It will take at least about three years to complete the run-in of a large battleship like the "King Kong" battlecruiser, and it can be said that it is a very big risk to send the "King Kong" to fight in China before its combat strength has been fully formed.

However, despite the opposition of the technical officers, the political axe and the military top brass drove the giant ship to Qingdao to participate in the battle.

The intention of the military top brass is very clear, such a giant ship representing the military strength and industrial achievements of the country (in fact, the "King Kong" was built in Britain), appeared on the battlefield in China and dealt a fierce blow to the squadron, which can not only show the powerful force of the empire to all countries in the world, but also greatly improve the morale of the people in the country who have fallen sharply due to the naval battle of Caofeidian and the loss of Qingdao.

In their view, it is undoubtedly inappropriate for the current "King Kong" to participate in the decisive battle of the fleet, but the problem is that in the face of the weak Chinese Navy, the "King Kong" has no chance of a decisive battle of the fleet at all, and the main task of the "King Kong" in Qingdao to participate in the war this time is to shell the positions of the [***] team and cover the landing of the army. I'm still quite confident.

Although the top brass of the military was full of confidence in the "King Kong," at this time, Matsuoka Shuzo Daisa, like many officers, was worried about the safety of the "King Kong."

In order to prevent the people's will to fight waver due to the defeat in the war, the government strictly blocked the news of the defeat in the Caofeidian Sea, but there was no impermeable wall, and many officers of the navy still knew the news, and many officers were shocked that the navy had lost four battleships at once in this battle. Due to the official blockade, the captains of the capital ships such as Shuzo Matsuoka did not know the details of the naval battle, so they did not know how to take precautions. This time, Shuzo Matsuoka led the "King Kong" to Qingdao to support the battle, and he felt quite trembling as if he were walking on thin ice.

The scene that Matsuoka Shuzo had just seen just now confirmed his concern about the combat capability of the "Kongo" sailors.

At this moment, a cannonball came from nowhere, and it hit the forward deck where the midshipman was located, and a red light flashed, and the figures of the midshipman and the sailor, who had been frightened, were suddenly drowned in the flames.

Matsuoka Shuzo looked at the fire that bloomed there in surprise, he noticed that this cannon seemed to be a little different from the shells fired by the Chinese artillery just now, and soon, the cannon dispersed, and Matsuoka Shuzo saw that the trainee officer and the sailor who was still crying just now were silent, both of their legs were blown off to the knees, and the sword in the trainee officer's hand was also broken so that only the hilt remained, and not far from the two of them, there were twisted steel plates and blackened corpses, and the sea water that had turned red.

A bad feeling rose in Matsuoka's heart, and he raised his binoculars again to carefully observe the position of the squadron that was being attacked by heavy artillery fire from the ship.

He vaguely felt that there was probably a hidden gun emplacement for the [***] team on the shore, and it was a very powerful artillery.

Just when Matsuoka Shuzo was worried about his suspicions, bursts of thunderous cannons suddenly sounded on the shore!

Looking through the binoculars, in the smoke of gunpowder, many places on the shore were flashing with cannon flames.

A piercing whistling sound came from the sky, as if it was raining steel bullets, and the "King Kong" was instantly enveloped in flames, and there were violent explosions everywhere.

A shell hit the second main turret of the "Kongo", and the heat wave of the violent explosion rushed to the bridge with shrapnel, and Matsuoka Shuzo felt as if he had been hit by a huge fist, and fell backwards, the back of his head hit the armor plate hard.

Matsuoka's eyes were full of Venus, and the scene in front of him began to blur, his ears let out a screech, and the sounds around him became indistinct.

Matsuoka Shuzo tried hard to stand up, but his body didn't obey the call at all, and one of his subordinates ran over when he saw this, and while helping him up hard, he couldn't stop saying something to him anxiously.

Matsuoka Shuzo was supported by his subordinates before he stood up straight, he looked at the vague faces of his subordinates a little blankly, and his subordinates reported something to him loudly, but he couldn't hear any sound at all.

It took a while for Matsuoka's eyes to barely return to normal, and he stared blankly at the sea in the distance, and what he saw was a hellish scene.

In the sudden stormy shelling of the Chinese just now, many ships were hit, and the slightly larger warships were all on fire, although the damage was very serious, but it was not fatal, and some destroyers and gunboats that served as direct guards for large ships were much worse, many ships and auxiliary ships exploded and sank immediately after being hit, and the surrounding ships did not even have time to rescue!

Looking at a destroyer that was broken in two not far away and still burning and not sinking, Matsuoka Shuzo could hardly believe his eyes.

"It doesn't matter to you! Sir! ”

Matsuoka's ears finally ended his deafness, and he heard the shouts of his subordinates and nodded, indicating that he was fine.

