Chapter 210: Battle of the Ryukyus

The 305-mm main gun of the battleship Renwon fired a shell, but because of the darkness of the night, it exploded behind the Matsushima, setting off a huge wave of water. Pen & Fun & Pavilion www.biquge.info At this time, the cruiser Itsukushima, the "lookout ship" of the Matsushima, rushed out.

After seeing the firepower of the Renyuan, Ito knew that no single battleship could defeat the ironclad ship in front of him, so Ito ordered the main battleship to get rid of the other warships of the Huaxia Empire as much as possible, and go all out to attack the ironclad ship Renyuan.

Hayashi ordered the battleship to move at full speed and swoop down on the Japanese flagship, the Matsushima. Jingyuan and Laiyuan also followed behind Renyuan, and the three main battleships tried to maintain a triangular battle formation.

But at this time, the Japanese battleships knew that time was the most unfavorable for them. There must have been other Chinese warships moored in the sea. Therefore, Japan can only make a quick decision. In order to achieve results in naval warfare, Japan adopted the strategy of exchanging ships for ships.

Commanded by Yokoo Mitsuyoshi, Itsukushima accelerated to the front of the Matsushima, and he would face the first wave of attacks from the Ninto to buy time for the Matsushima behind. I saw the Itsukushima rushing towards the Renyuan.

The first mate of the Renyuan said to Lin Yongsheng; "Commander! They're going to collide with us, so let's avoid it right away! ”

Lin Yongsheng said; "There is no time, we must not let them go, we must leave these Japanese devils here, if we let them escape, we will be a big crime, don't change direction, just hit it!

Our 8,000-ton ironclad ship has no reason to be afraid of this Itsukushima! ”

After receiving the order, the first mate spoke into the microphone; "With heavy fuel, the speed is increased the most!"

At this time, the other Japanese warships were also looking for the Zhiyuan and the Laiyuan to fight, and it was obvious that the pressure on the two battleships was very high, and the cruiser Hashitori, with a displacement of 4,178 tons, commanded by Hidaka Shoshinaru, faced the cruiser Keeto with a displacement of 2,900 tons, commanded by Li He.

The 3,777-ton Fuso cruiser, commanded by Arai You, was against the 2,900-ton Laiyuan cruiser under the command of Huang Jianxun. Both sides were firing at each other on the sea, and the Renyuan was hit by two shells because the target was relatively large.

Luckily, it was all in the front chord and didn't cause much damage. The Ninto didn't slow down, and neither did the Itsukushima. At the moment when the two battleships collided, the rear of the Itsukushima's hull was raised high due to inertia.

However, because of the weight of the Itsukushima itself, the hull of the Renyuan also caused serious wobble. The front of the battleship Renyuan was raised to a height of two meters. It's like being hit by a huge storm and it's the biggest swing.

The personnel in the command room of the Itsukushima all rushed to the front, but in the command room of the Renyuan, Lin Yongsheng and his command staff had to grab something, otherwise they would be left behind.

Lin Yongsheng grabbed the microphone, because he would not move backwards, he shouted loudly at the microphone; "Accelerate, accelerate, must accelerate! Crush it! Crush him! ”

At this time, both sides are accelerating, and both are using maximum power. Whoever has a little more strength will have a world of difference in the results. If the strength of Itsukushima is a little greater, then the ironclad ship of Renyuan will be "overturned!" ”

If the power of the Ninto had been stronger, the Japanese cruiser Itsukushima would have been crushed to the bottom of the sea. Thick black smoke was already coming out of the chimneys on both sides, which at that time might have lasted two minutes, but the combatants on both sides were feeling extremely tormented.

Lin Yongsheng saw that the first mate and the third officer who had been able to regain their balance had all returned to their posts, and the third mate had moved the ratchet that indicated the speed of the ship to the largest position. Now everything depends on the actual operation of the operation room below.

At this time, the front string of the Renyuan was raised, and the first mate found out. I immediately understood what would happen if I continued like this. So he turned around and left the conning tower and went down to the power compartment in the middle of the hull to command.

