Chapter 3: Wind and Thunder Rises in East Asia (Part 1)

Zhoushan Port, China.

This is one of the most important deep-water ports in the empire. It is not frozen throughout the year. It has more than ten deep-water channels of 10,000 tons and is equipped with a strict turret defense system. Zhoushan Port is a professional military port of the Chinese Empire. It was the former location of the Second Fleet Command. It has now become the headquarters of the Chinese Empire's Naval Mobile Fleet. The main force of the Imperial Mobile Fleet is located here.

The night is low and the lights are on.

The captain of the Navy Battle Knife light cruiser, the newly promoted Naval Colonel Xu Bo carefully supported his pregnant wife Lin Qing and walked slowly from the naval dormitory to the dock.

Lin Qing leaned his head lightly against Xu Bo's shoulder and his eyes closed slightly.

"You have to be careful. For me and for the children."

Xu Bo smiled: "Yes, be careful. Don't worry, it's hard to find someone who is more careful than me."

Lin Qing burst out laughing and raised his head to give him a blank look: "You are just? Be careful? Is it good to pretend? I don't know you? Look at you honestly, you are so brave that you climbed the wall to my house in the middle of the night and were chased and bitten by five or six wolf dogs. He didn't forget to call me, for fear that I don't know, you are so cautious?"

Xu Bo smiled and said, "I'm very skilled and brave. Besides, isn't that for the sake of marrying a wife... What a wolf dog, I'll get a bit more bones. Later, they're like me, just like my brother..."

"That's me who teaches them to get close to you, okay?" Lin Qing glared at him, "You can talk nonsense again, I..."

As she said, her eyes turned red, and she couldn't help but smile bitterly, and hugged her hugged her a little tighter: "Don't worry. I'm not those naughty green guys... My boat is solid. You can feel relieved at first glance."

Lin Qing was silent for a while and whispered: "I know I can't persuade you... You are like your father-in-law, who is spoiled to your wife. In fact, you are the most macho in your bones. Forget it, you go, but remember to come back to see your son and see your nv son."

Xu Bo was stunned: "How do you know it's nv'er?"

"She told me." Lin Qing patted her stomach lightly, her face full of pride.

Xu Bo smiled and said, "I'll listen."

Half an hour later, above the dock.

The families of naval officers who came to see him off gathered together, gathered together in groups of three or three, looking at the giant steel ships in the berth.

Lin Qing's eyes widened and covered her mouth: "So big...so big..."

Xu Bo cleared his throat: "Guangzhou, the first battleship designed and manufactured by our empire, was personally participated in the concept design by the late emperor... My father personally participated in the shoal and supervised manufacturing. He is known as the navy with a standard displacement of 26,300 tons. This is the largest warship in the world at present. The most protective armored steel was laid on the key parts. In theory, it is a warship that is not sunken..."

Lin Qing looked at it for a while and reached out to shave her husband's face: "Come on, I'm not a military blind man, so how can there be any unsinkable warship... Besides, are you not the commander of the Light Patrol Team? Is this your ship?"

Xu Bo grinned and pointed to a much smaller light battleship next to him: "That... is the Battle Knife."

Lin Qing looked at it for a while and nodded: "Ting is a little...but I'm relieved."

Xu Bo was stunned: "Don't worry?"

Lin Qing looked at her husband very seriously: "Yes, it seems like she is running fast, but remember to run, not for you, but for me and the children, not for us, but for your navy... Every warship is very expensive."

Xu Bo was stunned again. Lin Qing leaned his head against the man's mouth, hugged him tightly, remained silent for a while, and said with a sob: "Promise me, you must come back... You must remember. Don't forget."

April 29th.

Japan. Sasebo Military Port.

As the sun sets, a ball of fire ignited above the sea. Above the blazing flames, there are huge cannons of steel beasts and 18 stripes of sunrise naval flags fluttering in the wind.

The flagship of the Japanese Navy Combined Fleet, Mikasa.

A contact boat, with a signal, quickly leaned on the huge steel fortress.

Headquarters Conference Hall.

Navy Nakasa Sato, the commander-in-chief of the Combined Fleet, came to Navy General Hirahachiro Togo, and gave a sealed folder to the other party, with the words "Chief of the Combined Fleet, Hirahachiro Togo, personally opened it", and signed the "Navy Minister Baron Yamamoto, Honami".

Togo Hirahachiro's face was solemn.

