“…… Holding a spear and looking at the bright moon, when will it shine on the bones? Follow the white bird to the sky, leaving empty bones in the world. ”

In the Choshu Domain, which was behind the Japanese Shogunate Navy, countless Japanese soldiers of the Choshu Domain sang fencing and chanting songs in praise of the samurai's spirit of sacrificing their lives. The singing was generous and the tune was passionate, as if it was a kind of blood-boiling magic, which led many sailors on the ships of the Japanese Navy to sing loudly and involuntarily join in the chorus, and the morale of the military was greatly boosted.

Even the current flagship of the Japanese Navy, the Chaoyang Maru, is the same, but listening to such a song, the Japanese Admiral and the warship of the Japanese shogunate standing on the bridge did not have any look of approval on his face, and he was not complacent at all because of the high morale of the Japanese Navy and Army, on the contrary, Katsu Haizhou suddenly sighed and said with great regret: "Helpless, the same Asian country, why do you have to meet each other and fight this battle that should not be fought?" ”

Katsu Haizhou, who commanded the Japanese Navy, really did not want to fight, because unlike most Japanese soldiers who only knew how to blindly xenophobia and bullying the weak and fearing the hard, Katsu Haizhou was a very rare pro-China faction in the army, and he had some naïve dreams of joining hands with China to contend with the white Europeans and Americans, and he also repeatedly opposed the Japanese shogunate's acceptance of the Satsuma Domain's request for help, and advocated resolving the Satsuma Domain and the Ryukyu issue through peaceful negotiations, so as to avoid the further expansion of the Sino-Japanese War, which was still in a small state.

However, it is a pity that the current political position of Katsukaishu in the Japanese shogunate is not enough, and it has not reached the height in history when Edo was bloodlessly opened, and it has not been able to persuade the current shogun Tokugawa Ieshige to change his decision to reinforce the Satsuma Domain.

Even so, deep down, Sheng Haizhou is still reluctant to fight this battle, and still hopes that the dispute can be resolved through negotiation. Therefore, Sheng Haizhou also made up his mind early on, determined to just let the Japanese navy play a diversion role in this war, so that Wu's fleet would not dare to land and fight, and then hope that the land division could stabilize the situation, so as to hope to force Wu's army to the negotiating table and sit down for peace talks.

When the sun set and the sky was completely dark, the commander of the Chōshū Domain's army, Katsura Kogoro's confidant, suddenly came to the Japanese flagship on a clipper, and on behalf of Katsura Kogoro, he made a request to Katsu Kaishu: "Your Excellency, Your Excellency Kogoro, the deacon of our domain, has entrusted me to inform you, and he has decided to let our troop convoy march overnight, without any stop at night, and strive to land on the Eguchi shore before sunrise tomorrow, please be sure to lead the navy to help us complete this operation." ”

"Why be in such a hurry?" Katsumi Haizhou casually asked, "The Satsuma clan hopes that we will land on the Eguchihama within tomorrow, and there is still plenty of time, why do we have to rush to the Ekoubin before sunrise tomorrow?" ”

"His Excellency Kogoro thinks it is necessary to speed up the action." Yama Prefecture Youpeng Zhenzhen said: "Presumably Your Excellency still remembers the content of the latest urgent letter from the Satsuma Domain, the night before yesterday, the Qing people shamelessly attacked their home camp Senyan Temple, many Yamato warriors of the Satsuma Domain were brutally slaughtered by the Qing people, and the Thousand Eyes Temple was also captured by the Qing people, His Excellency Shimazu Tadayoshi, the lord of the Satsuma Domain, and His Excellency Shimazu Hisamitsu, the father of the country, were forced to transfer the main camp to Ishiki Besin Temple, and the situation was very critical. ”

"If the Qing people are allowed to capture the geographically important Ishiki Palace, then the army of our Choshu Domain will be tactically disadvantaged, and the initiative on the battlefield will also belong to the Qing people. Therefore, Kogoro-kun hopes that we can speed up our efforts and try to land on Eguchihama by sunrise tomorrow, so that if it goes well, our army will be able to reach Ise Besin tomorrow evening and help the princes of the Satsuma clan to resist the Qing people. ”

The opinion of Gui Xiaogoro, who was conveyed by a friend in Yama County, was quite reasonable, and Sheng Haizhou could not refute it, plus he was very familiar with the oceanic waters in this area, so Sheng Haizhou did not object, and nodded in agreement. Shan County has friends who are happy, and hurriedly said goodbye and left, but looking at the back of Shan County friends leaving in a hurry, Sheng Haizhou couldn't help muttering again, and said: "Help you fight for reinforcements in Ishiki Courtyard before sunset tomorrow, I can help you, but don't let me down, don't wait to fight with the Qing people as soon as you arrive at the battlefield, it's good to win, if you lose, this battle will be difficult to end." ”

