The small steamer with the words Zhongyang Fishery 007 painted on its bow was running at full speed on the sea, trying its best to escape the pursuit of the Japanese destroyer behind it.
"Guo Xiucai, haven't you done it yet?" The boss of the ship shouted to the cabin at the top of his lungs while steering the ship shirtless, "If we run any further, the Japanese will start firing!
"Hold on a little longer," a young man's voice came from the cabin. "The fleet hasn't sent back the confirmation signal yet. I'm not sure if the message has been received by them!"
The boss of the ship smacked his lips and was about to say something when a shell landed on the sea near the small steamer, stirring up a water column that was neither high nor low. He didn't know whether it was a warning shot that was deliberately missed or a simple technique.
Just missed.
"Be good! Guo Xiucai!"
"Hold on a little longer!" The young man named Guo in the cabin was pressing the button of the transmitter at an alarming speed, "Discover the east longitude of the Japanese fleet..."
The young man recited the contents of the telegram silently. He could no longer remember how many times he had sent this telegram, but as long as he had not received a confirmation call from the fleet, he had to continue to repeat it to ensure that the fleet received a complete message.
intelligence.
Just when he finished taking this photo and was about to start again from the starting mark, the small fire wheel was shot.
When Guo Xiucai regained consciousness, he found that the cabin was already in flames. Apart from the crackling sound of burning flames, the mechanical roar of the fire wheel could no longer be heard.
He got up, touched the transmitter's key, and pressed it lightly.
The battery is still charged and the transmitter can still work.
So he pulled up the chair that had survived, and used both hands to drag up his body, which had almost no feeling in the lower half. He gathered his last willpower, pressed the key again, and sent out the telegram that he had long known by heart.
The blood from the wound on his head blurred his eyes, and his hands gradually became numb as they grew colder. He just pressed the button mechanically, but didn't even notice that the signal light was flashing when he received a reply.
Sea water poured in from the hatch, quickly submerging his legs and knees, and finally overflowing his hand that was still pressing the keys. Due to a short circuit, the transmitter just stopped working with a burst of noise, but the young man
The man continued to press the button until the seawater was above his head.
For many, many years after that, ships passing through this area would occasionally receive a strange Morse code message. Many experts and scholars came here to observe this phenomenon, and finally confirmed that it was an old military message from the Chinese Navy fleet, but they did not
People can figure out where this code comes from.
They call this the "eternal wave."
**
On the bridge of the "Overlord", the flagship of the Chinese Navy's special mixed fleet, Admiral Lin Guoxiang received a report from the confidential room.
"We have found them." Lin Guoxiang was overjoyed. After the naval fleet set off from Helanggabo, because they did not know the sailing route of the Japanese fleet, they thought they would reach Taiwan within a few days along the shortest route, so they rushed all the way.
Heading straight to the northeast of Taiwan. But when the fleet arrived at the sea near Okinawa, it received a telegram from Japan saying that the Japanese fleet departing from Yokosuka did not directly cross the Osumi Strait and Miyako Strait to attack Taiwan, but took the Michise route.
In the Inland Sea, it merged with the naval fleet departing from Kure Port, crossed the Tsushima Strait, and then merged with the naval fleet from Sasebo, before sailing toward Taiwan in a mighty manner.
It is almost as if the Chinese navy was deliberately left with time to mobilize its troops and generals to prepare their troops.
After Lin Kee's intelligence agency in Japan confirmed the Japanese naval fleet for the last time in the ocean near Fukue Island, the fleet seemed to have disappeared on the ocean. All Lin Kee's spy ships searched for it for almost two days without success.
Now that the movement of the enemy fleet has finally been confirmed, how could Lin Guoxiang not be happy...
"Give credit for the discovery of the ship and report it to Mr. Lin in my name." As he said this, he came to the chart and picked up the compass and made a few strokes.
"Well, very good." The old man turned to the small space specially opened on the side of the bridge, "Major Ou, can I fully trust your things?"
"I can't say that," the Major, who was wearing a black military uniform that was different in color and standard from Lin Guoxiang's navy uniform, said with a bitter smile, "It's too hasty. The Sky Eye has only been tested on land, but the divine calculation has passed the radio wave command
The method of shooting from warships at sea has been extensively verified, but...this new technology may have some problems, and there are always some risks."
"Well... Anyway, it's worth a try." Lin Guoxiang thought for a moment and then made up his mind, "Pass on my order to form a fast column with my own ship, Victory, Haitian, and Haiqi, and go to the grid coordinates
D-6, prepare to ambush the Japanese ship. The remaining ships are temporarily organized into a reserve fleet and go to grid coordinate C-7 to patrol and wait."
Before going to sea, Lin Youde divided the sea area with nine standard naval grids into a war zone with a wave of his hand, which was equivalent to giving fleet commander Lin Guoxiang full power to decide the location and timing of the decisive battle with the Japanese army. In a smaller and more detailed war zone chart
On the map, Lin Guoxiang marked a set of smaller grid coordinates. The place he chose this time was on the sea north of Miyako Island and west of Okinawa Island.
"Sir," Yang Shuzhuang, one of Lin Guoxiang's staff officers and the first Navy Minister of the Republic of China in the last time and space, had some doubts, "In this case, we will encounter the enemy at night..."
