The Japanese European fleet had four battleships, and the Kongo, Hiei, Shikishima, and Hatsuse were completely in accordance with the standards of the original Qing Dynasty's order of the Majesty-class improved battleships from the British, and the design requirements were to be able to suppress the Ryugin-class battleships, of which the two ships Shikishima and Hatsuse were even the two ships ordered by the Qing Dynasty at all. With a displacement of 14,000 tons, two twin L4O/3O5 mm first-class guns, four twin-mounted L4O/2O3 mm second-stage guns, 1O single-barreled L4O/152 mm guns, and 8 twin-mounted 37mm rapid-fire guns, the Dragon's Yin class is not comparable in terms of the number of guns alone, and the armor is thicker and the speed is two knots faster. Since the Tatsugin-class began to eliminate torpedo tubes, which were useless for battleships, not only the Japanese, but also the battleships built by the British in the future, all changes were made accordingly.

The four heavy cruisers, Asama and Tokiwa, were built by the British, but the 9,000-ton displacement battleships were equipped with five twin L4O/152 mm guns. The Azuma and Yakumo-2 ships were built by the French and had a displacement of only 8,000 tons, but because the French ingeniously installed two twin L4O/25O mm naval guns for the two ships, the power should not be underestimated.

The four protective cruisers, the French-built Chitose and Kasazaki No. 2 ships, and the Austro-Hungarian-built Fuji and Suma No. 2 ships, although they are only four or five thousand tons, are equipped with two single-mounted 4O times caliber 2O3 mm naval guns, in addition to ten single-barreled L4O/152 mm guns and 12 single-mounted 76 mm rapid-fire guns, the firepower projection per unit time is also considerable, and the most important thing is that the speed of these four light cruisers has reached 22 knots.

Ten destroyers are also very dangerous, don't look at the largest is only 400 tons of displacement, but the fastest speed can reach 3o knots, once they break into the battleship and heavy patrol formation, it will be a disaster!

The Japanese European squadron consisted of twenty-two warships. Together with the three 10,000-ton supply ships they ordered in Italy, a total of 25 ships have been docked in the new return slope for the last replenishment before returning home. The CIA report said that the day the Japanese European detachment docked in Singapore. The spies had already taken pictures of every ship of the Japanese fleet under the cover of local Chinese, and they had already sent them out of Singapore that night.

There were also four battleships and two heavy cruisers in the Japanese Gulf of Tonkin. Among them, Toyama and Yashima were orders placed before the first day of the war. Therefore, it completely imitates the equipment of the Longyin-class battleship, and the weapons and firepower are exactly the same, but due to the slightly late construction, there are slight improvements in seaworthiness and maneuverability.

The two ships with a displacement of 12,000 tons are each equipped with two 35L/33O mm twin guns, two 35L/2O3 mm twin guns, and 15 35L/127 mm single guns for the purpose of exporting firepower.

Izumo and Iwate were heavy cruisers. The same model ordered by Qing Guo in the United States, with a displacement of 8,600 tons imitating the layout of Longyin. The main output firepower is two 35L/2O3 mm twin guns, four L4O/152 mm twin secondary guns, and eight L4O/152 mm guns.

Japan, which paid sky-high reparations after the defeat of the First Sino-Japanese War, made as many as eight battleships and six heavy cruisers in its frenzied shipbuilding plan, even if the Qing Navy plus the four Huludao ships under construction, the total tonnage of the Japanese Navy will surpass that of the Qing Dynasty!

On the other hand, on the side of the Qing Dynasty, the two Longyin-class battleships, Longyin and Longxiao, with a displacement of 12,000 tons, each ship has only two 4ol/3o5mm twin guns and 2o 4ol/152mm single-barreled guns. The German-built Haichen and Haichou 2 ships were comparable to the British battleships of the Shikijido class, and they also had a displacement of 14,000 tons. Each has two twin 4ol/3o5 mm primary guns, four twin 4ol/2o3 mm secondary main guns, and only 6 single-barreled 45L/152 mm secondary guns. 8 single-mounted 37-mm rapid-fire guns.

