Chapter 251 Battle of Jinlan Bay

After sending Hu Weizhong to the Zhili Corps stationed in Shenyang, the preparations for the "Yellow Sparrow" plan gradually entered the final stage. Foreign Minister Ouyang Geng also arrived in Europe and proposed that Britain should be the coordinating country for peace negotiations on the Far East War.

Considering the impact of the Far East on the world economy, the international community has given a relatively positive response. China has just won a great victory in Ryukyu, and it is a very appropriate time to hold peace talks.

France is very interested in this. After consultation with Russia, it proposed that a China should pay 47 million pounds as the total compensation, while recognizing the exaggerated conditions of the reading of the Yerqiang Khanate, North Korea, the Ryukyu Islands and Vietnam.

On this basis, Ouyang Geng proposed that Xinjiang and the Ryukyu Islands must be China's sovereign territories. There is no possibility of negotiation. The issue of North Korea and Vietnam can be negotiated. If Russia withdraws from the army, China is willing to pay a total compensation of 47 million pounds, and the two sides can also negotiate on the Far East Railway issue.

... Everything is a phantom.

The "Shy" plan is still being implemented intensively. On April 17, 1901, the Jiangnan Shipping Bureau and various private shipping companies received requisition orders one after another. About 55 merchant ships of more than 2,000 tons were requisitioned to Qingdao, Shanghai, Ningbo and Taiwan. The main force of the Jianghuai Corps began to go to Shanghai one after another. The region and Taiwan dispatched a large number of heavy shipments to Keelung Port in Taiwan.

The "Sle" plan has reached the point where it can be implemented.

On the surface, the Prime Minister's Office still claimed that there was no plan for large-scale military operations for the time being. This statement made Japan more nervous and failed to send troops to the north. Instead, it concentrated its troops on the mainland and continuously strengthened the fortifications in the local coastal port areas.

April 25, 1901.

On this day, it was very rare for Hu Chuyuan to go to Yingtai to work, instead of staying in the Capital Garden as usual.

Since the morning, various confidential documents of the military have been sent to his office, and all aspects are ready. The Fujian-Zhejiang Corps and the Liangguang Corps, which were originally scattered in Taiwan and the southeast coast, have also arrived in the Nansha Sea by more than 200 transport ships.

After nightfall, the Nanyang joint fleets scattered in Taiping Island, Shaluo Island, Zhanjiang, Xialong and Manila began to set off one after another, gathering at different speeds to the sea 60 nautical miles east of Jinlan Bay.

The front-line headquarters is located on the modified cruiser Xiangyang. Combined with various problems in the Jinwu Bay landing battle, the navy has modified Xiangyang into a radio command center ship with the largest radio receiving device in China.

Through this command center, the data of each battlefield will be quickly collected, and the fastest feedback will be given to the Yanjing Yingtai National Military Commission. Because of this device, although the squadrons set sail in different areas, they can keep pace and finally complete the assembly at 3:20 a.m.

In fact, it was 15 minutes earlier than expected. At 3:05, the Nanyang Joint Fleet successfully assembled in the predetermined sea area, and a total of 78 warships were reorganized and divided into two groups.

At this time.

Hu Chuyuan signed a public statement declaring war on France, demanding that France stop all acts of counter-China and that France completely abandon its status as a protectorate in Vietnam and Cambodia.

France's industrial strength is still very terrible, much stronger than Russia and Japan combined.

China poked a big hornet's nest.

Hu Chuyuan finally signed it, and more and more felt that his fate was too similar to Hitler's. He just didn't know what the final result would be like.

The main media reporters in Beijing have been notified in advance, and many people are waiting for news in the news reception center of Yingtai.

It's too important.

Hu Chuyuan decided to attend this press conference in person. He has been preparing for Yingtai to change into a set of specially customized Chinese clothes, using the fabric of the suit and three-dimensional cutting method, and a large number of traditional decorations embroidered on the cuffs, neckline and other places.

At 3:30, Hu Chuyuan, accompanied by Sun Zongyuan and others, attended the press conference in person. As soon as he came out, a large number of magnesium lights kept flashing.

