July 7, 1861, Taiwan Province, Dagou Harbor.

"This damn weather, it's hot to death." Tang Haichao, who was sweating profusely, rushed into the captain's room of the Gray Arrow frigate, looked at Mo Haiwen, who was wearing a snow-white rear admiral uniform and was sitting at the table with a magnifying glass to look at the chart, and ran to the air conditioning outlet in three or two steps, unbuttoning the collar while fanning the wind with a navy hat, "It's still my brother-in-law, you are comfortable, it's good to have air conditioning." ”

"Hmph." Mo Haiwen put down the magnifying glass, sat on the spot and moved his shoulders and neck, "You don't have a good training with troops, why are you running here?" ”

"Ouch, my good brother-in-law, on this day, I can burn a person to death, and I can also train Mao." Tang Haichao shrugged his shoulders, "Anyway, the things that should be cleaned have been cleaned, and the ones that have been changed have also been checked, it's so hot, it's a good thing for everyone to rest, wouldn't it be even worse if they had heat stroke." ”

Tang Haichao is Tang Xiaoya's elder brother, and Tang Xiaoya later became a relative to Mo Haiwen, so Mo Haiwen also became Tang Haichao's brother-in-law. Later, Mo Haiwen became the captain of the first modern frigate, Gray Arrow No. 1, and Tang Haichao followed the ship and became the boatswain of Gray Arrow No. 1.

Seeing that Mo Haiwen didn't speak, Tang Haichao, who had been blowing the air conditioner for a long time, turned around and said, "I said brother-in-law......"

"Call me Captain!" Mo Haiwen straightened his face and said, "How many times have I said it, this is in the army, it is on the ship, and are there any rules?" ”

"Yes, yes, Captain." Tang Haichao smiled, "Is there water?" I'm so thirsty that I haven't drunk a glass of water yet. ”

"Over there, pour it yourself." Mo Haiwen pointed to the water dispenser opposite.

"Hey, hey." Tang Haichao ran over in a few steps, picked up the enamel cup and poured a glass of water, and drank it all up, then sighed comfortably, "Happy, hey, it's better to be the captain." When do you say I can be a captain? ”

"Who told you not to study well." Mo Haiwen said, "At the beginning, Li, no, the emperor didn't give you a chance, and he treated everyone equally, but you usually don't study hard, and you can't pass the exam, what can you do." ”

Indeed, when Li Yongji went to Mojia Village to form a navy. He left behind a lot of books, all about the modern navy, and because there was also a lack of teachers, most of them were self-taught.

However, at that time, there were not many people in Mojia Village who were really willing to devote themselves to studying, but Mo Haiwen, because his body was not very good and his water quality was poor, everyone did not let him get on the boat. I can only read books at home, and what I read and read is the one with the most theoretical knowledge.

Later, Li Yongji got a modern frigate. When the name was chosen as Gray Arrow No. 1, a captain was selected from the navy, but the selection was based on a public examination to compete for a post.

During this period, Mo Haiwen's advantage of reading more was highlighted. I became the first in the written test, and as for the later practical classes, it was not very difficult. After all, this is a modern frigate, even if it has been eliminated in modern times, but the comfort of Cheng dù is not comparable to the mid-nineteenth century ship, so Mo Haiwen is the fastest to adapt to this ship, so the final result is that he got the position of captain of the Gray Arrow One frigate.

However, although Mo Haiwen became the captain of this ship by his own ability, because Mo Haihu was the captain of the Zhenyuan and the commander of the navy, many people thought that he became the captain of the Gray Arrow No. 1 frigate because of his connections. After all, Mo Haiwen has never been to sea much in the past, walked across the ship, and suddenly became the captain of the most advanced sailless ironclad ship.

