-- Robbery is naturally impossible, after all, this is not the eighteenth century, and the Pacific Fleet is not a pirate, but a series of sabotage operations against the coastline of the city really make the whole city nervous!

The news that the Pacific Army was attacking the mainland was no longer a secret text, and the people of the coastal areas fled inland with their families one after another under the news that the towns and cities had been destroyed, and the entire city seemed to be shrouded in the haze of artillery fire.

Late at night in the base camp of the Tokyo Army.

The conference room was packed with army and navy officers from all over the country, all of whom had arrived immediately after receiving orders, and some of them had not slept for days and nights.

"Report, except for the detachment stationed in Okinawa that has lost contact, all other warships that can be mobilized have been assembled, please advise!" After Shaoza finished his report, he immediately ran to the blackboard next to him and wrote down all the warships that had gathered in Yokosuka in the past half a month.

An ironclad ship, the King Kong.

Six cruisers, Sankei, Amagi, Katsuragi, Yamato, Musashi, and Yaeyama.

Four gunboats: the Atago, Maya, Iwaki, and Oshima, as well as fifteen torpedo boats, three auxiliary vessels, and four gunboats converted from temporary cargo ships.

Looking at the list of the only remaining ships, everyone in the conference room held a lot of power, and the faces of the famous and famous people in the conference room showed grief-stricken expressions, and their hearts seemed to be tied to a heavy boulder, sinking into Tokyo Bay little by little!

On the list, the King Kong ironclad ship is actually a small ship with only one layer of iron sheets, less than 1,500 tons! As for the cruiser, it is a wooden-hulled warship that is aging and losing teeth, although the Sanjing is known as the first self-built ironclad ship in the empire, but in fact there are many problems, and it has already become an ornament! And the Yaeyama is simply an unarmed auxiliary warship!

As for the gunboats and torpedo boats that managed to escape from under the tiger's mouth, they didn't even exceed 100 tons! In case of bad weather, it is even a problem not to be able to go to sea! With such a lineup, to face the Pacific Fleet, which is armed to the teeth and has at least seven ironclad ships of more than 5,000 tons, is no different from sending them to death!

Although those soldiers are not afraid of death, they are ready to be loyal to the empire and the emperor at any time! But if they all die, who else can the future Imperial Navy rely on?

In the conference room, the atmosphere was depressing, only heavy breathing remained, and the haze that lingered in everyone's hearts!

According to the report of the two sailors of the fleet who had been soaked in the water for a few days and survived by the darkness of the night, the main force of the Imperial Combined Fleet was indeed completely annihilated by the shameless Hawaiian Pacific Fleet in a sneak attack after defeating the Beiyang Fleet!

Originally, this was supposed to be a time for the whole country to celebrate, but now?

What is written on the blackboard is already the last power that the empire can take out at the moment!

Sasebo Port is gone!

The Port of Osaka is gone!

Kobe has been hit hard!

There are also a large number of coastal cities that have been shelled!

The Second Navy guarded the mansion and carefully hidden military industrial base, Kure Port, was bombed beyond recognition, the military factory that had been built with a lot of money was destroyed, the warehouse was emptied, and even the fleet full of arms and supplies prepared for the people of China and had just returned from abroad was forcibly towed away by the Pacific Fleet in the Bungo Waterway!

Of course, the most distressing thing is Etajima, according to the report of the soldiers who went to contact it, the entire Etajima was destroyed by the Pacific Fleet, and they even set fire to it in the end! According to eyewitnesses, the fire burned for two days and two nights! More than 780 naval cadets, more than 100 teachers and elites of all kinds have survived!

On that small island, it is full of the souls of the Imperial Navy, they should have been the future naval elite of the Great Empire, and they should be the best candidates for the captain, staff officer and first mate!

But now, they have all been reduced to ashes in the raging fire, and they can't even put the corpses together!

Compared with the disappeared Etajima, what worries the base camp even more is that after losing the main force of the Combined Fleet and all the fast cruisers, the despicable Pacific Fleet can attack any seaport of the empire with impunity, not even a few small fishing villages.

Nowadays, they are like a group of hunters who come to Yuben to have a leisurely hunting competition, and Yuben, who claims to build the first navy in the Far East, has become a delicious meal in their mouths because they have no protection from the navy!

Cargo ships were forcibly disarmed and towed away, and the weak areas of coastal defense became their hunting grounds! Countless people of the empire have had to move their families further inland because of this, and this is not an army at all, but a group of pirates wielding knives and forks!

From Kyushu Island, to Shikoku Island, and even Hokkaido have reported that traces of enemy warships have been found!

This is no longer a war, this is **naked destruction and blackmail! In the open seas, because of their presence, not a single steamship dared to fly the flag of the Empire, and these bastards even sent small torpedo ships into the fishing harbor and destroyed hundreds of fishing boats hiding there with machine guns and artillery!

Not only did they destroy the ship, but they also shelled the port county, and the fire caused by the shells almost burned the entire city! Nowadays, except for the boats that took refuge in Tokyo Bay one step earlier, there are basically no sampans to be seen outside!

"If they are allowed to continue to make trouble like this, will the Great Empire return to the shogunate era when it was divided by the great powers?"

In the face of this wolf-like raiding behavior, every official attending the meeting felt chills in their hearts, and the thought flashed through their minds, but they were quickly driven away! Because on the blackboard in front of them, they also have warships, navy, and the remnants of the "fleet" that holds the hopes of His Majesty the Emperor and everyone.

Prince Arisugawa looked at the blackboard, as the chief of the general staff of the Imperial Army and Navy, no one knew about his inner torment, because it was his negligence and failure to believe the words of the American visiting delegation that underestimated the Hawaiian Pacific Fleet that caused the current situation.

