"Sir! The cruiser Fuxian Lake had two sections of damage on its sideboard! The officer passed through a short passage and rushed to Zhang Rude's side on the bridge to report the latest news. Pen | fun | pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 ｉｎｆｏ

For all the commanders of the Ming army who were confused, this news was tantamount to a thunderbolt, which frightened everyone almost for a moment. It has been determined that no Imperial Japanese warships have been found on the sea, and at this time the cruiser Fuxianhu was confirmed to have two sections of damage, what does it mean?

If a mine is touched by mistake, even if the battleship is damaged, there are no two obvious damages - the mine will first damage the hull and destroy the weapons and ammunition close to the point of explosion, and the powerful but will not detonate the ammunition compartment at a long distance.

Two breakages basically ruled out the possibility of self-damage to the ship, because even the biggest operational error could not affect two different parts of the battleship at the same time. This has clearly proved that the Ming fleet was attacked by the Japanese, and not from surface ships.

Zhang Rude, who heard the news, was stunned for a moment, and then hurriedly issued a new combat order to the communication officer beside him: "Let the fleet turn again, carry out a serpentine maneuver, and all destroyers and cruisers on the periphery will be on guard on the sea surface, and once a suspicious target is found, fire immediately without asking for instructions!" ”

If it was the Japanese battleship fleet that carried out the artillery bombardment, it would definitely not be silent with just one shot. Zhang Rude quickly put the target of his suspicion on submarines, which are "toys of the navy of a big country", because the Ming army also has such small things, although there are not many, but they are also well known to admirals of Zhang Rude's level.

The development of Ming submarines was far less smooth than that of the Japanese Navy, and the reason is very simple: the Ming Empire's navy has always been relatively abundant, and its traditional strength is extremely strong.

Two hundred years ago, under the painstaking management of the Emperor of the Apocalypse, the navy of the Ming Empire had as many as 100 sail battleships. Until today, two hundred years later, almost all the senior commanders of the navy, including Admiral Zhang Rude, are battleship commanders.

Of course, these high-powered commanders have their own traditions and beliefs, and riding the wind and waves with big ships and huge cannons is the ultimate dream of the naval generals of the Ming Empire. As for the kind of "toys that are almost as slender as slippers", not many people care about and support them. This insulting phrase came from the lips of the former commander-in-chief of the Navy and represented the thoughts of a considerable number of officers.

Because battery technology and diesel engine technology were still in a relatively backward stage 10 years ago, the submarine at that time was small in size and the speed was miserable, and the experiments of various countries often had tragic accidents such as ship destruction and death.

The Ming Empire also invested some energy in this area, and the main reason for the investment was to find a shortcut to defeat the British Empire's navy - as for the Japanese navy at its doorstep, it was not a threat to the Ming Empire at all.

Unfortunately, five years ago, the Ming Empire's experimental 400-ton submarine program failed, and 22 researchers sank to a depth of 110 meters with their steam-powered submarine. From this incident, it can also be seen that the scientific researchers of the Ming Empire favored the steam engine system in the early years.

This accident directly had a far-reaching impact on the Ming Empire, the first impact was that the submarine force of the Ming Navy has been weak until now, and there is no combat capability at all; Another influence was that many people of insight in the Ming Empire began to support diesel gasoline engines, which also contributed to the innovation of the power system of the Ming Empire.

In any case, the Ming Empire has its own submarines, and there are quite a few of them, and there are more than a dozen experimental submarines and barely commissioned ones. However, these submarines are all waste wood that does not have much combat capability, and naturally they cannot play the role of Japan's new submarines in battle.

However, Zhang Rude knew about submarines, and he was now almost certain that the serious injuries of the heavy cruiser Fuxianhu in front of him were definitely caused by the Japanese Navy's submarines suddenly using cold arrows. He ordered the fleet to turn again to interfere with the enemy's aiming and prediction, and at the same time ordered the water surface to be monitored and the enemy's torpedo track was detected in advance, so that the fleet could avoid it.

"Sir! The news came from the destroyer No. 144 that 72 officers and men had been rescued from the overboard, and that the cruiser Fuxianhu was sinking and seemed to be unable to be saved. Just as the main force of the Beihai Division fleet of the entire Ming Empire turned around again to avoid possible enemy torpedoes, another officer came with the latest news of the losses.

"Let the destroyer No. 144 and the destroyer No. 213 confirm the sinking of the cruiser Fuxianhu...... Rescue all the survivors who have fallen overboard, and then speed up your way back. After such a period of calm and adjustment, Zhang Rude has come out of the shadow of the sinking of the Fuxian Lake. He calmly issued one order after another, restoring the morale of the entire fleet: "Tell them that they don't have to join the main fleet, and take the survivors directly back to Arthur!" ”

After decisively leaving two destroyers to save people, Zhang Rude ordered the fleet to speed up again, so that the speed of the formation exceeded 15 knots. According to the performance of the Ming Empire's own submarines, Zhang Rude calculated in his heart that the speed of the Japanese Empire's submarines must be also not fast, at most a little more than the Ming Empire's experimental products.

Zhang Rude was nervously fleeing from the sea area where the accident occurred, and the Japanese submarine numbered I-108 under the water was also frightened. It didn't actually have advanced equipment like sonar, and it didn't dare to raise its periscope to watch its results, so it could only float there and wait quietly, and no one knew how long it would wait.

When it came time to fire the three torpedoes that he had prepared in his submarine, Kosuke Utada wasn't sure how much he could achieve. Even now, he still didn't know that he had become the world's first submarine commander to sink a steel cruiser in motion.

"Shao Zuo...... Raise the periscope and take a look? An officer asked Kosuke Utada, who was waiting with a periscope in the dimly lit cabin illuminated by only two dim-light bulbs.

"......" Kosuke Utada, who had been thinking about it for a long time, finally suppressed the curiosity in his heart, gritted his teeth and ordered: "Wait! Change course and drive due east for 15 minutes! Then we will confirm the results of the battle, and we will not be able to put ourselves in it. Maintain the speed at 3 knots, everyone in place, let's act. (To be continued.) )