Chapter 235 April 30

Looking at the sinking Japanese torpedo ship that was slowly passing through the porthole, and looking at the Japanese sailor running east and west like headless flies on the inclined deck, Lan Jianshu nodded to the gun commander.

The gun captain just put down the phone, and the two double 37mm rapid-fire cannons on the starboard side immediately protruded four long tongues and swept through the deck of the Japanese torpedo ship. The Japanese sailors, who were fleeing in a panic, were suddenly beaten to pieces. In just a few minutes of wiping, the whole deck was dyed red, and the limbs and arms were broken. Rolling down the water along the sloping deck, and when the Honolulu left, the sea seemed to be printed with a layer of blood.

The naval cadets on the Honolulu are not interested in the torpedo ship that has been devastated. They have already aimed at the fastest Japanese cruiser Suma. Compared with the coal-fired boilers and reciprocating steam engines used by their opponents, the fuel boilers and steam turbines, whether accelerating or continuing, far exceed The former.

Although the Suma can also reach a speed of 22 knots, it is said that the metallurgical level in China is not in place, and the main shaft can only last for half an hour. If it does not slow down and cool down within half an hour, it will be deformed due to overheating.

Captain Xuma also knew this matter, so he also learned from Hequan to plunge into the scattered fleet, constantly carrying out tactical maneuvers, in an attempt to use the running merchant ships to block the pursuers and take the opportunity to escape.

This scene also annoyed Lan Jianshu. Although those merchant ships with no power to fight back are not threatened, unless they are heavy guns of more than 200mm, it will take enough time to sink a cargo ship of nearly 10,000 tons with the largest 152mm gun of the Honolulu.

"You can use torpedoes." The staff suggested, "The torpedo?" Lan Jianshu patted his thigh. Yes, the new 550mm torpedo was installed early, and it was also one of the tasks to test the torpedo this time!

Following his order, the torpedo hand, who had long been tempted by the artillery battle, quickly untied the safety and turned the torpedo launcher to aim at the target. After a few bangs, the starboard side of Honolulu suddenly spewed out four huge torpedoes. As soon as the torpedo entered the water, the tail immediately aroused a long white tail, rushing to the goods. Take turns to chase.

"R Torpedo!"

When the sailors on the merchant ship saw the white torpedo track, they were immediately scared and shouted, but the 30-k knots of high speed made the cargo ship with only 12 or thirteen vessels unable to avoid it at all. They could only watch the torpedo plunge into the hull.

The most amazing scene in this small-scale naval battle finally appeared. After one of the torpedoes hit the hull, a huge water ball suddenly burst off the cargo ship's waterline, which violently exploded and threw the nearly 7,000-ton cargo ship high from the surface of the water, and then hit it heavily on the surface of the water. The hull released a ratt. After the sound, it suddenly broke into two pieces and disappeared on the water in an instant.

This kind of power?!

The sailors on the remaining three ships were stunned, and the officers were in a cold sweat, especially the chased Xuma, who even forgot to continue to dodge, and only kept accelerating to escape.

But the gap in equipment made them unable to watch the Honolulu catch up little by little. Half an hour later, when the two ships were parallel, the end of the Xuma finally arrived.

Although the double 130mm rapid-fire gun is installed behind the Honolulu, the caliber of the main gun is not uniform, but at such a close distance, even if the gunners are all intern gunmen, they can easily hit the other party.

Only five minutes after the pursuit, the roaring 152mm naval gun penetrated the thin armor, causing the Xuma to drop from 20 knots to 10 knots.

There is no suspense!

After losing the most precious speed, at a distance of 3,000 meters, even the trainee gunners could easily hit the other party. The front and rear main guns were nearly 50 shells per minute, sweeping like a storm, directly flattening the narrow superstructure of the Suma.

At this time, the cod, which had been on the last, also caught up. The two ships began to pour firepower on the Japanese-produced cruiser crazily. However, neither Lan Jianshu, the commander of the driving patrol team behind, or Ji Rushan, who was using radio to control the whole situation further away, did not stop this serious waste of shells. Behavior.

With the Cossack's two torpedoes sent another seriously injured Japanese cruiser and Izumi to the bottom of the sea, the one-hour chase was finally over. The remaining freighters with a maximum speed of only twelve or thirteen knots had already raised white flags, two of which unexpectedly opened the sea valve. Self-sinking.

"Report, sinking two enemy cruisers, two destroyers, capturing three cargo ships, and all the rest were destroyed."

"Our ship Cossack was slightly injured, Dragic lost a secondary gun, the rest of the ships were not lost, and no Japanese people who fell into the water were found." After the staff officer finished speaking, he added another sentence.

"This bastard, I think he didn't save it on purpose." The fleet staff lit a cigarette and scolded with a smile.