At this time, the communications officer hurried in, holding a telegram in his hand, and said: "The Ministry of Navy, the Navy Command to the commander-in-chief of the Joint Fleet Togo Heihachiro: Open a confidential letter at 5 pm on April 29th."

Togo Heihachiro looked at the chief of staff of the joint fleet opposite Yu Shimamura, who nodded to him. The senior staff officer Akiyama Matsuno had handed over the scissors. Togo Heihachiro took it and carefully cut the folder, and saw that it read:

“Dahailing 1:

This orders the First Fleet of the Joint Fleet to move out of the port to 31:30 north latitude and 127:20 east longitude.

Mission 1: Complete the marshalling and preparation, and meet with the Russian Navy Pacific Fleet. The preparation time is 6:00 am on April 30, Tokyo time;

Task 1: After completing the marshalling, leave at 29:34 North latitude and 129:30 East longitude and 129:30 East. The scheduled time is 6:00 pm on April 30;

Mission 1: Deterrent and crush any offensive actions that enemy fleets may take against our empire and North Korea;

Mission 1: Covering the coast of our empire and maritime routes to North Korea and the Russian Far East;

Mission 1: Find an opportunity to annihilate the enemy naval fleet at sea.

Here we order the Second Fleet of the Joint Fleet:

Go out to sea immediately with the First Fleet.

Mission 1: Seize the sea control around Amami Oshima;

Mission 1: Cover our Navy 6 team Amami's special attack troops to board 6 and occupy Amami;

Mission 1: If an enemy mobile fleet attacks, attract it to the predetermined ambushed sea area and cooperate with the main force of the joint fleet to destroy it.

Here we order the Third Fleet of the Joint Fleet:

Go out to sea to patrol immediately.

Mission 1: Annihilate all enemies that threaten the empire's homeland;

Mission 1: Covering our offshore safety and routes to the United States and Russia's Far East

by"

After reading it, Togo Heihachiro nodded calmly and handed the documents to Chief of Staff Yushimamura.

After watching Shimamura Yuki, he was solemn: "Master Commander, I will immediately call the commanders and captains of the team to gather at the flagship."

Togo Hirahachiro nodded to him, then came to Sato Tetsutaro, watched the other party forcibly suppressing his inner movements, and said with a smile: "Sato, the empire is near the sea, I will ask you and Hitaka Jun."

Sato Tetsutado Sato's eyes were filled with tears, and he stood attentively and saluted: "Your Excellency Commander, you will definitely fight until the last moment with Sato, so you must not let the Chinese navy invade the empire one step."

Togo Hirahachiro saluted him and watched him leave.

His hands were whispering the paper command, and complex thoughts were rolling in his heart.

Finally, the war is about to begin.

The unfinished naval battle ten years ago will finally have an ending.

Togo Heihachiro was silent for a moment, turned around and came to Akiyama Matsuyuki, stared at the other person's eyes, and said nothing for a while.

Akiyama Mano just looked at the veteran. Togo Hirahachiro stretched out his hands and helped the other party sort out the collar. He took a deep breath and said in a steady tone: "Akiyama, the rise and fall of the imperial kingdom is here. Lord Yamamoto, Minister of the Ijiyuan Military Order and the Bucai, and even His Majesty the Emperor, are looking forward to your strength. Please work hard."

Akiyama Masao looked at the veteran and nodded vigorously.

The Chinese Empire, Zhoushan Port.

In the vast night, the signal lights of the bridge of the battleship were shining with militarized light, making the outline of the Iron War Fort a more crazier Kong Wu.

The flagship of the Chinese Empire Navy Mobile Fleet, Guangzhou.

The warship focused on the world's attention from the day the camouflage net was removed. When they saw the true appearance of the warship, all the naval experts took a breath of air conditioning and broke their glasses.

This warship has cancelled the usual secondary turret configuration and changed to a full-heavy main gun design. Four double-mounted 45-diameter twelve-inch main turrets are all equipped with central axis configurations, and adopts a back-loaded turret pattern. All eight-millimeter main guns can be used to strike the same side at the same time. In addition, this type of ship is also equipped with four 152 mm secondary turrets and six double-mounted 75 mm shè cannons, all concentrated in the swelling area for lightning strike combat.

