In the southern part of the Korean Peninsula, Zhenwan Bay, where the headquarters of the Combined Fleet is located, two and a half years ago, on February 14, the Combined Fleet sailed out of Kure Harbor, passed through Etajima Island and Sasebo, and on the 21st of February, it entered Jinwan on the Korean Peninsula. The Combined Fleet used Zhenwan as a base to train for the upcoming Battle of the Navy.

The sound of artillery resounded day and night in the sea and air, and the smoke of gunpowder lingered in the bay for a long time, and in just two months, the Combined Fleet fired more shells for training new tactics and improving artillery firing exceeded the shells used by the Combined Fleet for training in the past year.

The commander's chamber of the battleship "Mikasa", the flagship of the Combined Fleet, roared with artillery.

"Akiyama-kun, take a look, take a look."

Heihachiro Togo, the commander of the Combined Fleet, who was short but known as "lucky", said indignantly, raising the telegram in his hand. The telegram was from Gonbei Yamamoto, detailing the entry of the [***] squadron into Korea, and out of fear that the Lu army would conquer the Tumen River, the army hoped that the navy would send warships to provide cover for the army, while on the other hand, Yamamoto also asked if the fleet could adjust the fleet berthing to ensure safety.

"Those guys in the army actually want to let the fleet provide cover for them at this critical time, what a group of guys who don't know the severity!"

Standing opposite him was the mild-mannered staff officer of the Combined Fleet Command, Mayuki Akiyama.

"Those guys in the army are too much, they even ignore the key to the war against Lu, it will be decided by naval battles, they have been defeated again and again in Manchuria, and they are still pointing fingers, it's ridiculous to the extreme!"

In the face of the commander's words, Akiyama Shinyuki, who was a little superstitious and a little god-in-cheek, smiled in return, this will make him no longer see the kind of gods and gods he had before, and the attack of the [***] team on North Korea made him breathe a sigh of relief, and he no longer needed to worry about whether they would give Yumoto a fatal blow somewhere.

When the commander was there to criticize the army, Akiyama Shinyuki only smiled silently, he was from the Matsuyama domain, and the army controlled by the Nagasu domain was not as bad as Togo, who was born in the Satsuma domain. What's more, his elder brother Akiyama Yoshiko was also in the army, and he also participated in the war against Luguo, and led the cavalry to defeat the Cossack cavalry.

"Your Excellency, I wonder if you will accept Chief Yamamoto's suggestion?"

Mayuki Akiyama, who did not want to blame the Army, directly diverted the topic by taking advantage of the words of the previous commander.

"This ...... Well...... What do you think? Akiyama"

Heihachiro Togo, who was still angry, asked rhetorically.

"You are the chief of staff of the combined fleet, and all combat plans are formulated by you, so I would like to hear your opinion!"

Heihachiro Togo, how could he not know that the reason why he was chosen as the commander of the Combined Fleet was only because "that kid from Togo has always been lucky", and His Excellency Yamamoto chose his own purpose was to use his own luck.

"Your Excellency."

Mayuki Akiyama was still smiling.

"The latest intelligence is that Lucia's 2nd Pacific Fleet has sailed into the Chinese's Sanduao Naval Base, where it is believed that they will be repairing and repairing ships, and even that the 2nd Pacific Fleet may be able to purchase China's high-quality anthracite instead of ...... Inferior quality coal! ”

The best coal for warships was the most expensive Welsh coal, and of course the British would not sell it to the Russians anymore, because it was the British as the maritime hegemon who made it a violation of neutrality to supply coal to the belligerents during the war, and this proposition made it impossible for the German company Hamburg American, which contracted the Russian Second Pacific Fleet to transport coal, to buy Welsh anthracite.

Now the Russian fleet was using the cheapest and worst-quality coal that the Hamburg Amerionian Company had managed to collect, and the British blockade and the Russians' own corruption meant that Rozhestwinsky could only burn smoky and inferior coal, which undoubtedly provided the best target in a naval battle.

