Chapter 72 What determines the head

On May 3, after a day of repair, during the maintenance of the four battleships entering the dock, the cruisers "Svetrala" and "Donskoy" of the Russian Second Pacific Fleet, rising with dark columns of smoke, slowly left the port and headed for the mouth of Sansha Bay. At this time, "Swit" The Lana and Donskoy have disappeared from the overload of the past, and the excess coal bags have been carried off the ship by the sailors.

"Search and capture Japanese merchant ships near Taiwan!"

Perhaps because of the subsidy of one ruble a day, the already exhausted sailors on the two cruisers are quite excited. They have even begun to figure out how to spend this "accidental fortune".

Wine! Steak!

Everyone's mind is full of all kinds of spirits and rich food in the sailor's restaurant in the military port. Although the price is high, for this group of sailors who have long faded out of their mouths, the price is not a problem. Anyway, it is a windfall, but these sailors don't know, good luck. The sailor's restaurant is just to welcome their arrival, and it is "deliberately" temporarily built. The subsidy of one ruble a day always has to be earned back.

For that "accidental wealth", every sailor is full of energy. Obviously, there is no panic in the past, and they have to come back alive to enjoy wine and food!

At this time, even if the two cruisers have not yet left the port, they have sailed out of the 18-mile highway, which is one of the advantages of Sansha Bay as a suitable military port. The vast bay allows the warships to sail out of the port at the highest speed without worrying about reefs or coastal echoes.

When the warship was about to leave the port after an hour, Captain Eisen, who was standing in the bridge, still saw only the peaks around the bay. The overlapping mountains blocked the sight of the ocean. Holding a telescope, Eisen saw several armored turrets reflected in gold in the afterglow of the sun on the mountains. Near the armored turret, faintly You can also see some forts.

"It's really the best port in Asia!"

Put down the telescope, and when the cruiser sailed out of the sea at high speed, Zbelenov finally understood why the Chinese chose this place as their military port, not only because it was big.

"The berth area is more than 30 miles away from the mouth of the sea. Even if the enemy fleet rushes into the sea, it cannot threaten the fleet in the bay. The sea area of the inner bay is more than 1,000 square miles. The area around the bay is completely a mountain barrier, and the mountains build forts... Tut, tut, the Chinese are using this port for the fleet base, which is really..."

"Don't forget that they were squeezed!"

Eisen interrupted Zbelenov's admiration and casually said a fact.

Lushun used to be Russian, Weihaiwei was British, and Jiaozhou Bay was German. Now... China, with 18,000 kilometers of coastline, only has such a military port.

Listening to the Russian dialogue between the two Russian [***] officials, Ma Zhenwu, with a solemn face, did not reveal the fact that he knew Russian. He just said to himself in his heart.

"A sooner or later, sooner or later, drive you all away!"

As an officer of the Naval Intelligence Service, the reason why he came to the Russian ship was, on the one hand, to "cooperate" with the cruise of the Russian army, and on the other hand, to further find out the details of the Russian fleet. The current allies may be tomorrow's enemies.

When two black-smoky cruisers sailed through the waters of Zhiluo Island, Eisen saw a black spot far northeast from the telescope. The black spot spewed out inconspicuous smoke. In the telescope, you can see the big ships.

"The training ship of the Chinese navy was transformed by a merchant ship!"

Zbelenov put down his telescope and said casually that in Sandu Australia, he saw at least 18 training ships. From the official, he learned that the Chinese navy has 42 training ships with a displacement of 2,200 tons to 4,800 tons, which means that they can train tens of thousands of sailors every year, and It's a navy that is eager to try.

"They use anthracite!"

Eisen looked at the column of smoke that was not obvious and could even be ignored, and he immediately concluded that the three returning training ships burned white coal.

"This fleet is so luxurious that it is trained with British charcoal!"

"Isn't it? In the coal bunker of the military port, you can see the mountains of charcoal!"

"Didn't they say they would provide us with coal? When we cruised for them, we burned those inferior Japanese coals, kept burning our Japanese coals, and then asked them to replenish our charcoal!"

