Chapter 7: Blacking Out an American

  Due to the increasing external and internal work and personnel changes of the new government, the puppet president originally held by De Gui was no longer suitable for continuing to hold the highest leadership position in Taiwan. Therefore, on September 8, 1897, Taiwan's first president, De Gui, resigned due to physical problems and stepped down from his position as Taiwan's first president after two and a half years. On the same day, Liu Fei, who had been hiding behind the scenes for eleven years, reluctantly took the stage in the original Taiwan Governor's Office, which was renamed the Presidential Office of Taiwan, and succeeded De Gui as the second President of Taiwan and concurrently served as Minister of National Defense.

  Liu's first move after taking office was to reorganize the Taiwanese government. First, more government departments were established, and their areas of responsibility were clearly defined. This time, a total of six departments were established: the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of National Defense, the Ministry of Civil Affairs, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Ministry of Commerce, and the Ministry of Transportation. Among them, the Ministry of National Defense was originally the General Staff Headquarters, which was divided into three parts: the Army, Navy, and Air Force, with the Air Force being newly established by Liu's order, with a small number of personnel temporarily assigned from the Navy; the Ministry of Internal Affairs was mainly composed of the Shock Troops, divided into two departments: Intelligence and Police. The Ministries of Foreign Affairs, Transportation, and Civil Affairs were also new departments, with personnel still being adjusted, first setting up a framework, and then gradually expanding.

  The entire Taiwan was originally divided into three prefectures, eleven counties, three halls and one state under the Qing government. This time, Liu made some minor changes, changing the three prefectures: Taipei Prefecture, Taiwan Prefecture, and Tainan Prefecture to Taipei, Taichung, and Tainan cities; canceling Danshui County and putting it under the jurisdiction of Taipei City; changing the three halls: Keelung Hall, Penghu Hall, and Puli Township Hall to Keelung City, Penghu County, and merging Puli Township Hall into Taichung City; changing Taitung Directly Controlled State to Taitung County, and also putting the originally unassigned central mountain range of Taiwan under the jurisdiction of Taitung County. In this way, Taiwan became four cities: Taipei City, Keelung City, Taichung City, and Tainan City, and ten counties: I-lan, Hsinchu, Miaoli, Changhua, Yunlin, Chia-yi, Fengshan, Hengchun, Taitung, and Penghu.

  The second half of 1897 passed smoothly amidst the changes, and before the Spring Festival in 1898, Taiwan's intelligence department received a telegram from Hong Kong saying that several American warships were anchored in Hong Kong with unknown intentions. Liu Fei was puzzled upon receiving this message - what were the Americans doing coming to Hong Kong for no reason? Were they after him? But there had been no news from David's side about the US government targeting him.

  To clarify the purpose of the US fleet's visit to Hong Kong, Liu ordered Taiwanese intelligence personnel embedded in Sandrew Pharmaceuticals in Europe, Sandrew Electronics in the United States, and Golden Elephant Pharmacy in Qing China to intensify their collection of information on this matter.

  After more than two months of busy work, Liu Ye received a message from the intelligence department that the United States and Spain had gone to war. The reason was that an American warship, the "Maine", was blown up in Cuba, and after more than a month of wrangling, Spain and the United States declared war on each other on April 24th and 25th respectively.

  In the following days, Cuba, Puerto Rico, Guam and the Philippines all became battlegrounds for the two countries, with local insurgents adding fuel to the fire. Although this war was a struggle between two major powers over overseas colonies, it had nothing to do with Taiwan, but Liu Yubao did not want the United States to win too easily, because the Philippines were too close to Taiwan, and although he could not openly help Spain, he could still cause some trouble behind the scenes.

  Based on intelligence from Hong Kong, the US Asia Fleet set sail southward on April 27, likely heading for the Philippine Sea. Liu then ordered the Second Submarine Flotilla of Taiwan's Navy to dispatch 15 "Tunny-class" submarines to join the submarines that had been tailing the US fleet and follow behind it.

  Due to the presence of foreign technical personnel in many departments, including Taiwan's Ministry of National Defense, this operation was secretly implemented by the Ministry of the Interior. The participating submarines were disguised as going to Ryukyu for surveillance and patrol, and only changed their course after leaving the port. In addition, two cargo ships flying the French flag but actually belonging to Taiwan's Ministry of the Interior also waited in the designated sea area to provide sufficient fuel and supplies to the submarine troops.

  Liu Ye named the operation "Little Lobster", all participating ships and personnel were selected by the Ministry of Internal Affairs, and the contact telegram was also changed to a special cipher used by the Ministry of Internal Affairs.

  According to the analysis of messages from tracking submarines, the US fleet has a total of 4 cruisers and 3 gunboats. The tonnage of the cruisers is slightly larger than that of the San Jacinto, which was sunk earlier. There are also three coal transport ships.

