Australian Storm 1876

  Chapter 473 Shelling Nagasaki

  Three days later

  The light cruiser "Capeshire" belonging to the British Far East Fleet, which came from Juwen Island, has joined the combined fleet, wandering off Nagasaki, participating in the Gulf blockade, and continuing to exert pressure.

  In a traditional Japanese house in Changqi County, Sato Yohei dressed in a black kimono looked at the heavy cruiser Aolong, who wandered lonely in the bay, with a solemn expression.

  He is a plenipotentiary sent by Cabinet Prime Minister Ito Hirobumi. He rushed from the Changshu Domain to see the Fleet Commander He Fang, but he fell flat. The reply was simple;

  There is no negotiation, and the "Changqi Fourteen Treaty" agrees or rejects, there is no third way to go.

  The attitude of the fleet is surprisingly tough, leaving no chance of fooling around at all.

"Amaterasu, I am afraid that the four-nation fleet bombardment of Xiaguan 20 years ago will be repeated. Innocent people will suffer the deepest harm. Back then, the stubborn lord of Changzhou, the Maori family, was deceived by the barbarians and would not listen. Mr. Ito Hirofumi’s bitter words eventually led to this tragedy.” Sato Yohei’s voice stated the vicissitudes of life, and three middle-aged men in kimonos were kneeling in the Japanese room next to them. One of them was the Governor of Nagasaki Prefecture, Kobayashi Shoji. , He leaned over and said;

   "I'm so sorry, Sato-sama, for causing you trouble."

"Huh...it's really a big trouble. Those of you who have always jumped very high are like frogs in the well. You don't even know that the Queenslanders who have caught the limelight in South Asia are newly emerging and highly aggressive in the South Pacific region. The power of sex, unreasonably, has to stir up three points. You are sending it to the door. I guess they are cheering. The serious consequences of this will be borne by all the people. It is a national shame. You should cut your belly to thank the world."

  "Sato-sama, please show me, I will not regret waiting for death. The warriors who stayed behind the turrets and warships still have the power to fight, I just want to be able to save some dignity."

   "Ha ha ha... decent?"

  Sato Yobei smiled bitterly, silently.

The "Nagasaki Fourteen Treaty" is absolutely unacceptable. This will nail the current Ito Hirobumi cabinet on the pillar of historical shame. It will be criticized by the people. The cabinet will soon disintegrate, and the ongoing development of the navy and the heavy Vibration of the economy was interrupted.

The cabinet of Ito Hirobumi, who was born in the Changzhou domain, is a staunch supporter of the development of naval power. Tightening the belt and spending a lot of money to order sharp warships from the United Kingdom is the policy led by the current cabinet. The development of military power around the Korean issue is the basis. The victory of the current cabinet to break the geographic deadlock is of great importance.

  If you switch to the Okuma Shigenobu cabinet, you will take another path.

over the years

  The previous cabinets have been committed to amending the unequal treaties and abolishing the extraterritorial rights of foreigners in Fusang, although they have not yet achieved significant results.

  Sato Youhei and the political veterans firmly believe that as long as they persevere, with the improvement of national strength, the dawn of hope will eventually be seen in 10 or 20 years.

  Once the "Nagasaki Fourteen Treaty" is signed, Fuso will be completely driven into the abyss of semi-feudal and semi-colonial, and it will never be able to climb out.

   Domestic public opinion is boiling, and the current mainstream parties will be labeled as traitors, and the political arena will usher in a new round of reshuffle.

  Sato Yhei deeply understands the harm, so he remained silent for a limited time of 72 hours.

  If the resistance is successful, it will be worth the price no matter how much.

  If the resistance fails, the people will be more rational in the face of the cruel reality of being less powerful?

In the consideration of politicians, the suffering and war-torn of the people at the bottom have never been the first place, and the gains and losses of the political family are ranked first.

Suddenly

The huge fireball in the azure Nagasaki Bay flickered, and then the deafening sound of heavy artillery came. The moment when the twin-mounted 280mm high explosion popped out of the chamber, it pushed the huge heavy cruiser Aolong 3~4 meters to one side. Far away, the scream from the cannonball piercing the sky seemed to be the sound of a steam train’s whistle...

I saw a mushroom cloud enveloping dust and gravel exploded not far from Nagasaki No. 2 Fortress in the distance. The earthquake trembled, and the mountains blasted like a heavy hammer, and sound waves spread dozens of kilometers away. remote.

   "Nani... how is this possible?"

The only trace of luck left in my heart was completely destroyed by the violent fire of the heavy artillery. Sato Yohei dashed forward in a gloomy expression, grabbing the cherry tree trunk in the courtyard, his face was instantly pale and lost his blood, and his lips trembled. Speechless.

Kneeling on the ground, the second class of Masako Kobayashi stood up immediately, looking at the heavy cruiser "Aolong" that fired artillery shells in the bay, and said with hatred anger in his eyes; "Master Sato, the enemy has opened fire. , We must challenge."

  "Yes, the fort received the order to have the right to fight back after being attacked by the enemy. War is unavoidable. We must gather our troops to attack the enemy. It is best to catch some prisoners so that we have the bargaining chip to continue the negotiation."

  "It is better to die brilliantly than to live humiliatingly."

  "Amaterasu, the ultimate victory must belong to us. This may be the best opportunity for the rise of the Yamato nation. Let us fight!"

The three key members of the anti-barbarian faction headed by Kobayashi Shoji yelled with outrage. They are all powerful local factions in Nagasaki Prefecture, representing the Hirado, Nitta, Shimabara, Fukue, Omura, and many others. The hard-line attitude of the small and medium-sized fan and the attack on the Queensland Fleet's sailors were also planned by them in order to prevent the ongoing peace talks.

