Volume 1: The Battleship Yitian Changes into the Sino-Japanese War of 1894 Chapter 28: Ambition finally paid off
Sun Gang stared at the scene in front of him. It was the "Zhiyuan". It was hitting the waist of the "Yoshino". The two warships were close to each other, and were all tightly surrounded by fire. The violent explosion at the bow of the "Zhiyuan" almost broke the "Yoshino" into two pieces. The two warships were still experiencing sporadic explosions and began to slowly tilt.
The tears finally flowed uncontrollably.
Sun Gang recalled the strange look in Deng Shichang's eyes when they last met, and he immediately understood something. His chest felt like it was being hit by a huge hammer, and immense pain and regret gnawed at his heart.
Those torpedoes in the bow torpedo tubes of the "Zhiyuan" ship that have not been removed must have been for this moment, right?
Why didn’t I see it?
After an unknown amount of time, he wiped away his tears and saw that the "Zhiyuan" and "Yoshino" were no longer visible on the sea.
The two fastest cruisers of China and Japan have now sunk to the bottom of the sea.
Perhaps this is the fate of these two warships?
"Fight! Charge forward! Avenge our brothers from Zhiyuan!" Liu Buchan's eyes were bloodshot as he screamed hoarsely.
The officers and soldiers around let out earth-shaking roars, and the cannons roared almost at the same time!
"General! General!" the two guards screamed. Sun Gang turned around suddenly and saw the old general's tearful face. He met Sun Gang's gaze and looked at Liu Buchan. He wanted to say something but couldn't utter a word. He could only nod with difficulty, his eyes full of expectation. The two guards wanted to help him down, but he shook his head stubbornly and leaned there.
Sun Gang nodded and supported Liu Buchan who was about to fall again. Liu Buchan had calmed down by now. "Their artillery fire is too fierce. This yellow gunpowder is really weird." He looked at the fire around him. "'Jingyuan' and 'Laiyuan' are also on fire."
"They have gathered together again." Sun Gang said as he looked at the Japanese fleet that had already gathered together. The Japanese cruiser division that had lost its flagship now gathered together with the main force of the "Sanjing Ship". They all circled to the front of the Beiyang Fleet and began to fire from the other side.
"Charge forward, concentrate your firepower, and destroy 'Matsushima'! Don't worry about anything else for now!" Liu Buchan growled.
Following his order, Dingyuan rushed straight towards the Japanese fleet like a mad tiger.
When the other ships of the Beiyang Fleet, which were still firing, saw that the flagship had taken the lead and rushed out again, they immediately increased their horsepower and began to chase at full speed one after another. The "Laiyuan" and "Jingyuan", which were already engulfed in flames, fell behind. The "Jingyuan", "Pingyuan" and "Guangping", where the fire had subsided a little, followed the "Zhenyuan" and caught up, launching a charge towards the Japanese fleet.
The Japanese fleet once again concentrated their fire, and the torrential and uniform artillery fire poured down once again. With a series of violent explosions, the five warships of the Beiyang Fleet caught fire almost at the same time!
"Zhenyuan" quickly caught up with "Dingyuan", but the three warships behind it dropped sharply in speed due to a fire, and fell far behind.
The Japanese fleet immediately surrounded them. Sun Gang watched as the "Sankei" and the "Chiyoda", "Takasago", "Takachiho" and "Akizuki" approached rapidly, tightly surrounding his own "Dingyuan" and "Zhenyuan" in the middle, forming a tight encirclement, and the dense artillery shells rained down again.
Seven cruisers besieged two battleships.
Liu Buchan smiled contemptuously and shouted excitedly: "Come on! I was afraid you wouldn't come!"
Sun Gang looked at him with some worry. This was a real life-and-death moment. The Dingyuan and Zhenyuan were also on fire. If these two battleships were surrounded and annihilated by the enemy, China would probably never have a chance to make a comeback.
Ignoring the crazy hail of bullets fired by the Japanese, the Dingyuan ship quickly adjusted its position under the command of Liu Buchan, and the Zhenyuan also cooperated with the flagship in adjustments. With Liu Buchan's roar, all the cannons of the Dingyuan and Zhenyuan began to roar!
In an instant, Japanese ships were hit by the heavy artillery of the two battleships one after another. As huge fireballs rose up one after another, violent explosions were heard one after another. Sun Gang saw countless corpses being thrown into the air along with the fragments of the ship's hull and falling into the sea. The surroundings almost turned into a sea of fire!
Sun Gang looked at Liu Buchan and couldn't help but admire him.
Just a moment ago, the Japanese thought they had an opportunity, but they ended up making a big mistake.
