Chapter 012 Sea and Land Artillery War

In the core fortress of the Golden Mountain Fort, the sound of telegrams kept ringing.

Outside the fortress, the roar of cannons shocked the world, and inside the fortress, four newsmen sat vigorously next to the telegraph machine and turned a deaf ear to the roar outside.

These are the four surviving Qing military newsagents in Lushun City. When Lushun City fell, the Japanese army first occupied the Telegraph Bureau. In order to maintain communication, the Japanese army forced the four newsmen to work for them.

None of their relatives survived and all died at the hands of the Japanese army.

There is an undersea cable between Lushun and Pyongyang, which was built by the Swedes.

For the Qing Dynasty, the telegraph line between Lushun and Pyongyang is a laughing matter. Because until now, there is no decent telegraph line in the Qing Dynasty.

As early as ten years ago, the Westerners led by Li Hongzhang submitted a telegram to the court to build a telegram, but it received great resistance from the government and opposition. The ministers of the old school jointly reported, accusing the telegram of being a strange ** skill of Westerners and contrary to the ancestral system of the heavenly kingdom. The court finally resisted the pressure and ordered the construction of the cable. However, as soon as the cable was laid, it was demolished by the local people. The people believed that the telegraph line disturbed the dead of their ancestors buried in the ground!

The double resistance of bureaucrats and the people forced the Qing government to abandon its plan to build a telegram.

However, Li Hongzhang secretly made an undersea cable from Lushun to Pyongyang, which did not pass through the territory of the Qing Dynasty and escaped a disaster.

In the Qing-Japanese War, this was the only communication line in the Qing Dynasty to quickly obtain forward information. With the loss of Lushun, this line was also interrupted.

Now, Zhang Jun has recovered Lushun, and Zhou Charter urgently needs to establish contact with Pyongyang.

A newspaperman stood up: "Master Zhou, I have contacted Pyongyang!"

Zhou Charter's frown loosened: "Immediately report to Pyongyang that Zhang Jun has captured Lushun!"

"Yes!"

Ten minutes later, a telegram from Pyongyang:

"Three thousand Japanese troops forcibly crossed the Linchuan River and captured the Wenshan ferry. Our army took Qingqiu as the core and launched a counterattack against the Japanese army crossing the river. The Japanese army fought tenaciously. Our army failed several counterattacks, and the war fell into a stalemate!"

Yao Xi's face turned pale: "Did the Japanese really cross the Linjin River?"

Zhou Charter nodded: "This is expected. Luo Mingfang is fighting hard, and Zhang Jun is going to make great sacrifices!"

"What should we do?" Yao Xi asked nervously, "Do you want to go back to North Korea?"

"We can't go back!" Zhou Charter said slowly, "The Japanese and the Qing army will not let us go back to North Korea!"

"But what can we do here?" Yao Xi asked, "There are no more Japanese here?" Let us watch the brothers in North Korea bleed and die!"

Zhou Charter's eyes looked at the sea level outside the bunker.

Several black spots appeared on the sea level.

Yao Xi asked, "Brother, what is that?"

The black spots are getting bigger and clearer, showing tall masts and turrets. On the mast, the sun flag flutters in the wind.

That's the Japanese cruiser!

The muzzle of the 36cm cannon on the cruiser was aimed at the Golden Mountain Fort.

"It's time for us to bleed and die!" Zhou Charter said and stepped out of the fortress.

The sharp call cut through the sky of the Golden Mountain Fort, and the naval gun of the Japanese cruiser fired!

......

There are three Japanese warships on the sea. They are the cruiser Sulang, the gunboat Tsukushi and the frigate Chicheng.

The cruiser has a displacement of 3700 tons, horsepower and a speed of 18 knots. It is equipped with 2 26cm artillery, 6 15cm artillery, 6 machine guns and 4 torpedo tubes. It has fast speed, strong firepower and good mobility. It is one of the main cruisers of the Japanese Combined Fleet. In the Battle of Toyoshima and the Battle of Dadonggou, the Langsu had an excellent record. Especially in the Battle of Fengdao, the Langsu brazenly opened fire on the Gaosheng, causing 3,000 Qing troops to be buried, which directly led to the insufficient strength of the Qing army to defend Chenghuan, thus ensuring that the Japanese army could easily defeat the Qing army in Chenghuan.

The Zhuzi gunship has a displacement of 1350 tons, a speed of 16.4 knots, and is equipped with 2 25cm artillery, 2 12cm artillery, 1 machine gun and 2 torpedo tubes. Although the displacement and firepower of the Chikuzi are far less than those of the Waves, the large-caliber naval guns it is equipped with can provide strong fire support for the Marine forces.

The frigate Chicheng is a small ship with a displacement of only 640 tons, equipped with 4 12cm artillery and 6 machine guns. In naval battles, it generally serves as a guard duty.

Three Japanese ships were urgently transferred from Rongcheng Bay to Lushun.

At 13:00 p.m. on January 25, two hours after the loss of the Golden Mountain Fort, the news of the attack on the Golden Mountain Fort in Lushun reached the headquarters of the Second Army in Rongcheng Bay. This news was far beyond the expectation of the Japanese army. Like the original judgment of the local governance of the mountain, the original judgment of the Second Army was also the Golden Mountain. He was harassed by a small Qing army in order to contain the Japanese army on the Shandong battlefield and achieve the purpose of besieging Wei and saving Zhao.

Therefore, Dashanyan didn't pay much attention to this news.

