On December 12, the Ming Army's Nanyang Fleet sailed out of Zhanjiang Port, a heavy cruiser "Weiqing", and headed south into the South China Sea, preparing to take a passage through the Philippine Islands and sneak into the Western Pacific.
The reason why ships are dispatched from Zhanjiang Port in Guangdong and via the Philippine Islands is because the sea control in the Western Pacific is now in the hands of Japan. The Ryukyu Islands in the north are heavily guarded by the Japanese army and it is impossible for surface ships to sneak past. And the Ryukyu Islands
Between the southern end of Taiwan Island and the northern end of Taiwan Island, and between the southern end of Taiwan Island and the northern end of the Philippines, it is also an area that the Japanese Navy focuses on monitoring. If the Ming Army's surface ships want to slip into the Western Pacific without being discovered, the safest route should be through the Philippine Islands.
The Philippine Archipelago runs north to south and spans more than 1,600 kilometers. There are countless islands and waterways in it. The Ming army can pass through it at will. Even if the Japanese navy has great abilities, it cannot keep track of it.
The "Weiqing-class" heavy cruiser of the Ming Army was just commissioned in early 2036. It is the latest, fastest and best first-class heavy cruiser of the Ming Dynasty so far. It includes the "Weiqing" and the "Qubing"
.The standard displacement is 14,215 tons, four twin-mounted 203mm main guns, eight 127mm secondary guns, and three seaplanes. The maximum speed can actually reach 36.5 knots. This is a first-class heavyweight that can rival the Japanese "Mogami"
Cruiser. Of course, its firepower is not as good as that of the Mogami class, and it has two fewer 203mm guns. However, the top speed of the Wei Qing class is two knots higher than that of the Mogami class.
The imaginary enemy of the Ming Navy has always been Japan. Since Japan is an island country and relies heavily on sea transportation lines, the Ming Army always takes the factor of "breaking engagement" into consideration when designing warships. The warships are required to not only have the capability of fleet operations,
It also needs the ability to perform tasks of breaking up engagements alone. The design philosophy of the Wei Qing-class heavy patrol is: "Those who run faster than me are not as strong as me with firepower, and those with stronger firepower than me are not as fast as me."
It can be said that this design is successful. With a speed of nearly 37 knots, it is difficult for other heavy cruisers to reach it. The only ones that can surpass it are light cruisers and destroyers. Even if light cruisers and destroyers can catch up with the Wei Qing class, the difference in firepower is too great.
If it is large, it can only become a target. If the Wei Qing class encounters a battleship, or encounters a cruiser like the Mogami class with more firepower than it, it can completely pull away from the distance and break away from contact. Its three seaplanes,
It can completely detect who the opponent is from a very long distance.
Xiang Xiaoqiang originally disapproved of using cruisers to attack Japan's sea lines of communication. He believed that it would be too costly and risky. It would be too wasteful to use an excellent cruiser like the "Weiqing-class" to do such a thing.
Once there are three long and two shortcomings, once it is sunk or something, then even if it sank dozens of Japanese cargo ships before, it is not enough to make a loss. The gain outweighs the loss. In Xiang Xiaoqiang’s view, this kind of thing should be left to submarines.
. Submarines are high-quality and cheap, and that’s what they do. As long as they sink a few large cargo ships, even if they themselves are sunk, that’s enough.
But Xiong Dingming was very confident. He told Xiang Xiaoqiang not to worry too much, just sit back and watch the results. He told Xiang Xiaoqiang that the Wei Qing class was an excellent attack ship, with high speed and strong self-defense capabilities. Maybe one of them could handle it.
It can be seen from the naming of this class of cruisers. Wei Qing and Huo Qubing, two famous generals, are famous for their bold long-distance raids and deep strikes into the hinterland of the Xiongnu. This is in line with this
A method of combat for ocean-going attack ships. The two names "Weiqing" and "Qubing" were not chosen for nothing.