Although this is just a private discussion by some people, this still makes Mo Haiwen very unhappy, always looking for an opportunity to prove himself and prove his worth, and because of this, he is strict everywhere after becoming the captain, and he pays great attention to the relationship between superiors and subordinates, especially he doesn't like other acquaintances to call him nicknamed, for a long time, except for this big brother-in-law boatswain, at least on this ship, no one dares to call Mo Haiwen such names as "small dried fish".

"Hey, forget it, let me read, it's better to kill me, those books and words, I want to sleep after a long time, I can't do it." Tang Haichao shook his head, "I, I'm still honestly my boatswain, I can manage people, how majestic, and with you and my sister covering me, who am I afraid of in the navy." ”

"Hmph." Mo Haiwen shook his head and didn't care about him anymore.

In fact, Tang Haichao was able to be a boatswain on this ship, not all by nepotism, but also by ability.

Because don't look at Tang Haichao's unstingy appearance, but in fact, he is a real ruthless character, when Mojiacun was still a pirate, he was one of the members of the pirate group, whether it was diving or fighting, he was a good hand, killing people without blinking, people gave him the nickname Tang Sandao, which means that he killed people with three knives at most.

Because of this, he is also the number one person near Mojia Village, and he is particularly able to convince the public, so he is also expected to be the boatswain of the Gray Arrow No. 1 ship.

However, unlike Mo Haiwen, who always wants to prove that he is an official with his ability, Tang Haichao has a lively personality, likes gags, and blows his nepotism to people at every turn, outsiders don't know, and think that he is just an incompetent person who came up by nepotism, and the confusion is quite strong, only people who are familiar with him know that this guy is a typical smiling tiger, and he has clear grievances, and he will be revenged.

After drinking three jars of water in a row, Tang Haichao touched his stomach: "I said brother-in-law, it's been almost two months since we came here to fight dogs, and we are training and training all day long, when is it a head?" Didn't you say that the fleet of the Russian devils had arrived in Manila when you first came, why haven't you come now? ”

"Hmph, I'm not a Russian devil, I don't know what they think." Mo Haiwen said coldly.

In fact, as early as the end of the Nanjing military parade, the First Fleet of the Chinese Empire had already been formed and quietly set off for Taiwan.

The First Fleet of the Navy can be said to be the essence of the Imperial Chinese Navy, consisting of a total of 13 ships, of which there are only five real warships, and the others are supply ships and troop carriers.

The five warships are Zhenyuan, Gray Arrow No. 1, Pinghu, Shanghai, and Qingpu, of which Zhenyuan is the main force with a displacement of 2,300 tons, and Gray Arrow No. 1 is a modern frigate, and its power is self-evident.

The troop carriers were five sand boats. A total of 2,000 marines were brought with them, all armed with five or six submachine guns, which were absolutely elite, and the other ships were all supply ships.

In addition to the absence of submarine forces, the First Fleet of the Navy is the entire essence of the Imperial Chinese Navy, and this dispatch can be said to be the main force, the purpose of which is to take the initiative to attack, to have a decisive battle with the main force of the Russian Navy, and to keep the enemy out of the country.

In order to achieve the purpose of the main decisive battle. Li Yongji decided to first take Taiwan's Dagou Port, which was later Kaohsiung Port, and then use it as a temporary naval base, and when the Russian fleet came, he would dispatch nearby, intercept them halfway, and engage in a decisive battle with their main force.

At this time, Taiwan still belonged to Fujian Province, just a province, slightly higher than the province. It's just that because Taiwan Province overlaps with Taiwan Province in many places, it is generally called Taiwan Province.

At this time, the capital city of Taiwan was not Taipei, but in Anping City, which was later the Anping District of Tainan. There is a famous port here, which is Anping Port, which is currently the largest port in Taiwan and the real essence area.

Comparatively. The dog port that Li Yongji valued, that is, the famous Kaohsiung Port in later generations, was still a sparsely populated fishing village at this time. It has not been developed at all, and as for the other Taipei Port, there is not even a shadow.

