He Bu was very entangled in his heart, the two ironclad ships "Hercules" and "Avant-garde" failed to win the battle, and the impact on the morale of the army was obvious, he must fight back as soon as possible, but he didn't know the details of the Qing army, did the Qing army have a longer range of heavy artillery? If you are frustrated again, morale will inevitably be extremely low!

This time he was ordered to lead the fleet north to attack Maputo, the purpose was to redeem the bad effects of the defeat in Pretoria, if the navy was also defeated in Maputo, what other consequences would be there He did not know, but he would definitely be replaced as the commander of the expeditionary force, and his appointment as commander of the South African expeditionary force as vice admiral was very controversial.

Just as he was suffering from gains and losses, Arthur Hood walked in quickly and took the initiative to ask: "Your Excellency, we must boost our morale as soon as possible, and I beg that the 'Sovereign' be allowed to go to the test. ”

Hearing this, Hebu hesitated a little, the 'Sovereign' is the main battleship second only to the flagship, equipped with 4 305mm naval guns, it is the main battleship with the strongest firepower, if it also ends up like the "Hercules" and the "Avant-garde", this battle will really not be able to fight.

After a slight hesitation, he spoke: "We don't know, whether the Qing army also has a 305 mm giant coastal defense gun, and the Qing army's artillery hit rate is very high, you can also see it." ”

Arthur Hood was born in a naval family, in a hundred years, the Hood family has produced two admirals, and his family creed is to have more initiative in addition to obeying orders, and to have the courage to take risks in order to annihilate the enemy, seeing that Hebu hesitated, he said in a deep voice: "Your Excellency, whether the Qing army has a giant coastal defense cannon or not, we must further test, and the 'Sovereign' is the most suitable to test." ”

Temptation must be tempted, how can you know if the Qing army has giant coastal defense artillery without testing, He Bu was silent for a while before he spoke: "The 'Sovereign' went alone, it was too risky, let the 'captain' accompany it." After a pause, he continued: "The Qing army is cunning, and we must be extra vigilant. ”

The battleship "Captain", with a displacement of 7,892 tons, was also equipped with four 305mm guns, launched in March 1869, although it was a sail steam hybrid, but it used a twin propeller, and the horsepower of the horizontal engine was also 5678k, which was almost the same as the 5848k horsepower of the "Sovereign", and the fastest speed could reach 15 knots, which was already the fastest ironclad ship.

At the position of the Qing army, when he saw through the telescope that two more ironclad ships broke away from the formation and came to the position, Tang Zaosheng teased: "It seems that the British army was not frightened, and two more ironclad ships came." ”

Hearing this, Jiang Baxiang hurriedly got up and raised his binoculars, judging from the size, it was obvious that there were two capital battleships again, and he couldn't help but sink in his heart, "If the guess is right, these two capital battleships should be equipped with naval guns of a larger caliber." ”

"You mean 305 mm naval guns?"

"Possibly." Jiang Baxiang said in a deep voice: "Let people immediately transfer the special bombs on the position, if it is really a 305 mm naval gun, it is too powerful, and in addition, order everyone to hide in the bunker." ”

The 305 mm naval gun, Tang Zaosheng had never seen it, and he didn't know how powerful it was, but he had heard that Qingdao's 305 mm coastal defense gun was extremely powerful, and a shell weighed more than 100 kilograms, and the power could be imagined.

After giving the order, he said with a regretful face: "If only we could have a few 305 mm large-caliber heavy guns, we must sink a few of their main warships." ”

"When this battle is over, Maputo may plant a few 305 large-caliber heavy guns." Jiang Baxiang said expressionlessly: "A 305 heavy cannon, it will take more than a year just to build a matching fort. ”

So exaggerated? Tang Zaosheng couldn't help but secretly speak, he has been serving as the governor of Java and stationed in Gropa all the year round, and he really doesn't know the situation of the 305 mm large-caliber heavy artillery, but he has only heard about it, and then he reacted, "Originally, I thought it was 305 heavy artillery gold, but it turned out that it was too late to place it." ”

On the sea, the two main ironclad ships, the "Monarch" and the "Captain", slowed down on the sea about 6,000 meters away from the Qing army's position, and the effective range of the 305 mm naval guns was as high as 7,000 yards, while the effective range of the coastal defense guns of the same caliber should still be above the naval guns.

