Volume 1 Tigers in Southeast Asia Chapter 1: Saving the Zhiyuan
When Lin Fei opened his eyes, everything was completely different. He could hear the rumbling sound of artillery shells and looked around, where there was smoke everywhere!
Lin Fei was born into a military family. He had been working in a special forces base since he was a child. Later, he was admitted to the Naval Aviation Academy to learn fighter piloting. Because of his outstanding ability, his superiors asked him to enter the naval base to receive naval ship command training, hoping that he could become the captain of an aircraft carrier in the future. At this time, Lin Fei should have been training at the Lushun Naval Training Base, but now, his mind was blank and he didn't know where he was.
Lin Fei saw in front of him was the breech block of a twin-barreled cannon, with the vertical wedge-type breech block open and the bore cloth thrown aside, which was full of unburned black gunpowder. Outside the breech block was a half-moon-shaped guard plate, behind which squatted several sturdy men, each with a long braid on his head, wearing a coarse cloth double-breasted jacket, and an armband on his arm with a very strange pattern on it - a red tasseled spear and a Fang Tian painted halberd crossed.
Lin Fei looked at himself and saw that he was wearing a blue satin jacket with a longevity pattern on the cuffs. The armband on his right arm was also a red tasseled spear and a square painted halberd. Lin Fei was shocked. This outfit was clearly the uniform of the Beiyang Fleet. He was wearing an officer's uniform, and the pattern on the armband represented "gunner". He actually returned to the Beiyang Fleet and became a gunner! The soldier just said that the Japanese ship Yoshino was just ahead. It seemed that this was the battlefield of the Sino-Japanese War of 1894! I don't know which warship of the Beiyang Fleet I am on?
Lin Fei knew that the collars of the sailors of the Beiyang Fleet were embroidered with the names of their warships in gold thread, so he looked at the sailors' collars and saw the word "Zhiyuan" embroidered in gold thread. Lin Fei's heart suddenly jumped, realizing that he was actually on the Zhiyuan ship that was about to sink!
At this time, Lin Fei heard a strong man anxiously said: "Gunner Captain? Gunner Captain? The ammunition belt has been filed down almost a centimeter, but it still can't be loaded into the gun barrel. The Japanese ship Yoshino is right in front of us. What should I do?"
Lin Fei looked down and saw a sturdy man with his sleeves rolled up, revealing his dark and well -defined arms. He was holding a file in his hand, and underneath the file was a copper-yellow shell with the belt covered with deep and shallow file marks. The errors of many shells of the Beiyang Fleet exceeded the standard tolerance band, and they had to be processed with files when used, otherwise they could not be loaded into the barrel.
The battlefield was changing rapidly, and Lin Fei had no time to think. He squatted down, touched the shell with his hand, and frowned. During his time at the military academy, Lin Fei had accumulated a lot of military knowledge, so he was no stranger to shells. He shook his head and said, "Don't file it anymore, otherwise the shell may not be able to withstand the chamber pressure."
The sailor raised his head and stared fiercely at a warship flying the Japanese flag in the distance. He threw the file heavily on the deck, splashing the fine sand on the deck to prevent slipping.
At this moment, a roar suddenly came from behind: "Brothers!"
Lin Fei looked back and saw a dignified man standing on the flying bridge with a command knife in his hand. Lin Fei recognized him by his attire and thought he should be Deng Shichang, the captain of the Zhiyuan ship.
The gunners near the flying bridge and the officers and soldiers on the deck heard Deng Shichang's roar and gathered towards the flying bridge.
Deng Shichang shouted loudly: "We joined the army to serve our country and put life and death aside. Today, the Beiyang Fleet is in danger. The only thing we can do is die for our country. Although we die, we will promote the prestige of the Chinese Navy!"
Deng Shichang's words were so powerful that the crowd roared. Deng Shichang raised his saber, pointed at the warship in the distance, and said loudly: "The warship in front is the Japanese ship 'Yoshino'. This ship is fast and powerful, and the Japanese rely on it. I order you to go full speed ahead, sink the Yoshino, and show our military prestige!"
Everyone shouted: "Sink the Yoshino! Show our military prestige!", "Sink the Yoshino! Show our military prestige!"
Amid the loud roars, Lin Fei felt a sense of panic in his heart, because he knew very well what happened next. The Zhiyuan was sunk by a Japanese warship, and all the officers and soldiers on board died except for seven who escaped by chance!
Lin Fei thought: "If I watch the Zhiyuan ship crash into the Yoshino ship, the Zhiyuan ship will definitely be sunk by the Yoshino ship, and I will also be buried in the sea. I must not let the Zhiyuan ship sink!"
Thinking of this, Lin Fei shouted: "Wait a minute!"
Everyone turned to look at Lin Fei, who said loudly: "The Yoshino is equipped with twelve rapid-fire cannons of various types. We are likely to be sunk before we hit it! We should turn the rudder as soon as possible and withdraw from the battlefield before the Zhiyuan completely loses power!"
As soon as he finished speaking, Lin Fei saw a sturdy man who was a head taller than him jumping in front of him and yelling: "Lin Fei, I didn't expect you to be such a coward. I, Liu Daming, don't recognize you as my brother. I'm going to chop you off first!"
