Before that, few people knew who Guo Haiqing was?

Who is he?

Even Song Biao didn't know about this question.

The hero rests deep under the sea.

At that moment, it is really incomprehensible how he made that tragic and resolute choice, perhaps because Asians have always had this spirit of sacrifice to value the country and the nation over self, as well as the strong nationalist spirit at the time of national awakening.

Of course, at this time, whether Guo Haiqing and the driving captain Li Hunting can be regarded as heroes has not yet been decided at this stage.

Both the Chinese Central Military Headquarters and the Japanese Military Department were eager to drag out the bodies of Guo Haiqing, who had sunk to the bottom of the sea, and Hasegawa Kiyoshi, the captain of the cruiser Nagano, and whipped them, in the words of Takahashi Miyoshi, the Minister of the Admiralty Takahashi -- "Is Hasegawa Kiyoshi crazy, how can he shoot so recklessly?" ”

It was also difficult for the Central Military Department to understand Guo Haiqing's direct ramming of the cruiser Nagaoka.

In short, the split second duel between Hasegawa Kiyoshi and Guo Haiqing directly pulled the Chinese Navy into a state of war, and before that, although the Ministry of the Navy had made a somewhat crazy tough posture of "not hesitating to maintain the dignity of the empire even if it wanted to go to war with the Chinese Navy", and the Central Military Department of China and the South Pacific Naval Command had also made a stubborn posture of "curbing the expansion of the Chinese Navy even if there was a war", but neither side actually had any real plan to go to war, and even had no such determination.

In fact, both sides are simply trying to use this saber-rattling posture to force concessions from the other, or to continue to force the Netherlands to back down, as was the case in the first Indonesian crisis, and both sides benefit from it.

As a result, this situation is really difficult for both naval leaders and cabinet officials to accept, this is really terrifying, those officers at the lower level must be crazy, right?

Everyone cursed in horror like this.

Especially Hasegawa Kiyoshi this guy, before the SNY 40315 patrol plane hit the heavy cruiser Nagaoka behind him, about ten technical officers and soldiers of the Chinese Navy urgently parachuted from the plane, because the distance of the parachute jump was too low, only a few of them really opened the parachute and landed on the sea, but these few were also killed by Hasegawa Kiyoshi ordered to strafe with machine guns.

Because the heavy cruiser Nagaoka has lost power, and the Chinese Navy aircraft and warships are constantly rushing over, in order to avoid the heavy cruiser Nagaoka falling into the hands of the enemy, Hasegawa Kiyodasa ordered the cruiser Nagaoka to be sunk, but the cruiser Nagano did not escape, and then the two patrol planes that arrived locked it firmly, and in the early morning of the next day, the four submarines successfully ambushed in the northern waters of the Sailan Sea, under the premise that the patrol planes and seaplanes interfered with each other and delayed the speed of the cruiser Nagano. Six torpedoes were fired in the manner of a submarine wolf pack operation, which sank it.

This was the Nagano incident.

No matter what the history of the two sides will say about this matter in the future, there is no doubt that at least at this moment, the military leaders of both sides are extremely bitter and bitter, and no one could have predicted that this trivial matter would drag the Chinese and Chinese navies into the abyss.

The Imperial Navy, which had lost two heavy cruisers, could not rest on its laurels, and the Imperial Navy could not stop retaliating, but for both sides, it was really worth the loss to start the Sino-Chinese naval battle in such a bizarre and unacceptable way.

Two hours after the Nagano was sunk in retaliation, Shu Fangde took a flight from Europe to rush back to Yanjing, which has a total of three airports, namely Yanjing Chaoyang Airport, Central International Airport and Central Air Force Airport, which is a special airport directly under the Central Military Department and under the jurisdiction of the Central Military Department and the Ministry of National Defense.

Shu Fangde flew all the way for sixteen hours, and could only rest on the bumpy plane, and when he got off the plane, the whole person was about to fall apart, and the feeling was really painful and dizzy.

What's worse than this is that as soon as he got off the plane, he heard Defense Minister Chen Qicai, who came to pick him up, talk about the Nagano incident, and Shu Fangde only felt a palpitation in his heart, his eyes were dark, and he almost fainted on the spot.

With the support of his entourage, Shu Fangde barely eased the moment when his blood pressure surged, and it took a while to come to his senses.

