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As the daimyo who had the most contact with the outside world, the Satsuma Domain had seen the warships and armed merchant ships of Western maritime powers such as Spain, Portugal, and the Netherlands, so they built forts in the area around Minami-Osumi Town and Nishi-Osumi Town, at the entrance to Kagoshima Bay, to protect the entrance to Kagoshima Bay and serve as the first line of defense on the sea south of the Satsuma Domain.

The location of these two forts is well chosen, as it just controls the entrance to Kagoshima Bay and is the narrowest part of Kagoshima Bay. In order to attack the naval division station inside, it is necessary to destroy these two batteries first.

More than 160 large and small warships of the Red Army Fleet of the Mawei Navy appeared at the entrance to Kagoshima Bay after packing up Oda Nobuya.

The defenders on these two batteries suddenly found such a large Western fleet in front of them, and they couldn't help but be dumbfounded, and it took a long time for them to come back to their senses, and then immediately sounded the alarm.

Hearing the siren, the defenders on the two batteries immediately rushed to their respective batteries in a chaotic manner, the Wa Kingdom had not experienced a war for thirty years, and the Tokugawa family's means of suppressing the daimyo were still very powerful, and they were not allowed to attack each other again, so the defenders of these batteries were naturally unbaptized by war. When I got on the fort and saw such a large Western fleet, all of them were the same, and they all had an expression of disbelief. They didn't know the tiger flag on a blue background flying on the battleship, and only those sailors who had been to Mawei knew which country it was.

Although Geng Jingzhong was itchy and wanted to command, he still knew how many catties and taels he had. I tried my best to control myself. The command of the entire fleet still belongs to Wang Zhenbang. He didn't want to learn from the old Jiang of later generations. From the layman to the insider, it is not good to guide zhì to suffer heavy losses!

In addition to expanding business, another purpose of this expedition to the east was to conduct large-scale actual combat training and increase the actual combat experience of the newly promoted generals of the Red Army fleet.

Wang Zhenbang raised his binoculars and took a closer look, then ordered: "Let the Third Fleet send five fourth-class warships forward first." Spy on their firepower! ”

The Third Fleet was on the left, and immediately after receiving the order, the Third Fleet dispatched five fourth-class warships, preparing to take advantage of the long range of artillery to start a tentative bombardment of the batteries. The five warships also moved forward cautiously, and when they were halfway down the road, they stopped, which was already within range, so they made a quick round of fire. But at this time, the forts on the opposite bank also roared. The navy was also taken aback. Could it be that the Japanese guns could be on board with the advanced artillery on their ships? However, when they saw the point where the shells fell into the water, the generals of the Nanyang Fleet couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief. Where is the heavy artillery on the battery, which is far worse than the heavy artillery on their third-class battleships. And the shells fired from the five fourth-class battleships, although they did not hit the batteries, hit them all around, and also made a big jump.

Wang Zhenbang couldn't help laughing: "Shizi, the range of this Japanese artillery is far worse than ours!" ”

"Their artillery is indeed inferior to ours! The guns fired on this shore are probably their battery guns, which look like our twelve-pounder guns! Geng Jingzhong smiled and put down the binoculars and said: "Fortunately, we vigorously developed and cast artillery, otherwise, with the old-fashioned artillery, it is really not better than them!" However, although the artillery of the Wa Kingdom was not good, they spared no effort to improve the musket. Their muskets, combining the advantages of the Eastern and Western muskets, although not as strong as our new muskets, but because the iron quality of the Wa Kingdom is very good, so their iron cannons, that is, muskets, were already very famous in the former Ming Dynasty, but everyone should pay enough attention! ”

This sentence was said to Zeng Yangxing and several other Marine Army generals, and the next few people also nodded incessantly. "Don't worry, General Huang has always emphasized that the Wa Kingdom is good at imitating muskets. The muskets of the Wako are good, but ours are stronger. The soldiers have been strictly ordered that not a musket and a cannon must be lost, and the Japanese people will not have a chance to copy our muskets and artillery! Although Zeng Yangxing said this, his expression also became stern.

"Tom tom!"

"Tom tom!"

"Tom tom!"

Five fourth-class battleships stopped halfway down the road and fired at the batteries on both sides, but due to the small number of guns, the effect was not very great.

"Order, the 3rd and 5th Fleets will attack immediately and clear the batteries on the shore on both sides!" Wang Zhenbang saw through the binoculars that after two rounds of shelling, the fort was useless and suffered little damage. Mainly because there are not a few heavy guns on the fourth-level battleship, it looks like a lively fight, but in fact it has no big effect!

After receiving the flag order, the 3rd and 5th squadrons sailed straight into Kagoshima Bay in two columns, and the heavy guns on both sides of the ship were ready for fire. The two sub-fleets consisted of 16 third-class battleships, with a total of more than 1,000 guns on both sides, of which more than 300 were more than 18-pound heavy guns. This is not counting the fourth- and fifth-tier warships that followed, although they were not expected to play a big effect, but the icing on the cake was still okay.

The two detachments of forty warships kept moving forward and did not stop there, and at the mouth of this bay did not worry about being attacked by the batteries on the shore. Not to mention the power of the artillery on this battery, this number is not enough. Nearly 300 large and small artillery pieces were installed in Mawei Military Port, and eight batteries and 40 artillery pieces were installed on Langqi Island outside Houyu Port. And the two forts in front of me, looking at the firepower, it is estimated that the total is only a hundred, and the power is not good.