Journalists from all over the world are particularly excited. For many people, this is the first time they have such close contact with Hu Chuyuan, the politician and capitalist with the greatest real power in the world. This is simply a mythical figure.

Hu Chuyuan sat calmly in the central seat and opened the data report given to him by Sun Zongyuan. He roughly looked at it again and slowly waited for the meeting room to calm down.

When the venue gradually calmed down, Hu Chuyuan looked up at the front and glanced at more than 100 reporters and some staff of foreign embassies sitting in front of him.

There is a person in the crowd who deserves special attention, that is, Mr. Ozone Island, the Consul General in China, who was a major in the Japan Army Intelligence Department and was just sent to China last year as the highest consul general officer in China.

Hu Chuyuan didn't care too much about the existence of this person. He pulled the microphone of the loudspeaker to himself and said, "First of all, everyone is very welcome... I'm not a good speaker, and I don't like long speeches. To put it simple, today I want to come out in person to say two things, the first thing. According to the report of the General Administration of Audit, in the first quarter of this year, China's total foreign trade imports and exports did not decline, and the total national product increased by 13.7% compared with the same period last year. These credible data prove that China's economy is still developing at a high speed. , not affected by the war... I can guarantee this with my personal credit. In addition, even if the war continues, the political axe will continue to spend 200 million yuan of special funds for agricultural construction in Shanxi, Shaanxi and Sichuan this year.

There was an exclamation under the stage.

At the moment when Hu Chuyuan paused his speech, a reporter desperately squeezed to the front and asked loudly, "Don't you think your country is too careless... Aren't those data fake?"

"The data must be true, and there will be no false."

Hu Chuyuan replied coldly and continued: "Now let's say the second thing, because the peace talks between our foreign ministers in Europe and France and Russia have failed, our country has officially declared war on France and asked France to stop all anti-China counter-China and embargo policies. Before France fails to withdraw from the Alleign Organization, China reserves the France's active attack authority.

As soon as this was said, the whole venue was silent.

No one can believe that China, a country that has just embarked on the road of rejuvenation, dares to challenge Russia and France at the same time, plus a Japanese book. This is simply a dead end!

In the corner of the venue, Onoshima, the consul general in Yanjing, couldn't help showing a smug smile. For him, this was the best news he could ever hear.

Hu Chuyuan didn't like to appear in public, especially in this noisy environment. After announcing a bomb-like blockbuster news, he got up coldly and left immediately.

There will be no more explanations for the Prime Minister's Office. Let people guess slowly!

... China's existing 10,000-ton battleships have increased to 37, one new main battleship in the Liangzhou class, reaching 7, 6 in the Ningyuan class, 8 second-class battleships in the Jinzhou class, and two new Weiyuan-class battlecruisers, reaching 16.

Because the three fleets of Beiyang, Nanyang and the Pacific are all involved in the war, Hu Chuyuan took the "sle" plan as a guide to reorganize the domestic main fleet, and transferred 4 Liangzhou-class battleships, 6 Ningyuan-class battleships, 8 Weiyuan-class battlecruisers, 8 Xiangyang-class light and medium-sized protective cruisers, and 1 Four Guardown-class destroyers and 37 auxiliary ships were built into a new headquarters fleet.

The Beiyang Fleet revolves around four Jinzhou-class battleships, which are reorganized by a number of cruisers, destroyers and defense ships to carry out naval defense operations in the Yellow Sea and Bohai areas, and no longer pursues the suppression of Russia through naval advantages.

The Pacific Fleet is reorganized, with 3 Liangzhou-class, 4 Jinzhou-class, 4 Weiyuan-class, as well as a large number of destroyers and 32 auxiliary ships for suppression operations.

The Nanyang Combined Fleet is formed by the merger of the original foundation of the Nanyang Fleet with the allied and protected fleets in Southeast Asia. The main battleships are 7 Zhiyuan-class ironclads, including modernized Dingyuan, Zhenyuan, Jingyuan, Fengyuan, etc.

