Yellow Sea.

Southeast of the Wei* Sea, 100 nautical miles from Qingdao, most of the Japanese Second Fleet has completed assembly. More than 20 main battleships and fourteen transport ships and other large and small ships covered a large area of ​​sea. The second fleet flagship Zhou Fang battleship was brightly lit, and the fleet commander Rokuro Yamada was holding a pre-war meeting.

Compared with China, the strength of the Japanese Navy, which is ranked among the top five in the world, is undoubtedly unquestionable. Since the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895, the entire Chinese Beiyang Fleet has been wiped out. In addition to the former Nanyang Fleet, which is the current Chinese Navy, it is almost impossible to find a decent navy if it is a big China.

China has one of the long coastlines in the world, but its navy is so weak. According to the general state of war, the fleet must implement light control on the eve of the war, especially a huge assembly scale like the Japanese Second Fleet. If it is noticed by its opponent, the consequences will be unimaginable. However, the Japanese Second Fleet was abnormal and not only did not implement light control, but all ships were moored on the sea surface in a swagger, and held pre-war meetings regardless of safety under the bright lights. Such deployment is unique in the world.

This is the tragic situation of China. After losing the Beiyang Fleet, the Chinese territorial waters were almost unprepared for the Japanese Navy and fought back. This reason was also the confidence of Yayoi Rokuro. In Yayoi Rokuro's eyes, the opponents who were so weak that they could almost ignore were not in the case of his Second Fleet, and the Chinese were even more unlikely to notice their actions so far away from the coastline.

As a big country, military strength is an important symbol of national strength. China's army strength has risen rapidly since the reorganization of the National Defense Forces, but the weak navy has not changed at all. In addition to maintaining its current state, the fleet composed of several gunboats in the south mainly focuses on defending the Yangtze River estuary and the southeast coastal areas as its main task, so the coastal defense in the Northeast is almost blank. Not to mention Fang Zida, even Yuan Shikai and Song Jiaoren know this issue well. It is not that they do not want to build a navy, but that developing a navy under the current circumstances is really a waste of money.

Ten years of army and a hundred years of navy, this sentence is not without reason. The investment, manpower and material resources required to build a navy are extremely huge astronomical figures, and the time and effectiveness of the navy are far slower than the construction of the army. For this reason, Fang Zida fully considered this when proposing a national defense construction plan to Yuan Shikai and Song Jiaoren, and decided to start with the army first and then consider the navy issue after building a powerful army.

Such a choice is helpless and the most rational. With the current situation of China, it is not easy to build a strong army. How can we talk about investing more money in building a navy while building an army? It is of course a good thing to walk with two legs, but it is a wiser choice to focus on one thing when it is limited to the conditions.

Under the eyes of the Chinese, the Japanese Second Fleet easily completed the assembly in the predetermined waters and prepared to launch an attack on Qingdao according to the Navy's plan, that is, tomorrow, at 10 am on November 19. Now, it is 9 o'clock in the evening on November 18, and there are thirteen hours left to officially launch the attack. The commander-in-chief of the fleet, Lieutenant General Ekiro Yoshino, was neatly dressed. Sitting in the flagship conference room, on his left and right, Lieutenant General Hiroshimiya, Deputy Commander-in-Chief of the Fleet, Prince Iehito Hiroshimiya and Chief of Staff, Major General Suzuki Kantaro, In addition, Major General Yamaya, Major General Ryozo Nakamura, Commander-in-Chief of the Fourth Team, Major General Yoshikawa Anhei, Commander-in-Chief of the Sixth Team, and Lieutenant General Kamio Mitsumon of the 18th Division of the Army, and captains of each ship attended the meeting.

First, he promoted the naval spirit of the Japanese Emperor and the Great Japanese Empire. The Eighth-Yue Fururo began to arrange tasks with confidence. According to the naval schedule, tomorrow. At 3 a.m. on November 18, the Second Fleet will officially set off from the assembly area. According to the voyage, the fleet will be expected to reach the Qingdao waters at around 9 a.m., and the vanguard fleet composed of the Second and Fourth Fleets will first possess the perpetual fortifications built by the Germans to Qingdao at 10 a.m., but the Eighth-Yue Fururo and his naval generals firmly believe that with their naval powerful artillery fire, they will not take long to defeat the opponent. If everything goes well, at the latest, the 18th Division of the Army, with the cooperation of the navy, will fall into the hands of the navy against the periphery of Qingdao. In a few days, the Japanese Navy's flag will fly high at the highest point of Qingdao City.

"Everyone, the battle of Qingdao will be the glory and pride of my great Japanese navy. I hope you will work together to win Qingdao as soon as possible! Long live the emperor! Long live the great Japanese navy!" After announcing the mission proudly, Yadai Rokuro raised the red wine that had been poured in front of him, and the navy generals wearing white gloves raised their glasses together elegantly, wishing the victory to come.