Lin Yongsheng ordered all artillery fire not to stop fighting, change the gun position, adjust the angle, and find a favorable position to open fire. Now the Laiyuan and Jingyuan are also around the Renyuan, fighting against other Japanese ships.

At this time, the chimney of the Itsukushima suddenly burst into flames, and it seemed that Itsukushima had made a trick. At this time, the elevation angle of the Renyuan's hull was further raised, and fifteen degrees was the critical value of the Renyuan. The keel in front of the Renyuan has already exposed half a sphere.

At this time, the chimney in the middle of the Renyuan also burst into flames, which is a sign of boiler burning light oil, and the hull of the Renyuan was lowered, but Itsukushima was still the dead condemnation of the Renyuan.

At this time, the other two chimneys of the Renyuan also began to emit flames, and the Itsukushima had no chance to resist. Because of the collision between the Itsukushima, the front string of the Itsukushima was stuck at the front chord of the Renyuan.

As the strength of the Renyuan gradually increased, the cruiser Itsukushima was constantly pressed into the sea by the ironclad ship of Renyuan. Just as Itsukushima was pressed underneath the front string of the Ninen, the front main gun of the Itsukushima opened fire, aiming at the front chord of the Ninen.

The front chord is the thickest part of the Renyuan iron armor, and the thickest part has a special steel plate of 1.5 meters. The cruiser's shells left two huge craters on the front chord of the Ninwon, but these two craters were much larger than the previous ones.

Because of the angle problem, the Renyuan could not effectively design Itsukushima, so it could only accelerate further and increase the horsepower. As the Renyuan continued to increase its horsepower, the inclination of Itsukushima's hull continued to increase, and half of the propeller on the left side of the rear had already left the water, and the water waves raised by the propeller splashed an arc-shaped splash.

Just when the front end of Itsukushima was almost pressed into the sea by the Renyuan, the Matsushima had already accelerated towards the Renyuan, with the purpose of rescuing the cruiser Itsukushima, which was pinned underground by the Renyuan.

Lin Yongsheng ordered the main gun to fire at the rushing Songdao, and the two battleships began to fire at each other. The Jingyuan and Laiyuan ships were entangled by other Japanese warships, and there was no way to come to the rescue. The main guns of the Renyuan hit the Matsushima, and the front deck of the battleship Matsushima was already on fire.

But the Matsushima had no intention of slowing down, and still rushed towards the Renyuan. In that crucial thirty seconds, Matsushima also collided with Renyuan, this time with a large swing to the left. Then, under the influence of gravity, it begins to shake to the right.

The armor of the Matsushima left a huge deep pit on the starboard side of the Renwon, and the artillery fire on both sides did not stop throughout the contact. They were all fiercely tilting their shells at each other.

The Itsukushima was rescued by the Matsushima and was freed from the crushing of the ironclad ship Renwon. After his two propellers fell into the water, he first pushed towards Renyuan, and then immediately began the difficult process of adjusting direction.

Sticking to the left line of the Renwon, the Matsushima knew about it. To deal with an ironclad ship like the Renyuan, it must not work by ramming. So he also began to break away from the Renyuan.

But Renyuan just didn't give up, just kept staring at Matsushima, Matsushima had no choice at this time, in order to preserve the strength of the Japanese Navy, had to temporarily put down its dignity. So the Matsushima thought about where to run the Jingyuan and Laiyuan, which had been surrounded.

It was really Lin Yongsheng who was a little sober, if he didn't go over to rescue Jingyuan and Laiyuan, these two battleships would soon be sunk by other Japanese warships, so Renyuan began to rush into the encirclement of Jingyuan and Laiyuan, chasing Qiaoli and Fusang around.

It's been nearly two hours now, and Ito knows that he must evacuate now, otherwise he will be shut down and beaten, so on the command platform of the Matsushima, the red signal light is lit up, and it is constantly flashing.

