Chapter 256 Yamamoto's Choice

The April wind still makes people feel cool on the body. Lushun Port, which has been busy for a winter, still seems to have no sign of stopping. Standing on the tall lampposts all over the port area, rows of high-power light bulbs make the night harbor transparent and bright. Tens of thousands of workers shouted slogans and pushed cars. It's unusually busy back and forth.

Hirofumi Ito looked up at the dazzling light bulb, and his head was slightly dizzy. The electric light was no longer rare in various countries, but it was the first time he had seen such a scene in the Far East.

Although he had already heard that Li Mo was repairing Lushun Port, he didn't know until the ship entered the harbor that this was not a repair, but a complete reconstruction.

Six deep-water wharves extend from the harbor. According to his eyesight, each of them can dock two large battleships.

The scale of the whole harbor is twice as large as that of the previous Beiyang period, the waterway is wider, the docks have increased, and the warehouses and chimneys on the shore have also increased a lot. Although he does not understand the construction of the project, it can also be seen that as long as there is another year, the military port will be completely completed.

The best ice-free port in the Far East used to be so close to the empire, but now standing in the harbor still makes him feel very far away. It's a sad thing to see but reach out.

As the best diplomat in Japan, he knows what it will mean to Japan once the construction of the harbor is completed. More importantly, the vitality of this harbor as a representative makes him feel more terrible than the dusk in the blockaded Tokyo Bay.

One year! Never give Li Mo a year again!

He came here today because the base camp had decided not to let Li Mo humiliate the empire again, so he must declare war on the other party at the same time.

Originally, all this could be done by telegram to the ambassador to Yanjing. But ten days ago, the Pacific Fleet once again announced that it would ban any foreign ships from approaching Japan. For this reason, they also decisively sank several foreign cargo ships that tried to approach, which made ships that were afraid to approach because of the outbreak of war even more afraid to enter Japan.

At the same time, they also cut off all the undersea telephone lines from the Japanese to the outside. It can be said that the Japanese island has become an isolated island at this time, and even the situation in North Korea is unknown.

But the last telegram from abroad made everyone in the base camp sit on pins and needles. Honolulu and Spain declared war? For this reason, the U.S. fleet also left in a hurry!

Why did Li Mo go to war with Spain? Will this change make new changes in the Far East? Will it slow down the pace of the Pacific Army's declaration of war? Can the returned fleet led by Yamamoto Quan Bingwei come back on time?

Everything is like a fog, and the base camp, which can no longer grasp the external situation, decided to send him to Lushun and brought a declaration of war ready.

With the pick-up and drop-off of several new cars, Ito Hirofumi soon arrived at the temporary government office in Lushun in Honolulu with his entourage. When the door opened, he looked at his pocket watch.

The surprised eyes and unwarmly entertaining did not make Ito Hirofumi feel strange. After sitting in the conference room for two hours, he finally waited for the first and last senior official in Honolulu he met.

"Mr. Ito, you are very welcome to Lushun, but it is a pity that I have to convey the order of the Duke to you." Tang Shaoyi held her head high, looked at the famous Japanese diplomat in front of her, and handed over the declaration of war.

Ito Hirofumi, who had already prepared, did not have any accident, and did not reach for the declaration of war, but it was the same document handed over.

"Ito Hirofumi, on behalf of His Majesty the Emperor, officially declared war on your country."

Tang Shaoyi smiled and exchanged the declaration of war with Ito Hirofumi with a grim expression, and then smiled: "Your Excellency Ito, from now on, you will be the most unpopular person in Honolulu. For your safety, I hope you can leave as soon as possible."

"Thank you for reminding me, but I also want to remind you that you will also not be included in the most unpopular people in this empire!" After Ito Hirofumi finished speaking, he was ready to go out. Seeing that he was about to walk out of the conference room, Tang Shaoyi suddenly laughed and said, "Mr. Ito, I think I should let you know something."

"Three days ago, our fleet has accepted the surrender of the Governor of Luzon in the Philippines. At present, Luzon has been occupied by us!"

The news made Ito Hirofumi's thin body shock and almost stunted. And the attendants behind him widened their eyes in disbelief. They were all Japanese elites and knew what Luzon's occupation meant!

Hirofumi Ito stretched out his hand to hold the door frame and gasped hard with his eyes closed. The occupation of Luzon meant that the returning fleet would be blocked layer by layer, and it also meant that the whole line of foreign maritime transportation was interrupted, and it really became an isolated island!

Malacca!

Returning Fleet!

Before Hirofumi Ito fainted, there were only these two thoughts left in his mind.

An hour later, the Japanese passenger ship Torinomaru, which had just been sent to Hirofumi Ito, was allowed to enter and exit, slowly left Lushun Port four hours after its arrival and disappeared into the dark night.

However, after receiving the news that Luzon was occupied by the Pacific Army, Hirofumi Ito was not the only one who was excited. Yamamoto Kwon Bingwei, who led the returning fleet, almost fell from the deck of the flagship Mikasa, which had just docked.

