Chapter 86: The Beginning and End of the Ultimate Confrontation

For this naval battle, except for the announcement that the commanders who participated in the battle were the Sipinbu Political Secretary Zuo of the Mawei Ship Administration and the Mawei Ship Administration Supervisor Qin Kai, there was no specific information on the warships participating in the battle, which surprised the consulates of various countries that were eager to know the details of the battle.

And the news that the Baohai messenger brought back from the Vietnamese Jiaozhichina Navy made him almost kill the messenger who treated him as a fool...... The messenger also knew that the story he was telling was similar to a myth, and immediately took out a letter from Lu Mei, the governor of Jiaozhina.

The content of the letter confirmed the news brought back by the messenger, and demanded complete secrecy of the details of this naval battle, otherwise the French Republican ** team would lose face! Since the desired benefits could not be obtained on the battlefield for the time being, he hoped that Baohai would use the negotiating table to buy some time for the French Republic, and that the Far East Fleet would need some time to summarize and plan a plan to deal with the enemy forces of the Qing Dynasty.

Thinking of Li Zhongtang's ever-strict face, Baohai suddenly appeared, could it be that he had always been in the dark by the most powerful official in the Qing Dynasty? Could it be that the Qing Kingdom has always been engaged in the development of secret weapons? Otherwise...... How could such bizarre mythological stories appear! Suddenly, he remembered an artillery firing demonstration that had been held in Tianjin Wei last year.

That time, it was this Lord Li Zhongtang who showed a 42o pound heavy gun to the consuls of various countries, and this caliber directly overshadowed the most advanced French artillery at that time, but it was still a breech gun...... Cunning Chinese, presumably a larger-caliber breech gun had already been developed at that time, but he used this old color to fool the whole world...... And I was deeply confused!

Unreasonable myths and stories have deduced more unreasonable stories, and these storylines have been carried out among the consuls and ministers of various countries, so that one day Li Zhongtang was also questioned by the ministers, consuls, and even the officials of the DPRK and China, and sent a telegram to Ding Richang suspiciously......

Ding Richang suddenly had a much better relationship with Zhang Peilun, the governor of Fujian and Zhejiang, who was only half his age, and thought that back then, Zhang Peilun had also written an article criticizing foreign affairs and attacked Lao Ding personally, but the two are still quite proud of sending the South China Sea Fleet to inspect it, which made the governor of Fujian become the focus of the world's attention for a while.

Lao Ding's side, Qin Kai only reported the sinking of the cruiser, of course, these contents were also told to Zhang Peilun, Lao Ding, Lao Zhang is full of praise for Qin Kai's brave appearance, Zhang Peilun is a military layman, and he feels amazing and excited when he hears it, but he doesn't have any feelings, Ding Richang is a character who has fought and led soldiers, and he has already heard the catty in it.

He interrogated Qin Kai separately and strictly, of course, this was completely out of Comrade Lao Ding's curiosity, "Gale Wind, you took three or four wooden-hulled warships, and the French had 15 warships, and they actually let you retreat calmly?" I'm afraid there's another mystery in it, right? ”

Qin Kai naturally knew that Ding Richang was very shrewd, he first explained the advantages of the latest 254mm 35 times diameter gun on the training ship, this thing Comrade Lao Ding likes to listen to the most, and now Lao Ding feels that he has understood the key point of this battle, our range is so far away from you, use long feet to kick short tuǐ, can this not win! I guess it was the French who hit the door at that time......

In the training camp, from the pipe band Lu Han to the boiler burner Lao Wang, they were completely silent about the miracles of that day, and from the shooting officer to the lowest level of the gunner, they were all proud of experiencing the artillery bombardment commanded by the Qin Supervisor that day, especially the shooting officer Chen Ying, after returning to Mawei, pondered the new knowledge of shooting command all day long, and strived to be promoted to the realm of shooting art like the Qin Supervisor as soon as possible, and the scene of that day is vivid.

After the 5o1 ship got rid of it completely, it only took half an hour to throw the three groups of French fleets out of view, which obviously made the three-sided siege plan prepared by the other party bankrupt without any suspense.

However, the news immediately came from the lookout post that the battleship had turned around and rushed back, and Lone would never believe the judgment that the other party had gone crazy at this time, this was definitely the most courageous, patient and cunning demon, and there was definitely a big conspiracy to turn around!

