At first glance, it is a big country in the East. China's modern naval history is not too short. If it is counted when Li Hongzhang, the governor of Muguang, proposed the establishment of a steamship sailor, then up to now, the history of China's modern navy has been half a century, and it can be said that from the beginning, China's modern navy and Japan's modern navy started almost at the same time, but compared with the Japanese navy, the Chinese navy has experienced ups and downs since its inception, and has been hit hard by two foreign wars, one is the Sino-French Mawei naval battle, and the other is the Sino-Japanese naval battle in the Yellow Sea. The Chinese navy has always tried to catch up with the world's advanced level, but the country is sluggish, there is a lack of talent, and more importantly, there is a lack of a mechanism that can guarantee the cultivation and selection of talents, so China's modern naval construction has always lagged behind its neighbor Japan.

Japan is different from China, Japan is an island country, the navy is the foundation of the country, on the issue of naval construction, the Japanese government has always attached importance to and put the naval construction in the priority of the national strategy, although the Japanese government's strategy has also changed because of the decline of China, trying to implement the maritime strategy at the same time as the implementation of the continental strategy, with Korea as a springboard to annex China's northeast region, and on this basis gradually expand the privileges in China, but with the end of the Sino-Japanese war in Northeast Asia, The Japanese government finally realized a basic fact: When China, a land power, began to wake up, Japan's attempt to expand into the East Asian continent was completely shattered, and at this time, Japan had to go back and strengthen Japan's naval buildup, and only the navy could guarantee Japan's interests.

It is precisely for this reason that, after improving relations between the two countries with China, the Japanese government began an ambitious naval expansion plan, "according to which the Japanese Navy had worked hard in the past." It has become outdated, replaced by a so-called "99 Fleet Plan", that is, the main force of the Japanese Navy will be composed of nine battleships and nine battle cruisers, this fleet plan needs huge financial support, and at that time the war in Europe was not over, Japan's economy was still in prosperity, the Japanese government suddenly felt that the finances were abundant, so it was very generous in allocating funds to the Navy, and the "99 Fleet Plan" was able to be passed in the Diet and immediately put into practice.

However, the war in Europe ended after all, and what followed was an economic depression and crisis that affected the world, so the Japanese government's finances, which had a large proportion of military spending, immediately fell into a panic, and it was only then that the Japanese government was surprised to see that neighboring China had long been prepared to deal with the world economic depression, which was manifested in armaments, that is, the maintenance of China's naval funds, and the Japanese government suddenly understood why the Chinese government did not use the profits earned from the European market to provide government loans to the European belligerents. Because the Chinese government invests most of this revenue in the country's infrastructure and immigration policies, it may be more cost-effective for the Chinese government to use the money for domestic construction than to provide usury to the belligerents in Europe.

There is no doubt that in this worldwide economic depression, Japan has been hit far harder than China, and a large number of Japanese factories have closed down, a large number of shops have closed, workers have lost their jobs, and farmers have gone bankrupt, and even those small factory owners and small businessmen who had made a lot of money in the European War have been cornered, and the price of rice in Japan's domestic market has risen accordingly, which in turn has led to a new "rice riot", and the usury put by the Japanese government and consortiums in Europe has also been unable to recover due to the economic depression in European countries, and has become a bad debt. This has further deteriorated Japan's domestic economy, and it is now the most difficult country in Asia to have a hard time.

In the economic depression, the Japanese government's "99 Fleet Plan" for the navy could not be completed, and now there are several battleships under construction that have been forced to stop construction because follow-up funds cannot be in place, and they are slowly rusting in the docks, and those warships that have been built and put into service are also facing various inconveniences in training caused by the shortage of funds, and now, Britain and France have strengthened their naval strength in the Far East, and in contrast, the Japanese Navy is in a difficult situation, even if this naval exercise in the Pacific region is carried out as a counterattack, The Japanese Navy is also planning the exercise in terms of funds.

As a new type of battleship that was not included in the sequence of the exercise fleet, "Ise. The Japanese Government was able to move around the waters off Japan, and now it was just in time for the Chinese Navy to hold a naval exercise in the Yellow Sea, so the Japanese Government, after obtaining the consent of the Chinese Government, immediately dispatched the battleship "Ise," which had nothing to do, to the exercise area, hoping to make a serious estimate of the current combat strength of the Chinese Navy through observation. As "Ise. The staff officer of the battleship Captain Kanji Kato, and the actual judge of the Japanese side to observe the exercise, Yamamoto Isoroku was very surprised by the small aircraft carrier of the Chinese Navy, and according to the intelligence gathered by the Japanese side, the "Bohai Sea." The small aircraft carrier, which was originally a seaplane carrier, took less than two months from the time it was towed to the time it was put into active service, and it took only two months to transform a seaplane carrier into an aircraft carrier, which in itself has proved the tremendous progress made by China's shipbuilding industry.

Although "Bohai. The displacement of the aircraft carrier is not large, and it cannot withstand the bombardment of any large-caliber naval guns, but Yamamoto 56 does not dare to underestimate the combat effectiveness of this new concept warship and the revolutionary changes in tactics it brings, and this revolutionary change in tactics has been tested in European actual combat, and the British Navy has proved in practice that aircraft carriers are fully capable of the requirements of naval operations, and once the aircraft technology is further developed, aircraft carriers, a new concept warship, will surely become the protagonist in future naval wars. Yamamoto Isoroku is convinced.

