Volume 2: War breaks out Chapter 13: Suspicion (Part 1)
When Nagasaki Port disappeared below the sea level, Tan Renhao lit a cigarette and looked at the sunset over the western sea line.
The nights at sea are cool and even a little chilly.
"What is this?"
Tan Renhao glanced at the puppet in Hao Dongjue's hand.
This is a puppet made in the image of a young officer of the Imperial Navy. It is very lifelike, but it makes people feel very unsatisfactory.
"Fuck the little Japanese!"
Chang Jianxin simply threw the gift box in his hand into the sea.
"Mr. Chang, what are you doing ? After all, this is a gift from the Japanese."
Hao Dongjue looked at Chang Jianxin, who was acting a little abnormally, with some confusion.
"You can keep it if you want."
Chang Jianxin sneered and lit a cigarette. "Do you know what Japanese puppets are used for? According to Japanese custom, puppets are used to commemorate the dead. Are you willing to keep them?"
Hao Dongjue was stunned, then he threw the puppet in his hand away as if he had been electrocuted.
"The damn Japanese are really malicious, cursing us."
Tan Renhao laughed. When he boarded the ship, he threw the gift given by the dwarf-like Japanese woman into the sea and did not bring it aboard the warship at all.
“Damn it!”
Hao Dongjue wiped his hands, as if they were stained by something, "Damn little Japan, next time I go to Nagasaki, it will definitely be a ruin!"
Tan Renhao smiled and shook his head. He just felt that the Japanese were very despicable for doing these tricks with ulterior motives. Even a rational person would not believe in curses, ghosts, or the like.
At this time, a seaplane flew over from the east and landed on the sea next to the "Li Jing".
The pilot's skills must have been excellent, because the "Li Jing" did not slow down at all, and the seaplane still approached the port side of the warship very smoothly.
Just as Hao Dongjue continued to curse Japan and Tan Renhao and Chang Jianxin were watching the fun, General Liao Hanxiang's orderly found them.
"Major, the general wants you to go to the conference room."
"Now?"
The orderly nodded.
"Okay, I'll be right there."
Tan Renhao glanced at his two companions and said, "You guys go eat first, you don't have to wait for me."
Hao Dongjue and Chang Jianxin both nodded. They were already used to Tan Renhao being called away by the commander.
In the conference room, three generals, Liao Hanxiang, Wu Xianyu and Ji Xiaobin, were all smoking. There were several documents on the table. Liao Hanxiang was standing in front of the Pacific map hanging on the wall, Wu Xianyu was studying the nautical chart on the table, and Ji Xiaobin was thinking about something.
"Commander..."
"Major, you've come just in time. Take a look at these documents first."
Ji Xiaobin threw the documents in front of Tan Renhao and asked him to sit down. "We just received this. The Navy Headquarters sent a plane over here."
Tan Renhao hesitated for a moment, then opened the top document. When he saw the title, he looked at Ji Xiaobin with a little surprise.
Ji Xiaobin shrugged and motioned for him to continue reading.
"The Japanese are fucking dogs!"
Liao Hanxiang walked over and didn't pay any attention to his words.
"A few hours ago, they were still talking and laughing, but now they suddenly changed their minds. They really deserve a beating!"
"Old Liao!"
Wu Xianyu frowned slightly, reminding Liao Hanxiang to be careful with his words, but he himself didn't pay attention.
"Why, am I wrong?"
Liao Hanxiang sneered, "If it were my temper, I would just start planning. What is there to be afraid of? In the past few hundred years, when has Japan ever won a war? The lesson we taught them last time was not enough. This time, we will beat them to death. No mercy, no softness, until the little Japanese are completely submissive!"
Wu Xianyu smiled bitterly and shook his head, his gaze shifted to Tan Renhao.
"Major, this was just sent by the Navy Headquarters. It looks like we will have to stay at sea for a while longer."
Tan Renhao didn't say anything. The document was top secret, so it couldn't be sent via the insecure telegram.
The content is roughly that Japan is increasing its troops to the southwest of Honshu Island and Kyushu Island, and that Japanese patrol warships and ships of the Kingdom of Korea had a maritime conflict near Iki Island, and as a result, a Japanese patrol boat was sunk by a North Korean destroyer.
Now that the Japanese negotiators have withdrawn from the trilateral talks, the Japanese cabinet has held an emergency meeting. Even the Japanese Navy Commander-in-Chief Nagano Osami (who replaced the elderly Prince Hiroyuki a year ago), who was commanding the exercise, has returned to Tokyo and handed over the exercise to the new Combined Fleet Commander Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto.
"Are there any changes in the Japanese fleet's exercises ?"
Tan Renhao raised his head, and the first thing he realized was that the maritime conflict on Iki Island might be the fuse of war.
“No news yet.”
Wu Xianyu let out a long sigh. "The submarine that was monitoring the Japanese fleet's exercise returned a few days ago. The new submarine will probably arrive in five days. We have no way of knowing whether the Japanese fleet is still conducting exercises."
Tan Renhao was slightly stunned, and immediately pulled the sea chart over. Then, his face became even gloomier.
"Major, do you think something is wrong?"
Liao Hanxiang also noticed the change in Tan Renhao's expression.
"Commander Liao, don't you think this is strange?"
Tan Renhao pointed out on the nautical chart the locations of the empire's four main fleets operating in the Western Pacific.
"Right now, the First Fleet is in Naha Port, the Second Fleet returned a few days ago and should be in the Sulu Sea now, the Third Fleet has just entered the South China Sea, and we are returning to Naha Port. Nearly 70% of the main fleets of the Imperial Navy are in the Western Pacific region, and are all within the strike range of the Japanese Air Force!"
Liao Hanxiang was startled and walked over immediately.
"Is it boring?"
Wu Xianyu and Ji Xiaobin also came over. Obviously, they attached great importance to the opinion of this major staff officer.
"I think this is a signal to start a war."
Tan Renhao looked at the three generals with a serious expression, "If Japan needs to start a war, it must be a sneak attack and a sudden attack, launching a war without any preparation of the Imperial Navy, in order to seize the initiative and control of the sea in the early stage of the war. As long as Japan gains control of the sea and the Imperial Navy suffers heavy losses, we will have to fight this all-out war with Japan in an extremely passive situation!"
Now, the expressions of the three generals became gloomy. Tan Renhao's words were not nonsense, because this was indeed the best way for Japan to start a war.
