Volume 1: The Battleship Yitian Changes into the Sino-Japanese War of 1894 Chapter 65: A Near Miss
"The Russian envoy proposed to lease Port Arthur as a coal storage station. Have you checked if there are any Russian ships coming eastward? Reply quickly." This was the telegram sent to him by Lord Zhongtang. As expected, the Russians came prepared!
After a while, Ding Ruchang called and said, "I have ordered Song Qing's troops to prepare for war. If the Russian ships arrive, please deal with them as soon as possible with Governor Lin."
What should I do now?
"Sir, Lord Lin has sent a signal that more than ten Russian ships are heading this way." Another officer reported.
Sun Gang's heart suddenly rose to his throat. Was a fight really going to break out?
His palms were covered with cold sweat.
"Let the observation post keep in touch with the flagship at all times and report any situation immediately!" He tried to calm himself and gave the order.
"Are you going to reply to Lord Zhongtang's call now?" asked the officer who delivered the telegram.
"Reply to Lord Zhongtang: Our navy has just received the news that Admiral Lin has led the ships to line up on the sea. The Russian ships have now arrived. If they force their way into the sea, our navy will attack them head-on and will not let them succeed in their cunning plan." Sun Gang thought for a while and said.
The officers took the order and left. He stood up and looked out the window. On various coastal artillery batteries, the gunners took their positions one by one under the command of the officers. Everything seemed in order, but his heart was still pounding.
Don't panic, don't panic, he told himself over and over again in his heart.
"Sir, General Lin sent a signal that the Russian ship said it was ordered by its country to come to Lushun to spend the winter, and that the court had agreed, and asked us to ask the governor and the prime minister." An officer said .
"Send a signal to General Lin. Zhongtang is negotiating and has not received any orders from the court. We cannot let them in! If they dare to force their way in, kill them!" Sun Gang answered decisively: "By the way, let General Lin report the general situation of the Russian ships!"
The officer hurriedly ran to pass on the order. Sun Gang's mind was full of chaotic thoughts. What should he do now? If a real fight breaks out, what will happen if the Beiyang Fleet only has these few ships and they are all destroyed in one go?
He now had some understanding of what Li Hongzhang meant by "protecting the ships and defeating the enemy".
"My lord, Captain Cai has sent a signal. There are four large Russian iron ships, eight fast boats, and four torpedo hunters, a total of 16 ships." An officer's report brought him back from his daze.
Four battleships! His heart skipped a beat. Four battleships would allow the Russians to run rampant! If the Beiyang Fleet had even one more battleship, he wouldn't have to be so scared now!
The desire to own more battleships became even stronger in his mind at this moment.
"General Lin sent someone to the flagship of the Russian fleet to tell them. General Lin said, 'Without the imperial order, we cannot let them go. If you want to use force, we will definitely open fire.'" the officer continued.
He calmed himself down and did a quick calculation. China currently had one battleship, four cruisers, and four torpedo boats. If a real fight broke out, I'm afraid... A light bulb suddenly lit up in his mind, and he immediately sent someone to find Wen Junfeng and Su Xin.
This only submarine is now put to good use!
"The torpedo boat team is already ready. They all asked to take the initiative to attack, saying that they must not repeat the mistake of Majiang." Wen Junfeng said to him after coming in. Indeed, the Battle of Mawei was caused by the French fleet taking advantage of the opportunity to enter the port, which led to the complete destruction of the Fujian Navy!
"You go now, sneak out of the port on a submarine, find the location of the Russian flagship, aim torpedoes at it, and as soon as it fires or sends out a signal to attack in formation, you launch torpedoes and try to kill it in one fell swoop!" Sun Gang said to him.
"I understand. I'll go right away." Wen Junfeng nodded.
"Those magnetic mines are still there. Do we need to reward them?" Su Xin suddenly asked.
That's right! How could I forget about this! Sun Gang nodded hurriedly and said, "Let's do it! Your underwater special forces will set off together on the submarine, and let the submarine take you to stick to it. Remember, pick the big ones and get the biggest ones at a certain time!"
After Su Xin and Wen Junfeng left, Sun Gang looked at his watch nervously. This was all he could do. Those small mines were too weak to deal with battleships. But if the Russians inexplicably discovered that something was wrong with the battleship, they might not want to engage in a fight with the Beiyang Fleet, right?
The mine will explode in at most an hour. If after an hour, Li Hongzhang still has not reached any result through negotiations and the Russians have discovered their actions, it means that the war has begun and nothing can be said.
Seeing that he had nothing to do, he simply stopped thinking about it, took a paper and a pen, and started playing Go with his beloved wife. He suddenly became calm and composed, completely different from his previous nervousness and panic, which made Ma Yue's eyes show a hint of approval.
Time passed second by second, and Sun Gang seemed to be concentrating on the chess game, intent on "fighting" with his beloved wife on paper.
