"It's burning the bodies of the martyrs aboard the Ishikawa Maru." Yuuki Rehei sighed, "This is the only way, otherwise, when the enemy army arrives, no one will be able to collect the corpses for them." ”

All seven of them hung their heads silently, Yuuki Rehei put down his rifle and clapped his hands together three times, and the other six followed his example and high-fived three times as a sign of mourning.

After a moment of silence, the seven men quickened their pace and ran in the direction of their destination, the abandoned lighthouse.

Finally, we came to this long-abandoned lighthouse.

This is an old stone lighthouse, the rolling dark clouds almost hit the top of this tower, when the lightning flashes, this old lighthouse in disrepair looks particularly pale and gloomy, Kimura Yutsune suddenly felt that this lighthouse seemed to be a little slanted, as if it was about to be crushed by dark clouds, and it would fall towards him at any time.

Several people entered the lighthouse, which had been abandoned for many years, the top of the lighthouse was empty, the lampstand and the reflector were long gone, only some bronze fragments remained on the edges, and Yuuki Rehei looked carefully at every corner of the room, and found nothing of value.

A ray of sunlight suddenly shone through the gap between the dark clouds and the dark clouds began to dissipate, and with the strong sea breeze, the sea fog began to recede, and the lighthouse became less gloomy.

Standing on the top of the lighthouse, Yuuki Rehei looked at the sea in the distance, and suddenly felt very open-minded.

When the fog cleared, the situation on the sea was unobstructed - the unloading of the transport ships had been largely completed, but many small boats were still shuttling back and forth, transporting soldiers and supplies. Brigades of Japanese Army soldiers have already assembled on the coast. There were also large quantities of unloaded supplies and weapons. The servants who had come with the ship were loading them onto the cart and carrying them away. There was a busy scene everywhere.

Seeing that the landing operation was nearing its end and was not disturbed any more, a large stone fell to the ground in Yuuki Rehei's heart.

Soon, all the loyal soldiers of the Imperial Japanese Army will go ashore and occupy Inchon with great determination and courage, and then storm Seoul, the capital of Korea.

Soon......

In the distance, a few small black dots caught Yuuki Reihei's attention.

Rehei Yuuki suddenly realized what those black spots might be. All at once, the blood all over his body seemed to fill his eyeballs.

His eyes widened, staring at the black dots that were rapidly getting bigger.

The people on the shore also saw what it was, and immediately panicked, and let out a noise like a landslide and tsunami.

At this moment, the commander of the Japanese convoy aboard the "Tsukushi", Rear Admiral Inoue Yoshishin, like his men and soldiers on land, was filled with fear.

In his telescope, the figures of two huge ironclad ships clearly appeared.

And the red dragon flag flying high on the mast of the ship has already indicated its identity.

Lin Yiqing stood on the flybridge of the "Longwei" ironclad ship, when he clearly saw Inoue's eyes full of fear from the telescope. A cruel sneer appeared at the corner of his mouth.

The Japanese probably never dreamed that the ironclad ships of the Qianguo. Will it appear in front of them so quickly, right?

The "Longwei" class ironclad ship is the first class of ironclad ship built by Qianguo itself, and the earliest idea came from Lin Yiqing, who sent his sketch of his idea to Chen Wei in England, who designed it in detail, drew the drawings, and then sent it to him, and then built it by the shipbuilders of the Xiamen shipyard under the guidance of French consultants. In order to ensure the quality of the project and the advance of the construction period, the Prime Minister of Shipping, Qingbei Le Yikuang, can be said to have done everything possible to mobilize the enthusiasm of engineering and technical personnel and shipbuilders, and finally made the Xiamen Shipyard build the ironclad ship in less than a year, creating a miracle in the history of the oriental shipbuilding industry.

The "Longwei" class ironclad ship is a coastal defense ironclad ship, with a displacement of 5,870 tons, a length of 80.48 meters, a width of 12.26 meters, a draft of 6 meters, the main engine adopts a composite horizontal steam engine and 8 coal-fired boilers, two-shaft propulsion, and the power measured during sea trials is 5,700 horsepower, and the speed is 15.2 knots. The main armament of the "Longwei" class ironclad ships is two 305 mm 9083 Krupp breech steel hoop guns, with a body length of 7625 mm and a caliber of 25 times. The secondary guns were 3 140 mm Ghanaian guns, 1 on each side and 1 in the tail centerline, and 8 40 mm Haggaeus five-barreled guns and 8 Gatling guns. In addition, the bow of the "Longwei" class is equipped with a sharp angle of attack under water.

