Master Yuan, start!

Liu Bohong straightened his white naval uniform and saluted Deng Shichang who entered the room with a standard revolutionary army salute.

"Liu Bohong of Haiping. It's been a long time since we last met at the Naval Academy."

Deng Shichang looked closely and saw his students at the Tianjin Naval Academy with a look of delight.

"It's not just me, there are many classmates too!" Liu Bohong put down his right hand, turned sideways, revealing Xie Baozhang, Wang Shaolian and others behind him.

"Captain of the Beiyang Fleet's Haifeng, Xie Baozhang..."

"Captain of the Beiyang Fleet's Haiji, Wang Shaolian..."

"Meet Instructor Deng!"

"Mirror, Xie Baozhang's calligraphy, Shaoquan's calligraphy, Wang Shaolian's calligraphy, so you're all here!" Deng Shichang was overjoyed and stepped forward quickly:

"Ten years have passed in a flash. I never thought that all of you would have joined the Beiyang Fleet."

Deng Shichang looked the eighty people up and down, as if he wanted to match the weathered faces in front of him with the young faces in the Naval Academy.

In his early years, Li Hongzhang established a naval academy in Tianjin in order to train naval officers and soldiers. In the early days, he sent people to Britain to study naval knowledge, and after returning to China, they served as instructors.

Deng Shichang took this path. After returning from Britain, he taught engine room knowledge at the Tianjin Naval Academy for more than a year before joining the Beiyang Fleet.

During his more than one year teaching career, he taught famous figures such as Xie Baozhang, Li Yuanhong, and Wang Shaolian.

Xie Baozhang, the father of the famous female writer Bing Xin in the original time and space, studied at the Naval Academy in Tianjin during the Guangxu period and later served as the Deputy Minister of the Navy of the Republic of China.

Needless to say, Li Yuanhong shone brightly in the Wuchang Revolution in the original time and space.

Wang Shaolian, a man who gave up his military career to pursue literature, did not serve on a ship. He taught at naval academies in Weihaiwei, Tianjin and other places, and later defected to Yuan Shikai.

Yuan Shikai later appointed him to take charge of the academic affairs of Beiyang University, and he became the de facto president for 9 years.

The Beiyang University is the famous Tianjin University in later generations.

It can be said that although Sheng Xuanhuai was the founder of Tianjin University, the person who actually created the soul of Tianjin University was Wang Shaolian.

This person's significance to Tianjin University is no less than that of Cai Yuanpei to Peking University.

If the timeline did not change, Xie and Wang would both be famous figures in history.

However, in this time and space, after the Sino-French War, Li Hongzhang was demoted from the Governor-General of Zhili to the Governor of Guangdong, and the Beiyang Navy subsequently moved south, leaving the students of the Tianjin Naval Academy with nowhere to go.

Finally, they chose to join the Incheon Naval Academy collectively, where they studied while waiting for new ships.

"Instructor Deng, you're joking. We are graduates of the Naval Academy. If we don't go on board the ship, won't our knowledge be useless?" Xie Baozhang said.

"Too."

Deng Shichang couldn't help feeling a little melancholy when he saw that several of his juniors, whom he once had high hopes for, now belonged to different factions.

C Ever since the Beiyang Fleet moved south and was renamed the South China Sea Fleet, there has been a gap in the number of naval officers and soldiers. It was not until the establishment of the Guangdong Naval Academy a few years ago that new recruits began to go on board for training.

However, the skills of these newcomers, most of whom have Hefei accents, vary greatly, and some of them can't even swim.

Later, Deng Shichang learned that Li Hongzhang did this deliberately because he was worried about the navy being controlled by the Minnan Gang and intended to replace them.

As a Cantonese, Deng Shichang also knew that the Minnan Gang was very powerful in the South China Sea Fleet. Of the eight Yuan-class warships in the South China Sea Fleet, except for himself, the remaining seven were all from Fujian.

And they are all from Houguan, Fujian!

The Minnan Gang may be xenophobic and belligerent, but their knowledge of ships is solid, and if nothing else, at least everyone can swim!

Is the division between regional factions really more important than maintaining the combat effectiveness of the fleet?

4 Shaking his head, Deng Shichang decided not to think about it anymore and focus on the upcoming battle.

...

"Teacher Deng, this is Mr. Tsuboi, the commander of the First Japanese Guerrilla Unit of the Sino-Japanese Combined Fleet.

And there is Togo Heihachirō, Togo-kun, the captain of the Yoshino, the flagship of the First Guerrilla Squadron."

When Liu Bohong saw Deng Shichang finished reminiscing about the past, he pointed to the other two shorter people in the room and introduced them.

"Mr. Deng, I have long heard of your name after the battle in Manila!" Tsuboi Kozo took a half step forward and greeted him.

Deng Shichang's participation in the South China Sea Fleet's attack on Manila was not only well known in the country, but also familiar to the Japanese.

After all, there was already public opinion of "Unity with Asia" in Japan at that time, and the big news of the yellow race defeating the white race came up, so it was naturally reported extensively.

"Mr. Pingxiang, you are so kind. The past is like the wind. Now that we are facing a formidable enemy, let us discuss our countermeasures."

The Chinese and Japanese joint fleets were not all gathered together.

For example, the Republic's Beiyang Fleet, the Haichao, was ordered to stay in Incheon Port with a group of coastal protection frigates on standby.

Some gunboats and auxiliary ships of the Jiangnan Fleet captured during the Hunan Expedition were also placed in Port Arthur.

The Japanese divided the fleet into the First and Second Guerrilla Groups.

After reuniting with the Chinese fleet, the Second Guerrilla Division, led by Commander-in-Chief Ito Hō, headed north to search for traces of Russian ships.

