Chapter 184 Sino-Japanese naval battle 1
The coast of North Korea has been closed, there are many floes of ice, and the risk coefficient of navigation is too high. Hu Chuyuan can only stay in Seoul to spend this winter. By the way, he can also sort out the situation and economic politics of North Korea.
Relying on the main line of Pacific Rim telegraph, even in Seoul, Hu Chuyuan can still obtain all kinds of information at any time through convenient telegrams and participate in domestic decision-making.
Similarly, he can also obtain information at any time.
It is said that the country has been divided into two factions: urgent war and slow war. The former is led by the new prime minister of the cabinet and army general Aritomo Yamato, and the latter is led by the first Prime Minister Ito Hirofumi and Samoye Kuma Shigenobu.
Youpeng in Shanxian County is the main promoter of Japanese militarism, and he is also convinced that if he does not defeat China, he will lose the final future. If the war was delayed until after 1892, there would be no chance of winning, and their generation would have lost this opportunity.
Hirofumi Ito believes that Yamato's view is too pessimistic. As long as he makes reasonable use of the international situation, the remaining national debt is used for domestic economic construction, and continues to wait for opportunities, there is still a chance to defeat China. However, both sides have a consensus that Hu Chuyuan is the biggest obstacle to supreminating the Far East. .
Whether he finally chose to fight in a hurry or slow, Hu Chuyuan realized that he was in a more dangerous state. Perhaps in the inadvertent dark corner, there were more than a dozen painted black holes of rifles aimed at his back.
In March 1890, the northern port began to pass.
Hu Chuyuan and North Korea signed a final trade agreement and were ready to leave for home. Just the night before, he got a top-secret intelligence - the first detachment of the Japanese standing fleet secretly assembled in the port of Nagasaki.
After carefully confirming the list of eight warships assembled in Nagasaki and their commanders, Hu Chuyuan's eyelids jumped.
Ito Youheng, Pingjing Hangsan, Togo Heihachiro, Kawahara Yaoyi... The navy has always been the territory of the Samo valve, but this time, the naval elites of the Samo valve have all gathered in Nagasaki.
Another piece of information is that the new Minister of the Navy, Ziji Huashan, secretly arrived at the port of Nagasaki for inspection. This is the information obtained last month. Ziji Huashan has always been the planner of the Japanese navy, known as the real commander of the Japanese Tokyo Standing Fleet.
Continuing to figure out the surname of the eight warships, Hu Chuyuan found that it was extremely likely to launch a naval battle in advance.
Think about it, the domestic Fuzhou Fleet, Ningbo Fleet and Beiyang Weihai Fleet showed no signs of activity, and the fleet assembled in Nagasaki did not have the ability to attack the port... So, what did you want to do?
The names of Youheng Yidong and Hangsan Pingjing make Hu Chuyuan feel very uncomfortable. The former is the first general of the Satsuma Valve Navy, and the latter is the only vice admiral of the Changzhou Valve. Both are in Nagasaki, which is too strange in itself.
After careful consideration, Hu Chuyuan felt that he might be a little unfounded... However, he said that he might use the speed advantage of the cruiser to intercept his patrol fleet.
It looks crazy, but I have always been a nation good at gambling.
Even if I can't kill Hu Chuyuan, I will declare war, and then use the advantage that the Qing Empire has not yet completed the preparation for war to suddenly occupy the whole North Korea. This is my biggest calculation.
Hu Chuyuan broke out in a cold sweat for his inference. He soon thought of countermeasures in his heart, asked Chen Shanyuan to send a secret report to the East China Sea sailor alone, and deliberately caused some ship failures and continued to stay in North Korea for a few days.
On March 17, 1890, Hu Chuyuan left Seoul on the flagship Xinyangwu, crossed the Yellow Sea, and headed for the Weihai Port of the Beiyang Marine Division.
