Chapter 157 The Best Homecoming

"China has been betrayed by the whole world, and the empire will fight for survival!"

This is a big headline of the newspaper, which refers to the news that Britain first refused to sell warships to China and then refused to provide the fleet return to the supply port.

"It is threatened by war."

This is another headline of the newspaper, which refers to the diplomatic conflict between China and the two countries due to the salvage of warships. Such big headlines have been overwhelming in China in the past few months, especially after the Russian armistice.

"China will face the danger of national subjugation!"

"Forge ahead with the whole country to seek the survival of the country!"

"Can the navy win?"

"On the way back to China, the eight-gun test was a great success."

"Jingyuan, the same-class ship Zhiyuan, is undergoing a comprehensive sea test!"

"The second ship to Jing will shake the ocean!"

... The bold headline of the Japanese newspaper often reflects everything, the fear of war, the anger of the betrayal of other countries, and the determination to fight for the survival of the nation. Of course, there is no lack of expectation and expectation for victory.

And the root of this expectation is nothing else, but precisely the Zhiyuan ship that is regarded by the Chinese people as pride and carries the hopes of the Chinese people. At this moment, when facing a possible attack, the will of the nation is being tested the greatest. Once served, it has caused a sensation in the whole world and is regarded as the strongest in history. The warship Zhiyuan has naturally become the hope of the people.

The Imperial Royal Guards Navy battlecruiser Zhiyuan, with a standard displacement of about 18,500 tons, equipped with 8 343mm main guns, 10 190mm guns, and 12 light rapid-fire guns, 786 officers and soldiers, a maximum speed of 24 knots and a range of 5,000 nautical miles. Almost every Chinese can recite the data of this cutting-edge warship that made history and eliminated all warships around the world as soon as it was born.

This is the information reported in the newspaper. Even in the eyes of some optimistic people, as long as there is a Zhiyuan ship, the Imperial Navy can win the naval battle and defeat all enemies.

When the Zhiyuan ship wins attention, the battlecruiser Jingyuan, as the sister ship of Zhiyuan, also attracted people's attention. Of course, people's attention to it is far less than that of Zhiyuan, although it is more advanced and more powerful.

Sandu Macao, the best harbor on China's coastline of 18,000 kilometers, is also the largest and most modern military port of the Chinese navy, and this largest and most modern has some helplessness, because it is the only natural port belonging to China and the only modern military port of the Chinese navy.

Although the navy has always intended to turn Sansha Bay into a pure military port, due to foreign pressure from the Qing Dynasty to open Sandu Macao as a foreign trade port seven years ago, after the opening of the Sandu port, Italy set up a consulate here, and the United Kingdom and the United States have built wharves successively. Since then, Britain, the United States, Germany, Japan, Russia, the Netherlands and Switzerland. 24 countries, including Dian and Portugal, have built berths, offices or representative offices here, and 4 countries have banks here.

At least before it has enough strength for the great powers to face it, it is impossible for the navy to expel the consulates and commercial banks of these countries from Sandu and Macao. Pure military port and exclusive enjoyment of Sansha are at least now a dream for the navy. Because of this, barges in Macao, fishing boats sing late, and business ships are forest. It can be said to be a microcosm of the heyday of economic development in the southeast region.

On March 18, 1902, the gong of the announcement of the departure sounded. The hull of "Xizhou Maru" taken by Kazuo Kawamura quietly left the Kaohsiung wharf.

A day later, "Xi Zhou Wan" docked at Xiamen Pier. A receptionist sent by the company came to the dock to greet it.

"You were sent by the club, right? My name is Lin Shaozhi.

"Welcome! Welcome! Thank you for your hard work!"

"Please take care of me in the future!"

A few days later, in a four-year-year-owned Taiwanese sugar shop in Sandu Australia, there was an extra president sent from Taiwan.

In Sandu'ao, where there are many business names, not far from the foreign-style building of Fuhaiguan Sanduguan, there is a reading building with "Kaohsiung Sugar Bank" hanging on the doorpost of the building. This is a Taiwanese sugar bank that has been doing business here since the opening of Sandu Port. The sugar industry has always been Taiwan's pillar industry, except for the mainland. China is also the main market for Taiwanese sugar.

