"This is the price of a modern war!" At the Politburo meeting, there was no jubilation at the smooth implementation of the military operation to liberate Taiwan, firstly, the war had not yet been completely won, and secondly, the figures in the data table were very "shocking".

The industrial countries have great production capacity, and the consumption of the industrial countries is also terrible and astronomical. A battleship would use more than the entire city of Zhengzhou in one day. The operation of the task force and the airborne troops in such a trip wiped out the fuel consumption of the entire Zhengzhou City for a year. Of course, this is also due to the fact that there are not many car tractors now.

"If such a war is fought for half a year and a year, what kind of consumption will it be." "Of course, that's not to say I'm against the war that should be fought. Just I want to tell you about it. ”

The more astute Politburo comrades have already thought of a problem, the problem of oil supplies to China. After the Daqing oilfield was exploited, the output rose sharply. Thanks to the efforts of the oil workers represented by Comrade Wang Xijin, China finally has a truly large oil field and an oil base of its own. However, the Dutch East Indies themselves produced oil, and after the defeat of Japan, what would be the attitude of the Dutch East Indies? How does the UK, which controls the crude oil of the Middle East, think about the future of Sino-British relations? What is the attitude of the United States, another Chinese oil supplier?

The more perceptive comrades have already smelled the stronger flavor of war in Chen Ke's words. Either do it or don't do it, don't try it with a half-baked mentality. This is the attitude of the BJP. China will not let go of the Netherlands.

Foreign Minister Lee Yun-seok broke the temporary silence of the Politburo meeting, "How long are we going to prepare?" ”

"Three years!" Chen Ke replied.

These words caused a sensation in the Politburo, and even if they did not mention a specific name, most of the comrades in the Politburo knew who the subject was referring to, and the real foreign war was now set the tone.

The Dutch East India authorities did not know that Chen Ke had set a time, and they only received news of a military conflict between China and Japan on Taiwan on June 8. The Dutch were not too surprised, having suffered the same blow in Taiwan more than 200 years ago. The Dutch were surprised that China actually made a move. They are frightened by China's decisive response.

A hundred years ago, the world said that war would start when it started, but it was a hundred years ago. After the terrible European war, the fear of war in Europe has increased greatly. At the same time, the war was becoming more and more expensive, and it was simply not an expense that a small country like the Netherlands could afford.

The Dutch East Indies navy consisted of only two light cruisers, a few destroyers, and a dozen or so old frigates. With such an idea, the naval forces were powerless to resist the Chinese contingent that had appeared on the Dutch East Indies a few months earlier. How could the Dutch, who have been at sea for so many years, not know the strategic significance of Taiwan. Japan, Britain, and the Netherlands have recently built a maritime encirclement of China, mainly relying on Japan's naval strength. After Taiwan was retaken by China, the encirclement dissolved itself.

On the evening of 10 June, Dutch envoys rushed to Singapore to meet the British Governor of Singapore.

Britain got the news a day earlier than the Netherlands, on June 7. The change of events made Britain confused. As utilitarian and practical British diplomacy, they did not expect such a tough response from China. Britain has its own fleet in the western Pacific, and if the Indian Ocean fleet is transferred, it can also be in a position of naval superiority over China.

The problem was that Britain bordered China, and once the war began, it was impossible to fight only at sea. China is not Japan, and the Admiralty and War Department are fighting to the death. The Governor of Singapore was not authorized to provoke a full-scale war between China and Britain. As for the Dutch envoys, the British side could only be perfunctory. In any case, Britain only banned China from carrying out deposit business in Southeast Asia, and did not do anything that directly angered China like the Netherlands. What can China do if it knows that Britain is behind it? What's more, Britain is not yet behind the scenes.

The representative of the Netherlands was not stupid, and he suggested: "Let's go to the vicinity of Taiwan together with the fleets of our two countries in the western Pacific to watch the battle." ”

This was not a bad idea, and the Dutch had already figured it out that Britain could not really enter the war. But when the "quasi-allies" were beaten, it would be too unreasonable for the British not to come forward. The-stirring stick is also obligatory, that is, it must appear at any time. Britain stood by while China beat Japan, which was tantamount to a complete recognition of China's dominance over the Far East. As the boss of the world and the-stirring stick that wants to stick in everything around the world, Britain will chill the hearts of its brothers if it does this.

