Three days later

The light cruiser "Capeshire", which was part of the British Far East Fleet, had already joined the Combined Fleet and was hovering off the coast of Nagasaki to participate in the blockade of the Gulf, exerting continuous pressure.

In a traditional Japanese-style house in Nagaki Prefecture, Sato Ubei, dressed in a black kimono, looks at the heavy cruiser Seiryu wandering alone in the bay, and his expression is very solemn.

He was a plenipotentiary sent by Prime Minister Ito Hirobumi, and he hurried from the Choshu Domain to ask for a meeting with the commander of the fleet, but he was taken aback, and the reply he received was simple;

Without negotiations, the Treaty of Changqi XIV agreed or rejected, and there was no third way to go.

The attitude of the fleet was surprisingly tough, leaving no chance for fooling around.

"Amaterasu, I am afraid that the scene of the bombardment of Shimonoseki by the fleet of the four countries 20 years ago will be repeated, and the innocent people will be hurt the most. Sato Right Guard's voice was vicissitudes, and there were three middle-aged men in kimonos kneeling in the Japanese-style room next to him, one of whom was Nagasaki Prefecture Governor Kobayashi Shoji, who leaned over and said;

"I'm really sorry Sato-sama for causing you trouble."

"Hmph...... It has really added a lot of trouble, you have always jumped very high like a frog in a well, you don't even know that you have provoked the Queenslanders who are in the limelight in South Asia, they are a new and extremely aggressive force in the South Pacific region, and you are still stirring up three points unreasonably, you are equivalent to sending them to the door, it is estimated that they are cheering, such a serious consequence will be borne by the whole people, it can be described as a national shame, you should cut your stomach to thank the world. ”

"Please Sato-sama, it's not a pity for me to die, the warriors who stayed behind in the fort and the battleship still have the strength to fight, I just want to be able to save some dignity."

"Hehehe...... Decent? ”

Sato Right Guard laughed bitterly a few times and was silent.

The "Nagasaki 14 Treaty" is absolutely unacceptable, and it will nail the current Ito Hirobumi Cabinet to the pillar of shame in history, be reviled by the people, and the cabinet will be quickly dissolved, and the ongoing development of the navy and the revival of the economy will be interrupted.

The Hirobumi Ito Cabinet, who was born in the Choshu Domain, was a staunch supporter of the development of naval power, and tightening its belts and spending huge sums of money to order sharp warships from Britain was the policy led by the current Cabinet.

If the Okuma Shigenobu Cabinet were replaced, it would have taken a different path.

Over the years

Successive cabinets have worked to revise unequal treaties and abolish the extraterritoriality of foreigners in Fuso, although no significant results have been achieved.

Sato Ubei and the political elders firmly believe that as long as they persist, with the improvement of national strength, they will finally see the dawn of hope in 10 or 20 years.

Once the "Nagasaki Fourteen Treaty" was signed, Fuso was completely thrown into the abyss of semi-feudal and semi-colonial, and it could no longer climb out.

Domestic public opinion is boiling, and the current mainstream political parties will be labeled as traitors, and the political arena will usher in a new round of reshuffle.

Sato Ubei deeply understands the danger, so he remains silent for a time limit of 72 hours.

If the resistance is successful, it will be worth the price.

If the resistance fails, in the face of the cruel reality that people are not as strong as others, the people must be more sensible, right?

In the consideration of politicians, the suffering of the people at the bottom and the ravages of war have never been the first place, and the gains and losses of the political family are the first.

Suddenly

The huge fire in the blue Nagasaki Bay flickered, and then the deafening sound of heavy artillery came, and the moment the twin 280 mm high explosion ejected the chamber, the huge heavy cruiser Qinglong was pushed to one side 3~4 meters away, and the scream from the shell piercing the sky seemed to be the whistle of a steam train......

I saw a mushroom cloud covered in dust and gravel explode not far from the Nagasaki No. 2 Fort in the distance, and the earthquake trembled, and the mountains exploded like a heavy hammer, and the sound waves were transmitted dozens of kilometers away.

Nani ...... How is this possible? ”

The only trace of luck left in his heart was completely shattered with the fierce fire of the heavy artillery, and Sato Youbei rushed forward a few steps with a disfigured expression, grabbing the cherry blossom trunk in the courtyard, his face was instantly pale and bloodless, and his lips trembled and he could no longer speak.

Kobayashi Masa and the other three who were kneeling on the ground immediately stood up, looked at the heavy cruiser "Qinglong" in the bay that was firing shells unhurriedly, and said with hatred and anger in their eyes; "Lord Sato, the enemy has opened fire brazenly, and we must fight."

"Yes, the battery has received an order to have the right to counterattack after being attacked by enemy fire, war is inevitable, we must gather forces to attack the enemy, and it is best to capture some prisoners, so that we can continue to negotiate."

"It is better to die brilliantly than to live in humiliation."

"Amaterasu bless, the final victory must belong to us, this may be the best opportunity for the rise of the Yamato nation, let's fight!"

The three stalwarts of the Shoji faction led by Kobayashi shouted indignantly, they were all very powerful local factions in Nagasaki Prefecture, representing the hard-line attitude of many small and medium-sized feudal clans, such as the Hirado Domain, the Nitta Domain, the Shimabara Domain, the Fukue Domain, and the Omura Domain, and the attack on the sailors of the Queensland Fleet was also planned by them in order to prevent the ongoing peace negotiations.

