Chapter 771: The Falling Sun-Seppuku Doesn't Solve the Problem

In the matter of Xiaoming's father and son, Guo Xing'a couldn't find out the real situation, and everyone guessed and guessed a possibility. So this matter can only be put aside for the time being, and Goxinga has consulted with the cabinet several times, and they all feel that this is a good opportunity to disgust Japan, but how to use it, we still have to refer to it again. As for Li Gen, who is still in a stalemate with the Japanese in Nagasaki, he has to watch and do it himself.

Li Gen and Lu define it doesn't matter, as long as Changchun can have an attitude, the rest of the things will not be difficult for them to do. Minister Zhang Keming, the minister in Tokyo to Japan, had reached a consensus with the Meiji government on the matter of reparations and the garrison, but the specific punishment of the murderers had to be decided by the Nagasaki side. After three more days of talking around the neck of Oshiogoro, the matter of this riot was settled. Under the bitter pleading of Oshio Goro, Lu agreed to let the Japanese people go, but the Nagasaki Police Department did not want to run away, and all the more than 300 people must be executed.

A drizzle of rain fell in Nagasaki, adding to the sadness, and more than 300 policemen were tied up with ropes and escorted to Daikakuji Temple in the east of the castle to be executed. After a long time of begging, Lu reluctantly agreed, letting these policemen leave this world in the form of seppuku like samurai. The people all took to the streets, kneeling on both sides of the streets, and bidding farewell with the highest courtesy to the heroes they thought had sacrificed their lives for the people.

The sailors of the Yellow Sea Fleet did not go ashore to witness the punishment of the sinners, because Li Gen suspended his vacation. If the sailors went to watch the execution, they would definitely gloat and do anything humiliating, and Li Gen did not want to provoke the people of Nagasaki anymore. Although the sailors will definitely be victorious in the event of another conflict, Li Gen really doesn't want anything to happen anymore. In the last conflict, the sailors also lay down a lot of people, and the damage caused by this boring reason was really not worth it.

Melodious music resounded in Daikakuji Temple, and mournful cries were heard in Nagasaki City, but there was no schadenfreude laughter in Minato-ku. Just when the music of Dajue Temple sounded, all the sailors of the Yellow Sea Fleet had boarded the ship and prepared for battle. The guns of the ships were no longer aimed at Nagasaki Castle, but at the open sea. On the flagship cruiser Lenglu, the battle flag has also been raised at any time to fight. All the ships set fire to anchor and left their posts and entered the deep waters, ready to meet the invading enemy.

"According to the news from the patrol boat, fifty nautical miles away, four ironclad ships of more than 4,000 tons are heading towards Nagasaki Port at high speed, flying the Japanese military flag!" The chief of staff of the fleet immediately reported to Li Gen and Shao Shijie the information transmitted by the patrol boat.

Since the navy was annihilated by the North Manchurian regiment, and then the landing was violently beaten, the Japanese began their own counterattack plan, and rebuilding the navy was the top priority. First of all, the Meiji government changed the Naval Naval Training Institute in Tsukiji, Tokyo, into a naval training center, and began training naval officers according to the British model. It was also the earliest naval education in Japan after the Meiji Restoration. In the following year, two students of the Naval Training Institute were sent to train on British warships, and British naval officers were recruited to conduct gunnery drills on the newly purchased "Longxiang" ship in the port of Yokohama. In order to train shipbuilding technicians, a technical school was established at the Yokosuka Shipyard.

Japan is a strange island nation, and building a strong coastal defense is, of course, the established policy of the Meiji government's political and military development. However, the huge naval military budget far exceeded the financial capacity of the Japanese government, and the blackmail of Northern Manchukuo almost drained Japan. However, Japan's resilience is strong, and Emperor Meiji took the lead in giving Imperial Treasury money from the palace funds to support the country's coastal defense, and aspirants from all over the country followed suit. After the money was not enough, the Japanese played even more desperately - forced donations. In Japan, serving civil servants and retired feudal lords were required to contribute a proportional amount of arrears each month, and profiteering industries such as brothels, casinos, and banks were also required to increase taxes proportionately. It was by relying on this set of exorbitant expropriation that the Japanese were stunned to make up the budget for coastal defense.

The Japanese who had money had to carry out structural reforms, and the Ministry of War proposed to Minister Minoru Sanjo that "the situation of the navy and the army is very different, and their officials cannot concurrently serve as officials, and the two military posts must be separated." Therefore, I would like to approve the abolition of the Ministry of War and the establishment of the Ministry of the Navy and the Ministry of the Army. report. This proposal was quickly approved, and the Ministry of War was divided into the Ministry of the Army and the Ministry of the Navy, and Yama Yama Aritomo was appointed as the Secretary of the Army, and Katsu Kaishu, a former minister of the Shogunate, was appointed as the Secretary of the Navy.

The navy is a modern organization, and ships are only part of the body that makes up this organization, and the real skeleton is the naval system. Since its creation, the Japanese Navy has been very keenly aware that the effective system of the West is the source of its strength, so the Japanese Navy has been constantly improving its naval system while developing. In order to provide a management and logistics center for the fleet, the Japanese Navy improved the original Admiralty and established two town guard offices, the East China Sea and the West Sea, which respectively governed the eastern and western fleets.

