Chapter 35 The Second Battle of the Jinqing Strait (6)

Several years after the end of the Naval War against Japan, once, the generals of the North and South Navy sat together and talked. Regarding the cause and failure of the battle in the Jinqing Strait, Chen Zhaoqiang said, "The biggest mistake in winning the sea boat is to stop the break! If we follow the tactics that Deng Shichang used when facing the same problem in the initial stage of the battle, the results of the battle may not be as certain."

"This is not a single fault of Shinkai. Do you still remember what he said to Hirahachiro Togo, Oyama Iwai and others when he was on a mission to Japan with Prince Dun. My Qing Dynasty was not reluctant to lose one or two gunboats and warships, but the Japanese could not afford it. I think that in Shinkai, the best result is to exhaust the capital of the battle team and be able to bring as many warships as possible to defend the local area of ​​Kanto. This is what he most eager for - it is no wonder that he is."

"Look, the one who deserves the most to win the Double Dragon Treasure Star is Sheng Haizhou." Chen Zhaoqiang said with a smile, "You think, if he was not as informed and tactful as he was, how could there be a lot of results in the battle? From this point of view, Sheng Haizhou has helped me a lot in the Qing Dynasty!"

After saying a word, everyone laughed.

On the morning of the sixth day of the seventh month (the 12th day of the Gregorian calendar), a red sun rises and the breeze on the sea is gentle. If it is on a normal day, it is naturally a good time to take your family and children out together. However, in Shenghaizhou, you can't feel the heat coming from this shop at all. Instead, it is infinite grievance!

Why did I encounter such a fate? Why did I pursue my whole life and hope that my motherland will have a strong navy to draw a tragic talisman today? Why did the tragic ending be borne by myself? Such thoughts kept flashing in my heart, and tears were already flowing on Sheng Haizhou's face!

"Your Excellency? Captain?"

Shenghai Zhou woke up as if Meng was just starting to wake up, and his tone was dull, "What's wrong?"

"Captain, the enemy has rushed from behind, less than 6,000 meters away from us. It is firing at our ship!"

Sheng Haizhou looked back hard, and the three enemy ships were getting closer and closer. While firing fire, they accelerated forward. The Japanese army caught the enemy behind him off guard. At this time, if they wanted to turn around, they would undoubtedly seek death. They had to fight back with the sub-air artillery with not very fierce firepower on the ship. However, the sub-air artillery was not far from the other party in any rate of fire and caliber. In a moment, they had already beaten the other party hard, and even the little resistance was offset.

There was a barrier in front and pursuers behind. Then look at the friendly forces on both sides of the left and right. The only one who survived was the Bolai, which was rented from the British, but it also broke out in front and back, running around. The firepower systems on the Xiangri and Hewu ships were destroyed by the Qing army in the previous naval battle. The current function is no different from that of a merchant ship, and the guns of the other party were extremely miserable! Some of the sailors on the two ships had already begun to prepare to put down their lifeboats. It seemed that they were preparing for the worst.

Sheng Haizhou smiled helplessly, and he couldn't blame the sailors and soldiers. Chinese people often say that a general was incompetent to exhaust thousands of troops! No matter how suitable it was to be used on himself, it would be gone! I had thought about it before the war, and had thought of all the possibilities, and forgot one thing: would the Qing army be so powerful? In such a short time, it defeated its own broken combat team - why did he not have such ability?

"Captain?" The staff officer Takashigu shouted loudly, causing Sheng Haizhou to stop his thoughts. He glared at the other party with some displeasure, "What are you doing?"

"Your Excellency, the enemy ship is firing at our army! Please make a decision as soon as possible."

"Tiaojun, don't you understand? The Imperial Kingdom has lost this battle."

"Even so, Captain, are we going to sit and wait for death?"

Sheng Haizhou smiled at the words of Joshigu. After a while, he nodded, "Order..." His voice was weak, and it complemented the body that seemed to be a pool of mud that had been pulled away from his bones. "The whole ship fires the gun and shoots freely." After that, he patted the combat staff on the shoulders, "The battle below is presided over by the Tiaojun!"

"Your Mightiness?"

"I... want to go back to the cabin to rest for a while." Everyone on the ship felt that it was inappropriate: At this time, why did you talk about resting? But the captain's order was the order. Chief of Staff Strike Shigu's knees were closed together, and he let out a "hi" sound, watching Sheng Haizhou leave, turned around, and continued to command the battle.

After taking a few steps, Sheng Haizhou suddenly stopped again. A thought flashed through his mind made his thoughts suddenly become extremely broad, "Tiaojun?"

"Hi!"

"If it is really a time when it cannot be solved, you can make a choice at will! Believe me, leaving a seed for Japan is much more important and glorious than killing people! It is also much more meaningful!"

Tiaoshigu could not understand the meaning deeply for a while, so he was stunned, "Sir, you?"

"I still have my own mission." Sheng Haizhou said with a smile. The smile on his face was extremely bright, which made this originally ordinary face become dazzling.

The second battle of Tsugura Strait officially ended at 8:44 am on July 7 of the lunar calendar. After Katsukaisu committed suicide in the cabin of the flagship Nara, Tomiko, who replaced him as the flagship commander, led the three ships Nara, Xiangri, Tsuruma, and Bolai, who had lost their ability to resist, surrendered to the Qing army.