At this time, Britain had to appear anyway, and if Japan had the advantage at sea, the warships of the two countries would immediately join the war group to fight the Taiping. Even if Japan was defeated, Britain and the Netherlands finally appeared, existed, and had "a certain influence".

The Governor of Singapore did not reject the proposal, and even if the Netherlands did not make it, the British were considering doing so. It's hard to be the boss! The more you shrink, the more you have to exist, and standing by is tantamount to running away. So on June 11, the British and Dutch fleets quickly assembled, and on June 12 they began to move north in the direction of Taiwan.

This is not the first time that Britain has watched a naval battle between China and Japan, they have watched it once during the First Sino-Japanese War, and this is the second time to talk about it. During the First Sino-Japanese War, Britain did not have a bad evaluation of the Chinese Beiyang Fleet, believing that the Chinese fleet had actually completed its mission. The problem is that China's command of the war is scum.

What will happen to China's rebuilt fleet this time? The British naval commander, sitting on the war-weary, the flagship of the reinforced Far Eastern Fleet in 1931, considered this question. This war between China and Japan over Taiwan is different from the last war, in which China's army collapsed, which led to a total defeat. The series of battles of the People's Party Army against Japan in recent years have proved that the Japanese Army is no match for the Chinese Army. Then the role played by the Japanese Navy at this time is more consistent with the role of the Beiyang Fleet back then. Rely on the Japanese Navy to cut off China's sea passage to Taiwan, and then transport a large number of troops to land on Taiwan, so as to solve the problem of China's land forces that have landed on Taiwan with superior forces.

So where will the focus of the two sides be? The eyes of the commander of the British fleet fell on the Kaohsiung area in southern Taiwan. According to internal information provided by the British minister in Japan, China landed in the south of Taiwan, and the campaign was carried out from south to north. The naval battle between China and Japan was also bound to take place in this area.

The British fleet commander proved right, and on 13 June, a reconnaissance plane taking off from the aircraft carrier Athletic God in the British fleet reported that the Chinese and Japanese navies were engaged in a fierce battle on the island of Taiwan. And the Chinese fleet, seemingly outnumbered by the Japanese fleet, was retreating to the south. The commander of the British fleet was overjoyed, he had caught up with such a good thing? If this is really the case, the British "onlookers" this time will be too valuable.

Sure enough, as we continued to advance northward, we saw two fleets moving from the northeast to the southwest, one in front of the other. At the front was a fleet with a Chinese battleship as the core, and in the back was the Japanese fleet in close pursuit. The Chinese battleships were still converted from the United States, and as far as the British knew, the speed of the ships did not exceed 26 knots, and the guns were average. At this time, the Chinese fleet, which was the core of this warship, was fleeing at full speed.

Chasing after were the three Japanese Kongo-class battleships, which, according to the British Air Force report, should have been Kongo, Hiei, and Haruna. The British Navy understood perfectly well at this time that it was impossible to win a heads-up victory in a one-on-three manner. The Chinese fleet made the right choice to flee for its life in a hurry. However, the British Air Force also saw a strange thing, the superstructure of the Haruna had obviously been hit by a few shots, the smoke had not yet been extinguished, and the Hiei was also not unscathed, and there were traces on the hull if you looked closely. Relatively speaking, the Chinese battleships showed no signs of injury. I saw that the bow of the Chinese battleship broke through the waves, and judging from the attitude of running away, the entire warship was in excellent condition. Even when the British fleet was discovered, the Chinese warships showed no signs of stopping, and continued to run wildly according to their original routes.

Britain could not stand in the way of the Chinese fleet directly, and to do so would be tantamount to directly entering the war. The combined British and Dutch fleets began to turn around and follow the chase at sea. Judging from the results observed, the Chinese warships did not immediately start fleeing after seeing the Japanese Navy, but fought and achieved certain results in the battle. China's reconstituted navy is young enough, and it is surprising how far such a young navy can do this.

The sailors of the navy could not help but be enthusiastic at the sight of the naval battle, and all the observation positions were filled with British and Dutch naval officers and men. Everyone pointed and guessed the outcome of the chase. Some of the more frivolous ones even opened handicaps.

