The Qing Dynasty

Chapter 595: Alarm Less Than Thirty Miles
Teng Yuzao did not need Ye Zugui to confirm whether he had read Romance of the Three Kingdoms, the general content of which was known to almost all Chinese people, but continued.

"Wei, Shu, and Wu attacked each other, but they all hoped to see a brutal fight between the two sides. Even if the two sides joined forces to attack the other side, there would always be a situation where both sides did not put in enough effort, and such a coalition would also disperse in a short time."

"The reason is simple. No one wants to pay a high price. They all hope that the other two parties will remain weak. This situation will not be broken until one party becomes completely strong and is no longer afraid of the other two parties joining forces."

"The current situation is somewhat similar to the Three Kingdoms period of Wei, Shu and Wu. If we have to make a comparison, then we are the weakest Wu Kingdom."

"At this point, it's like the Battle of Red Cliffs, except that instead of Sun and Liu joining forces, Wu is holding out alone, because he knows very well that Cao and Liu are coveting his land."

Teng Yuzao smiled and asked Ye Zugui again, "Tong Hou, in this situation, if the navies of Cao and Liu fought on the Yangtze River, should Wu take advantage of the situation when the two sides were fighting hard and send out its navy to annihilate the navies of Cao and Liu in one fell swoop, or secretly support one side and encourage them to commit suicide more violently, or just stand by and watch for the time being."

Ye Zugui thought for a moment and said, "If that's the case, after Cao and Liu have finished fighting on the Yangtze River, no matter who wins or loses in the navy, no one will dare to cross the river to attack Wu. They must fight another battle on land and completely defeat one side. Only after they have no worries will they continue to attack Wu."

Teng Yuzao nodded and said, "Yes, that's right. Once the Wu Kingdom takes the opportunity to send out its navy to attack them, the two sides will cease fighting, or at least one side will take the initiative to cease fighting, and then the war will remain stalemate."

"In that case, not only will Wu not be able to take back Jingzhou, but they will also have to be on guard against the possibility that one day the two factions will come across the Yangtze River to settle accounts with them."

"This is what is happening right now. The navy is only a part of the military strength of Japan and Russia. Even if the victory is decided, their strength on land is still intact. We have to wait until they are exhausted and their strength on land is greatly damaged, then we can attack together with the land and sea to achieve the greatest victory."

Ye Zugui first nodded in agreement with Teng Yuzhao's statement, but then asked.

"Marshal, it stands to reason that we should secretly support the weaker side, that is, the Japanese, so that the fight between the two sides will be more brutal and the vitality of both sides will be further depleted. But why did you secretly deliver intelligence about the Japanese army to the Russians? Wouldn't this allow the Russians to defeat the Japanese faster?"

Teng Yuzao smiled and shook his head and said, "Now everyone would think that compared with Japan and Russia, the Russians are stronger, even much stronger than the Japanese, but in my opinion, it is not the case."

"According to my estimation, even if we don't secretly help the Russians, the Russians will soon be defeated by the Japanese, and the war will end soon, but it will definitely end with the Russians' defeat, and it will only take about a year and a half at most."

Teng Yuzhao's words surprised not only Ye Zugui, but also Zuo Baotian, who had remained silent.

Although Teng Yuzao's words surprised them, both of them could not believe their ears. If Teng Yuzao had not won victory after victory in the battles against the Eight-Nation Alliance, they would have immediately refuted this statement which they thought was extremely absurd.

Teng Yuzhao shook his head slightly. He knew that what his men lacked most now was international vision, and they did not have a clear understanding of the great powers.

Teng Yuzao patiently said to the two, "Listen to my explanation."

Teng Yuzhao reached out and took out the cigarette box, as if he wanted to smoke a cigarette, but then put the cigarette box back into his pocket.

Although this airship is a helium airship instead of hydrogen, it is still extremely afraid of fire. At least its skin is made of cloth, but a thin layer of aluminum foil is applied on this thin layer of cloth, and finally the necessary blue-gray paint is applied.

Even the airbag inside is made of vulcanized rubber, which is extremely flammable.

Therefore, smoking is still prohibited in the nature of this helium airship. This is also required by the airship crew rules formulated by Teng Yuzao, and Teng Yuzao must take the lead in complying with this regulation.

Seeing Teng Yuzhao's look, Zuo Baotian hurriedly stood up and opened an aluminum box that was also fixed on the side wall of the airship. He took out a bottle of Erguotou produced in Shuntianfu and poured Teng Yuzhao half a cup.