Here's why

As a close neighbor of China, these hardliners knew that Queensland was an overseas immigrant of the Qing Dynasty, and they were reluctant to enjoy the same trade convenience and consular jurisdiction as the Westerners, so they had nothing to do and did not want to kick the iron plate.

Nagasaki Prefecture had always been under the direct administration of the shogunate, but after the fall of the shogunate in the Edo period, the power of the local feudal lords became stronger.

As the plenipotentiary appointed by the cabinet, Sato Ubei felt deeply powerless, and said in a dry tone; "This is the end of the matter, please leave it to you!"

"Haiyi, you must live up to your trust."

The three people led by Shoji Kobayashi walked out majestically, and under the gloom of early spring at the end of February, there was quite a tragic color.

From time to time, 280-mm and 210-mm shells fired from batteries in Nagasaki Bay fell into the sea, blasting high columns of water and large fish heads floating on the surface of the sea.

The heavy cruiser "Blue Dragon" drove along one side of the bay and could take advantage of the terrain to evade attacks from batteries No. 1 and No. 3, and concentrate fire on batteries No. 2 and No. 4 in Nagasaki Bay.

At this moment, the heavy cruiser "White Tiger," which was cruising off the coast of Nagasaki, led the fleet to concentrate fire on the No. 2 and No. 4 batteries, forming an internal and external attack with the "Blue Dragon" heavy cruiser, and the heavy artillery shells exploded into mushroom clouds among the mountains.

In an artillery battle between the two sides

It is obvious that the fleet led by the heavy cruisers Qinglong and Baihu is highly skilled, firing high-explosive ammunition at an average rate of two minutes, and after a few rounds, the explosion landing point is becoming more and more accurate.

After the Nagasaki Fort opened fire and counterattacked, due to the inherent defects of the recoiled artillery, it took an average of 5~6 minutes to fire a round of shells, and the landing point was very uneven, showing that the training level still needs to be improved, and at most it can only be regarded as a third-rate level.

More than 10 minutes later

The heavy cruiser "Qinglong" fired a straddle fire in the 7th round of test firing, which is a proper noun for shells flying over the target area, which means that the shelling data is accurate, and all that remains is to increase the fire output for covering fire, and it is only a matter of time before it hits.

At this time, the heavy cruiser Qinglong was in full swing, and the three twin 280-mm naval guns in the bow, amidships, and stern of the ship opened fire in unison, and the eight 150-mm secondary guns were output at the same time.

The advanced hydraulic reciprocating artillery showed amazing power, maintaining high accuracy while pouring heavy artillery fire, enveloping the battery area in a sea of fire and repeatedly ravaging, blasting the earth and rocks and flying corpses.

In the blue sea and blue sky of Nagasaki Bay, the green dragon

In the blue sea and blue sky of Nagasaki Bay, the heavy cruiser Seiryu poured a large number of shells like an invincible monster full of fire, and the dense trajectory of the shells in the air was intertwined into a net, and it exploded into a sea of fire near the No. 2 battery, and the ground shook the mountains.

This invincible power frightened the residents of Nagasaki, who had been following the war all the time, looking at each other and feeling suspicious; Can we really fight such an invincible ironclad?

When the Qinglong concentrated fire on the No. 2 battery, the White Tiger led the fleet to storm the No. 4 battery in accordance with the pre-formulated battle plan to contain the enemy's fire from the open sea.

After a few rounds of artillery fire

The area of the No. 2 battery was shattered by heavy armor-piercing shells, and suddenly after an earth-shattering loud noise, a huge orange-red fire ball rose, and an armor-piercing projectile fired by the heavy cruiser Qinglong exploded the reinforced concrete fortress, and fell inside the battery, causing the shells to detonate, completely destroying the entire No. 2 battery.

This scene stunned the people of Nagasaki, and some people fell to their knees crying bitterly, as if the sky had fallen.

Whenever you fall behind, you will be beaten, and this is an unbreakable truth.

In the dialogue between the backward coastal heavy artillery and the cutting-edge heavy cruisers, the "Qinglong" heavy cruiser crushed the opponent with a strong attitude, heralding the end of the old era, and a new generation of hydraulic re-entry main guns made a brilliant debut, realizing the generational change of artillery technology.

Shortly thereafter

Under the internal and external artillery bombardment, the No. 4 battery finally fell, it was blown to pieces, the surrounding area of the battery was full of charred ruins and corpses, the destroyed heavy artillery was twisted into scrap metal, and the artillery fire finally stopped.

The only achievement of the No. 4 battery was a 280-mm heavy shell that hit the main armor belt of the heavy cruiser Qinglong, and after an earth-shattering bang, destroyed a twin 150-mm turret on the upper side of the ship, killing all 16 members of the entire crew, and seriously wounding as many as 30 crew members nearby.

The people of Nagasaki cheered in unison when the huge fire ball exploded, but after the fire ball disappeared, they were surprised to find that the heavy cruiser "Blue Dragon" only showed a huge wound of 2 meters × 3.5 meters, and there was a laceration wound of more than one meter long at the hit point of the 280-mm heavy artillery shell, which was not important for a heavy cruiser with a hull length of more than 100 meters and heavy armor protection, it was just an itch.

After a brief pause, the heavy cruiser Seiryu opened fire again, which made the people of Nagasaki completely desperate;

What kind of terrifying existence is this huge ironclad ship, and who are we messing with?