However, an hour later, there was the news that the Golden Mountain Fort had been lost. The first reaction of the staff of the Second Army was that this was false news, because in Liaodong, there could be no Qing army that could shake the Golden Mountain Fort! The Golden Mountain Fort is an unusually strong fortress, and the garrisoning fort is the most elite first division of the Japanese army!

And, in general, people are unwilling to accept news that is against them. This news put the Japanese army in the Shandong battlefield in an extremely embarrassing situation: the landing in Rongcheng Bay was extremely smooth, Weihaiwei was close at hand, and the great historical mission of annihilating the Beiyang sailors was about to be completed! However, at this critical moment, the back road of tens of thousands of troops was cut off by the enemy! It is really difficult for the Japanese army to accept such a result!

Only Mitsutomi Kami, the intelligence officer of the Second Army in the base camp, believes the authenticity of the news.

At the insistence of Guangchen, the Second Army and the Joint Fleet reached an agreement to send three warships, carrying 2,000 armies under the Third Division, and urgently rushed to Lushun to assist Lushun.

Dashanyan's judgment is that even if the Golden Mountain is lost, the whole Lushun Port is still in the hands of the Japanese army. The local governance of the mountain should be able to recapture the fort in a short time and send 2,000 troops and three warships just in case.

However, what Dashanyan did not know was that the mountains and local troops stationed in Lushun and more than 3,000 Japanese troops were killed in battle. Although Lushun Port and Lushun City are still in the hands of the Japanese army, only a few scattered Japanese troops are scattered in the surrounding small forts and military ports. They were overwhelmed and unable to seize the Golden Mountain Fort at all.

What Dashanyan didn't know was that it was a well-equipped force with 2,000 troops, rather than a small harassing force imagined by the Japanese army.

The 2,000 army and three warships in Lushun will be tasked with attacking the Golden Mountain Fort. As an offensive force, such a force configuration is seriously insufficient!

When he saw the dense artillery fire in the Lushunkou waterway and the transport ship slowly sinking in the gunfire, he knew that the enemy on the Golden Mountain Fort was not what Dashan Rock imagined.

The Golden Mountain Fort is the commanding height of Lushun, overlooking Lushun Port and Lushun City. The Japanese lost the Golden Mountain Fort, which is equivalent to the loss of Lushun, because 80% of the entire Lushun fortress of the Golden Mountain Fort is deployed on the Golden Mountain Fort, and the area of more than 10 kilometers is under the fire control of the Golden Mountain Fort.

Obviously, the enemy on the Golden Mountain Fort is by no means a group of soldiers. I'm afraid that the division commander of the First Division is more or less auspicious. The remaining Japanese army in Lushun has been unable to attack the Golden Mountain and seize the heavy responsibility of the Golden Mountain Fort, which can only be completed by this relief force.

Dongxiang Pinghachiro ordered Langsu and Zhu Zi to stay in front, and the Chicheng was behind and drive to the Golden Mountain Fort. The Chicheng is carrying 2,000 armies.

The long-range artillery of the three warships opened fire on the Golden Mountain Fort.

The enemy and us launched a fierce artillery battle.

On the sea, the smoke was diffused and the waves were surging, and the three Japanese ships pushed towards the coastline with enemy fire.

The three Japanese long-range artillery have a total of 12 guns, with the maximum caliber of two 26cm naval guns. There are 18 large and small guns on the Golden Mountain fort, including two 30cm cannons. The number and caliber of artillery are dominated by the Golden Mountain Fort. However, the Japanese ship's artillery is all quick-fire guns, and the intensity of the projectile is higher than that of the opponent.

In the Battle of Dadonggou, the Japanese Combined Fleet was able to defeat the Beiyang Marine Division. The main reason is that most of the Japanese ships are equipped with quick-fire guns, thus smoothing the gap between Japanese ships and Qing ships in tonnage and artillery caliber.

And now, the three Japanese ships have stubbornly competed with the cannons on the Golden Mountain Fort with their rapid-fire guns.

On the golden mountain fort, thick smoke billowed. Dongxiang Pingharo saw through the telescope that a mortar position in the southeast corner of the fort was hit, and the enemy's body and the mortar were lifted into the air by a violent explosion and rolled down the fort.

At the same time, a shell hit the port stern of the Wavespeed, and the turret at the stern suddenly lost its sound. More than a dozen sailors on and around the turret were blown away. The explosion caused a fire, and the flames floated with the smell of burning human flesh. The sailors rushed to the place where the fire started and tried their best to put out the fire.

Two shells exploded on the deck. The whole ship sank violently in the sea and freed out of the water. Several sailors were thrown into the sea. The 12cm cannon on the port side was blown up, and two machine guns and gunners were lifted off the sea.

The fast wave was bombarded by several shells and ignited a fire, but it still stood tall on the sea and tenaciously bombarded the Golden Mountain Fort.

The gunship Zhuzi, which followed the Sulang, also suffered several bullets. Zhuzi was a gunboat with a displacement of only 1,700 tons without thickened armor. A shell hit the port of the Zhuzi, penetrated the deck and exploded in the power module. Zhu Zi lost his power and remained motionless, becoming a live target for the enemy's cannon.

More and more shells exploded on the hull of the Tsukushi and the surrounding sea. The thick smoke of the Tsukushi rolled, the mast of the flag went down to the sea, and the hull began to tilt. However, the two 26cm cannons on the Zhuzi are still firing tenaciously.

Under the cover of fast waves and standing purple, the frigate Chicheng laid down the landing craft on the water 300 meters away from the coast.

More than 2,000 Japanese army took landing craft, and even jumped directly into the cold sea and rushed to the coast.