What Xiong Dingming means is that although submarines are low-cost, they also have serious shortcomings, namely, slow speed, narrow field of view, poor seaworthiness, single weapons, and a fragile hull that has almost no ability to resist strikes, and cannot face enemy ships or aircraft.
Self-defense capabilities...Although using submarines to attack traffic lines is safe and has no risk, the results are very slow and one must be prepared for a protracted war.
Cruisers do not have these shortcomings. Cruisers are fast, have a wide field of vision, and have seaplanes, which can search the sea surface with higher efficiency. Submarines may not find the enemy fleet for half a month, but cruisers find it in a few days. And "
"Finding the fleet" is only the first challenge that submarines face. The second challenge is to sink the ships. Facing a fleet escorted by destroyers, submarines can only risk their lives. But cruisers are different. Once a merchant fleet is discovered,
, then the opponent is basically at its mercy. It can easily kill several destroyers and then beat up the cargo ships. If it does not want to be injured, it can also bombard one cargo ship after another calmly outside the range of the destroyer.
Penetrated into the bottom of the sea, and the escorting destroyer could only watch...
Of course, the enemy can also equip the merchant fleet with higher escort standards, such as using cruisers to escort. But in this case, the cost of maintaining transportation lines for the enemy will be ridiculously high. Japan has only a dozen heavy cruisers in total, which can
How many ships should be sent out to escort? If Japan really has to send out several cruisers to escort because there is such a Ming army cruiser wandering in the Western Pacific, then the Wei Qing will have played a diversionary role several times. This trip
It's definitely worth it.
Xiang Xiaoqiang listened, thought about it for himself, and felt that what Xiong Dingming said made sense. After all, this old man was also a veteran of the Navy. In addition to being not as forward-looking as Xiang Xiaoqiang, he was definitely n times better than Xiang Xiaoqiang in other professional aspects. Xiang Xiaoqiang knew that he had some
"Submarine warfare complex". Nothing can be absolute. It cannot be said that because submarine blockade is right, then combining surface ship blockade is wrong.
In mid-to-late December, the vast area occupied by the Ming Army began to be filled with a pre-holiday atmosphere. This holiday is of course Christmas, a long-lost Christmas under Soviet rule. Orthodox churches of all sizes in some villages and towns
The church was originally either demolished or used for other purposes. Now it has been fully restored. Many old Belarusians who are over sixty years old were devout Orthodox Christians in the past. During the Soviet Union, they were all labeled as "
"Religious fanatics" suffered persecution: they were hung up in public, forced to reeducate through labor, made self-examination over and over again against their will, forced to spit on icons and even urinate and defecate...too many people because they could not bear the mental and physical torture,
Either commit suicide or be tortured to death. There were also many particularly pious people who would rather be martyrs than betray their religion, and they were all executed.
Now, these old people are looking at these yellow-skinned and black-haired alien occupying forces, and at the churches and parish organizations that have been restored with the help of these occupying forces, with a lot of thoughts and complicated emotions in their hearts. However, when the long-lost church bells ring,
When it rang over the town, when the long-lost mass hymn reverberated in the church, these old people all cried. Their eyes filled with tears, they cried bitterly, prostrated themselves in front of the statue of the Virgin, prayed over and over again, and confessed over and over again.
, praying to the Lord to forgive me for not being able to worship, pray in public, or wear a cross for so many years...
The power of religion is extremely powerful. At this moment, for many devout Belarusians, in front of the Lord, it doesn’t matter who is the invading army or the domestic army. People have eyes. The Ming army at the moment
Although it is an invading army, it is completely different from the devil-like beast soldiers promoted by the country. Not only do they not commit any atrocities, they are also very good to the people. They give everyone houses, land, and livestock, do not steal food, and allow everyone to use their labor
The results are left behind, free buying and selling is allowed, everyone is allowed to speak as they please, listen to the radio as they please... and more importantly, everyone is allowed to believe in religion.
On December 24, the "Free Russian Provisional Government" was formally established in Khabarovsk. Kerensky served as the head of the government and Denikin served as the commander-in-chief of the army. That night, amid the Christmas Eve hymns, the entire government