Looking at the sinking Torpedo Ship that was slowly passing through the porthole, and looking at the Saiben sailors running around like headless flies on the inclined deck, Lan Jianshu nodded to the gunner.

As soon as the gunner put down the phone, the two twin 37-mm rapid-fire cannons on the starboard side immediately protruded four long tongues of fire and swept across the deck of the torpedo ship.

The naval cadets aboard the Honolulu had no interest in the torpedo ship, which had already been battered, and they had already set their sights on the fastest cruiser, the Suma, and the oil-fired boilers and steam turbines were far superior to the coal-fired boilers and reciprocating steam engines used by their opponents, both in acceleration and sustaining.

Although the Suma can also soar to a speed of 22 knots, the domestic metallurgical level is not in place, and the main shaft can only last for half an hour, and if it does not slow down and cool down within half an hour, it will be deformed due to overheating.

The captain of the Suma also knew about this, so he also learned from the Izumi to plunge headlong into the scattered fleet, constantly performing tactical maneuvers, trying to use the chaotic merchant ships to prevent the pursuers from escaping.

This scene also made Lan Jianshu a little annoyed, although those merchant ships that had no power to fight back were not threatened, but unless it was a heavy gun of more than 200 mm, or if they wanted to sink a freighter of nearly 10,000 tons, it would take enough time to use the Honolulu's maximum 152 mm caliber naval gun.

"You can use torpedoes." The staff officer proposed, "Torpedoes? Lan Jianshu slapped his thigh, yes, the new 550mm torpedo was not installed earlier, and this time it was also one of the tasks to test the torpedo!

Following his order, the torpedo man, who had long been tempted by the artillery battle, quickly unhooked the safety, turned the torpedo launcher and aimed it at the target, and after a few bangs, the starboard side of the Honolulu suddenly spewed out four huge torpedoes, and as soon as the torpedo entered the water, a long white wake immediately stirred up in the tail, and it quickly chased after the scurrying freighter.

"Torpedo!"

The sailors on the merchant ship shouted in fright when they saw the white torpedo track, but the high speed of 30 knots made it impossible for the huge freighter, which had only 12 or 3 knots, to dodge, and could only watch the torpedo plunge headlong into the hull.

The most astonishing scene of this skirmish finally appeared, only to see that after one of the torpedoes hit the hull, a huge ball of water suddenly burst out under the waterline of the freighter, and the violent explosion threw the nearly 7,000-ton freighter high above the water, and then smashed it heavily on the water.

This power?!

The sailors on the remaining three ships were dumbfounded, and the officers were even more stammered and covered in cold sweat, especially the Suma who was being pursued, and even forgot to continue to dodge, and only accelerated forward to escape.

But the gap in equipment made them only watch the Honolulu chase in little by little, and half an hour later, when the two ships were parallel, the end of the Suma finally arrived.

Although the Honolulu is equipped with a twin 130mm rapid-fire gun, and the caliber of the main gun is not uniform, at such a close distance, even if the gunner who fires the gun is a trainee gunner, he can easily hit the opponent.

Only five minutes after the pursuit, the roaring 152-mm guns pierced through the thin armor, and the Suma was dropped from twenty to ten knots in one fell swoop.

No more suspense!

After losing the most precious speed, at a distance of three thousand meters, even the trainee gunners could easily hit each other, and the front and rear main guns nearly fifty shells per minute swept like a storm, directly flattening the narrow superstructure of the Suma.

At this time, the Cod, which had been holding on to the last, also caught up, and the two ships began to frantically pour fire on the cruiser, which was said to be self-produced, but neither Lan Jianshu, nor the commander of the driving patrol detachment behind, or Ji Weishan, who was controlling the whole situation with radio farther away, did not stop this serious waste of shells.

With two Cossack torpedoes sending another seriously wounded cruiser, the Izumi, into the seabed, the hour-long pursuit was finally over, and the remaining freighters with a maximum speed of no more than 123 knots had hoisted their white flags, and two of them unexpectedly opened their sea valves and sank.

"Report, sink two enemy cruisers, two destroyers, capture three freighters, and all the rest are destroyed by Oh."

"The Cossacks of our ship were slightly wounded, the Dragic lost one secondary gun, the rest of the ships did not lose anything, and no people were found who fell into the water." After the staff officer finished speaking, he added.

"This bastard, I think he deliberately didn't save it." The fleet staff officer lit a cigarette and scolded with a smile.