And this is the reason why the bituminous coal is supplied to it, the calorific value of bituminous coal is less than one-third of the British charcoal, and it does not produce too much steam no matter how it burns, and only produces a large amount of choking gas, and the diffuse black smoke cannot conceal the fleet, and the inferior calorific value will consume more fuel to reach the maximum speed, which requires more personnel to shovel coal.

"Chinese coal?"

"In order to ensure the supply of high-quality British coal, we sent the navy to Britain to protect British carbon, but we never thought that China also produces high-quality coal that is not inferior to Welsh white coal, and the Chinese Navy uses domestic white coal, and our intelligence shows that Sanduao has at least 100,000 tons of high-quality white coal reserves, Chinese to repair warships for the Russians, and at the same time provide them with white coal, I am afraid of ......"

When Akiyama Mayuki was silent, he kept eating fried beans, and the bean shells were thrown in the chief's room at will, while Togo turned a blind eye, which was Akiyama's habit when thinking about problems.

"If nothing else, within a month, the Lu fleet will leave Sanduao and go to Tsushima."

Seeing that Akiyama had not finished speaking, Togo Heihachiro was about to ask, but he continued.

"What if we leave the bay and look for warplanes somewhere else?"

Mayuki Akiyama looked at the chart with a pencil:

"Since it is not possible to conceive that a single artillery battle can knock the entire fleet of the Lu Guo under the water, I will draw up the "seven-stage operation" combat plan, that is, starting from the main warships of the two sides from meeting and fighting, and preparing a total of seven attacks along the narrow Yubenhai Sea from the Tsushima Strait to Vladivostok, so as to achieve the goal of destroying their main forces."

When Akiyama proposed his own battle plan, Togo nodded, this plan is indeed extremely wonderful and extremely difficult. The difficulty lies in the fact that this is not an ambush formation of a long snake, but a number of warships of the same combined fleet starting from the Tsushima Strait and moving simultaneously along the Saihonkai and the Lu Guo fleet, pestering the Lu Guo fleet to carry out repeated attacks, and if they are not careful, they will lose everything.

However, this is the only chance that the combined fleet, which has only four capital warships, can defeat the Lu Country Fleet.

"If it were on other battlefields, and they didn't check and let them bypass other regions, or even enter the Pacific, then it would be difficult to say whether they would win or lose. As soon as they enter the Pacific, then they can go to Vladivostok to get supplies and recuperate, and the situation will be very unfavorable for the Combined Fleet......"

Mayuki Akiyama put down his pencil and looked at the commander in front of him.

"That's 7 battleships......"

Heihachiro Togo nodded, the fleet of the country is too strong.

"If we can intercept them in the Tsushima Strait, then we still have a chance of winning, and if we do it somewhere else, I'm afraid we ......."

"Are you really sure you can win in Tsushima?"

"Bet on it."

Akiyama Shinyuki opened his mouth and spat out two words, "Well, that's all there is to it." ”

Not only did Togo Heihachiro and Akiyama Shinyuki have a gambling habit, but even the entire nation has the psychology of gamblers, or the psychology of gamblers has been affecting the country for thousands of years, but the fate of the combined fleet, and even the national fortunes of the Empire, can also be gambled, of course, you can bet on the gambling table.

Since the Meiji Restoration, whether it is the First Sino-Japanese War or the Russo-Japanese War, isn't it all gambling with the national fortunes of the book, but fortunately, so far, the book has won the bet...... So what about this time? They will definitely be able to win the bet, and it is with this psychology that they will bet everything on this invisible, but the biggest gamble in the world. For gamblers, they are used to this, and they are willing to bet all in order to get the maximum reward, perhaps the war itself is the gambler's livelihood.

