Chapter 28: The Dark Black Hand
Four B-class submarines in Zhou Yu's plan, unlike the previous four A-class submarines, have significant improvements in terms of tonnage, speed, diving depth, ammunition, and endurance.
He designed a B-class submarine, the theoretical underwater speed can reach about 15 knots per hour, which is very close to the speed of the most advanced battleship at that time. Because Zhou Yu had more advanced power equipment, he was extremely confident in whether the submarine could reach fifteen knots or not.
The standard tonnage of the new submarine, Zhou Yu set it at around 1,000 tons. With electric welding and alloy steel new technology, these problems are no longer a big deal!
As for the armament, Zhou Yu prepared to use five 403mm underwater torpedo tubes that were still in the laboratory and had not been invented yet, as well as two single-barreled 76mm rapid-fire guns.
The submarine can carry a certain number of torpedoes, Zhou Yu is preparing to set it at around 13, he doesn't want to wait until the two armies are lined up, because the submarine has no torpedoes and misses the opportunity to fight, waiting on one side in vain, that's not as good as making preparations now.
As for other things, such as cruisers, destroyers, and torpedo boats, Zhou Yu let them go to Wei Han and the others to freely play with, he didn't want to arrange everything himself, creating dependence on him in the future, stifling everyone's creativity, although it was possible that they would take some detours at first.
It has an immeasurable positive impact on the development of ethnic industrial talents.
There is another point that everyone does not know, in fact, Zhou Yu has already arranged a chess piece secretly, this chess piece will bring Zhou Yu a large number of warships, and they are free. Those warships were all prepared by Zhou Yu for his own navy to use as destroyers and cruisers in the future.
With the acquisition of electric welding technology, Zhou Yu began to plan his Kar98k Mauser rifle and Black Star automatic pistol projects.
As mentioned earlier, the prerequisite for mass production of 98K Mauser rifles and Black Star pistols is that there must be stamping and welding processes, because unlike the 98B, some processes of the 98K require this technology.
To facilitate production, Zhou Yu decided to adopt a hooded cup-shaped stamping component; the front guard ring was changed from a cutting piece to a spot welding; the bottom of the magazine and the protective bow were also changed to stamped steel plates.
After taking into account many details, Zhou Yu began to enter the actual operation process. With the help of Zhao Hu and others, he quickly came up with a sample of the gun.
Compared with 98K, the production of black-hearted pistol is simpler, and there are detailed explanations in the previous article.
After several corrections, the production lines of all firearms owned by the Zhongyong Army were ordered to stop producing the 98b and 54 pistols and switch to producing the 98k Mauser rifle and Black Star pistol. Zhou Yu also ordered the production line to start producing these two types of firearms at the same time, all in preparation for large-scale use by his own army in the future.
Zhou Yu also informed everyone that for the time being, the 98K Mauser cannot be equipped to troops yet, and they should wait for the right moment, first produce a large quantity before considering it.
After everything was arranged, Zhou Yu had some free time again, although people were still available.
His mind didn't have any spare room for idle fancies, and judging from his appearance, it seemed as if he was secretly plotting some nefarious scheme in his heart!
Why say that?
At this time, Zhou Yu's sunny face suddenly appeared with a strange and eerie smile, which made Zhang Long, who was beside him to take the classics, feel a chill in his heart.
"Oh no, our teacher is up to something again, doesn't look good!"
Nowadays, there are many oral fixations in the Zhongyong Army, all of which were learned from Zhou Yu. Zhou Yu's unintentional oral fixations, such as "麻痹滴 (paralyzed)" and "哦买糕 (oh, buying cake)", have been brought to the troops by Zhang Long and Liu Chengliang, these two treasures, becoming the current popular trend in the Zhongyong Army.
So who is Zhou Yu plotting against now? Let's wait and see!
One day, 90 nautical miles northeast of the Bass Strait, Arinori Maeda, a Japanese Navy captain, stood on the command tower bridge of the ironclad warship "Fusō", gazing north with binoculars.
His heart was filled with pride, "Fusō" ironclad warship is the most advanced in Asia that he knew of at present.
Behind the "Fusō" was a fleet of five newly purchased, British-made 8,000-ton cargo ships. Following closely behind them was the Japanese-built, 900-ton displacement, three-masted steam gunboat "Seikō". The captain of the "Seikō" was Lieutenant Commander Katō Akitsugu.
This time, Lieutenant General Araki was executing a secret order from Saneto. On the five newly purchased freighters, there were over 30,000 tons of various supplies, including about five tons of gold.
These materials were secretly mined and processed by the Japanese military in Australia for five years, during which more than 40 intelligence personnel and miners were sacrificed. It can be seen that these materials are of great importance to Japan.
"Report, a large fleet of warships ahead."
The sentinel's cry of alarm awakened Arima Yūgō, who was lost in thought. His heart tightened and he hastily looked forward. He found that within his range of vision, there were more than ten large and small warships.
Arai ordered the entire fleet to prepare for battle, and as they drew closer he saw that it was a British fleet flying the Union Jack, consisting of two battleships, four cruisers, and four torpedo boats. His heart felt slightly more at ease.
