Chinese Navy Fujian Fleet, flagship "Northern Expedition" battleship.
Zhang Xiaoyue stood on the deck, letting the sea breeze blow by.
In the blink of an eye, it was already August. In the waters around the Diaoyu Islands, small frictions continued, but frictions sufficient to cause war never occurred.
The Japanese seemed to have received some order and were deliberately avoiding it.
As Wang Hengyue said, the Japanese Navy is much calmer than the Army. This fact still makes Zhang Xiaoyue admire him.
The only thing Zhang Xiaoyue doesn't understand is why Japan, a small country, has always put "continental army doctrine" first? Can the army be put to use once it is besieged?
Or do Japanese people really have their heads on their butts?
Warships from China and Japan continued to arrive with reinforcements, and with the Diaoyu Islands as the center, the war was about to break out.
The Chinese government has issued statements one after another, stating many times that China has undisputed sovereignty over the Diaoyu Islands and surrounding waters. The warships are only conducting routine patrols in their own waters and have no intention of causing war. However, if they are maliciously attacked by an enemy, the Chinese warships will not
Counterattack without hesitation.
The Japanese government has repeatedly emphasized the treaty signed with the Manchus and warned China not to provoke a war, otherwise the Chinese navy will be unable to bear the losses.
In private, Yamamoto Gonbei, the real power figure and real leader of the Japanese Navy, has been warning Lieutenant General Kanji Kato, commander of the Second Fleet of the Japanese Combined Fleet, who is confronting the Chinese fleet in the Diaoyu Islands waters, to protect the "sharp"
At the same time, we must avoid giving the Chinese an excuse to go to war.
Yamamoto Gonbei's decision was reached after many discussions with Saionji Konobo, Suzuki Kantaro and other important Japanese ministers.
With Japan's current situation, it really cannot afford a full-scale war with China. What Japan needs to do now is to suppress the riots in various parts of Japan as soon as possible, safeguard the interests of Japan's overseas colonies, accumulate strength, and look for opportunities for revenge.
To be honest, what Yamamoto Gonbei did in this regard was very calm and correct.
The United States, Britain, France and other countries have also repeatedly called on China and Japan to remain calm and sit down to negotiate on the Diaoyu Islands issue. They also suggested that Japan should take the initiative to evacuate some warships from the Diaoyu Islands for the sake of peace in Asia.
This partiality towards China is already very obvious...
Just as the two sides were in full swing, fighting openly and secretly, the appearance of one person changed everything...
Chinese Navy Fujian Fleet destroyer "Shanghai".
Qi Chengcheng, the captain of the "Shanghai", is also a veteran naval general. His ancestor is Qi Jiguang, a famous anti-Japanese general. Before that, he passed through the Manchu Qing Dynasty and Beiyang, and then became a naval general of the Republic of China. In his own words
, can be regarded as a "veteran of three dynasties"...
As the first batch of warships to reinforce the Diaoyu Islands, Qi Chengcheng was still eager for war.
Among the current batch of captains of the Chinese Navy, there are many who have experienced the Sino-Japanese War of 1898-1898, but not many, and Qi Chengcheng is one of those who has experienced it.
No one desires revenge more than he does.
He was already in his fifties, but his temper was still extremely fiery. He wished he could start a war with the Japanese ships immediately, and Yixue would be humiliated back then.
However, the fleet commander made no move...
Next to him was his adjutant, Niu Liancheng, a trainee officer on the "Shanghai" who had just turned twenty-two.
The entire "Shanghai" destroyer, no, the entire Chinese Navy knows that this officer has something wrong with his mind. He goes crazy all day long and does ridiculous things. Logically speaking, a person like this is completely unqualified to join the army.
Yes, but now he has become a naval officer.
Perhaps apart from his late parents, there are only three people in this world who are the best to him. One is his cousin Hei Tie, one is President Wang Hengyue, and the other is Qi Chengcheng, the captain of the "Shanghai"
!
Qi Chengcheng had two sons, but neither of them inherited Lao Tzu's career. One became an engineer and the other became a doctor. Qi Chengcheng, who wanted to pass on his navy legacy, was anxious to death, but there was nothing he could do.
It happened that the president sent Niu Liancheng to him at this time.
Although there was something wrong with this man's brain, he didn't know why. From the first moment he saw this young man, Qi Chengcheng fell in love with him from the bottom of his heart.
At first he just liked him, but some of his words about the navy surprised Qi Chengcheng.
This man, who has never experienced any naval training, knows all about naval warfare. He seems to have a natural intuition and can keenly capture everything on the sea.
This is probably what the so-called genius is.
Every time Qi Chengcheng sees Niu Liancheng, he always thinks of what the British instructor of the Beiyang Fleet said to him:
"God closes one window, but he will open another window for you..."
"Tell me, when will we end this confrontation?" Qi Chengcheng muttered to himself.
At this time, Niu Liancheng was chewing an apple with concentration.