This ship was originally ordered by the Pacific Fleet. When it was launched, it was praised by the British media as the strongest battleship in history. It had a displacement of 16,000 tons, two double 305mm first-class guns and four double 203mm secondary guns, which did not give him any confidence at all.

Turning around, it is a huge fleet that is enough to scare anyone, six battleships, four large armored cruisers, four second-class protective cruisers and twelve torpedoes. The superfleet built at a cost of tens of millions of yuan has been revealed. In addition to these, there are also four capital ships and two second-class protective cruisers in China. As long as they can return to China smoothly, the navy will surpass the Pacific Fleet overnight and become the world's fourth navy!

But the question is, what if we can lead the fleet back intact?

He didn't expect that the situation in the South Sea, which was still intact before departure, would suddenly change in less than a month. Luzon became the occupied territory of the Pacific Army, so it would be very dangerous to cross the Strait of Malacca.

Yamamoto Quan Bingwei stood in front of the chart and looked at the narrow Strait of Malacca, which was full of reefs and paths at the end, and was squeezed into a narrow waterway by them. He felt dizzy.

Compared with the dead Admirals such as Togo Heihachiro, he is best at organization and layout, and he is not very good at charging into battle. However, after the collapse of the joint fleet and the destruction of the Japanese naval elite due to the Eda Island tragedy, he also had to take up this heavy responsibility.

Now there are two roads in front of him. One is to set out immediately after adding coal, open the way with the thick armor of the battleship, and forcibly pass through the waterway that may have been blocked. As long as the battleship can withstand the enemy's gunfire, the subsequent torpedo ships and secondary protective cruisers can disperse the other party with the advantage of speed. Formation..

But in this way, the most precious battleship may face the danger of being sunk. Once the huge battleship is blocked in the waterway, it will be a disaster for the whole fleet!

The road is an immediate detour, along the sea off the island of Sumatra, from the Indian Ocean into the dense southwest Pacific Ocean of the island, and then turn along Guinea into the Coral Sea, passing through the Marshall Islands to the north. With the dense islands on the whole voyage, the fleet can get rid of the enemy's tracking smoothly, even if there is a chase. The opponent will also be delayed due to communication problems.

The benefits of this road are obvious, but the problem is that the fleet cannot maneuver at such a long distance, especially the twelve torpedo ships with a maximum of more than 400 tons, whose endurance cannot meet the requirements at all.

In addition to these difficulties, there is another ** that makes him the most difficult, which also makes him excited, and even unable to refuse, that is, Li Mo himself is in Luzon!

If you can quickly pass through the Strait of Malacca and lead the fleet straight to Manila, then!

The more he thought about it, the more dry his mouth became, but when he turned his head and saw the sailors crowded on the deck, he sighed for a long time.

Due to the serious loss of Japanese naval personnel and the sudden access to two battleships at the last moment, the sailors trained in the past two years could not meet the needs of such a huge fleet at all. In the end, he and the base camp had to make a decision that the sailors sent by the country would receive the battleships, and the remaining cruisers The sailors on the ship and torpedo ship are now recruited from native shipmen and expatriates living in European countries.

These have only been trained for two months before they learned to fly complex warships. The British instructors said that it was difficult for the sailors who could only carry out low-intensity naval battles to drive the warships here. In addition, the continuous maritime exercises and training had already exhausted them. At this time, they were forced to attack Ma Liu. I'm afraid that the A Strait will be immediately knocked out with a childish flaw by the old Pacific Fleet!

Do you want to take risks?

Just when Yamamoto was hesitating, a news finally gave him the idea of returning home to the upper hand.

On May 1st, the first day after Honolulu and Japan declared war again, six capital ships of the Pacific Fleet appeared at the end of the Strait of Malacca, blocked the whole waterway in the name of encircling and suppressing pirates, and announced that any ship passing through here must be inspected!

For a time, the strait was crowded with cargo ships passing slowly from south to north. In addition, Britain and France realized that it was not in the interests of the two countries to intervene in the battlefield at this time after being forcibly occupied by Luzon, so in this case, not to mention that the battleships passed quickly, even the small I'm afraid it's difficult to get through the torpedo ships!

On May 3rd, after coal refurbishment and renovation, Yamamoto Quan Bingwei negotiated with Britain and temporarily rented three large coal carriers. After quietly leaving the port of Blair at night and disappeared into the vast sea.

The next morning, the light special reconnaissance ship Tingfeng of the Pacific Fleet and Banda Aceh, Sumatra, discovered the Japanese fleet overseas, which also meant that the fleet officially took over the task of tracking the Japanese fleet from the intelligence department.

Three minutes later, the first telegram was sent out, which gave a detailed description of the type, quantity and other information of the fleet, and other words on the telegram made the Chief of General Staff breathe a sigh of relief.

"This fleet, enter the Indian Ocean!"

(to be continued)