In fact, strictly speaking, although the hydrology of Dagou Port, or Kaohsiung Port, is more suitable as a naval base, at this time, because it has not been developed, the supporting facilities are not complete, and there are no large port facilities, so for now, it is actually inferior to Anping Port.

However, Anping Harbor is good, but there are many people there, and if the fleet is anchored there, it will lose its concealment, but it will be a dog port, at this time there are not many people, the fleet is hidden here, as long as you pay attention to concealment, you can still deceive the Russians who come from afar.

In other words, Fujian or Taiwan had not yet surrendered to the Chinese Empire, so the First Fleet of the Navy went to Taiwan this time to fight the dogs, but they went to Anping Port first.

This is actually Mo Haihu's intention, the reason is that although the dog port is hidden, it is not unknown after all, in fact, many people already know about the dog port at this time, so if you go directly to the dog port, it is difficult to ensure that the information will not be known by outsiders.

On the contrary, there are many foreign ships in Anping Port, and it is also the main garrison point for foreigners here.

In short, attacking Anping Port is a way to confuse the enemy, after they take down here, they can leave a few small boats, and the main force will make the appearance of setting off for a return voyage, and after a long time, it is estimated that the news will spread out, so that the Russian fleet mistakenly thinks that the main force of the Chinese Imperial Navy is still in Jiaxing, but they will never think that they are hiding in Dagou Harbor, which is not far away.

This is actually very easy to do, as long as the blockade of Anping port in the name of war, trade and trade will also decline, and at the same time the transmission of information will be not smooth, which reduces the entry and exit of ships, and in this way, the supply ship from Jiaxing Port to Dagou Port can also be regarded as a ship transported to Anping Port, which is equivalent to covering the more inconspicuous Dagou Port in disguise.

In addition to this purpose, there is also the fact that because the First Fleet of the Navy has not been established for a long time and has not been run-in in actual combat, it plans to hit Taiwan first, pick up a soft persimmon and try it out first.

Because the Qing government has not paid attention to the construction of the navy in the past, the coastal defense of the entire Fujian can be said to be a virtual reality, and the famous Fujian naval division has no shadow, so although Taiwan also has some soldiers and horses, the army is outnumbered, and even the larger pirates cannot deal with it, at most it can deal with the fishermen, and it is absolutely impossible to compete with the First Fleet of the Imperial Navy.

After the first fleet came to the port of Anping, in order to be afraid of being frightened by the other party, it did not dare to resist, so at first it deliberately dispatched only two bird ships modified by propellers, and went to provoke under the pirate flag to lure the enemy to attack.

Sure enough, seeing that the two pirate ships were so arrogant, the sailors of Anping Port quickly couldn't help it, and dispatched three Fuchuan warships over at once, as if to suppress them.

Three lucky ships, this is also a lot of combat power, but there are still more monks and less porridge, so Mo Haihu simply dispatched the whole army with five warships, directly lined up in a column, and came to a T-shaped play.

As a result, at the beginning, it was just a fierce beating from the 76-mm gun of the Zhenyuan. It didn't take twenty minutes to sink a fortune ship that was the first to start, and if it didn't work, how could it kill itself, so simply stop and practice for others.

In this way, the Zhenyuan was in the rear, the Gray Arrow No. 1 was the leader, and the other three bird boats followed closely behind, forming a column. At a speed of 18 knots, they followed closely behind the butts of the two ships, and did not play close-range shooting, but fired at the maximum firing distance, in order to train the gunners.

Although it is the maximum firing distance, the naval guns on the bird ship that are converted from Type 55 land twin 37mm machine guns are just that, the shooting distance is good, but the accuracy is average, but the gray arrow No. 1 is different.

The main guns of the Grey Arrow 1 were two Type 66 twin 57 mm main naval guns, which had a maximum firing range of 12 km. Coupled with advanced fire control, the effective precision shooting distance is 8000 meters!

The rate of fire of a single gun of a 57-mm naval gun can reach 240 shells per minute, and with two twin mounts, 480 shells can be poured out in that minute! In this day and age. It can definitely be said that it is raining down!

