269 eats barbecue

Syllable. (Vertex Hand Hit)

In the office of the Admiralty in the Tokyo base camp, Saigo stood pale at his desk, and the other end of the telephone that had fallen to the side was still letting out a cry of horror, as if urging the Japanese Admiralty.

The shouts on the phone were panicked and trembling, as if something terrible had happened.

Saigo had no intention of listening any further, and it didn't matter what bombs fell from the sky or the fires that wouldn't be extinguished, because the Pacific Fleet had already passed through the mine-ridden Uraga waterway two hours earlier and plunged its knife directly into the heart of Japan

No one knows how they broke the mine blockade, how they managed to find a narrow channel and blow up the guard batteries and drill into the heart of Japan, knowing that very few people knew the mine defense map and detailed information about the waterways, and the captains had to be led by guide ships before they dared to cross it.

The only remaining three capital ships and two second-class armored cruisers have all been sunk, and the entire port of Yokosuka has been destroyed, and he still can't think of how they quickly sank five warships, knowing that there are two powerful battleships with a huge body of more than 13,000 tons and steel armor as thick as 320 mm, even if they are left unmoving, it will be bombarded for at least dozens of minutes.

But according to the report of the tugboat that fled to Yokohama, the three capital ships exploded violently almost instantly, and each lasted less than five minutes on average before capsizing without any reaction at all

"What the hell is this? Did they buy off the officers of the base camp, get the route map, and go straight into the ammunition depot of the warship and ignite the explosives? The more Saigo thought about it, the more uncomfortable he felt, as if a cold current suddenly penetrated through his head, crawling all over his body with blood, and his whole body became stiff and cold.

What's more, after the Pacific Fleet arrived in Yokosuka, it sent out commandos without stopping, forcibly driving out four of the newest and greatest battleships that had just struggled back home, and dragged them to the middle of Tokyo Bay and protected by two battleships.

No matter how quickly they crossed the waterway, how quickly they sank the garrison fleet, how they sent flying eggs to drop bombs, and so on, it was clear that it was all premeditated, and the goal was to completely destroy the remaining strength of the Japanese Navy

"Your Excellency, Prince Nohisa Shirakawa has asked you to go to the base camp for a meeting immediately, and he has already ordered the army to resist to the death, and said that he asked you to order the Yokohama ...... immediately." The news brought by the adjutant made Saigo sigh from the Taoist chief, and he didn't even want to listen to the words later, what is the sworn resistance?

amusing

Without a navy and loss of control over the sea, Japan is a real isolated island, and it is difficult for Japan to be self-sufficient in food, how can it ask its soldiers to defend it? To go desperate?

Li Mo didn't even need to send an army, as long as all the warships were sent over, shelled the coast, and imposed a stricter blockade, Japan would never turn over

Perhaps to confirm his thoughts, a series of explosions suddenly sounded outside the window, followed by the screaming of countless cannonballs breaking through the air, Saigo quickly walked from the road to the window, only to see that the dark city of Tokyo not far away had exploded as if it had exploded, and the flames of the explosion came and went, like fireworks rising one after another.

When his gaze stayed in the direction of the shelling, his face changed again, and drops of cold sweat oozed from his forehead.

Sensoji Temple

He finally knew why the enemy didn't bombard the location of the base camp first, because the Hawaiian young master was going to completely break the backbone of Japan

You know, where is Japan's last 50 tons of gold reserves, although this batch of gold has actually been used as a temporary collateral in exchange for a loan from the United States, but the base camp is not willing to take the gold twice, and is also afraid that the United States will default on its debts at that time, so after consulting with the United States, this batch of gold was kept in the way of staying in the homeland and jointly supervising it, and it was jointly guarded by American and Japanese soldiers.

For the safety of this batch of gold, the base camp tried all means, and finally decided to hide it quietly in the famous Sensoji Temple, but now it seems that it is still exposed, which indicates that the inside of the base camp has been infiltrated by the enemy. More importantly, once the Pacific Fleet snatches the gold, Japan will not only face the forced debt of the United States, but all the banknotes issued in the country will be turned into blank paper, and the whole country will be paralyzed

With all that gold, Japan can at least breathe, and now ......

