Start: Datang Wanli a lonely city

Chapter 996 Back

Say it! Since twenty years ago.

As the armor of new warships from various countries became thicker, the artillery became more powerful, and the speed became faster and faster, the life of the Xuange Camp Fleet gradually became difficult.

Even the adults of Xuan Ge Camp left behind many advanced drawings before leaving.

Unfortunately, those drawings were too advanced; due to the need for confidentiality, we couldn't just ask people from outside to help with the manufacturing.

Therefore, even if their own craftsmen who were trained and trusted tried their best, they still could not process a considerable part of the drawings.

Even if it is barely processed, it is not easy to use at all due to quality reasons.

On the contrary, the equipment levels of various countries have continued to improve at an alarming rate in recent years, gradually catching up with or even surpassing them.

About seventeen years ago, they encountered the fleet of foreigners such as Yin Fa, and they could only escape far away.

He simply didn't dare to rely on his strong protective capabilities like before.

Wait until eight years ago, that is, in the eleventh year of Guangxu, when the Daqing Beiyang Fleet purchased a series of advanced warships from Degun.

The once majestic Xuange Camp fleet in the Eastern Sea could not even be defeated by Daqing's navy.

Then, under constant encirclement and suppression from many parties, multiple secret supply bases were captured one by one.

This time, because of the traitor's tip, the fleet has been chased all the way from a base in the South China Sea by four warships of the Beiyang Fleet.

Even if they fled in embarrassment all the way to the Java Sea in the South China Sea, there were still two ships, Zhiyuan and Laiyuan, keeping up behind them.

If it had been an earlier year, these three armored ships of the Xuange Camp Fleet would have been able to get rid of them with their speed.

But after so many years, even if they tried their best to maintain and maintain it, they were still affected by factors such as the aging of the hull, boiler, transmission system, or substandard parts.

The maximum speed has also dropped to fourteen or five knots, and cannot be maintained for a long time.

All in all, they are similar to the cruisers Zhiyuan and Laiyuan in the Beiyang Fleet.

It is precisely because of this that if you climb up to the watchtower and look behind you, you can faintly see the black smoke rising from the boilers of the two cruisers.

It was like a tarsal maggot, chasing their opponent for some time but unable to get rid of them.

But the most fatal problem is that Shuowei Wei knows that there is not much thermal coal left in the fleet.

no way! The three warships in the fleet were originally limited in tonnage. During the current transformation, they have added power boilers with sufficient horsepower, strong enough armor, and a large amount of ammunition.

The amount of space left to hold coal is limited, which is a natural flaw that cannot be solved at all.

Under normal circumstances, such a defect may not be a big problem; but this time when the Beiyang ship suddenly attacked, the coal in the fuel tank was not full.

During the escape, in order to maintain the necessary speed, the consumption became even more astonishing.

According to the semaphore method not long ago, I asked the 'Be kicked' and 'Fenghua Hui' numbers a little behind.

It was learned that the coal stored on their two battleships could only sail two hundred nautical miles at most.

Damn it! It can be said that this little coal is not enough to drive the steam. They had buried some thermal coal in advance on an unknown desert island in the South Seas a few years ago.

I can barely keep driving, so what?

The two ships Zhiyuan and Laiyuan behind them can also allow them to replenish coal calmly.

Finally, after some deliberation in his mind, Shuiwei knew clearly in his heart: Today, he can only fight to the death with these two cruisers of the Beiyang Fleet on the Java Sea.

However, the opponent's artillery is better and the protection is not bad. Such a life-and-death battle with little chance of winning is the last thing that Shuowei wants to do.

But now, he has no choice at all.

Instead of surrendering to the leader Deng on the Zhiyuan ship, it is better to fight; if you win, everything will be fine, but if you lose, you will be happy.

Just as Shui Weiwei, an old pirate, burst out the ferocity in his heart.

Prepare to issue an order to have the fleet immediately form a battle formation to seize the 'T'.

Suddenly, an old confidant who was also gray-haired, Du Yanhui, the person in charge of the telecommunications room, rushed over at a much faster speed than usual, with an expression of tears of joy on his face, like the wind.

Rushing behind him, he opened his mouth with a message that made Shuiwei burst into tears immediately after hearing it:

"Master Wei, we just repaired the radio station, and then we received a message on that special channel and translated it using a special codebook.