The Japanese fleet began to gradually disengage from the battle, and after seeing the pressure on the Laiyuan and Keiyuan decrease, the Renyuan began to focus on Ito's Matsushima again. Ito Youheng is also a student in the United States, but he really didn't see that this Lin Yongsheng was such a person who admits death, he just doesn't know how to give up!

At this time, the two cruisers Nieyama and Chikuwa, which were following behind the Japanese Combined Fleet, turned their bows and headed towards the Ninen. It seems that these two battleships were given to Lin Yongsheng by Ito Yuhyung as a meeting gift.

The main gun on the Renyuan hit the deck of the cruiser Chikuwa with a shell, and the speed of the Chikuwa slowly slowed down, and the Nijuyama was far away from the ironclad ship Renyuan, and began to fire at the Renyuan, and at the same time the Nijuyama changed course.

He hoped that Renyuan would abandon the pursuit of the main battleship group, but Renyuan simply ignored the cruiser with a displacement of only 2,349 tons. Even the Chikuwa, which passed by, was too lazy to fire a single shell to sink it.

The gunboats and torpedo boats of the Chinese Empire in the back were not so easy to talk to, and the ship, which had lost power, was sunk by these gunboats and torpedo boats less than thirty nautical miles off the coastline of Naha.

Nieyama saw that Renyuan ignored him, and simply attacked the Jingyuan and Laiyuan who were already injured, and at this time Renyuan also realized that he was alone, so Lin Yongsheng ordered the battleship to come back immediately and sank the Japanese Nieyama light cruiser with a displacement of 2199 tons.

At the cost of serious injuries to two cruisers, the Imperial Navy finally held the port of Naha, and at this time, the battle in the northern defense area of Naha also took a turn for the better, and the Japanese began to weaken after paying 20,000 dead and wounded, and after leaving tens of thousands of corpses on the beach.

At this time, Ding Ruchang received the battle report, but he didn't have any happy expression, he knew that an unusually monstrous disaster was coming. If it is not handled well this time, not only will he, the newly promoted marshal, not be able to keep it, but it will also be a catastrophe for the Royal Navy of the Chinese Empire!

Ding Ruchang immediately ordered, using a telegram, to ask where the other navies had gone, especially the battleship Qinglong, and immediately pursued and fled the Japanese fleet, hoping to be saved before it caused a catastrophe.

Then a staff officer came running and said; "Report Marshal! The telegram from Admiral Liu Buyun, commander of the First Fleet, has arrived! ”

Ding Ruchang said; "Read!"

The staff officer said; "Chief of Staff! These Japanese must have a conspiracy, I am now at least more than 2,000 nautical miles away from Naha, unless I can make the battleship grow wings and fly, otherwise I will not be able to catch up with the Japanese ship, so let the southeast coast prepare early! ”

Ding Ruchang asked; "Did the First Fleet make a return?"

The staff officer said; "This General Liu Buyun didn't mention it!"

Ding Ruchang stomped his feet angrily, didn't you give my order? Let him lead the fleet to return at once, return at once!

The staff officer had never seen such a marshal, who had been very mild-mannered in the past, and he spoke at once; "Marshal! I'll send a telegram right away! ”

At this time, another staff officer came over and said to Ding Ruchang; "Marshal! Commander Lin Zengtai and Commander Deng Shichang have already led the Second and Third Fleets to come back, and the Second Fleet has sailed to the East China Sea according to your orders! ”

Ding Ruchang raised his head and sighed; "I hope it's urgent!"

。。。。。。

At this time, the Ministry of the Interior in Beijing, the Ministry of National Defense in Nanjing, and Li Hongzhang on Liugong Island in Vladivostok both received war reports, and Li Hongzhang at this time changed his usual decadence and slump, and after seeing the war report, he immediately called Marshal Shang Rongqian of the General Staff and Li Chengmou, commander of the Marine Corps in Dalian.

