At the Yokosuka Military Port in Tokyo Bay, Vice Admiral Nakamuta Kuranosuke, chief of the Command of the Navy, boarded the long-awaited gunboat, hoisted the white flag, and sailed at full speed toward the waters off Tokyo Bay. He was entrusted by Prime Minister Hirobumi Ito to inquire and learn about the naval academy that was blockading Tokyo Bay and destroying the future hope of the Empire, and the fleet that was still destroying the coastal cities of Takemoto around the clock, where was the fleet, and why was it attacking the Empire?

The sudden arrival of the fleet has already caused great damage to the Empire, and it is necessary to figure out why this is as soon as possible. The fleet in the distance had already appeared in front of him, the small gunboat breaking through the waves, and the gunboat, which was already running at full speed and still felt quite fast, felt like a slow snail at the moment. But a gunboat is just a gunboat after all, and there is no way to turn this old gunboat into a new high-speed clipper in any way. Whether such an old-fashioned gunboat can even go to sea in bad weather is a problem, but fortunately it is calm today.

All 18 warships of the Pacific Fleet off the coast of Tokyo Bay were quietly parked on the sea. The task of shelling the coastal cities of Ben was over, not because they had received an order to stop the attack, but because there were no shells, and there was not enough coal.

When I came out of Hawaii, I wanted to be able to carry out combat missions for a long time. Not only did most of the sailor rooms be renovated, but also a lot of various materials were piled up. The fleet, which had already brought additional coal and shells, was now almost exhausted. Now, there is only enough coal to drive back to Lushun, and there is only half a base of shells for each gun.

"Mast reports that a small gunboat with a white flag is heading towards us at full speed."

"I finally can't hold it anymore." Wu Deren, who was drinking tea, stood up: "Order the fleet to take an attack posture, and give Xiao Yue a dismount first." ”

The Pacific Fleet moved, and the hundreds of gun barrels of fifteen warships began to turn, all pointing at the small gunboats that were coming from afar. The destroyer Alert and Agile had already approached from both sides.

"Stop the boat, stop the boat." The other party ignored the non-stop waving of the negotiation flag, and the attack of the fleet in the distance was tantamount to frightening the gunboat that was moving at full speed, and Nakamuta Kuranosuke hurriedly stopped the gunboat. It wasn't until the opposing small fast warships followed on both sides that the enemy signaled that it could continue to move forward and instructed the gunboats to approach the flagship. When the 200-ton gunboat stopped in front of the 12,000-ton battleship, the huge battleship put a huge amount of pressure on Nakamuta Kuranosuke. And what shocked and frightened Nakamuta Kuranosuke even more was the two huge symbols written on the side of the ship - "Dragon Yin". Of course, Nakamuta Kuranosuke doesn't know Chinese characters, but this does not prevent him from knowing that these two are Chinese characters. This is the name of the warship, written in Chinese characters unique to China, when did ** have such a large warship? Why did the Imperial Staff and Intelligence never get the intelligence that there was such a huge ship? If this fleet blockading the bay is really the ** fleet, then the Imperial Combined Fleet is now at the bottom of the sea. Even so, as if the other party was about to humiliate him, Nakamuta Kuranosuke, who had already docked in front of the battleship, was still not allowed to board the ship, but instead rushed down from the warship with a group of soldiers armed with rifles and took over the small gunboat.

"I am Vice Admiral Nakamuta Kuranosuke, the head of the Imperial Navy, and I ask to see your highest commander." Nakamuta Kuranosuke held back the fear in his heart and said calmly.

"What is he talking about?" Marine Corps Captain Wang Ming has learned English and German, but he has never learned Chinese.

Wang Ming didn't know what the Qing people in front of him were saying, and Zhong Mutian didn't know what the Qing people in front of him were saying. The problem is that this fleet has never been considered to be the Qing fleet, and it is guessed that it may be the British, German, French, Dutch or Spanish fleets, and all the translations from various countries have not been brought with Chinese translations. Seeing that he couldn't communicate, Wang Ming could only ask people to go to the chief of staff of the fleet and find someone who could speak.

Wu Deren was drinking tea peacefully, and this matter was not his business. The military regulations are clearly written that the commander of the fleet is in charge of the fleet and operations, and that the chief of staff is responsible for dealing with this aspect of the relationship. At this moment, Cheng Cheng was scratching his ears and cheeks, and the entire fleet couldn't find anyone who could speak. What to do? Nakamuta wanted to turn back and find a few Chinese translators, but the Qing soldiers in front of him did not understand what Nakamuta meant, so they did not let him go.

