Episode 25: The troops transport fleet heads north

At around 10 o'clock on October 11, a long train drove into Ningbo Port.

The steamer's head was parked in the moonlight, ticking with water, and the steam fluttered with the breeze. The whole train was filled with container trucks, with the black carriage doors closed tightly, with seals on it, and the name of the company was written on it. I don't know what kind of goods it was.

In this part of the dock, ordinary workers at the port were cleared. Now there is only a list of Ming military military police on the dock. There are three tall ten-ton cargo ships parked beside the dock. On the black sea in the distance, the moonlight is quiet, like broken silver.

An officer next to the railway track walked around, looked at the watch, then looked around, and confirmed that there were no idle people waiting, then took out his whistle and blew it.

The team of military police immediately ran under the truck compartment, tore off the seal and opened the container door.

The long password sounded:

“Get out of the car – get out of the car –”

In more than 30 container trucks, a figure jumped down one after another. With the moonlight, we can see that these people are soldiers, each wearing a steel helmet, carrying a luggage, and carrying a gun.

After jumping down, the soldiers stood in a straight line without saying a word. In a moment, thousands of soldiers gathered on the dock, and there were enough troops. After all the Ming troops got off the car, they did not stop for a long time. Instead, they lined up and turned to the right and took neat steps on board.

The steamer's head was breathing heavily again, and began to spray white steam and pour backwards, pushing more than 30 trucks away from the dock. After a while, another train was driven into more than 30 knots, and thousands of Ming troops jumped off from it and boarded the cargo ship again.

Such personnel carriers disguised as trucks entered the station in a total of four rows, and transported more than 10,000 soldiers to board three freighters under the moonlight.

Then, the three cargo ships did not whistle, but directly unveiled the cables, slowly drove out of the harbor, and gradually disappeared into the night on the sea.

...

On the morning of October 12, a mixed fleet was sailing northward on the Yellow Sea 100 nautical miles along the coast of Jiangsu.

This is a fleet of warships escorted by warships. Three 10,000-ton cargo ships, plus four 5,000-ton cargo ships, a total of seven cargo ships. The ones escorted these seven cargo ships are 1 cruiser and 10 destroyers.

The entire fleet has a total of 18 ships, sailing in three rows on the sea.

At this time, an airplane suddenly appeared in the dazzling sun in the east. The pilot seemed very experienced and well-trained. He quickly approached the fleet by taking advantage of the glare of the oriental sun in the morning as the background. He was not discovered by the escort warship until he was very close.

The Ming army fleet was caught off guard, and the cruiser serving as the flagship immediately issued a combat alarm for the entire fleet. The anti-aircraft artillery of the 11 warships turned, aiming at the sky in the east, waiting for the firing order.

However, the plane did not mean to attack the fleet, but slowed down and buzzed, flying over the top of the fleet.

The ships below saw clearly that it was a twin-engine reconnaissance aircraft, and there were large red circles painted under the wings.

This is a Japanese aircraft.

This place is only more than 200 kilometers away from the southern end of the Korean Peninsula.

The Japanese reconnaissance plane did not leave immediately, but circled in a circle, flew low and flew over the head of the Ming army fleet, and the camera flashed a few times.

The eleven warships and anti-aircraft artillery of the Ming army were always aiming at the plane, and with a command, it could be shot down.

But the Ming army obviously could not do this. The Japanese pilots also understood this and flew unscrupulously for several laps on the head of the fleet, still flying very low.

It was not until the Ming army flagship raised the warning flag and used signal lights to warn that the Japanese reconnaissance plane flew away with satisfaction.

After the Japanese reconnaissance plane left, the speed of the Ming army fleet increased significantly, and they obviously wanted to end their exposure time at sea as soon as possible. However, during the following day, Japanese reconnaissance planes continued to appear near the Ming army fleet, but none of them flew as close as the first one. They obviously just wanted to grasp the position of the Ming army fleet.

...

Beijing, the Supreme Command of the Qing Dynasty.

Since the war started, the three major military ports of the Qing army were blocked by the three Ming army's squadrons. The limited power of the Qing army hid in the port and did not dare to come out. The Ming army did not use advantageous fleets to ambush the outer seas like the new naval battle in the early 20th century, and only used destroyers to reconnaise in the offshore. Once the enemy went out to sea, they would report it, and then the two sides would fight seas.

The Ming army adopted the traditional blockade method of the sailing era, which was that cruisers parked in a large manner in a place that could be seen outside the port, and anchored more than 10,000 meters away, while several destroyers were patrolling at a closer distance, without taking the Qing army's shore cannons and torpedo boats seriously.