On the second day, the Beijing Times, the Tianjin Guardian, Xi'an Early Know, the Shanghai Declaration, The Sun, Pravda and other major newspapers reported on the naval battle that took place in Naha.

praised the bravery and victory of the navy, and used extremely glorious words, Lin Yongsheng became a hero, and the people have begun to have voices, and Lin Yongsheng should be given a military rank. At this time, Lin Yongsheng was the commander of the main battleship of the empire, and he was already with the rank of vice admiral.

However, in the Nanjing government, the four core cabinet members of Tang Shaoyi, He Ziyuan, Zhao Bingjun, and Tang Rongjun immediately convened an urgent announcement meeting. At the scene of the meeting, Tang Shaoyi said; "Now is not the time to celebrate, these Japanese warships disappeared after Naha, and then disappeared, and the navy is searching for it with all its might!

At this time, a young man in a light gray tunic with two "text" badges on his chest on the left side rushed to the stage, which made the bodyguards sitting in the front row stand up, but these bodyguards did not stop the young man.

The young man took a few steps, rushed to the front desk, and came to Tang Shaoyi's ear to say something!

Tang Shaoyi's face sank, and then he said a few words to He Ziyuan next to him, and the reporters below and the other officials attending the press conference began to whisper earnestly, and their voices gradually became louder, and finally the real hall became like a noisy market.

In the end, Zhao Bingjun, the tallest, vice premier who was also a soldier and an important member of the Chinese Imperial Cabinet, stood up and stretched out two hands to signal the people at the scene to be quiet.

People gradually quieted down, and they all raised their heads to look at Zhao Bingjun. Zhao Bingjun took a deep breath and said; "I'm here to release the unfortunate news that the city of Fuzhou has been attacked by the Japanese army and has suffered heavy losses!"

The crowd below exploded all at once, all shocked by such news, how could it be!

What are the navies of the Chinese Empire doing! How could such an important town as Fuzhou be attacked. There must be a traitor in the army, it must be Li Hongzhang's old bastard, who has always been at odds with Japan's Ito Hirobumi! “

At this time, Zhao Bingjun still wanted to signal the crowd to calm down, but the people were obviously angry. Some people began to ask Tang Shaoyi loudly, how did you do it, why didn't you send troops to protect Fuzhou in advance.

Fuzhou is an important industrial port city in the Chinese Empire and a well-known city of chemical and textile industries in China. There are too many people and factories concentrated in the coastal areas, and this time the Japanese attack, Fuzhou must have become a hell on earth.

The Chinese Empire spent so much money to feed the army, but now the army cannot protect the safety of the common people. It really makes sense, and the more people at the scene talked, the more angry they became. Tang Shaoyi saw this situation and knew that there was no way to control the situation now, so she had to evacuate the scene under the protection of bodyguards and armed police forces.

Li Hongzhang also received the news that Fuzhou was attacked by the Japanese fleet in Weihai, and many kinds of his endings appeared in his heart. But now the most concerned thing is what these hateful Japanese warships will do next!

Shortly after Fuzhou was attacked, Taizhou was also attacked by the Japanese Combined Fleet, and the Japanese Combined Fleet was replenished with coal, which once again increased the endurance of the Japanese Combined Fleet.

The two naval fleets, which were in pursuit, accelerated the journey. However, because it was chasing at a longer distance, the Japanese were still deliberately concealing their tracks, which brought great difficulties to the pursuit!

On March 28, 1895, the demonstrators surrounded Liugong Island, the first headquarters of the Chinese Imperial Navy, and the armed police were responsible for protecting the outermost periphery, the inner part was the protection of the marines, and the innermost part was the navy's sailors.

The crowd shouted, let Li Hongzhang be laid off, Li Hongzhang came out to explain clearly, the angry crowd, did not turn over any place to vent, in Nanjing's capital government, under the cabinet office building, the crowd has been gathered for three days.

On the first day, Tang Shaoyi went outside to try to explain, hoping that the people would not affect the normal order of the empire and not interfere with the normal operation of the empire. But at this moment, a gunshot rang out, and Tang Shaoyi left the scene under the protection of bodyguards.

