Chapter 209 Coastal Emergency

On February 10, 1895, in the second year of Guangming of the Chinese Empire, at the Liugongdao Command of the Royal Navy of the Chinese Empire, Li Hongzhang sat in a recliner covered with tiger skins in the center of his office. Beside him www.biquge.info a staff officer reads a report.

This report recounts the battles of the Second Fleet led by Lin Tsengtai against Japanese armed ships in the northeastern waters of the Yellow Sea. At the same time, he read a telegram from Japan. The telegram was sent by Hirobumi Ito to Li Hongzhang.

Nowadays, ordinary telegraphs are still wired, just like telephone lines. Radio is still a high-level military secret used by the military. Ever since the Chinese Imperial Navy strategically encircled Japan, Japan had panicked.

But most Japanese people believe that North Korea is already something they have swallowed, so it is absolutely impossible to spit it out. The personal relationship between Ito Hirobumi and Li Hongzhang was very good, so Ito Hirobumi sent a telegram to this old friend, hoping that Li Hongzhang could move the government of the Chinese Empire and negotiate peace with Japan.

But what Ito Hirobumi didn't know was that the current Chinese Empire was very different from the original, Li Hongzhang said to the staff officers when he received this telegram; "Burn this telegram right away!"

The staff officer replied on the spot; "Lord Marshal! According to the rules of communication security, all telegrams received must be notified to the CIA, the National Strategic Security Service, and the Ministry of the Interior! ”

This telegram concerns you, so I must inform the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the General Staff, I beg your pardon, I cannot carry out your orders!

Li Hongzhang didn't say anything, just looked up to the sky and sighed!

This time, Ito Hirobumi sent a telegram again, and in the telegram Ito Hirobumi said; "Your Excellency, I hope you will reply to my opinion, that the cessation of the war will be beneficial to both of us, and I, as the Prime Minister of the Great Japanese Empire, are the Marshal of the Chinese Empire. They all hope to work for the well-being of the people of the two countries, and not to let the innocent people suffer from the persecution of war。。。。。。。 ”

Li Hongzhang said; "Don't read it again, send the telegram to the Ministry of the Interior, and report it to the emperor for decision!"

You go and get the stove on, it seems to be a little cold inside!

Li Hongzhang's office is modeled after the Gothic style with Chinese cultural elements, and looks like a large eight-diamond-shaped side in the middle, with a high fireplace chimney sticking out in the middle.

Li Hongzhang's room is the one facing due south, and his large office occupies an area on three sides of the second floor. It's three times more than Liu Buchan's office here. There is also a downside to such a large room, which is that it feels a little cold.

In the fireplace to the north, the flames were already burning very strongly. But Li Hongzhang felt that it was still cold, so two small stoves were installed near the windows on both sides.

This staff officer came to one of the stoves, first took down the boiling kettle on the stove, then refilled the hot water for Li Hongzhang, and then slowly withdrew after filling the furnace with coal.

When I came to the door, I saw many colleagues outside, all waiting at the door. When they saw him come out, they all asked; "How is the marshal feeling today?"

This staff officer shook his head! And then it comes to; "Before I finished reading the document, the marshal asked me to go directly to the Ministry of Internal Affairs!"

One of the staff officers said; "What then! I still have two urgent documents waiting for the marshal to sign! ”

The staff officer said; "At this time, don't bother the marshal, or immediately transfer the document to Naha in the Ryukyus, and let the deputy commander Marshal Ding Ruchang decide!"

Right! Right! Right!

Now that his hair is all gray, Ito follows the emperor as he inspects the troops of the new Sixth Front of the Japanese Army, which is about to be sent out, this time with more than 180,000 troops.

Hirobumi Ito knows that everything has to be paid. But today's dedication made Ito Hirobumi feel frightened. Since the beginning of the war, the Japanese army seemed to have been victorious, and soon took all of Korea and landed in the Far East of the Chinese Empire.

