Episode 72 The Chariot That Can't Be Stopped

At 3 p.m. on 6 July, the "Yongle" squadron suddenly turned around, and the East China Sea Fleet Command issued an order to return to the ship as fast as possible. As for the reason, it is not explained.

It has been nine days since the Yongle detachment left the Zhoushan base, and it has traveled more than 3,000 nautical miles, or 6,000 kilometers, and is now between the eastern Indian Ocean, Sri Lanka, and Sumatra. This detachment was still very strong, one battleship, one battle cruiser, two heavy cruisers, two light cruisers, twelve destroyers. Originally, it was going to the Baltic Sea to blockade the Soviet Union, but now it is suddenly facing an imminent attack by Japan, and the navy is also quite nervous.

The naval strength of the Ming Dynasty was originally inferior to that of Japan. The capital ship Daming had only 6 battleships and 1 battlecruiser, while Japan had 10 battleships. Now the Ming Dynasty has two more battleships and one battlecruiser sent overseas, and they will not be able to return at all in a short time, and there are only 4 battleships capable of maneuvering capital ships in China. And Japan now has 9 battleships at home, excluding the Fuso. And even the Fuso can be transferred back at any time. The Sea of Japan was Japan's backyard, and several straits were under the control of the Japanese army. Japanese warships could come and go at will, while Ming warships couldn't.

Judging from the comparison of the capital ships of the two sides, the Ming Navy is in an extremely dangerous situation.

Now, the top leaders of both sides are extremely nervous.

In the Purple Mountain Fortress, the central command hall was busy again, and on the large map, various small markers representing the warships of both sides were frequently moved. A large group of army and navy commanders below looked anxiously, imagining what might happen.

Xiong Dingming pointed to the Zhoushan Islands on the map and said:

"Our Zhoushan Islands is a comprehensive defense group, a three-dimensional defense system integrating military ports, airfields, torpedo boat bases, submarine bases, artillery batteries, and mine arrays...... There are many islands and complex waterways, and the Grand Fleet cannot be used here. The Japanese fleet would not have dared to attack from here head-on in any case. Our navy has judged that once war breaks out, the Japanese navy will not risk directly attacking our naval bases, but will force us to leave the port by 'attacking and saving'. For example, attacking our South Sea sea transportation lines forced us to send out a small fleet to protect sea transportation, and then the Japanese sought a decisive battle with us in the vast seas. ”

"Our coastal defense in the south is not a big problem," Tang Yunsheng also pointed to the big map and analyzed the generals, "First of all, our coastal defense in Jiangsu and Zhejiang is still impregnable. The second coastal areas of Fujian and Guangdong are not big problems. Jiangsu's coastal defense is relatively weak, but there are no ports along the coast of Jiangsu, which is not suitable for large ships to dock, let alone for large troops to land. As for Shandong...... That's really what worries me. The Shandong Peninsula has a long coastline, many ports for landing, and relatively weak coastal defenses. At present, there are only a few divisions of our army's army garrison in Shandong.

"However, compared to the situation on the Liaodong Peninsula, Shandong is much better. The most worrying is Liaodong. At the very least, Shandong will not be attacked from land. And in the anti-landing operation, we always take advantage of it much more. Liaodong, also known as Mukden Province, was completely surrounded by land on three sides by the Japanese army. Moreover, the mountainous terrain of eastern and southern Liaoning is not suitable for motorized operations of our army. ”

……

Soon, the divisions between the armies came out. One faction advocated stepping up efforts to increase troops outside the pass and defend Mukden. They believed that the Ming Army was much stronger than the Japanese Army in terms of equipment and combat experience, and that it should hold Mukden and then carry out a counterattack to recover Jilin and Heilongjiang in the north and Korea in the south.

The other faction advocated getting a good grasp of the transfer of several divisions outside the pass to the pass. They believed that the Japanese army had been planning for a long time, and the disparity between the forces and preparations of the two sides was too great, and Mukden was mountainous and narrow in depth, and even in the plain areas, at the moment it was mostly forests and swamps that thawed permafrost, and the Ming army's motorized advantages could not be brought into play. What's more, the only road leading from inside the Guanxi to outside the Guanxi is a narrow Liaoxi corridor, and it is close to the sea. With the absolute superiority of the Japanese navy at present, it is easy to break through the Bohai Strait, break through into the Bohai Sea, land from Qinhuangdao, and cut off the only way for the Ming army to withdraw to the Guannai. Then, Fengtian lost it, not to mention, but also put in the strength of several divisions in vain.

