Episode 185 Decisive Battle at Sea (4)

"The curtain has been drawn and the actors are in place...... I seem to see the heroic spirits of the ancient heroes haunting the distant crests of the waves, shining in front of the barrels and whispering in the clouds."

In the central command hall of the Purple Mountain Fortress, Zhu Yourong stood under the giant chart, staring up reverently, and couldn't help but silently recite verses from Wagner's opera. At the moment, she felt that there was nothing more apt than this.

The entire command hall was noisy, with telephones ringing and speeches everywhere, and the central broadcasting system overhead read out the latest battle situation from time to time. The scaffolding in front of the giant chart kept moving, and the female officers climbed up and down, holding long poles to correct the markings.

On the giant chart, there are dense ship markings, which are distinguished by different sizes and colors, such as the type, status, and country to which they belong...... The charts are densely marked with numbers, as well as long and short lines, straight lines, curves, dotted lines, red lines, blue lines...... There are also circles, fans, triangles...... Zhu Yourong couldn't read it, but it didn't matter, she knew she could feel it. Looking at these complex marks, Zhu Yourong seemed to be there. At this moment, she almost felt the undulation of her feet, the brackish water on her lips, and the smell of gunsmoke in her nose......

Xiang Xiaoqiang was busy in the "Office Zero" area in the distance, making phone calls, signing orders, listening to reports, and discussing with colleagues. Zhu Yourong looked at him from afar, his chest and eyes hot at the same time.

"Your Majesty......"

Xiuxiu, who was standing next to him, observed it, reminded him softly, and gestured around, meaning: Your Majesty, no matter how excited you are, now is not the occasion to shed tears.

Zhu Yourong nodded imperceptibly, smiled at Xiuxiu, held his gloves tightly with both hands, gently dusted off the generalissimo's dress on his body, and reached out to take a cup of coffee from Wei Zijin.

Tonight, the protagonist in the central command hall is the Navy. At this moment that decided the future and fate of the navies of the two great empires, Zhu Yourong once again drove to the Purple Mountain Fortress like on the eve of the Unification War, and sat here with a golden body. This kind of decisive battle at sea is the moment that the whole country of Japan has been looking forward to for a generation, and why not the moment when the whole country of the Ming Dynasty has been looking forward to a generation? Of course, Japan hopes to use this war to defeat the Ming Navy and dominate the Asia-Pacific region, and the Ming Dynasty hopes to use this war to defeat Japan and dominate the Asia-Pacific region.

Japan relied on a stronger fleet, more solid and hard training in peacetime, a proud ability to fight at night, and a gambler's spirit. The Ming relied on its strong national strength, a steady supply of oil, a perfect battle plan, and a secret weapon that was not yet known to the Japanese army.

……

At this time, the melodious sound of the radio overhead sounded again:

"At 1:34 a.m., the Mutsu was spotted...... At 1:34 a.m., the Mutsu was spotted...... The main battlefleet of our army and the main battlefleet of the Japanese army began to come into contact ......"

With this announcement, almost the entire hall couldn't help but raise their heads and look at the giant chart. It was also at this moment that two long poles, with two symbols representing the battlefleet, were placed together. One blue and one red.

"Xiuxiu!" Xiang Xiaoqiang's voice crossed half of the hall, "You come here!" ”

Xiuxiu turned her face to look at Zhu Yourong and said with a smile:

"Your Majesty, then I'll go over and get busy first."

Zhu Yourong nodded:

"Well, you go and help him."

Xiuxiu grabbed the information folder under her arm and trotted all the way over.

Xiang Xiaoqiang's face was covered with sweat, and he couldn't raise his head, and asked:

"How far is the 'Tianzi Group'? Can you still make it? It's all on! ”

Xiuxiu frowned and said:

"I'm afraid I won't be able to catch up." The Tianzi Group is still at least 35 nautical miles away from the battlefield, and it will definitely not be able to reach the battlefield in two and a half hours. At present, the battlefield is moving every minute, and the surface warships are fast, and the submarines are afraid that they will not be able to catch up. However, the 'terrestrial group' and the 'herringbone group' are hopeful to participate in the war. The two submarine groups are 10 nautical miles and 13 nautical miles from their current positions on the battlefield, respectively. ”

Xiang Xiaoqiang picked up a handkerchief to wipe his sweat, nodded, and took out a cigarette from the cigarette can on the table and put it in his mouth. Xiuxiu immediately took out a lighter and lit it for him. Xiang Xiaoqiang stared at the red eyes and took a hard puff, then leaned back in the chair, exhaled a long puff of green smoke, and sighed:

