Willis stopped talking, but concentrated on his breakfast, and at this time Sardor was still wondering why Willis would not immediately telegraph this important news to London. But he didn't ask any more, but concentrated on enjoying the delicious meal in front of him.

Suddenly, there was a muffled thunderous bang outside the window, startling the two people who were eating.

Willis and Sa Daoyi glanced at each other, each seeing a look of panic in the other's eyes.

They could all hear it, it was the sound of a violent explosion!

The explosions continued to be heard, and the two men could feel the earth tremble under their feet, and the chandelier on the ceiling above them shook.

Willis and Sadao put down the cutlery in their hands in unison, ran to the balcony, looked in the direction where the explosion came from, and immediately saw a large cloud of black smoke rising up.

"It's in the direction of the bay!" Willis said in a deep voice.

"Could it be...... Is it the rebels who are coming? Sa Daoyi's voice trembled.

"It should be the rebel navy that launched a surprise attack on Tokyo Bay and destroyed the ammunition depot of the coastal battery!" Willis, who came from the British Army, was familiar with such an explosion and immediately guessed what was going on.

"You're saying that rebel warships launched an attack on Tonkin Bay?" Sa Daoyi asked in surprise.

"Yes." Willis sighed when he saw the panicked crowd on the street, turned to Sa Daoyi and said, "It seems that your concern is right, we should inform London of this news as soon as possible." ”

The sound of explosions in the distance was incessant, indicating that the fierce fighting continued.

Just as Willis had predicted, these explosions. It was caused by the Satsuma raider that came to attack it.

Before the great counterattack of the government forces began. Lin Yiqing then ordered the faster ships of the Satsuma Navy to form an attack fleet. In order to intensify this effect, Hayashi Yiqing ordered Hikonojo Uemura and Kawahara to lead two ships, "Mt. Fuji" and "Raiden Maru," to blitzkrieg the Bay of Tokyo.

After receiving the order, Uemura Hikonojo didn't say a word, immediately began to prepare, and soon led the ship to sea.

Hikonoki Uemura is rude and aggressive. This time, he took on the task of raiding Tokyo Bay as an assault ship, which made him excited, because stabbing the enemy in the heart was his favorite thing to do.

Uemura thought that Tokyo Bay was heavily defended and not easy to break through, so he had made a lot of preparations in advance, and several sets of combat options had been formulated, but when he reached Tokyo Bay all the way, he found that the defense of Tokyo Bay was much more empty than he had imagined.

In the huge Tokyo Bay, there is not even a single big warship!

He was even more surprised. It was the warships of the government navy that came to meet them, and they were all gunboats converted from small steamers!

Hikonojo Uemura didn't know. The ironclad ship "Fuso" and the gunboats "Kiyoki" and "Amagi" that had previously defended Tokyo Bay had already left Tokyo Bay to escort the Japanese Army to attack Osaka.

And the reason why all the gunboats that appeared in front of him were converted gunboats with "small boats carrying cannons" was because of the relationship between the small gunboats of the Satsuma Navy made by the Qianguo named "Panryu Maru" in the attack and defense of Osaka Castle.

Because the "Uryu Maru," which belonged to the "mosquito boat" type, performed well in the battle to capture the Osaka coastal fort, observers in Western countries exclaimed, "The time has come for the Rendal gunboats," and the Japanese government also realized that the mosquito boats could become a strong aid to the coastal forts, so they hurriedly loaded a large number of small ships with artillery as substitute gunboats to assist in the defense of Tokyo Bay.

Soon after their birth, these substitute gunboats, which were converted from civilian steamers, ushered in the test of blood and fire.

Rushing headlong into Tokyo Bay, Uemura Hikonojo was the first enemy he encountered with these substitute gunboats.

The first time Uemura saw these gunboats, he couldn't help laughing, and he gave the battle order with contempt, and led the "Mt. Fuji" and "Raiden Maru" to meet them with great swagger. In order not to waste shells, he planned to rush up and smash these small steamers directly with the angle of attack.

