Little Pretorius glanced at Li Hongzhang, although it was the first time they met, but he had learned about this person in detail, the former governor of Anxi, now he is Yi Zhi's right-hand man, and he will definitely be an important minister of the Qing State in the future, he slowed down his tone and said: "Mr. Li's analysis is not unreasonable, with only the sixty or seventy thousand troops of the European coalition army, it is indeed not daring and unable to carry out a comprehensive occupation.

However, sir, I don't know that the four European countries are now recruiting a large number of mercenaries in Kimberley, Cape Town and other places, and you should know that the recruitment of mercenaries is just a cover-up, and the real purpose is to enter the war for Britain. In addition, the almost total annihilation of the German army will inevitably lead to a rapid increase in troops, and once the forces are sufficient, the European countries will inevitably carry out a total occupation. ”

Recruiting mercenaries? The Europeans really have a lot of tricks, Li Hongzhang said unhurriedly: "It is not the army that determines the victory of the war in South Africa, but the navy, the main fleet of our navy has arrived in Maputo, and tomorrow it will go south to Cape Town to carry out a naval blockade....... your country only needs to temporarily avoid the edge of the coalition forces, and when our reinforcements arrive, we will be able to sweep away the invading enemy." ”

In the first battle of the Mozambique Strait, the Qing Navy relied on the power of torpedoes to severely damage the British Navy, and the Qing sent the main fleet to say that the blockade of the South African sea was not a lie, but it did have this strength.

Little Pretorius groaned for a while, and then said: "Even if you can blockade the sea, it will take several months to achieve results, and you can't let the European coalition forces wreak havoc in our country. ”

Listening to the translation, Feng Zicai, who had not spoken, said slowly: "German-made artillery guns are different from those of my country, and the ammunition cannot be universally used, even if it is given to your country, it is useless." ”

Li Hongzhang said with a smile: "The main fleet is coming, and the supply fleet has brought a large number of weapons and ammunition, which can support your country, but Yuan Qi is currently under great pressure and cannot support ....... for free." ”

"Our country can buy it." Kruger said without hesitation: "What our country urgently needs now is heavy weapons, such as land artillery, mortars, light and heavy machine guns, and so on. ”

"Yes!" Li Hongzhang said heartily: "If your country can repel the invading enemy, our country will also save the labor expedition, weapons and ammunition, and our country should actively provide them." ”

Port of Durban.

The Port of Durban is not only a pleasant climate in all seasons, but also has charming beaches and bays in the shape of a half-moon, it is a very good harbor, after becoming a British colony in 1845, a large number of Indians migrated here to grow sugar cane, the sugar industry has developed rapidly, and with the extension of the railway to the interior, Durban's status has increased rapidly, and it has prospered rapidly.

The half-moon-shaped bay is densely packed with ships of all sizes and flags, and more than 20 ironclad warships are moored in an orderly manner in the northern part of the bay, and the flags of various colors fluttering high indicate that this is a combined fleet composed of France, Germany, Austria and Italy.

The 'Crouff', a large fast cruiser flying the rice flag, sailed into Durban Bay at high speed, and on the bridge, British Vice Admiral Hubb and Rear Admiral Arthur Hood leisurely held cigars and looked at the sea with emotion.

Eight years ago, the Battle of the Mozambique Channel was personally commanded and participated in by the two men, although the result was a crushing defeat for the British Navy, but the two were still defeated, Hubb's caution kept the British casualties to a minimum, and Hood, who was the captain of the Sovereign at the time, saved the fate of the sinking of the Sovereign.

Neither of them expected that eight years later, a large-scale naval battle would break out in the Mozambique Channel, but this time, Britain stayed out of the matter and became a spectator, not only their two admirals on the battleship, but also three rear admirals, and a group of generals rushed to Durban, the main task was to watch the battle and observe the combat power of the Qing ironclad ships.

In that war eight years ago, the Qing army relied on new weapons, torpedoes, to fight the dignified British Empire's Royal Navy without any power to fight back, which not only greatly hurt the British Empire's self-esteem, but also seriously threatened the British Empire's overseas colonies, and also prompted the empire to increase the construction and improvement of ironclad ships as never before, and spared no effort to develop new weapons.

