； On the day of July in the old year, it was the first day after the Sino-Japanese war. ”

Self-ben, Sasebo.

On the day that China declared war on Japan, Japan's Taisho Emperor followed the old practice of the Meiji era and set up a base camp in the imperial palace to preside over war affairs, but after all, the emperor did not understand military affairs, and it was the 6 naval veterans and staff officers of the Japanese military department who really planned the combat policy.

The day after the base camp was established, he was ordered to move to Sasebo, because "the imperial body occasionally felt the cold." "The emperor himself did not move to Sasebo, and the person who acted as an idol in the base camp in place of the emperor was Prince Zaihito Miyazahito, the Japanese imperial family, but he did not directly intervene in the specific military affairs of the front, and it was several main brain figures in the base camp who were responsible for arranging specific military affairs on the front line, including the Minister of the 6th Army, Nosuke Amichi, the Chief of Staff of the 6th Army, Hase, "Yoshimichi, the Minister of the Navy, the Minister of the Navy Yashiro Rokuro, and the Minister of Naval Command, Shimamura Yu.

Now, these heavyweights who controlled the direction of the Japanese war machine were sitting in the base camp, waiting for the arrival of a distinguished guest, this distinguished guest was the Prime Minister of the Imperial Government of Japan, Shigenobu Otsu, who was also a member of the base camp, but he had been in Tokyo for the other day to fight with the Diet, and only today he was able to rush to Sasebo, with whom he was also accompanied by a group of 6 naval veterans and high-ranking government officials, many of whom were important ministers of the Meiji era.

At nine o'clock in the morning, Shigenobu's motorcade arrived at the Sasebo Military Port from the railway station, and Prince Kanin Miyakihito led all the members of the base camp to welcome the arrival of the Prime Minister and the Meiji Patriarch, and agreed to let the representatives of the Diet and newspaper reporters who had come with the Prime Minister enter the military port.

At half past nine o'clock in the morning, Prince Zaihito of the Idle Palace led all the members of the base camp and people from all walks of life to the Sasebo Military Port Wharf to see off the advance team of the "First Army".

The so-called "First Army" is the 6th Army unit formed by the Japanese wartime base camp to reinforce Lushun, with a total of five divisions and regiments, all of which are the elite units of the Japanese 6th Army, namely the Guards Division, the division commander Akiyama Yoshiko, the first division, the division commander Ichitobei, the second division, the division commander Nitahara Shigeyuki, the third division, the division commander Senba Taro, the sixth division, the division commander Umezawa Michiji.

These five. According to the original advance plan originally formulated by the Japanese wartime base camp, these five divisions and regiments should go to northeast China by the 6th route through Korea and enter the battle, but because Anju, a strategic town in Korea, has fallen into the hands of the "Goryeo Independent Army," the 19th and 20th divisions that came out in advance will not be able to break through Anju and go north in a short period of time, and the Japanese Kwantung Army on the Liaodong Peninsula will not be able to resist the fierce offensive of the Chinese Sixth Army, and the situation in the Luda leased area is dangerous. In order to rescue Lushun and maintain Japan's military superiority on the Liaodong Peninsula, the Japanese government finally decided to change the original plan of the invasion and first send an advance team to aid the Liaodong Peninsula by sea. Strengthen the Japanese Kwantung Army.

After the start of the war, the Japanese government began to enter a state of full mobilization, not only to recruit soldiers and supplies, but also to recruit civilian steamers for transportation tasks, and so far enough ships have been recruited. It can be divided into two batches to "levy the First Army." Today, the advance team, that is, the 1st Division and the Guards Division, will go to the Liaodong Peninsula to Deng6 under the escort of the 3rd Detachment of the Japanese Navy. Then the follow-up reinforcements will continue to march from the Korean Peninsula to northeast China and attack Shenyang.

The Third Squadron of the Japanese Navy is a fleet stationed on the Japanese mainland, mainly composed of old warships, a small number of new warships, because the First Squadron of the Japanese Combined Fleet was heavily damaged at Arthur, the strength of the Japanese Navy has been weakened, in order not to affect the maritime defense of the Japanese mainland due to the escort mission, the Third Fleet will only escort the transport fleet to the coastal waters at the southern tip of the Korean Peninsula, at that time, the main force of the Japanese Combined Fleet heading south from the North Yellow Sea West Korea Bay will take over the escort fleet task there, and the Third Fleet will also immediately return to Japan.

In the past, the Japanese government did not intend to keep it strictly secret, so it invited people from all walks of life to come to the military port to see off the troops on the expedition, and the main purpose of this was to appease the people and show the people of the Japanese government the strong determination to safeguard the "circle of interests in China" and to show the people of friendship and trust with the allies. The Japanese Government even specially invited diplomatic envoys of the Allied countries to Japan to observe the ceremony at the military port.

However, taking into account the threat of submarines of the Chinese Navy. Even the diplomats of Britain, France, and Russia stationed in Japan did not know when the Japanese fleet would arrive in the Deng6 area, nor did they know what route the fleet would take, and it was not even clear whether the "First Army of the Levy Army" was going to Liaodong Deng6 or Shandong. Or the southern coast.

Yesterday, the Japanese Kwantung Army Headquarters in Lushun sent a telegram to continue urging Japan to send reinforcements as soon as possible, and the Japanese Government, which had not made up its mind, finally reached an agreement with the military department and decided to send reinforcements by sea to reinforce the Japanese army in Lushun. In order to complete the boarding task, the Guards Division and the 1st Division began to board the ship for 6 consecutive days before dawn today. By the time Prince Zairen of the Ranyuan Palace led all the members of the base camp to the dock to see him off, the transport fleet was really ready.

