ebookland Chapter 723: The Devil's Submarine
Chapter 723: The Devil's Submarine
"We do have an office, but we don't have many armed forces. We only have thirty guards. In addition, because we sent aircraft, a guard battalion of about seven hundred people went there. Some other ground staff can also be converted into armed personnel. The total number of people is no more than one thousand. And since we also have to involve the Windsor Empire and some other warlords, I'm afraid it will be very troublesome."
Gu Xiaomeng is a very qualified assistant. If it weren't for the shortage of people in the intelligence department, Li Shaoyi would definitely have brought this girl to his side. Of course, he already has quite a few beautiful girls around him now, and his wife also protested a little, so this idea was suppressed by Li Shaoyi.
"Have you forgotten that we still have over 2,000 marines on board? If something really happens, the Windsor Empire won't mean anything. As for the local warlords, do they dare to challenge me?"
Li Shaoyi looked disdainful. Although the Windsor Empire was still very powerful in name, it basically went with the flow on some matters in the Far East. Apart from having some status in diplomacy, it basically did not participate in military operations.
As for the warlords in Guangdong Province in the south, Li Shaoyi really didn't take them seriously. I will do what you guys don't do. At most, I will give you some benefits. It's also a benefit if you don't stop me. If you really want to stop me, I don't mind having a foothold in the process of going south.
"Theoretically, no, but I can't guarantee what it will be like in practice."
What Miss Gu said was the truth. These days there are no shortage of troublemakers everywhere.
"These things can be overcome. Have you really investigated them? The Windmill Kingdom has many interests in Hong Kong. I mean interests that can make them bow to me. We went to Southeast Asia to help our overseas Chinese brothers improve their living conditions. But now, we have just set off, and their living conditions have plummeted to the bottom. How can this be possible?"
What Li Shaoyi wanted to determine was this issue, not how many obstacles he would encounter in the process of his actions. In Li Shaoyi's opinion, could those obstacles withstand the combined forces of Luosha and the Kwantung Army?
"That's for sure. The Windmill Kingdom has significant interests in Southeast Asia. They produce the most rubber and agricultural products, and we have always been a major trading partner. These people have always gathered in Hong Kong, and the reason they chose not to settle in Pujiang is because they enjoy more freedom there."
While Ms. Gu was speaking, she took out another report. There were quite a few businessmen from Fengche Country in Hong Kong. These people had bought houses and properties in Hong Kong. If their total assets were added up, it would be tens of millions of dollars.
It was obvious that Li Shaoyi was somewhat dissatisfied with such a result. This number was not enough to make the Windmill Kingdom bow its head. Although they were a declining power, it would be difficult to make them bow their heads with tens of millions of dollars.
But there is no other way now. It would be best if their lives were difficult. The more difficult their lives are, the more they will value the money.
If you take a cargo ship from Pujiang, it will take at least a week to reach Guangzhou in the south.
After all, people need to wait for the goods. It doesn't mean that they can set off immediately after your goods are loaded on the ship. They have to wait until the goods are fully loaded and there is profit in this trip before they will set off.
But it is different for warships. They don’t need to consider things like interests. At the current speed, they can reach the south in just a few dozen hours at most.
After receiving Li Shaoyi's order, all warships began to move forward at full speed. Generally, when sailing on the ocean, they all sail at an economic speed, but this did not matter to Li Shaoyi. All the fuel was supplied by the system anyway. If you didn't use it all today, he wouldn't give you the change tomorrow.
Some soldiers were very distressed. The warships were new and should have been run-in properly. But after leaving Pujiang, they were moving at full speed. Could the boilers withstand it?
But later on, the word spread that we have to consider the overseas Chinese in Southeast Asia. They have provided a lot of help to China. Now that we have encountered problems, if we still move slowly south as planned, it would be a bit too much.
Fifty nautical miles east of the southbound fleet
There were no ships sailing on the sea surface in this sea area, but dozens of meters underwater, three Japanese submarines had already been lurking here.
They analyzed all the routes of the fleet heading south and finally divided it into two attack groups, each with three submarines. The people in the Japanese Navy Department were not fools. As long as you use surface ships, Li Shaoyi will definitely get the information. Only these deep-sea killers can act without anyone noticing.
Therefore, before the southbound fleet set out, the Japanese took the lead in sending out six submarines and ambushing them on two necessary routes. We don't require you to wipe out Li Shaoyi's entire fleet, but as long as we can achieve some results and save some face for our Japanese Navy, it will be considered a victory.
In today's era, submarines are mainly responsible for sneak attack missions, and most of the targets of the sneak attacks are merchant ships. If you want to attack the opponent's main fleet, you have to consider whether you have the ability to do so, especially the opponent's anti-submarine destroyers.
When a submarine faces a destroyer, there is a high probability that it will not be able to escape, mainly because their speed underwater is too slow and the explosive power of depth charges has been increasing year by year.
The submarine's defense capability has not increased much. The Junkers can be said to have a lot of say in this regard. When the submarine is not discovered, their submarine can really be called a deep-sea dragon.
But if discovered by a destroyer, the chance of escape is less than 30%. The destroyer is very fast on the water surface and can also find out the activity radius of the submarine. As long as it throws depth charges hard within this activity radius, the huge pressure generated by the depth charges under the water surface is enough to destroy a submarine.
So when these Japanese submarines set off, their commanders had already told them that perhaps we were engaged in a one-way battle, but in order to save the face of Japan and the Japanese Navy, we must complete this mission even if all six of our submarines were destroyed.
"Report to Colonel Higashimura, in half an hour, Li Shaoyi's southbound fleet will appear in our periscope..."