The captain of the 'Sovereign', Arthur Hood, was not worried at all, he was sure that the Qing army, which had only occupied Maputo for more than half a year, could not have super-large-caliber coastal defense guns, after all, the time was too short, and the Qing army would not have time to build super-large-caliber coastal defense artillery batteries, however, if he wanted to move forward, he did not dare, in his estimation, the Qing army's coastal defense guns should be 228 mm caliber, at most 254 mm caliber, and the effective firing range should be about 5,000 yards, he did not dare to take too many risks.

In order to test the firepower of the Qing army, Arthur Hood deliberately ordered the battleship to stop, and as soon as the battleship stopped, four 305-mm naval guns opened fire one after another, and the naval guns on the 'Captain' followed also opened fire, and for a time the cannon rumbled on the sea.

Huge shells fell on the position with a thrilling whistling sound, making a huge explosion and splashing a large amount of earth, and even hiding in a safe enough bunker poured with reinforced concrete, you could feel the tremendous power of the explosion, and as one shell after another fell, the main position trembled.

Listening to the continuous explosions, Jiang Baxiang's face suddenly turned pale, such a huge power, it is definitely a 305 mm large-caliber naval gun, two battleships, eight 305 naval guns, if there are two more, what will be the situation?

Tang Zaosheng's eardrums were aching from the sound of the huge explosion, and after the shelling stopped, his ears were still buzzing, and he unconsciously said in a loud voice: "This is the 305 naval gun?" It's amazing! ”

Jiang Baxiang was the same, and said loudly: "Look at the crater." ”

Not far in front of the fort is a huge crater, with a diameter of five or six meters, and a depth of about two meters, which looks shocking, Tang Zaosheng couldn't help but secretly speak, "This power is too great, it is estimated that except for the three main batteries, the other batteries can't withstand it." ”

"It's good that it's a front-loading gun." Jiang Baxiang said: "If it is a rear-loading gun, and there is a stationing and retreating device, just these eight guns, in less than half an hour, can raze our position to the ground." ”

Tang Zao said with palpitations: "No wonder the principal said that this is the era of giant ship cannons, and this cannon is too powerful. ”

As the two were talking, a staff officer strode forward and said, "The two generals also ask to evacuate as soon as possible, once it hits directly, our battery may not be able to withstand it." ”

The fort where Tang Zaosheng and the two were located was the backest, and it was not exposed, and the possibility of being directly hit was not great, but not afraid of 10,000 was afraid of what happened, the two glanced at each other, turned around and left, out of the fort 100 meters, and heard the unique sharp whistling sound of the shell landing behind him, followed by a huge explosion, and another round of shelling began.

After five rounds of shelling in succession, Captain Arthur Hood ordered to stop the shelling, and never saw the Qing army return fire, he was sure that the Qing army must not have super-large caliber heavy artillery, otherwise it would be impossible not to fight back!

Seeing this scene, He Bu, who had been paying close attention to the flagship, couldn't help but secretly breathe a sigh of relief, since it could suppress the Qing army's artillery fire, this battle would not be difficult to fight, at least it would not be too difficult to capture Maputo!

With a slight groan, he said in a deep voice, "Order, order the 'Ravage' and 'Gladun' to join the battle. ”

The "Ravage" is a new ship that has just finished sea trials and entered service, with a displacement of 9,448 tons and is also equipped with four 305 mm naval guns, while the "Gladun" is only 5,000 tons and is equipped with two 305 mm naval guns.

The entire fleet, and these four ironclad ships, were equipped with 305 mm naval guns, and Hebu sent all four warships in order to completely destroy the Qing army's will to resist.

Seeing that the British army sent two more battleships, Tang Zaosheng and Jiang Baxiang couldn't help but gasp, how many British warships are equipped with 305mm naval guns? Tang Zaosheng couldn't help but burst into a foul mouth, "Damn, don't be so bullying!" ”

Jiang Baxiang said: "Let the officers and soldiers on the position withdraw, otherwise I am afraid that there will be big casualties." ”

Looking at the position of the British army, I am afraid that the entire position will be plowed again, Tang Zaosheng did not dare to hesitate, and quickly picked up the phone and ordered all the units on the position to withdraw one after another by taking advantage of the interval between the British army's loading shells.

Four ironclad ships and 14 305-mm naval guns shelled intermittently for nearly an hour, smashing a defensive position in Nuoda with holes.

