Chapter 33 Yamamoto's Last Words

  "Alas... With this kind of moral character, this level of ability, they dare to be the world's third-largest navy? How humiliating." On the side of the water under the crossfire of the warships, Commander Gao Jian-gong of Taiwan's first submarine squadron was lying on the periscope, slapping his head and stomping his feet. He had thought that by helping the Russians sink a Japanese battleship, they would cause chaos in the Japanese fleet and Japan would lose another battleship, making it 6 to 3, allowing the Russians and Japanese to be evenly matched for a while. But who would have thought that the Japanese would fight desperately, causing the Russians to suffer heavy casualties, not only disrupting their formation but also sacrificing their own destroyers.

  "Captain, shall we take another look? The Japanese cruiser opposite us has raised its command flag again."

  "Wait a bit, if we cripple the Japanese, they might just run back to their ports. This doesn't meet Minister Liu's requirements." The minister in Gao Jian-gong's words was Liu Jie, who not only served as Taiwan's second president but also concurrently held the position of Defense Minister.

  Underwater, the excitement is more urgent than the surface, the Japanese saw the torpedo attack was effective, not only gained valuable adjustment time for the battleship formation, but also sank several Russian destroyers by the way. Seeing that it was good to stop, they immediately turned left and withdrew from the attacking distance, 2 kilometers away, slowly parallel to the Russian battleships. The Russians were scattered after being surprised by a salvo of torpedoes, and wasted no time in reorganizing their line of battle, seeing the Japanese following far behind, so they did not take the initiative to attack, but only stared at each other across the sea surface with the Japanese battleships.

  The battleship fleet on this side is temporarily in a peaceful state, while on the other side of the battlefield, tens of kilometers away, dozens of large and small cruisers from Japan and Russia have been fighting fiercely for some time. The Russian cruisers have a larger tonnage and more intense firepower, but the Japanese cruisers are smaller in number, yet numerous. Both sides are exchanging blows, with one sinking another, and after nearly two hours of chaotic battle, there is still no clear winner. However, according to reports from Taiwanese submarines monitoring underwater, both sides have suffered significant casualties: 11 Russian cruisers have only 5 left with intact combat capability, while the rest are either engulfed in flames or severely damaged, with little fighting power remaining; Japan's more than 20 cruisers have lost nearly half, and the remaining ones are all damaged. However, the Japanese Navy is becoming increasingly frenzied as they fight on, with two old-fashioned cruisers choosing to ram into Russian warships to meet their demise together.

  The naval battle, which began at 2 pm, continued until dusk, as the sun gradually fell below the horizon. The officers and men on both sides were exhausted and withdrew from the battlefield without prior agreement, regrouping behind their respective warships to begin a mid-game rest.

  Night began to slowly fall on the Strait of Malacca, and the Taiwanese submarines underwater had already departed in batches from the battlefield, surfacing far away to recharge and ventilate, resting well before rushing back to continue monitoring the movements of the Japanese and Russian fleets.

  The Russians are clearly exhausted and frightened, with only 6 of the 8 battleships that set out from Vietnam remaining, and two of them have crew members who are emotionally unstable and on the verge of collapse; more than 10 heavy cruisers are left with only 4 intact, the rest either sunk or burning on the surface; the destroyer squadron is even worse off, having made two unsuccessful torpedo attacks at the beginning of the war to delay the Japanese battleships' advance, but instead being sunk several times, and later attempting to intercept Japanese destroyers, only to be sold out by their own battleship big brothers, now the Russian destroyer squadron is basically crippled, with only a few surviving destroyers unable to organize a decent attack due to their small numbers, and can only follow behind the battleships for defensive rescue work.

  Japan didn't fare much better, the fleet commander went down with his flagship and exploded in the sea, Shikishima was also hit in her magazine and blew up, now the Japanese Combined Fleet only has 3 battleships and 7 badly damaged cruisers left, but they have a slight advantage over the Russians in terms of destroyers, having 11 destroyers and some torpedo boats.

  Nobogatov, the acting commander of the Russian fleet, looked at the cards in his hand and thought that if he couldn't lead the fleet to Vladivostok, regardless of whether Rozhdestvensky was dead or alive, he would not be able to escape being taken back to Russia for trial. After a day of fierce battle with the Japanese, he had a good understanding of the strength and madness of the Japanese Navy, and it was basically impossible to win this sea battle with the remaining warships in his hand. Now all he wanted to do was to take advantage of the night, shake off the Japanese fleet, and move towards Vladivostok.

  The acting commander of the Japanese Combined Fleet, Rear Admiral Mitsuru, was also counting his losses against the Russians, and he looked worried. The remaining warships were the only maritime force left to the Empire, and if the Russians broke through, there would be no peace around Japan's seas from now on. After all, Russia's national strength was much greater than Japan's, and in terms of recovery speed, even if the Japanese didn't eat or drink, they couldn't keep up with the Russian shipbuilding speed. However, if he fought the Russians to the death with his remaining fleet, Rear Admiral Mitsuru also had no confidence in winning. As the saying goes, "Don't chase a wounded enemy", and now the Russian fleet was like a black bear that was almost home, although it was heavily injured, but being bitten once could be fatal.

  "Commander, Major Taisha has come to. He has a message for you. He says it's General Yamamoto's last words." Just as Sanada was hesitating, the chief of staff who had entered through the door walked up to him and whispered something in his ear.

  "Please, Lieutenant Commander Koyamai, come in. Everyone else, out. I'd like to have a word with Lieutenant Koyamai." Three Whiskers said calmly after exchanging a glance with the Chief of Staff and receiving his affirmative nod.

  "Commander, I am Lieutenant Commander Sanada of the Mikasa, and I'm ashamed to say that we failed to protect you. General Yamamoto had us bring a message to you as he was being attacked on board the Mikasa." A naval officer with one arm and his head wrapped in bandages walked into the command tower, gave a salute to Admiral Nagumo, and spoke in a low voice.

  "Kokoro-kun, no need to apologize. The Mikasa and General Yamamoto were both sacrifices for the Empire. What does the general want to tell me?" Sanzu sat upright in his chair, looking seriously at the young man across from him.

  "The general told us a few people present at the time that if there were any survivors, they must inform the Japanese military department that the Mikasa was not sunk by Russian warship cannons, but was attacked by Taiwanese naval submarines. The general also said that we should avenge the prince and Count Tōgō, and be careful of Taiwanese submarines."

  "What? A Taiwanese submarine! Are you sure? How can there be a Taiwanese submarine here?" Sanzu was shocked by Shōsa's words and stood up from his seat, grabbing the other's shoulder to ask.

  "Ugggh... Yes, General. That's what Admiral Yamamoto said. The lookout on the Mikasa spotted the torpedo tracks coming from the port side of the fleet, but it was too late. Those torpedoes were too fast, and the Mikasa couldn't avoid them. I was standing next to the commander at the time, and I saw the torpedo trails in the water myself... they were incredibly fast... at least 30 knots..."

  "Hmph...!" San Xiu listened to the end, kicked the chair behind him in a fit of rage, and walked back and forth in the command tower with his hands behind his back. As he walked, he muttered to himself:

  "Submarine... submarine... So it was this thing that sank the Prince and Togo, what a waste, the Imperial Navy is really not worth it..."