Volume 1: The Battleship Yitian Changes into the Sino-Japanese War of 1894 Chapter 97: "Wolf Cub" and Sea-Air Coordination
What Sun Gang could not have imagined was that this Anda Censor was not alone (I heard that the Qingliu censors were divided into the "Northern Faction" and the "Southern Faction", and it seemed that they were all from Master Weng's family). While he was submitting memorials to argue, the censors in the "same camp" with him, based on the principle of "not letting one's own people suffer", submitted memorials to help him. For a while, the court was filled with impeachments, citing classics, attacking each other, and arguing happily. The news spread outside, and it alarmed foreign ministers. They frequently expressed "concern" and made "constructive" suggestions to the Zongliu Yamen from time to time, which gave Emperor Guangxu a splitting headache. He "stopped court for three days" and probably went to discuss things with the Empress Dowager Cixi.
"You are quite evil." Ma Yue said to Sun Gang with a smile that day: "You have done a good job. The court has been in turmoil, but you are just sitting here enjoying yourself."
"I am in charge of shipbuilding. Public opinion is the business of the censors." Sun Gang blinked innocently and said, "I didn't say anything."
"Have you thought about how this matter should end?" His beloved wife said to him very "seriously": "It's not good for you not to make your position clear. Normally speaking, you are on Li Zhongtang's side, but the emperor also values you very much. Your situation is actually very delicate. You must be very careful with every word and action."
"Does it mean don't stand on the wrong side?" Sun Gang said with a smile. This "standing on the right side" has become a big science in later generations.
"The history books of our time seem to call them 'Emperor's Party' and 'Empress's Party'." Ma Yue smiled and said, "I heard that here they are called 'Children's Party' and 'Mother's Party'."
"Oh my god, there is such a name for it." Sun Gang laughed and said, "At first I thought it was related to kindergarten."
"In my opinion, the Qing court is really like a kindergarten. They argue endlessly over childish and ridiculous things all day long, and all national affairs are delayed." Ma Yue said: "When will these people grow up?"
"Let them fight each other." Sun Gang smiled wickedly, "When they are exhausted and both are injured, we will have a chance to wipe out these old men."
"I understand what you mean, but if you do this, you will bring in foreign forces to put pressure on those old Taoists. Have you ever thought about what the final result will be?" Ma Yue said with some concern.
"As long as it doesn't involve the military, it won't be a big problem." Sun Gang said: "The Japanese did much more ruthlessly than I did to eliminate the resistance of traditional culture, but Japan's traditional culture not only did not die, but was preserved. The same is true for Thailand. The vitality of China's traditional culture is very tenacious and will not die just like that. I just want to use the hands of foreigners to eliminate the rotten things in our traditional culture. The vitality will naturally survive."
"Survival of the fittest, right?" Ma Yue looked at him with a smile. "Japan has shown that it is more adaptable to this 'law of the jungle' world than China. But how long will China have to wait to adapt?"
"When the next crisis comes." Sun Gang looked at her and said.
"But will you and I be able to survive the next crisis?" Ma Yue looked at him infatuatedly and asked.
"Let's go, I'll take you to see the new submarine." Sun Gang said, holding her hand. Indeed, he was not sure whether he could lead China safely through the next crisis.
It is extremely difficult for China, a giant with feet of clay, to truly stand up.
When they arrived at the dock, the captains of the submarine detachment came over to greet them. Fujian sent over two new submarines that Sun Gang had ordered for the Beiyang Fleet. Ding Ruchang sent a number of students from the Tianjin Naval Academy. After many rounds of selection, Lin Tai selected Wu Anguo and Liu Yulin as the captains of the two new submarines. Sun Gang named the two new submarines "Haian" and "Haini" respectively. Wu Anguo was the captain of the "Haian" and Liu Yulin was the captain of the "Haini".
Ever since he explained the general idea of the "wolf pack" tactics to the captains, they began to try to practice it. After all, this tactic was the first of its kind in the East and the West. Chinese naval officers and soldiers had never experienced maritime commerce disruption operations and could not feel the tremendous power of this tactic.
After many drills, the officers and soldiers from the torpedo boat team put forward suggestions. Sun Gang then learned that the tactical regulations of the Beiyang Navy's torpedo boat unit originally emphasized formation combat. If the first boat missed, the second boat would follow, which was very similar to the "wolf pack" tactics. However, in the Battle of the Yellow Sea, because the enemy and our side's artillery fire was too fierce, each torpedo boat was either busy rescuing officers and soldiers who fell into the water, or chasing down a single Japanese ship alone, or swarming forward to "beat up", with no tactical coordination and cooperation at all. As a result, the battle record was poor, which made the vast majority of torpedo boat officers and soldiers very depressed. Later, some of them were transferred to serve in the submarine detachment, and took the opportunity to propose this tactical idea. Several captains agreed with it, and after discussion, they decided to conduct tactical exercises, and specially invited the "initiator" of this tactic, the Minister of Shipbuilding, to watch.
