Volume 1: The Battleship Yitian Changes into the Sino-Japanese War of 1894 Chapter 35: First Test Underwater
Sun Gang had only been enjoying the great victory in the naval battle for a few days when the battle report from the Korean army dealt him a heavy blow.
He saw this battle report from Ding Ruchang.
He originally thought that the timely arrival of the reinforcements carried by the Gaosheng and the reinforcements landing in the Dadonggou would help Ye Zhichao defend Pyongyang, but the results before him showed that his hopes were completely dashed.
On the early morning of September 15, the Japanese army launched an attack on Pyongyang. The Japanese artillery fire was fierce and the Qing army risked their lives to attack. The Qing army fought hard and was no less brave than the Japanese. However, the commander Ye Zhichao was afraid of death. When Zuo Baogui was seriously injured and Xuanwu Gate was about to fall, he not only did not provide support, but abandoned the army and fled. Fortunately, Hannagan, the chief instructor of the Beiyang Fleet, and Nie Shicheng arrived in time .
Ma Yukun contacted and organized reinforcements to support the Xuanwu Gate line, which avoided the collapse of the entire line. However, the Japanese army finally broke through the Xuanwu Gate defense line. Fearing that the retreat would be cut off, Hannagan, Zuo Baogui, Nie Shicheng, Ma Yukun and Wei Rugui discussed and led the remaining Qing troops to withdraw from Pyongyang in batches. They have now shrunk to the Yalu River line.
When Ye Zhichao was escaping, he was cut off from behind by the Japanese army, and more than 2,000 of his men were killed or wounded. Ye Zhichao himself is now missing and is probably captured by the Japanese army. The Japanese army did not pursue the Qing army due to heavy casualties in the siege, probably because the news of the defeat in the naval battle greatly dampened their morale.
Looking at the battle report in front of him, he really didn't know what to say.
The Japanese military documents he brought back from the time he led a torpedo boat to sink a Japanese ship contained the enemy's clear combat deployment. Li Hongzhang had also notified the front line, but the battle still turned out like this. He was really speechless.
The only consolation was that Zuo Baogui was not dead, and the Qing army's casualties were not too great. But the abandoned guns, artillery and baggage were undoubtedly equivalent to giving the Japanese a batch of precious war resources for free.
"The Prime Minister has instructed that our navy's warships should be repaired as soon as possible in preparation for another battle. He has telegraphed the court to request the transfer of the Nanyang Navy to help in the battle, and also asked the court to appoint me as the president of the Beiyang Navy and Army to go to Liaodong to control the troops. " Ding Ruchang frowned and said, "What do you think?"
"Mr. Zhongtang has let out his anger, but it's hard to say whether it will help the situation on the front line. " Sun Gang knew that Li Hongzhang was responding to the court's attempt to replace Ding Ruchang with Liu Buchan, but he didn't dare to say whether Mr. Zhongtang was right or wrong. Ding Ruchang was originally a land general, and he might be better at land battles than naval battles. "I think that although the Japanese fleet has suffered a heavy blow, it may not shrink back. Our navy should take the initiative to attack and seize control of the sea. Once the Japanese sea route is cut off, tens of thousands of land forces will be trapped in Korea, unable to advance or retreat. Although our land division has suffered a temporary defeat, it is not a big deal."
"You mean, I should still go?" Ding Ruchang asked.
Sun Gang nodded and said, "The Beiyang Navy and Army are under the control of the military, so the navy and the army can fight together, which should be considered a good thing."
Ding Ruchang pondered for a while, then asked, "You said you would take the initiative to attack the navy. What is your plan?"
"All our naval ships were damaged in the Battle of Dadonggou, so it is temporarily inconvenient to go out to sea. However, the Jiyuan and Guangjia were not hit by many shells and have been repaired and can go out to fight." Sun Gang took out the plan he and Lin Guoxiang had made. "If the general agrees, with the help of my submarines, we can go to the rear of Japan to harass them and lay a large number of mines to prevent the Japanese from continuing to support the army in North Korea by sea."
"You are so bold and reckless. If you encounter a Japanese fleet, can you run away?" Ding Ruchang smiled, a trace of kindness flashed in his eyes. "I was the same as you in the past, but I let you take such a risk. Fang Boqian..." He was not sure whether Fang Boqian's actions in the naval battle could be considered as escape, although he still reported to Fang Boqian the great merit of breaking through the enemy's rear and severely damaging the Japanese ships.
"The Japanese have been frightened by this war. They never thought that we would come to their doorstep. But even if we meet them, it doesn't matter. I can deal with them with the 'submarine coordination' tactics. As long as the military commander agrees, I will go and discuss a specific plan with Lord Fang and Lord Lin to make it foolproof." He said firmly. In fact, he had already discussed it with Lin Guoxiang, and he still had a way to deal with Fang Boqian.
Besides, according to his observation, the four main cruisers of Japan were severely damaged this time and it was impossible to repair them so quickly. As for the remaining debris, they could still run away even if they couldn't defeat them.
"Go ahead. You are the leader of this operation. Make them both listen to you. You can also ask Bu Chan what he thinks." Ding Ruchang said with some concern: "Find a few more people to discuss it."
"Junior thanks the general." Sun Gang said excitedly, and almost jumped out and ran. Ding Ruchang looked at his back, smiled bitterly, and said nothing more.
"Sir, the Jiyuan has sent a signal that Nagasaki is ahead," a crew member said to Sun Gang.
Sun Gang nodded, took another deep breath of the salty sea breeze, and looked at the gray land not far away, feeling an irrepressible excitement in his heart.
The Japanese probably couldn't imagine that among the Qing people, whom they thought were always easy to bully, there would be someone who had the guts to do something shady right under their noses, right?
In order to prevent the Japanese from transporting troops to Korea by sea, at his request, the "Jiyuan" and "Guangjia" this time carried a large number of triggered mines, completely transitioning from cruisers to minelayers. Fang Boqian's eyes almost popped out when he saw so many mines.
In order to get rid of these hot potatoes as soon as possible, "Jiyuan" and "Guangjia" threw mines here and there like ducks laying eggs on the main waterways where Japanese ships might appear in the waters of Busan and other places in Korea. After finally completing this fatal mine-laying mission, Sun Gang actually announced that he would go to the Japanese coast for reconnaissance.
Lin Guoxiang didn't have any objection (they had agreed to go for a stroll beforehand), but Fang Boqian's face turned green almost to his neck.
Looking at Sun Gang's expression as if to say, "You kid have really let your brother down," he had no choice. Ding Ruchang had officially announced when they were about to set out that Sun Gang was the commander of this operation. He had no way of disobeying the admiral's order, not to mention that he had been suspected of deserting the battlefield last time. He could not afford to give him any more excuses this time.
Seeing Fang Boqian's face change from a bitter one to a desperate look, Sun Gang and Lin Guoxiang chuckled secretly but didn't say anything on the surface.
After everyone clarified their action plans and returned to their ships, the attack on the Japanese mainland began in a somewhat child's play manner.
Along the way, Sun Gang repeatedly discussed with Fang Boqian and Lin Guoxiang about possible problems on the road, including how to deal with the enemy if they encountered a Japanese fleet. But what surprised him was that the journey was surprisingly calm. Not only did he not encounter any Japanese warships, but he didn't even see any civilian ships. He was very depressed. Because submarines have slow speeds, and in order to save fuel, except when laying mines, the "Changjing" has been towed by the "Jiyuan" for these days. It was not until it entered Japanese waters that it separated from the "Jiyuan" and sailed on its own. Seeing that the sea surface of Nagasaki was also silent, and even a patrol boat was not seen, he was really puzzled.