"A bunch of idiots!"

Sitting in the corner was Ichiro Fujita. As the army liaison officer, he also attended the meeting, but among the many generals, no one paid attention to his small role. He stood up with everyone and shouted words in his mouth, but he didn't agree with it at all. He didn't believe that the strength of the Second Fleet could take the solidity of Qingdao fortifications in such a short time. He had seen it with his own eyes in China. The Germans almost never gave up the Germans' original improvement plan after they had strengthened and expanded it again. Such a fortress, Yakura Roku, actually wanted to take it down in one go in just four or five days, which was simply fantastic.

After drinking a sip of the slightly sweet wine, Ichiro Fujita curled his lips, thinking that these proud navy were too arrogant, and that the wine seemed good, but it didn't taste very good. However, before he came, he had the idea of ​​coming here to spend time. Of course, he wouldn't make himself bored in this situation. It would be better to hide aside and watch jokes. Didn't you see the division commander of the 18th Division, Kamio Mitsumon laughing a little awkwardly among the navy? This is just a matter of the navy, which has nothing to do with their army. Besides, Ichiro Fujita actually has no good feelings for the army except himself because of Uehara Yuki.

"Kun Fujita, after our Navy clears the Qingshima Fortress, we will ask your army, hahaha! Don't let us down." Captain Chisho Maru, Toyota's Deputy Takeru patted Fujita Ichiro's shoulder and said, "Please, please, but Toyota's proud expression was visible at a glance. Fujita Ichiro immediately smiled and nodded repeatedly, and followed the other party's words to praise the Navy, which made Toyota's Deputy Takeru extremely happy.

Just when the navy was full of complacent ambitions and felt that Qingdao was within reach, the Governor's Office of Kanto Prefecture was also very lively. The acting commander-in-chief of the Army and Chief of Staff Uehara Yoshi was making nervous arrangements to summon the generals.

On the table was a huge military map, with red and blue pencils drawn densely. Surrounded by middle and senior army officers, especially Lieutenant General Yamaguchi, the commander of the 10th Division, was most excited. His eyes were full of urgency and wild greed when he looked at the map.

"The Navy will launch an attack on Qingshima at 10:00 tomorrow morning. Our army must not fall behind. We must launch it before the navy! This is related to the reputation of our army." Uehara Yuzuki pointed at Fengtian, looking a little excited.

"Your Excellency, are we going to start the Navy in advance? This is probably inappropriate? If the Navy is on the other side..." A colonel said hesitantly. Everyone present knew that according to the new plan, the Navy would be the dominant part of this war. If the Army takes the lead in taking action, it is estimated that the Navy will not be able to explain it. Once the Navy is annoyed, it will not be a good thing for the Army. After all, whether it is logistics or other things, the Army still has to rely on the Navy to support it.

"Baga!" Before Uehara Yuki's words were spoken, Yamaguchi jumped up and scolded the unlucky collude: "My Japanese Army is invincible, not comparable to those navies who can only fiddle with cannons but dare not step onto the land. New plan? This is a shame to our army! Our army must wash away this shame! You, the red deer, say such a thing, are not worthy of being an army at all!"

"Hi! Hi!"

The colonel, who was so scared that his face turned pale, bowed and apologized repeatedly, scolding himself for being too ugly and even mentioning the navy at this time. Fortunately, because it was a military meeting and the acting commander-in-chief were there, Yamaguchi Katsu didn't slapp him in the face, otherwise his face would have turned into a pig's head long ago.

"Yamaguchi-kun is right. Only by launching it before the navy can we clean up the shame of our army!" Uehara Yusaki took over Katsu Yamaguchi's words and said gritting his teeth. He was stabbed in the back by the navy and hated the navy. He hated the navy and was so angry that he hated the navy. Why don't you give them some color to see, do you really think their army is vegetarian?

"Your Excellency, then we will start the Navy one hour ahead of 9 o'clock tomorrow?" Another officer suggested.

"No!" Uehara Yuuki vetoed, clenched his fist and smashed it hard at Fengtian on the map: "Be prepared at 5 a.m. tomorrow and start attacking at 6 a.m.! Yamaguchi, your 10th Division will be the main attack, don't let me down!"

"Hi! Please rest assured, my 10th Division will definitely defeat the Chinese people on the opposite side!"

"Yaxi!" Uehara Yuzusaki smiled happily, looked up and glanced at everyone, and then said solemnly: "The Battle of Reputation of the Imperial Army is here, please work hard! I wish our army's military fortune a long time!"

"I wish the army a long-term military fortune!"

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