Volume 1: The Battleship Yitian Changes into the Sino-Japanese War of 1894 Chapter 24: The Yalu River is my hometown
"Do you know why I don't allow you to go out to sea on a torpedo boat anymore?" Ding Ruchang said to Sun Gang on the bridge of the Dingyuan ship.
"General, you care about me, and I am grateful to you for that," Sun Gang replied.
"The torpedo boat lacks protection, and you are a scholar. If I ask you to go into danger, I will not be able to bear the consequences if you hurt Brother Ma's son-in-law." Ding Ruchang said with a smile, "So I asked you to follow me closely for the next few days. Actually, it's not just this. I still have many questions, so I can ask you anytime I think of them."
"You are too kind, General." Sun Gang said, but he disagreed in his heart. Artillery shells have no eyes, and places with thick armor are not necessarily safe.
"The Lord has seen all those things. If it weren't for those Japanese documents and military maps (the kind that are accurate to the wells), the officials in the court probably wouldn't have been aware of the Japanese ambitions. You probably don't know yet? Your name is already known to everyone in the court." Ding Ruchang smiled and said, "The court has officially promoted you to the rank of lieutenant general and awarded you the title of 'Fenjie Batulu'. The imperial decree will arrive in a few days, so I'm telling you secretly in advance to avoid the bride from raising an army to question you."
"Excuse me, General." Sun Gang answered somewhat awkwardly. That day, the beautiful bride came back and saw that he was injured and immediately went mad. She almost kidnapped him. He took great pains to calm her down. From that day on, he could no longer join the torpedo boat team. Instead, he was firmly held by Ding Ruchang as a staff officer, because the bride said that if he dared to sneak out to sea again, he would be beaten in real life. He now envied Su Xin's freedom all day long. This time, accompanying Ding Ruchang to lead the main force of the fleet to escort the army to support the combat troops in Pyongyang, North Korea was specially approved by the bride for the sake of the face of the admiral of the Beiyang Fleet. Sun Gang did not dare to tell her the landing place where the troops would go. If she knew it was the Dadonggou now, it would be strange if she didn't eat him.
The history books in high school should have told her where the great naval battle that determined the fate of the two great powers in East Asia took place. "General, the army has all landed," an officer reported.
"Send a signal to Pingyuan and Guangping, and ask them to return to the fleet. Inform all ships to prepare to return." Ding Ruchang ordered according to Sun Gang's request. The relief after completing the task made him feel much better. He saw that Sun Gang seemed a little nervous, and he couldn't help but feel very strange and asked, "What's wrong? Are you feeling unwell?"
"Oh, nothing." Sun Gang smiled, and Ding Ruchang said nothing else. The young man in front of him had been nervous since yesterday, and kept asking about some details of the fleet, which made the admiral feel very abnormal, but seeing that his requests were not excessive, Ding Ruchang ordered them to be done. However, his request to bring eight torpedo boats at once was indeed a bit confusing. Although Ding Ruchang agreed in the end and did not ask any more questions, now it seems that he has not returned to normal yet, so he couldn't help but laugh, leaving him alone on the bridge and returning to the cabin.
Looking at the two warships slowly approaching in the distance, they were the Qing Dynasty's self-made armored cruiser "Pingyuan" and the torpedo cruiser "Guangping". These two warships, which were responsible for reconnaissance and surveillance missions, had returned early, and the Japanese fleet had not appeared yet.
Sun Gang looked at his watch. It was 9:25 a.m. on September 17, 1894. In a short while, the Battle of the Yellow Sea that shocked the world would begin. At this exciting historical moment, only he knew what was about to happen.
Time passed by second by second. Sun Gang looked into the distance. Above the mouth of the Yalu River, there was a small town called Andong, which was his hometown at that time. Although he had not seen it with his own eyes in this era, his hometown would always be his hometown, and his motherland, no matter what it was called now, would always be his motherland!
Now, I am standing on the front line of defending the motherland.
Can history really be rewritten? He asked himself again and again in his heart.
A hand was placed on his shoulder, and he turned his head suddenly, stunned for a moment.
It’s Deng Shichang.
"You don't seem to be in a good mood." He laughed, "Are you thinking about your bride?"
"No." Sun Gang smiled a little embarrassedly. Now perhaps the whole fleet knew that the Senator was henpecked. "I always feel that something is wrong, but I can't tell where." He looked at the resolute and honest face and somehow felt a feeling of life and death. His heart was warmed and he almost wanted to tell him what was going to happen in a while, but thinking that he would not be able to understand at all, he held back.
"Then I have to be ready in a while. Your feeling is always accurate, haha." Deng Shichang said with a smile: "General Ding will be very nervous if he knows about this."
" Forget it . Old people can't help being scared. Don't let him know." Sun Gang smiled. "Have you removed your torpedoes, Brother Shichang?" He had told Deng Shichang many times before going out to sea that the torpedo tubes of the Zhiyuan ship were vulnerable to artillery fire. If a torpedo exploded, it would be troublesome. This was one of his biggest concerns. If these torpedoes were not there, Deng Shichang might not have died, right? He had thought about this more than once.
"Don't worry, I have already arranged it." Deng Shichang looked at him with some amusement, with a barely perceptible cunning light flashing in his eyes. Unfortunately, Sun Gang, who was preoccupied, did not notice anything unusual.
"Brother Shichang, if a fight breaks out, you must take care of yourself..." He didn't know what happened, but he suddenly said this, and his voice was involuntarily choked with sobs.
Deng Shichang looked at him strangely, his expression almost crying, feeling a bit amused and helpless. Then, looking at his serious expression, his eyes softened, like an elder brother looking at his younger brother who was talking nonsense. "I will, silly boy." Deng Shichang patted his arm again, pulled him down from the bridge, and came to the officers' living room.
"General, the torpedo boats and gunboats are back," an officer reported .
"Pass the order, the entire team returns." Ding Ruchang said. He saw Sun Gang still looking at his watch, and he and Liu Buchan looked at each other and couldn't help laughing.
"The bride at home is waiting anxiously for you. I feel sorry for her." Liu Buchan laughed and said, "I'm afraid you will have to work hard again tonight, haha!"
"Everyone, please drive the boat faster later." Lin Yongsheng also said with a smile.
"What's the benefit of who arrives first? What do you all mean?" Fang Boqian laughed.
"Brother Shichang's 'Zhiyuan' is the fastest, why don't we let Brother Shichang take Brother Sun to go first?" Qiu Baoren laughed and said, "After three days of separation, it feels like a new marriage. Old Qiu is really envious."
"Your envy is useless." Liu Buchan said with a smile: "With your body, it will only take a few minutes, and I guarantee you will burst out like a torrent of water." (Why does this sound so familiar?)
"How dare you look down on me! Let's find a place to have a fight someday." Qiu Baoren shouted in surprise.
Sun Gang looked at them with some frustration. Although he had been in the Beiyang Fleet for quite some time and was very familiar with these senior generals, this was the first time that they had joked like this in front of the admiral. Ding Ruchang also laughed, coughed twice, and waved his hand to quiet everyone down. "To prevent sneak attacks by Japanese ships, all ships should be well prepared and not be careless," he said.
"Yes." All the generals responded in unison.
"I don't know what's going on in Pyongyang." Ding Ruchang sighed, "The Japanese have spent more than ten years preparing to attack our Qing Dynasty. Their ambition is not small, but we are facing the enemy hastily, and it is hard to predict the outcome."