The power system of this type of ship adopts the steam turbine propulsion system produced by the Guangzhou Steam Turbine Factory of the Chinese Empire, and uses an oil-fired boiler. The maximum design reached 25 sections, and the full load displacement reached an astonishing 26,345 tons. Its main armor is Krupp armor produced by the Chinese Empire, and the upper deck is thickened, and inclined armor is adopted to strengthen the protection of long-range combat. This type of ship further elevates the concept of "key protection" introduced before on the Cheetah-class equipment patrol, that is, the armor of non-important parts such as the ship was cancelled, and the excess protective armor was thickened to the key areas of the swollen part to form a thick armor box, which made the ship's protective effect and survival ability qualitatively leap.

The increased displacement of this type of ship is mainly used for armor protection. The maximum thickness of the main armor belt on the side reaches an unprecedented 380 mm, the front protection of the main turret reaches 360 mm, and the armor thickness of the key parts of the commander tower reaches 380 mm. Its horizontal deck adopts three-layer interval protection of 75 mm each, focusing on improving the protection of long-distance vertical landing bullets.

In addition, the number of watertight compartments in its cabin has increased greatly, and the watertight compartment has been greatly improved. The support arms in the cabin have adopted a reinforced steel structure, which is powered by electricity, and the steel plate is as thick as 200 mm, which improves the density and toughness of the compartment. In addition, the traditional impact angle at the front end of the warship has also been cancelled.

The superstructure of this type of ship is unique, further expanding the pagoda-type integrated bridge used in the Cheetah-class installation patrol, that is, a pagoda-type integrated bridge protected by heavy steel armor replaced the originally complex and redundant superstructure. The entire warship appears extremely powerful and majestic, especially the five-meter-long rangefinder on the pagoda is even more dazzling.

Of course, the secrets of this warship are far more than these, but many things cannot be seen on the surface. This involves the imperial naval equipment and tactical innovation, and even the secrets of war thought, and naturally cannot be told by outsiders.

However, it is precisely because this ship has integrated too many new concepts that problems have emerged one after the sea trial, so we can only try and modify them. In the past few months, I have been in the dock longer than at sea. All the engineering and technical personnel are running like crazy, but they can still only park in the harbor and cannot really go out to sea to fight. The ability to do so has a great discount compared to the design indicators.

In the signature pagoda of Guangzhou, the conference room of the Battle Command Bridge is brightly lit.

There were only two people in the room.

General Lin Tai, commander of the Chinese Naval Mobile Fleet, was solemn. He was already fifty-four years old. He and Liu Buchan have always been the double walls of Fuzhou Naval School, and later they were also very bright at the Greenwich Naval School in the UK. In the 18898, Lin Tai, who was the leader of Zhenyuan, and Liu Buchan, refused the surrender order together with the leader of Dingyuan, and defended Weihai. Together with Zhen**, the northbound fleet defeated the Japanese Navy Combined Fleet, resulting in the death of the commander of the joint fleet Ito Yuyu and Naval Minister Shiki Karayama, and made great contributions.

Lin Tai once calm, serious, upright and tolerant, and had a good attitude to control the country. He was highly valued by Xu Fan. He served as the chief of staff of the First Fleet and the commander of the First Fleet. He was appointed as the commander of the Imperial Navy's mobile fleet six months ago, and controlled most of the main combat forces of the Imperial Navy.

"Do you know why I chose you to command the fifth team of the Light Patrol?"

The captain of the Battle Knife, who was appointed as the commander of the Fifth Light Patrol Team, shook his head simply.

"I have something I admire."

Xu Bo was stunned: "Commander-in-chief?"

"If you can't beat it, you have to run away." Lin Tai once smiled, "This sentence makes a lot of sense."

Xu Bo is a little confused: "You mean..."

"The light patrol team is the eyes of the entire formation. The most important task is to grasp the enemy's situation, rather than attacking the enemy as soon as you see it, and fight with the enemy first." Lin Tai once said, "The key to the Black Panther formation's operation this time is the formation navigation. Once a ship is damaged too deeply and slows down, it may affect the success or failure of the entire operation. You know priorities, know how to advance and retreat, and have a view of the overall situation. You can be competent for this task."

Xu Bo suddenly straightened his mouth.

"Ding Ming is the commander of the formation selected by Xu Shuai himself, and I feel at ease with him. Under his command, you have to learn more and control your little brothers." Lin Taizeng continued, "I don't care what you Haidasheng thinks about Lao Beiyang. Your father uses people and I use people. You don't have to worry. After this battle, we old men will be almost done. The next battle will depend on you. You are not the material at that time, so don't blame us old guys for not giving you a chance."
To be continued...