The straight line from Beijing to Anton is more than 600 kilometers, but this straight line is to pass over the Bohai Sea, in order to seek safety, the airship rushed to Anton along the Jinzhou Yingkou line, although it is dozens of kilometers more, but under the drive of two high-power Maybach gas engines, the speed of the airship reaches 120 kilometers per hour, the voyage of more than 700 kilometers, and it can be reached in more than six hours, and it is just dawn when it arrives at Anton, and the general attack on the remnants of the three Japanese divisions in Phoenix has just begun.

Because he didn't want to waste ammunition for the Japanese army of three divisions, the theater staff only transferred 20 divisional artillery regiments and about 1,000 artillery pieces into the encirclement and annihilation, but when the sky was dark, the artillery positions on the ground and the shell landing area were still full of fire, and the rumbling cannon sound agitated everyone's eardrums on the airship. They had never seen so many cannons fired together, let alone looked down on the entire battlefield from mid-air, and they were extremely shocked even if modern warfare was still in its infancy.

The artillery fire took several hours to prepare, and by the time the airship landed at the Andong railway station, the attacking artillery still did not stop. When Yang Rui got off the airship, Li Shutong, commander of the 7th Army Group Army, was already waiting below, he only received the news of the Prime Minister's visit to Anton an hour ago, thinking that his wife herself could not take good care of her, before the airship fell, Li Shutong's scalp was a little numb, and his toes were also clutching the upper of his shoes in his boots, and he was very remorseful and angry.

"Report, Li Shutong, commander of the 7th Group Army......" Looking at Yang Rui who got off the airship, Li Shutong saluted, but his words were interrupted by Yang Rui.

"It's a good fight, but the battle is on the general offensive, so you better go back to the headquarters." Yang Rui looked at the restrained Uncle Li. "I'm here to welcome guests from North Korea," Li Shutong bowed his head and was ashamed when he said 'guest from North Korea', but the person Yang Rui said was different from the person who Li Shutong thought. "North Korea's Gojong was rescued by people from the intelligence service, and he was north of Pyongyang yesterday. I don't know where it will be now. Okay, you're busy with yours, I'm busy with mine, you don't have to think about anything else. ”

"Understood, sir." Uncle Li said the same thing, but he still reported the latest news, "As of today, the remnants of the 11th Division of the Pursuit Day before dawn have penetrated 100 kilometers into North Korea, and the current location is in Anju. Originally, more troops were to be sent into the DPRK. However, the railway bridge has not yet been repaired, and the only locomotive is the one that has not been damaged by the Japanese at the Sinuiju Railway Station, and its carrying capacity is limited. ”

"Hmm. It is good to send the staff officers who know this information, and the life and death of Gaozong are very important, and there must be no problems. Yang Rui nodded, he said it very seriously, even he couldn't figure out whether Gaozong must not have any problems, or Cheng Ying must not have any problems.

Now that the war has been going on, there is no need for him to pay more attention. The Japanese army has entered the cage, and the five additional divisions sent to the capital side have been put in place, and it is believed that they are on the defensive side. Under barbed wire, machine guns, mortars, it was impossible for Japan to break through the positions of the Baath Army. In fact, the current situation is offensive and defensive transposition, the initiative is completely on their side, and the Japanese army is left with Lushun Fortress, Keelung Fortress, and Magong Fortress, and the Japanese army in these three places is difficult to pull out in a short time, but these are not problems, as long as the sea is blocked, the Japanese army that cannot get supplies will eventually run out of food and raise their hands to surrender.

"Prime Minister, General Staff Emergency Telegram." The accompanying confidential staff officer said. Although Yang Rui had a radio station on his trip to Anton, the airship had limited personnel. Those people in the staff can't fit it, so they can only send a radio station to accompany them. Xu Jingxi returned to the General Staff.

Hearing that it was an urgent telegram, Yang Rui opened it tightly, but after reading it, his eyebrows were deeply furrowed, this is a matter related to Taiwan, the matter is serious, and the General Staff Department cannot make a decision, so he had to send it here early in the morning to ask Yang Rui to make a decision himself.

