Add Bookmark | Recommend this book | Back to the book page | My bookshelf | Mobile Reading

Free Web Novel,Novel online - All in oicq.net -> Historic -> Xinshun Steel Century

Volume 4 Leviathan 101 Battle of Keelung 5

Previous page        Return to Catalog        Next page

    He lowered his head in surprise and saw Li Desheng's eyes opened, and he was struggling to sit up from the ground. He quickly leaned over and hugged him: "Sir, don't move around, be careful to tear the wound!"  "Leave me alone, I can't do it anymore." Li Desheng said with his last breath: "Crash into it, aim at the enemy's flagship and hit it!" The first mate was stunned and immediately understood what the officer meant. He gritted his teeth and said,  Shouted loudly: "Give the order, continue to pump water, speed up, direction, enemy flagship!"  " On the bridge of the flagship of the "Steadfast", there was already chaos. Facing the "Jiyuan" that was rushing towards us at full speed, the British ships fired all their guns, beating the opponent like a lit paper lantern, but  This did not slow down the speed of the "Jiyuan" at all. The distance between the two sides had shortened to only seventy or eighty meters. A few British officers with good eyesight could even see that the rear of the "Jiyuan" was busy putting out the fire.  "You bastard, it's too late to turn around, come on!"  "Captain Jefferson used his many years of experience to accurately judge that it was too late for us to avoid it. After all, the "Steadfast" had a larger displacement, and there was also an angle of attack installed on the bow of the ship for collision, so he could just hit it head-on. With the violent blow,  In the shock, Jefferson fell from the bridge like a heavy sandbag. His forehead hit the oak deck hard and he fainted immediately. ¡°Commander, Commander!  " With the violent shaking, Jefferson slowly woke up. While regaining his consciousness, he also felt a sharp pain in his arm. He frowned in pain, only to find that his right forearm was partially twisted into  "Your right arm is broken, Commander. Please hold on, the doctor will be here soon!"  "The officer on the side said loudly. "Damn it!  "Jefferson gritted his teeth, pushed his men away with his good hand, and stood up. He saw that the bow of the "Steadfast" was in a mess, and a huge hole appeared at the waterline on the right side of the bow, and the sea water  It is rapidly pouring in. Not far from the "Steadfast", the shunjun ship that just collided with our own is sinking rapidly. The water is almost flush with the deck of the other side's ship. The shunjun ship on the ship is sinking rapidly.  The sailors were jumping into the sea, looking for opportunities to escape. Two British gunboats were approaching them, and the British sailors on board were shooting at the enemy forces struggling on the water. "Your Majesty, Commander, there are already four.  The enemy warship escaped. When the enemy ship collided with ours just now, the situation was very chaotic, so-" the British officer said this, and his voice became smaller. "Okay!  "Colonel Jefferson impatiently interrupted his subordinates' report: "It doesn't matter how many small boats escaped. Anyway, there is no way the Chinese can take back Ryukyu with these small boats!  Now you immediately ask the two gunboats to stop playing the game of shooting waterfowl and move closer to the side of 'Steadfast'.  Also, get Old Tom from the damage control department over here, I want to know how bad the situation is!  " "Yes, Your Excellency, Commander!  " Two minutes later, a short, fat man with soot and oil stains on his face came to Jefferson. Jefferson interrupted the other person's salute and asked directly: "Old Tom, tell me now, what is the situation of 'firm'?  How bad?  " "Too bad!  "Old Tom rubbed his garlic nose and added a stain on his face: "The breach made by the Chinese was very large, and the speed of pumping out water was much slower than that of incoming water. In order to prevent the hull from tilting, I  The only option is to fill the watertight compartment on the opposite side. However, the stability of the Steadfast will be greatly reduced. The waterline may only be a little more than half a meter away from the deck. A single salvo and a big wave will capsize the ship.  "    "I see!  "Jefferson nodded. He thought for a moment and ordered to the first mate on the side: "Pass my order. Except for the most necessary personnel, all other sailors and officers should retreat to other ships. Also, let'  The Djibouti came to tow the Steadfast out of Keelung Port. After the other ships bombarded the munitions depot in Keelung Port, they assisted the Marines who came ashore to retreat!  " "Yes, Your Excellency, Commander!  "The young officer ran away quickly. Jefferson turned around and looked at Old Tom, with a rare soft expression on his face: "Old Tom, I'm sorry, you and your people must take the greatest risk to insist on staying.  On the ship, I must try my best to save the ship, at least not to let it sink in Keelung Port, which may fall into the hands of the Chinese.  " "You don't have to explain anything to me, I understand, Colonel!  Old Tom nodded calmly: "Sailors are meant to die at sea!"  "After that, he gave Jefferson a military salute and disappeared on the deck. The next day, that is, on the evening of August 18, 1891, the "Resolute" armored cruiser sank about 30 nautical miles northeast of Taiwan due to wind and waves.  At the surface of the ocean, the engineer was also connected to the sinking of the "Steadfast".??Special.  Captain Tom and seven sailors.  At about five o'clock in the afternoon that day, accompanied by a small group of soldiers, Zao Guoquan boarded the original site of the red brick chapel that was his residence. Since the chapel was within the range of the British naval gun, the battle had just begun.  He was escorted to a safer place by soldiers sent by Feng Kaigui.  