Australian Storm 1876

  Chapter 847 Tsushima Strait

  The night is shrouded in the sea, empty and silent.

  It was a cloudy night. Every day the clouds obscured the moon’s brilliance, and the sea was covered with invisible darkness, like a black cloth.

  Fuso "Nishinmaru" armed merchant ship has the strictest lighting control, like a ghost in the dark night, wandering around in the Tsushima Strait, looking around intently, looking for the traces of the Russian fleet.

   "Fujita-kun, I really want to smoke a cigarette at this time!"

   "Don't blame me for not reminding you, you can smoke enough after the value is off tomorrow morning. At this time, if you dare to smoke a cigarette, the guy in Nomura found out, I am afraid that you have to cut your belly and apologize."

   "Bage, Nomura, this inhumane fellow, one day I will cut off his head by mistake."

  "Stop talking, pay attention to the sea..."

  At this time, on the "Nishin Maru" armed merchant ship, not only the sharp-eyed watchmen stood at the top of the mast, but also silent sailors stood on both sides of the ship's deck, all with wide-eyed eyes carefully searching the sea.

  After the Russian supply ship entered the Shanghai port on May 25, General Togo Heihachiro, commander-in-chief of the combined fleet, ordered four armed merchant ships and two cruisers to patrol the Tsushima Strait in a dragnet style, looking for traces of the Russian fleet.

  In the rear about a dozen nautical miles, the combined fleet, which contains almost all of the Fuso Navy’s forces, is quietly lurking, and after getting the exact information, it will pounce on the enemy and tear the enemy to pieces.

  However, God does not open his eyes. On this cloudy and dim moon night, the visibility on the sea is extremely poor, which poses a severe challenge to the Japanese ship in charge of the search.

  If the enemy is let go, everyone from the captain to the sailor will have to commit suicide by amputating their stomachs.

Recently

  Especially at night, the search fleet took out 120% of the attention, and repeatedly searched along the Tsushima Strait, without letting go of any clues.

  Based on military deduction;

  The most likely possibility of the Tsarist Russian fleet expeditioning thousands of miles is to break through the Tsushima Strait in the dark. If this is the case, it will fall short.

  The Japanese joint fleet is not afraid of a deadly battle for the Tsarist Russian fleet. With the ultra-high-intensity training and the victory in the Yellow Sea battle between Japan and Russia, they firmly believe that they will be able to defeat the enemy and win the final victory.

  The most feared thing is that the Tsarist Russian fleet avoids seeing it. This will inevitably lead to prolonged warfare. As a traditional world-class power, Tsarist Russia’s national power and military expenditure are several times that of Japan, and it has huge French franc loans. Enough to drag down the weak Fusang country.

  After the Battle of Fengtian

The large-scale land battle in the Russo-Japanese War has come to an end. The Japanese captured the Port of Lushun and completely destroyed the Tsarist Russian Pacific Fleet in the port. They also defeated Tsarist Russia at a heavy price in the land war and won the Battle of Liaoyang and Heitaigou. The victory of the Battle of Fengtian and the Battle of Fengtian drove the Russian forces to the north of Changchun and Harbin.

  At this point, the land hegemony comes to an end.

  The Tsarist Russian army was temporarily unable to counterattack after being severely damaged, and feared the enemy like a tiger, and had no morale. The Japanese army has connected North Korea with the forces in the southern region of the Three Eastern Provinces, achieving the goal of occupying and consolidating the territories of the Three Eastern Provinces, curbing Czarist Russia’s attempts to go south, and conducive to further expansion into Manchuria and Mongolia.

  In order to achieve the above goals

  The army base camp paid the heavy price of hundreds of thousands of soldiers casualties. The Japanese mobilized 480,000 troops, of which more than 106,000 were killed, 193,584 were injured, and more than 3/5 were killed and injured.

  The Tsarist Russian army mobilized more than 600,000 troops to participate in the war, 56,000 people were killed, 186,000 were injured, more than 90,000 people were captured, and their backbones were also broken.

