810 Admiral's Decision Eleven Best Cannon Fodder

On the night of November 19, in the North Sea, 30 nautical miles west of Scandinavia.

Detachments of the High Seas Fleet of the German Empire. Including the three "Zhenyuan" belonging to the Chinese Navy, six super battleships with almost identical appearance and majestic mountains shuttled rapidly in the windy and rough North Sea, and there were also six "Guangzhou"-class air defense cruisers, six "Königsberg"-class light cruisers, and 18 destroyers of various types.

About 10 nautical miles in front of the battleship formation, there was also a detachment of armored cruisers that served as the vanguard, 4 heavy cruisers of the Admiral Hippe-class and 5 armored ships of the "Polish Regiment" class, which had just been delivered for less than 6 months, lined up in two columns and carried the wind and waves under the escort of 5 light cruisers of the "Königsberg" class and 10 destroyers.

About 50 nautical miles behind the battleship detachment of the High Seas Fleet was led by the "Count Zeppelin", "Peter. Five German aircraft carriers, including the Strasser, Sedlitz, Frederick the Great and Elbe, and the German High Seas Fleet aircraft carrier detachment, including 10 anti-aircraft cruisers and 15 destroyers, were the core.

In addition, under the not too vast North Sea, the German submarine force that made the British Empire so troubled in history has also been lurking in it early. Well, to be precise, the current German submarine forces are completely different from the German submarine forces at the beginning of World War II in history, and the current German submarine forces already have more than 85 Type 2D submarines for offshore operations and 55 Series 7 submarines for ocean-going operations...... Now, 52 of these U-boats have been sent to the south-central waters of the North Sea to act as reconnaissance submarines. Because Germany in this time and space was influenced by its ally China, and attached unprecedented importance to the role of aircraft in naval warfare, the first discovery of the main force of the British home fleet became the key to victory or defeat. However, in this night, there was not a single light to be seen on the entire North Sea surface, as if the fleets of both sides were still sleeping in their respective nests.

However, Admiral Raeder and Admiral Long Tenghui, who were in the command center of the aircraft carrier "Frederick the Great", the flagship of the German High Seas Fleet, had already felt a fierce murderous aura approaching them from the opposite side of the sea.

"General Dragon." Raeder took a yellow copy of the newspaper from a staff officer, looked at it twice, and said to Long Tenghui: "This is the information we have just received, and it was reported to us by the Japanese side, Hawaii time This afternoon, Commander Yamamoto 56 commanded the Japanese Combined Fleet to use carrier-based aircraft to attack the US fleet reinforcing Hawaii about 400 nautical miles northeast of Oahu, and once again won a brilliant victory. The U.S. aircraft carriers USS Yorktown, USS Raider, and USS Vespa were all sunk (this information is incorrect, the USS Yorktown was not sunk), while the Japanese lost more than 200 fighters...... Looks like a great victory! If the intelligence of the Japanese is to be believed, in this battle of the Hawaiian sea they have already sunk 5 aircraft carriers, 8 battleships, 9 heavy cruisers of the Americans! ”

Speaking of this, Raeder suddenly frowned, shook his head, and handed the telegram to Long Tenghui. "General Long, look at this, the Japanese also claim that they have invented one of the most effective naval tactics in this naval battle of Hawaii...... It is to let manned fighters or light bombers load bombs and ram enemy warships, so that the planes will die with the enemy's warships! Oh, my God! This...... Is this true? Are all those Japanese crazy? Saying that, he turned his head, stared at his blue eyes, and looked at the Chinese admiral next to him, who looked similar to the Japanese devil, as if asking: "Will you Chinese also fight like this?" ”

"Tut-tut, drive a plane to hit a warship! These little devils are really a man! Long Tenghui laughed and scolded in Chinese, and then said to Raeder in blunt German: "Commander Raeder, those Japanese have been taught since childhood to sacrifice their lives for the emperor, this brain has been washed for decades, it is a little abnormal and not strange, fortunately, it is the Americans who are unlucky this time, I really don't know how these Yankees see this matter now?" ”

Raeder smiled and looked at the huge chart on the wall. "These Japanese are some of the best in the world...... Cannon fodder! ”

……

At the same time, the depths of the North Sea. The battleship "Nelson", the flagship of the British Home Fleet.

