46_46454Although the sun was setting, the Weihai Weijun Port in the dim light was still hot, and such a night would have been to drink in a bar or cool off in an air-conditioned room made by the Chinese. Admiral Gillam was born in the captain's room of the fleet's flagship Triumph, with a solemn expression.

Prior to this, he had just joined the Japanese Second Fleet to blockade the German-occupied port of Qingdao, but because there were not enough marines and under the threat of German submarines belonging to the port of Qingdao, he and the Japanese could only monitor the German and Austrian ships remaining in the port to prevent the Empress Elizabeth and Cormorant and other cruisers from going out to break up diplomatic relations.

The Triumph is just an old ship, although the age of the ship is not long, only 13 years old, but obviously in this era of rapid change in ship-building technology, this former dreadnought 10,000-ton ironclad ship has been completely outdated, although it has two 254mm main guns, 14 190mm secondary guns, but because of the power system F★Wanf★Shuf★BA, A+NS↓≠m aging speed of less than 18 knots, the Triumph simply cannot catch up with the German-Austrian cruiser with a speed of more than 20 knots. And because the Royal Navy had been transferred westward, except for this former dreadnought, the rest of the Far East were some gunboats and older cruisers, and now it was the Japanese who really threatened the German-Austrian cruisers. However, their task was twofold, in addition to preventing the German-Austrian fleet from going out, it was more important to block the Chinese submarines from going north, so as to ensure that the Japanese Navy could control the entire Bohai Sea.

With China's weak naval strength and the pitiful range of its submarines, the Japanese were indeed able to ensure their steady control of sea power in the Bohai Sea, but the ridiculous thing is that because of the trickery of the Chinese, the Japanese Navy actually neglected to control the Taiwan Strait. It even caused the squadron to land in Taiwan, which is really an unforgivable crime. Taiwan is more than just a colony for Japan. It is also the hub of shipping in the whole of Northeast Asia, whether it is the Taiwan Strait shipping channel or the Bass Strait shipping lane. They all surround Taiwan, and if they lose it, then Japan's passage south to Indochina and the passage to Europe will be cut off.

"This is unforgivable!" Admiral Gillam glanced once more at the Admiralty's telegram, which ordered him to assist the Japanese in blocking the Taiwan Strait in order to prevent the squadron from landing again, and muttered an underestimate. He then asked the captain, "Kid, are you ready?" ”

"Sir, something seems to be wrong." The captain of the Triumph, Rear Admiral Kellett, said that he was not young at all. "We received a clear-code message in the name of the Chinese Navy, and they informed us. Two hours later, the Chinese Navy will carry out blockade mine-laying and unrestricted submarine warfare over the entire Bohai Sea, and they hope that we will not go to sea at night to prevent being accidentally hit by submarines......"

"Oh?" Admiral Gillam had previously considered the specific meaning of such a restrictive order as 'not to provoke a war with China' in the Admiralty's order, and now the Chinese have bullied it. "Sue the Chinese, since Britain leased the Wei Navy Port, it has the right to free passage through the Bohai Sea!" If their submarines dare to attack the fleet, it is a declaration of war on Great Britain. ”

Admiral Churchill's advice from Admiralty Churchill was clearly not accepted by Admiral Gillam, and the yellow-skinned monkey only recognized the cannon. After he finished the order, he said: "Why can the Chinese submarine reach the Bohai Sea?" Haven't they been in Shanghai all the time? ”

"Sir, this is ......" Rear Admiral Kellett received a telegram from the Chinese Navy and was also thinking about this issue, didn't the Chinese submarine say that the range was only six hundred miles, and he had personally visited the Chinese submarine to see it. At most, these submarines can go around the sea in Shanghai, and they cannot sail north of Qingdao at all.

