Chapter 247 Returning Harbor Fleet

Aimei Island, a big island after Master Li went to Japan and changed its name, there were no chimneys like the Ryukyu island, and the machines were as lively as roaring. Pieces of mangroves still maintain the original style of this beautiful island, but careful people can still find that under this beautiful scenery, changes are still everywhere.

The road is the best place to reflect this change. The road, which used to be paved with gravel, has been completely replaced by cement roads, and the messy bushes on both sides have also been replaced by rows of neat windbreaks. The huge light bulbs on the street lamps during the mixed period light up the whole island like shining stars every night.

No one has counted how many such street lights there are on the island. All we know is that a new hydropower station on the river provides power for these light bulbs. Whenever night comes, standing high, you will find that the island seems to be inlaid with a string of bright crystals.

Although there is no heavy industry, it is not without everything here. With the help of the policy tilt and small loans of the State Council, fishing has become a pillar industry here. The small bay is full of fishing boats, including several large ocean fishing boats.

The tender and delicious fish is canned and then shipped from here to various places for sale. According to calculations, in just three months, more than 30,000 tons of canned fish and fishery processed products have been shipped to all over the world for sale.

In addition to the fishing industry, the rich silkworm resources have also attracted many silk cloth merchants who emigrated from Jiangnan and other places, and gradually developed pure hand-made silk. Under the strong advertising of those Honolulu merchants who were influenced by Master Li and paid great attention to packaging and quality, they entered European and American luxury goods for the first time. The ranks have brought a lot of wealth to the local people and those immigrants.

If the development of Ryukyu Island is vigorous, then it can only be described as moisturizing things silently, but it is this kind of quiet and inadvertent change that makes Otori Keisuke feel more at ease.

He has been here for half a month. In addition to apologizing to Li Mo on behalf of His Majesty the Emperor for the last assassination and sending medical expenses, he also came to negotiate that the Pacific Fleet could temporarily open the Uraga Waterway and let the four capital ships that had been stationed in the sea for a long time under the protection of the United States [***] ships return home.

Negotiations are very hard, with cynicism, slang words, and abusive attacks, because everyone knows that if it hadn't been for the protection of the Americans and flying the American flag, I'm afraid that all the Pacific Fleet would have been dispatched to attack four capital ships.

But he had to grit his teeth and persist. In front of the young novices sent by Honolulu, who obviously used themselves to exercise their experience, he kept smiling and showed the determination that the empire would not give in. But in fact, even he was not sure. He didn't know whether Li Mo would agree to open the waterway and release the four ships home in this negotiation that both Britain and the United States sent representatives to participate in.

The long table in front of him, the neat tea cups, the flowers that are changed every day in the middle of the table, and the smile on the corners of the mouth of the young official who submitted the agreement jumped into his eyes at this moment, but he always felt full of strangeness and conspiracy. Suddenly, he felt as if he had left the sea and was placed on the table. The swimming fish on the board gasped.

He can't remember how many times he walked into this conference room? Even the entourage around him was numb. He only knew that soon after he came here on time every day, the other party would repeatedly entangled in the details such as the opening time, the order of entering the waterway, and so on. Finally, he found a boring opportunity to announce the adjournment.

Then, it was a small-scale multilateral mediation, then entered into negotiations, and then adjourned!

It was like a nightmare that could never wake up, endlessly invading everyone in the Japanese negotiating delegation who came to Aimei Island. Even the news a few days ago that the four capital ships had arrived at the sea under the protection of the United States [***] did not make him feel excited at all.

As a diplomat, Keisuke Otori has extraordinary calmness and is more sober than those officials far away in the Tokyo base camp. He must even thank his opponent for giving him the opportunity to visit Ryukyu Island and look at him more intuitively with his own eyes! But it was this paragraph that he saw with his own eyes that made him understand the fact that it may be extremely painful, and it was impossible to win this war!