More than a thousand artillery pieces fired in unison, "Tom tom tom!" The sound of a dense volley of artillery resounded in the sea at the entrance to Kagoshima Bay, and then a large number of shells fell on the batteries on both sides like a flock of black crows. The four large and small warships of the two sub-fleets began to clear the batteries on the shore at their own fixed points, and the various batteries in Minami-Osumi Town and Nishi-Osumi Town were suddenly plunged into a storm of dense bullet rain, and the main gunners of the Mawei Navy were no longer young children who had just learned to shoot artillery, and after two or three years of training, they did not know how much ammunition had been wasted, and each gunner did not know how many rounds of live ammunition had been fired, and they were all extremely rich in experience. The fight was accurate and hard. This is far from being comparable to the Japanese on the opposite fort.

The defenders on the batteries on both sides of Minami-Osumi and Nishi-Osumi have changed one batch after another for thirty years. But all of them have never experienced war. They are also negligent in practice on weekdays, and this is not to blame them, first, they have no enemies, and secondly, the Shimazu family does not want to waste ammunition in vain and spend a lot of money. You know, every time you train, you can beat out a lot of money. The projectiles of the shells, gunpowder, etc., were piled up with silver. Again. The accuracy of the artillery in these years is too poor, and in the absence of war for decades, who has the heart to practice?

Today, when they were suddenly attacked by a surprise attack, they did not have the slightest psychological preparation or pre-war preparation, and they were suddenly hit by this kind of dense rain of bullets, and they were all panicked, and they could not care about fighting back, and they were unable to fight back at all. Earlier, they had heard the sound of cannon fire coming from the sea, but it was too far away. They didn't really hear it, they thought it was Oda Nobuya training sailors! Again. Such a large fleet was in front of them, and they already had little fighting spirit.

Under the shelling of the five fourth-class warships just now, they didn't feel much of it, and kept using the batteries to counterattack. But after the shelling of these forty giant ships together, as long as the Japanese on the fort can still run, and they are not stupid, they are all holding their heads and running around, where can they still take care of the spirit of bushido, and talking about the spirit of bushido with the artillery, it is not asking for a dead end. What made the pirates even more frightened was that in a short period of time, the second round of shells came whistling, and those who moved a little slower did not even have a chance to escape.

After three rounds of shelling, all battleships stopped shelling. At this moment, the Third and Fifth Fleets had penetrated more than two kilometers into the mouth of the bay. The twenty or thirty forts on both sides of Minami-Osumi and Nishi-Osumi were shrouded in smoke, and the entire sea and shore were silent.

"Give the order to the front, continue to move forward, and go straight to the station of the Japanese Sailor Division on Lou Island! Other fleets are with you! After carefully observing the telescope for a while, Wang Zhenbang continued to give the order to let the fleet attack Kagoshima Bay as a whole.

The flag commander above the mast quickly issued the latest order, and Geng Jingzhong suddenly said to Wang Zhenbang: "Old Wang, this Kagoshima Bay is the only way in front of us, what do you say if the Shimazu family comes back, quickly occupies this place again, and installs a large number of heavy artillery to cut us off, what should we do?" ”

"What the prince said is reasonable, after all, this is their territory, and they have to guard against it." Turning around, Wang Zhenbang said in a deep voice: "Order, the Sixth Fleet stays at the mouth of the bay to guard the retreat of our army!" ”

"Actually, I think that although this place is dangerous, it must be equipped with heavy artillery to hold the mouth of the bay, and at least like the battery just now, to pose a threat to the navy. Shizi, you can see that the Shimazu family does not have high-grade heavy artillery, and the ones on the fort just now are estimated to be their family background. Besides, even if they still have a lot of heavy artillery, it is not easy to carry it on land, and by the time they deploy it, our army will have already destroyed the Satsuma Domain! Zeng Yangxing didn't care, the forts here have been destroyed, and it is a big project to rebuild, and it will not be done in a while.

Geng Jingzhong nodded: "Although what Uncle Zeng said is true, but the two armies are fighting, and before they say victory, they will defeat before they say anything, and it is necessary to ensure the way out." Although we all have the confidence to win, there will be no bad things if we continue to arrange it! ”

"The son of the world is wise!" Several people around nodded one after another, the prudence of the prince should be worth learning from. No one can guarantee that they will win a big victory, but it can only be said that they are very sure. If something really happens, this retreat is very important.

Geng Jingzhong continued: "This is just a precaution, our such a huge fleet went out with the confidence of victory, how was the scene of the 10,000-gun salvo just now?" It's spectacular! However, after all, the fort is a dead thing, it can't be moved, and it is our live target, but the next thing must be to face the elite sailors of the Shimazu family. With such a big movement just now, the Shimazu family must have received the news. It is estimated that at this moment, they are sailors who have already come straight here, or in less than half an hour, we will be able to meet them! ”

As soon as he heard this, everyone was stern again, and Wang Zhenbang held the telescope and stared at the sea in the bay in front of him without blinking. The third and fifth fleets were divided into the left and right flanks, and the distance between them was two or three kilometers, while Geng Jingzhong's large army, which was in the center, was one kilometer behind. The entire Red Army fleet formed a V-shape and headed for Kagoshima Bay at the same speed. (To be continued......)

PS: Today I want to make up for yesterday's arrears, and my little brother must be at full speed! Stay tuned! Appreciate the support!