As the manager of Kaohsiung Sugar Bank, Lin Shaozhi can be said to have a deep understanding of the management. Whether in the past or now, he is quite popular in the three capitals. In frequent social activities, he is left and right. Through Xiao En and Xiao Hui, he successfully made a large number of friends with great status.

For the outside world, Lin Shaozhi, the sugar manager, is undoubtedly a patriotic Taiwanese businessman. Whether before the recovery of Taiwan, or after the recovery, especially after the recovery, he has shown his patriotism on many occasions, taking the lead in donating money to the Navy Foundation, donating sugar to the navy, etc. It is also these patriotic collections. At the meeting, he always pretended to be interested in the military from his friends who attended the rally, and even took a lot of information about naval base facilities, waterways and berthed ships from the officers who participated in the meeting.

But who knows that Lin Shaozhi is actually a spy sent by the Japanese naval staff headquarters, but at first he came here because of the interest shown by various countries in Sandu Australia and raised Japanese vigilance, so he sent him to collect intelligence at this time, and now his task has become to collect the Chinese navy. The intelligence.

In the past year, almost since Sanduao was designated as a military port, he began to carry out extensive activities in Sanduao, mourning a large amount of military intelligence.

After the Sino-Japanese relations became more and more tense, the Imperial Investigation Bureau and the Naval Intelligence Office began to monitor the Japanese people living in Sandu Australia more and more closely. At the same time, they also began to monitor Taiwanese businessmen in Sandu Australia. But even so, Tokyo still sent a secret order to step up the collection of information.

It was also under the instructions of this secret order that in order to collect Lin Shaozhi as much as possible, he made his face dirty and his hair messy. Qiao disguised himself as a farmer and fisherman, and then observed the military port closely on the grounds of helping workers in the fields and fishing boats.

Viewed from farmland or fishing boats, Sandu Macau Military Port is close at hand. In the following period of time, his figure frequently appeared here. With the passage of time, a series of intelligence statistics on his black notebook has been gradually improved.

After casually dressing up as an idler, Lin Shaozhi came to this carefully selected position with the past. When fishing, the look on his face seemed to be no different from that of ordinary idlers.

In the past few weeks, when he took a "routine walk", he found that there were obviously more temporary gun positions at the mouth of Sansha Bay. The dense shore defense cannons of about 150 mm were hidden in the special flat ground between the hillsides, and the number of soldiers also increased greatly. In particular, the number of Australian Army in Sandu has also increased a lot.

Based on his past experience, Lin Shaozhi clearly understood that this may be the last stage of Chinese people's preparation for war, and more and more transport ships sailed into Sandu Australia, more and more and more army soldiers appeared near Sansha Bay, and the major repairs on the Huanwan Mountain strengthened his understanding.

"How's the harvest today?"

Just as he looked at the army soldiers who were building fortifications at the pass of the Dongchong Peninsula and speculated on the progress of their project, a sudden greeting stunned him. As soon as he turned around, he saw a young sailor looking at him curiously.

"Hehe, I caught a few big yellow croakers. There are a lot of big yellow croakers here!"

When he spoke, out of dispelling the other party's doubts, he even deliberately pulled out the fish bag to show off.

As soon as the young sailor saw the fish, he was also quite interested and sat down. From the first time he saw the sailor, he attracted Lin Shaozhi's attention. The pattern of a warship is clearly engraved on the badge worn by the sailor's left arm. With rich naval knowledge, Lin Shaozhi immediately recognized that it was the most powerful capital ship of the Chinese navy, the battlecruiser Zhiyuan, and the turret of the front and back of the cruiser Zhiyuan, which was his most prominent symbol.

