Hearing Lin Yizhe's words, Bei Jinquan, Deng Shichang and others all showed indignation on their faces. Pen @ fun @ pavilion wWw. ｂｉｑUｇE。 ｉｎｆｏ

"The silver of the northwest bandits, give the shipmaster a fraction, and it is enough to build a few more big ships!" Deng Shichang's temperament was straightforward, and he directly expressed his dissatisfaction, "Although the use of troops in the northwest is important, it cannot abolish the southeast coastal defense!" The bandits in Xinjiang are a rabble, and in China they are a disease of mustard moss, and the imperial court can use a little army to calm it down; Japan, on the other hand, is a problem in China's heart, and it is self-evident which is more important than the other, how can it be so reversed! Do you have to wait until you keep the northwest but lose the southeast before you are willing to do it? ”

"What Zhengqing said is exactly!" Ye Fu sighed, "The money for the soldiers in the northwest is actually a confused account, and I don't know where it was spent." But shipbuilding does not give silver......"

For Lin Yizhe, Shen Baozhen and others for the hard work of the shipmaster, they couldn't be clearer.

And for Zuo Zongtang stopping the ship in the name of the Western Expedition, they were also slandered.

"Everyone, be careful." Pei Jinquan was worried that everyone's whining words would get out and cause trouble for Lin Yizhe, so he glanced at Lin Yizhe and hurriedly said, "The plan of the imperial court, it's better for me to talk less, let's fight the battle in front of us first!" ”

The ship's management bands were silent, and the air in the officer's cafeteria became a little dull for a while.

"Let's go back, everybody! Stay for a while to look at the flagship flag, line up horizontally, and search forward. Lin Yizhe got up and said.

The ship's management belts got up in unison, solemnly received the order, and then left in turn.

Lin Yizhe followed Pei Jinquan to the flybridge of the "Fujing" and looked down, at this time, at the 190-millimeter main gun of the bow of the "Fujing", the gunners were unloading huge shells from the pulley, preparing for the upcoming battle.

"Hopefully we can catch up with them so we don't have to go to Japan." Pei Jinquan looked at the movements of the gunners and said with some spirit.

"Do you want to hit the Japanese mainland?" Lin Yizhe raised his eyebrows and asked.

"Hehe, I just made some preparations." Pei Jinquan laughed, "Save the time when the adults really want to beat the blind." ”

"Are you all set?" Lin Yizhe laughed.

"Of course, I deliberately asked the coal ship to make two more trips, and ordered each ship to store enough coal, just for this." Pei Jinquan said with a smile, "The ammunition of each ship is also fully prepared, and there is absolutely no problem in bombing a few ports." ”

"Hehe, you're thinking long-term." When Lin Yizhe heard that Pei Jinquan had actually made preparations for attacking the Japanese mainland, he couldn't help but admire his meticulousness and thoughtfulness.

Because Lin Yizhe was anxious to avenge the tragic death of Aya and the Huai army was ineffective, and the culprit Saigo Congdao had not yet been killed, he had been a little out of shape these days, but Bei Jinquan, who was the commander of the fleet, did not relax because he did not get Lin Yizhe's order, but has been making careful preparations for the next battle, seizing all the time to replace the damaged artillery parts, repairing the hull damaged in the previous battle, and storing enough coal and ammunition, so that when the shipmaster fleet set off again to find the enemy, he did not encounter the slightest obstacle.

"If you don't see the enemy this time, it's better to sail straight to Nagasaki and ask the blame on its own territory." Pei Jinquan suggested, "This can shock the Japanese and force them to make a truce." ”

"This idea is good, but the two countries have not officially started a war, if they directly attack their homeland, the officials will inevitably impeach us and provoke us in vain." Lin Yizhe shook his head and said, "However, you can consider taking the opportunity to recover the Ryukyus ......."

"Also, the Ryukyus have been forcibly occupied by Japan for many years, and this time it is the right time to take the opportunity to recover it." Pei Jinquan Road.

"These are still for later, the top priority is to annihilate the Japanese ships first, otherwise, whether it is a direct attack on the Japanese mainland or the recovery of the Ryukyus, it will be constrained." Lin Yizhe said.