The number of this joint fleet is very large, with 44 ironclads, 57 cruisers, 49 destroyers, 103 defense ships, and more than 300 other small ships. The total naval displacement has reached 774,000 tons. It is divided into four squadrons, stationed in Manila, Kuching and the sea respectively. Nanyingzhou (Tongqi Port, Lingshui County) and Malacca Strait.

The headquarters fleet, the Beiyang Fleet and the Pacific Fleet are combined, and their tonnage is roughly the same as that of the Nanyang Joint Fleet. China also has a Yangtze River Fleet, mainly composed of small and medium-sized warships, and a submarine formation that has not appeared for a long time.

After 20 years of gradual development, except for Britain, no country in the world can compete with China in terms of naval strength.

At 6:17 a.m., the Nanyang Joint Mixed Fleet arrived outside the waters of Jinlan Bay, only 2.5 nautical miles from the port of Jinlan Bay.

The light of the dawn has illuminated the eastern sky, and the dark red morning glow spread thousands of miles away, covering the place where the sea and the air are connected, and the blurred boundary at the end of the sea.

The figure of Jinlan Bay shows a beautiful outline in the bright light.

Jinlan Bay, the best military port in Southeast Asia.

Its geographical structure and advantages are very obvious. It is divided into three parts: the inner bay, the inner bay and the outer bay. There is an Apba mountain island at the mouth of the outer bay, which blocks the waves directly rushing to the bay, and there is only an amile-long aisle from the outer bay to the inner bay.

The inner bay is in the west, and the outer bay is in the east. There is also a riwan from the inner bay to the north, which is as slender as a strait. The narrowest part of the seaway is less than 300 meters. There are also two small closed harbors in it, called Beili Bay and Nanli Bay, and there are also enough water depths to station 10,000-ton-class battleships. .

Because there is only an extremely narrow Jinlan Peninsula between the bay and the sea, especially in the north and south bay area, the average width of the peninsula is less than 1.3 kilometers. Even if the battleships do not cross the peninsula, they can attack the inside of the port with the main gun. Therefore, the French Far East Fleet is mainly stationed in the inner bay, the main port. The base is located on the side of the Jinlan Peninsula, and a large-scale military port has been built using a natural deep-water bay.

At the Jinlan Peninsula Naval Base, France is stationed with 21,000 army troops and about 17,000 naval troops. The total displacement of the Far East Fleet is 147,000 tons, with 3 Toulouse-class battleships, 14 ironclads, 11 destroyers, 5 cruisers and 13 defense ships. And a total of 34 small ships.

However, the French were not well prepared, and they didn't even think that China would take the initiative to declare war on them.

The commander-in-chief of the Nanyang Joint Mixed Fleet is Ye Fu, and the commander of the Army Department is Zhang Shiying. Ye Boqi has been awarded the command of the front line and the rank of lieutenant general.

Ye Boqi's Xiangyang command ship stayed in the rear and was mixed in the amphibious landing fleet. The battleship commanded by Ye Fu happened to be the first Liangzhou class - the Liangzhou, which was also the first time that Liangzhou officially appeared in the naval battle.

Cheng Biguang's V5-012B submarine continued to serve as the vanguard force and had dived into the inner bay of Jinlan Bay. Then, the results observed through the periscope and the conclusions obtained through underwater sound wave detection... were all surprised by Cheng Biguang.

Two hours after China has declared war on France, Jinlan Bay is still quiet. There are no mines and mines at the mouth of the bay, and there should be no submarines swimming in the harbor - in fact, France has not developed submarines as a conventional weapon until now. As far as the development of the entire international navy is concerned, it is And the situation in China is very unique.

More than 60 warships are quietly moored in the East Port of Jinlan Bay, including the three Toulouse-class battleships with a displacement of 14,330 tons. This is a new type of battleship developed by the British King Power-class battleships. It was officially put into service in 1894 and a total of six were built.

At the end of 1898, France began to build new Montpellier-class battleships, and the displacement tonnage was further increased to 15,720 tons.

Looking at the three Toulouse-class battleships that the French were proud of quietly stopping in the port like live targets, Cheng Biguang really wanted to sink them.