Such a scene made the people of the whole country feel extremely excited, and the entire Japanese felt raised their eyebrows, and the second child of the millennium finally turned over, and the Japanese beat the big giant of the Chinese Empire down.

This was a country that had won over Tsarist Russia, so the hearts of the entire Japanese people seemed to be moved by the great cause of expanding the territory and revitalizing the Yamato nation. The heart of every Japanese person is full of energy.

In particular, after conquering the Far East and Korea, a lot of supplies were actually brought back along the coast of Japan, so many Japanese people felt that it was very correct to take the road of militarist expansion.

Now the Japanese have established a belief that if they can't join the army, then they must work hard and serve the soldiers on the front line, so now Japan is going all out, and the military industry is like a red-hot soldering iron, flattening all other civilian industries, so that the entire Japanese industry is flowing with guns and ammunition.

As the prime minister of Japan, and a person who studied in the United States, Ito Hirobumi certainly knew what would become of Japan if this continued, so he had secretly sent many telegrams to the Chinese Empire.

It was hoped that the Chinese Empire would succumb to peace talks with Japan. But there has been no response, and now sugar has become a very expensive product, and the price of goods in the country has tripled.

The government issued a price cap order, but it didn't work at all. Prices are still skyrocketing, and now the government is executing those who hike prices without permission, and many businessmen have had their goods confiscated and thrown in jail.

Because they could not expand their influence, many Japanese businessmen were quickly executed after being captured and imprisoned. After going through strict administrative and legal measures, prices in Japan, especially in Tokyo, have finally stabilized. But a new situation has emerged, that is, there are hardly any goods that are no longer visible in the market.

Even if there are goods for sale, they are no longer exchanged in Japanese currency. I can only exchange it for something else. Because there is no way to calculate the inflation of paper and pen, now when you buy things in Japan, you can only exchange them for other things, and many Japanese people's savings for many years have come to naught at this moment.

Ito Hirobumi pinned all his hopes on Li Hongzhang, who knew the officials of the Chinese Empire very well. The current Chinese navy is all under the team of Li Hongzhang's Beiyang Naval Division, and Li Hongzhang's position in the navy is unique.

And now the biggest threat to Japan is the navy of the Chinese Empire, Li Hongzhang himself is an old landlord, under the blow of the Japanese Combined Fleet, the Fourth Combined Naval Fleet of the Chinese Empire is almost completely wiped out.

I heard that Li Hongzhang fainted on the spot, and now the cost of the navy is huge, and Li Hongzhang is under tremendous pressure at home, which makes Li Hongzhang want to end this war as soon as possible in his heart.

But Ito Hirobumi has not received any reply from Li Hongzhang to this day, so Ito Hirofumi is a little panicked!

After discussion by the Japanese cabinet, it was decided to teach the Chinese Empire a lesson, and according to past experience, as long as China was taught a lesson, China would give in.

。。。。。。。

In the second year of light, late at night on February 4. In the headquarters of the 4th Marine Division of the Chinese Imperial Marine Corps in Naha, in the large sand table in the center of the headquarters, a thin old man leaned into the center of the sand table, and there were two lights on his head.

At this time, the lights are all incandescent lamps, because the manufacturing process is relatively simple, but the price is not cheap. The profit is very high, so this kind of incandescent lamp can be produced in the big cities along the coast and in the interior, but the quality is really varied, and sometimes you have to try your luck.

In addition, the power of the current generator is very unstable, so the consumption of the bulb is very large. But a small wattage bulb is a bit more durable than a high-wattage bulb. However, the situation in the army is very special, and sometimes there are frequent power outages, so gas lamps are also commonly used lighting tools in the army.

On each side of the sand table, there was a sixty-watt incandescent lamp, plus the lights that moved with the old man, there were at least a dozen lights around the old man. The old man pointed on the sand table; "Fortifications are to be built in these places, and they are to be permanent.