Although it has not been possible to develop a torpedo with actual combat value, the speed and naval guns of ironclad ships have been greatly improved, and the speed has been increased from the previous speed of 12-14 knots to the current 19 or 20 knots, and the progress of naval guns has been greater, both in terms of range and rate of fire have been greatly improved, and naval warfare has completely gotten rid of the melee mode, and torpedoes with slow range and speed have become no threat in naval warfare.

However, the Qing State has continuously developed new weapons with actual combat value and great power, which is really terrifying, and England, which has suffered several losses, has become cautious, and even if it has the strength to confront, it still stays out of the matter to observe.

As soon as the 'Crouff' entered the harbor channel, a piercing siren sounded in the bay, and Heb was overjoyed, so coincidental? As soon as they arrived, the Qing fleet came? When he saw the smoke rising from the warships moored in the bay from the telescope, he couldn't help but secretly rejoice that he had come in time!

He was not at all surprised that the Qing naval fleet would take the initiative to attack, and the German, French, Austrian, and Italian coalition forces had even captured Johannesburg, so it was strange that the Qing army did not take the initiative to attack.

Thick smoke billowed and whistles sounded, and one after another ironclad ships sailed out of the bay in an orderly manner.

On the flagship of the coalition forces, the 'Sevanny', the commander of the coalition navy, Vice Admiral Marie Jules du Bethle, the commander of the coalition navy, was a little nervous and a little excited, and at the same time a little apprehensive.

Eight years ago, it was in the Mozambique Channel, the Qing army sank nine main ironclad ships in England with zero casualties, shocking the world, and no one dared to despise the Qing Navy since then.

In less than two hours, the Qing fleet appeared in Du Bailei's sight, more than forty large and small ironclad ships rolled in six columns, but there were only six large and large main battleships, which reassured him that although the Qing fleet was large, the main battleships were few, at least in terms of firepower, it was far from catching up with them.

When the two fleets were at a distance of five thousand meters, Du Bailei ordered the cannon, the torpedo is not only a lingering nightmare for the British, but also a lingering shadow for the admirals of various countries, the power of the torpedo is too amazing, once it is hit by a torpedo, it is basically impossible to escape the fate of sinking, God knows whether the torpedo of the Qing Kingdom has improved greatly in recent years, he has made up his mind, not to close combat with the other side, at least to maintain a distance of two thousand meters.

The Qing fleet was not in a hurry to return fire, but moved forward at full speed, it can be seen that the Qing fleet is trying to shorten the distance between the two fleets as much as possible, He Bu is very keenly aware that each small column of the Qing fleet has a small ironclad ship, this abnormal situation quickly attracted the attention of several other major generals watching the battle, "How did the Qing army send small gunboats to participate in the battle?" Is it the patrol gunboat of the Mozambique fleet of the Qing army? ”

"Impossible!" Hood denied without thinking, "The shipbuilding industry of the Qing Kingdom has developed rapidly in recent years, and its shipbuilding capacity is not weak, how can it be possible to send such a small gunboat of about 100 tons to participate in the war?" ”

"It's not a small gunboat." He Bu said in a deep voice: "It should be...... Torpedo boat! ”

The cannon roared on the sea, with the rapid shortening of the distance between the two fleets, the cannon sound became more and more intensive, the two fleets constantly changed their formations and moved to each other to shell, although the number of warships of the coalition fleet was small, but with dense firepower and high speed, it was on par with the Qing fleet.

The battle started only half an hour, the warships on both sides were frequently shot, the rumbling cannons, the huge explosion resounded across the sea, and on the deck of the 'Crouff' who was watching the battle, Rear Admiral Hood put down his binoculars, "In recent years, the ironclad ships of the Qing army have hardly improved, and the number of naval guns has not increased, however, the caliber of the naval guns has increased, and the main guns of the six main battleships are all 305 mm caliber. ”

Major General Ryder echoed: "Compared with the firepower of naval guns, the Qing warships have no advantage at present, and their speed is also greatly behind, and the only advantage is the torpedo ........ ”

"The naval artillery fire of the Qing army is not dense enough, but the artillery shells are powerful."

On the sea, several small ships that had been mixed in the fleet suddenly broke away from the fleet and rushed towards the opposite battleship at high speed in the face of artillery fire, and the speed was at least twenty-five or six knots.

