Volume 1: The Battleship Yitian Changes into the Sino-Japanese War of 1894 Chapter 38 The Purchased Chilean Fleet
On the way back to Lushun, Sun Gang, accompanied by Fang Boqian, Lin Guoxiang and Wen Junfeng, boarded the Chilean fleet's flagship "Brad" for a return visit. This was a large ironclad ship with a displacement of nearly 7,000 tons, a main gun caliber of 238 mm, and a speed of nearly 19 knots, which was surprisingly similar to the fastest "Zhiyuan" in the Beiyang Fleet. Sun Gang asked the commander of this Qing "foreign aid" fleet, Rear Admiral Juan Ediago, for a rough understanding. In addition to this daunting giant ironclad ship, this fleet also included a 4,586-ton fast cruiser "Blancóngcarada" of the same type as "Yoshino" and "Takasago", but one size larger. And the enlarged version of "Chaoyong" - the armored cruiser "Esmeralda" with a displacement of 2,950 tons (the gypsy girl in "The Hunchback of Notre Dame"?), and her two younger sisters, the armored cruisers "Elachulus" and "Pingdu" with a displacement of 2,047 tons, and two torpedo cruisers "Condel" and "Lin Ze" that are smaller than "Guangyi". These warships are all the main force of the Chilean Navy. Compared with the existing warships of the Beiyang Fleet, their performance in all aspects is much better, and most of them are of a shorter age. With the addition of such a new force, it should be said that whether the Japanese can survive in Asia in the future has become a problem.
What surprised the Chileans was the bold action taken by Sun Gang and his men.
The Chileans were actually very smart. When they set out, they had already heard that the Qing Dynasty and Japan were at odds and that the war had already broken out. Faced with the Qing Dynasty's huge sum of money, the Chilean government promptly sold all of its existing warships at a high price. However, they had no idea how the war would develop. In fact, they had made preparations for both situations. Once the Japanese navy defeated them, they would immediately flee and go back to break the contract. Therefore, when they entered the Asian waters, they also stopped in Luzon to wait and see. When the news of the Battle of the Yellow Sea came, the Qing Dynasty navy had won a glorious victory. This group of guys immediately gathered their strength and sailed towards Japan at high speed. When they arrived in Japanese waters, they began to plunder merchant ships and bombard the ports, causing chaos in the Japanese backyard. The Japanese fleet, which had suffered heavy losses, did not dare to go out to sea to fight at this time, and allowed these guys to swagger all the way to Nagasaki. As a result, they ran into these daring guys like Sun Gang. However, Sun Gang and his men's actions also indirectly confirmed the news of the Qing Navy's victory. Otherwise, if the two warships dared to cause trouble at the doorstep of the Japanese, the commander would be either a fool or a lunatic.
Sun Gang then understood why the road was so quiet when they arrived. So that's why!
Chilean naval officers and soldiers then boarded the "Changjing" for a visit. They were deeply impressed by the advanced and bold tactical innovations of the Qing Navy's submarines, and expressed their desire to have more exchanges and learning in this area in the future.
That day, when Sun Gang and his fleet of "friends from afar" returned to Lushun in high spirits, the debris floating on the sea, the smoke that had not yet completely dissipated, and the gunboats patrolling the port told them what had happened.
While they were visiting the Japanese lair, the Japanese were also not idle and ran to the gate of the Qing Dynasty to cause trouble.
After entering the port and going ashore, Sun Gang learned that a group of Japanese torpedo boats, under the cover of a cruiser detachment, had secretly entered the Port of Lushun at night and launched a sneak attack on the Beiyang Fleet anchored in the port. The Beiyang Fleet had just won a victory and was inevitably a little careless, as a result, it was caught off guard. After rushing into the port, the Japanese torpedo boats immediately began to attack the anchored warships. The minelaying ship "Baofa" and the training ships "Weiyuan", "Kangji" and "Meiyun" were all hit and sunk by torpedoes. One of the torpedo boats that attacked the "Dingyuan" had been hit by the "Dingyuan"'s cannons as it approached the "Dingyuan", and it actually fired a If it weren't for Liu Buchan, who was frightened by Sun Gang's demonstration of the torpedo sneak attack tactics with submarines in those days, and Lin Taizeng, who used small boats to lay arresting nets around the "Dingyuan" and "Zhenyuan", the consequences of this torpedo would have been disastrous.