"This is a shell fired from a large-caliber artillery!" A staff officer loudly reported to the fleet commander, Vice Admiral Yamaya, "There are hidden positions of Chinese artillery here!" ”

As soon as the staff officer finished speaking, a violent explosion was heard in the queue behind the "King Kong," followed by a black cloud of smoke rising into the air.

"It's the 'Akitsuzu'! Sir! One of the officers reported at the top of his voice, "It was hit and exploded!" ”

"How!" The lieutenant general of the mountain house shouted angrily, "You really shouldn't have brought these old ships here!" ”

"The Chinese have laid out a lot of concealed heavy artillery here, sir." One of the staff officers said, "The caliber of these guns should be more than ten inches." ”

Shuzo Matsuoka tried to calm his head, and he held his binoculars and looked to the shore, where the muzzle flame of Chinese artillery could be seen everywhere in the smoke of gunpowder.

"Destroy them now!" The lieutenant general of the mountain house shouted angrily.

"Nope! Checkmate! Remembering the reports about the "Chinese rocket", Matsuoka Shuzo said to the others in Yamaya, "We are now a live target!" Should retreat immediately! ”

"The Army has landed! Do you want them to call us cowards? The others yelled at Shuzo Matsuoka.

"But our fleet is dangerous now!" Shuzo Matsuoka pointed to the flames on the shore and said, "If we continue to fight like this, the large warships may be able to support for a while longer, and the other warships will not be able to stop such an attack at all!" ”

"Then let all the boats come back!" The other person in the mountain house roared, a pair of old eyes stared at the cow, as if he wanted to eat people, Matsuoka Shuzo sighed helplessly, and did not speak.

"Hit another one!"

Xu Yuanjin held the binoculars and watched a cruiser on fire slowly capsize on the sea in the sound of explosions after being shot several times one after another, and couldn't help but shout excitedly.

"That's the Chiyoda." Yang Shuoming said, "Just like the 'Qiujinzhou' that was just sunk, they are all old ships that we have fought with in the first five years," he looked at the "Chiyoda" with only the bottom of the ship still exposed on the sea, and sneered, "It should have sunk a long time ago." ”

Listening to Yang Shuoming's words, Xu Yuanjin and several officers around him all widened their eyes in surprise, probably not understanding that he could see so clearly without a telescope.

"It's still this eighteen mm cannon!" One officer said, "This time we've won!" ”

"All their small warships have been withdrawn, and the large warships have come up." An observer said.

"Don't be afraid! We have a lot of guns, and the fortifications are strong, they can't beat ours! Another officer said confidently, "Don't forget we have rocket launchers!" ”

Yang Shuoming nodded, of course he understood why this officer was so sure.

Before the arrival of the reinforcement fleet, Yang Shuoming organized the Qingdao military and civilians to repair and strengthen the original German coastal defense batteries, and set up many new solid concealed gun emplacements, which were densely packed and equipped with 180 mm howitzers ordered by Yang Shuoming from the United States, so that the defensive strength of Qingdao's coastal defense batteries was greatly improved. In order to deal with the possible attack of the Japanese fleet, Yang Shuoming prepared a thorough plan to meet the enemy in advance, surveyed and mapped the sea area where the ship might stay, and directly made the survey and mapping maps and data into charts and sent them to the various concealed artillery groups.

At the very beginning of the artillery battle, the concealed artillery groups of the 180-mm howitzers did not immediately open fire, but the 280-mm coastal defense guns were the first to meet them.

In this era, no matter how powerful the naval artillery is, it can't beat the shore defense artillery, this is an iron rule, both in caliber and range. In addition to not being able to move, the shore defense artillery basically had the upper hand when firing at a fleet of almost equal firepower.

Sure enough, as the officer had said, although the large ships of the fleet continued to fire at close range in spite of the heavy fire of the Chinese artillery, they soon paid the price for this action.

Seeing that the fleet continued to approach and the artillery fire became more and more intense, the Chinese concealed artillery group on the shore responded with a dense salvo, and soon the "King Kong" was hit by four 180-mm shells one after another, and the gunnery chief and several survey officers were killed, and even the commander, Lieutenant General Yamaya, was wounded. The battleship "Zhoufang" was hit by three shells, the navigator was seriously wounded, the two main turrets were damaged, and the cruiser "Chitose" was hit by the ammunition depot and turned into a raging wreck in a series of explosions. The top of the main mast of the armored cruiser "Iwate" was broken, two main turrets were destroyed, and the officers and men on board were killed and wounded, and they withdrew from the array in disarray.

Except for the "King Kong," which was slightly damaged, the damage to the other warships was getting worse and heavier, and the others in Yamaya realized that the fleet could no longer hold on, so they had to order the fleet to retreat and sail out of the range of the Chinese coastal defense guns.

"The Wokou has run away!" Someone shouted excitedly.

After the two sides disengaged, the sound of artillery gradually fell silent, and the large-caliber heavy artillery on the Chinese batteries stopped firing one after another, but some small and medium-caliber artillery still rang non-stop.

