The impact of the rout on the Korean Peninsula on the Japanese government and opposition far exceeded all estimates, and within a few days, all the Japanese troops in the northern half of Korea were scattered, and more than 100,000 Japanese army elites were thrown on the battlefield, which meant that more than 100,000 families had to endure the pain of losing their loved ones, and even if Japan was a militaristic country, it could not bear the blow of this sacrifice.

To make matters worse, the Chinese invasion of Korea has aroused a hidden fear in the hearts of the Japanese whether China will drive Japan off the Korean Peninsula as it did during the Wanli period of the Ming Dynasty, and by that time Japan will have completely lost its springboard to enter the Asian continent.

Although Japan is still in control of the Far East at this time, Japan knows very well that the defense capability of the Far East is far from being compared with North Korea, which has been operating for a long time, and what blocks China in the Far East is the cold weather, as long as the weather is warmer, China will definitely launch an attack without hesitation, and at that time Japan can only retreat to the islands, be honest fishermen, and the world hegemony has nothing to do with Japan!

You must know that Hirohito has been dreaming of ruling all countries and people all day long, how can he sit back and watch the rout, Hirohito first found Tanaka Yoshiichi over, and scolded him, Hirohito has given him a death order, the Japanese army must be strictly defended, and Seoul must not be lost.

However, Hirohito also knew that it was already very good for the army to be able to hold the existing front, and if it wanted to forge ahead, or even thwart China, it could only rely on a powerful combined fleet, which was Japan's only chance.

Another factor that forced Japan to launch a decisive battle at sea as soon as possible was the power of submarine warfare at sea, with China sending 500,000 tons of cargo ships to the bottom of the sea in less than two months, and China responding to Japan's escort operations with wolf pack tactics.

Four or five submarines were arranged in advance into a huge fan-shaped trap, and after the Japanese fleet entered the ambush circle, they launched attacks from all directions. Even some of the slower ironclads couldn't escape. Japan has already lost four warships.

As an island country, Japan's resources are very limited, and even grain cannot be self-sufficient, and Japan was originally able to get grain from China, but now that the two sides have started a war, Japan simply does not want to get it, and Taiwan is also an important grain base. However, the route is constantly threatened by Chinese submarines, and it is impossible to deliver grain to the main island of Japan.

As a result, Japan faced a serious threat of starvation, and was able to impose strict food controls, collect the last bit of surplus food in the hands of the peasants, and supply only the magnates in Tokyo, but also the army and navy. As well as the military-industrial complex, as for the life and death of those farmers, there is no one to care.

Of course, Japan's top brass is not a fool, and if they do not make progress quickly, they are afraid that there will be another rice riot in Japan, and at that time Japan will really not be able to maintain itself, so it is urgent to break the deadlock from the sea as soon as possible.

The topographical position between China and Japan determined that there would not be many options for the two countries to engage at sea, and the most effective thing for Japan was to rush to the Bohai Bay and attack Tianjin directly. And then threaten Beijing. You must know that Tianjin is the economic center and railway hub of northern China, and the political center of Beijing. As long as it threatens the security here, it can disrupt China's arrangement.

However, as long as Japan did not go crazy, it would not do so, and the Shandong Peninsula and the Liaodong Peninsula were deep in the ocean, and a large number of Chinese air forces were stationed on the two peninsulas, and if Japan rushed in, China would definitely let them try the power of shuttle bombing.

After careful consideration, Japan decided to divide Japan's combined fleet into two parts, the first part was to take the battleships Nagato and Kaga as the core, and the aircraft carriers Akagi and Fengxiang to provide air protection, and the target of Japan's attack was the Zhoushan Islands.

Located at the mouth of the Yangtze River, it is the center of China's north-south shipping route, and the strategic location is the most important, and Japan has concentrated its most elite forces in this direction, ready to fight China to the death!

In addition, Japan dispatched a battleship formation with the battleship Mutsu as the core, and the main task was to cut off the South China Sea route, and Japan also estimated that there was no Chinese naval aviation in the South China Sea, and only land-based aircraft could threaten the battleship formation, but if these battleships moved outside the range of land-based aircraft, there would be no danger, and you must know that the South China Sea was still very vast, and Japan could completely form a blockade line on the periphery.

Japan did not do this at the time of the war, that is, it was a little afraid of the intervention of Britain and France, but now that Japan is facing life and death, there will definitely be no care, whoever dares to stop it is the enemy of Japan!

The core of the attack on the South China Sea route will be the battleship Mutsu, which is the sister ship of the Nagato, which is a little larger than the Nagato, and is one of the most powerful warships in the Japanese Navy.

Japan's preferred target for attack was the Dongsha Islands, which Japan hoped to occupy as both a forward base for Japan's attacks on the Chinese mainland and a fulcrum for Japan to cut off the South China Sea shipping lanes.

The Japanese thought that their actions were very secretive, but they were discovered by Chinese submarines soon after they went to sea, in fact, this is also very normal, although the sea area between China and Japan is not small, but it is not enough to accommodate two large fleets, and China and Japan have an amazing number of spy forces on each other, so it is just wishful thinking to want to achieve complete secrecy.