"What the matter? Anyway, we can't let them live in the end." The gun staff officer slammed his mouth for a long time, and his hands were itchy. He came to his companion and grabbed a cigarette. Then he proudly continued, "Don't forget, our guns and steam turbines can't be leaked yet."

"That's right." Before the staff continued to speak, Ji Rushan took over the conversation: "Notice the Cossack to carefully clean up the battlefield, don't miss a person, and let the Cod escort the cargo ship to Ryukyu after the end, and come to the round immediately after completing the task."

"Yes." The communication staff hurried to convey the order.

"I'm really inferior to a generation. I actually used a merchant ship to cover the escape of the warship!" Looking at the detailed war report sent, Ji Rushan smiled bitterly, which was a waste of this rare opportunity to command the fleet.

"Immediately send the results and the situation of the battle back to the staff, focusing on the performance of the light patrol after equipping with oil-fired boilers and steam turbines. It's time to change our old arms and legs!"

The staff officers, who didn't know Ji Rushan's thoughts, laughed one after another, but after looking at the amazing speed performance of the three modified light patrols, they also agreed with the commander's idea. They didn't know what the chief of staff and the young master thought--

Xixiang pushed open the window from the road, and there was a busy Yokohama harbor outside. The cargo ship flying the flags of various countries not only did not give him any excitement, but also made people feel a little worried. The reason was the statistics of incoming ships just received!

The first transport fleet, which was supposed to come back in the next few days as planned, did not come back on time! Although the port of Yokohama is still busy, and transport ships from various countries come and go from time to time, it is still irritable.

He was worried not only about the safety of the transport team, but also about the freighter with important materials mixed in the fleet, which was the most urgently needed thing at Yokohama Shipyard at present. Especially when the corners of his eyes swept to the two docks in the distance, there was a sense of uneasiness and heat in his heart for no reason.

For the sake of the empire, the base camp and the emperor have done their best this time, not only ordering a large number of warships, but also buying more than a dozen large cargo ships they have just launched from the United States and other countries at a high price, in order to support the most important maritime transportation line of the empire, but now it accounts for almost half of the new cargo ships. The first convoys didn't come back on time. What happened?

Xixiang Congdao looked at the distance with dull eyes.

Yokohama, the harbor on the west side of Tokyo Bay, is still busy. It is not only the largest shipbuilding base in Japan, but also the most important port in Japan at present. Since Osaka, Kobe and Wugang were continuously destroyed by the Pacific Fleet, the base camp has been suspended for fear that immediate reconstruction may be attacked. With the reopening, the entry and exit of the imperial materials will all depend on Tokyo and Yokohama. Coupled with concerns about the safety of Tokyo, Yokohama has also become the busiest commercial port in Japan at present.

Of course, this is only part of the reason. More importantly, the empire does not have enough funds to repair several other seaports at the same time. Although Xixiang Congdao insisted on his point of view, he felt that other major seaports should not be repaired immediately because they were afraid of the attack of the Pacific Fleet. This can not only expand throughput and increase imports, but also disperse the pressure of Yokohama Port, so as not to put eggs in a basket!

But when the base camp showed him the current capital stock, he still had to give in to the dilemma of no succession, because the empire really had no money!

Six battleships, six heavy cruisers, plus auxiliary ships and fortifications, the empire has spent all the loans borrowed with ten years of tax collateral. The two battleships finally resold by Britain even adopted the method of arrears. After all, compared with those powers, the empire's land area is small and capital There is a shortage of resources, and there are too many materials that need to be stored.

However, he and all the officers of the Admiralty are very dissatisfied with, that is, the expanded army actually intercepted nearly half of the funds for the army and North Korea!

Although he took over as the Minister of the Navy after the last war, he still insisted on the idea of his predecessor, Prince Chihito Sugawa, that is, the empire must first ensure the security of the island and control the sea as the basis, instead of consuming limited financial resources on North Korea, which is already worthless!

In his opinion, the Pacific Army did not discuss the issue of North Korea's ownership with the empire in the end. It was not that they were not interested in North Korea, but that they viciously wanted to use North Korea to consume the strength of the empire!

After the Russians intervened in North Korea, this effect has become more obvious. Not only has the situation in North Korea stationed by 50,000 imperial armies not eased, but also thousands of elite veterans were lost in the shelling of Wonsan Port because of the shamelessness of the Pacific Army.

Now the army stationed in North Korea has fallen into a deep quagmire. The continuous outbreak of Korean uprisings and attacks have become two major hidden dangers tied with the Pacific Army, but now even if the base camp wants to withdraw, there is nothing we can do. The Pacific Army cuts off the Tsushima Strait, so that everyone can only watch it. More than 40,000 elite armies, including the First Army, lost their support and struggled to survive in the quagmire.

