Volume 1: The Battleship Yitian Changes into the Sino-Japanese War of 1894 Chapter 21 Practice on Her
"You've been promoted so quickly." Back in the new house Fang Boqian had bought for him, Ma Yue looked at him with a half-smile and said, "You won't always leave me alone, will you?"
"How dare I? I will work hard for you every night to repay your kindness." Sun Gang smiled and hugged her.
"This Fang Boqian is really extravagant." Ma Yue said, "This house is equivalent to your three months' salary. He said he would give it away, so he gave it away."
"The housing prices there are much cheaper than in our previous era." Sun Gang said with a smile.
"Do you have any idea when this war will be over?" Ma Yue snuggled in his arms and put her hand into his clothes.
"At least it will take a year." He kissed her forehead.
"Our family's business is moving to the Beijing and Tianjin areas." She kissed him back, and his hands began to get naughty.
"Really..." His breathing began to become rapid, and he roughly stripped off her clothes, revealing her snow-white and soft skin.
"You bad guy..." Her voice gradually weakened, as if her mouth was blocked by something, "Be gentler..." she said coquettishly.
She didn't know how long it had been, she lay comfortably on his thick shoulders, listening to him explain to her what he called torpedo boat tactics.
"It's like this is a coastal artillery position." Sun Gang pinched her nipples, and touched the seductive cleavage with his fingertips, saying , "The coastal artillery has blind spots. If the torpedo boats lie in ambush there under the cover of night and suddenly attack when the enemy ships come in, it is usually easy to succeed."
Ma Yue stared at him with wide eyes, trying to figure out whether he was lecturing her or teasing her.
"If you want to attack the artillery position, you can use torpedo boats to adopt blasting tactics , carry marines with enough explosives, avoid enemy ships, go to the bottom of the artillery position and ignite the explosives to completely destroy the artillery position." Sun Gang was still happily "commanding" her, and she was already considering whether to kick him off the bed.
Sun Gang's "honeymoon" had not lasted for a few days when his bride went to Tianjin to take care of business, leaving him in Weihai to implement his torpedo boat team transformation plan. His "professionalism" was widely praised in the fleet for a time, and indirectly infected the officers and soldiers of the torpedo boat team. Ding Ruchang reported this to Li Hongzhang somehow, and Li Hongzhang agreed with Sun Gang's plan (Mr. Zhongtang was very calculating, and he always gave priority to things that cost little money and produced quick results), and provided certain financial support, which made him happy for a long time, and he did not care whether this move would cause slander from the captains.
From ancient times to the present, it is a general rule that money makes things easier. He has experienced this deeply in the bank, and it is no exception here. With the shipping fees, the morale of the officers and soldiers of the torpedo boat team quickly recovered, and he also won the unanimous support of these officers and soldiers. Under his request and leadership, thirteen torpedo boats were repaired and torpedo live-fire drills began.
His requirements for training were simple. They could not use preset buoys to hit fixed targets. Instead, they had to target moving or anchored ships and set actual parameters. Everything had to be aimed at actual combat. He also told them that in two days he would select a few torpedo boats to go to the Korean waters to scout the enemy situation.
If he encounters an enemy at that time, if he can sink the enemy ship, he will personally ask for a reward from the Lord Zhongtang for the meritorious service. As expected, there will always be brave men under a big reward. After the officers and soldiers of the torpedo boat knew about it, they all began to practice enthusiastically, which made the captains of the fleet feel very strange. How come these small boat soldiers who usually only complained suddenly changed their nature?
One day, he was staring at the map in the room when Fang Boqian came to find him.
"Are you reasoning again, Mr. Councillor?" He said with a smile, "You lead your soldiers quite well. They even used my ship as a target for training. When did they become so diligent?"
"How could this happen? They didn't really launch a torpedo, did they?" Sun Gang was shocked. Did Cai Tinggan have a fever? Using the Jiyuan as a target ship?
"Haha, it's a training bomb, and it's also a good opportunity for my gunners to practice aiming." Fang Boqian said, "Last time I asked the gunners to fire 'ricochets' out of range, but Buchan and Yongsheng laughed at me and even said I was a coward for firing recklessly out of range."
"What are you talking about? No matter how far you shoot, as long as you can hit the target, it's fine." Sun Gang said disapprovingly: "If cousin Yi hadn't hit the target on the first shot that day, would they have been able to get this advantage?" In the Battle of Incheon, it was the "Jiyuan" that first hit the Japanese ship "Musashi" with its 210mm main gun. Later, under the crossfire of the two armored turret ships "Jingyuan" and "Laiyuan", the "Musashi" capsized and sank. All the officers and soldiers of the three ships were rewarded, but Fang Boqian's actions still attracted a lot of ridicule. It seems that it may be difficult to promote "bouncing bullets" in the Beiyang Fleet.
"You figure out where the Japanese will show up next time. I'll see if I can have another duel with Yoshino." Fang Boqian said with a smile, "Stop being laughed at by them."
"Yoshino is too fast and has terrible firepower. You will definitely be at a disadvantage if you fight it alone. If we want to deal with it, it's best not to play by the rules." Sun Gang said, "By the way, does Cousin Yi want to talk to me about something?"
"The general wants to see you. The prime minister sent a telegram saying that the situation in Pyongyang is urgent. He will send troops to Korea in the near future and ask my navy to prepare for escort." Fang Boqian said, "The general wants to hear your opinion on what the Japanese army may do now."
Sun Gang's heart skipped a beat. The Qing Dynasty's Beiyang Fleet was finally going to come face to face with the main force of the Japanese Combined Fleet. Would the result really be as he hoped?
"Our navy has patrolled Chengshan, Taedong River and Incheon several times before. Another Japanese ship ran aground on the beach near Incheon. According to Buchan and Yongsheng's observation, it was hit by a mine laid by our army and could not move. It ran aground there." Ding Ruchang looked at Sun Gang approvingly, nodded, and said, "The ship may be the Japanese 'Katsuragi' (a wooden cruiser with a displacement of 1,500 tons). We wanted to tow it back, but we were afraid that the Japanese fleet would come, so we had to let the 'Dingyuan' bomb it to pieces."
"What a pity! If we had brought them back, the senator would have had a boat and wouldn't have to ride on a torpedo boat all the time." Liu Buchan said with a smile, "The Japanese lost several boats for no apparent reason. I'm afraid they must be heartbroken right now."
"Mr. Councillor, after reasoning for so many days, do you know what the Japanese will do next?" Lin Yongsheng asked, but his tone didn't sound like a joke.
"The Japanese army will first take Pyongyang as their main goal by land. They have already suffered a loss by sea, so they will probably send out all their forces to fight a decisive battle with our army." Sun Gang replied, "I am not sure yet. If the general allows, I would like to take a few torpedo boats to the Korean waters to scout the enemy situation."
"The Japanese naval brigade took advantage of our navy's patrol to come to Lushun and fire provocatively the day before yesterday. If you encounter Japanese ships, I'm afraid..." Ding Ruchang pondered.
"Mr. Councillor, please dive again and try to sink another Japanese ship."
Qiu Baoren, the captain of the Laiyuan ship, smiled, but when he saw Ding Ruchang's gaze, he said nothing more.
"The speed of the torpedo boats 'Fuku Long' and 'Zuo Dui Yi Hao' is comparable to the fastest Japanese ship 'Yoshino'. If they encounter a large fleet of Japanese ships, it will not be a problem to escape." Sun Gang laughed and said, "If the enemy comes out on their own, it is hard to say who will die."
The officers around him all laughed. Ding Ruchang looked at him and nodded, "Be careful on the road, go quickly and come back quickly."
