East Asia, the Sea of Japan, a huge fleet, is slowly leaving the Sea of Japan, towards the waters of China, this is exactly after the declaration of war, from Japan out of the Japanese Combined Fleet, their main force, almost the nest dispatch, in the core area, the largest battleships are the battlecruiser Kongo and Kurama, Tsukuba, battleship Satsuma, Hizen, as well as armored cruiser Asama, Izumo and other capital ships, large and small plus more than 50 auxiliary ships, a total of 4 fleets, Under the escort of the navy, dozens of merchant ships of all sizes transported Japanese soldiers from four divisions and a large number of munitions and other logistical materials, forming a huge fleet of more than 100 ships.

Vice Admiral Yamaya, as commander of the First Fleet and temporary commander-in-chief of the entire fleet, was fully responsible for directing this operation, which was the first time since the Russo-Japanese War in 1906 that he challenged Germany, a first-class power, to a foreign power.

Although Germany has a huge high seas fleet, but the high seas fleet was sealed in the Baltic Sea by Britain, it is difficult to get out, Germany's East Asian fleet, is just two 10,000-ton armored cruisers, he with 3 battle cruisers, 2 battleships and 2 armored cruisers, suppressed with absolute superiority, plus the sea power of Britain and France, as long as it is in Qingdao, there is no problem to win.

In the eyes of others in Yamaya, it should not be a problem to take Qingdao, Germany has been operating in Qingdao for many years, and those factories and equipment, and even wealth, are all big Japan, and he himself will rely on this credit to be promoted from the position of lieutenant general. Become a general.

As early as 1 week ago, when Japan had just declared war. He once negotiated with Germany and demanded that Germany hand over Qingdao. However, it was rejected by Germany, which discussed with the northwest and did not have to pay attention to the views of the Japanese at all, and even before the Japanese fleet sent troops, they would not announce the handover to the outside world, but only pretended to be that when Japan made a request, they would hand over Jiaozhou Bay and Qingdao to the Beiyang government free of charge.

Mulmer wondered why the Northwest was like this. It's not good to say it honestly, if Beiyang really wins, it's not going to be ugly, but in the process of contact with Beiyang, he found that Beiyang is not responsible, even if it is so close to Shandong, it is still impossible to accept Qingdao, even if it seems to be such a huge wealth. He even demanded that the Americans come forward, and after the Americans accepted Qingdao, they would transfer it to Beiyang, thus creating a contradiction between the United States and Japan. Smoothly take Qingdao.

The Americans are not fools, how can they be so angry in order to help Beiyang. After refusing outright, he chose neutrality. And Beiyang also looks lively, at this time. The Japanese envoy has already set out, sent a lot of arms and help, Beiyang decided to take action against the northwest, Japan occupies Shandong is the best, when the time comes, all kinds of support can be quickly sent to Beiyang from Shandong, so there is no loss.

This huge fleet, when leaving the port, has been under the monitoring of the northwest, in the port, before they dispatched, it was the manpower of the intelligence bureau, but after leaving the port, it was the monitoring of the Northwest Navy, among all the warships in the northwest, the earliest formation of combat effectiveness, and the completion of sea trials, is the submarine force, with German submarine technology, the design plus the northwest materials, together constitute the strength of the northwest submarine, the first batch of submarines is the 1500-ton ocean-going submarine, in the electric motor, battery pack, With diesel-powered breakthroughs, these submarines have the ability to submerge for a long time, and even the speed under water exceeds 12 knots.

12 knots, is already the standard of the economic speed of the general warship, although such a high-speed voyage, at most support about 2 and a half hours, but from Japan to Shandong, but more than 1,000 kilometers, has entered the combat sequence, 32 submarines, forming a relay line, 50 kilometers for a bid section, 20 submarines, guarding the route, relaying the same pursuit of the Japanese fleet.

Submarines, in the early days of the First World War, have not yet aroused anyone's ideas, German submarine warfare has not yet begun to practice, battleships for anti-submarine, just have a most rudimentary listener, this thing has a certain effect on the initial submarine with huge noise, almost like a tractor, but for the submarine in the northwest carefully made, with a certain sound-absorbing tile shell, it does not work at all, they are like a leisurely stroll, but they have not found it at all, a deep-sea killer, It was quietly following them not far from them.

"It's so depressing, why aren't we allowed to attack!" The periscope was gently put away, and a young naval officer said with a slight displeasure.

"Song Ying, according to the order, we can't do it This is the highest instruction!" Captain Wang De glanced at the young lookout and said solemnly, in the navy, discipline is always the first, and only steel-like discipline can make the newly established navy have combat effectiveness, which is a requirement for instructors and training countless times.