To put it bluntly, this is the blockade method that bullies people by relying on its absolute advantage. This blockade means completely treating the other side's navy as nothing, and there is no naval battle. It is just blocking your doorstep. If you don't come out, you will kill one by one.

However, at noon on the 12th, the Navy Commander-in-Chief Guar Jia Shoushan had just received a report from the Navy's radio listening department, and the Ming army squadron blocking outside Qingdao Port suddenly had frequent radio contact with Nanjing.

Then at 2:20 pm, according to the observation report of Qingdao Port, the Ming army blocked one of the three cruisers in the fleet, probably the Lu Bu heavy cruiser, suddenly set sail, and disappeared behind the horizontal line with two destroyers.

The Ming fleet outside Qingdao Port was only one heavy cruiser, one light cruiser, and six destroyers left. However, there were two Qing cruisers in Qingdao Port, one light and the other heavy, with the same tonnage and firepower.

Shoushan felt a little itchy at that time, and he wanted to ask the emperor for instructions and suggested that the cruisers in the port go out to try their luck. If he is lucky and really kills a Ming army cruiser, he will have made a great contribution.

But this idea was fleeting, and the fear of the tradition of the Southern Ming Navy still captured him.

...Forget it. Just think about how good luck is, and what to do if you are not lucky. Just the training and command ability of the Qing Fleet are not the same as the Ming army. If you don’t have twice the tonnage firepower advantage, you will be looking for death when you go out, and it’s not accurate to let both ships sink. The Qing Navy has a total of seven treasure cruisers, which are all the assets, so you can sink two ships at once... The head can’t be saved. Forget it.

Besides, I don’t know if the Ming army’s Lu Bu name is true or false. If it is a trap that leads the snake out of the hole, it will be even more miserable.

So Shoushan just respectfully reported the news to the emperor and asked the emperor to make any suggestions. He did not foolishly make any suggestions.

...

At around 8 o'clock in the evening, the emperor suddenly arrived at the Navy Commander's Office of the Commander's Office. Shoushan hurriedly welcomed the emperor. For the past few days of the Ming army's attack, the emperor has been staying on the side of the army and has never come to the side of the navy to see it. Today, Shoushan was very nervous and trepidated.

Guangwu didn't talk much nonsense, so he threw a document on his desk and asked him to read it.

Shoushan bent down and picked up the document and read it respectfully.

It turned out that this was a piece of information secretly transferred by the Japanese side to the Qing Dynasty's sticks, which was about the Southern Ming Dynasty.

Japanese intelligence claimed that in the morning, a Nanming fleet composed of cargo ships and warships were found in the center of the Yellow Sea 150 nautical miles west of Jeju Island, which was traveling north at a speed of 10 knots.

The Japanese army's reconnaissance level and intelligence processing efficiency were very high. Just by turning the first reconnaissance plane from the fleet for a few rounds, they found out the name and tonnage of each cargo ship, warship. In addition, the information said that the waterlines of the three 10,000-ton freighters were very high, as if they were not loaded. Moreover, there were some Southern Ming army officers on the deck, who were smoking and chatting while climbing the railings. After discovering the reconnaissance plane, they all quickly disappeared under the deck.

The other four 5,000-ton cargo ships had very low water lines, as if they were full of loads, and the deck was covered with canvas, and there were some irregularly shaped cargo underneath, which looked like artillery, vehicles, etc.

Moreover, the fleet has always maintained radio silence. If it weren't for the occasional discovery of a reconnaissance plane, even Japan wouldn't know.

After being discovered by the first Japanese reconnaissance plane, the fleet broke the radio silence and sent a password telegram. Then a few hours later, another Ming army heavy cruiser, Lu Bu, headed south from Qingdao, met with the fleet on the Yellow Sea, strengthened its escort force, and continued to head north.

...

After reading it, Shoushan respectfully put the information back on the table and looked up at Guangwu.

Guangwu asked:

"How do you feel?"

"This... Emperor," Shoushan said nervously, "so detailed... the Japanese flew only on the reconnaissance plane a few times?... Is this... too detailed?"

Guangwu sneered and said lightly:

"Of course it's detailed. It's certainly different for the sake of the country and the nation, and it's different for us to do things for power, money, and beauty. Yes? Haha, what's so strange about this?"

