"What is the concept of a 210 mm caliber gun? Many people don't know very well, but if they were told that the muzzle of a gun of this caliber can completely drill into a young man's head, I think many people will immediately imagine that kind of picture, with a thick barrel, a shell that needs to be hugged by two people......"

Many years later, the old Sun Chujian was interviewed by reporters every time, and he was still extremely excited when he recalled the experience of serving on the Zhiyuan ship.

"When Prime Minister Xiao Cheng was preparing to build the Ryukyu Navy, it was just in time for the era of great changes in naval technology, and when the Zhiyuan ship became a lone wolf ghost in the Atlantic, the British Navy was also full of a large number of sail battleships, and the left and right were even smoothbore guns......"

"Hehe, that is the era of Europe used to use the pound, that is, the weight of the shell to classify artillery, take the most equipped twenty-four pounder guns in Britain as an example, the caliber is 5.83 inches, which is converted into a metric system, that is, 148 mm, compared with the 210 mm main gun of the Zhiyuan, you can see the difference......"

"Even the British Royal Navy's most firepower, a 32-pounder gun, the caliber is only 162 mm...... Not to mention the accuracy and range of the rifled gun, the Zhiyuan was undoubtedly the most firepower perverted killer in the world navy at that time......"

"No, no, no...... Don't listen to Kevin's old guy nagging all the time, he will only tell you all kinds of data shortcomings, that person is an obsessive-compulsive person...... I know that the Zhiyuan has many shortcomings, such as the hardness of the barrel steel is not enough, and the left rifling is smoothed out after two hundred fires......"

"Yes, I also know that there is something wrong with the sighting equipment, the accuracy of the optical instruments is very poor...... But so what? Scientists are more or less perfectionist, and OCD is for them......"

This is like the story often told by the prime minister, a group of people meet a tiger in the forest, and everyone runs, but one person does not run and tie his shoes first...... Haha, someone asked him why you were so stupid and didn't run away? The man smiled and said, no matter how fast I run, I can't outrun the tiger, I just need to run faster than you......"

Sun Chu couldn't see his eyes when he was smiling, "Yes, yes, yes! The pattern of that era was like that, a big tiger called the destruction of the nation jumped out of the darkness, and all the nations went crazy and fled forward......

"Of course, we all know that no person, an organization, or a country can eventually jump to the end of destruction, but no one wants to perish without resistance, so we have to race and run wildly, not seeking the first place or at least not running at the end!"

"When I first saw the Zhiyuan, when I heard that cannon fire west of the Marshall Islands, I knew ...... We have gotten rid of the position of the old man, and China's national fortunes have begun to fight back!"

No matter how these veterans recall the scene of that cannon, they can't fully describe the shock of that year, because it was the first shot fired by the Chinese to Europe.

The wind and rain are like a scoop, the lightning is like a swimming dragon, the thunder is like a tide, and the morale is full of Changhong!

The Zhiyuan tore through the camouflage, the twin heavy artillery was ready for battle, and the naked sailors in the boiler room shoveled large chunks of white coal into the hearth, and the raging flames released huge kinetic energy.

The pressure of the boiler was already dangerous, and the underwater propeller spun rapidly, pushing the Zhiyuan to crash through the waves at a speed of 13 knots.

4,000 ...... 3,000 ...... 3,500 meters...... The target is getting closer and closer, the artillery player Lin Zhen has locked on to the target, the launch tow rope is dragged in Xiang Ying's hand, the ears of the two have been stuffed with rubber earplugs, and the communication is all by sign language.

Xiang Ying stared at the little lamb in the distance, and prayed silently in his heart, "Prime Minister, bless me with the first hit...... This is the first shot of the Zhiyuan's actual combat, please be sure to bless me with the first hit......"

"Captain...... Enter the two-thousand-meter range...... It's ready to launch!" Lin Zhen roared wildly and made a sign language for launching, and Xiang Ying pulled the launch rope without saying a word.

Rumble...... A loud bang suppressed the thunder in the sky, and the 210-caliber high-explosive shells spun and flew out of their muzzles, lighting up an orange-red flower on the dark sea.

The blast wind from the propellant swept the bow of the ship, and the rain-proof tarpaulin was swept into the Atlantic Ocean by the blast wind, Xiang Ying and Lin Zhen felt the blast wind rush towards them with their big mouths, and even their internal organs felt the pressure.

The muzzle velocity of the 210 caliber gun had reached 600 meters per second, and it took only four seconds for that shell to explode in the airspace on the deck of the French Swift, and the Prussian-designed time-delay fuse was very reliable.

The French were crazy, the fireball on the deck directly blew off the mainmast, the fragments whizzed and cut the bodies of the sailors, the first mate standing next to the captain was cut off without saying a word, the captain was knocked down on the deck by the shock wave, and when he looked up, he found that the sky and the earth were bright red.

Blood oozed from his features, and he opened his mouth and roared "Fight back...... All fight back!" But the entire sailors on the Swift's deck were deaf and lay on the deck wailing.

The Parisian looked at the seriously injured Swift and was dumbfounded, and the captain looked at the battleship more than 2,000 meters away in front and screamed in horror, just like a little girl who met a hooligan.

"Oh God! can't ...... What kind of battleship is this, how can it fire at such a long distance, and how can it have such accuracy...... Why are the shells so powerful?"

"Is this something God has sent to punish us...... You see, his cannon can be rotated, and he can fire without adjusting the attitude of the hull...... Oh no, he's coming at us, run!"

Compared with the captain's timidity, the first mate was obviously braver, and the first mate from the navy roared on the deck, "God bless France! Where can we flee in the storm?" We dare not even raise the mainsail, the enemy has decided to kill us completely without declaring war, are we lambs to the slaughter?"

"French boys, fight back! turn and chop to meet you, we also have artillery ......"

It was not uncommon for merchant ships to be armed with two or three guns in those days, and the seas in the 19th century were far less peaceful than in later generations, not to mention pirates, and even warships of many countries would occasionally make cameos as black robbers.

The first mate aroused the whole fighting spirit of the Parisian, and the people looked at the timid captain with disdain, and the best gunners rushed to the bow of the ship and opened the bow of the black hole.

This is a naval standard 24-pounder smoothbore gun, with a caliber of 148 mm and an effective firing range of 1,000 meters, but in fact, the firing range of more than 800 meters is no longer accurate, and if you want to improve the accuracy, you have to shoot at close range, and less than 400 meters is the world of smoothbore guns.

"Rush up...... Gunners ready to fire...... Even if we die, we'll have to bite off a piece of their flesh!"

Note: The tactics of the Zhiyuan are the famous naval raids of later generations, the tactics of Germany, during World War II, there was a battleship called the Admiral Spee, a series of battles in the Atlantic Ocean can be called a classic, and the final death was also very tragic, and even Churchill expressed his admiration for this battleship.

Of course, our Zhiyuan will not end in tragedy, and we are also lone wolves in the Atlantic!