Travel through the Qing Dynasty and become emperor

Chapter 56 The South China Sea War (5)
The "Victory" is an ironclad ship that was not built here in France in the 70s. It is of the same level as the "Triumph" that was captured before. It is characterized by good protection and strong firepower. The disadvantage is that the speed is not very fast, only 15 knots.However, after the Daqingshui Division lost "Super Bravery" and seriously injured "Yang Wei", only "Triumph", "Long Victory" and "Unbeaten" could reach 15 knots. , especially in the dark, both sides lost their aim in the artillery battle.There is no such accurate shooting as during the day!However, after the "Tour" sank the "Super Brave", the confidence of the "Victory" was extremely inflated.After seriously injuring "Yang Wei", he was still unwilling to leave, and stuck together with the two cruisers "Nanji" and "Nanxiang". It's pretty easy to run when you're invincible.

But on the other side in the darkness, the seriously injured "Yang Wei", surrounded by seven small gunboats, had already surrounded the "Victory" from the side.

"Lower the muzzle, fire!" Captain Miche of the Victory commanded the battle.

"General, General Billy issued another semaphore to let us retreat." A signal soldier said.

Mischer looked at the rear, and said to the signaler, "Where are you going to retreat? Where did General Billy hit four Qing army ironclad ships? Wouldn't we become targets if we retreated? The two German cruisers here have powerful gunfire. Not much. We can barely resist, and withdrawing to Billy is tantamount to death. Order the semaphore soldier and let him send a semaphore to General Billy: The Dole will retreat to the Red River Naval Port first, and the Victory will be broken later."

"General, a large number of Qing army gunboats were found on the left side. The distance is less than 2000 meters away." Another soldier hurriedly said.

Mi She looked to the left in horror, and cursed: "What? We are surrounded? Full starboard, evacuate to the right at full speed."

On the other side, the "Dour" faced the siege of the four Qing army ironclad ships "Invincible", "Changsheng", "Triumph", and "Juyin" alone.But Billy made full use of the advantage of fast speed, always wandering around the four ironclad ships.If it weren't for waiting for the "Victory", he would have fled back to Vietnam long ago.

"General, the Victory said he will cut the rear. Let's retreat first." A signal soldier said.

Billy was already on the verge of collapse at this time. Although the "Dour" was extremely fast, it always kept a distance of about 2000 meters from the ironclad ships of the Qing army.Coupled with its own displacement of 5700 tons and armor of 153mm, it did not suffer any fatal damage.However, since I set out to sea in Vietnam in the morning, I have sailed a total of several thousand nautical miles.After fighting for at least 10 hours, the shells were almost exhausted.Since the original plan was to surround the Qing army with a surprise attack from the southeast, in order to be concealed, they made another big circle at sea.Now that the fuel has almost been consumed, if you take the Qing army around in circles, you may run out of fuel and be in danger of being captured after the shells are finished.When he was considering whether to evacuate first, another communications soldier came and said: "General, the Victory is surrounded by dozens of gunboats and cruisers of the Qing army. It cannot break through, and a distress signal has been sent."

Until now, Billy finally realized his mistake in dividing his troops to encircle the Qing fleet.He had no choice but to give up the "Victory". If he kept following him with the Qing fleet, he would consume more fuel. When the fuel ran out, it would really be over.

The "Dour" semaphore: After the "Victory" is broken, after the "Dour" is far away, it is allowed to surrender to the Qing fleet.

After the "Dour" played the semaphore, it quickly fled towards the Red River in Vietnam.

The "Victory" was completely disappointed after seeing the coach's semaphore.They had been abandoned by Billy, and under the close-range attack of many gunboats, a terrifying hole had been blasted on the rear deck of the "Victory".Before "Dour" ran away, the white flag had already been hoisted and surrendered to the Daqingshui Division.

Zuo Zongtang seemed unwilling to let go of "Douer", and led "Triumph", "Juyin" and "Invincible" to chase for 4 miles until he was sure that he could not catch up.Only after the semaphore was raised to return to the voyage, the four ironclad warships drew beautiful circles in the sea and then sailed towards Kaohsiung port.

