With the Minister of the Japanese Navy and Army speaking before the Emperor, Japan was determined to continue fighting, even in the face of Italy, one of the European powers.

Nagasaki is currently the main station of the Combined Fleet, and although there is a better port in Arthur, Nagasaki is the best choice considering the facilities and equipment, as well as the supply and maintenance issues.

The officers and men of the Combined Fleet docked at the port of Nagasaki are on their final busy day, and they will next meet the hateful Italian fleet under the leadership of Commander Ito, and let them know the prestige of Yamato.

However, these officers and men did not know that Vice Admiral Ito, who led them to victory over the Beiyang Fleet, looked at the busy naval officers and sailors with a worried face on the ironclad ship of the new flagship, the Yamashiro (formerly the Chilean Navy Brad).

"I don't know how many naval officers and sailors will be able to return to Japan this time."

If the busy officers and men of the navy knew that their commander, Vice Admiral Ito, had commented on themselves in such words, they really did not know how to feel.

"There's no way around it, who made the enemy too strong this time!"

Vice Admiral Shikini Kayama, who was the head of the Japanese Navy's Command Department and was supervising the battle in the Combined Fleet, opened his mouth to relieve Ito Yuhiro.

Shiki Kayama's experience is somewhat legendary, how can he not be called a legend if he can jump to the navy from an army background (officer to rear admiral), and can also become the minister of military orders.

However, although it has been ten years since he was transferred to the navy, there is still one good thing about Kayama Shiki, that is, he does not interfere in command and other affairs, and to put it simply, his nature is like a supervising army, a self-aware supervising army.

Although Shiki Kayama didn't know much about naval warfare, he knew a little about it. These days, the chief of staff of the fleet, Idewa Shige, and a group of staff officers work on the map every day, trying to come up with a plan to make the combined fleet have a higher chance of winning.

This is also something that cannot be helped, whether in terms of fleet tonnage, firepower and personnel training, the Japanese Combined Fleet is far inferior to the Italian Task Force, no, it should be called the Great Qing Special Fleet now. (In order not to provoke the British too much, the task force of the Italian officers and men of Yishui was renamed in Shanghai.) ）

As he spoke, this Izuba Shigetohiro appeared in front of them.

However, his image is not very good, his eyes are blood-red, his beard is unkempt, and his military uniform has a foul smell. However, the words in his mouth lifted the spirits of the two lieutenant generals.

"Commander, this is a new plan we made overnight."

Izuwa Shige and his staff officers have been fighting for many days.

It was not easy to come up with a new battle plan, because the gap between the Italian incoming fleet and the combined fleet was really large. Although in the eyes of ordinary people, the Italian fleet is not much different from the combined fleet in terms of tonnage, which is more than 10,000 tonnage. But the quality gap is not the same.

The commanders of the Combined Fleet, who are proficient in the navy, are also not as confident as ordinary people because they know more.

This is also the reason why Izuwa Shige Yuandasa has been fighting for many days in a row, even to the point of forgetting to sleep and eat. The pressure on the Italians is too great, so they have to play with their lives.

"This is the latest battle plan made by our staff, and the victory rate can reach four and a half levels."

When Dewa Daisa said this, the whole person was extremely excited, as if he had come up with a perfect masterpiece. Don't look at the fact that the winning rate of this plan is not even half, just look at the surprised expressions of the two lieutenant generals, Ito and Kayama, which can already move the two. If you knew that the battle plan that the staff officers came up with at the beginning only had a 20% chance of winning, it was probably the same as them.

There is no way, the equipment is unusually good in naval operations, and the officers and men of the Italian Navy are not weaker than the Combined Fleet, so the Navy actually has no bottom in this battle.

The commander, Lieutenant General Ito, took over the battle plan and looked at it, and Shiki Kayama, who was a step slower, even threw half of his head in front of the battle plan.

Seeing that the two lieutenant generals were looking at the battle plan carefully, Dewa Daisa was explaining on the side.

"Actually, we all fell into the mistake at the beginning, and it was too difficult for our combined fleet to defeat the Italian fleet going north. So we have to jump out of this trap in order to have a chance of winning. This time the Italian fleet actually had a weakness, and that was that it needed to escort its fleet transporting land forces, which was what we could use. ”

When Dewa Daisa said this, it was as if he found out that the goddess who ignored his crush was actually a shaking M, and the whole person was extremely excited.