Wu Deren and Cheng Cheng came to the gangway and looked down at the gunboat below. Now no one knows what the other side is saying, but fortunately, there is still sign language. The people on both sides of the line had been brushing for almost an hour, and when both sides were sweating, they finally remembered to speak in the common language of the navy, the flag language, and then they understood.

I still have to go back to the book and find a Chinese translator. But the gunboat was too slow, and now the Pacific Fleet sent a destroyer to take Nakamuta back to Yokosuka to find a Chinese interpreter to continue the conversation. However, he could only go back with two signal soldiers. Nakamuta was surprised to find that at the same time as he boarded the destroyer, there were also many people from the Qing fleet, and they were arranged on the deck, and they were watched and could not move around at will.

On the Kapu waterway, the destroyer Astute was slowly heading deeper into Tokyo Bay. The speed was very slow, only five knots. The anxious Nakamuta wanted to urge him to hurry up, but the ** soldier with the gun was glaring at him fiercely. He could only look at the warship, which was not much faster than a snail, and the "S" type wandering.

That's right, that's what it was meant to be. The purpose is threefold: First, the Astute saw that there was no guide ship all the way, does this mean that there are no mines in the entire waterway? So deliberately move forward in an S shape and try the width of the fairway. Second, at this moment, the small command cabin was already crowded with observation and mapping personnel who had just come from the flagship, and they were observing and mapping the ground shape and battery position data on both sides of the entire Hepu waterway through the tools in their hands. Although intelligence officers have already provided information, seeing it with their own eyes can provide more accurate technical support for possible future attacks.

When the port of Yokosuka was already in sight, the Astute began to speed up, and regardless of the signals of the main direction, it forcibly approached a vacant pier. The Astute's behavior was so angry that he trembled, and the warship, which was less than 800 tons, looked at the entire military harbor's batteries as if they were nothing. But there was no way, the Astute was approaching anyway.

Before the ship came to a stop, Qiu Zishan, the captain of the Astute, waved the flag: "You are limited to ten minutes to find an interpreter, and you will not wait for it to be outdated." Nakamuta asked people to hurry to find a Chinese interpreter, and used this time to tell the staff officers who came to tell him about the situation of the fleet he saw.

Ten minutes later, the Chinese translator came. Nakamuta still couldn't see the captain, and no matter how he asked, the sailors only replied: "If you don't leave, we will leave if you don't leave." Nakamuta just sat on the deck and left.

The gentle knock on the door woke up Hirobumi Ito, who was on the sickbed.

"Your Excellency Prime Minister, Your Excellency Nakamuta, Minister of Naval Command, sent a message back from Yokosuka." Outside the door, Kawakami **6 said softly.

"Come in, please." Hirofumi Ito sat up and said to Kawakami **6, who entered the door, "What the hell is going on?" ”

"The telegram said that His Excellency Nakamuta could be sure that this fleet was the Qing fleet. Because not only are all crew members Qing national, but each warship is named in Chinese. The fleet seen by His Excellency Nakamuta consisted of a total of 18 warships, including two battleships of more than 12,000 tons and five large cruisers. But the biggest difference between this fleet and the Qing fleet was that all the crew members were not wearing Qing naval uniforms and did not have braids. ”

"Is that all?" Ito's face began to flush a little. How is this possible for the Qing fleet? Why didn't the Qing fleet have braids?

"Yes, Your Excellency. Because it was not considered that this might be the Qing fleet, His Excellency Nakamuta did not bring a Chinese translation. This was the message he sent back when he returned to Yokosuka for a translator. ”

"Please come here, gentlemen."

Prince Chihito Arisugawa, **6 Kawakami, and Foreign Minister Mutsu Munemitsu gathered at Hirobumi Ito's bedside. The telegram sent back by Nakamuta was undoubtedly shocking, but the Qing fleet, which had no braids, was also puzzling. Many ideas have been proposed, but no reasonable explanation has been given to the discussions. Everyone didn't go, sitting here waiting for the latest news from Nakamuta. Until it was almost dark.

