Chapter 1005: The Eye of the Fisherman
Chapter 985 – The Fisherman Gazing Intently
“Launch!”
“Change formation!”
……
A great sea battle that the world has been watching unfolded in the Philippine Sea. The rolling and rising smoke was clearly visible from dozens of miles away.
“With a loud bang, the “Wave Speed”, which had rushed to the front, unfortunately became the first victim, and the sound of rushing water from the stern of the ship began to sound, kicking off the prelude to the sinking of the ship.
An officer cried out: “Captain, the ship is badly damaged, we can’t save it, it’s going to sink!”
The enemy’s battleship’s main guns hit the ship right after it entered the battlefield, and the “Naniwa”, which was possessed by the god of bad luck, was naturally going to be in a bad way. As a thin-skinned cruiser, the Naniwa was obviously carrying a heavy burden that it should not have to bear.
As the captain of the ship, Togo Heihachiro was also crying, who knew that the Spaniards on the other side of the battleships do not fight, came to bully them this “small beans” ah!
“Shut up, order the troops to continue firing, as long as the ship has not sunk, the shelling can not stop!”
The heavily damaged warships can’t withstand the torment, the more they insist on firing the cannons, the faster the warships will sink.
Such a simple reasoning Togo Heihachiro naturally knew. But there was no way, this was the location of the battlefield Naniwa speed ship, even if you want to withdraw from the battlefield is too late.
Anyway, the Naniwa could not be saved, so it would be better to take advantage of the opportunity to fire a few shots, and perhaps even take an enemy ship to be buried with it.
As for stopping losses in time, abandoning warships and jumping into the sea to escape, such things are very common in European countries, but in Japan this is not feasible.
The honor of the military decided that they can not do this, this time to abandon the ship to escape, the rest of their lives do not want to raise their heads as a man.
The officers and men of “Naniwa” chose to fight to the end, as the commander of the fleet, Admiral Ito Yuken could not just sit back and watch, the navy is not the army horse manure, as many as you want, to train a qualified naval soldier is very costly.
The “Naniwa” was already doomed, but the hundreds of officers and men on board could not just give up.
Now is a duel with the Spaniards, there is no telling how many warships will be sunk, if they all follow the warships and co-exist, after this battle, how many of the Japanese navy can be left is an unknown.
“Passed down the order, all warships damaged seriously can not be salvaged, all officers and men must abandon ship to escape. Order Togo Heihachiro to carry out the order immediately.”
The small episode did not affect the duel unfolding, the key to deciding the victory of this war is still the main ship duel, thin-skinned cruisers to get together, is to contribute to the enemy’s performance.
The sinking of “Naniwa” was not the end, but the beginning. Immediately after the “Fuso” followed in the footsteps of the prelude to the sinking of the “Fuso”.
Yuken Ito watched all this happen, but he could not do anything about it. If possible, he did not want to do so. But the reality was cruel, the Japanese only had two former dreadnoughts, while the enemy had three.
There was no choice but to buy the British Far East Fleet in order to hurry the Japanese government. This fleet was invincible in the Far East, but essentially only second rate.
The most advanced warships were all occupied by the local fleet, and the Far East Fleet’s turn were all older warships, even the “former dreadnoughts” were only two.
More than ten years ago the old British warships against the new French battleships that have just been in service for three or four years, there is obviously a gap in the performance of the warships. In addition, the Japanese army just got a few days, forced to go into battle, the operation is not skilled enough, the fight will be even more disadvantageous.
The Japanese navy’s advantage has now been concentrated on the number of original warships + purchased British Far East Fleet, both the number of warships, or the total tonnage, are far more than the Spanish Expeditionary Fleet.
“Quality is not enough, quantity will come.”
The reasoning that more ants bite more elephants applies in the navy as well, except that the price to pay is a bit high.
This was now proved by the fact that the ordinary warships sent to pester the Spanish mainships were at this moment enacting the saddest scene of all.
The roaring gunfire continued, and no matter how grueling the battlefield was, no Japanese warship chose to retreat; instead, several Spanish warships withdrew from the battlefield after being damaged.
