Chapter 290: National Prestige (4)

At the Nam Han Naval Base in Halong Port, before the planes were fighting, the naval formation left the harbor and sailed in the direction of Haiphong Port, and when it entered the depths of the sea, it was already dark. On the pitch-black sea, six battleships lined up in a neat formation and approached the outside of Haiphong Harbor. The sound of the waves and the cleaving of the sea was not loud, and it was somewhat quiet with gusts of sea breeze.

On the flagship Huaxia, Wen Shaodong stood on the bridge, staring at the sea in front of him, unable to see anything. Jiang Haitong beside him said: "Commander, I can't imagine this day, right?" ”

Wen Shaodong said with some emotion: "Indeed, I never dreamed that we were all people who were interested in the sea, and when we studied in the UK, our hearts were stinging from the First Sino-Japanese Naval War. Ding Ruchang of the Beiyang Naval Division is my senior, although I have never met, but I have heard of his name, but I didn't expect to be defeated in the hands of Yoshino, and today we will be ashamed. ”

Jiang Haitong said: "You are studying the navy, I didn't expect that a fisherman's child could become a naval general, you know how many soldiers left the ship crying when the ship sank in Jiangyin, and I was the same, a group of big men shed tears." ”

At the time of the defense of Jiangyin, Wen Shaodong had not yet returned to China, he was studying in the British Royal Navy fleet, and his heart was like a long grass looking forward to returning to China to participate in the war. But the news received in Britain made his heart sink, and the Chinese Navy finally used the tactics of sinking ships to block the Yangtze River waterway, which was a shame for the navy.

For this reason, he also fell out with several British captains, and was demoted and confined for beating British soldiers, and almost did not graduate. The British's ridiculous words made Wen Shaodong's heart tingle, and he also vowed to let the British see that the Chinese Navy would not be worse than them, and would definitely be able to prove to the world that the Chinese Navy was no longer a Beiyang naval division.

When he returned from England with enthusiasm, he was confronted with a Chinese fleet that did not have a few warships. The corruption of naval officers and the corruption of the national government, as well as the negative arguments of the Anti-Japanese War, made Wen Shaodong, who had no background and no background, have no room to play. Just when he was at a loss and disheartened, he got the news that the Snow Fox army was forming a naval group.

Wen Shaodong didn't understand how an army corps could form a naval brigade and went to Halong Port with great curiosity. When he knew that this brigade did not even have a single battleship, he also wanted to leave, he was a navy, a lion on the sea, what kind of navy is a navy without warships? But Ouyang Sari kept him and met Xue Ru, a female commander who was only seventeen or eighteen years old, for the first time. That night, he talked about the dream of the deep blue sea, and with the ambition of a maritime power, Wen Shaodong chose to stay. He found his friend, Jiang Haitong, the former chief of staff of the Navy of the Nationalist Government, and together they began to create this naval brigade that did not even have a small gunboat.

Relying on sailing ships and simulations, he trained a naval group of thousands of people, and when they took over these warships from the French, Wen Shaodong believed Xue Ru's words even more, the navy is not a dream, it is an ideal! It is an achievable goal, and if you go towards this goal, you will achieve it one day. From scratch, the Snow Fox Naval Brigade finally became a naval fleet, and he also became the commander of the Southern Han Navy from the captain of the Nothingless Fleet, commanding this fleet that could not be smaller.

Today they will have their maiden naval battle, and it is also the time to prove to the world that the Southern Han Navy is in force. The 2nd Squadron, the main force of the 3rd Fleet of the Japanese Army, had more than 20 large and small ships, 10 main battleships, 4 destroyers, and 1 heavy cruiser. For this battle, the Southern Han Navy formulated a full plan and tactics beyond imagination, using the banner of the French army, with the help of Governor Ducco, three of the five gunboats of the navy had *launch tubes, and there were also deep-water*, and if the tactics were right, they could also win.