Thinking of this, Sun Gang couldn't help but break out in a cold sweat.
Fortunately, there was no danger. The torpedo boat team in the harbor launched a counterattack with machine guns under the guidance of searchlights, and then the two gunboats "Zhendong" and "Zhenbian" also rushed to open fire in support. After losing two torpedo boats, the Japanese all rushed out of the harbor and escaped under the cover of the three cruisers "Chikushi", "Kaohsiung" and "Kongō". Except for the four ships that sank, the remaining warships of the Beiyang Fleet discovered the sneak attack in time and opened fire, which interfered with the aiming of the Japanese torpedo boats, and the torpedoes fired by the Japanese failed to hit.
Then the coastal artillery also gave the three Japanese fast cruisers a good beating (using the same method as Lin Guoxiang's torturing the Japanese), but also failed to hit a single shot.
But what happened in the port was enough to make Ding Ruchang's eyes blaze with anger.
Four ships were sunk at once. Although they were not very important ships and had almost no impact on the combat effectiveness of the entire fleet, such a thing happened just a few days after the victory of the Battle of the Yellow Sea. The censors in the court had something to say.
If it weren't for the arrival of the Chilean fleet and the successful surprise attack on Nagasaki by Sun Gang and his men, which made the admiral feel a little bit of face restored, he really didn't know how to explain it to Lord Zhongtang.
In the evening, at a banquet to welcome Chilean naval personnel, Ding Ruchang told Sun Gang what this "foreign aid" fleet was all about.
In fact, as early as the second day after the declaration of war between China and Japan, Zhongtang received a telegram from the Zongli Yamen, saying that the Navy Yamen and the Ministry of Revenue had allocated him two million taels of silver for Beiyang to purchase ships, and the decision-making power was also handed over to Beiyang. In addition, they were considerate enough to ask at the end of the telegram, "Is it worth it?" That meant that it didn't matter how much money it was, as long as the ship was bought back! It is estimated that Emperor Guangxu was furious after knowing the situation of the navy in recent years and the fact that Weng Tonghe secretly dismantled Li Hongzhang's station, and made the Ministry of Revenue pay a heavy price. Lord Zhongtang was so excited that he almost cried. He immediately started asking around like a headless fly. It turned out that all European countries strictly observed neutrality and prohibited the export of weapons. This time, he could not buy them even if he had money (those who had already bought them had to wait until after the war for delivery). Just when Lord Zhongtang was going crazy and desperate, good news came from South America, which was far away. Chile, a strong naval power in South America, was willing to sell warships to China. The Chileans were always willing to do some business of selling old for new, and this time they took the opportunity to make a lot of money from China. But Lord Zhongtang was rich at the time and could not care less. He just hired the Chilean navy and hired the original officers and soldiers on the ship at a high price. He formed the Qing Dynasty's ocean-going fleet on the spot and went directly to Japanese waters to fight. If the Chileans had not been cautious and waited and saw, this fleet should have arrived long ago.
In order to raise money to buy ships, Li Hongzhang made all kinds of moves in the country and borrowed money from foreign banks. His brother, Li Hanzhang, the Governor-General of Guangdong and Guangxi, who was far away in Guangdong, also helped his brother to contribute. Together with the allocation from the Ministry of Revenue, a total of 8.5 million taels of silver were raised to charter the Chilean fleet, allowing them to replenish ammunition, coal, water and supplies on the spot, and then set off directly to participate in the war against Japan. Even if they were China's foreign navy, it would save trouble for the Chilean government, which was the seller.
Sun Gang suddenly understood. No wonder these guys from South America not only changed all their military flags to the Qing Dynasty's dragon flag, but also added golden dragon emblems to their uniforms. They no longer looked like their own country.
Only at this moment did he truly realize the power of the "butterfly effect". From the Battle of Tsushima to the Battle of the Yellow Sea, up to the present, the series of impacts produced were beyond his expectations.
If China had lost the Battle of the Yellow Sea, would this powerful "foreign aid" fleet still come?
What strange things will happen in the future that I don't know about? Sun Gang thought about this and smiled bitterly.