Whose defense zone is this place? ”

An officer with two bars and two stars on his shoulder stepped forward to speak; "Division, this place is the defense area of our regiment. But this place is a basalt foundation, and you can't dig it underneath! ”

The old man said; "Stupid! up with dynamite! ”

The regimental commander immediately shut up and didn't dare to say anything!

This old man was very energetic and commanded around the sand table, discussing and answering with his subordinates from time to time!

This old man is Liu Yongfu, this year's Liu Yongfu is 65 years old, when Liu Yongfu was young, he was also a hero who stood out from the crowd, but now in front of these young officers, he has to stay away from these officers, because these officers are half a head taller than him. But the old man doesn't accept old age at all, and every time he tries to straighten his waist.

Many of the officers began to yawn, and then looked at their watches, and it was already past two o'clock, and in four hours, it was dawn again.

The old man was finally finished, and then looked at his own group, and more than forty of his subordinates spoke; "Do you get it?"

The officers knew that it was finally coming to an end, and they were all in high spirits, and then spoke loudly; "Understood, all obey the orders of the master!"

Liu Yongfu stroked his stiff waist again, and then spoke slowly; "Yes! Are they all looking forward to me leaving? ”

The officers all spoke; "Nope! No! We swear to follow the master! ”

Liu Yongfu said; "Don't say those nice ones, you want me to go, it's very simple, after beating the Japanese devils, this town will retire, and I will never reprimand you again.

But the little devil hasn't been defeated yet, so the town will not leave, the town has directly reported to the emperor, if the Japanese devil is not defeated, the town will not return to the hometown! ”

The officers all glanced at each other, and then said to Liu Yongfu; "For the teacher's seat, the horse's head is the foresight!"

Liu Yongfu ignored the expressions of these officers at all, and then sat down in his chair and spoke; "Let's go back to errands right away!"

After the room full of officers left, the inside of the command room immediately looked much more spacious and bright. At this time, Liu Yongfu looked up and saw that there were almost all kinds of lamps hanging above the sand table!

Liu Yongfu immediately scolded; "You losers! What are you doing with so many lights! ”

At this time a young officer spoke; "You don't have good eyes, did you use the lighting you just lit?"

Liu Yongfu ignored the young man's explanation, he said; "Hurry up and extinguish!"

Then the young man pointed to his watch and said; "Daddy! It's already a scandal, you go back and rest! ”

Liu Youfu said; "Don't call me dad in the army, call me a teacher!"

The young man spoke impatiently; "Okay, good, Master! Please go back and rest! Can I, the deputy division commander, come on duty! ”

Liu Yongfu smiled faintly, and then said; "What's wrong! Impatient, are you in a hurry to take my place? ”

Liu Yongfu's son, Liu Kai said; "Daddy! You're my own father! Can we not do that? ”

Liu Yongfu slowly stood up and said; "Can't!"

And then with his hands behind his back, he left the command with his own guards!

Liu Kai looked at a staff officer who looked at him in confusion and said; "Those who stay on duty, the others hurry back to rest!"

Then take the lead yourself and diligently clean up the scene of cigarette butts!

At this time, the sound of gunfire was heard in the north!

Liu Kai immediately threw down the tools in his hand, and then picked up the binoculars while giving an order; "Take it and call the 5841 regiment and ask what's going on!"

Then he led his men to the highest part of the fortifications, in the observation booth on the high place. Liu Kai saw through the telescope that in the north, it was already in flames, and the firepower of the Huaxia Marines arranged on the tidal flats was already in full swing.

At the same time, the positions were also subjected to artillery fire from the sea. Is this the attack of the Japanese! It seems that there is also the support of the navy, and it is from the north that another loud explosion is heard. Immediately after that, an orange-red arc of fire began to flicker on the sea.

At that time, when the cannonball was fired, it streaked across the night sky to produce the color. There was a very ominous feeling lingering in Liu Kai's heart, and in the middle of the night, Shiren himself launched an attack. From now on, it's not very thorough.