Yes! He couldn't say these depressing words to others that were considered to be "degrading the empire", but he couldn't deceive his eyes. Looking at the factories all over the islands of Ryukyu and listening to the endless roar of the factories at night, he knew that he had lost completely!

Three years ago, when the Honolulu people launched a sneak attack, the two sides were still standing on the same starting line, because at that time, the initial industrial system had been established, but with the shelling of the Pacific Fleet, the hard-earned industrial system was not only completely paralyzed, but also the Yokosuka Shipyard was taken. Compensation!

Although His Majesty the Emperor did his best and the base camp tried his best to expand the only Yokohama shipyard with all resources, all kinds of excuses, intermittent blockades, and the warships of the Pacific Fleet that scared merchants to come across the sea, completely cut off the hope of chasing.

Because Japan is not a resource country, and even in some ways it is not as good as North Korea. In the case that almost all important materials are imported from overseas, that kind of blocking the sea means cutting off the blood vessels of the heart!

At the same time, their opponents are developing at a rocket-like speed. They built Oahu into a large factory, and then initially completed the industrialization of Ryukyu. Now they have obtained the three rich resources in Northeast provinces, which not only solves the worries of insufficient resources, but also obtain the most valuable human resources!

What's more, in his eyes, Li Mo's investment in industry is extremely amazing. The investment in the industrialization construction of Ryukyu alone is several times or even dozens of times more than the original! If it is a whole, he has invested more money in industry in the past two years, even more than some old powers!

In three years, he trained hundreds of thousands of Ryukyu people from farmers to workers!

In three years, he used his trade with Britain, Germany, Italy and other countries to send more than 50,000 study workers!

In three years, he ruled only one shipping company, using dozens of times more large cargo ships than the total of the empire, moving to and from every corner of the Pacific Ocean, bringing him countless materials and money!

For only three years, he let the empire control Ryukyu with no industrial capacity, built a huge shipyard, and began to modify and build new warships for him!

Originally, the empire also had the opportunity to catch up with the other party, at least not to pull so much, but after obtaining a loan from the United States, the base camp spent all the money on expanding the army, spending half of the reconstruction of the navy, the army divided a part, and most of the rest was also used. In terms of reserve materials and preparations, in addition to the expansion of the Yokohama Shipyard, the money invested in other infrastructure and industries is basically... zero!

The anger of hatred blinded all my eyes. They forgot that an empire without heavy industry and only relied on a shipyard to fight against an opponent armed to the teeth!

Even if you win once, even if you destroy the Pacific Fleet, the other party can still rely on powerful industrial forces to rebuild a formidable army in a short time!

Now, the two battleships they bought in Germany have been towed into the Ryukyu dock, preparing to modify these two new warships that integrate German, Italian and perhaps British technology! Even if he is not an expert, Keisuke Ohtori knows how much technology is involved in this modification, and how many experienced workers and technicians are needed!

The Hawaiian shipyard suddenly lifted the closure, but it was empty as everyone expected, and the four warships that should have been exposed suddenly disappeared from everyone's sight. At the same time, four large cruisers that were originally repaired and renovated in the Ryukyu Shipyard disappeared!

No one knows where these eight warships have gone, as if they have never appeared!

But they do exist. Keisuke Otori is very clear that although he has begged Britain, the United States, France, Germany and other countries that are also interested in the eight warships to provide intelligence help, there is no news so far. For more than two years, Japan's crazy expansion of the army has not only not narrowed the gap, but also in the other party's idle court. Under the step-by-step operation, relying on strong economic ability, the gap is getting wider and wider! Especially at this moment, the four newly purchased capital ships have to dock on the sea because of the blockade, and the new domestic sailors can only stare and can't board the ship for training. Can the inexperienced new joint fleet win?

The answer can actually be obtained from the constant entanglement of the other party in the negotiation!

Instead of saying that the Honolulu people are looking for an excuse to blockade, it is better to say that they are making final preparations. Otherwise, with their strength, they can launch an attack a few months ago, and there is no chance to buy the fleet back!

But they didn't!