When Eisen and Zbelenov were asked to figure out how to "search" the British charcoal of the Chinese navy there, Ma Zhenwu laughed at the greedy and cheap Russians in his heart. Lu Yushenkov, the mechanical captain of the "Svetlana" cruiser, was walking down the ladder in the cabin. The more he went, the more hotter the heat.

Next to the heat-generating boiler, the firemen were all working shirtless and shorts. Although there were wind windows and continuous spraying cold water, the mercury meter in the cabin still pointed to 54 degrees. The firemen skillfully waved the coal into the boiler with a shovel, and kept holding iron bars to take out the cinder in the stove.

He bent down and said that Shenkov picked up a piece of coal from the hatch. He pinched it hard with his hand, and the coal was easily crushed. This was the worst coal.

"Damn Japanese coal!"

Throwing the coal into the boiler, Lu said Shenkov scolded.

"Hur, look at this coal!"

Like a treasure, Kobimov carefully took out a piece of coal from his pocket.

"Yingtan?"

You only need to take a look to know what this fist-sized white coal is. This is the Welsh white coal that the world's navy needs, the best coal.

"The Chinese call him Datong white coal!"

Gobitov replied casually.

"Datong white coal?"

"Yes, their navy has always used this kind of white coal, no worse than Welsh first-class white coal, or even better than Welsh white coal! I really don't understand why those Germans have to use Japanese coal instead of buying Chinese coal! Is this reserved by the Germans before the war?

"No, it was purchased during the war. After the war began, Lushun also received ten ships of coal from Japan!"

"Do you still continue to sell coal to us? Just like now?"

"War is war, and business is business. Not only do they not hinder each other, but they even help each other. As long as they pay a little more, they can talk about coal. Even Britain's latest telemeter, the naval headquarters didn't even think that they could buy it before, but after they broke off their friendship with Japan, they said that I actually sold us ten ships. Coal, even at that time, the 12-inch shells in Lushun were not enough. The 12-inch shells we bought from Shanghai were all made in Japan!"

Goitov is an incredible look.

"Don't you believe it?"

Lu said that Shenkov looked at the low-quality Japanese coal in the cabin.

"These are all my friends. Gorchak, who was captured in Lushun, told me, but..."

Lu said that Shenkov clapped the coal ash on his hand, and then said something.

"You have also seen what kind of coal we bought from Japan. This kind of coal can only be used to burn the sauna at most. Our boiler itself is self-made, with large volume and slow steaming, far less than those made in the United Kingdom. This requires better coal, but we need to use this kind of inferior coal..."

The anger of soldiers can't change the fact that it is the corruption of the bureaucrats of the Russian Admiralty that makes the navy use inferior coal and shells with quality problems. When they vent their dissatisfaction, the two cruisers spray thick smoke one after the other and sail towards the coast of Keelung, Taiwan.

Their task is very simple, that is, to swim outside the sea of Keelung. Naturally, it is inevitable to observe Keelung with a telescope there. The task is very simple and can be completed in just one day. For everyone, this is an easy task.

"Cunboat! 45 degrees in the direction!"

Suddenly, the caller shouted, and the officers in the bridge picked up the telescope and looked at 45 degrees at the same time. A large merchant ship of thousands of tons appeared in the telescope.

"It's a Japanese merchant ship!" The Japanese flag in the telescope made Eisen breathe tightly.

"Forward with full horsepower!"

When the ship saw a warship chasing it, it wanted to run away at full power, but how could a merchant ship with only ten knots of speed run over the cruiser? Just an hour later, the merchant ship took the initiative to raise the white flag. According to the order, all the crew members, including a British captain, were captured on the cruiser Donskoy.

"What kind of goods are on the ship?"

Eisen's question was passed to the Donskoy through the flag bearer, and then the Donskoy sent a signal.

"It's rice and a little coal!"

"Blow him up!"