Don't look at the shells of the 57mm gun, it seems that the caliber is not large, but these are all armor-piercing blasting shells, and the wooden ship with slow speed and poor durability is like playing. In addition, the fire control system is more advanced, and it can be hit at a distance of 5,000 meters. It's like shooting a fixed target.

In this way, it was another violent storm, and the remaining two ships were also sunk by the Gray Arrow No. 1.

This is obviously a one-sided slaughter, but it also validates the truth that the navy is a more technology-dependent service, and the role of courage in the face of advanced weapons is reduced to a minimum.

In other words, the so-called naval battle is to compare who is more durable, who has more powerful firepower, and who has stronger mobility.

In the era when there were no missiles, the most important thing for a battleship was to withstand fighting, followed by firepower, and finally to be mobile, if all three won comprehensively, and then increased accuracy, then no matter how many ships were behind, it was also a flock of sheep, and in the face of advanced warships like wolves, it was completely useless.

In fact, in the past, Gray Arrow No. 1 knew that its firepower was outrageous, but at that time, it was all about hitting targets, and it didn't feel so obvious, but now when it really fights, it feels obvious, and what this brings is an unprecedented expansion of self-confidence.

People are like this, when they know that they are very powerful and others can't beat themselves, they will become more and more belligerent, that is to say, it is human nature to bully people, so after the first victory of the First Fleet of the Navy, they are eager to fight, they feel that they are not enjoyable, and they want to fight again, and even those bird ships want to get close and play with their double 37 guns.

It's a pity that after picking up those Qing troops who jumped into the water, after a little inquiry, I learned that the three lucky ships were all the warships of the Taiwan Prefecture, and there were no other warships, so there was no enemy to fight.

Then, the fleet approached Anping Port and fired a demonstration artillery, and before its own marines could start landing operations, the Taiwan government completely surrendered.

However, since it was a military training, the Marines used the usual mode of forced landing, starting from the sand boats, landing in kayaks, and quickly occupying Anping Port, before slowly guiding the fleet into the port, and finally occupying the entire Anping.

The whole process was almost similar to the reception, and the other side did not resist at all, allowing the Marines of the Imperial Army to occupy various important places.

When I asked, I found out that it was the prefect Kong Zhaoci who ordered not to resist, because he recognized that it was the banner of the Chinese Imperial Army, and he also knew what was currently happening in China, so he did not resist at all.

The reason why the three lucky ships attacked without permission was because the bird ships that lured the enemy did not fly the five-star red flag, but the pirate flag, so they were dispatched.

To put it bluntly, many officers and soldiers of the three lucky ships died a little unjustly, and Mo Haihu would not have died in vain if he hadn't played the trick of pirates to lure the enemy, which also shows that people are actually very responsible, and they will kill pirates when they see them, but the First Fleet of the Navy is a little unauthentic.

But having said that, at that time, Taiwan was not the territory of the Chinese Empire, and it was still the place of the Qing Empire, and everyone was in a hostile relationship, so it cannot be said that Mo Haihu's strategy was wrong.

In any case, after the capture of Anping Port, the First Fleet of the Imperial Navy followed the plan, leaving three unmodified bird ships and many soldiers to control the place, and then, the main force of the entire fleet set sail again from the port in full view. made a false impression of returning to Jiaxing, but in fact, he went to Dagou Port halfway, and secretly stationed in Dagou Harbor, becoming a disappeared fleet.

Then, in the name of going to Anping Port, all kinds of fleets with supplies were divided into two, a small part went to Anping Port to do normal trade, and most of them went to Dagou Port to deliver supplies and reservists to the fleet. At the same time, the restoration of simple port facilities began.

In order to carry out Li Yongji's policy at that time, to annihilate the Russian fleet head-on at sea, and to show the prestige of the Chinese Empire.