So much so that now they have to rely on these old-fashioned, even damaged, warships to fight against the Pacific Fleet, which is armed to the teeth!

"What now?" Prince Chiren took a deep breath, and then he took his gaze back from the blackboard, and his voice was hoarse: "Is there any new news for the Pacific Fleet?" ”

"Yes, when they attacked Kure Harbor, they put back two more boilermen and asked them to bring a message." Shao Zuo replied.

Boilermaker again!

The only remaining Admiral Yamamoto Gonbei on the side pinched his knuckles a little white, damn the Pacific Fleet, can't you let some soldiers and generals come back? What's the use of just putting back some boilermen!

"What a message!" It was Hirobumi Ito who spoke, and as the current Cabinet Chairperson, he has an unshirkable responsibility for the current situation.

"The Pacific Fleet asked for ......." Shao Zuo looked at the letter in his hand, gritted his teeth, and then continued: "In addition to asking the empire to compensate for 100 million pounds of war losses, he also asked for the cession of the Ryukyu Islands and Kyushu Island!" ”

"What!"

Prince Kita-Shirakawa Nohisa had the hottest temper, and when he heard such an impudent request, he rushed to Shaozo's side with an arrow step, and after snatching the letter and reading it, he immediately tore it to pieces and roared: "Yaga! These damned Chinans, who think they control Hawaii, think that with a small fleet, they can threaten the Empire! ”

"A small fleet." Prince Komatsu glanced at the furious Kitamokawa Nojiu and sighed: "Have the American and British ambassadors been contacted?" ”

"Yes, but the Hawaiian political axe's reply to them was, reparations, that is, the end of the war!" Hearing such an answer, Komatsu glanced at Chiren, and was about to speak, but was blocked because the other party suddenly got up.

Seeing Prince Chiren stand up suddenly, everyone's hearts suddenly hung in the air, could it be that the prince was still ready to continue fighting? You must know that the list in front of you is already the last naval force in this book! If they are lost, then the Imperial Navy will be completely left without troops for years to come!

"Your Excellency, give the order!"

As the only remaining supreme admiral of the Imperial Navy, as long as he thinks of those colleagues in the Combined Fleet and the lonely soul above Eda Island, even if he knows that going out on the expedition is to die, he is still ready to sacrifice his life for the country.

Yamamoto Gonbei nodded, walked to the blackboard with the name of the ship written on it under the gaze of everyone, stretched out his trembling right hand, and stroked each line.

He knew better than anyone what these names represented, it was the only remaining naval force of the Empire, although it was so weak and scarce now, but as long as they could be kept, the combined fleet of the Great Empire would have a day of revival!

In Britain, two battleships have already laid their keels!

His Majesty the Emperor is also ready to purchase warships again and engage in a protracted war with the Pacific Force!

Most importantly, although the current Hawaiian Pacific Army seems to be powerful, they are not without weaknesses! The scarcity of the army and the distant supply lines at sea made it impossible for them to sustain a large-scale land battle, and unless they were hot-headed, they would not attack the mainland.

As long as they can't attack the empire's main island for a day, they haven't lost this war yet! Moreover, I believe that after Britain and the United States and other countries see the strength of the Pacific Army again, they will not let them break the current situation in the Far East, and will definitely ask the two sides for peace talks, so what we need to do now is to concentrate the strength of the whole country, purchase warships, and rebuild the joint fleet!

Since the combined fleet is to be rebuilt, then these remaining naval seeds must be preserved!

Thinking of this, Prince Chihito straightened his waist slightly, his gaze swept over everyone in the base camp, and finally stopped on the face of Yamamoto Gonbei: "Yamamoto-kun, take your troops and block the Uraga waterway." ”

"Blockade the Uraga waterway?" Yamamoto Gonbei was stunned for a moment, and then immediately understood what Chiren meant, and was blocked by the latter again as soon as he wanted to speak. "I know it's a shameful choice for a samurai, but trust me! For the sake of the future of the Empire, I must do this! ”

Yamamoto Gonbei opened his mouth to speak, but when he saw Prince Chiren, who seemed to be dozens of years old all of a sudden, and was trembling when he spoke, he nodded heavily, saluted, and ran out quickly.

In the staff room, there was silence, and everyone knew that Prince Chiren was admitting defeat. Only Bei Shirakawa can last a long time, still the corners of his mouth rolled, and he scolded angrily: "No, we have not failed, and the empire will not fail!" We also have hundreds of thousands of the most elite army soldiers! ”

Kita-Shirakawa's roar echoed in the room, but everyone knew that the Pacific Army would never be dizzy and carry out a landing battle, even if it armed the people of the whole country, there was nothing it could do in the face of the Pacific Fleet roaming around the islands like a wolf in the open sea!

"Ito-kun, please contact the ambassadors of Britain and the United States immediately, on behalf of the emperor and the empire, and ask them to come forward for peace talks!" Prince Chihito ignored the furious Kita-Shirakawa. Ito Hirobumi nodded after listening, and suddenly thought of another question: "Your Excellency, how to deal with the North Korean side?" ”

"North Korea must not be abandoned! The empire has already spent a lot for that continent! Without waiting for Chiren to speak, Kita-Shirakawa Nohisa jumped up again, he had long been displeased with these guys who were supremacy of the navy, and in his opinion, if he gave up North Korea, it would mean that the revival of the army had completely lost hope.

Prince Chihito glanced at Kita-Shirakawa, sighed slightly in his heart, and waved his hand to Ito Hirobumi: "Go." ”

"Hey!"

(To be continued)