Instead of airships with waterplanes, and using airplanes and submarines as a means of reconnaissance, they can bypass enemy ships as much as possible and attack as a last resort. This was an order from the General Staff to the submarine forces, and this order was fully understood by Lieutenant Colonel Tian Shijie, but what is strange was that the commander-in-chief of this escort was not the American Lieutenant General Moffett, but only twenty-six years old himself. According to the general practice, the command of the fleet should be given to the supreme commander of the fleet, that is, the American Vice Admiral Moffett, you must know that he has experienced actual combat, even if the enemy is only extremely weak Spain.

Seeing Tian Shijie's question, Wu Fan, the political commissar of the fleet, said with a smile: "Some things are still known by one's own people, today's friends, maybe tomorrow's friends." Besides, even if the Americans are in command, he can't understand how the planes and submarines should cooperate, and if he is in command, he will definitely not be able to command well. ”

"Oh." Tian Shijie suddenly understood, and his expression suddenly became a little excited.

After Wu Fan finished speaking, he continued: "Be careful with the Germans, don't look at them so attentive now, in fact, they still doubt the role of submarines, didn't they say that they want to go together to watch the battle today, they just want to see if our set of things is effective." If it weren't for the consent of the General Staff, they wouldn't have been able to agree to these foreigners. ”

"Let Germany go to watch the war, what about the planes? Isn't that thing meant to be kept secret? Tian Shijie suddenly began to worry about the Germans, and he felt that there was a reason why the seaplane aircraft carrier did not enter the port.

"Just telegraph contact." Wu Fan replied, "We don't need to know where they are, just know that they are around." ”

More than a year of getting along. Tian Shijie had already established trust in this political commissar of the 6th Army, who was seven years older than him, although what he said was inexplicable. However, he still believes that the General Staff is justified in this arrangement. He was, but not Vice Admiral Moffett, the deputy commander of the Navy in the Caribbean at this time. After Colonel Li of the General Staff showed him the entire battle plan, he suddenly became a little annoyed.

"Nope! No! I can't understand why Beijing did this, and we can't be sure of the feasibility of this plan until I see the submarines with my own eyes. Li, we are fighting a war, and only we know the actual situation best, and Beijing's arrangement in this matter is wrong! Lieutenant General Moffitt waved his fists, very upset, he thought it was a layman commanding an insider. He could not accept such a plan.

"Sir, you will see those submarines with your own eyes, but unfortunately you will not be able to see their actual combat results, especially since the torpedo supply at sea is limited, and it is impossible for the troops to carry out tactical tactics." Staff Officer Lee's English was extremely stiff, he was an old revival member, and he was convinced that the plan of the General Staff would work, although he knew nothing about submarines.

"And how many of them are there? What is the state of combat readiness? And most importantly, who is they commanding? Lieutenant General Moffett asked.

"It's not clear how much. But the telegram said that the combat readiness was not clear, and it was estimated that it was at the time of the meeting, and their commander reported it in person. As for the command. Major Li glanced at him and said with a smile: "Sir, have you ever commanded submarine operations?" ”

Lieutenant General Moffett was stunned by his question. Truth be told, he was just a surface warship commander. He had only a shallow impression of the submarine - that thing could hide in the water for hours and shoot torpedoes. But how to command this thing, how to play a role in actual combat, he didn't know at all. Among the people he knew, only his adjutant, Captain Nimitz, had spent time in the submarine force, but he was now far away in China.

Moffett's hesitation fell into Staff Officer Li's eyes, and he continued: "The commander of the submarine force, Lieutenant Colonel Tian Shijie, will meet with you somewhere in the Great Plains Ocean at that time, and the submarine force is currently under his command, and he will consult with you on how to deal with the blockade of the Japanese fleet and get rid of the tracking. ”

"Okay, I see." Lieutenant General Moffitt replied with a shallow money, a little happy and a little unwilling in his words. At the beginning of his tenure, he proposed to put those submarines under the command of the Navy, but Yang Rui denied that these ships—in fact, those built in the United States—were the personal toys of the emperor, and that in the years before the success of the revolution, the emperor was living in exile overseas on these things, and he had a great affection for those ships.

The prime minister of a country actually said this, then Lieutenant General Moffitt has to believe it if he doesn't believe it, and besides, submarines are just real troops for many countries, Yang Rui replied to this matter, except for Captain Nimitz, who was very sorry, so it was over. But who would have thought that the emperor's toy could actually cross the ocean to escort the fleet, if it can really do this, then the combat effectiveness of China's submarine force cannot be underestimated.

