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ps: The Rising Sun Flag that we are familiar with is the army flag of the little devil.

Looking through the telescope, the tall figure of the Fubo behind him became clearer and clearer. In the past, the Japanese lookout could only roughly judge that it was a thousand-ton battleship, but now look, although it is smaller than the Nisshin, the two sides are definitely the same weight class. Nobuo Ishikawa even recognized it as the Fuba gunboat!

1 Armstrong 114-pounder (160mm) breech gun, 2 Armstrong 40-pounder (120mm) breech steel guns, 4 Favas 120mm breech guns, and seven light and heavy guns, compared with the 13 guns of the Nisshin, are much less in number, but they match each other in terms of power. Although there are many gun positions on the Rijin, there are few heavy artillery, and the actual combat - excellent - excellent - small - say - more - new - the fastest - WWW.UUXS.CC - ability is not more prominent than that of the Fubo, and it also greatly occupies the coal storage space, only about 200 tons of coal loading, only one-third of the Fubo.

It can be said that the only thing that stands out more than the Fubo is the iron armor on that body.

The current Japanese warships can sacrifice a single inch in addition to defensive performance for the sake of firepower, which is the implementation of the current navy, because Japan, which is still only in circles in the Dongying Islands, does not need much coal storage space, and it is enough for them to 'ride their horses and gallop wildly'. The same is true of the gunboat Meng Chun; At this point, with a small tonnage of more than 300 tons, two 120mm Krupp cannons were placed, which was not something that ordinary people could do.

After two hours of chase, Fubo was only three or four nautical miles away from Meng Chun. There were more than 60 Japanese naval officers and sailors on the Meng Chun, and everyone's breathing became heavy.

At this moment, the Meng Chun had just come out of the sea with the body of Qikun. It is still twenty or thirty nautical miles away from the sea in the area of Dagou Harbor, which is active in the Nisshin, and it is still more than two hours before it gets dark. Whether Nobuo Ishikawa is close to the main force, he is still looking forward to waiting until it gets dark so that he can escape in the night. Both calculations failed.

"Your Excellency, I would like to ...... It's hard for us to escape, we have to be ready to fight! ”

The first mate said beside Nobuo Ishikawa. Ishikawa glanced at his first mate with a resolute personality, worthy of his past reputation, his face did not show half timidity, and some were just endlessly fierce.

Nobuo Ishikawa's gaze swept over the faces of the sailors, some of them with stiff faces and stiff bodies, but many more with murderous faces and no fear of death.

"Continue to move closer to the day. If the Qing people catch up. Then hit! Nobuo Ishikawa made up his mind, "The Imperial Navy is not afraid of any enemy, let alone death!" First mate, pass on my order, all officers and men are ready for battle. …… Let the Qing people catch up with us! ”

"Hey!"

……

On the helm of the Fubo, Besan Quan looked nervously at the nautical chart. It's okay to chase the enemy, but if you want to plunge headlong into the enemy's henchmen, then it's not necessary. In this battle, the Fubo is just a pawn, and the main force behind it is definitely not an ornament.

……

Another hour of pursuit. The distance between the two ships has been reduced to one nautical mile. Meng Chun was already adjusting its direction and making preparations for the engagement. The lookout of the Fubo looked around, but no ships appeared. But no one on either side fired a shot!

One nautical mile, three more miles. The artillery on both sides can definitely hit so far. However, firing at this distance was not yet available in the era when measuring and aiming equipment such as gun scopes had not yet appeared, or only a rudimentary form. It's completely inaccurate.

Twenty minutes later, Meng Chun and Fubo faced each other from the front and back to the north and south. It turned into a relative east-west phase. The distance between the two sides is also closer by a kilometer.

"Boom-" A 120mm breech gun on the Fubo fired first. But it missed, and the shell landed more than ten meters on the side chord of the Meng Chun. But it doesn't matter. The Fubo also had a second and third guns to follow. The Fubo ship, which had far more firepower than Meng Chun, under the command of Bei Shanquan, fired at Meng Chun again and again.

The only conversation between the two sides before the war began was that Bei Shanquan asked the flag soldiers to wave the flag to the Japanese ship, demanding that the Japanese ship immediately drop the flag and surrender.

"Forward, forward—" Nobuo Ishikawa stood on the helm, personally at the helm, and shouted cheers for the Japanese naval officers and men on the gunboat.

My family knows their own affairs, and at a distance of one kilometer, the 120mm Krupp breech gun is too unguaranteed. It must be close, close, six hundred meters, or even five hundred meters. With only two guns, and it took time to reload the front guns, Ishikawa had to make sure that the first shot hit the Qing warship in front of him, wounding him, and buying time for his ship's reloading at close range.

But where did the Japanese get such good luck that every shot within a distance of a few hundred meters could not hit them?

At a distance of more than 700 meters, the main gun of the Fubo, which had never moved, finally spewed out scorching sparks. The 160mm cannon exploded, and the fireworks from the muzzle of the cannon were a foot long. The 114-pound howitzer slammed into the side chord of the Meng Chun, and the wooden protective shell could not stop the shell from penetrating at all, like a piece of tissue paper, piercing into it at the touch of a button, and the wood was shattered everywhere.

The next moment, in the sound of a loud explosion, the side of the ship was completely torn apart by the flames and shock waves that exploded, and the speed of Meng Chun's advance was slammed.

"Damn, I was hit ......"

"Are you going to finish?"

