Chapter 35: Taiwan is going to war
At 5:11 on the morning of May 28, all 30 submarines that had successfully infiltrated Sasebo Harbor were in position to attack. Their targets were more than 10 Japanese naval cruisers and destroyers moored at the military port wharf and berths. Many of these warships had escaped from the Battle of Tsushima and returned not long ago, so many ships had not yet docked to transport wounded officers and soldiers.
"10... 8... 3... 2... 1... Launch!" From the command boat lurking in the military port, Gao Jian-gong gave the attack order while looking at his watch. Almost simultaneously, countless white trails appeared on the water surface in the port, each heading towards its own target and speeding away. Whether or not anyone noticed these trails, they could no longer stop the torpedoes' charge. Since most of the targets were anchored warships, and each boat had been assigned its own target in advance, the hit rate reached 100%, with almost no torpedo going to waste. The entire Sasebo military port instantly turned into a hell on earth. Fierce explosions, raging fires, fleeing crowds, and randomly fired guns and cannons wove together into a dawn battle song.
After only 2 rounds of attack, the 30 submarines that sneaked into the military port could no longer find valuable targets to attack. Helplessly, they could only launch their remaining torpedoes at ships that were not sinking too quickly or burning too fiercely, then withdraw their periscopes and silently turn around, heading towards the outer harbor.
The Japanese went mad, the Russians were frightened, the British were stunned, the French were confused, the Germans were terrified, and the Americans were bewildered... This was roughly the reaction of the world powers on the second day after Japan announced that its fleet, together with Russia's, had suffered a disastrous sneak attack by Taiwanese submarines in the Tsushima Strait.
The Japanese themselves lost all their active naval forces, and in the final Sasebo raid, even patrol boats were sunk. Now, if the Japanese Navy doesn't requisition civilian ships for conversion, they won't even have enough coastal defense vessels. The Japanese are going crazy - generations of effort, countless wealth amassed, an invincible fleet that swept across Asia, all gone in one night, reduced to nothing but ashes and smoke. How can the people of this island nation not go mad?
The Russian losses were only greater than those of Japan, not less. A series of battleships and heavy cruisers built with French loans disappeared in one night in the Tsushima Strait. So far, except for a logistics ship that escaped to Shanghai Port in China, there is no news of any other ships. After hearing this news, the Russian Tsar was so angry that he almost fainted, scolding Rozhdestvensky as Russia's loser. However, after scolding him, he still had to borrow money everywhere to rebuild some destroyers and cruisers, because the Baltic Fleet had been emptied by him. Let's not talk about what happened on the Japanese side of the sea for now, but first, we need to guard our own doorstep.
When the British heard this news, their first thought was that the Japanese had been defeated by the Russians and were too embarrassed to admit it, so they used Taiwan as a scapegoat. However, after hearing that the Russian fleet had also been basically destroyed, they realized that the problem was much bigger than that. It turned out that there was a fierce guy hiding next to them all along, and it turned out that the Japanese had been wrongly accused countless times over the years. Thinking back to the scene of jointly investigating with the French and fooling the Japanese in previous years, the British also fell into silence.
The French were the only supporters of this Russian fleet expedition, from providing ports to international relations, the French spared no effort in supporting the Russians to stir up trouble in Asia. If the Russians won, it would no longer be just the British calling the shots in Asia, and then the French could also move into East Asia with dignity as allies of the Russians, no longer having to shrink back to a small place like Vietnam. However, after receiving news of the battles between Japan and Russia, the French finally realized that they had miscalculated again, and the disappearance of their fleet a few years ago seemed to be the work of this submarine. But where did Taiwan get such a powerful submarine from? America? Unlikely, they didn't even have one themselves. Germany? Possible, Germans were best at creating mysterious weapons, not good, if the submarine was German-made, then their own navy in Europe would be in trouble, hurry and send a telegram back home!
The Germans were originally watching the excitement, and they didn't want to help either the British or the Russians. Now this result is the best for the Germans - both sides are wounded! However, suddenly a Taiwan appeared, along with that legendary submarine and torpedo, which made the Germans, who are extremely sensitive to weapons and machinery, feel uneasy.
The most confused are the Americans. Taiwan is closer to their Philippines, and since the US occupation of the Philippines, they have also had contact with the Taiwanese Navy. They just saw two destroyers that looked pretty good, but neither of them exceeded 3,000 tons. As for the legendary submarine, the Americans didn't believe it at all because in the US Navy, no one considers a submarine as a weapon, let alone a toy. How could they defeat dozens of main warships from Japan and Russia with just a few destroyers and toys? And even penetrate into Japan's military port? The Americans would rather die than believe it.
As a result, in the following days, all countries in East Asia took action, and the military ports of each country strengthened their vigilance. Various armed merchant ships and patrol boats shuttled back and forth outside the ports day and night. Diplomats from various countries also gathered in Tianjin to discuss the diplomatic aspects of this Russo-Japanese War and the surprise attack on Taiwan.
Liu Ye originally intended to continue denying, but in the remaining days, Russian warships occasionally broke through and ran to Guangzhou, Hong Kong, and even the Philippines, where they were temporarily detained by local naval forces. According to the consistent statement of Russian naval officers and soldiers, on the night of May 27, the Japanese and Russian fleets were indeed attacked by a mysterious naval force, and this attack was not a surface attack.
With these human testimonials, Liu Ye also gave up the old idea of ??resisting and delaying time. Since Taiwan has been patient for so long and finally got rid of the Japanese and Russian fleets that threatened itself in the East Asian region, it's time to stop pretending to be a fool and become tougher on diplomacy.
As Taiwan is still considered by the powers to be a territory of Japan, the Taiwanese government has not been recognized by any country, so there have been no regular channels for communication between countries and the Taiwanese government. The previous negotiations were made through some connections within the Qing government to contact the Taiwanese government. However, this time the powers do not intend to solve the Taiwan problem through negotiation because it is no longer an ordinary diplomatic issue. A mysterious naval force like this will not be allowed to exist by any country.
On August 7, the Ministry of Interior Affairs received intelligence that diplomatic and naval officers from France, Germany, Japan, Russia, and the United States had gathered at the British fleet's base in Hong Kong, apparently for a high-level meeting. However, due to the British side's strict confidentiality measures, the ministry's intelligence personnel made multiple attempts but were unable to obtain specific information about the meeting's content.
The content of the meeting doesn't need to be investigated, Liu Ye can guess roughly by himself, just by looking at the list of participating countries, he will know what they are going to do. It's necessary to be vigilant, as soon as Liu Ye received the intelligence, he convened a national defense meeting, not only the relevant personnel of the Taiwanese army and navy participated in the meeting, but also personnel from other government departments joined, the content of the meeting was: we're going to war.
