The value of the two-seven-three airship

Morning... In the Tsugaru Strait, the sea breeze is howling, and on the dark sea, four Vladivostok-class heavy cruisers and four Yasukai-class light cruisers are lined up, and this time in front of the cold cannon is another Japanese city, Hakodate, which has not been established for many years, but concentrates nearly one-third of the Japanese immigrants on the island. (Vertex Hand Hit)

This city that witnessed the end of the Japanese shogunate era and the beginning of the Meiji Restoration era is one of the first port cities in Japan to open, due to the short time of establishment, and after the beginning of the Meiji era, Japan has been plotting with military force to deal with the Qing Dynasty, so there is no energy to develop Hokkaido, and after the last war, Japan has to focus on defending the main island, so there are almost no defense facilities in Hakodate, not even a fort.

Because the submarine telephone line was cut off half a year ago, and because this strait is the main blockade site of the Pacific Fleet, at least two gunboats patrol 24 hours a day, so in just six months, more than 30 ships were sunk here, especially after the declaration of war, the fishing fleet carrying 2,000 soldiers from Aomori to strengthen the defense of Hokkaido was sunk, and more than 1,300 soldiers were all killed.

The strait, which was only 24 kilometers at its narrowest point, seemed to be an impassable moat, and almost every Japanese soldier stationed in Hakodate opened their mouths when they looked at the patrol that day of the rapid-fire cannon slaughter of fishing boats, and now their only hope was for the fleet to return as soon as possible and drive out these murderous butchers.

But they didn't know that the fleet they had been looking forward to for most of the year had all sunk to the bottom of the sea.

One by one, the shells were filled into the breech, and the muzzles began to rise slightly, and when the muzzles were raised to a fixed angle, the gunners at all levels again calculated the coordinates given by the Ainu, and the 1st Hokkaido Wing, stationed in Hakodate in a deep sleep in the distance, did not know that they had been locked by the cold muzzles.

After so many actual combat shellings and high-intensity training, coupled with the service of the Jinghai-class light patrol with rangefinders, the gunners of the fleet have been able to accurately lock on to a fixed target of about 10,000 meters, while Hakodate is only 20 kilometers away from the sea, and almost the entire city is within the range of the Jinghai ship.

The eight warships, except for the armor-piercing shells with a base number each, were all loaded with new incendiary bombs, but this was also the last batch of incendiary bombs, because the incendiary bombs were expensive and complex to manufacture, so there were not many reserves.

But this was enough, eight warships, large and small, with a total of 26,000 rounds of white phosphorus incendiary bombs, enough to completely destroy a city no more than twenty kilometers wide, and all made of wooden materials

"Open the gun"

When the commander of the artillery formation, Le Fei, gave the order, nearly 100 points of light suddenly lit up on the sea that was only two kilometers off the coast of Hakodate, and then the pitch-black Hakodate seemed to brighten up at once.

A dense rain of shells roared towards the sleeping Hakodate, and almost at the same time, the white fog and sparks exploded from everywhere, and the Hakodate barracks, where 4,000 soldiers were stationed, turned to ashes without even firing a single shot.

Countless flames erupted from all over the city, and even the ship's secondary guns, which had a shorter range and were not equipped with incendiary bombs, joined the chorus

In the early morning of June 3, 1897, the Pacific Fleet shelled Hakodate, and when the red sun rose behind Hakodate, the largest city in Hokkaido had been burned to the ground, with more than 40,000 dead -

In the early morning in the Ryukyus, the sea breeze is gentle.

In the distance, thick chimneys have begun to rise and billowing black smoke, and the roar of steam engines has come and gone, Luo Sanniang is leaning on the railing, her beautiful eyes flashing with shimmering starlight.

It's been half a month since she came to Ryukyu, but every time she sees this scene, she still feels uneasy, because she already knows that these changes are all because of that man.

As soon as she thought of this, the corners of her eyes couldn't help but sweep to the figures of several people sitting around in the garden drinking morning tea, and the phoenix eyes immediately stared at that person, seeing every frown, every time she laughed, for some reason she always felt that her heart was also pulled in.

"How could I promise him to accompany him back to Ryukyu?"

"He must have done it on purpose"

"By the way, he used his brother to coerce me, and I didn't do it voluntarily."

"But ......."