But Uemura didn't expect that they would immediately pay the price for their rash actions.

At the moment when the Satsuma warship approached, from these small steamers that Uemura Hikonojo had thought were vulnerable at all, a stream of white smoke suddenly shot out, followed by a rumbling cannon!

Almost 20 shells roared straight towards the Satsuma warship, landed in the sea and exploded, and countless water columns suddenly rose on the sea, surrounding the Satsuma warship that rushed forward.

Looking at the front and back, left and right were all jets of water stirred up by the explosion of shells, Uemura Hikonojo couldn't believe his eyes.

Unbeknownst to him, the small steamers, though old, were armed with a large number of 80 mm Armstrong breech guns purchased from British arms dealers.

Of course, Uemura Hikonojo did not know that the person in charge of the defense of Tokyo Bay was Gonbei Yamamoto, who had worked with him, and after Gonbei Yamamoto took office, he worked hard to update the equipment of the defenders of Tokyo Bay, although it was difficult to complete all the equipment updates due to lack of funds, but with his efforts, the coastal defense force in Tokyo Bay not only replaced many batteries with Krupp cannons purchased from Germany, but also replaced the revetment fleet with new Armstrong breech guns purchased by the British.

The 20 substitute gunboats that have now appeared in front of Hikonojo Uemura are all armed with an 80-mm Armstrong breech-loading gun!

In the face of the sudden rain of bullets, the two Satsuma warships were caught off guard and turned to dodge, and just as the Satsuma warships were in chaos, the government revetment fleet began a new round of salvo.

Dozens of substitute gunboats spewed out white smoke at the same time, followed by the whistling of countless shells and the explosion of shells into the water, as well as the rising columns of water, the spectacular sight of Hikonojo Uemura on the flybridge made Uemura feel like he had stepped back in time, as if he had returned to the time of Toyotomi Hideyoshi.

In the rapid shelling of the government artillery fleet, the larger "Mt. Fuji" was the first to be shot. Three 80-mm shells hit the broadside deck in succession. Many sailors were killed and wounded. Then the "Raiden Maru" also received 2 shells. At one point, the stern of the ship caught fire. The two ships staggered through the rain of bullets, which can be said to be full of dangers.

Without waiting for the flagship to issue another order, and ignoring the pre-war instructions of Hikonojo Uemura to "save shells", the "Raiden Maru" took the lead in starting an artillery bombardment of the government artillery fleet, and then the "Mt. Fuji" also began to attack the government gunboats with artillery.

At this time, disaster began to befall the fleet, which was made up of gunboats converted from civilian ships.

Although it was equipped with a new type of artillery and achieved results in the initial artillery battle, it was a temporarily modified boat. Not a warship at all, so the outcome of the battle was already predestined from the very beginning.

Dealing with these seemingly extremely fragile small gunboats, the Satsuma warships were as easy as shooting targets, and they could sink one ship almost only by firing one gun. The Japanese ship will sink one." On these poor little steamers, the officers and men of the Japanese Navy used the new breech guns to deliver an unrelenting and hopeless return fire on the invading enemy ships. "Under the ferocious fire of the Satsuma warships, they kept firing, and because of the close proximity and the fact that the formation was so dense, almost all the shells fired by the Satsuma people could hit them."

After the two Satsuma warships opened fire one after the other, the government revetment fleet fought back. Although their gunners had only undergone a short period of training, they performed well, and just as the "Mt. Fuji" opened heavy fire on the government gunboat, a solid armor-piercing shell fired from an 80-mm Armstrong gun roared and hit the flybridge of the "Mt. Fuji", killing two Satsuma officers and one sailor on the spot, while Hikonojo Uemura and the first mate were extremely lucky to be unscathed.

