In order to ensure an absolute victory in this naval battle, Zhang Wei decided to commit 9 Lanfang-class battleships, 9 Lanfang-class battlecruisers, 70 Lanfang-class destroyers, 70 Sea Lion-class torpedo boats, and 5 submarine squadrons. Pen, fun, and www.biquge.info

Li Zhaoshui was also shocked by Zhang Wei's generosity, and asked in surprise: "Your Majesty, do you want to be the enemy of the world?" In this way, it is easy to make neighboring countries and forces afraid, and they will unite against us, which is not in line with our principle of low-key development; Besides, it is a waste to buy so many warships. ”

Zhang Wei said: "I have figured it out now, it is not enough to be blindly low-key, when it is time to expose the strength, we must crush the opponent with absolute strength, so that other countries are so afraid that they will not dare to unite and be our enemy; In addition, I am also preparing for the blockade of Japan, anyway, I will need to buy so many warships at that time, it is better to buy them all at once, and it can still play a role in this naval battle. ”

"Since Your Majesty has decided, I won't say more, so it's better to make a plan."

After the Japanese Combined Fleet, the commander of the fleet, Heihachiro Togo, has been frowning.

Rear Admiral Shimamura, Chief of Staff of the Combined Fleet, asked: "Why is the commander worried?" What's on your mind? ”

Shimamura was recommended to Heihachiro Togo by Minister of the Admiralty Minoru Saito, who had previously served as Minoru Saito's subordinate and was very appreciated by Minoru Saito. Shimamura is known as the best chief of staff, wise and far-sighted, humble and united, and in terms of strategy and tactics, Shimamura can be said to be the "father of the navy" of Japan.

The strategy and tactics of the Japanese Navy, to put it bluntly, are good at surprise attacks, playing stuffy sticks, and like to gamble to get out of the old man.

"Chief of Staff, I have a very bad premonition about this voyage, and I can't find a specific reason, I'm really confused."

Rear Admiral Shimamura Suo said: "The commander is too worried, the intelligence we sent back from Nanyang and Taiwan shows that there is no strong fleet of the Lanfang Kingdom in the Taiwan region, and we should have a chance to win this time." ”

"Chief of Staff, I believe in my hunch, you analyze it, the Osumi Strait is blocked by mines, and it is still not navigable normally; Don't you have a little premonition that Sasebo is blocked, Kagoshima Bay exits are blocked, and Nagasaki, Fukuoka, Kyushu, and the Kanmon Strait are blocked? Also, Port Arthur has also been blocked, and now the warships are cowering in the port and dare not sail at all, is there no inevitable connection between this? The ability to deploy so many mines without knowing it is the deadliest threat to an island nation like ours; In addition, there are hundreds of merchant ships that have mysteriously disappeared recently, which must be inseparable from the Lanfang Kingdom. ”

Rear Admiral Shimamura Suo pondered for a while and said: "After the commander's analysis, this Lanfang Kingdom is full of weirdness, we must deal with it carefully, I won't say anything else, just talk about the other party's torpedo boats, the speed is so fast, the size is still so small, if they can equip troops in large quantities, it will be a fatal threat to our fleet; Not to mention the mysterious means of mine-laying mentioned by the commander. ”

As time passed, Heihachiro Togo felt more and more depressed, and this very bad premonition became stronger and stronger.

And Rear Admiral Shimamura Suo is also thinking about the possible tactics adopted by the Lanfang Kingdom and the ways to deal with it, one of which is that the Lanfang Kingdom blockades Keelung Port with mines, so that the Combined Fleet cannot enter the port; Another possibility is to put the Combined Fleet into Keelung Harbor, and then blockade the port with mines to trap the Combined Fleet in Keelung Harbor; Then there is the arrangement of mine pockets on the path through which the fleet passes, and then seal the mouth of the bag after the combined fleet enters the pocket.

Either way, it threatens the security of the fleet. In response to the above situations, the commander of the fleet, Heihachiro Togo, ordered to widen the distance between the ships of the fleet; Enough torpedo boats and frigates were released to patrol the perimeter; Send reconnaissance detachments before the fleet.

On Zhang Wei's side, it was very leisurely, the police force had taken over the newly occupied cities and counties, the local governments had been formed and functioning normally, and the 18th Division had begun to move to Taipei.

All the submarines have already returned, Zhang Wei put them all into the system, Li Zhaoshui reorganized the submarines, 10 Xinhua-class submarines set up a separate submarine team, the captain is the submarine with the greatest results in this battle, the remaining 20 Lanfang-class submarines form 2 submarine squads, 20 mine-laying submarines form 2 submarine squads, this time they have to perform different tasks, it is not appropriate to mix formations.

One of the Ranfang-class submarine squadrons has been deployed to the north and south of Naha Port to reconnoiter the timing and formation of the Japanese fleet.

On the evening of 16 September, Zhang Wei, in accordance with Li Zhaoshui's suggestion, released a Xinhua-class torpedo boat from the west coast of Taichung, and then rushed to the Yaeyama Islands.

According to Li Zhaoshui's plan, the ambush site was set in the northwest of Miyako Island, which was exactly in the center of Naha Port and Keelung Port, and in the event of a naval battle, no matter whether the Japanese escaping ships fled to Naha or Keelung, the distance was very long, and the battle cruisers and destroyers of the Lanfang Kingdom could easily catch up.