The First Guerrilla Division remained on the east coast of Korea for repairs.

As for the Nanyang Fleet that came from afar, the more important thing is "participation"

Only two of the eight Yuan-class warships went north, namely Zhiyuan and Laiyuan. Even if the accompanying Guangjia and Guangbing were included, there were only four ships in total.

Only two ships, the Zhiyuan and the Guangping, rushed to the east coast of North Korea.

Hedgehog 4 fold] Purchasing agent": All in all, the total tonnage of ships in the Sino-Japanese Combined Fleet is close to 5 tons.

On Yuan Shikai's side, the Hailong, Haiji and Haifeng were cruisers of the same type, with a tonnage of about 3700 tons, plus many auxiliary ships, totaling more than 1.5 tons.

On the Japanese side, the First Guerrilla Division's Yoshino, Takachiho, Akizusu, and Naniwa; and the Second Guerrilla Division's Matsushima, Hashidate, Hiei, Fuso, etc., totaled about 3 tons.

There were originally supposed to be two warships, Chiyoda and Itsukushima, but they were compensated to the Greeks.

As for the South China Sea Fleet, the Zhiyuan and Guangping have a total tonnage of 3300 tons.

"Instructor Deng, Tsuboi and Togo-kun." Liu Bohong took out the latest telegram he had ordered from the telegraph room nearby and said in a low voice, "This is the number of Russian warships and their detailed specifications."

Everyone looked closely and saw that it was densely covered with various words.

Battleship Alexander II, 9200 tons, speed of 15 knots, 2 305 mm guns, 4 229 mm guns.

And the battleship Nicholas I of the same class, 9500 tons, with a speed of 15 knots.

Cruiser Pamitrava, 6600 tons, two 2 mm guns, six 200 mm guns

Ushakov coastal defense ironclad ship, 4900 tons, speed of 16 knots, 4 254 mm guns, 4 120 mm guns.

Seeing the data of these four main battleships, several people couldn't help but show a look of worry on their faces.

Chapter 324: Hit by a bullet, the Sino-Japanese War of - reappears

"For now, we can only rely on sneak attacks." After a moment of silence, Tsuboi Kozo looked at the people in front of him and said seriously.

"A sneak attack?" Deng Shichang was stunned.

He had never thought about it this way. The naval warfare methods he learned in the Naval Academy were that both sides would set up their positions on the sea and then fire their cannons at each other.

When Deng Shichang was studying at the Fuzhou Naval Academy, all the teachers were naval officers and soldiers invited from Britain by Shen Baozhen at high salaries.

Although the British instructors were arrogant and unkind, they were not stingy in sharing Britain's naval warfare experience over the past century, and they could be said to have shared everything they knew.

Yes, the British do like to strike a balance and act as troublemakers in politics.

But when it comes to fighting wars, especially naval battles, they are open and honest, without any conspiracy or intrigue.

Therefore, Deng Shichang, who had received a complete British naval education at the Fuzhou Naval Academy, never thought of a sneak attack from the bottom of his heart.

"That's right, Mr. Deng, sneak attack!"

Tsuboi Kozo raised his telescope and looked at the vast sea of ​​whales through the window.

“Every once in a while, the French would sail from the Pacific Ocean into the Sea of ​​Whales to deliver supplies to the Russians.

I think we only need to fly the French flag to confuse the Russians for a short time and get close to their ports and warships."

Tsuboi Kozo never received education in the UK. He was born into a samurai family, but later changed his career and joined the Choshu Navy. He participated in the Shimonoseki War in 1863 when the Choshu domain of Japan bombarded the US and French fleets.

After that, he went to the United States to study English and did an internship on the American ship Colorado.

It seems that he has a very rich resume, but if you look closely, you will find that he is not being trained as a top talent.

At the end of the 19th century, the United States was completely inferior to Britain in both cultural and military fields.

Logically speaking, you should go to the UK to learn English, not the United States with its second-rate country accent.

At that time in the world, the US Navy was completely second-rate and could not be compared with the British Navy with a long history.

You know, even when Li Hongzhang was selecting naval talents to go abroad, he excluded the United States and chose Britain.

However, Kozo Tsuboi could only go to a second-rate power and study naval theory in a second-rate navy.

Therefore, what dominated Tsuboi Kozo's thoughts was the samurai mentality deeply rooted in his mind.

What is the warrior mindset?

Brave enough to die, eager to achieve success, everything is for the sake of victory, and victory can be achieved by any means. 0 Six!

This is the warrior mentality.

If Yuan Shikai were here, he would definitely find Tsuboi Kozo's strategy very familiar.

Disguise as a foreign ship and then launch a surprise attack.

This was one of the strategies used by the Japanese fleet during the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895 in the original time and space.

Historically, the Japanese fleet set out from the Sasebo Naval Base and hoisted the American flag after entering the Yellow Sea.

I don’t know whether the Beiyang Fleet at that time was naive or stupid, but they didn’t react immediately.

It was not until the Japanese fleet flying the American flag was approaching that they hurriedly changed from a double column to a streak formation to meet the enemy.

The Japanese warships took advantage of this time to approach, while the Beiyang Fleet was still hastily deploying its formations on both wings, and had not even completed its array before engaging the enemy, resulting in it being bombarded but unable to fight back in time.

When later generations analyzed the reasons for the Beiyang Fleet's defeat, they also listed the Beiyang Fleet's slowness in engaging the enemy's formation as one of the important factors.

"That's right, war is all about deception!"

Liu Bohong and Xie Baozhang nodded, both thinking that what Tsuboi Kozo had just said was a good idea.

Just then, an anxious shout came from the telegraph room.

"Report, urgent telegram from Vladivostok!"