The two Satsuma warships continued to approach the direction of the government fleet, and continued to carry out artillery bombardment, one after another small steamers were sunk, and the morale of the government officers and men began to collapse, and some of the small steamers tried to retreat to the coastal forts for safety, "Some of the small steamers, because of their slight displacement, were able to break away from the battle and sail back to the shore, but some of them were seriously injured on the side, and when they fled quickly, many of them ran aground on the coast, and were later destroyed by the Satsuma with artillery." ”

The civilian ships anchored on the shore of Tokyo Island were unarmed and fell under the guns of the Satsuma warships, and a large number of sailors on these civilian ships had fled to land beforehand, so that heavy casualties could be avoided. "As for the transport ships and merchant ships moored on the embankment, the crews escaped. Satsuma artillery fire destroyed most of them, and only a small number of ships survived. ”

Despite the devastating blow to the government fleet, many of the brave officers and men persisted in the battle, and according to some accounts of people on foreign merchant ships who watched the battle at the time, the scene of the government officers and men finally persisting in the battle was extremely tragic.

"A small steamer of the Japanese Navy flying the flag of the Japanese Empire was hit by a Satsuma shell and began to sink, but the officer who commanded it was still trying to hold on to the battle, firing at the enemy, and seeing some timid sailors preparing to jump into the water to escape, the officer angrily drew his saber and slashed, and finally the ship sank, and the heroic officer also fell into the sea,...... After a burst of cannonfire, all that remained on the surface of the water were wooden planks and a sea full of blood-red ......"

"The battle is over, the sea is full of floating corpses and people who have fallen into the water to be rescued, the warships and ships of neutral countries that pass by, immediately put down their sampans, whether it is Japanese soldiers or civilians, they all try their best to rescue, but the red-eyed Satsuma warship, at this time there is not the slightest gentleman's performance, the two Satsuma warships continue to hear the sound of rifle shooting, they are brutally slaughtering government officers and soldiers in the sea,...... The sea was littered with pieces of wood, broken masts, and fragments of sailboats, and on top of the drifting ruins were poor Imperial soldiers who wanted to live, their heads rising out of the water like little black dots. The sailors of the Satsuma warship, who had shown their savagery and ferocity since the beginning of the war, were now so excited by the battle that it was very difficult to prevent them from shooting at these black spots drifting on the water. ”

After completely annihilating the government revetment fleet, Hikonojo Uemura immediately ordered an attack on the battery of the government coastal forces, and with the shooting of the Satsuma warship, Yamamoto Gonbei deployed a nearby mine in advance, which was detonated by the fire of the Satsuma warship, resulting in a violent explosion. This was actually the violent explosion that British Minister Willis and Counsellor Sardor saw at the Legation.

Satsuma warship after detonating a mine. Immediately began to attack the nearby government batteries.

After the battle on the sea began. The artillery on the various batteries of the government army was on standby. I saw the Satsuma warship attacking. All of them immediately opened fire in response, and the infantry stood by in the trenches dug in advance. When the Satsuma warship began shelling, the infantry was still hidden, and only the artillery was relentlessly returning fire, but because of the weak firepower, after a long period of fierce fighting, both main batteries were destroyed, and one of the ammunition depots in the batteries was also hit. There was a violent explosion. However, when the guns of the Satsuma warship stopped for a while, the Krupp camp guns of the government infantry also began to focus on the "Mt. Fuji" and launched a fierce shelling, and many Satsuma naval officers and men, including the first mate of Hikonojo Uemura, were wounded. After nearly an hour of firefighting, this heroic battery was finally suppressed by the guns of the Satsuma warship, and the artillery was destroyed. The sound of artillery on the sea and the shore finally fell silent.

"Their batteries are destroyed, sir."

An officer looked at the smoke-filled sea and shore and said to Hikonoki Uemura.

"Good! Now start shelling the city! Hikonoki Uemura put down the binoculars and said loudly.

"What did you say?" Listening to Uemura's order, the officer couldn't help but be surprised.