Saigo clenched his fists, looked at the increasingly bright firelight, suddenly walked to the desk, came to open the drawer and hesitated for a moment, stuffed a pistol and a thick stack of papers into his purse, and quickly walked out of the office.

Ten minutes later, accompanied by several naval officers, Saigo left the Admiralty from Michi, but instead of going to the base camp to open fire, he boarded a steamboat and headed for the middle of the bay—

"Report, the commandos are back, but they say there are only fifty tons of gold."

Le Fei turned the telescope and soon saw three speedboats emerging from the narrow waterway, the Maxim machine gun and the 37mm rapid-fire cannon on it were still spewing tongues of fire, and this scene finally made him breathe a sigh of relief.

"Fifty tons?" Le Fei frowned, didn't the Ministry of Intelligence say that there were a hundred tons? However, it was not his turn to think about this matter, so he immediately walked into the bridge and gave a new order with a calm face.

"Change incendiary bombs, free shelling, ...... ammunition, all gone"

A few minutes later, a tragedy finally broke out with the three speedboats of the commando team approaching the Jinghai 4 ships, with a range of 18,000 meters, so that the Jinghai 4 ships could easily cover half of Tokyo City, countless fires rose from the city at the same time with cannonballs, and the wooden buildings grew into flames, and the whole sky seemed to be burned red

In the telescope, countless Japanese people who were awakened by the sound of artillery rushed away, and they probably never dreamed that during the day they were still looking forward to the beautiful scenery after the fleet returned home to defeat the evil Pacific Fleet, and at night shells would fall overhead

They are not stupid, although they don't understand what kind of shells they are, and why every time they fall, they cause flames to soar into the sky, but they all know very well that Tokyo can drop cannonballs, which means that the longed-forward Imperial fleet has .......

When Yubai appeared on the eastern horizon, the entire city of Tokyo was enveloped in flames, and thick smoke rose from under every debris, enveloping the entire city.

No one knows that the exact number of deaths in this shelling, although each Jinghai-class light cruiser carried only 3,000 incendiary bombs, and a lot of them were consumed before, but these terrible shells still caused a terrifying effect.

Later, according to the calculations of the Ministry of Intelligence, at least 50,000 people were directly burned to death in the three-hour shelling, which can cause so many casualties.

"The tide is set"

Young Master Li stood in the garden, quickly turned over the iron chisel in his hand, grabbed a handful of pepper and sprinkled it on the steak, and then grabbed the small fan and fanned it vigorously.

The breeze blew, the charcoal at the bottom of the stove became brighter, and within a moment the steak made a sizzling sound, and a strong fragrance wafted around the garden.

"It smells so good."

A few brisk footsteps sounded from behind him, and before Li Mo turned his head, he heard Chen Ping's sniffing sound, and a few black lines suddenly fell on his forehead, why did he, the chief of staff, always rush to eat?

It seems that he still has to solve his personal problems as soon as possible, saving him from having to eat all day long

Turning his head, Chen Ping and Li Enfu with a spring breeze on his face had already walked in front of him, the former couldn't wait to taste the oven, looking at the sizzling steak on the iron chisel, and drooling.

"Alright,

"Young Master, who are you?"

"Eat barbecue, haven't you seen it?"

Li Enfu's mind was full of black lines, his bad taste for Master Li was really indescribable, tens of thousands of Japanese had just been burned to death over there, and at noon here, with the spicy sun on his head, he actually ran to the garden to barbecue and eat

Is it because you can't smell the burnt smell over Tokyo, so you're ready to do it yourself? It's really ......

But the meat smells so good.

"Bring me two pieces too" Lord Li and Chief of Staff Chen were also not polite, rolled up their sleeves, and prepared a large piece of food.

Young Master Li watched in a daze as the two grilled meat steaks were crossed into the plate by his right arm, and he had already crashed directly.

I despise it

Li Mo smiled helplessly, and after handing over the barbecue to Du Dazhuang, he asked Sanniang, who came to accompany him to barbecue, to get a bottle of wine, and then picked up the largest steak and sat down at the round table.

