Episode 25 The troop convoy heads north

At ten o'clock in the night of October 11th, .

The front of the steam locomotive stopped in the moonlight, dripping with water, and the steam fluttered in the breeze. The whole train was container trucks, and the black doors were tightly closed, and there were seals on them, and the name of the company was written. I don't know what kind of cargo it is.

In this part of the wharf, the ordinary workers of the port were cleared, and now there is only a column of Ming army gendarmes on the wharf. Next to the wharf, there are three tall 10,000-ton cargo ships. On the black sea in the distance, the moonlight was quiet, like broken silver.

An officer by the railroad tracks walked around, looked at his watch, looked around, and made sure that there were no idlers, and then took out his whistle and blew it.

The group of gendarmes immediately ran under the wagon, and at the same time tore off the seals and opened the container doors.

A long command sounded:

"Get all off—get all off—"

In more than 30 container trucks, a figure jumped down one after another. By the moonlight, you can see that these people are soldiers, each wearing a steel helmet, carrying a bag, and carrying a gun.

The soldiers jumped down and stood silently, all lined up. In a few moments, several thousand soldiers had gathered on the dock, and there were two regiments. After all these Ming troops got off the bus, they did not stop much, but simply lined up, and then turned to the right and boarded the ship with neat steps.

The front of the steam locomotive gasped heavily, and began to spew white steam backwards, pushing more than thirty wagons out of the dock. After a while, another train entered, also more than thirty sections, and thousands of Ming troops jumped down from it and got on the cargo ship again.

In this way, the personnel carriers, disguised as trucks, made four stops, and transported more than 10,000 soldiers to three freighters in the moonlight.

Then, instead of honking their whistles, the three freighters lifted their cables and slowly sailed out of the harbor, gradually disappearing into the night at sea.

……

On the morning of October 12, a mixed fleet was heading north in the Yellow Sea, 100 nautical miles off the coast of Jiangsu.

This is a fleet escorted by warships. Three 10,000-ton freighters, plus four 5,000-ton freighters, for a total of seven freighters. The seven freighters were escorted by 1 cruiser and 10 destroyers.

The entire fleet consists of 18 ships and travels in three columns on the sea.

At this time, in the dazzling sun in the east, a plane suddenly appeared. The pilot, who appeared to be very experienced and well-trained, approached the convoy quickly with the glare of the morning sun in the background, and was not spotted by the escort until he was very close.

The Ming fleet was caught off guard, and the cruiser, which served as the flagship, immediately raised a fleet-wide battle alarm, and the anti-aircraft guns of the 11 warships all turned, aiming at the eastern sky, waiting for the order to fire.

However, the plane did not mean to attack the fleet, but slowed down, buzzed, and flew over the heads of the fleet.

The ships below could be seen clearly, it was a twin-engine reconnaissance plane, and it was painted in large red circles under the wings.

This is a Japanese military aircraft.

It is only about 200 kilometers from the southern tip of the Korean Peninsula.

The Japanese reconnaissance plane did not leave immediately, but went around in a circle, flew low over the head of the Ming convoy, and the camera flashed a few times.

The anti-aircraft artillery of the eleven warships of the Ming army was always aimed at this plane, and as long as it gave an order, it could be taken down.

But it was obviously impossible for the Ming army to do so. And the Japanese pilots also understood this, and flew around the head of the fleet a few times with impunity, and flew very low.

It was not until the Ming flagship raised the warning flag and warned with signal lights that the Japanese reconnaissance plane flew away satisfied.

After the Japanese reconnaissance planes left, the speed of the Ming fleet increased significantly, and it was obvious that they wanted to end their exposure time at sea as soon as possible. But in the following daytime, Japanese reconnaissance planes continued to appear near the Ming fleet, but none of them flew so close to the first one. They apparently just wanted to get hold of the position of the Ming fleet.

……

Beijing, the Supreme Command of the Qing Dynasty.

Since the beginning of the war, the three major military ports of the Qing army have been blocked by the three detachments of the Ming army. The limited strength of the Qing army was hiding in the harbor and did not dare to come out. The Ming army did not use superior fleets to ambush in the open sea, as in the new naval warfare of the early 20th century, and only used destroyers to reconnoiter in the coastal waters, and once the enemy army went to sea, it reported it, and then the two sides fought at sea.

The Ming army adopted the traditional blockade method of the sailing era, that is, the cruisers stopped in a large way in a visible place outside the harbor and anchored more than 10,000 meters away, while several destroyers cruised at a closer distance, without paying any attention to the shore guns and torpedo boats of the Qing army.