There were four heavy cruisers, four of which were built in Britain before the First Sino-Japanese War, the Tiger Might, the Tiger Ben, the Tiger Vision, and the Tiger Fury, the first two were brought back from Hawaii, and the last two were detained in Britain in the First Sino-Japanese War due to the Qing and Japanese Wars. Each of the four Huwei class ships has a displacement of only 6,000 tons, two twin 4ol/2O3 mm main guns, ten single-barreled L45/152 mm guns, 12 single-mounted 76-mm rapid-fire guns and four twin-mounted 37-mm rapid-fire guns. The other two heavy patrol ships in Ninghai and Jihai are American-built, and they are of the same type as Japan's Izumo-class.

In addition, there are two ships in Dingzhen. A total of four old battleships were captured from Russia after the Battle of Tsushima, the former Russian Catherine II, renamed the Haiqi, and Sinop, which was renamed the Hairong. Laiyuan, Jingyuan, and the Duke of Edinburgh, renamed Huahai, and the Imperial Guard, renamed Jinghai, which were also captured from Russia. A total of four old protective cruisers.

There were as many as twenty-six destroyers in the Qing Dynasty, but the speed was not flattering.

The Jingyuan, Jiyuan, and Chesma were dismantled. It is used to repair and update other old ships, and the interior trim can be used on the Huludao Four Ships to speed up the construction of the Huludao Four Ships.

It's not easy to fight, it's really hard to fight!

The blackboard in the corner of the large conference room of the General Staff Headquarters was filled with ships of the Qing and Japanese navies. Guangxu and Li Hongzhang listened to the war deduction of the General Staff Headquarters here. In terms of numbers, the Qing was ahead of Japan in terms of numbers with eight battleships, ten cruisers, and twenty-six destroyers, but in terms of total tonnage, it was even lower than Japan. The quality of the ships is also not comparable.

"In addition to the ships listed above, the Hawaiian fleet invited by our Qing Dynasty to conduct exercises has arrived. The two Dragon-class battleships USS Hawaii and the USS Queen are in Naha Harbor, and the two Tiger-class heavy cruisers USS Kauai and USS Oahu are undergoing final maintenance in Keelung Harbor, and the maintenance can be completed within three days to join the combat sequence, and four other destroyers have also arrived in Taiwan. If the Qing Dynasty decides to declare war on Japan, the Qing Dynasty will act three days in advance, under the pretext that Japan deliberately bombed and sank the merchant ships of the Hawaiian Kingdom, and will declare war on Japan the day before the Qing Dynasty declares war. In this way, the current naval strength of our Qing Dynasty is sufficient to fight a head-on battle with Japan. ”

Chief of Staff Wang Shizhen sat down after speaking, and Minister of the Navy Deng Shichang stood up and continued: "In addition to the four ships of our navy, Haichen, Haichou, Ninghai, and Jihai, which can compete with the corresponding types of Japanese ships, the four Dragon-class battleships and the six Tiger-class heavy cruisers are all warships before the First Sino-Japanese War, not to mention the old ships such as Dingzhen. Japan except for the two ships Toyama and Yashima. The rest of the ships were newly built after the First Five-Year War, and they were faster and stronger than the existing ships of the Qing Dynasty in terms of tonnage, firepower, and speed. In other words, in terms of ships, I Daqing is far behind Japan. Thankfully. The Emperor Shengming had excellent foresight, because in the First Sino-Japanese period, our Qing Dynasty carried out a annihilating blow to the Japanese Combined Fleet. Not only have the former Japanese Combined Fleet, from the chief officer to the sailors, been slaughtered by the Qing Dynasty, but even the cadets of the Japanese Etajima Naval School have also been wiped out, with the direct result that the current Japanese fleet can only let the captain of the former cargo ship serve as the captain of a heavy cruiser, and actual combat experience has become the biggest weakness of the Japanese fleet. According to the information sent back from Singapore, the sailors who had been trained on the Toyama and Yashima 2nd ships were now serving as officers in the Japanese European detachment, but judging from the situation of entering the port, these sailors who had received them were still unqualified. And the newly recruited sailors who remained on Japanese soil even almost collided while training off the coast of Tokyo Bay, Japan. Such a warship operated by sailors could not maintain stability in the fierce artillery battle, but our Qing navy has been tested in a series of naval battles such as Dadonggou, Rongcheng Bay, and Tsushima. It is an army with a hard style and the ability to fight. This is also the reason why our Qing Navy can challenge the fleet with stronger ships with a weak fleet. ”

