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Volume 4 Leviathan 99 Battle of Keelung 3

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    "You are using your power to bully others!" Huang Guandai stood up angrily, his right hand already pressed on the hilt of the saber at his waist. The people next to him quickly reached out to pull him. Li Desheng sneered and replied: "Don't pull him, I, Li Desheng, am empty-handed."  To deal with him, let¡¯s see how good Mr. Huang¡¯s skills are!¡± ¡°The commander is here!¡± At this moment, a message came from outside, and the people at the wine table hurriedly stood upright to welcome Zao Guoquan.  arrival.  Zao Guoquan walked in wearing casual clothes and a reserved smile on his face.  As soon as he reached the table, he pressed his hands down and said with a chuckle: "Sit down, all sit down! I invite you all to come tonight just to talk about personal friendships, there is no need to be so nervous!" "Thank you, Commander!" The generals seemed not to have heard.  After Zao Guoquan's words, they all sat down with their backs straight, as if they were being inspected.  "Zhao Guoquan nodded slightly: "You are all the pillars of the navy, and you all know my mission this time. You cannot do without the navy. If there is anything I did not considerately, please forgive me.  !  " Although the Huang Guan leader was thin and small, he had a very bad temper. In addition, he was only a temporary errand under Zao Guoquan. When he heard this, he simply replied loudly: "The commander-in-chief is very considerate, but he has always been  It's not good for a snake to be headless. We have more than a dozen ships coming to several places, but there is no commander. This is not good!  " Zao Guoquan frowned. He naturally knew this truth, but these days he only let himself serve as fleet commander, and did not choose a professional commander from among these captains. The reason is very simple, the internal relations of the fleet  It is complicated and full of contradictions. No matter who is appointed, many people will be unconvinced. It is better to leave the seat empty for the time being and observe it slowly for a while. Unexpectedly, it was revealed here today. It seems that the contradictions in the Navy have intensified.  It¡¯s impossible to cover it up. But this is not necessarily a bad thing. ¡°Master Huang is right. Who do you think should be the commander of the fleet?  " "Reporting to the commander-in-chief, the subordinate thinks that Lord Qian Shuitingqian, the commander of the gunboat "Jinjiang", is highly skilled in military affairs and is popular with the public, so he should be made the fleet commander!  " As soon as the yellow man finished speaking, a sneer came from across the wine table. Everyone looked to where the sound came from, and saw a sarcastic smile on Li Desheng's face. It was obvious that he was the one who made the noise just now.  Huang Guandai was furious and shouted: "Li Desheng, what do you mean?  " Li Desheng stood up and said with a smile: "It's not interesting!  I just laugh when I think what some people say is funny!  "    "you¡ª¡ª?  "Huang Guandai stared angrily. Fortunately, he still remembered that Zao Guoquan was there, otherwise he would have drawn his sword again. "What am I?  I don't know whether Mr. Qian Shuiting is military proficient or not, but the 'Jinjiang' is just an iron-hulled wooden ship with a displacement of less than a thousand tons. The pipes of this small ship can also be used as fleet commanders to command here.  A dozen cruisers and ironclads?  I, Li Desheng, have been eating on the water for decades, and this is the first time I hear such rules!  " "Okay, let's put the commander's matter aside for now!  "Zhao Guoquan finally spoke, otherwise he would see a fight between these naval officers from the north and south on the table. He really didn't have much to do with these officers who were transferred from all over the world and had nothing to do with him. After all, warships are not  Like the Army, it is too professional and it is difficult to find a replacement, and this is really not the time to change generals on the spot. ¡°Yes, Commander!  "The officers sat down, Qian and Huang glared at each other, but they still didn't dare to say anything else at the wine table. Zao Guoquan looked at the tense leaders at the wine table and couldn't help but sigh in his heart.  He said that when he was in Myanmar at the time, although Chen Zaixing and he seemed to be at odds with each other at first, they later cooperated quite well. Not only did they repel the British, they also took the opportunity to control most of Myanmar, which was a great victory.  Today, these naval officers are obviously his subordinates, but they are making a big fuss. Thinking of this, Zao Guoquan's interest has already dimmed. He said a few perfunctory words.  After three rounds of drinking, he said he was a little tired and left the banquet. When the leaders saw that the atmosphere was not right, they also left one after another, and the banquet ended hastily. Just as Zao Guoquan was trying to use the banquet to mend the rift between his navy generals.  At the same time, Colonel Jefferson and his subordinates spent a sleepless night on the bridge of the armored cruiser "Steadfast". The British naval officers compared the topography of the port and the strength of their own warships to formulate the second plan.  Due to the large number of reefs inside Keelung Port, Colonel Jefferson vetoed the night raid plan from the beginning. He was more worried about the Chinese old warships and the 170mm fortress guns hidden in the water.  After all, according to past test data, the artillery on the enemy's fort is unable to penetrate the armored belt on the British armored cruiser.With some intelligence, Jefferson finally made an extremely brave, or reckless, battle plan.  