Travel through the Qing Dynasty and become emperor

Chapter 422 Battle of Hong Kong (1)
"My lord, I think Zengrong's plan is thorough, but if the 20 ironclad ships are desperate, our cruiser formation may not be able to completely block them from returning to the port. Even if they are blocked, it will definitely pose a huge threat to our fleet. Now the Imperial South Sea Fleet The essence of the war is in Hong Kong, once a fierce battle starts, it will be too much for our side, and if the Indian Ocean Fleet really attacks the southern coastal defense of the empire in the future, I am afraid that the South China Sea Fleet will not be easy to resist." Ye Zugui put forward his own considerations.

"My lord, it's better like this. After my battleship goes to the port to provoke, the enemy will definitely not rush out of the port. If we give our army the opportunity to conduct T-shaped tactical shooting, they will definitely form two rows of horoscopes from the two sides of the port to the center to divide our battleship. Therefore, my plan is, after the enemy divides our battleships, the cruiser formation will launch a torpedo saturation attack on its central assembly, and then cooperate with the battleship formation to carry out the reverse combat method to surround and destroy them." Lin Tai once suggested.

Liu Buchan nodded, agreed to Lin Taizeng's suggestion, and immediately announced that his plan would be carried out, and the telegram was sent to the front line in Hong Kong.

At 9:16 a.m. on September 11, a shrill siren sounded in Hong Kong port.

"Report, Mr. Commander, 7 ironclad ships with dragons hanging on them are launching shells on the forts in our port. Now 2 of the forts have been destroyed by them. The naval guns are extremely powerful."

"What, they launched an artillery attack? According to our intelligence, these warships should still be in the open sea, and their troops on land have not yet assembled, so why did they launch an attack so soon?" the deputy commander of the navy asked in surprise.

"No matter how they appear here, immediately issue an order to the ships of the remaining fleet: form the first fleet formation and the second fleet formation, respectively rush from both sides of the port to the enemy's center to divide the enemy formation, and all other warships, wait for the ships After the formation divides the enemy fleet, it will leave the port and destroy it." The navy commander gave the order skillfully.

Lu Rongting looked at the enemy fleet rushing up from both sides of the port, and laughed heartily: "Sure enough, it is just as the Admiralty guessed in advance, haha, order all ships to attack the enemy's lead ship in a concentrated manner."

"Boom, boom, boom, boom"

In an instant, dense sprays were released from the originally calm sea.Rumbling, rumbling, every time a Chinese warship fired a salvo, there was a huge roar, and then a British warship was ignited by artillery fire.On the other hand, looking at the record of the British army, since every time the bombardment of the Chinese fleet was launched, it was the first two warships, which could not form an effective firepower circle, and the damage to the enemy ships was extremely limited.

The commander of the navy is worthy of being a seasoned general. He saw that 4 warships were sunk by enemy ships just halfway through the voyage.There was no expression of frustration on the weather-beaten face, but his eyebrows were slightly wrinkled, and he continued to issue orders: "Order the armored cruiser formation to rush into the center of the enemy formation at full speed and divide it."

Following the order of the British commander, the armored cruiser formation immediately formed a dense formation of 5 rows and quickly rushed to the central junction of the Chinese fleet.

Lu Rongting looked at the enemy cruiser fleet rushing fast, and issued the second order: "Order the battleship formation to move left and right according to the plan, and continue to concentrate firepower to bombard the enemy battleships, ignore those cruisers, and order the cruiser formation to attack and intercept. "

The experienced British commander looked at the enemy fleet that was slowly being divided in the distance, feeling vaguely in his heart that something was wrong, but he said that there was nothing wrong with it.While hesitating, he saw the most terrifying scene he had ever seen in his life: the cruiser formation that had already divided the enemy in the distance exploded, caught fire, and sank almost at the same time, and the sea and sky reflected by the fierce flames They all turned fiery red, and then there was a violent explosion, so that he could no longer hear other sounds.

"What is this? A mine? No, mines can't sink so many ships at the same time. What exactly is it?" The British commander kept asking himself these questions beyond common sense. Before he could think of the result, he just listened "Bang, bang, bang" a series of huge explosions sounded under his feet, and the warship he was on began to vibrate violently, caught fire and then sank rapidly.

"Report, my lord, most of the British cruiser formation was sunk by the torpedoes launched by our cruiser formation, and the fleet is now deploying as planned."

"Report, my lord, the enemy flagship was sunk by our side."

"Report, my lord."

The good news of sinking the enemy ship continued to reach Lu Rongting's ears, and the goddess of victory had already sent a bright smile to the Imperial Navy fleet.By 3 p.m., the naval battle was basically over. Although the Chinese fleet was shot hundreds of times, most of the Chinese warships had extremely strong armor protection, so not a single ship was sunk. Only the two heavy cruisers "Weishi" and "Tianshi" were attacked Fang concentrated violent bombardment and was seriously injured, basically losing the ability to continue fighting.On the other hand, only three heavy cruisers from the British army fled back to the inner harbor in embarrassment.

