Among the Satsuma fleet, which was completely converted from old ships, the latest and most eye-catching was the "Panlong Maru" shallow water gunboat built by the Fuzhou Shipbuilding Bureau of Qianguo.

While the cruiser "Kaiji" was still finishing up its work, the Fuzhou Shipping Bureau received a secret order from Kagoshima Prefecture in Japan, requesting the construction of a shallow-water heavy gunboat; Ding Yusheng, the shipping minister, naturally accepted this business promoted by Lin Yiqing without hesitation; at this time, the second "Jingqing" of the "Kaiji" class was under intense construction, and in order to hide people's eyes and ears, the Qianguo technicians who were full of innovation and intellectual curiosity created an incredible miracle -- an epoch-making warship was built in a very short period of time.

Soon, a strange little warship was quietly launched on the banks of the Ma River. The small gunboat, named the "Beauryo Maru", was constructed of surplus steel from the Harbour Administration and a 240 mm Krupp breech mortar specially ordered from Germany. The basic type of the "Beauryo Maru" is based on the new British gunboats of the time, and is riveted with an all-iron structure. The displacement is 485 tons, the hull length is 38.2 meters, the width is 88.2 meters, and the draft is 2.7 meters. It was powered by two horizontal composite steam engines with a power of 470 hp and a speed of 10 knots, equipped with one 240 mm Krupp breech mortar. In addition, the bow of the ship is equipped with ramming horns, which "stick out of the ship, like a single horn of a rhino". And the cost is unusually cheap, only 81,200 taels of silver.

Compared with the basic mosquito ship type, the "Panlong Maru" has already had some great surpasses - the first to apply the waterline armor design. The warship was equipped with a 75 mm thick armor belt along the waterline, and a gun room with 75 mm thick armor was also set up on the main deck. In this sense, the "Panryu Maru" is actually the world's first offshore defense ironclad ship.

Although the "Panryu Maru" still has many shortcomings of mosquito boats. If the ship is small and large, the maneuverability is poor. The freeboard is too low, the seafaring performance is poor, and so on. However, it is an epoch-making warship of this era that has applied many advanced technologies, and its performance is in the forefront of the world, and it can be said that it is a mature work of mosquito ships. After its completion, the "Panryu Maru" was soon secretly handed over to the Satsuma Navy, and became a secret weapon of the Satsuma Navy; although the Japanese government's intelligence personnel in Fuzhou heard some rumors about the "Panryu Maru," they did not know anything about it and did not attract the attention of the Japanese government.

And this time, the Japanese government is destined to pay a heavy price for its carelessness back then.

"Lin Jun should have already set off at this time, we can't wait any longer." Kunigan Shinohara, took out his pocket watch and looked at it. "Signal, let's attack!"

Dewa Shigeto nodded, turned around and gave the battle order, and soon, a series of signal flags were raised to the top of the mast.

The sea fog is getting bigger and bigger, and the Satsuma warships are approaching the coast, and at this time Shinohara, Kunikan does not know that his reckless actions have placed the artillery fleet at the intersection of the fire of the four gun batteries of the government army, of course. It can also be said that it was arranged in a position where it was possible to shell 4 batteries of government troops at the same time.

After receiving the order, four troop carriers began to lower their dinghys to transport the Satsuma Army to land.

"Makino-kun, did you hear that? There seems to be movement on the sea? ”

On the main battery of government troops. The gunner, Keno Hirakawa, seemed to hear a cacophony and whispered to his companion Genichiro Makino, who was also on duty.

"Yes! How it seems that a lot of people came! Makino Koichiro also heard these strange voices and nodded.

"This fog is strange!" Another gunner, Hiroyuki Kurita, seemed a little scared. The teeth couldn't help but stand up, "It won't be...... Ghost soldiers crossing the border, right? ”

"What a ghost soldier! Shut up! Don't disturb the morale of the army there! "The commander of the battery, Second Lieutenant Shuichi Sasaki, heard the comments of his subordinates. I couldn't help but curse.

He had been resting in the barracks just now, but the strange sound somehow made him feel a little uneasy. It was to climb the fort to check, and just heard the discussion of several gunners, and couldn't help but reprimand.

After listening to the words of the commander, the gunners were all silent.

Shuichi Sasaki came to the fort and looked around, and there was a white expanse in all directions, and he couldn't see anything clearly.

Osamu Sasaki listened carefully, and when he heard the calls with a Satsuma accent clearly, his face couldn't help but change greatly.

"Fire!" He yelled and gave the order.

"Fire? Sir, this ...... Where are you going? ...... "The gunners were blinded.

"Hurry up and fire! You fools! Didn't you hear that? The squire is there! ”

The gunners did not dare to slack off, and quickly rushed to the cannon and busily stuffed a huge shell into the chamber.

Soon, after the loading was completed, the gunners pulled the arquebus.

"Boom!" Tongues of fire erupted from the huge muzzle.