"Yamamoto-kun, the aircraft carriers of the Chinese Navy are very sure that they cannot carry bombers, and the Imperial Navy has no worries

Kanji Kato put down his binoculars and sighed to Yamamoto Isorochi, who was standing beside him, as a well-known gunnery expert in the Japanese Navy, Kato Kanji had always admired the tactics of battleship artillery bombardment. So, the news that the British Navy began to operate with aircraft carriers reached Japan! Hou Gang "Peng Hanji was very eager to see this new warship with his own eyes, and for this reason was appointed by the Japanese government as the head of the military investigation mission to Germany, and used the opportunity to investigate the technology of German affairs to go to Britain to see the aircraft carrier, but this attempt of Kato Kanji and the Japanese government did not come true, because when Kato Kanji rushed to Europe, the British Navy's aircraft carrier was not at home at all, but was transferred to the Black Sea to carry out the task of military intervention in Russia, so Kato Kanji went to Europe for a trip in vain, not only did he not see the aircraft carrier, and did not get any valuable military technology from Germany, and the reason is very simple, because China has taken the lead and brought a large number of German technical personnel back to China.

Kato Kanji returned to Japan empty-handed, and has been haunted by not being able to see the aircraft carrier with his own eyes, until he heard that China has begun to build experimental aircraft carriers, Kato Kanji came to the spirit, he was eager to wait for the Japanese spies to send back new information, but after that there was no updated information, the Chinese side of the secrecy measures are becoming more and more strict, originally thought that it was impossible to get more detailed information, but soon, Kato Kanji got the news from the Japanese government, the Chinese Navy will hold a large-scale military exercise in the Yellow Sea, At that time, the aircraft carrier will make a public appearance for the first time, and the Japanese Government has also obtained the consent of the Chinese Government to send military observers to observe the exercise at close range, so as to enhance the "friendship and trust" between China and Japan

As a result, Kanji Kato was appointed captain of the battleship "Ise", commanded the Japanese battleship with nothing to do to the Yellow Sea, joined the Chinese Navy's attack fleet playing the role of an imaginary enemy, followed at the end of the fleet, and prepared to watch the aircraft carrier's performance throughout the process.

As a result, military exercises at sea could not be carried out according to the original plan, and aircraft carriers could not fly planes, which made Kato very disappointed, but when he saw the "Bohai" aircraft carrier, he finally put his mind at ease, because in his opinion, the kind of aircraft carrier with a full load displacement of only 6,000 tons was used not so much for combat as for show.

It seems that the Chinese are still somewhat self-aware, and it makes sense for them to call this small aircraft carrier an "experimental aircraft carrier", down-to-earth.

Hearing Kato's evaluation, Yamamoto Isoroku only nodded, but did not speak, because in his heart, he did not agree with the opinion of this Japanese naval gunnery expert, although the "Bohai" aircraft carrier is indeed a small aircraft carrier, but it does not negate the tactical value of this new warship, more importantly, Yamamoto Isoroku is very clear that judging from the situation in the last Northeast Asian war, the Chinese are stepping up the development of light torpedoes, and torpedoes are the deadliest threat of all warships, Now five years have passed since the Northeast Asian War, which is enough for the Chinese to develop better torpedoes and light bombers carrying such torpedoes, which may not be able to take off and land on the "Bohai" aircraft carrier.

"It's really emotional. The Chinese will also build their own large warships, albeit destroyers. ”

Kanji Kato finally focused his attention on the large destroyer that he had never seen before, and the flying scissors type ship was enough to prove that the warship was the design of the Chinese Navy, and the Chinese Navy had been far ahead of the world's naval powers in terms of ship design for the sake of emphasis, and judging from the details of the bottom of the ship that was held up high by the waves, Kato Kanji was sure that the destroyer had been equipped with a ship nose.

Then, Kato Kanji focused his attention on the attack fleet playing the role of an imaginary enemy, looking at the "Yanmen" battleship and the "Juyong" battleship, Kato Kanji was somewhat depressed, after all, those two battleships used to be the main force of the Japanese Combined Fleet, but now, they have been transformed by the Chinese Navy and become the absolute main force in the Chinese Navy.

"If the Chinese don't build new battleships, I'm afraid they are also worried about government finances, right? But giving priority to the construction of aircraft carriers seems to indicate the maritime ambitions of the Chinese, and in time, it may not become a maritime power, and the empire has to be cautious. ”

Kanji Kato evaluated, and then he heard the voice of Yamamoto Isoroku.

"Your Excellency, it looks like the Chinese exercise fleet will cancel the exercise here, and they may need to find a new exercise area."

"Yes, the sea conditions here are too bad for even the Imperial Navy battleships to carry out accurate artillery fire in such sea conditions."

Kato Kanji basically agreed with Yamamoto's judgment, and their judgment was quickly confirmed by the Chinese exercise fleet, which was confirmed by Lu Ping, the supreme commander of the Chinese exercise fleet, who sent a clear telegram to the Japanese battleship "Ise," informing them of the news that the Chinese exercise fleet was about to return to Qingdao and anchor at anchorage. "Yamamoto-kun, we will only have to observe the exercises of the Chinese Navy aircraft carriers in the future. Now, let's turn the rudder and go to Vladivostok. ”

Kanji Kato immediately gave the order, and the battleship "Ise" immediately turned the rudder and headed for the Tsushima Strait.

"To Vladivostok? Participate in the Intervention Fleet? ”

Yamamoto Isoroku is a little strange, because he never knew that the "Ise" was going to Vladivostok before leaving the military port, and it seems that he did not receive a new order from the Navy Command Department, so the only explanation is that before the battleship left Sasebo Port, Kato Kanji had received an order to lead the ship to Vladivostok.

"Yes, the situation in Vladivostok is already very bad. The Empire decided to intensify its military intervention to ensure the safety of its diaspora. Moreover, it was heard that China will also send army units to cross the border again and control the important transport hub of the Trans-Siberian Railway, ensuring that the Soviet Russian Red Army does not cross the Baikal region. ”