Chapter 28: A Dozen White Bone Spirits (Part 1)

  The Qing government and foreign envoys didn't take Taiwan seriously, while the Japanese were indulging in the joy of victory, busy collecting various spoils of war and reparations. It wasn't until late May that the Japanese remembered they hadn't taken a look at Taiwan yet, so they appointed Admiral Kabayama Sukenori as the first Governor-General of Taiwan, with the "Sei-kyo Maru" cruiser as his flagship, leading over 20 large and small warships, carrying Prince Fushimi Hiroyasu and more than 7,000 Imperial Guards, marching triumphantly towards Taiwan.

  On May 26, the Japanese landing fleet entered Naha Port in Ryukyu for a brief stop to replenish supplies. The Taiwan Waterborne First Submarine Squadron's submarines No. 021 and No. 022, which were patrolling outside the port of Ryukyu, discovered this fleet and immediately rose quietly to the surface, sending out a telegram with a long-wave telegraph announcing the discovery of the Japanese fleet.

  Liu Fei let out a long sigh of relief in the staff room in Keelung after receiving this telegram. After waiting for several months, the truth finally came to light and he no longer had to be woken up by nightmares in the middle of the night. The next task was to give the Japanese a lesson on submarine warfare in the waters near Taiwan. Let them see what it means to be fatal with one blow.

  According to the pre-arranged plan, all combat submarines of the First and Second Submarine Flotillas began to gather near Yonaguni Island in the northeastern corner of Taiwan Island. The torpedo boat squadrons rushed to nearby hiding points to hide.

  Liu's plan was to have the submarines lie in wait in the middle of the waters between the Ryukyu Islands and Taiwan, a stretch of over 100 kilometers wide, where many torpedo boats could hide. More than 30 submarines would receive location information from Japanese fleet sent back by submarines following the Japanese landing fleet, and adjust the position of the ambush site accordingly. Meanwhile, more than 50 torpedo boats would lie in wait nearby, waiting for the Japanese landing fleet to enter the ambush circle half an hour before the attack, then speed towards the ambush circle, and after the submarines launched their attack, take advantage of the chaos to launch torpedoes at the Japanese landing fleet, striving to expand the results of the battle.

  To prepare for this day, Liu Yubing racked his brains and formulated this strategy with the help of retired German naval officers and former Huai Army naval commanders. If the ambush position was suitable and the submarines and torpedo boats cooperated without any problems, the staff believed that they should be able to heavily attack the Japanese fleet. At least those slow-moving Japanese landing ships, coal ships, and old-fashioned steamships would not be able to escape. As for whether the remaining few Japanese cruisers could be sunk, there was no guarantee, after all, this kind of thing had never been done before, and there was nowhere to learn from experience and lessons, only relying on paper estimates.

  Perhaps it was the will of heaven that allowed Liu to complete this design, a plan for large-scale submarine warfare that had been in preparation for several years. When the Japanese landing fleet left Naha 10 hours later on May 29th, the wind picked up and moderate rain began to fall. The Japanese landing fleet had to slow down to 10 knots to accommodate the old-fashioned steamships, and to avoid collisions, they adopted a double-column formation, increasing the distance between ships.

  In the command tower of "Saikyo Maru", the flagship of the Japanese landing fleet, 58-year-old Shigenori Kuroda, the new Governor-General of Taiwan and a General in the Imperial Japanese Navy, was chatting with Prince Norihisa Kitashirakawa, Commander of the Imperial Guard Division, who sat beside him.

  Kazunomiya Saneyuki was also on board this converted cruiser during the Battle of the Yalu River, where he served as Chief of the Japanese Navy General Staff. The ship was hit 12 times by the Beiyang Fleet but fortunately none of the shells caused significant damage or casualties due to their low power.

  This time, Katsura Tarō was promoted to Vice Admiral and went to Taiwan to take up the post of first Governor-General of Taiwan. He chose this "lucky ship" again, but from the moment he set sail in the evening, his naval instincts kept disturbing him, making him restless, feeling that something bad was going to happen.

  "Kazuyama-kun, you seem a bit tense. What's worrying you?" Prince Kitashirakawa Nagahisa asked with a smile, sipping his tea from the side.

  "Your Highness, I have no worries. Whether Taiwan is independent or not makes no difference to us. The Great Japanese Empire can triumph in Lushun and Weihai, so taking Taiwan would be a trivial matter."

  "Can't we speed up a bit? This is getting a bit too slow, I'm itching to conquer that beautiful island." The prince seemed visibly excited.

  "The waves are a bit big and our fleet has some old ships that can't go any faster." Hiyama Kiyoshi replied helplessly.

  "This time the Qing people's indemnity should be enough to build many new ships, you should be happy." Prince Kitashirakawa Yoshihisa continued to encourage the Admiral.

  "That's right, we should be happy...". Hikayama Motonari's emotions rose a lot as he mentioned this victory, and for the time being, put aside that annoying sensitivity, picked up his tea cup, and lightly clinked it with Shinpuku.

  Just as the two people were chatting, a small wave was stirred up on the surface of the sea not far behind the fleet, and a small iron pipe emerged from the sea. Immediately afterwards, several black thick iron wires also rose up. An invisible electromagnetic wave was transmitted through these iron wires to a distant place.

  On the morning of May 30, more than 20 ships of the Japanese landing fleet were lined up in two columns, advancing at a speed of 10 knots. After a few hours, they would reach their destination. The wind and rain had subsided somewhat, but the long sea journey was still a torment for the army. The air inside the ship's cabin was thick and almost palpable. Soldiers on board the transport ships came up to the deck in groups of three or five to get some fresh air and smoke. No one noticed that far out at sea, many small black dots were slowly moving.

  Underwater, dozens of huge black bodies are slowly and silently swimming. If viewed from the sky, to the south of the Japanese landing fleet, dozens of black shadows form an L-shape, semi-encircling the fleet. As the fleet advances, those shadows are also slowly adjusting their formation, with the encirclement getting closer and smaller.

  Kasumi Arimura, a naval commander, stood outside the command tower, leaning against the railing and gazing out at the northern sea. Faintly, he seemed to see some white waves in the distance, which, based on his experience as an old sailor, were not normal sea waves.

  Kazuki Hasuyama picked up the binoculars, stuck them to his eyes, and looked for only a few seconds before turning around and rushing into the command tower, shouting "Enemy ship!" The command tower immediately fell into an uproar, with ear-piercing whistles blowing from the Seikyo Maru.

  "Damn it, the torpedo boat came too early, never mind, we'll attack first." In Submarine No. 005, Wu Mingxue, the commander of the First Submarine Squadron, cursed and gave the order to attack while looking through the periscope.

  "1, 2 torpedoes ready... Fire!!!" With the fire control officer's command, the submarine shook slightly and then returned to calm. Everyone in the command room was looking at the captain, while Wu Mingxue was stuck to the periscope, staring intently at the target ship.

  "10 seconds... 5 seconds... 1 second". The fire control officer held a stopwatch in his hand and reported the distance of the torpedo and the target.

  "Hit!!!! Left torpedo, slow speed one quarter, aim at the ship behind!!!!!". Wu Mingxue shouted loudly on the periscope. The shock and roar from the water confirmed the captain's words, and the crowd in the command room cheered while executing the next command.