"Probably a newly built submarine by the Chinese." Lieutenant Commander Hamilton, a staff officer of the fleet, interjected. "From last year's naval battle in the East China Sea to now, it has been exactly a year. This is exactly when a new submarine is ready to be built. The Chinese submarine was too short and could not have been expected before, and when they sailed across the ocean with the cruiser fleet last year, they probably thought about increasing the range of the submarine. ”

The operational details of the naval battle in the East China Sea were revealed in detail in the newspapers. The original intention of the Chinese may be to boost national morale, but outsiders can easily infer the specific performance of those submarines from the details in the article. This is also the reason why Japan was able to land directly under Zhili with complete confidence after destroying the Huludao naval base, but did not want that half a year later, the Chinese's new submarine still sailed into the Bohai Sea.

"Can someone tell me, how many new submarines are there for the Chinese?" Admiral Gillam began to think about the consequences of the blockade of the Bohai Sea by the Chinese Navy, which, apparently, would be tragic for the Japanese.

"I'm sorry, sir, we, we don't have exact numbers." Major in charge of intelligence said. "We know very little news about the Nanjing Shipyard, only that there are five docks in the Jiangnan Shipyard in Shanghai that are heavily guarded, and the observation some time ago is that those docks have been emptied, and the number of new Chinese submarines is at least more than five, if you take into account the Nanjing Shipyard, it is very likely to exceed ten."

As soon as Major Doyle said ten, everyone present was taken aback, the Bohai Sea is not big, and if all ten submarines came in, then the world would be turned upside down. Admiral Gillam didn't think about it anymore when he thought of this, and directly ordered: "Untie the cable, let's go to Taiwan immediately." ”

At 7:34 p.m., the flagship of the British Far East Fleet, the Triumph, and the destroyer USS Uske were unmoored and departed from port. As the large and small warship set sail, the submarine U-11, which had been monitoring outside the port, immediately made radio contact with the nearest Yantai relay station, and then the telegram was transmitted to the naval office of the General Staff in Beijing.

"Did the British just withdraw?" Rear Admiral Wen Shude, who saw the telegram in his office, asked, although he knew that there were some shady transactions between the upper echelons and the British Royal Navy, but he was still a little surprised that the British left Weihai so smoothly.

"Report to the sir, the British Far East Fleet should have gone to Taiwan to help the Japanese Navy blockade the strait." Major Shen Honglie, a staff officer, said. He was born in Japan, joined the Revival Society before the uprising, and was originally going to transfer the submarine force, but under Yang Rui's intervention, he directly entered the General Staff Headquarters, and his military rank was also inflated.

"To Taiwan?" Wen Shude touched his chin and said, it was the established policy of the General Staff not to conflict with the British, and he was just glad that the British had withdrawn from the Bohai Sea. But I don't want them to go to Taiwan. "Is there any definite information that they went to Taiwan?"

"No, sir." Shen Honglie said. "This is just the speculation of the lower officials. The Triumph had been damaged by the German S-90 torpedo boat a few days earlier, and the injuries were not serious enough to go to Hong Kong for repairs. Now the British left the port overnight, presumably because of the Anglo-Japanese alliance and the reason for the blockade of Taiwan with the Japanese. ”

"Hmm!" Wen Shude glanced at Shen Honglie, and had some approval, he felt that there were still talents from the Japanese Merchant Marine School at this time, and it was not as many people said that international students just went there to get diplomas. "Send electricity to Zhoushan right away, let them ...... Let them ......"

Major General Wen Shude 'conceded' twice but did not give it up, Taiwan was occupied, and now it is no problem to fight the Japanese, and there is no concern. But it was not only him who was very careful about the British, but even the General Staff. After thinking about things for a while, Major General Wen Shude said: "Let's report the situation, this problem involves diplomatic relations, and it is not something we can solve." ”

The Navy Office immediately pushed the question to the General Staff Officer, and the General Staff put the question in front of Yang Rui, listening to the British Far East Fleet sailing away from Weihai, presumably heading to the Taiwan Strait, Yang Rui put down the telegram and asked. "Has Taipei taken it?"