On the morning of the 17th, the Xinhua-class torpedo boats arrived on Yonaguni Island, and Zhang Wei, in accordance with Li Zhaoshui's request, released two destroyers, five Sea Lion-class torpedo boats, two 5,000-ton cargo ships, and one battalion of troops, under the command of a senior staff officer, to occupy the Yaeyama Islands.

On the afternoon of the 18th, the submarine reported that the Japanese fleet had reached a position 50 nautical miles north of the port of Naha, and the layout of the fleet was as follows: troop carriers and baggage ships in the center, frigates and torpedo boats in the front, left and right guards, and finally battleships and armored cruisers.

According to the formation of the Japanese fleet and the time of arrival, Li Zhaoshui decided to launch an attack in advance, and the attack was set in the waters directly north of Miyakojima, and the time was set between 10 and 12 o'clock on the morning of the 19th, with submarines attacking first, and then battleships and battlecruisers attacking.

The Lanfang-class submarines lined up in the southernmost direction, attacked any ship they encountered, and immediately dived after firing the first wave of torpedoes, moving closer to Keelung Harbor, preparing to ambush the Japanese ships fleeing in the direction of Keelung Harbor again; The 10 Ranfang-class submarines responsible for monitoring the Japanese fleet ambushed Japanese ships fleeing to Naha Port around the port of Naha after completing their surveillance mission.

Since the scheduled battlefield is relatively close to Naha Port, all ships that escape will choose the nearest port, which is why Li Zhaoshui arranged 3 submarine squads in the direction of Naha Port.

The mine-laying submarine did not carry mines this time, only 14 torpedoes, and followed the Xinhua-class submarine to attack the battleship formation at the rear of the fleet, and after firing the first wave of torpedoes, it immediately dived and moved in the direction of Naha, preparing to ambush the Japanese ships fleeing in the direction of Naha again.

The Xinhua-class submarine has a sonar device, which can launch torpedoes at a depth of 50 meters underwater, which is relatively safe and can choose to attack freely.

After arranging the task of the submarine, Li Zhaoshui asked Zhang Wei to release the four submarine teams and let them arrive at the designated waters in advance to prepare for an ambush.

On the morning of the 19th, at about the same time as Li Zhaoshui expected, at 12 o'clock, the Japanese Combined Fleet entered the ambush circle of the submarine. The submarine was located at a vertical distance of 2000 meters from the Japanese fleet, which was ideal for ambushes.

When the battlefleet came over, it was found that the battleships were under the protection of the outer frigates and torpedo boats, but the gap was very large, and the number of frigates and torpedo boats was too small.

Now that the Japanese fleet is defenseless, it is a good opportunity for a sneak attack.

In accordance with the pre-set signal, the commander of the command boat gave the order to attack.

For 10 Lanfang-class submarines and 20 minelaying submarines, they will launch torpedoes at whatever ship in front of them, and immediately put away the periscope after launching, sink it, and evacuate the battlefield, preparing to find another opportunity to ambush the fleeing Japanese ships; For the Xinhua-class submarines, only 4 torpedoes were fired each, leaving 2 for self-defense, fixed 50 meters underwater without moving position, ready to attack the opponent's battleships or armored cruisers after the first wave of attacks.

Due to the fact that it was a trackless electric self-homing torpedo, the chances of detection were small, and all submarines were safely evacuated. Since the torpedo can navigate according to the sound, the hit rate is very high, especially without a trace, the enemy will not be able to detect it at all, and will not make evasive actions, so the hit rate will be higher.

The first wave of attacks fired 140 torpedoes. The speed of the torpedo was 24 knots, and in about 3 minutes, the submarine had been safely evacuated, and at this time, there were continuous violent explosions in this sea area, "boom", "boom", "boom", from front to back, in a continuous range of more than 10 kilometers, the explosions came and went.

In some cases, 2 torpedoes hit a ship at the same time, in this case, no matter what kind of ship it is, it cannot escape the fate of sinking to the bottom of the sea; Torpedo boats and frigates, as well as cargo ships, as long as one torpedo is hit, it is their doom.

At this time, Heihachiro Togo, who was at the end of the fleet, was stunned, and he took comprehensive precautions against the mines of the Lanfang Kingdom, but he was still attacked by the other side's torpedoes. Looking at the explosion scene in front of him, he wanted to cry without tears.

The small torpedo boat was hit, it was directly blown to pieces, and many parts flew into the sky, even if the frigate was hit, it would be blown into 2 pieces, and even one of them was blown into the air, and then smashed on the water surface and quickly sank into the sea; The situation was even worse after the cargo ship was hit, the skin was thin and the stuffing was large, either it was blown in two, or a huge hole was blown out in the hull, and the sea water was pouring in frantically; There were also 2 armored cruisers and 1 battleship that were hit, but a huge hole was blown out at the side of the bomb waterline, and the sea water was pouring in, and the damage pipe was desperately trying to block the hole, but the effect was not great, there was too much sea water pouring in, and the hull was rapidly tilting, which accelerated the speed of the sea water inflow, and it was only a matter of time before it sank.

(To be continued.) )