It is no secret that Kitashirakawa can support his soldiers in the base camp or even the upper class for a long time. Unfortunately, so far, neither His Majesty the Emperor nor the base camp can find a more suitable candidate than him for the time being, so he has to continue to condone his plan.

However, after the army occupied too many resources, the navy began to struggle. Even the construction of the port did not have enough funds, forcing the Admiralty to take full defense based on Tokyo Bay and Yokosuka.

"Can it be prevented just by prevention?" Xixiang shook his head with a wry smile. Whether he opened the history, it proved that the navy should adopt an active offensive strategy rather than defense!

However, it does not have any offensive ability now. It will take a month for the four capital ships to return. As for the order in Europe, because they are afraid that the single ship will encounter threats when they come back, they must wait for the last two battleships res resold by the United Kingdom to complete and set off together.

Even if everything goes well, it will take five months for all the capital ships to return home, so at present, Xixiang Congdao can do nothing but watch the Pacific Fleet rampage overseas.

Compared with the lack of strength and not enough ports, what made him more dissatisfied was the assassination plan proposed by Akashi Motojiro last time. In his opinion, it was completely superfluous. At this time, not only should it not anger Li Mo and his Pacific Army, but should not be weakened. Even if he paid some price, it should not be allowed. Fang grabbed the handle!

But his own words were too weak. Even as the Minister of the Navy, Prince North Shirakawa promoted the assassination plan with his own hands. Now the plan has failed. The conflict between the army and navy has not slowed down, but has become more and more serious. Moreover, the Pacific Army has announced that it will block the sea, if the first transportation at this time The team can't break through the blockade and return to China in time, waiting for the enemy's warship to arrive at the foreign voyage, then!

Thinking of this, Xixiang's eyelids jumped up involuntarily. He knew him very well about the folk customs of the Chinese people. He had heard such a sentence, "Left eye jumps wealth, right eye jumps disaster." Now...?

Xixiang touched his right eye and rushed to the phone quickly, but before he picked up the phone, the phone had rang first. He quickly grabbed the phone, and at the same time, there was a rapid and nervous shout from inside.

"What!"

The caller was Colonel Keiji, who was stationed at the shore artillery base of the Uraga Waterway, and the news he almost fell down.

According to his words, the coastal artillery troops stationed at the mouth of the Uraga Waterway saw at least two Pacific Army battleships and one heavy cruiser, which meant that the Uraga Waterway was completely closed again!

Since the other party blocked the Uraga waterway, the first convoy is also sure!

On December 15, 1896, half a month after Li Mo's attack, the Pacific Fleet, which had just announced that it would blockade the capture of the murderer off the coast of Japan, was blocked at the door of Japan for the second time. The Far East, which had just been at peace for less than half a year, caught everyone's eyes again because of the assassination.

The Uraga Waterway is the throat of Tokyo Bay. After being blocked by the Pacific Fleet for the second time, it immediately made Japan rush all over the world. The emperor took the initiative to meet the British and American representatives, hoping to force the Pacific Fleet to withdraw and ensure the return of the first four capital ships.

Although Britain and the United States are also dissatisfied with the assassination of Li Mo at this time, they do not want the two sides to go to war at this time, especially Britain. Even the First Minister of the Navy sent a telegram directly to Ogner, asking him to delay the war until the delivery of all the capital ships on April 30 in any case. At the same time, he urged Japan to send people to receive the warship immediately.

So the international delegation led by Ogner gathered in Lushun, asking the Pacific Army to immediately stop the action of blocking other people's nests, and said that this was a misunderstanding. It was the personal behavior of some non-political ronin and radical groups in China, which did not represent the political axe. At the same time, the emperor was also willing to take out ten privately. Ten thousand pounds to compensate Master Li's skin and flesh damage.

Of course, no one knows who pays this money in the end. Anyway, everyone knows that it can't even take out 10,000 yuan, let alone 100,000 yuan.

Finally, after ten days of urgent consultation, after discussing in detail with the left-behind Long Guozhang in detail whether the winter war is cost-effective and whether the army is ready, Li Enfu finally said on behalf of Honolulu that whether the fleet can catch the murderer this time, the blockade will end on April 30.

At the same time, he also handed over the confession of the Japanese prisoners to the British and American ambassadors, and said that in view of the fact that the Japanese assassins came from the Japanese army stationed in the DPRK, he asked the Japanese government axe to immediately hand over the military generals stationed in the DPRK, including Youpeng in Shanxian County, Heimu and Nomu Dianxi, to be tried by the Honolulu court. At the same time, the army must also be The time limit for evacuating from North Korea is also April 30.

All the negotiation documents pointed to this time. Britain, the United States and other countries won the last respite for Japan, and Li Enfu also bought time for the final preparations of the Pacific Army.

April 30th!

(to be continued)