When Eisen gave this order, Ma Zhenwu's eyebrows jumped. There were at least thousands of tons of rice on the ship. How could the rice worth more than 100,000 yuan be said to be blown up? What's more, there was this merchant ship. He hurried to Eisen and whispered in English.

"Captain, maybe you can think about it..."

In an oriental courtyard in Hongkou, Shanghai, as soon as Yoshiichi Tanaka sat down, Kiichiro handed a newspaper to him and spread out the paper to have a look, "The exposed ship is approaching, and the situation is excellent!" Take a closer look at the content.

"Mitsui Property "Xifeng Maru" was captured by the Russian fleet off the coast of Taiwan, and the crew was sunk by the captured ship..."

Looking at the newspaper report, Tanaka Yoshiichi looked at Ichiro Yuki with some surprise.

"This should be something that the navy needs to care about!"

"But the ship is carrying military rice to the Manchurian army!"

Yu Kiichiro said with a serious expression that such a heavy loss of 4, 800 tons of military rice and a 5,000 tons of merchant ship shocked the whole Japanese book. After the Russian navy shrank in Vladivostok, this kind of attack was the first time.

"Isn't the Manchurian Army completely surrounded?"

When Tanaka Yiyi said this, he was a little lucky that he came to Shanghai and received news from the newspaper that the Chinese army surrounded the main forces of the Manchurian army in Fengtian and Tieling, cutting off their supply. The outside world speculated that this was the reason for the deadlock in the negotiations.

"The problem is not the loss of nearly 5,000 tons of military rice and a merchant ship, but... the Luguo Fleet appeared in Taiwan, which is the most worrying thing!"

"Sansha Bay is facing Taiwan, and the Lu National Fleet is here, which is not news!"

When he said this, Yoshiichi Tanaka looked at Youmu with some surprise. Could it be said... "The staff headquarters is worried that the Chinese may let the Luguo Fleet cooperate with them to seize Taiwan. Our intelligence shows that many Chinese merchant ships have received orders to gather in other places recently. In Jiangxi, Hunan and other places, there are several divisions of Chinese troops. It has been secretly mobilized, so the situation in Taiwan is excellent!"

Yuki's answer made Tanaka Yoshiichi understand that he called himself this time, perhaps because of the new order in the staff headquarters.

"Do you have any new commands?"

"Initiate a riot in Shanghai immediately!"

"Impossible. Now we have only contacted a few hundred people. It is impossible for these hundreds of people to make a big riot!"

As soon as he heard this order, Tanaka Yiyi, who was preparing to achieve his reputation by relying on the Shanghai riots, immediately retorted that the reason why he had been delayed until now was that he hoped to make the scale of the riot bigger.

"This is the order of the General Staff Headquarters. If there are insufficient personnel, you can... use some expatriates! In a word, as long as there is chaos in Shanghai, the Chinese will never dare to transfer a large number of troops out of the provinces when the country is unstable. They must prevent possible republican turmoil in the provinces!"

"If you use expatriates, will it cause any unnecessary trouble?"

"Trouble? Mr. Tanaka!"

Yukiichiro's expression followed.

"If Taiwan is occupied by the Chinese, that is the biggest trouble. You should know that Taiwan is the one that the empire spent 200 million yuan in military expenses and paid nearly 20,000 casualties. If the Chinese occupy Taiwan..."

Yuki Ichiro's expression became a little gloomy, and his brother was killed in the battle of Taiwan.

"Then we are likely to cede Taiwan to China in the negotiations!"

"Ito Jun doesn't do that. Taiwan is the territory of Japan!"

When Tanaka shouted this sentence, he just forgot that Taiwan was a Chinese land occupied by Japan. It was like a robber who robbed other people's property. In the face of the dirty owner, he actually shouted that this was his "private property".

"That's why we want to create a big event in Shanghai and use a big event that shocked China and even the whole world to prevent the Chinese team from occupying Taiwan!"

"Well done!"