On the distant observation ship, Governor Chandler, who was personally present at the front line, was holding a telescope to look out over the battlefield, and there was also a clerk beside him holding a pen on a piece of paper and recording continuously.
Similar situation, not far away is also happening. Everything that happens on the battlefield is a valuable experience, which is crucial for the Holy Roman Navy, which lacks experience in naval battles.
Governor Chandler, who was born in the navy, had long since clearly recognized this, and right now the observation ships of the Holy Roman Navy were already spread out on all sides of the battlefield, and hundreds of officers were observing the battlefield from all directions and collecting data.
If one looked closely, one could also find dozens of airships in the sky, similarly looking down, flying at an altitude of even just a few hundred meters. If the sound of the artillery fire was not too loud, one might be able to hear the “clicking” sound of the camera.
These regard the warring parties in the action of nothing, naturally triggered the dissatisfaction of the Japanese and Western navies below, and then the two navies unanimously decided to ignore the existence of these annoying ghosts.
“His Excellency the Governor, it’s time to eat.”
The voice of the valet woke up the mesmerized Governor Chandler from his “hobby”. Undoubtedly, collecting data was not his job, and leaving the Governor’s residence to come over and join in the fun was clearly outside the scope of his job.
However, the Austrian South Seas has always been calm, there is no serious threat, and there is no place to expand, belonging to the Governor’s work is not much.
It would make sense to patrol the seas in his spare time. As for whether or not the Philippine Sea is considered the Holy Roman Empire’s sphere of influence, this question is as long as the Governor Chandler himself says that it counts.
Just find a small island, or a reef, plant a flag, and run a ship to encircle the land is completed.
Anyone who has a problem with this can go and argue with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Holy Roman Empire, or they can have a friendly meeting with the Holy Roman Navy.
Looking at the watch on his hand, Chandler nodded: ”It is indeed time, so let’s start the meal! Let the lads take turns eating, every scene on the battlefield must be recorded.”
This was how experience in naval warfare was accumulated, even though it wasn’t as effective as personally going into battle, valuable experience could still be accumulated through observation.
Not far away, a bearded officer in his fifties or sixties snickered, “Our Great Governor, is it possible that his memory has deteriorated with age and he has even forgotten to rotate in groups?”
“That’s enough, Ares. Don’t forget that you’re a day older than me, and if your memory really deteriorates with age, you’re the one who comes first.”
“It’s not a day older, it’s fifteen minutes! If you can even get that wrong, your memory has really deteriorated.
Come to think of it, I often run around the world, unlike you who stays in a gentle land every day, surrounded by a bunch of ass-kissers, it is understandable that my memory is deteriorating fast.”
“After midnight is the day, so don’t be sophomoric. And which eye of yours saw me staying in a gentle land? Who doesn’t know that I hate sneaky people the most, and I don’t know who sent you here.”
“Idiot, of course it was myself. Could it be that the Governor has been a Governor for so long that he can’t even figure out the division of authority within the Navy ……”
……
The two men’s quarrel, the crowd had long since seen it. Hairy little friend and comrade-in-arms, but also at the same time to ascend to high positions, in the Holy Roman Empire are a legend.
Only “legend” in the two protagonists seem to be born in conflict, in the domestic time is good, to pay attention to the nobility etiquette did not have a conflict; to the overseas without so many scruples, the two will be the original form, almost meet on the pinch.
Two people quarrel to quarrel but does not affect the relationship between each other, who if you run to persuade the fight, guaranteed to be two people together to dislike.
“Don’t talk about useless things, have you noticed that the performance of the Japanese navy is completely two extremes. One part of the warship’s performance is completely called excellent, and one part of the warship is completely fooling around.”
Governor Chandler smiled slightly, “You’re just not understanding the situation. You have to know that half a year ago, the total tonnage of the Japanese Navy was just over 30,000 tons, and now it’s all of a sudden swelled to nearly 100,000 tons.
The modernization process of the Japanese Navy has been less than twenty years since its inception, so where are they going to find so many qualified officers in a moment?