The commander of the coalition forces, Du Bailei, had already faintly judged that the six small ships might be torpedo boats that specialized in firing torpedoes, after all, it was too abnormal for this kind of small ships to appear in a naval battle of this scale. ”

By this time, everyone knew that these small ships were torpedo boats, and the allied warships facing the torpedo boats hurriedly turned their guns and carried out intensive artillery bombardment, and the advantages of rapid-fire guns were brought into full play at this moment.

Only two torpedo boats managed to break through to a range of 1,500 meters and were quickly sunk one after another, and soon were shrouded in a mass of firelight, and then sank in a huge explosion, only two torpedo boats managed to break through the range of 1,000 meters, and were quickly sunk after firing four torpedoes in a row, however, the four torpedoes fired hit two battleships, and a main cruiser of tens of thousands of tons was unfortunately hit by two torpedoes, and then fell down in a huge explosion, and the hull was broken into two sections from the middle and sank into the sea.

Seeing this familiar scene again, He Bu spoke for a while: "With a small and a big one, this torpedo boat is worth it." ”

Rydell pursed his lips, it's not just worth it, it's just a million profits, six small boats of more than 100 tons, sinking a capital battleship of 10,000 tons and a medium ship of 4,000 tons, the gap between the two is really too great!

Hood said: "It seems that the torpedoes of the Qing army have not improved much, and the range and speed are no different from those of eight years ago. ”

"Whatever is there is a bottleneck!" Ryder said in a deep voice: "The Qing army has not made great progress in artillery, mortars, machine guns, rifles, torpedoes, etc. in recent years, and it should have hit a bottleneck. ”

"Makes sense." He Bu nodded, in the past ten years, the Qing army can be said to have ushered in a big explosion in the research and development of weapons, but it is impossible for weapons to make unlimited progress, whether it is artillery, machine guns, torpedoes, they should all develop to a bottleneck, and it is impossible to greatly increase the power in a short period of time.

Although two battleships were sunk by a few small torpedo boats, the commander of the coalition forces, Du Bailei, breathed a sigh of relief despite the pain, what he had been worried about was the other party's torpedo boats, and now it can be said that the threat is gone, and he immediately ordered the ships to shorten the distance and keep a distance of 2,000 meters for artillery battles!

The distance of 2,000 meters, not far or close, can not only guard against the enemy's torpedoes, but also give greater play to the power of the naval guns; in less than half an hour, the coalition fleet relied on the superiority of the ship's guns in firepower and speed, occupied the upper hand, and pressed the Qing fleet to fight.

On the flagship of the Qing army, "Jingyuan", Xiao Mingliang stood on the bridge with an expressionless face and inspected the situation on the battlefield, and the captain Hong Shengcai stepped forward and said: "The enemy ship has an advantage in firepower and speed, and if you hold on, I am afraid that there will be large casualties ......." ”

"This is a rare opportunity for actual combat training." Xiao Mingliang said in a deep voice: "Fight, keep fighting!" ”

"Yes." Hong Shengcai said loudly.

"Bang" A huge explosion sounded on the deck, and then a huge ball of fire and gunpowder smoke was raised, and the huge shock wave rushed the officers and soldiers on the deck out of the distance, Xiao Mingliang saw this scene clearly from the telescope, and couldn't help biting his lip, the power of the 305 mm caliber naval gun is really amazing.

Although this battle is to be feint defeat, but the feint is also to be defeated, and you can't just deal with it, after all, this fleet dispatch is vigorous and powerful, just so easy to withdraw, doesn't it make people suspicious?

He knows very well that this naval battle is very important, and he must pay a certain number of casualties in order to defeat the truth, saying that it is a feint, but in fact it is also a bitter plan, according to the words of the principal, he is reluctant to have children, and he can't trap wolves!

The fierce battle at sea lasted for more than four hours, although the coalition fleet had achieved a lot of advantages, but Du Bailei had a feeling of wanting to vomit blood, this fierce artillery battle, the casualties on both sides were not small, there were four or five warships on both sides that were heavily damaged and withdrew from the battle, but the Qing fleet did not retreat to the death, and they did not retreat, after all, the Qing warships were equipped with torpedoes, and once they retreated, the supply fleet in Durban Bay would be devastated.

Just when Du Bailei felt that it was difficult to hold on, the Qing fleet finally began to slowly withdraw from the battlefield, and he did not order the pursuit, the Qing warships had torpedoes, and they couldn't please even if they caught up, besides, the ships of the coalition fleet were already exhausted after such a long period of fierce fighting.

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