Above, above, it said: Xuange Camp and the others are back. "

Under such news, Shuiwei was stunned for more than ten seconds, then he raised his hand and gave himself a big dick; this was so hard that half of his face swelled.

The reason why this is so is because over a period of more than thirty years. Especially in the past ten years when the situation has become increasingly difficult, he did not know how many times he fantasized about the adults from Xuange Camp, or their descendants appearing again.

Take them with you to recreate the glory of the past.

As time passed and the frequency increased, he couldn't believe the authenticity of the news, thinking that he was hallucinating again.

Fortunately, the burning pain on his face allowed Shuiwei to confirm that this time it was finally true.

Immediately, he ran towards the telecommunications room, intending to explain the current crisis clearly to the adults.

Seeing this, Du Yanhui also quickly followed.

But when he was about to leave, a drop of water fell on Du Yanhui's face, causing him to stop instinctively and look up at the sky.

But he was surprised to find that it didn't rain at all.

So the question is, where did this water drop come from?

Where else could it come from? That was Shuweiwei, an old man in his seventies, whose tears were flying; a man would not shed tears easily, but they were not to the point of sadness.

About half an hour later, Shuiwei walked out of the telecommunications room with a cheerful look on his face.

After many years of practicing the "Five Elements Mozi Breathing Method", he shouted out after filling his Dantian with Qi: "Brothers, the adults from Xuange Camp are back, and they are waiting for us not far ahead."

After the voice fell, everyone on the Imperial Concubine was silent for half a minute.

Then, huge cheers sounded like thunder, and the cheers were filled with complex emotions of joy, grievance, and joy after hardship.

Two or three of them, old and hunched white men, fell to their knees on the spot. While mumbling something, they began to make the sign of the cross on their chests with their hands.

Later, after waiting for the Bekick and Fenghuahui numbers a little behind, they learned such news in the semaphore.

Many crew members above also let out huge cheers.

This cheering lasted for about ten minutes, until many people's voices became hoarse from shouting, and then they all stopped talking.

Then Shuiwei issued a brand new command in his mouth:

"Turn on the boiler to maximum and head towards the Javanese city of Surabaya at full speed, where the adults are waiting for us.

If there is not enough coal to burn, throw the tables, chairs, bed boards, even your dirty sheets and underpants, anything that can be burned into the boiler.

We must arrive outside Surabaya Port before two o'clock tomorrow noon..."

Ten minutes later, we were more than ten nautical miles away from the Xuan Ge camp fleet.

Deng Shichang, the commander of the Zhiyuan, who was frowning and looking at the chart, suddenly heard a voice coming from his ear: "Master Deng, the lookout reported that the rebels in Xuange camp have speeded up?"

"What's going on? Are they still burning coal? Is there any conspiracy?"

After hearing this, Deng Guandai was immediately filled with doubts.

Since the Battle of Hong Kong City, Xuan Geying's epoch-making armored warships can be said to have aroused the interest of many powerful countries such as Yinfa.

I put it under a magnifying glass and studied it for who knows how long.

Although in many aspects, due to the good confidentiality measures of Xuange Camp, not many details were revealed; under such research, they were still quite inspired.

By the way, the weaknesses of these three battleships were gradually exposed.

For example: Because the carrying capacity of coal is limited, there is no way to maintain a long-distance voyage.

According to past experience, their combustion will be exhausted soon. If something like this suddenly happens, what tricks can they have?

In fact, if possible, Deng Guandai would not want to continue chasing him at all.

After all, although the Xuange Camp fleet has become extremely famous over the years, Daqing has basically not been attacked by them except for the duck boats.

They have always only attacked the ships of the great powers, but instead made the people of Daqing secretly scream in joy.

More importantly, he did not secretly read some of the books left behind by those who disappeared from Xuan Ge Camp, which broadened his horizons and learned quite a lot of truth.

It is not an exaggeration to say that in some matters, he can be regarded as the enlightenment teacher of Deng.

For the fleet they left behind, they had some inexplicable feelings in their hearts.

It's just a matter of eating the emperor's salary and being loyal to the emperor. After thinking about the orders of the imperial court and the adults in Beiyang, as the formation leader, he also issued a new order:

"Tell Laiyuan to follow our ship at full speed and we must not let the Xuange Camp fleet escape..."

(End of this chapter)