He didn't do this, because his task was just to observe the dynamics of the French army.

Although the war has not yet started, Cheng Biguang has been convinced that the Battle of Jinlan Bay will be very easy to win, beyond imagination. The French have no room for resistance at all, and the large number of fortifications invested heavily in construction are just decorations.

When he forwarded this information to the command ship Xiangyang, the main fleet officially began to grow and headed for Jinlan Bay at full speed. A large number of fleets crossed the Outer Bay in the shortest time, and the landing fleet landed from the eastern Bund of the peninsula. The 19th Division of the Fujian-Zhejiang Corps continued to be responsible for the sharp knife force and occupied the coastal guns first. Taiwan and the Highlands.

Because the French side had no defense at all and did not even enter a state of alert, Ye Boyu temporarily cancelled the plan of artillery cover, allowing the 19th Division to land silently and quickly.

It was not until a small number of French troops began to counterattack that the landing fleet used artillery cover. At this time, the 19th Division had occupied six near-point bases all the way, laying the foundation for the subsequent large-scale landing troops.

On the sea of the East Bund, thousands of kayaks and small diesel locomotives swarmed towards the beach. The soldiers continued to climb down the transport ship along the rope net, and then rushed to the coastline in small boats.

More than 40,000 troops rushed up in half an hour and quickly occupied the whole peninsula. Part of the landing fleet landed on the southern beach of Jinlan Bay, and the troops of the two regiments quickly occupied the Tiansaila Hills in the south of Jinlan Bay.

The fortifications built by the French army in this area are very strict, but they have almost no effect. Many small French garrisons scattered in various places surrendered directly at the sight of a large-scale attack.

In the inner bay of Jinlan Bay, the headquarters fleet directly entered the port, aimed the muzzle at Jinlan East Port of the Far East Fleet for continuous shelling and bombing, and sent a large number of small multi-purpose patrol boats to rush through under the protection of destroyers to carry out torpedo attacks on the main warships of the Far East Fleet.

Hidden in the six submarines underwater, two of them were ordered to attack and were responsible for secretly sinking the flagship.

In this closed and safe port, the French are extremely flustered. They can't organize any meaningful counterattacks at all, and even the defensive organization can't do it well.

The battle lasted only a few minutes, and the army troops stationed on the Jinlan Peninsula almost collapsed. More than half of the French soldiers surrendered. According to this series of unimaginable changes and progress, Ye Boqi immediately asked the heavy artillery troops to speed up the deployment and attack the Far East Fleet in the port.

The Battle of Jinlan Bay may be the beginning, but it can also be said to be the end.

There is no suspense.

After the two Toulouse-class battleships were sunk, the French army seemed to have lost all resistance. More warships directly announced their surrender, many warships were not even empty, and the sailors fled one after another.

At 7:14, the Battle of Jinlan Bay has come to an end. The main highlands and fortifications have been mastered by the landing troops. The French naval ships at all levels have surrendered, put up white chess and given up resistance.

Sitting in the command center of the Xiangyang, Ye Boqi could hardly believe it. He couldn't say whether he was too lucky or the French were too bad. He actually gave him most of the still-complete French Far East fleet so quickly, and a large number of fortifications built around the port were even more useless.

He can't even believe that France claims to be the second largest power in the world... Is it such a combat effectiveness?

When the news reached Hu Chuyuan's hands, Hu Chuyuan was not too surprised.

In fact, in recent years, China's war strength should be the largest. Other countries have also developed submarine and armored vehicle systems one after another. Like China, radio devices, sonar systems, light and heavy machine guns and mortars are widely used in war. The war strength gap between China and other countries is It will gradually shrink.

That's why he is determined to launch this large-scale Far East war ahead of schedule at this stage.

If everything goes well, once next year's general counterattack is opened, the whole world will tremble.

Yes, China has stood up.

When Hu Chuyuan's elaborate Far East War is over, China will undoubtedly become a world power again, and no country will dare to easily be an enemy of China.

After half a century of humiliation, it's time to put an end to it.

(to be continued)