Just as these guys were watching the excitement, a violent explosion suddenly occurred on the left side of the port side of the Japanese Navy's flagship Kongo, which was rushing to the last. The explosion had not yet happened, and a moment later there was another violent explosion on the left side of the King Kong. The speed of the King Kong immediately slowed down. The British naval officers immediately analyzed that this was the result of a torpedo attack. There were also no warships in the vicinity of the Japanese Navy, so they were torpedoes fired from submarines.

The Chinese battleships also observed this situation, and the battleship, which had fled in a straight line, quickly hit the right full rudder and drew a beautiful white arc on the sea, and turned to turn back to fight the Japanese navy.

"What a beautiful track!" The observing officer on the mast couldn't help but praise. A behemoth like a battleship had to be tested like this, and it had to be described as a dexterous elephant's juggling. On the blue sea, a snow-white arc trajectory tens of meters wide has an indescribable beauty, which is the perfect combination of strength and maneuverability.

The Japanese battleship that rushed to the front was the Hiei, and the observers on the Hiei also saw that the Kongo had been hit, so the ship began to slow down. However, it was also at this time that the Hiei was also torpedoed at close range. The torpedo was fired from the side and rear, hitting the Hiei's propeller directly, and after the two bursts of water that exploded, the Hiei lost most of its power and quickly slowed down.

The disaster did not come to an end, and ten minutes later, several more torpedoes were fired in the right part of the left forward hull of the Hiei. Under such a fierce blow, the warship of more than 26,000 tons heard a continuous explosion sound in the hull, and the entire hull began to tilt to the right.

The commander of the British fleet was stunned by the sudden change in front of him, and he had already thought that China must have ambushed the submarine. The purpose of the feint escape was to lure the Japanese Navy into the encirclement of the submarines. But the submarine was slow and could not catch up with the speed of the battleship. It is difficult to determine the location above the vast sea, how did the Chinese determine their route so accurately?

At this time, the three battleships lined up in the middle, and the Haruna, which had been shot, began to turn course and move forward in response to the turning direction of the Chinese battleship. The first is to confront the Chinese battleships, and the second is to dodge the Chinese submarines who do not know where they are as soon as possible.

At this very moment, the Haruna was also torpedoed at close range. The helmsman did a good job, trying to dodge the two torpedoes fired from the front left, but he was not able to dodge the four torpedoes from the rear. A torpedo hit the Haruna's propeller from behind, and the Hiei lost power, and continued to move forward thanks to inertia and the remaining propellers, greatly reducing its speed and course.

The battle took such a sudden turn that the combined British and Dutch fleets were stunned. Each warship ordered the observation position to search for the location of the torpedo periscope. In particular, where torpedoes are likely to occur, the focus of observers of the fleets of the two countries is the focus. But no matter how you look at it, there is no suspicious sign on the surface of the sea, except for the waves and the oil leaking from the three Japanese warships.

Three Japanese battleships were wounded, and the Chinese battleships took the lead, and the Chinese fleet, which had fled in confusion not long ago, completed the turn and pressed towards the Japanese fleet with great vigour. Using the remaining power, the Japanese battleships were making a last-ditch effort, not just shelling non-stop, and the Japanese battleships began to release smoke screens to reduce the likelihood of their own detection.

This should have been a wise choice, but the commander of the British fleet did not necessarily judge it that way. The smoke screen can obscure the figure of the Japanese fleet, but it can also obscure the sight of the Japanese fleet. The most dangerous thing for the Japanese fleet now is not necessarily the naval guns of the Chinese battleships, but the Chinese submarine forces, which have not yet shown their figures. As expected, most of the officers of the British fleet who were watching were solemn, and they clung to their binoculars and tried to look at the battlefield that had begun to fill with smoke. Try to see the next battle clearly.

Only one captain had uncontrollable joy on his face, and he was purely full of food and support, and he suppressed the big upset of the Chinese Navy's total annihilation of the Japanese fleet. Except for him, no one else pressed this obviously unreliable option. Looking at it now, the probability of Mr. Captain making a fortune has skyrocketed from 0%, and the captain's heart is full of anticipation. It is hoped that China's submarine forces will be able to make persistent efforts and give full play to their level. You know, if you want to make money from the odds of 1:500, you may not be able to meet it once in your life.