newbobooks Chapter 88 Underwater Ghost Fleet
Chapter 88 Underwater Ghost Fleet
Let it wait to be activated!
I don't understand, but I respect it.
After such a long collaboration, he knew very well that this system was just an auxiliary tool, and he would definitely appear when needed.
It's like believing in the light!
"System, locate and visualize all production lines, personnel, and base templates: Fuzhou Shipyard, Fujian Province, Mawei Shipyard's secret dock!"
[Ding! Command confirmed! Spatial anchor point locked to Mawei Base, Fujian! Manifestation commencing!]
……
At the same time.
Thousands of miles away, at the mouth of the Minjiang River in Fujian, at the Mawei Shipyard.
This place was originally an old shipyard left over from the Self-Strengthening Movement at the end of the Qing Dynasty. However, after Chen Zijun took over Southeast China, it was heavily sealed off by the elite of the Military Intelligence Bureau and the Garrison Division, and designated as an absolute military restricted area.
At this moment, a shrill alarm suddenly sounded inside the secret No. 3 dock in Mawei.
To the astonishment of the stationed soldiers, the massive air-raid shelter dome slowly closed. Then, within the dockyard, blinding beams of eerie blue light erupted out of nowhere!
Lights intertwine and recombine.
In just a few breaths, rows of brand-new and massive heavy-duty machine tools appeared in the once empty factory. Tall overhead cranes were automatically erected in mid-air, and torpedo tube stamping machines weighing hundreds of tons were firmly rooted in the concrete floor, emitting the cold smell of machine oil.
Beside the production line, rows of soldiers in dark blue German-style submariner uniforms stood in perfect formation, like statues. Their eyes were resolute, exuding a cold, deathly aura born from years of deep-sea experience. Six hundred high-ranking submariners had appeared out of nowhere!
"Beep beep beep..."
In the confidential room in the corner of the dock, encrypted radios were frantically spitting out telegrams.
The person in charge of the Mawei base, sweating profusely, grabbed the telegram. After just one glance, his hands began to tremble violently.
The telegram contained not only top-secret instructions from the Shanghai Longhua Command, but also top-secret reports from the Weimar Republic of Germany, transmitted through Lilith's secret contact!
Desperate to repay the heavy war reparations in Europe and in dire need of gold and foreign exchange, the Weimar Republic had come to regard Chen Zijun as its most important strategic ally in Asia. Lilith confirmed in a telegram that a large number of Germany's top engineers and submarine experts had arrived off the coast of Fuzhou through secret channels and were about to enter the Mawei base. Also arriving were enough semi-finished high-explosive torpedo components to arm twenty U-boats!
At this moment, Chen Zijun's previous groundwork was perfectly integrated with the system's massive troop deployment! No one would doubt where these suddenly appearing production lines and submarines came from; everything had been perfectly disguised as a top secret of Sino-German military cooperation!
The person in charge took a deep breath, straightened up abruptly, and loudly read out Chen Zijun's military order to the six hundred submariners:
"Top Secret Military Order from the Commander-in-Chief!"
"Effective immediately, activate full production capacity at the secret base in Mawei! Assemble U-93 submarines day and night!"
"Officially established—the First Special Operations Brigade of the Southeast Area Army Navy!"
Codename: Deep Sea Ghost Fleet!
"Slay all the Japanese pirates and uphold our national prestige!"
"Kill!!!" The six hundred submariners roared deafeningly, like a group of demons imprisoned in the depths of hell who had finally been freed from their shackles.
A terrifying underwater wolf pack was officially formed right under the noses of all the great powers.
……
One day later. At the edge of the high seas in the East China Sea.
A fierce wind howled, and dark clouds loomed overhead. Giant waves on the sea, like black city walls, crashed wildly against the surface.
In these treacherous sea conditions, a massive, breathtakingly large steel fleet is cutting through the waves, speeding menacingly towards the Wusongkou estuary in Shanghai.
At the very center of the fleet stood a terrifying behemoth with a displacement of over 30,000 tons—the Kongo-class battlecruiser "Kongo"!
The towering bridge and the robust 356mm main guns exuded an invincible aura. Surrounding the Kongo, two Nagara-class light cruisers and four special-type destroyers were spread out in battle formation like loyal hounds.