Although smoking is not allowed, each person on the airship has a quota of two taels of liquor every day. This is mainly because it is cold at high altitudes. Even with electric heating, the cabin made of aluminum alloy is still very cold. This is why these people are not only equipped with coats, but they also wear leather jackets and leather pants underneath.

Teng Yuzao took a sip of wine and said, "Due to the continuous expansion of Tsarist Russia, it now not only has the largest land area, but also a population of over 100 million, the largest population among all the powers in Europe and the world. In wartime, they can quickly mobilize more than 3 million troops, and the total force can reach more than 4 million."

Teng Yuzhao's words surprised the two again. More than four million troops are a huge force at any time.

"Because they intervene in almost everything in Europe in order to gain more benefits, they are known as the police of Europe, but this also makes them grudges against almost all European powers."

"For example, this time, except for the French, who secretly supported Russia because they wanted Russia's help to resist another attack by Germany, the other major powers, such as Britain, the United States, and Germany, all supported Japan, not only lending Japan military funds, but also buying warships, cannons and other weapons and ammunition for Japan."

"Because the Russians have different grievances with the European powers, their main military forces can only stay in Europe, and they dare not transfer most of their military forces to the Far East to participate in the war against Japan."

"In addition, because of their vast territory, they wanted to mobilize a large number of military forces to the Far East, but they only had one Siberian railway with limited capacity to use."

"If this railway is used to transport troops from Europe, it can transport 2,000 soldiers carrying rifles every day. If military supplies such as cannons and food are included, the capacity will be halved."

"So they can only transport 20,000 people per month at most. That means even if the war lasts for a year, and the Russians don't care about the European powers, they can only transport 200,000 people at most. Counting their more than 800,000 troops east of Lake Baikal, they can only have 1.2 million troops available for use in the Russo-Japanese War, and they have to increase them gradually."

"Although the total strength of the Japanese army is only 600,000 to 700,000, they have the support of Britain, the United States, Germany and other countries. It is not a problem to mobilize another 1.5 million people, and they can also be quickly transported to the Northeast to participate in the war."

"Also, although the Russians are considered one of the more powerful European powers, their industrial capacity is far inferior to that of Britain, France, and Germany. In terms of strength, Tsarist Russia is actually equivalent to a larger Qing Dynasty. It looks strong on the outside, but it is actually weak on the inside."

"On the other hand, although the Japanese are not as strong as Russia in terms of industrial capacity, they have the support of the three most powerful powers in the world, Britain, the United States and Germany. They will not have to worry about weapons and ammunition. As long as they provide people and are willing to borrow money from the powers to fight, they will have everything."

"Look for yourselves, what chances did the Russians have of winning the Russo-Japanese War?"

Ye Zugui and Zuo Baotian felt as if they had suddenly realized something and their eyes were opened to Teng Yuzhao's analysis, and they could not help but nod frequently.

Ye Zugui seemed a little unwilling, and said with a smile, "It seems that the Russians cannot compete with the Japanese in terms of land forces, at least they don't have any advantage, but the Russian Pacific Fleet is still very powerful, and they have seven battleships."

"Even if the Japanese count all their large ships, they can barely be called six. In fact, the only ones that can be truly considered battleships are probably the four newer battleships built by the British."

"In terms of the navy, shouldn't we secretly help the Russians?" Teng Yuzao said with a wry smile, "If we only look at the number and tonnage of warships, the Pacific Fleet is indeed stronger than the Japanese Combined Fleet, but you should be better at the navy than I am, except for the two aspects I just mentioned."

"In fact, the speed of the warship, the firing speed of the artillery, as well as the combat skills and will of the sailors and commanders are very important and may even be the key to determining the outcome of a naval battle."

"Moreover, as far as I know, the Japanese have already been studying how to deal with the Pacific Fleet in a targeted manner."

"Also, the commander of the Japanese Combined Fleet, Heihachiro Togo, is a ruthless and decisive man. During the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895, he was the captain of the Naniwa. This time he brought almost all the elite warships of the Combined Fleet, including the First Squadron, which Togo also served as the commander of, which included the four new battleships."

"As for the commander of the Third Fleet, Kataoka Shichiro, Kirihou should also know about it."

When Kataoka Shichiro was mentioned, Ye Zugui gritted his teeth and said, "Of course I know. Although Kataoka Shichiro did not participate in the Battle of the Yellow Sea, he was involved in the siege of Weihaiwei. At that time, he was the captain of the Kongo."