To put it bluntly, this is the blockade method of bullying people with absolute superiority. This kind of blockade is to completely treat the opponent's navy as nothing, and there is no naval battle, that is, it is clearly blocked at your doorstep, and if you don't come out, you can just come out and kill one by one.

However, at noon on the 12th, Naval Commander-in-Chief Guerjia Shoushan had just received a report from the Navy's radio listening department that the Ming detachment blocking the port of Qingdao suddenly had frequent radio contact with Nanjing.

Then at 2:20 p.m., according to the Qingdao Port observation report, one of the three cruisers of the Ming blockade fleet, probably the heavy cruiser Lü Bu, suddenly pulled anchor and set sail, disappearing behind the horizon with two destroyers.

The Ming fleet outside the port of Qingdao was left with only one heavy cruiser and one light cruiser, as well as six destroyers. However, there are also two Qing cruisers in Qingdao Port, one light and one heavy, and the tonnage and firepower are about the same.

Shoushan was a little itchy in his heart at that time, and he wanted to ask the emperor and suggest that the cruisers in the harbor go out to try their luck. If you are lucky and really kill a Ming cruiser, then you will have made a great achievement.

But this thought was fleeting, and that fear of the Nanming naval tradition still caught him.

…… Forget it. It's not enough to just think about how good luck is, but also what to do if you're unlucky. As far as the training and command ability of the Qing fleet are concerned, they are not a generation behind the Ming army. Without twice the tonnage firepower advantage, if you go out, you will be looking for death, and it will be impossible for the two ships to be sunk. There are a total of seven treasure cruisers in the Qing Navy, which is all the belongings, and you can sink two of them at once...... I can't keep my head. Never mind.

Besides, I don't know if the Ming Army Lu Bu really went or faked, if it was a trap to lure the snake out of the hole, it would have died even worse.

So, Shoushan just respectfully played the news to the emperor, and let the emperor make up his mind, he didn't make any stupid suggestions.

……

At about eight o'clock in the evening, the emperor suddenly drove to the naval commander's office of the high command. Shoushan hurriedly greeted him. In the past few days since the Ming army attacked, the emperor has been staying on the side of the army and has never come to the navy to take a look. Suddenly coming today, Shoushan is very scared.

Guangwu didn't talk nonsense, and directly threw a document on his desk for him to read.

Shoushan bent down to pick up the document and read it respectfully.

It turned out that this was a piece of information secretly transferred by the Japanese side to the Great Qing Sticky Pole, which was about Nanming.

Japanese intelligence claimed that in the morning in the middle of the Yellow Sea, 150 nautical miles west of Jeju Island, a Nammyeong convoy of cargo ships and warships was spotted, heading due north at a speed of 10 knots.

The Japanese army's reconnaissance level and intelligence processing efficiency were very high, and with the first reconnaissance plane, they made a few circles around the fleet at low altitude and came up with the name and tonnage of each cargo ship and warship. In addition, the intelligence said that the waterline of the three 10,000-ton freighters was very high, as if nothing was loaded. Moreover, there were some Nanming Army officers on the deck at that time, all of whom were climbing the railing to smoke and chat, and after discovering the reconnaissance plane, they all quickly disappeared below the deck.

The other four 5,000-ton freighters had a very low waterline, as if they were fully loaded, and the deck was covered with canvas, and below them were some irregularly shaped cargoes, which looked like artillery and vehicles.

Moreover, the flotilla maintained radio silence all the time. If it weren't for the occasional discovery by a reconnaissance plane's patrol, even Japan would not have known about it.

After being discovered by the first Japanese reconnaissance aircraft, the flotilla broke the radio silence and sent a coded telegram. Then a few hours later, another Ming heavy cruiser, Lü Bu, headed south from Qingdao and joined the fleet on the Yellow Sea, strengthened the escort force, and continued north.

……

After reading it, Shoushan respectfully put the information back on the table and looked up at Guangwu.

Guangwu asked:

"How do you feel?"

"This ...... Your Majesty," Shoushan said with some nervousness, "so detailed...... How many laps did the Japanese fly just by relying on reconnaissance planes? …… This...... Is it too detailed? ”

Guangwu sneered and said lightly:

"Of course it's detailed. People do things for the country and the nation, which is of course different from what we do for power, money, and beauty. Right? Hehe, what's so strange about that. ”

Shoushan broke out in a cold sweat, and hurriedly bowed his head and apologized:

"Minions...... The slave deserves death...... The slave swears allegiance to the emperor and the Qing Dynasty, and he has no complaints or regrets, and he dare not ......"

