On the afternoon of the 27th of 1934, the residents of Shimo-Kamagari Island in the Seto Inland Sea were preparing to end their day's work, and although winter had not yet passed, many new shoots had already grown in the citrus groves of Shimo-Kamagari Island, which seemed to herald an encouraging harvest in the new year.

Fishing boats returning to the port can be seen across the embankment from the fruit groves, and the Seto Inland Sea fishery resources were not yet exhausted, and fishing was still an important means of livelihood for ordinary residents. It looks like a good harvest today, and many boats are hung with tokens informing their families of a good harvest.

Most of the fishing boats are not mechanically powered and still rely on the oldest methods of power, which makes the cross-sea ferry, which runs from Imabari City on the island of Shikoku across the sea to Kure City, which runs once a day. After the Meiji Enlightenment, the smoky ferry caused a lot of panic when it first appeared in the eyes of the residents of Shimo-Kamagarijima, but now everyone is accustomed to it.

Also accustomed to the islanders of Shimo-Kamagari Island are the occasional giant ships that pass by the southern tip of the island.

Since the establishment of the Ming Naval Yard in Kure City, the number of giant ships passing through the southern tip of the island has gradually increased. It's just that at the beginning, those huge ships were flying the flag of the Ming Navy, and the residents of Shimokagari Island shouted long live to those warships with the etiquette of Ming subjects.

Since the beginning of the year before the New Year, the giant ships from Wu no longer fly the Ming naval flag, but the residents of Shimokakari Island still shouted long live those warships with the etiquette of the subjects of the Ming Empire.

And now, all those warships have hoisted the sun flag, and the inhabitants of Shimokamari Island, who still hail long live the warship mountain with the courtesy of the subjects of the Ming Empire.

No one went to this island, where there was no bay around it that could be used as a good harbor, to teach the subjects of the Japanese Empire, and there were no high-end gadgets such as radios on the island, where you could listen to radio broadcasts from Hiroshima, Osaka, and Tokyo.

It is true that there are a few literate people who worked as doctors and teachers living on the island, but they also seem to be reluctant to talk about Yingzhou's independence and the Japanese Empire, and they just silently put away the things related to the Ming Kingdom in the classrooms and clinics, and everything else is business as usual.

For the inhabitants of this island, "Tokyo" is so far away that it seems that no one has ever visited the Ming Kingdom, and there seems to be no difference between the two. They live on their salt pans, on the paddy on the seaside flats, on the blue waters of the Seto Inland Sea, and on the citrus trees that dot the mountains.

Except that every time I go out of the island, I find that the yen in my hand has become more unruly than the last time I came out, and the residents have no dissatisfaction and have no intention of messing with the outside world.

Because of this, when the children after school first spotted the giant ship coming from Kure City that afternoon, the entire islanders of Shimo-Kamagari Island stood in front of their homes and watched with a lively mentality.

"What are so many ships going out for?"

"I heard that there is a festival in Tokyo, so these boats must be there to help the fun."

The simple villager who said the above probably did not expect that his words would accurately describe the current state of affairs to some extent.

"The one at the beginning is Nagato, right?" The old fisherman who had just come ashore looked at the huge ship ploughing the sea, and suddenly frowned, "It hangs that flag, that means that it is difficult to sail and needs to tug, right?" ”

"Grandpa!" The eldest grandson, who had just disembarked with him, said, "It was the battle flag of the navy, which means 'the rise and fall of the imperial kingdom in this battle.'" ”

"You know a lot!" The old man scolded angrily, "When I learned these foreign flag languages from Lord Lu, your father was not even born!" ”

The old man's roar made his juniors very nervous, and he persuaded again and again: "Be quiet, old man, Shang Pu Jiao said that it was good to go down to the Ming Kingdom last week, and he was arrested!" ”

The old man pursed his lips and stopped talking, and at this time, the other residents of Shimokagari began to shout to the naval fleet led by Nagato Mutsu.

Of course, they still used the subject etiquette of the Ming Empire.

**

Rear Admiral Yamamoto stood on the bridge of the Nagato, squinting at the silent Combined Fleet Commander, Vice Admiral Nobumasa Sueji.

Nobu defeated his predecessor, Takuzo Kobayashi, in the Tujo exercise, resulting in the latter's "honorable promotion" to the rank of general and exile as a military senator.

Yamamoto had studied Nobumasa's exercise on the map, and he was very unimpressed by the tactics adopted by the commander. In Yamamoto's view, those tactics are outdated tactics more than ten years ago, and they are tactics that the navies of the great powers have long been played, and wanting to defeat the navies of the great powers with the same tactics is like hoping to defeat the Red Shirts at their peak in a platoon shootout, and there is no chance at all.

Japan's only chance is to seize the moment when naval skills are advancing by leaps and bounds, and strive to study new tactics and "climb new heights" in areas that the great powers have not visited, so as to gain an asymmetrical advantage and survive in the harsh environment surrounded by the great powers.

Sadly, however, people like Nobumasa Sueji were in control of the nascent Japanese Navy.

Therefore, as soon as Japan became independent, the navy put forward a plan for the construction of a large-scale capital ship, and the huge construction expenses were by no means affordable for Japan at present. At the same time, the Navy also proposed a mass production plan for underwater warfare magic armor that cost no less than the capital ship construction plan, and wanted to equip the "Huitian" series of mass equipment in Yamamoto's opinion.

