In the early morning of the ninth day of February, in the Seto Inland Sea, the waters east of Awaji Island.
The stars in the sky reflected into the sea, and the moonlight was smashed into pieces by the V-shaped bow of the cruiser Lushun in the undulating waves. The more than 5,000-ton hull rose and fell, and the lights on the ship also flickered.
In the bridge, Zhuge Weidao stood at the captain's command position with his hands on the railing, looking out the window at the dark sea, still full of energy.
Although Zhuge Weidao still hasn't thought about how to be a captain, his work attitude is still very good. When it was his turn to be on duty, he would arrive at the bridge in advance and wait patiently for his deputy commander Chen Jian to get off work at that time before taking over the command. Then he stood in the command position with the most upright attitude, as if he was about to go into battle at the next moment. Seeing his attitude, the navigator, signal officer, flag officer, helmsman, communicator, herald, herald, bridge observer, and combat staff, etc. on the bridge did not dare to do anything. After neglecting the situation, everyone mustered up their energy, adopted the same attitude as when the Navy Minister came to inspect, worked hard, and dealt with it carefully.
However, although Zhuge Weidao showed "the appearance of a famous general", he did not take the initiative to issue any military orders. All his military orders were put forward by Captain Wang Wen, chief staff officer, and he was only responsible for nodding and saying "very good".
Well, Zhuge Weidao's captain is really good at being a captain.
With his "self-taught" naval expertise, it would definitely be a joke if he were to replace Wang Wen and become a chief staff officer. But being a captain... I can handle it pretty well!
Of course, Zhuge Weidao also knew his own weight. Therefore, he did not intend to stay with the surface fleet, but had already made an agreement with the Admiralty Minister Zhuge Weiyi, the Naval Chief of Staff Zhuge Wenyong, and the HNA Commander Guan Tianpei. When he accumulates enough maritime qualifications, he will go to the HNA Command to be the chief of staff... Others don't understand HNA matters, so of course he will be an expert. So he arranged for most of the men he brought out from Peshawar to go to HNA early in the morning. HNA would be his territory.
Just when Zhuge Weidao was wondering whether he should "invent" an airplane as soon as possible after arriving at the Hainan Airlines Headquarters, a flash of light suddenly appeared in front of him. He looked up and saw that it was the "Yamato" sent by the Japanese shogunate navy to lead the way for Zhuge Weidao's 10th mission group of the Ming Dynasty's Beiyang Fleet. It was signaling with lights - oh, this "Yamato" is not from another timeline. The "Yamato Hotel" on the ship is a wooden-shell gunboat with a displacement of more than 600 tons.
Four fast boats with speeds of up to 24-28 knots are sailing slowly behind a small wooden boat with a speed of only 10 knots. And that small wooden boat is actually called "Yamato"... This scene is a bit absurd no matter how you look at it. . However, no matter how absurd it was, Zhuge Weidao could only endure it. Because the "mission" of the Tenth Mission Formation this time was actually to send him to Japan to marry the Tokugawa Shogunate. This was a diplomatic mission, so the navigation route had to be arranged by Japan.
"What did that Yamato say?"
Zhuge Weidao read the lantern language for a while, but still didn't understand it, so he asked directly.
"Sir," the signal officer on the bridge immediately replied, "Yamato said that pirate activities have been frequent in the waters near Shikoku Island and Awaji Island recently, so we should be more careful."
Zhuge Weidao was stunned, "Pirate?"
Wang Wen, the chief staff officer at the side, immediately took over the topic and said: "Sir, after the founding of Japan during the Restoration, the pirates and pirates who had disappeared due to seclusion have made a comeback. They are not only active in Japan's inland and offshore seas, but even deep into the Pacific Ocean. There are Japanese pirates even in the Luzon Islands. The most famous ones are the Murakami Navy, the Goto Navy, the Kumano Navy, the Ito Navy, etc. In recent years, there have been pirates such as the Satsuma feudal lord. The Lord’s sea wave fleet and naval army.
