damn it! I'm a colonel in the Imperial Army! My life is worth a million times more than your worthless private!"

Colonel Kuroda completely lost his mind. He gripped the wooden board tightly with one hand, and with the other hand, he actually pulled out the Nambu Type 14 pistol from the holster on his waist.

The dark muzzle of the gun was pressed directly against Tanaka's forehead.

"Let go, or I'll kill you!"

Looking at the dark muzzle of the gun, the fear in Tanaka's eyes suddenly disappeared.

Instead, a complete breakdown and madness took its place.

He suddenly burst into wild laughter.

"Hahaha... Colonel? Sir?"

Tanaka laughed as he spat out the bitter seawater:

"What Imperial Army? What for the Empire!"

Right now, we're both just like drowned rats!

"You want to take my plank? You want me dead?"

Tanaka suddenly drew his bayonet from his waist, his eyes turning fierce like a wild beast:

"Then let's bring it on and see who dies today!"

Colonel Kuroda was startled by Tanaka's crazy action and instinctively pulled the trigger.

"Click".

A soft sound.

Given the notoriously poor reliability of the Wangba Box, it was no surprise that it malfunctioned after being soaked in seawater.

"Baka!"

Colonel Kuroda threw away his pistol in despair and reached for Tanaka's bayonet.

With one hand holding onto the life-saving plank, the two engaged in a primal and savage struggle in the icy seawater.

Tanaka stabbed Colonel Kuroda in the shoulder, and Colonel Kuroda screamed and bit Tanaka's wrist.

The blood stained the seawater around the two people, even attracting several hungry fish.

In the distance, on the escorting destroyer "Akikaze".

Colonel Kitamura, the fleet commander, stood inside the bridge, his eyes wide open, his lips bleeding from being bitten so hard.

He watched as four transport ships, fully loaded with supplies and troops, were torpedoed into the sea by enemy torpedoes.

I saw with my own eyes the countless Imperial soldiers struggling on the sea like ants.

But he, as the commander of the escort fleet, could do nothing.

Lieutenant Commander Arima, the captain of the "Akikaze," is directing the ship's anti-aircraft machine guns to fire at the air.

But that sparse firepower, in the face of enemy planes flying all over the sky, was almost nothing more than an atmosphere for this one-sided massacre.

"Reporting, Colonel!"

An officer stumbled into the bridge, his voice trembling with tears:

"The 'Keiyo Maru' lost its tail rudder control and was spinning on the sea surface when it was subjected to fierce strafing by enemy aircraft, resulting in heavy casualties."

Currently, only the "Hokuriku Maru" remains intact in the fleet.

Upon hearing the news, Colonel Kitamura swayed violently, as if he had aged ten years in an instant.

He glanced at the nautical chart in despair.

It's nearly 20 hours' voyage from here to Tianjin Port.

It will be at least five more hours until it gets dark.

Returning to the mainland would be even further away.

Even if you head north to Jinzhou Port on the Liaodong Peninsula, it will still take seventeen or eighteen hours.

Enemy planes could launch a second wave of attacks at any time.

"Qingyang Pill" has lost its power and is almost certainly doomed.

Even if the "Hokuriku Maru" were to escape alone, with its sluggish speed, it would absolutely not be able to escape the pursuit of enemy aircraft.

This is tens of thousands of tons of military supplies, plus more than 5,000 army officers and soldiers!

It’s over.

It's all over.

The Imperial Navy has once again completely lost face.

Colonel Kitamura turned his head blankly and looked at Lieutenant Commander Arima, who was directing the air defense.

"Arima-kun."

Colonel Kitamura's voice was unusually calm, as if he were giving his final instructions:

"I'm sorry, the responsibility for the failure of this escort mission lies entirely with me."

Please lead the "Autumn Wind" to evacuate at full speed immediately and break through the encirclement.

As for the "Hokuriku Maru"... send a signal and let them escape on their own; leave it to fate.

Captain Arima was stunned and was about to speak up to dissuade him.

Colonel Kitamura gave everyone no time to react.

He deftly pulled out his sidearm from his waist and shoved the barrel into his mouth.

"Bang!"

A muffled gunshot rang out.

Colonel Kitamura's head exploded in a spray of blood, his red and white brain matter splattering all over the bridge glass.

His body fell straight down, crashing onto the cold steel deck.

-----

A few hours later.

The sea breeze in the Bohai Sea grew increasingly cold, and large swathes of oil, broken planks, and countless corpses dressed in khaki military uniforms floated on the surface.

The Fletcher-class destroyer "Sea Peak" cut through the waves and entered the area at a speed of 35 knots.

Inside the bridge, the radar operator stared at the flashing green dot on the screen and reported loudly.

"Captain, a large surface target has been spotted eight nautical miles ahead."

The target is moving at an extremely slow speed and is spinning in place.

He Bin raised his high-powered telescope and looked in the direction indicated by the radar.

On the horizon, the outline of a massive transport ship gradually becomes clear.

It was the troop transport ship "Keio Maru" whose stern rudder had been destroyed.

The "Haifeng" did not slow down and went directly through the area where the "Azuma Maru" sank.

On the sea, Private Tanaka lay on the life-saving plank, his whole body turning blue from the cold.

He had previously used his bayonet to finish off the crazed Colonel Kuroda, exhausting his last bit of strength.

Hearing the powerful roar of an engine coming from afar, Tanaka struggled to lift his head.

A sleek and elegant gray warship is speeding towards us.

The bow cleaved through the white waves, and on the towering mast, a Great Xia military flag fluttered in the sea breeze.

Those are not imperial warships.

Tanaka's eyes widened, and a meaningless hoarse sound came from his throat.

The destroyer "Haifeng" indifferently sailed past this sea area full of drowning Japanese soldiers.

The massive hull pushed aside the seawater, creating a huge wake.

Two high-powered propellers underwater spun at high speed, generating terrifying suction.

Dozens of Japanese soldiers, still struggling on the surface of the sea, were sucked into the propeller by the suction force before they could even scream.

Clumps of dark red blood churned and gushed out from the stern of the ship.

The wooden planks in the field were instantly overturned by the surging tail wave.

He fell back into the icy, frigid seawater.

This time, he no longer had the strength to struggle.

The icy seawater quickly robbed him of the last bit of warmth in his body, and he completely lost sensation in his limbs.

Tanaka opened his mouth, and the salty seawater rushed into his lungs, bringing a tearing pain.

My vision gradually blurred.

Images of the lush green rice paddies of my hometown flashed through my mind, along with my mother's tears as she saw me off at the village entrance.

Filled with endless regret for participating in this war, Tanaka's body slowly sank, eventually merging into the dark, bottomless abyss.

Only a deathly silence remained on the sea, along with a few military caps with hoods drifting with the current.