Wen Shaodong and the others were fully prepared, and only after receiving the order did the whole team leave Halong Port and approach the Japanese 2nd Fleet. After a night's voyage, the fleet approached the port of Haiphong at dawn. During the day, it was impossible to resist the Japanese planes, after all, the number of Japanese seaplanes exceeded that of the Southern Han Navy.

The fleet stopped advancing, and Jiang Haitong gave an order to the entire fleet to change the flag. Six battleships raised the Japanese Rising Sun Flag. These six battleships became the Japanese fleet, and it is not known whose battleships they were unless they boarded the battleship for inspection. Battleships are different from airplanes in that they can only be distinguished by the flags of the battleships.

Wen Shaodong, who was born in the orthodox navy, was not accustomed to fighting like this, and he felt that this was an insult to the navy, and he was afraid of the enemy's fear of war. But the snow fox up and down don't think so, the Chinese art of war cloud "soldiers are not tired of cheating", the battlefield is a life-and-death battle, the winner is the prince and the loser Kou, victory is the king, defeat is the most shameful.

With such a commander as Ouyang Sari, whether it is the army, navy, or air force, they all accept this kind of thinking. Wen Shaodong didn't know that they were just changing into the Japanese military flag, and Huang Jianxiang of the Air Force actually changed the color of the plane. Japanese reconnaissance planes flew over the sky, but they did not know what was going on with this fleet that was stuck at sea. Besides, China does not have a navy, and there can be no other naval fleet here. The six ships on the sea were not merchant ships, they were warships, they could only be Japanese warships, and there were not many soldiers on the deck, probably all of them were resting.

The day passed quietly, and the 2nd Squadron in Haiphong did not know that there were six warships anchored in the sea. When it got dark, Wen Shaodong looked at his watch and said: "Order the Hanyang to advance, the Hanjiang River enters Haiphong Port to attack the Japanese ships, and then withdraws from the offshore to lead the Japanese in pursuit." ”

The two gunboats, which were only about 800 tons, were considered small gunboats, and immediately broke away from the formation and sailed into Haiphong Harbor, gradually approaching the Japanese fleet that was stationed at the anchorage. The commander of the 2nd Fleet, Ichiro Kawasaki, did not have anything to do during this time, the Southern Han Dynasty had just been founded, and it was an expansion of the army, a title, and a feudal official, so he was very happy and did not attack the coastal defense.

The Japanese side waited for the arrival of the 3rd Fleet, also waited for the preparation of forces, did not attack, and the two sides maintained a balance. In addition to transporting supplies to the Japanese army, the 2nd Squadron also served as a support for the coastal defense army. Since there was no battle, and the navy could not go ashore, of course there was nothing to do. In Halong there was the French naval fleet, but it was a cruiser and five gunboats, which was not vulnerable at all. Will the French army dare to attack the Japanese Navy again.? That's impossible.

The Empire of Japan informed France to withdraw from the port of Halong and cede it to the Japanese Navy for the landing of the 55th Division, but it is not known why the warships did not leave. Kawasaki Ichiro believed that as soon as the 3rd Fleet arrived, the French Navy would have to retreat. Japan doesn't care about that, if necessary, it can sink these French navies, what are you afraid of in the event of a war? Sooner or later, it must be hit.

Kawasaki Ichiro, who had not been able to go ashore to rest for several days, was also impatient, but the commander of the fleet had an order, and this time the navy was to cooperate with the army and accept the command of the Southern Army Command. He can't help but listen to orders, this guy Harem Jun is not easy to mess with, and besides, the army and navy have deep contradictions, and Kawasaki Ichiro doesn't want to be a victim of the battle between sea and land, so he didn't propose anything and waited at sea.

Suddenly, an alarm sounded above the fleet, and Ichiro Kawasaki jumped out of bed and rushed into the command room to find out that two gunboats had entered the harbor, they did not give a signal and did not know their identities, and there were no other navies around, the only one was a French ship.

