Chapter 15 The First Battle of the Jinqing Strait (1)

On May 26, the imperial court decreed to arrive at various military ports, including the Shanzi-class iron-clad ships Taishan and Yinshan; the Yuanzi-class iron-clad ship Fuyuan; the Wanzi-class gunboat Wantian, Wanhuang, Leizi-class gunboat Lei Xun and Leikan, a total of seven ships, forming an expeditionary fleet.

The decree ordered the expeditionary fleet to reach the sea area at 41°35′ north latitude and 137°44′ east longitude before June 23 - this is the sea outside the Tsingu Strait in Japan, with the place name Oshima. After arriving here, he gathered with other Qing army gunboats who rushed to the battlefield from Vladivostok and Sakhalin Island to occupy the Tsingu Strait and control the waterways between the Sea of ​​Japan and the Pacific. The commander of this expeditionary fleet was Song Qing, the admiral of the Navy of the Great Military Port.

The imperial edict was brilliant, and everyone took the order to go there. Those who participated were naturally happy and were abandoned, and they were humming and making noises. Song Qing had no control over these things. He ordered people to take a chart and look at it for a while. By June 23, there was still nearly a month, which seemed to be abundant. But in fact, in the iron-clad ships such as Mount Tai and Yinshan, the gunboats, except for the personnel and complete military equipment, many other things must be transported on board within a few days. This is not simple!

He looked up and looked in front of Zuo Zongtang's wandering eyes, "Master Futai?"

"If you set out now, how long will it take to get to the designated location in the decree?"

"It must be within twenty days!" Song Qing said, "Fortunately, the storm on the sea is not stirring, and the boat is fast. If you catch it, you can arrive in nineteen days."

"That means, it cannot be later than the fourth day of June, right?"

"yes."

"Okay!" Zuo Zongtang stood up and ordered, "Please come by Lord Fan Si Hui!"

Invite the vassal Hui Zheng, Zuo Zongtang had no time to be polite with him and decided to make the point, "This time the gunboat went out to sea and fought for the country, all kinds of things need to be used by the old man to cook from the side."

Hui Zheng nodded, and the little braid behind his head swayed back and forth, "Please rest assured that as long as it is needed on the ship, you can talk to me for everything."

"Then I'll thank you sir."

Starting from May 26, Liaoning Province mobilized 40,000 civilians to load all military personnel, personnel, food, medicine and coal day and night. Just this time, the call to civilians before the war cost more than one and four hundred thousand taels of silver!

On the second day of June, two iron-clad ships in Mount Tai and Yinshan heard a long whistle sound, and seven warships slowly left the harbor and sailed towards the depths of the sea. The only actual combat of the Qing Navy was carried out in the South China Sea far from the military port. Most of the sailors and gunners had not experienced real combat. They heard that they wanted to attack their disobedient neighbors, and Japan was the first to provoke. The soldiers did not know the danger and felt extremely excited.

The Yellow Sea, which is out of the Chinese inland sea, enters the waters of the Japanese Sea. The momentum is completely different from the Yellow Sea. The sea surface is extremely vast, and the sea water is also in black color. Looking down from the side of the ship, it is bottomless, and there is no wind or wave on the sea surface, and the huge and solid hull is pounding, making a loud noise.

The Taishan was sailing at the forefront of the Yanxing queue at a cruise speed of sixteen knots. The steer on the ship was Enshou, who was appointed by the emperor. In fact, not only him, but all the officials on the Qing naval ships at the first-level were all selected by the Ministry of Personnel and the Ministry of War. After the two-level assessment, the emperor asked the emperor to write a copy. Like the steering Kuichang, the Huzi battleship Poyang Lake, stationed in the Sakhalin Island military port, Enshou was also one of the few flag-men in the Qing naval sequence.

On noon in June, the sun shone on the sea in the northern hemisphere, and the scenery within a few miles was full of views. Looking at the Beiyang Navy flag fluttering in the wind on the front deck and the battle flag representing the flagship, Enshou came with great enthusiasm and turned around and smiled at the rotating observer on duty, "Zhengqing, how is this ship compared to the Dingyuan ship that he rode on that year?"

"Very powerful!" Deng Shichang served as the second deputy on the ship and the gun captain, and is also the rotating observer on duty today. His task is very heavy - when the ship is on the sea, the captain does not have to stay in the bridge all day. All non-urgent things are decided on the spot by the first mate, second mate or on duty observer. This not only makes Deng Shichang feel that the burden on his shoulders is very heavy, but also quickly hone his sailing and command ability beyond ordinary people.

At the end of the 21st year of Xianfeng, after returning to Japan with King Dun, Deng Shichang was selected by the court and went abroad to study for four years. After returning to China, he worked as a gun and artillery commander on the Fuyuan ship in Luda Army Port. After his debut in the naval battle, it seemed that everyone believed that Deng Shichang's accuracy of artillery shooting was the best in the navy. This perception made him both distressed and funny. But as a soldier, he obeyed the will of the court and had nothing to say. A year after the Fuyuan ship, he was changed to the second deputy on the Taishan ship, which had just been delivered to China from the United Kingdom to this day.