In order to see clearly and experience it personally, Sun Gang simply took his beloved wife on Wen Junfeng's "Haijiao" submarine to watch how they practiced.
The two of them entered the command tower of the "Hai Jiao". Sun Gang looked out through the closed porthole and saw that there was no one on the deck. All the sailors and gunners had quietly taken their positions, which made him secretly admire them in his heart.
With the sound of unique Chinese commands (after the Battle of the Yellow Sea, foreign officers believed that the new sailors were not familiar with the English drill jargon originally used by the Beiyang Navy, and suggested using corresponding special Chinese commands instead. Lin Taizeng had reported to Ding Ruchang for approval and tried it out in the Beiyang Navy for a period of time, and the results proved to be good), the entire battleship began to move as if it had life.
Sun Gang looked at their operations with admiration. This could be said to be the performance of the semi-submersible force of the "Young Wolf Pack", which had reached a considerable level.
The four submarines of this "Wolf Cub" team formed two by two and began to advance in formation until they came to the endless sea. Ma Yue pointed to something in the distance and showed it to him, and Sun Gang recognized it immediately.
It was an "armed hot air balloon".
"What's going on with that balloon?" Sun Gang asked Wen Junfeng.
"To point us to the direction of the enemy ships." Wen Junfeng replied, "Each naval battalion now has a balloon team, which acts as a reconnaissance patrol. When they spot an enemy ship, they use lantern language to notify us. It's very convenient."
Sun Gang nodded secretly. With hot air balloons as their "eyes", the Beiyang Fleet could take the initiative and gain the upper hand before the enemy took action. Thinking that this would most likely change the way of future naval battles, Sun Gang's heart was filled with pride.
"They sent a signal saying that there is a merchant fleet coming this way, escorting Lord Wang's 'Ningyuan'." After walking for a while, Wen Junfeng looked at the hot air balloon in the distance that kept sending signals and said.
Sun Gang thought of the silly captain of Shandong's "magic cannon" and the "past" in Korea, and couldn't help but smile.
"Lord Wang always says that our submarine fleet has few small ships and cannons and its combat effectiveness is not good. Today we have a good chance to tease him." Wen Junfeng said, and asked the signalman to send a signal to the other three submarines to prepare for coordinated action.
Sun Gang looked at the sea carefully. Although the balloon soldiers sent a signal that the fleet was just ahead, he still saw nothing.
The four submarines were constantly communicating with each other using light signals. After a while, several smoke columns appeared faintly in the distance, and Wen Junfeng couldn't help but show a hint of excitement on his face.
" Prepare the front turret, train the ammunition." Wen Junfeng ordered, "Speed up, 12 knots, target, straight ahead."
The "Hai Jiao" immediately began to accelerate. Sun Gang saw the other three submarines slowly dispersed. The speed of two of them began to slow down, and large bubbles began to emerge around the hulls. Sun Gang knew that they were diving.
Sure enough, after a while, the two submarines disappeared from sight.
"It was arranged in advance. The two of them will attack the merchant ships, and the two of us will deal with the escort ships." Wen Junfeng saw that Sun Gang didn't quite understand, so he explained to him.
"How do you plan to kill him?" asked Sun Gang, China's first submarine captain who had matured.
Wen Junfeng held up the telescope, observed carefully, and replied: "See where he is, seize the position at high speed on the surface, and dive to attack."
Sun Gang nodded and said nothing more. Wen Junfeng carefully observed the fleet that was getting closer and closer. "They are still sailing forward in a swagger . They probably haven't noticed us." said an officer.
"I wanted to rush up and shoot him, but this guy's shooting is too accurate, and now he's pointing his broadside at us, so we're at a disadvantage." Wen Junfeng put down the telescope and ordered, "The front gun crew, shut down the guns and get into the cabin! Everyone, get ready to dive!"
Sun Gang saw that the gunners of the deck guns quickly began to close the cannons and make them waterproof. All the people entered the cabin one after another. The portholes were immediately blocked by watertight steel plates, and the light in the boat immediately became dim.
The officers around were carefully closing and checking the sealed hatch. Following a series of commands from Wen Junfeng, the submarine's hull began to slowly tilt forward. Although he could not see the situation outside, Sun Gang could still feel that the submarine was quickly diving into the water.
"This ship is really great, much better than the previous one." Wen Junfeng said, glanced at the water mark and raised the periscope.
"Huh? Why is this guy gone?" Wen Junfeng looked around through a periscope and couldn't help but say in surprise.