It's embarrassing!

Li Hongzhang sighed secretly.

To make an inappropriate analogy, Li Hongzhang is now a bit like the American table tennis team in later generations. Seeing the Chinese table tennis team members practicing lazily, just pushing the block, not having any arc circles or pulling the gods... So he felt that the big table tennis country was just like this.

Of course, this superficial feeling is just an illusion, but the mistake is that Li Hongzhang himself does not know.

Having said that, even if Li Hongzhang knew about it, he wouldn't care too much, because today, his main target was Liu Kunyi's six gunboats, the last possession of the Nanyang Navy!

The reason why Li Hongzhang did not bombard the Shanghai port was because he had regarded Shanghai as his belongings, and it would be best not to destroy it. To annihilate the last ship of the Nanyang Navy, it was better to choose to come up on the vast East China Sea.

1. It is vast and the sea is deep, and killing people is easy to destroy.

2. Li Hongzhang is also unwilling to give others the excuse of "Chinese beat Chinese".

He still wants face. Although he did siege Shanghai with the British and forced Liu Kun to fight, who was the one who took action in the end?

In the vast sea, as long as you don’t admit it, the title of executioner who buried the Nanyang navy may not be trapped on your own. After the war is over, and after careful publicity, this indecent name can easily fall on the British.

In fact, there is no need to take this charge. When the six gunboats of the Nanyang Navy appeared in Li Hongzhang's vision at around nine o'clock, the other party put forward a clear flag and expressed his intention to fight Ferrimant's Far East Fleet alone!

Li Hongzhang and his men were dumb and felt quite ridiculous about this intention: Please, now we have the advantage, who will risk playing a one-on-one fight with you? Don’t surrender. A scattered shot of the main gun will deal with you. Liu Kunyi knew he would lose, but he deliberately ran out to be funny, right?

However, what Li Hongzhang and others did not expect was that such a funny request was actually agreed to by Feilimante.

Although Li Hongzhang was surprised, he was also happy to watch the show, so he waved the flag and ordered the formation of the Beiyang Fleet to disperse, so he would like to observe the one-on-one show between the Nanyang Navy and the British warships.

Everyone was in their place. Both sides were very gentlemen. There was no urging. At about ten o'clock, the Nanyang Navy sent three most complete gunboats, and Ferrimante also sent two main battleships. In a wide sea area, both sides slowly walked into the enemy's range like ancient knights, then raised the gun barrel and fired in a dignified manner!

The artillery battle did not surprise Li Hongzhang at all, because Ferrymant's warships far exceeded the three "funny" gunboats sent by Liu Kunyi in terms of range and power, and the actual combat situation was carried out smoothly. There was no surprise in the advantage of this equipment.

With just three-wheeled cannons, Liu Kunyi's gunboat seemed to be hit by a shell from the British warship's deputy gun. Sparks blew up the sky, and the ship that was shot was in panic and overturned.

Li Hongzhang stroked his beard and said, "Tsk tsk, fighting with foreigners is really a traitor! Everyone, let me tell you. If I had fought with the British in Beiyang Zhenyuan, who would have been the first to be shot?"

Lin Tai, the manager of the Zhenyuan behind Li Hongzhang, was silent for a while, and then said with a flattering smile: "With the blessing of the Qing Dynasty Dragon Movement, the one who was shot will inevitably be the British warship!"

Li Hongzhang seemed not to hear Lin Taizeng's hesitation, and he was still holding the monocular lens and laughing with his head raised.

Unfortunately, the sharp laughter that mocked the failure of the country's gunboat did not last long, but in the distance, the Nanyang gunboat after being shot seemed to have gone wild, and its speed increased by 50%. A strange splash appeared at its stern, pushing the entire ship to escape at a high speed in the opposite direction!

Moreover, not only the gunboat that was shot was fleeing, but the two Nanyang gunboats next to them also suddenly turned the bow, one left and one right, drew an arc to cover their companions, and also escaped from the battlefield.

The so-called one-on-one challenge turned into a big escape in the blink of an eye!

This incident really caught people off guard. Li Hongzhang on the Zhenyuan was a little stunned. He stopped laughing and said hurriedly, holding the railing, "Why did you escape? And you escape so quickly? Humph, single-handed fight, I think it's Liu Kunyi's guise. They want to take the opportunity to escape... Ah, yes, this bastard is really planning to escape at once. Come, I'll tell you that I will order you all the Beiyang Navy. Go and intercept the Nanyang Navy's gunboat!"