The entire system building of the Japanese Navy has been carried out in a sound and impressive manner, and they have attached great importance to their development potential, and they still want to build ships on their own, but unfortunately they have no chance if they miss some things. Wooden warships have long since withdrawn from the stage, and steel giants are the main theme of this era, but this main theme needs too much industrial base support. The level of design can't keep up, and the industrial strength is almost zero, so there is no need to think about the steel giant. In order to cope with the huge threat from North Manchuria, Japan could only solve its urgent needs through procurement.

If the Japanese want to buy warships, the first choice is naturally the British Empire, the world's number one naval power. The strength of the old naval power should not be underestimated, and after suffering losses in the actual battle with North Manchuria, the British worked even harder, and in recent years they have made a lot of new things come out. Japanese buyers came to the door, and the British naturally had no reason to refuse. First, Britain urgently needed little Japan to contain North Manchuria, and secondly, they also wanted to try how effective their new invention was, so the British took out all kinds of treasures at the bottom of the box. The British were full of sincerity, but the pockets of the Japanese were really shabby, and after grinding for a long time, they could only buy one large, three and four warships according to the advice of the British.

The Japanese moved the coffin book, but the money was not unjust at all, and the British were very interesting to give them all the work. The main battleship, the Fuso, is an armored battleship with a displacement of more than 9,000 tons, and it is the latest type of battleship that the British built only three years ago. Although the use of twin-propeller and cylindrical piston engines resulted in a speed of only about ten knots, the power of the four 304 mm rear-mounted main guns was just right. The other three slightly smaller battleships were three sisters, protective cruisers of the same design. The three cruisers Yoshino, Naniwa, and Kongo are not comparable to the tonnage of the Fuso, but they also have a displacement of 4,000 tons, which is not inferior to the Sea Lion-class cruisers in North Manchuria. The power of two 260 mm rear-mounted main guns and six 150-mm rear-mounted secondary guns should not be underestimated, and the speed is as high as 18 knots. The Japanese used these four treasures to form their combined fleet, which was a little less numerous, but still had a little combat effectiveness.

The Manchurian Military Intelligence Department has long known about the technical upgrade of British man-made ships and the purchase of warships by the Japanese, and it has also triggered a big discussion on whether to upgrade the main battleships of the South Ocean Fleet. However, the great discussion of the Manchurian Navy turned into a quarrel in the end, and nothing came out of the quarrel. The foreign faction led by Naval Commander Botun strongly advocated upgrading the battleships, and even proposed a shipbuilding reform plan to build 12 main battleships with battleships as the core of each fleet, but the Inland River faction did not agree. The Inland River faction led by Bian Changdi felt that vigorously building flashy battleships was completely wrong. They proposed, building new high-speed destroyers and cruisers, and expanding the size of existing fast ships, continuing to develop their wolf pack tactics.

Although the two sides ceased to quarrel after the mediation of Goxinga, and the battle cruiser program in Northern Manchuria was put on the agenda, there was little change in reality. It will be at least ten years before the British go to war with North Manchurian again, and the little Japan in front of them is not worth mentioning at all. The name of the Japanese Combined Fleet is good, but several warships are not together at all, all of them are scattered in various ports of Japan, and they cannot form an effective combat force at all, and there is no need for North Manchuria to deal with them at all.

However, there were always exceptions, and after the Nagasaki Rebellion, the Yellow Sea Detachment, which had deterred Japan, did not leave for a long time, which put great pressure on the Meiji government. Although it has greatly helped the progress of the negotiations, it has also tormented the fragile hearts of Japanese monarchs and ministers. Weak-hearted and cowardly, the Japanese gathered their combined fleet, ready to let the combined fleet threaten the Manchurians as well, so that these evil guests could leave as soon as possible.

"It's the Japanese Combined Fleet, and the four new British ships they bought are all here! They slowed down, apparently just to show off. After the fleet sailed off the coast of Nagasaki, it quickly found the Japanese Combined Fleet, and the majestic figure of the Fuso was even more clear. Shao Shijie, who was old on the battlefield, quickly determined the enemy's coming and judged the intentions of the Japanese.

"Command the ships, disperse and approach, and squeeze them away!" The behavior of the Japanese was understandable, but it was not so deferential, so Reagan decided to deprive them of the right to enter the port of Nagasaki.

Warships must maintain a safe distance from each other, and if they get too close, they will not only be in danger of being attacked by the other side, but also likely to collide with each other. Therefore, the best way to drive away the opponent without using force is to keep getting closer, so that the opponent has to turn to dodge. In addition to Li Gen's flagship, one cruiser and six destroyers of the Manchurian Navy were all engaged in the joyful cause of bumper boats. The Japanese did not dare to open fire, nor did they dare to collide with the warships of the Manchurian Army, and they were constantly avoiding the Manchurian warships that were deliberately finding fault.

"The boats are performing well, and the Japanese are handling them well." The Japanese were able to continue to approach the port of Nagasaki despite the continuous evasion, and Shao Shijie had to admit that the Japanese were no longer Wuxia Amun.

"Send a telegram to Nagasaki and ask Lu to return to the concession immediately, and at the same time declare a state of alert, requiring all Chinese businessmen to take refuge in the concession, and the port area and the concession to enter a state of first-class combat readiness." Li Gen frowned and looked at it for a long time, and suddenly gave an order that had nothing to do with it.

"Commander!" Shao Shijie immediately guessed what Li Gen was going to do.

"Seppuku won't solve the problem, let's talk with guns! The Japanese Navy must not be allowed to continue to develop, we must strangle them! "Li Gen, who has always been gentle, has a very happy decision today.