"Report to the captain, the second squadron sent a message that it had detected a suspected Japanese naval ship. Number two, the location is about 160 kilometers northeast of the Great Ryukyu Island, and the coordinates are ....... ”

Yang Haiwei quietly listened to the report sent by the patrol fleet led by the "Dingyuan", and Deng Shichang, who was the reserve deputy captain next to him, immediately marked it on the chart.

After listening, Yang Haiwei asked, "Can you be sure that they are the two new Japanese warships?" Or is it a decoy that they put out on purpose? ”

"The second squadron is in the process of being confirmed, but judging by the previous intelligence, there should be no mistake."

The operational staff officer was well aware of all the recent intelligence information and gave answers without hurrying.

Yang Haiwei nodded slightly, his keen gaze stayed on the chart for a short time, raised his eyes to look at Deng Shichang and asked: "If you were the commander of the coalition forces, would you adopt such a bold tactic and put expensive brand new warships on the role of decoy, in an attempt to confuse the enemy and create an ambush trap?" ”

Deng Shichang raised his two thick black eyebrows, and replied neatly: "Yes!" ”

"Tell me why."

Accustomed to this kind of practice of seemingly asking for opinions anytime and anywhere, but actually assessing and giving training courses to Kai Xiaozao, Deng Shichang not only paid very much attention, but also blurted out countless theoretical battles in his head like a whirlwind.

"As a coalition side, it should now be very clear about the performance of the ships and the overall combat capability of our Navy. After being refitted, the Dingzhen No. 2 ship has thick armor and a speed of more than 18 knots, and its reconnaissance capability is extremely strong. And there are a large number of high-speed frigates. So. Frontal emergency response with the current capital ships of each country. There is no such thing as a fluke. Therefore, it is necessary to settle for the next best thing, give full play to the performance and tactics of its own ships, and find another way. ”

Yang Haiwei was noncommittal: "Even so, there is no need to put together two expensive brand new capital ships, is the price too great?" ”

Deng Shichang shook his head: "No, on the contrary, this is the only tactic that the coalition forces may succeed at the moment." ”

"Tell me more."

One question and one answer. The speed did not give people a moment to think, and the other members of the bridge command room involuntarily followed the conversation, trying to think about how to answer. This is an extremely rare strategic and tactical course, which allows them to personally participate in the formulation of various strategies for the operational command of the enemy.

Deng Shichang said calmly: "To defeat our navy, there are not many methods available to the coalition forces. In the absence of the possibility of immediately committing a capital ship with similar performance, it is only a surprise. As far as the immediate situation is concerned, the two new warships, the "Fuji" and the "Yashima," which belong to the Japanese Navy, have thick armor and fierce firepower and fast sailing speed, and have the strength to fight the two ships of Dingzhen after our refit. And thanks to the secret acceleration of construction by the British, the speed of service was much ahead. Japan and Britain teamed up to release fake news. Misleading us into thinking that it bought two new cruisers and pursued them rashly. It is possible that when encountered, it will be counterattacked by its powerful force! ”

Everyone knows that he is talking about the "Fuji-class battleships" that the Japanese army ordered for 20 million yen two years ago to deal with the Dingzhen No. 2 ship. In order to ensure complete overwhelmingness, the two battleships designed two 40x diameter 305mm guns, plus 10 152mm rapid-fire single-mount guns. The thickness of the main armor of the hull side waterline reaches a maximum of 457mm, the bridge is 356mm, the power is 13,500 horsepower, and the maximum two-shaft propulsion can reach 18.3 knots.

When the First Sino-Japanese War broke out, Japan had no confidence in victory at all, and originally planned to accept it as soon as it was good, and then wait for the two huge ships to be built before making a final decision.

Unexpectedly, the result was very unexpected. In another time and space, they relied on the army's unbelievably huge gains to win a big victory, successfully extorting 200 million taels of silver, and thus gaining the capital to rise like a balloon for the next half century.

But in this time and space, it was defeated and lost because of Yang Hao's mixing, and the navy and army suffered heavy losses in all directions. In particular, the most valuable navy was almost completely wiped out, directly leading Japan to have no defense at sea. Even if Yang Hao hadn't made time to attack his homeland for a long time, they were still worried all day long.

It was impossible for the British to keep an eye on Yang Hao all day long, so they secretly accelerated the construction of the two warships, and the two ships were launched last winter, and the officers and men of the navy who were transported by Japan in batches practiced for half a year, and after determining that the operation was smooth and barely ready for a war, they urgently pulled them out and cooperated with the Far East coalition forces to formulate tactics.