The sturdy man named Liu Daming drew his sword and slashed at Lin Fei. Lin Fei dodged the blow by turning around. The sturdy man swung his sword to strike again, but Deng Shichang shouted loudly on the flying bridge: "Liu Daming! Put your sword away!"
Liu Daming put away his knife in dismay. Deng Shichang pointed his finger into the distance and said, "The Japanese ships rely on Yoshino. If our army sinks Yoshino in one fell swoop, we will surely win. However, we only have small-caliber machine gun shells left, and no large-caliber shells. You know this better than me. The only weapons we can use to kill the Yoshino are torpedoes and rams! The torpedoes have a very low hit rate and may not hit the enemy ship, so we can only use the ram to sink the Yoshino!"
Lin Fei wanted to persuade him again, but Deng Shichang said in a loud voice: "No need to say more , return to your positions, sink the Yoshino, and show our military prestige!"
Everyone ignored Lin Fei and ran towards their own positions. Liu Daming glared at Lin Fei and ran away as well. Lin Fei sighed in his heart. Deng Shichang was notoriously stubborn and there was no way to persuade him at this time. He could only take things one step at a time.
The cause of the sinking of the Zhiyuan has always been controversial in the academic community. Two theories are the most popular. First, the torpedo fired by the Yoshino hit the Zhiyuan; second, the artillery shell of the Yoshino hit the torpedo on the port side of the Zhiyuan, and the torpedo explosion caused the sinking of the Zhiyuan.
Thinking of this, Lin Fei's heart moved. He looked up at the Yoshino ship and found that it was still far away from the Zhiyuan ship. The torpedo range of this era was only 500 meters at most, so the Yoshino ship could not launch torpedoes yet. What he should do now was to throw the torpedo on the left side of the Zhiyuan ship. If it was the second statement, then the Zhiyuan ship still had a glimmer of hope. Now Lin Fei could only take a gamble. If it was the first statement, then he could only leave it to fate!
Thinking of this, Lin Fei immediately turned his head to look to the port side. He knew that on modern cruisers and destroyers, most torpedo tubes were deployed on the deck in groups of three to five, so he believed that the torpedoes on the Zhiyuan were also installed in this position. However, on the port side of the Zhiyuan, Lin Fei did not see anything like a torpedo tube. Lin Fei suddenly became very anxious. If there was nothing on the deck, then it must be below!
Lin Fei found the nearest deck entrance, jumped down the gangway, and shouted to a sailor who was holding a wet blanket to put out the flames: "Where is the torpedo compartment?"
The sailor didn't even bother to salute. He pointed behind him and said "there". Lin Fei pushed the sailor away and ran to the back, breaking open the door of the cabin. He saw a thick cylinder in the middle of the cabin, facing the opening on the side, with a smaller cylinder on top of it. Lin Fei knew that the thick cylinder was the torpedo tube, and the cylinder on it was the high-pressure gas cylinder. The torpedo was pushed out by the high-pressure gas in the high-pressure gas cylinder.
There is a track on each side of the launch tube, and on each track is a small cart. On the cart is a thing with pointed ends and a thick and round middle. There is a propeller at the tail of that thing and a fuse as sharp as a knife at the head. It is the original German black-head torpedo equipped on the Zhiyuan ship!
The earliest torpedo in the world was designed by the British Whitehead in 1866. Whitehead's name literally means "white head", so people called this type of torpedo "white-headed torpedo". Once this type of torpedo came out, it was imitated by various countries. The German imitation product was called "black-headed torpedo".
Next to the torpedo tube, stood an old sailor with long braids and gray hair. He stared over the side of the ship intently and shouted into a microphone: "Eight hundred and fifty meters from the Yoshino ship! Eight hundred meters..." Behind the old sailor, two young sailors were holding the torpedo tube, and one sailor was holding a wrench behind the torpedo tube. They all looked over the side of the ship intently and did not notice Lin Fei's arrival at all.
Lin Fei walked a few steps to the torpedo tube and glanced at the English label on the tube. He knew that the wrench held by the sailor was the torpedo trigger and that the sailor was the launcher. He glanced at the pressure gauge on the back of the tube and saw the pointer stopped at the "10 MPa" scale. He knew that the torpedo tube had been inflated and could be launched by pulling the trigger!
At this time, the shooter saw Lin Fei and said to him, "Captain Gunner, why are you here?"
Lin Fei knew that the Japanese warship's shells could hit the torpedo compartment at any time, so he didn't say much to the sailors and directly said in an imperative tone: "Pull the wrench and fire the torpedo, quickly!"
The sailor was stunned and asked in surprise: "Captain Gunner, what did you say?"
Lin Fei said loudly: "Once the Japanese ship's shells hit here, the torpedoes will sink the Zhiyuan ship. Quickly launch the torpedoes."
The sailor frowned and said, "Without the order from First Mate Liu, I can't launch a torpedo!"
First Mate Liu is the big man named Liu Daming. There is an official position on the Zhiyuan ship called First Torpedo Mate, who is responsible for the maintenance, upkeep and launching of torpedoes as well as the driving of torpedo boats. Liu Daming is that official.
Lin Fei asked anxiously, "Where is First Officer Liu? Where did he go?"
The sailor said, "Go to the starboard torpedo room..."
Lin Fei was just about to turn around and go to the starboard torpedo room when he suddenly heard a loud "bang" coming from the stern of the ship. The ship shook violently and everyone in the torpedo room staggered.
