It was decided to purchase a warship from an independent country for more than 6 million yen first, but as a result, there was another disagreement over what warship to buy. Saigo said I don't know anything about warships or anything, you guys go and discuss it yourself, don't say something here that I don't understand at all and send the three of them away.

As a result, Ito Yuhiro and Yamamoto Gonbei fought again in front of Shiki Kayama with a red face and a thick neck.

The disagreement over the purchase of ships was mainly due to the fact that Ito wanted a strong gun, while Yamamoto wanted a fast gun.

Ito, who had seen Dingyuan's appearance and had studied the two naval battles of the Sino-French War, insisted that the Japanese navy must have enough warships to fight against Dingzhen's two ships if they wanted to defeat the Beiyang Naval Division.

"Yamamoto-kun, my standing fleet now has no warships that can compete with the second ship of Dingzhen, once the war starts, I am afraid that it will repeat the mistakes of the French, even if many ships besiege, the second ship of Dingzhen can also stand still and calmly respond to the battle, although Matsushima and Itsukushima have 32 mm and 40 caliber guns (Note 1), but there is only one, and the armor of the second ship is weak, and it is not able to fight with Dingzhen at all."

"Then even if we buy an Oldenburg-class ironclad ship, it will still fall behind in terms of quantity, and what can we do in the face of the attack of the second ship in Dingzhen?" Gonbei Yamamoto retorted

"The six German-made cruisers of the Beiyang Naval Division are all old, and the speed can only be maintained at about 16 knots, and the formation of the Beiyang Naval Division must be dominated by the Dingzhen Second Ship, and in order to cooperate with the Dingzhen Second Ship, the fleet speed cannot exceed 14 knots.

On the other hand, our Naniwa, Takachiho, Hashidate, and Yoshino are all clippers with a speed of more than 19 knots, and if they can take advantage of their speed, they can freely choose the opportunity to engage. At that time, the cruisers of the Beiyang Naval Division will face the dilemma of not being able to catch up and be unable to fight. As long as the other ships of the Beiyang Naval Division can be solved first. Then we can besiege the second ship of Dingzhen at that time.

The French besieged the Dingzhen II ship to no avail, because their rate of fire was too slow, and our fleet had nearly a hundred rapid-fire guns. Once a siege was formed, thousands of shells hit the Dingzhen No. 2 ship, and the Dingzhen No. 2 ship could not withstand it even if the armor was thick. ”

He is worthy of being the founder of the Deck Washing Party, and is unswerving in his plan to destroy the enemy superstructure and kill and injure people with rapid-fire guns.

"Then you mean that before we get rid of the other ships of the Beiyang Naval Division, except for those high-speed ships, will the others be passively beaten? We can't afford to lose! ”

What Ito Sukehiro said was also true, Japan was bankrupt in order to build such a navy, and even the oldest and most broken warship was very distressed. If this is really a heavy loss, even if the battle is won, it will be considered a loss. Now no one could have imagined how huge the benefits Japan would reap if it won the war.

"So even if you buy an Oldenburg-class, won't you still have to face a confrontation with the Dingzhen Second Ship and fall behind? Since they are all going to be passively beaten, it is better to strengthen the strength of the First Guerrilla Fleet, and do everything possible to solve the battle so that they can come back and besiege the Second Ship of Dingzhen. The three warships sold to us by the Independence Kingdom also had wrought iron armor of more than 20 centimeters, and the Akitsuzu was 26 centimeters. It is enough to face the huge cannon support of the second ship of Dingzhen for a while. ”

Let the largest warship of the Japanese Navy be used as a meat shield at this time, Yamamoto Gonbei's courage is not small, but there is a give-and-take, Yamamoto's idea is quite "to survive with his lover." It is better to abandon the son to win".

"So which warship do you mean to buy?" After watching the two of them fight for a long time, Shiki Kayama spoke.

