In the imperial palace in Tokyo, Japan, Emperor Meiji asked Japanese Prime Minister Hirobumi Ito with a gloomy face: "Ito-kun, what should we do now?" After the combined fleet suffered heavy losses in naval battles and the British abandoned us again, how could we send reinforcements and supplies to South Korea and the Far Eastern Province in the future? ”

Ito Hirobumi had calmed down from the initial panic of getting the British fleet to leave Japan, and his mind was constantly thinking about a solution to Japan's current predicament, and now he could only rely on Japan itself, and the British had no hope at all.

Ito Hirobumi was silent for a moment and said: "Your Majesty the Emperor, the materials and ammunition in South Korea are very sufficient, even if the Dingbei Army launches an attack on South Korea, the 15 army divisions of South Korea can also resist it, but the situation of the Northern China Dispatch Army that landed in the Far Eastern Province is not optimistic, if there are no reinforcements and supplies, the Northern China Dispatch Army may not be able to break through the defense line of the Dingbei Army in the Eagle Gorge in the Sikhote Mountains, and then attack Heilongjiang Province until the capture of Shenyang City, it may be difficult to protect itself. So we must now find a way to continue sending reinforcements and supplies to the north of China, which landed in the Far Eastern Province. ”

Emperor Meiji smiled bitterly and said, "The combined fleet is already like this, how can we send troops to the north of China by sea to transport reinforcements and supplies?" Lin Daxin's Northeast Navy must now have blocked the entire sea route to South Korea and the Far Eastern Province tightly, so could it be that the transport ships would be allowed to fly over the Sea of Japan? ”

Ito Hirobumi's eyes lit up, and when he heard Emperor Meiji say fly, Ito Hirobumi immediately remembered a major event, and immediately said excitedly: "Your Majesty the Emperor." It is indeed possible to fly over the Sea of Japan! ”

Emperor Meiji opened his eyes wide and looked at Hirobumi Ito incredulously, this old man won't have hysteria, right! Why is his mouth full of nonsense. Can a transport ship actually fly over the Sea of Japan? Tell fairy tales!

Hirobumi Ito immediately explained to Emperor Meiji: "Your Majesty, have you forgotten that Lin Daxin's airship was born out of thin air, which sank many of the main warships of the combined fleet of the French Navy and the Russian Navy, and made Lin Daxin's Northeast Navy achieve a great victory in the Battle of the Gulf of Ussuri Bay. Now the Arsenal has developed our own large airship of the Great Japanese Empire! ”

Emperor Meiji asked in surprise, "What?" The airship has already been built? How come I don't know? ”

Hirobumi Ito said, "The arsenal has just built three ships, so it doesn't take long. But airships aren't perfect, according to our intelligence. Lin Daxin's airship airbag is filled with a gas that does not burn, even if it is hit by an anti-aircraft gun, it will not burn and explode, but our airship can only fill the airbag with hydrogen at present. I didn't find out what gas Lin Daxin's airship used, and hydrogen is a gas that is easy to burn and explode, which is why I didn't report to His Majesty the Emperor, originally I thought that I would wait for the successful development of a gas that would not burn, and then report to His Majesty the Emperor, and start to manufacture our own airships in the Empire of Japan on a large scale, but now at a time of crisis, I don't think I can take care of so much, and now the airships made by the arsenal must be mass-produced. Then use airships to deliver ammunition and supplies to the Northern China Dispatch Army, which landed in the Far Eastern Province. Wait for the arsenal to develop a gas that does not burn, and then replace the hydrogen in the air bag! ”

Since Lin Daxin's airship was born, not only Japan. To be honest, the airships developed by Japan are not only far from the eight airships that Lin Daxin purchased from the future time and space, but also the large airships developed by Western countries cannot catch up. But now these airships are indeed a good solution to the current dilemma.

Emperor Meiji, who was a little disheartened by the sudden departure of the British Navy from Japan, was disheartened by the war. As soon as I heard that Ito Hirobumi said that he could use airships to transport supplies and ammunition to the Far Eastern Province, the dark clouds on his face were swept away, and he had just heard that the British had evacuated the fleet from Japan, which made Emperor Meiji feel that the whole sky had fallen, and in the war with the Qing Dynasty a few years ago, it was because the final sea passage was cut off, so that Japan's war against the Qing Dynasty that had been prepared for many years fell short.

Fortunately, with the blessing of Amaterasu, he obtained the treasures worth hundreds of millions of pounds from the Tokugawa shogunate, so that in just 4 years, Japan regrouped and launched a war against Lin Daxin, in order to occupy the entire territory north of Lin Daxin.