Attacking Naha Island, do the Japanese still want to recapture it?

This is too important for people, but it is also very important for the Chinese Empire, where the existence of the two naval fleets of the Chinese Empire can be maintained, and Liu Yongfu's Marine Division is also an honorary unit with a ranking in the Chinese Empire.

At this moment a staff officer ran up and said; "Deputy Division Commander! The 5841st regiment called, the enemy had already begun to wait, and the enemy's situation was very unclear. And the support of the Navy warships! ”

Liu Kai did not put down the telescope in his hand, he said; "Report to the Navy Command immediately, and at the same time request naval support from Marshal Ding Ruchang!"

At this time, Ding Ruchang was also working, because of Li Hongzhang's physical reasons, many important documents are now handled by Ding Ruchang, and at the same time, Ding Ruchang is undoubtedly the oldest in the navy except for Li Hongzhang.

Heavy military affairs, although he is thinner than before, but now he feels more energetic, not because of his promotion, but because the empire attaches great importance to the navy, which allows him to show his strength.

At this time, he heard the sound of artillery, and now he is the supreme military commander of the Chinese Empire in the Ryukyus, and any military action here must pass through him, obviously this is not the sound of the Chinese Empire's own artillery fire.

Soon news came, did the Japanese land on the island at night to fight!

It's crazy!

Ding Ruchang came to the war room, and many staff officers at the scene, including the officers on duty at the scene, immediately talked about it after seeing Ding Ruchang coming; "Marshal! Now go directly to the report of the 5841 regiment to the north.

It is guarded by the strength of one of our regiments, and the semi-permanent fortifications built on the beach are not possible to resist for four hours according to the current Japanese firepower. So let's send troops to support right away! ”

Ding Ruchang did not give an order immediately, but came to the huge nautical chart to observe carefully, and said; "Contact the other districts immediately. Let's see if there is anything out of the ordinary, and what the situation is with each battleship, and report it to me right away! ”

Standing on the command tower of the division headquarters, Liu Kai, who was looking forward to observing the battlefield situation with a telescope, suddenly found that an army had begun to move to the 5841 regiment to support. At this time, Liu Kai asked; "Whose troops are that, and how quickly they reacted! Reinforcements were sent out so quickly! ”

When Liu Kai heard this, his head was about to explode, can't this old man be honest?

Liu Kai said to the staff officer next to him while going downstairs; "Immediately wake up Chief of Staff Yuan, let him take charge of the command at the headquarters, and order the Guards Regiment to send a battalion and follow me immediately!"

On the position of the 5841 regiment on the front line, it took only fifteen minutes to shoot out tens of thousands of rounds of ammunition as soon as the heavy machine gun was stopped. The Suzaku IV heavy machine gun is an air-cooled heavy machine gun, and for a long time, the barrel has been burned red, but neither the loader nor the operator dares to stop to cool the barrel.

Because there are no mines exploding in the minefield on the opposite side, and at the same time, the Japanese soldiers who appeared on the opposite side are getting closer and closer, and on the gentle tidal flats, the 5841 regiment has planted thousands of mines! But at the beginning, the constant sound of explosions and the screams of the wounded Japanese soldiers made many veterans who were accustomed to blood feel frightened.

What are these people going to do! It was clear that there was a minefield ahead, and these Japanese still rushed forward. Even if they see the person next to them being blown to pieces, as long as they haven't been killed, they will move forward indomitably.

This shocked the soldiers of the 5841st Regiment of the Chinese Marine Corps. It's not human at all, they're all a bunch of dead people without souls. The fortress placed on the high ground ran and opened fire on the rushing Japanese soldiers and the Japanese warships with bright lights on the sea.

It also kicked off the prelude to the shooting between the two sides, because it was dark night, both sides were shooting blindly, and they didn't know what their results were.

Liu Yongfu rushed to the front line as soon as possible with his own guards and two platoons of soldiers temporarily assembled at the headquarters.

