Volume 4: Hot! The whole world is a warring state Chapter 694: The royal family also has blood
"What? Li Sang was killed in action?"
Although he had followed Li Guozhu to the Ming Dynasty and worked for Zhu Youdong for more than 30 years, Inukai Touji, who had almost completely assimilated into Chinese, couldn't help but speak Japanese when he heard the news.
"General Inukai, this is the signal from the Jilin."
"Damn it, you idiot! You're already an admiral, why don't you just stay in Singapore Harbor? You insist on going aboard to be a hero, you idiot!" Inukai Touji, with red eyes, muttered this and immediately began to pass on the order: "Order the Jilin to withdraw from the battle line, protect the admiral's body, and retreat to Singapore Harbor. This ship raises the command flag and let the following ships follow us and continue to fight!"
"Yes, sir!"
After the communications officer left in a hurry, Inukai Touji looked at his watch and said, "Damn it! We only have six large ships. How can we fight the enemy for 26 hours? It's useless even if we all die!"
"What does General Inukai mean?"
Glancing at the staff officer with a sullen look, Inukai waved his hand and said, "I have no intention of retreating. The general has died in battle, so it is only natural that we all die here. However, I remember when I just came to Ming from Japan, the current emperor, who was still the grandson of the emperor at that time, specifically warned me that we Japanese always die meaninglessly for the so-called military reputation, and asked me to change it. So, gentlemen, it doesn't matter if we die here. But if we all die here and fail to buy enough time for our rear fortress, then it will be meaningless."
"So what do you want, General?"
After pacing back and forth for a few times, Inukai Touji made up his mind: "Send two communication ships. One is to find General Yan Siqi and ask him to lead the troops to retreat! The other one is to notify the mine warfare team in the rear. Well, they have been retreating for almost 20 hours, right? If the commander is not an idiot, he should have reloaded the mines in the port, right? Anyway, let them lay mines again behind us, ignore our retreat route, and block all waterways as much as possible! Tell them to be quick, we can buy them four hours at most!"
This, this is cutting off one's own path to retreat!
However, in response to Inukai's almost suicidal order, the staff officers hesitated for a moment before quickly executing it.
…
"Sir, the enemy's lead ship has withdrawn from the battle line, and the second ship in the enemy's battle line has raised a new flag, which I think should be the command flag."
"Hahaha, it seems our strategy is correct. Order the entire fleet to concentrate fire on the enemy's new flagship."
"As you command, sir."
As soon as the communications officer walked away, the gunnery officer came over with a frown on his face: "Sir, I must remind you that the ammunition reserve of the 305mm main guns of our two battleships has dropped below the warning line."
"Um?"
"Sir, this battle has lasted too long. It has lasted for more than eight hours. During these eight hours, the twelve 305mm main guns of our two battleships have fired nearly eight hundred shells. Now, according to a rough calculation, the total number of shells left for our twelve main guns is less than four hundred."
"Damn it, does that mean each gun can only fire thirty more times at most?"
"Yes, sir. And due to the long-term and frequent use of the artillery, the stability of the barrel is also decreasing."
"...I understand. Give the order and let us get closer so that our gunners can shoot more accurately."
"As you command, sir. But I must remind you that our speed cannot catch up with the enemy, so it is difficult for us to get close."
"Hahaha, it doesn't matter. We are very close to Singapore Harbor now. I am sure that the enemy's fortress in Singapore is indeed not yet completed. Otherwise, it is impossible to explain why these Chinese people are fighting to the death here. Therefore, the enemy has no way to retreat now. Our disadvantage of slow speed can be ignored now! Gentlemen, cheer up, victory is at hand!"
"Viva la Vie, Spain will win!"
Following Alfonso's order, the Spanish fleet turned to the southeast, then to the northeast, and after slowly making a large circle, it made a gesture to bypass the Inukai fleet.
Inukai, who was experienced in battle, knew that the enemy was not really trying to bypass him, but to get close to him to increase his hit rate. However, as Alfonso said, the location of the battle between the two sides was less than 50 nautical miles away from Singapore Port, and the Ming Navy had no way to retreat. Therefore, although he knew the enemy's plan, he had no choice but to lead the remaining six large ships to honestly approach and confront the enemy.
However, after the Spanish fleet made a circle, it was indeed closer to the main fleet of the Ming Dynasty on its north side. However, their detour also shortened the distance between them and the forgotten little character.
The Shangqiu, a 3,000-ton ironclad ship of the Ming Navy.
Shortly after the night naval battle began, Shangqiu was hit by a near miss bullet fired by the enemy's 305mm main gun, and the tail rudder was damaged, so it had to withdraw from the battle line.
Because the tail rudder was stuck, the Shangqiu could only move forward at a fixed course. After the warship moved slowly in the southeast direction at the lowest speed for most of the night, they arrived at a place about fifty nautical miles away from Singapore Port.
