Volume 1 Tigers in Southeast Asia Chapter 25: Naval Guns Repel the Enemy
Lin Fei told Sun Yong to load the shells into the breech, push the barrel with a long stick, and then put the propellant pack in. Lin Fei glanced at the gun position and found no rangefinder. He thought he could only use visual rangefinder. Lin Fei raised his hand and used the jump eye method to calculate the distance to the troop transport ship, which was about 700 meters. He said to Sun Yong, "It's too far. Don't rush to fire."
At this time, the troop transport ship was still sending light signals to the cruiser, asking why it stopped firing and what was going on with the fishing boat in the distance. Lin Fei still ignored them. Gradually, the troop transport ship came to a place only more than 300 meters away from the cruiser. Lin Fei turned to Sun Yong and said, "You can fire now."
Sun Yong answered loudly, "I understand!" and then pressed the trigger. The ship was rolling with the waves, and experienced gunners would wait until the ship was horizontal before firing, so that the shells could be as accurate as possible. Sun Yong was proficient in this technique, and he gently pressed the trigger when the ship was horizontal.
The firing device fired sparks and ignited the propellant. A "boom" was heard from the barrel, a puff of black smoke spurted out of the muzzle, and a shell flew out. At the same time, the gun body suddenly retreated backwards on the gun mount, and the shell landed on the sea on the port side of the troop transport with a shrill whistle. Then the troop transport was seen shaking. It turned out that the shell hit the hull below the waterline directly after entering the water!
Sun Yong and the two sailors cheered in unison: "Hit it!" Lin Fei also waved his fist excitedly and said: "Great! Keep going!"
A sailor opened the breechblock. The cruiser's gun used split-load shells, with the warhead and propellant separately loaded, so no shell casing popped out when the breechblock was opened. A sailor cleaned the barrel with a rag, then loaded the next shell, loaded the propellant pack again, closed the breechblock, adjusted the direction of the gun, and fired another shot. This shell hit the middle of the troop transport directly above the waterline, making a big hole in the side of the ship.
At this time, Ma Chengfeng shouted to Lin Fei from the mast: "The troop transport has sent out a light signal again!"
Lin Fei looked up and asked, "What did they send?"
Ma Chengfeng said: "They said: 'We are our own people, you are hitting the wrong people'!" Ma Chengfeng laughed loudly after he finished speaking. Lin Fei also laughed and said: "Our own people? We are hitting 'our own people'! Sun Yong, keep hitting it, and don't stop until it is sunk!"
Soon the third and fourth shells were fired in succession and hit the target. The fifth shell missed the target, and the sixth shell hit again. After the sixth shell hit, an explosion was heard from the middle of the ship. It turned out that the steam engine room exploded. The hull tilted rapidly and gradually sank into the water. During this process, the troop transport was still slowly turning, hoping to escape the clutches of the shells.
The troop transport ship finally sank completely, and the people on board fell into the sea and struggled on the surface. At this moment, Lin Fei suddenly saw Huang San kneeling in front of him, "bang bang bang" kowtowed three times in a row. Lin Fei was shocked, and stretched out his hand to hold him, saying: "Brother Huang, what are you doing? Hurry up and get up!"
Huang San said in a sad voice: "Captain Lin, there are also ten Chinese sailors on that troop transport ship. Please save them."
Lin Fei frowned and said, "So there are Chinese people on the boat! Why didn't you tell me earlier? Hurry up and launch the boat to rescue them."
Huang San followed the order and followed several sailors to lower the small boat from the cruiser to rescue the Chinese sailors in the water. As for the Spanish soldiers who fell into the water, they killed them all with swords and guns. The news of the sinking of the troop ship was soon seen by another troop ship in the distance. That troop ship hurried to the southern beach and sent people ashore to find Lacheno who was camping.
At this time, Lacheno was listening to Denison's complaints coldly: "General, how can you ignore the property of Boss Fernande and order an attack?"
Lacheno said disdainfully: "The purpose of my attack this time is to eliminate the Katipunan entrenched on the island, not to protect someone's property!"
At this moment, the signalman ran over in a panic and said, "General, something terrible has happened! Our cruiser has rebelled!"
As soon as these words came out, everyone's faces changed drastically. Lacheno stood up and asked, "What's going on? Tell me slowly!"
The signalman said, "Just now you heard the Cuba cruiser's gunfire change direction, so you sent the Barcelona troop transport to investigate, and our Palma troop transport followed closely behind, but for some reason the cruiser fired at the Barcelona troop transport! The Barcelona troop transport was sunk!"
After hearing this, Lacheno turned pale, and the staff and officers around him also frowned, because this matter was so strange that they really couldn't figure out the reason.
After more than ten minutes of silence, Lacheno said, "This matter is really too weird. Tell me what you think ."
