Chapter 985 The Fisherman Who Is Eyeing

"emission!"

"Change the formation!"

...

A world-renowned naval battle was launched in the Philippine Sea. The billowing smoke was clearly visible from dozens of miles away.

With a loud "Boom", the "Naniwa" that rushed forward unfortunately became the first victim. The sound of rushing water began to sound from the stern, which opened the prelude to the sinking.

An officer cried: "Captain, the warship is seriously damaged and cannot be rescued. The ship is going to sink!"

As soon as they entered the battlefield, the main gun of the enemy's battleship was hit, and the "Naniwa" possessed by the god of mildew was naturally going to be cold. As a thin-skinned cruiser, the Naniwa clearly took on a burden it shouldn't have on her own.

As captain Togo Heihachiro, he was also on the verge of crying at the moment, but who knew that the Spaniards on the opposite side would leave the battleships without fighting, and came to bully them, this "Little Bean Ding"!

"Shut up and order the troops to continue firing on me. As long as the ship hasn't sunk, the shelling can't stop!"

The heavily damaged warships can't stand the toss, and the more they insist on firing, the faster the warships sink.

Togo Heihachiro naturally knew such a simple truth. But there is no way, this is the location of the battlefield Naniwa, even if you want to withdraw from the battlefield, it is too late.

Anyway, the "Naniwa" can't be kept, it might as well take the opportunity to shoot a few shots, maybe even take an enemy warship to bury.

As for stopping losses in time, abandoning warships and jumping into the sea to escape, such things are very common in European countries, but this is not feasible in Japan.

The glory of the soldiers determined that they could not do this. At this time, they abandoned the ship to escape, and they would not even think about raising their heads for the rest of their lives.

The officers and soldiers of the "Naniwa" chose to fight to the end, but Admiral Ito Yuheng, the commander of the General Fleet, could not sit idly by. The navy is not an army horse dung. Expensive.

"Naniwa" is doomed to fail, but the hundreds of officers and soldiers on the warship can't just give up.

Now it is in a decisive battle with the Spaniards, and it is not known how many warships will be sunk later. If they all coexist with the warships, it is unknown how much the Japanese navy will be left after this battle.

"The order goes on. If the warship is seriously damaged and cannot be rescued, all officers and soldiers must abandon the ship to escape. Togo Heihachiro is ordered to execute the order immediately."

The episode did not affect the decisive battle. The key to determining the outcome of this war was the battle of the battleships. The thin-skinned cruisers joined together to contribute to the enemy's record.

The sinking of the "Naniwa" was not the end, but a beginning. Immediately afterwards, the "Fuso" followed in the footsteps and opened the prelude to the sinking.

Watching all this happen, Ito Yuheng was helpless. He didn't want to do it, if possible. But the reality is cruel, the Japanese army has only two former dreadnoughts, while the enemy has three former dreadnoughts.

There is no way, in order to hurry the Japanese government can only buy the British Far East fleet. This fleet is invincible in the Far East, but essentially second-rate.

The most advanced warships are all occupied by the local fleet, and the Far Eastern Fleet's turn is full of older warships, and there are only two "pre-dreadnoughts".

There is an obvious gap in the performance of the old British warships from more than ten years ago to the new French warships that have just been in service for three or four years. In addition, the Japanese army was forced to go to the battlefield just a few days after getting it, and the operation was not skilled enough, and it was even more disadvantageous when fighting.

The Japanese Navy's current advantage has been concentrated in quantity. The original warships + the purchased British Far East Fleet, both in terms of the number of warships and the total tonnage, far exceed the Spanish expeditionary fleet.

"Quality is not enough, quantity is enough".

The principle that more ants kill elephants is also applicable in the navy, but the price paid is a bit high.

This is now proven, and the most tragic scene is being staged at this moment by the ordinary warships sent to entangle the Spanish capital ships.

The roar of artillery fire continued, no matter how tragic the battlefield was, not a single Japanese warship chose to retreat, but a few Spanish warships withdrew from the battlefield after being damaged.