  The reason

  As a close neighbor of China, these hardliners know that Queensland is an overseas immigrant of the Qing Dynasty, and they are reluctant to enjoy the same commercial convenience as Westerners and higher consular jurisdiction than the nationals. Therefore, there is nothing wrong with them, and they have never wanted to kick the iron plate.

  Nagasaki Prefecture has always been under the direct control of the shogunate. After the fall of the shogunate in the Edo period, the power of local vassals became stronger.

  As the plenipotentiary appointed by the cabinet, Sato Yohei felt deeply powerless and said dryly; "This is the end of the matter, please everyone!"

   "Hayi, I must live up to my trust."

  The three men headed by Kobayashi Shoji walked out arrogantly. Under the bleakness of early spring at the end of February, they were quite tragic.

  From time to time in the Nagasaki Bay, 280mm and 210mm heavy artillery shells fired by the turret fell into the sea, exploding the high water column, and large tracts of fish heads floated on the surface of the sea. These were all marine fish that were killed by the shells.

  The heavy cruiser "Aolong" travels along the side of the bay. It can rely on terrain to avoid attacks from the No. 1 and No. 3 turrets, and focus its fire on the No. 2 and No. 4 turrets of the Nagasaki Bay.

The sound of artillery is the command. At this moment, the heavy cruiser "White Tiger" cruising off Nagasaki leads the fleet, focusing on fire on the No. 2 and No. 4 batteries, forming an internal and external attack with the heavy cruiser "Aolong", and the heavy artillery shells exploded in the mountains. Blossoming mushroom cloud.

  In the artillery battle between the two sides

  It can be clearly seen that the fleets led by the Qinglong and Baihu heavy cruisers are more skilled, firing high-explosive ammunition at an average rate of two minutes. After a few rounds, the exploding point became more and more accurate.

  After the Nagasaki Fort fired and counterattacked, due to the inherent defects of the retreat artillery, it took an average of 5 to 6 minutes to fire a round of shells, and the landing points were very uneven, indicating that the level of training needs to be improved, and can only be considered a third-rate level.

   more than 10 minutes later

The "Qinglong" heavy cruiser straddled in the 7th round of test firing. This is a proper noun for the artillery shells flying over the target area, which means that the shelling data is accurate, and the rest is to increase the firepower output for coverage shooting. , The hit is only a matter of time.

At this time, the heavy cruiser Qinglong was fully fired. The three twin-mounted 280mm naval guns on the bow, midship and stern of the ship fired all at once, and eight 150mm secondary guns were output at the same time, and there was a roar. The sound became one piece, and the heavy gunpowder spread to form a cloud of smoke.

  The advanced hydraulic reciprocating artillery showed amazing power. It kept the high precision of shooting while intensively pouring the artillery fire. It shrouded the fort area in the sea of ​​fire and repeatedly ravaged it. The exploded soil cracked and the bones flew across.

  In the blue sea and blue sky of Nagasaki Bay, the blue dragon

In the blue sea and blue sky of Nagasaki Bay, the heavy cruiser Qinglong is like a fire-breathing invincible monster pouring out a large number of shells. The densely packed shells trajectories in the air are intertwined into a net, and they fell near the No. 2 battery and exploded into a sea of ​​fire, and the earth moved mountains. shake.

  This invincible power, scared the Nagasaki residents who followed the war throughout the entire process, looked at each other, and were shocked; can we really fight such an invincible iron-clad ship?

  When the Qinglong focused fire and bombarded the No. 2 turret, the White Tiger led the fleet to attack the No. 4 turret according to the pre-made combat plan, and contained the enemy fire from the open sea.

  After a few rounds of gunfire

The area of ​​the No. 2 battery was shattered by heavy armor-piercing bombs. Suddenly, after a loud noise, a huge orange-red fireball rose up. An armor-piercing projectile fired by the Qinglong heavy cruiser exploded the reinforced concrete fortress and fell inside the battery to cause shells. It was smashed, completely destroying the entire No. 2 station.

  This scene stunned the people of Nagasaki. Some people knelt down in tears, as if the sky had fallen.

  Any time you fall behind, you will be beaten. This is an unbreakable truth.

In the dialogue between the backward coastal heavy artillery and the new and cutting-edge heavy cruiser, the "Qinglong" heavy cruiser crushed its opponents with a tyrannical posture, heralding the end of the old era, and a new generation of hydraulic reclamation main guns appeared on the scene, realizing artillery technology. The change of generations.

   shortly thereafter

  Under the bombardment of internal and external artillery fire, the No. 4 turret finally fell. The bombed turret was fragmented. There were charred ruins and corpses everywhere around the turret. The destroyed heavy artillery was twisted into scrap iron, and the gunfire finally stopped.

The only record achieved by the No. 4 turret was that a 280mm heavy artillery shell hit the main armor belt of the Qinglong heavy cruiser amidships. After a loud noise, it destroyed a double 150mm turret on the upper side of the ship. All 16 members of the artillery group were killed in action, and as many as 30 crew members were severely injured in the vicinity.

The people of Nagasaki cheered in unison when the huge fireball exploded, but after the fireball disappeared, they were surprised to find that the "Qinglong" heavy cruiser only showed a huge scar of 2m×3.5m, which was hit by a 280mm heavy shell. There was a laceration that was more than one meter long, which was irrelevant for a heavy cruiser with a hull longer than a hundred meters and protected by heavy armor, just scratching it.

  After a short pause, the heavy cruiser Qinglong opened fire violently again, which made the Nagasaki people completely desperate;

  What kind of terrible existence is this huge ironclad ship, and who did we provoke?

  (End of this chapter)