Keisuke Big Bird is not surprised, because he knows that the Pacific Army is not merciful, let alone what others say, due to diplomatic pressure. They just disdain to go to war now, and their appetite is probably greater than anyone thinks!

Because they are waiting for the emperor's [***] ship to return home, they want to completely annihronize the imperial navy again!

After taking a deep breath, Keisuke Otori tried his best to pile up smiles. After bowing to several young diplomats opposite him, he was about to sit down and start a new day's tug-of-war, a document suddenly pushed in front of him.

"Mr. Keisuke Otori, this is for you."

Keisuke Otori raised his head and looked at the smiling young Honolulu negotiator on the opposite side. He was a little distracted. After a long time, he opened the document and a sense of joy rushed into his mind. The Pacific Army agreed to open the waterway for a day!

But soon, his joy was deeply wrapped in doubt and uneasiness. Why is that? Why is the Pacific Army willing to open the waterway? A deep sense of fear suddenly rose from his heart, and it was all over his body. It was not until the attendants around him pushed him that he stood up numbly and took the agreement from the negotiator of the other party.

The emperor's apology and 100,000 pounds are only exchanged for a day's opening of the waterway, which is equivalent to unless you choose to take the lead in the war, or the four capital ships returning to China will become inland sea gunboats that can only be rotated in the harbor!

There was a suppressed excitement from the accompanying officials. Looking at their clenched fists and the smiles at the corners of their mouths, Keisuke Otori's heart was even colder.

This is a humiliating agreement. The warship even needs to look at the enemy's face before returning home, but this is an agreement that he has to accept. He can't refuse to sign the agreement, because the empire and the base camp urgently need to let the four capital ships come back immediately to improve morale!

He knew that Li Mo was by no means a hungry wolf who suddenly changed his appetite, nor was he a conscientious discovery. This seemingly important agreement for the empire was actually a declaration of war, indicating that the Pacific Army had completed all the preparations!

"This may be the last agreement I have signed in my life!" Keisuke Otori took a deep breath. After signing his name on the agreement, he walked out of the conference room without looking back and boarded the cargo ship home.

Three days later, when the ship of the Japanese negotiating delegation arrived in Tokyo, people found that Keisuke Otori had committed suicide by taking poison in the cabin just before he returned home. No one knows why the best of the Japanese diplomat chose to leave when he achieved diplomatic results and saw the imperial coastline- —

Outside the Uraga waterway, on the flying bridge at the top of the bridge of the Antarctic Star, Ji Rushan, in order to see clearly that he was slowly entering the waterway, two battleships and two heavy patrols still flying the American flag, and even found a ladder to stand on it.

"I said that I really arranged a mine in the waterway!" Looking at the beautiful fleet, which lined up immediately after entering the waterway and slowly changed its track, there was a little cold star in its eyes.

Last time the Pacific Fleet blocked Vladivostok with a watermine, which caused Kamapov's death, so he was not surprised that he would have chosen this method to ensure the safety of the throat of Tokyo Bay, but it was knowing the threat of mines that made him feel more difficult.

Under the ladder, several staff officers also gathered together, pointing to the Japanese fleet, which had turned into small black spots in the distance, and talking in a low voice.

"What the hell do you think the staff is doing? Just start a war and sink them as I said.

"That's not okay. They are flying the American flag now, and the people on it are all American sailors. It is said that the soldiers are all on the American [***] ship."

"I think the Chief of Staff and his neighbors are confused this time. No matter what he is in the United States, as long as it is not open, isn't it over? Force them to do it first, and we don't have to waste time.

"Don't worry, the plans of the staff are all approved by the young master. I think the young master must have other plans."

"Come on, I said don't guess, you guys. In another month and a half, you will know everything!"

The staff officer's words made Ji Rushan frown slightly. To be honest, he also didn't understand why the general meeting agreed to let the Japanese warship go back. Although it is impossible to train a real fleet in the narrow Tokyo Bay, the return of the four ships is undoubtedly an encouragement to Japan. It's a good publicity. Why did the young master give them this opportunity?