Under a series of self-questions and answers, her pretty face became more and more ruddy, although that person had not yet asked for her body, but these days, who has not regarded himself as his woman, even the generals and ministers under him are respectful when they see him.

It's a feeling that is both enjoyable and annoying.

I obviously didn't give him anything, why did I ......

He must have done it on purpose

In the middle of her thoughts, two eyes suddenly flew in, frightening her face even redder, and she walked into the room in a panic, looking at the large and comfortable carved bed in the center of the room, her cheeks were crimson and she couldn't help but be secretly worried, I heard that his other women were coming, what should I do?

What should I call and how should I salute?

...... himself, is it his concubine?

Luo Sanniang walked to the dresser, in the mirror was a thin white face that was disgusting and happy, because she had gradually faded out of the special service team for so long, she no longer had to suffer from the wind and sun, and her body seemed to be much plump.

Looking at herself in the mirror, her fingers gently caressed her face, slowly slid down to her towering and bulging chest, stopped there, felt her heartbeat, and suddenly she regretted her life in the pirate's den very much, when she forced herself to forget the reality of being a woman, so that now she didn't know what to do when she met him, or give him her body before his woman came?

Young Master Li retracted his gaze stupidly, not knowing that Luo Sanniang in the room was already worried about the imminent arrival of several other women, and the corners of his mouth twitched slightly.

"Young master, the Germans want to buy airships and construction technology." Li Enfu took a sip of tea and took out the telegram sent by Tang Shaoyi.

"Yes." Before Chen Ping and Long Guozhang could react, Young Master Li immediately snapped his fingers: "Old rules, an order for twenty spare parts." ”

"Sell the airship?"

"Nope"

Sitting opposite, Ryukokuchi, who had just taken four captured battleships from the Japanese front and had entered the Ryukyu Shipyard for repair and refit like a son, immediately jumped up.

After Saigo led the Japanese Navy to surrender, Long Guozhang allowed the other side to retain the last dignity of the self-sinking warship, but asked for an accurate mine defense map of the Uraga Waterway, and in just five days, relying on the positioning of small boats and the 20 Japanese trawlers forcibly recruited, the entire waterway was cleared, and the gateway to Tokyo Bay was completely opened.

In addition, the Polaris and the Daystar are stationed outside the waterway, which means that they have completely controlled the entire Tokyo Bay, so he still expects the airship to go deep into the range of Japan's inland naval guns and make a few ruthless blows, how can he sell it now?

And Chen Ping on the side also shook his head, the performance of the newly formed air force in the operation is obvious to all, and there is no doubt that it will become a new generation of equipment vigorously built by various countries in the future, but they need enough time to break through the defects of the engine, so he resolutely opposes the sale of this trump card that has been playing for a few days now, according to his words, it will be overwhelming at least a year later.

However, Li Enfu insisted on selling, because those major international countries have almost mastered airship technology, but the structure and engine technology are more difficult, but at present, his side has openly sold cars, although the structure is different, but if countries increase investment, I am afraid that sooner or later they will get a special airship engine.

So he thinks that instead of waiting for others to make it themselves, it is better to take this opportunity to salvage a vote.

Li Mo also agrees with Li Enfu's idea, the use of airships in the Air Force is originally an expedient measure, although airships rely on large load capacity, more economical reasons, even in later generations have not been eliminated, but he is very clear that the future sky belongs to the aircraft, and he has seen the progress of the aircraft experimental center, it can be said that the preliminary design of the aircraft has been basically completed, and the biggest problem at present is the suitable engine, but under the public relations of the internal combustion engine power research laboratory, which has more than 200 people, it will only take two or three years to break through this key technology at most. So it's better to sell now to make money.

Compared with making money, Master Li actually has another intention to sell the airship, that is, to provoke another competition in various countries except for the navy, after all, the airship is not a cheap commodity on the bad street, just purifying hydrogen is a lot of expenses, after the sale, not only can the huge investment be recovered, and the funds can be used in more important aircraft, but also can consume the economy and strength of various countries, which is really a matter of killing multiple birds with one stone.