"What your lord says is very true." Pei Jinquan nodded repeatedly.

"Send a signal, order all ships to line up in a horizontal line, search and advance!" Lin Yizhe looked around and gave the order loudly.

Soon, the signal flag of the "Fujing" was raised on the mast of the "Fujing", and the eight Chinese cruisers lined up in two columns spread out in two directions to the left and right, and soon formed a huge array of wild goose wings. As the two wings gradually stretched forward, little by little a huge "one" horizontal formation was formed.

The reason why Lin Yizhe arranged the fleet in such a formation was to conduct the largest search on the wide sea surface as a supplementary means of searching with high-speed notification ships.

And far away in front of the fleet, the three high-speed notification ships "Feiting", "Feiying" and "Feipeng" also formed a huge fan, quickly searching and advancing.

If someone were to watch from a high altitude in a plane at this time, they would find that in front of the Chinese fleet, not very far away, four Japanese warships were staggering forward.

Although it had already embarked on the journey home, the Japanese fleet did not take it lightly and was also preparing for a possible battle.

On the ironclad ship "Longxiang", the sailors are carrying huge shells to the gun emplacement.

"Wait a minute!"

Two sailors were laboriously carrying a 165-mm shell in a pulley, intending to transport it to the 165-mm main gun emplacements on the left side of the bow, but were stopped by a gunner.

"This is the last shell, please ship it to us!" The gunner of the main gun crew on the port side said loudly.

"Why should it be yours!" Hearing his words, the gunners of the starboard main gun crew immediately shouted.

"Because we played better than you!" The gunners of the port side gun group glared at each other and said unceremoniously.

"You guys are better than us? What a joke! ”

"We've hit enemy ships! You don't! ”

"That's the enemy ship didn't dare to come to our starboard side!"

Seeing that the two groups of gunners were arguing over the last shell, as if they were about to make a move, a soldier hurriedly stepped forward and separated the two sides.

"So, let's have a gambling game!" A gunner from the starboard gun crew proposed, "Throw a copper coin to decide who this shell belongs to!" ”

"Good!" The gunners of the port gun crew readily agreed.

On the flybridge, Keinori Fukushima noticed this scene and let out a deep sigh in his heart.

It is no wonder that the gunners have such a performance, and the current "Longxiang", the ammunition of each gun, has dropped to an extremely pitiful level.

If it weren't for the fact that so many shells were wasted in attacking Chinese wooden sailing ships that did not pose much of a threat at all and shelling the residential areas of Xiamen City, the gunners of the "Longxiang" would not have gambled for the ownership of this shell!

And that idiot money-obsessed layman commander from the army actually ordered to bring so many heavy burdens!

Since the silver was hijacked and put on the ship, Shikinori Kayama has transported them all into the bilge, and arranged for the guards he brought over, who are also from the army, to guard them, and not allow the navy soldiers to approach!

Thinking of the various perverse actions of Shikiri Kayama since the dispatch of the army, Keisenori Fukushima was full of resentment. He glanced at Shiki Kayama hatefully, but Shiki Kayama didn't notice it at this time, but held a telescope and observed the situation on the sea as if it were going on.

"Do you want tails or heads?"

"Positive! Front! ”

"That's good! We're going to have the opposite! ”

The voices of the gunners once again attracted Keinori Fukushima, who turned his head to look and saw one of the gunners tossing the copper coin in his hand into the air, shining a little in the sun.

"Dang!" With a crisp metal drop, the copper coin landed on the floor.

"It's the opposite! We won! The gunners of the starboard gun crew let out a burst of cheers.

"Don't worry! Two more rounds! The gunner on the port side shouted.

"What? Isn't it a one-game winner? ”

"Of course not! It's a best-of-three game! ”

"Don't cheat! It's always a one-game winner, what's a best-of-three game?! ”

"It's a best-of-three game! It's too unfair otherwise! ”

The two sides argued for a while before they quieted down, and then the copper coin was tossed again.

"Positive!"

"Humph! Go your ghost luck! ”

"Positive! Or positive! It was we who won! The shells are ours! ”

"Bastard! You're a fool! ……”

"The shells are ours!"

