Chapter 68 Meteor

In the south of the Korean Peninsula, Zhenhai Bay, where the joint fleet base is located. Since February 14th, two and a half years ago, the joint fleet sailed out of Wugang, passed through Jiangtian Island and Sasebo, and entered Zhenhai Bay on the Korean Peninsula on the 21st. The joint fleet took the town bay as its stronghold to train for the upcoming naval decisive battle.

The gunfire sounded through the sea and the air day and night, and the smoke lingered around the bay. It was only two months. The shells fired by the joint fleet to train new tactics and improve cannon shooting exceeded the bullets used by the joint fleet in the past year.

The gunfire roared in the commander's room of the battleship Mikasa, the flagship of the United Fleet.

"Mr. Akiyama, take a look at you."

Higashigo Heihachiro, the commander-in-chief of the joint fleet, who is short but known as "lucky", said angrily and raised the telegram. The telegram was sent by Yamamoto's military guard, detailing the entry of the Chinese [***] team into North Korea. Out of fear that the Lu army would conquer the Tumen River, the army hoped that the navy would send warships to provide cover for the army. On the other hand, Yamamoto also asked whether the fleet could adjust the fleet's berth stop to ensure safety.

"The group of guys in the army want the fleet to provide them with cover at this critical time. It's really a group of uncritical guys!"

Standing opposite him is the gentle staff officer of the Combined Fleet Command, Masayuki Akiyama.

"The army guys are too much. They don't care about the key to the war. It will be decided by the naval battle. They were defeated again and again in Manchuria, and they are still pointing fingers. It's really ridiculous!"

In the face of the commander's words, Akiyama Zhenzhi, who was some superstitious and some gods, smiled in return. At this time, he had not seen the previous kind of gods. The attack of the [***] team on North Korea made him breathe a sigh of relief. There was no need to worry about whether they would give it somewhere. A blow of life.

When the commander was there to make great accusations to the army, Akiyama just smiled silently. He was born in the Matsuyama Domain and did not have such a bad feeling about the army in the Changzhou Domain, not as Dongxiang, who was born in the Satsuma Domain. What's more, his brother Akiyama Haogu is also an army. He also participated in the war against Luguo. He led the Japanese cavalry to defeat the Cossack cavalry. In public and private, he had no intention of attacking the army.

"Sir, I wonder if you will accept Officer Yamamoto's advice?"

I don't want to accuse the army of Akiyama Zhenzhi for directly opening the topic with the words of the previous commander.

"This...hmm...what do you think? Akiyama"

Dongxiang Pinghalang, who was still angry, asked rhetorically.

"You are the chief of staff of the combined fleet, and all the combat plans are made by you, so I hope to hear your opinion!"

Higasang Heihachiro, how could he not know the reason why he was elected as the commander of the joint fleet, just because "the boy in Dongxiang has always been lucky", and His Excellency Yamamoto chose his own purpose to use his own luck.

"Your Excellency."

Akiyama is still smiling.

"The latest intelligence is that Lucia's Second Pacific Fleet has sailed into the Chinese Sandu-Australian Naval Base. It is believed that they will repair and repair ships there, and even the Second Pacific Fleet may purchase China's high-quality anthracite, instead of... inferior Japanese coal!"

The best coal used for warships is the most expensive Welsh coal. Of course, the British will not sell it to the Russians, because it is Britain, as the hegemon at sea, that provided coal to warring countries during the war is a violation of neutrality. This claim makes contracting Russia the second. The German Hamburg American company, which transports coal from the Pacific Fleet, is also unable to buy Welsh anthracite.

Now the Russian fleet uses the cheapest and worst quality Japanese coal harvested by Hamburg American. The British blockade and the Russians' own corruption make Rostwinsky can only burn the smoky Japanese inferior coal, which undoubtedly provides the best goal in the naval battle. .

And this is the reason why Japan provides it with coal. It is said that the heat of bituminous coal is not as much as one-third of the British carbon. No matter how it burns, it does not produce too much steam. It only produces a large amount of choking gas. The diffuse black smoke cannot hide the fleet, and the inferior heat will consume more fuel to reach the maximum speed, which requires More people are needed to shovel coal.

"Chinese coal?"

"In order to ensure the supply of high-quality British coal, we sent the navy to the United Kingdom to protect British charcoal, but we did not expect that China also produces high-quality coal that is not inferior to that of Welsh white coal. The Chinese navy uses domestic white coal, and our intelligence shows that Sandu Australia has a reserve of at least 100,000 tons of high-quality white coal. The Chinese repaired the warships for the Russians and provided them with white coal at the same time. I'm afraid..."

When Akiyama was silent, he kept eating fried beans. The bean shells were casually thrown in the officer's room, and Dongxiang was full of turning a blind eye. This was Akiyama's habit when thinking about problems.

"If there is no accident, in another month, the Luguo Fleet will leave Sanduao and go to the right horse."

Seeing that Akiyama's words were not finished, when Togo Heihachiro was about to ask, he continued to say.

"What if we leave the town bay and look for fighters elsewhere?"

