Chapter 8 The Wolf is Coming

"The mountain is close and the moon is far away and the moon is small, so I say that this mountain is larger than the moon. If a person has eyes as big as the sky, he should see that the mountain is high and the moon is wider." Heihachiro Togo, who had been silent, suddenly recited a few Chinese poems. The people were used to the style of this Chinese scholar enthusiast, and just listened quietly.

"Mr. Yangming's poem says that the world is too narrow, and the world you see is just a leopard in the world and cannot be truly meaningful. If we want to see the truth of the world, we must have the mind and vision to be able to sway the world." Hirahachiro Togo glanced at everyone and said calmly: "Just follow the advice of the staff... The advancement of the army's technology has led to another time for the Imperial Army. In the navy, with submarines and air weapons, what will the future naval battles become? We do not know... But since these things have appeared, we cannot act as if they do not exist. The submarine forces of the Empire can only defend near the coast, which does not mean the Chinese people. Notify the fleet, and the guard forces will strengthen the search, the forward detachment launches landing operations, and the main fleet conducts light control to maintain boiler pressure. In addition, the horse contacts Commander Makarov."

Shimamura Suo saluted respectfully and turned away-

Five nautical miles north of Amami Oshima.

Japan-Russia Joint Navy Progress Detachment.

The flagship of the second fleet of the Japanese Navy Combined Fleet, the Asama armored cruiser.

Inside the commander tower, Lieutenant General Murahiko Shin-seong, commander of the Second Fleet and commander of the Japanese-Russian Joint Navy Progress Detachment, put down the telescope in his hand and frowned: "It's so calm..."

Chief of Staff Navy Kato Saburo pondered for a moment and said, "The Joint Fleet Command and Chief Togo have issued an order to send out destroyers to conduct a close-in reconnaissance. The enemy should have given up here." [Every day]

Murahiko nodded with a heavy expression: "The Chinese people should not be underestimated... It seems that a mere Amami Island may not be able to lead the main force of the mobile fleet... Well, since that's the case, we will recover here first. This is also the first time that our Imperial Japanese Navy has recovered the empire's lost territory after the Sino-Japanese War."

"Yes, the army's horse manure has nothing to say this time." Kato Saburo said with a smile, "Even if the Chinese people don't care about Amami, they can't give up on Okinawa's main island. That is part of their so-called imperial righteousness, and they cannot ignore it."

"I hope this is the case, but the fortress in Naha Port is not that easy to deal with..." Murahiko Shin-seong frowned, "I hope the Marines can solve the problem. It is not a good idea to shoot with warships and fortress turrets..."

The Asama Ho made a light signal, and soon. The four destroyers of the Fourth Destroyer Team, "Suibi", "Spring Rain", "Mura Rain" and "Asami" leaned carefully and began to bombard the port of Amami Port with 76mm main cannons. However, the port was quiet and there was no movement.

The destroyer lowered the boat, and the Marines and sailors along with the ship rowed the boat and boarded the Port of Amami.

Soon, a sunrise naval flag rose in the port building of Amami Port.

Murahiko Shin-chan breathed slowly and ordered: "This team will cover the ship to land on Amami Port. The Fourth Destroyer will launch to the northeast. Contact the Fourth Team and strengthen your guard."—

The next morning.

The northeast of Jiaozhou Bay, 36:26 north latitude, and 12:55 east longitude.

Black Panther Detachment, flagship Cheetah.

The commander of the Black Panther Detachment, Sa Zhenbing, was a Seme man who made contributions to Tubo in the Yuan Dynasty. He was later assimilated by the Mongolians and was eventually completely sinicized because he lived in Fuzhou for a long time. After Zheng Ying's north in 198, the Sa family in Fuzhou had completely regarded themselves as a Han nationality. Sa Zhenbing joined the Mawei Naval Academy at the age of 11 and served on the ship at a very young age. Although he was only 46 years old, he was already an absolute naval general. In the year of Sino-Japanese War, he followed Liu Buchan and Lin Tai to fight against the Qing Dynasty. He was known as the second hero of Fuzhou together with Liu Guanxiong and was the backbone of the Mawei Mesozoic.

"The team's speed festival is in the east."

