"Boom! Boom, boom ......"

It was only in the afternoon that the Qing Air Force, which had completed the reloading, once again flew over Tokyo. Bombs fell from the sky with the roar of death, and artillery fire struck one after another, and the citizens of Tokyo, who were fighting the fire in an orderly manner, instantly became chaotic......

In the smoky city of Tokyo, all the high-to-low, noble and low-level people regardless of their status were shrouded in the fire. High-ranking government officials and wealthy families could force their way out of the flames of Tokyo with the efforts of the guards, but the common people were reluctant to give up their only possessions, and eventually they were engulfed in flames along with them.

It didn't take long for the ten ground-attacking airships to bomb Tokyo only once, and then turned to Shinagawa. When the airship flew at low speed over Shinagawa, the magazine opened again. 20 50-kilogram high-explosive bombs and 20 50-kilogram incendiary bombs were dropped on the Japanese positions in Shinagawa in two separate attempts.

"Whew! Woohoo! ......" The sound of breaking the air suddenly sounded above the heads of the Japanese soldiers, and many newly recruited Japanese soldiers who did not understand the sound were still squatting in the trenches and looking up at the black spots that fell from under the huge duck eggs overhead.

"Boom, boom," a deafening explosion sounded, and the trench fortifications built by the Japanese, which were not strong, were destroyed and collapsed under the explosion. Some of the inexperienced young soldiers ran out of the trenches in fear, only to be thrown back into the trenches by the blast of air. Just don't breathe anymore.

The bombs dropped were not accurate, but the trenches built by the Japanese were too dense. There will always be a few that happen to fall into the trench. The sand from the explosion filled up an entire trench, and the Japanese soldiers, who were eager to save their hearts, struggled to dig up the dirt. And the shrapnel after the bomb exploded knocked them down again.

The second successive bombing took only ten minutes, and the airships began to accelerate away from the battlefield and fly south. Looking at the airship gradually moving away through the smoke and dust, the Japanese soldiers began to rescue their comrades and strengthen the trenches. But I didn't know that at this time, all the artillery muzzles of the First Independent Artillery Division of the Qing State had been raised.

After sporadic test shelling, a dense barrage of shells whizzed. The Japanese positions were again filled with columns of smoke mixed with explosions. Xu Daxiong, the commander of the first company of the Ninth Regiment of the Third Division at the forefront of the Qing army's position, looked down at his watch and silently timed, and when the time pointed to one minute before the end of the shelling, he shouted "the whole army charges", and then rushed out of the trench first. Behind him, the soldiers of the whole company rushed out of the trench without saying a word, holding rifles equipped with bayonets.

When the last shell exploded in the Japanese position. The Japanese soldiers were pushed by the non-commissioned officers and crawled out of the hideout. The Japanese troops in the trenches at the forefront always felt that the earth was still trembling, although it was very subtle, but there was still a feeling, which may be the sequelae of the shelling by the Qing army just now. However, experienced veterans and non-commissioned officers tried to wave their hands to fan the dust and fog in front of them, but the Qing army's overly dense artillery made the smoke and dust on the position too large, and they still couldn't see the distance clearly.

"It's the Qing army, ready to fight-" Finally, the old soldier with good eyesight noticed the vaguely swaying figure in the smoke and dust, and hurriedly crawled on the trench and raised his gun, but his companion had not yet reacted.

Suddenly, a pile of iron-tipped wooden sticks with smoking butts fell into the trenches. Before the Japanese could react to what this was, a series of explosions rang out. The Qing army charging on the bomb point appeared in the dense smoke and dust. "Kill—" The Qing army shouted the horn and jumped into the trench, stabbing the bayonet in his hand into the enemy's chest.

"It was reported that the Ninth Regiment had broken through the enemy's forward positions. It is advancing in depth. ”

Report. The 8th Division broke through from the left flank and was outflanking the central sector. ”

"Report, the 11th Division reports that all the ships of the Japanese Navy are moving eastward."

Hear the report of the 11th Division on the right flank. Feng Guozhang breathed a sigh of relief: "It seems that the Japanese Navy is really out of shells, so order the troops to attack with all their might." Feng Guozhang shared Shoushan's concern about the Japanese Navy's naval artillery shelling. Therefore, his headquarters is not only hidden, but also the supplies are far away.

In fact, it is true that the last six Japanese warships were already without shells. After the First Sino-Japanese War, Japan was sacked under the blockade of the Qing Dynasty. All steel and other military supplies could not be transported with the ship. In order to build two cruisers, Japan, which had reached the point where it was necessary to collect civilian iron pots, could not make a few naval shells. Part of the artillery training brought back from the warship builder was used, and most of it was used up in the Battle of Arthur off the coast. The last bit of stock was also used up in the defense of Yokosuka, and by this point, the Japanese navy was no longer combat-ready.