Shoushan was sweating in a cold sweat and hurriedly bowed his head and apologized:

"Slave... The slave deserves to die... The slave swears to be loyal to the emperor and to the Qing Dynasty. He has no regrets and dares not..."

Guangwu waved his hand and frowned:

"Okay, okay... Listen, the Japanese said that the destination of the Nanming fleet should be the Changshan Islands."

"Yes. The slave is thinking so. This should be the supply for the Dongjiang fleet."

Guangwu nodded:

"Did you ever wonder why there are so many at a time, three 10,000-ton ships, four 5,000-ton ships, and warships escort? And why are there army officers on the navy's supply fleet?"

"This?...the slave is stupid..."

Guangwu said slowly:

"This is not an ordinary supply fleet in the Ming army, but a troop transport fleet!"

Shoushan was shocked and looked up at Guangwu.

Guangwu reached out to pick up the information, read it silently again, then held it in his hand, slowly rolled it into a cylinder, placed it on his knee and patted it gently.

"Yes, it's the troop transport fleet," he affirmed. "Four deep-draft cargo ships transport heavy equipment and supplies, and three shallow-draft cargo ships transport soldiers! The Ming army did not use troop transport ships, and wanted to fool them with freight ships, pretending to be cargo... but unexpectedly, one hundred secrets and one can reveal their feet in the waterline. The weight of people is very light. Even if each ship transports 5,000 soldiers, the equipment is only a few hundred tons! These hundreds of tons are completely negligible for 10,000 tons of ships... These three 10,000 tons are all floating on the water surface, like a table tennis ball..."

"Emperor's wise!" Shoushan's heart was trembling, and he flattered first, and then said, "Your Majesty, your eyes are as bright as lightning, and you can see a conspiracy at once! The Ming army wants to launch an attack behind our Qing Dynasty!"

Guangwu said:

"There is no doubt. The question is where. I don't think that a fleet of them can land. Even if each ship is really equipped with 5,000 people, it is only the strength of one division. Even if the Ming army can fight, they can't even touch the sand on the beach with just one division. They must have gone to the Changshan Islands first and gathered troops there. This fleet is just the first batch of troops."

"The Emperor's Holy Spirit."

"Shoushan, in your opinion, where might the Ming army choose to attack?"

Shoushan said:

"This... Emperor, in the eyes of the slave, it is extremely difficult to build a large-scale beach landing operation. Moreover, the Ming army fleet did not carry a large number of small ships suitable for beach landing... Therefore, the slave judged that the Ming army would most likely choose a ready-made port. They would also use sea and air advantages to carry out the tactics of fighting Batavia in Nanyang: first use dive bombers to clear the shore defense artillery, then use battleships to bombard the mid-range artillery... Finally, the warships were driven into the port, close to shoot, and clear the resistance in the port... After capturing the port, they directly let the soldiers land from the dock. Moreover, the ready-made port is easier to get a large amount of subsequent materials... I wonder what the emperor thinks?"

Guangwu pondered and said slowly:

"Yes, your analysis makes sense. It should be like this. In this way, their range of options will be much smaller... They chose to open up a battlefield behind us, but there are only two places: Shandong, or Tianjin. If they land in Shandong, it is to restrain our elite troops and prevent our northern elite troops from going south easily, reduce the pressure on their attacks in the south, so that they can have time to consolidate the newly captured Jianghuai land and operate a new defense line in the Huaihe River... If they are hanging on land in Tianjin, then they will be more ambitious..."

Shoushan lowered his head and listened respectfully. What the emperor analyzed now is no longer the scope of the navy. He dared not talk more.

Guangwu ignored him. After thinking for a while, he still felt that the Ming army landing in Tianjin was not realistic. Although Tianjin is very close to Beijing, the defense there is too strong. No matter how strong the Ming Navy and Air Force is, the troops that can be transported from landing are always limited. That means that they will fall into the siege as soon as they get ashore.

As for the Ming army landing in Shandong, it is still relatively reliable. At present, the Qing army does not have many troops in Shandong, which is far less powerful than the Central Plains. If the Ming army really opens up a battlefield in Shandong, it will immediately echo the Jianghuai War Zone in the south, causing the Qing Dynasty Central Plains Corps to fall into an unfavorable situation. At that time, the problem would be serious.

...

Suddenly, a thought flashed through Guangwu's mind, as if there was electricity:

... Could it be that this is not the illusion made by the Ming army, deliberately attracting me to transfer the large army into Shandong to facilitate their situation in the south?!

What if all this is fake?
Chapter completed!