The sound of artillery on the battlefield in the west was still continuous, and the smell of gunsmoke drifted along the wind, which made people feel shocked. The city of Andong had been destroyed in the war, and the headquarters was located at the Andong railway station at this time, which had been completely turned into a military camp. In the clearer and clearer morning light, Andong City, which had turned into rubble in the south, gradually appeared in front of Yang Rui. War is always cruel and unavoidable, and all the commander-in-chief can do is to try to inflict this cruelty on the enemy.

"Call back: I agree with the plan of the General Staff, but we must pay attention to proportion, do what we can, and remember not to rush forward. In addition, considering that the Japanese navy has complete superiority, every time it occupies, it is necessary to build fortifications and hoard ammunition and food, which is the top priority of defense, and must not be sloppy. Yang Rui finally made up his mind, and his reply was quickly forwarded to Taipei via Beijing.

It has been three days since it landed in Taiwan on 18 June, and in these three days, the 1st Marine Division has swept the whole of Taiwan from Dagou to Taichung, Hsinchu to Hualien, and in three days, the Japanese troops stationed in Dagou, Tainan, Taichung, and Taipei have either been wiped out or taken refuge in the Keelung fortress, and the crusading army against the Taroko Department has collapsed after half a day of resistance under the front and rear attacks of the 1st Brigade, the Taroko tribe, and the anti-Japanese volunteers, and after the Japanese troops accompanying the army were defeated, most of the Japanese police surrendered.

After the battle, a group of iron-blooded elements felt that the war was not enjoyable, and Chief of Staff Hu Cheng pointed to the map and expressed his opinions, but it led everyone's attention to the Miyako Islands on the east side of Taiwan. Although these small islands are isolated from the sea, the nearest is just over 100 kilometers away from Yilan, which is completely within the combat radius of torpedo bombers. At the same time, there are not many Japanese troops stationed on these small islands, and many of them are not even garrisoned, so if you can touch them and build an airfield after the occupation, then all the way east to Miyako Island are within the combat radius of the aircraft.

Hu Cheng actually wanted to occupy Miyako Island and then attack other islands, but he was not sure about Okinawa Island, so he had to pay attention to the islands west of Miyako Island first, especially the island of Watana (Yonaguni Island) is only 110 kilometers away from Hualien, and if he does not occupy it, Japan will definitely build an airfield, and then the Japanese planes will threaten Taipei.

On the basis of Taiwan's existing ships and troops, they hastily drew up a plan to seize the beach and sent it to the General Staff Staff, who also agreed with the plan; even Miyako Island, the farthest island, is only 350 kilometers away from Taiwan, and although this distance cannot be reached by today's aircraft, in time, when the range of the planes increases, Taipei will certainly be within the bombing range of the Japanese planes. Moreover, in terms of shipping routes, the passage between Miyakojima and Naha was a common route for Chinese ships to enter the Pacific Ocean, even if they could not occupy Naha. It's also good to be able to occupy Miyakojima.

The plan first arrived at the General Staff, and the General Staff asked Yang Rui to make a decision after supplementing and revising it overnight. After Yang Rui agreed, the revised telegram was sent to the General Headquarters of the 1st Marine Division in Taipei, and Lu Mengxiong convened a meeting early in the morning to discuss.

"The prime minister has approved the plan, and his instructions are to do what they can and not to rush forward, and he also told the beach-grabbing troops we have organized to be prepared to hold out for a long time, and to build fortifications and hoard food and ammunition after they get to the island." Chief of Staff Hu Cheng first read Yang Rui's telegram, and then he introduced the General Staff Staff's revised plan. The Japanese Navy had no choice but to encircle our cruisers, and now they mainly have two places to go: one is to blockade the Taiwan Strait to prevent us from increasing our troops in Taiwan and to prepare for future counteroffensives; after all, Magong Fortress and Keelung Fortress are still in the hands of the Japanese army; Another place to go is the Bohai Sea, where the Japanese Army was trapped in Lushun and needed to be rescued as much as possible.

