Suddenly, under the morning light, a shadow of a ship appeared on the sea. Pen? Interesting? Pavilion wWw. ｂiquge。 ｉｎfo

"A steamer was found on the port side!"

Listening to the report, Japanese Navy Second Lieutenant Katsuka Hirota also picked up the telescope and looked in that direction, and sure enough, he saw a dense column of smoke.

"Is it our warship? ......," someone asked uneasily.

"Maybe it's a warship of the Qing people." Someone replied in fear.

Ever since it was learned that the Japanese Navy had been completely annihilated in the Battle of Taiwan, the Japanese troops in this area have become frightened birds.

Katsuka Hirota held the binoculars, stared closely ahead, and did not speak.

Although it is now far away and it is not clear to see, he knows that the possibility of a Japanese warship is very small.

He hoped in his heart that what would appear in front of him in a while would be a foreign warship.

Since Ryukyu was the key point of the maritime trade routes of Chinese mainland, Japan and Southeast Asia, there were many foreign warships in this area, and the Japanese could often encounter them here, most of which were British and French warships.

Soon, the original column of smoke split into six strands.

Although it was still not clear to see, for some reason, the fear in Katsuka Hirota's heart became heavier and heavier.

After a while, the figure of the incoming ship gradually became clearer, and when Hirota Katsuka saw the dazzling red yellow dragon flag on the mast of the incoming ship, his heart sank instantly.

"Order the whole ship to go into combat readiness! The gunner is in position! Turn on the maximum horsepower! ”

Katsuka Hirota immediately gave the order.

Soon, on this merchant ship, there were bursts of sirens.

After the alarm sounded, the whole gunboat boiled, and the Japanese sailors in the cabin ran quickly towards the deck, and after running to the deck, they immediately rushed to the gun emplacement, and when the sailors rushed to the deck, another officer went down to the sweaty engine room, and the sailors were desperately shoveling coal into the boiler, and at the same time the damage control personnel were in place.

"Spotted Chinese warships! Speed 12 knots......"

As the officers on the bridge issued orders one after another, Katsuka Hirota frowned from time to time, and his stiff Japanese with a Satsuma native pronunciation tone was occasionally accompanied by mistakes in instructions or confusion. But as the captain of the ship, Katsuka Hirota did not point out this, but held a telescope and stared at the Chinese cruiser in front of him.

When he heard the lookout report the other party's speed just now, he knew that the fate of himself and the old gunboat with a displacement of only 520 tons under his command had been decided.

The gunboat under his command could not outrun half the speed of the opponent at the fastest......

And when he gave the order to prepare for war, he just wanted to face the coming shame and show that he would not give in!

At this time, on the cruiser "Fujing", Pei Jinquan also saw the figure of the Japanese ship.

"The Japanese are now left with these little wrecked ships." Zhou Ruitai, the commander of the Marine Corps, looked at the small and slow Japanese gunboat and said with a smile, "I'm afraid that if we only have one round of guns, it will be scrapped." ”

"Yes, it's really not worth wasting shells on such a boat." Pei Jinquan put down the binoculars and said, "It's the truce now, as long as they don't fire, it's not good for us to hit them." ”

"What then?" Zhou Ruitai asked, "You can't let them run away, right?" ”

"Let's take prisoners first!" Pei Jinquan said and gave the order, "Fire a warning cannon!" Order the ship to stop sailing! ”

Soon, the "Fujing" fired a warning cannon at the "Hanoi".

"What do we do now? Do you want to open fire? ”

On the "Hanoi", a Japanese officer asked the captain Katsuka Hirota in a slightly trembling voice.

The reason why he seemed so panicked was because he understood what the consequences would be if the cannon was fired.

"It's a truce, and they don't dare to open fire in violation of public international law." Hirota Katsukatsu said calmly, "Signal a warning cannon and ask them to stop sailing." ”

After a while, the "Hanoi" also fired a warning cannon.

Seeing that the Japanese warship had even sent a signal to itself to "stop sailing," Pei Jinquan and the Chinese naval officers on the "Fujing" flybridge were stunned for a moment, and then they were all amused.

"Signal, stop sailing! Otherwise, they will be sunk with cannons! Pei Jinquan knew that the Japanese, who could not fight and could not escape, did not dare to confront the Chinese fleet, so he played a word game to delay time, he understood that Shurijo Castle, the capital of the Ryukyus, was already in sight, and he did not want to make too much entanglement with this Japanese warship, so he gave the order with a quick knife to cut through the chaos.

At this time, because of the relatively fast speed of the "Fujing," it was already close to the Japanese warship and was in a state of relative movement, and seeing that the Japanese warship still did not stop, Pei Jinquan ordered the gunners to prepare to shoot.

The "Hanoi" sailed past the side of the "Fujing", and the two ships appeared side by side, and at this moment, the "Hanoi" stopped and dropped anchor.

"Count them as acquaintances!" Zhou Ruitai snorted from his nose.