This is truly outrageous.

Obviously, the construction of aircraft carriers would require far less money than that, and although Japan's aviation industry also lagged behind the great powers, it was much less backward than the shipbuilding industry. After all, the aviation industry of the great powers has only just started, and everything is still in the exploration stage, as long as one or two excellent aero engines can be introduced to imitate, Japanese aircraft designers can also build carrier-based aircraft comparable to those of the great powers - Yamamoto firmly believes in this.

However, even the great powers did not believe that carrier-based aircraft could break through the defenses of battleships and pose a threat to the thick-skinned capital ships. Although the United States and Britain and other countries are building aircraft carriers, they are basically positioned as auxiliary warships for reconnaissance and escort purposes, and the task of carrier-based aircraft is mainly to attack medium and light ships that do not carry battle girls.

Japan, on the other hand, has always regarded it as its duty to follow in the footsteps of the great powers.

Nobumasa Sueji was the representative of the mainstream ideology of the nascent Japanese Navy: he had been researching in Britain for a long time as a naval attache of the Ming Empire, and he happened to be in England during the last war, and he admired the tactics used by both sides in the Battle of Jutland, and enshrined the ideas of the British in the war. At the same time, he also admired the submarine warfare of the Germans very much, and after returning to China, he once served as an instructor of the submarine team in the secretly established Etashima Naval School, and strongly advocated using submarines to break the monopoly of the great powers on the sea like Germany.

And now, because of the great victory on Jeju Island, the prestige of this last letter has skyrocketed, and everyone thinks that he will be promoted to the rank of naval marshal in the near future, and Yamamoto's doctrine of air force victory is estimated to be severely suppressed, and there will be no future in sight.

Yamamoto let out a long sigh.

This move caught the attention of Nobumasa Sueji.

"Miss Qinli, what are you sighing about?"

"When you are in the army, please call me Yamamoto Fifty-six, Your Excellency Lieutenant General." Yamamoto deliberately uses the Japanese term for men.

"Ah, well, then, Yamamoto 'kun', why sigh?"

"It's nothing, it's just that the thought of the dignified Japanese Navy, which didn't go to confront the foreign powers, but rushed to Tokyo Bay to act as a firefighting team, I just felt a little emotional."

"Ha Lu Ha, indeed. But rest assured, we are only going to give the Navy a strong momentum and scare the Army, and our Navy will definitely not use this giant cannon to bombard our own capital. ”

After the last Shinsho spoke, silence returned to the bridge. It is said that the Army would have heated arguments when discussing military strategy, "like a cockfight", but the Navy was the opposite.

On the quiet bridge, only the sound of machinery running and the faint sound of the waves outside the window made Yamamoto's mood relax slightly.

"Miss Kotori," at this moment, the last Nobumasa suddenly spoke again, and apparently forgetting what Yamamoto had just corrected him—perhaps he did it on purpose, "I heard that the treasonous Miss Matsudaira Chihiro grew up with you?" ”

The staff officers and technical lieutenants on the bridge all pricked up their ears, and many of them looked at each other. Although it is now known throughout Japan that Matsudaira Chihiro is treasonous, it is still taboo to talk about it openly, and it may attract the wrath of the Shinto Seiki represented by Ise Jingu at any time.

The last letter probably felt that he was in the limelight, and he was not afraid of the blame of the gods.

Yamamoto Fifty-six, aka the naval goddess Tachibana Kotori, was silent for a few seconds before nodding and replying, "Yes, I grew up with her. She's an elusive person, and it's no surprise that she's doing anything. ”

"I've always had a question." The last Shinmasa continued, "She should be a very capable god, it stands to reason that this level of god, shouldn't she be adopted by the Gosan family, just like Miss Kotori, you have the ancient surname of Tachibana, and the other gods are either surnamed Fujiwara or Yuan, why is she surnamed Matsudaira?" ”

"I don't know anything about that." Kotori shook her head, "From the time I knew her, her name was Matsudaira Chihiro. Your Excellency Lieutenant General, are we going to continue to talk about that ****? The current situation doesn't seem to have anything to do with that ****, right? ”

The last letter smiled at Tachibana and stopped talking. And his attitude made the latter begin to speculate about the deep meaning of his behavior, after all, the commander of the now hot United Fleet is known for his cunning and prudence in Japanese officialdom, and it is hard to imagine that he brought up the topic of Chihiro Matsudaira who was characterized as **** in public just because of curiosity.

You must know that there are many low-level soldiers on duty on the bridge of the road, although the navy soldiers have a much higher sense of secrecy than the army, it is difficult to guarantee that there will be no rumors.

Even if the last Shinmasa is in the limelight now, no one dares to touch him, but who can guarantee that nothing will happen in the future?

Thinking about this, Tang Qinli involuntarily turned to the traitorous childhood sweetheart, and then she didn't get angry: If she hadn't defected, she wouldn't have cut her ambition and appeared in the army as a man! The name Yamamoto Fifty-six was given when she was playing the family wine back then, and it has become the name of her current formal occasions!

If you have the chance, you must give that fox a hard slap.