Travel through the Qing Dynasty and become emperor

Chapter 402 Visiting Tokyo with a Warship
Therefore, Arai Yuki decisively ordered the sinking.The newly installed six-inch fast gun quickly sent out the projectiles, continuously splashing water around the Beibing torpedo boat.It was still too late to give the order. The torpedo boat Bei C had already rushed to the inner harbor, and dozens of ships in the guard fleet were slowly starting to leave the port to pursue the Chinese fleet.The Fusang can no longer fire. With a poor hit rate, it is very likely to hit your own friendly ships if you fire rashly.

Sink him!As a soldier, Ito Yuheng must have his own burden.So after the entire fleet left the Fusang to deal with the Beibing, all the other dozen or so warships set sail and headed for the southern waters.

Under such circumstances, the Beibing had to abandon the ship and go ashore. More than 210 crew members abandoned the [-]-ton small torpedo boat and landed at the berth. For safety reasons, Fuso was not attacked by artillery fire.However, after more than forty Chinese marines landed, they were immediately surrounded by land security forces and faced off.

The fleet sailed south, and after sailing for more than half an hour, the fleet was about to turn left and enter the Osumi Strait, where the last news of the Chinese fleet was received.Yuto Ito never left the telegraph, and he was full of anxiety at this moment. Even the fleet passing by his hometown, Kagoshima, did not calm him down.

Standing on the bridge of the Nagasaki Port, Gonbei Yamamoto looked helplessly in the direction of Kagoshima, and sighed in his heart. If the Chinese were to cause any harm to Tokyo, not only his own life would be lost, but even the top boss Ito Yuheng will inevitably die.

With a feeling of apprehension, he ordered the guard fleet to head east, but he never saw any Chinese fleet ahead.This made Ito very puzzled. The main force of this Chinese formation is two ironclad ships whose speed is far behind that of his own cruiser formation.It stands to reason that in any case, the opponent's warship can be intercepted before entering Tokyo Bay.Yamamoto has already made preparations for the battle. As for the outcome of the battle, it depends on the blessing of God Amaterasu.

After chasing for a while, there was still no result. At this time, the guard fleet had crossed Shikoku Island, and Koben Port was in front of them, but there was still no trace of the enemy.

not good.I fell into the trick of diverting the tiger away from the mountain!Such a terrible thought flashed through Gonbei Yamamoto's mind, the damned Chinese must have gone back from Tanegashima or Yakushima somewhere!He looked up at the sky, and decisively ordered to return.

After several hours of returning to the voyage, it was already evening, and the sunset glowed red, reflecting the sea in the west. From the eyes of the naval soldiers who got nothing, it looked more like a raging flame burning in the Nagasaki Sasebo Naval Port.

Everyone was anxiously waiting for the verdict of fate.Gonbei Yamamoto breathed a sigh of relief until the evening sun presented the intact Sasebo Port in front of them.After docking, Kozo Tsuboi, the commander of the Sasebo Naval Port, notified Yamamoto of the arrest of the Chinese torpedo boat Bei C. All 43 members of the military port confronted the land security personnel with weapons. However, the security personnel in the port did not dare to use force to arrest them.After a while, the Chinese marines returned to the boat unharmed, and swaggered away from the port, heading west, presumably back to China.

Gonbei Yamamoto thought it over and over again, and repeatedly deliberated with Tsuboi Kozo, but they didn't understand what the Chinese were up to.In the end, it was concluded that the Chinese did not have any special purpose for Nagasaki Port. Perhaps, they were just playing with the garrison fleet.Yamamoto twisted his fist a little angrily, and said to Tsuboi Kozo with a mocking smile: "If this can relieve the Chinese, the Garrison Fleet will accept it. As long as it doesn't bring trouble to Tokyo, the Garrison Fleet will accept such an insult." worthy."

"Your Excellency, Commander, we want to buy a new ship." Kozo Hirai was equally depressed, and after sighing weakly, he said to Yamamoto: "The Chinese navy is completely superior to the big navy. If Tokyo doesn't buy big ships and new ships, China will only buy new ships." With just two ironclad ships, the Great Empire can be attacked by a nightmare. Perhaps, we will see this nightmare again tomorrow."

"Send a telegram to Tokyo and report the latest news to General Ito." Yamamoto let out a long breath, and he didn't even have a trace of strength in his fingers.

Indeed, these two outdated ironclad ships in China have become a nightmare. After this day, when the garrison fleet in Nagasaki Port completely gave up strategic cruising and was preparing to fully deal with the harassing Chinese fleet, the Chinese naval formation They didn't come to visit, and went straight to the east from the Osumi Strait. The whole ship raised the banner of battle, and went straight to Tokyo Bay from the channel between Honshu Island and the Izu Islands.Three dragon flags are hoisted on the flagship, which means that there are senior officials on board.

A Chinese naval formation consisting of 21 ships is docking in Tokyo Bay. Since the black ship attack, no one has ever seen such a dense foreign fleet. Anyone who dares to block or symbolically use coastal defense batteries to fire.