Looking at Luo Sanniang's graceful posture when she left, Chen Ping and Li Enfu quietly glanced at each other, and the former wiped his mouth and his face became serious: "Young master, Long Guozhang called, the commando team has returned, but we are wrong, they only found fifty tons of gold." ”

Fifty tons?

Li Mo wrinkled his brows, in the era of the gold standard, it is actually very simple to calculate how much gold reserves a country has, as long as you look at the total amount of banknotes they have issued, you can roughly deduce, according to the previous analysis of the Ministry of Intelligence, Japan's gold reserves should be about 200 tons, excluding the 50 tons mortgaged to the United States when they took out loans, then there should be 150 tons left.

But now only fifty tons have been found, so there are only two explanations, one is that Japan dispersed the gold, and the other is that the Japanese government over-issued currency and from the current reality, obviously the latter inference is more likely, he did not expect that the Japanese government actually issued paper money in order to stabilize the domestic economy, in the case of insufficient gold reserves, which is obviously an act of exhaustion.

"Immediately find someone to print leaflets, let Xue Muhua go around Tokyo and other cities if he has nothing to do, and release the news that Japanese banknotes have become blank paper." Li Mo thought for a moment and said.

Chen Ping nodded, and after glancing at Li Enfu, he said again: "Young Master, half an hour ago, the Japanese Navy Minister Saigo boarded the Polaris from the road and expressed his willingness to surrender. ”

Saigo from the road?

Li Mo quickly remembered this guy who had been the Minister of the Japanese Navy since the First Sino-Japanese Period, putting aside national feelings, this guy was an extremely interesting character, he was born into a famous family, and his predecessor was also the Army, so he can be said to know nothing about the Navy.

But this guy is obviously very self-aware, he knows what he should do, so he never asks about the daily affairs of the navy, just blindly scoops up funds for the navy, expands the soldiers, fights for interests, and even does not hesitate to turn against the army generals in the base camp, and finally runs to the emperor to ask for interference.

This style of work has made him deeply appreciated and loved by the navy, so it has also allowed him to firmly control the Japanese Minister of the Navy for many years.

"It's just that he surrendered on behalf of the navy? Or does it represent Japan? Li Mo glanced at Chen Ping, who brought the news, and the latter immediately said: "On behalf of the Japanese Navy, he said that he could not convince the Japanese high-level, so he could only withdraw from this war on behalf of the Navy." ”

"Judging the situation and having a sharp eye." Almost immediately, Li Mo sketched such an image in his mind, this guy obviously knew better than the person in the bullshit base camp that no amount of army could save Japan

"Promise him to accept the surrender of the Japanese Navy, but also tell him unmistakably that I don't like people who have reservations" Li Mo's eyes were cold: "Otherwise, I'd rather kill all his soldiers"

"Yes."

Li Mo's words made Li Enfu quietly relieved, he was afraid that Li Mo would refuse because Saigo was not representing the Japanese government, you must know that for this war, the Government Council almost took out all the money, if it wasn't for Li Mo suddenly took out gold reserves to form a central bank before the war, I'm afraid the Government Council would have gone bankrupt several times

Although Saigo only surrendered on behalf of the Japanese Navy, according to intelligence, the contradictions between the Japanese navy and the army are deep, and Saigo has a great influence among young officers, so this is a good opportunity to split Japan

After solving the matter of Xixiang's congregation, Chen Ping also breathed a sigh of relief and asked: "Young master, if you print leaflets and release them, wouldn't that tell others that this batch of gold is in our hands?" Those American soldiers who died ....... ”

"I'm afraid it will cause diplomatic disputes."

Without waiting for Li Mo to answer, Li Enfu laughed first, and the gift of fifty tons of gold and four battleships gave him an excuse to split Japan, which obviously made the chief of the government Council feel very good, and said with a smile: "The Americans are afraid that they will not have time to trouble us." ”

"Oh? The United States officially declared war with Spain? Chen Ping immediately asked.