In the final analysis, it was the Japanese's deep-rooted fear of the two battleships "Dingyuan" and "Zhenyuan". Seeing that the two giant ships were isolated and helpless, the Japanese took the opportunity to surround them, wanting to concentrate their firepower and sink them in one fell swoop. However, the Japanese were eager to win and got too close. Many shells flew over the "Dingyuan" and "Zhenyuan", almost accidentally injuring their own people in another direction. This allowed the "Dingyuan" and "Zhenyuan" to fire all their artillery in different directions without worrying about injuring their own people. Liu Buchan took full advantage of this and responded to the Japanese fleet with an extremely fierce punch in an instant.
At this time, Sun Gang deeply realized that he still had a lot to learn.
The sudden and fierce attack caused the Japanese fleet to panic briefly, but it immediately split into two teams. Sun Gang saw that "Takasago" raised the command flag, and the three fast cruisers easily gave way to the onrushing "Dingyuan" and started a fierce salvo again, but the firepower was obviously weaker than before.
Artillery shells whizzed in like raindrops again and landed on the deck of Dingyuan. In the splashing fire, countless shrapnel flew everywhere, hitting the turret and reflecting back. Sun Gang saw an officer with blood spurting from his chest and fell beside him. He was now covered in blood and didn't know whether it was someone else's or his own.
The huge turret of Dingyuan was still moving slowly and aiming, and the ship suddenly shook violently again. Matsushima, Chiyoda, Iwashima and Hashidate fired another round of salvos, and countless shells hit the thick armor of Dingyuan, making a breathtaking noise.
The flames kept burning on the iron armor, and fire snakes hissed everywhere. The heads of several gunners were blown apart, and pieces of skull flew everywhere, but their bodies were still lying there, maintaining the posture of operating the guns. Two gunners moved their companions' bodies away without changing their expressions and continued to operate the guns and shoot.
Sun Gang noticed that one of the men was bleeding profusely from his waist, but he seemed to feel nothing and continued to operate skillfully.
Who says Chinese people are afraid of death? The performance of these ordinary sailors in the naval battle is no different from that of many brave soldiers in later generations!
Sun Gang looked at the sea surface covered with billowing smoke. "Jingyuan" and "Laiyuan" had already put out the fire and bravely joined the battle. "Damn it! Fang Boqian and Wu Jingrong, two cowards! They ran away!" Liu Buchan said hatefully.
Sun Gang was stunned and looked at the sea carefully, his heart sank. Except for the "Yangwei" which was almost unable to move due to the fire, the rest of the ships of the Beiyang Fleet, although they were already on fire, all rushed up desperately at the flag-raising call of the "Jingyuan" ship. However, there was no sign of the "Jiyuan" and "Guangjia" ships.
Sun Gang sighed. At this moment, he did not feel any hatred towards Fang Boqian, but rather felt sorry for him.
Not everyone can make the right choice when faced with life and death.
"That is...what does Lord Ye want to do?" an officer exclaimed, pointing at a place not far away.
The sister ship of the Zhiyuan, the Jingyuan, was also firing like crazy and rushing towards the Fuso, which had been hit by the artillery and was on fire and was starting to flee.
"Bastard!" Liu Buchan cursed loudly, but couldn't help but shed tears .
"Jingyuan" instantly hit the hull of "Fuso", and Sun Gang closed his eyes in pain.
There was no violent explosion as expected, but instead the excited and crazy roars of the surrounding officers and soldiers. Sun Gang suddenly opened his eyes and saw that the "Jingyuan" was reversing rapidly. Its underwater ram, as sharp as a knife, pierced the intestines of the "Fuso" in an instant. The hull of the "Fuso" immediately became tilted and began to sink little by little.
The violent collision caused the capital of "Jingyuan" to crack, but the warship was still pouring fire on the enemy!
Suddenly, a huge fireball erupted from the side of the "Matsushima", and the flames soared into the sky, surrounding the entire ship. Liu Buchan stared at the "Matsushima" which was still exploding, and shouted loudly, "It was hit in the ammunition depot! Quick! Shoot! Another shot! Sink it!"
Sun Gang supported him as he was already in an excited state, fearing that he would fall. However, some unknown force supported him and he stood up by holding on to his shoulders!
The 305mm cannon turret was moving slowly. Sun Gang stared at the muzzle that was still smoking, watching it slowly aim at "Matsushima". Large and small shells were still flying towards them, falling and exploding beside them, but they didn't care. They just stared at the slowly moving cannon, waiting for its roar.
Time seemed to stand still, and these few short minutes somehow seemed so long.
Suddenly, the 305mm cannon let out an earth-shaking roar, and the long flame spurting out of the muzzle was like the anger in Sun Gang's heart, instantly erupting with the power to destroy everything, wanting to swallow up all the enemies.