The matter is not over, after it was dark, after arranging the affairs of the overnight march, Katsu Haizhou was about to go to bed and rest, but the flagship soldier brought a Japanese soldier who claimed to be the envoy of the Satsuma Domain, and also presented a copy of the latest urgent letter of the Satsuma Domain to Katsumi Kaishu, Katsumi Zhou didn't pay much attention to it at first, and just took the urgent mail and asked the envoy of the Satsuma Domain: "What's going on again?" ”

"Your Excellency, at about four o'clock yesterday afternoon, our ninja found that eight steam gunboats and two sailboats of the Qing people suddenly lifted anchor and left the temporary anchorage and drove south." The envoy of the Satsuma Domain replied truthfully: "Our Satsuma Domain's father is worried that the fleet of the Qing people will pose a threat to you because you leave Kagoshima Bay, so he specially sent a villain to deliver a letter and ask His Excellency the Deacon to prepare for precautions. ”

After listening to the report, Katsu Haizhou's face couldn't help but change slightly, and he quickly opened Shimazu Hisamitsu's letter and read it carefully, seeing that the situation was the same as that introduced by the envoy of the Satsuma Domain, and probably calculated the time, Katsu Haizhou was inevitably even more worried, and hurriedly shouted: "Quick, please ask His Excellency Gui Kogoro of the Choshu Domain to come and meet with me, and say that there is important military information." ”

More than half an hour later, Katsura Kogoro, a well-known representative of the Japanese radical faction, was invited to the Chaoyang Maru, and Katsu Kaishu first showed Katsura Kogoro the latest urgent mail received from the Satsuma Domain, and at the same time raised concerns that the main combat force of the Wu fleet, which had suddenly disappeared, was preparing to bypass the southern Kyushu Peninsula and rush to the Eguchi Coast, killing the Japanese Navy and the Choshu Domain's troop transport fleet by surprise. However, to Shenghaizhou's surprise, the radical and belligerent Gui Xiaogoro not only completely disagreed with his worries, but also said in a big way: "Shengjun, you are too cowardly, not to mention that there is no report to prove that the fleet of the Qing people is coming towards the river estuary, even if the Qing people really come, isn't there still your navy?" ”

"But my steam gunboats are not as many as the Qing people, and I dare not guarantee that I will be able to stop the Qing people's fleet." Sheng Haizhou warned: "At that time, as long as one or two Qing gunboats rush into your troop convoy, your convoy will be miserable." ”

"We can land immediately." Katsura Kogoro replied lightly, and then said: "Besides, the most important thing is that there is no evidence that the fleet of the Qing people is coming towards the shore of the river mouth, maybe the fleet of the Qing people is going to another place, such as Osumi, attacking Osumi to grab military rations and war materials. ”

"But we also have no evidence that the Qing people's fleet went to attack Osumi." Sheng Haizhou was still worried, and warned again: "Gui Jun, this matter is not a joke, your troop transport fleet is really too fragile. ”

"What then?" Katsura Kogoro spread his hands and asked, "We can't turn around and return to Nagasaki or Yokohama right now because we are afraid of the threat of the Qing fleet, right?" If we had done this, and the Qing fleet had not appeared on the Eguchiban, wouldn't we have been ridiculed by the samurai of all Japan? ”

Sheng Haizhou frowned, and then remembered that the self-army really couldn't turn around and return because of an unverifiable danger, but fortunately, after a little calculation, Sheng Haizhou came up with an idea and said: "In this way, I will go first with five steam gunboats, and the rest of the sailboats will act with you, keep a distance from me and then act, if I encounter danger, I will send a signal to warn you, you will immediately turn around or dock, and at the same time, I can fight, and if I can't fight, I will retreat quickly, which is very safe for you and you." ”

After all, Katsu Haizhou's suggestion was for the sake of the army of the Choshu Domain, so Katsura accepted Katsu Haizhou's kindness after a little calculation, and agreed to keep a distance of ten miles from each other's front team to march together, and when in case of danger, he used the sound of cannons and clippers to warn him, and then Katsura Kogoro's fleet immediately docked to avoid danger, and Katsu Haizhou and Wu Jun's fleet maneuvered and struggled, buying time for Katsura Kogoro, and then leading the army to retreat when the situation was wrong. In addition, Katsura Kogoro also reluctantly accepted Katsukaishu's request, and decided to slow down the speed together, no longer insisting on rushing to the Eguchi shore before sunrise the next day to land.