"Fuck off! The shells are ours! ”

As the argument escalated, the two sides began to shout and push, and then soon tore together.

"What's going on?" It was only then that Shiki Kayama noticed the commotion on the deck, put down the binoculars, and turned his head to ask.

"General, it's the gunners...... For a cannonball, a fight began. An officer reported.

"Yaga!" Shiki Kayama shouted and scolded loudly, and gave the order, ignoring the captain Fukushima Keinori, who was standing beside him, who was already pale, "Arrest them all!" Confinement! ”

At the order of Shikini Kayama, a group of marines from the army "Ryuchamp" went to the deck under the leadership of an officer who was also from the army, separated the scuffling gunners, and escorted them into the cabin.

Seeing the chaos on the deck, Fukushima Keisei's face became more and more difficult to look at.

"General! Maybe the battle is about to begin! Lock up the gunners, it will seriously affect morale! Keinori Fukushima roared, "Please take back your order!" I'll take care of that! ”

Shiki Kayama glared at Keinori Fukushima fiercely, held back his anger and nodded, "You can deal with it!" ”

Keinori Fukushima and several officers rushed down the bridge quickly, and it was easy to separate the brawlers.

Seeing that Fukushima Keino did not arrest any gunners, Shiki Kayama was very annoyed, turned around and angrily got off the flybridge, returned to his cabin, opened his diary, and quickly wrote a large article on it.

After dealing with the brawl between the gunners, Fukushima feared that the same thing would happen elsewhere, so he began to inspect various parts of the ship.

As he descended the bottom deck, he heard the whispers of the sailors.

“…… Do you see it? Your Excellency the Commander, Mr. Lieutenant General, intends to embezzle the silver! ”

"Yes! Let's take so hard to carry them to the ship, and we are not willing to take a sip of wine, but lock up the silver, and send the army to guard it! It's just that we don't treat our navy as a person! ”

"He's made a fortune this time! I bet! He would never hand over this money to the government or His Majesty the Emperor! ”

"It's a certainty!"

"It's a pity for our fallen comrades! Their blood was shed in vain! Nothing! ”

Hearing the complaints of the sailors, Fukushima Keinori was shocked, but he couldn't help but feel ashamed and hated for his submission to the will of Shikinori Kayama.

How can a man who ignores the suffering of his subordinates and the lives of his soldiers like mustard lead the navy to victory?

At this time, Keinori Fukushima suddenly made up his mind.

If his commander is such a person, then he will resolutely not work in the navy!

No more! Resolutely quit!

As long as he can bring the fleet back safely, he will resign!

After inspecting it, a somewhat tired Keinori Fukushima was about to return to his cabin to rest for a while, when he suddenly heard a hoarse alarm from the lookout:

"Rear on the starboard side! Spot enemy ships! ”

Fukushima's heart sank, and he hurried onto the deck, onto the flybridge, and raised his binoculars to look in the direction the lookout had said.

In the telescope, there seemed to be a small smoking black dot on the surface of the sea.

Judging from what he has seen so far, Fukushima Keisenori can only think that this is a steamer, but whether it is an enemy ship or not, it is impossible to tell at all.

But why did the lookout say that it was an enemy ship?

As Fukushima continued to observe closely, the ship seemed to be traveling in the opposite direction to the Japanese fleet, as its figure became more and more obscure, and in a few moments, it disappeared from the sea.

At this time, the "Longxiang" had already sounded the alarm, and not long after, the sirens of the other three Japanese warships also sounded.

"Do you see clearly, is it an enemy ship?" Keinori Fukushima put down his binoculars and asked the lookout in a loud voice.

"I think I can see it clearly...... It has a red flag on it......" Let the captain ask this, and the lookout was suddenly at a loss, and his voice was suddenly full of doubt.

"Red flags? ......" Keinori Fukushima frowned as he listened to the lookout's answer.

In the current navies of the world, there are not many countries with red national flags and naval flags, and in East Asia, only the national flag of the Qing Empire is the Yellow Dragon Flag of the Red Land. It was the lookout who saw the other party hanging a red flag and thought it was a Qing warship, which was also reasonable.