"I don't know if war has been declared or not, but the Spanish envoy has arrived in Lushun." The corners of Li Enfu's mouth hooked, obviously very satisfied with the limelight of the government council led by him during this time, and said with a smile: "He brought a letter from the King of Spain and the Parliament, asking us to immediately release the soldiers imprisoned in Luzon, and also promised that as long as we make a little compensation, we can cede Luzon and all the colonies in the Pacific to us." ”

"Compensation?" Chen Ping raised his eyebrows: "What do you pay attention to in Spain?" ”

"It is estimated that the results of our naval battle in Micronesia have already reached Europe, and Spain knows that it will not be able to retake Luzon, so it is ready to deal with the United States with all its might."

Li Mo nodded, there is probably no other explanation in addition, and it can be seen from the fact that they want to compensate for it, this country that rose overnight with the spring breeze of great navigation in the past has become weaker, and it is still licking its face to compensate after the defeat, which shows that the pressure brought to them by the United States is too great.

Thinking of this, Li Mo suddenly asked, "Yuanshou, what's going on with the Determination?" ”

Although he didn't understand how the young master could care about the Determination all of a sudden, he immediately frowned and said, "I'm afraid it's going to be difficult to serve, according to the engineers of the Guam Shipyard, the bow of the Determination was too seriously flooded, and it almost capsized when it entered the port before." ”

Li Mo didn't expect that the Determination would be so serious this time, but this is not too unexpected, after all, the determination class was originally reluctant to be a heavy patrol, and the weight increased after this modification, resulting in a lot of reduction in seaworthiness and speed, if it were not for the improvement of the ship's guns, it would not have been included in this heavy patrol formation to participate in the decisive battle.

"Yuanshou, do you estimate how long it will take if I immediately ask Long Guozhang to send the remaining three determination-class ships back, replace them with the original main guns, and dismantle the radios?"

Li Mo's question made Chen Ping a little stupid, is the young master doing this? Could it be that after the capture of four battleships, the determination class will be decommissioned? You don't need to replace it with the original naval guns when you retire it?

Li Enfu seemed to understand a little, and his eyes narrowed: "Young master, do you want to compensate these three cruisers to Spain?" ”

"It's not three, it's four, and don't forget that there's a different Azuma than ours." Young Master Li smiled, picked up a piece of beef and stuffed it into his mouth: "As for compensation, that's not good, but if they are willing to pay, it's okay to sell it to them." ”

These words suddenly made the eyes of both of them light up, Spain is now very embarrassed, and the United States is approaching step by step, the Spanish-American war is inevitable, at this time there will be no country in Europe willing to sell warships to this weakened country and offend the United States, but they can

The United States sold the Japanese warship and escorted it all the way, which made everyone very angry, since there is a chance to disgust the United States, so why not do it?

Spain is already an ant on a hot pot at this time, and it is definitely willing to pay a high price to get three battle-tested cruisers and a captured ship of different sizes that cannot enter the Pacific Fleet, and the determination class does not meet the requirements of the Navy at this time, and it is also a good choice to take advantage of the last opportunity to earn a vote.

"I'll immediately contact Long Guozhang and let the three Determination Class come back." Chen Ping immediately said: "There are still two empty docks on the Ryukyu side, and I will let them rush to work with all their might, and the refitting can be completed in ten days at most." ”

"Ten days, almost" Li Enfu also slapped his thigh: "William McKinley's inauguration is June 5, there is still half a month to go, he will definitely declare war on Spain immediately after he comes to power, as long as we deliver it before this time, it will not be counted as selling arms to the belligerents."

The more Li Enfu spoke, the more excited he became, as if he saw the scene of the Spanish government gritting his teeth and writing a check, but another thing made his stretched eyebrows wrinkle again: "Young master, the German ambassador Haijing has been in Lushun for five days, and he asks us to immediately implement the previous agreement, you see?" ”

"Agreements?" Young Master Li raised the corners of his eyes, touched his chin, and smiled evilly: "Naturally, it will be executed, but it's ......." ”——

PS: Shout, eat barbecue, ask for a monthly pass