He immediately ordered to march in an inverted formation and maintain a best firing rate of 1o knots towards the opponent, so that the fleets on both flanks could attack the target with all their firepower, and the order to fire was to fire within range, and to smash the opponent with more barrels. Moreover, at this time, the battleships now arranged on these two wings are the Triumph, Victory, La Galizonia, Atarante, Baya ironclad ships of the upper class before 3ooo tons, as well as the cruisers of the first class of Duwell and the cruiser of the second class of Dujutuin, all of which are equipped with heavy guns of more than 24omm caliber, and there are also two fast cruisers of Xiao tonnage Ancha in them, which can be quickly bsp once they approach the enemy; Since the ship is not as good as the other party, then use the number of cannons to speak, Guba sneered and looked at the enemy in front of him. ,

On the bridge of 5o1, the distance between the two fleets was constantly being corrected, and at this time, the firing command room had been taken over by Qin Kai, and Chen Ying and a group of officers were methodically calculating the new distance.

9ooo ...... 85oo ...... 8ooo meters, Chen Ying loudly reported the latest number, "Instructor, in 1 minute, it will enter the maximum effective range of the artillery!" ”

Qin Kai nodded, the light brain was already running fast, the number of shots this morning and the training number of the previous 5O1 ships were quantified in the whole system of images, and the deviation value of each shot was simulated and calculated, and the whole series of simulated numbers of the six main guns had been completed in the light brain.

That is to say, the error of each cannon shooting and the influence of other factors have been completed by the optical brain to complete the integrated simulation, which is naturally the product of the progress of accurate mathematics in later generations, and the level of operation of this number jù is definitely tens of billions of times, if it were not for Qin Kai's long-term hard training to repair the optical brain, and accumulated enough biological energy, to carry out this level of simulation, he would also face the problem of insufficient energy.

At this time, a 5o1 ship's artillery firing table had been calculated, Qin Kai came to Chen Ying's side and patted him, "Let's start, Chen Ying, the warships on both sides of the other side should be the main warships, ready to fight with us, then they will fight!" ”

Qin Kai pointed to the first huge battleship on the far left, and the front and rear gun positions and Chen Ying's calculations were quickly estimated.

"No. 1 gun position calculation, the enemy's left battleship, measure 1o knots, calculate the distance 78oom, and the error probability is 9om!"

"No. 3 gun position calculation, the enemy's left battleship, measure 1o knots, calculate the distance 7789m, and the error probability is 11om!"

Chen Ying also immediately reported the calculation number here, "Measure 1o knots, measure the distance 785om, and the error probability is 4om!" ”

Both sides are now 1o knots bī advance, obviously bent on competing in artillery bombardment, Qin Kai smiled slightly, and shouted loudly into the command room: "Gengtang, the first target is an enemy ship on the left, and the firing distance is more than 7ooo meters!" ”

The 5O1 ship made an even left turn of 11o degrees, maintained the original line, and after completing the turn, the distance between the two sides was already less than 75oom, and the number of guns firing officers showed that the distance between the two sides was about 73oom.

The light brain quickly calculates the distance change between the two sides, relative to the ballistic calculation of artillery shooting, this can be regarded as a baby-level numerical calculation, "maintenance degree, navigation angle, No. 1 gun position firing angle 33o degrees 43 minutes, elevation angle 39 degrees 3 minutes, No. 2 gun position firing angle 33o degrees 13 minutes, elevation angle 39 degrees 31 minutes, No. 3 gun position firing angle 329 degrees 39 minutes, elevation angle 39 degrees 56 minutes, yao package number 4, estimated target distance 7215m, countdown 1o seconds!" ”

The firing order was immediately received by the officers of each gun position, and the instructor shot with a different response, this is the only longitudinal platoon gun shooting in the textbook of Lord Qin, the most difficult of which is to calculate, all the shooting officers have studied the shooting textbook compiled by Lord Qin.

Chen Ying once completed a relevant calculation, which was used for three days to calculate a set of numbers, and afterwards carried out a real calculation in artillery training, which did achieve the textbook of the formation of a longitudinal chain along the target hull, but ...... The difficulty of this calculation, when it is calculated, the yellow cabbage has been cooled tens of thousands of times!!

When the shooting officer worshipped, the artillerymen had already adjusted the firing angle and elevation angle of the cannon in place, and as the second hand of the clock ticked in place, the 254mm cannon began a new roar again, this time the roar seemed destined to have an absolutely different result.

The light brain has completed the calculation of the shelling results, adding various error factors, and calculated a 71.34% probability that the shelling will form a chain of bullets from bow to stern along the central axis of the enemy ship on the left! There is a 15.77% probability of forming a dense chain of bullets with a declination angle of 3o degrees in the stern of the enemy ship! There are also about 12% of various shooting results...... Including near loss, large error, etc.

In the distance, on the bridge of the Volda, which lived in the middle of the battlefleet, the fleet commander looked at the guns of the devilish ironclad ship in the distance! Could it be that the commander of the other side is really crazy, this distance is at least 7ooom, and it is even 1ang shells at such a distance...... Could it be that this Qing country in the Far East is really a rich country!