Both sides of the war suffered heavy casualties, and the price paid was 30% higher than in the original history. This is due to the support of the Somali company's effective logistics materials, which made the gray cattle of Tsarist Russia fed up and fight, and the resistance was more determined, and the Fusang people also paid. Even more disastrous price.

  The **** Russo-Japanese War that lasted for a year and a half until now, the two sides participating in the war have basically reached the end of the battle, and they have no ability to go further.

The Tsarist Russian army lost consecutive battles. Not only did they lose all their logistics and most of their weapons and ammunition when they fled, but the army was distracted. From top to bottom, there was a feeling of fear, despair and extreme boredom. May be mutiny.

Although the Fusang soldiers were determined to fight, the successive **** battles had wiped out the army's elite. The offensive Japanese soldiers leaped across the trenches filled with the corpses of their soldiers and charged deadly. The huge cost of the war dragged the country to the brink of financial collapse. Can make a living by borrowing large sums of Anglo-American loans.

  Calculate

  After ten years of hard work and preparation, the various expenditures of Fusang Country’s “post-Japanese War of Sino-Japanese War” totaled 2.7 billion yen, all of which came from low-interest loans from Britain, the United States and other countries, which was a huge expense.

  The yen is still very valuable today. One yen is equivalent to one German mark and one silver coin, and 2.7 billion yen is equivalent to 135 million pounds. It is almost the total fiscal revenue of Fusang Country for 9 years, which is a crazy gamble.

  The money is easy to use, but after all, I have to pay it back.

  Now the world looks at the Far East, and the Far East looks at Fusang. The Fusang Army can no longer move. It can only confront the Tsarist Russian army in the three northeastern provinces, one occupying the south and the other occupying the north.

Whether to end the Russo-Japanese War and win the final victory depends only on the performance of the Fuso Navy's combined fleet. Can the battle be settled quickly?

  So, the eyes of the whole world are on the Tsushima Strait.

  May 27, 2:40 AM

Tsarist Russia’s Second Squadron Diamond, Pearl and Svetlana destroyers, 6 auxiliary ships and two hospital ships in a small formation, all of them executed the light control order, and under the cover of the dim night, they quietly entered the group. Ma Strait, sailing all the way in silence.

   "Look at it... what's that?"

  "Bless Amaterasu, it is the Russian fleet..."

   "Yo Xi, quickly report to the Commander of the Joint Fleet Dongxiang that our ship has found the target in the Tsushima Strait. This is a...a hospital ship with brilliant lights."

There was a voice of excitement that could not be suppressed in the night. After the short commotion, the "Shinano Maru" armed merchant ship immediately sent a wireless telegram to report this important news to the Japanese joint fleet that was hovering more than ten nautical miles away. .

  At this time, on the dark sea

A brightly-lit Tsarist Russian hospital ship sailed into the Tsushima Strait without knowing it. A grand ball was being held on the boat, which completely ignored the light control orders from the superiors. Drunken Tsarist naval officers and laughing women The nurses mingled together...

  They don’t care whether this is the Tsushima Strait, which is related to the safety of the entire fleet, or whether they reveal their whereabouts. The key is that there are wine and women who have fun in time, and they want to have an all-night party.

  In this way, a scene that had happened in history was repeated again. At 2:45 in the morning, the hospital ship that had been reveling all night revealed its traces, and it was spotted by the Japanese search fleet.

  If the original history has not changed, the huge fleet of ships composed of the Second Pacific Fleet and Third Pacific Fleet of Tsarist Russia will face the disaster of extinction and become the stepping stone for Fuso to become the world powers.

  The depths of Tsushima Strait

  The densely packed Fuso United Fleet moved slowly in the night, like a huge ghost floating on the sea, quietly waiting for the plump prey to bump into it.