There were a number of military planes about to take off at the airport, the huge sound of the propellers was noisy and roaring, and the wind was blowing, Shu Fangde took the latest military intelligence report from Chen Qicai's hand, and looked at the report submitted by the South Pacific Naval Command, his mind was buzzing, and he was a little overwhelmed.

After reading the report, Shu Fangde still looked at Chen Qicai in surprise, as if he wanted to find the answer from Chen Qicai, and asked him again: "Have you told Your Majesty?" ”

Because he was injured in the European battlefield, his right hand was blown open by shrapnel and covered with scars, even if he has been wearing white gloves to cover it, Chen Qicai will still be used to putting his right hand in his trouser pocket, smoking a cigarette in his left hand, and replied to Shu Fangde with a solemn expression: "It has been reported, and Your Majesty has also approved." ”

Shu Fangde eagerly asked, "How does Your Majesty choose?" ”

Chen Qicai replied calmly: "Your Majesty said that the first strike is stronger, and then the first attack suffers." ”

After a slight pause, he added his opinion: "The matter has come to this, except for the official war, it is no longer possible for both sides to maintain a state of standoff without a fight in a decent manner, Gui Yongqing's bastard sank two heavy cruisers in a row, what do you want to do now, you can only wait until after the war to settle the account." ”

Shu Fangde was still not so sure about the situation of the navy, and asked Chen Qicai: "Is the navy sure?" ”

Chen Qicai thought for a while and said, "Let's fight...... If the army and air force had started faster and advanced directly to the Korean Strait, the situation would have been much better, but, with what we know about it, even so, it would not accept an armistice treaty, in short, it would be a very complicated situation, but in any case, the first strike is always the advantage, as far as we know, the first strike is always superior, as far as we know, the book has also been fully urgently mobilized, a big war is inevitable, but I hope that this war can win ten years of peace for the empire. ”

Shu Fangde handed back the military intelligence report in his hand to Chen Qicai, sighed with a heavy heart, and said, "Really, it would be like this." ”

Oh, yes.

That's how it is.

It can be said that all kinds of winds and waves have been experienced, and there has never been a real war, who would have thought that at this moment, for that little conflict between the Netherlands and the Netherlands, a war broke out.

Both sides were originally just trying to stop each other by intimidating the name, and there was absolutely no plan for the real outbreak of war, as the South Pacific waters speculated, China must prevent the expansion of the South Pacific, especially in the case that the naval strength is only equivalent to 1/2 of the British and American countries, equivalent to 70% of the navy, China's most desired situation is to maintain the current situation, of course, if the Netherlands is forced to continue to retreat, and China has the opportunity to profit from it, That, of course, is also an acceptable and good ending.

Shu Fangde couldn't help but ask Chen Qicai: "Who is the captain of the Nagano Army?" ”

Chen Qicai thought for a while and said: "It should be Hasegawa Qing's extreme [***] faction, saying that he is the [***] faction is highly praised, but in fact, it is an obviously neurotic and imperial stubborn faction." ”

Shu Fangde scolded hatefully: "Is that guy really insane? Or is it crazy? ”

Chen Qicai said: "Obviously, it is both, and there are countless such people in the military, and I don't know if it is their tragedy or our bad luck." ”

Both of them are full of complaints, although they are always belligerent as soldiers, but these two are not hawks, in the Central Military Department, the pacifist generals are actually the majority, especially among the high-ranking generals at the level of generals, basically only Zhang Yahu, a person with a fierce surname, belongs to the hawks in the strict sense, and most of the others belong to the peace faction, and do not want a war to break out with the same party.

The Chinese themselves do not belong to a nation that is keen on foreign exploration, and today's vast territory, coupled with the special status of the world powers and the Sino-French alliance, has a sufficient space for development in the world, obviously not as actively eager for expansion as the Ben, but more in pursuit of stability and peace, and gradually govern the territories and overseas provinces and protected areas that they already have in peace.

Having said that, Yue Ben is a poor hedgehog, with a strong military and average national economic strength, even if China spends a lot of money and manpower to defeat Yu Ben, what can it get?

The two got into a jeep from the military headquarters and rode together to the Central Military Headquarters General Hospital.

Shu Fangde, as the chief of the inner court, when the emperor is not in the country, he can make decisions and sign orders on behalf of the emperor, which is also the reason why the Song Emperor temporarily arranged for him to fly back to China, as long as he returns, whether it is to go to war or peace negotiations, he can temporarily perform his duties on behalf of the emperor.