The main armor belt of the "Longwei" class ironclad ships is 9-11 inch iron armor and 10-14 inch wooden backing, and the deck armor is 2-3 inches, using British-made steel-faced iron armor.

A total of five "Longwei" class ironclad ships are being built, of which the "Longwei" and "Pingyuan" ships belonging to the Navy's Naval Division were built by the Xiamen Shipyard, the "Longwu" ships belonging to the Beiyang Naval Division were built by the British Armstrong Company, the "Qingyuan" ships were built by the French shipyard in La Sena, and the "Guiyuan" ships assigned to the Satsuma Navy were built by the German Volkeng Shipyard. Due to the strict secrecy of this by the Qianguo side, although the "Guiyuan" was built in Germany and Japan also ordered the "Saxony"-class ironclad ship in Germany, the Japanese knew nothing about the construction of the "Guiyuan" ship.

The three "Longwei" class ironclad ships ordered by foreign countries have not yet been completed, while the two built in China have been completed ahead of schedule, and after their completion, they have carried out various tests intensively, completed their outfitting in a very short time, equipped them with all their weapons, and just raised their flags and entered service two months ago.

What is different from the past is that although the "Longwei" and "Pingyuan" belong to the Ship Administration and Naval Division, many of the officers and men on the ships come from the Beiyang Naval Division, because the Beiyang Naval Division has a second-class ironclad ship "Longxiang" captured from Japan, and in order to be able to become an army as quickly as possible after obtaining more ironclad ships in the future, Beiyang Minister Li Shaoquan stipulated that the officers and men of all ships and the graduates of the Naval Academy should go to the "Longxiang" for internships, because the officers and men of the Beiyang Naval Division are more familiar with the ironclad ships. And after the "Longwei" and "Pingyuan" entered service, in order to be able to quickly form combat strength to deal with possible maritime threats. At the suggestion of Lin Yiqing. The shipmaster and sailor "borrowed talents from the Beiyang". A large number of skilled officers and men of the Beiyang Naval Division were dispatched to the "Longwei" and "Pingyuan" two ships for training and running-in. Thanks to the unremitting efforts of the officers and men, the "Longwei" and "Pingyuan" warships are now able to "crisscross the sea" and "contend with the enemy."

At this time, although the torrential rain subsided, the wind and waves were still very strong, but the "Longwei" ship under Lin Yiqing's feet was moving fast and steady, which made him secretly sigh in his heart.

He knew that the foundation for victory had been laid.

The sudden appearance of the ironclad ships of the Qianguo Navy was a great shock to the officers and men of the Japanese Navy and Army. The most frightened is Inoue Yoshixin, who was once the general of the defeated army.

During the Southwest War, Inoue Yoshishin once commanded the Japanese Navy's "Fuso" ironclad ship to engage the Satsuma Navy, although some results were achieved, but in the end the "Fuso" sank under the combined strike of the Satsuma Navy's ironclad ship, pole minecraft and manpower submarine, and Inoue Yoshishin was also captured by the Satsuma Army, and it was only because of Lin Yiqing's leniency that he finally saved his life. However, the Satsuma army was defeated by the attack of the Japanese-Russian forces, and Hayashi Yiqing released all the prisoners on the eve of leading the Satsuma army and civilians to retreat to the Ryukyus, and Inoue Yoshishin was able to return to Tokyo.

After the war, in order to rebuild the navy, Japan's Meiji government reused many talents who had been captured by the Satsuma Army, and Inoue Yoshishin was one of them.

For the "mighty imperial grace" of Emperor Meiji. Inoue Yoshishin is grateful and vows to do whatever it takes to serve the Imperial Kingdom. Like this "blue sky" action to "help the DPRK break away from the dry country and become independent." Inoue Yoshishin took the initiative to ask for help, which was approved by the Japanese government.