Ichiro Kawasaki said: "Send a signal, ask who it is and what are you going to do?" The lights whispered, but the ship on the other side didn't hear anything, just sailed slowly forward. This made Kawasaki Ichiro furious: "Order the Spring Breeze and Shunfeng to fire their guns to warn each other." ”

Shells from the 120 guns on the two destroyers were fired, stirring up rushing waves around the two gunboats. The two gunboats finally stopped, began to reverse and retreat. But with a bang, one shell after another exploded on the side of the Japanese fleet, Kawasaki Daisa was very angry, and the French dared to open fire on the Imperial Japanese Navy, and immediately ordered the heavy cruiser Aoba to open fire and sink them.

The classification of the name of the ship is distinguished by the caliber of the gun, the difference between the heavy cruiser and the destroyer is the caliber of the cannon, called the heavy cruiser, then the caliber of his gun has exceeded 200 mm, and the one within 150 mm can only be a destroyer, and the one with 150 is a light cruiser. The heavy cruiser Aoba had a gun caliber of 205 mm, and if it hit a gunboat like the Hangang and Hansu, a single shell would sink. At first, Kawasaki Ichiro ordered the destroyer to open fire, which was used as a warning, but the other side fired back fire, so he didn't say anything, and the cannon sank.

This kind of heavy artillery is not so fast, the rate of fire is three to five minutes to open a cannon, just when the Japanese adjusted the muzzle, the two gunboats fired several shots in a row, a small Japanese gunboat was hit and caught fire, this time the Japanese were furious, Kawasaki Ichiro ordered two destroyers and eight gunboats to dispatch, rushed up and sank the two small ships. However, as soon as the Hanyang and Hanshui saw the Japanese fleet pursuing forward, they immediately increased the speed of their retreat, and the two sides left farther away.

Kawasaki Ichiro didn't think about why they sent two gunboats to provoke for no reason, and he knew that he couldn't beat him. The arrogance of the Japanese Navy made him not think about these at all, and besides, there was no strong naval force around, so Kawasaki Ichiro was afraid of something.

And two more destroyers, is there still a problem with eight gunboats against two gunboats? Both sides were fast, breaking away from the fleet and sailing into the darkness.

Watching from the sea with lights, the distance is always outside the range, that is, just enough to reach the range, and the Japanese ships are faster, so the distance is narrowing. The commander of the ship had ordered to take aim, and with a dozen times the force, it was not a single artillery fire to sink them.

On the pitch-black sea, the Japanese army did not find anything wrong. How could the Southern Han Navy not prepare anything? The two ships entered the ambush circle led by the Huaxia. The Japanese ships were taken aback when they spotted the other four warships that had appeared around them. It turned out that there was an ambush, but after being surprised, the destroyer Seifu, Saburo Ohno, smiled. These French are looking for death, not to mention the main force of the fleet, even their current strength is not something they can beat, and they ordered the fleet to form an offensive battle formation and prepare for battle.

However, the two sides moved, and the Japanese entered this sea area in regular formation, and the lights did not pay attention to the sea surface, and suddenly the destroyer stopped, spun in place, the engine turned off, and the ship let out a tremble. What's going on, the chief officer ordered the chief engineer to check, and at this time, more than a dozen battleships stopped one after another.

After receiving a report from the engineer that the propeller was entangled in something and could not be moved without cleaning it, Saburo Ohno was so angry that he scolded and ordered the water ghost to get off the ship and clean up. How can something entangle the propeller on a good sea? Just when the Japanese fleet stopped, the Southern Han navy led by the Huaxia no longer fled, but returned to approach the Japanese army.