Mao Weilong, the commander of the 5841 regiment, was also very surprised, he knew that reinforcements would definitely come, but he didn't expect that the first to arrive was his division commander.

Liu Yongfu, on the dark coast, the Japanese soldiers who are constantly emerging, these soldiers are about 1.5 meters in size, holding rifles, two compass legs, and the frequency of switching on the ground is very fast, the Japanese soldiers who fell in front of them could not stop their progress at all, and at a distance of 500 meters from the Chinese defensive position, the Japanese soldiers began to fall in rows.

Because where the effective range of the heavy machine gun and the lion rifle began, a half-meter-high wall of people had been formed, of course, it was a wall of dead people, but it was difficult for the brave Japanese soldiers. They stepped onto the human wall, and then jumped off the human wall.

Many Japanese soldiers froze at the moment of take-off because he was hit. When it landed, it provided new building materials for the new human wall. Soon, the human wall moved towards the position of 5841 in North Beach. It's getting closer, and the situation is very dangerous.

Liu Yongfu has fought horses all his life, and has seen countless wars, big and small. In Vietnam, every day is a day of licking blood, from an unknown soldier to a senior general of the new army in a town of the Chinese Empire.

But this is the first time he has seen such a war today, and now it has only been half an hour since he heard the first cannon shot, and the corpses of Japanese lying on the beach have definitely exceeded 10,000.

It's as if it weren't 10,000 at all, but 10,000 ants, 10,000 caterpillars, 10,000 cockroaches. Lying on the beach, I don't know how many there are behind, they seem to be endless, they can't be killed at all.

Liu Yongfu's palms were already sweating, and the soldiers he brought with him had already been put into battle. Only a dozen people remained with him. Liu Yongfu said; "Send someone to the headquarters immediately, pass on the order of this town, and immediately support North Beach!"

Then Liu Yongfu asked people to immediately connect with the naval headquarters and division headquarters, and he shouted loudly on the phone; "I'm Liu Yongfu, I order the 8562nd Regiment of the Reserve to support Beitan immediately! Right away! ”

The other troops closely guarded their own defense areas, and as soon as they found the enemy, they immediately returned fire! ”

At this time, the Renyuan of the First Combined Fleet of the Chinese Empire, which was anchored in the port of Naha, was repairing in the military port. In the fastest time, the cable of the warship is very heavy.

The first is that the sailors on the shore lift the cable, and it is the unhooking of the cable. Then the sailors on the ship slowly put away the cables and attached them to the battleship. It takes time, and now that it's combat, there's no one to collect these cables.

So the sailors on the ironclad ship Renyuan opened all the ratchet buckles that held the cables to them. The cable was thus detached from the ship, and immediately the entire battleship was freed from all bondage. It was in the dark of night, and the engine of the battleship was very loud.

The smaller gunboats, because of the good U-turn, have generally sailed out of the harbor. The gunboats that were the first to sail out of the harbor had already begun to exchange fire with the Japanese warships. This is the Jingyuan ship and the Laiyuan ship that are escorting the perimeter, and the Japanese warship is already entwined with the Japanese warship.

Suddenly, there was a loud bang, and the starboard side of the Renyuan ironclad ship was shot, and at that time, a large crater thirty centimeters deep appeared on the starboard side of the Renyuan ironclad ship, and the entire hull shook with it, and the crew inside could not stand steadily.

Lin Yongsheng, the commander of the ironclad ship Renyuan, was also almost unable to stand firmly, and at the same time, the huge explosion almost deafened his ears. Lin Yongsheng was in charge of the instrument display on the command tower, trying to balance his body while moving towards the microphone.

Lin Yongsheng came to the microphone and shouted loudly at the provincial pass; "Use light oil, use light oil, use the maximum thrust, power, torque, and leave the home port immediately, otherwise we will become a live target!"