According to Li Yongji's plan, the best scenario is for the First Fleet to completely annihilate the Russian fleet and send all the Russians, including the navy and the army, to the bottom of the sea to feed the fish.

After that, they had to continue north, carrying out a landing operation directly at Vladivostok, which the Russians call Vladivostok, and capturing Vladivostok, Russia's largest forward base in the Far East, from the sea. The reason why the Marines have to learn about landing operations. The real main target is also Vladivostok, and it is estimated that it will be summer at that time, which is also suitable for landing operations.

Although Vladivostok was an important military base in the Russian Far East, it had just become the capital of the Far East. However, at this time, Russia had not been taken for a long time, and the distance from the Russian mainland was far away, so the development was slow, and there were not many troops. It is said that there are currently less than 2,000 people, including the common people.

Such a place, with two thousand marines armed with automatic weapons, went to fight. Coupled with the strong artillery of the fleet as the backing, I believe it will be easy to take it down.

After that, it is natural to emigrate, garrison, and develop Vladivostok well, so that Vladivostok can truly become the naval base of the Chinese Empire, and completely expel the power of the Russians from the Far East.

The Russians have many difficulties in developing Vladivostok, but it is not a matter for China, not to mention the long term, for the time being, taking Vladivostok can directly threaten the Qing court from the north, at least it will involve part of the opponent's troops, and it will be much easier to crusade at that time.

It's a pity that the plan is very good, but after the First Fleet of the Navy went to Dagou Harbor, I thought that there would be a war with the Russians soon, but wait, wait, wait, a month has passed, and I see that two months have passed again, and China has been peacefully reunified, and the Russians still do not come.

As the weather gets hotter and hotter, the mood of the First Fleet is becoming more and more irritable, so Mo Haihu has no choice but to strengthen his training and keep letting them go around at sea to shoot targets, which can not only reduce the arrogance of the officers and men of the navy, but also continue to train their combat level.

"!" Tang Haichao clenched his fists, rolled up his sleeves again, revealing his thick bronze arms, "I said brother-in-law, or you talk to Boss Mo and ask him to call His Majesty, let's not wait, let's go directly to Manila to beat them, hum, wouldn't it be better to block the port of Manila and beat them?" Anyway, Manila is not far from us. With the range of our artillery, we can only hit them, and they will definitely not be able to hit us. ”

Indeed, Manila is only a thousand kilometers away from Dagou Harbor, which is not too far for a navy with an economic speed of 15 knots.

Do the math, 15 knots is 27.78 kilometers per hour, which can run day and night, then you can run 664 kilometers a day, and if you get to Manila, it will be more than two days at most, and it is really close at hand.

"What nonsense!" Mo Haiwen glanced at Tang Haichao, "Hit Manila? Hmph, you can figure it out! You don't want to think about it, if we go to Manila to block people, their fleet won't be able to get out, but their infantry can't follow the fleet, right?

In that case, we won't be able to send them into the sea with the navy and infantry. Why do you want us to wait here, why do you want us to wait for news? Just to attack them halfway, not only to destroy their Baltic Fleet, but also to kill all their 30,000 land forces, you know? ”

Indeed, Li Yongji asked them to come to Taiwan's Anping Port in advance, because they saw that this place was close to Manila, and when the time came, they could intercept halfway and play the trick of the Japanese in the First Sino-Japanese Naval Battle.

Because Manila is a colony of the Spaniards, fighting Manila, regardless of whether it is to fight the Russians or not, will make enemies with the Spaniards, and it is definitely not a good time to offend the Spaniards at this time.

"I'm just panicking." Tang Haichao said depressedly, "You said the same, didn't the pineapple fleet arrive in Manila a month and a half ago, why didn't it come now?" It's not going to be a rumor. Knowing we're here, don't you dare to come? ”

"Probably not." Mo Haiwen frowned, "We have completely sealed off this place, and the news will not leak." Moreover, His Majesty said that the Russians are above the top, and our navy has never shown its strength in the past, and they still look down on us, so it is said that they will not come because they are afraid of us, but because of other reasons. ”

Mo Haiwen guessed correctly, it is true that the Russian expeditionary fleet has not stayed in Manila because of fear. It's all for other reasons, and this reason is actually very simple, that is, the Russian soldiers came from afar, and some of them are not adapted.