There are two first-class internal servants who stayed in the country, among which the most senior is Major General Fang Dingying, who was born in the Central Military Staff Department and has prepared in advance to convene a training meeting, just waiting for the emperor to come back urgently, the emperor can't come back, and Shu Fangde, the chief of the inner court, can also convene the central training and political meeting according to the specifications when he comes back.

The cabinet is also in chaos, whether it is war or peace talks, the cabinet has nowhere to go.

Prior to this, Prime Minister Ouyang Geng had already planned to arrange for Minister of Transport Wang Zhaoming to visit Yuben and take the opportunity to negotiate and engage on the Indonesian incident, but he did not expect to directly enter a state of war.

Hearing that Shu Fangde had returned to Yanjing, Ouyang Geng immediately went to the Central Palace in person and waited for the convening of the Central Discipline and Political Conference.

The Chinese Empire is roughly the same as Germany, and the same is true of Germany, the political axe is not in control of the military, whether to go to war or not depends on the political axe, and the struggle between the German parties, as well as the struggle between the cabinet and the military, because the imperial family of the empire is in a strong position, the imperial family is located above the cabinet and the military, and the royal family coordinates various issues between the cabinet and the military, and implements a strict system of separation between the military and the government, so that the two sides will not fall into each other's hands.

After Shu Fangde returned to the Central Palace, because the queen was also in Europe, he first went to the inner court and harem to meet Qiao Guifei, and roughly informed the royal concubine of the situation of the central political training meeting, but this was only a procedural provision, neither Qiao Guifei nor Empress Shu had the right to preside over the work of the royal family.

After briefing Qiao Guifei, the representative of the royal family, Shu Fangde returned to the Xuanzheng Hall to preside over the Central Discipline and Administration Conference.

When Shu Fangde arrived at the Xuanzheng Hall, the cabinet ministers and important leaders of the military department had already arrived, sitting in two rows on both sides of the conference table, Shu Fangde walked quickly into the conference room, and some nervously sat down to read the military information summary of the military department again, and then officially presided over the meeting.

Without the emperor here, the cabinet and the military department were inevitably a little out of control, blaming each other, and finally forced Shu Fangde to inform the emperor to make a decision, everyone quieted down again, or decided to follow the emperor's decision to start first, and wait for the victory to be divided, and then the cabinet sent diplomats to negotiate an armistice.

The military department and the cabinet hope that it is a battle of dignity to maintain the status and dignity of the empire as a world power, and there is no need to stumble to the death, adhering to the consistent style of the empire, since it is going to fight, the beginning must be fierce, take the lead, and also prepare for the subsequent negotiations, after all, if the war continues for a long time, it will only make Britain and the United States and other countries profit, and it is not conducive to the empire to continue to pursue the seat of world economic hegemony.

After communicating with the Central Cabinet through the channel of the Central Training and Political Affairs Committee, Shu Fangde and his former colleagues from the Central Military Department, such as Jiang Fangzhen, Chen Qicai, and Zhao Tingzhu, continued to discuss the military's detailed countermeasures for the next step in the meeting room.

After the reform of the large-scale military system, in order to prevent the Empire's navy, army, and air forces from fighting within themselves like the navy and army, the empire merged the War Department, the Air Force Department, the Navy Department, and the General Patrol Administration into the Ministry of National Defense, and set up the Central National Defense Commission and the Central Military Commission as the highest military organs.

Emperor Song was the chairman of the Central Military Commission of the Chinese Empire, under which there was a Central Military General Staff, that is, the Central Military Department, which consisted of the Army General Staff, the Navy General Staff, the Air Force General Staff, the Logistics Department, the Combat Training Department, the Military Education Department, the Ministry of Civil Affairs, the General Administration of Military Science and Technology Research (General Administration of Military Sciences), and the Central Military Intelligence General Administration.

In general, the Ministry of National Defense is responsible for policy formulation and overall arrangement, while the Central Military Department is responsible for implementation, but the real body responsible for policy-making is the Central Military Commission.

Cai Yi was forced to retire from active duty because he once protected the cavalry too much, causing a split within the army, and instead served as the minister of the Ministry of Land and Resources, Duan Qirui, Zhang Xianren, Zhu Qian and other generals who were not in the department also retired due to age and other reasons, Chen Wu was dealt with for violating military law, demoted two levels to the rank of major general and forced to retire, and Yang Tiesheng retired from active duty due to illness.