"Just took it." Xu Jingxi nodded, "Although the troops suffered a lot of casualties, they still took Taipei." A small part of the Japanese army was annihilated, and most of them fled to Keelung. Probably trying to hold on to the fortress and wait for reinforcements. ”

"Hmm." Hearing that Taipei was taken, Yang Rui nodded lightly, there are only two fortresses in Taiwan. One is Keelung, and the other is Ma Gong. Neither of these forts could be touched by the Marines. "So what's next?"

"Next, it is better to work with Taroko and the Volunteers to exterminate the Japanese army in Hualien and Yilan." Xu Jingxi said, "Put these two fortresses first. In addition to the shallow gunboats, the only thing that can deal with them is the siege and gas bombs. Therefore, it is extremely important to control the sea control of the whole of Taiwan, and now that the British Far East Fleet is involved in the blockade of Taiwan, it is very likely that it will be sunk by submarine forces and torpedo bomber forces. ”

"Sink it, sink it." Yang Rui is no better than noon now, since the British will not declare war, it doesn't hurt to act a little more out of line. "If you can warn and deal with it, then warn, if it is inconvenient to warn, then sink, but after sinking, you must save people, and you are a gentleman."

"Understood, sir." Xu Jingxi said with a smile, Britain has always been worried, and he has finally put his mind at ease now.

"How's going on the cruiser?" Since he talked about the navy, Yang Rui had to ask about the four cruisers.

"Their last contact was 400 kilometers east of Shanghai, and it is not known where they are." Xu Jingxi is not a navy, and coupled with the fleet's routine radio silence, it is difficult to grasp the whereabouts of Liu Guanxiong and others.

"Have you told them not to go to Japan anymore, but to the south?" Yang Rui asked.

"I was notified in the morning, and I was notified in the afternoon." Seo Kyung-hee. But there has been no reply. Guess they had already received the telegram. It's just that the Japanese Navy has completely encircled it, and if you really want to go around in circles from it, it will take some effort, especially since these cruisers are too slow, and if you really encounter the Japanese Navy, you can only rely on submarines to block it. ”

The cruiser goes to Japan to deliver food at all, even if there is a submarine escort, the Japanese can follow and track, and then fire at high speed, there is no way to rescue the cruiser with a submarine without a shooting angle, it is the aircraft carrier that can really help the cruiser break the siege, but it is also dangerous for the aircraft carrier to meet a fast battleship or destroyer like the King Kong, Yang Rui thought about it for a long time, or said, "What about Deng Zilong?" What is the plan of the General Staff? ”

As soon as Yang Rui's words fell, there seemed to be a faint sound of gunfire outside, Xu Jingxi's face changed greatly after hearing the sound, and just as he was about to go out to inquire, the staff officer outside knocked on the door and came in: "Report to the chief, the Japanese cavalry unit has touched the defense line outside the city, and now there is an exchange of fire between the two armies, and the situation is unknown." ”

As soon as he heard that it was a Japanese cavalry, Xu Jingxi's heart was relieved. Yang Rui was curious: "How did the Japanese get in?" ”

"If you didn't expect it wrong, it should have burst in from the direction of Baodi. It didn't rain all this time, and the water receded over there. Xu Jingxi said. The Intelligence Service believes that the Japanese are very likely to launch an attack in the next few days. ”

As soon as he finished speaking, another staff officer came in and said, "Report, the General Staff report that the Japanese army in Jingdong began to move towards Baodi at night, planning to launch a large-scale attack. ”

"Baodi?!" This place was raised again, Xu Jingxi said after being surprised. "Sir, it seems that the Japanese army has found the right direction of attack. Baodi was inaccessible before, but after the water receded, the Japanese continued to build manual railways. This should be the focus of their offense. ”

More than 40 kilometers north of Yangcun is Baodi, 40 kilometers north of Baodi is Jixian, this more than 80 kilometers of defense line is established after the Japanese army advanced to Jixian and stopped raining, and the prepared Yangcun and Jixian are different, Baodi is not the focus of defense because of the relationship between transportation, although there were a small number of fortifications before, but the flood was washed away, and now the Japanese army chose to launch an offensive here when the defense line was unstable, which could not be more correct.

