afterglow

Chapter 254 The meaning of resistance; mines!Mine!
When one's own country is facing invasion, and the opponent is far stronger than oneself, and resistance is almost impossible to succeed, the attitudes of ordinary people, soldiers, officers, and powerful people are obviously very different.

The situation that the Japanese are now facing is far more desperate than that of the Chinese at the same time in history, because they have no strategic depth at all. If they choose to resist, the war is doomed to failure from the very beginning.

Even though this is hopeless, it doesn't mean that everyone will choose to give up shrewdly.

The First Division was compiled in Tokyo, code-named "Jade", so it can be called the Tokyo Division and the Jade Division, and it has two brigades, the First and the Second.

The Third Wing of the Second Brigade stationed in the suburbs led the mutiny, with the intention of forcing the cabinet to change its attitude and resist resolutely instead of being captured.

More than 900 officers and soldiers participated in the mutiny, and their original intentions were different.

Some people think that surrender without resistance is an insult to their integrity as warriors and tarnish the honor of the family; some people think that only tenacious resistance can make the Ming people face up to the Yamato clan, so that they can win a better end in the future.

Soon, the Guards Division, which went to suppress the mutiny, started an exchange of fire with it.

The rebels of the third regiment chanted slogans, and actually dissuaded the Guards Division from intercepting, and some people even joined them.

The nearly doubled number of rebels managed to reach the Capitol and confronted the [-]th Guards Wing defending the place.

Although the latter continued to have soldiers deserting secretly, the establishment was still in place, and five Worsley armored vehicles were in the formation.

The rebels, who lacked heavy weapons, knew that they were invincible, so they did not launch an attack. Instead, they set up a few loudspeakers to continuously promote their claims.

The two sides fell into a stalemate. Some other units of the Guards Division chose to disobey orders, and some chose to work slowly. A squadron of the Second Guards Regiment simply shot into the sky.

In this chaotic situation, dozens of rebels disguised themselves as civilians, sneaked near the Prime Minister's residence, and then collectively changed into military uniforms and took out weapons.

They quickly subdued the guards of the official residence, and controlled the Prime Minister Yamane Masatoshi who had just undergone surgery and was still recuperating at home.

Yamane Masari coughed, waved his hand to make his wife back away, and then tried to speak: "You...what do you want?"

Facing the old man and old woman sitting on the tatami in front of him, the chief major bowed and said, "Your Excellency, I am sorry to disturb you so presumptuously, but the situation is so urgent that we have to do so."

"Do you want me to agree to defend to the end?"

"For the sake of Japan's future, we must not give up resistance easily. That will only make Ming people despise us. We know that we will not win in the end, but fighting will prove our bravery and bloodiness. At least they will not dare to treat us as slaves in the future..."

The emotional major babbled a lot, and was interrupted many times by the Prime Minister's coughing, but finally let him finish.

There was a long silence in the room, and the shouts of the Second Guards Regiment who came to relieve the siege came from outside. They demanded that the rebels occupying the prime minister's mansion surrender immediately.

In the end, Yamane Masatoshi let out a long sigh, looked up into the Major's eyes, and said calmly: "Children, if you think it's right, then do it. It's just that this cannot be released in an official name, and the cabinet still has to express Obedience, at most acquiescing to your resistance."

Several other officers in the room became restless, which obviously did not achieve their purpose.

But the major raised his hand to signal them not to be impatient, and then bowed deeply.

"Thank you, Your Excellency, we will do our best." After speaking, he turned and walked out of the room with his saber in his hand.

The gloomy sky finally moved, and there seemed to be brilliance shining in the dark gray clouds.

The sound of thunder was very slight, not much louder than the gunshots during the previous exchange of fire. Soon, light rain began to fall.

Six hours later, the mutiny riot finally subsided.

The Japanese imperial court formally responded to Ming's ultimatum, expressing that it would not resist the Ming army and welcomed Wang Shi to visit Dongying.But at the same time, they also reminded that there are some volunteers who insist on resisting, which may cause some troubles for Master Wang's takeover.

The Guards Division and the First Division received a joint order from the cabinet, the Army Ministry, and the General Staff Headquarters—all troops gave up any weapons except pistols and sabers, and collectively went to Ashikaga City to stand by and wait for the Ming army to come to take over.

At the same time, they secretly asked all troops not to punish and arrest deserters.The Metropolitan Police Department also has to acquiesce in the propaganda of "certain people".

In two days, as many as 2 active-duty officers, retired officers, reservists, reservists, and civilians volunteered to participate in the resistance, and the number is still growing at a rate of hundreds every day.

