On 22 March, at the invitation of US President Wilson, Xiao Zhenlei set off at the Tianjin Wharf to take a convoy with the Marlin-class heavy cruiser Zhenhai as the flagship to the United States.

Before leaving, Xiao Zhenlei also approved the navy to order 10 destroyers of less than 2,000 tons, 20 torpedo boats, 20 mine-laying ships and gunboats, 10 oil tankers, and more than 20 coastal patrol ships from major domestic shipyards. And then in order to figure out the future.

After Xiao Zhenlei left for the United States, Premier Song Shijie was in charge of domestic affairs, and Jiang Fangzhen, chief of the General Staff, and Cai Guodong, director of the General Armament Department, were in charge of the domestic affairs. Among the military were Cai Yi, Xu Shaozhen, Sa Zhenbing, Chen Jizu, Zhou Chuandong, and others, and they were accompanied by Zhang Jian, vice premier and minister of commerce, Hu Hanmin, minister of agriculture and water resources, Lu Zhengxiang, minister of foreign affairs, Chen Huizu, minister of finance, and Lin Zhiqiang, minister of energy and mineral resources.

The first stop of the fleet on this trip was the port of Tokyo, Japan. The fleet will stay for three days after arriving at the port of Tokyo, during which time Xiao Zhenlei will pay a state visit to Japan in Tokyo, including two days to visit Japan's large industrial factories, ports, and scenic spots. On the final day, the fleet will sail for Hawaii after a meeting with Emperor Taisho of Japan, followed by a meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Gonbei Yamamoto.

After a few days of sailing out of Chinese waters, the weather was clear and the wind was beautiful, and the seabirds kept flying in the sky, and from time to time they swept over the sea and picked up a sea fish.

Xiao Zhenlei and the others sat on the bow deck of the fleet's flagship Zhenhai while basking in the sun and blowing the sea breeze. While chatting. Cai sighed: "This is the first time I have gone to sea on our own warship, and I am also going to a state visit to a foreign country. I felt a lot of emotion for a while! ”

Xiao Zhenlei said: "Many of us have been to European and American countries, but it is basically the first time to go on a state visit, right?" Oh, Minister Lu used to be a minister to Russia, he doesn't count! We are big girls on the sedan chair. It's the first time! I still don't know exactly what the process is! ”

"Hahaha??????" The crowd burst into laughter.

After laughing, Foreign Minister Lu Zhengxiang said: "The president does not have to worry, my country's minister to the United States, Gu Weijun, has already held detailed discussions with US President Wilson's presidential office, and everything is ready!" ”

"Oh?" Xiao Zhenlei asked, "Where in the United States is the first stop?" ”

Lu Zhengxiang said: "Our first stop in the United States is Los Angeles, when the representatives of the overseas Chinese in the western United States will gather at the dock to welcome the President and other colleagues, after a short stop in Los Angeles, we will take a train across the United States to Washington, the capital of the United States, and the fleet will stay to meet with the four warships we ordered in the United States." Along the way, we will visit the cities along the way, where President Wilson will welcome you, and we will stay in Washington for three days before heading south to New York. After a visit to New York, the economic center of the United States, we returned to Los Angeles by train and were escorted home by a fleet of ships for about 12 days in the United States."

"Good!" Xiao Zhenlei agreed, and at this time, a black shadow appeared in the sky in the distance in front of the fleet, and soon the black shadow grew larger and gradually decreased in height. After landing on the surface of the sea, taxied for more than a hundred meters, turned and approached a ship parallel to the fleet, which turned out to be a water reconnaissance aircraft.

This time the fleet came out with supply ships and oil tankers. There is also a seaplane carrier, this mothership is converted from an old 3300-ton bulk carrier, carrying 2 water patrol aircraft and 4 aircraft, one of these four aircraft is a fighter, a bomber and two torpedo aircraft, because the flight technology of taking off and landing on the deck is still immature, so this mothership only carries a total of five aircraft, all four fighters are folding wing fighters, the water patrol and reconnaissance aircraft is large, can only take off and land on the sea surface, and use a vertical lift to lift it onto the aircraft carrier or lower it to the seaThe Navy has already used carrier-based aircraft to conduct take-off and landing tests on the flight deck, and has achieved very good results, although there are great losses in the process of testing, but this is very worthwhile from the perspective of Xiao Zhenlei and the top level of the Navy.

Soon, an officer walked briskly with a Wen Jiàn clip and saluted Sa Zhenbing, and then muttered a few words in a low voice, Sa Zhenbing's face changed when he heard this, and then waved his hand to signal him to leave.