According to the agreement, the combined fleet of the Japanese army quickly distanced themselves from each other, but for the whole night of the following year, Katsukaishu did not sleep for a moment, and prayed more than once that Anews blessed the Wu fleet not to come to the shore of the river mouth, and it was better to go to other places to grab food and supplies as Katsura Kogoro guessed. Fortunately, however, the Japanese fleet did not encounter any danger or any suspicious ships for the whole night, and slowly moved south in a vigilant formation, and when it was about to ten o'clock in the morning of the next day, the five Japanese steam gunboats led by Katsu Haizhou successfully arrived near the river mouth.

The coastal surface of the river estuary was empty, only some fishing boats were fishing in the offshore area, and the reassuring Sheng Haizhou sent people to contact these fishing boats and the Jiangkou Shore Wharf, and after learning that no other steam boiler sounds were heard, Sheng Haizhou also put his mind at ease, and quickly ordered the fleet to line up on the sea south of the Jiangkou Shore Wharf, preparing to cover the landing of the troop carriers, and then about an hour later, the troop transport fleet led by Katsura Kogoro rushed to the Jiangkou Coastal in the changing sea breeze.

"Luckily, what I feared most didn't happen."

"Eight Tooth Road! Sheng Haizhou, this coward, wasted my precious time in vain! ”

In this regard, Katsu Haizhou, who was cautious by nature, breathed a sigh of relief, but Katsura Kogoro scolded loudly, resenting Katsu Haizhou's nervousness and wasting his time to land and march, and it was basically difficult to rush to Ishiki Beshin today. However, just when the Japanese commanders of the sea and land were thinking differently, a Japanese fishing boat far away in the west suddenly rose a fire point and flew into the air and exploded, blooming a huge beautiful spark. How does that fishing boat seem to be sending a signal? ”

At the same time, Gui Xiaogoro also discovered the spark in the sky under the reminder of his subordinates, and as a result, radical turned into radical, arrogant to arrogant, Gui Xiaogoro's reaction was still very fast, and he hurriedly shouted: "Quick, give the order to the whole army, immediately dock!" The situation is strange, immediately dock! ”

After seeing the signal, relying on the help of British technical soldiers to march with sail power, he ambushed the Wu army fleet far west of the river mouth at night, and immediately set sail with the whole army, the boilers of the steam gunboats were fully opened, and all the sail battleships were sailed, and they tried to kill the river mouth at full speed with the changing wind direction and steam power. When the Wu fleet rushed to the predetermined battlefield, the five steam gunboats of the Japanese Navy had just moved to the west of the estuary to line up their positions, and less than one percent of the Japanese troop transport fleet and the Japanese baggage fleet led by Katsura Kogoro landed on the shore and began to land.

"Playing the flag, according to the original plan. The steam gunboats were responsible for dealing with the steam ships of the Japanese invaders, and the sailing ships were responsible for dealing with the troop carriers of the Japanese invaders, and they were beaten fiercely, without saving any face for the Japanese invaders. ”

After the flagship Zeng Guofan raised the flag of the general attack, the Wu fleet, consisting of eight steam gunboats, two sail battleships, and more than a dozen armed sea ships, charged at full speed and pounced on the Japanese troop convoy like a hungry wolf. Sheng Haizhou hurriedly commanded the fleet to meet the battle, and preemptively bombarded the Wu army fleet with large-caliber bow guns, and as a result, relying on strict training and the natural familiarity of the island soldiers with the sea, one of the five shells really hit a steam cannon ship of the Wu army, but when the Wu army fleet fired back, relying on the same strict training and the accumulation of many years of actual combat experience, the Wu army also had two shells hit the target, one of which also happened to hit the building of the Japanese steam gunboat Hamin Maru, causing huge casualties to the Japanese army.

The speed of the steam gunboats was extremely fast, and the Wu army steam gunboats had just fired three rounds of shells from each other, and the Wu army steam gunboats had already rushed to the vicinity of the Japanese steam gunboats, and Shenghaizhou, who did not know the gunpower of the Wu army's side guns, in order to give full play to the power of the large-caliber bow and stern guns at a distance from the distance, and also in order to seize the upper hand and avoid fighting with the Wu army's steam gunboats, which was superior in numbers, decisively ordered all the Japanese steam gunboats to speed up, in a vain attempt to pass by the Wu army's fleet and rush into the vast sea.

Sheng Haizhou quickly regretted his decision, the reason is, of course, that the most powerful steam gunboat of the Wu Army was not the bow gun that fired solid shells, but the small-caliber gunwales that were all equipped with breezed guns and specialized in picric acid shells! - Here we must curse the British technical blockade of the breech-loading guns, otherwise the Wu army's gunwales will only be more powerful.