"The four ships of Ding, Zhen, Haiqi and Hairong have completed the transformation of their power systems, but the maximum speed of the four ships can only reach 16 knots. The speed of the four ships of Laiyuan, Jingyuan, Huahai and Jinghai can reach 18 knots, but the design department is unable to upgrade their firepower because the hulls of these eight ships are too old and their structural strength has declined. Therefore, these eight ships are only used in naval schools and other places in peacetime as training fleets. Compared with the new fleet of the Japanese fleet, these eight ships could not participate in the frontal decisive battle in terms of firepower, protection, and speed, so the Navy Staff decided to organize these eight ships as the third task force to be used for peripheral containment in the decisive battle, to prevent the wounded enemy ships from escaping, to clean up the battlefield after the battle, and to advance and deter the enemy on the mainland. Four Dragon-class battleships, two Haichen-class battleships, plus six Tiger-class heavy cruisers and two Ninghai-class heavy cruisers, a total of 14 capital ships, were organized into the second task force, which was equivalent to the number of the main forces of all Japanese fleets, although the density of firepower projection was worse than that of Japan. But the hit rate of our army is much higher than that of the Japanese army, and this alone is enough to make up for the gap in the performance of our ships and the number of firepower. So. Our Navy is not afraid of the Japanese Navy. Of course, what was said before was based on the convergence of the two Japanese detachments. But now, the Japanese fleet is divided into two armies, one south and one north, and although our army is caught in the middle of it and is in danger of being attacked on both sides, our navy has an incomparable advantage over any Japanese detachment. But now was a good opportunity, and the Naval Staff felt that it was necessary to annihilate its European detachment halfway before the Japanese fleet could converge and form an advantage. ”

The words of Cheng Cheng, Chief of the General Staff of the Navy, made Guangxu's eyes light up, why didn't he think of it before? Use Task Force 3 to hold back the Japanese Home Fleet. As long as the Qing Navy is concentrated within this time period and forcibly takes the Japanese European Fleet, it will be worth fighting out the Third Task Force. With the spirit of Guangxu sat straight. I saw Cheng Cheng take the baton and walk to the map, and began to draw against the map pen: "The Taiwan Strait and the Yellow Sea are said to be China's inland seas, and no matter how arrogant the Japanese European Fleet is, they will not dare to pass through China's internal waters when war may break out at any time." Therefore, their return route can basically be confirmed. Departing from Singapore, we returned from the South China Sea to the Ryukyu Sea via the Bass Strait. At the same time, the Japanese home detachment will inevitably go to sea to patrol frequently, one for training, and the other for tactical suppression of our main force to contain our main force, and to meet the European detachment at any time. ”

"The battle plan is this, the third task force will be concentrated in Weihaiwei, and the second task force will be concentrated in Naha, Keelung, Shanghai and other places. As long as our army makes this gesture, Japan will inevitably realize that our Qing Dynasty has the possibility of undeclared war with Japan. However, on this section of the South China Sea, everyone believed that there would be no war between each other, so once the Japanese army sailed out of the Bass Strait, in the choice of route, the route would inevitably change many times and even change to sail south to avoid our reconnaissance. In view of this, last year, in view of the superiority of the Patrol Sea in reconnaissance and guidance in the naval battle during the First Sino-Japanese War, the Admiralty built two reconnaissance ships, one to listen to the wind and one to watch the sea. Because of the new steam turbine power system, the 7oo ton displacement of the two ships is equipped with two twin 45L/1O2 mm guns while maintaining its high speed of 32 knots, and its firepower is enough to fight the Japanese destroyers, plus radio communications, the two ships are enough to meet the requirements of tracking the Japanese European detachment. The two ships listening to the wind and watching the sea have already headed south. At the same time, the Patrol was ready to be sent to Japan to monitor the Japanese home detachment. In this way, on the basis of accurate information about the Japanese fleet, all that remains is to choose a suitable location, listen to the wind and watch the sea, and the second ship will release a large amount of smoke in front of the Japanese fleet, and then our main fleet will suddenly appear in front of the Japanese fleet under the cover of smoke. Even if the Japanese reacted when our troops released smoke, this little time would not be enough to turn the cruising formation into a battle line. All that remains is to fight an ambush that will come as a surprise to Japan. ”

After Cheng Cheng finished speaking, he put down the baton and stepped down, so everyone focused their attention on Wu Deren.