This faction thought that Mukden should simply be thrown to Japan, so that the Ming Dynasty took the initiative. The Ming Dynasty could give full play to the advantages of a great power and fight a protracted war with Japan. Japan imported most of the steel and oil needed to sustain the war effort from the United States. Now that the two countries are at war, Japan's road is definitely broken. With the existing oil and steel in Japan, it will not be long to fight. Even if Japan's war materials were provided by the Soviet Union, then the Soviet Union's steel and oil industries were mainly produced in Europe, and it was very inefficient to transport them by rail, and if they were to use sea, they would be attacked by the Ming army at sea.

As for Xiang Xiaoqiang, he has not yet made up his mind which side to support. He is still observing, still judging.

……

And in Japan, a heated debate is also going on.

Japan originally planned to carry out a sneak attack on Daming, but now Daming's response is so rapid and vigilant that Japan did not expect it. Fumiro Konoe urgently summoned several important cabinet ministers and generals of the army and navy to discuss what to do now. Should you brake suddenly, or just do it?

The Cabinet officials were surprisingly unanimous in their belief that Japan should now stop and put on the brakes. Japan's venture to attack the Ming Dynasty was originally to hope for the success of the surprise attack and replicate the "blitzkrieg" of the Ming Dynasty's Northern Expedition. If Japan can seize Mukden Province at the first time, land in Shandong, and control the Bohai Strait and the Liaoning West Corridor, then the army will be invincible. Advance can attack the Guannei to threaten Beijing, Tianjin and Tang, advance Shandong, and retreat to hold Fengtian. Now that the Ming Navy has sent two fleets to the ocean, and the mobile force has been greatly weakened, it is also a good opportunity for the Japanese Navy to seize the sea supremacy in the Bohai Sea, and even go south to seize the Strait of Malacca and annihilate the Yongle detachment.

Now the Ming army is still so vigilant that the effect of the sneak attack can no longer be achieved. If the Japanese army wants to attack Mukden, it will definitely pay a much greater price and a much longer time, and the Ming army will also have the opportunity to increase its troops. In this way, Japan is likely to lose all its money in the end.

Although the Japanese Navy was stronger than the Ming Navy, the Japanese Army was weaker than the Ming Army. The Japanese civilian clique and the navy also saw this very soberly, but the army itself did not admit it. Not only do you not admit it in your mouth, but you don't admit it in your heart.

Fumiro Konoe said worriedly:

“…… With Japan's current oil reserves, it can support an all-out offensive for half a year. After that, it can barely last for half a year. But a year later...... It's hard to tell. As long as Japan and Ming go to war, the United States will categorically not export war materials to Japan. However, it is possible that they will continue to sell to the Ming Kingdom. This is highly likely. Britain, the United States, France and other countries have always regarded the Ming Kingdom as the person who defended the South Seas for them. Now that the Ming Kingdom is facing a two-front war, they will be even more partial to the Ming Kingdom. …… What do the Admirals think? ”

Admiral Minister Mitsumasa Minechi muttered:

"Just from the side of the Navy...... Nothing was a problem. In the event of war, our navy can guarantee maritime superiority in the Yellow, East, Bohai, and South China Seas. Of course, as long as oil is not a problem. ”

War Minister Seishiro Itagaki smiled:

"On the oil issue, we don't have the United States, we have the USSR. The Soviet Union is the second largest oil producer in the world. Since the Navy is so confident, then our sea oil passage should not be a problem either. I mean, there is no turning back when the bow is opened. We've come this far, and we have to keep going. As long as the navy can provide us with strong support from the Bohai Sea, our army is sure to conquer Mukden and enter the pass within half a month. Although the Ming army is well equipped, please don't forget that the decisive factor in war is people, not weapons. The Ming Kingdom was a country that admired material pleasures, and their soldiers grew up in this environment. Their armies lacked fighting spirit and bloodiness, and when faced with a stubborn attacking enemy, there were often large-scale routs and even surrenders. I believe you can see this from many examples in the Ming and Qing wars. ”

……

The secret meeting in Tokyo lasted until late at night, and there were still arguments between the military and the government, and between the land and the sea. In the Sea of Japan, the Japanese Fuso detachment was still following the Ming fleet, waiting for the attack order from the base camp. But on land, a group of Japanese officers could no longer hold on.