Before coming to Korea, Inoue Yoshishin can be said to have done a great deal of preparatory work; based on a large amount of information on the DPRK and the DPRK provided by the Intelligence Department of the Ministry of the Navy, he drew up a thorough battle plan accordingly, and he and his staff studied the corresponding tactics of the "Tsukushi" class cruisers with his staff on the most powerful armored cruisers of the Qianguo Navy, the "Yangmu" and "Kaiji" classes, in order to win a victory.

However, he never imagined that when the Qianguo Navy appeared in front of him, the opponents of the "Tsukushi"-class cruisers under his command were neither the "Yangwu" class nor the "Kaiji" class, but two large ironclad ships that he had never seen before!

Although the 10-inch (254 mm) cannon of the "Tsukushi" claimed to be able to penetrate the armor of the ironclad, when the ironclad of the Qianguo really appeared in front of them, the officers and men of the "Tsukushi" inevitably panicked.

"Could it be the British Navy's 'Rupert'......"

At this time, the captain of the "Tsukushi" ship, Matsumura Masashi Shaozuo, still couldn't believe that it was the Qianguo ironclad ship he saw, and he actually said such a brainless sentence.

"Look clearly! Matsumura-kun! Flags on the opposing mast! Inoue Ryoshi was furious when he heard this, and although he was scared in his heart, he was still calm on the surface, while the captain wrote his fear on his face and transmitted it to others through words.

"Signal! Attack separately! We attack the first ironclad ship of the Qianguo! Let the 'Aikawa' attack the second ship! Inoue ordered loudly, "The rest of the warships protect the transport ships from enemy fire!" ”

"Yes!" Matsumura said yes loudly, then turned around to deliver the order.

"Why fight on their own?" Seeing the signal sent by the "Tsukushi", the captain of the "Aikawa", Nomura Sadasasa, said with some puzzlement.

"The commander's consideration may be to give full play to our speed advantage and lure the Qianguo ironclad ship away!" The first mate Mori Matachiro said on the side, "After all, our task is to cover the landing of the army, and although the army has basically completed the landing, the personnel and materials are on the coast, and if it is shelled by the ironclad ships of the Qianguo, it will suffer great losses, so the commander will have this order." ”

"You're right! Can't let the Qianguo ironclad ship get close to the army! Nomura gritted her teeth and said in a deep voice.

Soon, the two Japanese ramming cruisers whistled and rushed head-on towards the Qianguo warship.

"The Japanese are coming up."

On the flybridge of the "Longwei", Deng Zhengqing put down the binoculars in his hand, turned his head and said to Lin Yiqing: "Lord's Department, do you want to wait for the Japanese to fire the first shot first?" The clear stream in the DPRK and China is going to 'provoke me to open'. ”

Lin Yiqing noticed the wicked smile on the corner of Deng Zhengqing's mouth and laughed.

"Bullshit's 'can't provoke me'! The Japanese have landed in Incheon, and they still 'can't provoke me'! Lin Yiqing looked at the mast, "Raise the flag of the general of the Benjue Department!" Hit me hard! ”

"Subordinates obey!" Deng Zhengqing deliberately pretended to bow to Lin Yiqing and turned around. The expression on his face turned hideous.

"As soon as the enemy ship comes into range. Immediately open fire! He yelled viciously.

The huge round cannon cover of the "Longwei" slowly rotated. The muzzles of the two huge 305-mm guns protruded from the guns and pointed at the Japanese ships.

"Boom!" With a loud bang, the muzzle of the cannon erupted dark red flames, carrying a large amount of black smoke, like a dragon roaring in flames.

At about the same moment, the muzzle of the main gun of the Japanese ship "Tsukushi" also spewed flames.

The warships of both sides can be said to have opened fire at the same time.