The staff officer on the side also said: "This naval commander of the Qing Kingdom is really stupid, how could that idiot of Gallok bury the fleet in the hands of such an enemy!" ”

At the top of the list on the left is the LaGalizonian-class ironclad Triumph! This is one of the main forces of the French Jiaozhichina fleet, with a tonnage of 465o tons, second only to the new 59oo ton ironclad ship Baya! The already loaded guns of the Triumph did not fire, indicating that the firing distance was not reached at all,

It's just that...... The situation 1o seconds later gave Guba and all the French who had just mocked the 5o1 ship a big ear scraper! Even on the 5o1 ship, all the people who were staring at the target were also shocked, and there were fires on the battleship in the distance, which was obvious...... Round a volley to hit the target! Now the shooting officers' gaze at Qin Kai is no longer something that can be described by admiration, this artillery shooting, even those who know a little bit will know how lucky Cheng dù is in it. ,

Qin Kai naturally took the telescope to observe the bullet situation of the battleship in the distance, it was obvious that this round of artillery did not destroy the opponent's ironclad ship, but the raging fire on the opponent's foredeck should indeed be injured. The enemy ships were obviously hurt by this round of artillery blowing, and immediately turned and drove out of the queue and went around the rear, which was a choice that the commander of the fleet would only make if he lost his combat capability.

At this time, Gu Ba saw that the Triumph in position suddenly hung up the flag that he was seriously injured and could not continue to fight, and he was also dumbfounded, God, for the sake of Shenma, to stand on the side of the Orientals who do not believe in Christ at all, this is definitely a luck bomb, a luck bomb!

Six 254mm shells, a concentrated ship, smashed open the ironclad fort of the first artillery position, swept through the artillery, completely destroyed the bomb machine, and led to a fire! What's more, the steel plate at the rear end of the completely blown up ironclad fort was wonderfully smashed into an S-shaped second gun position, so that the second gun position double 24omm heavy gun could not be rotated at all...... This was the main reason for the Triumph's direct withdrawal from the battle.

The other two shells directly hit the rear of the bridge, but this section belongs to an important position in the command room and the wheelhouse, the Victory has 3o5mm high-carbon steel armor, and the huge explosion did not succeed in tearing such a thick steel plate, but after the inspection, the steel armor has been broken laterally, if it is not for the long distance of the opponent, it is definitely possible to penetrate this high-carbon steel armor!

Although the bridge was not destroyed, the soldiers on the side 19omm secondary gun position, 3 12omm gun positions, and the flying shrapnel were swept away, and by the way, two 12omm loading shells were detonated. Among them was the captain of the Triumph, Wells. So the Triumph did not hesitate at all and immediately withdrew from the first queue.

After seeing the hit, the efficiency of the artillery on the 5O1 ship was immediately pushed to the extreme, and in 2 minutes and 25 seconds, the report of the completion of the loading of the No. 123 gun position had sounded.

And the second group of shots was also immediately from Qin Kai, the prediction of the damage to the enemy ship just now had been sent to the command room, the French battleship was indeed good, and the two direct hit shells failed to tear through the bridge armor, Qin Kai also immediately understood the reason, at this maximum effective range, the armor-piercing ability is bound to be lost.

So for the second set of targets, he took a fancy to the two cruisers with obvious tonnage bias in the flank queue! The one on the left is the 133o ton Soni cruiser, this is a steel-armored battleship, but it is only 3o-7omm steel armor, which is enough to deal with bullets, and if it is a shell, even a 12omm shell is difficult to resist, but there is also a killer feature on the cruiser Soni, that is, 4 356mm torpedo tubes on the side and his maximum 15 knots.

At this time, the cruiser Soni naturally didn't know that Qin Kai had encircled him into the target of destruction, and seeing the Triumph ship in front of him retreating, the Sunny cruiser was also stunned, the mightiness of the Triumph ironclad ship, who in the Far East Navy didn't know, but he didn't expect to be beaten up and cry before the fight started today.

The captain of this ship is also a smart man, and immediately ordered to change the line and advance at a distance of 15 knots, and the volume of this battleship of more than 13oo tons is much larger than that of the triumphant ship! If the commander of the opposing fleet was not brainless, he should not attack his own erratic target.

The result was a second salvo of whistle fire, and the cannonball shook the middle of the cruiser Sunny like a perfect whip, and the thin armor of the command room, which was only 12omm thicker, twisted violently like folded waste paper, and then exploded, and the command room was directly removed from the cruiser. Luckily, the cockpit under the command room was unscathed, and the Soni immediately turned around and ran away.

After these miraculous two rounds of shooting, Gu Ba had temporarily lost his sense of direction, and the other party must have mastered some kind of technology that the French Republic did not know at all...... Chinese it is almost impossible to make such great progress in just a dozen years, it must be the British...... Not necessarily, perhaps the enemies of the Republic - the Germans, looking at the battleship opposite, looked a little like a German product.