In the palace hundreds of kilometers away, Chen Moran, who was walking in the corridor, listened to the report of Li Shize, the director of the Naval Intelligence Department, with a smile on his face. 4,700 tons of rice and a 5,000-ton merchant ship cost only 200,000 yuan in total, which became China. This business is cost-effective.

"Your Majesty, the market valuation of rice is about 300,000 yuan, and the valuation of merchant ships is 1.5 million yuan. The navy hopes to..."

After Li Shize of the Naval Intelligence Department finished speaking, Chen Moran interrupted him.

"Min Heng, all this money can be transferred to the Navy Shipbuilding Foundation, that..."

After a moment of hesitation, Chen Moran asked rhetorically.

"I bought both the boat and the rice. It won't show anything! If I let myself know that the merchant ships and goods have become ours, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs will inevitably talk!"

"Your Majesty, merchant ships are British bulk carriers. China has 12 merchant ships of the same type. In order to avoid any trouble, we will carry out a simple transformation directly in the naval dock, and then sell it to the shipping company. The rice will be entrusted by the relevant agencies of the Intelligence Department to Fujian rice merchants to sell it in the market. Moreover, at that time, we used gunpowder. And heavy oil created the illusion that the merchant ship was blown up. It was said that the crew heard the explosion and the Russian sailors saw the black smoke. Only the officers involved knew that the ship was not sunk! Even if I capture the Russian [***] officer in the future, those officers will pick out this matter. Let's spread out our hands, shrug our shoulders, and just say that we don't know!"

"You boy..."

Chen Moran, who rarely showed a bright smile, pointed out with a smile.

"In the Naval Intelligence Office, I didn't learn anything else. I tried my best to learn something!"

"Your Majesty,"

Because Li Shize once served as your majesty's attendant, he is not very respectful in front of your majesty.

"You once said that if you don't take advantage of these foreign devils, you are a bastard! If you capture a few more ships, you may be able to build a warship for the navy! These foreigners take too much advantage of us, which is at most to recover a little interest.

He nodded in disapprovingly, and Chen Moran glanced at the map on the wall.

"Does the Intelligence Department have any information from the Japanese navy? The Russian fleet has entered Sandu Australia. They won't have any movement, will they?"

"Your Majesty, there is no movement for the time being, but there is information that the joint fleet is determined to fight against the Russian fleet, so it does not want to divide the troops!"

This answer made Chen Moran nod with reassurance.

"Your Majesty, the Intelligence Department got an intelligence yesterday!"

Although the information has been transferred to the Bureau of Investigation, Li Shize still hopes to take this opportunity to report directly to His Majesty.

"Hmm! What kind of information is it?

"Your Majesty, our surveillance in Shanghai is that the intelligence officers of the Yangtze River Fleet sent back information. The Yangtze River Fleet has recently secretly transported a large number of rifles and ammunition to the concession. We suspect that..."

"What do you doubt?"

Chen Moran's eyebrows jumped. Seeing that he was a little hesitant, he turned around and asked.

"We suspect that it is likely to support some people to launch a rebellion in Shanghai or other regions!"

Chen Moran stopped in front of a series of Wenzhu. When he heard the report, he didn't say anything. He just quietly appreciated the Wenzhu. After dozens of seconds, he asked Li Shize behind him.

"If some people launch a rebellion because of political differences at this time, what do you think the public will think of this matter?"

"Your Majesty, treason is treason, and there is no problem of explanation and timing! Moreover, they received financial support from the enemy country, and even had private communication with the enemy country during the war, which was undoubtedly a move of Han annihroner!"

Although Li Shize said so, he was still keenly aware of a question. Perhaps, when your majesty asked this sentence, there were other meanings.

"However, Your Majesty, I think that no matter what crime they commit, they must have a fair and open trial. Those who are guilty will be severely punished and acquitted! In this way, we can convince the hearts of the people and warn the people with their deeds. If Nuo can do this, the people will understand it!"

Could it be that simple? Chen Moran sighed in the bottom of his heart. If only everything were so simple. Does justice really exist? In the past, I longed for fairness, but now... Maybe this is the ass that determines the head

(to be continued)