Kano Kuigo resigned from the position of Minister of War, asked himself to be stripped of his military status, and then organized a resistance army in his own name-the Bravely Defending Turk Army.

The resistance army was organized into four detachments, each directly under the jurisdiction of five infantry brigades and a mountain artillery brigade, as well as engineering squadrons, search squadrons, and communication squadrons, with a total of 6000 people.

Detachments are also called by the surnames of their commanders, namely Matsumoto Detachment, Shimizu Detachment, Fujiwara Detachment, and Takahashi Detachment.

Since the Guards Division and the First Division were ordered to put down their weapons and go to Ashikaga City to wait, these weapons and equipment were naturally brought by the Resistance Army, which allowed them to gather all kinds of weapons.

In fact, the bigger problem facing the Resistance Army now is the lack of sufficient reserve personnel. Although many people actively participated in the first two days, not many people were willing after that.

At least the willing people in the Tokyo area have basically come, and if they want to recruit volunteers, they have to go to other counties and cities, but there is too little time-the Ming army fleet only needs two and a half days, and the slowest is only three days.

It can be said that the resistance army is racing against time. Because of the existence of the public concession in Tokyo, the great powers do not allow the Japanese to build defense facilities around it. within the allowed range.

Therefore, the Resistance Army must race against time to dig defense lines and build fortifications.

The "high-end" equipment such as bulldozers and excavators is only a few in the Guards Division and the First Division, which is not enough at all, so the resistance army can only rely on manpower to work hard day and night.

Dig, keep digging, dig more dirt!

On the ninth day of March, the weather in the Kanto region can be described as bright and clear, with a pleasant wind.

The Jiazi [-] special mission fleet temporarily organized for this mission came to the Uraga Waterway, which is the only way to enter Tokyo Bay.

Unlike the army units on freighters or landing ships, the marine regiment, as the son of the navy, naturally has special treatment. They are directly carried by battleships and aircraft carriers such as Yongping, Zhanghe, and Tianshi Zuoyuan.

The Ming Navy’s naming method for aircraft carriers should obviously be completely changed. At first, like other countries in the world, the Ming people did not realize that the naval warfare model would usher in earth-shaking changes. They just regarded aircraft carriers as experimental new weapons, thinking that the number would not be large. many.

Therefore, the naming given to the aircraft carrier is also very lofty-it is directly named Xingyuan, and the carrier-based fleet it carries is named after the stars under Xingyuan.

The Tianshiyuan class is the latest level, with a total of two ships, belonging to medium-sized aircraft carriers, with a double-layer hangar, a straight-through flight deck, three elevators, a standard displacement of 29 tons, six heavy oil boilers and two steam turbines, Two-shaft propulsion, the maximum output power is [-] horsepower, and the maximum speed is [-] knots.

This time, the Tianshi Zuoyuan was incorporated into the Jiazi [-] Special Mission Fleet. The fighter fleet she carried was code-named "Song", the torpedo fleet was code-named "Nanhai", and the dive bomber fleet was code-named "Yan". , The reconnaissance fleet is code-named "Donghai".

From Zhou Changfeng's point of view, this is obviously not enough. If there is a Pacific war in the future, things like aircraft carriers will have to make dumplings. How can a few stars be enough?

Although the name of Xingyuan is quite compelling, but I am afraid that I have to change my thinking, for example, to use the name of Xingguan?

The huge fleet is like entering an uninhabited territory. On the way through the Uraga Waterway, foreign ships flying various national flags can be encountered from time to time. Cruise ships flying the Stars and Stripes and cargo ships flying the Union flag abound.

"Boom boom boom——"

The roaring sound of cannons came from not far away, it was a French destroyer, which was not too much to watch, firing salutes.

Along the way, the fleet officers and soldiers saw at least four or five foreign warships, such as the light cruiser HMS Aurora flying the flag of the Royal Navy, the gunboat Panay flying the flag of the U.S. Navy, and the Novi ship flying the flag of the Tsarist Russian Navy. Destroyer K.

Most of the soldiers of the Ming army would not think of empathizing and thinking about it. Naturally, they didn't feel it, but Zhou Changfeng was deeply touched by this situation.

This is the cruel nature of the era of imperialism—the strong prey on the weak, the weak will be divided up, and humiliation is inevitable.

After crossing the waterway, the sea area in front suddenly became clear, which meant that the fleet had entered Tokyo Bay.

After sighing for a while, Zhou Changfeng returned to the cabin and called a meeting of officers from various ministries.