Yang Shuoming knew that this was the squadron using these artillery pieces to block the Japanese army that had already landed and tried to seize the fort.

"Let's go! Check it out! Yang Shuoming said to Xu Yuanjin.

"Didn't you send all your 'Guardsmen' to them? Still not sure? Xu Yuanjin looked at Yang Shuoming and asked with some puzzlement.

"It's not." Yang Shuoming shook his head with a smile.

"Aren't you itching again and want to go into battle yourself?" Xu Yuanjin seemed to understand something, and then asked.

"Even if it's it." Yang Shuoming smiled and took his "fifty box cannons" and replied, "The main thing is to see my death." ”

"Those bastards in the Navy have retreated! We have lost the cover of artillery fire! ”

Behind a mountain bag at the foot of the mountain, an officer said to Nomura Yoshitake Daisa, who was in charge of commanding the landing force, with tears in his voice.

"It doesn't matter if we don't have artillery cover, we're so close to them now that their artillery can't hit us." Nomura Yoshitake said calmly.

At this moment, the Chinese artillery in the distance opened fire again, and Nomura Yoshitake judged from the sound of the cannon that it was the sound of a German-made 88-mm gun.

Shells continued to fly from a distance, exploding nearby, and apparently the Chinese gunners had also spotted the Yue army in front of them, and although the Yue army had entered the dead end of their shooting, they still fired as many shells as they could.

And in order to enter this attack position, the army has left thousands of corpses on the beach.

Nomura Yoshitake Osa is a more experienced officer in the army, he participated in the operation of seizing the German battery when the army attacked the German army in Qingdao, because he had such an experience, therefore, after the reinforcements arrived, Nomura Yoshitake once again began the battle he had already fought once.

At this time, the machine guns arranged in front of the fort by the squadron also rang out, but because the army was at the dead end of its shooting, although the artillery fire of the squadron was very fierce, it did not cause much damage to the army.

"Forward!" Nomura Yoshitake looked at the stream of fire that hit the back of the Yue army, looked back at the fort that had been hit by the gunfire of the Yue ship, gritted his teeth, pulled out the command knife on his waist, and shouted loudly.

"Onboard!" The soldiers let out a strange cry and rushed in the direction of the battery.

At this time, there was a completely deathly silence on the Chinese battery, and there was no sound, and Nomura knew that it was probably because the heavy shelling of the ships just now had killed all the defenders here, so this was the case.

But the facts quickly proved to Nomura Yoshitake that his judgment was completely wrong.

Just as the wave of attack of the Yue army poured into the fort, the fort suddenly rang out with a strange burst of continuous gunfire that he had never heard before!

Countless bullets and fires swept over in an instant, as if hundreds of Makqin heavy machine guns were firing at them, and at this time, Nomura Yoshitake's brain went blank for a moment, and his heart was completely surrounded by fear and confusion.

The officers and soldiers who rushed to the fort were instantly swept down like a straw, and Nomura saw that the figures of Chinese soldiers wearing gray-blue military uniforms suddenly appeared in the fort. Unlike the Chinese soldiers in gray cloth uniforms with rifles in their hands, these soldiers were holding a gun that he had never seen before!

Although there were only a few hundred people on the other side, and their queue was also very loose, each of them was almost more than ten meters away, but the weapons in their hands rained down an extremely terrifying and deadly rain of bullets in an instant, as if thousands of rifles were firing at the same time.

The soldiers who rushed to the front were all shot to the ground in a short time, and despite the terrible blow, the soldiers did not stop, and continued to shout, "Load! Rushing forward, many people rushed to a distance of less than two meters from the Chinese soldiers, and they were all knocked to the ground one by one by the Chinese soldiers like rabbits.

At this time, some Chinese soldiers seemed to have run out of bullets with their guns, and they skillfully removed the magazines, took out new ones, and loaded them, while some people pulled out small cylinder-like things with wooden handles from their waists and threw them into the ranks of the Japanese army.

With a violent explosion, the blood and flesh in the army team flew for a while, and the ghosts cried and howled. Probably thinking that they had been shelled again, the morale of the Yue army finally collapsed, and they began to retreat one after another, refusing to come forward and die no matter how the officers shouted and scolded.

Seeing a member of the corpse standing among the dead bodies holding an Oriental sword standing there as if he was stupid, Yang Shuoming raised the "fifty box cannon" in his hand with some amusement, pulled the plate machine, and several bullets were fired continuously, and the officer immediately spewed out a large cloud of blood mist on his body, and fell to the ground like a leaky pot that spurted blood.

Yang Shuoming got up and followed behind the soldiers who were advancing in a fan-shaped formation with several guards, and he saw several soldiers behind the palace holding a gun in one hand and a three-edged military thorn shining with cold light in the other, and from time to time stabbed to death the wounded soldiers lying on the ground.

(To be continued)