On the "Hanoi", Katsuka Hirota looked at the murderous muzzles of the Chinese warship opposite, his face turned pale, and ordered: "Send a signal: Your country has forced our ship to stop, which is inconsistent with public international law, and we will obey it in protest." ”

Soon, a series of complex flags rose from the mast of the "Hanoi".

"The Japanese don't seem to be convinced!"

Seeing the signal flag issued by the Japanese, Zhou Ruitai laughed.

"Send someone over and take over the ship." Pei Jinquan smiled, and then ordered: "Send a signal!" Our ship will capture your ship, and if there is any abnormal movement, it will definitely be sunk by cannoning! If you are not afraid of death, please try! ”

Soon, a series of complicated flags were raised on the "Fujing," and the Japanese naval officers and men on the "Hanoi" had been shocked by the cannons on the Chinese cruisers. Until the navy guards and Chinese sailors in red uniforms boarded the "Hanoi" in small boats, they only silently guarded their posts, not daring to make the slightest movement.

Seeing that the "Hanoi" lowered the Japanese flag, raised the white flag, and re-anchored, turned to the array of the Chinese fleet, Pei Jinquan ordered the fleet to set sail again and go straight to Shuri, the capital of the Ryukyus.

Soon, the port of Naha appeared in front of the Chinese Navy.

"According to the drawings left by Lord Lin, there is the fort."

Commander Tari, after a careful observation, Jiang Jingui, the gunnery chief officer of the cruiser "Fujing", said.

Pei Jinquan looked at the map of the forts on the north and south sides of Naha Port drawn by Lin Yizhe himself, and then looked at the coast not far away, and couldn't help but be secretly frightened.

Although it is said that Lin Yizhe has been concerned about the affairs of the Ryukyus for a long time, he never expected that Lin Yizhe could make the information so detailed and accurate!

"Do you want to open fire?" Jiang Jingui asked.

"No, let's salute first and then soldier." Pei Jinquan said, "Send someone over to deliver the letter......

As soon as Pei Jinquan's words fell, he heard a muffled sound of "bang" in the distance, followed by the whistling sound of cannonballs breaking through the air.

"Tom!" A shell flew from afar, landed on the sea far away from the "Fujing," and raised a high column of water.

"The Japanese are so bold!" Zhou Ruitai said with some annoyance.

"Their range is too close to reach us." Jiang Jingui observed it for a moment and said, "And it seems to be a solid bullet ......."

"Presumably an old-fashioned breech gun." Bei Jinquan nodded, at this time, only through the sound of the cannon and the scene he had just seen, he had been able to basically judge the other party's artillery model with his years of experience.

"My lord, the 'Princess Heshuo' sent a signal asking if you want to fight back." An officer said to Pei Jinquan.

"Wait and see if they're firing warning cannons, or if they're hiding their strength and trying to lure us closer." At this time, Pei Jinquan still didn't want to be charged with "breaking the armistice agreement", so he ordered, "Drive a little closer and take a look." ”

The "Fujing" continued to move forward, and at this time white smoke rose from the distant battery, and one after another shells flew towards the Chinese fleet, but because the Chinese fleet still did not sail into the range of the Japanese artillery at this time, these shells all missed, and only caused a large wave of waves.

"It should be less than twenty guns, and the range is very close, probably all old guns." Jiang Jingui said, "The way they play now, they are definitely not setting off warning guns." ”

"The Japanese opened fire on our ship first, and this armistice agreement is now null and void." Pei Jinquan nodded as if relieved, "Order all ships to shoot only with the main guns, and only shoot one round." ”

"My lord, what are you ......" Hearing Bei Jinquan's strange order, Jiang Jingui and Zhou Ruitai were all surprised.

"Signal! The ship's pipe belt will understand what it means. Pei Jinquan smiled, saw that a few of his subordinates still didn't understand, and said, "Dealing with such a battery, and each ship has a location map and coordinates given by Lord Lin, it is equivalent to hitting a fixed target, if you can't hit the first shot and consume ammunition, it will be too embarrassing." ”

Soon, the "Fujing" raised the flag, and not long after the signal flag was raised, the "Princess Heshuo", which was in the middle of the fleet, was the first to fire.

"This old Deng ......" Before Bei Jinquan could finish speaking, he saw a dark red fire flash on the fort on the coast in the distance, followed by a series of loud noises, and a huge smoke ball rose into the air, instantly filling the entire fort.

"Did this hit the ammunition depot?" Pei Jinquan raised the telescope, looked at the huge explosion, and asked in some surprise.

His voice was soon drowned out by the explosion that followed, as each of the five Chinese cruisers opened fire from their main guns, and one 190-millimeter shell flew away like meteors and landed on the battery with a thunderclap. The rising black smoke completely enveloped the entire battery.

The first salvo was quickly over, the five Chinese cruisers stopped firing, and the batteries on the shore were completely dumb.