"On this day, the whole world is once again attracted to another fleet!"

On October 15, 1904, the Second Pacific Fleet, reorganized from the Baltic Fleet of the Russian Empire, set sail from Libawa to the Far East, and in the eyes of the whole world, this fleet continued its journey to the Far East "to die" along the coast of Africa under the protection of the French colonies when Britain refused to pass through the Cape of Good Hope.

On February 8, 1905, another fleet, a fleet of Asian countries, also attracted the attention of the world as soon as it left the port, and this fleet was far inferior in size to the Russian Second Pacific Fleet, which consisted of 38 warships and 14,000 sailors, but the world paid almost as much attention to this "small fleet" consisting of two second-class battleships, five cruisers, three training ships, and a coal carrier as the combined fleet that was being renovated in the dockyard under Togo's command.

On February 18, the sea south of Singapore was covered with thick clouds, and the sea surface rose violently under the blowing of strong winds. The huge waves flew up a few meters, and from time to time there were waves that hit the deck of the battleship, and it was raining heavily, and the meteorological conditions were very bad, and the two "Zhenhai" and "Dinghai" battleships were struggling to move forward in the stormy waves at this time, and a big wave swooped in, and the battleship shook violently, and the sailors who were busy on the deck swayed and staggered.

The officers and men on the ship are no strangers to this sea area, after all, this is the sea area where they train at night, but this time it is different from the past training, they are going to fight, at least to prepare for battle, and the South China Sea seems to be testing this group of Chinese sailors, and the Chinese Imperial Navy task force headed by the "Zhenhai" has just sailed into the South China Sea, and it ushered in the stormy waves of the South China Sea.

Despite the rough waves of more than 6 meters in the sea, the fleet did not sail into the harbor to take shelter from the wind and waves, not because they did not want to, the British, the French, the Americans, and Siam all refused to allow the task force to enter the port to take shelter from the wind, in which case the task force could only fight against nature in this rough sea area.

The swells on the sea are like a hill after another, and the ship rises and falls in the swell, swaying from side to side, closing the portholes, and in the narrow cabin, the feeling of seasickness fills everyone's nerves as the roar of the machine and the temperature rises.

Ever since the fleet entered the rough waves, there was a sound of vomiting in the cabin, and although the sailors had long since adapted to life at sea, seasickness and vomiting were still inevitable in the wolf waves.

"First Officer Chen, go down to the cabin to check the situation of those midshipmen."

Standing in the middle of the bridge, Cheng Biguang grabbed the windbreaker and stabilized his body, and said to the first mate beside him.

"A natural sailor doesn't get seasick!"

It's just a joke, every sailor who doesn't get seasick has to start with seasickness, seasickness is the first lesson of a sailor! I only fainted to death, and I won't faint again in the future! The so-called no more dizziness is not really not seasickness, but even if you vomit, it still does not hinder the battle!

Chen Jielin, who got the order, got up and left, checked each cabin, and told the seasick midshipman to drink water quickly, as sailors, they all knew that after seasickness, they first vomited water and food, then began to vomit gastric juice and bile, and then vomited blood until the body spasmed and caused a coma. So they had to be drunk.

At this time, the foul air in the ship suddenly filled the entire cabin, and in the ship's room, the original shaved heads, all of them were like a dragon, and they were already sallow-faced and vomiting, and there was no way, so the old sailors had to fill the water cups and distribute them to their hands, and forced them to drink water to resist the vomiting of seasickness.

These midshipmen are the hope of the navy, and perhaps in six or seven years they will become captains of destroyers or even cruisers, and the future of the Chinese navy will depend on these young people.

"Signal! Alert for battle! Each captain checks the preparation time! ”

Liu Guanxiong, who was in the bridge of the battleship "Zhenhai", ordered expressionlessly.

For the Guards, the Storm is not a training call, but a rallying call!

If we talk about hardship, I am afraid that the hardest sailors in the world are the sailors of the Chinese Navy. Since the change of flags of the fleet, dozens of strong sailors have died in training posts because of overtraining, and the death of sailors will not stop the Chinese fleet from resting and high-intensity training.

The Chinese sailors did not have time to rest!

Jingle bell - battle alarm, battle alarm, the command to fight is transmitted from the loudspeaker.

The rumbling deck was filled with the sound of running. Only at sea can you feel the power of the sea breeze, the ship swaying forward in the sea, the wind on the deck is almost untenable, the windbreak is pulled from front to back, and the windbreak is pulled when walking on the deck, otherwise it is as if it will fall into the sea.

The sallow-faced sailors in raincoats barely walked on the deck in the wind and waves, pulling the windbreak rope in one hand while rushing to their gun emplacements, the gun emplacements outside the ship were no better than those inside the ship, and if you ran in such big waves, you would fall into the sea if you were not careful.

An alarm is an order, and even if you die, you have to die on the job, and every sailor has been instructed in this way.