“Where are we now?”

"We have entered the Tsushima Strait now." Deng Shichang replied, "There is still two thousand two hundred nautical miles from here to the destination of our trip. At our current speed, it will take another 135 and a half hours, which is a little more than five days."

What Enshou was most satisfied with Deng Shichang lies in the seriousness and meticulousness of this young man. "Can Japanese ships be cruised in this strait?"

"No." Deng Shichang replied neatly, "The number of warships the Japanese own is not enough to divide their troops to station all over the sea. Instead of doing so, it is better to concentrate all gunboats and wait for a decisive battle with our army near the Japanese coast!"

"Not bad, not bad." Enshouzhong pointed, "It's the same as I thought." He suddenly asked curiously again, "Zhengqing, if you are the commander of the Japanese Navy, will you choose such a tactic when facing such a powerful gunboat in the Qing Dynasty?"

"I dare not say this."

"Why don't you dare to say it? Tell me!"

"If Wei Yi is a member of the Japanese Navy, the first thing he needs to do is to do everything possible to avoid going to war with China!"

"Now there is no need to say such things, how would you choose the tactics?"

"This?" Deng Shichang hesitated for a moment, "There is no tactics. If it were me, I could only extend the war as much as possible, but there was no better way to break the enemy. It can be said that the battlefield war was destined to win or lose from the beginning."

"oh?"

"My Qing Dynasty now has four weapons manufacturing plants in Hanyang, Wuchang, Jinling, Anqing, Tianjin, and steel manufacturing plants in various places, which can produce 1.4 million tons of pure steel every year; the total population of our Qing Dynasty exceeds 30 million. There are more than tens of millions of soldiers available; and Japan, regardless of national strength or population, is far from my Qing Dynasty! Or if the Japanese can think of more people who are thinking about humble positions, I don't have to work hard for this today."

Eunshou smiled and patted his shoulder, "I'll go back to the cabin first."

"yes!"

Watching the Guanhai leave, Deng Shichang turned his head and stared at the blue sea: Kublai Khan was here that time, right? He only hoped that the "Kamikaze" that brought good luck to the Japanese would not come to his fleet again, right? He shook his head randomly, "Don't think about it! Such things are good and bad!"

As Deng Shichang "expected", from around four o'clock in the afternoon, the wind and waves on the sea gradually became stronger, and waves several meters high began to roll on the sea. The 27,700-ton hull of the mountain-class ironclad ship was like a toy, swaying up and down with the waves. All soldiers who did not need to be on duty were staying in the cabin, fixing themselves on the bed with ropes, closing their eyes, and praying together.

On the bridge, looking at the sky full of rain and fog and the increasing wind and waves, everyone felt the terror of nature! A wave hit, hundreds of tons of sea water fell on the deck, smashing the bow of the ship into the sea, lifting it up, splashing the waves soaring into the sky! And the power of the waves is amazing - even the paint on the deck of the ship was taken off!

"Ouch!" Someone shouted, and the fingernails were on their fingernails, and everyone rushed over and complained in unison: the huge bolts of the new hydraulic crane installed on one side of the ship's deck were shaken and broke, and the long arm collapsed and was hitting the front armor of the turret No. 1 on the front deck! The huge earthquake struck, and the arm slipped to the ground, ramming the waves everywhere. Everyone saw it and was anxious in their hearts - at this time it was the only way to go.

The thunderstorm above the Tsushima Strait is so fierce and the destructive power is rare. The 300-mile sea route has caused the Qing army to suffer. Even the old corpses such as Deng Shichang who have lived on the sea for many years have been tortured and spit out the cabins of green water, which is stinking.

After passing the 39° north latitude, the wind and waves finally subsided. The soldiers and sailors left the cabin one after another. The miserable scene on the front and rear decks made people cry without tears! The cannon suits had long been wrapped in the wind. The thick cables and anchor chains were blown up by the wind, and deep marks were smashed on the base of the turret. The turret was also filled with sea water, flowing along the bomber to the lower deck. Although these metal products would not be damaged, if they were left alone, they would rust in less than long time. The operation during wartime was not good, which would have caused extremely bad effects. In addition to the troubles in these facilities, there were sailors and soldiers. More than 30 people were swaying for the wind and waves, and they were sluggish in the cabin, and they were covered in dredging and needed to be treated with military doctors.

On the days after that, the sky was clear and the sea was windy and rainy. I passed through the Sea of ​​Japan smoothly and arrived at the sea twelve nautical miles away from the destination Oshima. It was June 20th.

Putting down the anchor chain and anchoring on the sea, Qing soldiers waited for friendly troops to come while enjoying the last peaceful days before the war. Everyone knew that when the naval brothers from Vladivostok and Sakhalin arrived, they would be the time to fight against the Japanese navy. Although it was a man's true nature to be a soldier, people were still panicked in the face of the upcoming war. This is also a common human relationship, and there is no need to say much.

But what the Beiyang Navy did not expect was that the first thing that appeared in front of them was not the friendly forces from the upper two places, but the Japanese Expeditionary Fleet that had emerged from where they didn’t know!

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Chapter completed!