The pickup's second voyage went quite smoothly, with neither a blizzard nor pirates. But the robbery operation did not go well.

The pickup stayed on the route for fifteen days, but did not gain anything. It's not that I didn't meet the merchant ships, but the scale of the merchant ships was too large, and a whole fifteen merchant ships traveled in a group.

Zheng Xuechang saw it clearly from afar, and said that the artillery on his ship. The barrel can be seen on the pickup, at least it means that this cannon is a field cannon if not a cannon.

Although Su Qing advocated sinking the merchant ship even if he could not capture it, it was obvious that the devil had been more careful after losing three huge ships at once. At this time, the electric mine on the pickup showed its shortcomings, with a range of three kilometers.

This range is well within the range of the opponent's artillery accuracy.

The loss of three merchant ships a few months ago caused an immediate uproar in the country. As a telegram from a merchant ship said that it had encountered pirates. Therefore, for the time being, the military is not considering the Chinese side.

But there are already sensitive people who feel that the so-called pirates are likely to be Chinese. Even in the newspapers began to denounce and protest, and so on.

This kind of thing happens every year on the sea, but it has never been so serious and bad. At the request of the business community, the navy also sent a fleet to escort the convoy for three months.

As a result, the wind was calm, and not even a single pirate hair was seen. In the eyes of the military, three months is long enough, and a fleet cannot stay on the vast sea forever. So after enjoying the sunshine of the Pacific Ocean for a few months, Shi Shiran returned to his homeland.

That's the way it is, in fact, although Li Guang, Zheng Xuechang and Su Qing thought that they might send the navy, they didn't care at all. Now the only way they can fight against Yueben is the pickup, and they can't not go to sea because of the possible escort of the Yue army.

On the domestic battlefield, the Chinese army was defeated and retreated, especially the last time they transported goods back to Qinzhou, they heard the shocking news, and after the Kou broke through Nanjing, they actually started the massacre of the whole city.

All the news provoked several officers on the pickup to be furious. Zheng Xuechang, a naval officer, heard about the navy's feat in the defense of the Jiangyin fortress and staged a tragic scene, and now the Chinese navy is almost completely devoid of warships.

And Su Qing, a former officer of the 88th Division, also learned that the old troops had suffered heavy losses in the defense of Nanjing, several generals and colonels were killed, two of the three brigade commanders of the 88th Division were killed (Zhu Chigao Zhisong), three of the six regiment commanders of the division were killed (Han Xianyuan, Li Jiehua, Pinzhang), and in addition, Lieutenant Colonel Wang Honglie, commander of the engineer battalion, and Colonel Zhao Hanxing, chief of staff of the 264th Brigade, was also killed in this service.

Now Su Qing's heart is full of hatred and remorse, and he can't wait to die on the battlefield with his old brothers.

Li Guang supported going to sea to break the war because one could fight the Japanese army, and the other could strengthen himself. And the two officers under his command went to attack the merchant ship with almost mortal determination.

It's another evening, the Pacific Ocean is calm, and the sunset is excellent. But the two officers aboard the pickup had no intention of enjoying the view. The two of them made a plan to attack as soon as they encountered the merchant ship again, whether they could capture the merchant ship or not, it was too dangerous to drift in the Pacific Ocean for a long time.

The Pickup is a quasi-destroyer, not a submarine, and it is easy to leak on the sea, and once it is discovered by a submarine or warship, it has no resistance.

It was at this time that observers reported the discovery of a merchant ship.

The two men ran to the command platform to take a closer look, and sure enough, five merchant ships were coming. Although it is not clear the specific armament of the opponent, according to the configuration of the merchant ships encountered last time, these five merchant ships will be equipped with at least twenty guns.

With only four guns on board, the Pickup had an advantage in range, but it was clearly inferior in firepower.

Zheng Xuechang and Su Qing glanced at each other, nodded at the same time, and said, "." ”

There was no way to use sneak attack tactics this time, and there was not even a single speaker on board. With a command, the pickup number raised the speed to the top speed in a matter of minutes.

The speed of 23 knots, which is equivalent to the speed of 45 kilometers per hour, is actually quite majestic on the sea. The propeller exited a white wave at the stern, and the pickup swooped down on the merchant ship from west to east.

Now the Pickup has the advantage at sea, the evening sunset is in the west, and the Gojo Shomoto merchant ship is in the east, and the view of the Saimoto crew is not clear in the sunset. But the gunner on the pickup saw it very clearly.

At a distance of six kilometers, two 88mm guns on the foredeck of the pickup were the first to fire. When the 88mm gun is fired flat, the firing range can reach 14.5 kilometers. At a distance of about six kilometers, it is almost possible to shoot straight and accurately. Don't look at the level of the gunners on the pickup, but thanks to the sophistication of the 88mm gun, the gunners are extremely accurate at this distance.

It is said that a merchant ship in the first place was hit by four shells in just a few minutes, and the deck was in shambles, and one shell hit the command cabin, and the captain and first mate were directly blown into a pile of minced meat.

In the first few minutes, the pickup number completely gained the upper hand. But after the devils got through the initial panic, several merchant ships fired cannons......

For a time, there was a lot of artillery fire in this sea area, and the sound of cannons rang out one after another, and the explosions and flames shone on the sea.