When the future countries are looking at airships, flying these behemoths on their own planes is

A sea of fire

Thinking about this scene, I feel excited when I think about it, but if I want to sell the airship and let everyone see its value, I still need to behave well Thinking of this, Li Mo immediately turned his head and asked: "Yuanshou, has the German Navy trainee officer arrived?" ”

"I came out of Honolulu six days ago, and I am going to arrange them into the heavy patrol formation, and I have already formulated a confidentiality manual, so that Duan Fei will also send someone to keep an eye on it." Chen Ping also thought that Li Mo was worried about the leakage of secrets, and hurriedly explained the confidentiality work.

"Inform Zhao Long that the bombing of Seoul will be postponed for a few days, and it will start after they arrive in Lushun, and you will arrange for two German ** officers to get on the airship and participate in the bombing throughout the process." Li Mo narrowed his eyes: "Remember, use ordinary bombs, don't use incendiary bombs." ”

"Young Master, who are you?" Long Guozhang was a little surprised as he held a cigar.

"Tell Xue Muhua to uninstall all the radios, don't leak our old bottoms." Li Mo smiled: "If you want to sell at a good price, you naturally have to let people inspect the goods a priori." ”

Li Mo's words made the three of them laugh at the same time, I believe that the Germans will definitely be moved after seeing the power of the airship, and as long as Germany buys it, then Britain and France and other countries will inevitably come up with containment measures, although they have strong scientific research capabilities, but the Hippopotamus-class airship is also made by themselves through the experience of later generations, so it is unlikely that they want to come up with equipment that is against the Hippopotamus class in a short period of time, so this money will obviously end up in their own pockets.

If the airship is really sold, it will also become the first self-developed military equipment sold to European countries on its side, which is of great significance to the Ministry of Equipment.

After Li Mo's explanation, several people gradually understood, but they still didn't have much confidence in the plane that relied on mechanical power to go to the sky, fortunately, the young master did not sell all the airships in his hands now, but prepared to let the factory sell the form of parts, so that not only can make profits, but also train a large number of skilled workers to feed the current airship factory.

According to the current purchase price of the Air Force, an airship is almost 10,000 pounds, of which the biggest expense is to refine hydrogen, now since it is the sale of parts, it can completely avoid this most time-consuming and cost-consuming process, plus the transfer of engines and other manufacturing technology, the airship alone can bring millions of pounds of income to the Government Council in the next two years, enough to build a multi-Jinghai ship

When Li Enfu quoted the price, Chen Ping and Long Guozhang's eyes lit up for the first time, they really didn't calculate that the airship could make so much money, and immediately happily joined the discussion, planning how to make Xue Muhua's tricks more exciting, so that all countries would be willing to touch their pockets, Du Dazhuang had already walked to Li Mo's side with the latest information.

"Young master, Lefei reports that Hakodate has been completely burned down, the first regiment of the Marine Corps has landed at five o'clock this morning, the forward troops have exchanged fire with the Japanese troops stationed in Sapporo, and the other second regiment has also landed and is advancing towards Sapporo, and it is expected to arrive in three hours."

"All incinerated"

The word brought by Du Dazhuang made Li Mo take a deep breath, a bombing confirmed the value of the air force, and made people see the horror of the new incendiary bombs, so this time in Hakodate, the cruiser formation carried more than 20,000 incendiary bombs at a time, not to mention a small wooden seaside town in 1897, even a medium-sized city with a population of one million in later generations could not withstand this level of blow,

And this is still a rudimentary thing, if aluminum powder is added to the incendiary bomb in the future, then I am afraid that the power will not even dare to be imagined by him, so he, the eldest young master who is still a modern man in his bones, also has a little guilt.

Hakodate didn't know what it was going to do, and when tens of thousands of incendiary bombs smashed into the sleeping city, when a wooden building encountered white phosphorus powder that could drift away for kilometers with the blast wave, the outcome was completely conceivable.

But this guilt did not last long, because this is war, and even if he does not make a white phosphorus bomb, someone else will make it in the future, and this may be an add-on to the war, and the best way to do this is to master this deterrent weapon first than to be burned by others in the future

A reinforced wing of 4,000 soldiers completely disappeared into the fire under the roar of naval artillery from a distance, and the remaining 3,000 Japanese troops in Sapporo could not resist two regiments and 10,000 marines armed with a large number of grenades and mortars.

This indicates that the countdown to the occupation of Hokkaido has begun

Shaking off the emotions brought by the Hakodate battle report, Li Mo grabbed the teacup and poured it violently, then slammed it on the table.

"Next target, Seoul"