Chapter 304 A slap (Part 2)

Lushun sang and danced lightly that night, and the strong wine was fragrant. The willow waists of the soldiers sang gently and twisted gracefully. The alcohol and the life and death stimulation of the coming to the battlefield made the officers who looked majestic and extraordinary indulgent, and they were very happy to sing and clinked glasses. In the end, even Masato of the Temple couldn't help but hugged a singer and returned to their room to enjoy the beautiful night before the war.

The soldiers also quickly felt the strangeness in the air. The barracks were particularly quiet. Many people took the last chance to write letters to their homes. Of course, there were also fanatical people who sharpened their knives and guns, and even lined up to rush into brothels or raped women, preparing to experience the restless people of women before they died. At this moment, two black spots quietly surfaced outside Lushun Port.

After the sealed hatch opened, the foul air inside the submarine was swept away by the sea breeze. It felt really bad to stuff dozens of men into a stuffy jar. In order to maintain their strength, they had to eat high-protein beans often, which made the submarine smell so bad. If it weren't for the snorkel, they wouldn't know what they were going to do along the way.

Even so, a minor accident occurred. Due to the continuous tracking of the submarine support ship by Japanese warships and the radio failure of Boat 02, it was arriving two days later than expected.

Such mistakes and accidents are forgiven for the first time putting submarines into actual combat, and it was not calm all the way. Although the Japanese Navy did not do its best, it still encountered multiple Japanese ships after departure from Shanghai, and the snorkel saved the submarine's life. Since Japan had no experience in dealing with submarines, it deceived the Japanese Navy lookouts several times.

Anyway, it finally arrived.

Chen Shaokuan raised his telescope. It was about five kilometers away from Lushun. The two submarines were already located in the center of the main channel. There were sporadic lights over the city in the distance. There were no movement on the most dangerous fortress for the time being, and no ships appeared around.

"The moon is dark and the murderous night, the wind is high and the fire is set on the sky..."

Before the first mate who had crawled out to breathe, Chen Shaokuan smiled and slapped him: "When I catch the fish, I will start work first." The first mate smiled and immediately led the sailors who had climbed up from other cabin doors to run to the stern of the boat, unbuttoned the mines on the slide rail and slowly put them down.

Break is not like ordinary people imagined to throw it into the water. It is extremely particular from fixed depth to underwater arrays. For example, before departure this time, Chen Shaokuan chose to give up dealing with hundreds of tons of destroyers and chose to set depth of three meters. In this way, ships of about 2,000 tons will not be hit due to draft, and this depth is not easy to be seen by the naked eye in the turbid water pattern conditions at the junction of the Yellow Sea and the Bohai Sea.

Since the two boats only have 24 mines, if they are arranged in one or multiple layers of grid blocking, they are not tight enough, and there will be a large gap in the middle, so Chen Shaokuan chose the zigzag water mine array.

As the name suggests, it is to deploy several continuous zigzag rows of 24 mines at intervals of 30 meters per mine. Although there are not a few zigzags in these mines, this deployment method has an advantage. Because the fleet travels one by one, the interval is generally about 300 meters. As long as one of the ships touches a mine, the ship behind it will inevitably deviate left and right, so it is very likely that it will continuously impact the mines deployed on the oblique angle of the word "一".

Of course, this is just a theory. A continuous zigzag mine array requires at least 48 mines. If you want to block the wider external main channel like Lushun, it requires at least 80, so everyone knows that this time it is a gambling luck.

Fear of disturbing the turret, whether it was Chen Shaokuan, who was standing in the enclosure to command the submarine to maneuver slowly, or the first mate who led people down to throw mines, they were all cautious and did not dare to come out. When the No. 1 Sea Wolf was deployed and retreated to the side, No. 2 slowly approached the replacement work. When the two submarines passed by, the sailors above greeted each other with their hands.

Time passed minute by minute, and after the last mine was dropped, Chen Shaokuan realized that he had already sweated. He breathed a sigh of relief and immediately took two submarines to the far sea to recharge the soldiers. He didn't want to lose the most important underwater submersible ability when he came back tomorrow morning to "pick up the bargain" due to the lack of electricity.

After the two submarines merged with the support ship ten nautical miles away, two thick leather tubes immediately input precious diesel into the submarine fuel tank that was almost bottomed out. Since the domestic diesel cannot be produced in China, it must be purchased at a high price. Therefore, if one of the attack cannot be killed, it will definitely be a loss-making deal.

It took three hours to replenish fuel and charge. After the battery was fully charged, the two sea wolves were restored to their strength. Since they were already in the war zone, they could encounter enemies at any time. The sailors who had been in such a long time gradually became excited. Perhaps God paid off. Just when Chen Shaokuan got rid of the cable and turned back with a deep breathing pipe, a formation of five large transport ships and three destroyers also slowly headed towards Lushun in the morning light.

