At around 10 o'clock in the night on October 11, a long train entered Ningbo Port.
The front of the steam locomotive was parked in the moonlight, dripping with water, and the steam was floating in the breeze. This whole train was a container truck. The black carriage door was tightly closed, with a seal on it, and the name of some company was written on it. I don’t know what it was.
goods.
In this part of the pier, all the ordinary workers at the port have been cleared, and now there is only a row of Ming army military police on the pier. Three tall 10,000-ton cargo ships are parked beside the pier. On the black sea in the distance, the moonlight is quiet,
Like broken silver.
An officer next to the railway track walked around, checked his watch, and then looked around to make sure there was no one waiting, then he took out his whistle and blew it.
The team of military police immediately ran under the truck compartment, tore off the seal and opened the container door.
A long password sounded:
"All get off - all get off -"
In more than 30 container trucks, individual figures jumped out one after another. Through the moonlight, you could see that these people were all soldiers. Each of them was wearing a helmet, carrying a bag and a gun on his back.
These soldiers did not say a word after jumping down, and they all stood in order. In a moment, thousands of soldiers gathered on the pier, and it looked like there were two regiments of soldiers. After all these Ming soldiers got off the bus, they did not stop much, and
After a simple formation, they all turned to the right and boarded the boat with neat steps.
The steam locomotive began to breathe heavily again, and began to spray white steam and fall backwards, pushing more than 30 trucks and leaving the dock. After a while, another train came in, also with more than 30 trucks, and another train jumped off.
Thousands of Ming troops boarded the cargo ship again.
A total of four troop carriers disguised as trucks entered the station and transported more than 10,000 soldiers to three cargo ships under the moonlight.
Then, these three cargo ships did not blow their whistles, but directly uncovered the cables, slowly sailed out of the harbor, and gradually disappeared into the night at sea.
…
On the morning of October 12, a mixed fleet was traveling north on the Yellow Sea 100 nautical miles off the coast of Jiangsu.
This is a fleet escorted by warships. There are three 10,000-ton cargo ships, plus four 5,000-ton cargo ships, a total of seven cargo ships. Escorting these seven cargo ships are 1 cruiser and 10 destroyers.
There are a total of 18 ships in the fleet, traveling in three rows on the sea.
At this time, a plane suddenly appeared in the dazzling eastern sun. The pilot seemed to be very experienced and well-trained. Using the glare of the eastern sun in the morning as a background, he quickly approached the fleet and was not escorted by the escorting warship until he was very close.
Discover.
The Ming fleet was caught off guard. The flagship cruiser immediately issued a battle alert for the entire fleet. The anti-aircraft guns of the 11 warships all turned and aimed at the eastern sky, waiting for the order to fire.
However, the plane had no intention of attacking the fleet. Instead, it slowed down, buzzed, and flew over the fleet's head.
All the ships below were clearly visible. It was a twin-engine reconnaissance aircraft, and there were large red circles painted on the underside of the wings.
This is a Japanese military aircraft.
It is only over 200 kilometers away from the southern tip of the Korean Peninsula.
The Japanese reconnaissance plane did not leave immediately. Instead, it circled in a circle and flew low over the Ming fleet. The camera flashed several times.
The Ming army's eleven warships' anti-aircraft artillery was always aimed at the aircraft, and could shoot it down with just one order.
But it was obviously impossible for the Ming army to do this. The Japanese pilots also understood this and flew several times over the fleet head unscrupulously, flying very low.
It was not until the Ming army's flagship raised a warning flag and used a signal light to warn at the same time that the Japanese reconnaissance plane flew away contentedly.
After the Japanese reconnaissance planes left, the Ming fleet's speed obviously accelerated, obviously wanting to end its exposure time at sea as soon as possible. However, during the following daytime, Japanese reconnaissance planes continued to appear near the Ming fleet, but there was no one.
One flew so close. They obviously just wanted to know the location of the Ming fleet.
…
Beijing, the Supreme Command of the Qing Dynasty.
Since the beginning of the war, the three major military ports of the Qing army have been blockaded by the three squadrons of the Ming army. The limited strength of the Qing army has been hiding in the ports and dare not come out. The Ming army is not like the new naval warfare in the early 20th century.
Use the superior fleet to ambush in the outer sea, and only use destroyers to scout the offshore. Once the enemy goes to sea, report it, and then the two sides will engage in a sea battle.
The Ming army adopted the traditional blockade method of the sailing ship era, that is, cruisers parked in a visible place outside the harbor and anchored more than 10,000 meters away, while several destroyers were at a closer distance.