Based on this consideration, the General Staff did not build a wooden boat to land on the islands, and the submarine force had several transport submarines, and these tonnages were about 16,000 tons. These submarines will be allocated to us for use. As soon as Hu Cheng said that there were 16,000-ton submarines available, Lu Wan and Li Erhu, who were present, only slapped the table excitedly, and Lu Wan said: "Such a short distance. Each soldier is three tons, and one brigade of troops can be transported to the island at a time, and with such a transport capacity, I think it is better to directly occupy it, and now the Japanese have made a big noise, as long as they can go to the island, they will definitely be able to occupy it. ”

Lieutenant Colonel Lu Wan didn't understand submarines, and Hu Cheng said when he saw this, "What if it's only 8,000 tons?" ”

"Eight thousand tons? That's the most of a regiment. How. Why only half of the boats? Lu Wan asked, he was a little strange.

"The tonnage of submarines can only be considered half that of surface ships." Hu Cheng said. "This is also the sum total of the experience of the submarine forces over the years. Can a regiment of 8,000 tons take Naha? ”

"You can take it. But I can't hold it. Lu Wan shook his head thinking about the size of Okinawa. Unless the 16,000-ton volume is supported in the direction of Okinawa, and the submarines and torpedo planes are closely protected, the situation will not be optimistic once the Japanese counterattack is launched.

"The target of the first phase of the operation was only the Miyakojima Islands, which, according to previous understanding, not only did not have garrisons, but also did not even have telegraphs. During the Russo-Japanese War, a Russian fleet was discovered on the island, and in order to inform Japan, they had to cross the sea to Okinawa to send a telegram. Hu Cheng gave a brief introduction to the situation on the islands, "Therefore, after arriving on the islands, in addition to eliminating the Japanese police, traders, and pro-Japanese elements, we must also closely control all ships and beware of people crossing the sea to Okinawa to report the news." During the period when the Japanese had not yet discovered the occupation of Miyakojima, war materials, airfields and fortifications on the island had to be prepared with great effort. I'm actually worried that it will be a time of war, and it won't take many days for the Japanese to find out that something is wrong on the island......"

Chief of Staff Hu Cheng had always nagged, but the generals here did not listen to much of what he said, and the marines were completely clear about the beach-grabbing operation and the landing operation, and as long as the Miyako Islands built airfields, they could still effectively prevent the Japanese from landing with submarines and mines. But what if you can hold it and transfer that force to the island?

"Let's let the Taroko people go." Li Erhu said. "When our soldiers land on the island, there are many logistical needs, and once they get sick, it will not only affect morale, but also weaken the combat strength. The soldiers of the Taroko Department are completely adapted to island life, and there is no such thing as a disease attrition, and even if there is, it is a very small minority. Then these fighters don't need to be supplemented with additional supplies, the logistics only need to provide ammunition, and they can solve the daily food and straw by themselves. ”

"But they're not fully trained, are they?" The chief of staff knew that Li Erhu also wanted to take some credit, and Taiwan's liberation was a matter for the 1st Marine Division, and if it was reasonable, he didn't mind Li Erhu's men forcibly occupying the Miyako Islands.

"They don't need training, and our mountain warfare drills aren't for them." Li Erhu said, "An eight-thousand-ton ship, just one or two hundred kilometers, if you squeeze it, it can still hold three thousand people, these three thousand people, 1,500 Taroko soldiers, 1,500 elite soldiers of the brave army, I am sure to be able to take these islands." Moreover, in this way, Taiwan's regular army strength will not be reduced, and we must know that we can lose Miyako Island, but Taiwan cannot lose it. ”

Li Erhu was a beard earlier, but his mind was not as rough as ordinary people. Under normal circumstances, it would be absolutely impossible for his chaotic troops to be sent to capture the Miyako Islands, but compared to the importance of Taiwan, it is reasonable to send his gang to seize the Miyako Islands, after all, this is just to take advantage of the Japanese unpreparedness. If you can do it, forget it if you can't.

Chief of Staff Hu Cheng agreed in his heart after hearing this, but he did not express his position. Instead, he glanced at Lu Mengxiong, who was the supreme commander of the Taiwan Theater. One qiē idea still has to listen to him.

Lu Mengxiong didn't listen much to Li Erhu's construction, he just looked at Okinawa on the map, and felt very sorry. He remembered that ten years ago, when his husband was teaching everyone at the military academy, he said that China faces two blockades at sea, one is the line between Japan, the Ryukyus, Taiwan, and the Philippines, which is called the first island chain; The second is the Ogasawara Islands, the Iwo Islands, and the Mariana Sea Islands, which are called the second island chain. Although China's coastline is long, it is bound by these two island chains. It does not have free access to the Pacific Ocean, and the south is blocked by the islands of the South Seas, and its strategic shape is not much different from that of Germany......