However, now it has evolved into the scene of the last war, and the sea control is controlled by the Northeast Navy, and the appearance of the airship is like a lifesaver, and the Meiji Emperor urgently asked Ito Hirobumi: "Ito-kun, how is the performance of the airship made by our arsenal?" How much can you load? How much does it cost? How much time does it take for Arsenal to build 1 airship? ”

"The airship built by our arsenal has a rigid skeleton consisting of a longitudinal girder with 24 long pestles and 16 frames, and uses a lot of longitudinal and transverse cables to enhance the structural strength," Ito said. The outside of the hull frame is covered with a skin made of tarpaulin. The hull is 62 meters long, the maximum diameter is 12 meters, the gasoline engine imported from France is used as the power, there are 17 airbags in the hull, the total volume reaches 12,000 cubic meters, and the multiple airbags can play a role similar to the water compartment on the ship, which greatly improves the safety of the flight. The load of the airship can reach 13 tons, which is 5 to 6 times larger than the original soft airships in European countries, but it is still smaller than Lin Daxin's airship, and it can carry about 10 tons of cargo after removing the parts and pilots of the airship. The maximum flight speed of the airship can reach 28 kilometers per hour, and with plenty of fuel, there is absolutely no problem flying from Japan to the Far Eastern Province. ”

After a pause, Hirobumi Ito continued: "This airship made by our arsenal is not cheap, the cost of one airship is about 3.6 million yen, which is equivalent to 400,000 pounds to build one, but if His Majesty the Emperor can invest a lot of money, we can build another three ships at the same time in the arsenal, because the frame of these three ships has been built for more than half of it, and it can be completed day and night for about one month, and then we will have six airships." If built from scratch, 1 airship will take about 4 months to complete. ”

Emperor Meiji wiped his mustache, what an endless road! Thank you Amaterasu! Thanks to his wise decision at that time, he invested a lot of money in the arsenal in order to build airships, although there are only 3 airships at present, and there will only be 6 in 1 month, and each airship can not be loaded with many things, but with the speed of the airship, it can fly back and forth between the Far Eastern Province and Japan in 2 days, so that for the hundreds of thousands of Japanese officers and soldiers of the Far Eastern Province and the Northern Dispatch Army, at least they can hold on, and the ammunition and materials of the Northern Dispatch Army in China now, It was enough for them to persist in fighting in the Far Eastern Province for almost 20 days, and with airships could make this time even longer.

Emperor Meiji said: "Ito-kun, I will allocate another 100 million yen from the Emperor's treasury to the arsenal, so that the arsenal can make as many airships as possible, so that it can be used to transport some ammunition and materials to the northern dispatch army of China, but the airship capacity is too small after all, and it can only solve the urgent need, that is, after one month, there will be 6 airships, and the food and ammunition for transporting hundreds of thousands of northern Chinese troops are not enough, and it seems that the reinforcements of the northern Chinese dispatch army cannot be solved by relying on airships." ”

Ito Hirobumi sighed and said: "If you want to send reinforcements to the northern part of China, you can only take the risk of letting the combined fleet concentrate all the warships, and then, with a fearless spirit, escort the transport fleet to break through the blockade line of the Northeast Navy at sea and forcibly land at the Wild Boar River Wharf in the Far Eastern Province!" ”

Emperor Meiji also sighed, but now his mood was much better because of the Japanese airship, and he said to Ito Hirobumi: "Let the shipyard do its best to repair the two all-steel battleships of the injured Kirishima and Suzuya, and let Togo Heihachiro concentrate the remaining forces of the combined fleet, and finally have no choice but to escort the reinforcements of the army by the combined fleet, forcibly break through the blockade of the Tohoku Navy, and land in the Far Eastern Province." ”

Fortunately, the Japanese Navy did not devote all its resources to the escort fleet at one time because the British Navy followed it this time, and there were 9 large fast armored cruisers, 8 fast protection cruisers and 8 old protective cruisers left on the mainland, plus a few all-steel battleships that escaped back, it is not that there is no hope at all.

Japanese shipyards are now building 8 majestic class all-steel battleships and 8 Asama-class large fast armored cruisers, but unfortunately they have just finished laying keels, and it will take more than 1 year before the construction is completed, and Emperor Meiji can't help but regret a little, he should have agreed to build these 16 capital warships earlier, and if the combined fleet added these 16 capital warships, maybe ......

It's a pity that all thoughts can only be ifs, I can only think about it, let's face it, Emperor Meiji told Hirobumi Ito that he must personally grasp the matter of the airship and treat it as a top priority.

Ito Hirobumi then arranged for three airships that had been built, immediately loaded with about 30 tons of food and ammunition, ready to fly to the Far Eastern Province, and send them to the northern dispatch army of China, so that the officers and men of the northern dispatch army of China knew that although the sea transportation channel was cut off, they were not alone, and now Japan has a large airship that can fly over the Sea of Japan, which can be sent to the northern dispatch army of China in a steady stream, so that the officers and men of the northern dispatch army of the northern China will continue to maintain the determination to resolutely attack.

On October 28, three Japanese-made airships took off from the arsenal near Tokyo and headed west. (To be continued) R655