Ansel, a French journalist who watched the battle with him on the ironclad ship "Longwei", gave a vivid and detailed description of the battle:

"At the end of October, the Admiralty of the Qianguo (Prime Minister's Naval Affairs Yamen) received reports from intelligence officers stationed in Korea and their reconnaissance ships that the Japanese were preparing some kind of action in the waters north of Korea. Although Qianguo had succeeded in smashing the Japanese conspiracy twice - once in Mosswan. Once in Seoul, the capital of North Korea, but the Japanese did not give up, and as soon as they had the opportunity, they would stretch out the tentacles of aggression. ”

"Every minister who has read those reconnaissance reports and intelligence knows very well in their hearts that the Japanese are going to do it again. Although they did not know the entire plan of action of the Japanese at the time, it was later shown that the Japanese had drawn up a plan of action that included a strong fleet and two occupation forces. ”

"Although this is not primarily a chronicle of the actions of the Japanese, I would like to start by sketching out a plan for the Japanese. It was not until the final start of the Battle of Inchon Bay that the outlines of the plans of the Japanese began to be revealed, and in this naval battle. We crushed the Japanese fleet mentioned above, and the whole battle was over in just one day. ”

"After getting an alert from officials in North Korea. The Qianguo government acted quickly, and the Admiralty ministers believed that the Japanese troops would come from the mainland and would occupy the port of Incheon, which was as important as the port of Dagukou in the Qianguo. The Japanese fleet would have ironclads at its core, with at least one large German-built ironclad and a transport fleet to transport Army soldiers who occupied Inchon and Seoul. They will be like a sharp knife in the waist and abdomen of North Korea, and then quickly occupy Seoul and overthrow the North Korean government. ”

"One need only look at the map of the area to see the importance of controlling the port of Incheon and its sea lanes. Whoever can't control this passage can't control North Korea's vital points. ”

"The Japanese may also have thought that the Qianguo Navy would take action against Incheon, as was the case with the Qianguo last time. However, in order to solve the problem cleanly, the Japanese still made Incheon their first target, as they did last time. ”

"Originally, the Qianguo Navy had stationed two warships in Incheon Harbor and a small number of army units, but not long ago, due to well-known reasons, all the Qianguo warships overseas were withdrawn to the mainland, and the army units were also concentrated in Seoul, so the defense of Incheon Port was handed over to the DPRK army, and as we all know, the DPRK Navy was very weak, with only two gunboats converted from merchant ships, and only 500 troops stationed in IncheonHe believed that in the event of a Japanese or Russian attack on Incheon, the Koreans would not be able to hold this important port. And now, his fears have become a reality. ”

"After several days of deliberation, the ministers of the Qianguo government have made a decision: to send a minister familiar with military affairs to Korea with a fleet and an army unit to control the situation there, and this minister will have the power to wage war and conduct peace negotiations, and we all know that the most prestigious ministers of the Qianguo at present are Lin Yiqing, the deputy minister of military affairs (the head of the military department), and Li Shaoquan, the governor of Zhili and the minister of trade and trade in Beiyang, and His Excellency Li Shaoquan, because of his advanced age, has the heavy responsibility of guarding the capital and its vicinity. You can't leave casually, so His Excellency Lin Yiqing will take on this important responsibility. His Excellency Lin Yat Thanh had recently led a fleet to Hue, the capital of Vietnam, where he met with the Minister of the French Empire's Navy and Colonies, the Honorable General Gu Ba, and resolved the question of the status of the Kingdom of Vietnam, which had long affected relations between the two countries. ”

"In order to meet the needs of the new situation, the Qianguo government has decided to carry out a major reorganization of the navy, no longer dividing the navy into four fleets in pieces, but will concentrate and reorganize all the steam warships and set up a 'cruising fleet' (foreign water division) and an 'inland river fleet' (shore waterproof division). His Excellency Lin Yiqing commanded a fleet headed by two newly commissioned ironclad ships, the 'Longwei' and 'Pingyuan,' which were part of the Qianguo Cruise Fleet. ”

"In addition to two ironclad ships with a displacement of nearly 6,000 tons and a formidable 12-inch cannon, this fleet also has four fast-strike ships, which were originally Scud-high-speed notification ships that the Qianguo people were proud of, but Your Excellency Lin Yiqing, like Your Excellency Li Shaoquan, is a torpedo fan and has a soft spot for lightning strike tactics.

"Soon after the fleet departed, a reconnaissance ship disguised as a fishing boat sent information that the Japanese fleet had attacked the Korean gunboat on cruise, and the Koreans, although they fought valiantly, could not avoid destruction, but the Korean warship destroyed a Japanese transport ship before it sank." (To be continued.) )

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