"Whatever, I can't let them live in the end anyway." The gun staff smacked his lips and listened to the sound for a long time, his hands were itching, and he went to his companion and grabbed a cigarette, before he continued proudly: "Don't forget, our artillery and steam turbines can't be leaked yet. ”

"That's a good point." Without waiting for the staff officers to continue to speak, Ji Weishan took over the conversation: "Inform the Cossack to carefully clean up the battlefield, don't miss a person, and let the Cod escort the freighter to Ryukyu after the end, and the rest will come to the round immediately after completing the task." ”

"Yes." The communications staff officer hurriedly went to convey the order.

"I am really not as good as the generation, and I actually used merchant ships to cover the warship to escape!" Looking at the detailed battle report sent, Ji Weishan smiled bitterly, he really wasted this rare opportunity to command the fleet.

"Immediately send the results and engagement back to the General Staff, focusing on describing the performance of the light patrol after equipping it with oil-fired boilers and steam turbines, it's time to replace our old arms and legs!"

The staff officers didn't know Ji Weishan's thoughts, and they all laughed, but after looking at the amazing speed performance of the three modified light cruisers, they also agreed with the commander's idea very much, so they didn't know what the chief of staff and the young master thought-

Saigo pushed open the window from the road, and the busy Yokohama harbor was outside, and the freighters flying the flags of various countries not only did not give him any sense of excitement, but made people feel a little worried, because of the statistics of ships entering the port that he had just received!

The first transport fleet, which was supposed to come back in the next few days, did not come back on time! Although the Port of Yokohama is still busy, and ships from all over the world still come and go from time to time, it is still irritating.

He was not only worried about the safety of the convoy, but also about the freighter loaded with important supplies in the fleet, which was the most urgent thing for the Yokohama shipyard at the moment, especially when the corner of his eyes swept to the two docks in the distance, he felt a sense of unease and irritability in his heart for no reason.

For the sake of the empire, this time the base camp and the emperor have done their best, not only ordering a large number of warships, but also buying more than a dozen large cargo ships they have just launched from the United States and other countries at high prices, in order to support the empire's most important sea transportation line, but now the first convoy, which accounts for almost half of the new freighters, did not return on time, what happened?

Saigo Congdao's gaze looked blankly into the distance.

Yokohama, this seaport located on the west side of Tokyo Bay is still busy, here is not only the largest shipbuilding base in Yoshimoto, but also the most important port in the whole of Yokoto, since Osaka, Kobe and Kure Port were destroyed by the Pacific Fleet in succession, due to the fear that the immediate reconstruction may be attacked, so the base camp was temporarily repaired and opened, so that the empire's materials in and out all depend on Tokyo and Yokohama, plus worry about the safety of Tokyo, so Yokohama has also become the busiest commercial port in Yokoto.

Of course, this is only part of the reason, but more importantly, the empire does not have enough funds to repair several other seaports at the same time. Although Saigo insisted on his point of view, he felt that he should not be afraid of the attack of the Pacific Fleet, but should immediately repair several other seaports, so that not only can the throughput be expanded and imports increased, but also the pressure on the port of Yokohama can be dispersed, so as not to put all his eggs in one basket!

But when the base camp showed him the current stock of funds, he still had to succumb to the unsustainable predicament, because the empire really ran out of money!

Six battleships, six heavy cruisers, plus auxiliary ships and fortifications, the Empire's loans borrowed against ten years of tax revenue had all been spent, and the two battleships that Britain finally resold even went into arrears, after all, compared to those powers, the empire was small in size, and lacked resources, and needed too many supplies to stockpile.

However, there is one thing that he and all the officers of the Admiralty are very dissatisfied with, that is, the expanded army actually intercepted nearly half of the funds for the army to fight against North Korea!

Although he took over as Minister of the Navy after the last war, he still insisted on the idea of his predecessor, Prince Arisugawa Miyashihito, that the empire must first ensure the security of the island and control the sea, rather than expending its limited financial resources on Korea, which already had some gains outweighed the losses!

In his opinion, the Pacific Army did not discuss the issue of the ownership of North Korea with the empire in the end, not because they were open-minded, nor because they were not interested in North Korea, but because they viciously wanted to use North Korea to consume the strength of the empire!

This effect has become even more obvious since the Russians intervened in Korea, and the situation in Korea, where 50,000 Imperial Army troops were stationed, not only did not ease, but also because of the shamelessness of the Pacific Army, the shelling of Wonsan Port lost thousands of elite veterans.

Now the army stationed in Korea has been mired in a quagmire, and the continuous outbreak of Korean uprisings and attacks has become two hidden dangers alongside the Pacific Army, but now even if the base camp wants to withdraw, there is no way, and the Pacific Army has cut off the Tsushima Strait, so that everyone can only watch as more than 40,000 elite troops, including the First Army, lose support and struggle to survive in the quagmire.