Throughout the night, all the officers and soldiers on the ship, from the captain down, were flushed: they were so ashamed, their comrades were fighting desperately, but they left the battlefield early. Especially in the second half of the night, when the two sides kept circling each other and fighting for the T-head, although the Ming army fleet had a faster overall speed, it really didn't have much to do with the other side's two giant ships. So, in fact, the Ming army was fighting and retreating. As the battlefield got closer and closer to the Shangqiu, the battle situation became clearer to these men: at least, they saw with their own eyes the Jilin withdrew from the battle because of heavy damage.
"Captain, Captain! Good news, good news. After a night of self-rescue, the rudder can now move."
"Ah? Oh, this is really good news."
"But Captain, we have only solved the problem of the jam, but because two connecting rods of the tail rudder are broken, the ship can turn now, but the speed will be very slow."
"That doesn't matter. As long as we can turn, it's fine. Order, re-pressurize the boiler, increase the speed, and turn."
"Yes, but Captain, which way are we turning?"
"This is an interesting question." The captain of the Shangqiu was a rough man in his thirties with a full beard. His surname was Zhu Congquan, and he was the twenty-third generation grandson of the first Jingjiang King of the Ming Dynasty. This family multiplied very quickly. During the Jiajing period of the Ming Dynasty, when the twenty-character genealogy of Zhu Laosi's family had only used the sixth character, they had already used up the twenty-character genealogy given by Taizu, so the elders of the Jingjiang King's line had to compile another twenty characters themselves.
The faster they reproduced, the faster their rank would decline. In addition, since they were the grandnephews of Zhu Yuanzhang, most of the descendants of the Prince of Jingjiang lived a miserable life. After Zhu Youdong ascended the throne, he implemented the royal family reform, and the Prince of Jingjiang's family was the most supportive.
Specifically speaking of Zhu Congquan, he had a hard time of not having enough food to eat when he was a child. It was not until Zhu Youdong's reform of the royal family that the family situation gradually improved. His father secretly fished for many years to supplement the family income, and he had developed a good swimming ability. With a family background, he applied for the Royal Military Academy when he was a teenager, and then studied at the Naval Academy. After graduation, he was promoted step by step, and now he is also a lieutenant colonel captain.
After the people below asked where to turn, Zhu Congquan thought for a moment and came to a row of communication copper tubes: "Brothers, I, Zhu, have been on board as the captain. How do I treat you?"
“Excellent!”
"The boss is very loyal and treats us very well."
"The boss always takes us to Piaoxiangyuan after every training session, and he treats us the most!"
Listening to the various sounds coming from the copper tube, Zhu Congquan laughed loudly: "Okay, brothers, I won't hide it from you. In this battle, we had to withdraw from the battle because of the damage to the tail rudder at the beginning. This night was really embarrassing. Now, the tail rudder can be used. This captain is ready to fight back. What do you think?"
"OK!"
"Listen to the captain!"
"We should have gone back a long time ago, idiot. We just listened to the bang bang bang of the enemy the whole night, and we withdrew from the battlefield without firing a single shot. If we go ashore after the battle, we will be ashamed to death by the brothers on the other ships."
"Hahaha, my brothers, you are so brave. I am very happy. But what I want to say is that I am going to adjust the sailing and head straight for the two giant enemy ships!"
There was silence in the copper tubes for a while, and then a voice came from one of them: "Boss, our 105mm cannons can't penetrate the armor of those two giant ships, right?"
"It's true that they can't penetrate the armor, and the enemy still has six warships. If we rush up and fire incendiary bombs, we won't be able to get through more than a few rounds. I mean, we should just drive up and ram them!"
The silence in the row of copper tubes lasted even longer. After a few minutes, the chief engineer finally spoke: "Boss, I have to remind you that our rudder can turn, but very slowly. If we really want to hit it, we may not be able to do so."
"Of course. I think it would be best if we could bump into each other. If we can't, hehe, I never thought about bumping into each other in the first place."
"What does the boss mean?"
"Brothers, we saw last night that the enemy's warships are not invincible, especially after being hit by mines. This is what I think. We just rush straight ahead. If we are lucky enough and are not sunk in the middle of the journey, then when we are only one or two hundred meters away from the enemy's warship, we will continue to rush forward and try to hit it. At the same time, we will send people to dive deep into the sea with heavy objects, and then use human power to hit the part below the waterline of the enemy's warship with the two mines on our ship."
"..." After a longer silence, a sigh came from the artillery chief: "I'll do it. I'm good at swimming."
"Hahaha, of the two people who dived deep, you, Lao Zhang, are one of them. The other one is naturally me, Zhu Congquan."
"Boss, you!"
"Captain, let me take care of this."
"Alright, alright, stop yelling. This country is the Ming Dynasty. The emperor of this country is surnamed Zhu. If the men of our Zhu family don't take the lead in doing something that is a sure death, why should we ask others to do it? Alright, now give the captain's order. First, adjust the course. The navigator must calculate the route and angle accurately. After all, we only have one chance. Second, all those on board who have only sons, or those who are not good enough and have not yet let their wives give birth to sons, get on the lifeboat!"