"Which force is guarding this line?" Although Yang Rui did not understand the details of the front line. But the general situation is still known.

"It's Zhong Fei of the 5th Army." Xu Jingxi said.

"Well, let's move on to the cruiser." I heard that it was Fang Yanchen's 5th Army, Yang Rui had nothing to say, this is the old army of Yanzhou, and if they are in Japan, they will wait for the jade to be broken.

"Yes, sir." Xu Jingxi said: "The plan of the General Staff is to order the cruiser to sail south in the direction of the Ryukyus, and the Deng Zilong has left the open sea of Dagou in the morning and is also heading for the Ryukyus, and if the cruiser receives a telegram in the morning, it will go south." Then they'll probably meet tomorrow night. Sir, is the Deng Zilong really going to sail with a cruiser formation here? ”

The cruising speed of the Deng Zilong is close to the maximum speed of the cruiser, and the formation of the two is indeed inappropriate, but under radio silence. The two sailed separately during the day and could communicate with the guò aircraft by sending signal flares, but it was difficult to echo at night, so it was necessary to get the cruiser fleet out of trouble. It's better to still be in formation. However, the Deng Zilong has been in a state of secrecy, and only speculates about the new ships of the Peruvian Navy. And more importantly, there is an American deputy commander in the navy. Yang Rui didn't want the Americans to know too much about the aircraft carrier, although he knew that it was unlikely, but he still hoped that he would understand it as late as possible.

"Isn't Moffett in the hospital? Formations are formations. Yang Rui's mind turned around for a while, and he felt that it was better not to put those people in the Min family to death. But be sure to order them to silence what they see, and if anyone leaks the news, they will be dealt with by military law! You go back and send them another telegram in the name of the General Staff detailing this order. After he finished speaking, he added, "Okay, that's all for today, the Japanese should keep an eye on it to prevent them from jumping over the wall in a hurry." ”

"Understood! Mr. Xu Jingxi nodded, and then retreated. He and his husband didn't sleep all night last night, and it was time to rest early today.

The attack of the Japanese cavalry soon ended, and although so, the Japanese in the entire Gyeonggi defense line were ready to move, and everyone knew that the Japanese army, which had been resting for more than a month, was about to attack. The focus of the generals' attention is in the capital, but Yang Rui is already a little bored with this war, Taiwan has been in hand, the Japanese army has entered the urn, and the next war is just to close the net, what we really need to consider this time should be how miserable the Japanese army should be, this kind of misery is no longer hatred, but a strategy.

There are many trade-offs to be made, the most obvious being whether to leave the Japanese with a few breaths or to completely cripple them. To cripple Japan is to blow Japan to pieces, and China dominates East Asia, but the result is very much to lose the support of the United States, after all, the Anglo-Japanese alliance is the foundation of Sino-US friendship; If Britain and France are not crippled, then Britain and France will definitely support Japan's hostility to China after the war, and even on that day, the United States may join the ranks of supporting Japan when it sees that China is too big to lose, and then China's role will change back to Russia ten years ago, and Britain, the United States, and Japan will join forces, and this energy cannot be underestimated. Therefore, it is a problem to be disabled or not, and it is even more a problem to be disabled.

Then there is, what is China's real national strategy? In terms of national strength, it is not advisable to snatch colonies like Japan did in later generations, and other problems may not be a problem, but the United States is a big problem. The real colonial method that China can choose is to help the colonial countries become independent in order to establish a pro-China government, or to help the local overseas Chinese to take power as much as possible, and direct annexation is the most undesirable. Even, even so, the Americans will stick a knife in the same way as North Korea, shoehorning a yellow-skinned banana that has been influenced by American culture......

Thinking of the Americans' meddling in North Korea, Yang Rui couldn't help but think of the hydraulic press. Judging by the various sources, the Americans do not support, or rather, those on Wall Street oppose China's industrialization. Now that the United States has not hollowed out its industry as it will be a hundred years from now, and if China really wants to industrialize, then who will the American products sell to?