In order to put this huge fleet up and running, the Japanese government not only conscripted already retired naval officers and soldiers, but also the naval school teachers and students are pulled up, it is said that also from the private sector to recruit a part of the sailors to make up the number.
Do you think that Ito Yuken was foolish to dare to bring such a fleet out for a duel?”
Ares shook his head, “On the contrary, I think Yohan Ito’s choice was smart. In times of peace, naturally, you can train your officers and soldiers well before considering a duel with the enemy.
The situation now is very obvious, the Spaniards have already come and it is impossible to leave them time to train their army.
Avoiding war at this time will not only put the island’s army into a passive situation, but also the Japanese navy’s morale, which had been built up with great difficulty in the past, will also be lost in one go.
Anyway, they had a large number of warships, and the Spaniards could not eat them in one bite. Just conscripted officers and men, although not qualified, but most of them are still from the navy, now the biggest problem is unfamiliar with the warships, after a battle will be adapted, which can be more effective than the usual training for half a year.
Just look at the battlefield chosen by the Japanese, it is only forty nautical miles away from Luzon Island, even if they lose the battle, they can still withdraw their main force out.
Now the situation is very good, although the Japanese army’s loss is a little big, but the Spanish loss is not small. Don’t look at the small number of warships they sunk, but there were quite a lot of injuries.
After the battle, most of the Spanish warships would have to be repaired, and it would be difficult to regain combat power for the next two months.
If it wasn’t for our help, even if they won a battle, the Spanish would have lost the war because they couldn’t keep up with the maintenance.
Right now, well, the final outcome is undecided, and it mostly depends on what the country wants, and how much support the British have for the Japanese government.”
“You’re right in your analysis, with one side laboring and one side fighting at home, time is on the side of the Japanese.
The Philippine Islands can be richer than many people think. Since the sixteenth century, they have been a transit point for trade, from which tens of thousands of tons of silver, thousands of tons of gold, and several spices, teas, silks, and porcelains have flowed into Europe.
In addition, the Philippine Islands itself is also very rich in resources. Whether it is agricultural resources, or gold and silver minerals are not lacking. In terms of value, it will not be much lower than the whole of the viceroyalty of the South Seas.
Spain has been operating here for more than three hundred years, and the bureaucrats will have to take root here for more than three hundred years, and apart from a part of them that has flowed back to Europe, the rest of them have all stayed here.
The Japanese have made a lot of money this time, otherwise they would not have had the money to buy warships from the British. Direct looting of property first skipped, that stuff the Japanese government itself can not figure out.
Just take a look at the gains, after the occupation of the Philippine Islands, the food crisis in mainland Japan was solved, and the problem of the shortage of coal, copper and iron ore was also solved.
With these things alone, Japan will be able to save tens of millions of rupiahs in foreign exchange expenses every year. If it is well managed, the income from the Philippine Islands alone will be able to cover half of Japan’s financial income.
In a sense, the Japanese are now taking Spanish money and fighting Spain.
With the Spanish government’s terrible financial situation, and that rotten bureaucracy, if we keep fighting like this, I’m afraid that the first ones who won’t be able to hold out will be the Spaniards.”
Talk see, Governor Chandler couldn’t help but drool. There is no way, the Philippine Islands is really too rich, in addition to the Dutch hands of Java, the South Seas region can no longer be comparable to it.
As a qualified colonizer, it was impossible not to be moved when encountering such an affluent place. It can be heard from the analysis that even the resources of the Philippine Islands were figured out, and it was obvious that they were prepared for it.
Previously in the hands of the Spaniards, forced by political influence Governor Chandler did not have the means to start, and now there is finally a ray of light.
As long as the Spaniards were defeated and gave up ownership of the Philippine Islands, the Southern Governor’s District would have the opportunity to get the Philippine Islands. After all, there was no political pressure to rob the Japanese.
It was not only Governor Chandler’s thoughts, but the entire colonists of the S.Y. Viceroyalty were anxiously waiting for this to happen.
If not for the order of the Vienna government, the Spaniards, not to mention the use of dockyards for repairs, I am afraid that they could not even obtain logistical supplies.
(End of chapter)