In addition, Shu Fangde was transferred to the post of chief of the inner court, and the empire used to have fourteen army generals and one air force general, and now only Jiang Fangzhen, Jiang Yanxing, Zhao Tingzhu, Chen Qicai, Zhang Xiaohuai, Zhang Yahu, Fu Liangzuo, and Zhang Hongkui are still in the Central Military Department.

As a war power, the empire has neither the founding ten marshals nor the top ten generals, and the older generation has basically withdrawn from active service, and there are 112 people at the rank of lieutenant general in the imperial army, 43 of whom were born in the Far Eastern Army non-commissioned officer school.

This is the metabolism of the empire, and the new era has belonged to the new generation of young and middle-aged officers of the empire, which are Fu Zuoyi, Wei Lihuang, Pan Zhaoqin, Huang Baitao, Bai Chongxi, Xue Yue, Liu Zhaoming, Liu Jinggui, Xu Xiangqian, Xu Wei, Chen Houfu, and Chen Jiliang...... In the great era of this generation, in the 24-member list of the current National Defense Commissioner, the new generation accounts for 17 of them.

Jiang Fangzhen continued to serve as chief of the general staff of the Central Military Department, Chen Qicai as minister of national defense, Zhang Yahu as commander of the Central Military Region, Zhao Tingzhu as commander of the Far Eastern Military Region, Jiang Yanxing as commander of the Siberian Military Region, Fu Liangzuo replaced Cai Ye as chief of staff of the army, Zhang Hongkui as president of the Central Military Academy, and Zhang Xiaohuai as president of the Far Eastern Military Academy.

They are already the last symbols of the Northeast generation.

After all, they were still afraid of the strength of the navy, and Fu Liangzuo and Pan Zhaoqin drew up a plan for a decisive battle in the north, hoping to use the army and air force to advance on the Korean Peninsula and then use the air force to bomb the mainland to end the war, rather than relying on the decisive battle of the navy on the southern front.

Chen Houfu, chief of staff of the Navy, explicitly opposed this plan, believing that even if he occupied the southern part of Korea and bombed him, it would be difficult to force the army to surrender, and that only by destroying the main force of the navy could he make him lose the capital of being an enemy of China, otherwise the empire would never be able to obtain a real and lasting peace.

Fu Liangzuo and Chen Houfu had a heated debate, and both of them were loud and quarrelsome.

They are all pillar-level generals of the Mesozoic Era, and they all have outstanding performances in World War I, especially in the great battle to defeat the Austro-Hungarian Army, Fu Liangzuo can be called the most dazzling front-line commander at that time, in contrast, Fu Liangzuo, who is an army general, has longer seniority and higher military achievements because he belongs to the Northeast Department.

Shu Fangde and Jiang Fangzhen, who were more senior than them, didn't speak, listening to the two of them arguing.

When they all slapped the table and quarreled, eager to tear down the table and fight, Shu Fangde suddenly spoke: "Pay attention, this is the inner court, not your military department, an army general, a vice admiral, if you want to fight, go back to your military headquarters." ”

After listening to this reminder, Fu Liangzuo and Chen Houfu gasped and stopped arguing, sat down with each other and glared at each other.

Yes, this is the Central Palace of the Imperial Court.

Seeing that the two of them were quiet, Shu Fangde asked Chen Houfu as the chief of the inner court: "If the decisive battle of the navy is the mainstay, how sure is your navy?" ”

Chen Houfu immediately said: "Although our battleships are at a disadvantage, they have an advantage in aircraft carriers and submarines, and the times are different, as long as we give full play to our advantages and design tactics, we will definitely be able to defeat the navy." ”

Shu Fangde cautiously continued: "The final tactics must be reported to the emperor, and before reporting, we must carefully determine the best choice." So, I wonder how much the Navy will lose if it were dominated by your Navy? ”

Chen Houfu said even more resolutely: "Even if the navy is completely destroyed, we must fight, this is the fate of the country, the navy must not retreat, even if all the belongings in our hands are destroyed, we must fight, and if we are gone, we will build another batch." ”

Fu Liangzuo sneered: "Chief Chen, what you said is very simple, touch your lips up and down, if you wipe out the navy, it doesn't matter if you are dismissed, it will take another ten years for the navy to be rebuilt, and I don't know how much military spending will be required, and even our air force and army will suffer at that time." Our army is not afraid, tens of millions of Chinese people will not be able to fight it. ”

Jiang Fangzhen and Shu Fangde did not speak.