Nobuo Ishikawa closed his eyes in pain, and then opened them in an instant. No, it's not over yet. Even if Meng Chun was going to sink to the bottom of the sea in the next moment, at least it was still floating on the surface of the sea for now. It also has two shells ready to fire from its two 120mm guns.

"Open the cannon, fire it immediately—" In a hoarse shout, flames erupted from the two barrels of the Meng Chun's two guns pointed straight at the Fubo.

Thundered......

Huge explosions rang out one after another!

Almost the next second when the Japanese opened fire, a 120mm shell fell on the Meng Chun again, the explosion broke the chimney, the steam engine completely stopped, and the thick white boiling steam sneered at the boiler room.

The two shells fired by the Japanese were very accurate, and both guns were close misses. Although it did not directly hit the Fubo, its power should not be underestimated. In this day and age. The current Fubo gunboats are all unarmored wooden battleships. The shell exploded, and the shock wave generated by the rapid expansion of the surrounding sea water tore a small hole directly in the side of the ship.

Nobuo Ishikawa fainted in the explosion of a shell that hit the deck of the Meng Chun, and his entire body was lifted up by the powerful shock wave, and he fell backwards into the bulkhead, and then fell into the corner, his head drooping, and he didn't know whether he was alive or dead. The entire helm platform was full of flesh and blood - one of the first mate's hands was cut off by shrapnel, and he was thrown less than a meter away from his body, and even his chest was blurred into flesh and blood, and he was already dead.

When Nobuo Ishikawa woke up again with a sharp pain. He realized that he was already flying in the sky, and before he could react, the man fell into the sea with a pop. If it weren't for the fact that he still had a good body, he would have fainted again. Nobuo Ishikawa struggled and paddled twice to get his head to the surface. Then he saw a scene that he would never forget, his car, Meng Chun, had broken into two sections, and was sinking and burning at the same time! The tall mast broke. There was a squeaky sound, and the 'Hinomaru' flag that had already burned was falling backwards into the water......

……

On the evening of April 26, with the joy of victory, at a position ten nautical miles from the port of Dagou. The Fubo joined up with the main fleet.

Peng Chuhan, Ri Yige, Shi Qingyan and everyone else were surprised to see the thirty or so Japanese prisoners suddenly on the Fubo ship. Bei Shanquan actually saw the battle?

By the time the news of the sinking of the Japanese ship Meng Chun by the Fubo reached every ship, the Yangwu was the leader. All the ships of the entire fleet sounded their whistles. The first victory, Beshanquan got off to a good start!

"Japanese ships. Nothing to speak of. Or after winning all, the Clippers will return ......"

In the face of Peng Chuhan's desire to report backwards. Bei Shanquan hurriedly stopped and said. More than three times the ton of his own is located on the Japanese ship, and if he still can't win, isn't he a waste that is more wasted than waste? After defeating the Japanese fleet, they reported the good news to the shore again. After today's small battle, everyone in Beishanquan himself and all the generals of the Combined Fleet have full confidence in victory.

"It was formed a few years earlier, and the war was no different!"

……

And at this moment in the city of Tianjin. Li Hongzhang, the governor of Zhili, was frowning and looking at the letter in his hand. As for Japan's attack on Taiwan, Li Hongzhang's attitude at this time was still positive, and after receiving the news from Fujian, he immediately wrote to Beijing, saying: "Today, negotiations with Japan are useless, and we should quickly decide to go to war and make a public announcement to the whole country." ”

And Beijing's attitude is also very hard, and Wen Xiang, one of Prince Gong's ironclads, said, "Now that Japan is taking advantage of the provocation and wants to wantonly encroach on it, it has a tendency that cannot be perfunctory, and it is close to China that it will be able to achieve Taiwan's ambitions, and the more troubles it will be in the future." ”

Therefore, within two days of receiving the news from Fujian, Beijing made a general conclusion, with Zuo Zongtang, the governor of Fujian and Zhejiang and the minister of Nanyang, as the minister of the Plenipotentiary Taiqin, and all the ships in the north and Guangdong in the south were dispatched by all the ships.

But it was just when this decree was about to be sent out that Beijing received news again that the Qin army and the Chu army were mixed together. Japan had just landed in Taiwan here, and Liu Xian had already personally led an army of 3,000 and four ironclad gunboats across the sea.

The will that was about to be given immediately ceased. The next day, the content of the edict issued by Emperor Tongzhi again became that Zuo Zongtang was fully responsible for Taiwan affairs, and did not have the title of minister of the Imperial Mission, let alone the ships that 'went north to Jiangsu and south to Guangdong'.

Li Hongzhang was sure that there had been collusion between Qin and Chu for a long time, and it was no wonder that Liu Xian sold so many arms to Zuo Zongtang. Moreover, these two people must also know about the Japanese army's attack on Taiwan. Of course, Tianjin also has its own news exchanges, and Li Hongzhang has also heard the news that the Japanese army wants to attack Taiwan, but he regards it as nonsense.

The Chu army has a deep relationship with the Hunan army, and Zuo Zongtang is hot with Liu Xian, and in the end he can't stand in a pothole. Li Hongzhang didn't worry about this, what he was curious about now was, what were Liu Zuo and the others paying attention to? (The novel "Crossing 1862" will have more fresh content on the official WeChat platform, and there will also be a 100% lottery gift for everyone!) Open WeChat now, click on the "+" sign in the upper right corner "Add Friends", search for the official account "ddxiaoshuo" and follow, hurry up! (To be continued......) R1292