"Report, there is always an emergency call."

At this time, the rapid footsteps climbed up the gangway. Ji Rushan quickly jumped off the ladder, but when he received the telegram marked as urgent and top secret, he found that there were several pieces of paper thick!

This surprised him all of a sudden. You should know that although the radio is convenient, it is absolutely not enough to send such a thick telegram. What kind of telegram does it take a few hours to send?

When he avoided all his eyes and unfolded the telegram, his pupil suddenly contracted.

"Report, Polaris, Antarctic Stars are coming!" On the horizon in the distance, black smoke soared straight into the sky, and the majestic bows of the two Arctic star battleships collided with the soaring water mist and joined the blockade fleet.

Half an hour later, the waterway that had just returned the four capital ships was blocked by the Pacific Fleet again, and this time the blockade has been changed from two battleships to four battleships--

Today, there are banners in Yokosuka Port. The dock is full of senior officers from the Tokyo base camp. The sailors have rarely changed into brand-new white uniforms, while the ordinary Japanese people around the outer circle are even more excited. Everyone is looking up, tiptoe, and looking forward to it.

There is no noise, no gongs and drums, and the clams of the ups and downs of the tide and the heavy breathing are mixed together, so that there is no other noise in Yokosuka Harbor.

Xixiang Congdao stood at the front of the welcoming team. The quiet and depressing scene around him made his heart tremble slightly. Looking back on the scene of Yoshino's return to China a few years ago, although the number of onlookers did not decrease, although there were more officers in the base camp than at that time, compared with the noise of drums and music at that time, at this moment This kind of silence made him feel strange.

This is abnormal. This abnormality comes from the fact that the Pacific Fleet, which has been out of the waterway for several months, has been showing off its power. Since the destruction of the escort team again, everyone has doubts about whether it can win the war. Some pessimistic people even think that even if all the capital ships return home, it is impossible. Win the war.

This may be the result of the Pacific Fleet's blockade of Tokyo Bay!

Xixiang sighed deeply and tried to make himself stand straighter, hoping to give more confidence to the ordinary people behind him, because it represents the navy, which is related to the life and death of the empire!

Soon, there was a restlessness in the crowd. Xixiang hurriedly looked at the road and saw four giant shadows appearing on the sea level one after another. The imperial naval flag flying high on the mast suddenly blew away the haze over the harbor. He quickly raised his telescope until he saw that there were no signs of damage on the hulls of the four warships. At that time, I was relieved in the call of the crowd!

Surprisingly, the Pacific Fleet really did not intercept the four capital ships!

"Why on earth is this? Is it because of the American escort? Looking at the larger and larger warships in his vision, Xixiang glanced at the crown prince who deliberately came to welcome the warship from a distance, and his heart suddenly felt bad.

"Mr. Minister, a telegram from the United Kingdom. There was a serious cargo ship collision outside the port of Manchester. General Yamamoto called and said that four of our battleships were blocked in the port and unable to get in and out, so he had to wait for the British to clear the waterway before leaving and arriving. It's about May 15th!

"Half a month late!"

Xixiang Congdao finally knew why he had been restless. Li Mo finally took action, and in such a way that no one expected, he rushed directly to the door of the world's first naval power, creating a good play to block the other party's waterway!

Accident!

It's just an accident that even the British can't lose their temper!

On March 15, a serious cargo ship collision suddenly occurred in the narrow waterway in the port of Manchester, England. Two cargo ships sank and crossed the middle of the waterway.

On March 16, the two battleships Samo, Anyun and two large armored cruisers Izumo, and Iwate arrived at Yokosuka Port, which were ordered from the United States in 1894.

But because the Uraga waterway continues to be blocked by four Arctic star battleships, the four capital ships that have returned home have to rely on Tokyo Bay for regular training, but everyone knows that the new joint fleet is waiting for the day of the decisive battle! ......

(to be continued)