The sea is cold and vast. The new Yangwu and two Chaowu-class cruisers, a Weikang-class ironclad ship are sailing on the Yellow Sea. Thick black smoke rolls out of the chimney, dragging a black smoke tail.
The speed of Weikang-class ironclad ships is not fast, and the four warships can only sail on the sea at a speed of 10 knots.
Hu Chuyuan's flagship is the Xinyangwu. The flag of the Prime Minister's Yamen, which symbolizes the flagship, is hung on the ship. Admiral Lin Yongsheng is on the Xinchaowu, and the flag of the Admiral of the East Sea is hung on the ship.
Hu Chuyuan happened to be on another super-class cruiser, Sa Wu, wearing a very ordinary sailor's official uniform. He put a comfortable chair on the back deck of the stern, lying silently on the chair, thinking about all kinds of problems.
Sometimes, even he wants to die. He has been living in the shadow of his own assassination, and he even has a feeling of living enough. In short, he is very bored.
He really can't understand himself.
The statement of Britain and other European and American powers not only did not let them retreat, but also prompted them to declare war in advance and tried to kill Hu Chuyuan in the first naval battle to obtain the greatest results of the whole war.
This is really strange, and only I can understand this kind of thinking.
However, Hu Chuyuan had to admit that he had seized the best opportunity. After this village, there would be no such store. In 1891, with the large-scale entry into service of Fuzhou and Chunyu, the Chinese navy would gradually change from defensive to offensive. If he wanted to fight again, there would be more problems.
Hu Chuyuan believes that this is also the last step for Shanxian Youpeng to serve as Prime Minister.
The sky... is surprisingly blue, as blue as washing. I can't see a wisp of white clouds. Lying in the sun, I can't feel a trace of warmth.
It doesn't hurt to stand and talk. In a real war, who can guarantee victory?
Especially at the moment when all aspects of preparation have not reached a level?
Hu Chuyuan's heart is full of all kinds of doubts. Now, he has almost no estimate of this war. It's no problem to win... but the loss will be too heavy.
A siren piercing the eardrums suddenly sounded on the top of the head not far away, and then the sound continued, whining, ringing all four warships.
At this moment, Chen Shanyuan, Li Cunyi and others rushed to the deck one after another with the guards of the Fuwei camp, protecting Hu Chuyuan into the lower cabin.
Lin Yongsheng stood on the command tower of the new Chaowu and kept waving the flag. The visiting fleet began to accelerate collectively, increasing the speed to 15 knots and driving at full speed in the direction of Weihai Port.
Sa Zhenbing, the leader of the Sawu, hurried down and said when he saw Hu Chuyuan, "Your Excellency, this fleet is really here. There are eight warships, two of which are iron armored cruisers."
Hu Chuyuan was quite calm and looked coldly at the vast sea area on the south side. He could not see the other party's trace, and he couldn't help but feel a little unwilling.
After thinking for a moment, he walked silently to the conning tower, took the binoculars from the scouts, and looked far away in the direction indicated by the seamen. In the distant sea, many warships flying the Japanese flag rushed over. They still looked very small, even in the telescope. Mung bean grains, but the thick smoke in the chimney is particularly conspicuous.
Hu Chuyuan couldn't count the number, so he asked Sa Zhenbing beside him, "How far is it from us?"
Sa Zhenbing's expression quietly flashed with a trace of anxiety and said, "There are still about 17 nautical miles left. We can probably drive 40 nautical miles at full speed to the north, and the two sides will officially enter the combat distance."
Hu Chuyuan calculated in his heart that it was probably in time. He nodded slightly with Sa Zhenbing and took his entourage back to the cabin.
Because it was not set up as Hu Chuyuan's flagship, the cabin design on the Sawu was a little simple. Hu Chuyuan sat here to watch the overall change. His naval "staff officer" Lan Jianshu arranged a separate platform with ten Japanese warships on it, and four warships in the patrol fleet in the middle, and the opposite was Weihai Port is still 144 nautical miles away.