At this time, the battle report ahead had already reached the Imperial Navy Department.

"Your majesty is right. This Lu Rongting is really good at commanding. He even wiped out more than 20 enemy warships without sinking a single ship." Liu Buchan said happily.

"Of course, but Kaishi (Lin Taizeng's word) should be credited for this, thanks to Kaishi's careful plan." Lin Jianzhang looked at Lin Taizeng and smiled.

Lin Tai once waved his hand: "The two adults killed me. In the final analysis, it is due to Lu Rongting and the soldiers in front."

Liu Buchan nodded and said: "However, this battle is not over yet, and we will see how Lu Rongting performs it."

At the mouth of Victoria Bay in Hong Kong, Lu Rongting stood on the "Changsha", looking at the wreckage of the ship and the floating dead bodies scattered around the sea, said in a deep voice: "Send my order, all capital ships will rush forward and attack the British coastal defense forts. Carry out a devastating blow!"

boom.

The huge body of the "Changsha" vibrated slightly, and the ten 295mm main guns sent angry shells out of the barrels almost at the same time.Although it seems that the ten main guns are fired at the same time, there is a slight deviation in the firing time. Otherwise, the recoil force generated by the ten main guns salvo may cause some damage to the hull .

At the same time as the main guns on the "Changsha" rang out, the main guns on the two former Dreadnought-class battleships "Guilin" and "Chaozhou" also roared.

The main guns used on these two battleships are exactly the same as those on the "Changsha", the difference is that there are only eight in number instead of ten. Twenty-six shells weighing three to four hundred kilograms whizzed towards the British fort in Xiyingpan, ten kilometers away, and a few seconds later, higher and thicker smoke rose again over the British fort.

Although such a violent attack had been expected by the British, and they had made some preparations and reinforced the fort a lot before the battle, they did not realize until the end of the day that the power of the shells fired by the Chinese was far greater than that of the Chinese. Their own shells of the same caliber are at least [-]% larger. The Xiyingpan Fort is considered the strongest among the several forts in Hong Kong. It took two years to deal with the growing threat after the Chinese Empire became stronger. Not only was it built the largest scale, but the artillery deployed on it was also the most advanced large-caliber artillery in Britain.It is much stronger than the fort at Tin Hau Temple in the northern part of Hong Kong Island.However, even the forts that the British relied on to guard the harbor, under the fierce attack of the Chinese warships, were like paper pricks and would not play much role.

In the first wave of attack alone, four of the eight most advanced shore anti-corrosion guns brought by the British on the Xiyingpan Fort were destroyed, and the British soldiers on the fort suffered heavy casualties.Most of these damages were caused by the ten bombers flying high in the sky. Although the naval gun shells on the warship were not weaker than the aerial bombs, after all, it was the first salvo and the hit rate was not very high.Although the well-trained British soldiers suffered such a loss, they still reacted immediately, and the only four remaining artillery pieces also roared.However, the distance of ten kilometers is really a bit far for these shore fire artillery. Needless to say, the destructive power and the hit rate are pitifully low, but there are some water jets aroused beside the Chinese warship.

The strong sea breeze blew past, quickly blowing away the smoke that shrouded the fort.Lu Rongting, who was ten kilometers away, could see clearly through a telescope.The strongest Saiyingpan Fort on Hong Kong Island is no longer in shape.Most of the main building was blown up, and even the ancillary buildings were blown to pieces.The power of the four remaining cannons on the fort was no longer as powerful as before, more like the groaning of a trapped animal before it died.

Before the bombers of the Air Force left.The second round of shells issued from the warship.It came to the British army again.This time, the hit rate of the shells has increased a lot, at least [-]% of the shells landed on the fort.in a blink.The four coastal defense guns that were still struggling.Immediately there was no sound.Lu Rongting could clearly see through the binoculars that the British artillerymen on the fort were bending over with their heads in their hands, desperately drilling into the ammunition delivery channel under the fort.

After firing another round of salvos, almost all the buildings on the Xiyingpan Fort were swept away. Then Lu Rongting ordered the three giant ships "Changsha", "Guilin" and "Chaozhou" to sail into Victoria Bay and head straight Killed to another fort located in the north of Tianhou Temple.As for the anti-landing defensive positions under the Xiyingpan Fort, they were handed over to five cruisers to clear them.With the large-range 180mm main guns on the cruiser, it is more than enough to blow up these temporary defensive positions.Moreover, those machine gun bunkers and field artillery bunkers on the defensive positions are really insignificant to the battleship's main guns.

The 180mm main gun on the cruiser not only has a long range, but also has a much faster rate of fire than the British shore artillery. It is quite neat to name the fortifications on the shore.

(End of this chapter)