Commander of the British Home Fleet, Charles Murphy. Admiral Forbes and his chief of staff, Andrew. Brown. Vice Admiral Cunningham stood side by side in the bridge, and the staff officer behind him was reporting to the two of them the telegram they had just received from the British Admiralty, also about the "Battle of Hawaii."

"Andrew, the Japanese have proven their worth, and tomorrow it's our turn to prove ourselves." After listening to the report, Admiral Forbes shook his head and said.

"The Americans lost the Vespa and the Raider...... Now only the Enterprise and Yorktown are left, and the flight deck of the Yorktown has a big hole for a Japanese madman! What a bunch of crazy people! Cunningham was a little gloomy, turned his head and looked at Forbes bitterly at the corners of his mouth, and said, "If we could have kept the Japanese on our side, this war should have been easier to win, right?" ”

"We're going to win, even if we have to pay some casualties and suffer some losses......," Forbes said, as he smoked cigarettes and said with confidence in his voice. According to intelligence, the German High Seas Fleet had already taken the bait, 6 battleships, 5 aircraft carriers, 5 armored ships and 5 heavy cruisers came out. On our side, however, there were 17 battleships and battlecruisers (including two French Richelieu-class battleships), 6 aircraft carriers, and 22 heavy cruisers. It is in an absolute position in terms of troops. Moreover, we also ambushed a surprise army...... The Royal Air Force concentrated 25 squadrons of Hurricane fighters, 10 squadrons of Blenheim bombers; The Royal Navy also concentrated 8 squadrons of Brest "Beaufort" torpedo bombers. In total, more than 500 shore-based aircraft will be used to assist in the battle. So, the final victory must have belonged to the Royal Navy. ”

"The problem is that the Germans will also help the war with shore-based aircraft." Cunningham didn't seem too confident, he crossed his fingers and calculated: "We have 500 shore-based aircraft, 266 carrier-based aircraft of aircraft carriers, a total of 766 aircraft." And the German side should have slightly fewer carrier-based aircraft than us, and shore-based aircraft may be on a par with ours. But in terms of the performance of the aircraft, the Germans seem to be a little better, at least their aircraft engines are better. ”

"No problem" Admiral Forbes exhaled a circle of blue smoke and sighed quietly. "We have more battleships, so we can afford to lose more, and even a 1.5 to 1 exchange ratio is worth it. Just like the Battle of Jutland 22 years ago, the Royal Navy managed to drive the German High Seas Fleet back to its nest, despite its heavy losses. ”

Cunningham shook his head, "Your Excellency, I am afraid that this North Sea Battle will be similar to the Battle of Hawaii, the battleships of both sides will not be able to fight in the end, but the planes will decide the outcome of this battle, if that is the case......"

"Then it depends on the outcome of the battle cruiser detachment to lure the enemy, it is best to meet the German High Seas Fleet tonight, and then use the high speed to lure them to us, and we can fight before dawn tomorrow morning." Speaking of this, the corners of Admiral Forbes' mouth hooked up slightly, "Andrew, don't forget, our battleship has been installed with radar!" ”

Cunningham shook his head in his heart, radar is not unique to the UK! The Yankees have already provided China with their most advanced radar technology in exchange for uranium isotope separation technology from China. Admiral Forbes actually wanted to rely on radar to fight the idea of a decisive battleship battle. Moreover, the Germans and Chinese possessed the "Zhenyuan" class is not slow, on the surface it is 28 knots, and there is also intelligence that its fastest speed may reach more than 30 knots, with this speed, the vast majority of the British Royal Navy's battleships cannot catch up. He sighed and reminded, "The other side may have an advantage in speed, but they don't have many cruisers and destroyers, so we had better make the most of it......"

"Sir, received a telegram from the detachment of battlecruisers, it seems that they have discovered the German fleet!" The loud shouts of the communications staff interrupted the conversation between the two famous British admirals, and both of them glanced at each other, and the moment to decide the fate of the British Empire was approaching!

