There are irreconcilable contradictions and conflicts of interest between China and Japan. In the face of remorse, these two. It is difficult for countries to coexist peacefully in this era, and this point is agreed with not only by Zhao Bei, the president of the Republic of China, but also by Huang Zhongshy, commander of the Second Fleet of the Navy.

Both of them unanimously believe that there must be a strategic decisive battle between China and Japan, and in this decisive battle, if China is defeated, it will be suppressed by Japan for a long time, and if Japan is defeated, the one formulated by the Japanese government. If Japan wants to maintain its status as a great power, it must either reformulate its national strategy or continue to entangle itself with China to the end, where will Japan go, the initiative is not just in the hands of a certain country, but if the squadron can show strong combat effectiveness, then the Japanese government will have to admit that it has hit a hard bone.

At present, China's Sixth Army has achieved admirable results in the construction of its Sixth Army, which is not only manifested in the total strength of the Sixth Army, but also in the renewal of the equipment of the Sixth Army and the improvement of the quality of its personnel; compared with the Navy, China's Sixth Army has now become a "force to be reckoned with." These are the original words of British and American reporters, and it is the actual situation now.

However, on the other hand, the navy is still the weakness of China's leading forces, the 6th Army is strong and the navy is weak, and the current China, in the words of British and American reporters, is a "strong man with political feet" Once he fights with others, this navy will drag down the overall situation and may even lead to strategic failure.

The Navy, of course, understands its shortcomings, but they can only sigh at it. The Navy is an absolutely technical service, unlike the 6th Army. If you have a rifle and wear a military uniform, you can become an army after half a year of training, and the navy cannot talk about any combat effectiveness at all without a few years of training, and even if it has honed its combat effectiveness, compared with the navies of powerful countries that have been honed in the stormy seas of the ocean for hundreds or decades, this gap is huge, and it cannot be eliminated by just a bunch of enthusiastic naval officers and men.

As a senior admiral of the Chinese Navy, Huang Zhongmo certainly understands this truth, and it is precisely for this reason that he strongly agrees with Mr. President's strategy, that is, in a future maritime conflict, the Chinese Navy must win by surprise, and only by using tactical superiority can it eliminate its strategic disadvantage, and even if it cannot defeat the Japanese Navy, at least it must force the Japanese Navy to allocate a part of its forces to deal with this inconspicuous Chinese naval fleet.

Winning by surprise is easier said than done, how to win by surprise? How to win by surprise? These are all difficult problems that have plagued Huang Zhongheng and the top echelons of the Chinese Navy, and they cannot be fooled out by equipping a few seaplanes for reconnaissance missions, and this requires the wisdom and courage of all officers and men, and still more requires great progress in military technology.

"Report!" Dry eyes, a telegram was taken, informing him that the transport fleet in Qingdao Port had started cobalt and was heading towards the mouth of Jiaozhou Bay at a high level. ”

An adjutant walked up to Huang Zhongmo and stood up in salute, interrupting his thoughts.

Huang Zhongyan put away the binoculars, took the transcript of the telegram handed over by the deputy bei, hurriedly glanced at it, and then picked up the wall watch and looked at the time, it was exactly half past eight o'clock, half an hour longer than the scheduled time.

"Order the fleet, get ready for battle. The "clairvoyant" continued to track and reconnoitre, kept in touch at all times, and made sure that the other side did not make tactical feints. ”

"Yes!"

Hwang Jong-mo gave a new order. The adjutant was ordered to step back.

The order was quickly conveyed in the fleet, and soon after, the whistle sounded above the sea, and all the warships sped up, and gradually distanced themselves from each other, and billowing black smoke from the white of the smoke filled the sky, and it was far away. Like a dark cloud, it complements the white spray of the churning waves on the surface of the sea.

Huang Zhongmo turned around, raised his binoculars, and continued to look at the Japanese second-class cruiser "Takachiwen", but he could no longer see the Japanese naval officer who was looking at him with a telescope just now.

Putting away the binoculars, Huang Zhongmo gave an order to an adjutant beside him.

"Raise the battle flag and order the ships to follow the flagship!"

At the same time that Huang Zhongio issued the battle order to the fleet, in the Qingdao port of Jiaozhou Bay, 50 nautical miles away, two huge ships were belching black smoke into the sky, and these were the two former dreadnoughts "Wittesbach" and "Hesse" in the German fleet visiting China.

"Wittesbach" is a ship of the "Wittesbach class" battleship, built in the year of yo, the standard displacement of this class battleship is 11,000 tons, the length is 127 meters, the main gun is four auxiliary millimeter guns, the secondary gun is 16 four-millimeter guns, and 12 anti-millimeter guns, and the other is equipped with six lock millimeter torpedo tubes, the thickness of the main armor belt is millimeters, 12 boilers and three steam engines have become the power system of the class battleship, which can ensure the theoretical navigation of 18 knots, because the coal tank can accommodate 1,800 tons of media, As a result, the endurance of the battleships of this class reached 5,800 nautical miles.