After Sa Zhenbing gave the order, he smiled at Chief of Staff Guo Zhenlin and said, "I'm going to sleep. Do you still have to stare?" [Every day]

"In another eleven hours, we can reach the North Korean waters and start hunting." Guo Zhenlin rubbed his forehead, "I'll sleep for a while, let the staff stare first. I'll get up and stare at five o'clock."

"I hope the airship will not throw the Japanese. Also, pay attention to the submarine's sending news. If the Iron Wolf team lost the Russians and delayed the battle, we would be a little dangerous." Sa Zhenbing drank a glass of red wine and said calmly, "It has been smooth so far, I hope it will be like this."—

At night, 8:30.

Zheng Minjie, commander of the Iron Wolf Detachment of the Chinese Army, who had just set up the formation and finished laying the net, tightened his tight raincoat and said loudly: "Is there any situation?"

The lookout shook his head and continued to control the telescope attentively.

Zheng Minjie looked up at the dark sky, and the heavy rain was sensational, and he felt a little anxious.

The weather is too bad. The visibility is low, and the airship forces withdraw from the tracking early. With this visibility, the enemy is so close that they may slip away.

But Zheng Minjie has no choice. [Every day]

For the lightning strike troops, it is their only mission to give the enemy the greatest damage and deterrence this night, and to cover the Black Panther Detachment to attack the Japanese escort fleet. In any case, this mission must be ensured to be successfully achieved.

Zheng Minjie has this confidence.

His confidence comes from his understanding of the torpedo of the Chinese army.

In this era, since Whitehead invented the modern self-propelled torpedo, torpedoes using cold compressed air as power have become the mainstream. With the continuous improvement of the pressure-resistant material of the gas cylinder, the range of the torpedo has reached up to 800 yards. However, there is a fatal problem with this torpedo, that is, when the compressed air is released from the gas cylinder, the pressure drops, the volume expands, and the temperature also drops. High-compression air not only requires high gas cylinder materials, but also causes the engine to freeze. [Daily]

In order to further increase the range and speed of torpedoes, people had to turn to research on thermodynamic torpedoes.

Since Zheng Ying and others came from a hundred years later, they began to study thermodynamic torpedoes very early. With the help of the Chinese Imperial Industrial Department, they started early in the field of internal combustion engines, especially around 190. Rudolph Diesel fell into a trough due to frequent explosions of his diesel engines. All research data were acquired by the Chinese Empire. Then they led their Paris research team to join the Chinese Empire's research system, which further contributed to China's internal combustion engine technology.

In 19 years, the Chinese Empire's first dry-turbo engine successfully shot a secret target with a range of up to 2,000 yards and a speed of 34 knots, seven years earlier than the steam gas torpedo invented by eBris in another space-time, but its performance was slightly inferior.

After improvement, the new generation of thermal torpedoes commonly equipped by the Chinese army has reached a new generation. Taking the 533 mm torpedo as an example, its speed has reached forty knots and a range of 4,000 yards.

At the same time, according to the intelligence obtained by the Chinese military, the main battle torpedo used by Japan and Russia is still the German Schwarzkopf torpedo with a range of about 001,200 yards. Although the Austro-Hungarian Whitehead just produced the wet-engine thermal torpedo last year, and the United States and the United Kingdom also developed steam gas torpedo two years ago, the number of steam gas torpedo purchased and used by Japan and Russia is not a little different from that of the Chinese military.

In Xu, this battle will be the best test site for testing the new torpedoes of the Chinese army.

Zheng Minjie rubbed his face, which was frozen a little stiff in the cold wind and rain, with his hands behind his back and squinted his eyes, and stood in the semi-closed lookout, staring at the darkness in the distance, as if he wanted to see the end of the horizon. The lightning strike formation has been divided into three groups, arranged in a fan shape in this sea area to capture the main force of the enemy formation. If the enemy's heading and speed still maintain the data sent back before the airship gave up the tracking, the enemy should appear in about half an hour.

"Projection... Found two in front of me...distance of six thousand...one, two, three...three destroyers, two protective cruisers, five warships...the speed was twelve..." Suddenly, the lookout shouted excitedly, Zheng Minjie's body shook suddenly and asked in a low voice: "Confirm? It's much earlier than the original calculation..."