"Report, report of the 1st Artillery Division. The 7th Regiment requested fire support ......"

Without waiting for the correspondent to finish, Feng Guozhang slapped the table and was furious: "What is the First Artillery Division doing?" I had already made it very clear before the war, the 3rd Division was the main attack, and the 1st Artillery Division was fully cooperating, so why should I ask for instructions? Go tell the First Artillery Division to fire the cannon for Lao Tzu! ”

The correspondent wriggled his body with embarrassment, and finally decided to finish reading the report of the 1st Artillery Division. After Feng Guozhang next to the map finished speaking, he saw that the correspondent was still standing here, so he scolded angrily: "You still don't want to send a newspaper? ”

"The 1st Artillery Division reported that they had only two base shells left."

"Huh?" Feng Guozhang turned around and scolded: "Hasn't the supply ship already arrived at Chiba Port?" Why didn't you bring the shells yet? What does the 1st Marine Division eat? ”

The correspondent looked left and right, and said in a small voice: "Commander, you ordered the unloading of food and winter supplies first. Because the port of Chiba is so simple, it is estimated that the unloading of artillery shells and other supplies will not begin until tomorrow night. ”

"Your uncle—" Feng Guozhang remembered. In order to annihilate the Japanese 5th Division, the Western Route Army used excessive ammunition. The original plan was to wait for supplies to arrive before launching an attack, but was forced to advance by an order from the General Staff Headquarters. It is not that without artillery support, the Qing army cannot win, the key is that without artillery, it can only rely on human lives to win. Feng Guozhang believed that his army could win as well. However, at the beginning of the formation of the new army, the emperor emphasized that people come first, and human lives must not be exchanged for victory unless absolutely necessary. After the first year of the first year, Tianzhuang Terrace only besieged the Japanese army. That's why it's in mind.

At the moment of the great war, there is no room for hesitation. Feng Guozhang decisively ordered: "The 1st Artillery Division of the Telegraph Artillery Division keeps a base number of shells. All the others can be destroyed. The three divisions of the front line were ordered to stop the attack, maintain the existing front, and annihilate all enemy forces in our front. Telegraphed to the General Staff Headquarters about the situation of our troops, informing them that the general offensive would not be launched until two days later, unless they fought with their lives. ”

The correspondent answered and began to telegraph and make a call. The existing port of Yokosuka was not used because of the mines in the Kamaga waterway, and the navy spent half a month unable to clear a single channel. Feng Guozhang began to scold the navy: "The navy is a bunch of rubbish. ”

Mines, a coastal defense weapon invented in the Tang Dynasty of China, have always been a weapon for destruction and defense at sea, because he is sunk in the sea and has a high degree of concealment. Not to mention the current era of backward technology. Even in the high-tech era of later generations, there are not many ways to deal with mines.

Wu Deren also wanted to cry at the moment, because the main training of the navy was focused on ships before, and the training for minesweeping was insufficient. Originally, the navy did not have special minesweepers, destroyers did not dare to approach them, and manpower boats could not pull anchor mines fixed on the bottom of the sea. The gas boat dragged the fishing net and began to clear the mine, but once the inexperienced sailor touched the mine at close range, the power of the mine explosion was enough to overturn the gas boat. In order to reduce casualties, except for the sailing and command, all the Japanese were used as laborers. But it took half a month for the gas boats that concentrated the whole fleet to collect, and the fishing nets looted were almost exhausted, and a 50-meter-wide channel was still not cleared. Wu Deren's teeth have been swollen for a week.

Wang Shizhen sighed as he sat in the staff headquarters, and Duan Qirui, chief of the army general staff, who was also sitting next to Wang Shizhen, also frowned. Although Feng Guozhang was not wrong to unload the winter supplies first. However, before issuing the order for the general offensive, the General Staff Headquarters unilaterally thought that the ammunition would be unloaded first, and as a result, the general offensive was launched. Cheng Cheng has not dared to appear in the staff headquarters recently. Damn Wu Deren couldn't even get a few mines, which made him embarrassed.

There was also a gloom in the State Council. This was the last large-scale replenishment of the Japanese army. Since the First Sino-Japanese War, the Qing army has been in constant combat. The ammunition reserves produced by the already weak industrial manufacturing capacity were exhausted by a single expedition of 100,000 people. It seems that after the war, it will be necessary to increase investment in military manufacturing and increase ammunition reserves.