In the valley, the weary soldiers dragged forward with heavy footsteps, and occasionally the slightest stir of the wind and grass raised their heads to look up at the sky, and sometimes the black dots of a large bird flying through the sky would make the marching column unkempt, and even lead to chaos.

Although the 2nd Reserve Division was only a newly mobilized force, it would not be surrounded by fear as it is now, a few hours earlier, six planes had dropped thirty-six bombs on their heads, and then the planes circled over their heads for several minutes, and for the rest of the time, those planes would always fly over their heads at random times, firing a burst of bullets without a head.

“326、184、207、89……”

Muttering about the casualties caused by the four attacks, Akinosuke Hisaishi, who was the chief of staff of the Second Reserve Division, sighed helplessly, the casualties of the four attacks from the air were not large, and the soldiers killed were only more than two hundred, and the continuous blows made the original morale extremely low, and the casualties were not large, but the inability to stop the attacks from the air made everyone desperate to the extreme, at least in the face of the plane, in addition to powerlessness and despair, what could be done was to scatter and flee.

Plane...... Looking up at the sky, Akinosuke Hisaishi sighed bitterly, once they thought that those planes would only fly in the sky, at most they would look at them in the air, and then inform the army of their location, the planes were like birds, almost harmless, but the bombs that fell a few hours ago and the bullets that continued to strafe each other woke everyone up, and the flying robot birds turned out to kill people.

Machine guns, poison gas, airplanes...... How many new weapons will the Chinese invest in this war?

When thinking about this question, Akinosuke Hisaishi, who was riding on a horse, only felt powerless, in his impression, China is a backward country, and it is impossible for them to have so many advanced weapons, but now the ironclad facts tell him that China has weapons that it has never had.

"Hey, I promise that there will be more planes coming in the future, those planes haven't come for two hours, they must be going back to call more planes!"

All sorts of rumors spread among the soldiers in the marching column, and when a look of fear appeared on their faces, they did not know that the six planes had already emptied the last drum of the last attack and had returned to the base with their first victory to sum up the experience of the air raid.

After two days and one night of marching, I don't know how many unjust roads have been taken, in the afternoon, the vanguard of the 1st Cavalry Regiment finally arrived at the foot of a valley only one hill away from the Wulidong interception point. The valley was located between the cliffs, and the mountains on both sides were steep, and from time to time there was a whistle of wind from the lush forests on the mountains, and then the vanguard cavalry saw the sentinels of friendly troops on the side of the mountain forest, and a smile finally appeared on everyone's face.

When the sky was approaching evening, after the main cavalry force of the first cavalry regiment arrived in the valley, the cavalry immediately took out the barley from the horse feed bag and fed the war horses, after the war horses ate a few catties of barley feed, the cavalry immediately untied the horse's hooves and leggings in turn, and began to massage the feet of the war horses, the cavalry seemed mighty, and the cavalry charge seemed earth-shattering, but behind all this, it was the extremely fragile war horse, the cavalry was mighty, and it was also the hardest group of people, for the ten minutes of charge, they had to massage the war horse several times a day, People can not eat or drink, and they can support their bodies by will, but war horses cannot.

The cavalry in the valley would also use the last time to pull the horses to the stream, and scrub the horses with a brush to keep the horses alive, until the sky was completely dark, and the tired and tired cavalrymen, who had been busy for nearly two hours, would begin to enjoy their simple dinner, while there were a few light signals from the mountains and forests.

"The enemy has been found to be in the lead!"

The signal was the order, and more than 1,600 cavalrymen immediately pressed their saddles, packed their bags, and in just a minute or two, the cavalry team that had been resting was ready to attack.

Two kilometers away from the canyon lined with cliffs on both sides, Akinosuke Hisaishi stopped his advance, his eyes rolling a little uneasily. The Yoshio Tai next to him asked with some concern.

"This is the last dangerous pass, if the Chinese army is held here, I'm afraid it will be difficult for us to pass through here!"