"Instigation! Stand up! This is your post! Death is also going to die at the post! ”

Wearing a sailor's uniform, the artillery commander who was full of transparency saw that his No. 3 hand was slumped on the gun position, and shouted sharply, any sailor needs to pass this level, and only by passing this level can he become a real sailor.

In the turret of the battleship "Dinghai", the gunners with sallow or pale faces were repeating the action of loading ammunition according to the commander's command, and the electric flare machine squeaked from time to time to send training shells and training cannons from the ammunition depot under the waterline to the turret, while the gunners trained carefully in strict accordance with the requirements of the specification.

Reload! Charge Pack! Ignition cake! Torch! The gunners were very skillful, and although they had only been training for a few months, they had already reached the 15-second speed required by the training syllabus to complete the preparation of ammunition, and after a rigorous training, they had mastered the work of this new type of artillery, and as soon as the gunners had finished loading, the sighters immediately began to aim at the "target" three nautical miles away, which was the cruiser Hairong.

"Gun No. 1!"

"Gun No. 2!"

"Done!"

As the gunners answered, the officer wearing headphones in the turret picked up the microphone.

"One turret ready to stock!"

In the bridge, Cheng Biguang's hand pressed the stopwatch, watching the green lights turn on one by one, and when each row of green lights turned on, he nodded with satisfaction, "Click!" ”

After receiving the last report of "the ammunition is ready", he casually pressed the stopwatch, and a rare smile appeared on his face, and the main and secondary guns reached the speed of 25 seconds per round.

"Report to the captain, the flagship has sent a signal to disarm the preparations!"

"Dismount from combat readiness! Timeout two seconds! Order the officers and soldiers to return to the cabin for review! If it is on the battlefield, they are already the souls of the enemy! ”

The smile on the corner of his mouth was fleeting, and Cheng Biguang said with a cold face, as an officer, he can never be satisfied!

"Bell bell bell, bell, bell bell bell. Disarm the battle alarm, disarm the battle alarm, and enter the third level of preparation. ”

The ringing of the ship's bell and the subsequent order made the sailors slacken for a moment, and the lifting of the battle alarm meant they could go back to their cabins to rest.

"Second soldier! You don't want to be worth any more. Have a good rest first, and then be on duty for a longer time. ”

The gunner looked at the gunner with a sallow face, and his face did not see the previous sternness, but said in a harmonious voice.

"Report sir! I'll be able to hold on! ”

The appearance of the sailor already showed that his physical strength was severely overdrawn, but he was still holding on strongly.

The sailor's answer made the gunner smile.

"Second soldier, go back and rest! A good soldier must not only be able to fight, but also be able to rest! ”

Zhao Shiqi, who came out of the No. 1 main turret, completely paralyzed into the cabin, his pale face felt as if he was about to die. The noise was dry, his body was sweating, and he vomited out of his mouth again, this time with blood in the bile. It was as if all the internal organs were activated, and they had to concentrate on squirting out of their mouths.

He only felt that the world was spinning, and it was only at this time that he really felt why the navy was suffering. Since he came on board, although he was a midshipman, he had to train with the sailors, who had to master everything in the shortest possible time.

The battleship was like an untamed horse, bobbing its head and tail as if it were going to throw him up and down, and lay up and down on the hatch. The once bright eyes on his pale face had lost a trace of brilliance, and the beating of his heart seemed a little weak, I don't know if it was because of vomiting or because of pain, a few tears flowed out of his eyes, he wanted to stand up, but his legs were weak, but he couldn't stand up.

The brilliance in those eyes, without a trace of brilliance, became more and more dissipated with the faint beating of the heart.

"Instigation! Get up! ”

"Stand up! You are an officer of the Chinese Navy, and you want to provoke the backbone of the Chinese Navy......"

"Stand upright! Tell me why you came to apply for the Navy! ”

"Report to the chief, defend my sea frontier!"

"Louder!"

"Defend my sea frontier!"

…… The scenes that used to be on the training ground of the Marine Academy kept coming to his mind, and he vaguely seemed to remember his oath again.

"I am an officer of the Chinese Navy, I want to provoke the backbone of the Chinese Navy, and I will never give up or ......"

Finally, he held his body and gritted his teeth, holding on to the bulkhead and stood up, at the moment of standing up, several figures flashed in the blurred vision, and before he could breathe a sigh of relief, the blurred vision became even more blurred, and the whole person fell down again, this time unlike last time, he fell straight down, like a soldier.

"I am a Chinese naval officer, I want to ......"

He fell down the tunnel, still muttering his oath in his mouth.

A few minutes later, on the bridge of the "Zhenhai", Liu Guanxiong, who received the report, was stunned at first, and finally shook his head and sighed, looking at the wild waves on the sea, he didn't say anything, but just muttered something in his heart.

"Death is inevitable!"

As a soldier, he knows what a soldier must endure, and the army must bear death!

(To be continued)