The other party signaled with flags: "We are the British Royal Hong Kong Fleet, who are you?"
"Hurry up and signal with flags: 'Report to the honorable British gentlemen, we are the Japanese Navy, come out for sea exercises.'"
The other side asked An Yi to stop the ship for inspection, saying that their governor was held hostage by pirates and they wanted to check if there were any of their governors on these ships.
Arai had a great entanglement in his heart. If he let them inspect, what if the British found out about the goods on the ship and forcibly seized them? On the other hand, if he didn't let them inspect, it was possible that he would create a powerful enemy for his own country. At this time, the "Seiho" also accelerated to catch up.
Just as Arai Yoshikazu was hesitating, about 100 meters behind the "Fusō" and about 180 meters in front of it, several large water columns rose up almost simultaneously. Arai Yoshikazu was shocked to discover that the enemy had actually opened fire! And at a range of 9 kilometers! What kind of warship is this?!
At this time, Araki Gongo suddenly discovered that the opponent was occupying a T-shaped position and had been preparing to shoot from the very beginning. He hastily signaled with flags: asking the opponent to stop shooting, and also issued orders to his subordinates to prepare for battle.
The other party's response was still bombardment. Arai Osamu issued an order requiring all personnel to scatter at maximum elevation angle.
About 8,500 meters for the "Fusō" ship's 240mm Krupp main gun was still a very distant distance. The scattered shells fell far away from the enemy ship on the sea surface about 1,500 meters away.
Niigata ordered an emergency halt to the gunfire, and "Fusō" and "Hiei" approached the enemy at full speed within 3,000 meters and sank the enemy flagship with torpedoes, capturing the thief first.
As the two ships approached each other, "Fusō" was hit by a heavy shell from the enemy ship on the deck near the command tower, blowing a large hole in the deck and starting a big fire. The intense shockwave shook the unprepared Niimi Hikoroku off his feet on the command tower, knocking him unconscious.
For a time, both ships lost command, and the Japanese fleet fell into a state of disarray without command.
The "Kiyoshimo" was also hit by multiple enemy shells, the rudder was damaged, and the warship lost control. Captain Katō Akihide was killed in action, and the "Kiyoshimo", with all its upper structures destroyed, was forced to withdraw from the battle line and float on the sea surface.
At this time, the two warring parties were separated by
Less than five thousand meters away, in the next salvo, the confused "Fusō" was hit by nearly ten shells.
Its bow was torn open near the waterline, and a huge amount of seawater poured in. The bow began to sink rapidly, and around 5 minutes later, the "Fuso" sank, with all 250 officers and men on board lost, going to meet their Amaterasu ōmikami.
The enemy then did not follow the naval custom, but instead launched a full-scale attack on the "Qinghui" ship, which had no power to fight back. 10 minutes later, the ammunition depot of the "Qinghui" ship exploded, the boiler in the engine room exploded, and four torpedoes hit the left side of the hull. Two minutes later, it sank, and all officers and soldiers on board were killed without exception.
Five Japanese cargo ships hoisted white flags, and the opposing warships approached. The Japanese crew on board discovered that all the personnel were wearing white naval uniforms with pig-mouth gas masks, making it impossible to discern their features.
After controlling all personnel, they shot and killed more than 500 crew members without asking any questions or leaving a single survivor, carrying out a brutal policy of killing everyone.
If someone was present at the scene at that time, they would have found that the cargo ship controlled by the other side was heading in the direction of Taiwan.
"The Qinghui" warship, "Fusang" warship and five cargo ships fully loaded with goods mysteriously disappeared, causing the Japanese Emperor and the military to be extremely shocked. The Japanese intelligence agencies were all out searching for the reason, and for a time, Japan was in an uproar, with everyone on high alert.
No matter how the Japanese government investigated, they couldn't find any useful clues, and this case became a mystery in Japan.
Further promoted and solidified the determination to implement Japan's 20-year shipbuilding plan.
What's going on here?
It turned out to be a good show created by our cheating expert Zhou Yu and Principal Zhou.
According to historical records of later generations: Japan had a large amount of war materials and gold that were going to be transported back from Australia during this period. Zhou Yu had sent people to monitor the Japanese mineral base in Australia as early as a year ago.
This time, Zhou Yu not only wanted to obtain supplies but also hoped to increase the actual combat experience of the Zhongyong Army Navy. In practice, it was proved that the combat effectiveness of the Zhongyong Army Navy still had a significant gap compared with traditional naval powers such as Britain, France and Germany. Zhou Yu was very angry, and the consequences were severe.
The entire Zhongyong Army Navy fleet, under sudden attack, unexpectedly did not resolve the two small Japanese gunboats within half an hour. After this battle ended, Zhou Yu immediately held a combat review and reflection meeting for the high-ranking naval officers.
At the meeting, Zhou Yu criticized the navy for being useless. Still angry, Zhou Yu strongly demanded that from now on, every battle, all naval officers and soldiers must write: detailed records of gains and losses, to provide a solid basis for future battles. If anyone is found not following the rules, they will be dealt with by military law.