When the last ship was sent to the port, Li Hongzhang had been fighting for five days to gather the ministers to discuss the matter on the current situation. Internally, we will intensify the development of minerals, hand over some basic products and parts to private factories for production to attract private capital investment, and externally, let the Ministry of Foreign Affairs contact other countries to purchase relevant production equipment and train technicians. I thought of a lot of ways, but all of them were stuck in the Qing treasury - there was no money. Therefore, the most important thing for the State Department now is to discuss how to extract the most money from Japan. The plan has been promulgated, and now the entire six ministries are waiting for Japan to ask for peace talks.

Guangxu's internal affairs office is now much richer than the state treasury, and there is still some surplus from the income from medicines, alternating current royalties, and other revenues invested in the academy of sciences and education. Li Hongzhang always wanted to fight the idea of the Internal Affairs Office, but was glared back by Guangxu viciously.

Li Hongzhang's ability to govern the country is very strong, but his selfishness is indeed too heavy, and every time the court has an investment decision, the Li family is always the first to respond. With the advantage of knowing the policy first, the Li family has made a lot of money. Li Hongzhang knew that the emperor was wary of him, so Li Hongzhang did not let his family enter the official career, and every time he made a big show of the slogan in response to the emperor.

This made Guangxu in a dilemma. Restrict Li Hongzhang, not to mention that the court now needs people like Li Hongzhang who are old in politics to take the lead, he is also the link between the new and the old nobles in Pingheng, and in the half a year of Cixi's training, Li Hongzhang has actually done a lot for Guangxu. Don't restrict Li Hongzhang, the interests will pull these old nobles into the interest alliance of his Li family, which seems to be an obstacle for Guangxu to concentrate on doing big things. In a dilemma, seeing that Li Hongzhang's family had no intention of going further in his career except making money, Guangxu also acquiesced. Besides, although Li Hongzhang's family uses policies to make money, they also invest their own capital, and they can be regarded as taking the lead in responding to the call of the country. Let's do it first.

As for the lack of money in the treasury, Guangxu thought about it this way. The Cuban waste sold them so many weapons and ammunition, but they couldn't even handle an old Brazil, and I don't know if they still have the money to buy weapons. At present, the most in the hands of the Qing Dynasty are weapons seized from Japan, as well as the weapons collected by Nie Shicheng when he exterminated Dong Fuxiang in Xinjiang and the collection of Xinjiang civilian weapons. Why don't you wait for the army to come back and sort it out and sell the replacement weapons? Hmmm, can be considered. The Germans will do a business, and the British will block the Boers a little, and the Germans' business will be yellow. It is still the Chinese who are business-minded and want to give bonuses to African pioneers. Where else in the world is not peaceful? Let the General Staff Headquarters take care of it, China has a lot of weapons now.

Hi, no money again! Guangxu sighed secretly, why did he watch others build the country and destroy the enemy, build warships and pull the army, and fight happily. This year's annual income has reached one billion Singapore dollars, which is equivalent to nearly 400 million taels of silver, plus medicines and electricity bills, the income of 7788 is not less, where is this money used?

Where else can it be used, it will all be invested in national construction. In the past five years, the Qing Dynasty has built a railway from Jilin to Guangzhou, a railway from Weihai to Luoyang in Jiaozhou, and a railway between Beijing and Tianjin, Beijing-Shanghai, and Fenglu. Lianyungang to Xuzhou, Luoyang to Xi'an, Shanghai to Changsha, Beijing to Hohhot...... Highways in Beijing, Shanghai, Tianjin, Guangzhou and other major cities are rapidly extending. Not only are these funds allocated by the imperial court, but in order to ensure the supply of materials, various factories in China have also borrowed from banks. Not counting the vassal ** team, the Qing Imperial Army alone has 15 divisions, the total number of active naval forces has exceeded 70,000, the air force is also rising, and the coast of the Qing Dynasty has been full of ports in the past five years......

Roads, ports, and the army, which had a slow payback time and large investment, swallowed up the already small amount of money in the Qing Dynasty. Scientific research is a place where input does not necessarily have output, and samples are something that burns money......

can only sell airships, Guangxu has made up his mind, but how much does it cost to sell? In order to build these fifteen ships, he spent nearly two million Singapore dollars, which is equivalent to nearly 40,000 taels of silver, not counting the research and development expenses of cannonballs. MD, 10,000 pounds a ship, purchase at least 100 ships at a time, and don't sell if you don't sell it. By the way, the great powers have airships and no pilots, Daqing can help you train, plus 10,000 pounds for training, don't give it or sell it. Uh-huh, good idea......

"Your Majesty, the Imperial Doctors have arrived." A female voice reminded the emperor.

"Oh, let's announce it." The voice of the queen's maid, the little magpie, brought Guangxu back from deep thought. To hell with state affairs or something, the most important thing now is to diagnose the queen's pulse. (To be continued......)