About five minutes after Lin Yongsheng's order was delivered, orange-red flames rose in the three chimneys of the ironclad ship Renyuan, because the concentration of fuel was too high to burn out immediately in the boiler, so at the mouth of the chimney, it was still burning.

This is the three power propellers of the Renyuan have greatly increased the speed and torque, and the soldiers on the ironclad ship of the Renyuan obviously feel that the battleship is accelerating, Lin Yongsheng moved to the side of the steering wheel, and took the helm with the helm wheeler.

This was another shell that concentrated the ironclad ship Renyuan, causing the front deck of the ironclad ship Renyuan to catch fire, but no sailors on the Renyuan stepped forward to put out the fire, and Lin Yongsheng did not order the sailors to extinguish the fire.

This is the speed of the ironclad ship Renyuan, which has increased to thirteen knots, and it is still speeding up. The ironclad ship Renyuan rushed out of the harbor, then adjusted its direction and began to look for its target. At this time, Lin Yongsheng said; "Send a telegram to the ships, all the ships disperse, fire flares, each main gun is ready at any time, fire immediately when the target is found, there is no need to report!"

At this time, another shell exploded in the place where the Renyuan was anchored just now, the port is built of concrete, this kind of cement is very expensive, because it is a special cement that can cope with seawater corrosion, looking at the flying debris in the sky, Lin Yongsheng hated it!

This is the only slipway for the battleship Qinglong to dock, and the rest of the place is either shallow or too low!

Since Ding Ruchang was named marshal, Liu Buyun's temper has become very big. This time he was also promoted to a four-star general, but he was still not satisfied. Cursing at every turn, the commander of their thank-you battleship can't escape either.

Therefore, Lin Yongsheng's heart is very clear that this scolding cannot be escaped. He can now imagine what Liu Buyun looks like when he scolds people, and he can scold anything. It's truly breathtaking!

Lin Yongsheng shouted loudly into the microphone at this time; "Load me with a 305mm armor-piercing howitzer, prepare two shells, Lao Tzu wants to see which one is dead!"

At this time, flares began to rise on the warships of the Chinese Empire scattered on the sea surface of the port, and dozens of flares rose into the air, looking for the sea surface as if it were day. Under the illumination of the flares, Lin Yongsheng saw clearly.

During this time, Lin Yongsheng had even seen such a scene many times in his dreams, but he just didn't expect to see the Japanese Navy Combined Fleet in such a scene.

Almost all the main warships of the Japanese side arrived, and there were about twelve warships in all. Lin Yongsheng recognized the flagship of the Japanese fleet "Matsushima" at a glance among many people in Japan! ”。

Here are the warships of the Chinese Empire, which are far more numerous than the Japanese fleet, but there are only three main warships of more than 1,000 tons, and the others are gunboats and torpedo boats. Not at all an opponent of these clusters of Japanese main battleships.

At this time, Lin Yongsheng said; "Send a telegram to the headquarters, we are ready for Chengren! Tell the ships that the Matsushima is mine! ”

Then Lin Yongsheng came to the microphone and shouted loudly; "35 degrees on the starboard side, 12 degrees on elevation, shoot me!"

At this time, the sound of cannons sounded again on the sea!

The Japanese Navy and the Chinese Empire were in the port of Naha in the Ryukyu Sea, and the First Combined Fleet of the Royal Navy of the Chinese Empire had the main battleship Renyuan under the command of Hayashi Yongsheng, and the cruiser Laiyuan under the command of Li He and Huang Jianxun. A total of three capital battleships.

Facing almost all the main warships of the Japanese Combined Fleet, they bravely faced the battle at a moment when the strength of the two sides was very different.

After Ding Ruchang received Lin Yongsheng's telegram, he immediately sent a telegram to Liu Buyun, Deng Shichang, and Lin Zengtai, but he didn't expect it!

After looking for such an old time at sea, these Japanese fleets suddenly appeared in the military port of the Chinese Empire, what an inexplicable irony!