1890 King of Southeast Asia

On October 16, fifteen nautical miles south of the Sasebo Naval Base, the home port of the Japanese Navy Combined Fleet.

"Warships were spotted in the southeast waters."

"Emergency dive!"

"Everyone go down to the cabin and close the hatch."

Dengdengdeng~~

A dozen people, including observers, those who came to get some air, and gun operators, ran into the cabin in an orderly manner. After the last person came in, the cabin door was tightly closed.

"Dive to the periscope depth."

"Raise the periscope."

"Start the generator."

Captain Huang Shuai gave orders skillfully, and the crew also carried out various tasks in an orderly manner without any panic.

This was not the first time they encountered such a thing. As the captain of the Squid submarine, he had been in this sea area for a long time to monitor the movements of the Japanese Navy.

There were many ships coming and going here. Although Japan did not send out large warships very often, there were still many small warships carrying out patrol missions.

During this period, the Squid had experienced many such emergency dives and was already familiar with the road.

"Distance 7800, speed 12 knots, turn, bow toward position 071." Huang Shuai stared at the periscope and gave orders softly.

The submarine began to turn slowly, aiming the bow at the direction of the Japanese warship.

That was the end, Huang Shuai did not continue, after all, their main task was to observe and monitor, not to alert the enemy, this was just a simulation.

He did a lot of similar simulations, and he did it habitually.

"Record, Chikuma-class Yahagi, left the port at 9 am and returned at 4 pm, leaving and returning at about 12 knots."

"In addition, it is recommended that the headquarters check Japan's coal reserves. The activities of Japanese naval warships have decreased a lot recently, and the speed has also slowed down a lot."

"This time, the speed of Yahagi was only knots, but the smoke from the chimney was far more dense than the 18 knots of the previous Chikuma-class Hirado cruiser."

Huang Shuai said, giving up the periscope.

They basically had to dive several times a day, especially in August, because the Japanese Navy was not repairing its main battleship fast enough, so they deployed a large number of small warships, fearing a sneak attack by the South China Navy.

During that period, Huang Shuai was the most annoying, basically diving four or five times a day.

Until the end of September, the frequency of the Japanese Navy's attendance suddenly dropped, and the speed of the warships also slowed down.

After the Yahagi slowly left the sea area, the Squid re-observed and confirmed that there were no enemy ships around, and then resurfaced.

"Replace someone to go up for a breath, pay attention to the enemy situation, put out the antenna, and report as usual." Huang Shuai wiped the sweat and walked towards the telegraph room.

The Squid is not a combat ship. Although it also has three torpedo tubes and six torpedoes, it is an ocean-going reconnaissance submarine.

When the South China Navy Department discussed in 1913, it mentioned the need for a surveillance warship with a long range and strong concealment.

The main goal is to monitor the movements of British and American warships and operate in the Red Sea, Indian Ocean, and Pacific Ocean.

At first, the South China Navy Department set its sights on fast warships, but ocean-going fast warships could not balance concealment, survivability, long range, and funding well, and the plan came to a standstill.

At this time, Gu Fan noticed submarines and proposed to build ocean-going submarines, while others could be abandoned to improve range and concealment, and equipped with high-power radio stations.

So, the Squid was born.

This is an experimental model of an ocean-going reconnaissance submarine. Unlike other experimental models that are crazy about new technologies, new equipment, and new concepts, the Squid uses all mature technologies.

The use of mature technology can reduce the failure rate, reduce costs, improve stability, and other advantages. The disadvantage is that the performance is "mediocre" after all.

The Squid has a surface displacement of 1,240 tons and an underwater displacement of 1,482 tons, which can be called the largest submarine in the world.

It is equipped with two diesel engines and one electric motor, four power batteries, a surface speed of 16 knots, and an underwater speed of 7.5 knots.

The surface range is 15,000 nautical miles and the underwater range is 180 nautical miles.

The Squid was also specially planned. There is a hatch at the rear of the submarine. After opening it, the supply ship can directly supply various materials, including fuel, to increase the combat range.

The above parameters are surprising on time, and many indicators are design parameters after the 1930s.

But the cost is not small. At this time, submarines, especially German submarines, can safely dive to a depth of more than 100 meters, while the Squid is only 80 meters.

In addition, in order to free up enough space to load supplies, the configuration of weapons has to be reduced, occupying the space of weapons, resulting in weak force.

In addition, the side effects of the large tonnage required for a long range - slow diving speed and inflexible turning.

Carrying a large amount of fuel, the Squid must use propellers to assist in rapid diving.

When diving quickly, the water tank at the front of the submarine is first filled with water, and irrelevant personnel must stay in the front cabin as a counterweight. After 20 seconds of water filling, the propeller is started to push the submarine into the water.

The tonnage is large, and in order to maximize the self-sustaining power, the shape is not very consistent with fluid mechanics, and underwater operations are not flexible.