On the observation ship in the distance, Governor Chandler, who was on the front line, was looking at the battlefield with a telescope, and there was a clerk beside him who kept recording on paper with a pen.

A similar situation is also happening not far away. Everything that happens on the battlefield is a valuable experience, vital to the Holy Roman Empire's lack of naval experience.

Governor Chandler, who was born in the navy, has clearly recognized this point for a long time. At present, the observation ships of the Shinra Navy have been distributed in all directions of the battlefield. Hundreds of officers are observing the battlefield from all directions and collecting data.

If you look closely, you can also find dozens of airships in the sky, also looking down and flying at a height of only a few hundred meters. If it weren't for the loud artillery fire, you might still be able to hear the "click" of the camera.

These actions of treating the warring parties as nothing, naturally aroused the dissatisfaction of the navies of Japan and the West below, and then the navies of the two countries unanimously decided to ignore the existence of these nuisances.

"Your Excellency, it's time to eat."

The voice of the attendant awakened Governor Chandler from his "hobby". There is no doubt that it is not his job to collect data, and it is obviously beyond the scope of his job to leave the Governor's Palace and come to join in the fun.

However, the Austrian Southeast Asia has always been calm, there is no serious threat, and there is no place for expansion. There is not much work for the governor.

It makes sense to patrol the sea area in your spare time. As for the Philippines

Whether Binhai counts as a sphere of influence in the Holy Roman Empire is a question as long as Governor Chandler decides himself.

Just find a small island or a reef, plant a flag, and run the boat to encircle the area.

Anyone who has an opinion can discuss with the Shinra Ministry of Foreign Affairs, or have friendly discussions with the Shinra Navy.

Looking at the watch in his hand, Chandler nodded: "It's really time, let's have dinner! Let the boys take turns eating, and every scene on the battlefield must be recorded."

This is how the experience of naval combat is accumulated. Although it is not as effective as going to the battlefield in person, it is still possible to accumulate valuable experience through observation.

Not far away, a bearded officer of about fifty or sixty years old joked: "Our chief governor, is it possible that his memory has deteriorated with age, and he has even forgotten the rotation of groups?"

"Enough, Ares. Don't forget that you are a day older than me. If your memory deteriorates in old age, you will come first."

"It's not a big day, it's fifteen minutes! Even this can be mistaken, and it really is the memory degradation.

Think about it, I often run around the world, unlike you who stay in the gentle village every day, surrounded by a bunch of flattering people, it is understandable that the memory declines quickly. "

"It's a day after the early morning, so don't quibble. And which eye did you see me staying in Wenrou Township? Who doesn't know that I hate stalkers the most, and who sent you here."

"Idiot, of course it's me. Could it be that the governor has been in office for so long that he can't even figure out the division of power within the navy..."

...

The quarrel between the two people has long been taken for granted. Being a junior and a comrade-in-arms, and also ascending to a high position at the same time, is a legend in the Holy Roman Empire.

It's just that the two protagonists in "Legend" seem to be born with conflict. They were fine when they were at home. It was important to pay attention to the etiquette of the nobles and there was no conflict; when they went overseas, they didn't have so many scruples. superior.

The quarrel between the two does not affect their relationship with each other. Whoever runs to persuade them is guaranteed to be confronted by the two of them together.

"Don't talk about useless, have you noticed that the performance of the Japanese navy is completely two extremes. The performance of some warships is completely excellent, and some warships are completely fooling around."

Governor Chandler smiled slightly: "You just don't understand the situation. You must know that six months ago, the total tonnage of the Japanese Navy was only more than 30,000 tons, and now it has swelled to nearly 100,000 tons.

The modernization process of the Japanese navy has only taken less than 20 years since its inception. Where did they go to find so many qualified officers in a short while?

In order to put this huge fleet into operation, the Japanese government not only recruited retired naval officers and soldiers, but also recruited teachers and students from the Naval Academy.