Inside the command tower of the bridge, the newly appointed commander of the Japanese Third Fleet, Rear Admiral Yamaguchi, stood with his hands behind his back, coldly watching the rolling black waves ahead through the porthole.
He wasn't tall, but he was like a piece of raw iron that had been forged through countless trials, exuding an aura of indomitable killing intent.
"Your Excellency, General," an officer of staff strode forward and reported with bowed head, "In twelve hours, the fleet will enter the waters off the Wusongkou estuary in Shanghai. The weather forecast predicts that the sea conditions will improve tomorrow."
"Very good." Rear Admiral Yamaguchi's voice was hoarse and cold, like sandpaper being rubbed. "That idiot Satoda was scared out of his wits by a submarine that appeared out of nowhere. What a disgrace to the Imperial Navy!"
He turned around, slammed his fist hard on the chart table, pointed at the Shanghai map marked in red, and his eyes flashed with a crazy killing intent.
"Pass on my orders! Once the fleet enters the designated area, immediately begin indiscriminate naval gunfire on the Chinese defenses! I want to use 356mm high-explosive shells to turn that warlord Chen Zijun, along with his Huangpu River, into mincemeat!"
"Hey!" the staff officer shouted, his eyes also gleaming with fervor.
However, what Rear Admiral Yamaguchi and the entire Japanese fleet were unaware of was...
Forty nautical miles directly ahead of the course of this massive fleet.
In that bottomless black sea.
"Splash—"
A dark periscope silently sliced through the waves and rose above the water.
Then, within a ten-nautical-mile radius, the second, the third...
Thirteen periscopes, like thirteen pairs of eyes of death, coldly locked onto the approaching Japanese Allied Fleet.
Thirteen U-93 submarines, equipped with the latest G7e electric torpedoes, have already bared their fangs in the deep sea.
Wolf pack, take your positions.
East China Sea.
Lead-gray clouds hung low over the sea, and a biting wind whipped up towering waves several meters high, crashing violently against the bow of the steel behemoth and shattering them into a cloud of icy white mist.
This is the open sea, about 200 nautical miles from the mouth of the Wusong River.
A massive, breathtakingly large steel fleet is tearing through the waves with an unstoppable, arrogant momentum, heading at full speed toward the western coastline.
Located at the very center of the fleet is the absolute core of this task force—the "Kongo" battlecruiser, a source of pride for the Japanese Empire!
This colossal vessel, displacing a staggering 27,000 tons, resembled a mobile steel fortress. Its towering bridge pierced the sky, while the four twin-mounted 356mm main guns at the bow and stern, like eight black scepters of death capable of shattering everything, proudly pointed towards the distant heavens. Its eight-inch-thick Krupp carburized armor granted it protection against the vast majority of artillery of its time.
On either side of the Kongo were two heavy cruisers with a displacement of nearly 10,000 tons. Outside, eight state-of-the-art special-type destroyers, like vicious hounds guarding their master wolf, cleaved through the waves, leaving long white trails in their wake. Thick black soot billowed from their funnels, turning half the sky black.
Eleven massive steel warships formed the largest naval force assembled by the Japanese navy in the Far East in recent years.
Inside the bridge command tower of the Kongo-class destroyer.
The newly appointed commander of the Japanese Third Fleet, Rear Admiral Tamon Yamaguchi, stood imposingly in front of a huge bulletproof glass window, holding a high-powered telescope and staring intently at the western horizon shrouded in gloom.
His face was so dark it seemed to drip water, and his eyes burned with undisguised fanaticism and bloodlust. As a representative of the younger generation of the Imperial Navy, he had always advocated using the most violent means to completely crush any will of resistance from China.
"Commander!"
A colonel-level staff officer strode forward, abruptly stood at attention, bowed his head, and loudly reported: "The fleet's current speed is 22 knots! We are 180 nautical miles from the Wusongkou Fortress in Shanghai, China! We are expected to reach our attack positions by tomorrow morning!"
"Yoshi."
Yamaguchi Tamon slowly lowered his binoculars, turned around, and his sharp gaze swept over the group of officers standing solemnly on the bridge.
"Gentlemen..."