However, Lieutenant General Ito didn't care at all about the state of Dewa Daisa, and he asked him. "You have organized warships of more than eighteen knots as a sortie fleet, and warships of less than eighteen knots as a diversion fleet, is such a formation appropriate?"

It is no wonder that Vice Admiral Ito asked this question, because one-third of the warships of the Combined Fleet are less than 18 knots, and only two 10,000-ton ships are loaded with Yoshino, and the Akitsuzu and the two Naniwa and Takachiho ships of more than 3,000 tons are more than 18 knots, and in addition to the Yamashiro and Izumi ships purchased from Chile, the combined fleet has 10 warships that can run more than 18 knots, and the tonnage has reached more than 40,000 tons. It also occupies a one-third share.

And the warship under the eighteenth section, he was a little reluctant, which was purchased by the Japanese Ministry of National Clothing.

That's right, Dewa Daisa used warships under 18 knots as cannon fodder this time, and in his plan, these warships that had made great achievements for Japan would become cannon fodder to hold back the main Italian forces. Compared to Daisa Dewa, who only needs to think about victory in battle, Lieutenant General Ito has more problems to consider. This kind of play that hurts others first hurts himself, and he is still a little uncomfortable.

"Your Excellency, this is our only chance to win."

Seeing the hesitation of his commander, Dewa Daisa could only explain further. "We need warships to drag the enemy's three Turin-class, as long as the sortie fleet can threaten the enemy's transports, then we need to contain the formation to block the enemy's three Turin-class ships that pose the greatest threat to us, as long as the enemy's battleships are divided into two parts, then our army will have a chance to win."

"For this, all the sacrifices are worth it. Even if I command and contain the formation. ”

It is clear that Dewa Daisa is willing to make sacrifices for the sake of his own plans.

At this time, Dewa Daisa's plan was already clear, which was to use the Italian convoy as bait

However, the battle-hardened Lieutenant General Ito was not so easy to convince, so he continued to ask. "If the enemy does not follow your assumptions, but instead encircles and annihilates our containment formation, then what should we do?"

Lieutenant General Ito's words directly pointed out the uncertainty of the plan, and the enemy may not follow his baton.

For this reason, Osa Dewa explained. "Before I made this plan, I not only carefully read the previous combat style of the Italian Navy and previous combat examples, but also referred to the combat examples of other European continental countries, and I am ninety percent sure that the enemy will definitely divide his forces because of the interception fleet, as long as the containment formation can stop the three Turin-class battleships."

Speaking of this, Dewa Daisa then pretended to be relaxed. "Even if there is a situation that we are worried about, in fact, there is still a way, that is, to destroy the enemy's transport fleet and buy time for the First Army to land in Shandong. We have bought at least another seven or eight days for the army at the cost of pinning down the entire fleet, and they should have nothing to say. ”

The two lieutenant generals' eyes lit up with the words of Dewa Daisa, although it was not the intention of the navy to throw the blame, but if one of the army and navy was needed to take on some responsibilities, then there was no more suitable candidate than army horse manure.

Although the last hint of Dewa Daisa was very satisfactory to the two lieutenant generals, Lieutenant General Kayama, who was the head of the military order, asked another question.

"What should we do if the Italian battleships force their way through the interception of the diversionary fleet with the help of their strong guns?"

Dewa Daisa has a confident way. "If that's the case, then the best, we can surprise them by hiding behind the flank with torpedo boats."

The eyes of the two lieutenant generals lit up, and if the enemy really wanted to force a breakthrough, then the prestige of the torpedo would definitely make him think twice.

While the enemy can take advantage of the speed advantage to bypass the containment fleet, if it does, the delay will be long enough for the attacking fleet to roll out the enemy convoy one by one with naval guns.

Seeing the satisfied expressions of the two lieutenant generals, Izuwa Daisa said the shortcomings of his plan. "This plan needs sufficient intelligence support, and we must keep abreast of the enemy's movements at any time, so it is not enough to rely on our own reconnaissance ships, and we need the help of international friends."

"There should be no problem with this, and I believe that international friends will be very willing to support in intelligence."

Lieutenant General Ito immediately responded, and he knew who Deswa Daisa was talking about. As for which country in the Far East has the most powerful intelligence, except for Great Britain.

If you make this request yourself, the British Empire, which is a good friend of Japan, will definitely not refuse.