The coalition forces decided that the Chinese side would not sit idly by and watch the Japanese navy grow, and once they received the news, they would inevitably send people to intercept and kill the two warships halfway, and strangle their threat in the cradle. Then, on this basis, the plan will be calculated, and the trap will be set with two "Fuji-class battleships" as bait, and it is very likely that the Chinese Navy, which is accustomed to victory, will suffer a big loss!

As early as before the First Sino-Japanese War, Yang Hao disclosed the information about the "Fuji class" through the guò newspaper, which caused a great shock at that time. But probably no one would have thought that these two battleships would be completed so quickly. Now the Allied forces have misled the news that Japan has bought two new cruisers, and they are on the road alone, and it is very likely that a fleet will be separated to intercept them. When the two sides met, they suddenly found that the "weak" cruiser in the intelligence had turned into a powerful battleship, which would definitely give the Chinese Navy a huge surprise.

Well, the idea is indeed very beautiful, in the case of not knowing that there is such a thing as radar in the world, once the two sides enter the visual distance, even if they find that it is wrong, it is estimated that it will be too late to run. The 40 times diameter 305mm main gun newly installed in the "Fuji class" has quite amazing range and power, not only will it inevitably exceed the original 25 times diameter Krupp guns of the two ships in Dingzhen, that is, it is not as good as the new main gun with a rapid-fire mechanism that has been replaced by a cheating mechanism in terms of rate of fire.

Two to one, how can you beat the unprepared Dingzhen with a blue nose and swollen face?

Of course, last year, the main ships of the coalition forces were all out, and the reason why they lost a melee in the East China Sea was that they were defeated by a surprise attack. Now dealing with a capital ship alone, how can it not be a big problem, right?

However, after suffering such a big loss, will the coalition forces still be as confident and arrogant as ever, counting on the two giant ships to win by surprise?

Deng Shichang continued: "The bait of the two ships is only part of the plan, and it is not even their killer feature. ”

"Huh?! How could it be? Could it be that the coalition forces still have a more powerful warship than the 'Sovereign-class' that was defeated last year?! ”

Most people couldn't help but be stunned. He frowned and pondered that it was them. How it should be done. What other intelligence information is there. It's something they didn't grasp or take into account.

Deng Shichang's eyes flashed with wisdom, and he held the pearl of wisdom in his hand: "The coalition forces have no certainty of victory to defeat the two ships in Dingzhen, so they can only find other strategies." And the best thing is to look for opportunities in terms of speed and artillery fire and the number of ships. Therefore, if it were me, I sent a large number of fast cruisers to follow behind. Once the two capital ships meet the enemy, they will suddenly rush out from the rear to attack! Relying on its speed, rate of fire, and numerical superiority, it should be annihilated by gathering inside and outside! ”

I see!

People who didn't expect or didn't think about it before suddenly realized. Not bad. In other words, if they are on the side of the coalition forces, I am afraid that this is the only one that can be used.

From the last war to the present half a year, it is not long or short, but it is far from enough for the great powers to build a new capital ship with superior performance.

According to the experience of the First Sino-Japanese War and last year's naval battle, the major naval powers have already made clear what kind of warships they will need in future naval battles. That is, the hull will be larger, the armor will be thicker, the main guns will be more and more, and the rate of fire will be faster and faster. More and more of them!

The tactics accumulated in the era of classical sails will inevitably change, and the distance of artillery battles will inevitably be extended. The elastic performance of armor-piercing also increases rapidly as the armor continues to thicken. The caliber of the main gun and the multiplier of the barrel will become larger and larger.

And so on, this qiē need will inevitably give birth to the birth of a real battleship. Not to mention anything else, because of the fiasco of a series of the strongest warships of various countries such as the "Sovereign class", a series of improved models designed immediately after were shelved. In its place, larger, higher-performing warships were designed and built.

After the transformation of the two ships in Dingzhen, the astonishing rate of fire of one shot per minute, the high accuracy and large range of hitting at a distance of 10,000 meters, the long-range convenience of the tall bridge, the optical rangefinder and the firing command system, the radio communication device that is speculated to have been put into use, and the shipboard hot air balloon ...... for long-distance detection. and a series of other performance indicators, all of which have forced countries to rack their brains to try to improve.