The whole Maputo collectively lost their voice, this scene of intensive shelling by large-caliber naval guns was the first time for everyone to see, the power of the naval guns was beyond everyone's imagination, the entire position was full of huge craters, and the position that originally seemed solid to them has now become like tofu scum.

It is no secret that Britain has vigorously developed ironclad ships and developed super-large caliber naval guns in recent years, but because no war broke out, no one has been able to understand the combat power of the British army in detail.

After a long time, someone spoke: "I think we should be grateful for this war, which allows us to understand the true combat strength of the British army." ”

"The hope of Yuan Qi winning this war is too slim."

"What about the Qing naval fleet? Isn't the Qing Kingdom also actively developing ironclad ships? ”

"I'm afraid that the ironclad ships of the Qing Kingdom will be difficult to contend with."

"That can be said, the Qing Kingdom has developed extremely rapidly in recent years, and has always been in the leading position in the development of weapons, maybe Yuan Qi will also bring us surprises like the British."

"This war has brought us enough surprises."

On the east side, which was only 100 meters away from the observation group, Tang Zaosheng looked at the bombed devastated position without tears, and the position that he had worked hard to build for more than half a year was bombed into this scene in an hour, and he was speechless in a daze.

Just before the start of the war, he was full of confidence, thinking that with this position could hold on for at least half a month, now it seems to be a joke, if the British army attacks with all its strength, it is expected that it will only take half a day, this position will change hands, even if he uses the lives of officers and soldiers to fill, at most he can hold on for a day.

A sound of horses' hooves sounded behind him, Jiang Baxiang jumped off his horse and walked over quickly, and said: "The casualties have been counted, one hundred and three killed, three hundred and seventy-two people lightly and seriously injured, almost the casualties of a battalion. ”

After being silent for a while, Tang Zaosheng asked, "Is the cable telegraph under military control?" ”

Jiang Baxiang said: "Don't worry, military control has been implemented since the day before yesterday. ”

The military control of some telegrams was not to conceal military information, but to prevent the leakage of military information, Tang Zaosheng knew very well that the war situation in Maputo had a great impact on the country, and he sighed lightly before he said: "Call the principal to report truthfully, including casualties." ”

Hearing this, Jiang Baxiang secretly breathed a sigh of relief, although the position was seriously damaged, but the damage to the three main batteries was not great, the three main batteries were all closed batteries, and after camouflage, the reinforced concrete bunker was covered with a thick layer of soil, what he was most worried about was that Tang Zao had a tendon, and he had to continue to hold on, and in this situation, relying on the three main batteries could not support it at all, and once the British ironclad ship aimed at the main battery, it was estimated that it would not be able to withstand half an hour of indiscriminate bombardment.

The speed of the military telegram was much faster than usual, and at dusk, Zhao Liewen hurriedly caught up with Yi Zhifen, who was walking in the courtyard of Changle Library, and said, "Big shopkeeper, Maputo is calling." ”

Seeing the solemn look on his face, Yi Zhizhi estimated that it would not be good news, and when he took the telegram, his face also sank, four British ironclad ships, 14 305 mm naval guns, continued to shell for an hour from 6,000 meters away, most of the positions were destroyed, 475 casualties, and 32 guns of various types were lost.

"The British army has done a good job of secrecy, four ironclad ships are equipped with fourteen 305 mm large-caliber naval guns, and our intelligence department is actually only guessing that it may be equipped." Yi Zhizhi said and returned the telegram, and then walked slowly.

Zhao Liewen also said: "This is normal, our ironclad ship is not also strictly secret. ”

Yi Zhizhi did not mean to pursue the intelligence department, after all, it was extremely difficult to spy on military secrets, and after a little groaning, he turned around and turned back to the study, and after entering the room, he ordered: "Call back immediately, retreat to the second line, and destroy all artillery and special ammunition when evacuating, so as not to fall into the hands of the British army." ”

After a pause, he continued: "Block the news, let everyone have a peaceful New Year." ”

Maputo, Command.

After receiving the callback, Tang Zaosheng was relieved, and Jiang Baxiang said tentatively: "The British army is expected to launch an attack early tomorrow morning. ”

Tang Zaosheng understood what he meant, and asked him to retreat overnight, he waved his hand and said, "Don't worry, you can't be so cheap for them." ”

(Tianjin https://)