When Qi Chengcheng's words reached his ears, Niu Liancheng chewed the apple in his hand seriously and said without thinking: "Let's find an excuse to fight..."
"Yeah?" Qi Chengcheng didn't expect that he would answer: "Why?"
Niu Liancheng stuffed his mouth with apples and said vaguely: "Look at so many ships, they are crowded here. They must want to fight. When we were children in the village, the children at the east end of the village and the children at the west end of the village often fought.
, but you have to find an excuse, otherwise, you will be spanked by your parents when you go back, hehe..."
While giggling, Qi Chengcheng turned his attention to the adjutant. The children at the east end of the village and the west end of the village often fight, but they always have to find an excuse, otherwise they will be spanked by their parents when they go back...
Yes, making excuses, the fleet commander is making excuses there.
Qi Chengcheng frowned and thought for a while: "But how can I find this excuse?"
Niu Liancheng blurted out without even thinking: "When we children fight, sometimes we can't find an excuse, so we fight first. Then when our parents want to fight, they say they were the ones who made the first move..."
Qi Chengcheng's eyes lit up...
Niu Liancheng thinks differently from most people. His mind is simple and transparent. He doesn't think about problems with so many twists and turns. He likes to use the simplest way to solve the most difficult things. It would be completely normal if it were different.
People may consider the problem too complicated...
"Maverick." Qi Chengcheng said with a smile: "If I give you command of the Shanghai ship, what will you do?"
"You think I'm a fool." Niu Liancheng rolled his eyes at him: "When the time comes, you can put all the blame on me, a fool, and you will be completely wiped out."
Qi Chengcheng choked there.
There is indeed something wrong with Niu Liancheng's brain, but he is definitely not a fool in the true sense. He just doesn't understand the world at all and will never learn it, and he likes to do ridiculous things that make others find it incredible.
"Old Man Qi..." Among the entire "Shanghai" ship and the entire Chinese Navy, only Niu Liancheng called Qi Chengcheng this way: "That is the sea area where the Japanese fleet is on guard, and this is the sea area where we are on guard. If
Let the 'Shanghai' break into the waters where the Japanese are on alert..."
Qi Chengcheng's eyes lit up again, but then he shook his head: "What if the 'Shanghai' ship is surrounded and bombarded by them..."
"Then there is an excuse to start a war..."
"Damn it." Qi Chengcheng cursed bitterly: "You are so cruel, so cruel!"
Qi Chengcheng really has never thought of such a simple and direct method. I am afraid that no one in the entire Fujian fleet has thought of such a simple and direct method.
But this stupid boy brought it up!
"Uncle Qi, I have read the information about Kanji Kato given to you by the Intelligence Department..."
Qi Chengcheng's eyes suddenly widened: "How dare you peek at my top secret information?"
"I was looking for something to eat and happened to see it. I took a few glances at it." Niu Liancheng threw away the apple core in his hand, took out another apple and gnawed it, as if he would never be full:
"Intelligence says that Kanji Kato is a very powerful person. He proposed the centralized control of artillery fire before the British. However, he was not very lucky. He was injured in the Battle of the Yellow Sea and was handed over to the security guard.
He did not participate in the famous naval battle of Tsushima, and did not see the Russian warship sunk by the concentrated artillery fire he invented...
Moreover, this person has an extraordinary relationship with Prince Fushimi Sadae of Japan. Kanji Kato is from Fukui. Prince Fushimi Sadae has a palace in Fukui. Prince Fushimi Sadae is an army general, but he wants to
The eldest son went to join the navy. When he went to the Imperial Palace in the summer, he asked Kato Kanji, a naval student from Fukui Prefecture, who was nearby, to play with the younger Fushimi Miyahiro Kyōō. At that time, the younger Fushimi Miya was 14 years old and Kato Kanji was 19 years old. Japan and Russia
During the Battle of the Yellow Sea, Fushimi Miya was the third major commander of the rear gunnery commander of the Mikasa. After Fushimi Miya was injured, he refused medical treatment and asked the military doctor to deal with the seriously injured first. It was the gunnery commander Kato Hiroshi who came over.
Major Haru hugged him down, so the relationship between the two was better than most people imagined. Now that Prince Fushimi Miyahiro has become the admiral of the navy, no one in the navy dares to mess with Kanji Kato. This time, too,
At the request of Kanji Kato, Lord Fushimi Miyahiro personally made the Second Fleet come here..."
The intelligence work of China's intelligence agencies is so meticulous that it's hard to imagine.
Starting from the commander of the Japanese Navy's Second Fleet, to the life, habits, and preferences of the captains of each ship, a detailed and complete information was handed over to the captains of each ship of the Chinese Navy's Fujian Fleet.
Before the naval battle begins, intelligence comes first. Before the decisive battle begins, the opportunity is already in the hands of the Chinese Navy.
But Qi Chengcheng still hasn't figured out how Kato Kanji's temper and experience are necessarily related to naval battles! (To be continued)