However, why did the Qing warships run away?

At this time, Shiki Kayama heard the alarm, hurriedly came to the flying bridge, raised the telescope and looked around, and when he saw that there was no shadow of a boat on the sea, he couldn't help but be angry.

"Who's sending the alarm? Where are the enemy ships? Shiki Kayama asked angrily.

"Just now the enemy ship appeared behind starboard, and now it has run away." Fukushima Keisenori didn't want Kayama Shikinori to order and punish his subordinates indiscriminately, so he preemptively answered.

Hearing Fukushima Keisei's words, Shikinori Kayama raised his binoculars again and looked at the stern of the ship, but of course, he still found nothing.

"The enemy ship ran away?" Shiki Kayama put down the binoculars and looked at Keinori Fukushima suspiciously.

"Yes." Keinori Fukushima nodded with a gloomy face, "It may be an enemy reconnaissance ship that has spotted us and is now running back to report our location to the main fleet of the Qing Kingdom." ”

Hearing Fukushima Keisenori's answer, Shiki Kayama's face also became gloomy.

"How could the reconnaissance ship of the Qing fleet appear here?" Of course, Shikiki Kayama understood what this situation meant for the Japanese fleet and for himself, but he still asked with a fluke mentality.

"The Qing fleet should have been chasing us, and their commander did not believe that we went to Taiwan." "They sent a number of reconnaissance ships to look for our whereabouts, and one of these reconnaissance ships happened to have spotted us. The reason it disappeared so quickly was because it was rushing back to report our location earlier. I think we're going a lot slower than they do, and they'll be able to catch up with us very quickly. ”

Shiki Kayama heard that Keisenori Fukushima was accusing himself of letting the "Longxiang" carry the 500,000 taels of silver, and couldn't help but sneer:

"In that case, let's get ready for battle!"

After he finished speaking, he got off the flybridge without looking back, and went into the cabin.

Keinori Fukushima stared at his back disappearing, let out a long sigh, shook his head, and ordered the flag of "Prepare for battle" to be hoisted.

In fact, what Keinori Fukushima said is not bad at all, the ship that appeared just now and quickly disappeared was the Chinese Navy's high-speed notification ship "Feiting"!

If Shikinori Kayama had been able to fly up into the air in a hot air balloon at this time, he would have been able to see the figure of the "Flying Thunder" that was speeding towards the main fleet of the shipmaster.

'Your Excellency!' The Thunderbolt is back! A signal was sent from the forest pipe belt, reporting that an enemy ship had been spotted! It's in front of us on the left! ”

An officer rushed into the command tower and reported loudly to Lin Yizhe and Pei Jinquan.

Lin Yizhe walked out of the command tower, came to the flying bridge, raised the telescope, and just saw the "Flying Thunder" commanded by Lin Guoxiang raising another set of flags.

"My lord, Lin Guan asked to bring 'Flying Eagle' and 'Flying Peng' over first to entangle the enemy ship!" An officer said to Lin Yizhe.

"His courage is really big!" Pei Jinquan followed Lin Yizhe out, and after hearing the report, he couldn't help but widen his eyes.

"Signal them to go, be careful." Lin Yizhe nodded.

The signalman quickly raised "Agreed, be careful. Lin Yizhe saw the oncoming "Feiting" turn sharply, as if to show off its proud high speed, crossed in front of the "Fujing", and then rushed forward at high speed.

Seeing Lin Guoxiang, who was standing on the flybridge, raising his hand solemnly and saluting himself, Lin Yizhe couldn't help but feel a little funny.

Soon, the "Flying Eagle" and "Flying Peng" also followed the "Flying Thunder" in a circle from the front of the fleet and galloped straight ahead.

"Send a signal, change the formation to a single longitudinal formation, and then move forward at full speed at a speed of 14 knots." Seeing the figures of the three high-speed notification ships disappear, Lin Yizhe ordered in a deep voice.

Pei Jinquan nodded, and gave a loud order, and as the signal flag was raised, the huge "one" horizontal array began to turn into a "human" shape.