"I said it, shelling the city!" Hikonojo Uemura turned his head. His face was full of hideous color, and his eyes radiated a fierce light. At this time, it no longer looks like a human being.

The officer hesitated, but obeyed the order of Hikonojo Uemura and gave the order to raise the signal flag of "shelling the city".

Soon, two Satsuma warships began shelling the residential areas of the city on the shore.

"What are the Satsuma people doing? Are they crazy? ”

On the cruiser "Jingqing" in the Qianguo, he could not help but be extremely surprised to see that the Satsuma fleet had begun to bombard the residential areas of Tokyo.

"My lord, I think we should take action to stop their barbarism." "Attacking and killing civilians in any war, no matter what kind of war, is an unforgivable crime. In order to protect the overseas Chinese who have come here and for the sake of the safety of our overseas Chinese, we must stop them. ”

"Ask the French, do you want to act with us?" Lu Wenjing nodded, looked at the French gunboat "Mercer" not far away, and said.

Soon, the sailors of Qianguo sent a signal: "Our ship is determined to stop the shelling of the Japanese ships, is your ship willing to act together?" ”

The French replied extremely simply: "Yes." "Apparently the French were also quite dissatisfied with the behavior of the Satsuma.

Lü Wenjing immediately gave the order, and after a while, the "Jingqing" sailed straight for the Japanese fleet, and the "Mercer" soon followed.

At this time, the Satsuma fleet had already carried out several rounds of salvo fire, and seeing the huge pillar of smoke rising from the city in the distance, Uemura Hikonosui's heart felt extremely comfortable.

Today is a brilliant day for him.

Annihilated a government fleet and shelled Tokyo.

Those high-ranking government officials must have fallen out of their chairs in fright when they heard the sound of shelling, right?

Hikonoki Uemura suddenly sneezed. He shrugged his nose a little strangely, and then he suddenly noticed that a Qianguo cruiser and a French gunboat were speeding in the direction of the Satsuma fleet.

"The warships of the Qianguo and the French have come, sir." The first mate, Aono, saw that Uemura Hikonojo still had no intention of stopping, and reminded him, "They may be trying to stop our shelling of the city. ”

As a Japanese naval soldier, he was actually very resistant to shelling unarmed civilian residential areas, but after all, it was some red-eyed commanders who gave the order, and he could not object, and the two foreign warships that had just appeared just gave him a suitable excuse to stop this meaningless behavior of criticizing people and wasting shells.

"Leave them alone!" As he spoke, Hikonoki Uemura raised his binoculars again and looked with interest at the already smoke-filled city of Tokyo.

But as if to confirm the words of the first mate, the cruiser and the French gunboat waved the flag as they sailed in front of the Satsuma fleet: "Stop the shelling immediately!" ”

"They're signaling to us!" The first mate saw that Uemura Hikonoshi was indifferent, a little anxious, and reminded him loudly.

Hikonojo Uemura turned the binoculars and immediately saw the flag on the other party's mast, and couldn't help but be a little annoyed.

"Tell them! We are engaged in the enemy's war, please remain neutral and do not hinder our movements! Uemura Hikoyuki said angrily.

The mast of the "Mt. Fuji" was soon raised with a set of incomparably complex flags, and seeing the reply of the Satsuma warship, the Qianguo cruiser and the French gunboat seemed to be a little annoyed, and they actually drove in front of the Satsuma warship, blocking the direction of the guns of the Satsuma warship, making it difficult for the Satsuma warship to aim.

Soon, two groups of flags were raised.

"Please stop shooting at civilian quarters! There are our diasporas there! ”

"Stop shelling French expatriate quarters!"

After seeing these two sets of signals, Aono couldn't help but be taken aback, he immediately turned his head to look at Uemura Hikonojo, and seeing these signals, Uemura Hikonojo's face also showed a look of panic.

"Stop shelling!" Uemura Hikonojo was honestly subdued by these two sets of signals, and immediately gave the order. (To be continued......)

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