Makiyama looked at the chart with a pencil:

"Because I can't imagine that a artillery battle can bring all the Lu Guo's fleet to the bottom of the water, so I drew up the "Seven-stage Battle" combat plan, that is, starting from the main warships of the two sides from meeting to fighting, and preparing a total of seven attacks along the narrow Japanese Sea from the Tsushima Strait to Vladivostok, so as to anniperate its master. The purpose of force.

When Akiyama put forward his own battle plan, Dongxiang nodded. This plan was indeed extremely wonderful and extremely difficult. The difficulty is that this is not a long snake ambush, but some warships of the same joint fleet began to operate synchronously along the Japanese Sea and Luguo Fleet from the Tsushima Strait, pestering the Luguo Fleet to carry out repeated attacks. If they are a little careless, they will lose all over the market.

However, this is the only opportunity for the joint fleet with only four main warships to defeat the Luguo fleet.

"If they are on other battlefields, if they don't check and let them bypass other areas or even enter the Pacific Ocean, it is difficult to say whether they will win or lose. Once they enter the Pacific Ocean, they can go to the front line of Vladivostok to get supplies and cultivation, which is very unfavorable to the combined fleet..."

Akiyama put down his pencil and looked at the commander in front of him.

"That's 7 battleships..."

Togo Heihachiro nodded, and the Luguo Fleet was too powerful.

"If we can intercept them in the Tsushima Strait, then we still have the possibility of winning. If we do something else, I'm afraid..."

"In the horse, are you really sure that you can win?"

"Let's bet."

Akiyama Zhenzhi spit out two words, "Well, that's all."

Not only does Togo Heihachiro and Akiyama Zhenzhi have the habit of gambling, but even the whole Japanese nation has the psychology of gamblers, or the psychology of gamblers has been affecting the country for thousands of years, but the fate of the joint fleet, even the fate of the Japanese empire, can be gambled? Of course, you can bet on the gambling table. .

Since the Meiji Restoration, whether it is the First Sino-Japanese War or the Russian War, isn't it gambling with the Japanese national fortune? Fortunately, so far, it has won the gambling... So what about this time? They will definitely be able to win the bet. It is with this kind of mentality that they bet everything on this invisible but the biggest gamble in the world. For gamblers, they are used to it and are willing to bet everything to get the greatest reward. Perhaps the war itself is the gambler's life.

In the valley, the tired soldiers dragged their heavy footsteps forward. Occasionally, the wind blew a little. They looked up at the sky. Sometimes the black spots of a large bird flying through the air would make the marching column messy and even lead to chaos.

Although the Second Reserve Division is just a new mobilization force, it will not be surrounded by fear as it is now. A few hours ago, six planes dropped thirty-six bombs on their heads, and then the planes circled over their heads for several minutes. In the following time, those planes were always They will fly over their heads inadvertently and shoot a burst of bullets facelessly.

"326, 184, 207, 89..."

Mumbling that four attacks brought casualties. As the chief of staff of the Second Reserve Division, Akinosuke Hisaishi sighed helplessly. The four attacks from the air did not bring much casualties. There were only more than 200 soldiers killed in the battle. The continuous blows made the original morale fall to the extreme. The casualties were not large, but they could not be stopped. The attack from the air made everyone desperate to the extreme. At least in the face of the plane, in addition to powerlessness and despair, all they could do was to scatter and escape.

Airplane... Looking up at the sky, Hisaishi Akinosuke sighed bitterly. Once they thought that those planes would only fly in the sky. At most, they would look at them in the air, and then inform the army of their position. The plane was like a bird, almost harmless, but the bomb that fell a few hours ago and the next The bullets that were shot woke up everyone, and the flying robot bird could also kill people.

Machine guns, poison gas, airplanes... How many new weapons will the Chinese put in this war?

When thinking about this problem, Akinosuke Hisaishi, who was riding on a horse, only felt powerless for a while. In his impression, China is a backward country. It is impossible for them to have so many advanced weapons, but now the iron fact tells him that the weapons China has never had before.

"Well, I can guarantee that more planes will rush over in the future. Those planes haven't come for two hours. They must have gone back and call more planes!"

All kinds of rumors spread among the soldiers in the marching column. When the look of fear appeared on their faces, they did not know that the six planes had emptied the last drum in the last attack and returned to the base with their first victory to summarize their air strike experience.

After a two-day and one-night march, I don't know how many wrongful roads have been taken. In the afternoon, the pioneer cavalry of the First Cavalry Regiment finally arrived in a valley with only one mountain away from the interception point of Wu Lidong. The valley is located between the cliffs, and the mountains on both sides are steep. From time to time, a whistle came from the lush mountain forest on the mountain. Then the first cavalry saw the sentry of the friendly army by the mountain forest, and the smile finally appeared on everyone's face.