No wonder Li Hongzhang suddenly lost his composure. It turned out that as he spoke, he was shocked to find that the remaining three gunboats that did not participate in the "one-on-one challenge" had left the battlefield at some point. At this moment, they also turned the bow of the ship, forming a 70-degree horn with the other three warships that fled, and were driving enough to escape in the opposite direction of the Far East Fleet!!

Today's sea surface is roughly arranged from north to south: Beiyang, the British Far East Fleet, and the deserters of the Nanyang Navy's division!

The situation changes drastically, no wonder Li Hongzhang will lose his composure after discovering Liu Kunyi's "true intention"!

This cunning Liu Kunyi came out to fight with great righteousness. It turned out that he had already had the idea of ​​running away!

"Chasing, chase me! You must never let him escape!"

Li Hongzhang shouted on the Zhenyuan, and he knew in his heart that if Liu Kun fled to the south, the whole situation would have many variables.

For example, Liu Kunyi could spread rumors that he fought against Li Hongzhang and the British fleet and fled.

Even, he could say that Li Hongzhang was a traitor who colluded with the great powers to sell the interests of the Qing Dynasty!

Because Li Hongzhang had a criminal record before, if Liu Kunyi went to the south to do this, then the lethality of rumors would be very huge!

However, Li Hongzhang called out, but it was unrealistic for him to make his Beiyang Navy quickly catch up with the Nanyang Navy gunboat that fled in two directions.

There are two reasons.

First, most of the Beiyang Navy's gunboats are not fast enough, and it is impossible to catch up with the Nanyang gunboats in the "rass" state;

Secondly, there is a Far East Fleet between the Beiyang Navy and the Nanyang Navy... If you want to chase, the British Far East Fleet should be chasing first!

"Check the flag language quickly and ask the British to get enough motivation to catch up!" After Li Hongzhang figured out the situation, he shouted at Lin Taizeng with blue veins.

Lin Taizeng's fat face shook, and he quickly said no, turned around and ran away.

After the flag language was typing, Ferrymant seemed to cooperate very well. In fact, long before the flag language of the Zhenyuan, the British general had ordered the two battleships to go up and pursue the escaped Nanyang Navy.

Not only that, the entire British Far East Fleet also suddenly moved. They unfolded their arrays, rowed the tumbling sea water on the bow, and quickly raised their speed, like a running beast running straight towards their prey.

Although the ships of the Far East Fleet are just old goods eliminated by the Royal Navy in the UK, the advanced level of the engines inside are not comparable to those of the Beiyang Navy!

Therefore, Li Hongzhang only looked at it for a few minutes and found that the further away, his old face changed a little: Good guy, the ships of the Far East Fleet are so fast. If... if... if they don't play head-on bombardment with me, they will separate a fleet and go around my flank, how should we deal with it?

It has to be said that the butterfly wings flapped by Long Hao finally showed a hint of power. Because of his age, Li Zhongtang, who had not boarded the ship for a long time, suddenly discovered the fatal weakness of a Beiyang navy on the Zhenyuan.

And this weakness, in the original historical trajectory, will become the key to the demise of the Beiyang in the Sino-Japanese Yellow Sea Battle next year!

The Beiyang Navy's ships weighed on artillery fire and light on speed. In contrast, the navy formed by Japan focused on speed and light on artillery fire. Moreover, Japan's so-called "light" artillery fire did not completely abandon ship-borne turrets. Instead, it replaced the slow-fired large-caliber main gun with high-frequency small-caliber secondary guns, and used fast cruisers to replace the old iron-armored battleships.

History books often say that the Yoshino cannon is not good, it only relies on a fast leg. But in fact, the Yoshino's construction and naval combat concepts are at least five years ahead of the Beiyang Navy!

Therefore, the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895, which was in the historical trajectory, Beiyang seemed to be a coward, but it was actually not unfair.

The exposed weakness of the Beiyang Navy flashed through Li Hongzhang's head. After all, he was old and could not hold too much in his head. Multiple threads would make him dizzy and his temples hurt. Therefore, Li Hongzhang focused his attention on chasing the Nanyang Navy.

It was almost eleven o'clock in the morning. The twelve ships of the Beiyang Navy began to burn the boiler with their lives. The black smoke rumbled, as if an old cow pulled a broken cart, and followed behind the Far East Fleet and the Nanyang Navy in front.

However, there was always a difference in speed, and the distance between the two was naturally getting farther and farther. Twenty-seven minutes later, the last ship of the Far East Fleet disappeared below the horizontal line. This cruel fact made the naval officers and soldiers below Li Hongzhang look pale and somewhat discouraged.

Are our gunboats really outdated?