“…Confirm the course…18th”—

Zheng Minjie had already rushed out like a leopard and headed straight to the command center.

"The horse sends a report, the enemy ship appears, the position is 2, the distance is 6,000, the speed is 12, the course is 18th, the left team and the right team adjust the position, prepare to launch an assault team and prepare for the battle."

A shrill alarm sounded throughout the destroyer. The officers and sailors with serious expressions had already taken their place. They were ready to issue that order, and they were about to launch a decisive charge towards the iron beasts of the giant ships and cannons on the opposite side, and the real master of the vast ocean.

[Every day] In the cold and cold wind, the waves washed the deck. Roger Stewinsky led the officers and military police to conduct routine prosecution, and wherever he went, the sailors stood attentive.

Engine room.

Roger Stewinsky frowned and said, "The boiler pressure has weakened... Will the second battle speed last long?"

"Your Excellency, for up to half an hour, the boiler needs to be decompressed." The chief engineer said respectfully, "After all, it is an old ship, continuous high-speed operation..."

Roger Stewinsky nodded: "Okay. Try to ensure the boiler's strength and adjust the battle speed..."

At this moment, the lookout came from the soundtrack, "The signal of the pilot ship, enemy light ships, position two, one, two, three...no less than eight ships, speed twenty-six, course three six, distance one thousand enemy ships torpedo attack confirmed" [Daily]

Roger Steven's face changed drastically as if he was stung by a hornet. He hurriedly turned around and rushed to the command center, but he didn't expect that he would encounter the enemy's lightning forces here. Is it a small Chinese lightning strike force in Qingdao launching a sneak attack here? Damn it

At this moment, Major General Cologne, Chief of Staff of the Russian Pacific Second Fleet, had issued an order at the command headquarters, ordering the entire team to launch a formation and start counter-lightning strike operations.

The roar of the cannons of the Pioneer Protection Cruiser was heard in front of him. It was the roar of the six-inch main gun and three-inch secondary gun of the Sixth Defense Cruiser Team composed of the Parada, the Warriors and Ascold. Major General Cologne had a blue face, looking at the heavy rain outside and the flashing fire in the darkness, his heart suddenly became like the sea of ​​darkness shrouded by this cold wind and rain, and it was cold.

At this moment, the Chinese army was rushing towards the Russian Pacific Second Fleet from the south to the south, which was the fifth destroyer composed of four "thick fog" class destroyers, and the second torpedo team composed of eight large Thunder Four-A torpedo boats that were fan-shaped under its cover. According to the Chinese Empire Navy's lightning strike tactics, the key points of the lightning strike force are sudden, fast and fierce, that is, to approach the enemy with the greatest concealment, and then suddenly conduct saturation attacks at the greatest density, and then quickly detach. [Daily]

At this moment, in the dark night of cold wind and rain, the Russian fleet was in an anxious and anxious state. The humiliation of being blocked at the harbor the night before also stimulated the self-esteem of the Russian fleet commander. The entire fleet was driven by a strong revenge and headed south at a high speed, eager to annihilate the remnants of the severely damaged Chinese army. This also led to the entire fleet being in a relaxed state before the war and finally tasted the consequences.

The Chinese fleet quietly touched the southwest at a speed of 24 knots, and was discovered by the Russian sailors at a distance of 1,000 yards. The searchlights of the pilot cruisers Askold, Parada and Warrior swept wildly to the sea ahead, and the figures of the Chinese destroyers and torpedo boats were finally revealed.

The sea was covered with the flash of cannons, and the long muzzle flames immediately ignited the dark sea. [Everyday]

The steel warship, the most crystallized by human technology, launched an asymmetrical battle with all its power on this cold and rainy night.

The Chinese army's lightning formation was like a swarm of bees launching a death attack towards the giant bear, and rushed over with the giant bear's waving palm, trying to pierce the stinging sting into the opponent's lack of protection.

The Chinese army rushed to a distance of 600 yards from the Russian army before firing the torpedo.