The two 260mm cannons mounted on the left and right sides of the flagship ship pointed directly at Tokyo. People who could not see the intentions of the Chinese quickly passed the news to Saigo, the commander of the naval garrison in charge of the defense of Tokyo Bay. Tentative The only Sanjing Ship 270 that was able to approach the Chinese warship slightly closer to the Chinese warship was the Itsukushima with a displacement of [-] tons (the third Qiaoli was under construction), and at the same time, it raised flags to reprimand the Chinese fleet for invading territorial waters barbaric behavior.

Not long after, Xixiang saw the semaphore issued by the other party from the road: the chief of the Chinese navy wants to meet with high-level officials, and there are important matters to be negotiated, and the pilot will immediately enter the berth.If you refuse, it will be regarded as disrespectful to the emperor of China, and it will be a declaration of war!

When Xixiang looked at it from the road, his nose was crooked. It was the first time he had seen someone rushing to another person's door for a forced meeting, but at this moment he was out of control. It may be said that the Sino-Japanese naval battle will start, and the location of this battle is at the door of the emperor's house, Tokyo Bay.He didn't dare to make a private decision, and immediately reported the situation to Yuheng Ito.

"Trash! A bunch of rubbish!" Anger, helplessness, frustration, and loss, Ito Yuheng had mixed feelings in his heart at this time. It seems that as a soldier, it is not enough to have dreams, the key is to have strength.He reported the news to Emperor Meiji with a lot of lawsuits in his head.Meiji's reaction was similar to Ito's initial reaction, followed by a storm of cursing.After cursing, Meiji shook his head in frustration and said, "Let Hirobumi Ito arrange it."

Ito Yutei was about to turn around and leave when Meiji stopped him suddenly. "Slow down, remember, no matter under any circumstances, you can't do anything that damages the dignity of the great empire. Otherwise, I will definitely not let you go!"

After receiving the order from the supreme officer, Saigo ordered the Itsukushima to pilot the Chinese warship, and fired a [-]-gun salute to welcome it.

Under the guidance of the Itsukushima, the Chinese fleet arrived at the port of Tokyo Bay one after another, and the small Tokyo Bay was crowded. After hearing the news, Prime Minister Ito Hirobumi, Minister of Commerce Mutsu Munemitsu and Minister of the Navy Yutou Ito were at the pier Greetings, when the preparations for the ceremony were completed, a man dressed in the uniform of a senior officer of the Chinese Navy stepped off the battleship under the protection of a group of guards, smiled and hugged Ito Hirobumi, and talked and laughed happily, not at all like the enemies of the two countries look.Only Ito Yuheng and a few other high-ranking officials were left wondering.

Ito Hirobumi turned around and introduced to Ito and others: "This is the chief instructor of the Chinese Weihai Navy, His Excellency Ye Zugui."

When Ito heard this, he was immediately in awe. He had heard of the name of General Ye a long time ago. Ye Zugui was selected to study at the Royal Naval Academy in Greenwich, England.Later, he went to practice on the "Solak Perin" warship, sailed in the Mediterranean, Atlantic, and Pacific Oceans, and was familiar with the art of attack and defense at sea. After returning from his studies, Guan Zhiren was transferred to the Beiyang Navy's "Zhenyuan" ship to take the lead. The chief instructor of the Beiyang Navy, the British Lang Weili, once praised Ye Zugui as the "champion of the whole army" and later participated in the Sino-French naval battle , Sino-British naval battles, Sino-Russian naval battles, sunk countless enemy ships, and won the appreciation and respect of the Admiralty Liu Buchan and the emperor.

Many of the textbook battles that Ye Zugui once commanded have become compulsory subjects in the Naval Academy.

Sometimes Youheng Ito often wonders why so many outstanding commanders are concentrated in China. In comparison, they are not inferior in terms of military theory and combat experience. talent.

Ye Zugui and Ito Hirobumi are old acquaintances. They have met on diplomatic occasions many times. Although they don't have any friendship, at least they are acquaintances, and Ye Zugui even visited abroad in those years.After expressing the joy of coming again, Ye Zugui talked about the history of Sino-Japanese friendship and other words at length, and finally Ito Hirobumi managed to find an opportunity to interject and say: "I really didn't expect that Your Excellency would pay a sudden visit." Tokyo is not ready to welcome you, it is really against diplomatic etiquette, sorry, sorry"

Ito Hirobumi is worthy of being a veteran in the diplomatic arena, and his words are impeccable. On the surface, he expressed his welcome to Ye Zugui, but what he said clearly expressed his great dissatisfaction with the brazen invasion of Chinese warships into territorial waters.

Ye Zugui couldn't hear the other party's subtext, he smiled and said: "A few days ago, a friend visited my country's Bird Harbor without notice, so you should be mentally prepared for this personal visit."

One sentence between Ye Zugui's conversation and laughter caused Ito Hirobumi to hit a nail that was neither soft nor hard. He was slightly stunned and then laughed: "I won't gossip anymore, please come to my office for a seat."

Ye Zugui cupped his fists and said, "I was going to disturb you."

(End of this chapter)