Chapter 140 The Purpose of War (Ask for a Monthly Pass!) Read! ）

"Extra!" Zhiyuan ship "set sail!" ”

"Eight mén 13.5-inch cannon, an unprecedented giant cannon battleship!"

In Yokosuka, the stronghold of the Japanese Navy, the streets of the city can still see traces of the celebration of the victory in the Battle of Tsushima two months earlier to welcome the return of the Combined Fleet, and the sunburst flags are perched atop the mén windows. ()

At this time, the newsboy on the street with a brass bell in his hand kept shouting a word that made everyone tremble.

"The Zhiyuan ship is attacking!"

In the past three days, since the Chinese Navy's "Zhiyuan" went to the South Seas to continue its deterrence mission against Dutch East India, the Japanese, who were still immersed in the unprecedented victory in the Battle of Tsushima, were still immersed in the unprecedented victory in the Battle of Tsushima.

"Eight mén 13.5-inch cannons, one firepower is almost equal to three "Mikasa" ships! ”

"The most powerful warship on the ocean!"

"The warships of all seas have been eliminated overnight......"

Along with the newspaper reports, it seems that overnight, the fears of "Zhenyuan" and "Dingyuan" that appeared in Japan nearly 20 years ago once again surfaced in the Japanese archipelago.

Overnight, the people of the Japanese archipelago once again turned their expectant eyes to the "Imperial Treasure" Combined Fleet, and once again to Yokosuka, and at this time the main ships of the Combined Fleet were still concentrated in Nakayokosuka.

"Don't worry, the Combined Fleet has defeated the more powerful Luguo Navy!"

While people were comforting themselves, people kept coming to Yokosuka to inquire about the news, but Yokosuka was as vigilant as ever, after all, the war had not stopped, the army had just completed its attack on South Sakhalin, and formal peace negotiations with the Lu country had not yet begun.

In the guarded Yokosuka Military Port, two senior officers in naval uniforms, slowly leaving the headquarters, walked towards a nearby hill, and walked to the edge of the mountain road, both of them turned their eyes to the Yokosuka Naval Shipyard, which has the most well-equipped shipyard and the largest shipyard in Japan, and at this time, on the outfitting dock of the shipyard, thousands of ant-like workers are maintaining the warship damaged in the Battle of Tsushima, In the past two months, the maintenance of warships has never stopped, and the battleships damaged in the naval battle have been restored as quickly as possible, and in its dock, Russian warships salvaged from Arthur are being repaired in the dockyard.

Overnight, it seemed that all of Japan was preparing for a war.

"A new war!"

Heihachiro Togo said as he looked at the battleship Mikasa that had completed repairs in the distance.

"This battle seems inevitable!"

As he spoke, Heihachiro Togo let out a sigh, and he looked at the warships anchored in Yokosuka Bay, the Combined Fleet had defeated the seemingly invincible Lucia Second Pacific Fleet two months earlier, and now, it was about to enter a new naval battle, which was also a naval battle that would determine the fortunes of the country.

"Yes, Your Excellency!"

The Chief of Staff of the Combined Fleet, Shimamura Speedo, turned his face, and his modest eyes flashed with a slight desire for war.

"However, I am confident that we will be victorious, Your Excellency!"

Shimamura Suo's confident answer made Togo Heihachiro suddenly silent, whether the combined fleet has won a great victory in the Battle of the Open Sea, or is about to be thrown into a new naval battle, in his eyes, Lucia or China, it seems that there is not much difference, the only difference is only the difference between the enemy, the only difference is that both are fierce enemies, and even the latter is far more powerful than the former.

"The Chinese Navy is very accurate!"

Heihachiro Togo directly stated a fact that the Japanese Navy had been reluctant to admit.

"Well, ten years ago, the Beiyang Naval Division did not shell very accurately, and the hit rate of our large-caliber shells in the Battle of Tsushima was not inferior to theirs! But that Beiyang is long gone! ”

While Shimamura was talking, Heihachiro Togo wiped his sweaty forehead with a folded white handkerchief, his tone was as calm as in the past, and his walking steps were so fast that Shimamura felt a little uncomfortable.

"The naval battle between us and the Qing people, in fact, you and I both understand that the victory was so lucky, if ...... Of course, there is nothing how, indeed, now the Beiyang ten years ago no longer exists, but we also cannot ignore this opponent, you must know that our artillery is not necessarily more accurate than the Chinese, this may be Xingge! ”,

When mentioning the hit rate of artillery, Heihachiro Togo said with a hint of sadness: a few months ago, when the Combined Fleet was training in Zhenwan in order to make every effort to improve the hit rate of artillery, the ideal value in his heart was to achieve the 5.5% hit rate of the large-caliber naval guns of the Beiyang Naval Division eleven years ago, and after months of training, he barely reached this value.