Because of the principle of secrecy, the submarine escort was not notified by Vice Admiral Moffett until the convoy had rounded Cape Jaén in South America and left port for a short break in Peru. The sailors who had sailed nearly 10,000 nautical miles were shocked when they heard this. After Peru and the Philon parted ways, looking at the lonely fleet, everyone's morale was not high, and now there will be a fleet halfway to join, so no matter what the ship is, it is good.

After announcing the order, Cheng Biguang, commander of the cruiser's fleet, and Colonel Tang Tingguang, captain of the Haiqi, went to Staff Officer Li's cabin to ask what was going on.

Li ...... Commissar, did the country really send a destroyer out? Cheng Biguang asked first. The fleet had been circling the Americas 6 before, trying to stay as close as possible to the near sea, but now that it was in the Pacific Ocean, the Japanese might come out at any point.

Seeing Cheng Biguang calling himself political commissar, Staff Officer Li just smiled and saluted: "Sir, I am only a staff officer of the General Staff, not a political commissar." Is this a matter of asking about the destroyer? ”

"Staff Officer Li, did the country really send a destroyer out?" Cheng Biguang didn't care about so much etiquette, he just wanted to know if the news announced by Lieutenant General Moffett was true.

"Of course...... Not really. Staff Officer Li seemed to be joking, which made the hearts of the two of them hang again. He also knew that he couldn't joke about this matter, and said: "Although the country did not send destroyers, it sent a few submarines to us." In a few more days. They will join us, and then the lookout on the mast will not be so tired. The submarine will help us find our way in front, and if there is an enemy situation, it will immediately call over. ”

The two of them breathed a sigh of relief when they heard this. Submarines that can sink to the surface of the sea are best used in front, and once the ship is present, the fleet will bypass it. It's just that Cheng Biguang has seen the world after all, and after he relaxed, he remembered another thing, and said: "The submarine heard that it walks very slowly, and my current degree is the slowest but there are twelve knots, can they keep up?" ”

"If you can keep up, sir, don't worry." Staff Officer Li said.

"But how do they add ......" was asked by Cheng Biguang, and the captain Tang Tingguang also remembered the shortcomings of the submarine. But halfway through the conversation, it occurred to me that the submarine was not burning coal, but oil.

"Sir, you're saying come on, right?" Staff Officer Li said again: "They have brought their own supply ships, and they will add them when the oil is burned, which is definitely easier than us." The arrangement of the General Staff was like this, a qiē was subject to the telegram of the submarine and the order of Vice Admiral Moffett. ”

Staff Officer Li said this is equivalent to sending off guests, although his military rank is not high, but the people from Beijing, Cheng Biguang and Tang Tingguang, can only say goodbye, after they go back. gave the news to Lin Baoyi of the Hairong ship in flags, just in order not to oppose Moffett's previous order, Tang Tingguang renamed the submarine a diving destroyer.

"Damn, what's a diving destroyer?" Rao Hanchang, the first mate of the Hairong ship, muttered. Distant journeys. Powerful enemy, this qiē made his mouth bubble. I used to think that if I went to the United States and then returned, the military rank would definitely be upgraded by one level. When I arrived in the United States, this was simply a death mission.

"It is estimated that those submarines in China were sent." Captain Lin Baoyi said. He didn't know the reason why Tang Tingguang changed the name of the submarine to a diving destroyer, thinking that he added the word destroyer to increase its power - it was also a destroyer. Still diving. "What's the use of submarines, it's better to rely on Mazu's blessing!" He concluded by saying.

"Didn't the submarine say it was the emperor's ship? Why did the country send this instead of sending Haichen and Haichou two ships? "Rao Hanchang is young after all, and he only thinks about having a few more ships and bigger guns, so that he can return safely.

"What do you know!" Lin Baoyi reprimanded: "No matter how many six-inch guns are not as good as a twelve-inch cannon, if you want to return home alive now, you must avoid the Japanese." The Beijing Gangsters were not mistaken, the submarine could sink in the water, and it was good to explore the way. ”

"Yes! My lord, I am humble and stupid. The chief taught him a lesson, and Rao Hanchang hurriedly responded with his body down. He had changed some of the Manchu habits, but he still had a lot of things that he thought he couldn't lose.

"You go and inform the sailors, just say that the country has sent a destroyer, and they will join us on the same day, and once they encounter a Japanese ship, they will swear to defend us to the death." Lin Baoyi commanded, and magically changed the name of the warship back.

There were many Pacific storms in the summer, and although there was a short break in Peru, the sailors were still extremely tired, but they actually encountered rare equatorial rain when they experienced the equator, and this hint of luck relieved everyone's mood a little. But one afternoon a few days later, something terrible happened, and I don't know when, behind the flotilla actually followed a British cruiser in the distance. When everyone was surprised, Lieutenant General Moffitt hurriedly sent a flag to the other party to ask, but the other party was either too far away, or did not want to reply, anyway, there was no response.