The Tsukumaru was a registered merchant ship made by Hachiman iron, with a displacement of 7,600 tons. It was Japan's largest bulk cargo ship (Japan did not have a 10,000 tons ship at that time, and the first one to be traced to 20 years was only three months earlier than China's first self-built 10,000 tons ship). It was previously mainly used for the transportation of mineral sands of Hanyeping. After losing Hanyeping, it was once used for the Nanyang and Japan routes. It was not until the Baofen mining volume increased and then returned to the Lushun and Yokohama routes.

On the deck, soldiers from Hiroshima, known as the most elite 5th Division of the Japanese Army, stood on the railing, and teams of egrets circled in the morning light, sometimes dived and chased the small fish raised by the oars.

What a harmonious picture! These soldiers who were about to set foot on the mainland and were baptized by gunfire again, involuntarily sang songs from their hometown. Lieutenant General Kikuzo Otani stood in the middle of the soldiers, looking at these young but without any nervous faces, very proud. This is a heroic and glorious division. The first Sino-Japanese War was fought by this division and even recorded in the history of the Japanese army. In the Japanese War, it was this division that rushed to the front in the most difficult battle of Liaoyang, and at the cost of losing more than 50% of the division, from Liaoyang to Shahe to the final Fengtian Battle, all the way, there were mountains of corpses and blood!

Given the great reputation of this division, the emperor also allowed all the organization to be preserved after the war, and was stationed in North Korea to deter Russia. It was not until 1911 that he withdrew Hiroshima and handed over the task of protecting the mainland outposts to the 16th Division.

But no one expected that the Revolution of 1911 broke out in China a few months after the withdrawal, and even three years later, it made a voice to challenge Japan. As for the 16th Division, which replaced it, it was even more shameful. It was actually trampled by the Chinese team and was beaten to pieces, and it lost nearly half of its troops. Even the gang battle flag granted by the Emperor was lost!

The government and the country were shocked, and the people were shocked! When the South Manchuria was in danger, the first unit that Japan could defend the lifeline of South Manchuria was the Fifth Division.

Three years later, the Fifth Division finally came back.

After three days of rest, take advantage of the full attack of Kanto Prefecture to drag down the enemy's main force to attack Jinzhou... What a wonderful encirclement tactic. The famous general of the Fifth Division has gone up to the top in his hands. It will definitely be! Otani Kikuzo was a little confused and did not notice that two small dots that were rising and falling in the waves were slowly approaching.

The blue and white striped paint proposed by Yang Qiu made the chance of being discovered by the periscope much smaller. Chen Shaokuan could no longer suppress his excitement behind the lens. Two Japanese merchant ships, three leased foreign freighters, and Japanese soldiers everywhere on the deck... If it weren't for the three Japanese destroyers on the side, he would have wished he could immediately pounce on and use a torpedo to make a few hard attacks!

But even the three destroyers made him dare not get too close. The submarine is not a thick armored battleship. In fact, its protection level is not even comparable to that of a few hundred tons of destroyers. A 76mm shell may ruin dozens of lives.

The air was already burning, and every sailor clenched his fists. The three fillers and firing hands in the torpedo compartment looked at the pressure gauge and the ventilation valve. Finally, he simply picked up a rag and wiped the torpedo tube up and down to make it clear.

Pressure, this is pressure! There are no soldiers who have experienced war for the first time. How to resolve them is the key. Fortunately, Germany is very experienced in this area. The sailors who have trained with the German army for nearly a year have also learned to use their busyness and work to relieve their tense nerves. Under pressure and expectation, Chen Shaokuan's eyes slowly lit up. Through the blue veins on the back of his hand, the sailors surrounded him seemed to see the enemy on the water slowly sailing into the mine formation.

The sailors guessed it well. The first Japanese destroyer had already entered the mine formation. It was impossible for it to touch the torpedo with less than two meters of water. However, the waves brought by the propeller could roll out a ton of anchor thunder for several meters. The fleet behind it was particularly rigid, like a straight line advancing along the waterway opened by the destroyer.

The Japanese Navy is worthy of being rigorous in training and still maintains a serious working style even if the enemy is not threatened. Seeing that the destroyer has sailed out of the mine formation, Chen Shaokuan was a little disappointed. Could it be that the Japanese are really lucky? The water waves brought by the propeller of the destroyer will roll away all the mines on the channel?