As for the battleship "Hesse". It is one of the former dreadnoughts "Braunschweig" class, built in the next year, the standard displacement of the ship is 13,000 tons, thanks to the progress of military technology, the caliber of the main gun installed on the ship has increased to such as millimeters, and the caliber of the secondary gun has increased to. The number of millimeter guns has also reached an astonishing eighteen, and the old entrance wants that with the progress of machinery industry technology, the work efficiency of the pot and steam engine has been greatly improved, although the coal carrying capacity of the "Hesse" is only 1,600 tons, which is not as good as that of the "Wittesbach", but the endurance of the "Hesse" has reached an astonishing 6,500 nautical miles. The shortcomings of the "short legs" of the German battleships were greatly improved. Its long-range strike power has been increased.

Compared with the largest warship of the Chinese Navy now, the "Hai Analysis", these two German battleships are undoubtedly behemoths, and their combat effectiveness is enough to make people stunned, but if these two battleships are compared in front of the main forces of the navy of the world powers, they seem "quite backward" After all, in this era, military technology and industrial technology are advancing almost every day, and the gap between the performance of the warships built a few years ago and the warships built a few years later is very obvious, especially when the British Navy is in In the coming year, the German Navy almost immediately realized the gap between them, so the term "former dreadnought" began to become synonymous with a weak navy, a naval power, if it did not build a few dreadnoughts or even dreadnoughts, then it should be kicked out of the naval power club.

The reason why Germany finally decided to send the "Wittesbach" and "Hesse" to China for a friendly visit was precisely because these two battleships were "too old", and a few years ago, when the four German "Nassau-class" battleships were built and formed the first German dreadnought fleet, those former dreadnoughts became obsolete, although Germany still needed them. But before the war officially broke out, sending two former dreadnoughts to China would not affect Germany's maritime strategy.

In the eyes of the Germans, these two battleships were indeed lagging behind, but in the eyes of the Chinese soldiers. These two battleships were too advanced and too powerful.

As the president of the Republic of China, Zhao Bei also felt great pressure in front of these two former dreadnoughts, and when he boarded the battleship "Wittesbach" on a traffic boat accompanied by German political officials, he felt not only pressure, but also shock.

Standing on this steel monster, Zhao Bei in addition to sighing or sighing, this is the difference between industrial countries and agricultural countries, although in the past two years, he has been urging China's industrialization, and has also made remarkable achievements, but it is still too far away from those industrial powers, not to mention anything else, that is, the "Wittesbach" on the O millimeter naval guns China can not build, although now the technicians of the Hanyang Arsenal are trying to imitate the millimeter howitzer under the guidance of German experts, However, I don't know when the results will be produced, and compared with the long-barreled naval guns, the technical content of the short-barreled howitzer is still too low, and the gap in industrial strength is real, and it cannot be changed by a few inspiring slogans Chinese.

Maybe I saw the loneliness of Mr. President. Colonel Hannagan, who had been accompanying the warship, was sympathetic to Mr. President's current feelings, but as a German, he was still proud of the strength of the country.

"Mr. President," Wittesbach, is nothing more than an old battleship, and now the Dexian shipyard is rushing to build more advanced and powerful battleships, and as far as I know, the four "Helgolan-class" that have just been completed and put into service. The battleships were more combat-ready than the Nassau-class battleships that had been commissioned in previous years, and the four newest battleships had a staggering 22,000 tons of displacement per ship and were equipped with 12 powerful millimeter main guns, which was enough to deal with the latest battleships of some naval powers. ”

Seeing Hannagan's smug face, Zhao Bei nodded with a smile and said, "Germany's industrial strength is indeed enviable, I don't know how long it took to build that battleship?" ”

Hannagan's eyebrows fluttered a little, and he said proudly: "The first three of them are here, and the keel has been laid at the beginning of the voyage, and all of them have been officially completed and put into service in the old year, and the last battleship is in service this year. ”

"So, it only took you four times to build four battleships?"

As the director of naval architecture of the Admiralty, Mr. Wei Han is now under great pressure, because so far, he cannot answer for sure when the president's shipyard will be able to build China's first destroyer.

Hannagan was able to guess what Mr. President and Director Wei Han were thinking, so after exchanging glances with Rear Admiral Trumei, the German governor of Jiaozhou, who accompanied the president on the warship, Hannagan stepped forward and stood beside the president. A few whispers with the president.

"Mr. President, if your country wishes to conclude a treaty of military alliance with the German Empire, I think His Majesty the Kaiser of Germany will be pleased to send Wittesbach. and "Hesse." It was given to your navy free of charge, because we are allies. ”

Hannagan said that, and stepped back.

Soon, everyone present appeared, and Mr. President's smile froze. Read!