"What does the concept of the 210mm caliber main gun mean? Many people don't know much about it. But if you tell them that the gun with this caliber can penetrate the head of a young man. I think many people will immediately imagine such a picture. The thick gun barrel. The shells that require a pair of people to hug..."

Many years later, the elderly Sun Chujian was always interviewed by reporters. He was still extremely excited when he recalled his experience serving on the Zhiyuan ship.

"When Prime Minister Xiao was planning to build the Ryukyu Navy, he was catching up with the era of great changes in the Shanghai Army's technology. When the Zhiyuan ship turned into a lonely wolf ghost on the Atlantic Ocean, the British Navy was also filled with a large number of sail battleships. The left and right sides were even smoothbore guns..."

"Haha. That was the time when Europe used the pound count, that is, the weight of shells, to classify artillery artillery. Take the 24-pound artillery with the most equipment in the UK as an example. The caliber is 583 inches and it is 148 mm. Compared with the main artillery of Zhiyuan with 210 mm, you can see the difference..."

"Even the most firepower of the Royal British Navy, the thirty-two-pound cannon, the caliber is only 162 mm... Not to mention the accuracy and range of the rifled cannon. Zhiyuan was undoubtedly the most abnormal killer in the world's navy at that time..."

"No, no... don't listen to that old guy Kevin nagging all day long. He will only tell you the shortcomings in various data. That person is an obsessive-compulsive disorder... I know that Zhiyuan has many shortcomings. For example, the barrel steel is not hard enough. The left rifle line will be smoothed out after firing two hundred times..."

"Yes. I also know that the aiming equipment is a little problem. The optical instrument has poor accuracy... but so what? Scientists are somewhat perfectionist. Obsessive-compulsive disorder is prepared for them..."

"This is like the story that the Prime Minister often tells. A group of people met a tiger in the forest. Everyone ran away, but one person tied his shoelaces before he didn't run... Haha. Someone asked him why you were so stupid and didn't hurry to run away. The man smiled and said. No matter how fast I ran, I couldn't run away. I just had to run faster than you..."

Sun Chu laughed so hard that he couldn't see his eyes. "Yes, yes. The pattern of that era was like that. A big tiger called the demise of the nation jumped out of the darkness. All the nations ran forward like crazy..."

"Of course we all know that no one, an organization, or a country can't eventually escape a destruction. But no one wants to perish without resistance. So we have to run wildly in the competition. Don't ask for the first place, at least we can't run at the end."

"When I first saw the Zhiyuan. When I heard the cannon west of the Marshall Islands, I knew... we have gotten rid of the youngest position. China's national destiny has begun to fight back."

No matter how these veterans recalled the scene of the shot that year, they could not describe the shock of that year. Because it was the first shot that the Chinese fired towards Europe.

The wind and rain are like pouring, the lightning is like a dragon, the thunder is like a tide, and the morale is running through the long rainbow.

Zhiyuan tore up the camouflage and the double-unit heavy artillery was ready for combat. The naked sailors in the boiler room shoveled large pieces of white coal into the furnace. The blazing flames released huge kinetic energy.

The pressure of the boiler is almost at a dangerous level. The underwater propeller rotates rapidly and pushes the Zhiyuan to break through the waves at a speed of 13 knots.

Four thousand meters...three thousand meters...three thousand meters...three thousand five hundred meters...the target is getting closer and closer. The gunner Lin Zhen has locked the target. The launching traction rope is pulled into Xiang Ying's hand. The two of them have stuffed rubber earplugs into their ears. The communication is entirely based on sign language.

Xiang Ying stared at the little lamb in the distance and prayed silently in her heart, "Prime Minister. Bless me to hit the target... This is the first shot of Zhiyuan's actual combat. Please bless me to hit the target..."

"Captain... enters a range of two thousand meters... it can be launched." Lin Zhen roared in his hand and made a sign language for launch. Xiang Ying suddenly pulled the launch rope without saying a word.

Boom... A loud bang suppressed the thunder in the sky. The 210-caliber high-explosive shell rotated and flew out of the muzzle and lit up an orange red flower on the dark sea.

The blasting wind sprayed from the launching medicine swept the head of the ship. The rain-proof tarpaulin was swept away by the blast and flew into the Atlantic Ocean. Xiang Ying and Lin Zhen had big mouths and felt the blasting wind suddenly rushing to their bodies. Even the internal organs felt pressure.

The initial velocity of the 210 caliber artillery has reached 600 meters per second. In just four seconds, the shell exploded on the deck of the French Swift. The Prussian-designed time-lapse fuze is very reliable.

The French were crazy. The fireballs on the deck directly broke the main mast. The fragments cut the sailors' bodies. The first mate standing next to the captain was cut off his head without saying a word. The captain was knocked down on the deck by the shock wave. When he raised his head, he found that there was bright red between the world.

Blood oozed out of his facial features. He opened his mouth and shouted, "Counterattack... All fight back." But the sailors on the deck of the Swift were deafened. They lay on the deck one by one wailing.

The Parisian looked at the seriously injured Swift and was shocked. The captain looked at the warship more than two thousand meters away in front of him and screamed in horror. He was like a little girl who met a gangster.

"God. Impossible... What kind of warship is this? How could it fire at such a long distance? How could it have such accuracy... Why is the power of the shell so great?"

"Is this God sent to punish us... Look, his cannon can be rotated. He can fire without adjusting the hull posture... It's broken. He is coming to us. Run away."

Compared to the captain's timidity, the first mate was obviously braver. The first mate from the navy yelled on the deck, "God bless France. Where can we escape in the storm? We didn't even dare to rise the main sail. The enemy's tacit battle had decided to kill us completely. Are we the lambs to be slaughtered?"

"The young French men, fight back and turn to meet them. We also have artillery..."

It was not uncommon for merchant ships to be equipped with two or three cannons in that era. The sea in the 19th century was far less peaceful than later generations. Not to mention pirates, even warships from many countries would occasionally play a robber who was robbed by black people.

In this year, all those who could eat the sailor's bowl of rice were outlaws. The first mate aroused the fighting spirit of the Parisian. People looked at the timid captain with contempt. The best gunner rushed to the bow of the ship and opened the black hole of the ship's bow.

This is a naval standard 24-pound smoothbore cannon with a caliber of 148 mm and an effective range of 1,000 meters. But in fact, if the range exceeds 800 meters, there is no accurate head. If you want to improve your accuracy, you have to get close to shooting. Within 400 meters, the world of smoothbore cannons is.

"Storm up... the gunners are ready to fire... even if we die, we have to bite off a piece of their meat."

Note: The tactics of Zhiyuan are the famous maritime raid wars in later generations and the German tactics. During World War II, there was a warship called Admiral Spe. The series of battles on the Atlantic Ocean were classic. The final death was very tragic. Even Churchill expressed his admiration for the warship.
Chapter completed!