"I've let you win a few games and you're excited." Sun Gang won several games in a row, which "irritated" Ma Yue, who was still a little worried about the situation outside. She immediately showed the unique talent of girls in this area and defeated Sun Gang in a few moves.
"This is your normal state." Sun Gang was not convinced and focused on the fight. The two of them soon almost filled up the paper and soon there was a tendency for the fight to go outside the paper.
I don't know how long it was, "Sir, telegram..." An officer who came in hurriedly looked at the paper full of xenophobia between the Minister of the Navy and his wife, and his mind was blocked for a moment.
"Let me see." Sun Gang put down his pen and took the telegram from him. It was from Li Hongzhang. "The General Administration has replied to the Russian envoy that the request is not granted. The Russian envoy is very angry and said that it is not difficult to start a war again. If the Russian ships are still outside the country, we should be more careful to avoid conflicts."
Although the court rejected the Russians' unreasonable demands, this telegram was of no use other than letting him know the court's attitude.
"It's okay, go and get busy. Tell me immediately if you have any news." Sun Gang said to the officer. The officer seemed to be infected by Sun Gang's calmness and was no longer as panicked as before.
After the officer left, Sun Gang continued to have sex with his wife on paper until he forgot everything else and even had sex on the table.
Suddenly, the warship's whistle sounded outside, which scared Sun Gang.
From the distant artillery position, one could faintly hear the cheers of soldiers.
He looked at his watch and realized that two hours had passed without him noticing!
"It's okay." Ma Yue seemed to have guessed something, and asked worriedly, "Will Su Xin and his men sink the Russian warship?"
"Those small mines are not powerful enough to blow up cruisers, and they can't cause much damage to battleships." Sun Gang explained to her, "At most, they can make them leak a little, but that's enough to make the Russians change their minds."
As expected, an officer came to report in surprise and joy, saying that the Russian ship's hull was suddenly leaking and requested to enter the port for repairs. Lin Taizeng refused on the grounds that our ship was undergoing major repairs and could not accommodate the giant ship, and asked them to return immediately, as the Russian ship had already begun to withdraw.
"General Lin asked Captain Wang's ship 'Ningyuan' to watch them leave from a distance, saying that he was seeing them off." The officer said finally.
Sun Gang heaved a sigh of relief and looked at his beloved wife with joy. The turmoil of forcibly leasing Lushunkou had finally passed without any danger.
"Send a telegram to Zhongtang: The Russian ship was ambushed and damaged by our submarine team and has already evacuated. Our ship is following and monitoring it." He ordered.
"In fact, they wanted to attack us when they saw that we only had one large ship out to sea." Lin Taizeng said after returning: "At that time, the guns of their four main battleships were all pointed at the Kaiyuan. My palms were full of cold sweat."
"Me too." Sun Gang also looked scared.
"Later, we found that their four large ships were vibrating for some reason, and then they seemed to be a little tilted." Lin Taizeng said: "Then they became much more polite. The underwater special attack team really made a great contribution this time." He already knew that it was Su Xin who led the underwater special attack team to put some "eye drops" on the Russian fleet. Otherwise, if a real fight broke out this time, the Beiyang Fleet would have at least died half heroically.
"The scale of this submarine and underwater special forces is not enough, it should be expanded." Qiu Baoren said.
"At least there should be more than just one submarine." Lin Yongsheng said, "Even if there were no ocean-going submarines, there should be another one like this now."
"It's better to be able to travel across the ocean." Lin Taizeng said: "They dare to show off their might with their big ships and cannons. Let's let them taste the power of submarines and make them tremble with fear in every sea area of our Qing Dynasty."
Sun Gang looked at everyone happily. After so many storms, these backbones of the Chinese Navy have become more mature!
"They can have huge ships and cannons, so why can't we have them?" Sun Gang said to everyone. After this incident, he realized the importance of battleships even more. Before the appearance of aircraft carriers, these heavily armed warriors at sea were indispensable !
According to his estimation, even if Dingyuan and Zhenyuan continued to serve until 1905, the Chinese Navy would still need to maintain at least two battleships in order to compete with the great powers!
You also need to have a certain number of other surface ships and submarines!
But, can the imperial court in his head see so far and give him enough financial support?
Now that he has paid all the money he has, what will happen next?
A hundred years later, how will people view him, a time traveler who eventually starved to death?
The following passage came to his mind, and he couldn't help but smile bitterly: "Sun Gang was loyal and devoted to state affairs throughout his life. In order to run the navy, he used up all his family's wealth and salary to support the public, and ended up being penniless and starving while in office. What a man he was!"
I won't do it! He thought bitterly, no! The Russians almost came to our doorstep this time, isn't the court alert? No matter how much money it costs, we must have a battleship!
Submit a petition and ask for money! You have to give it to Master Weng even if he doesn't want to!