Saburo Ohno was not worried about this, even if the ship could not move, the artillery fire was stronger than theirs, and ordered to prepare for an artillery battle. However, the Japanese ships could not move, and could only use the barrel rotation angle to respond to the battle, which greatly limited the firing angle, and besides, the Japanese fleet was originally an offensive formation, and the fleets that stopped one after another were not combat formations at all, and could not form an effective defense, so they could only use artillery fire to block the attacking ships, so it was a big loss.

The Southern Han Navy can be moved, although the caliber of the guns is not good, and it has little effect on the Japanese destroyers, but those gunboats can't carry it, not to mention that there is a cruiser Huaxia, and the artillery fire is still very strong. At night, the sea was lit up by shells and fire, and the problem of firing angle caused the Japanese ships to be constantly hit and ignited.

While the two sides were fighting, the three gunboats quietly approached the Japanese fleet, they did not fire their guns, and they turned off all the lights, like a monster quietly approaching the Japanese fleet. This is the Hanri, the Hanfeng and the Hanxing, three gunboats with * approaching the Japanese ships.

Tan Xi, the captain of the Hanxing, stared at the Japanese destroyer Qingfeng and shouted, "Attention, launch." With a thud, the high-pressure elastic force pushed the * out of the launch tube and into the water, splitting the water and rushing towards the Breeze. Such is the advantage of night, the Japanese ships could not move, there was no way to circumvent it. Besides, it was not easy to detect the * flying from underwater, and in the dark night, when the Japanese soldiers on the Seikaze found out*, it was too late, and nothing could be solved except to let out a cry of horror, and the Japanese ships became live targets.

The angry Saburo Ohno ordered the concentrated artillery fire to sink these * boats, but as soon as his order was given, a loud bang was given, * accurately concentrated the left flank, tearing a large hole in the hull, and the sea water rushed in, and the hull of the ship began to tilt in quickly. This time, the ship couldn't care about firing the cannons, and there was a panic. This is 532 heavy *, which even a battleship can't carry, let alone a destroyer.

Boom and another loud bang, the destroyer Shunfeng was also hit, the two main battleships were hit, and the other small gunboats were not opponents? The Huaxia light cruiser became the most imposing battleship, and the 155-caliber guns roared, and one shell after another hit the Japanese ships, and the gunboats sank in the fire.

At this time, it was not a battle on the sea, it was the massacre of the Japanese fleet by the Southern Han Navy, the Japanese army had no power to fight back, and the sea fleet was getting closer and closer, but they could not escape. The Seikaze sank, and Saburo Ohno didn't have time to report it to Utsu Yamamoto.

When Yamamoto Utsu received the report from the other ships, he was shocked that two destroyers and ten gunboats were ambushed and all of them were destroyed. While yelling at Saburo Ohno for being a stupid pig, he ordered the fleet to set sail to reinforce his squad.

But when he saw the fire in front of him, there were only three things he could see on the sea: the burning battleship, the half-sunken hull, and the Japanese navy overboard shouting for help. Then there are the corpses floating on the surface of the sea, and the Southern Han navy that ambushed has disappeared into the dark sea.

Yamamoto Uto, who was stunned for a long time, said: "Report to China that the French Navy has entered the war, and their South China Sea Fleet has attacked the Imperial Japanese Navy, please declare war on France and request the 3rd Fleet to attack Xialong Port." ”

A telegram was sent to Japan, and Vice Admiral Jun of the Harem in Canton did not receive a report from the Navy, but he received a report from the Army in Haiphong. At the same time, the Qinzhou, Nanning, and Qiongzhou armies reported that the airfields were attacked by the air force, and the airfields were destroyed and could not be lifted into the air for combat. The Snow Fox of the Southern Han Dynasty did not have an air force, and it was the French army that participated in the war. This time, Japan was fried, and held a meeting overnight to demand a declaration of war on France and send troops to Vietnam for a landing operation. Just when the Japanese side decided to attack Vietnam and occupy it in an all-out way, the report sent back from the Southern Army made Mitsumasa Yonechi in a daze at that time, and the General Staff Headquarters was also silent.