"Damn, people are not as good as heaven. There are 15 submarines in the Tianzi submarine group, most of which are cruiser-class submarines with high speed and many torpedo tubes. There are only ** submarine groups of ground and human submarines, and they are mainly medium-sized submarines, with a maximum surface speed of at least one and a half slower, and two fewer torpedo tubes...... The trap that was originally designed is now missing a big horn. What a pity! ”

Xiuxiu Wen Yan smiled with relief:

"My lord, look at you, this is a naval battle, not a land battle, and there are railways and highways that must be passed through or something, and setting up an ambush can always be ...... This sea is full of waterways in all directions, and if you want to completely predict the location of the battlefield, the gods can't do it. My lord, in my experience, I am thankful that two of the three groups can be used now. ”

Xiang Xiaoqiang half-opened his eyes, glanced at Xiuxiu and said with a smile:

"With your experience? Haha, how much experience do you have? ”

Xiuxiu lowered her head, still smiling meekly:

"That's wrong...... In my 'professional' opinion, okay. Hehe...... Don't forget, the core of this plan is not these three ordinary submarines, but the 'Zero group'...... They are always on the move with the battlefleet, and they will definitely be the first to appear on the battlefield...... The three groups of heaven, earth, and people are just foils, and even if they are all together, there will not be many results. This is not a merchant fleet, but a fleet. The underwater speed of those ordinary submarines simply cannot catch up with the battleship. It mainly depends on the 'killer whale-class' submarines. ”

……

On the surface of the sea, it was now like a boiling pot, and countless cannonballs smashed into the water, stirring up a huge column of water several stories high, and after a full dozen seconds, it fell like an avalanche. The battleships on both sides were separated by several kilometers, and the guns and cannons all over their bodies spewed tongues of fire, like buildings that set off fireworks. The flames from the muzzles of the giant main guns flickered one after another, sending one- or two-ton shells into the opposing array. Whenever a cannonball hits an enemy ship, there will be a burst of cheers and whistles on the side of the battleship.

The entire battlefield was filled with fire and black smoke, as well as burning warships that had been hit by bullets. On the black sea, the dazzling light of fire was reflected, and the bodies of half-paralyzed, destroyed, or sinking warships were burning with raging fire, and huge fireballs burst out of the cracks in the steel from time to time, slamming into the air at a height of dozens of meters, and half of the night sky was reflected red. In the light of the fire, you can see many sailors jumping into the sea with their bodies on fire......

And right next to these burning "corpses", more "living" were also dragging the fire all over their bodies, quickly shuttling across the water, firing shells at the enemy ships on the opposite side.

All the battleships of both sides were present. Four ships of the Ming army, seven ships against the Japanese army. Due to the obvious inferiority of the Ming army's battleships in numbers, the Ming army's heavy cruisers also bravely lined up with the battleships, joined the "battlefleet", and fired at the battleships on the opposite side. And the remaining heavy cruisers of the Japanese army naturally joined the "battle column" and fired at the cruisers of the Ming army on the opposite side.

Although the number of Ming battleships was small, the four that came this time were the best, with heavy armor and strong firepower. The main guns of the Changping and Yanping were 15 inches in caliber and the thickest armored. The main guns of the Yongle and Deyong were 16 inches in caliber and slightly thinner in armor.

At this moment, the Changping had already fired 11 shells from the main guns of the battleships of the Chinese and Japanese ships, 8 rounds from the Yanping, 10 rounds from the Yongle, and 12 rounds from the Deyong. The Mutsu had already been hit by 9 shells from the main guns of the battleship of the Ming ship, 7 rounds from the Ishi, 4 rounds from the Hyuga, and 6 rounds from the Yamashiro. The remaining three fast battleships, Kongo, Haruna, and Kirishima, were separated as targets for the Ming heavy cruisers because of their thin armor.

Judging from the shell hit rate of both sides, the Japanese army's record was obviously better. But the torpedo hit rate on both sides was completely reversed. Up to this point, only the Yanping had been hit by one torpedo, while the Japanese ship Mutsu had already been hit by two torpedoes, the Yamashiro had been hit by two torpedoes, and the heavy cruiser Mogami had been hit by a torpedo, which was still blocked for the Mutsu.

The most pitiful of the Yamashiro is its iconic "towering as a cloud" tower, which was originally designed to enhance the viewing effect of long-distance naval battles, but now in close combat of several thousand meters, it is like a large sail, "catching" all the horizontal shells that can be received. To add insult to injury, it had already been hit by two torpedoes, and the two torpedoes were so close together that they hit almost the same place, and now they had been filled with hundreds of tons of seawater, and the top-heavy structure had already made it crumbling.