Ten years ago, the occupation of Taiwan only opened a gap in the first island chain, and the best way to truly enter and exit the Great Plains without being watched was to occupy the Ryukyus, but this was difficult to do when the navy could not defeat Japan. Now the General Staff reluctantly agreed to his proposal, but it is still difficult to predict whether it will be successful.

One last glance at the map. Lu Mengxiong asked: "Comrade Erhu, the meteorological department has explained that there will be a storm the day after tomorrow, and I really want your people to go." How to deal with this weather? Now it is estimated that Japan is also sending troops from home, although it is said that they are most likely to reinforce Penghu and Keelung, but it is difficult to say that they will go to Miyakojima? ”

"If there is a storm, then I will send Taroko soldiers to it, and then I will draw some technical troops from the army to supplement it, and bring as few breech guns as possible, mainly mortars, preferably 60 mortars." Li Erhu said, and after he finished speaking, he explained the reason. "Although the Taroko warriors lived mainly in the mountains, they were no strangers to storms. Compared to our soldiers, whether it is island fighting. Or adapt to the environment, they all have to take advantage. ”

"But aren't they regular soldiers? They have no formal training, there are no officers in the troops, they don't understand tactics and strategy at all, how can they fight when they go up? Lu Mengxiong also focused on training, and after ten years of fighting, he could understand very well what kind of gap there would be between organized and unorganized, trained and untrained troops.

"Comrades, the Taroko warriors are born warriors, and they are better than some of the strongest soldiers I have ever seen, especially in island warfare. In the case of officers, some officers from the Volunteer Army can be selected to cooperate with them, and in the past six months, the Volunteer Army and they have become very familiar with each other. What is lacking now is actually a technical armament, such as machine gunners, mortar soldiers, engineers, communications troops, and hygienists. Li Erhu insisted. He has now sent a report to the General Staff to integrate the Taroko soldiers and the Volunteers into the 2nd Marine Division, but the report has not yet come down.

"Division Commander, what Chief Li said is right, those mountain people should not be underestimated." After Zhu Jiande occupied Taipei three days ago, he rushed to Yilan along the railway overnight, and together with Li Erhu, he flanked the Japanese army, and he had seen the combat effectiveness of those mountain people.

Zhu Jiande is honest, his words Lu Mengxiong believed, and at this time, Lu Yuequan, chief of staff of the 1st Brigade, also said, "They can go where we can go, and we can't go all the places they can go." These people are the number of guerrilla warfare routes, and if they do not resist the island, they are the most suitable to go. ”

The 1st Brigade was completely in favor of Li Erhu going to Miyako Island, and Lu Wan was still thinking about Okinawa Island, so the task of recovering the southern islands of the Ryukyus was given to Li Erhu without any objection.

Since the troops were decided, the details of the operation were discussed in detail by Li Erhu and the chief of staff, and Lu Mengxiong stood in the yamen of Taiwan's political envoy and looked up at the weather in the east. Under the fierce southeast wind, the dragon flag and the navy flag on the flagpole in front of the Governor's Palace danced wildly in the wind. The ubiquitous Japanese police are gone, and all kinds of restrictions are gone, and Taiwan at this time has become Taiwan for Taiwanese and Taiwan for Chinese.

Although the war was not over, many people were injured by mistake when they invaded Taipei, and many shops and buildings were destroyed, but the people were jubilant. When Lu Mengxiong went to express his condolences on behalf of the military, the people were sad, but they did not complain at all, and they did not accept the compensation sent out. The compensation is not taken, the people everywhere also send pigs, fish and deer to come to reward, the public property is recovered, counted, and registered with the active assistance of the locals, and migrant workers are recruited when they enter Hualien......

All of this qiē is the will of the people, whether it is Lu Mengxiong or any soldier of the Renaissance Army, they can feel it. But what will happen to Miyakojima? It's been 40 years since the Ryukyus were destroyed, and I'm afraid that the people on the island already speak Japanese. Lu Mengxiong was very worried about the landing battle on the Miyako Islands. If you land on the island and fight, if you don't do it well, you will be wiped out, especially if you don't have the right to control the sea......

