Volume 1: The Battleship Yitian Changes into the Sino-Japanese War of 1894 Chapter 34 Lin Guoxiang's Visit
After sending Ma Yue back to her parents' home in Lushunkou, when Sun Gang returned to the base, the guard told him that someone had been waiting for him for a long time.
He hurried back to the office and found someone there flipping through his books and manuscripts. When he saw him come back, he immediately stood up and greeted him.
Sun Gang recognized him immediately.
Lin Guoxiang was the captain of the torpedo cruiser "Guang Yi" during the Battle of Fengdao.
He was familiar with Lin Guoxiang, who participated in the Battle of Mawei and the Battle of Fengdao. This captain, like Deng Shichang, was also from Guangdong. It is said that the two seemed to have worked together on a warship, so their combat styles were somewhat similar. In the Battle of Fengdao, the "Guangyi" ship performed well under his command.
At the moment when the Japanese ships suddenly opened fire on the "Jiyuan", "Guang Yi" rushed to the "Yoshino" and tried to launch a torpedo and ram it, causing the "Yoshino" to make a big circle in the sea by surprise. It wanted to attack "Guang Yi" but couldn't find anyone. At this time, "Guang Yi" had somehow approached "Akitsuzou" and was ready to launch a torpedo.
If it weren't for the good luck of "Akitsuzou" and the shell hitting the torpedo tube of "Guang Yi", it would be hard to say what the fate of "Akitsuzou" would be. "Naniwa" rushed up to help and simply gave up the bombardment of "Jiyuan" and attacked "Guang Yi" together with "Akitsuzou". "Guang Yi" quickly went around to the back of "Naniwa" about 300 meters and bombarded "Naniwa".
At this time, "Naniwa" was no different from a live target for a torpedo cruiser. If "Guangyi" could still launch torpedoes at this time, then Sun Gang would have been killed that day, and his beautiful bride would not have been so frightened when she thought of his daring underwater attack plan.
Although the "Guang Yi" was eventually destroyed by Japanese ships, the outstanding performance of Lin Guoxiang and the officers and soldiers of the "Guang Yi" ship was acknowledged even by the Japanese and the British!
Later, whenever he read history to this point, thinking of the torpedo that failed to be fired, Sun Gang would wish he could be ashamed and sigh , "What a pity that it missed the target!"
But such a brave general has been left idle now because of some "rumors" spread by those crappy censors, saying that he "has pledged allegiance to the Japanese"!
"Greetings, Lord Sun." Lin Guoxiang, the garrison commander, was about to pay his respects to him, but he quickly grabbed Lin Guoxiang's arm and pushed him back into the chair. To be honest, if it weren't for the merit of offering the secret recipe of gunpowder and Li Hongzhang's favor, he would never have been promoted so quickly. Deep down, he still felt a little ashamed of himself as a deputy general.
People should have some self-knowledge. Although he traveled back to the Qing Dynasty, he can't be as thick-skinned as Lord Wei.
Lin Guoxiang looked at him with amusement, not understanding why he blushed. Sun Gang poured him a cup of tea and said with a smile, "I still have a lot of questions about how to use torpedoes. I'm so glad that Brother Lin is here."
"I dare not." Lin Guoxiang smiled and said, "How can a defeated general dare to talk about bravery? It was Lord Sun who set a mine underwater to blow up the Naniwa, which relieved my hatred."
"That was just luck. It's not as good as Brother Lin's small ship taking on three Japanese warships in the Battle of Fengdao." Sun Gang laughed and said, "I don't have that skill or courage. I can only do something secretly to give the Japanese a headache."
"You can't say that. No matter what method is used, as long as it can sink the enemy ship, it is a good tactic." Lin Guoxiang said solemnly: "I heard that Lord Sun is now focusing on underwater motorboats and looking for ways to attack the enemy underwater. I think that using this method to attack the enemy will have a great chance of winning." He looked at Sun Gang's face and continued: "I just don't know how fast this underwater motorboat - no, submarine can run, and how deep it can dive."
As expected, he had a good tactical vision. Ding Ruchang was not as good in this aspect. If Sun Gang had not strongly requested to keep the submarine for sea reconnaissance that day, and later used it to test-fire torpedoes to shock the old admiral, the admiral would not have realized the value of this thing.
"The surface speed is 9 knots, underwater speed is 6 knots, and the diving depth is about 15 meters." Sun Gang said excitedly: "What is it that Brother Lin is talking about? Please tell me quickly."
"The speed and diving depth are both very high, similar Western motor ships are no more than this." Lin Guoxiang nodded and said with a smile: "Since Lord Sun is so interested, I will show you my ugliness."
After he talked, Sun Gang understood many problems. No wonder they say that practice makes perfect. You can't know these things just by reading books.
According to Lin Guoxiang, the performance of these "black-head torpedoes" is not stable now. Attacking real targets is very different from shooting. Especially when attacking moving targets, distance, water flow, opponent's ship speed and draft depth must be taken into consideration.
Otherwise, if it hits but does not explode, it is useless. In the Battle of Dadonggou, the "Jingyuan" fired torpedoes at the enemy ships twice but missed. The two torpedo boats "Fulong" and "Zuo Dui Yihao" approached and fired six torpedoes at the "Xijing Maru" which was floating on the sea and caught fire and could not move . Only two of them hit. According to the submarine performance data provided by Sun Gang.
Lin Guoxiang suggested that he should not choose to attack the Japanese ships that were sailing, but instead think about how to enter the port and launch a surprise attack on the Japanese ships that were anchored. Moreover, his suggestion of letting submarines sneak into enemy waters to lay mines coincided with Sun Gang's. The two men got along very well and felt that they had met too late.
"I may go out to sea in a few days. How about you go with me?" Lin Guoxiang looked at his shining eyes and suggested, "I'll see if I can create a chance for you to show your skills." The two of them have now changed their addresses to call each other brothers.
"Our navy's ships have not been fully repaired yet. How can we go out to sea?" Sun Gang asked curiously .
"Brother, you are responsible for collecting letters and reporting the enemy situation. You don't know the news from North Korea yet, right?" Lin Guoxiang laughed and said, "As a brother, I won't say too much. Wu Jingrong of the Guangjia is injured and can't manage the affairs. General Ding has informed Zhongtang that I will take over as the captain of the Guangjia. How about you and I have a submarine joint operation when the time comes?"
"That's great. I actually have a lot of things I don't understand, and it's just right to solve them in actual combat." Sun Gang said happily: "Congratulations, Brother Lin, you can serve the country again."
"I didn't make it last time, this time I must avenge this blood feud!" Lin Guoxiang said gritting his teeth, with tears flashing in his eyes.
Only then did Sun Gang remember why he looked so painful. Not counting the comrades who were lost on the "Guangyi" ship in the Battle of Fengdao, Lin Guoxiang's third brother Lin Guoyu had also just died on the battlefield of Dagu like Deng Shichang.
One of these two people was his comrade-in-arms of many years, and the other was his own brother. Sun Gang now deeply understood the deep pain of watching them die on the battlefield while he did nothing.