They know the emperor best, and they know very well that if the emperor is here, seven or eight times out of ten will use the navy to conduct the main decisive battle, and they will not hesitate to destroy all the warships.

Some people in the Central Military Department called Shu Fangde a "mediocre talent who can do great things." This evaluation is also appropriate; Shu Fangde is not a man of great ability, but he has also done many important things, and his ability and courage are average, but he has a very good view of the overall situation, and he is also known for being careful and cautious.

After thinking about it carefully, Shu Fangde first asked Fu Liangzuo: "If you come to command this war, how will you fight a decisive battle?" ”

Fu Liangzuo was full of confidence and replied with a very domineering attitude: "The army swept through the south of Korea, and then bombed the island with the air force as the mainstay, and the navy attacked along the island from the Ryukyu line, attracting the navy to the Ryukyu area, using the air force to cooperate with the navy to annihilate its main naval force, and the small one could only retract to the mainland, blockading its coastline, and using the air force to continue bombing for a long time, and finally sending a million troops across the sea to attack and occupy Kyushu Island, using this as the boundary to divide China and the two countries." ”

Shu Fangde and Chen Houfu asked again: "What about you?" ”

Chen Houfu replied: "Use the offensive of the army and air force on the Korean Peninsula to attract the army, then use the main naval force to surprise attack the Solong military port and destroy the naval base in the South Pacific, and then use the Ryukyu line to go north to annihilate the main force of the navy, and then take two offensive routes, with the army in the north and the marine division in the south, to occupy Kyushu Island." ”

Shu Fangde said: "Your main battle plan is basically the same, the only difference is only the question of whether to focus on the army or the air force, one side thinks that the army is superior, the strong bully the weak is the best policy, and the other side thinks that the navy is the elite and the main force, and only by annihilating the navy can the will to resist be eliminated and achieve a comprehensive victory in strategy and campaign." ”

Chen Houfu continued: "The navy has always been the elite, and as long as the navy is eliminated, the navy can be completely defeated, otherwise the navy will be defeated, and our country will also be victorious." ”

Fu Liangzuo was about to argue, but Jiang Fangzhen suddenly coughed lightly.

Among these people, Jiang Fangzhen is the one with the most Confucian temperament, and many people say that he is more suitable to be the president of the Central Military Academy, or the president of the National Defense University, known for his erudition, proficient in four foreign languages of English, German, and Russian, and familiar with various [***] works and military treatises.

It is such a person, a man who has never really commanded a large army on the battlefield, who has been sitting in the post of the emperor's deputy for nearly thirty years, and has been in the position of chief of the general staff of the Central Military Department for twenty-two years.

Most of the time, no matter how much the navy, army, and air force within the military headquarters quarreled, he was always the most silent and silent person, always sitting quietly watching everyone arguing, and what he was thinking about in his heart, few people really knew.

He coughed suddenly, and everyone was slightly startled.

After waiting for a while, everyone present looked at him silently, and Jiang Fangzhen said unhurriedly: "You may have all thought about the wrong point, the focus is not mainly on the navy, or on the army, the focus should be on the main force of the annihilation army." If we decide to go to war, we must win, and no matter who is the main one, only by annihilating the main force of the army can we win the war. Since ancient times, those who strike first should take the lead and annihilate the enemy's main force, so that the situation will be superior, whether it is surrounded and annihilated, or the elite duel will win in one go, or ambush and attack, or even encircled and annihilated, all of these are just to annihilate the enemy's main force. Therefore, I hope that you will not dwell on the question of who is the main and who is secondary. ”

Shu Fangde is also the kind of person who is not confused about major matters, and immediately agreed: "Gao Ming, Chief of General Staff Jiang, I don't think you should argue, the key is to annihilate its main force, we should think more about this issue, think of more methods, and then submit it to the emperor for approval after thinking about it." ”

At this moment, Jiang Fangzhen stopped talking again, he was thinking about this question silently, in fact, he had been thinking about this question, and his thinking time did not start from these days, he had been thinking about these questions since a few years ago, or even more than ten years ago.

How to attract the navy and annihilate it in a suitable place and at the right time was what he considered the most.

Scholars use soldiers, think a lot, and talk little.

Be cautious and cautious, fine and fine, deceitful and deceitful, deceitful and deceitful.

(To be continued)