Under the illumination of the searchlight and the reflection of the water surface, dozens of torpedoes rolled up water splashes and drew terrifying trails, like a group of hell's urging messengers to kill these giant steel ships from all directions. The lookouts of the Russian cruiser were desperate with despair. Although the sailors and officers were panicked, they finally took action quickly under the habits they had developed for years of training. The huge warships made messy trails on the water surface, trying to escape these terrifying killing weapons.

The Chinese lightning strike ship, which fired a fatal weapon, quickly turned around and fled the boiling sea at its maximum speed, and continued to fight back fiercely with the main gun and the secondary gun at the stern of the ship. The gunners in the Russian cruiser were obviously difficult to accurately aim, and could only use experience to conduct rough shooting. But even so, in this close-range close-range close-range connection, facing the dense artillery fire of the Russian warships, the Chinese lightning strike troops still suffered a major blow. The Chaowu, who took the lead, was violently hit by the 47mm rapid-fire gun at the Hachkas, was in a mess. Then, the mast was cut off by a 75mm grenade, and two more near-lost bombs were suffered, and the speed dropped, but finally escaped Shengtian.

The steer wheel of the steer was damaged by a 152-near-lost bomb, and it was aimlessly swept in the sea, becoming a living target of the Russian ship. It was hit by several artillery shells, and finally hit the ammunition depot by a 152-armor-piercing bomb falling from the sky, causing an explosion, turning into two pieces and sank into the seabed. The engine compartment of the steering ship of the steer was destroyed, so it could only stop and fight back to death. The officers and soldiers of the boat insisted on fighting until the last moment. [Every day]

The Chinese army's achievements were also prominent.

On this heavy rainy night, the torpedoes approaching the launch immediately posed a fatal threat to the Russian cruiser. The cruiser with five chimneys and slender shapes became the key target of the Chinese army. In a messy dodge, the protective cruiser with a displacement of 5,900 tons finally ushered in a fateful end. Three consecutive torpedoes hit the port side of the ship from different angles, two of which successfully detonated the pico acid charge of the explosion part, with a sensitivity exceeding TNT, and was the main component of the Xiase explosives. It formed terrible pressure under the water. The waterline armor belt and hull structural steel of the Askold's side ruptured and disintegrated like a fragile eggshell. The protective cruiser produced by the German Kiel Shipyard completely disappeared from the water surface within a minute.

The Parada and the Warriors were not easy either. Although the attack density was not as high as that of the Askold, in a hurry dodge, the head of the Parada was still hit by a torpedo. Fortunately, it did not explode, but water had already flowed in. Fortunately, the damage pipe closed the watertight compartment in time, and used a water pump to drain the water operation, and cooperated with emergency repairs, and finally there was no big problem.

After a messy maneuver, although the Warrior escaped by chance, it damaged the servo due to panic and had to carry out emergency repairs, so it had to use artillery fire to see off the Chinese army that was coming and going. [Every day]

At this moment, on the right wing of the Russian army formation, the Sixth Corps, responsible for flanking alert, also heard an alarm. These destroyers were just a foil in the Russian fleet. Although after Makarov took office, he carried out a series of rectifications on the Russian Pacific Fleet, and the fleet's training level and mental outlook improved greatly, these destroyers were still in an unimportant position in the entire fleet.

But on this chaotic night, these originally inconspicuous destroyers shone with dazzling brilliance. The destroyers who belonged to the new generation in the Russian army, or were suppressed and moved left, and were incompatible with traditional forces, obviously decided to prove their value with actions. With their efforts, these inconspicuous small ships maintained a high alert in the cold wind and rain, so that although the projection of the 80-ton fish-three-arm small torpedo boats released by the fourth and fifth Chinese torpedo teams who came to attack the attack was extremely small, they were discovered by these destroyers with a violent lightning at a distance of 1,600 yards, and these warships that were ready to attack quickly opened fire and carried out fierce shooting.

The Yu 4B torpedo boat, which was about one thousand yards behind the Yu 3A small torpedo boat, had to move forward at full speed and quickly launched a suppression with two 75mm rapid-fire cannons at the bow of the boat to counter the 75mm cannons of the Russian destroyers. Deng Lin and Cai Guoming, the commander of the Yu 3A small torpedo boat fleet, took the lead and fired light signals to "solve the enemy destroyers first." [Every day]
Chapter completed!