Episode 192 The Birth of a New Overlord of the Sea

After sinking the two aircraft carriers Akagi and Kaga, the Ming army's fleet bombed the Japanese main fleet. After an afternoon of repeated bombings, the Ming army sank the already seriously damaged battleships Hyuga and Kongo.

The Haruna and Kirishima were seriously damaged. It was not until dusk, when the sun set in the west, that the visibility was greatly reduced, and then the troops were withdrawn.

After nightfall on the 15th, the main fleet of the Ming army turned around again and pursued the Japanese fleet eastward. They repeated their old tactics and launched a naval battle with the cooperation of submarines. The main battle force of the Japanese fleet was completely destroyed, and this time it was unable to fight back.

However, the remaining two battleships, Kirishima and Haruna, were seriously injured and moved slowly, so they were easily overtaken by the Ming fleet.

The final battle began. Without any suspense, after more than two hours of artillery battle, two seriously injured Japanese battleships sank one after another under the superior artillery fire of the Ming army. There were also some broken cruisers and destroyers left.

Without any scruples, they started to fly at high speed and fled in all directions.

At this point, the "Decisive Fleet" that the Japanese army launched with great momentum was almost completely wiped out. The Japanese Navy lost the battleships Mutsu, Ise, Yamashiro, Hyuga, Kongo, Haruna, Kirishima, and

The aircraft carriers Akagi and Kaga, as well as several light and heavy cruiser-class destroyers. As for the Ming army, the main battleship only lost the battleship Tokunaga.

After two days and one night of decisive battle at sea, most of the main force of the Imperial Japanese Navy was lost, and it was pulled from the seat of Asia's maritime hegemon in one fell swoop. And a new Asian maritime hegemon was born, the winner of this decisive battle: the Ming Empire.

On the evening of the 16th, the triumphant Ming fleet entered Kaohsiung Port for rest and recuperation, and the injured warships also needed to be overhauled. When the fleet entered Kaohsiung Port, the fireworks and fireworks in the port lit up the entire night sky, and the streets of Kaohsiung city were deserted.

Thousands of citizens flocked to the port, cheered to greet them, and rushed to see the heroic fleet enter the port.

Tonight, the night sky in Nanjing was also lit up by fireworks. People have been following the progress of this decisive maritime battle in the Western Pacific through the radio for the past two days. It was not until this moment that the fleet safely entered Kaohsiung Port, and the radio broadcast

The final result of the naval battle. And most of the people had already expected the final victory from the battle broadcasts over the past two days. However, many people did not expect that this victory would be so glorious.

Many stores are using this excuse to launch promotions... Even the business of pubs and restaurants is much better than usual. People are partly celebrating the victory of the navy, and partly celebrating that the Ming Dynasty has basically got rid of the two-sided war, and the maritime threat from Japan has dropped.

It has reached the lowest level. Not only has the life danger of their relatives serving in the navy been reduced to the lowest level, but also because Japan has been solved and the sea routes are unobstructed, the Ming army can also concentrate its energy and resources on the Western Front, so that even the land war on the Western Front

It will also end much earlier.

That night, Queen Zhu Yourong, Chief Minister Shen Rongxuan, Chief of General Staff Tang Yunsheng, and Chief of Naval General Staff Xiong Dingming all delivered their respective speeches on the radio. The next day, on the morning of the 17th, the cabinet government held a press conference.

At the meeting, hundreds of reporters from major domestic and foreign newspapers came to participate. One of the issues that reporters were most concerned about was the Ming Dynasty’s next policy towards Japan. If Japan sued for peace, what conditions would the Ming Dynasty propose?

Come on, as a country, Japan has gone to this level of war and it is time for it to seek peace.

Shen Rongxuan personally answered this question:

"On this issue, our government's attitude is very clear. If Japan is willing to come to the negotiating table, we are very welcome. We will not put forward any excessive conditions, and they will be within the range of conditions that a victorious country usually puts forward. Internally. If Japan is willing to withdraw from the war now, we will only focus on war reparations and return of the fruits of aggression, and will not put forward conditions that will damage Japan's territorial integrity. We do not want the war to continue, after all, the war is harmful to both sides. It’s a huge suffering for the people.”

The attitude of the Ming Empire was quickly published in major newspapers around the world. As for the wording of the Ming Dynasty's chief minister "returning the fruits of aggression", governments and media from various countries speculated that it was probably about the independence of Korea and Ryukyu. Because these two places were originally Both are independent countries, and they have indeed been occupied by Japan in recent decades. Once these two places become independent, they will definitely become a "satellite country" of the Ming Empire like the Kingdom of Siam, and become a geographically southern country. One north, two "big pincers" to contain Japan.

Once North Korea is included in the Ming Dynasty's sphere of influence, it will be much safer for Ming Dynasty ships to enter the Sea of ​​Japan in the future, and they will definitely get a series of logistic harbors on the Korean coast. Once the Ryukyu Islands are included in the Ming Dynasty's sphere of influence, it will be much safer for Ming Dynasty ships to enter the Sea of ​​Japan in the future. It can be said that Chinese ships can enter the Pacific unimpeded. The original Japan-Ryukyu island chain was a barrier on the way to the Pacific from the Ming Dynasty. If Ryukyu became independent, the southern half of this island chain would be controlled by the Ming Dynasty. It's in the hands of the country.

Just when everyone was staring at Japan's initiative to sue for peace, Xiang Xiaoqiang began to sing the opposite. He said that if Ming Dynasty only asked for a certain amount of compensation and did not ask Japan to give up Korea and Ryukyu, then Japan would definitely immediately will sit at the negotiating table. If Ming Dynasty intends to ask Japan to give up Korea and Ryukyu, then wait, this war is still early. If Japan is not blocked for a year and a half, the national machinery is on the verge of collapse, and Japan will definitely Will not seek peace.

When he said this, Zhu Yourong didn't believe it, the ministers didn't believe it, and even the generals at the headquarters didn't believe it. In everyone's opinion, a country had to go to such a point in the war - the elite army lost all, the main force of the navy lost most of it, and not a drop of oil. There's no luck in it. If you don't seek peace, you have to be a lunatic. Even the Fourteenth Princess doesn't believe it. In her impression, Japan is still a quite civilized, civilized and rational nation. But the Fourteenth Princess returns I came to China very early and came back in the late 1920s. At that time, Japan was indeed a relatively civilized, rational and tolerant country. In the 1930s, Japan became extremely nationalistic, the country went crazy, and the entire people became angry and youthful. She has not experienced this process personally. Although Shi Shigege grew up in Japan, at this moment, like everyone else, she still speculates on Japan from a foreigner's perspective.

No matter what everyone speculates, Japan has not sued for peace at the moment. So the blockade of Japan and maritime operations will have to continue. But now the two sides have changed their offensive and defensive positions, and Ming Dynasty is much more relaxed. Now it is the turn of the Japanese navy to shrink Preserving its strength in the harbor, the Ming Navy cruised the Western Pacific with great force.
Chapter completed!