Every minute, several shells fell around the Pickup. The shells stirred up waves several meters high and fell on the pickup.

Don't look at the little devil's cannon, but the accuracy is far less than the 88mm anti-aircraft gun of the pickup number. Zheng Xuechang and Su Qing almost ignored Li Guang's command level, but Li Guang's vision for choosing weapons was the one they admired.

88mm anti-aircraft gun, this kind of weapon these two people have not heard of before. Even after seeing this gun, the two of them were very skeptical about whether the anti-aircraft gun could be used as a naval gun. But in fact, this gun is very easy to use, easy to use, and has a high rate of fire. Especially suitable for direct-aim artillery, you must know that the gunners on the pickup are still rookies, if it is a long-range curved artillery, just measuring the range and adjusting the artillery according to the gun table is enough for these people to be busy. It is simply impossible to hit so accurately.

Su Qing had some research on the artillery of his own army, and within a few minutes of the battle, Su Qing judged the opponent's artillery model. It is said that after the loss of three merchant ships at one time, he also made a bloody investment. Now the pickup truck is facing several merchant ships that are all equipped with the Meiji 38 75mm field gun of the Morihonkorn Army, which has been in service for a long time, and began to be equipped with the Honmoto Army as early as 1905. Because the surname can be quite good, until now there is still a lot of equipment in the army.

After the last merchant ship incident, he knew that shipping was important to the entire economy, so he allocated a full 1,000 old artillery pieces to equip merchant ships.

Although Ben was much richer than China, he was not rich enough to equip merchant ships with cannons, but the range of mountain guns at sea was too close, so most of them were equipped with 75mm field guns. This Meiji Type 38 artillery has a range of 8.3 kilometers. But if you want to strike accurately at about six kilometers, you are too embarrassed little devil.

What's more, the level of gunners on the pickup is not high, but the level of gunners on the merchant ships of the little devils is even worse. In addition, the field artillery is still a curved artillery, and the difficulty of shooting is actually higher than that of the 88mm gun.

As the battle progressed, a strange scene appeared in front of Zheng Xuechang's eyes, and the merchant ships of this book actually put on a naval battle formation--T-shaped battle formation.

You can't underestimate the small book, merchant ships can put on a naval combat formation. I saw four merchant ships lined up, and at this time, the pickup number served as the vertical of the T-word.

This formation allowed the merchant ships to concentrate their eight guns on the bow against the Pickup, which could only use two foredeck cannons.

Zheng Xuechang almost laughed angrily, saying that he was powerful enough, and the merchant ships had this kind of combat quality, so you can imagine how powerful its navy is. But the little devil is an amateur navy, and Zheng Xuechang is a professional player.

With Zheng Xuechang's order, the pickup truck turned slightly sideways and began to move to the side of the merchant ship. Although the merchant ship began to respond in a timely manner, the movement also began immediately. But the speed of the merchant ship is too slow, and the side movement is extremely inflexible. But the pickup number is now much higher and faster.

When Zheng Xuechang was in Qinzhou Bay, he blushed when he saw the 10,000-ton ship of the devil docking. Later, he trained the crew of the pickup, and now the first officer and second officer of the pickup truck, the level of several people has improved to a pretty good level. At least there won't be two or three times to get the ship to the berth.

Ten minutes later, a merchant ship on the flank began to lose its luck, and the four guns of the pickup opened fire together, hitting more than a dozen guns in succession. Several of the armor-piercing shells blew several large holes in the shells of merchant ships, and the sea water was rushing in.

That is, in the process of changing formations, the pickup was shot for the first time. Although the 75mm guns on the merchant ships were not accurate in shooting, there were more artillery fires, and naturally some of them collided with great luck. A hole was blown out of the upper deck of the Pickup, killing one and wounding three at the time.

Although Zheng Xuechang did not really command naval battles, he did not go to the British [***] school for a few years. The response is extremely appropriate, and it is actually taught in textbooks.

After seizing one end of the opponent's end, the four guns of the pickup were fully exerted, which was equivalent to a one-on-one battle at this time, and the remaining three merchant ships were pulled into a line, and they could not exert their firepower at all.

How long does it take to sink a merchant ship? The pickup number quickly gave the answer, seven minutes.

After seven minutes of heavy shelling, a merchant ship was hit by more than 30 bullets, and with a cracking sound, a large ship with a displacement of several thousand tons began to sink.

Zheng Xuechang didn't wait for the merchant ship to have a chance to adjust, and the pickup drew a curve and aimed at a merchant ship one-on-one again. This time the devil learned well, and the three ships almost formed a circle, and the distance was very close, and the bow of the ship was facing the pickup at any time.

Once this kind of stubborn defense and stubborn fighting style is put on in a naval battle, it means that the merchant ship has already admitted defeat and is only resisting stubbornly. Whether it is a regular warship or a quasi-destroyer like the Pickup, it can only be gnawed.

The four cannons on the pickup truck fired fiercely, and the little devil's cannon also fought back desperately. The battle situation was at a stalemate for a while, and the devil's beaten posture couldn't support it for a few hours even if he resisted. Wanting to wait for the US Navy to come to the rescue in Panama is absolutely delusional.

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