Guangwu waved his hand and frowned:

"Alright, alright...... Listen, the Japanese said that the destination of the Nanming fleet should be the Changshan Islands. ”

"Yes. That's what the minions thought. This was supposed to be a supply for the Dongjiang Fleet. ”

Guangwu nodded:

"Then have you ever wondered why there are so many at once, three 10,000-ton ships, four 5,000-ton ships, and warships to escort them? Moreover, why is there an army officer on the supply fleet of the Navy? ”

"This? …… Minions are dull ......"

Guangwu said slowly:

"The Ming army is not an ordinary supply fleet, but a troop transport fleet!"

Shoushan was startled and looked up at Guangwu.

Guangwu reached out and picked up the information, read it silently again, then took it in his hand, slowly rolled it into a cylinder, and put it on his knee and patted it gently.

"Yes, it's a troop convoy," he affirmed, "four freighters with a deep draft carrying heavy equipment and supplies, and three freighters with a shallow draft carrying soldiers!" The Ming army did not use troop carriers, and wanted to use freighters to fool the past, pretending to be transporting goods...... But I didn't expect to be sparse and show my feet here at the waterline. The weight of a person is very light, even if each ship carries 5000 soldiers, together with equipment, it is only a few hundred tons! These hundreds of tons are completely negligible for a 10,000-ton ship...... These three 10,000-ton freighters are all floating on the water, like ping-pong balls......"

"The Emperor Shengming!" Shoushan's heart froze, he first slapped a sycophant, and then said, "Your Majesty, your eyes are like lightning, and you can see a conspiracy at once!" The Ming army wants to carry out an attack in the rear of our Qing Dynasty! ”

Guangwu says:

"There is no doubt about it. The question is where. I don't think they would be able to land with such a fleet. Even if each ship really carried 5,000 men, it would only be the strength of one division. Even if the Ming army can fight again, with only one division, they won't even be able to touch the sand on the beach. They must have gone to the Truong Son Islands first, where they would gather their troops. This fleet is only the first batch of troops. ”

"Your Majesty."

"Shoushan, in your opinion, where might the Ming army choose to attack?"

Shoushan says:

"This ...... Your Majesty, in the eyes of a minion, it is extremely difficult to conduct a large-scale beach landing operation. Moreover, the Ming fleet did not carry a large number of small boats suitable for landing on the beach...... Therefore, the minions judged that the Ming army would most likely choose a ready-made port. They will also rely on their superiority in the sea and air to use the same tactics as fighting Batavia in the South Seas: first use dive bombers to clear shore artillery, and then use battleships to shell at medium range...... Finally, the warship was driven into the harbor, and the fire was fired at close range to clear the resistance in the harbor...... After taking the port, let the soldiers go ashore directly from the docks. Moreover, the ready-made port is more convenient for a large number of follow-up materials to be landed...... I wonder what the emperor thinks? ”

Guangwu groaned and said slowly:

"Yes, your analysis makes sense. That's how it should be. In this case, they have a much smaller range of options...... They chose to open up a battlefield in our rear, and it was nothing more than two places: Shandong, or Tianjin. If we land in Shandong, it will be to contain the elite of our army, so that the elite division in our north will not dare to go south easily, reduce the pressure on their attack in the south, and give them time to consolidate the newly laid Jianghuai land and operate a new defense line in the Huai River...... If they hang over the landing in Tianjin, then the ambition is relatively great......"

Shoushan lowered his head and listened respectfully. Now what the emperor analyzes is no longer in the category of the navy. He didn't dare to say any more.

Guangwu ignored him, and after thinking about it for a while, he still felt that it was not realistic for the Ming army to land in Tianjin. Although Tianjin is very close to Beijing, the defenses there are too strong. No matter how strong the Ming navy and air force are, the number of troops that can be transported by landing is always limited. That would be like falling into a circle as soon as you go ashore.

As for the landing of the Ming army in Shandong, it is still relatively reliable. At present, the Qing army does not have many garrisons in Shandong, and it is far less strong than in the Central Plains. If the Ming army really opened up a battlefield in Shandong, it would immediately be able to form an echo trend with the Jianghuai theater in the south, and put the Central Plains Corps of the Qing Dynasty in an unfavorable situation. At that time, the problem was serious.

……

Suddenly, a thought flashed through Guangwu's mind, like electricity:

…… Could it be that this is not a false impression made by the Ming army, deliberately attracting me to transfer a large army into Shandong to facilitate their situation in the south?!

What if all this is fake?