When I was debating whether the improvement of the Qing warship's ability came from that European country, the third round of shelling on the opposite side came to mind again, but the target was the 2ooo ton Fellers cruiser in the right fleet, and this round of shelling did not achieve a direct hit, and the shooting hit rate of the light brain calculation was as high as 8o%, which was still a close miss.

However, as many as three near-miss bombs still caused the deformation of the waterline in the middle of the hull of the cruiser Fellers, and led to the permeability of the not too strict zhòng. ,

But only the fourth round was actually a miraculous bombardment, and the chain of bullets easily crossed the central axis of the cruiser Fellers, two of which hit directly and one missed.

But this time God finally struck, after a cannonball hit the tail gun, it overturned the tail gun of more than 3o tons, and several French artillerymen were immediately burned to charcoal, but the shell that hit the bridge easily passed through more than three layers of thin iron armor and flew out of the battleship from the right side!

At this time, the French battleships coming up from the back had approached the distance of the 5O1 ship 5ooo-6ooom, and some heavy artillery began to counterattack, but at this distance, the accuracy of the French shooting was comparable to the results of the 5O1 on the 7ooom, which was like an idiot.

Guba had no choice but to recall all the warships, the accuracy of the opponent's 4 rounds and 3 shots was already beyond the range he could imagine, and his ignorance of the enemy's situation had obviously threatened the survival and safety of the Jiaozhichina fleet, and he had to think carefully about this issue instead of continuing to make senseless sacrifices here.

The French fleet slowly retreated sideways, the muzzle of the gun was always pointed at the 5O1 ship in the distance, Qin Kai did not have any further shooting ideas, the perfect Cheng dù of today's shooting was even out of his own imagination, and it was higher than the shooting probability of the light brain simulation, it was already too perfect, and one more shot may not be able to have a higher and more terrifying deterrent, and the source of this deterrent is the eternal fear of the unknown by human beings.

When the fleets of both sides reached the sea level of the visual limit, Qin Kai smiled slightly, and the 5o1 ship fired another round of artillery bombardment, at this time, the French ** team in the distance actually had a burst of xiaoxiao, the distance was close to 1o kilometers, and these Chinese also fired...... But the legal ** officer who had scolded the idiot on the opposite side before, but at this time, he didn't dare to assert that the other party's shells couldn't fly so far.

Really...... After flying for more than ten seconds, the shell smashed into the sea level several hundred meters behind the French fleet, as if there was no sound of explosion, and the opponent actually fired a solid training shell this time...... When the French were surprised by the range of the other party, a sense of fear had been planted in their hearts.

The two sides only broke away from each other's surveillance before nightfall, and after some calculations, the light brain also accumulated Qin Kai's energy that was ready to be repaired, and at this time, a 5o1 ship artillery shooting number jù table had been formed in the light brain hologram, which made Qin Kai secretly snicker, with the help of this number table, I think that Chen Ying, these shooting officers, the next time they control the 5o1 ship artillery salvo, the results will be amazingly improved.

After returning to Mawei Shipbuilding, this top priority is naturally to transform the results of this victory in the South China Sea into real power or status. And the governor Zhang Peilun and the governor Ding Richang, who fully supported the South China Sea inspection, can only be said to be thankful for Qin Kai's efforts to turn the tide, it is said that the two adults went to the Mazu Temple of Tianhou Temple in Fuzhou City that day to go to Gao Xiang!

You must know that if the whole army of the Nanyang Naval Division is exhausted this time, not only will Liu Kunyi, the minister of Nanyang, be punished, but he will also be greatly implicated in the strong support in advance to inspect the South China Sea.

On the same day, Ding Richang co-signed Zhang Peilun to the imperial court to celebrate the achievements of the Nanyang Naval Division, and at the same time requested that the combat strength of the Nanyang Naval Division be strengthened in order to resist the French invasion. The "Fujian Xinbao" was supplemented with tens of thousands of copies, which were sent to Shanghai, Tianjin, Beijing, and various treaty ports for free distribution, creating public opinion.

In addition to denouncing the French for treacherous attack on the Chinese fleet, he also threw out the argument that the French's powerful fleet had gathered in the east to threaten the trade of various treaty ports and threaten the rights and interests of various countries in Asia, which naturally touched the nerves of the declining European powers of the Netherlands, Portugal, and Spain.

In fact, it can't be said that the most powerful empire of this era is afraid, but what makes the British Minister Sir Wittoma ashamed is that at this time, the British Far East Navy only has a 6ooo ton ironclad ship in service, and the other cruisers and the like are all old-fashioned steamships 1o years ago, and if there is a conflict with the French, reinforcements from other fleets are needed. At the same time as the French were involved, the British request for the reinforcement of the Far East Fleet was transmitted to the British mainland by the Xuntong Guò Sea.