When people were panicking, he took Cheng Biguang to find Staff Officer Li, and as soon as he opened his mouth, he said, "Li, where is our submarine?" The cruisers of the British are now behind us, and I need them now. ”

"Sir, I haven't received a telegram yet." Staff Officer Li knew that things were in trouble, "but yesterday's telegram from the General Staff said that they had already arrived around here. Sir, I remember having already telegraphed to you. ”

"Yes, yes, I received it. But what I received was a telegram, not a submarine. "Lieutenant General Moffett was a little angry, he felt that he had a lot of things to hide.

"Are the British trying to attack us now?" Unable to answer Lieutenant General Moffitt, Staff Officer Li had no choice but to divert the topic and ask Cheng Biguang.

"No, it's not." Cheng Biguang's face was uncertain. "If the British had attacked, we would have been buried at the bottom of the sea long ago. Less than 800 nautical miles ahead was the German islands of Palau, and I thought that the best option for the gentlemanly British would be to report our position to the Japanese, and then watch from afar as they sank us. ”

"Can you get rid of the cruiser behind?" Staff Officer Li also knew that the voyage was coming to an end, and the Japanese were in front of him.

"No, you can't. In fact, we were under British surveillance all the way, except for warships all over the ocean. Merchant ships are everywhere, as long as a merchant ship flying the British flag sees us. That would mean that the Royal Navy saw us. Cheng Biguang said. After he said that, he looked at Lieutenant General Moffitt and said, "Sir, let's start mobilizing and preparing for war." If we want to be buried at the bottom of the sea, then they will also be buried with us. ”

Although there was a merchant ship flying the flag of Great China when the Titanic sank, which miraculously appeared on its side, the result of this incident still made it mandatory for each merchant ship to be equipped with radio, which is actually to blame Yang Rui for making things too widely publicized in order to gain national reputation. Britain now has more than 20 million tons of merchant ships, accounting for 70 percent of the world's merchant ships. Her ships are all on the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, which is why Cheng Biguang said that he was being watched by the British all the way. And the British merchant ships I met on the road were not friendly, and there was even a merchant ship that once said: "I saw several destroyers of the Japanese Navy on the road, and they are expected to attack with torpedoes tonight, may God bless you!" "It's a night's sleep for the fleet.

"Okay, I think ......" Lieutenant General Moffett felt that this was the end of the matter, and he had to get through it on his own. But before he could finish his sentence, he heard a ringing of telegram receipts. Staff Officer Lee's cabin was next door to the telegraph room, and he was in charge of the telegraph. At this time, when he heard the receiving bell, he immediately jumped up like a spring, and interrupted with some anxiety and excitement: "Sir, it is estimated that they are here." Wait a little longer. ”

The decryption of the message took twenty minutes, and the content of the telegram was very concise, starting with a latitude and longitude: , . The next reading was: 'Sail here at night, don't worry about the British ship'. The signature is 'wolf'. Lieutenant General Moffett, who saw the latitude and longitude, immediately grabbed the chart on the side, pointed to the position on it and said, "They want us to pass through the area between the Palau Islands and Guam." Then he began to worry again: "But how can we get rid of that pesky tail in the back?" Are they going to torpedo him and sink him? ”

"I think since they would send such a telegram, then things must be arranged." Chief of Staff Li breathed a sigh of relief and said with certainty: "There are still two hours before dark, so we'll wait and see." ”

I can't tell if this is the first dusk on the ocean, Tian Shijie's submarine is floating sixty kilometers away from the fleet, he actually joined the fleet last night, but seeing that there is nothing to do, he wants to go with the fleet first, but the appearance of the British cruiser disrupts his plan. It was not surprising to him that the British did this, and when the Russian Baltic Fleet went to Vladivostok, the British were also hanging so far away. These old pirates who kill people and don't want to get their hands dirty are respectful in everything.

But now he is hanging like this is very detrimental to the execution of the plan, although he does not run, but it is better than firing guns, the best option now is to drive it away from the back of the fleet, but the other way is to spread drifting mines on the channel, not to blow it up, as long as it understands that there will be constant drifting mines ahead, then it will have to reduce its course.

The first group of submarines did just that, and then, at ten o'clock in the night, the sound of a motor came from a distance. With the help of the starlight, Tian Shijie, who was standing on the bridge, saw three ship shadows, the largest one in the middle was a merchant ship, the smaller one in front was the Haiqi, and the last one was the smallest one. Tian Shijie and Wu Fan looked at the fleet from afar, and the people in the fleet also looked at them curiously, although there were only a few long black shadows on the sea in the distance under the starlight, but the diving destroyer that had been waiting for a long time finally came.