It is no secret that Kita-Shirakawa can support his troops for a long time in the base camp and even in the upper echelons, but it is a pity that as of now, neither His Majesty nor the base camp can find a more suitable candidate than him for the time being, so he has to continue to indulge his plan.

However, after the army took up too many resources, the navy began to struggle, and there was not enough money to build a port, forcing the Admiralty to use Tokyo Bay and Yokosuka as bases for a comprehensive defense.

"Can you just prevent it?" Saigo shook his head with a wry smile, no matter what history looks at, it proves that the navy should adopt an active offensive strategy rather than a defense!

However, it is true that there is no offensive capability at present, and it will take another month for the four capital ships to return, and as for the orders ordered in Europe, because they are afraid that the return of a single ship will be threatened, they must wait for the last two battleships resold by the British to be completed, and then set off together.

Even if everything goes well, it will be five months before all the capital ships return home, so at the moment Saigo Can't do anything other than watch the Pacific Fleet go on a rampage.

Compared with the lack of strength and the lack of enough ports, what made him even more dissatisfied was the assassination plan proposed by Akashi Genjiro last time, in his opinion, it was completely redundant, and now at this time, not only should Li Mo and his Pacific Army be provoked, but should show weakness, even if he pays some price, he should not let the other party catch the handle!

But his words are too weak, even as the Minister of the Navy, Prince Kita-Shirakawa Nohisa still personally promoted the assassination plan, and now the plan has failed, the contradiction between the army and the navy has not only not eased, but has become more and more serious, and the Pacific Army has announced that it will blockade the open sea, if the first transport team cannot break through the blockade in time and return to the country at this time, and wait for the enemy's warships to arrive at the outer sea, then!

Thinking of this, Saigo Congdao's eyelids jumped up involuntarily, he knew him very well about the folk customs of the Chinese people, and had heard such a saying, "The left eye jumps wealth, and the right eye jumps disaster." "...... now?

Saigo touched his right eye from the road, and quickly rushed to the telephone, but before he could pick up the phone, the phone had already rang first, he quickly grabbed the telephone, and at the same time there was a rapid and nervous shout from inside.

"What!"

The caller was Keiji Daisa, who was stationed at the Uraga Suido shore artillery base, and the news he brought almost brought him down.

According to his words, the shore artillery units stationed at the mouth of the Uraga waterway saw at least two Pacific Army battleships and a heavy cruiser, which meant that the Uraga waterway was completely closed again!

Since the other party has blocked the Uraga waterway, then the first convoy is also sure!

On December 15, 1896, half a month after Li Mo's attack, the Pacific Fleet, which had just announced that it would blockade the sea off the coast of Yueben to arrest the murderer, blocked the door of Yueben's house for the second time.

The Uraga waterway was the throat of Tokyo Bay, and after being blocked by the Pacific Fleet for the second time, the emperor even took the initiative to meet with the British and American representatives, hoping to force the Pacific Fleet to withdraw and ensure the return of the four capital ships for the first time.

Although Britain and the United States were also dissatisfied with the assassination of Li Mo at this time, they did not want the two sides to go to war at this time, especially Britain was even more worried, and even the first minister of the navy sent a telegram directly to Ogna, asking him to delay the war until April 30, when all the capital ships were delivered, and at the same time urging him to send someone to receive the warships immediately.

Therefore, the international delegations led by Ogener gathered in Lushun one after another, demanding that the Pacific Army immediately stop the action of blocking people's nests, and said that this was a misunderstanding, and it was the personal behavior of some ronins and radical groups in China who did not have political axes, and it did not mean that the emperor was willing to personally pay 100,000 pounds to compensate Master Li for his flesh and skin damage.

Of course, no one knows who came out of this money in the end, anyway, everyone knows, let alone 100,000, and even 10,000 can't be taken out.

Finally, after 10 days of urgent consultations, after discussing in detail with Long Guozhang, who was left behind, whether it was cost-effective to start a war in winter and whether the army was properly prepared, Li Enfu finally said on behalf of Honolulu that no matter whether the fleet could catch the murderer this time, the blockade would end on April 30.

At the same time, he also handed over the confession of the captives to the British and American ambassadors, and said that in view of the fact that the assassins were all from the Korean army, he demanded that the political axe of the Japanese army in Korea be handed over immediately, including Yama Prefecture Aritomo, Kuroki Weizhen, and Nogi Norisai, and other generals stationed in the Korean army, to be tried by the Honolulu court, and at the same time, the army must also be evacuated from Korea immediately, and the time limit is April 30.

All the negotiation documents pointed to this time, Britain and the United States and other countries won the last respite for the Ben, and Li Enfu also bought time for the final preparations of the Pacific Army.

April 30th!

(To be continued)