According to the investigation of the Naval Intelligence Bureau, behind these Japanese pirates are actually the shogunate and some powerful names. Behind the Murakami Navy is the Choshu Domain Mori clan, the Goto Navy is supported by some powerful vassals in Kitakyushu, and Kumano The navy was supported by the shogunate and the Kishu Tokugawa family, while the Ito navy was a member of the Satsuma Shimazu family. "
"The Tokugawa shogunate and the powerful feudal lords support pirates..." Zhuge Weidao nodded lightly. He "forgot" about this matter. Because it was not an important matter, he never "remembered" it. But he can understand why the Japanese do what they do?
This is following the old wisdom of Queen Elizabeth I of England. When overseas trade and industrialization were hampered by Ming Dynasty, they resorted to such crooked ways... It is indeed a robber country!
Thinking of this, Zhuge Weidao just smiled coldly: "Tell Yamato that if we encounter pirates, my formation will eradicate them for Japan!"
"Yes, sir!"
...
Just when Zhuge Weidao asked his men to light the Yamato wooden gunboat with a displacement of up to 600 tons, four boats with a displacement of 5,000 tons to 1,000 tons were parked on the sea south of the Naruto Strait. A pirate ship, no, more precisely a camouflaged raider ship!
In fact, the main force of Japan's maritime armed forces today is not the Japanese shogunate navy on the surface at all, such as the Shitenno ships, Yamato ships, and Musashi ships (all wooden-hulled gunboats of several hundred tons), and Kongo -class (a Japanese-made wooden-hulled iron-clad cruiser), the Akagi ship, and the Kaga ship (two protected cruisers that have been passed through countless hands). The names sound like they are very powerful, and the total number is thirty or forty. But the actual combat effectiveness is not worth mentioning compared to the Ming Navy, and there is no need for the Beiyang Fleet to take action. If Zhuge Weidao's small 10th mission formation takes part in a naval battle with them, he can be sure of victory!
But the Japanese devils are not the Qing Dynasty that engaged in the Westernization Movement in history. They are not so rule-abiding. The serious navy cannot defeat the Ming Dynasty. They can also use piracy tactics, pirate ships, and disguised attack ships.
The former is a bit casual. Just get any ship, install a few small cannons and a group of rogues who are so poor that they only have "a knife and a life" and start off.
The latter is amazing. They are all disguised warships specially built with the black money earned from being pirates. The shell is made just like a civilian ship, but an armored gun cabin is installed below the deck. As long as the blocking wooden boards are retracted, the 6-inch rapid-fire cannon hidden in the gun cabin can be pushed out and fired!
There are also liftable turrets hidden under the bow and stern decks. As long as the covering deck is opened, the turrets can be raised. In this way, one or two rapid-fire cannons can be used at the bow and stern of the ship.
In addition, the boilers and steam engines used by this kind of camouflaged assault ship are also high-power. When turned on at full speed, the speed of the camouflaged assault ship can reach more than twenty knots!
Not to mention merchant ships, even inferior warships would be able to encounter such attack ships.
This time Shimazu Qi Liang spent all his money in order to ignite the war between Ming Dynasty and Great Britain. Not only did he dispatch his most elite Haitao team, but he also took out four secretly built camouflage attack ships. For the size of Lushun class and Xinchang class, we found two large ships of four to five thousand tons and two small ships of less than one thousand tons.
Even in order to make it look more real, Qi Liang also had people modify the camouflaged assault ship and install fake ship masts. If you look at it when the visibility is not high, it will look like the real thing!
"Sir Saigo, five unknown ships are coming from north to south, traveling at a speed of ten knots. They will pass through the Naruto Strait in about half an hour!"
On the dark bridge of the "Kirigakure Maru", the flagship of four Japanese camouflaged attack ships, a staff officer of the sea wave team dressed like an ordinary merchant ship crew shouted loudly and seemed very excited.
The one-eyed dragon Xixiang nodded heavily: "Yaoxi! Finally here, light the lantern! The rise and fall of the empire can be achieved in one fell swoop! Xixiang Yoshihei Takasuki is willing to work with you all to serve the country for seven lifetimes!"
"Hai!"