On the next morning, the British fleet sailed directly into Keelung Port on the grounds of requesting to add coal and water. Since the flagship "Steadfast" and another "Shannon" class armored cruiser had a deep draft and could not approach the shore, they  Jefferson planned to place the two most powerful and heavily armored warships at the intersection of firepower of several forts that had been discovered, or at a location where all the forts could be bombarded at the same time.  The reason why Jefferson dared to do this was mainly because he believed that these two warships had 8-9 inches of armor and 4 Woolwich 10-inch 15-caliber front-loading rifled guns (weight 18 tons) MKII and 7 9-inch (228mm)  ) 14x caliber MKIV front-loading rifled cannon, and six 20-pound rifled breech-loading cannon.  These two powerful warships, under the control of the heroic sailors of the Royal Navy, will definitely be able to destroy the enemy's defenses on the fort in a very short time. What's more important is that the position of these two armored cruisers can park at the berth.  All the Shunjun warships were blocked in the port, while the two warships with the shallowest draft were responsible for bombarding the enemy forts with mortars close to the shore and sending the Marines ashore. Jefferson planned to occupy the most important fort in order to achieve  In an attempt to attack the enemy ships from both sides in the port, the remaining warships served as flank cover.  At 8:30 the next morning, the British fleet entered Keelung Port like a group of migrating sturgeons. Jefferson stood at the highest position of the bridge in high spirits and saw towering cliffs like city walls on both sides of the river.  On the wall fort, the enemy defenders looked panicked, and he felt an inexplicable pleasure in his heart.  At this time, a young officer ran onto the bridge and reported loudly: "Your Excellency, Commander, a Chinese ship sent us an inquiry using a semaphore, asking us to tell us the reason for entering the port." "Answer them, just say  The fleet is short of coal and fresh water and requires entering the port to replenish it! " "Yes, Your Excellency, Commander!" A few minutes later, the officer boarded the bridge again and loudly reported: "The Chinese replied, this is a strategic military location of China.  Now is an extraordinary period, requiring us to withdraw from the port and go to the nearby Tamsui Port to replenish fresh water and coal. ""Answer them, the Royal Navy of the British Empire has the right to replenish fresh water and coal at any necessary place whenever necessary.  After collecting fuel and fresh water, our fleet is about to leave. And let all the sailors enter the combat position. If the Chinese fire, they will fire back and sink them! " "Yes, your Excellency, Commander!" "The sudden action of the British fleet.  The Chinese defenders in the port were panicked. Neither Feng Kaigui, who was responsible for commanding the defenders on the shore, nor the naval officers on the warships were determined enough to fire on these uninvited guests. After all, everyone knew that the British were the undisputed leader on the sea.  Master, Dashun is in trouble now. It is not a wise decision to fire recklessly and add a new enemy.  Therefore, all the officers on the Dashun side reacted almost unanimously. They asked their soldiers to prepare and at the same time sent liaison officers to ask for instructions from their superiors.  Like many battles in history, both sides in the Battle of Keelung Port accused the other side of firing the first shot, and that their side fired back after being suddenly attacked.  But if third-party historians from a more impartial position believe that it is not so important who fired the first shot, since the battlefield is inside Keelung Port, the British should be the instigator of this war. After all, in this  With special morale, a detachment of the Royal Navy's Far East Squadron went to the desolate port of Keelung to add coal and fresh water. This was not a very convincing excuse for provocation.  At about 9:30 in the morning on August 17, 1891, Jefferson ordered a signal to be hung at the end of the beam and girder of the flagship "Steadfast", ordering all ships to prepare for battle.  Five minutes later, as the guns on the "Steadfast" fired, other warships in the British fleet also began to fire, and the Shunjun warships on the fort also began to fight back.  On the shore, I didn't get on the boat, but was still weighing anchor in the hectic life, and I didn't have time to fight back.  Seeing this situation, Colonel Jefferson made the decision to modify the plan. He asked the "Steadfast" and another armored cruiser to continue bombarding the defenders on the fort, while the remaining warships serving as diversions attacked those who were lighting fires.  A Shunjun warship weighing anchor.  Captain Jefferson followed his own habit and stood on the bridge, watching the British sailors on the deck using the Woolwich 10-inch 15-caliber front-loading rifled gun (weight 18 tons) MKII and 9-inch (228mm) 14-caliber MKIV front-loading rifle.  The cannon violently bombarded the enemy fort not far away.  Since the "Steadfast" is parked too close, and the main battery of Keelung Port is located on the flat land by the sea, the enemy can be hit by flat fire, so the two sides are like two knights fighting hand-to-hand, both holding daggers at each other.  He stabbed randomly on his body, and the hit rate was astonishingly high.  Jefferson on the bridge could even hear the whizzing sound in his ears from time to time. He knew very well that it was the Chinese firing from the fort.He heard the sound of small-caliber Gatling gun shells passing by, but he still stood upright on the bridge so that the sailors on the deck could see his commander's figure during the battle.  "Mondays are the most annoying. Everything has to be recalculated, and I am suddenly kicked out of the category popularity list. I have no choice but to ask for rewards, recommendation votes, collections, etc.!
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