Volume 1: The Battleship Yitian Changes into the Sino-Japanese War of 1894 Chapter 25: Critical Moment
"The court has no overall strategy for this war. They treat the symptoms without addressing the root cause. They rashly start a war without knowing anything about the enemy's deployment, and then blame Lord Zhongtang and the generals for avoiding fighting and letting the enemy go. It's really incomprehensible." Liu Buchan said.
"Unless we drag all the honest and upright officials in the court to Korea and Japan to wake them up, they will know how to speak."
Cheng Bi-guang, the captain of the "Guangping" ship, said.
"No one else needs to do that. Master Weng can go alone." Liu Buchan snorted coldly.
"That's even worse. What faults can't we find in him? Zhongtang will be scolded to death."
Ye Zugui, the captain of the "Jingyuan" ship, said.
"Stop talking!" Ding Ruchang was a little angry at what they said, and said in a deep voice: "When the country is in trouble, we soldiers only know how to protect the country and the people. The rest is not our business!"
All the generals were silent, and the hall fell into an awkward silence for a moment.
"Everyone come here and see if there is anything you want to add about our army's formation once we engage in battle." Ding Ruchang waved for everyone to come over and gather around the table.
Sun Gang stood aside and watched them discuss the fleet's formation silently . He looked up at the wall clock and his heart began to beat unconsciously.
Time passed quickly, and he unconsciously looked at the watch on his wrist again. The hand pointed to: 10:35.
A shrill battle alarm suddenly sounded, the atmosphere in the hall suddenly became tense, and everyone's expressions became serious.
An officer rushed in and said, "General, enemy ships have been spotted!"
Everyone ran onto the bridge together. Other ships also sounded combat alerts, the sound shaking the sea and sky. Sun Gang looked at the several columns of smoke in the distance, and his heart suddenly calmed down, just like that moment when the mine hit the "Naniwa" underwater that day.
Ding Ruchang raised his telescope and looked for a while. Somehow a hint of excitement appeared on his face. He said in a deep voice: "Captains of all ships, please return to your ships as soon as possible and prepare for the battle!"
Everyone returned to the command tower. Following a series of English orders from Liu Buchan, the sailors of the Dingyuan began to move in an orderly manner. Ding Ruchang held up a telescope and observed the movements of the Japanese fleet with a serious expression. Sun Gang also raised his telescope. As expected, most of the Japanese fleet's artillery were on both sides of the ship. In order to exert the power of a salvo, the Japanese fleet rushed towards this side in a long line.
The Japanese fleet was still far away at this time, and he could not see very clearly. The sinking of the fast cruiser "Naniwa" was a great loss for the Japanese. He wondered which battleship they would use to replace it?
The sense of accomplishment that came to him from the fact that the Japanese lost a major ship in the war was still quite great.
Because of him, the Chinese side had more "Pingyuan" and "Guangping" join the battle, instead of arriving later to join the battle as before.
From this moment on, the course of the battle has quietly changed.
It was impossible for him to know now whether the ending would change.
Time passed quickly, and the outline of the Japanese fleet gradually became clear.
He carefully observed the enemy's battle formation, and sweat unconsciously flowed down his forehead.
"Send the signal, form a horn goose formation." Ding Ruchang ordered.
Sun Gang nervously watched as the Beiyang Fleet slowly spread its wings with the battleships Dingyuan and Zhenyuan as the center. The positions of the two old cruisers Chaoyong and Yangwei on the right wing were replaced by Pingyuan and Guangping, while Chaoyong and Yangwei separated from the formation and fell behind the left and right wings respectively.
These two veteran cruisers of the Beiyang Fleet, which were launched in 1881, had been in service for too long, and rust flew everywhere when they fired. They certainly could not withstand the bombardment of yellow powder bullets. Ding Ruchang must have understood this, so he let these two old ships hide behind the formation.
The veteran also had good intentions, Sun Gang sighed in his heart.
The officers on the watchtower kept reporting the distance, and the silhouette of the Japanese ships became very clear. Sun Gang carefully identified that the ships facing him were a cruiser squadron consisting of four main Japanese cruisers, Yoshino, Naniwa, Takachiho, and Akitsuzou. Naniwa was now accompanying General Togo to party with the Dragon King. Who was behind Yoshino? Why was it a fast cruiser that looked exactly like Yoshino?
His heart was suddenly filled with horror. He shook his head vigorously to make sure his eyes were not blurry. Yes, it was a clone of the "Yoshino" with the same ship type.
He suddenly remembered something, and everything became clear in his mind.
"Why are there two 'Yoshino's?" Ding Ruchang seemed to have discovered the same problem and asked in surprise.
"Replying to the general, that ship is the same type of ship as 'Yoshino', named 'Takasago'." Sun Gang said calmly: "When I returned to China, I heard that these two ships were originally made by a British factory for our Qing Dynasty, but because the Ministry of Revenue did not allocate funds, they could not be delivered for a long time, and finally the Japanese tightened their belts to buy them. At that time, I had not heard that the ship had returned to China. Now it seems that the Japanese have deployed it to replace 'Naniwa'. The firepower and speed of this ship are the same as 'Yoshino'. Our army must not underestimate it."
Ding Ruchang and Liu Buchan nodded slowly, their expressions were very heavy. Sun Gang did not expect such a thing to happen! The firepower of "Takasago" is far stronger than that of "Naniwa". In fact, the combat effectiveness of the Japanese fleet has not decreased because of the sinking of "Naniwa", but has increased because of the joining of "Takasago"! It's really fucking depressing! It seems that the other consequences of this butterfly effect are really hard to determine!
He put away the telescope and subconsciously looked at his watch. It was almost one o'clock in the afternoon.
The two fleets were already approaching six kilometers away. The Japanese fleet was arranged in a clear single-column formation. The entire fleet was in good order and all advanced at the same speed , appearing extremely uniform and majestic. Sun Gang looked at the Beiyang Fleet's formation, which was like a crescent moon and equally majestic and spectacular. He looked at the dragon flag flying high on the mast, and the huge round turret beside it slowly turning, with the huge artillery barrel extended. His blood immediately boiled in his heart, and he was very excited.
No matter what the outcome of this war is, being at the critical moment in history and doing his best to defend his country is enough for him, a little man who is originally good for nothing!