Needless to say, rapid-fire guns, with the experience of the current 152mm guns, the idea is to upgrade to a larger caliber main gun. The spring-made retreat and re-entry mechanism that has been installed in the army, the shameless French were the first to discover the hydraulic technology patent that Yang Hao bought first, and the large-caliber main gun turret mechanism that integrates the pipe retreat and frame retreat have also entered the design.

That is to say, because of Yang Hao's appearance, the all-main gun dreadnought with a high rate of fire and a large hull is estimated to be not far from the day of its appearance.

Of course, this is something that will only be seen in a few years. As far as the current conditions are concerned, the countries will no longer bring their precious capital ships to death, so to achieve the results of the surprise attack, only fast cruisers can be used. And in this regard, countries really have more reliable ship models!

"That's a good point."

Yang Haiwei applauded lightly, and at the same time waved his hand, the young staff officer immediately spread out the stack of materials he was holding on the chart table, and everyone looked at it, and it was a lot of contemporary ship graphics and information of different shapes!

Yang Haiwei said: "Everyone take a look, this is what we know at present, the information of the fast armored cruisers of various countries that have appeared in the coastal waters of China. ”

Including Deng Shichang, everyone's hearts were shocked again. The information of the coalition ships should have been top secret, especially during the war, and their whereabouts should be kept strictly secret. As a result, even the appearance drawings and detailed performance were displayed in front of him, I really don't know how Commander-in-Chief Yang did their intelligence work, so thorough and meticulous!

But it was also shocked to take it for granted, and everyone didn't say a word, and hurriedly rushed to the information to read it against time.

This is naturally from the world, which contains the detailed situation of the best armored cruisers in various countries, except for the exaggerated things that are not as exaggerated as the design drawings, the battleship photos, line drawings, detailed parameters, etc., are undoubtedly displayed one by one!

On the British side, the most important is the "Blake-class first-class protective cruiser". The ship has a displacement of 9,150 tons, and has an amazing performance of 13,000 horsepower/speed of 20 knots under normal pressure and 20,000 horsepower/speed of 21.4-21.8 knots under strong pressure ventilation. It also has two 234mm rear-loading rifled guns with a 32 times diameter and ten 152mm rapid-fire guns with a 40 times diameter. Coupled with heavy armor, as well as an epoch-making lightning net design. It can be called a model of a modern cruiser.

Despite this, it doesn't seem to be much faster than the Yoshino. But don't forget the endurance of this ship. Cruising performance, long high-speed cruising and all-round improvement of artillery armor are by no means comparable to the "Yoshino".

The second is the "Edgar Grade", which is a low-quality and inexpensive model. This improved model with a displacement of 7,350 tons costs only 367,000 pounds per strip, but the armament is basically the same as that of the "Blake class". Its normal pressure speed is 18 knots, and strong pressure ventilation is 20 knots, which can theoretically also exceed the Dingzhen 2nd ship.

The British unceremoniously built as many as nine in one go, all of which are now in service for at least two years. Not to mention how smooth it is!

And in order to ensure overwhelming superiority, the British also invested in the construction of more powerful "Qiangsheng-class" first-class protective cruisers. A behemoth with a displacement of up to 14,200 tons, it has superior performance of 25,000 hp / 22 knots. However, given that this guy's firepower performance is not superior, and the cost is nearly twice as much as that of the "Edgar class", there are only two designs, but I don't know if there is a surprise entry now.

There is no doubt that the Royal Navy of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries was unsurpassed. Not to mention the performance of warships, just looking at the number of each model built, it can only be looked up to by all countries.

Of course, the great powers are not to be outdone. The Americans built the "USS New York" armored cruiser with 6 8-inch guns and a speed of 20 knots; The Italians built the Marco Polo, with six 6-inch guns and a speed of 17.8 knots, a performance that could only be used as soy sauce, as they had in a series of operations in the Far East. Don't want to forge ahead.

The Russians built the Rurik with a displacement of 11,690 tons, a speed of 18.7 knots, 4 8-inch guns and 16 6-inch guns. Because there were no supply depots along the way, the ship also retained its sail outfit.

The French were close to the British, and the navy kept up. They built the Dupuy DeLome with a maximum speed of 19.7 knots and the Amiral Charner class with a maximum speed of 19 knots, and the Austro-Crarian Empire made the Maria at 19.35 knots like this? Queen Theresa. (Huh?) It seems that there is a very important role missing? ）

So many characters who gritted their teeth and could rush to 20 knots have converged on the coast of China with troop carriers on expeditions to Asia. This time, in order to protect the landing operation of 50,000 coalition troops, these armored cruisers, which can be called the most advanced in modern times, have appeared one after another, and they have been very arrogant for a while in the waters of the East China Sea where there is no capital ship patrol.