"The Mary of the Sole Kingdom? The Theresia has a speed of 19.5 knots and is armed with 12 Krupp 15mm rapid-fire guns. The side side can play 8 doors, and the firepower is better than Yoshino. In addition, its side side is protected by new Krupp armor 50 mm thick. Coupled with the 40 mm thick dome armor, even if it is hit by the old 15 mm retreat gun of the Beiyang Naval Division, it can maintain its combat effectiveness. ”

Gonbei Yamamoto and Heihachiro Togo were both from Tsujiyacho. As early as the Anglo-Saxon War, 11-year-old Gonbei Yamamoto and 15-year-old Heihachiro Togo carried shells at the Benten Fort, and the two had a good relationship.

Heihachiro Togo, who was the chief of staff of the Kure Town Guard Mansion at the time, was also among the "layoffs", because although Togo stayed in England for 8 years, he was denied admission to the Naval Academy, and finally entered the Merchant Marine School, and the internship also started as a junior sailor, so in the eyes of the Japanese, he did not understand the navy.

The person who collected the information didn't care that many graduates of the British Merchant Marine School also served in the navy, and the school's teaching standards were also based on naval standards to train cadets, so it was seen that Togo Heihachiro was going to be laid off from the navy and re-employed.

Yamamoto Gonbei ran to Saigo Congdao to speak for Togo, Saigo Congdao didn't understand the navy, plus he himself was also from Tsumachi, so it was difficult to speak, and when he saw Yamamoto's side to intercede, he borrowed the slope to get off the donkey, and it happened that the captain of the Naniwa Tsunoda Hidematsu was transferred to Sasebo, so he asked Togo to fill this gap.

Therefore, Togo and Yamamoto also occasionally get together together, and after Togo returned to Japan, he once admired Maria to Yamamoto? Empress Theresia and Queen, Yamamoto naturally also remembered it.

Yamamoto dares to gamble and play with the money, and Kayama Shiki is also a bold man, and as the head of the military command department, he also has to go to the front line to watch the battle. In order to facilitate his observation of the battle, the Navy temporarily requisitioned a 2900 cruise ship Saikyo Maru, which was temporarily requisitioned from the Japanese cruise line, and is now urgently retrofitting artillery for use as an auxiliary cruiser.

In the end, Shiki Kayama decided: "Or buy Maria?" Theresia to increase the strength of the First Guerrilla Fleet. ”

Yamamoto Gonbei informed Saigo of this decision, and Saigo said that you should decide, and then telegraphed to Aoki Shuzo, the minister in Britain and Germany, requesting that Maria be taken immediately. The Empress and Queen Theresia purchased the ship, hired German sailors, and immediately sailed the ship back to Japan.

Muntz was very happy to know the news, because his precious capital ship didn't have to be sold, and Jochen was a little depressed, this cruiser didn't worry about the buyer, how could this ironclad ship be sold in the future except for this opportunity? The Japanese were also generous, and the German side offered 580,000 pounds, and the contract was signed without paying it back.

Maria? Since the Empress and Queen became a ship of the German Navy, the German Navy has used the same methods as other shipyards against STT Shipyards, under the inhumane surveillance of the overseers. As a result, the ship was completed six months ahead of schedule, and sea trials are now underway.

If you are thirsty for ships, the Japanese can't wait. Say, don't finish the sea trials. The basic testing work is also completed, and you can do the rest of the work while you sail back to Japan, and I will pay for your shipyard technicians, including food and lodging, and return tickets.

So Mary? The Empress and Queen, renamed the Izumi, was operated by German naval officers and sailors, and returned to Japan with a number of STT shipyard technicians.

Jochen ordered these technicians and German naval officers and men not to hurry back when they arrived in Japan, in the event of a war between Japan and the Qing Dynasty. It is not safe to return from the sea at this time.

In addition, during his stay in Japan, he took the opportunity to communicate more with the officers and men of the Japanese Navy and discuss more with the technical personnel of the Japanese shipyards, especially those officers and men who had fought the naval battle and those who repaired the damaged ships after the naval battle.