While patrolling, they paid no attention to the Qing's shore artillery and torpedo boats.
To put it bluntly, this is a blockade method that relies on the absolute advantage of "strong ships and powerful guns" to bully others. This kind of blockade completely treats the opponent's navy as if it is nothing, and there is no naval battle. It is just blocking the door of your house, and you will not come out.
Just go out and kill them one by one.
However, at noon on the 12th, Navy Commander-in-Chief Guar Jiashoushan had just received a report from the Navy's radio listening department. The Ming Army squadron blocked outside Qingdao Port suddenly made frequent radio contacts with Nanjing.
Then at 2:20 pm, according to the Qingdao Port observation report, one of the three cruisers of the Ming army's blockade fleet, probably the heavy cruiser Lu Bu, suddenly pulled anchor and set sail, and disappeared behind the horizon with two destroyers.
.
The Ming fleet outside Qingdao Port only had one heavy cruiser, one light cruiser, and six destroyers. However, there were two Qing cruisers in Qingdao Port, one light and one heavy, both in terms of tonnage and firepower.
almost.
Shoushan felt a little itchy in his heart at that time, and wanted to ask the emperor for permission to suggest that the cruisers in the harbor go out to try their luck. If he was lucky and could really kill a Ming army cruiser, he would have accomplished an extraordinary feat.
But this thought was fleeting, and the fear of Nanming's naval tradition still caught him.
...Forget it. If you only think about good luck, you also have to think about what to do if you have bad luck. As for the training and command capabilities of the Qing fleet, they are not a generation behind the Ming army. They are not twice as good.
With the advantage of tonnage and firepower, if you go out, you will be seeking death. It is impossible to let them sink both of them. The Qing Navy has a total of seven precious cruisers. This is all its assets. If you can sink two of them at once... you can't save your head. Forget it.
Besides, we still don’t know whether the Ming army’s Lu Bu was a real one or a fake one. If it was a trap to lure the snake out of its hole, its death would be even worse.
Therefore, Shoushan only respectfully reported the news to the emperor, leaving it up to the emperor to make decisions. He did not make any stupid suggestions.
…
At around eight o'clock in the evening, the emperor suddenly arrived at the naval commander's office at the headquarters. Shoushan hurriedly greeted him. In the past few days since the Ming army attacked, the emperor had been staying with the army and had never come to the navy. Today he suddenly arrived,
Shoushan was very frightened.
Guangwu didn't waste much time and threw a document directly on his desk for him to read.
Shoushan bent down, picked up the document, and read it respectfully.
It turned out that this was a piece of information secretly transferred from Japan to the Qing Dynasty's Niangan Office, and it was about Nanming.
Japanese intelligence claimed that in the morning, a Nammyung fleet consisting of cargo ships and warships was discovered in the middle of the Yellow Sea, 150 nautical miles west of Jeju Island, traveling due north at a speed of 10 knots.
The Japanese army's reconnaissance level and intelligence processing efficiency are very high. With the first reconnaissance plane flying a few times over the fleet, the name and tonnage of each cargo ship and warship were obtained. Also,
The intelligence said that the water lines of the three 10,000-ton cargo ships were all very high, and it seemed that they contained no cargo. Moreover, there were some Nanming Army officers on the deck at that time. They were all smoking and chatting on the railings. After discovering the reconnaissance plane, they all quickly disappeared.
Below deck.
The other four 5,000-ton freighters had very low water lines and seemed to be fully loaded. Their decks were covered with canvas, and underneath were some irregular-shaped cargoes that looked like artillery pieces and vehicles.
Moreover, the fleet has always maintained radio silence. If a reconnaissance plane had not accidentally discovered it during patrol, not even Japan would have known about it.
After being discovered by the first Japanese reconnaissance plane, the fleet broke radio silence and sent a coded telegram. Then a few hours later, another Ming heavy cruiser, the Lu Bu, sailed south from Qingdao and engaged the ship on the Yellow Sea.
The team reunited, strengthened the escort force, and continued northward.
…
After Shoushan finished reading, he respectfully put the information back on the table and looked up at Guangwu.
Guangwu asked:
"How do you feel?"
"This... Your Majesty," Shoushan hesitated nervously, "It's so detailed... The Japanese only flew a few times with reconnaissance planes?... Is this... too detailed?"
Guangwu sneered and said lightly:
"Of course it's detailed. People doing things for the country and the nation are certainly different from us doing things for power, money and beauty. Right? Haha, there's nothing strange about this."
Shoushan broke into a cold sweat and quickly lowered his head to apologize:
"Slave... I deserve death for my crime... I have sworn allegiance to the emperor and the Qing Dynasty to the death. I have no regrets and no regrets even though I have been devastated. I don't dare to..."
