Volume 1: The Battleship Yitian Changes into the Sino-Japanese War of 1894 Chapter 18: Just like that?
"Well, well...the war is about to begin, how can I do this?" Sun Gang was really embarrassed.
"How can you bear to let such a beautiful woman stay alone in her boudoir? It's settled. I will arrange this for you. When the war is a little less intense, you can report it to your family. Then, our navy will be very lively again." Fang Boqian smiled and said, "General Ding will definitely be happy when he knows about this."
"Then I'll have to trouble you, cousin Yi." Sun Gang said gratefully.
"Brother, you have done me a great service, and I have no way to repay you. I have many properties here, so I will give you one to settle Miss Ma. It will also be convenient for you two to meet often." Fang Boqian continued, "Brother, you can do your job with peace of mind, haha."
Sun Gang was stunned, feeling strange. Fang Boqian smiled and said, "Get ready to follow the general to Dingyuan and see if your reasoning works." He bowed and said goodbye, "The cannons of Dingyuan are firing, be careful."
What does he mean by this?
Among the senior officers of the entire Beiyang Fleet, except Deng Shichang who was from Guangdong and Ding Ruchang who was from Anhui, the others were all from Fujian (excluding economic and political officials like him), known as the "Fujian Party". Liu Buchan had always had a strong desire to replace Ding Ruchang. Sun Gang was actually very clear about the contradiction between them. It can be seen from the fact that Ding Ruchang particularly relied on Deng Shichang and Fang Boqian that his relationship with Ding Ruchang might have aroused the vigilance of these Fujian officers. He was not interested in being involved in factional struggles in the bank, but he did not expect that here, he would be involved in a bigger vortex. Alas, he himself did not care much about these, but if these people could not work together, it would be quite detrimental to the current war. He was still counting on these people to change history.
Let's take it one step at a time.
That morning, just after breakfast, the fleet suddenly began to assemble urgently. It was his first time to experience this scene, and he was nervous and excited. Soon, Ding Ruchang's personal soldiers came to him and said, "Sir, General Ding asked me to take you to Dingyuan."
He nodded. Should he ask someone to tell Ma Yue so that she wouldn't worry? He thought about it and decided to forget it. He tried to suppress the beautiful figure from his heart. The war was about to begin. It was better not to think about anything else except the battle that was about to come.
The sea and the sky are one color, and the sky is clear.
Looking at the endless blue sea, breathing the slightly salty sea breeze, he stood on the bow of the Dingyuan ship for the first time, leaning on the railing and looking into the distance. His mind suddenly felt extremely open. The majestic 150mm cannon stood right next to him. That feeling made him, a naval recruit, very excited.
If at this moment, I had that school beauty holding me in my arms, it would be even more exciting, many times better than the "Titanic".
He gathered his thoughts and returned to the bridge.
At this time, the Beiyang Fleet was advancing through the waves in a horn-line formation (double vertical columns), with the two main battleships "Dingyuan" and "Zhenyuan" leading the way, and the rest of the ships in groups of two, "Jingyuan", "Zhiyuan", "Jingyuan", "Laiyuan", "Guangjia" and "Jiyuan", arranged in order, and at the end were the "Pingyuan" and the minelayer "Baofa". Looking at the majestic fleet with smoke rising from the distance, Sun Gang's heart was filled with pride.
Originally, they wanted to persuade Ding Ruchang to send some warships to attack, but Ding Ruchang was afraid of encountering the main force of the Japanese fleet, so he brought all the elite troops and personally went out as the vanguard. It is said that when he was commanding cavalry, he was willing to lead the troops. Once, in order to encircle the enemy, he even used his own central army as bait! Looking at his current state, it is possible that he is still planning to do this.
He couldn't say whether it would work or not. If the German Hannagan was here, maybe he would change his mind. (Hannagan went to Pyongyang ). When he came here, he found that there were quite a few foreigners in the Beiyang Fleet, and there were even foreigners in the gunners! And they all spoke Chinese well. No wonder, now was a period of learning from the West. It seemed that international exchanges were already very common at that time.
"We'll be in Incheon soon." Liu Buchan came to his side at some point and said with a half-smile, "Brother, have you ever been to Incheon?"
Sun Gang shook his head.
"I have been there several times. The seaway leading to the port is a narrow strait with a current speed of 5 knots. There are reefs and shoals everywhere. The tide rises and falls in a wide range. When the tide is low, the port becomes a large mudflat. The port facilities are not complete. If the Japanese army wants to land here, it will be difficult." Liu Buchan said, "If I were them, I would never choose this place."
Sun Gang was silent. What he said actually made a lot of sense. But he might not know that hundreds of years later, a famous American general also carried out a world-renowned landing operation here, cutting off the North Korean army that had been winning victory after victory, and turning the entire war situation around in one fell swoop. As a result, 360,000 outstanding Chinese sons and daughters shed their blood in Korea to maintain peace on this side of the Yalu River.
Can Liu Buchan and others in front of us imagine how much less blood would be shed by future generations if they defeated the Japanese fleet?
"The military strategy is to make the weak appear strong and to make the strong appear weak. Maybe the Japanese think that we can't imagine them doing this, so they chose this place." Sun Gang said with a smile.
Liu Buchan smiled, patted his shoulder and said, "I hope you are right. I also want to experience what it feels like to send the Japanese pirates to the bottom of the sea with my own hands!"
"My lords, please come over, sirs." said a guard.
In the cabin, Ding Ruchang was deep in thought in front of a map. When he saw them coming in, he said, "The torpedo boat has been there for so long, why is there no movement? What is Cai Tinggan (captain of the 'Fulong' torpedo boat) doing?"
There was a sound like muffled thunder, and everyone in the cabin was startled.
Everyone came to the bridge together, and the sentry on the mast shouted loudly: "Enemy ship spotted!"
The piercing battle alarm sounded. Liu Buchan looked at Sun Gang's nervous expression and smiled, "Good job, this trip was not in vain."
Sun Gang looked at the teams of sailors with braided hair and bare arms, taking their positions in an orderly manner, with expressions of nervousness and excitement on their dark faces, and was secretly amazed. This kind of navy was completely different from the corrupt one described in textbooks!
"Lucky Dragon! They are attacking the Lucky Dragon!" someone shouted.
"One, two, three! General, the enemy ships have spotted the 'Fulong', and the leading one is the 'Yaeyama'!" Liu Buchan said to Ding Ruchang.
Ding Ruchang seemed a little excited. He thought for a moment and said, "Send the order, spread both wings to meet the enemy! Let Pingyuan cover Baofa to retreat and avoid the artillery fire!"
Sun Gang looked nervously at the wisps of black smoke ahead. After a while, a torpedo boat broke through the waves and passed between the Dingyuan and Jingyuan.
"They actually discovered us. Fortunately, we have quick legs." Liu Buchan smiled, picked up the telescope, looked at the outline of the Japanese warships that appeared in front of him, and began to give orders in bird language. Sun Gang heard the sound of the giant cannon moving slowly, and his heart couldn't help but hang in the air.
How many more Japanese ships will there be? Will the Battle of the Yellow Sea begin just like this?