Even the warships eliminated by the British were not as good as those?

The Nanyang Navy was also lucky. The latest gunboat purchased from Europe could still run so fast after being shot!

The gap in equipment was like a natural gap that could not be overcome, which made all the officers and soldiers in Beiyang depressed. At this moment, a slight sound of cannons suddenly came from the front!

"Catch up!"

Li Hongzhang was excited: "I must have caught up with you. Everyone, the British must have caught up with the gunboats of the Nanyang Navy! If I don't catch up, there will definitely be no cannon sound!"

At about 1150, the twelve Beiyang Navy ships finally arrived at the scene, but what caught their eyes... was an extremely surprising scene!

In the sea of ​​connection, two Far East Fleet warships with British flags are sinking!

Yes, the deck was almost sinking below the sea. There was a fire on the boat, and countless heads of British sailors were dotted on the side of the boat, sinking and floating on the wide sea!

Seeing this scene, Li Hongzhang and his friends were shocked: What's going on? We were not dazzled, why did the chasing party be sunk instead!? Did the Nanyang Navy do it?

Just when it was difficult to tell whether it was true or false, warning flags came from Ferrymant's flagship.

After the translation, Lin Tai once trotted all the way tremblingly and reported to the anxious Li Zhongtang: "Big, sir..."

"What did the other party say? Report it quickly. It's too big, who is bigger?"

Li Hongzhang was extremely impatient.

"Yes! The British told us to be careful, say, there is underwater, there is...subma day!"

"What is Saba? Fuck, what is subma nyne?"

Although Li Hongzhang knows English, he is still quite unfamiliar with the word submarine.

What is subma Nine? Lin Taizeng didn't know, so he couldn't answer Li Hongzhang at all. Poor, he had to keep smearing sweat on his fat face.

Fortunately, Li Hongzhang immediately knew what a submarine was... but he saw a white line suddenly lit up in the sea water in the distance, which was extremely fast. It flashed and then, a small destroyer of the Far East Fleet emitted a fire to the sky, and thick smoke burst out. The entire ship was bombarded in two pieces. Dozens of unlucky crew members rode on the sky cannon, flew into the sky, and fell into the sea.

"Then, that's a torpedo!" Li Hongzhang opened his eyes wide and asked in fear.

"Yes, right!"

Lin Tai once swallowed his saliva and replied hesitantly.

Lin Taizeng's hesitation does not mean that he is not good at his profession. As Shen Baozhen's nephew and Lin Zexu's nephew, he was not entirely dependent on nephews. He was still very good at naval battles.

However, the torpedo came too strangely. The direction of the white line appeared. There was no shadow of half a ship at all... God, where did this torpedo come from? Did it change out of thin air?

Not only Lin Tai was at a loss, but the other pipes on the Beiyang gunboats were also rubbed their eyes hard, almost suspected that the torpedo was thrown out by the gods under the sea!

Superstition is unsuccessful, so the answer is quickly solved.

About ten minutes later, a small warship with the Austro-Hungarian flag and tonnage of about 2,000 tons emerged from the sea level and appeared seven or eight nautical miles away from the Ferrimant flagship!

When Li Hongzhang found out about the appearance of the Austro-Hungarian warship, he was naturally shocked and worried. He didn't know what medicine was selling in the other party's gourd?

Because Master Zhongtang has learned that the Austro-Hungarian Empire has been stirring up trouble in Europe recently and is the first thorn, but its power is the army. As for the navy... I don't seem to have heard of any warships or formed fleets in the Austro-Hungarian Empire. In terms of overall strength, it seems that it is not as good as the Beiyang Navy!

Why did such a European power dominated by the army send a small ship that seemed to be unable to change any situation suddenly appear in the East China Sea when the war in Europe was in full swing?

Why did its appearance make the British Far East Fleet throw a fright? No, all British warships stopped pursuing the Nanyang Navy, stayed in place, and watched the movements of the Austro-Hungarian warship with great vigilance.

Li Hongzhang was eager to get the answer, so he didn't care about the possible dangers ahead and waved his hand and ordered the Beiyang Navy to lean forward carefully towards the Far East Fleet.

When he thought that he and Ferrymante would meet, and the two had so many warships, it would be safer.

And, after getting on, Li Hongzhang also found an opportunity to ask Ferrymante himself what was strange about the Austro-Hungarian warship and what factors prevented the Far East Fleet from advancing?

In addition, what is a submarine?

Hiss, is it related to this sudden Austro-Hungarian warship?

Could this warship be called the secret weapon of the ‘subma’?
To be continued...