Since it has been learned that a volunteer unit called "Bravely Defending the Turk Army" suddenly appeared in the local area, it may resolutely resist the landing of the Ming army.

In order to ensure completeness, the Second Army responded immediately, and Nie Quan ordered the divisions to disperse and land according to the predetermined plan.

After confirming the combat arrangement again, everyone chatted for a while.

Fan Qijin, the battalion commander of the third battalion, sighed: "Knowing that you will lose, you still choose to resist. In terms of integrity and morality, it is worthy of respect."

"This is to show their bloodliness, so that they will not be treated as slaves in the future." Zhao Hanfeng shrugged with a normal expression, "To put it bluntly, this is to prove the value of their whole country with their lives."

Zhou Changfeng lit a match, lit a cigarette, took a deep breath, and said: "When I was in Spain, the commander-in-chief said, 'If the war must be lost but still fight to the end, it is to defend dignity and preserve A sliver of will to fight, and to give up without resistance means true death'."

There was a brief silence in the cabin, and everyone was savoring this sentence.

Han Yi, the captain of the reconnaissance team, broke the silence, "Although they are not of my race, their morality is commendable. Let's kill them all. If that's the case, the rest should be meek."

"Hiss... I'm starting to worry about what I've said," Zhu Lishuo shook his head slightly, and said with disgust, "I'm afraid I'm going to be disturbed by these unwilling resistance forces."

"The key is to expel the Western forces." Xie Wancheng said carelessly: "The Dongying Islands are really worthless. Who will raise the tens of millions of poor people? In my opinion, it is good to continue to maintain such a separatist regime. Resist? Then Use Japanese to control Japanese."

After half an hour.

The fleet has penetrated deep into Tokyo Bay, with Funabashi City directly in front and Kawasaki City on the left.

Four [-]-type carrier-based dive bombers took off from the Tianshi Zuoyuan to perform reconnaissance missions to the landing area; the freighters and landing ships carrying the [-]th and [-]th Divisions began to leave the fleet, followed by some minesweepers and destroyers Thereafter, the course is directed to the respective landing points.

At 12:37 noon, the coastline was getting closer and closer, and the city of Tokyo could already be clearly seen through the telescope. The Marine Regiment had already had lunch in advance and was ready for battle.

Combat breaks out inadvertently, often as a sudden accident that makes people realize that they are in the middle of a war.

Although those old ships were strictly controlled and moored at the Kawasaki Wharf, some naval officers and soldiers who followed the brave defenders still managed to get a batch of mines, torpedoes, and speedboats.

From the early hours of yesterday to the present, they used civilian ships and speedboats to plant more than 300 large or small sea mines on the main channel entering and leaving Kawasaki, with the intention of delaying the Ming army's landing operations.

Because the weather was fine and the visibility was excellent, the destroyer Tongling at the forefront of the squadron noticed something strange on the sea surface—the ball floating shallowly on the sea surface with tentacles sticking out.

"Mine!!!"

"Double cars drive in reverse! The left rudder is full!"

"Signal light!"

The two four-blade propellers with a diameter of [-] meters that were rotating clockwise quickly slowed down, and then gradually began to rotate in the opposite direction, and the rudder was also deflected to the maximum angle.

The track of Tongling drew a graceful arc on the sea, and successfully avoided the old British MkII [-]-pound mine ahead.

However, things are unpredictable. After leaving the channel and evading at a large angle, the Tongling still hit a Japanese-made 12-year-old mine on the side.

One of the lead tentacles was bent and deformed by the collision, and the glass tube filled with electrolyte solution was instantly broken, and the electrolyte solution connected the carbon rod and the zinc rod, thus, a current with a voltage of about one volt detonated the electric detonator.

"boom!"

250 kilograms of TNT explosives were detonated instantly, and a group of white waves more than 20 meters high burst out on the sea.

The extremely incompressible nature of water caused the shock wave of the underwater explosion to be much stronger than that in the air, and the entire bow of the Tongling was blown off, like a beheaded person.

The bow of the ship sank rapidly at a speed that could be seen by the naked eye. The sailors on the artillery positions on both sides were doused with cold water by the splash of the explosion, some glass was also shattered, and everyone was staggered due to the violent shock.

Haven't you already avoided the mines ahead? !What's happening here? !

After they stabilized their bodies and regained their senses, they suddenly found that the bow of the ship had disappeared, and only the waves were left.The twisted and deformed steel plates and pipelines at the fractures are gnawing at each other, and there are countless sundries and debris floating on the sea surface.

"Close the watertight door!"

"Damage management team!"

(End of this chapter)