Do you think Ito Yuheng is stupid, and dare to bring such a fleet out to a decisive battle? "

Ares shook his head: "On the contrary, I think Ito Yuheng's choice is very smart. In peacetime, the officers and soldiers can naturally be trained well, and then consider the issue of a decisive battle with the enemy.

It is now very clear that the Spaniards have come and it is impossible to leave them time to train the army.

Not being able to avoid the battle at this time will not only make the army on the island passive, but also the morale of the Japanese Navy, which has been accumulated with great difficulty, will be lost at once.

Anyway, the number of their warships is large, and the Spaniards can't eat them in one bite. Although the newly recruited officers and soldiers are unqualified, most of them are from the navy. The biggest problem now is that they are not familiar with warships. After a battle, they get used to it. This is more effective than usual training for half a year.

If you look at the battlefield chosen by the Japanese, you can see that it is only forty nautical miles away from Luzon Island. Even if they lose, they can withdraw their main force.

The current situation is very good. Although the losses of the Japanese army are a little bigger, the losses of the Spaniards are not small. Don't look at the number of warships they sank, but they were injured a lot.

After a battle, most of the Spanish warships have to be repaired, and it will be difficult to restore combat effectiveness in the next two months.

If it weren't for our help, even if we had won a battle, the Spaniards would have lost the war because they couldn't keep up with the maintenance.

Now, the final outcome is undecided, mainly depends on what the country wants and how much the British support the Japanese government. "

"You're right in your analysis. One side is working on an expedition, while the other is fighting at the door of the house. Time is on the side of the Japanese.

The Philippine archipelago is richer than many people think. Since the 16th century, this place has been a transit point for trade. Tens of thousands of tons of silver, thousands of tons of gold, as well as some spices, tea, silk, and porcelain all flowed into Europe from here.

In addition, the Philippine archipelago itself is very rich in resources. Whether it is agricultural resources or gold and silver minerals, there is no shortage of everything. In terms of value, it will not be much lower than the entire Nanyang Governorate.

Spain has been operating here for more than 300 years, and the bureaucracy has taken root here for more than 300 years. Except for some that flowed back to Europe, the rest have stayed here.

The Japanese made a lot of money this time, otherwise they wouldn't have the money to buy warships from the British. The directly plundered goods will be skipped first, and the Japanese government itself does not know what to do.

The benefits that can be seen at a glance, after the occupation of the Philippine Islands, the food crisis in Japan has been solved, and the shortage of coal, copper and iron ore has also been solved.

These things alone, Japan can save tens of millions of Aegis in foreign exchange expenses every year. want

If the operation is done well, the revenue of the Philippine Islands alone can catch up with half of Japan's fiscal revenue.

In a sense, the Japanese are now taking the Spanish money and fighting Spain.

Given the poor financial situation of the Spanish government and the rotten bureaucracy, if the fight goes on like this, the first to be unable to hold on will be the Spaniards. "

Seeing the conversation, Governor Chandler couldn't help drooling. There is no way, the Philippine archipelago is really too rich, except for the Java Island in the hands of the Dutch, there is no place in the South China Sea that can compare with it.

As a qualified colonist, it is impossible to be unmoved when encountering such a wealthy place. It can be heard from the analysis that even the resources of the Philippine Islands have been figured out, and it is obviously well prepared.

In the past, in the hands of the Spaniards, due to political influence, Governor Chandler had no way to start, and now there is finally a ray of light.

As long as the Spaniards are defeated and give up their ownership of the Philippine Islands, the Governorate of Southeast Asia will have the opportunity to get the Philippine Islands. After all, there is no political pressure to rob the Japanese.

Not only the idea of ​​Governor Chandler, but the colonists of the entire Nanyang Governor's District are anxiously waiting for this to happen.

If it weren't for the order of the Vienna government, the Spaniards would not have used the dock for maintenance, and I am afraid they would not even think about getting logistical supplies.