In this "South China Sea War", the navy of the Qing army sank a total of 2 ironclad ships (including the capital ship "Elegance"), 3 cruisers, 7 gunboats, and 4 torpedo ships.An ironclad ship "Victory" was also captured.

The Qing army lost 2 cruisers ("Yang Wei" was seriously injured and sank when returning to the voyage), and 14 gunboats.The number of warships sunk was exactly equal, 16 each.But everyone knows what kind of warship France lost, and what kind of warship the Qing Dynasty lost.

The most important thing is that the Daqingshui Division gained the initiative in the naval battle, and the remaining 1 ironclad ship, 4 cruisers, and 3 gunboats of the French Far East Fleet have been hiding in the Vietnamese military port and dare not move.

In the Warring Pavilion of the Military Aircraft Department, Li Hongzhang, Li Zhen, Prince Gong, Prince Jin, Peng Yulin, and Weng Tongsu were all sitting in it. There was already a pile of memorials on the desk, but no one was in the mood to read them.The tea on the table was added one after another, and the leaves turned white, but none of them noticed.Every time footsteps were heard in front of the window, the six people always stood up at the same time, but none of the reports they wanted to see were sent in, and there was no news of the news they wanted to know.

There was another sound of "kick, kick, kick" footsteps. The tea bowl in Li Hongzhang's hand trembled, and he glanced at Prince Gong. No one stood up this time.

However, the little eunuch who ran all the way didn't have such restraint as them, and shouted loudly: "Great victory, the navy has won a great victory."

At this time, other people in the warm pavilion had already gathered around. After reading the contents of the telegram, Prince Chun and Li Zhen, who were originally full of sorrow, looked as if they were seeing the sun after the clouds.Now France only has two capital ships in the Far East, and I am afraid that they dare not even leave the port.It will take at least two months for the new warships to be transferred, and their biggest reliance on naval superiority no longer exists.The rest is the decisive battle of the army.Even winning a naval battle with such a disparity in strength, how can an army with more numbers than the French still lose?
However, the expressions on the faces of Prince Gong and Li Hongzhang were somewhat complicated. This battle was too thrilling, but after the lingering fear, there was infinite worry.This battle was barely won, and the little emperor didn't know how inflated he was. He would definitely continue to fight this battle, but if he continued to fight, the foundation of the Westernization Movement for the past 20 years would be completely wiped out. Now we are here The side is already hurting, and the French are just a drop in the bucket, which really pissed them off. We have all the warships coming over, and we really can't resist it.

"Does the emperor know?" Prince Gong asked the eunuch.

The eunuch said excitedly: "The emperor knows, the emperor has been in the telegraph room, and the emperor asked his servants to send it to the adults."

"Where is the emperor now?" Li Hongzhang continued to ask.

The eunuch scratched his head and said, "I don't know, the emperor was still in the telegraph room when I came."

"Go down." Prince Gong said.

"twitter."

Although the military aircraft department is not very optimistic about the prospect of the war, it doesn't matter so much outside. On the same day, the "Daqing Daily" published the news of the victory of the Yellow Sea War. It not only sank sixteen French warships, but also After capturing a big ship, the happy students of Tsinghua University slapped their desks loudly.The teahouses and restaurants are all full, making the owners of these shops earn a lot of money.

But some people are happy and some are unhappy. Zai Lian came out from the mansion early in the morning to walk the birds, and after seeing the article in the newspaper, he threw the newspaper away.

"Damn it, he lost his shit luck again. The master of ZTE, he didn't rely on adding others. When will it be his turn to be emperor. Pooh." Zai Lian spat directly at the newspaper.

The result of the Yellow Sea War also shocked the West. French newspapers called it another "Battle of Trafalgar", while Western media exclaimed that "the rise of another naval power" and "the awakening of the Eastern Lion" are more important. Surprisingly, this naval battle had far-reaching political consequences.Germany, which usually only regards the Qing Dynasty as a cash cow, has also reconsidered whether it can cooperate with the Qing Dynasty in more fields, including strategic alliances!

(End of this chapter)