Shinohara Kunikan and Dewa Shigeen, who were standing on the flying bridge of the "Raiden Maru", both heard this muffled sound, and their faces changed in unison.

There was a shrill whistling sound, and then a loud sound of a cannonball entering the water was heard on the sea very close to the starboard side of the "Raiden Maru", and as the water column rose high, it splashed down on the ship, causing a panicked shout.

"Enemy artillery fire!"

The lookout of the "Raiden Maru" pointed to the faint red light that flashed through the thick fog on the shore and shouted hoarsely.

As soon as the lookout's voice fell, another whistling sound came, and huge columns of water rose one after another around the "Raiden Maru" and "Mt. Fuji".

The seawater from the shells splashed onto the Satsuma warship, as if a basin of cold water had been poured on the face, drenching Shinohara Kuniki and Dewa Shigeto.

"Quick! We need to get out of here! A Satsuma officer said with some alarm.

"Fire!" Shinohara Kunigan yelled.

"But, General, the fog is too great for us to see the location of the enemy's battery......" Before Izuwa Shigeto's words could be finished, he was interrupted by Shinohara Kunigan.

"Don't bother with the fog! Just shoot in the direction of the fire! Shinohara Kunikan pointed to the little red light in the sea fog in the distance and ordered loudly. Dewa Shigeyuan hurriedly gave the order and personally ran into the wheelhouse to steer the ship, so that the "Raiden Maru" could leave its original position.

Judging only by the speed of the enemy's shelling and the explosion of the shells into the water, the enemy used a new breech cannon with a fast rate of fire and great power. Although an old gunboat like the "Raiden Maru" has been refitted, it is unbearable to take a hit.

While the Raiden Maru was dodging the shelling, the larger Mt. Fuji also adjusted its position, and when he saw the water columns rising from the sea around the Mt. Fuji, Shinohara Kunimichi couldn't help but sweat in his palms.

Despite the heavy shelling by government forces, Dewa Shigeto's heart was most worried about the transport ships.

Soon, the 120-millimeter cannon on the Raiden Maru roared, and then the Satsuma warships such as the Mt. Fuji also opened fire one after another.

Although the view was obscured by the sea fog, the well-trained Satsuma gunners judged the position of the enemy battery by the muzzle flash of the enemy's artillery fire and began to return fire fiercely.

A series of shells flew towards the government battery, and a large red light suddenly rose from the dense fog, and the sound of a thunderous explosion resounded through the heavens and the earth, and despite the dense fog, people could still clearly feel the power of the Satsuma fleet when firing a salvo.

After a while, as if the gods in the sky wanted to see more clearly, and did not want the warring sides to fight each other in the clouds and fog, a strong sea breeze suddenly blew up, and after a while, the sea fog was blown away, and the scenery on the sea gradually became clearer.

The government troops on the fort also saw the position of the Satsuma warship on the sea, and after re-aiming, they opened fire with all their might, and Shinohara Kunikan was shocked to see the government battery on the coast that was spewing flames and smoke from time to time, like a monster that had just woken up.

Such a battle was also the first for a famous samurai like him.

"Why didn't the 'Panlong Maru' fire?" Shinohara Kunikan asked in surprise when he noticed that all the Satsuma warships were firing their guns at the shore, and that the cutting-edge "Uryu Maru" remained silent and broke away from the queue and headed for the shore.

"The combat methods of the 'Panlong Maru' are different from those of each ship, and Lin Jun has formulated a special combat plan for the 'Panlong Maru' and allows the 'Panlong Maru' to take specific actions according to the situation on its own." Shigeyuan Idewa explained.

"That's right!" Hearing that Dewa Shigeyuan said that Lin Yiqing had a separate arrangement for the "Panlong Maru", Shinohara's Kunigan was relieved, at this time, although the enemy's artillery bombardment was very fierce, as the former enemy commander-in-chief of the army, there was no need for him to stand on the flying bridge with Dewa Shigeyuan, risking being hit by enemy shells, but at this time he ignored such a danger, and his attention was all focused on the small "Panlong Maru".

The "Panlong Maru" is a new type of gunboat built by the Fuzhou Shipbuilding Bureau of Qianguo for the Satsuma Domain, and its design requirements were also put forward by Lin Yiqing, who asked Lin Yiqing to equip the Satsuma Navy with such a strange small gunboat, Oyama Tsunashi and Kirino Toshiaki and Shinohara Kunigan were very puzzled, and they didn't know what Lin Yiqing wanted to do with it, but Saigo Takamori trusted Lin Yiqing and instructed Oyama Tsunashi to handle it according to Lin Yiqing's requirements, so the Satsuma Navy had such a strange little gunboat.

After the "Panlong Maru" joined the battle column of the Satsuma Navy, Lin Yiqing specially selected the captain and crew of this small gunboat and conducted targeted secret training for them. At that time, there were many people who were a little puzzled by Lin Yiqing's efforts on this strange little gunboat, but for the sake of secrecy and unconditional trust in Lin Yiqing, no one objected to this. (To be continued......)

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