No one spoke. At this moment, a "boom" was heard outside the tent, and then an officer ran in and said, "General, our cruiser is firing at us!"
Lacheno rushed out of the tent and took out a telescope to look into the distance. He saw black smoke coming out of the muzzle of the Cuba cruiser. He looked towards the camp and saw a tent overturned by a shell. The bodies of soldiers were lying on the ground. Lacheno walked back to the tent and said, "Order all troops to pack up their tents, board the troop transport as quickly as possible, and withdraw to Lavague."
The Spanish troops immediately packed up their tents. At this time, another shell landed on the camp. A staff officer said, "General, let's not pack up the tents. Let's retreat as soon as possible."
After weighing the pros and cons, Lacheno said, "Okay, let's leave the tents and equipment behind and retreat as soon as possible!" The Spanish army, as if they had been pardoned, abandoned their tents and all other non-combat supplies, and hurriedly boarded the troop ships, fleeing towards the vicinity of Lavague. However, three of the troop ships did not have time to raise anchor, so the people escaped onto other ships, and the empty ships were captured by Lin Fei.
Lin Fei did not let the cruiser chase after them. He ordered everyone to return to the Pangu and take the Pangu whaling ship and the Cuba cruiser back to the dock. On the ship, everyone gave the cruiser a name that had the same symbolic meaning as "Pangu" - Nuwa.
The Nuwa cruiser stopped at the dock. Lin Fei led his men down from the ship and came to the ammunition depot. Li Mingbai and others in the ammunition depot did not know that Lin Fei had won a great victory and were still defending nervously. When they saw Lin Fei leading his men in from outside, they realized that the danger was over and burst into tears.
Li Mingbai started crying, and the other infantrymen started crying too. Lin Fei laughed and said, "Don't cry, everyone. The Spaniards left a lot of good stuff on the south beach. Go pick them up quickly. I saw a lot of canned food. Pick them all up and celebrate tonight."
Li Mingbai and others stopped crying and went to the south beach to pick up good things. Lin Fei called Chen Jingui out of the ammunition depot, consolidated his status as a god in front of the natives, and went to the winery and sugar factory to visit the technicians. Su Yunzhao and others heard that Lin Fei had won a great victory, and they also admired Lin Fei very much.
Lin Fei looked around and found that one person was missing, so he went to Su Yunzhao and asked, "Mr. Su, where is the girl in kimono?" Lin Fei was sure that the Spaniards would not attack the sugar factory and winery, so in order to protect Chiyomika, he let her hide in the sugar factory and winery.
Su Yunzhao pointed to a room and said, "She has been there the whole time and has not come out."
Lin Fei nodded, walked towards the room, knocked on the door, and whispered, "Miss Chiyo, it's me."
Chiyomika said: "I know you are back and you are okay, I am so happy!"
Lin Fei was puzzled, thinking, since you are so happy that I came back, why don't you come out to see me? Lin Fei asked, "Miss Chiyo, why don't you come out to see me? Are you feeling unwell?"
Chiyomika said hurriedly: "No...no."
Lin Fei heard panic in her tone and was shocked. He wondered what was wrong with her. Could something have happened?
Lin Fei said hurriedly: "I'm going in!"
Chiyomika's urgent voice sounded: "Lin Feijun, please don't come in, I beg you..."
Lin Fei could tell that Chiyoko's voice was not right. He was really anxious. He pushed the door open and saw Chiyoko sitting upright on a chair with her hands naturally crossed on her legs. There was nothing unusual in the room. Lin Fei looked at Chiyoko, whose face was ruddy and did not look like she was sick. He asked in confusion, "What's wrong with you?"
Chiyomika's face flushed, and she shook her head repeatedly, saying, "I'm really fine."
Lin Fei nodded and said, "I'm glad you're alright. Come with me. We've won a great victory and we'll celebrate tonight."
Chiyomika stammered, "I...I understand. Congratulations to Lin Feijun for winning a great victory..."
Lin Fei looked at Chiyomika and soon found something wrong, that was her hands. Her hands on her legs were clenched tightly, as if she was hiding something in her hands. Lin Fei recalled her previous sitting posture. When she sat before, her hands were always placed casually, never like today.
Thinking of this, Lin Fei asked casually: "What do you have in your hand?"
Chiyomika's expression changed, and she said nervously: "No, nothing, nothing."
Lin Fei could tell from her drastic change in expression that Chiyomi must have a secret! Lin Fei's mind raced: "Will the secret in her hand be harmful to us? After all, she was captured by me. Although she is closer to me now, who can guarantee that she will not do something to hurt us? Especially since the Spaniards came today, what if she secretly colluded with the Spaniards..."
Lin Fei didn't dare to think any further. He rushed to her, grabbed her hand with his left hand, pried open her fingers with his right hand, looked down at her palm, and was shocked.