However, the actual gap is very clear to Heihachiro Togo, who is the commander of the Combined Fleet, that the Japanese Navy has achieved this achievement by relying on an epoch-making rangefinder and a new artillery sighting system, while the Beiyang Naval Division of the Qing Dynasty at that time used a sextant and a mechanical ruler to achieve this achievement.

"If the technical equipment of the Chinese Navy now reaches the same level as the United Fleet, then one thing is certain, even if they are not the Beiyang Naval Division ten years ago, then their hit rate is by no means inferior to ours!"

"Your Excellency, you are inevitably too ambitious for others!"

Shimamura Suo was a little unconvinced by Togo's words.

"In any case, the loser of the year was the Qing State, not Japan! Although we won by a fluke! ”

"Perhaps, maybe we have the opportunity to inflict heavy losses on the Chinese Navy in a naval battle and force the Chinese Navy to go on the defensive, but it will be followed by the necessity of our attack from Korea to Manchuria, and the gap between the Japanese Army and the Chinese Army is not only in machine guns and artillery! Even in terms of machine guns and artillery, we must see that our army has no chance to break through the defense line of Chinese machine guns and barbed wire, but if we defeat the Chinese navy and the army cannot win, the end result will be ......."

Heihachiro Togo's voice sighed, as if with some hidden worries.

Now many people are worried that the Chinese's "Zhiyuan ship" is too powerful, 13.5-inch main gun, a warship 8mén giant cannon, on artillery, equivalent to two Mikasa, in terms of the amount of its projectiles, almost three Mikasa, just as the outside world said, the Zhiyuan ship attack, means that overnight, the world's navy is lagging behind the Chinese navy! ”

"So why do you support the resolution of the China issue as soon as possible?"

Shimamura Suo asked with some dissatisfaction.

"Because it has to be solved!"

Looking at the warships in the bay, Heihachiro Togo's voice suddenly became high.

"If there is no Zhiyuan ship, we can wait a little longer, and wait for the day when all the warships are repaired, but now it is different, according to the reports of various shipyards, we will not be able to repair all the warships until August next year at the earliest, and at this time, will the Chinese have a few more Zhiyuan ships in service?"

After making this sensational comment, the two fell silent, just quietly watching the magnificent Yokosuka Bay.

"Yesterday, Akiyama visited me, and he told me that if we want to defeat the Chinese navy, we must declare war on China before the end of the year, and if we miss this opportunity, we have no hope of winning a naval battle!"

"Huh? Why? ”

Shimamura was stunned.

"Because by the end of the year, we will have 7 warships and 9 armored cruisers available, and the Chinese, they now only have 2 Zhenhai class, or then there will be two "Zhiyuan class", their main turret has a total of 10, and the firepower disparity is huge, the Zhenhai class uses 10-inch guns, the Zhiyuan class uses 13.5 inches, while we have 14 12-inch turrets and 17 8-inch turrets, 1 10-inch turret, which means that perhaps in terms of technology on warships, we are at a disadvantage, In terms of overall strength, we are far superior to the Chinese navy, which also means that appropriate tactics will make it possible for us to win naval battles. ”

"The 16 capital ships of the Combined Fleet alone have 28 mén 12-inch naval guns, 32 mén 8-inch naval guns, 1 mén 10-inch naval guns, and 202 mén 6-inch guns! The four capital ships of the Chinese Navy only have 16mén 13.5-inch naval guns, 8mén 10-inch naval guns, and 44mén 7.5-inch naval guns. ”

Heihachiro Togo said one of the simplest principles of naval warfare, which is also the root of the principles of naval warfare.

"But if it drags on any longer, even if it drags on for half a year, the situation will be tilted in favor of China, we will not be able to get a huge amount of military compensation from Lucia, and now the empire's financial resources are also empty, in the next two years, it is impossible to support the expansion of the navy, even if the support is limited, and China is different, China's economy is several times that of Japan, and its fiscal revenue is several times that of Japan, if China's investment in the navy is equal to the proportion of Japan, then Japan will invest all its financial resources in armaments, It is also impossible to gain the advantage of competition, for every warship built by the combined fleet, the Chinese can build two, and the longer it takes, the more favorable it is for China and the more unfavorable it is for Japan, just like before the war with the country! ”

At this time, the worry on Togo's face became more and more serious.

"And between China and Japan, it is destined to fight again, so it is better to fight late than early, and it is better to fight early than now, and we must do everything we can to completely defeat the Chinese Navy...... As for the end, that's the matter of the outer jiāo official, I hope we ......"

As soon as the words sank, Togo looked at the sea in the distance and said.

"You can interrupt China's development again!"