Hu Chuyuan's itinerary has long been exposed. Without any warning in advance, as long as the Japanese standing fleet is placed near the midpoint between Incheon and Weihai, the traces of the patrol fleet will inevitably be captured.
Because the patrol fleet temporarily adopted an arc-shaped marching route, the standing fleet did not grasp it and could only accelerate forward interception, while the patrol fleet also changed its route and headed in the direction of Lushun Port.
The limit speed of the New Yangwu in the patrol fleet is 20 knots, while the Ankang is only 16 knots. Coupled with some aging and boiler problems, it is a safer choice to keep it at 15 knots.
The Japanese standing fleet was quickly divided into two teams. The slower two armored cruisers and two heavy artillery cruisers were in a separate group, and the other group was composed of six dome cruisers, quickly pursuing, with a speed approaching 20 knots.
He was probably used to being assassinated by himself. From the beginning, Hu Chuyuan realized that they were going to deal with his own patrol fleet.
The four warships of the patrol fleet quickly moved northward, and the advance team was chasing after them. The two sides were getting closer and closer, especially the Ankang, which barely maintained its speed at 15 knots.
120 nautical miles away from Lushun Port, the two sides finally entered the combat distance. At this time, Lin Yongsheng quickly changed his strategy. Ankang first turned the rudder, Chaowu and Sawu followed closely, and the new Yangwu increased the speed to 20 knots and rushed to Lushun Port.
At this time, I was already able to confirm that Hu Chuyuan was on the flagship of the patrol fleet, Xinyangwu, and immediately sent two Wave-speed-class dome-clad cruisers to chase over. The rest of the fleet began to fight with the patrol fleet, blocking the retreat route of the patrol fleet, waiting for the arrival of the standing fleet.
Japan began to receive assistance from Britain and France in 1885. In 1887, it began to produce large-scale self-produced warships, and purchased a large number of dome-clad cruisers from Britain and France. Among them, the Langsu-class was purchased in the United Kingdom, with a maximum speed of 23 knots and a drainage tonnage of 4,150 tons.
As of 1890, Japan had built 13 self-built cruisers and purchased 21 cruisers, not only by Britain and France, but also by Italy and Germany. They were eager to expand their combat power and even did not hesitate to buy Chile's second-hand ships, with a total of 34.
In the early days, the Japanese self-made cruisers did not have any armored defense. They were concentrated in the Japanese West Coast Fleet, that is, the alert fleet stationed in Nagasaki, while the purchased cruisers were concentrated in the standing fleet and stationed in Yokohama.
This strategy is mainly worried about the Qing army's eastward advance, and the first wave of attacks will defeat the West Bank Fleet.
However, it was also the large-scale westward transfer of the standing fleet that caused the leakage of intelligence and made Hu Chuyuan aware of the abnormality in advance.
The Langsu class has served in the standing fleet since 1888, with a total of six built. Since then, the updated Chaofeng class and the Chaoyue class have been added, all of which are similar dome armored cruisers.
The wave speed level was modified at the end of 1889, all of which were equipped with 120mm rapid-fire guns. With the assistance of France, almost all of the Japanese guns used smokeless gunpowder and bitter acid, and the ** degree of the shell was very high.
Although the East Sea Division has also completed this change, because the bitter acid is too **, it is prone to accidents. The patrol fleet has adopted a relatively stable DNT, that is, dinitrotoluene. One more nitrification is TNT. The problem is that it is very difficult to do it again, and the current industrial system cannot do it.
The explosive power of DNT is similar to that of bitter acid. It is characterized by being relatively stable and the cost is much higher. At present, the main patented technology is mastered by BASF Chemical Company in Germany.
The patrol fleet did not expect this change at all in the early days, and the number of shells was not well prepared. In order to ensure a certain combat effectiveness, the new Yangwu, which fled first, transferred all the shells to the other three warships.
(to be continued)