  On the battleship "Mikasa", the flagship of the combined fleet

  Only the cold moonlight came in from the commanding tower with a good view, and the officers and soldiers standing in the commanding tower did not make a sound, like a doll carved from mud and wood, the solemn atmosphere turned into substance.

   General Togo Heihachiro sat in the command position with his thin body motionless, and the two bright eyes under the dim moonlight were fearful of people, like an old wolf that devours people, with no expression on his face.

  Since the discovery of the Russian supply ship entering the Shanghai Sea on May 25, the joint fleet stopped all training and quietly moved to the depths of the Tsushima Strait to wait in preparation for the upcoming unprecedented sea war.

  Two days have passed, and there is still no trace of the Tsarist Russian fleet.

  The air is full of extremely dangerous atmosphere, as if it was the depression before the rainstorm, it is almost breathless.

  General Togo Heihachiro has maintained this attitude of waiting silently for two days. During this period, there have been very few words. The fate of the Dafuso Empire and the Yamato nation is weighed on his shoulders, and he can't laugh even if he wants to laugh.

Just like the rise of other countries in the world, since the "Meiji Restoration" in modern times, the Fuso country has come out in large numbers. Aside from the political circles, the military has three prefectures including Yotoo, Oyamaiwa, Nogi Kitori, Togo Heihachiro, and Dewa Shigeto. Moreover, a large number of rookie generals from the army and the navy have emerged, and there has been a blowout of talent.

  As the leader of the imperial navy, the older generation of Admiral Heihachiro Togo knows that he shoulders the historical responsibility of national rejuvenation and national prosperity, and he also knows the significance of this battle.

  Not only to win, but also to win beautifully, to win simply, and to win thoroughly, which can establish the victory of the Russo-Japanese War.

  According to his careful judgment, the Tsarist Russian fleet will try to break through the Tsushima Strait, mainly based on the Tsarist Russian supply ship that entered the Shanghai market on May 25.

  Before entering a possible theater, disband the logistics fleet composed of supply ships and coal ships to avoid becoming a burden during the battle. This is almost a necessary procedure for modern navies before war.

Judging by time, the Tsarist Russian fleet should be near the Yellow Sea at this time. If it circumvents the Pacific Ocean east of the Fusang Islands, it is very likely that it will be spotted in advance by the Japanese security guards scattered on the small islands in the southern sea. The timing is too late. .

  Who can think of;

  Lieutenant General Roger Stevinsky, commander of the Russian fleet, originally wanted to go to Tsushima Strait, but he hesitated and never made up his mind. After receiving a warning near the Ryukyu Islands, he suddenly changed his mind to go to Soya Strait?

  A combination of things made the outstanding Fusang admiral misjudged.

"Report to the Commander, the Shinano Maru armed merchant ship found five nautical miles north of the entrance of the Tsushima Strait and found the hospital ship of the Russian fleet sailing northward, and found other light-controlled warships for fear of exposing itself. The target caused the opponent to alert, so he just followed from a distance."

   "Hey, our old friend has finally arrived."

  Hearing this exciting good news, the suffocating atmosphere on the "Mikasa" battleship was immediately wiped out. The officers and soldiers looked at the old wolf sitting in the command position with unconcealed excited eyes.

  At this moment, General Togo Heihachiro with wrinkles on his face looked as if a chrysanthemum bloomed, showing a satisfied smile that he hadn't seen in many days.

  See you in my pity!

  The tremendous pressure in these days has made him not fragrant. If he can't hear the news of the Russian fleet anymore, his depression to the limit is likely to go crazy.

  Well, the Tsarist Russian fleet arrived as scheduled, and the rest is simple. The day and night training of the joint fleet for more than half a year is this day. He is confident that he can defeat the enemy and win the final war.

"Order the joint fleet to dispatch the entire army, heading northeast and 15 degrees north. We will follow up quietly. After dawn, we will shorten the distance between the Russian fleets step by step. It is time for brave and fearless soldiers to show their loyalty to the empire. arrive."

   "Hey..."

  (End of this chapter)