However, Lin Shaozhi knew that although the Chinese naval officers and soldiers had their own service ship badges on their uniforms, the Zhiyuan ship was obviously not in Sanshawan. The Zhiyuan ship was about to return home, but it had not yet returned to Sandu Macao. Could it be... Another warship, the sister ship of Zhiyuan, immediately appeared in Lin Shaozhi's mind. Jingyuan, Jingyuan recently conducted a comprehensive sea test in the East China Sea. According to the time, it is speculated that it should be coming to Sandu Australia. Therefore, it is concluded that this young man must come from the Jingyuan. After this speculation, Lin Shaozhi immediately "enthusiastically" chatted with the young man.

"Ha ha, it seems that you didn't go to Nanyang with the fleet!"

"Huh?"

The sailor was stunned at first, then lit up again, and then said proudly.

"I'm serving on the Jingyuan!"

After saying that, the sailors even specifically emphasized.

"But in a few days, we will go to Nanyang!"

Go to Nanyang in a few days!

The sailor's words attracted Lin Shaozhi's attention. That night, he found the battlecruiser Jingyuan parked in the mooring area with a telescope from the hillside. Then he immediately wrote the information he had as a secret letter and gave it to the contact person. The next morning, a password telegram was sent from the Ningde Telegraph Bureau to Japan.

At 9:00 a.m. on October 27, the Tokyo Imperial Telegraph Bureau received a telegram with a specific address. The telegraph was delivered directly by the receiver to the monitoring officer in the telegraph room. After a minute, the telegram in the envelope was handed over to the courier, but the telegram originally received by a company was forwarded. It was sent to the naval staff headquarters of the Japanese Empire. Near noon, the telegram finally arrived at its recipient's receipt.

The content of the message is not simple, but just a few simple sentences. After verifying the place of the report, the receiving navy lieutenant colonel immediately opened the password book, looked at the chart on the wall next to him, and said to his colleagues.

"Well, the "Jingyuan" battlecruiser is about to be dispatched again. Now he is in Sandu Australia."

When he was talking, he pointed to the chart and said.

"It's right here."

Then he turned around and told his subordinates beside him.

"Immediately forward the same telegram to the joint fleet!"

At 11:35 p.m., the telegram was sent to the Shikishima, the flagship of the joint fleet. In the commander's room of the Shikishima, after Makino, Makinokiyama pulled the telegram, he was stunned first and then sighed.

"Finally, let's go!"

When he spit out this sentence, Heihachiro Higashigo hurriedly left the restaurant and noticed that there was a little helplessness in his expression, even a trace of sadness.

"Oh!"

The same sigh came from the mouth of Dongxiang Pinghalang. Dongxiang, who was short, spoke weakly. He only looked at his toes when he walked. He didn't look like a soldier, let alone a general. When this sigh was made the "wind" set off by his military uniform disappear.

Unlike Akiyama Zhenzhi's sigh, his sigh was sent for Akiyama Zhenzhi. Akiyama Zhenzhong completely changed a person after this war. He suffered from severe schizophrenia and became nagging and often convulsive. He was originally a writer and a talented person who was admitted to the Imperial University of Tokyo. Sheng, but unfortunately participated in the war. His talent made great contributions to the defeat of the Russian fleet, but the cruelty of the war also severely damaged his nerves, especially the explosion and sinking of the rear ammunition depot of the USS Mikasa. While severely damaged the imperial navy, some people attributed one of the reasons for the explosion sinking to Major Akiyama is immersed in religious research.

"Qishan, you must know that the best way for the navy to die should be in a naval battle, and the same is true for a warship!"

Yusaburo Kato, the chief of staff of the United Fleet, interrupted the two people's exclamations with some words. In his opinion, this was just a naval battle.

"A naval battle of bullying!"

With a sigh, Akiyama really sighed, but when he was speaking, he walked to the chart table. On the chart table, he could see several gray ship models on the chart.

"Now, the Southern Expedition Fleet, which goes to Nanyang for adaptation training, is here!"

Put the seven warship models on the map table only a few centimeters away from the Luzon Strait. Zhenzhi Akiyama looked up at Dongxiang standing there.

"And "Jingyuan" is here!"

Another ship model was placed in the position of Sanduao, and then Akiyama Zhenzhi said.