As a result of this battle, except for the USS Dresden, the remaining warships were the flagship Nara, Matsushima, Hashiri, first-class and second-class gunboats Takachiho, Fusang, Hiei, Chiyoda, Chiyoda, Haimen, Xiangri, and Tsurumi, and the strategic supply ships Kosuki, purchased from the United States, the first-class gunboats Muba, Yoshino, Langsu and Moon, and the Queen-class ironclad ships leased from the United Kingdom. A total of 17 ships of all sizes were sunk or surrendered! In addition to the ships of all sizes, the Japanese army paid 8,256 sailors and gunners' lives, and another 3,910 were injured or missing.

The victory of the Qing army was definitely not obtained out of thin air. The iron-clad ship Weiyuan was crippled and completely lost its meaning of conditioning and repair. In addition, the Leikan, Wanxing, Leixun, and Wanzhou were sunk; the Taishan, Wanri, Wantian, and Wanhuang were injured and almost lost their combat capabilities. The total number of Qing soldiers who died in the battle exceeded 5,600, and another 2,300 were injured or missing to varying degrees.

After this battle, the Qing army completely destroyed the main naval force of the Japanese army in the Kanto region, and initially grasped the sea control power of a large area such as 130° to 142° east longitude and 40° to 44° north latitude, laying the preliminary foundation for future operations!

On July 10th, the previous telegram of the Jie Jie arrived in Beijing, and the emperor was overjoyed, "Okay! The navy will live up to my expectations, and it will be a good fight! The telegram will be sent to the public with a clear order and will be spread throughout the country."

The Military Affairs Office also seemed to feel the joy in the emperor's heart, and each smiled, "The emperor's wish for many years has been fulfilled once he has achieved it. Should he give the emperor a wish?"

"This is of course a matter of course, but what I think is, should I sit down and talk about the aftermath with the Japanese?" Yi said, "If you don't mention it, the navy's military expenditure has cost less than 20 million taels of silver. This has not included the loss of ships, casualties, pensions, guns, ammunition and other items after the battle. Ming Gong, what do you think?"

"If the prince's words are counted, the court will have to take out 30 to 50 million taels of silver to make up this big hole." Yan Jingming said expressionlessly, "I just hope that the emperor can stop and calm down as his subjects wish. It will be a blessing for the world."

Yi also frowned. Since the end of May, green camps in various provinces have been frequently mobilized. Not to mention other places, the three provinces outside the pass have gathered a total of more than 600 battalions, of which more than one-third of the troops have arrived on June 17th by train to Dandong, Liaoning, and other ports! It is self-evident that so many troops are reserved there.

For this matter, the Military Affairs Office was very worried. The country had a great battle and a great war. Theoretically, the Military Affairs Office must not disobey the emperor's wishes. However, the emperor's behavior was shocking and he was even more dissatisfied: when the naval battle had not achieved success, he called the Green Camp soldiers on a large scale. Aren't he afraid of a mistake in the maritime conquest? All the fatigue of these days has become useless?

For this reason, when the Military Affairs Office met the emperor several times, it made a statement and advised the emperor to slow down. However, the man as the emperor ignored these words at all. "Do you think my Qing Navy can't beat the Japanese Navy?"

"I am not saying that this is not what I mean. I want to say that after the victory of the Naval Battle, it is urgent to negotiate peace with Japan. Using troops to Japan is just a solution for the subordinates. Moreover, since there is a way of peace for the emperor and the officials of the court to choose, why should I mobilize army soldiers urgently?"

"What do you mean? What is the ultimate strategy?" The emperor was particularly dissatisfied with Li Hongzao's words.

"I think..."

"Do you think? How many days will you have to join the Military Service?" The emperor cursed at the head, not allowing Li Hongzao to speak at all. "When is it your turn to 'think'? Well?!"

Li Hongzao's face turned white with a clear and vile face. He opened his mouth for a long time and couldn't say a word.

The emperor also felt that his words were too hurtful, but he could not reveal any slightest words at this time. These people were all human spirits, and they took some gaps and made a turn for them. Today, it was just an unsolvable situation! "What are you talking about with the Japanese? What can you talk about with them? Even if the naval war is over and we return, even if we start negotiations in the future, what benefits can our Qing Dynasty get from the Japanese? What are they worthy of the Qing Dynasty's covetousness?"

He pointed his hand down and said loudly, "Not only you, but Yi! I know that you have been busy in the General Administration's yamen recently, always welcoming and seeing off for ministers from all countries who are searching for news again and again, right? Let me tell all the people from all countries who intend to find out the news that I, the Qing Dynasty, intends to carry out the war against Japan to the end, and do not accept anyone's mediation, nor do you accept anyone's threats! Let them avoid making misconceptions!"

Yi was extremely embarrassed. He knew that at the end of May, when the dispute between the Taiwan Strait began, the emperor was determined to do something big. At that time, Taiwan Island was occupied by a small country in Japan, and the court was in an uproar and the public was extremely angry. Even though he had the intention of resolving the dispute in a peaceful manner, he was afraid of the Qing Dynasty's public opinion and did not dare to say anything. Now that he was watching the naval fleet in the Kanto region of Japan was completely wiped out by the Beiyang Navy and victory was in sight, he had the opportunity to get a fire and fire news. He didn't have to expand the matter anymore. He was afraid that he would speak, so the emperor would not listen, so he put his ideas on the heads of the ministers of various countries to China, intending to invite some of them to come forward, and he used these people's words as the basis for making a statement and advised the emperor, but unexpectedly he blocked him first.

At this moment, I had to meet the leader's order, "I have all recorded it."

"I might as well tell you today that if one side fails to fall forever in war against Japan, this matter must not be stopped! As long as I am still the emperor of the Qing Dynasty, this matter will not stop! You must be cautious and not make mistakes in your plan!"

...
Chapter completed!