Guangwu waved his hand and frowned:
"Okay, okay... listen, the Japanese said that the destination of the Nanming fleet should be the Changshan Islands."
"Yes. This is what I think. This should be supplies for the Dongjiang Fleet."
Guangwu nodded:
"Then have you ever wondered why there are so many ships at one time, three 10,000-ton ships, four 5,000-ton ships, and escorted by warships? And why are there army officers on board the navy's supply fleet?"
"This?... this slave is stupid..."
Guangwu said slowly:
"This is not an ordinary supply fleet of the Ming Army, but a troop transport fleet!"
Shoushan was startled and looked up at Guangwu.
Guangwu reached out and picked up the information, read it silently again, then took it in his hand, slowly rolled it into a cylinder, put it on his knee and patted it gently.
"Yes, it is a troop transport fleet," he affirmed. "The four deep-draft cargo ships transport heavy equipment and supplies, and the three shallow-draft cargo ships transport soldiers! The Ming army did not use troop transport ships, but they wanted to use them.
The freighter deceived it and pretended to be transporting goods... but unexpectedly, it was a hundred meters away from the waterline.
Something is wrong here. The weight of a person is very light. Even if each ship carries 5,000 soldiers, the equipment together with it is only a few hundred tons! These hundreds of tons are completely negligible for a 10,000-ton ship... These three ships
The 10,000-ton cargo ship just floated on the water, like a ping-pong ball..."
"Your Majesty, Your Majesty!" Shoushan's heart trembled, and he flattered us first, and then said, "Your Majesty, your eyes are as sharp as lightning, and you saw a conspiracy at once! The Ming army wants to launch an attack in the rear of our Qing Dynasty!"
Guangwu said:
"There's no doubt about it. What's the problem? I don't think they can land with such a fleet. Even if each ship really carries 5,000 people, it's only the strength of a division. Even if the Ming army can fight again,
With only one division, they can't even touch the sand on the beach. They must go to the Changshan Islands first and assemble their troops there. This fleet is just the first batch of troops."
"The Emperor's Holy Ming."
"Shoushan, in your opinion, where might the Ming army choose to attack?"
Shoushan said:
"This... Your Majesty, in my opinion, large-scale beach landing operations are extremely difficult. Moreover, the Ming army fleet does not carry a large number of small ships suitable for beach landing... Therefore, my slave judges that the Ming army will most likely choose a
At a ready-made port. They will also rely on their sea and air superiority to carry out the same kind of war as they did against Batavia in Southeast Asia.
Technique: First use dive bombers to clear the shore defense artillery, then use battleships to bombard it at mid-range... Finally, drive the warship into the harbor, approach and shoot, and eliminate the resistance in the harbor... After capturing the port, let the soldiers disembark directly from the dock. Moreover, it is ready-made
The port is more convenient for landing a large amount of follow-up supplies... I wonder what the emperor thinks?"
Guangwu pondered and said slowly:
"Yes, your analysis makes sense. It should be like this. In this case, their range of choices will be much smaller... They choose to open a battlefield behind us, there are only two places: Shandong, or Tianjin. If in Shandong
Log in, just to contain me
The elite troops of our army will prevent our elite northern divisions from going south easily, reduce the pressure of their southern offensive, and give them time to consolidate the newly conquered Jianghuai land and operate a new defense line along the Huaihe River... If they hang on landing in Tianjin, then
The ambition is relatively big..."
Shoushan lowered his head and listened respectfully. The things the emperor was analyzing now were no longer in the scope of the navy. He did not dare to say any more.
Guangwu ignored him. After thinking for a while, he still felt that it was unrealistic for the Ming army to land in Tianjin. Although Tianjin was very close to Beijing, the defense there was too strong. No matter how strong the Ming army's navy and air force were, it could be transported up by landing.
The army is always limited. It is equivalent to being surrounded as soon as it lands.
As for the Ming army's landing in Shandong, it is relatively reliable. At present, the Qing army does not have many troops stationed in Shandong, and it is far from as strong as the Central Plains. If the Ming army really opens a battlefield in Shandong, it will immediately form a battlefield with the Jianghuai theater in the south.
The response caused the Central Plains Corps of the Qing Dynasty to fall into an unfavorable situation. At that time, the problem became serious.
…
Suddenly, a thought flashed through Guangwu's mind, like an electric shock:
... Could it be that this is a pretense made by the Ming army to deliberately attract me to transfer large forces into Shandong to facilitate their situation in the south?!