He was contemplating it, but suddenly he heard the sound of 'pop, pop, pop, ......pop', it was not the sound of gunfire, but the wind was getting stronger and stronger, and the flag on the flagpole was blowing, and this storm was afraid that it would come tomorrow.

The news of the storm was not only concerned by Lu Mengxiong, but also by Colonel Zhu Tiansen and others on the Deng Zilong, who joined the cruiser fleet yesterday and the submarine formation at night. This made Zhu Tiansen's heart hanging outside half of it, as long as there were no Japanese troops near the fleet after dawn the next day, then sail for another day during the day, and the fleet would be able to escape safely.

Everyone hoped that the luck of dawn would not be so bad, and when they woke up, it was indeed good, and none of the four reconnaissance planes found the Japanese ship within 150 kilometers. However, although the Japanese warships are not there, and the weather is in trouble again, it is speculated from the current sea conditions and the intelligence gathered from various places that a storm will sweep over the Taiwan Strait today and tomorrow, and in order to avoid unnecessary damage, it is best for the fleet to find a safe harbor to take shelter from the wind and waves.

The cruiser has a shallow draft, and any port can be avoided, but the aircraft carrier has a draft of nearly eight meters, and it is best to go to Taiwan's ports to take refuge in its current position, and of course it can go directly around the storm without dodging, but once this happens, it will take several days to get closer to Taiwan. Now that the General Staff has a new operational order, the best way is to enter the port to avoid the storm and then leave the port to support the operation. The Navy Office of the General Staff Department gave the plan to let the aircraft carrier take refuge in the port of Tagou for the time being, although there were no batteries, but torpedo machines, submarines, and mines could still ensure the safety of warships.

At this time, Deng Zilong was sailing on the way to beat the dog, at this time the sea was stormy and wave-like, and the ship was still stable in the high-speed advance, Liu Guanxiong was in his room, looking at the Haichou and Haichen outside with the wind and waves from the porthole, and he just sighed in his heart, this big ship is good, not only comfortable to live in, exquisite food, seaworthiness that is a day and a place. As an old navy, wind and wave resistance is the basic skill, and there may be a bigger ship, more comfortable berths and food, so what's the difference? Especially if you can do pipe tape on a big ship, it will be a little more face-saving when you go home.

Because of the emotion of many things on the ship, Liu Guanxiong thought of a bunch of messy things in his mind, in terms of the value of life, his previous goal was to buy that house after earning enough money - when he was a child, he passed by his father, and the humiliation of the owner that his father could not afford to live in a good house made him unforgettable. However, this ideal will be difficult to realize in the new dynasty, and now the salaries of naval officers, especially those in charge, have been drastically reduced, and the avenues for embezzlement and making extra money have also been cut off, and it is no longer possible to earn hundreds of thousands of taels to buy that house. Since this is the case, let's make the pipe belt of this kind of big ship, and going back can be regarded as a glorious ancestor.

"Ziying..., you, you didn't go out." Zheng Zuyi, who boarded the ship with Liu Guanxiong, knocked on the door and came in, he ate ice cream on his mouth, and brought one for Liu Guanxiong.

"It's still early, the regular meeting should be half past seven." Liu Guanxiong took the ice cream and put it aside without eating.

Zheng Zuyi saw that he didn't eat and took it back, and then said, "Ziying, do you know how many taels of silver this boat costed?" ”

"How many taels of silver?" Liu Guanxiong didn't think about this question, but now when he asked, he had to say, "Five million taels." ”

"No, guess." Zheng Zuyi quickly ate the ice cream in his hand, and then began to dismantle the one he had just given to Liu Guanxiong.

When Liu Guanxiong saw him selling guanzi, he snatched the ice cream and said, "If you still want to eat it, then say it." ”

"Ten million taels." Zheng Zuyi said, he took advantage of Liu Guanxiong's stunned stunned suddenly snatched back the ice cream, took a bite and said: "Nunei, the imperial court is rich, spending 10 million taels to buy such a boat that doesn't even have an eight-inch cannon, tsk, it's really a big deal." (To be continued)