……

Bell, bell, bell......

When the floor-to-ceiling clock in the conference room of the Moshan Presidential Palace in Wuhan reached 12 noon on November 19, 1938, the news of the Hawaiian retreat was sent in by Lieutenant General Fan Hanjie, director of the presidential palace's chamberlain.

At this time, a joint meeting of the National Government-the General Staff of the National Defense Forces was being held in the conference room. Present at the meeting were Vice President Sun Ke, Executive Yuan Hu Yisheng, Chief of the General Staff Luo Yaoguo, Defense Minister He Yingqin, Navy Minister Chen Si, Armaments Minister Ma Junwu, Foreign Minister Wang Jingwei, and Colonial Affairs Minister Zeng Qi.

The meeting began at 3 a.m. on the 19th, and has been going on for nearly 10 hours so far, with refreshing cups of coffee and the attendants of the presidential palace constantly sending them into the conference room. When Fan Hanjie re-entered the conference room, he found that everyone inside was blushing and arguing loudly. Luo Yiqun's uncle and nephew were sitting together, exchanging opinions in a whisper, seeing that the expressions of both of them were a little serious, as if they had encountered some problems.

At this time, in the two meeting rooms of the presidential palace, Finance Minister Soong Ziwen and Legislative President Xu Chongzhi were respectively accompanying the new Japanese ambassador Shigemitsu Aoi and US Ambassador Jensen there drinking coffee and chatting with gossip. Of course, the ambassadors of these two countries did not come to the presidential palace of the Republic of China for coffee, but lobbied the Chinese president for the interests of their respective countries. In fact, today's meeting was held for the two of them.

"President, this is information that the Military Intelligence Agency has just sent." Fan Hanjie handed a yellow copy to Luo Yiqun. The president picked up the copy and looked at it, and a trace of surprise immediately flashed across his face, and he lost his voice: "Oahu is about to be lost!" It was so fast......"

Hearing the news, the conference room suddenly fell silent, and everyone turned their eyes to Luo Yaoguo, the chief of the General Staff. Luo Yaoguo slowly took the copy of the telegram from his presidential uncle, read it carefully, and then sighed softly. "At 2 p.m. on the 19th, Hawaii time, two light cruisers and eight destroyers sailed into Pearl Harbor and transported nearly 2,000 people at one time, all of whom were naval officers, technicians, and naval families; Two hours later, the 10 warships sailed into Pearl Harbor again, carrying 2,000 men again, this time mainly naval personnel; One hour later, two more fast cruise ships sailed into Pearl Harbor, and now about 5,000 people are queuing up to board the ship...... It looks like the Americans are ready to give up Oahu, and the Japanese will occupy all of Hawaii this month. ”

"Speaking of which, the war report reported to us by Japanese Ambassador Shigemitsu Aoi is credible, and the U.S. Navy is really finished." It was Foreign Minister Wang Ching-wei who spoke, and at the moment his eyes showed a somewhat complicated look, not knowing whether he was rejoicing at Japan's victory or worried about the re-development of this old enemy.

Luo Yaoguo smiled and said: "True or false, the Japanese have achieved a great victory, and at the same time they have found a new tactic that makes people's scalps tingle. He smiled wryly. He was an air force pilot in his previous life, so he naturally knew the Japanese "kamikaze" very well. However, what he learned about the "kamikaze" was inevitably modified by the victors, and it may not be the whole truth of the matter. For example, this suicidal tactic of ending up together doesn't seem to be so bad in the Battle of Hawaii! After all, at the moment, the air defense capabilities of the naval fleet are not as perverted as they were at the end of World War II, and the skills of those Japanese pilots who committed suicide are not as bad as those "kamikaze" in history.

"It's really a scalp-numbing tactic! Hit a warship with a plane...... How did this come about? At this moment, Minister of the Navy Chen Si's face was ugly, and he kept shaking his head as he spoke.