"Although the speed of the Southern Expeditionary Fleet is far from catching up with Jingyuan, assuming that Jingyuan will leave the military port three days later and enter the Nanyang, then, according to the route, it is here at about 8 a.m. on the fourth day, 3:00 p.m. on the fourth day, here, and here at 3:00 a.m. on the fifth day..."

He hurriedly marked four encounter locations on the chart. At this time, Masayuki Akiyama had lost all the decadence of the past, and there was only a naval staff officer's sensitivity to war and details.

"According to the speculation after the Jingyuan ship left the Yangtze River, the Jingyuan ship should be equipped with a Haizi-class cruiser for training, while the South Fleet has the armored cruisers Fuji, Iwami, Bayan, Ikumo and the protective cruisers Takasago, Kasagi and Chitose, presumed to be the sea. During the war, Jingyuan, in order to avoid heavy losses, scattered fire with three triple 13.5-inch guns and attacked three of the warships or armored cruisers respectively. If it concentrates firepower on one to seek sinking, it can concentrate three warships to attack Jingyuan, and the Southern Expedition Fleet can still attack Jingyuan with a warship or armored cruiser. The ship uses an unimpeded attack. After sinking Jingyuan, you can consider throwing torpedoes on it..."

Then a series of naval tactics spit out of Akiyama Zhenzhi's mouth to intercept Jingyuan. This is the request made by Gao Zhuangzhicheng, the commander of the Southern Expedition Fleet, after receiving a telegram of the "Jingyuan" going to sea for a commissioning test, and sent an urgent telegram to the base camp. The reason for his request is very simple, that is, If you are ready to fight against China, you must defeat Jingyuan and sink Jingyuan, which can seriously damage the Chinese navy psychologically, so as to prepare for the next battle.

"So where is the Zhiyuan ship?"

Heihachiro Dongxiang frowned and asked. As the commander of the joint fleet, he did not object to "broken the enemy's finger" before the war. Whether it is Zhiyuan or Jingyuan, it is a powerful and indefeatible warship for the Chinese. If he could sink Jingyuan before the naval battle began, then The psychological damage to the Chinese navy and even the people is unimaginable, and may even shake their confidence in the war.

The reason for choosing Jingyuan is very simple. The Jingyuan has just served for 24 days. Although the Chinese have hurriedly completed the preliminary sea test, in fact, there are still a large number of test subjects that have not been completed, which is not the most important. The most important thing is that Jingyuan has just received Jingyuan officers and Sailors, they don't know their equipment, which undoubtedly aggravates the bargaining chip to win the naval battle, and may even win as easily as a horse.

The overwhelming victory of sinking Jingyuan can greatly increase the morale of the combined fleet while demoralizing the morale of the Chinese navy. Moreover, the sinking of Jingyuan is likely to cause the Chinese people to lose confidence in the Zhiyuan ship. As soon as it rises and falls, there is no doubt that there will be any doubt about the future naval victory.

"The Zhiyuan ship left Surapphishui three days ago. According to our intelligence, Zhiyuan will sail to Singapore today. It will comfort the expatriates in Singapore and invite the British navy to board the ship. It is expected to take about two to three days. If we encounter the Jingyuan ship at the 3rd interception point at the latest, then even if After learning the news, Yuan sailed at full speed at a maximum speed of 24 nautical miles, and the Southern Expedition Fleet also had enough time to intercept and sink Jingyuan!"

"What about the Second Fleet?"

"Sar, the Second Fleet is still in the Mediterranean Sea and has not yet entered the Suez Canal. According to the speed and the speed of the Russian Third Pacific Fleet, it should arrive in the Southern Ocean around Christmas, and two months is enough for the Southern Fleet to repair the warships and prepare for the next interception!"

Aware of the fleeting doubt in the officer's eyes, Zhenzhi Akiyama continued.

"Although the Jingyuan was intercepted first, which made the surname of the naval battle suddenly disappear, but from the perspective of various factors, it is of great help to our army!"

After Akiyama Zhenzhi finished speaking, Dongxiang Heihachilang didn't say anything, just looked at the model representing Jingyuan.

"The best destination of warships is the sea, and the best grave of sailors is the sea!"

(to be continued)