When the sky was approaching evening, after the main cavalry of the First Cavalry Regiment rushed to the valley, the cavalry immediately took out the barley from the horse bag and fed it to the war horse. After the war horse ate a few catties of barley feed, the cavalry immediately untied the horse's hoof legs in turn and began to massage the foot of the horse. The cavalry seemed to be powerful, and the cavalry's charge seemed to be shocked. The sky moves the earth, but behind all this is the extremely fragile war horse. The cavalry is powerful and also the hardest group of people. For the ten-minute charge, they have to massage the war horse several times a day. People can not eat or drink, and can rely on their will to support their bodies, but the war horses can't.

The cavalry in the valley will also use the last time to bring the horse to the stream and scrub the horse's body with the horse, so as to liven the blood of the horse. It was not until it was completely dark that the cavalry, who were already tired for nearly two hours, began to enjoy their simple dinner, but at this time, the mountain forest spread A few light signals.

"I found the enemy first!"

The signal is an order. More than 1,600 cavalry immediately pressed on the saddle and packed their clothes. It was only a minute or two before and after, and the cavalry, which had been resting, was ready to attack.

Two kilometers away from the canyon with cliffs on both sides, Hisaishi Akinosuke stopped moving forward, and his eyes turned uneasily. The official next to him asked worriedly.

"This is the last dangerous pass. If the Chinese army guards here, I'm afraid it will be difficult for us to pass here!"

Nodded and looked at the stone cliff that looked a little pale under the moon. The sentry had passed through the canyon before, and there was no trace of a defensive position in the narrow canyon.

"The two sides of this place are steep. If there is no ambush in the valley, it is possible to ambush on the mountain. In that case, they can naturally be surprised, but they guard here. In terms of the choice of terrain, it is indeed beneficial to the defending side. This cliff...?"

After thinking for a while, he said again.

"We can't go up, they can't go down, and the defensive side is also a dead place!"

After a while of silence, he took out the map from his bag, and then suddenly ordered the soldiers to communicate.

"The cavalry squadron immediately searched the Qingli area back, if their ambush troops were two..."

With that, he looked at the valley with a telescope and saw the troops passing in the valley carrying supplies. The crowd was messy and hurriedly and quickly advancing towards the valley.

"A team put it on the mountain to stop the enemy, and the other rushed quickly from the rear..."

"Wow...choo..."

The turbulent soldiers in the canyon were passing quickly through the canyon according to the order, and they didn't even notice the sound coming from the air.

Ryuta Hashimoto, who was holding a mule and horse carrying two boxes of bullets, first heard the sound of the bullet box being hit by something, and then with a "poof", holding the rein, he only felt that something had penetrated into his chest and lower abdomen. After the hot thing penetrated his body, he only felt that his strength was fierce. It pulled away from the body.

When he collapsed softly to the ground, his facial features seemed to be enlarged, and his hearing and vision were put down at this moment. What sound would be made when the wind swept through the grass?

Hu... hu... hu... hu... hu... hu... hu... hu... hu... hu... hu... hu... hu... that sound was like the sound when he and Miko were making out with Miko in the rice fields in his hometown of Fukuoka, the sound of the sea breeze passing by rice, but when the sound of the wind sweeping the grass came, the accompaniment was not Miko fans. The moans of people are bursts of screams.

Looking back on the ground, Takaki Hashimoto saw that there seemed to be countless black spots in the air, perhaps with a little moonlight, so he dragged out a meteor-like arc. When the arc swept to the end, he could always see a figure falling to the ground while running.

Screams, crying, and panicked shouts have spread into his auditory nerves that have been magnified to the extreme. Although he has no strength all over his body, his eyes can be opened. In his sight, the speed of the runner seems to be slowing down, just like, like something, he can't say clearly that he can It was clearly seen that the running man's body suddenly leaned back involuntarily on their shoulders or chests for a moment. At the same time, a spray gushed out from their chests and shoulders, and then they fell to the ground heavily. When they fell, the sound of "poo, pop..." still kept coming from their bodies.

When he saw his fellow countrymate Xiaotian running, his head suddenly exploded and disappeared. Perhaps it was because he was lying on the stone. He could hear the crisp impact sound. The impact sound was like... It was a bit like the sound of raindrops hitting the house tiles when there was a rainstorm in his hometown, and it was like... not waiting for him to do it. When it was clear why the sound was so familiar, in the crisp voice, he heard bursts of the sound of horses' hoofs. Yes, he could hear this sound wrong, the sound of horses' hoofs, but the sound of horses' hoofs seemed to be far away.

Suddenly, the valley, which was only moonlight, was suddenly illuminated, and a cluster of orange flames of different sizes lit up in the canyon. Looking at the fireworks, although he could hear the roar of the shrapnel and stones that were blown off at the explosion, Takashi Hashimoto was immersed in an inexplicable emotion. The fireworks were like an hour. The fireworks you play are as beautiful as you play.

What a beautiful flame! Lamenting the beauty of the fireworks, Hashimoto no longer paid attention to the bodies that had been blown up and torn apart in the air. He just looked at the fireworks. The fireworks reflected some brilliance in his eyes, but the brilliance was passing away. Just as his vision became blurred, he heard the sound of the horse's hoof getting closer and closer and louder...< /P>

(to be continued)