"His Excellency Nakamuta sent a telegram back." Kawakami **6, who was guarding the telegraph room, finally came back and said in a tired voice: "The other fleet is the Great Qing Pacific Fleet, and they demand that our troops in the Qing Kingdom immediately lay down their arms and surrender. Otherwise, attacks on the coastal cities of our country will be expanded. They gave us twenty-four hours to think about it. Obsolete does not wait. ”

No way. This is the thought of all those present. In order to conquer the great cause of the Qing Dynasty, the empire prepared for more than ten years, and sent countless spies before and after the Qing Dynasty, from the people to the court, and collected and sorted out all kinds of information in detail. But I have never heard of such a fleet in the Qing state.

Just then, another telegram arrived. It was a telegram from the Third Army of Shandong, which had just been contacted. The Third Army reported on the Rongcheng Bay massacre. On November 22, the Sixth Division, which had just landed a brigade, was attacked by the Beiyang Fleet, and when the combined fleet was about to defeat the Beiyang Fleet, the sudden fleet sank all the combined fleets and ** the Sixth Division. However, the 2nd Division was burdened with the task of changing the fate of the empire, and all the 2nd Divisions fought bravely to be the first, and now they have broken through the defense line of Li Hongzhang, the governor of the Qing Dynasty, in Cangzhou, and 70,000 Qing troops have been defeated. The last resistance of the Qing State was concentrated in Tianjin, and it was the Qing First Division, which had just won in Liaodong.

Liaodong was defeated and the combined fleet was destroyed, but there was still hope for the empire, and that was the second division. As long as the Second Division can defeat the First Division of the Qing State, then Tianjin has been trampled underfoot, and the capital of the Qing State is just around the corner. The capture of the Qing capital became the last offensive motivation of the 2nd Division, because it was the last remaining hope of the empire.

The Second Division of the Yue Army began to attack Cangzhou in the early morning, but it was only one morning. The 70,000 Qing troops in Cangzhou had fled in all directions, and Dong Fuxiang, the commander of the Gan army, who had been given high hopes by Cixi, had already retreated to Bazhou with his Gan army, leaving Tianjin to the first division.

The Yue army, which defeated the Qing army, once again received a large amount of weapons and food left by the Qing army in Cangzhou. The Yue army, which had completed the supply, took advantage of the great victory and attacked in the direction of Tianjin with all its might. However, the Tianjin 1st Division had already set up passes at various intersections and intercepted all the routed troops. For the rout who wanted to force their way through the pass, they directly machine-gunned fire, and the rout either stayed behind to accept the reorganization, or they could only go through the mountains to find their way home.

At this time in Tianjin, there were already several secret squads moving in the direction of Cangzhou. They were the special forces transferred back from the Liaodong battlefield to reconnoiter the situation of the army and prepare for the attack launched by the first division. Their main task was to guide the rout in the direction of the retreat.

The victorious 2nd Division began to pursue the scattered Qing army, and the army found that the defeated Qing army was in front of them, and it seemed that they could catch up with the Qing army with a little more force. But no matter how much force you put on, it's always a little bit worse, and it seems that you just need to add a little more force. However, they did not pay attention to the fact that in the course of this inadvertent pursuit, the Second Division of the Chinese Army had already dispersed in all directions, the establishment of the division and regiment had been completely disrupted, and the division headquarters was no longer able to effectively assemble troops.

And in the staff headquarters in Tokyo, the dawn brought by the 2nd Division once again inspired him. Only Ito Hirobumi felt a hint of unease, but he couldn't say it himself. Since the beginning of the war, Ito Hirobumi has always had the feeling that Pyongyang's victory has given the empire a glimmer, but the Beiyang Fleet has become a haze that will never dissipate. After defeating the Beiyang Fleet, he saw the light again, but the battle of Niuzhuang Haicheng was like a haze gathering again. Finally surrounded the Qing Emperor, and when the dawn reappeared, the haze over the empire was still dissipated by the crushing defeat in Liaodong. The ensuing Battle of Rongcheng Bay and the shelling of the empire mainland made this haze more and more heavy. It was not until the Third Division was like a bamboo breaking through the Shandong Peninsula that the dawn seemed to come again. But the first division of the Qing army was like a shield, but it was in front of the imperial sword. For Ito, every time the dawn comes, there is always a gloom ahead that cannot be dissipated.

The second division, the fate of the empire is pleased. Ito Hirobumi bowed deeply in the direction of Kiyoku.

At this time, everyone forgot about the Pacific Fleet off the coast of Tonkin Bay. (To be continued.) )