The Tsujikumaru followed closely and entered the mine formation. It was as fast as eight knots, and it slowly drove towards Lushun Port like a small steel hill. The explosion that he expected to be in the middle of the journey still did not appear. It seemed that luck was not on his side today... Chen Shaokuan shook his head bitterly. It was very dangerous to launch an attack without chaos, but he could no longer choose, so he had to order: "The speed is 6 knots, the course is 11 o'clock, and the torpedo cabin is accurate..."

Just then, just as the word "小" was still echoing in his throat! A sudden violent explosion suddenly came, like a thunder that made all the soldiers in the submarine stand up and rushed to the periscope wildly.

Even though he had been expecting the explosion, Chen Shaokuan was still stunned when he heard it. After his eyes were quickly put on the observation mirror, the image in the distance suddenly burst into his eyes! He saw that the bow of the troop transport ship lined behind Tsukumaru, which had been lifted out of the water by a water column, and then it was smashed down and penetrated below the sea. Many unexpected sailors on the deck were thrown directly into the sea by such violent bumps, and thick smoke and vortexes quickly formed around the transport ship.

A mine weighing one ton can fill a full 450 kilograms of yellow**! Even if it is a battleship with thick skin and flesh, it will either be killed or injured. What's more, a military ship with a displacement of less than 10,000 tons and a completely civilian structure! Doudou... The rapid whistle sounded instantly across the sea. Otani Kikuzo, who was standing on the Tsukurumaru, almost fell off his chin. He kept grabbing the captain who rushed out and roared: "What's going on! What's going on?"

"Mine, there must be mines here!" The captain was an old navy who participated in the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895 and immediately realized that it was touching the mine, and only the mines would cause such great damage.

The sudden appearance of mines on the main channel made the transport fleet chaotic, especially the three British and Dutch merchant ships hired in the latter part of the hiring contract, and although the Japanese government will compensate at the price once the loss occurs, the life of the British and Dutch sailors is priceless! For a little money, it is not asking for death.

"Go to the bow of the boat! Everyone goes to the deck to observe the underwater... I want to accurately channel! Damn it! These yellow-skinned monkeys are lied, there are mines here! We are going to leave this damn place!" The Dutch captain with a pipe in his mouth and wearing silk pajamas rushed into the bridge regardless of his image and cursed. While directing the sailor to observe the sea, he snatched the rudder and operated it carefully. The cargo ship spent half his life savings. He didn't want to lose it in vain, nor did he want to be buried in this vast sea that does not belong to Europe.

The two cargo ships behind also moved quickly. These old sea wolves who had been circulating all year round were indeed experienced. They quickly stabilized the situation and began to decelerate a little bit. At this moment, two white high-speed wakes suddenly appeared on the left side of the British 10,000-ton wheel ranked fourth.

"God! It's a torpedo! Torpedo... The left rudder is full! There are submarines here! Damn, these damn yellow monkeys, they lied to us!" The experienced British captain never expected that two torpedoes would pop up beside him. In addition to immediately realizing that there were submarines nearby that could move underwater, cold sweat was even more over the back.

If he could go back and start over, he would definitely shoot the Japanese monkey who came to rent a boat and shoot the head! Because the fool didn't say there were mines here, let alone submarine activities!

At this moment, the deck of the first Japanese troop transport ship that touched the mine was tilted by ninety degrees. Hundreds of helpless Japanese soldiers seized everything that could be fixed. However, doing so was still futile. Although some people persisted until the end, as the "creaking" sounded, the troop transport ship suddenly turned over, revealing the blue bottom covered with parasitic carapace.

The huge gravity of the ship's instant overturn caused a wave of two meters high, and rolled all the soldiers who were still struggling around him in! This scene further stimulated the three cargo ships to accelerate their departure. The British captain had not solved the problem of being locked by torpedoes, and two wakes appeared on the left of the last Dutch cargo ship.

Crazy!

There are at least 2 submarines here!

Two torpedoes shot towards the slow-moving cargo ship at a speed of 30 knots like arrows. Although the British captain barely avoided the first one, the second one still hit the stern of the ship. In the banging explosion, a few meters high white water column rolled all the sailors and Japanese soldiers there. The explosion also caused the hull to slash hard as if it was whipped. The bow of the ship suddenly deviated more than ten degrees to the left, hitting an undiscovered mine.

The third explosion sounded! The Tsukumaru and Otani Kikuzo, who were the first to escape from danger, were already cold! Hundreds of soldiers were still trivial. The American ship not only had more than 400 soldiers, but also brought a total of 60 cannons!