Most of the Russian expeditionary forces are pure land forces, even if they don't get seasick, but they are familiar with the situation near the Baltic Sea.

Originally, it was early spring when they left, and things were not strict. But when they arrived in Manila, the weather was hot, just in time for the malaria epidemic in the area, and many Russian soldiers were infected with malaria. In addition, he contracted dysentery, vomited and diarrhea all day long, and more than 1,000 people lost their combat ability due to illness, and more than 100 people died of illness. It can be said that the non-combat attrition of zhòng was very strict, and even the commander of their expeditionary force fell ill.

Although Manila also has a lot of cinchona, there are also some aspirin imported from China. Drugs such as heroin can also be relieved, but these drugs are very expensive and cannot be consumed casually by ordinary soldiers, let alone poor Russians.

Moreover, diseases such as malaria and dysentery do not mean that the medicine is guaranteed to be eliminated after taking medicine, the key is to rely on nourishment, and to put it bluntly, it is still a reason for not adapting to the soil and water.

Think about it, the Russian soldiers ran all the way from St. Petersburg to the Philippines, and they didn't go through much adaptive training on the way, so it's no wonder that they don't get sick.

This is different from the British army that fought the Qing Dynasty at the beginning, and many of the British troops during the Opium War were actually colonial troops, adapted to the local water and soil, and the sanitation was good, so it was a little better, but the Russians' hygiene habits were far worse than the British, and they were transferred from Europe, and the situation of water and soil adaptation was particularly strict.

It is precisely because of this that the Russians simply stayed in Manila and began to raise troops and adapt to training, which dragged on for two months, but they did not know that the arrogance of the Chinese navy close at hand was abnormal.

It's a pity that the intelligence officers in Manila are not high and can't inquire about the details of the Russian army, and the Russian army also sealed off the barracks after discovering that there was a large area of malaria and dysentery, and outsiders can't approach it lightly, so the intelligence officers in Manila don't know that the Russians are not adapting to the soil and water, and think it is for some other reason.

Although the details of the Russian army cannot be obtained, the role of Manila's intelligence officers is still very huge, because they only need to monitor the port, after all, the army is dispatched and the fleet is out of the port, and it cannot be concealed.

According to the plan, once the Russian fleet was discovered to be leaving the port in a big way, the intelligence officers in Manila would immediately send the information out, and at this time, the First Fleet of the Imperial Chinese Navy, which was hiding in Dagou Harbor, would immediately anchor and stay on the road where the Russian fleet must go, and intercept it halfway.

In order to ensure accuracy, according to the plan, when the Russian fleet leaves the port, the intelligence officer will also follow from a distance in the name of trade, and at the same time monitor the Russian fleet, and also use the radio to send coordinate signals, such as latitude and longitude, to guide the Imperial Navy to attack, so that the Imperial Navy will avoid detours.

"Wait." Mo Haiwen rubbed the bridge of his nose, "Our intelligence system is foolproof, as long as it is ......"

As soon as he said this, suddenly the phone on the table rang, Mo Haiwen glanced at it, and slowly picked up the phone: "Hey, I'm Captain Mo Haiwen." ”

Suddenly, Tang Haichao saw Mo Haiwen's eyes open and stood up: "What? It's true? Great, I understand, I'm ready to sail and make sure I don't delay things. ”

When Mo Haiwen hung up the phone and looked at Mo Haiwen who was full of excitement, Tang Haichao immediately asked, "What's wrong, so happy?" ”

"Hey, hey, hey." Mo Haiwen rubbed his hands, his face was full of excited smiles, "I just received the exact news, the Russians, have left the port!" (To be continued......)