"Captain, I'm just sorry!" Song Ying said expectantly: "In the periscope just now, there are at least two battleships in our range!" ”

This submarine is a 1580-ton ocean-going submarine, with 3 in the front and 2 in the rear, a total of five torpedo tubes, under the double launch, can send out 10 torpedoes in a short time, this kind of torpedo after the improvement of the northwest, for any capital ship has a huge threat, if launched at this time, the probability of hitting is as high as 9 percent.

Wang De is not looking forward to it, as a navy, as a son of a former Beiyang naval division, his father, uncle, uncle, at least 7 immediate family members, died in Dadonggou, he also lost his father since he was a child, and the anger and hatred in his heart have been accumulating, but unfortunately the Qing Dynasty is too weak, watching little Japan become stronger step by step, it has become one of the few naval powers in the world, but the Qing Dynasty only has a few light cruisers, which is not an opponent at all.

The emergence of the northwest, not only changed the trajectory of the whole of China, but also changed the fate of these southern Fujian children, these people who belonged to the sea from birth, were the first to be recruited into the naval force, in the training of the submarine force, Wang De and Song Ying realized the power of the submarine, just now, they are only about 2500 meters away from the two battleships, such a distance, if the torpedo is fired, the probability of hitting is not generally high.

Revenge, sinking a 10,000-ton capital ship, this is the greatest reward for submarine fighters, but in the order, they are only required to pursue, closely monitor the actions of the Japanese Navy, and strictly prohibit attacks, which makes them excited and slightly depressed at the same time, when will they be able to fight?

Boring chase, be careful not to show traces, 2 hours of time, soon passed, the submarine battery is almost used, the monitoring work is about to end, it has entered the night, the submarine even dares to boldly float to a shallow place, next, there will be a new submarine to take over their work, they need to drive to the sea after a period of time, start the diesel engine, charge the battery, may have to continue for seven or eight hours, after the power in the battery is replenished, and then concentrate on Qingdao, It will definitely be useful if all the submarine forces are sent to Qingdao, and when the time comes, a big war may start in Qingdao.

Qingdao Fortress, about the trajectory of the Japanese Combined Fleet, has not been out of Qingdao monitoring, on the nautical chart, marked very clearly, it seems that Japan is not ready to anchor at night to rest, but is ready to travel day and night, 1000 kilometers of distance, for the fleet to maintain the speed of the 12 knots, it takes 2 days to arrive, at most until the morning after tomorrow, the Japanese Combined Fleet, will enter the sea off Qingdao, the approximate time has been determined, is about 10 o'clock in the morning, this time, It is the most suitable time for landing and attacking, the sun has risen, the visibility is high, and it is not easy to be ambushed.

According to the intelligence, the number of the Japanese combined fleet has been determined a long time ago, and even the warships of Britain and France have also been determined, Britain has 3 dreadnoughts and 4 cruisers, and France has 3 cruisers, plus various auxiliary ships, and it may be that in the morning after tomorrow, more than 100 warships will gather on the coast of Qingdao, which is probably the largest fleet that can be concentrated in Asia.

In the joint command, Scheer is also looking at the battleships on the navigation chart, after the war has been declared, these are the enemy, although the task force has not yet finally completed the run-in, but it can also play more than 80% of the strength, he asked several times to let the task force participate in the war, practice hands, these ships have been able to wrap up, almost hundreds of thousands of tons, the blow to the Entente, is not ordinarily big.

Scheer is also well-intentioned, incidentally, let his subordinates see blood, were all rejected by Yang Yuanzhao, this battle, is Chinese, is northwest, does not need German intervention, and the appearance of the task force, should not be here, on these small ships of Japan and Britain and France, let the fantasy class and Orion, which are more powerful than super dreadnoughts, appear, this is completely killing chickens with cattle knives.

Since Yang Yuanzhao disagreed, Scheer didn't say much, the training situation in Southeast Asia is very good, with the support of the Black Dragon Pirates and Borneo, whether it is the training subjects or the logistics support, it is very good, the progress in all aspects is quite fast, for which ships, there may not be much improvement in the first battle, in case of problems, the trouble will be big.

"Your Excellency Mu Mo, the handover ceremony the day after tomorrow is no problem, right?" After reading the last piece of information today, Yang Yuanzhao asked Mu Mo.

"Of course no problem!" Mu Mo nodded and said, now most of the soldiers in Qingdao have left in batches, leaving only a few high-level and a small team of soldiers, in order to make the public handover ceremony, in order to be sudden and hidden, they are going to notify reporters from various countries today, and they did not directly say that it was a handover, but only informed them that there was an important ceremony in Qingdao. (To be continued......)