Muntz sent a telegram to Tirpitz in Moresby, asking him to keep a close eye on the situation in East Asia, and that in the event of a war between the Japanese and the Japanese, especially a naval battle, the German Far East Fleet must have ships there to watch the battle.

Later, Ito Hirobumi, who learned about this, called Saigo Congdao and scolded him, and Saigo Congdao was very honorable: "The navy is about to fight." Having a boat increases your odds of winning. Moreover, I used the private donations for the navy, and if the council really wanted to hold me accountable, it would be a big deal for me to go to the double bridge outside the Imperial Palace to apologize. ”

It's not a good sign that a naval minister is about to go to war, and Hirobumi Ito really can't do anything about Saigo. And he had to protect him, so in the end, he could only scold a few words lightly.

The navy is excited that it will soon add another cruiser of more than 5,000 tons, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has also begun to make moves.

By this time, the uprising of the Donghak Party in Korea had intensified. On June 1, the Donghak Party occupied Jeonju.

On June 3, Senator Sung Gi-yun of the DPRK Ministry of Internal Affairs went to Qing with a note. Officially asked the Qing state to send troops: "The people under the jurisdiction of Jeolla Province are fierce, and they are attached to the Donghak bandits." Gather a crowd to capture the county, and then flee north to the whole state. If the training army is sent forward to defeat the defeat, if it is prolonged for a long time, there will be many people who are worried about the kingdom. The two civil strife in Zha Renwu and Jiashen were all settled by Chinese soldiers. I hereby cite the precedent, and I implore you to dispatch several teams to suppress them as soon as possible, and after the bandits are eliminated, please withdraw immediately, and do not dare to continue to ask to stay on guard, so that the heavenly soldiers will have to work outside. ”

After learning that the DPRK had asked the Qing government for help to borrow troops, Sugimura Jun, the temporary acting minister in Korea, immediately sent his secretary Chung Yong-pung to meet with Yuan Shikai, the minister of trade negotiations with the prime minister stationed in the DPRK, and brought a message claiming that the Japanese government had no opinion on the Qing government's action of sending troops to Korea.

After receiving a message from Jun Sugimura, Yuan Shikai sent a telegram to Li Hongzhang, saying that the Japanese side had no opinion on our actions and that the purpose of the troop transfer was only to "protect the embassy and have no other intentions." ”

On June 5, the Japanese base camp was established.

On this very day, because Kim Ok-gyun, the initiator of the coup d'état, was assassinated in Shanghai on March 38, Keisuke Otori, the plenipotentiary envoy to the Qing Dynasty and minister to the DPRK, who had been deeply involved in the coup, had been staying in the country on vacation, and now it was finally his turn to appear. Keisuke Otori, under the protection of 400 soldiers, prepares to return to North Korea for his duties.

Foreign Minister Mutsu Munemitsu came to see him off: "Otori-kun, you are going to prepare to return to Korea now, and your task is to do your best to keep the Qing army in Korea, so that we can have an excuse to start a war with the Qing State." ”

"Your Excellency Foreign Minister, please rest assured that Keisuke will keep the Qing army in Korea no matter what, and put the responsibility for starting the war on the Qing country. Our Imperial Japan can take advantage of this war to dominate East Asia! ”

"There are many difficulties and difficult tasks. Big Bird-kun, for the sake of the Great Japanese Empire, then it's a qiē please! Mutsu Munemitsu bowed slightly.

"Hai, you will live up to the trust of Your Excellency Mutsu!" Keisuke Otori, who stood up straight with the brush, bowed deeply.

Keisuke Otori then boarded the Yaeyama and returned to Korea, while five Japanese warships began sailing from Busan to Incheon.

Also on this day, the vanguard of the 5th Division was urgently organized into the 1st Mixed Brigade, and under the leadership of Brigade Commander Rear Admiral Yoshimasa Oshima, it boarded a ship from Hiroshima Ujina Port and set sail for Incheon.

The First Sino-Japanese War was already on the way. (To be continued......)

PS: Note 1: The Japanese metric is centimeter, not millimeter, which is the legal unit of measurement, and the caliber refers to the multiple diameter