Zao Guoquan looked at the unrecognizable building in front of him in pain. Under the bombardment of grenades and incendiary bombs, this church was now only a ruin. The air was filled with the unique smell of burning animal leather.  Several guards couldn't help covering their noses with their sleeves.  Zao Guoquan suddenly pushed open the half-remaining door and walked into the ruins. He had just taken a few steps when he suddenly stumbled and almost fell to the ground. The guard who followed quickly reached out to hold him up, but before he could speak,  When he spoke, he was pushed away by the other party.  Zao Guoquan touched the ground twice and picked up a broken piece of wood. It was the object he tripped over just now. When he looked carefully, he saw that it was the cross that was originally hung on the wall. Now it was half burnt, but it was still  You can clearly see the shape of the crucified Jesus. After this unlucky "Son of God" was crucified on the cross by his companions two thousand years ago, today he was grilled with grenades and incendiary bombs by his devout followers.  Zao Guoquan looked at the fragment, angrily pushed it to the entourage behind him, and walked back into the ruins.  Twenty minutes later, when Dong Zao Guoquan walked out of the ruins, although his face was still ugly, it was no longer the frightening livid color just now. Several of his confidants exchanged glances, knowing that they had already reported the war situation.  It's time.  "Commander!" Feng Kaigui walked out of the ranks, bowed to Zao Guoquan, and said in a deep voice: "We have just calculated the approximate losses. Among the twelve warships, except for Beiyang's 'Yun Heng' and 'Wu Sheng'  The three ships "Yuntian" and "Yuntian" rushed out of the port. The current situation is unknown, and all of them have been lost. Among them, the "Chengyuan" flew a white flag and was captured by the British. The others were either sunk or severely damaged by the army's forts.  It was destroyed, with 745 soldiers killed and wounded, 17 cannons, 60,000 shi of food stored in the warehouse, 4,000 men's clothing, 250 tons of cooking oil, and some ammunition were all burned by the British.  " Feng Kaigui's voice became softer and quieter, and in the end, it was no different from a mosquito.  "Where is the cargo ship!" "Report to the commander, fortunately, Li Guandai of 'Jiyuan' risked his own life at the critical moment and rammed his ship into the enemy's flagship, frightening the enemy chief away. The cargo ship and passenger ship parked in another berth suffered no losses!  " Hearing that the freighter and passenger ship were not damaged, Zao Guoquan finally breathed a sigh of relief. He took a few steps away and looked towards the ocean in the distance. Under the light of the setting sun, he could clearly see a ship near the port.  The top of the small mast is exposed out of the water, which is where the "Jiyuan" sank.  "Commander!" Feng Kaigui threw himself to the ground: "Your humble position and incompetence have led to the defeat of the king's division. I hope the commander will punish you severely!" After saying this, he kowtowed repeatedly.  "Come here, write it down!" Zao Guoquan summoned the secretary and dictated loudly, "|At about eight o'clock this morning, the British fleet invaded our Keelung Port. There were dozens of giant iron-clad ships, more than a hundred small ships, and their masts covered the sky.  , bullets rained down, and thousands of British barbarians pretended to attack in small boats. Our forts were smashed, and many warships were damaged. The defenders motivated the soldiers with loyalty and fought bloody battles with the British. The battle was full of thieves and corpses until one o'clock in the afternoon.  Xu, Li Desheng, the leader of the "Jiyuan", saw the critical situation of the battle and rammed his ship into the enemy's flagship. The British chieftain's liver and gallbladder were shattered and he could not support himself, so he fled in large numbers, killing and wounding more than a thousand British thieves. Four enemy ships were severely damaged and cleared.  No calculation. However, we also suffered a lot of casualties, all the warships were destroyed, and the clothes, stores of food, and ammunition were all destroyed by artillery fire. I begged the superiors to send them quickly to pay the soldiers!" Feng Kaigui couldn't help being surprised and happy when he heard this.  This excerpt dictated by Guo Quan completely erased the fact of defeat, turned a British raid on the port into a landing battle, and turned a disastrous defeat for our side into a victory in a hard-fought battle to repel the enemy. Naturally, he was guilty of this.  He took it away.  He couldn't help but feel grateful and ashamed in his heart. He threw himself to the ground and said loudly: "I'm humble and incompetent. Thank you for your protection, Marshal!" "Master Feng!" Zao Guoquan sighed, walked to the other party and patted his shoulder.  The voice said: "Go to Tamsui Port immediately. The three boats that rushed out should have gone there. You must be on the same page with them, otherwise -" At this point, Zao Guoquan stopped talking.  "I understand, I understand!" Feng Kaigui immediately jumped up from the ground and loudly said: "I will set off immediately, sir, please rest assured, there will never be any mistakes!" Shanghai, Liu Family Mansion.  Chen Zaixing and Liu Zhiping were sitting at the long table, reading newspapers from major newspapers in Shanghai and imperial newspapers, and having breakfast.  The well-trained servants were silently placing exquisite meals on the table and removing the finished dishes. ? ?Thanks to book friends trainee police officer and Jiangnan deyu for the reward. I am so happy to see that the ranking has moved higher!
Didn't finish reading? Add this book to your favoritesI'm a member and bookmarked this chapterCopy the address of this book and recommend it to your friends for pointsChapter error? Click here to report