The Second World War destroyed the whole of Europe, so American goods spread all over Europe after the war; In Asia, the purpose of the Sino-US Treaty of Amity, Commerce and Navigation signed after the war was to bring American products to China. An industrialized China is simply a competitor of the United States and its enemy. In the era of non-nuclear weapons, there will not be anti-dumping investigations, punitive tariffs, or anything like a hundred years later, because the United States at that time had already transferred its industries, especially labor-intensive industries, to Asian, African, and Latin American countries. In Africa, Latin America and other places, whether it is political factors or racial habits, they have not accepted many transferred industries, but China has seized this opportunity and has become the world's factory.

The United States and Europe focus on high-tech industries, focus on the financial industry, China focuses on manufacturing, this is the division of labor pattern of the world's industries, so, Europe and the United States no longer have so many human rights problems, no longer have so many environmental pollution problems, no longer have so many labor disputes, and Asia and China, through guò accept these transfer industries and the manufacturing industry is developed, economic growth, which may be said to be the diligence of the Chinese people, but what cannot be ignored is the abandonment of these industries by the United States itself.

According to the current development, if China and the United States want to be friendly, it must be American industry and Chinese agriculture; It is not possible for the United States to produce high-tech industries and financial industries, and for China to flourish in industry. Historically, the premise of China's industrialization is the upgrading of American industries, which probably needs to wait until the end of the Second Industrial Revolution, which began in World War II and flourished in the seventies and eighties. Can you really wait until then? Can China wait for that time?

Yang Rui thought of this and vetoed it without thinking about it. Now that China has come to this world, China's destiny will change, and if it changes, it will no longer be a developing country, but will become a developed country, and becoming a developed country will be in competition and hostility with the current United States.

The victory of World War II was entirely a victory for the Americans, and after the elimination of the colonies, as the Atlantic Charter said, 'All nations, big or small, victors or vanquished, have the opportunity to participate in world trade and obtain the world's raw materials under equal conditions, in order to achieve their economic prosperity. Under the same conditions, in fact, the wording is the same as that in the Sino-US Treaty of Friendship, Commerce and Navigation, and nominally equal, but in terms of the industrial strength of the United States, it is fundamentally unilaterally crushed, and the real result is that the United States obtains the world's market and the United States obtains the world's raw materials.

Yang Rui recalled the small details of those notebooks, and he didn't feel that there was anything wrong with the previous records, but now, as the head of a country, he suddenly thought of those historical details on this summer night, and finally came to a conclusion that he himself was shocked, that is: no matter whether China will acquire colonies in future wars, no matter how it obtains colonies or spheres of influence, as long as China vainly tries to industrialize and become an industrial country like the United States, or stronger than the United States in many industries, Then it will inevitably go to hostility and war with the United States.

The night was as cold as water, and he was startled by the conclusions he had drawn in his study. Anyone can be provoked in World War II, but the United States cannot be provoked, China pursues prosperity and strength, but the final result is to be the enemy of the United States, which cannot be provoked! Is this true? Yang Rui wrote his deduction on paper again, and the more he wrote, the more he felt that this conclusion was correct, at least theoretically correct. The Pacific Ocean is too narrow, the world is too small, especially those technical materials that should not be stored, China will start the third industrial revolution before the United States, which is equivalent to saying that it is as absurd to snatch high-tech industries from the hands of the Americans to the hands of China.

To counteract and deal with it, a few pieces of paper that were written all over were still on the side of Yang Rui, China's industrialization must ensure that it proceeds smoothly, and the third industrial revolution must be started by China instead of the United States, which requires guns, aircraft carriers, and atomic bombs! This country cannot be just a developing country, it cannot be just the world's factory, all everything must be changed, reversed, and subverted, and he must choose a good direction and lay the foundation for the future of this nation at this time! (To be continued......).