The advantages of the Squid are that it has a long range, a long underwater standby time, and is equipped with an oxygen generator that can support the submarine to stay underwater for forty hours.

Combined with the original oxygen in the air, it can stay underwater for forty-eight hours without any problem. Even if it is discovered, it can still ensure safety in a rogue way.

These are enough for the navy.

Anyway, what they need is a hidden monitor.

A high-power radio was installed on the Squid, and the telescopic antenna was stored in the bridge.

The Squid could directly contact the Ryukyu Naval Base in Sasebo and report the results.

In addition to the Pacific Ocean, the Squid could also send messages directly to land radio stations on major routes in other regions.

"Captain, report from the headquarters." After a while, they received a reply.

This was undoubtedly lucky, because submarines need to spend a long time avoiding ships coming and going, and they have to dive from time to time, and sometimes miss messages.

If the reply is not received in time, communication can only be established the next time it surfaces.

Submarines cannot receive messages underwater.

"The headquarters ordered us to continue reconnaissance. The Japanese may make a big move. If the main force of the Japanese fleet leaves the port, we will follow them when the opportunity arises." Huang Shuai thought for a while and was a little excited.

It's almost three months, is there finally going to be a change? !

…………

Time will go back a week. After concentrating on transporting supplies for more than a week, the Japanese finally gathered 400,000 people in North Korea.

Among these 400,000 people, there are only three standing divisions, and the other two standing divisions were transferred back by the military.

The supplies are also enough for 700,000 people to fight for a month (the Japanese army believes.).

The remaining supplies are still being transported, but the transport ships have to use inferior loose coal or even coal slag due to insufficient coal, which has insufficient calorific value and reduced transportation efficiency.

Japan has fallen into a shortage of supplies as a whole country. Not only high-quality anthracite for ships, but also ordinary steam coal for ships is running out.

In addition to picking the best for the navy, the newly produced coal must also be distributed to various Japanese companies.

At this time, except for the South China region of China in the United States and Germany, most areas use steam engines as the power source of factories, and steam engines need to burn coal.

Due to the lack of fuel, many factories in Japan have begun to burn charcoal or even wood. It can only be said that they can burn, but the calorific value is low and not long-lasting, and the price is much more expensive in comparison.

On October 10, the Japanese army formed three army-level units in the form of two special divisions and one standing division, and split a heavy artillery brigade into three reinforced heavy artillery battalions to strengthen it.

Normally, a Japanese army-level unit would be equipped with a field heavy artillery regiment or field artillery regiment, and even a field heavy artillery brigade or independent field heavy artillery brigade would be strengthened according to the difficulty of the operation.

The field heavy artillery regiment is generally equipped with 24 150mm cannons, while the field artillery regiment is equipped with 36 120mm howitzers and 12 75mm field guns.

The field heavy artillery brigade is equipped with 36 150mm cannons, 12 150mm howitzers, and 20 240mm howitzers.

North Korea has only one field heavy artillery brigade, which is directly under the command of the Korean Garrison Army. This time, the 700,000 troops are theoretically fighting under the command of the Korean Garrison Army, but only 400,000 have come so far.

However, the Japanese army at this time is not normal.

The three permanent divisions left behind are completely mountain divisions, that is, the heavy weapons are configured as 36 75mm mountain guns and 12 75mm field guns.

The special divisions were also configured according to the mountain divisions, and the heavy weapons were not fully equipped.

The two permanent divisions that were transferred were configured according to the plain divisions, with thirty-six 75mm field guns and twelve 120mm howitzers.

The support weapons assigned to the battalion level of the plain divisions were also 75mm field guns, and the mountain divisions were assigned 75mm mountain guns, which were still not in place.

The 8 siege guns that were promised to be sent were delivered. The 280mm siege guns used during the Russo-Japanese War were dismantled and modified by the Japanese from the coastal artillery.

The new 240mm siege guns are more convenient to transport, have a faster rate of fire, and are even more powerful, but they were not sent and were all placed in Japan.

In addition, in this attack, the opponent of the Korean garrison was the border defense army of the three provinces of China. Since the revolution, the border defense army has been building a lot on the border and strengthening the defense on the fortifications built by the original Beiyang Army.

Maybe not as good as the Maginot Line, but better than the Liege Fortress, after all, the Liege Fortress was built in the 1880s.

As the attacking party, Japan needed to strengthen long-barreled cannons such as field guns and siege guns, but all they sent were mountain guns, and even Krupp mountain guns seized from the Huai Army during the Sino-Japanese War.

The Japanese headquarters could not care about the lives of these people, anyway, their role was to start this battle.

But the Korean garrison troops could not! If they lost, wouldn't they be blamed?

As a last resort, the independent heavy artillery brigade was divided into three reinforced heavy artillery battalions to strengthen the army-level offensive capabilities, and only the siege heavy artillery brigade was in hand.

On October 12, the assignment was completed.

"Yoshi, attack!"