"Leave here and leave! These damn yellow-skinned monkeys! God, what did I do!" The British captain shouted while rushing towards the lifeboat. In order to compete for the escape, the British sailors also had a conflict with the Japanese soldiers. When a British sailor with a strong personality took out a revolver and killed two Japanese soldiers without saying a word, a fire broke out! Although it was soon stopped by the officer and the captain, five British sailors and seven Japanese soldiers died. This also led to the British captain who later brought Japan in while accusing the Chinese submarines of attacking the merchant ship, accusing them of lying and wantonly massacring British sailors in order to escape in order to escape.

No merchant ship can deal with a mine loaded with a 450 kilogram of strong tnt**. When the captain was on his seat, he directed the sailors to row towards the shore, the 8770-ton merchant ship had only the mast exposed on the sea.

Although all this seemed long, in fact, the entire process of the three explosions was less than five minutes. When the last Dutch freighter was also hit below the waterline of the hull by torpedoes, the three Japanese destroyers had already bombarded violently in the direction of submarine fish torpedoes. The last Dutch merchant ship did not escape the bad luck. Hundreds of tons of sea water pouring into the hull at high speed caused the deck to pour over and sink instantly.

The shells exploded violently above the submarine's head. After the torpedo was fired, the two sea wolves actually had already penetrated underwater. When the explosion louder than the other made the sailors stomp their feet and shout excitedly, the dense shells began to fall.

The violent explosion made the two sea wolves feel like they were in a storm, and they were excited and fell to the bottom of the valley. Everyone was extremely nervous.

"The left rudder... continue to dive." Although Chen Shaokuan urgently ordered to avoid it, he was shocked by so many shells that exploded on his head. All the sailors abandoned their concentration. Many people even took out the Jade Buddha and Peace Talisman they prayed for before departure and held it tightly in their hands, begging the big guys under their feet to get out of the danger zone as soon as possible.

The yellow sea water increased the difficulty of searching the destroyers, but the gunners on the three destroyers who were deeply stimulated kept opening all the guns and sweeping around, from 76mm to 47mm Hachikas machine guns, and even Maxim machine guns joined in. When they retaliated wildly and vowed to sink these sneak attackers, the Lushun Fortress in the distance was also in chaos.

The violent explosion alarmed Masato Tanuchi, who was still naked and entangled, quickly left him last night to find his young charming ** and rushed out of the room.

"What's going on?"

"Report to Your Excellency General! The transport fleet carried by the Fifth Division was attacked on the sea, and two ships had already sunk!"

"Wait..." Perhaps because he had exhausted too much energy last night, and was already over 60 years old and rushed out of the room, Masato Tekachi felt his feet weak, and then his eyes were dizzy, thinking he had hallucinations and tinnitus. After pausing, he continued to ask: "What did you say just now?"

The master obviously didn't know how "hard" the General was last night, and shouted: "General! The transport fleet carried by the Fifth Division was attacked on the channel, and two ships had already sunk."

"What!"

Finally, Masato Seunuchi, who had finally heard the bad news, felt as if he had been hit hard on his forehead, and his eyes were dizzy. Last night, he was still saying that he would start a full-scale attack and completely take down Manchuria. This morning, the Fifth Division was attacked in the sea outside Lushun and lost two transport ships! This was simply a humiliation to his own nakedness!

Boom... A few more explosions came from the sea in the distance, followed by a huge burst of shelling, which made Masato Tanuchi even more confused. Could it be that the Chinese fleet that was weaker than Geji was all here?

ps: Small history (word count does not count as money)

Shanghai Jiangnan Shipyard accepted orders from the United States from 1918 to 1919 to manufacture four 10,000-ton ships of the same type. They are all fully shielded deck-type bulk steam engines. The power is a vertical three-inflated reciprocating steam engine designed by Qiuxin Shipyard (although this steam engine is not as powerful as the advanced steam turbine, it can save 30% coal, which is a common power choice for cargo ships that did not require high-speed speeds at that time) and Jiangnan's self-produced small water pipe boilers. They are named "Mandarin", "Celestial", "Oriental", and "Cathey" respectively.

The ship was 135 meters long, 16.7 meters wide, 11.6 meters deep, 11 knots speed, and 14,750 tons of water displacement. The first ship, the "Guanfu", was launched on June 3, 1920 (three months later than Japan's first Heian Maru), and all four ships were strictly accepted by the US Department of Transportation.

Compared with the first "Leap Forward" that hit the reefs in the first voyage, three of these four ships were put into the windy and stormy Atlantic route and used until the eve of World War II. No matter what the saying goes, history is history. China's industrial level and technology after the Westernization Movement from the late Qing Dynasty to the first ten years of the Republic of China could barely keep up with the world's pace. However, due to domestic turmoil and no demand, the manufacturing industry slowly shrank until it was poor and in 1949.

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