"Maintain the emperor of the eternal line of the emperor to deceive the emperor of Japan, show you that you are loyal and brave: the alliance declares war on China, and the six seas and two armies measure the strength. to engage in war with China. One by one, the empire is heavy, and East Asia is rich and prosperous. It was not a day, and the loyal and brave soldiers of the empire shed their heads and blood to win the interests of South Manchuria. South Manchuria's interests are related to the security of the empire and the stability of the East Asian order, if South Manchuria is controlled by China. The interests of the empire cannot be preserved, and peace in East Asia cannot be expected. At this point, the Empire has abandoned the means of peaceful negotiations, and can only seek it. With the loyalty and courage of the people, you hope to restore the hand of peace forever, so as to preserve the glory of the empire.

Before the flotilla was officially run, Prince Zaihito of the Kanin Palace summoned the first batch of officers above the rank of Osa to come to the aid of the Liaodong battlefield and read to them the edict of Emperor Taisho on the dock to boost morale.

However, this edict obviously aroused the dissatisfaction of the Russian diplomats in Japan, because Japan's interests in "South Manchuria" were snatched from the hands of the Russian ** team, which was a scar for Russia, but His Majesty the Emperor wanted to write about the bravery of the "Imperial Army".

"We will swear to the death to protect the interests of the Empire. Please tell Your Highness that the First Army is confident of victory in this expedition. ”

On behalf of all the senior officers, Yoshimasa Oshima, commander of the "First Army," made a guarantee to Prince Zaihito of the Imperial Palace, and the other party obviously believed in his assurance, after all, Oshima Yoshimasa had served as the "Governor of Kwantung" in Lushun, and he was very familiar with the topographical characteristics of the Liaodong Peninsula, and he commanded the First Army to fight, which was far stronger than others.

"Then, please come out, and lead the Imperial Warriors to punish the tyrannical branches, and the Empire is waiting for the news of your triumph."

Prince Kanin Miyakihito watched the senior officers of the First Army board the ship, and then led all the members of the base camp and the British, French, and Russian diplomats stationed in Japan to board the cruiser gunboat "Saga". He personally sent the expeditionary fleet out of the military port, and he was accompanied by a group of important ministers of the Meiji era and 6 naval veterans.

After the "June 26 Incident," in order to prevent being detained by the Chinese Navy in the Yangtze River, the cruiser was ordered to leave the mouth of the Yangtze River and go to Fujian with other gunboats stationed in China. And shortly thereafter transferred to the island of Taiwan, and then returned to Japan, integrated into the Third Fleet, responsible for the defense of the homeland, this gunboat because of the diplomatic mission, so the decoration is luxurious, the reason why Prince Zaihito of the temple chose this gunboat as a ship, is to fancy the luxurious decoration of the warship.

After the "June 26 Incident," the reason why the Japanese government transferred a large number of Japanese gunboats stationed in China back to China was precisely to "show goodwill" to the Chinese side, but who would have thought that the Chinese central government not only did not appreciate it, but intensified its efforts, believing that Japan could be bullied, so it preemptively attacked the Japanese fleet in Arthur, which was a great shame for all Japanese politicians. Also to remind the Entente side. This war in the Far East was not provoked by the Japanese government, Japan was the victim of this war.

Of course, the diplomats of Britain, France, and Russia in Japan can also guess the intentions of Prince Zaihito of the Imperial Palace, but what they are most concerned about now is not who started this war, but how long will this war in the Far East last under this international situation? China rejected the mediation proposals of the United Kingdom, the United States and other countries, and Japan also rejected the mediation proposals, and now both countries have opened up their posture and made a big fight, if war breaks out in Europe at such a time. Well, the Entente may not be able to count on Japan's naval power, and once the Japanese Navy is bogged down in a war with China, then who can guarantee that Germany's Far East Fleet will not take the opportunity to attack the Entente's colonies in the Far East?

The world is indeed getting more and more chaotic. Politicians from all over the world are worried.

With the order of Prince Zairen of the Idle Courtyard Palace. The Sasebo military port whistle sounded, the escort fleet outside the military port was ready, and the transport fleet that had already heated up the boiler lifted anchor in order, followed the gunboat "Saga" to sail outside the military port, and the soldiers and officers of the Japanese 6th Army crowded on the deck of the transport ship looked back at the dock, many people were in tears, but they didn't know whether they were crying because they were about to fight for the interests of the empire, or because they were crying for the uncertain future.

In view of the threat posed by Chinese submarines, the Japanese Navy's Third Fleet had already flaunted its might outside the port long before the convoy set sail, although the captains were not convinced that the Chinese submarines had the courage to come to the Sasebo port to provoke. However, in order to cheer up the 6th Army of the transport fleet, the navy still made enough momentum, outside the military port, black smoke billowed out, whistles sounded, and the waves stirred up by the propellers of the battleships were wave after wave, slapping each other, hitting white spray.

In the sonorous sound of the motive of this battleship. Some soldiers of the 6th Army began to sing military songs.

Look at the huge warships with their teeth and claws. Many soldiers of the Japanese 6th Army couldn't help but have a thought in their hearts: Do the submarines of the Chinese Navy really dare to sail to the coastal waters of Japan? If Chinese submarines were indeed lurking nearby, would the Japanese Navy be able to stop their attack?

Facts have proved that the fears of these soldiers of the Japanese Sixth Army are very reasonable, because just after this transport fleet sailed out of the Sasebo military port, just as the convoy was lined up in a dense formation according to the orders of the escort fleet, it was on the edge of a reef in the north of the military port, only a few nautical miles away from the main channel of the military port. A dark periscope sticks out of the sea. And touched the course of the Japanese fleet at a distance of five knots.

This is an ocean-going attack submarine of the Chinese Navy, numbered "four", named "Shark", and captain Zhang Guangyang.