"I know, as the saying goes, use your strengths to avoid weaknesses. Now that we have new equipment, we must try it out as much as possible. If it doesn't work, we can rendezvous with the other ships during the day and have another decisive battle. The fast columns are all clippers, and we
With the advantage of communication, rendezvous at sea is much simpler than that of Japanese ships."
"yes."
"I'll leave the rest to you. I'll go take a nap first. Wake me up at night. In addition, each ship will have a good meal tonight."
"yes."
**
On the night of January 6, 1902, a thin mist rose over the ocean west of Okinawa.
Lin Guoxiang, who was full of energy, walked onto the bridge and complained first: "This new ship is really a new ship. It's so hard to build such a high command tower. It's hard for me, an old man, just to climb up."
As he spoke, he walked to the front of the bridge and looked at the mist outside the window through the iron window, with a smile on his face.
"It's like God is helping us."
But someone on the staff was worried: "In such weather, if the eye in the sky cannot work normally, we will be completely blind, and we may even come into contact with the Japanese fleet by mistake."
The staff officer said as he glanced at the black-clad soldiers gathered in a corner of the bridge.
Major Ou, the commander of the Rondebell detachment, did not respond, but continued to direct his men to adjust the eyes and calculations with a focused expression.
Lin Guoxiang didn't say anything. He stared at the fog outside the window for a while, then turned back to the adjutant to confirm: "The formation of our fleet?"
"Report, the electronic alignment system of the new equipment is working normally, and the fleet is sailing in single file and column."
The so-called electronic alignment system is just a simple telecommunications transceiver device. It was inspired by the technology used by Germany in World War II to guide bombers to attack Britain at night. Through the radio signals emitted by the two base ships at the head and tail, the ships in the entire battle line could operate at low altitudes.
It is possible to maintain single file navigation even in poor visibility.
You must know that this was 1902. In the Battle of Jutland more than ten years later, the final night battle between the British and German fleets turned into chaos. Both sides poured a lot of artillery fire on their warships.
.
Therefore, this system that can maintain the formation of one's own ships and identify one's own warships at night also contributed to Lin Guoxiang's decision to fight a night battle...
Lin Guoxiang took out his pocket watch and looked at the time, eight twenty.
At this moment, a sergeant from Rondebell who had been staring at the Sky Eye screen suddenly said: "Boss, come here and take a look at this."
Major Ou rushed over immediately.
For a moment, everyone on the entire bridge focused their attention on that small corner.
Lin Guoxiang felt that the mechanical sound of the pocket watch in his hand was suddenly loud and harsh.
He suddenly remembered the early morning of July 25, 1894, and the wooden-hulled gunboat Guangyi that accompanied him in the fight to the end. Over the years, Lin Guoxiang had countless "what ifs" in his mind.
Yuan, if the torpedoes of the Guangyi had not malfunctioned at that time, if... Every time he recalled these ifs, the old man felt extremely depressed. Because of this, when he heard that the new Lord of the Navy was going to rebuild the navy, the veteran did not hesitate to do it again.
Wear armor and go into battle.
Lin Guoxiang subconsciously squeezed the telescope in his hand tightly.
At this time, Major Ou turned around, snapped to attention, and reported loudly to Lin Guoxiang: "The Japanese fleet was found, bearing 72, 20 nautical miles away, the enemy ship is sailing due south at a speed of 13 knots!"
"Issue a change of direction order to the entire fleet, maximum speed, full starboard rudder!"
The helmsman recited the order loudly and turned the steering wheel vigorously. At the same time, the navigator and the deputy turned on the engine bell. Soon, the answering bell in the engine room rang on the bridge.
"Instruct the entire fleet to enter combat status."
As soon as the order came out, the deck control officer pulled the switch of the Overlord's battle alarm. The harsh electric bell sounded in every corner of the huge battleship.
The bosuns of each cabin stood at the intersection of the main passages, banging on the bulkheads with big wrenches, shouting: "Quick, quick, quick! Run!"
Thousands of people on the entire battleship rushed to various fighting positions at an astonishing speed. These crew members were all elites who had been transported to the United States for adaptive training in mid-1901. Their reaction speed and training level were no worse than other ships of the Navy.
Five minutes later, the Overlord's gunnery commander and chief engineer almost simultaneously stood at attention and saluted Lin Guoxiang, reporting that he was "ready to fight at any time."
Lin Guoxiang looked at the two people wearing exaggeratedly large headphones and holding microphones in their hands, and was speechless for a moment.
After a long while, he said with emotion on his face: "At that time, we had to shout hard into the communication tube to make the order heard by the engine room and the gun emplacement."
Then the veteran put away the sentimentality on his face and said to Major Ou: "Start planning to shoot Zhu Yuan. The entire fleet will keep sailing in parallel with the Japanese ships. We look forward to your performance."
At this time, the liaison officer reported to Lin Guoxiang: "Nie Xueqiu, the commander of Shenji Camp, asked whether to attack."
"Don't worry, it won't be good if the Japanese Shenji finds out after Shenji sets out. Let's catch the Japanese by surprise first."