Luo Yaoguo smiled coldly and took over the topic, "Those who are stunned are afraid of the horizontal, and those who are horizontal are afraid of dying!" The Japanese are the ones who don't want to die now, so we might as well support Japan now and let them consume the strength of the United States...... I think this way of hitting a warship with a plane is not bad, if the Japanese can keep fighting so crazy, the United States may really knock out a few front teeth! ”

"Fuwen, then you don't approve of accepting the Philippines?" Luo Yiqun's words were a little hesitant, during this time, the Nanyang Overseas Chinese Chamber of Commerce and the Philippine Overseas Chinese Chamber of Commerce each donated tens of millions of legal dollars to Luo Yiqun's "presidential campaign fund".

Of course, Luo Yaoguo knew that his uncle had a lot of friendship with the wealthy businessmen in Nanyang, but at the moment, he still counted on Little Japan to continue to work hard, and it was not good to chill people's hearts. He rubbed his temples, sighed and said, "The geographical location of the Philippines is too important, and it is not possible to give it to Japan...... Otherwise, we will first agree to the US proposal to take over the trusteeship of the Philippines from the Americans, and then negotiate with Japan to divide the Philippine archipelago into three and establish an independent Philippine Republic on Luzon, Mindoro, Polillo, Lubang and other islands; Palawan, Kalamian Islands, and Bayanbu Islands are included in China; The remainder was formed as an independent Republic of Mindanao, to be occupied by Japan. In this way, several aspects can be explained, right? ”

Luo Yiqun nodded slightly, although this plan to carve up the Philippines is not as good as swallowing the Philippines in one bite, but it can also meet the requirements of those rich people in the South Seas, after all, the better development of the Philippines is just a Luzon Island. He looked at Wang Jingwei again and said, "Brother Zhaoming, if this plan is implemented, will the Japanese side accept it?" Can relations with the United States be maintained? ”

Wang Jingwei said slowly: "Our secret agreement with Japan did not involve the ownership of the Philippines in the first place, and now that we can share it equally with them, I think the Japanese side should be satisfied." Besides, the Japanese are not primarily concerned about the Philippines now, but about providing strategic materials such as oil, steel, aluminum alloys, and copper, in addition to aircraft engine technology. The United States, for its part, is now anxious to withdraw from the Philippines in order to withdraw its forces to Australia before the Japanese Combined Fleet returns to divisions. If we can provide convenience in this regard, I believe that relations with the United States can still be maintained. Speaking of this, he suddenly thought of something, twisted his eyebrows and said: "By the way, the US government seems to be planning to establish diplomatic relations with the Far Eastern Republic, the original military attache in China Stilwell was appointed US ambassador to the Far Eastern Republic, and the Far Eastern Republic sent Chen Changhao as ambassador to the United States. In addition, the Far Eastern Republic received a loan of $40 million from the U.S. government against minerals. President, do you see if this thing will ......?"

A trace of unhappiness flashed on Luo Yiqun's face, and he looked at his nephew Luo Yaoguo and said, "Fuwen, what do you think about this?" ”

Luo Yaoguo thought for a moment, and just wanted to speak, but Zeng Qi, the minister of the Colonial Department, interjected: "President, assistant marshal, the Far East is theoretically a sovereign country, not our colony, so it is only natural for them to establish diplomatic relations with the United States. As for the loans from the Americans," he said with a deep smile: "I don't think the Chinese side will go to the fire for the United States for the sake of a few tens of millions, especially now that the United States has just suffered an unprecedented fiasco in Hawaii!" But...... We should also send an accurate message to the Chinese and G, telling them that we do not support the war between the Far Eastern Republic and Japan! ”

"Oh?" Luo Yiqun nodded, "Do you want to tell Zhong G clearly?" ”

Zeng Qi sneered: "This is not necessary, we can strictly control the export of weapons to the Far Eastern Republic, including prohibiting the arsenal in Baotou from exporting weapons to the Far East." At the same time, a ban was issued on all shipping companies registered in China to transport arms from the United States to the ports of the Far Eastern Republics. ”

As soon as Zeng Qi's words were finished, the door of the conference room was pushed open again, and Fan Hanjie walked in quickly and whispered something in Luo Yiqun's ear. President Luo Da's face turned pale, turned his head to Luo Yaoguo and said, "I just got the news that on the other side of the North Sea, the German fleet and the British fleet are fighting. ”