  On May 1, the U.S. fleet sneaked into Manila Bay under cover of night and by luck did not encounter a single mine, quickly slipping into the harbor. After being discovered by the port's batteries, American warships and Spanish harbor defenses exchanged fire.

  "The Americans' gunfire was accurate, the Spanish were not even gunners." This is what Commander Schley of the second torpedo flotilla, which followed the American fleet, said at that time.

  Due to the lax training of the Spanish, almost no shells could hit the American warships. As they watched the Spanish coastal guns being eliminated one by one, Lieutenant Commander Schley decided to help Spain at this moment. What is safer than a surprise attack in the midst of a duel between the two navies?

  Then, the submarine on which Shi Renjie was located locked onto a cruiser that was slowly turning around and launched two torpedoes from about 1100 meters away. More than a minute later, the American cruiser, which had just completed its turn, burst into two brilliant fireballs, followed by multiple large explosions. By the time the explosion's flames and smoke dissipated, the cruiser, with a displacement of approximately 5000 tons, had disappeared from the surface of the sea.

  The remaining American warships were suddenly thrown into confusion, and their formation also deviated. As the saying goes, "disaster does not come alone", it is unknown whether the explosion and sinking of the American warship earlier had boosted the morale of the Spanish defenders, but two consecutive rounds of fire hit the same American gunboat, which immediately caught fire and withdrew from the battle after signaling with flags.

  Shi Renjie remembered the requirements of the order, that is, to strike but not cause too much damage to the fleet. Seeing that the US fleet had already sunk and been injured, Shi Renjie commanded the submarine force to quietly withdraw from Manila Port and hide in a distant place for continued observation.

  The commander of the American fleet was Commodore George Dewey of the United States Navy, a very brave and tenacious fighter. When his own fleet suffered a heavy blow in good condition, "Baltimore" sank, "Concord" was injured and withdrew, General Dewey did not retreat with fear, but continued to command the remaining warships to bombard the Spanish fortifications, and also told the wounded "Concord" to actively rescue itself and quickly join the battle.

  The Spanish had exhausted their good fortune in the early rounds of firing, and thereafter rarely hit the American ships, while the American fleet under Dewey's calm direction gradually gained the upper hand. After nearly two hours' bombardment, they had sunk or destroyed the Spanish warships in the harbor and demolished most of the port's defenses.

  Just as the US fleet finished its bombardment mission and withdrew to anchor outside the port, waiting for the landing troops, Shi Renjie planned to use his old trick again, trying to get rid of another American cruiser. However, before the submarine could even take position, a warning telegram was sent from the outer perimeter submarine: 5 German warships were spotted in the northern waters, heading towards the port.

  "German?" Shi Renjie wondered while commanding the submarine to dive, what are Germans doing here?

  The incoming warship was indeed German, but they were not there to help the Spanish. The Germans had planned that if the Americans were not interested in the Philippines, they would take it for themselves, since Germany did not have any formal colonies in Asia. So, the Germans sent a few warships to check out the situation, who would have thought that the Americans had a strong interest in the Philippines and had already started fighting with the Spanish from afar? The Germans circled around a few times, then reluctantly returned home.

  Due to the delay caused by the Germans, the submarine's underwater time was not enough. Helpless, Shi Renjie had no choice but to let the troops return to the designated location to rendezvous with the cargo ship and replenish fuel before making further plans.

  The submarine squadron quietly withdrew, but the commander of the US fleet, General Dewey, was a belly full of bitter water. Originally, according to plan, they had avoided the mines and entered the port at midnight, unfolding the artillery battle within their own arrangements. Who would have thought that the "Baltimore" suddenly exploded, causing chaos in the fleet, resulting in another gunboat being continuously hit? Although after a fierce battle, they basically eliminated the resistance in Manila Port, these unplanned losses also made Dewey feel headache.

  As for why the "Baltimore" suddenly exploded, Dewey and other officers of the fleet discussed it for half a day, but couldn't quite figure it out, and could only attribute it to the Spanish having good luck, hitting the torpedo in the torpedo tube with a shell, causing an explosion.

  More than 10,000 American troops arrived from San Francisco and successfully landed at Manila Bay, beginning a siege of Manila with the support of the U.S. Navy.

  However, on the night of the landing, another U.S. Navy cruiser, USS Boston, struck a mine and exploded outside the harbor, sinking quickly.

  By this time, the US Navy had completed its task of attacking Manila and supporting the Army's landing, but at great cost. Two heavy cruisers were sunk, one gunboat was heavily damaged, and more than 500 sailors were killed in action.

  No need to ask, the "Boston" explosion was also a good job done by Taiwanese submarines. Since it was at night and no other warships were found attacking, the Americans could only imagine that the "Boston" had bad luck, hitting Spanish mines and triggering the ship's ammunition, resulting in an OVER.