The Haiqi put down the boat, and Tian Shijie and Wu Fan immediately boarded the ship, and he was accompanied by the radio equipment of the communicator He, but as soon as he went on deck, Vice Admiral Moffett complained: "Gentlemen, we have annoyed the British now. ”

Tian Shijie suddenly heard that English was a little weird, he had been speaking German for more than a year, but he had still learned English in the school, and he smiled when he heard it: "But we didn't hear the explosion?" ”

The first group of submarines at the beginning of the drifting mines had a timing fuse to catch fire, the strange fire on the sea surface made the British cruiser have to avoid, and it is impossible to determine whether there is a drifting mine ahead, it issued a light signal to warn the Chinese fleet at the same time, but just when he decreased, the front fleet suddenly disappeared. The British's signal was very violent, so Lieutenant General Moffett said so.

"What's next? Hide and seek with them? Vice Admiral Moffitt didn't want to joke with the Chinese, just wanted to know what to do next, and he dared to conclude that the Japanese fleet was on its way here.

"We'll have to go north first. To the northwest, my men have already reconnoitred, and the Japanese are three hundred kilometers away. Tian Shijie said as he pointed to a location on the chart, "They probably know that your route is to the Philippines, so they are sweeping over there now." If we don't change our course, we'll be able to see them tomorrow morning. ”

"Three hundred kilometers away?" Moffitt and Cheng Biguang exclaimed. "Are you sure?"

"Of course." Lieutenant Colonel Tian Shijie was very sure that this was the result of the seaplane and the intelligence station on the Philippine side. "We'll go north first, and when there's an air strike between them, we'll go through it."

"Okay!" Vice Admiral Moffett could not have any objection to this, "How many submarines do we have now, what are their voyages, can they attack the Japanese cruisers?" ”

"Mr. Vice Admiral, there is no need to worry about these things, the fleet is surrounded by my people, we can also keep up with the fleet, now the key is how much coal and fresh water the fleet has now, where can you go farthest?" Tian Shijie asked, he didn't seem to tell the truth to the American in front of him.

Lieutenant General Moffett looked at the lieutenant colonel and did not answer, while Cheng Biguang next to him replied when he saw this: "We have added coal once in Nauru, counting the merchant ships, if we don't take too many detours, we can drive to the coast of Zhejiang." But you ...... Do you have enough oil? ”

"Totally." Tian Shijie replied cautiously, and after he finished speaking, he said to Vice Admiral Moffitt, whose face was a little gloomy, "Mr. Lieutenant General, I am ordered by His Majesty the Emperor to bring the fleet to cover the safe return of the fleet, and I think our position on this matter is the same. As for the actual command, I can inform you of what my men have discovered, and then we will discuss the final voyage together. If you encounter a Japanese naval engagement, then proceed according to the previous plan, and my men can cover you to get rid of them. Is there a problem with me saying that? ”

"But how do I know the exact information room you have got? Also, can a submarine really hold off a cruiser? Moffett's stiff face loosened a little, as the man in front of him said, the most important thing is to go back safely.

"The reconnaissance submarine will send a telegram back, as well as some merchant ships we have arranged, and there will also be a telegram, if these messages are inaccurate, then I can't do anything." Tian Shijie looked at Vice Admiral Moffett and said, "It doesn't matter if the submarine can block the cruiser, the important thing is that we have other options, excuse me?" ”

"Okay. Let's take a closer look at the route map. "Lieutenant General Moffett finally chose to compromise, who let the Chinese parliament have an emperor above."

The rendezvous with the submarine forces gave the officers and men of the flotilla a good night's sleep, but the world was often full of joy and sorrow, and the next morning a telegram from the seaplanes came in, claiming that about three Japanese cruisers were approaching in this direction, and that the fleet would either take a risk and pass through the cracks in these cruisers, or immediately go east, that is, the Japanese would go in the opposite direction. After some discussion on the Haiqi, the choice of the fleet was to pass through the gap in their search, this is Tian Shijie's mention according to intelligence, the gap between each cruiser is nearly 100 kilometers, although they are doing a dragnet search, but with seaplane and submarine reconnaissance, he believes that the fleet can pass. Perhaps it was because the two-month voyage was too fortunate, or maybe it was because he didn't want to hide from the wolf and just wanted to fight, Lieutenant Commander Tian Shijie's bold mention actually won the support of all the officers except Lin Baoyi, the captain of the Hairong ship. So, the fleet adjusted its direction and headed westward at sixteen knots. (To be continued!)

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