"Look at what Lao Tzu is doing, Chief of General Staff Cheng has said that there is an ambush war, so what does Lao Tzu say. Rush up and him, and it's over. In the laughter of everyone, Wu Deren continued: "But Lao Tzu thinks it is best to choose a day with high winds and waves. Under such sea conditions, Japan can only rely on the blessing of God if it wants to hit Lao Tzu's fleet, but we are not afraid, we have not practiced under any conditions. ”

Guangxu stopped the generals' laughter: "Have you assessed the battle damage in the worst-case scenario?" ”

"Evaluated." Wu Deren said with certainty: "Once a war starts, the third task force will inevitably set up a cordon in the north of the battle, and the Japanese home fleet will also go south to meet it." In the worst-case scenario, the Japanese mainland ships sailed right towards the place of engagement. In this way, the 3rd Task Force will have to hold out until the 2nd Task Force has completed the annihilation of the Japanese European Fleet before it can be evacuated. Because Japan is a new type of ship, it is believed that the ship itself has sufficient anti-sinking ability. Once the battle lasted too long, the Third Task Force could not hold out for enough time, and that would be the situation in which the two Japanese fleets were caught in the middle of our Third Task Force. Under such circumstances, our army is still confident that it can annihilate the poorly trained Japanese fleet, but the Third Task Force will be completely annihilated, and our Second Task Force will probably sink two or three battleships and three or four heavy patrols, and all ships will be wounded, and two or three ships may be directly dismissed from the country due to injuries after returning to port. ”

As soon as Wu Deren's words came out, the entire conference room was silent. The generals were booing each other, but as military attachés, no one refuted them. Guangxu believes that this result was at least approved by the Admiralty.

Guangxu sighed, this result was unacceptable no matter what: "When will the four ships of Huludao be able to participate in the war?" ”

"It's going to take another three months."

Guangxu just said: It's still too slow, Deng Shichang, as the Minister of the Navy, came forward to explain: "At present, all the construction work of the four ships in Huludao has been completed. In the final test adjustment stage, Wechen can guarantee that the four ships of Huludao can be launched for sea trials within a month. As for the three months required, including the necessary adaptation training after the sea trials. It will take at least three months to enter the war, which has been assessed by the Admiralty. Although there is the Huludao in front, the four Huludao ships must be started at the same time, and there are still many changes after the hull is enlarged. In addition, this is the first time that the Qing Dynasty has built a 10,000-ton combat warship, which is not comparable to the Pingyuan, and the construction process is also cautious. It has only been 1o months since the construction began in August of the 22nd year of Guangxu, which is already the result of the shipyard's 1o months of two shifts and twelve hours a day without rest. ”

"Warships are no better than others. This is a matter of safety and national security, and I would rather be slow than cut corners because of rushing work. This needs to be ensured. It can complete the construction of four 10,000-ton warships at the same time in ten months. I believe this is also very fast in the whole world. I don't mean to blame, on the contrary, I need to reward those who have merit. I just sighed. Why do so many people come and go, why is it so difficult to come here? "Others don't understand who the emperor refers to so many people, but Guangxu knows in his heart that others want money to come to money, and if they want the army, one move is millions, and any plan can be accurately pinched. As a result, when it was his turn, his warship was still three months slower. Guangxu shook his head to drive away the bad thoughts, and asked rhetorically: "Wu Deren, what is the assessment result of the four ships of Huludao participating in the war three months later?" ”

"The results are basically the same." Wu Deren said with a sad face: "Although our army has added four new warships, Japan has completed the assembly of the fleet and has three more months of training time, and the head-on battle has lost the advantage of breaking through one by one. So Your Majesty, let's go to war in advance. At least we estimate that the worst-case scenario is unlikely. Wu Deren's words triggered the unanimous consent of the Admiralty and the General Staff Headquarters, and they all stepped forward to ask for an early war.

"Let's assemble the fleet as planned, or at least let's make a war gesture first. Let the Japanese know that the Qing Dynasty had the ability to go to war at any time. Guangxu finally made a decision after thinking about it for a long time. (To be continued)