"His flagship is now Itsukushima. I really hope to run into him again, or that the Russians, who have been warned in advance, can send him to the bottom of the sea this time."

Teng Yuzao smiled bitterly and said, "Tong Hou, I guess your hopes are dashed. The combined fleet should not suffer any losses this time. The Russians will definitely suffer."

"Could it be that the Russians received the Marshal's telegram warning and still didn't prepare for battle? Or they don't believe that they will be attacked by the Japanese Navy! They have seven battleships parked in the harbor!"

Teng Yuzhao's words surprised Ye Zugui.

Teng Yuzao said calmly, "The Pacific Fleet is the treasure of the Russian Governor-General Alekseyev. He will not easily use his treasure to confront the Japanese head-on. I estimate that they will hide in the port in the early stage."

"As for the eight warships below that were anchored in the outer anchorage, since there were no radio stations on the warships, it was too late for them to receive the news and be on alert."

Zuo Baotian suddenly said, "Marshal, I understand. You chose this time to send the telegram to the Russians because you were sure that their warships did not have radio stations and wanted the Japanese to weaken the strength of the Pacific Fleet first."

Teng Yuzhao nodded with satisfaction, agreeing with Zuo Baotian's statement.

Ye Zugui suddenly sighed, "This radio station is really a good thing. The Marshal spared no expense to install radio stations on our twelve battleships and submarines. This will be of great benefit to us in the future naval battles with the Japanese and Westerners."

"We have our airships up there monitoring them. When they don't even know where we are, our fleet will know their every move."

Teng Yuzao shook his head. "Radio stations are very useful. The Japanese knew about them early. Now their flagships should have been equipped with them. Countries like Britain, France, Germany, and the United States will also install them on their warships soon. Now our weapon is the airship."

It seemed that the staff officer who was observing through the telescope at the side window was cooperating with Teng Yuzhao in preaching, and suddenly shouted.

"Marshal, we have found the traces of the combined fleet!"

Upon hearing the staff officer's words, Ye Zugui immediately jumped up and rushed to the porthole to look out. The sky was dotted with stars, but when he looked down, he could not see anything on the dark sea.

Teng Yuzhao also drank the wine in one gulp, then stood up and walked over.

Seeing Teng Yuzhao coming, the staff officer hurriedly gave up his seat, but Teng Yuzhao grabbed Ye Zugui and said.

"Tong Hou, you are an old navy man, come and see the night voyage of the combined fleet."

Ye Zugui didn't bother to be polite and quickly put his eyes close to the lens of the high-power telescope in front of him.

These telescopes are all individually customized from the German company Zeiss and are manufactured according to quasi-astronomical telescope observation standards.

As soon as Ye Zugui put his eyes close to the camera, a small array of light spots immediately appeared in the field of view. The light spots were arranged in a very regular pattern and were moving synchronously in the field of view.

"That's right, this must be the Japanese combined fleet!" Ye Zugui said excitedly.

Ye Zugui didn't want to occupy the only telescope in this direction, so after he finished speaking, he reluctantly gave his seat to Teng Yuzhao.

While observing, Teng Yuzhao silently counted the number of light spots, which was about forty or so. This was equivalent to the number of ships in the two squadrons of the Combined Fleet. It was undoubtedly the Combined Fleet led by Togo Heihachiro.

Teng Yuzao turned around and asked the staff officer, "How far is this distance?"

"Reply, Commander. Based on our experience of repeated observations on the sea surface, at our current altitude, the distance should be less than thirty nautical miles."

Thirty nautical miles is equivalent to one hour's sailing distance for a warship with a speed of thirty knots. However, since the battleships of the Combined Fleet have a speed of about twenty knots, it will take them about two hours to reach the outer anchorage of the Russian Pacific Fleet.

Teng Yuzhao suddenly had another mischievous idea and said to Zuo Baotian with a smile.

"Send a telegram to the Chief of Staff and ask him to send another telegram to Alexeev."

"Record it."

Seeing that Zuo Baotian had swiftly taken out a pen and a leather folder and was ready to take notes, Teng Yuzao spoke without hesitation.

"Alert! The First and Second Squadrons of the Combined Fleet are less than thirty nautical miles away from the Pacific Fleet's outer anchorage. The battle is expected to begin within two hours. The Pacific Squadron knows nothing! Nothing! Still dreaming!"

(End of this chapter)