The flotilla passed by, and the rear-loading rifled guns of the Wu army, which had been prepared, opened fire one after another, bombarding the bitter acid shells at the enemy ships at a distance of less than 200 meters, and as a result, when the picric acid shells of only three pounds of caliber hit the enemy ships, the Japanese army did not think about it at first, thinking that at most it was some damage to the side of the ship, but when they saw that the Wu army's shells hit the self-ship and could not only explode, but also burst out with flames that could not be extinguished, the Japanese troops quickly cried wolf, "Blossom shells!" The Qing people used flowering bullets! Amaterasu, our ship is on fire! ”

The rumbling and rumbling cannons were incessant, and at the very close range, at the risk of accidentally injuring the warships of the Japanese army, the rear-loading rifled guns of the Wu army roared one after another, bombarding a picric acid cannonball at the enemy ship, no matter where it hit the enemy ship, it would explode and catch fire, and the five Japanese steam gunboats raised their heads one after another, spewing blue-yellow poisonous smoke, and the Japanese sailors ran and shouted in the flames and smoke, panicking like lost dogs. In the end, only one of them passed by, and two of the five Japanese steam gunboats were not lightly injured, and one side of the paddle wheel of one steam gunboat was blown up by Wu Jun's artillery fire, and the engine power was greatly reduced, and the remaining two ships were also in flames, which could not be extinguished.

Of course, in the close-range onshore artillery battle, the Wu army also suffered some losses, the paddle wheel of one steam gunboat was damaged, the mobility was reduced, and the side of four ships was pierced by Japanese shells, including the flagship Zeng Guofan. Fortunately, these injuries are within the controllable range, and at the same time, the Wu army's steam gunboats still have a numerical advantage, and they still firmly occupy the upper hand in naval battles.

At the same time, the two Wu Army's third-class sail battleships, which were like mobile batteries at sea, also rushed into the battlefield and began to pour artillery fire frantically into the Japanese troop transport fleet, and the Japanese army except for a few armed sea ships that could barely open fire to meet the battle, the rest of the troop carriers and baggage ships had no power to fight back, and could only watch the Wu army's shells bombard the self-ship, wounding and sinking the self-ship, and in less than ten minutes of fighting, two Japanese troop carriers full of warriors of the Choshu Domain gradually poured out in a scream, and the Japanese soldiers jumped into the water and fled for their lives. Rise and fall on the surface of the sea, crying for help.

By the way, in order to increase the effect of killing the enemy, the Wu army's steam gunboats also used more and more chicken-like Congreve rockets in naval battles, and as a result, this kind of rocket on the verge of elimination was not small in the slaughter, and a random enemy ship could cause serious damage to the enemy, which not only directly killed many enemies on the deck, but also ignited the sails with it, weakening the maneuverability of the enemy ship, causing countless Japanese Choshu Domain warriors to die directly in the sea before they could land on land, and the Japanese soldiers either shouted in panic or roared angrily, but no one can do anything about the Wu army's sail battleships with terrifying firepower.

The slaughter continued, and the armed naval vessels of the Wu Army, which followed the operation of the sail battleships, were responsible for protecting the nearside of the battleships, using cannonballs and bullets and grenades to meet the Japanese sail warships that rushed for their lives, the deck gangway was shattered, the Japanese soldiers were trembling in the artillery fire, and there were countless people who were too timid to take the initiative to jump into the water to escape, and there was no longer the chic and impassioned that they had been singing in unison before.

Seeing this scene, the Japanese naval commander Katsu Haizhou could only completely die of the mind of covering the landing of the troop transport fleet, and could only pray for the blessing of Amaterasu to save hundreds or thousands of Japanese army warriors, and on the other hand, he took five steam gunboats to try to distance himself from the Wu army's steam gunboats, so that he could escape for his life when the war was unfavorable, in a vain attempt to keep as much as possible the four steam gunboats that Japan bought at a high price and one steam gunboat that the Americans kindly gave to the Japanese shogunate.

But it's a pity that the Wu fleet attaches more importance to the Japanese steam fleet than to the Japanese troop transport fleet, after Wang Fu gave the order, the flag was played, and the eight Wu army steam gunboats slowly turned around, trying to chase the Japanese steam fleet that was desperately pulling away from the distance, and put on a posture of never giving up until all the Japanese steam gunboats were killed, forcing Shenghaizhou to think about such a possibility in advance - when he couldn't bear it, could he take the initiative to surrender with a white flag and keep the precious steam gunboats first, And then find a way to get these steam gunboats back at the negotiating table?

Katsu Haizhou's decision also led to another consequence, that is, after seeing his fleet abandon melee cover and gradually move away from the battlefield, the warriors of the Choshu Domain of the Japanese army led by Katsura Kogoro scolded one after another, greeting his parents and ancestors for eighteen generations. Shameful coward! Victory sea boat red deer! Navy red deer! Japan's navy is all red deer! ”