Although these two warships are old German ships before World War I, China has made several improvements, especially the Guangxi has been replaced with 380 mm main guns, and the firepower has been greatly enhanced, and it has been able to fight with Japanese battleships.

This time, the Japanese followed the experience of the Battle of Jutland and sent the Fuso and Kongo to the front to take on the task of luring the enemy fleet, and then the battleship Mutsu followed up to deliver a fatal blow to the Chinese warships that appeared.

What the Chinese submarine discovered was the decoy formation of the Fusang and the King Kong, and Tang Qianming led the Chinese fleet to rush over to the Dongsha waters.

However, the Chinese fleet did not use backward tactics to lure the enemy like the Japanese, and China believed more in air power, and the warships were equipped with seaplanes, and seaplanes and land planes were developed almost simultaneously.

There are two types in total, one is the hull type and the other is the pontoon type, and the hull type is to make the fuselage into a boat shape and then add wings. propellers and other devices. Being able to take off on the water, and the difference between the pontoon type and the land-based aircraft is not large, that is, the landing gear of the aircraft is replaced with two huge pontoons to increase buoyancy.

Although seaplanes were rare in later generations, they do have great value now, and seaplanes do not require a long deck for takeoff, so many warships will carry seaplanes. As a means of reconnaissance, the Guangxi carried a total of four seaside reconnaissance planes.

Both fleets are rapidly approaching the Dongsha Sea, and in the exchange of battleships, it is very important to discover the enemy first, which often means the ownership of the initiative in the war, and the Japanese fleet is obviously a little behind in this regard. Although they also carried seaplanes, their performance was not reliable, and the distance for reconnaissance was limited, so they were not sent out at all.

The Chinese reconnaissance plane was the first to discover the Japanese fleet, and Tang Qianming immediately ordered the Guangxi to hurriedly turn around the hull and seize the T-shaped crosshead, and at the same time prepare for the war. The same is true for the Chongqing. This time, it was the Fuso that Japan took the lead.

The battleship had participated in the Battle of Qingdao, but that battle was also a nightmare for the Fuso. The huge ship had no defense capability in front of the Chinese planes, and was completely passively beaten, and after a few bombs, the Fuso barely escaped back to Japan.

However, the superstructure was so badly damaged that it took Japan more than half a year to repair the Fuso, which again appeared in the South China Sea as a decoy fleet.

The Fusang appeared in the field of vision of the Guangxi, Tang Qianming gave an order, and the Guangxi launched the first salvo, and the Japanese soldiers on the Fusang were also experienced, and they did not show too much surprise in the face of the Chinese attack, although they were in a disadvantageous position, but the Japanese still fought back.

The steel behemoth began a frantic collision on the sea, and the Fuso, while exchanging fire with the Chinese warship, hurriedly sent a telegram to the Okulu in the rear, asking the battleship Mutsu to come over as soon as possible and annihilate the Chinese warship.

In fact, at this time, the Japanese on the Fuso were still very excited, they knew very well that China still only had one battleship, that is, the Guangxi, and if this warship could be sunk, it would certainly be able to greatly damage China's confidence and play a huge role in getting Japan out of its predicament.

The quality of the Japanese sailors on the Fuso was indeed better than that of the Chinese, although the Chinese took the lead in the attack, but due to the unfavorable position, the Japanese could only use the six guns in the front, so the power was weaker, but the Japanese still gave the first hand, and in the third round of shooting, a shell hit the front deck of the Guangxi.

The violent explosion killed all the sailors around him, and at the same time ignited a fire, in the face of death and fierce fire, the Chinese Navy did not have any fear, all the personnel stuck to their combat posts, and struggled to fire shells at Japan, and finally in the fifth salvo, the Guangxi successfully hit the middle of the Fusang.

Although the displacement of the Fuso is 2,000 tons larger than that of the renovated Guangxi, the main gun of the Japanese warship is only 356 mm, which is worse than the Chinese 380 mm main gun, and Japan is indeed inferior to Germany in artillery technology, and the same caliber is much worse, not to mention the gap in caliber.

The Japanese shells hit the Guangxi, only smashed a huge depression in the foredeck, and did not completely penetrate the protective armor, while the Chinese shells were completely different, the huge warhead hit the middle of the Fuso, and the shells exploded violently, and the flames quickly swallowed the lives of the nearby Japanese soldiers.

This cannon caused a huge hole with a diameter of three meters to appear in the middle deck of the Fuso, which had already damaged the internal structure of the warship, so that the black smoke and fire on it continued, seriously disturbing the view of the Japanese artillerymen.

The Guangxi obviously gained an advantage in the process of artillery battles, and in addition to the Japanese warship is the battleship King Kong, and now it is also in a fierce exchange of fire with the Chongqing, the King Kong has the same 356 mm main gun as the Fuso, which has a huge advantage over the Chongqing, but the young Chinese sailors are not afraid, they know very well that China can pull out not many warships to fight, if they do not resist, once the two Japanese ships are caught in the Guangxi, the situation will be very bad, in order to buy time for the Guangxi, Even if you die in battle, it's worth it! (To be continued.) )