If nothing else, these cruisers must have gathered in a heap, hiding in some dark corner, patiently waiting for the opportunity to strike. Obviously, this time the sudden appearance of the two Japanese ships will be its best and probably the only chance.

There was so much information that the future commanders in the command room were dazzled. But after hurriedly scanning it, it was a little unsightly.

After all, someone couldn't help but complain: "With this kind of performance, they still want to go to sneak attack operations, are they a little whimsical?" Too much worse ....... ”

I ate too much braised pork, and when I saw spicy cabbage, I naturally looked down on it. Who let these guys sit under their butts is a chrono heavy cruiser that will not be outdated in fifty years!

There is no slender and graceful hull, bad reviews; There is no strong steam turbine power of up to 100,000 horsepower, no speed of more than 30 knots, bad review; There is no semi-automatic high-velocity gun with multiple tubes in parallel, bad reviews; There is no cash optical ranging and firing command system, and the bad reviews are .......

From any point of view, including displacement and armor protection, there is nothing to boast about in the class of warships of today's countries. Not to mention this heavy cruiser, even the 9,000-ton light cruiser that is under construction in full swing, the guy with four triple 152mm main guns can still easily destroy any enemy ship here!

If the ship design experts contacted by various countries knew what they were thinking, they would probably be able to cry and faint in the toilet. Don't bring such a comparison, you have a plane as a cheat, what's the matter with people who are a hundred years ahead of them to show their superiority!

Deng Shichang was old after all, and calmly commented: "If we don't dispatch the 'Tianjin' and simply hunt the Japanese ships with two detachments, there is a great chance of falling into the trap." When more than ten fast armored cruisers and two battleships suddenly flank, the odds of defeat are high! ”

In any case, except for the Dingzhen 2nd ship, the guns of the rest of the auxiliary ships were too small, the rate of fire was too low, and the armor was too weak. Once the two battleships were hard to resist the blow as a meat shield, the rest surrounded from all angles, and under the many times the rapid-fire guns, the end was quite not optimistic!

Yang Haiwei nodded approvingly: "So, don't be proud, let alone be lucky, and hope that the enemy will make mistakes." Let's not forget, we are dealing with a great deal of experience and strength. In half a year at most, they will be able to break through the performance of rapid-fire main guns, and at most two years, a new generation of battleships may be born. With the strength of the great powers, maybe in two or three years, what will appear in front of us again will be a group of dozens of high-speed battleships with 16-inch guns and a displacement of more than 20,000 tons! At that time, who can be optimistic? ”

No one can. Just think of the shadow of the mountain that covers the sky and the sun is blocked at the door of the house, and everyone shudders. Speaking of others, just the British family, the local tyrant style of building seven or eight first-class capital ships at every turn, I am afraid that no one will be able to bear their madness at that time!

On the other hand, on the Chinese side, in three years, I am afraid that even the integration of national land reform will not be completed. Industrialization will take longer, and before that, if the great powers drag it into an arms race, the economy is likely to collapse.

Knocking down everyone's pride, Yang Haiwei immediately smiled lightly: "Don't worry about what didn't happen, let's concentrate first and eat the Japanese ship in front of us!" Ordered the second squadron to make a posture of pursuing the Japanese ships, and first lure out the enemy hiding in the shadows! ”

"Yes!"

The crowd replied neatly and forcefully, and the radio waves ticked quickly to the Second Squadron, which was cruising from north to south.

Not long after, the second squadron headed by the "Dingyuan" and supplemented by two old armored cruisers and three new-type frigates quickly turned from the sea area more than 100 kilometers west of eastern Zhejiang and headed straight for Japan's Kyushu Island.

An ocean-going freighter passing by slowly with billowing smoke saw their maneuvering process from not far away, and the corners of the mouth of the foreign devil disguised as a missionary hooked, and he whispered: "Sure enough, it was expected." Arrogant Chinese, wait for the lesson! ”

A speedboat dragging behind scrambled to start, rushing at full speed towards the nearest port as if crazy.

Half a day later, a large multinational mixed fleet lifted anchor from Kagoshima and headed eastward. This time, their lineup was tightly guarded, and it was impossible for them to suddenly break into the heart from 10 kilometers away. (To be continued......)