Nodding his head, looking at the stone cliff that looked a little pale under the moon, the sentinels had already passed through the canyon, and there was no trace of any defensive position in the narrow canyon.

"This place is steep on both sides, if there is no ambush in the valley, then it is possible to ambush on the mountain, in that case, it can be taken by surprise, but they hold here, from the choice of terrain, it is indeed beneficial to the defending side, this cliff ......?"

After thinking for a while, he spoke again.

"We can't go up, they can't go down, and it's a dead place for the defending side!"

After a moment of silence, he pulled out the map from his bag, and then suddenly ordered the communications soldiers.

"The cavalry squadron immediately searched the Gyeongri area backwards, if their ambush force was two......"

As he spoke, he looked into the valley with a telescope, and saw that the troops passing in the valley were carrying supplies on mules and horses, and the crowd was chaotic, hurriedly and quickly advancing towards the valley.

"One was placed on the hill to block the enemy, and the other quickly pounced from the rear......"

"Whew...... Tweet ......"

The soldiers in the canyon who were in a mess and were passing through the canyon quickly according to the order did not even notice the sound coming from the air.

Ryuta Hashimoto, who was leading the mule and horse carrying two boxes of bullets, first heard the sound of "click" that seemed to be the bullet box being hit by something, and then with a "poof" sound, he only felt that something had penetrated into his chest and lower abdomen, and after the hot thing had penetrated into his body, he only felt that his whole body strength was violently withdrawn from his body.

When he collapsed limply to the ground, his facial features seemed to be enlarged, and his hearing and vision were put down at this moment, what sound would the wind make when it swept the grass?

Call...... Chirp...... Burst...... Call...... Chirp...... Burst...... Burst...... Call...... Chirp...... Burst...... The sound was like the sound of the sea breeze blowing through the rice fields when he and Miko were making love in the rice fields of Fukuoka's hometown, but when the sound of the wind sweeping the strong grass came, the accompanying pop sound was not Miko's charming moan, but a burst of screams.

Shooting on the ground, Takaki Hashimoto saw that there seemed to be countless black dots in the air, perhaps with a little moonlight, so he dragged out an arc that seemed like a meteor, and when the arc swept to the end, he could always see a figure constantly falling to the ground while running.

Screams, cries, panicked cries all came into his auditory nerves, which were magnified to the extreme, although he no longer had any strength in his body, but his eyes could be opened, and in his sight, the speed of the running man seemed to be slowing down, like, like what, he couldn't tell, he could clearly see that the running man's body suddenly fell backwards involuntarily on their shoulders or chest, and at the same time they had a spray gushing out of their chest and shoulders, and then they fell heavily to the ground, When they fell, there was still a "poof, poof......" sound from their bodies.

When he saw his fellow villager Xiao Tian running, his head suddenly exploded and disappeared, perhaps because he was lying on the stone, he could hear the crisp crash, the crash sounded like ...... It's a bit like the sound of raindrops hitting the roof tiles when it's raining in my hometown, and it's like ...... Before he could figure out why the sound sounded so familiar, in the midst of this crisp sound, he heard a burst of horses' hooves, yes, he couldn't be mistaken, the sound of horses' hooves, but the sound of horses' hooves seemed far away.

Suddenly, the valley that was originally only moonlit was suddenly illuminated, and clusters of orange flames of different sizes lit up in the canyon, looking at the fireworks, although I could hear the whistling of shrapnel and stones that were blown away when they exploded, but Hashimoto Takaki was immersed in an inexplicable emotion, and this fireworks were as beautiful as the fireworks that he played with when he was a child.

What a beautiful flame! Sighing at the beauty of the fireworks, Hashimoto stopped paying attention to the bodies that were blown away and torn apart in the air, but just looked at the fireworks, which reflected some brilliance in his eyes, but the brilliance was passing, and just as his vision became blurred, he heard the sound of the horse's hooves getting closer and louder......

(To be continued)