Chapter 13: Battle of the Taiwan Strait (5)

The Wanhuang Pilot was Jian Bingnan who had driven the Wannian Qing Pilot back then. He and Xu Shoushan, the same Pilot, were good friends. Seeing his old friend's warship sink, Jian Bingnan's eyes turned red, and he had only one thought in his mind: rush up with great force and avenge his comrades!

But his Wanhuang position on the battlefield was relatively delayed. It can be said that before he could reach the forefront, Katsuki might have eliminated Wanyu and Hiroyuki. Instead of doing so, he would not have to go to this muddy water again. So Jian Binan ordered the transfer of the 340th direction, aiming directly at Musashi Maru, the flagship of the Japanese fleet.

During these hours of artillery battles, the Changbai Mountains started to deal with Musashimamaru and Langsumamaru, and later the Lei Youhe help, which solved the problem for a while. Yada Hori Keizo and Izawa Jingo were both born in the Nagasaki Naval Exercise, and were definitely not Yiyou. Although they didn’t have much combat experience, they lived on the ship for many years and knew every soldier on the ship, so they commanded like arms and fingers, which was a little more agile than the Qing Dynasty.

Moreover, the Yangcheng-class ironclad ship is definitely not a vegetarian. It has a huge hull and fierce cannons. It is still a little short of dealing with the Changbai Mountain. Compared with the Lei You, who participated in the battle, it has an absolute advantage. If it weren't for the incomparable powerful power of the Changbai Mountain 400mm heavy artillery, it would be afraid that the Lei You will no longer be able to hold on.

At this moment, Wanhuanghao arrived.

Gao Tengyun was overjoyed, but then, this joy replaced the surprise. The route the Wanhuang was heading towards was 340! This was the rushing towards the butt of the Japanese flagship Musashi Maru! "What's wrong with Kawakita? Are you confused?" Gao Tengyun exclaimed in a flash.

In addition to Yang Tinghui, Gao Tengyun and others, they all thought that Jian Bingnan ordered the fleet to turn around to the rear of the Japanese battleship and seize the word "t" again, thereby gaining an absolute advantage. This is a kind of position that both sides of the war will try to prevent the absolute ships from occupying as much as possible in naval battles. In fact, unless it is a prepared ambush war, the party that holds the initiative will have enough confidence to occupy an advantage.

During the fleet's maneuver war, especially when the speeds of both sides are equal and the impact of environmental factors is negligible, no party can always occupy a favorable position, and it is impossible to grab the word "t" during the maneuvering process, so as to fully exert its own firepower and effectively avoid enemy artillery fire.

Since the tactical purpose of occupying an advantageous position could not be achieved, Jian Bingnan must have made a huge mistake! In fact, Jian Bingnan did not have so many ideas at the time, and only wanted to avenge his old friends. The first goal of revenge was to destroy the Japanese flagship - attacking the flagship was definitely one of the most priority tasks in artillery battles. Because the flagship is the brain of the fleet. As long as the flagship is paralyzed, even the most powerful fleet will fall into a situation where there is no leader in the situation, so that the opponent can slaughter it.

Yada Hori Keito immediately discovered the enemy ship that was heading towards him, but he was not panicked. Does a first-class gunboat want to cause any major damage to himself in the battle? It would be better to say that he was taking advantage of it! "The main gun behind the back side blocked the enemy ship." Then he focused his attention on the front battlefield and went to the battle with the Changbai Mountain.

Not only did he have such an idea, even Jian Bingnan's friends all thought that his approach was suspected of getting a bargain, but the person involved ignored this. He was now blinded by the fire and was determined to rush forward and sink the enemy ship in front of him.

The Wanhuang was marching in the fierce artillery fire of Musashimaru. The 175-caliber main gun on the ship was not weak and retaliated. After two rounds of volleys, the shells ignited the lifeboat hanging on the left and right sides of the enemy ship and all the flammable objects around it. During the battle, the damaging units were on standby in the ship's body and would not stay on the open deck of the warship. When the damaging team members rushed out, the fire was already blowing in the sea breeze of more than twelve knots (at that time, there was basically no wind on the sea surface, but the speed of the warship exceeded twelve knots) spread everywhere. This sudden change made Keizo Yada Horiya not know how to deal with it.

Similarly, the fire on Musashimaru reminded Yang Tinghui who was still a little confused. Before Wanhuang could shoot the next round of volleys, he issued a new order: the order that Wanhuang, which was quickly approaching, turned 270, and assisted Lei You to shell the target ship No. 2, and his Changbaishan** to strike the target ship No. 1!

When the Qing army went to the Taiwan Strait, except the Changbai Mountain, there was no subordinate relationship between them. Especially after July of the 21st year of Xianfeng, in view of the naval war rectification plan proposed by Kuichang and Enshou, the Beiyang and Nanyang Navy ships all had supreme authority on the ship. The mistake was not the order of the flagship commander, and the others had no right to command the battle. Even so, the flagship commander could not control the specific combat tactics of other ships, but had the command of coordinated combat.