An officer of the armed police force, who was responsible for maintaining order, gave the order to disperse the crowd. Isolated by iron shields, the crowd was gradually divided. But then the gunshots rang out again, and some armed police soldiers had fallen into the crowd of protesters. The fallen warrior never got back up again!

There was a fierce clash between the out-of-control crowd and the armed police who maintained order. It was because he was afraid that the situation would get out of control, so Tang Shaoyi ordered the armed police force not to carry any thermal weapons other than batons and shields.

But now many of the people of the Chinese Empire are legally in possession of guns, and these people took out their guns and began to shoot at the armed police who blocked them. And because of the crowding, there have been stampedes. The people who were out of control shouted, Tang Shaoyi came out, explain clearly, come out and explain clearly!

Tang Shaoyi, who was standing on the second floor, saw the chaotic scene and wanted to break free from the bodyguards and armed police who bound him. Tang Shaoyi said; "Let me out, the most important thing now is to restore order, and I can't go on in such chaos!"

But his bodyguards and armed police just wouldn't let him leave here, because if someone outside could fire the first shot at the prime minister, then he would definitely be able to fire a second shot. These people who are responsible for the prime minister's security must not take this risk.

At this time, Zhao Bingjun called the armed police force and immediately sent additional armed police forces to protect government agencies, if this place was captured, the entire Chinese empire would become a laughing stock in the world. At the same time, Zhao Bingjun also called Lieutenant General Lu Yiren.

There is also a regular army stationed in Nanjing, and the soldiers of this army are not for watching and playing. At this time, the chaos outside has not eased, and the people with guns have pushed to the barricades set up by the armed police in front of the government building.

Armed police soldiers without weapons, piled up behind shields. Try to maintain the balance of your body, because once you are pushed down or dragged by the crowd, it is difficult to have a chance to survive today.

At this time, Zhao Bingjun pushed away the crowd around him and said; "I'm going out to stabilize people's emotions, I can't go on like this!"

The bodyguards came up, and one of them spoke; "Premier Zhao, let's wait until the army comes, it's really dangerous to go out now!"

Zhao Bingjun said; "I'm afraid we won't have time to wait for the army to arrive!"

Get out of the way!

This bodyguard didn't seem to hear it, standing motionless in front of Zhao Bingjun!

Zhao Bingjun was born in the military, and his body was not an ordinary stick, so he pushed away the bodyguard who was blocking him and came outside. These bodyguards didn't dare to be careless, and used their bodies to form a circle around Zhao Bingjun.

Seeing that a high-ranking official came out, the crowd became a little less restless and slowly quieted down.

Coming to the steps of the main entrance of the building, Zhao Bingjun said condescendingly; "Fathers and fellow villagers! Something that should not have happened today has happened, and there has never been such a serious incident of violence since the implementation of the two-capital system in the Empire! ”

Those little warriors who were killed, what was their fault? The corpse that you have only put under your feet is innocent, and your demands can be made peacefully. Now that the Imperial Government has granted every citizen the greatest freedom, what could not be properly negotiated?

You elect representatives, the government is willing to negotiate with you, we are originally a family, we are all for the Chinese Empire tomorrow will be better, our real enemy is the Japanese devils who are getting closer and closer! ”

At this time, a gunshot rang out, Zhao Bingjun was shot, and the two people around him fell in a pool of blood, and the crowd was chaotic again.

The armed police force that arrived first carried weapons and threw tear gas into the crowd, and the fire trucks that came by car also began to pour water on the crowd, hoping that the crowd would disperse.

On April 5, the first year of Guangming, the battleship Xuanwu, which had completed the assembly of weapons at the Zhoushan Naval Port in Shanghai, and the Japanese Combined Naval Fleet, which was training in the waters off Chongming Island, encountered the Japanese Combined Naval Fleet.

The battleship Xuanwu, with its own fleet of frigates, rushed towards the Japanese Combined Naval Fleet with its personnel, ammunition, and training!