Xiao Zhenlei saw that Sa Zhenbing's expression was different, and couldn't help but ask, "General Sa, is something wrong?" ”

Sa Zhenbing saw Xiao Zhenlei asking, so he said: "President, the reconnaissance plane reported that a fleet was found three hundred nautical miles ahead, it was the Japanese Combined Fleet, the flagship was the battleship Kongo, and there were four warships accompanying it, coming in our direction!" ”

The battleship Kongo was a battleship ordered by Japan from Britain and the last large capital ship that Japan ordered from abroad, and this battlecruiser was recently completed and returned to Japan from England, where it was used as the flagship of the Japanese Combined Fleet. The purpose of Japan's order for Britain to be this warship was to introduce foreign technology and design, and in fact, at this time, Japan's shipbuilding capacity was not far from that of Britain and the United States.

In fact, this King Kong is not a battleship in the true sense, it should be called a battlecruiser, the battlecruiser is between a battleship and a cruiser, it has the firepower of a battleship, equipped with eight 356 mm guns, but it does not have the super defense of a battleship, but it has the speed of a cruiser, its standard displacement is 26,610 tons, its power is 36 oil-coal mixed boiler boilers, the output power reaches 64,000 horsepower, and the speed is 27 knots. Such a speed can be said to be better than the vast majority of cruisers in service today, and many cruisers under construction by the great powers are not necessarily as fast as it.

The battle cruiser is designed and manufactured to deal with the local breaking engagement, it has the firepower of the battleship and the speed of the cruiser, the enemy's breaking engagement is mainly carried out by the cruiser, the battleship of the country can not catch up at all, and the cruiser has no advantage over the cruiser at all, so the battle cruiser was invented, the firepower has an absolute advantage over the enemy cruiser, and the speed is enough to catch up. Therefore, it was envisaged that the mode of action would be that the enemy cruiser would be resolutely pursued and destroyed, and the enemy battleship would be able to evade at high speed. This tactical intent was vividly displayed in the later Battle of Falkland, where the Spey fleet, which was dominated by cruisers, could not fight and escape, and could not escape in front of the British fleet, which was dominated by battle cruisers, and was completely unable to deal with it.

However, the battlecruiser had no advantage over the battleship, and although its firepower was comparable to that of the battleship, its protective armor was too weak compared to the battleship's large-caliber naval artillery shells, and if it was hit, the battlecruiser was basically destroyed.

Xiao Zhenlei listened to Sa Zhenbing's report, thought about it, and said: "You can't have the heart to harm people, and you can't have the heart to defend people!" We're going to pass through Tokyo this time, and we're going to visit Wèn, and we're not going to war, but we can't help but take any precautions against them! ”

Sa Zhenbing nodded and said, "Understood!" ”

Immediately the whole fleet began to prepare for naval battle, the armor of the ship's cannon was uncovered, the sailors did their work in an orderly manner, one shell after another was transported from the ammunition depot to the turret by conveyor belts and upper and lower grades, the seaplane carrier also began to make a farewell, four planes began to load ammunition, the bombers were equipped with aerial bombs, two torpedo planes began to be equipped with torpedoes, and the maintenance personnel began to inspect each aircraft.

The atmosphere of war began to come, and all ships began to be nervously busy, and Xiao Zhenlei and the others no longer had the leisure to continue to sit on the bow deck and drink tea and blow the sea breeze and chat.

To tell the truth, although there are no battleships in the fleet, Xiao Zhenlei is really not afraid of five Japanese ships three hundred nautical miles away, the battlecruiser Kongo and four other battleship cruisers, the size and number of battleships are about the same as his side, and he also has four aircraft, two of which are torpedo machines, and now the ships of this era have no empty fire at all, the four planes can fire at the other party's ships at will, only if one torpedo hits the battleship Kongo, it will be finished, because its armor is too thin, Ordinary battleships may not be able to withstand a torpedo, and the armor of a cruiser is hit by a torpedo with a high chance of being killed.

Xiao Zhenlei inspected the Zhenhai and found that the officers and men of the Navy were very nervous, so he thought about it and came to the command cabin to pick up the megaphone and shouted: "I am President Xiao Zhenlei, hello to all the officers and men of the Navy!" There is a Japanese fleet three hundred nautical miles ahead, I asked General Sa to order you to enter a state of combat readiness, we are going to visit wèn this time, not to fight, but we can't help but guard against other people's conspiracies, so I will give this order, just now I found that many officers and soldiers are a little nervous, this is normal, many people are encountering such a situation for the first time, nervousness is inevitable, but I hope you are not nervous, but excited, the excitement of the coming big war! You are soldiers, it is normal to have a desire to fight in your blood, otherwise you are cowardly! We lost the First Sino-Japanese Naval Battle to Japan, and the Beiyang Fleet was completely annihilated, are we going to lose forever? With the combat performance of our five warships, as well as the cooperation of water fighters, it is not inferior to the other side's fleet at all, if you are still afraid, what hope does our navy have at all? Summon your courage, burn your blood, bravely face the Japanese fleet, and if the other side really intends to go to war, then fight! But now, please relax, relax, people are still three hundred nautical miles away, even if they encounter us, there will be more than 8 hours, is it that this time has been so tense? When the Japanese fleet really arrives, will you still have the energy and body to go to war? Well, get ready, and then do whatever you need to do! (To be continued) R466