Jian Bingnan listened to the communications soldiers' retelling the flagship's orders, and stomped his feet hard, "Execute according to the order!" After thinking about it, he felt confused and added, "All artillery fires on the entire ship, three rounds of rapid fire at the No. 1 target ship!"

The shells from the Wanhuang, which fell nearby one after another, made Yada Hori Keizo despair and angry. There is no doubt that the gunboats of the South China Sea Navy are carrying out cross-fires aimed at venting hatred. Although such shelling will most likely not be threatening, who can guarantee that in the next round of volleys, there will be no accidental hits on their vital parts?

Looking at the Changbai Mountain in front of him, the battle lasted for more than three hours. Although he was injured, he did not get any impact at all. This made his heart faintly feel: "With the Yangcheng-class ironclad ship, he is finally not the opponent of the Shanzi-class ironclad ship."

Of course, he would not accept his fate, nor would he easily admit defeat. The Musashi Maru had not lost speed yet, and Langsumai was still intact. There was no chance to fight against the Qing army - even though Langsumai was facing two first-class Qing army gunboats. Before this thought could be turned, a panicked voice came from the left, "Grand, another enemy ship is coming to our starboard!"

Yada Hori Keito turned around and looked over, screaming bitterness in his heart! It was Wanyu and Hiroyuki who sent Katsuki, who had already won half his life to the same number, into the seabed as quickly as possible. Then he mustered up Yu Yong and drove towards the only battlefield left in this battle of the Taiwan Strait!

"Your Excellency Commander!" said the adjutant loudly, "If we cannot make a quick decision, we will be afraid that it will be too late!"

He almost didn't recommend that Yada Hori Keitozo give up his friend's ship and run for life alone! Yada Hori Keitozo could naturally hear this, but he just ran away and abandoned his friend's ship. How could he be a human being in the future? Instead, it would be better to die in a heroic battle and live up to his ambition to serve the country in his life! He shook his head with difficulty, "turning..."

"Yes!" The adjutant liked it, but the commander's words made him fall into an ice cave, "Termination 270!"

“…”

"Didn't you hear it? Heading 270!"

"Hi!" The adjutant agreed with all his strength and went down to pass the order.

Yang Tinghui watched the Japanese ship performing fast tactical maneuvers, turned to Langsumaru and nodded with satisfaction. It was obvious that the Japanese commander had made up his mind to fight to the end, which also showed that the other party was a respectable opponent - compared to the French Guba, it was completely different from the same level. Since the enemy was about to fight, there was no need to be polite there, "Watch the flag and notify all friendly ships, you must completely and simply eliminate the enemy ships!"

Seeing the opponent pushing forward with his number advantage, Yada Hori Keizo was calm. His own battle had completely failed, but what about this war initiated by His Majesty the Emperor? I believe that the imperial kingdom will definitely win the final victory! Even if there are many naval soldiers like themselves who throw their blood on the vast sea, the final victory must belong to us!

He picked up the military cap representing the commander of the fleet, put it on his head with a straight face, and raised his telescope again. The distance between the two sides approached the straight ballistic, and the shooting rate of the artillery would rise sharply. At that time, what he would fight for was not the quality of the officers and soldiers, but the armor-piercing ability of the artillery and the thickness of the armor. In this regard, Yada Hori Keizo had strong confidence. The quality of the Japanese Navy was definitely not comparable to that of the Qing Navy! "Put the flag language for Izejun, open fire freely, and open fire freely!"

Seeing that the Japanese gunners had no way to escape, they aroused the bloody aura in the chest unique to the Yamato nation. Not only did the main gun roar, but even the secondary guns that did not have much effect also opened fire frequently. However, the main gun's shelling hit rate was still unsatisfactory, and the secondary gun with faster firing rate did not pose much threat to the enemy ships.

Compared with the desperate situation of the Japanese, the Qing army's fighting spirit was much worse - this is understandable. Victory is not far away, so who would forget his fear of fighting?

In this case, the battle continued until noon. Musashi Maru and Langsumaru were crippled with holes by the Qing army's artillery fire. Like a hornet's nest, the hull lost all its power and drifted on the sea. "Play flags to the Japanese and let them surrender!" Yang Tinghui tried his best to command this way.

The Japanese army's answer was, "Long live the imperial kingdom!"

There is no need to say more about this. The 400mm front main gun of Changbai Mountain was fired in two rounds, and the figures of Musashi Maru and Langsumaru slowly disappeared in the Taiwan Strait, and went underwater to accompany his companions and the enemy.

When the Qing army arrived at the sinking area and wanted to salvage the officers and soldiers who fell into the water, they found that there was not even a soldier on the sea except for the floating debris!

*
Chapter completed!